Sasuke Uchiha's resolve

[The Canopy Screen shifted. Beneath a bright moon, Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha arrived at the edge of a cliff.]

[With his back to Itachi, Shisui spoke, his voice heavy with exhaustion and despair:]

["There's no stopping the Uchiha coup now. If civil war breaks out in Konoha, other nations will seize the opportunity. The Fourth Shinobi World War may become unavoidable."]

[Shisui's voice suddenly grew unnaturally calm.]

["Danzo... took one of my eyes. I can no longer use Kotoamatsukami to stop the war as I'd hoped."]

["He doesn't trust me. He'll probably take my left eye too. Before he can, I've decided to give it to you."]

[He raised his hand with difficulty and placed it over his left eye.]

["Protect the village... and the Uchiha name..." A smile touched Shisui's face, mingling pain, trust, and relief. "I'm leaving everything to you... Itachi!"]

[Before the words had left his mouth, his fingers dug in!]

[Squelch!]

[It was another soft sound, yet somehow even more heartbreaking than when Danzo had taken his right eye.]

[Shisui tore out his own left eye—the last Mangekyō Sharingan bearing the power of Kotoamatsukami—and held it out to Itachi with unwavering resolve.]

[Itachi stared at Shisui's bloodied face, then at the eye held out to him. It carried his closest friend's final will and power.]

[Grief and rage nearly tore him apart, but he knew there was no time to hesitate.]

[A crow flew over and took Shisui's eye.]

[Itachi asked, his voice trembling, "I've got it. What will you do now?"]

[As though his final duty were done, all strength left Shisui's body, and he began to fall backward.]

["Wait! Shisui!" Itachi reached for him.]

[But Shisui used the last of his strength to pull free of Itachi's hand. He gave him a smile, pure and warm, just as it had been years ago.]

["Itachi... don't stop me. This is... the last thing I can do."]

["If I die, perhaps things will change."]

[With that, he tipped backward. Like a kite with its string cut, he fell into the bottomless, mist-shrouded chasm and vanished.]

["Shisui!!!"]

[Itachi threw himself to the cliff's edge and screamed from the depths of his heart. Tears finally burst from his eyes, mingling with the blood that flowed from them.]

[At the same time, his pupils changed violently. A strange pattern emerged in Itachi's eyes.]

The Canopy Screen's vision ended there.

The Light screen in the sky, like a cold-hearted storyteller, mercilessly displayed that bloodstained past before Sasuke Uchiha.

From his home, Sasuke had watched the confrontation outside Naka Shrine.

He had seen Danzo's ruthlessness and betrayal, seen Brother Shisui lose his right eye, seen that tragic green Susanoo. He had seen the final escape and the moment his brother Itachi awakened his eyes.

When he saw Brother Shisui tear out his last eye and hand it to the man Sasuke hated to his bones, then plunge into the abyss with that relieved yet utterly despairing smile, something inside him broke.

Sasuke felt as though his own heart had been ripped out and hurled into the cold chasm with him.

Then a bolt of lightning seemed to split the darkness in Sasuke's mind. Countless fragments of information snapped together as never before!

Brother Shisui didn't kill himself back then! He was driven to his death by Danzo!

Brother Shisui's ideal was to protect the village and the Uchiha name. Even at the end, Brother Shisui wanted to stop the war and preserve the peace between Konoha and the Uchiha!

In the end, he entrusted his eye and his dream to my brother—Itachi Uchiha.

A cruel but inescapable conclusion forced its way into Sasuke's mind:

If... if Itachi had Brother Shisui's eye and power all that time, and if he truly wanted to protect the village as Brother Shisui had wished, then did he slaughter the clan to...

"Aaaagh!!!"

Sasuke clutched his head and let out a scream that had been held back for far too long!

It was not physical pain. It was the agony of having his entire understanding of the world overturned!

His hatred! All those years of hatred for Itachi Uchiha, carved deep into his bones—now it seemed like one enormous joke!

Itachi Uchiha wasn't the one behind it all!

Konoha was!

It was that sanctimonious Shimura Danzō! He wanted Shisui's eyes and wanted to eliminate a threat, so he drove Brother Shisui to his death!

It was the Third Hokage and the other Konoha leaders who let it happen—even the Second Hokage bore responsibility!

They were the ones to blame for the slaughter of the entire Uchiha clan.

Konoha drove Brother Shisui to his death! Konoha took everything from Itachi and turned him into a tool of slaughter! And Konoha destroyed the Uchiha clan!

"Konoha... Konoha... Konoha!!!"

Sasuke shook with fury. His black eyes turned red as his Sharingan appeared, its single tomoe slowly becoming two.

It had never been just Itachi Uchiha who destroyed the clan. He had wielded the blade, but all of Konoha had bred that darkness and then reaped the "fruits of peace" it produced!

He would have his revenge! But his target had changed completely. It was no longer his pitiful brother, the one made to carry out the massacre. It was Konoha—the false, filthy village that had swallowed everything he had!

Yet after that towering rage, cold reason forced down his urge to destroy it all.

He knew that with his current strength, taking on all of Konoha would be hopeless.

Shimura Danzō, the Third Hokage, any of those powerful Jonin—any one of them could kill him with ease.

He needed power now, enough power to crush all of Konoha! Until he had it, he could only lie low.

Sasuke slowly raised his head. The pain and turmoil faded from his face, replaced by a calm colder than anything he had ever felt.

He glanced out the window at the quiet, peaceful village of Konoha.

His target was clear. The path ahead of him was set.

He needed to grow stronger, no matter the cost.

"Just wait, Konoha!" Sasuke's voice was low and hoarse, as though it rose from the depths of hell. "When I have enough power..."

"I'll destroy everything you hold dear with my own hands!!!"