Sasuke's eyes were blood-red, the patterns of his Mangekyo spinning violently as he stared fixedly at the container in Hinata's hand.
"Give it back!" His voice was hoarse, suppressing a mixture of rage and urgency.
Hinata, however, calmly tucked the container away.
"Sasuke, I can't give you these eyes. They wouldn't be of much use to you anyway."
"What do you know?!" Sasuke took a step forward, the kusanagi sword humming as it left its scabbard by half an inch, the blade wreathed in lightning.
"That is power belonging to the Uchiha! It is my tool for revenge! The key to destroying this rotten system!"
"System?" Itachi keenly caught Sasuke's shift in tone, his own demeanor carrying a trace of almost imperceptible tension.
"What are you planning to do, Sasuke?"
"What am I doing?" Sasuke snapped his head toward Itachi, the hatred in his eyes surging like a tide, yet mixed with a deeper layer of pain and a twisted sense of resolve.
"How could a traitor to the Uchiha like you understand what I'm doing?! Konoha, this hypocritical Village, this system built upon the bones of the Uchiha! The Konoha Leadership playing power games, families crushing one another, darkness is everywhere! My clansmen, my father, my mother... what did they do wrong?! Just because of some ridiculous theory about a potential threat, the entire clan had to be slaughtered?!"
His chest heaved violently, lightning crackling around him. His voice trembled with agitation, yet it carried a gradually sharpening, cold madness.
"Peace? Stability? Nothing but lies told by those in power to maintain their rule! Isn't the Hyuga's caged bird seal proof? Isn't the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan proof? Isn't the decline of the Senju Clan proof? Konoha is like a tree rotting from the inside; it looks lush on the surface, but underneath, it's full of vermin and tumors! What I'm going to do is tear this rotten tree out by its roots! I'll drag out every one of those parasites giving orders from the shadows and crush them!"
He gripped the sword hilt, the lightning flaring intensely.
"Then, upon the ruins, I will rebuild a true order! The name of the Uchiha Clan will no longer be that of traitors and sinners, but the founders of a new world! I will revive the Uchiha and let the radiance of the Sharingan shine over the Ninja World, instead of being buried in the dust of history and the bloodstains of conspiracy!"
These words rang out powerfully, echoing within the empty passage.
Hatred, ambition, grievances against injustice, and an extreme obsession with clan glory blended into a dangerous and fanatical conviction.
Itachi listened quietly, his face still devoid of much expression, but the rotation of the patterns in his Mangekyo Sharingan seemed to slow by a fraction.
He remained silent, neither offering an immediate rebuttal nor agreement.
Hinata, however, frowned slightly.
Sasuke's current level of extremism was just one step away from shouting "Sieg Heil."
Are you going to give a speech to the Konoha Leadership next, take control of the country, and then start expanding to trigger a world war?
I've already thought of the speech for you.
"Do you know how many Uchiha have died? The clan was exterminated! If you piled up those bodies, they wouldn't even fit in a single wagon!"
"Follow in the footsteps of me, Uchiha Sasuke, sweep through the Ninja World, and be yourself!"
Sasuke was more extreme and idealistic than she had anticipated; destruction and reconstruction were never simple matters of replacement.
"So," Hinata spoke, her voice clear, "you want to use Shisui's eyes to control those 'parasites' you mentioned? Or perhaps use them to forcibly implement your new order?"
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