In the dim auditorium, the image flickering before them left Naruto and Sakura frozen in place. Their wide eyes were filled with disbelief, shock hanging heavy in the air.
They turned to look at each other and in that silent moment, they saw the same astonishment, the same fear, reflected back.
[Ding! Uzumaki Naruto's emotional fluctuations are captured! Emotional value +600!]
[Ding! Haruno Sakura's emotional fluctuations are captured! Emotional value +800!]
A memory suddenly resurfaced.
The day Team 7 was formed standing on the rooftop as they introduced themselves for the first time. Sasuke, cool and aloof, had spoken of his ambition to kill someone.
At the time, neither of them had fully grasped the weight behind those words.
But now…
Now that image on the screen the young man with the cold, silent stare loomed large in their minds.
Could it be… the one Sasuke swore to defeat… was his own brother?
Sakura's lips trembled. She covered her mouth in shock, her voice barely a whisper as she turned to Kakashi.
"Teacher Kakashi… the one who… killed the Uchiha clan…"
Kakashi remained quiet for a few seconds. The silence was heavy.
Then, with a quiet sigh, he met her eyes.
There was no longer any point in hiding it.
"…Yes," Kakashi said solemnly. "I didn't want you to know just yet. But given what you've seen there's no helping it."
He looked toward the screen, then added in a low voice, "Sasuke's enemy… is his older brother."
Naruto's breath caught in his throat. "What?!"
His body went stiff, eyes wide with disbelief.
Sakura's face had turned pale. She clutched her chest, struggling to process the truth. "His… brother? That can't be…"
Kakashi didn't flinch. His voice was calm but serious.
"His name is Uchiha Itachi. Five years ago, he massacred the entire Uchiha clan in a single night… and fled the village. Since then, Sasuke has been the only survivor of that tragedy."
A heavy silence fell over the auditorium.
"It's true…" Sakura murmured, her heart aching with a pain she couldn't describe. Her gaze drifted back to the screen, now filled with a sorrow she hadn't noticed before.
Naruto gritted his teeth. His fists clenched on his knees.
"…So that's what he's been carrying all this time…"
It felt like a punch to the chest.
Sasuke, their teammate was burdened with a grief too enormous to imagine.
[Ding! Uzumaki Naruto's emotional fluctuations are captured! Emotional value +500!]
[Ding! Haruno Sakura's emotional fluctuations are captured! Emotional value +500!]
After a moment of stunned silence, Naruto suddenly looked up, eyes burning with questions.
"But why?! Why would he do that? What kind of person kills their own family?!"
Kakashi looked at the two of them two young students now thrust into a truth far too cruel.
"…I don't know either," he replied quietly.
And that answer left hanging in the air like a shadow only made the truth harder to bear.
"I'm afraid the truth behind this matter isn't so simple," Kakashi murmured. "I have my suspicions… but without solid proof, making wild guesses will only stir more trouble."
Inside the dream.
Itachi's expression stiffened the moment he heard Sasuke's question. His eyes narrowed slightly, clearly caught off guard by the blunt accusation.
He studied his younger brother's serious gaze, and after confirming that Sasuke wasn't joking or confused, his expression softened. His tone lowered, steady and sincere.
"Sasuke… you, Father, and Mother mean everything to me. How could I ever harm you?" he said gently. "No matter what happens, I would never hurt you."
Sasuke blinked.
The warmth in Itachi's eyes the quiet earnestness in his voice sent a tremor through his heart.
He looked completely honest. There wasn't even a flicker of hesitation in his words.
That familiar tone of quiet affection, the way Itachi had always spoken to him when they were younger… it was all exactly the same.
For a moment, Sasuke's world tilted.
This person in front of him wasn't he the same older brother who had lovingly patted his head every morning before school?
But then why…
Why did that memory of blood-soaked horror flash so vividly before his eyes?
Why was the Itachi from his nightmare so different?
Sasuke's breathing became ragged.
His mind spun as two conflicting images clashed violently in his heart the gentle, protective older brother of his childhood and the cold, merciless killer who'd stood amid the corpses of their clan five years ago.
He couldn't reconcile the two. They simply didn't feel like the same person.
"…Why?" Sasuke muttered, fists clenched at his sides. "Why is this happening…?"
His emotions surged wildly.
And then, through the fog of confusion, a fragment of conversation floated back into his memory.
Something he had overheard in passing an old conversation between Itachi and Shisui.
They'd spoken of a strange white creature. A being that could copy others perfectly. Not just appearance but mannerisms, voice, chakra signatures… everything.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"A creature… that can take on someone's form?" he murmured.
His heart thudded.
Could it be…
Could the person he saw on that bloody night the one who killed their parents have been a fake?
Was that not Itachi?
The thought struck like lightning.
His breath caught in his throat. A jolt of realization surged through him, so sharp it almost knocked the air from his lungs.
Could it be… the 'Itachi' who slaughtered the Uchiha clan wasn't Itachi at all?
[Ding! Uchiha Sasuke's emotional fluctuations are captured! Emotional value +1000!]
[Dream Subject: Uchiha Sasuke]
[Current Viewers: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi]
[Total Emotional Value Gained: 25,561 Points]
[Current Emotional Value Balance: 135,711 Points]
[Dream Fulfillment Level: Level 2 (190,211 / 200,000)]
Hidden in the shadows, Aren curled his lips in quiet satisfaction as he observed the emotional spike.
Just a little more…
The emotional value was about to reach the next threshold. Once that happened, the Dream Master System would upgrade to Level 3.
Aren's mind buzzed with anticipation.
Would there be new rewards? A new function? Another dream world?
He secretly hoped it wouldn't be another movie replay like the Beacon incident.
Those were… difficult to sit through.
Early the next morning.
Kakashi sat on the edge of his bed, lost in thought.
He hadn't slept well.
The dream from the night before had stirred too many memories. He'd stayed up thinking, trying to make sense of what he'd seen and what it meant.
Knock knock knock.
The sudden knock snapped him out of his daze.
"Who's visiting this early…?" he muttered sleepily, rubbing his eye as he shuffled toward the door.
When he opened it, he was surprised.
"Sasuke?"
Standing outside was the black-haired boy, his expression unusually serious for this early hour.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, mildly confused. "What brings you here so early?"
Sasuke took a breath and stepped forward, his tone direct and urgent.
"Sensei. I know you were once a captain of the Anbu," he said. "And… that Itachi used to serve under your command."
He paused, eyes sharp and unwavering.
"I want to ask what was Itachi doing in the days before and after the Uchiha incident five years ago? And… what kind of person was he while he served in the Anbu?"
Kakashi blinked.
He hadn't expected that.
Sasuke's face was filled with resolve, but his tension was clear. His fists were clenched, his shoulders stiff. These weren't casual questions Sasuke needed answers.
Kakashi let out a slow breath.
Over the past few nights, he had watched Sasuke and Naruto experience things he'd never imagined possible. Through the dream world, pieces of their pain and past had been laid bare.
He had seen firsthand how much they'd missed how much they'd suffered in silence.
And now Sasuke had come to him, perhaps because of something he saw in last night's dream. Perhaps his long-held beliefs were starting to waver.
Kakashi closed his eye briefly.
He didn't want this boy to be consumed by hatred forever.
After a moment of silence, he said softly, "To be honest… I don't know everything."
Kakashi looked Sasuke in the eye. "Itachi was pulled from my unit shortly before the tragedy. I wasn't informed of the reason, and I don't know where he went during those days."
"…I see."
Disappointment flickered in Sasuke's gaze.
His expression dimmed, his lips pressed into a thin line. A trace of sadness passed over his face he'd clearly hoped for more.
But Kakashi wasn't finished.
He gently added, "However… there's something I can tell you."
He straightened and met Sasuke's gaze seriously.
"When Itachi was part of the Anbu, he was always calm, composed, and ruthlessly efficient. He followed orders without hesitation. He was a true shinobi."
Kakashi's voice softened.
"But he was not the kind of person who would slaughter the innocent. That… was never in his nature."
There was a pause.
"I believe there's more to what happened that night. Something hidden beneath the surface. Whatever the truth is… I don't think it's as simple as it seems."
Sasuke's eyes widened slightly.
For the first time, a seed of doubt was planted where before there had only been hatred.
Sasuke suddenly lifted his head.
A flash of surprise and then hope lit up in his eyes.
Kakashi's words… had confirmed his deepest suspicion.
His breathing grew fast and uneven.
"Yes… that has to be it!"
The realization struck him with the force of lightning. In his mind, he nearly shouted.
That Itachi… the one from that night… he couldn't have been my Nissan.
The real Itachi
How could he?
How could his gentle, soft-spoken brother who had always cared for him, protected him, patted his head and said goodbye with a smile possibly do such a monstrous thing?
How could that brother have snuck into their clan compound in the middle of the night and killed everyone young and old, women and children alike without mercy?
He couldn't have!
Sasuke's fists trembled at his sides.
He gritted his teeth.
I used the Sharingan to record everything that night. I forced myself to watch it again and again...
And yet even through all the blood, even through all the horror something had never felt right.
That cold, heartless figure in the memory…
That wasn't Nissan.
There was no warmth, no flicker of familiarity.
It had to be someone else.
Someone pretending to be Itachi.
Someone who dared to wear his brother's face and commit unspeakable atrocities under his name.
The rage boiled in Sasuke's chest. His knuckles turned white from clenching too hard, his body slightly trembling with fury.
His eyes burned with hatred, the kind born from betrayal layered atop grief.
"That beast…"
He muttered through clenched teeth, his voice shaking.
"Not only did he kill my parents… and all of my clan…"
"He even dared… to pretend to be my Nissan…"
"…and tried to destroy the bond between us brothers!"
A violent surge of chakra seemed to ripple around him.
His vision blurred with red.
"Such a person…" Sasuke growled, "is absolutely unforgivable!"