After finishing his meal, Sasuke Uchiha learned of the conversation between his older brother and Boruto Uzumaki. He was speechless for a moment, then glanced at Boruto and said, "Don't worry too much about winning or losing. After all, even your master couldn't beat my older brother back then."
Boruto Uzumaki sighed, Sasuke Uchiha patted his head, recalling recent events.
This time and space is truly something to cherish. He has family and clansmen here. If only he could grow up in this time and space, how wonderful that would be. He would be willing to give up all his power, whether it be the Rinnegan or the Mangekyou Mangekyo.
Unfortunately, what isn't yours will never be yours. He took one last look at the room's furnishings, then at Uchiha Itachi, and said, "Brother, we should go back."
Uchiha Itachi was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Okay!" He continued washing the dishes as if nothing had changed.
Sasuke Uchiha and Boruto Uzumaki stepped out of the room, followed by a strong Chakra surge, a flash of white light, and their figures vanished into nothingness.
Uchiha Itachi put down his bowl and chopsticks and went into the courtyard. A gentle Breeze blew, ruffling his long hair, and a leaf fell from a tree and landed in his palm.
"Konoha," he murmured, then walked out of the courtyard toward Fugaku. He was going to tell Uchiha Fugaku and his mother Uchiha Mikoto, about this.
When Fugaku learned of this, his expression didn't change much. He then said, "Go and comfort your mother. She must be very disappointed to know this."
Uchiha Itachi stood up and told Uchiha Mikoto about it. Uchiha Mikoto was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "He's gone? That's for the best, after all..." Uchiha Mikoto couldn't finish the sentence, "He had his own life to live too."
Although it wasn't Sasuke from the same timeline, the feeling of blood ties still caused her immense pain. Sasuke had suffered so much, and after only a few days of good times, he had to go back. What mother could accept that?
Uchiha Itachi remained silent for a moment, then waited for his mother Uchiha Mikoto, to calm down before speaking, "Mother, we need to inform the Lord Hokage about this."
Uchiha Mikoto nodded, and Uchiha Itachi obediently withdrew. He turned around, closed the door, and walked towards the Hokage Villa.
At this moment, Uchiha Kō was practicing the Eight Inner Gates in the villa's private training ground. Uchiha Kō had now developed the Gate of Wonder, "Morning Evening Elephant, Daytime Tiger!" A golden tiger ran out, making a sound that terrified all beasts, and finally caused an explosion!
The explosion also woke Tsunade, who had fallen asleep due to exhaustion. She opened her eyes and found herself in the training field, looking at the large crater in front of her and Uchiha Kō body was emanating blue blood energy.
She paused for a moment, then asked, "Husband, is this... the Eight Inner Gates?"
Upon hearing the voice, Uchiha Kō turned around, his aura vanishing and the blue blood energy disappearing. As if nothing had happened, Uchiha Kō walked up to Tsunade: "That's right, this is the Eight Inner Gates."
Tsunade's eyes lit up. "Sugoi!" Then she suddenly hugged Uchiha Kō. Even if Chakra Pellet had absorbed the Tsunade, she couldn't have caused such great damage in one move.
Moreover, judging from the aura, this is Taijutsu damage! Reaching this level in cultivation is no easy feat!
"I heard that mastering the Five Gates Gate of Limit this secret technique is enough to be recognized as Jonin, and you, my husband, must have mastered more than just the Five Gates!" Tsunade, her eyes sparkling.
Uchiha Kō nodded. "The Seventh Gate, the Gate of Wonder, and its accompanying technique, the Day Tiger!" He smiled and then felt the strength of his physical body. Originally, his physical body, thanks to Sage Mode and Sage Body, was already comparable to a Kage -Kage Level body.
Even when he fought the Third Raikage- to-hand, he was not at a disadvantage and could even crush him. Now that he had mastered the Eight Inner Gates, he felt that his physical body had reached the level of the Sage of Six Paths.
He is no weaker than the Ōtsutsuki Clan, but he has not yet mastered the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death, because the Gate of Death is too powerful and could easily destroy Konoha, causing tens of thousands of casualties.
It's clearly unsuitable for use in Konoha, but since it's the version without side effects, it's probably just as good for use on the battlefield!
Tsunade lit up. "My husband is so amazing!" Then she suddenly frowned. "As for the Eighth Gate, let's not practice it. I've heard that once the Eighth Gate is unleashed, the caster is doomed."
Her eyes held a serious expression of worry. Uchiha Kō nodded, offering no further explanation. Just then, a servant reported, "Uchiha Itachi is currently waiting at the gate."
Uchiha Kō raised an eyebrow. He hadn't even gone to find Uchiha Itachi yet, and Uchiha Itachi had come looking for him. Interesting. In that case, he might as well meet him!
He smiled and then said to Tsunade, "Wife, you go back and rest first, I'll be right back."
Seeing this, Tsunade nodded and returned to the villa.
Uchiha Kō took a towel from the plate brought by a servant and wiped the sweat off his body. Then he walked towards the door. He had originally planned to call Uchiha Itachi out today and ask him about his relationship with Rou Rou.
Now that he's come to us himself, there must be something else going on besides this. In that case, we can't leave him hanging, so let's receive him.
Uchiha Kō quickly arrived at the villa's entrance. At that moment, Uchiha Itachi stood ramrod straight, his eyes deep and his aloof demeanor radiating an air of superiority. If any other young girls from Konoha were present, they might have fallen for him instantly.
Uchiha Kō rolled his eyes at the arrogant look on his face, then invited him in. "What is it?"
Uchiha Itachi spoke up, "Sasuke is gone."
Uchiha Kō was shocked. Sasuke Uchiha was dead? Something was wrong! Sasuke was only seven or eight years old, how could he be dead? Then he quickly realized, oh, it was young Sasuke!
Looking at the calm Uchiha Kō Uchiha Itachi said, "Why don't we talk in the study?"
Uchiha Itachi nodded. This was Uchiha Kō's home; it didn't matter where they spoke.
The two then went to the study. Uchiha Kō was still sitting in the executive chair, and then gestured for Uchiha Itachi to sit on the sofa. "How do you feel about learning about your brother's experiences in another timeline?"
Uchiha Itachi pondered for a moment, then said, "I am proud of him."
Uchiha Kō's lips curled into a smile as he stared directly at Uchiha Itachi: "Itachi, you know that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking how you feel? If you did those things, will you regret it?"
When Uchiha Kō's words reached Uchiha Itachi's ears, it was as if a pebble had been dropped into a calm lake, stirring up ripples in Uchiha Itachi's heart. "I... will regret it." He looked directly into his own heart, and then added...
"But I will still choose this path. After all, even if we have a village and a home, if my father launches a coup, the Uchiha Clan might survive, but Konoha will definitely be divided up by other villages. Rather than that, it's better to..."
He looked up at Uchiha Kō, Uchiha Kō sighed. Itachi was still Itachi, but he himself couldn't do it—wielding a longsword and annihilating his entire clan.
"Actually, you've fallen into a misconception. If you carefully analyze the situation in Konoha at that time, you should know that under the Third's leadership, Konoha went from prosperity to decline. The lust for power is something that people can't extricate themselves from, something they can't forget."
"They might even eliminate a particularly outstanding person if they emerge, in order to consolidate their power. As for Minato, his mind was rather simple; he only knew how to become Hokage and protect the villagers, and he didn't know how to build his own political team."
"Therefore, the Namikaze Minato of that timeline was merely a representative of Sarutobi Hiruzen, and could not be considered the true Hokage. If he had spoken up to protect the Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha Clan might not have met its demise."
Uchiha Kō went on and on about this, then suddenly shook his head. "Why bother telling you all this? After all, it didn't happen in my own timeline. Don't think about it."
"But I want you to know that sometimes, you don't need to be so selfless. Having some selfish desires won't get you any criticism, as long as you're strong enough!" Uchiha Kō revealed the essence of the world and the true nature of reality to Uchiha Itachi.
Uchiha Itachi remained silent, then looked at Uchiha Kō, recalling what he had heard about Uchiha Kō. He had his own selfish motives, his own assets, and he made them public.
No one called him greedy, no one called him lecherous, and no one in the village said that Uchiha Kō was a decadent and licentious demon. Although he was the leader of the ninjas, he did not live up to the world's definition of a ninja.
In his eyes, comfort is the most important thing. Living in the eyes of others is not being your true self. In fact, because of this, all the major clans praise Hokage Uchiha Kō, and few people mention his other shortcomings.
Compared to the Ninja World who have been treated like killing tools for so many years, Uchiha Kō is more like a person, a person with flesh and blood and his own thoughts.
His ideas resonated with nearly 80% of people, making them feel the authenticity of Hokage Third Hokage Uchiha Kō, rather than him merely flaunting himself or claiming to be a ninja.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, acted as if he had distanced himself from the masses and the ninjas, governing the village with the eye of a politician: keeping what was beneficial to him and eliminating what was detrimental.
Such a person only instills fear of his power, thus making people obedient, but loses the hearts of the people and the support of ninjas and even the ninja clan.
Countless times the ninja clans wanted to change the Hokage, but each time they were forced to their deaths or defect by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō through various means in the original story. How absurd!
Uchiha Itachi remained silent, deep in thought about Uchiha Kō's words. It seemed that in that instant, the shackles of the ninja had suddenly shattered.
Click!