Though Madara raged at Konoha's leadership for pushing the Uchiha aside, hated that Itachi had been driven to slaughter his own clan, and even resented the clan's own stubborn pride, he never expected that breaking through Tsukuyomi by force would make the young man before him suddenly spit blood.
"Itachi?!"
Sasuke shouted, "What happened?!!"
Jiraiya caught the young Missing-nin before he could fall.
Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju returned from the Tsukuyomi world in an instant and began examining him with their chakra.
Itachi tried to stop them, tried to speak the words he hadn't managed to finish—Don't interfere with my plan. Don't tell Sasuke. But he couldn't even stop himself from coughing blood.
Sasuke panicked.
Madara did too.
"Hashirama!" he yelled.
Hashirama and Tobirama both placed their hands on Itachi, sensing the flow of chakra within him. After ten minutes of probing, their faces grew increasingly grim.
"What the hell is going on, dattebayo?!"
Naruto anxiously stared at the youth who looked so much like Sasuke.
Rin hesitated, unsure whether she should begin healing him.
Itachi finally managed to suppress the coughing, but Hashirama had no intention of hiding his condition for him.
"Do you know what shape your body is in?" Hashirama asked, a hint of anger beneath his gentle tone.
After witnessing Itachi's memories, he understood how hard this young man had tried to maintain the fragile bond between village and clan. The method he chose was extreme, yes—but much of that burden belonged to Konoha's future leadership. Even if Itachi hadn't done it, ANBU would have. And by then, the Uchiha name would have vanished without a trace.
That was why he worried about the youth's chaotic chakra flow.
"In some ways, you really are a lot like Izuna Uchiha…"
As Izuna's lifelong rival, Tobirama Senju understood him better than almost anyone—second only to Madara. Both were the younger sons of powerful clans. Both lived as "younger brothers." In some matters, Tobirama understood Izuna even more clearly than Madara did.
Madara turned toward him. "Do you think Izuna would ever slaughter his own clan?" The buried fury in his tone made it clear that if Tobirama dared nod, he would—
"That's exactly what I mean when I say all you Uchiha think in ridiculous ways!" Tobirama snapped, ignoring Madara entirely and instead staring straight at Itachi. "Do you really think doing this will make his brother grateful? It will only make the rest of his life even more painful!"
Everyone was baffled.
Sasuke even more so. He hated Itachi—how could he ever be grateful to him?
Itachi opened his Mangekyō Sharingan, intending to use Tsukuyomi to shut Tobirama up. But Hashirama stepped in front of his younger brother. If he wished, not even Madara's Mangekyō could affect him—let alone Itachi's.
Itachi began coughing blood again, throwing the scene into further chaos.
Tobirama shoved his elder brother aside and, with a sigh, exposed Itachi's entire plan.
"You hid the truth so this boy, Sasuke, would hate you—hate you enough to kill you himself. And after he awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan, you planned to give him your eyes so he could obtain the Eternal Mangekyō… just like Izuna, who gave his eyes to his own brother."
His voice held no doubt. He was completely certain of Itachi's intentions.
Sasuke Uchiha: "!!!!"
Madara Uchiha: "!!!"
Having just seen Itachi's memories, Madara immediately recognized Tobirama's words as truth. His fists clenched tight, as if reliving the moment he'd covered Izuna's body with a white cloth.
Sasuke, having recovered from the shock, roared at his brother, "What is the Eternal Mangekyō?! How many plans have you hidden from me?! Just like the Fourth Hokage said—how long do you plan to control me like your puppet?!!"
Minato said, "Rin, treat Itachi first."
Rin nodded and hurried to Itachi's side.
Hashirama, whose Medical Ninjutsu was even more advanced, also used the Mystical Palm Technique on the injured Uchiha.
Kakashi watched his former subordinate, worry written clearly on his face.
Obito Uchiha, too, was troubled for his clansman.
The unpleasant duty of explaining everything fell to Tobirama, who continued, "As mentioned before, frequent use of the Mangekyō Sharingan's dōjutsu leads to irreversible blindness. The only effective treatment… is to transplant the eyes of a blood relative."
He looked toward Madara Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan, where the distinct pattern of Izuna Uchiha's former Mangekyō was reflected within.
Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan was the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, enhanced by his younger brother Uchiha Izuna sacrificing his own eyes.
Staring into Madara Uchiha's eyes, Sasuke staggered.
He looked at Itachi with sorrow.
"Did you want me to develop those eyes too?"
He hadn't been pulled into Tsukuyomi and thus saw nothing of the truth. Sasuke screamed at Itachi in agony:
"Why?! Why slaughter an entire clan for that?! Why force me to kill you?! Why make me hate you?!"
Sasuke's heart was torn apart. He loved his brother so deeply...
"Because this is the twisted love of your Uchiha Clan."
"Tobirama!" Hashirama reminded his younger brother to speak more diplomatically.
But Tobirama Senju disagreed.
"We have vital intelligence to gather about the future! No time for trivialities! Can't you see the immense crisis facing Konoha?! And we must clarify here that Madara Uchiha will attack Konoha with the Nine-Tails!!"
The Senju brothers began arguing fiercely.
Members of the Uchiha Clan each sank into their own torment.
Obito was haunted by visions of his clan's future annihilation and the dream where Kakashi killed Rin.
Sasuke and Itachi—one desperate for the truth, the other deliberately concealing it—couldn't bridge the gap between them.
Uchiha Madara, drowning in all this chaotic information, felt utter despair for the future. Losing Izuna, the last brother he had sworn to protect, left a void in his heart filled with seething rage. Rage at Konoha's future, at Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, at the Uchiha Clan, and even at Izuna Uchiha who had left him first...
The fire inside him had no outlet. He feared that if he stayed here a second longer, he would explode.
He suddenly stood.
'Boom!' The fragile door flew off its hinges.
"Madara!" Hashirama's hand was still pressed against Itachi's chest, preventing him from immediately standing to pursue.
Tobirama said, "Let him go."
He turned to Minato Namikaze. "When will you depart?"
"Uncertain. It seems we cannot return until 'a certain objective' is fulfilled." After multiple crossings, Minato had begun to notice that their stay in each parallel world varied, depending on whether they truly altered its future.
Tobirama nodded. "In that case, we still have ample time."
He instructed, "Big Brother and the young girl will treat Itachi Uchiha. The rest of us will rest briefly."
With that, he stepped out to handle the village's internal affairs on behalf of Uchiha Madara and his own elder brother.
Konoha was still in its infancy, and countless matters required the three of them to work personally. Information about the future was important, but they couldn't neglect the tasks before them.
Sasuke refused to leave, his mind a complete mess.
He had realized the clan massacre held hidden truths, yet with Itachi blocking the subject, no one was willing to reveal anything to him.
Because he was still a child. Because he was only thirteen. Because his strength was too weak...
Was he unworthy of knowing the truth? Was he destined to remain Itachi Uchiha's puppet?
This way of thinking was undeniably Uchiha.
And at this moment, Sasuke indeed felt powerless—hating nothing more than his own weakness.
The remaining few felt the awkward tension. Adult Kakashi, Sasuke's young sensei, kept his eyelids half-lowered, doing everything he could to minimize his presence.
"What the hell happened?! Can't you just say it straight out?! What the hell happened to Sasuke's brother, dattebayo?!"
Naruto couldn't stand this suffocating atmosphere. Always blunt, he just wanted answers—fast.
Obito echoed him.
"Yeah! Minato-sensei!! What's wrong with Itachi?!!"
"Itachi..." Minato began, "His physical condition appears dire. This is likely what Madara warned about—activating the Mangekyō Sharingan too early without sufficient physical conditioning, combined with long-term, frequent reliance on its abilities."
"Please refrain from unnecessary words, Minato-sama," Itachi murmured softly while receiving treatment.
Obito brushed a hand over his eyelids, thinking that if it were for Rin and Kakashi, he would open the Mangekyō even knowing the irreversible cost. So what could have driven Itachi to go this far...
Worried that further emotional strain might aggravate Itachi's condition, Minato led his team members and Kakashi's team outside, leaving Itachi to receive treatment quietly from the First Hokage-sama.
Compared to Hashirama Senju's immense chakra reserves and mastery of Medical Ninjutsu, Rin's healing ability had little effect here, so she followed Minato Namikaze out.
...
This was their first time seeing Konoha during its founding era.
The village radiated peace. People in Uchiha and Senju clan robes walked freely through the central streets.
It was a sight Sasuke hadn't witnessed in years. For five long years, he hadn't seen a single person wearing the Uchiha crest moving among the crowds.
He knew he had longed endlessly for Itachi to give him a chance, for Itachi to say he wasn't the one who annihilated the clan. That was why, when they finally met, he hadn't immediately sought revenge. Instead, he had begged him again and again to tell him the truth.
Sasuke's grief now reflected in his dark eyes.
Seeing him like this made Naruto feel sick with discomfort, a sharp ache settling in his chest.
He turned to Rin, who had her head lowered.
"Rin, how bad is Sasuke's brother's condition?"
Rin looked at Minato-sensei, then at Sasuke Uchiha, before answering Naruto.
"Severe exhaustion. Based on my personal assessment..."
She paused.
"That person's vitality can sustain him for three to five more years at most. And that's assuming he stops overtaxing his life force by using his dōjutsu."
Sasuke: "!!!!"
Three to five years.
Three to five years wasn't enough time for him to catch up to Itachi—he might not even awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan by then. If Itachi died before that, what meaning would revenge even have?
At that moment, a thought struck Naruto.
"I have a question!"
He looked toward his father.
"Do you remember that masked man? Didn't he also have the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Their fight had been brief, but it was obvious the man depended heavily on the Mangekyō's phasing ability.
"Then why wasn't his body messed up like Sasuke's brother's? Or did we just fail to see that he's actually a sickly weakling too?"
"!!!"
That single line shocked everyone awake.
Why was the masked man calling himself 'Madara' completely unaffected?!
He wasn't the real Madara Uchiha! Without being a true Mangekyō wielder, how could he possibly avoid its corruption?!!
"Obito—!!" Minato Namikaze suddenly shouted.