Listening to A Luo Tell Stories of the Past

"You two, be a little more careful. Let Sasuke's body lie down under the covers first..."

Izuna took a walk outside, checked on Naruto's condition, and chatted with the child for a while before returning to keep watch over Sasuke.

Yet when he came back, he found that brat who had left home had returned after just one day.

Sure enough, the brat had said yesterday that he would come home to see them again soon, but...

Yesterday, he had looked so miserable, as if they were parting for life and death, and now he was back already?

It was definitely a good thing that he had returned, but why did it feel like that brat had played them...

"Sasuke, can you see him? This is our suspected ancestor, Izuna Uchiha, an old man who died young..."

A Luo pushed Sasuke's soul back into his body. Watching Sasuke pull back the covers and lie down with a strange expression, he introduced Izuna's identity and situation from the side.

He had always called him an ancestor before, so in Sasuke's mind, he had probably imagined some elderly old man.

Now that he was looking at an ancestor who did indeed resemble them greatly but was clearly very young, it was only natural for him to feel conflicted.

"What do you mean, suspected? I did die a little early, but I definitely had descendants. You look so much like I did when I was young. There's no need to doubt it—you are absolutely my great-great-grandsons..."

Izuna planted his hands on his hips and glared at A Luo, deeply displeased with the word "suspected."

This brat had been the first to call him an ancestor, and now that his wings had grown in, was that it?

He had just eaten his fill and wanted to run off? In his dreams!

"Mm, Ancestor must have been just as cute as I was when he was little. I understand, I understand!"

A Luo reached out and pulled Sasuke's soul halfway back out again, while wearing an utterly insincere expression of approval toward Izuna.

"A Luo, stop bullying the old man all the time. If you make him cry, we'll have to comfort him. What a hassle."

Sasuke pulled A Luo over to sit beside him, half-embracing the younger brother who really could return. Much of his earlier bad mood dispersed.

It did not matter if he was a soul. As long as his little brother was still free, this was fine too!

As for this ancestor business, now that he could see him, Sasuke had no intention of doubting it. Their looks really did resemble what they might look like grown up.

It was just that discussing an ancestor with A Luo before had felt normal enough, but saying it to his face was something Sasuke truly could not do.

"Yeah, don't make him angry anymore. He has an older brother too, but his brother got lost..."

A Luo's soul leaned against Sasuke's. The two similar children sat side by side, talking about a subject that made Izuna glare but left him helpless.

"You said before that Obito Uchiha had something to do with my brother?"

Seeing how A Luo always seemed to want to mention his brother, Izuna suddenly widened his eyes, thinking of a possibility.

This brat definitely knew where his brother was!

Thinking back to yesterday, the genjutsu this brat had used to bully that white-haired man, that Obito Uchiha, and that sticky white root-like creature might all have had some connection to his brother.

Could it be that those white creatures had trapped his brother?

But those things did not seem particularly strong. Even if he was only a soul after death, his brother would not be that weak...

"Probably something like this: when your brother lived to an old age, his body could no longer hold up. So before he died, he found a boy he could control, planning to revive himself after certain plans succeeded. There was a little black blob running around, and I got curious, so I followed it and overheard them. But they definitely won't revive your brother. That little black blob said this one was easier to control than your brother..."

A Luo wore a conflicted expression as he "recalled" how Black Zetsu had come to Konoha, how A Luo had discovered him, followed him, and then overheard that information.

In the end, the focus of the conversation fell upon the Uchiha clan's secret: the stone tablet beneath Naka Shrine, which might have been passed down for over a thousand years.

"That stone tablet... my brother read it before..."

Izuna thought about it. He really did know something about the Uchiha clan's stone tablet.

It was precisely because he had read it that, when he was severely wounded, he had demanded that his brother take his eyes and gain greater power. Only then would he have a chance of defeating the Senju Clan.

He had simply never expected that, not long after his death, his brother would actually cooperate with Hashirama Senju...

As for his brother, once he found him in the future, could he beat him up first?

"What he read was half true and half false. That little black blob said that, in order to find a suitable candidate, he had altered that stone tablet many times. It was not until he had deceived your brother that he finally saw hope..."

A Luo yawned and, without the slightest politeness, told Izuna and Sasuke all about how Madara Uchiha had been deceived by Black Zetsu and had actually believed it was the manifestation of his own will.

The more the two listened, the angrier they became. Izuna in particular unconsciously activated his Sharingan.

"So he wanted my eyes to evolve into the Mangekyō, then take them and fuse them with his own?"

Sasuke suppressed his hatred and calmed the resentment in his heart, asking A Luo about Itachi Uchiha for the first time.

The information that a brother's eyes were needed to evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly made him somewhat understand why his entire family had died, yet he alone had been left behind.

Because of his eyes.

"Who knows? Maybe he wanted to leave his eyes to you. After all, in everyone's eyes, I was someone who could never awaken the Sharingan."

A Luo sighed. He did not say that Itachi Uchiha would definitely give his eyes to Sasuke, because now that there was an extra him, there was no telling whether some unexpected change might happen to Itachi Uchiha as well.

They still could not let down their guard!

"A Luo, what else do you know that has to do with our family?"

Sasuke raised his head. His two-tomoe Sharingan activated as he looked seriously at his younger brother for the first time.

From the very beginning, his little brother had known many secrets. His body had been locked inside the small courtyard while his soul watched all of this unfold...

He had not known before, but now he wanted to understand. He wanted to know what his little brother had seen and faced during those past days...

"There's still a lot..."

A Luo sighed and began telling them about the Uchiha clan's rebellion plan, about Shisui Uchiha, about Itachi Uchiha, and about how the Uchiha clan had been monitored by ANBU.

During this time, he also "inadvertently" mentioned many things about the changes in Itachi Uchiha before and after Shisui's death.

Sasuke might not notice these things now, but once he calmed down and analyzed them carefully, he would definitely discover that something was different.

Although what had already happened could not be changed, Sasuke did not necessarily need to grow through his hatred of Itachi Uchiha at certain times.

A Luo was also only guessing, but this hatred and torment toward one's closest kin would very likely intensify Indra's will's transformation of him.