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Sasuke lay on the ground like that, tears streaming down his cheeks, blurring his vision.
Did he truly, from the bottom of his heart, want to kill Kagaya and Itachi? No! That wasn't it. What he really wanted was to ask them 'why' they did it. He wanted to hear their explanation. He wanted to hear Kagaya say that he was his friend forever. He wanted Itachi to tap his forehead again and tell him, "Next time, Sasuke."
He wanted... he wanted...
But to achieve any of that, he needed to see them. Sasuke didn't believe he was more of a genius than Kagaya or Itachi, so he 'had' to foster hatred. He 'had' to give himself motivation. He 'had' to remember the hatred in his heart every single day. He needed to train incessantly. He needed to find the two of them!
But now, Sasuke had clearly brushed past that person, yet he was powerless. He had clearly found him... found him...
Tears blurred his vision. He hated this, hated his own incompetence, hated Kagaya for not showing himself...
"Damn it! Damn it! You bastard! I'll kill you! Kill you! Kill you...!"
Sasuke spoke with hatred, his voice growing weaker and weaker until, finally, he was choked by sobs.
Ah, as expected, was he really someone nobody cared about? I just want a blessing, want an explanation! Kagaya, Brother... you... you must have had some reason for doing that, right? Why? Why won't you tell me? I... I hate this so much...
Lying on the ground, tears blurring his vision, gradually, Sasuke could no longer see anything clearly. His weakness was exposed entirely in this moment. In the end, it seemed he really couldn't obtain anything...
A hand reached out and wiped the tears from Sasuke's cheek.
"Congratulations on graduating!"
A voice suddenly rang out.
Sasuke was stunned. This voice... this familiar voice!
Instinctively, he raised his hand to grab hold of him. This time, he wouldn't let him run away! Absolutely not!
But a hand struck the back of Sasuke's neck, and he lost consciousness.
From beginning to end, he never saw the person's face.
Haku looked at Sasuke, who lay on the ground crying like a child, and asked, "Kagaya, is this person someone important to you?"
Kagaya picked up Sasuke and nodded. "Yes, he is very important to me."
Kagaya didn't dare to form new bonds, but he wouldn't deny the bonds he already had. His childhood friend, who was once inseparable from him, was indeed someone important.
"He was crying very sadly just now. He must have experienced something terribly cruel," Haku said不忍地 (unable to bear it). That kind of sorrow, that longing to be acknowledged, to be wanted... Haku had felt the same before meeting Kagaya.
Thinking of this, Haku spoke inadvertently. "Kagaya, what if... we take him with us—"
Kagaya shook his head. "He's still too weak. I can't take him away. Taking him would mean inevitably telling him certain things, and I'm not willing to tell him those things now."
The truth behind the clan's massacre—neither Itachi nor Kagaya was willing to tell Sasuke now. Kagaya feared that if Sasuke knew now, he would resolutely turn against Konoha. And the current Sasuke was far too weak, with no ability to oppose Konoha.
He also didn't want to take Sasuke away from the village. Staying safely in Konoha, with Kagaya and Itachi watching over him from outside from time to time, was the safest option for Sasuke.
Itachi, on the other hand, planned never to tell Sasuke the truth. He didn't want to see Sasuke become an enemy of Konoha. He hoped Sasuke would always be Konoha's Sasuke.
"Then what should we..."
"Let's take him home."
Haku's face showed unconcealed sorrow. He couldn't help but ask, "Does... does he still have a home?"
Kagaya was taken aback. Did Sasuke still have a "home"?
Kagaya looked at Sasuke's face, fell silent for a moment, then turned to Haku and smiled slightly. "Yes, he does. I am here. His brother is also here. He still has a home. You are the same, Haku. I am here."
Haku was startled, then smiled sweetly. "Yes, Kagaya is here!"
Perhaps by some special magic, three people with tragic fates, three people who all possessed Kekkei Genkai, had miraculously gathered together amidst the vast sea of humanity.
Possessing Kekkei Genkai, they were powerful, and each was a top-tier genius in the ninja world. They were far, far superior to ordinary people. Such individuals should have been extremely dazzling.
But it seemed as if God felt He had given them too much, so He reached out and stripped away their happiness.
Despite their great power, in the end, they lacked even a reason to live. For ordinary people, "living" is an utterly mundane affair; how many actively seek death?
But for them, every day alive was something they had to grit their teeth and endure. Death isn't difficult—just a moment of pain, after which there is no more pain. The hard part is living, enduring pain comparable to death every single day.
They could only strive to find a reason to live. In the end, Haku found Kagaya, Kagaya found Haku (and the Impure World Reincarnation).
But what about Sasuke? For him, even now, he could only rely on the hatred in his heart to desperately keep living every day.
To be honest, Kagaya rather admired Sasuke. To endure such a dark experience without committing suicide required immense courage!
Living requires more courage than dying!
"You are truly amazing, Sasuke!"
*****
After searching left and right, and with Haku asking a few passersby for directions, Kagaya and Haku finally found Sasuke's house.
Placing Sasuke on the bed, Kagaya looked at the dried tear tracks on his face, couldn't help but smile, and muttered to himself, "Speaking of which, you've graduated from the academy, and I haven't given you a gift yet. How about this... let me guarantee your safety for life? How does that sound?"
Kagaya said this somewhat jokingly. After all, in the original story, Sasuke lived just fine all along. The "gift" of guaranteeing his safety was pretty much unnecessary.
But then, Sasuke's finger twitched in his unconscious state, grabbing the hem of Kagaya's clothes.
Kagaya looked down at Sasuke holding his clothes and pursed his lips. He understood this kind of pain. He had experienced it himself.
A wooden, carved Three Tomoe Sharingan appeared in his hand. It was something Kagaya had carved idly during his three-year journey. Since it was carved casually, this Three Tomoe Sharingan was rather crude and crooked.
Kagaya placed the wooden Sharingan next to Sasuke's pillow and said with a smile, "This is a one-time-only opportunity. Because you graduated, I'm showing you this Sharingan I carved casually, so you can laugh at me. In the past, Haku never missed a chance to mock this carved Sharingan of mine."
Haku, standing behind him, instantly blushed and protested stubbornly, "That's not true! I wouldn't mock Kagaya!"
Kagaya shook his head in amusement. While Haku wouldn't laugh at him out loud, he 'was' definitely stifling laughter when Kagaya was carving this Sharingan. After all, Kagaya's carving was genuinely ugly.
He reached out and gently pried Sasuke's hand away.
"This time won't count as a formal meeting. Wait until the next time we meet properly. Then, let me see how much you've improved, Sasuke."
After saying that, Kagaya left with Haku. Next, they needed to find Naruto.
Calculating the time, the Scroll of Seals should have been stolen by Naruto by now.
The room was left with only Sasuke once again. No one noticed that after Kagaya left, tears once again began to flow from eyes that had just dried.