"And once things reached that point, Konoha High Command became even more convinced that the Uchiha Clan was the problem."
"Then, to carry out their purge smoothly, Konoha High Command summoned Uchiha Itachi for a private meeting. They told him that if the Uchiha coup broke out, Konoha would inevitably tear itself apart, and the entire village would collapse in the internal strife."
Those few words of background sketched out the trap that had closed around him, step by step.
At this, fury exploded in Sasuke's chest. His eyes reddened, and he could not hold back a fierce growl. "Was Itachi an idiot? How could he believe that?"
To him, anyone who calmly examined the situation would see the leadership's selfish motives and schemes. How could a few words so easily sway Itachi into slaughtering his own flesh and blood?
Uchiha Sen shook his head, a trace of regret in his eyes. "Itachi was far from stupid. In fact, he was so intelligent that he could see almost everything clearly. It was precisely that extraordinary intelligence that trapped him."
"Smart people overthink things. They always want to shoulder every consequence alone, believing only they can bear it all."
"So they refuse to trouble anyone else, much less swallow their pride and voice their needs."
Uchiha Sen slowly dissected the flaws in Itachi's character.
"And deep down, Itachi possessed the innate pride of the Uchiha bloodline. In him, that pride was magnified to its utmost extreme."
"He stubbornly believed that the growing divide between the Uchiha and Konoha stemmed from the entire clan's arrogance, insularity, and refusal to communicate."
"Yet he never settled down to have an honest discussion with his clansmen. Nor did he ever realize that Konoha High Command had cut off every avenue for the Uchiha to communicate