Chapter 61: Another Choice
"Do you think you're clever? My brother... my foolish little brother."
"Do you think the Uchiha clan had any way out back then? Do you think Father would have abandoned his coup just because I asked him to?"
Itachi Uchiha spoke.
"That's because you were fundamentally wrong from the start," Sasuke Uchiha replied.
As his voice fell, the scene before Itachi rewound rapidly, days and nights flickering by.
The blood-soaked compound vanished, replaced by a familiar riverbank. The reeds were taller than he remembered, reaching almost to his chest. The water shimmered in the distance. This was the place where he and Shisui had discussed clan matters countless times.
"The clan is planning a coup. Itachi, we have to stop them," Shisui's voice came from behind the reeds.
Itachi's heart clenched as if squeezed by an invisible hand.
He looked at Shisui's figure, his eyes burning. This was the man he respected most in his youth, the symbol of "Uchiha justice," and the first person to teach him that "a shinobi protects what is precious."
But he remembered clearly that shortly after this conversation, Shisui would "accidentally" die, leaving behind only a Mangekyo Sharingan and a final wish: "Protect the Uchiha, protect Konoha."
"Shisui..." Itachi whispered.
He wanted to rush forward, to warn Shisui of his impending fate, to stop the tragedy that changed everything. But his feet were rooted to the spot. He could only watch helplessly as the scene played out.
"I've already spoken to the elders. They won't listen." Shisui turned, a weary smile on his face.
He had been running between the clan and the village for days, looking for a solution.
"They think Konoha is ostracizing the Uchiha. They think a coup is the only way to restore our glory. But they don't understand... if war breaks out, the ones who suffer will be the old and the young."
"Shisui... what if... what if there's another way?" the Itachi in the vision suddenly asked.
Shisui froze, then smiled bitterly. "We've tried every peaceful method. You saw the Clan Head's attitude. He..."
"No. Not the Clan Head, and not the Council." The vision-Itachi looked up, resolve flashing in his eyes. "If someone in the Uchiha must be sacrificed, it shouldn't be the innocent... it should be..."
"...it should be those who truly incited the conflict," Sasuke's voice echoed from the void as his figure slowly materialized.
Itachi whirled around. Sasuke was standing beside him. The scene shifted again.
Inside the Uchiha shrine, several radical elders sat around a candle, whispering details of the coup.
"Do you see, Brother?" Sasuke's voice came at the perfect moment. "Father didn't support the coup at first. It was the Great Elder and the radicals who forced his hand. And you... you chose the most extreme solution. You wiped out the entire Uchiha clan."
Itachi's breath hitched. The scene jumped again. This time, he saw young Sasuke pinned against the wall by his own hand, staring at Itachi's blood-soaked fingers.
"You could have eliminated only the ringleaders. You could have worked with Shisui to use Kotoamatsukami to change their minds. You could have... trusted the Hokage and the village to support you." Sasuke's voice rose. "But you trusted no one! You didn't even grasp the last chance Shisui left you before he jumped!"
Itachi had to admit, Sasuke was right.
Back then, he had sensed his father's hesitation. He knew the Great Elder was the mastermind. But crushed under the weight of everything, he hadn't had the courage to try a surgical strike.
He feared failure. He feared the radicals would lash out in desperation, dragging the whole clan down and putting Sasuke in even greater danger.
The vision shifted again. Itachi saw his thirteen-year-old self.
His bloody hand gripping Sasuke's shoulder, pinning him to the wall.
Young Sasuke's eyes were wide with terror, staring at the blood on his brother, at the bodies of his kin. His lips trembled, but no sound came out.
And on "his" own face, there was no emotion. Only cold, dead eyes, looking at a stranger.
"You could have told Sasuke the truth. You could have let him know you were protecting him." Sasuke's voice grew louder.
"But you didn't. You chose to make him hate you. You made him live a lie, made killing you his only goal. You call that protection? But do you know? I would rather suffer the truth than be a fool, deceived by you for all these years!"
"It seems you've obtained some remarkable information, my foolish little brother. You look a little smarter than before."
Itachi's heart wavered for a moment, but he immediately sensed something unusual in Sasuke's words.
He knew Sasuke too well. His brother was obsessive, but he would never logically dismantle Itachi's "lies" like this, nor would he grasp the core of "truth" versus "deception" so precisely—unless someone had given him the answers.
Itachi stared at his grown-up brother and chuckled softly. "Who told you this? At your age, you shouldn't know so much."
Sasuke looked at his brother and laughed.
"Do you think you're the only one who can spy on secrets? Itachi Uchiha, this shinobi world is more complex than you think."
"Times have changed. The situation is no longer what you imagine."
"The only one who can save the Uchiha, save Konoha, and save the shinobi world... is me."
"So?" Itachi looked at this strange version of his brother. "What will you do?"
"I will become Hokage."
When the words left Sasuke's mouth, the air seemed to freeze.
The night wind of Konoha still blew, the fires of the compound still burned, but all Itachi could hear was the echo of that sentence.
He remembered young Sasuke following him, clenching his small fists, saying, "I'm going to be a better ninja than you, Big Brother."
He remembered Sasuke after the massacre, crying on the ground, screaming, "I will kill you!"
But he never imagined that one day, this brother, wrapped in hatred, would make "becoming Hokage" his goal. And say it with such paranoid conviction, as if to say, Only I can do it.
"Become Hokage?" Itachi spoke slowly. "Do you know what 'Hokage' means? It's not power. It's not a title. It means protecting the village, protecting everyone in it, even at the cost of your life."
"Of course I know."
"That is exactly why I must be Hokage. You people... you're either like the Konoha higher-ups, covering the truth with lies and sacrifices. Or you're like you, creating tragedy with your self-righteous 'protection.' Only I can break this cycle. I will expose the truth of the Uchiha massacre. I will purge the rot in Konoha. I will end war and hatred in the shinobi world."