Uchiha Itachi was in a daze for an entire day.
After reviewing the relevant files of Sakumo Hatake, he, as if not believing in evil, once again opened more historical data that he had previously been too lazy to even glance at, and began to constantly search for more event records related to that year.
The Konoha Leadership, including Third Hokage, Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Utatane Koharu, as well as the internal squabbles within Ninja Clans like Ino–Shika–Chō, Hyuga, and Uchiha.
What he once perceived as superficial harmony became increasingly blurred in his mind, replaced by various 'small incidents' hidden beneath these appearances, which often appeared for only a brief moment in the course of history but severely impacted the existing pattern.
The current whereabouts of the Fourth Hokage's guards from yesteryear;
The whereabouts of the Sannin;
The suppression and manipulation of Ninja Clans by the Konoha Leadership;
Secret human experiments;
The stabilization measures taken by Third Hokage after he regained power... These all seemed like minor matters, and even the records of the Uchiha Clan themselves included a large amount of self-conjecture and subjective speculation.
But just as war reports can lie, battle lines cannot deceive; there are always some facts that can be confirmed.
However, it was precisely because he confirmed these realities between the lines that Uchiha Itachi suddenly became so lost and helpless.
Orochimaru, who he originally thought had the worst image and the cruelest methods, was actually the last of the Sannin to leave the Village.
Orochimaru was even one of the strong candidates for the Fourth Hokage back then, having commanded troops to win many crucial victories during the war, and was once beloved by countless Konoha Ninja.
Just a few years after the war ended, such a prominent figure suddenly vanished in the eyes of his generation of young people.
As for Danzo Shimura and Root, who appeared multiple times in the archives, they were even more dangerous and uncontrollable factors, like a time bomb installed by the bedside.
Every time his name appeared, it would cause a violent upheaval within a certain scope, and often an unknown number of people would pay the price of their lives for one of his actions.
And such a person was one of Third Hokage-sama's important right-hand men.
Uchiha Itachi found it completely difficult to imagine why he could still be in his current position.
As a result, even the image of Third Hokage-sama, whom he had originally been able to completely trust, gradually began to twist and deform in Uchiha Itachi's mind.
He suddenly began to wonder if the world he saw might actually be a giant genjutsu?
Those extremely intense resistances from his clansmen, which he had previously been utterly unable to comprehend, now seemed to gradually have a basis.
If there was such a person, all those distant from him treated him with sincerity and immense trust, while all those close to him left him instead, without any expectations.
Then, what kind of true face did this person actually possess?
Uchiha Itachi did not know.
Through these countless records, he could clearly see that the mutual trust between the Village and the Clan had long been completely torn apart in the fifty long years since Konoha was founded.
This was not something that happened overnight, but a long, continuously progressing developmental process.
After reaching this conclusion in his heart, Uchiha Itachi himself didn't even realize that the document in his hand had unconsciously crumpled into a ball.
Anger, resentment, betrayal, deception... all kinds of emotions filled his heart, yet they were strenuously suppressed.
As an Anbu, he was not unaware that the development of a Village necessarily has its dark side; he had even personally executed countless related missions.
But those were against 'outsiders,' or rather, mainly traitors and guilty individuals.
He had never thought that the Village's blade, when it fell upon its own heroes, would actually be just as swift and sharp.
Although he himself did not fully understand it, it was clear that Uchiha Itachi was an unusually extreme person.
Either this or that, was often the main direction in which he judged a matter... or rather, in which most children judged a matter.
Twelve or thirteen years old, it was the peak age for chuunibyo.
Even overly precocious children could not escape it.
On the contrary, the various choices made by his father, whom he had previously completely failed to understand, now gradually found answers in his heart.
Uchiha Fugaku was a typical fence-sitter.
Facing the discontent within the Clan, he neither supported nor opposed it.
Facing pressure from the Konoha Leadership, specifically Third Hokage-sama, he chose to send his talented eldest son to serve under him, but he did not explicitly side with the Hokage.
Before today, Uchiha Itachi had thought his father wanted him to use his Anbu identity to obtain more intelligence from Third Hokage-sama's side for the Clan—and he had indeed done so.
However, after reading the biographies of Kakashi-senpai and Sakumo-sama, Uchiha Itachi suddenly realized that the Clan, which controlled the Konoha Military Police Force, probably had no use for the meager intelligence he obtained.
Sending himself to Third Hokage-sama's side was both as an important hostage and in hopes of leaving a path for him and Sasuke.
Because of this, shortly after joining Anbu, he, like Kakashi-senpai, became a personal guard to Third Hokage-sama.
—If the coup failed, Father would probably choose to surrender and commit suicide decisively, just like Sakumo-sama did back then, right?
Only in this way would it be possible, as in those days, to leave a path for his offspring, or even a path to completely integrate into the Hokage's master-disciple inheritance system.
Thus, it would also be considered finding a way out for the Uchiha Clan.
After all, even if the coup failed, Third Hokage-sama couldn't possibly kill the entire Uchiha Clan, could he?
...He shouldn't?
Uchiha Itachi's lips were tightly pressed, and it took a long time for him to barely calm his emotions.
He first let out a long breath, then murmured:
"A one-sided source of information does not have sufficient credibility, and intelligence derived from the Uchiha perspective could very well be completely misleading."
"There must be a control group to confirm it."
As Uchiha Itachi thought this, his boiling heart gradually cooled, and his gaze slowly rested on a line of names in the archives.
Danzo Shimura, Root.
If there was any place where information about the Village's dark side was most comprehensively and deeply recorded, it was probably only here.
Since that was the case... Uchiha Itachi slowly put down the document in his hand and picked up his sword instead... Under the night sky.
Swaying tree shadows gently rustled in the moonlight, and slowly passing dark clouds cast a deep shadow over the land.
Four masked figures stood on various sides, hidden like stones, their expressions beneath the masks unchanging, even their breathing imperceptible.
Until the clouds and moonlight met for a fleeting moment, and amidst the shifting light and shadow, the gaze of two of them, hidden beneath their masks, suddenly paused for an instant.
In just that instant, a short figure suddenly snaked along their line of sight and the shadow boundary, leaping directly into the base behind them.