Sasuke soaked in the pool, savoring that rare moment of peace when his hatred briefly subsided.
He also felt the strange sensation of the power within him slowly being "straightened out," and heard phrases such as "refine or expel the foreign corruption," "long and painful," and "great perseverance and resolve."
Uchiha Ryūha's indifferent face flashed through his mind again, followed by the gruesome deaths of his parents and older brother, and the ruins where his clansmen had vanished.
His eyes snapped open. His right eye held an unprecedented resolve, while the dark purple light shining through the gap beneath the bandages over his left eye seemed less frenzied, though it remained.
"I'm willing." His voice was hoarse, but utterly firm.
"No matter how painful it is, no matter how long it takes, as long as I can grow stronger, as long as I can control my power, as long as I can... take revenge!"
"Good." Byakuya gave a slight nod and said nothing more. He simply stood quietly beside the pool, as though both guarding and supervising him.
The silvery-white water rippled gently, reflecting the unknown light spilling down from the dome above, as well as the boy's face in the pool-gradually calming, yet burning with an even more resolute flame.
Several days later, in the conference room of Konoha's Hokage Building.
The atmosphere was almost suffocatingly heavy.
At the broad conference table sat the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, his face weary but his gaze sharp.
Also seated there were the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, his hair and beard white and his brow furrowed, and the two elder advisers, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
Kakashi stood before the table and gave a detailed account of the attack during their C-rank mission, Sasuke's abnormalities, and the entire sequence of events