A moment later, Itachi gazed solemnly into Sasuke's eyes and fell silent for a long time. As utterly, utterly unbelievable as it sounded, there seemed to be a little too much information packed into Sasuke's words.
"You're saying the Senju and the Uchiha were actually one clan? Both descended directly from the Sage of Six Paths, with one side inheriting his Sage Body and the other his eyes? And Madara Uchiha left Konoha and started the Battle of the Valley of the End because he wanted to obtain the Senju bloodline's power and restore the glory of the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Yep."
"And the Mysterious Man on the night of the Nine-Tails' Attack was Madara Uchiha? So the Uchiha really were behind it?"
"No. Uh, yes and no, actually. He did use Madara Uchiha's name, but he wasn't actually Madara Uchiha. Anyway, he was a beast with the Uchiha surname."
Sasuke paused, then shook his head. The vile things Obito Uchiha had done were even worse than those of a certain fellow who had slaughtered his own family.
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"Also, that beast calling himself Madara Uchiha was actually a total simp. Even while he had his dream girl, he had a full-on bromance with some other guy. And he loved brainwashing himself, using the idea that this world was fake to run away from his own feelings.
"When his dream girl died, instead of trying to resurrect her, he wanted to destroy the entire world and make everyone dream together."
"Wait, the Sage of Six Paths told you all this? Was the old man really that much of a gossip?"
The more Shisui heard, the more confused he became, until he couldn't help interrupting Sasuke's lengthy speech.
"Not exactly. The old man just let me take a look at what happened in the past and some possible futures. He also gave me some powers, kind of like Sun Wukong's lifesaving hairs in the myths. Wood Release was one of them.
"I saw all that information myself and remembered it."
Scratching his head, Sasuke looked at the two of them and suddenly grinned.
"Heh heh heh heh..."
His laughter made their scalps prickle. After a moment's bewilderment, Itachi's expression abruptly changed. He thought he understood why Sasuke had so conveniently been attacked by Danzo along Shisui's route on the very day Shisui planned to inform the Third Hokage.
"Could it be...?"
"Exactly. In the future I saw, Shisui revealed the power of his eyes to the village leadership and wanted to control Father to stop the Uchiha from staging a coup."
"!!!" Shisui's expression changed sharply. Mature as he was, even he couldn't keep his emotions in check. How could Sasuke possibly know about his dojutsu?!
But then he noticed something wasn't right.
He had indeed intended to tell the Third Hokage about the Uchiha's planned coup, but he hadn't intended to bring up Kotoamatsukami straight away. He wanted to hear the Third Hokage's opinion first.
When he played with Sasuke in the past, the little brat would often blurt out sayings like, "An innocent man becomes guilty by possessing a treasure." They had left a deep impression on him. Although he very much wanted to tell the leadership about Kotoamatsukami and offer sincerity in exchange for sincerity, he still hadn't made up his mind after much hesitation.
Sasuke caught the changes in his expression, and his smile grew even brighter.
"Looks like what I said doesn't quite match what you were thinking, Shisui. That means everything I've done over the years hasn't been completely useless."
After several shifts in his expression, Shisui Uchiha fell silent for a moment, then let out a long breath. Excusing himself, he rose and went into the courtyard to compose himself.
"Then, in the original course of events, what happened afterward..."
Inside the room, Uchiha Itachi unconsciously clenched his fingers. He already believed about eighty percent of what Sasuke had said. Knowing Shisui, he would most likely have told the Hokage about Kotoamatsukami outright.
To be fair, when he first learned of Shisui's eye ability, even he had felt wary for a few moments. How much more wary would the village have been, given its already deep rift with the Uchiha?
Yet Sasuke didn't answer Itachi's question. Instead, he continued watching him with an ambiguous smile. Only when Itachi began to feel unnerved did he change the subject.
Shisui had left at just the right time. Some things were better said now, while the brothers were alone.
"Oh, right. I wasn't finished talking about that guy impersonating Madara Uchiha. He wears a spiral-patterned mask, though sometimes he wears a tiger-patterned one. He wears black robes, but sometimes he wears Uchiha Clan clothing. Sometimes he has chains on his hands, and sometimes he uses a long sword..."
It's him!
Uchiha Itachi's eyes widened instantly, and a figure immediately appeared in his mind. He had seen the spiral mask Sasuke described while on a mission. He had never imagined that its wearer was the culprit behind the Nine-Tails' Attack, the one who had made the Uchiha's already dire situation even worse!
"And he's been working with Danzo all along, too. He told Danzo about the Uchiha Clan's Izanagi technique. And in the fate originally laid out, he would join forces with Root and a certain guy who lost his composure after his best friend was ambushed and killed, and wipe out the Uchiha Clan..."
Sasuke paused there and stared straight into Itachi's eyes. It was time to give his dear brother a strong dose of reality.
Following that thread of reasoning, Uchiha Itachi's pupils instantly dilated at those words. He had a terrible suspicion about the identity of the person who exterminated the entire Uchiha Clan-and that person's best friend.
"...Men and women, young and old, shinobi and ordinary people, all killed. Not even a chicken or dog left alive. After that night, the entire Uchiha Clan had only one boy left, not even seven years old.
"And after that, only three Uchiha remained in the Shinobi World. Counting that best friend, Konoha lost three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. Danzo got one eye, two pairs ended up outside the village, and another pair went up in flames."
Silence. Utter silence. After those words, a pin dropping would have been audible in the room.
Uchiha Itachi's eyes were full of disbelief, and his body trembled beyond his control.
There was practically no other possibility for the identity of the man who slaughtered his own family.
Though his methods were extreme, his intelligence far exceeded that of ordinary people. Combining it with Sasuke's words, he reconstructed the entire incident in his mind.
Shisui went to report the coup and was fatally ambushed by Danzo, losing one eye. He most likely entrusted the other eye to Itachi, who then awakened his Mangekyo because of Shisui's death.
But why did he say Konoha lost three pairs of Mangekyo? Sasuke must be counting Danzo separately from Konoha, but where did the other pair come from? Where did the Uchiha get a third pair of Mangekyo?
And what did he mean by two pairs outside the village? There were three pairs total, and one pair was lost, so how could there still be two and a half pairs?
And even setting aside the question of the two pairs outside the village, whose was that other pair in the clan?
Could it be... Father's?
But Itachi still felt something was wrong. If his father really had the Mangekyō Sharingan, how could Fugaku, who had possessed it for over a decade, have been killed by him?
Unless...
But Fugaku was the leader of the Hawks who wanted to lead the clan in rebellion! Why would he willingly submit to execution?
As though a possibility had occurred to him, Uchiha Itachi's eyes instantly became bloodshot. His head felt as though it would split apart. He crouched down, clutching his head, unable to accept reality.
The relentless blows and the destruction of the beliefs he had always held sent Itachi's psychological defenses crumbling one after another. In a single day, his entire outlook had been severely challenged. The worldview he had built over the years seemed on the verge of collapse.
The information he had so far undoubtedly denied, at the most fundamental level, the value of everything his future self would do.
If it was all true, then what exactly had he done in that predetermined future!!! What had any of it amounted to!!!
Yet just before he could follow that line of thought into a complete breakdown, a small hand filled his vision.
Dazed, he looked up to see Sasuke smiling sincerely at him, watching him earnestly. His eyes were utterly clear. There was none of the rejection, disgust, or even hatred Itachi had imagined, only the same trust and conviction he remembered.
Those eyes shone brighter than the sunlight streaming through the window behind Sasuke's head.
Just as Itachi began to feel moved and his gaze gradually cleared, the god he regarded as his sun spoke, instantly bringing him back to reality. He couldn't help anticipating what Sasuke would say.
At first, Sasuke really had wanted to deliver a few impressive lines. But Itachi's gaze made him a little uncomfortable, and his brain suddenly short-circuited. He blurted out:
"Crying? The clock keeps ticking even if you cry...
"Ahem. Brother, wait, don't hit me! I was wrong!"
Before you continue