Sasuke stared at the utterly familiar yet lifeless face in his arms and could no longer control himself. Even his pupils contracted involuntarily.
His body suddenly began to tremble without warning, and his hands shook along with it.
Clinging to one last shred of hope, Sasuke tremblingly held his fingers beneath his mother's nose, trying to feel whether she was still breathing.
But his face turned ashen. No matter how carefully he checked, he could not detect a single breath. That undeniable fact dealt the final blow that broke him.
Unnoticed by anyone, the single tomoe that had been slowly revolving in Sasuke's Sharingan suddenly began spinning rapidly.
Then, amid that rapid rotation, the single tomoe in each eye became two.
Sasuke suddenly stopped trembling. Then he slowly lowered the person in his arms to the floor, as though setting down a precious treasure.
After laying her down, he gently smoothed his mother's disheveled hair, paying no attention to the blood staining his hands and body.
Once he finished, Sasuke stood in silence. As he slowly turned around, a flicker of surprise crossed Itachi's eyes.
Itachi had not expected Sasuke's Sharingan to evolve so quickly. He had yet to use his trump card, and Sasuke's eyes had already evolved into the Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
Just then, Sasuke looked at Itachi and spoke. His voice was calm and detached, yet carried a faint tremor:
"Itachi, I need to ask you one more time. Did you really kill Mother and Father? And why?"
Itachi had not expected Sasuke to calm down at a time like this.
A trace of tender sorrow flashed deep in Itachi's eyes, unnoticed by anyone. Then he casually tossed aside the blood-soaked Ninja Blade in his hand and said with a calm expression:
"For power, of course. Otherwise, I