The Uchiha Clan Compound had once flourished in Konoha before Uchiha Itachi turned it into a deserted district. Later, under the Third's policies, it had become an ordinary residential neighborhood.
Now, after Naruto's technique, it had become the Uchiha Clan Compound once again, while the ordinary residential neighborhood had shifted some distance to the side.
Some of the vacant mansions in the Uchiha Clan Compound had been reassigned, but the great residence that had once belonged to the clan head's family retained its old appearance. Only the bustle and grim tension of the past were gone, replaced by a stillness deepened by time.
It even looked newer.
At that moment, however, the atmosphere in the great residence's courtyard was unusually tense and complicated.
Sasuke Uchiha stood beside his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, his body slightly taut and his right hand unconsciously resting on his sword hilt.
His dark eyes were fixed on the figure in the center of the courtyard, whose hands were bound and whose chakra had been sealed-his older brother, Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi looked more haggard than Sasuke remembered. Years of illness had etched deep marks into his young face.
He wore simple, dark clothing, his hands locked in specially made chakra-suppressing handcuffs. His head hung low, and his long black hair obscured part of his face, making his expression difficult to read.
Only his eyes, occasionally lifting above the deep tear troughs beneath them, remained as still as a deep pool, yet seemed to churn with indescribable turmoil.
With Kakashi and Might Guy's assistance, Sasuke had brought Itachi back to Konoha from the Kirigakure region and finally taken him before their mother.
Sasuke Uchiha was still too young, while Itachi had long possessed a fearsome reputation. Kakashi could not trust Sasuke to take Itachi home to see Mikoto