"Come alone?" Fugaku pressed his hand down on the half-piece of bloodstained cloth, veins bulging on the back of his hand. "Who the hell does he think he is!"
Sasuke did not try to take the cloth. He only looked at the words on it.
The ink mingled with blood, but the handwriting was still Itachi's.
The Third Hokage said grimly, "This is a hostage threat now. Sasuke, you cannot go."
Mitokado Homura immediately chimed in. "Exactly. The Uchiha Clan Head cannot let a rogue ninja lead him around by the nose. The village will send ANBU to handle this."
Sasuke raised his eyes to him.
"Lord Advisor, a moment ago you were afraid I would go after Itachi. Now you're willing to send ANBU?"
Mitokado Homura's face twitched. "I am considering the village's stability."
"The village's stability?" Sasuke handed the bloodstained cloth to Shikaku. "He wrote about the people behind the door. The Snake-Patterned Door at the Root Old Well. Kakashi is there. If you're willing to gamble the lives of ANBU and Konoha Military Police Force members on Danzo not making a move, Lord Advisor, I can put those exact words into the record."
Shikaku took the cloth, glanced over it, and his expression darkened.
"Can we confirm the handwriting?"
Fugaku spoke. "It's Itachi's."
Inoichi Yamanaka looked at the Third Hokage. "Lord Hokage, we must notify Kakashi at the Old Well to withdraw his people immediately."
Sasuke shook his head.
"They can't withdraw."
The Third Hokage stared at him. "Why?"
"Danzo put the list behind the door, then wrote that I had to offer up my left eye. Behind that door is either a list or a trap. Now Itachi says he'll kill the people waiting behind it first. That means Danzo and Itachi have at least one channel through which they can communicate."
Utatane Koharu gritted her teeth. "That is speculation."
Sasuke pulled the wanted notice from his sleeve and slapped it down in front of her.
"Then let Itachi explain in person. With all three parties as witnesses, and everything on record. If he admits he's still in contact with Danzo, add another charge to his crimes as a rogue ninja."
The Third Hokage said, "You want to turn this meeting into an interrogation?"
"Lord Hokage, I have no interest in listening to him explain his hardships before he dies."
At those words, Fugaku turned to look at Sasuke.
The Uchiha fell silent for a moment as well.
The Third Hokage's eyelid twitched. "You want to kill him?"
Sasuke folded the wanted notice and put it back in his sleeve.
"He intended to kill my entire clan tonight. Now he's threatening the people behind the door. Lord Hokage, don't you think asking whether I want to kill him is unnecessary?"
Fugaku said heavily, "I'll go with you."
"No."
"I'm your father."
"Which is all the more reason you can't go." Sasuke turned to face him. "Itachi demanded one person. If you come, he'll say the Uchiha broke their word. If he runs and the people behind the door die, we'll be blamed for that too."
Fugaku's grip on his sword loosened, then tightened again.
"Then I'll watch from a distance."
Sasuke did not refuse. "A hundred paces away. Don't speak, and don't show yourself."
The Third Hokage turned to the ANBU. "Tell Kakashi to defend his position. He must not open the door or dismantle the seals. Send two ANBU squads around the flanks."
Sasuke said, "ANBU can go, but they need to take separate routes. Root knows the ANBU routes. Have the Hyuga observe underground movements from a distance, leave one Yamanaka to accompany me, and put the Nara Clan Head in charge of recording."
Shikaku rubbed his brow. "I knew I wouldn't get any sleep tonight."
Mitokado Homura said coldly, "You certainly have no trouble giving orders."
Sasuke looked at the Third Hokage. "Shikaku still has the document bearing the Hokage's seal. In matters involving the Danzo case, I have the right to inspect records and participate. If the Lord Advisor wants to go back on that, tear off the seal."
The Third Hokage raised his hand to stop Mitokado Homura.
"Do as Sasuke says."
The crowd in front of the Hokage Building parted of its own accord.
Sasuke walked down the steps, and two Uchiha guards followed. Fugaku was about to speak again, but Sasuke stopped first.
"Father, I'm leaving the clan compound to you."
Fugaku's Adam's apple bobbed. He said only one word. "All right."
Sasuke turned and headed toward the village gate.
Shikaku walked beside him, holding the bloodstained cloth and a recording scroll.
"Clan Head Sasuke, do you really intend to kill Itachi?"
"Would the Nara Clan Head prefer that I let him go?"
Shikaku did not break stride. "I'd prefer you not let your emotions drag you into playing his game."
Sasuke gave a cold laugh.
"He has no game left. After tonight, all his excuses will serve only one purpose."
Shikaku asked, "What purpose?"
"To convince himself."
The recording ninja from the Yamanaka Clan lowered his head and wrote those words down. As his brush scraped across the scroll, his hand grew a little tense.
The torches at the village gate had already been lit.
Beyond the cordon sealing off the village, dark trees stretched in an unbroken mass. Uchiha Itachi stood at the edge of the Konoha Gate's shadow, blood staining his black clothes and several wounds marking his face.
When he saw that Sasuke had actually come, conflicting emotions surfaced in his eyes.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke stopped inside the cordon.
"Rogue ninja Uchiha Itachi, under Konoha's temporary wanted notice, you are currently suspected of killing fellow village shinobi, collaborating with Shimura Danzō to plot the extermination of your clan, fleeing to evade punishment, and threatening hostages. You have one sentence to explain the people behind the door."
Itachi looked at Shikaku behind Sasuke.
"You brought someone."
"A witness." Sasuke raised his hand. "Aren't you fond of the greater good? Tonight, let's put that greater good on record."
Itachi's expression changed.
"I said to come alone."
Sasuke took out the bloodstained cloth and casually tossed it onto the ground.
"You also said you'd kill the people behind the door first if I didn't come. I'm here now. Where are they?"
Itachi fell silent for half a beat. "That's Danzo's trap. I only wanted to get you away from the Hokage Building."
Sasuke stared at him.
"You deliver Danzo's message for him, then claim it's for my own good?"
Itachi's fingers twitched.
"I wasn't delivering his message."
Sasuke turned to Shikaku. "Record this: Itachi denies remaining in contact with Danzo."
Shikaku immediately began writing.
Itachi's brows drew down. "Sasuke, do you have to speak to me like this?"
Sasuke lifted his chin.
"How would you like me to speak to you? Big brother, did your hands get tired before you killed our parents tonight? Big brother, did you help hold our clansmen down while Root dug out their eyes?"
Some of the color drained from Itachi's face.
"I haven't touched Father or Mother."
"Then when were you planning to?"
Itachi opened his mouth.
Sasuke took a step forward, pressing the cordon rope down beneath the tip of his shoe.
"Uchiha Itachi, the most disgusting thing about you isn't that you kill. Killing is normal for shinobi. What makes you disgusting is that you build yourself a monument before you kill, then expect your victims to kneel and thank you afterward."
Shikaku's writing hand paused, then continued.
Itachi closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his Mangekyo spun.
"Sasuke, you're still young. You don't know what an Uchiha coup would bring."
Sasuke raised his hand to cut him off.
"Don't talk about a coup. Tonight, we have written orders, account books, and living witnesses. Danzo wants the clan exterminated. He wants eyes. He wants test subjects. The side you chose is already written into the wanted notice."
Itachi's voice grew a little hoarse. "If the Uchiha and the village went to war, more people would die."
"So you helped Danzo kill the Uchiha first, making our family those 'more people.' Is that right?"
The two Uchiha guards behind him began breathing harder.
Shikaku said quietly, "Clan Head Sasuke, don't cross the line."
Sasuke did not turn around.
"Don't worry. I won't rush him."
Itachi looked at him. "Everything I did was to keep you alive."
Sasuke laughed aloud.
"Keep me alive, then make me remember every day that you slaughtered my family? Force me to hate you, force me to chase you, force me to grow up according to your script?"
At last, turmoil showed in Itachi's eyes.
"That was the only way I could think of."
"Then you're an idiot."
The words struck hard, and Itachi's face twitched.
Sasuke raised his hand and pointed toward the Hokage Building.
"I'm eight. Tonight, I saved the Uchiha, forced the Third Hokage to sign a document, sealed off Root, and had you declared a rogue ninja. You're thirteen, and you picked up a sword to be Danzo's dog. You call yourself a genius. Where's the genius?"
Itachi's chest began heaving harder.
"Sasuke!"
"Don't say my name." Sasuke unfolded the wanted notice. "From this moment on, you have only one connection to the Uchiha."
He spread the wanted notice open for Itachi to see.
"A traitor to the clan."
Itachi's Mangekyo spun faster, and the oppressive force in the air bore down on the cordon.
Both guards drew their swords at once.
Shikaku raised his hands to form hand seals, and his shadow stretched along the ground.
But Sasuke did not retreat.
He raised his hand and touched his left eye with his fingertips.
"You want this eye? Come take it."
Itachi's expression turned ugly in the torchlight.
"Are you trying to force me to attack?"
"I'm giving you a chance." Sasuke's voice turned cold. "Didn't you say you wanted to protect me? Then show me. Danzo wants my left eye. The Snake-Patterned Door demands my left eye. If you truly have nothing to do with Danzo, kneel and tell us everything you know about the trap behind that door."
Itachi's hand slowly settled on his sword hilt.
On a distant treetop, a black crow tilted its head as it watched the brothers.
Sasuke saw the crow too.
His gaze did not linger. It returned to Itachi.
"You won't kneel, and you won't talk. That leaves only one explanation."
Shikaku's shadow had already reached Itachi's feet.
Itachi suddenly raised his head, meeting Sasuke's eyes with his Mangekyo.
"Sasuke, hate me. Only hatred can keep you alive through the darkness ahead."
Sasuke raised his hands, tore the wanted notice in half, and threw it at Itachi's feet.
"I'm not playing along with your little drama."
The next instant, Itachi's Genjutsu Pressure surged straight toward Sasuke's eyes.
Shikaku's expression changed. "Don't look into his eyes!"
Sasuke did not close his eyes.
His One-Tomoe Sharingan spun, its ocular power resisting the pull on his mind. Veins rose at his temples, but his feet did not retreat even half an inch.
For the first time, shock appeared on Itachi's face.
"You..."
Sasuke ground out the words. "You thought I came to see you just to hear your last words?"
He swept his hand through the air.
On both sides of the cordon, the guards brought more than a dozen elderly and frail Uchiha into the torchlight. Each held a piece of white cloth bearing the names of the dead.
When Itachi made out those names, his breathing faltered.
Sasuke looked at him, unable to suppress the killing intent in his eyes.
"I'm not the one who wants to kill you."
"They're the ones who want to send you to your death."
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