About the dark cave, where I fought alongside Sasuke to stop Kabuto's actions... I felt my life slipping away, and I couldn't stay silent without saying a few words to my dear brother whom I had traumatized so much.
Turning slowly toward him, my mouth opened slightly so I could say my last words.
"Sasuke... Forgive me, I always lied to you." In a weakened tone, I explained to my brother as I took slow steps towards him.
My body was slowly losing energy, as the forbidden Jutsu was ending my life here.
"I asked you to forgive me, even when I pushed you away... I didn't want to involve you." I emphasized my intention to never involve Sasuke in all of this, he didn't deserve any of it.
His cold stare slowly faded, and I could feel an incomparable sadness inside him... I never thought this would be the end for me.
"However, Sasuke, nowadays... I think that maybe you changed Dad, Mom, and especially the Uchiha Clan."
My body slowly embraced Sasuke's shoulders, while the glow emanating from my body and soul gradually increased.
"And you know... if I had faced you right at the beginning, or if we had told each other the truth as equals, none of this would have happened."
Sasuke's hands remained down, unable to react... his embrace was all I wanted at that moment, but I can't ask for something I don't deserve after all this.
"Itachi..." Sasuke's weakened voice passed over my ears.
"Tell me, my brother."
For a moment he was a little silent after calling me, but even though he said my name... I could feel his arms slowly rising towards my back, actually feeling the hug he wanted to give me.
"Your embrace says more than a thousand words, Sasuke... but know that I don't deserve your love after all this. Deep down, I feel that you won't forgive me completely, but inside my soul, I will always love you."
After I say my last words, my body and soul disappear before my brother's eyes, leaving only a single tear falling on his left shoulder before I vanish.
The last tear falling on his shoulder was part of a heart that was once filled with chakra, love, and vengeance... only to turn to ashes in the end.
"This was the end of my theater, wasn't it?"
My words surrounded my mind, wondering if this was really the end that all ninjas deserved... Was there no other choice but the action I took? I don't regret what I did to the village, since it was all for the sake of burning the Uchiha curse.
But was there really no other choice? Well... I'll never know, I'm already dead.
"Are you really?"
An unfamiliar voice echoed in my head, ironically asking if I was really dead.
I try to see something around me, but everything is pitch black. A dead man cannot see anything; everything is dark and without light. And my body? No response to movement.
"I wish I had the courage to say that I'm really dead, but you don't seem to be in a very good place to admit that, even if you're just talking to yourself in this place."
The same voice continues to speak to me as if we were face to face in this darkness, but I cannot see his presence or his appearance.
"All the answers you just gave me were based on questions I asked myself. Don't you want to get to the point, buddy?"
The unfamiliar words that had been spoken to me a few seconds ago turned into an indefinite silence.
Apparently, he didn't like me demanding to get to the main point, since he kept talking as if he were some weirdo who knew what I had been through.
"I know everything, Itachi."
Quickly, my eyes saw a white dot growing in size, as if it were walking towards me.
"Hello, how are you? Itachi."
A man in a white coat stood in front of me, greeting me politely.
"Maybe, why? Shouldn't I be in a more beautiful place?"
The doctor shook his head, apparently silently denying what I said, but... why would being in this deep darkness help anything? I wanted to live in peace with my family.
"That's where you're wrong. Heaven and hell never existed... it's all just a fantasy of mortals."
Mortals? Is he some kind of creator of the universe?
As I wondered internally with various questions flying around me like angels, suddenly this man summoned a kind of glowing panel from behind him... and his hands quickly rose to interact with the object.
"To another century, more advanced than the one you lived in... a soul like yours should not wander like this."
"What do you mean by that, Doctor?"
His fingers suddenly stopped and this man's gaze crossed my eyes through that panel... very clearly, I could see an expression that mixed happiness with supposed anger because of his pulsing forehead veins.
"Well... it's very simple, Itachi."
A curiosity inhaled through my nostrils, attentive to what he was about to say... he shows me explicit images of the current Leaf Village, completely restored and with a new Hokage.
"You mean that the moment I died in Sasuke's arms, time flew by so fast..."
"Time flew and the nation prevailed... but you, Itachi, your soul no longer belongs to this world."
A frantic struggle was taking place on the doctor's fingers, he clicked so fast on that panel that several distortions appeared without any valid information.
"I think I understand now where he's going with this." Speaking internally, I approach the doctor with a determined look.
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