Chapter 60: Itachi and Sasuke
After nightfall, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame split up.
As a former member of the ANBU, Itachi knew Konoha like the back of his hand.
He navigated the familiar paths to Naruto's apartment without encountering a single obstacle.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..." Itachi murmured.
Through a gap in the curtains, he could see the blond boy sitting cross-legged on his bed, his hands forming various seals, muttering to himself.
This energetic figure was a world apart from the lonely, weak child in his memories.
If he went in now, Pain's mission would be easily accomplished.
But his goal wasn't just to capture the Nine-Tails. It was to plant the seeds of hatred in his brother, Sasuke Uchiha.
While he was still contemplating his next move, a voice came from behind him.
"Itachi Uchiha. I've been waiting for you."
Sasuke Uchiha stood behind him. Ever since his return, he had been watching Naruto every day.
In his memories, his brother Itachi's first appearance in Konoha had been for Naruto.
Although that was during the Chunin Exams, given everyone else's reactions, it was inevitable that the Akatsuki would change their plans and strike early.
Itachi's back stiffened slightly, but he didn't turn around immediately.
"I didn't expect you to come looking for me, Sasuke," Itachi said, his voice void of emotion. "It seems you've prepared yourself."
"Prepared?"
"I've been prepared for a long time, Itachi Uchiha."
Sasuke closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the Mangekyo Sharingan was spinning in his pupils.
"Mangekyo..." Itachi whispered, his voice finally betraying a hint of surprise.
He hadn't expected Sasuke to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan so soon.
A twelve-year-old Uchiha with the Mangekyo. He was even more of a prodigy than Itachi himself.
"So this is your confidence, Sasuke. It seems you have grown quite a bit over the years."
"But you should know, the Mangekyo alone isn't enough to defeat me."
"Victory isn't decided by words, Itachi."
Before the sentence was finished, Sasuke launched himself at Itachi like an arrow from a bow.
The Mangekyo Sharingan allowed him to track every rhythm of Itachi's breath. The kunai in his hand thrust straight for Itachi's throat.
It wasn't until the kunai was inches from his neck that Itachi finally moved.
He leaned back slightly, raising his right hand. With his index and middle fingers together, he caught the incoming kunai with precision.
"Still too hasty, Sasuke." Itachi applied slight pressure with his fingertips, holding the kunai immobile. "That is not how you use the power of the Mangekyo. You haven't even mastered half of it."
"Oh? Is that so?" Sasuke's voice held a note of provocation. His trapped right hand suddenly pushed forward, driving the kunai toward Itachi's palm, while his left hand instantly gathered a blinding blue chakra.
The chakra swirled violently in his palm, electricity crackling. It was the signature jutsu he had learned from Kakashi—Chidori.
"Then how about this?" Sasuke's gaze sharpened, his Mangekyo locking onto Itachi. With a flash of blue lightning, his left hand thrust toward Itachi's chest.
Just as the lightning was about to pierce him, Itachi's body dissolved into a flock of crows, scattering in all directions.
The crows reformed into a human shape ten paces away. "Chidori... Kakashi even taught you that."
"A pity. Your eyes can't even see through a basic Crow Clone."
"Then why don't you look behind you?"
Itachi was startled to find that the Sasuke in front of him had vanished. A Shadow Clone!
"The one who can't see through things is you, Itachi Uchiha."
As Sasuke spoke, the figure in front of Itachi twisted and faded.
In the next second, Naruto's apartment, the high moon, all of reality receded like a tide.
Replacing it was an office he knew all too well—the Hokage's office.
"So the date for the Uchiha clan's rebellion is set?"
"It is set. Tomorrow."
In the vision, he was kneeling before the Third Hokage.
The next moment, he was standing with Danzo.
"There is only one way to stop the Uchiha rebellion. Kill them all. What say you, Itachi Uchiha?"
"Is there no other way? There are old people and children in the clan..."
"A way?" Danzo sneered. "The Uchiha have long been blinded by power. They secretly gather forces, hoard forbidden jutsu, and even conspire with foreign enemies. Do you think there is any room for redemption?"
"Or... would you rather betray Konoha for your clan? Betray the village you've protected since you were a child?"
"I... understand."
Then, he was back in the Hokage's office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked incredibly weary.
"Itachi..." The Third Hokage's voice spoke again, his eyes full of complexity as he looked at Itachi. "Have you truly decided? This is too cruel for you."
"I have no choice." The Itachi in the vision looked up, his eyes devoid of hesitation. "As long as I can protect the village, and protect Sasuke... I am willing to bear any crime."
"Very well. Since you have decided, do it."
"But remember."
"This time... you have no reinforcements."
"I understand. I will handle it cleanly."
Then, the Itachi in the vision disappeared, and the real Itachi became the person in the scene.
He was crouching on a utility pole, overlooking the familiar Uchiha district. The vermillion torii gates stood in the night. Bloodstains still marred the stone paths. The air was thick with the smell of blood mixed with the charred scent of fire. It was the smell of that night, the massacre he could never escape.
"This is..."
From a nearby mansion came the sound of his younger brother Sasuke's crying, and his parents' calm but final words: "Itachi, no matter what happens... protect Sasuke..."
"Do you see it, Itachi Uchiha?" Sasuke's voice echoed through the blood-soaked courtyard. He walked out from behind a torii gate, looking as he did when he was a child.
"This is the hell you created with your own hands. The past you want to escape forever."
"Listen. Mom and Dad are still calling your name. They didn't blame you, even at the end."
"It seems you know a lot, my dear little brother." Itachi's voice was flat, as if the bloody scene before him was just a meaningless dream. "The massacre was my choice. If I could go back to that day, my choice would remain the same."
"Because that was the only choice. The only way to preserve the honor of the Uchiha clan without endangering Konoha."
"No. You're wrong. That wasn't the only choice."