"Your little brother received a sign from a sage last night. I'm destined to save the world ten years from now. What could a mere Danzo possibly do to me?"
Inside the room, Sasuke tipped his head back helplessly as a nervous Itachi kept feeling him all over.
Things seemed to have strayed a little from the plan, but it was no big deal.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he studied Shisui's and Itachi's eyes.
Judging by the timing, the old Third Hokage must have already argued with Danzo. Unless something unexpected happened, there were only a few possible outcomes.
None of them would interfere with his next steps. No matter what happened, he would never let Itachi repeat his mistakes.
Sasuke's gaze turned a little strange at the thought. Honestly, there was something seriously wrong with the way Itachi and Shisui thought. How could they casually tell other people about something like Kotoamatsukami, which could control people's minds?
And then there was the business of wiping out their own clan. Those who knew the truth understood that Hiruzen Sarutobi was stupid and had failed to react in time. Anyone who didn't would think he was already so brain-dead that he'd inflict a thousand points of damage on the "enemy" at the cost of two thousand to himself.
Even in his previous life, Sasuke had felt something was off about this. Of the different versions, the manga's account, in which Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't known, made the most sense. From a political standpoint, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't possibly have had the resolve at this point to order the Uchiha's eradication.
And from a personal standpoint, Hiruzen Sarutobi was a man who could sacrifice his life to take Orochimaru down with him. That made it even less likely.
Most likely, years of politics had dulled his reactions, making him instinctively seek compromise. He'd only wanted to stall for a while and negotiate with Fugaku or something, never expecting those three idiots-Danzo, Itachi, and Obito-to put their heads together and slaughter the Uchiha outright.
Just thinking about it was enough to make him despair. In terms of their public strength, it was like cutting off their own arm. As for their hidden strength, the damage went far beyond that.
"So... what exactly happened? Both the Root attack and your Wood Release are a little too unbelievable."
After confirming that Sasuke was indeed unharmed, and that both his chakra reserves and his physique seemed to have improved significantly, Itachi barely managed to calm down. He ignored Sasuke's usual wild nonsense and began pondering that series of baffling questions instead.
"Root attacked because that old dog Danzo has spent years frantically driving a wedge between the Uchiha and the village. Now things haven't gone his way, and both sides have reached a stalemate. He just wanted to use my death to bring the conflict between the village and the Uchiha to a head.
"And unless something unexpected happened, that old dog has definitely been chewed out by now, but he still won't give up. We'll need to be especially careful for a while. In a few days, we might suddenly hear that the Uchiha killed an ANBU member, or that the ANBU killed an important Uchiha figure."
"Then don't go out for the time being. I'll handle this." Itachi placed both hands on Sasuke's shoulders, his expression utterly serious.
Right now, he cared about nothing except Sasuke's safety. Though he hadn't yet had time to familiarize himself with his newly acquired power...
He lifted his head slightly, a cold light flickering in Uchiha Itachi's eyes where Sasuke couldn't see it. Shisui's lips trembled at the sight, as though he wanted to say something, but he only sighed and shook his head in silence.
Although Sasuke hadn't seen Itachi's expression, they had been brothers for seven years. He could figure out what Itachi was thinking with his ass.
Hey, don't go getting worked up and dreaming up some stupid plan again!
Damn it, if this guy could calmly think things through, he wouldn't be Uchiha Itachi!
Neither he nor Shisui had ever read much of anything, yet both were especially fond of thinking. That was the scariest part.
Learning without thought leaves you lost; thinking without learning leads you into danger!
Fortunately, Sasuke himself neither studied nor thought-he took out online loans, used cheats, and borrowed power. Otherwise, he would have run as far away as possible, or those two idiots would eventually get him killed.
Knowing Itachi, there was a very good chance he would get carried away and head straight to Root to start a massacre. Then he might even end up dying together with the old Third Hokage.
If that really happened, what the hell was Sasuke supposed to do? Their promising situation would go down the drain again.
Itachi reached out to stroke Sasuke's head and smiled faintly. Yet the chill on his face only deepened as he looked toward Shisui.
"Shisui, come with me to see Lord Hokage in a bit. I think there are some things we need to make clear."
"Well... all right..."
"No! Not all right at all! Brother! Calm down! Don't rush into anything!"
Sasuke's expression changed sharply. He clutched Itachi's sleeve, then turned toward Shisui, only to whip his head right back.
These two are more unreliable than each other.
"Let's put this aside for now and talk about my Wood Release first. Aren't you curious? I'm an Uchiha, yet I used the Wood Release that belongs to the Senju-no, to be precise, to the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
After giving it some thought, Sasuke decided to change the subject first and stop these two illiterate idiots from cooking up any more nonsense.
At his words, Itachi and Shisui exchanged glances. Their muddled heads suddenly cleared. Right-how could Sasuke possibly use Wood Release?
They vaguely remembered certain files mentioning that Root had conducted some secret, unspeakable experiments. But Sasuke had been under their watch all these years. How could he possibly have anything to do with those?
And besides...
Itachi instinctively reached up to rub his temple. His head felt foggy as he gazed worriedly at Sasuke.
In his earlier fury, he seemed to have awakened some special abilities. But his body apparently couldn't withstand the power in his eyes, sending waves of stabbing pain through his head.
A mismatch between the body and its power could cause serious side effects. That was actually how many clans' so-called bloodline diseases came about.
He was just about to ask whether Sasuke felt any discomfort, but then he remembered his careful examination earlier: Sasuke's body had been almost excessively robust, and his reserves of yang release chakra were absurdly vast. Itachi swallowed the question.
No matter how I look at it, there don't seem to be any side effects... Wait, if I really had to name one, there might be. Sasuke's personality is a little too carefree. Could the side effect actually be mental illness?
Uchiha? Mental illness? Tell us something we don't know.
"Right. You have Uchiha blood, so how could you use the First Hokage's jutsu?"
After a moment's thought, and with Sasuke frantically blinking at him, Shisui played along and supplied the opening.
Sasuke gave Shisui a satisfied look that said, You get it, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully under their expectant gazes.
"Yeah, how can I use Wood Release? Could it be that I'm so talented and so handsome that Wood Release naturally wants me to use it?"
"..." ×2
Itachi's mouth twitched. Whatever mood he had been building up had been completely derailed by Sasuke's antics. Through sheer muscle memory, he raised a hand and curled a finger, ready to rap Sasuke on the head.
"I'll give you one chance to rephrase that."
"Ahem. You looked so bitter and miserable, I just wanted to cheer you up.
"I remember now. An old man with onion eyes and two horns on his head appeared in my dream. He called himself the Sage of Six Paths and said I was his descendant, destined to save the world in the future. So he gave me the ability to temporarily use his power."
"..." ×2
The room instantly fell silent. The three stared at one another, and no one spoke for a long while.
"Hey, hey, why are you both so quiet? Isn't that a plausible explanation? Other than the Sage of Six Paths visiting me in a dream, what possible way could I have of using Wood Release?"
Maybe we should go back to talking about being handsome... ×2
"I feel like... could Sasuke really just be so talented that he learned to use Wood Release without a teacher?" After a long silence, Shisui looked toward Itachi with a pained expression.
"...I think that's pretty plausible."
Before you continue