A single tomoe quickly spun in Sasuke's eyes. Itachi gently closed his eyes, and the bloody scene filled with corpses vanished from Sasuke's sight.
Sasuke dropped to his knees, gasping for breath, eyes locking onto Itachi with deep hatred.
"Why did you do this?! What's wrong with you?!"
When Sasuke clearly saw Itachi's calm face, his heart exploded with overwhelming anger.
He had killed their parents with his own hands—and yet he still looked so calm.
Sasuke quickly pulled out a kunai and rushed at Itachi without hesitation.
Even though he had no chance of winning, even though he had no power to fight back—
Why did this happen? Why would Itachi do something like this?
Images of their happy times together flashed through Sasuke's mind, but everything froze on Itachi's cold eyes and their parents' bodies.
*Clink.* The kunai fell from Sasuke's hand and hit the floor.
Itachi grabbed Sasuke's wrist tightly with one hand, lifting him up in the air with ease.
The fingers of his other hand gently tapped Sasuke on the forehead.
Itachi looked at him with a warm smile, his eyes full of affection.
"Forgive me, Sasuke."
"??"
A confused look appeared on Sasuke's face. His spinning one-tomoe Sharingan slowly faded back to black after seeing Itachi's expression.
"As expected, Uchiha knows Uchiha best. Got him to show it right away."
Hatake Satoru's silver hair peeked out from behind Itachi. He had a playful smile and even reached out to pinch Sasuke's cheek.
Even without a real massacre, they were able to make Sasuke experience such a real Genjutsu.
Itachi must've thought this through long ago. That's the only way he could've created something so realistic in such a short time.
Hatake Satoru glanced at Itachi beside him. Itachi didn't look nervous at all. He just kept gazing at his little brother with soft eyes.
Tch. Overprotective big brother.
"Your idea really sucked, you know? Putting a kid like Sasuke through all that."
"Doesn't your conscience hurt at all?"
Shisui clearly wasn't happy with the way things were handled and frowned at Hatake Satoru with a look of disapproval.
"I don't have a conscience, so it doesn't hurt."
"And come on, it's not that bad. It's not like I made him say goodbye forever on the edge of a cliff."
Hatake Satoru pulled down on his cheek under his eye patch and stuck out his tongue at Shisui, making a silly face.
Shisui was completely thrown off by that and had to swallow his rising anger.
Is everyone just going to pretend the whole cliff-jumping thing didn't happen?!
Sasuke, now let down by Itachi, still looked totally confused. He looked at Itachi, then at Hatake Satoru.
None of the three had even a slightly serious expression. The vibe here didn't match the whole "wiped-out clan" situation at all.
"What... are you guys doing?"
Just as he said that, Mikoto and Fugaku suddenly slid open the door beside Sasuke.
"What's going on?"
"Are you two okay, Sasuke, Itachi?"
They'd just heard Sasuke's shouting from inside the house, like he was about to tear his throat out.
Even though Itachi had told them not to come out unless necessary...
Hearing Sasuke scream like that, Mikoto and Fugaku couldn't hold back their worry and rushed out.
Sasuke blinked and looked at Fugaku and Mikoto standing there, completely unharmed.
His brain kind of froze for a second.
Hatake Satoru and Itachi's reactions were already weird just now, and now Fugaku and Mikoto walked out without a scratch?
"W-what's going on?"
The genjutsu looked so real—like it was all actually happening. But? What's really going on here?!
"We're fine."
Itachi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and gave Fugaku and Mikoto a small smile.
Hatake Satoru crouched down beside Sasuke and whispered in his ear.
"That was a genjutsu your brother used on you. None of it was real."
"My idea, pretty clever, right~?"
Sasuke's face twitched. He looked up at Itachi, his voice full of disbelief.
"Huh?!"
Itachi scratched his cheek awkwardly and avoided eye contact.
"You two teamed up just to mess with me?! You jerk, you dummy!"
Sasuke searched his brain for every insult he could think of, but in the end, all he could do was keep calling Hatake Satoru a dummy.
No doubt this ridiculous plan came from that annoying guy.
Itachi didn't seem like he was going to explain anything, and seeing Sasuke still had enough energy to shout insults, it didn't look like anything was seriously wrong.
Fugaku and Mikoto just exchanged a look and shook their heads with a sigh.
Mikoto waved Sasuke over gently and said:
"Leave your brother alone for now. Come inside and start packing your things."
Sasuke puffed out his cheeks angrily and shot a glare at Hatake Satoru, who was smiling behind Itachi, but in the end, he followed Mikoto back into the house to pack.
Itachi had already told the rest of the people about the move.
Now that there were no more extremists, and most of them weren't interested in war anyway, they had quietly started packing up after hearing Itachi's words.
"Oh right, there's still some cleanup work you two need to do~"
"Kotoamatsukami has already completely changed the villagers' memories, so Danzo and his Root guys will probably come soon to collect your clan's eyes."
Hatake Satoru nudged Itachi and Shisui as they walked toward the edge of the clan grounds.
"Burn all the bodies. We can't let them fall into the wrong hands."
Itachi and Shisui both understood what Danzo was after—he wanted the Sharingan. Even though it felt like a waste to destroy so many Sharingan, it was still better than letting them be taken.
In the end, burning them early might be the best choice.
The two nodded and began using Fire Release to deal with the mess around them.
Meanwhile, Hatake Satoru stood at the gate, leading the surviving Uchiha to their new settlement at the border. They would be able to live peacefully there without any problems.
Just as Hatake Satoru and the others were cleaning up—
The crows circling outside the Hokage building scattered, and the deep red sky slowly returned to its natural dark shade.
Root and Anbu agents only glanced at the sky for a moment before hurrying back to report to their superiors.
The crows' eyes changed from Mangekyou Sharingan to regular Three Tomoe, then quickly flew through the forest, returning to Shisui.
With the Kotoamatsukami genjutsu fully completed, everyone's memories had been altered.
Hiruzen stood by the window, taking a deep breath. Kakashi, wearing his mask, knelt quietly at his side.
"Uchiha Itachi has wiped out his entire clan."
"The Uchiha clan is gone. The only one left is his younger brother, Sasuke. He stayed late at the academy and never returned home."
White smoke swirled around Hiruzen. He silently nodded.
Kakashi disappeared in an instant with the smoke Hiruzen breathed out.
......................................
.......................................
---
Read 30 advanced chapters on my patreon
patreon.com/GustinaKamiya
---