[The Canopy Screen shifted. Beneath a bright moon, Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha stood at the edge of a cliff.]
[With his back to Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha spoke in a voice heavy with exhaustion and despair:]
["The Uchiha coup can't be stopped. If civil war breaks out in Konoha, other nations will seize the opportunity. The Fourth Shinobi World War may become unavoidable."]
[Shisui Uchiha's voice suddenly grew eerily calm.]
["Danzo... took one of my eyes. I can no longer fulfill my dream of using Kotoamatsukami to stop the war."]
["He doesn't trust me. He'll probably take my left eye too. Before that happens, I've decided to give it to you."]
[He struggled to raise a hand to his left eye.]
["Protect the village... and the Uchiha name..." A faint smile crossed Shisui Uchiha's face, mingling pain, trust, and acceptance. "I'm leaving everything to you... Itachi!"]
[Before he had finished speaking, his fingers dug in!]
[Squelch!]
[Another soft sound rang out, yet it was even more heartbreaking than when Danzo had taken his right eye.]
[Shisui Uchiha tore out his own left eye—the last Mangekyō Sharingan bearing the power of Kotoamatsukami—and held it firmly out to Itachi Uchiha.]
[Itachi Uchiha stared at Shisui Uchiha's bloodied face, then at the eye he offered, which held his dearest friend's final will and power.]
[Grief and fury nearly tore him apart, but he knew there was no time to hesitate.]
[A crow flew over and took Shisui Uchiha's eye.]
[Itachi Uchiha asked, his voice trembling, "I've taken it. What will you do now?"]
[As though he had completed his final mission, Shisui Uchiha lost all strength and toppled backward.]
["Wait! Shisui!" Itachi Uchiha reached for him.]
[But Shisui Uchiha used the last of his strength to slip free of Itachi Uchiha's hand. He gave him a smile as pure and warm as it had been years ago.]
["Itachi... don't stop me. This is... the last thing I can do."]
["If I die, things might change."]
[With that, he fell backward like a kite with its string cut, vanishing into the bottomless, mist-shrouded chasm.]
["Shisui!!!"]
[Itachi Uchiha lunged to the cliff's edge and let out a heart-wrenching cry. Tears finally spilled from his eyes, mingling with the blood that flowed from them.]
[At the same time, his pupils changed violently. A strange pattern formed in Itachi Uchiha's eyes.]
The Canopy Screen's vision ended there.
The screen in the sky had shown Sasuke Uchiha that bloodstained past with the merciless detachment of a narrator.
From his home, Sasuke Uchiha had watched the confrontation outside Naka Shrine.
He had seen Danzo's cruelty and betrayal; seen Brother Shisui lose his right eye; seen that tragic green Susanoo; seen the final escape and the entire moment his brother, Itachi Uchiha, awakened his eyes.
He had watched Brother Shisui tear out his last eye and hand it to the man Sasuke hated to the bone, then fall into the endless Abyss with that smile of acceptance and utter despair.
Sasuke Uchiha felt as though his own heart had been ripped out and hurled down that cold cliff with him.
Then a bolt of lightning seemed to split the darkness in Sasuke Uchiha's mind. Countless fragments of information slammed together as never before!
Brother Shisui hadn't killed himself back then! Danzo had driven him to his death!
Brother Shisui had wanted to protect the village and the Uchiha name. Even at the end, he had tried to stop the war and preserve peace between Konoha and the Uchiha!
In the end, he had entrusted both his eye and his dream to Sasuke's brother—Itachi Uchiha.
A cruel but airtight conclusion forced its way into Sasuke's mind:
If... if Itachi had possessed Brother Shisui's eye and power from so early on, if he truly wanted to protect the village as Brother Shisui had wished, then could he have slaughtered the entire clan to...
"Aaaagh!!!"
Sasuke Uchiha clutched his head and let out a scream that seemed to have been held in for years!
It wasn't physical pain. It was the agony of having his entire understanding of the world overturned!
Hatred! The bone-deep hatred he had built up for Itachi Uchiha over so many years suddenly seemed like a colossal joke!
The true mastermind had never been Itachi Uchiha!
It was Konoha!
It was that sanctimonious Shimura Danzō! To steal an eye and eliminate a threat, he had driven Brother Shisui to his death!
It was the Third Hokage and the rest of the Konoha Leadership, who had allowed it all to happen—even the Second Hokage!
They were the ones truly responsible for the slaughter of the entire Uchiha clan.
Konoha had driven Brother Shisui to his death! Konoha had taken everything from Itachi and turned him into a tool of slaughter! And Konoha had destroyed the Uchiha clan!
"Konoha... Konoha... Konoha!!!"
Sasuke trembled with fury. His black eyes turned into the red Sharingan, and the single Tomoe in each slowly became two.
The Uchiha clan hadn't been destroyed by Itachi Uchiha alone, the man who had wielded the blade. It had been destroyed by all of Konoha—the village that had bred that darkness and then enjoyed the fruits of its so-called peace!
He would have his revenge! But his target had changed completely. It was no longer his pitiful brother, the one who had carried out the slaughter. It was this false, filthy Konoha that had devoured everything he had!
Yet after that towering rage, cold reason forced down his urge to destroy everything.
He knew that with his current strength, taking on all of Konoha would be futile.
Shimura Danzō, the Third Hokage, any of those powerful Jonin—any one of them could kill him with ease.
He needed power now. Power enough 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 an unprecedented, icy calm.
He glanced out the window at the quiet, peaceful village of Konoha.
The target of his hatred was clear. The road ahead was set.
He needed to grow stronger, whatever 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!!!"
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