In the desolate borderlands of the Land of Fire, the wind moaned, whipping up dust and sweeping past jagged rocks. Far from any settlement, even the sparse vegetation seemed stubbornly resilient. Sasuke Uchiha traveled alone through this barren land. The ominous layer of dark purple chakra around him had gradually drawn inward, but it had not vanished. Instead, like a second skin, it had become more closely entwined with his own chakra.
The scene of him using that dark power to crush the missing-nin in an instant still replayed vividly in his mind. That overwhelming sense of control, of holding life and death in his hands, was like the most potent poison, offering immediate comfort at his weakest moment. But in its wake came a faint yet undeniable chill and numbness from deep within his soul.
He could feel some force quietly stripping away his emotions. His agonizing pain, his profound confusion, even his complicated, inexpressible feelings toward Itachi seemed sealed behind an invisible shell of ice, growing blurred and distant. In their place came an almost absolute calm and an increasingly obsessive hunger for power itself.
Emotion is weakness. Power alone is real. A cold voice seemed to whisper in his heart. He could not tell whether it was a distortion of his own thoughts or the dark power tempting him. He clenched his fist, feeling the chakra flowing through his body, combining the sharpness of Lightning Release with the devouring nature of darkness. His gaze grew ever more resolute.
He needed greater power. He needed to master this force completely, to use it to sever every bond and seek an answer... one that belonged to him alone. He had left Konoha behind for good.
He had chosen a path of shadows that ran counter to the entire world.