This was Sasuke's final, desperate gamble.
Before he fell into despair over taking revenge on Itachi, Sasuke had only briefly considered it.
At this point, he had not been taught a lesson by Itachi or been provoked by Naruto defeating Gaara and mastering the Rasengan.
For now, Sasuke still wanted to follow the proper path in the Leaf Village.
There was nothing wrong with becoming a rogue ninja, but the Leaf Village offered me far greater freedom.
It was also during the Chunin Ninja Exams that Sasuke had encountered many powerful Genin.
There were Neji, Rock Lee, and Gaara.
In particular, Sasuke had not personally witnessed the fight between Rock Lee and Gaara, but from Naruto's and the others' descriptions...
Their battle had already surpassed the level of Genin.
Even Chunin were not that fierce.
An ordinary Jonin would have been in danger getting involved.
Judging purely by what they had demonstrated, Sasuke was no match for them.
Rock Lee could have kicked Sasuke to death with a single kick.
This excited Sasuke.
Just thinking about fighting these powerful people made his blood boil.
Sasuke would defeat them and tell the world that the Uchiha were the strongest.
Mikoto smiled quietly as she watched Sasuke's excited expression while he spoke of restoring the Uchiha Clan's reputation.
Sasuke was different from Itachi.
In Itachi's own words, he had stepped beyond the narrow confines of the clan. What he pursued was peace.
For peace in the Leaf Village, for peace in the world.
For greater peace, he could choose to slaughter his own clan.
If one day the Leaf Village threatened the world and went to the extreme of waging war against the entire world...
Then Itachi would slaughter the Leaf Village.
This was his peace ideology.
Lesser peace could be sacrificed