"Where is he?!"
Sasuke shoved open the half-closed hospital room door.
The door slammed against the wall with a dull bang, shaking loose flakes of plaster.
His scarlet Sharingan were riddled with a spiderweb of bloodshot veins.
He glared fixedly at Asuma and Kurenai inside.
Ignoring the lingering ache in his right arm, he turned and sprinted downstairs.
"Sasuke! Have you lost your mind?! Come back!"
Kurenai shouted anxiously after him, but Sasuke turned a deaf ear.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
Kill him!
And yet.
Reality was always cruel enough to drive a person to despair.
In a shabby inn outside Tanzaku Town.
The wooden hallway floor gave off a musty dampness and the sour stench of cheap tatami mats.
"Urgh..."
Like a beaten dog, Sasuke was pinned against the wall, Itachi Uchiha gripping his throat with one hand.
Flakes of plaster showered down.
"You're still too weak, Sasuke."
Itachi's emotionless Mangekyō Sharingan regarded him coldly.
"Because your hatred... still isn't deep enough."
"Tsukuyomi!"
"Aaaah!"
An agonized scream pierced the inn's thin wooden walls.
Seventy-two full hours of inhuman torment, being stabbed over and over.
It broke Sasuke's mind in an instant in the real world. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor like a heap of sludge.
When he woke again.
The pungent smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils.
Sasuke opened his heavy eyelids.
A stark white ceiling hung above him, and an IV bottle dripped steadily beside him.
"Sasuke! You're finally awake!"
Naruto's boisterous voice exploded beside his ear.
He held a bowl of steaming chicken soup with a faint meaty odor, his face filled with delighted surprise.
"Do you have any idea how long you were asleep?! You scared me half to death!"
Sasuke ignored Naruto's noise.
He turned his