Kakashi hesitated, but finally removed Sasuke's shackles and sealing bands. Then he left the office and closed the door.
Sasuke opened his eyes. In his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan, three-bladed shuriken patterns slowly rotated.
There were no tears in his eyes, no anger, only a deathly cold emptiness.
"Why did you kill him?" Minato asked.
"Because that was what he wanted." Sasuke's voice was utterly flat. "Better to die by my hand than become a monster."
"You could have taken him away. You could have found another way-"
"There was no other way," Sasuke interrupted. "The Hōgyoku's corruption was irreversible. Liuyu never intended to let Itachi live.
"He was only using Itachi, using his pain, using his death to force these eyes to awaken."
He looked at Minato, the shuriken in his eyes slowly turning.
"He succeeded. I'm in pain now, so much pain that I want to destroy everything. And because of that pain, these eyes have grown stronger."
Minato looked at Sasuke, at the bottomless darkness in the boy's eyes, and sorrow welled up in his heart. Another Uchiha had been driven into a corner by fate, by other people.
"What do you want to do next?" Minato asked.
"Get stronger," Sasuke said. "Strong enough to kill Uchiha Ryūha. Strong enough to change this twisted world. Strong enough... that no one will ever suffer what Itachi and I suffered again."
"Then you should stay in Konoha. We can help you-"
"Konoha can't help me." Sasuke shook his head. "Training in Konoha is too slow. I need a faster way to get stronger. I need greater power. I need to reach a level where I can fight the Ōtsutsuki within one year and seven months."
"You want to return to the Pure Soul Court?"
"Yes," Sasuke said. "Captain Aizen