"Why did you take all of this upon yourself?"
"Why did you manipulate my thoughts so recklessly?"
"Why did you choose to play the role of a brother who would protect me at any cost?"
Sasuke's voice trembled with hysteria as he shouted at Itachi, not giving him a single chance to respond.
Itachi, who had been shocked that Sasuke knew the secret, gradually calmed as he listened to his brother's torrent of emotions. He stood silently, watching Sasuke unleash his anger, his eyes reflecting a flicker of guilt.
When Sasuke finally took a breath and quieted, Itachi spoke.
"Although I do not know why the Third Hokage entrusted you with such classified information, he surely had his own reasons."
"Sasuke," Itachi continued, his tone formal and steady.
"What?" Sasuke responded, his fists clenched tightly.
"I am sorry," Itachi said, his voice low but clear, carrying the calm of someone who had finally released a heavy burden.
Sasuke's knuckles whitened as he gripped his fists harder, his gaze locked on Itachi, anticipating the words that would follow.
Itachi looked at his younger brother. There was no regret in his eyes, only profound exhaustion and a sense of resolution.
"You ask why I did it," Itachi began. "I can only say that at the time, I was far too arrogant."
He paused, carefully weighing his words. "I believed that the unbearable truth, the despair caught between my family and the village, could only be borne by me alone. That the responsibility of protecting Konoha and protecting you had to be my burden, absurdly tied together in a mission only I could carry. I refused to consider any other possibility, and I rejected the help of others."
"I was too confident, and yet too desperate," Itachi said, staring directly into Sasuke's eyes without flinching. "I thought my own strength was enough to sever the chains of fate."
"I saw the chasm between the Uchiha and Konoha, one that seemed impossible to bridge, and believed there was no choice but to 'cut away the flesh to save the life.' I did not trust anyone else could find a third path."
"So you chose the most extreme option and carried everything alone?" Sasuke's voice trembled, a mixture of rage and heartbreak.
"Yes," Itachi admitted plainly. "At that time, I only trusted myself, and I believed only my ultimate decision could achieve my goal."
"To annihilate the clan in order to prevent Konoha from descending into chaos, and to secure your future."
"The sins of the Uchiha would vanish with my death, and the glory of the Uchiha would live on in you. I believed this was the only clean path I could leave for you."
"Manipulating your mind was the gravest sin I committed against you."
"It was my selfishness and arrogance that led me to believe only through hatred for me, through a vengeance so deep and consuming, could you find the strength to survive and grow stronger."
"I used illusions, lies, and deception to erase your right to know the truth, distorting the bond between us, because I stubbornly believed that bearing hatred for me, and ultimately killing me, was the only way for you to gain the power to protect yourself."
"I denied your possibilities, Sasuke."
Itachi paused, his voice growing heavier with sincerity. "But I was wrong. The dark path I chose alone brought you not a clean future, but a deeper maze of pain and hatred."
"I underestimated the destructive power of losing everything. I underestimated you. I treated you like a child, deciding alone what you should bear and what you should let go of. That was my greatest arrogance, and the ultimate mistrust of you."
Sasuke's chest rose and fell rapidly, Itachi's words striking him with surgical precision, cutting through the deepest parts of his heart.
Itachi had carried the darkness of the Uchiha alone, yet in trying to shield Sasuke from it, he had pushed him further into the storm.
Sasuke recalled that day vividly. Returning home, excited to share his progress with his parents and Itachi, only to find the house filled with death. His parents gone. Itachi's cold gaze.
He remembered the daze in the hospital, the slap that was neither light nor heavy, and Naruto's face.
"If it weren't for Naruto being there," Sasuke thought, "I might have fully descended into darkness by now, becoming a vengeance-driven shadow, with no light, no future, no companions."
"Even if I could have succeeded in my revenge, even if I had killed you," Sasuke said, looking earnestly at Itachi, "that is not the path I want to walk!"
"Sasuke, you are fortunate," Itachi said, his voice calm but firm. "You have companions you can trust. You do not need to walk alone."
"I am glad you have found a brother who can pull you back when you fall into darkness."
"You have grown now. I no longer have the right to decide anything for you, Sasuke," Itachi's gaze softened. "The future of the Uchiha, your future how you walk that path must be forged by your own hands."
"I should no longer treat you as a child, carrying everything upon my shoulders."
Hearing Itachi's words, the admission of his own mistakes, and his entrusting of the Uchiha's future, Sasuke's expression became complex, heavy with understanding and emotion.
"The souls of the Uchiha must be carried by someone," Itachi continued. "I am ready. When you are ready, come to me."
"With your current strength and the companions around you, there is little I need to worry about. My eyes can wait for you anytime."
Sasuke clenched his fists. He knew the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan came at a cost, and even with sage techniques, the strain on the eyes was inevitable.
"That matter can be dealt with later."
"Itachi," Sasuke said, his voice icy, "now I ask you who was truly behind the Uchiha clan's destruction? Who killed Shisui, and who assisted you in annihilating the Uchiha?"
Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. "You suspected all of this?"
"Naruto helped me analyze it. Shisui's death triggered conflict between the Uchiha and the village, placing all the pressure on you."
"You must have seen Shisui's final moments, witnessed his death, which is why you awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, right?"
"Since you saw Shisui before his death, you must know who killed him."
"And the wild Uchiha who assisted you… could very well be the same one responsible for the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife during the Nine-Tails attack!"
Sasuke's tone was cold and precise. All of these tragedies were orchestrated by those hidden hands, the ones who had shaped the misfortune he and Naruto endured.
He had to confront them personally.
"Tell me, who are they, and where are they now?"
"Itachi, have you found a truly worthy brother in Naruto? I'd like to speak with him properly," Itachi said, his Sharingan flickering as he recalled a masked man.
"His name… he never reveals his real name. He wears a spiral mask and calls himself…"
Itachi deliberately paused, his voice deliberate, before finally saying the name clearly:
"Uchiha Madara."