More eyes, however, locked onto the very source of this tragedy—Uchiha Itachi.
Everyone wanted to know what that fated showdown between the brothers would look like.
And what sort of man was Uchiha Itachi, the one who had orchestrated it all?
Outside the Akatsuki Organization hideout.
Uchiha Itachi gazed up at the heavenly screen, watching Sasuke form the "Hawk" squad, gather intel with calm precision, his strength and mind tempered by hatred and growing at breakneck speed.
His face, perpetually frozen, showed no emotion, yet deep within those profound Mangekyo Sharingan eyes flickered a trace of... satisfaction.
'Good... Sasuke.'
'Keep growing stronger, keep marching toward the end point I've set for you.'
'Use Orochimaru, build your own force—everything is following my script.'
In his plan, the next step was for Sasuke to find him, and in that destined battle he would offer up his life as fertilizer, dying by his brother's hand.
That way Sasuke would taste the thrill of revenge and, through the emotional surge, evolve his Sharingan; with Itachi's own eyes he would unlock the Eternal Mangekyo and gain the power to protect Konoha.
Bearing the merit of 'slaying the S-rank Rogue Ninja Uchiha Itachi,' he would return to Konoha in glory and be hailed a hero.
It was, in Itachi's eyes, the perfect path he could pave for his little brother.
His own life and infamy traded for Sasuke's bright future and Konoha's stability.
'Then... I can leave in peace.' A sense of near-release flitted through his heart.
Hokage Office.
The exact opposite of Itachi's 'satisfaction,' Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's face turned grayer with every step the heavenly screen Sasuke took toward Itachi.
He suddenly realized a problem—one that would rip away Konoha's last fig leaf.
The heavenly screen had laid out Sasuke's growth and obsession in such detail that next it would surely reveal the target of his revenge—Uchiha Itachi!
And once people dug into Uchiha Itachi, could the truth of the Uchiha Clan's extermination stay hidden?
If the entire Ninja World learned how Konoha's higher-ups—he and Danzo Shimura—had forced a thirteen-year-old genin to massacre his own clan, shifted all blame onto him, and used his little brother's life as leverage... Konoha's vaunted 'will of fire' and vow to 'protect every child in the Village' would become a cosmic joke!
Konoha would lose all credibility and stand exposed as utter hypocrites and schemers.
At that point, not even the Raikage's mockery would be needed; even the Land of Fire's daimyo would lose all trust in the Village.
At the thought, Hiruzen's head spun and cold sweat soaked his back.
'It's over... really over...' He slumped into his chair, the pipe in his hand long cold.
He looked out at seemingly prosperous Konoha, recalling how he had toiled his whole life to safeguard the Village's peace, even resorting to dark compromises.
But why... had things spiraled to this point?
The Uchiha Clan, the Hyuga Clan, the White Fang, the Fourth Hokage... and now Naruto and Sasuke—he had only wanted to protect peace and let Konoha endure.
Yet it felt like a bog that tightened the more he struggled, dragging the Village toward ruin.
An unprecedented helplessness and bewilderment shrouded the old man.
'Sigh...' He exhaled as if aged ten years in a second, weariness and despair written across his face. 'Let it end... I'm tired...'
Before the unstoppable torrent of information the heavenly screen unleashed, every scheme and calculation seemed pale.
All he could do now was... take one step at a time and wait for the judgment that would surely come.
Ninja Academy, classroom.
The air seemed frozen, filled only with sounds from the future on the heavenly screen.
Everyone's gaze involuntarily shifted between Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
Naruto instinctively turned to look at Sasuke sitting nearby.
His blue eyes swirled with confusion, reluctance, lingering anger, and a strange pang of attachment from the future he had just witnessed.
He saw his older self risking life after life to bring Sasuke back, never giving up even when left far behind.
That heavy, blazing emotion burned across time, scorching the present young Naruto.
Yet reality was brutally real.
Without warning Sasuke moved!
He shot to his feet, lightning-fast, and landed a clean, powerful straight punch on Naruto's cheek before the blond could react.
Bang!
'Ugh!' Naruto cried out, knocked flat and sent sprawling.
'dead last, stop looking at me with those disgusting eyes.' Sasuke towered over him, voice icy.
'Damn it, Sasuke!' Clutching his swelling face, Naruto scrambled up, baring his teeth.
His chest heaved with a torrent of curses, questions, protests.
But when he opened his mouth and met Sasuke's dark eyes, every word stuck in his throat.
The Naruto on the heavenly screen, tear-streaked and desperate, clashed violently with the revenge-driven Sasuke in front of him.
He didn't understand why; he only felt a suffocating ache.
Uchiha Sasuke, in stark contrast, ignored the red-faced Naruto and focused back on the heavenly screen.
His black eyes blazed with near-fanatical light, locked on the image of his future self hunting Uchiha Itachi.
Soon... very soon... vengeance!
That single thought drowned out everything else.
To him the heavenly screen was no display of bonds—it was a roadmap of revenge and proof of power.