Uchiha Itachi, Desperate to Die

Upon hearing Itachi's words, a hint of surprise flashed clearly in Koko's eyes.

He quickly suppressed that inappropriate emotion, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

"Oh ho. To save your life, you'd even resort to such a term?"

"Your skin has gotten quite thick in just a few days."

Hearing Koko's sarcastic words, Itachi gave a barely perceptible bitter smile and did not refute them.

"Something seems off about this guy..."

He muttered to himself, silently scrutinizing the Treasure Pika in front of him.

Ever since that battle in Konoha, Uchiha Chu has been deliberately avoiding me.

Even in the few times he did communicate with Jiraiya and the Third Hokage, he deliberately chose times when he was not present.

Now, this god of civil war is actually risking being slaughtered to appear before me on his own initiative—this is absolutely abnormal!

"What exactly does he want from me?"

Could it be --

Kou seemed to have thought of something, and a flash of undisguised killing intent crossed his eyes as he looked at Itachi.

"That bastard, is he planning to use Kotoamatsukami on me?!"

The moment this thought crossed his mind, Kou's heart sank a few degrees. He fixed his gaze on Itachi, quickly activating his eye power to prepare for Itachi's next move.

Itachi felt the terrifying pressure emanating from Kotobuki, so intense it made him feel breathless, and he visibly jolted, quickly saying:

"You've misunderstood, Brother Kou! I had no intention of fighting you."

He looked into Kou's cold, sharp Rinnegan and added in a low voice,

"Besides, even if I were to actually make a move, I wouldn't stand a chance against you in your current state, would I?"

Faced with Itachi's show of weakness, Kouchi not only showed no sign of relaxing, but instead scoffed disdainfully:

"Tch, come on, who knows what's going on in your head, you lunatic."

"Just say what you want. You risked being killed by me by coming all this way to me... what exactly do you want?!"

Itachi remained silent for a moment, the bitter smile on his face gradually fading away, replaced by an extremely heavy expression that Toki had never seen on his face before.

"I've come here seeking death."

"... ha?!"

Koko's eyes widened involuntarily, clearly surprised by Itachi's answer.

He quickly composed himself, scrutinized Itachi's expression, and a deep sense of doubt flashed in his eyes.

There was no clue on his face.

In his dark and serene eyes, there was only a sense of relief and calm.

"Is Uchiha Itachi serious?"

He whispered this in his heart, then, looking into Itachi's honest gaze, he coldly questioned:

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

He didn't believe that this arrogant lunatic would suddenly have an epiphany and abandon his life-or-death iZuoTV plan.

For this guy to change his mind and come to me seeking death, something extremely unusual must have happened that I don't yet know about!

"As expected, I was seen through. I must say, you truly are worthy of being called Brother Kou..."

Itachi sighed sincerely, shifting his gaze from Kokoro's face to his outstretched hands.

Those hands were slender and long, but they appeared exceptionally pale and thin under the moonlight.

Itachi looked at the obviously unhealthy hands, as if recalling something, and whispered:

"From a long time ago, whether it was me or Shisui, you always seemed to be the first to know what we were thinking... sometimes even before we were actually there."

He paused, sighed deeply, and murmured bitterly:

"If only I had listened to what you said sooner back then."

Perhaps, everything will be different later...

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Knocking coldly interrupted Itachi's unfinished emotion, and said impatiently:

I have long since run out of things to say to you.

I don't have time to waste on you. If you don't get to the point, I'll kill you right now!

Before he finished speaking, he drew the Firebirth from his back without hesitation.

The instant the blade left its sheath, a dazzling, scorching crimson flame erupted from the sword, so intense that it slightly distorted the surrounding air.

Itachi felt the intense killing intent emanating from the Firebirth sword, his eyes showing no sign of flinching, and slowly spoke:

"While I was in Konoha contacting the Lord Third Hokage and Lord Jiraiya, I took some time... to meet with Sasuke."

"What did you say?!"

Koko's pupils suddenly contracted, and he glared at Itachi, coldly shouting:

"You beast, what did you do to that kid?!"

"... I didn't do anything, I just glanced at him from a distance."

Itachi shook his head, his voice so low it was almost carried away by the night wind:

"In my original plan, I was supposed to just take a quick look from afar and then leave."

But just as I was about to leave... someone spotted me and found me.

He paused here, and his usually calm and almost emotionless eyes trembled slightly, a rare occurrence.

Seeing the reaction, which was quite intense for him, he narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had already guessed the person's identity.

"The person who discovered me, or more precisely... the person who realized I was lurking in the shadows watching them, was Sasuke's friend, Naruto Uzumaki."

Itachi took a slow breath, shook his head, and murmured with a wry smile:

"No, to be more precise, it's the Fourth Hokage residing within Naruto —Lord Namikaze Minato."

He contacted me and said he wanted to talk to me alone.

Itachi refocused his gaze on Kotori's cold Rinnegan and said in a deep voice:

"About Sasuke, about... the Uchiha."

"... Yeah."

He responded with a knock, his hand still firmly gripping the Firebirth, the blazing flames on the blade still boiling, showing no signs of abating.

"It seems you already know this from Brother Minato."

Back then... the Uchiha could have cleared their name.

Hearing Koko's emotionless words, Itachi's throat bobbed slightly.

He didn't say anything, he just lowered his head little by little.

"Heh, that's not surprising."

Looking at the man before her, who was filled with a desire to die, she saw no sadness in her eyes, not even a hint of schadenfreude.

For this arrogant bastard, the only thing that could bring him to his senses was the reality that negated all his actions.

Only by seeing it with his own eyes can he fully understand just how foolish that self-righteous "sacrifice" truly was.

The Uchiha Clan had a chance to clear their name.

If only Itachi and Shisui back then could have truly listened to him, stood with him, and jointly led the affairs of the Uchiha Clan, Konoha would have lost the confidence and necessity to wage war against the Uchiha.

Furthermore, by using Uchiha Kuro as a bridge connecting the Uchiha with the Konoha High Command, no major conflict will occur between Konoha and the Uchiha within a few years.

Just wait a few years, until Minato awakens from Naruto's body, and until the truth about the Nine-Tails Incident is revealed to the world, Uchiha Clan will naturally be exonerated.

At that time, in order to make up for the injustices suffered against the Uchiha over the years, Konoha will inevitably offer substantial benefits to mend the rifts formed over the years.

The return of the Uchiha to the core of Konoha is almost a certainty.

But all of this is currently just a "possibility".

"Uchiha Itachi, by now you should understand."

Looking calmly at Itachi's shoulders, which were beginning to tremble slightly and could no longer stand straight in front of him, he said:

"The greatest war criminal responsible for the Uchiha Clan's downfall was not an outsider."

He pointed the Firebirth at the itachi and said coldly:

"It's your own... arrogance!!"