In the darkness, Itachi found himself standing somewhere unfamiliar.
The sky was gloomy, and dark clouds obscured the moonlight.
Damp moisture filled the air, and the sound of flowing water came from the distance.
This was... the Naka River!
He recognized the place.
He seemed considerably older than his actual age now, around seventeen or eighteen.
He tried to control his body, only to discover that he could do nothing but passively watch everything before him.
He could not make a sound or move an inch.
The night wind was cold.
He seemed to be waiting for someone.
Footsteps sounded.
A familiar figure staggered out of the darkness.
It was Shisui.
He was covered in blood, his Anbu uniform soaked through.
His steps faltered, and one of his eye sockets was empty, blood still streaming from it.
Itachi tried to speak, but no sound came out.
Shisui walked up to him and looked at him with his remaining eye, his gaze complicated.
There was relief, reluctance to part, and resolve.
"Itachi, I'm leaving the village and the clan in your hands."
He removed the only Sharingan left in his eye socket and pressed it into Itachi's hand.
Then he turned and leaped into the Naka River.
"No!"
Itachi desperately tried to grab him, but could only watch as that figure vanished into the dark current.
Splash!
Water splashed up, then was swallowed by the rushing current.
The river's surface grew calm again, as though nothing had happened.
Grief surged over him like a tide, fiercer and more suffocating than when his teammate had died before his eyes all those years ago.
Before he could emerge from those emotions, the scene before him abruptly changed again.
Beneath the moonlight, the Uchiha Clan Compound was terrifyingly silent.
There were no chirping insects