"This revenge you gambled everything on—don't you think it went… a little too smoothly? A little too ridiculously?"
At this point the Masked Man couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.
Uchiha Itachi was practically letting him win.
"Don't speak that name in front of me!" Sasuke erupted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Killing intent mixed with Chakra exploded out of control.
He tried to lunge up to attack, but searing pain and overwhelming weakness made him stumble and almost collapse again.
In the end he could only lean against the wall, gasping, glaring at the Masked Man with eyes burning in fury and hatred.
The Masked Man ignored the fire blazing in Sasuke's gaze and, in an infuriatingly pitying tone, continued.
"Poor, poor Uchiha Sasuke. Looks like you really… know nothing."
Sasuke clenched his teeth, fighting both the urge to strike and the pain, his scarlet Sharingan eyes fixed on the man as if to tear him apart with a look alone.
The Masked Man seemed to relish the feeling of total control and the slow erosion of Sasuke's mental defenses. He changed tack and asked a seemingly unrelated question.
"Is the Uchiha Clan… strong?"
Sasuke answered almost without thinking, cold pride etched into his bones: "The Uchiha are the strongest clan in the Ninja World!"
The instant those words left his mouth, jeers and rebuttals erupted across the real-world shinobi lands.
"Bull! The strongest is your Village's Lord Sarutobi!"
"That's right—us Sarutobi, three thousand Ninja!"
"Hah! Does the Uchiha even match a fraction of us Sarutobi?"
Inside Konoha, people unhappy with the Uchiha seized the moment to shout even louder.
"Strongest? What a joke! Konoha's top dogs are the Sarutobi Clan—Lord Third's family!"
"Five thousand Ninja—got that many, Uchiha?"
"Sarutobi Clan crushes all dissent!"
The clamor even reached the Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi heard the cries of "Sarutobi strongest" outside his window, yet his face turned darker, not brighter.
At a time like this, pushing the Sarutobi to the forefront was like roasting them over a fire.
It would only deepen the wariness of the other clans and Villages, drawing unwanted attention to the Sarutobi's overwhelming power.
But more than that, what truly terrified him—left him almost unable to breathe—was this.
On the heavenly screen, the Masked Man was clearly using Sasuke's words to steer the conversation toward the truth of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
The darkest, filthiest page in Konoha's history—one he, Danzo, and the two Advisors had desperately concealed, even forcing Itachi to shoulder all the blame.
Once exposed, Konoha's few remaining scraps of honor would collapse entirely.
His own lifelong reputation would be ruined in an instant.
How would Konoha face the condemnation and scorn of the entire Ninja World?
"It's over… all over…" Hiruzen slumped in his chair, his pipe clattering to the floor unnoticed.
Cold sweat dotted his forehead; despair filled his eyes.
All his schemes, all his compromises, every "for the Village"—in this moment they felt like a cosmic joke, about to be torn open by the heavenly screen and exposed to broad daylight.
Back on the screen, the Masked Man followed Sasuke's claim with a lethal counter.
"Strongest clan? Heh… Then, Uchiha Sasuke, let me ask you—"
"A clan hailed as the 'strongest'—why was it wiped out in a single night by just one person… Uchiha Itachi?"
The tide of truth could no longer be held back!
That lightly tossed question struck Sasuke's chest like a sledgehammer.
Sasuke's face turned deathly pale.
He had never pondered this question!
Hatred had always blinded him; he knew only that Itachi was the murderer, a demon of immense power.
He had never considered the matter from the clan's perspective!
How could an ancient, illustrious clan—possessors of the Sharingan Bloodline Limit, packed with masters—be erased silently in one night by a single person?
Seeing Sasuke's shifting expression, the Masked Man knew the seed was planted.
Ruthlessly he followed up with a second, sharper question, driving Sasuke step by step toward the cliff of shattered belief.
"In other words…"
His voice carried cruel amusement. "Uchiha Sasuke, with your current strength—if you returned to that night, could you do it? Could you, alone, wipe out the Uchiha Clan of that era?"
Boom!
The question detonated like lightning inside Sasuke's mind.
What level was he at now?
Uchiha Sasuke was supremely confident!
But… face the entire clan?
Face the elders and elites who had awakened their Sharingan?
Face his own father?
The answer surfaced instantly—he couldn't.
Absolutely impossible.
He probably wouldn't even survive a mass assault by the Police Force!
Seeing Sasuke's blank, thunderstruck look, the Masked Man knew the answer was obvious.
He let out a low, mocking laugh.
"Heh… the answer's clear. Even current you couldn't do it…"
His voice rose sharply, relishing the exposure of the lie.
"So how did the Uchiha Itachi you 'killed' manage it?"
"Remember—at the time he was only thirteen! Younger than you are now!"
Thirteen!
Younger than himself!
Those two facts stabbed into Sasuke's heart like ice picks, making him tremble uncontrollably.
A freezing chill shot up his spine.
Previous hatred, anger, even the false thrill of vengeance crumbled under the relentless, logical barrage.
In their place rose boundless confusion and marrow-deep fear.
What exactly… had he taken revenge on?
What kind of… monster had he killed?
Or rather—
The Masked Man gave Sasuke no time to breathe. The final, most fatal blow came at once, aiming straight at Konoha, at the most illogical flaw beneath the seemingly rational surface.
"And…"
"He did it inside Konoha Village! Under the Anbu's layers of surveillance and defense—without anyone noticing a thing?"