At the site where Itachi and Sasuke were fighting, Hyuga Hinata stood quietly, her white robes as pure as snow.
She had flown over at extreme speed according to the location provided by the Third Hokage, and then began to watch the spectacle.
[host, what are you planning to do? The Third Hokage clearly wants you to clean up the mess. Are you planning to take Sasuke back to Konoha?]
Hinata rolled her eyes at the System again.
"Don't make me laugh; you've got quite the sense of humor. Do I look like Konoha's babysitter? None of my business. What, do you think I've got nothing better to do? Arrest him and bring him back to Konoha? I'm doing well just by not joining in. Who knows, maybe tearing down Konoha would give me enough points to breakthrough directly to the Nascent Soul Stage."
Hinata complained speechlessly while watching the two Susanoo pummel each other and cause destruction everywhere.
Her eyes looked down at the scorched earth and ruins completely reshaped by violence, scanning every hideous crack. Finally, her gaze locked onto the two half-bodied giants—one purple, one red—brawling with each other, and she began to watch with great interest.
"Tsk, this is way more interesting than watching tokusatsu shows or Hollywood blockbusters."
[...host, once you reach the Nascent Soul Stage, you could even play the lead in a Superman or Man of Steel movie.]
...Hiss, that actually seems true. There will be alien invasions later. As the Superman of the Ninja World, I'll definitely have to protect everyone's Ninja World.
No, wait, it's about protecting *my* Ninja World.
Just as Hinata was starting to find the battle boring, she noticed something was off... "Itachi, just watch. I won't follow your old path. I will never be like you, trading the slaughter of my clansmen for peace."
Sasuke deactivated his Susanoo and made a solemn declaration to Itachi. He then slowly walked into the forest and vanished. It wasn't until Sasuke's presence completely disappeared that Itachi staggered and leaned against a tree. He had consumed a vast amount of energy in this battle, and his body was becoming increasingly broken.
In the distance, Hinata cast her gaze toward that weakened figure at the edge of the battlefield.
Then, she stepped forward, crossing the battlefield permeated with the smell of char, and arrived before Uchiha Itachi.
Her footsteps were very light, falling on the deathly silent ruins, yet they were clearly audible.
Despite Itachi's poor state, the bone-deep alertness belonging to a top-tier Ninja had not been entirely lost.
Especially after just completing a matter of vital importance and extreme secrecy, any outsider was enough to make his mind tense up.
He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and filled with blood, but he could still clearly see the newcomer.
A young girl from the Hyuga Main Family, her white clothes unstained by a speck of dust, her temperament so calm it seemed out of place with the tragic battlefield surrounding her.
He couldn't sense any Chakra fluctuations from her; she was like a blank space merging into the environment.
"Hyuga... Hinata?"
Hinata's pure white eyes quietly gazed into Itachi's eyes.
"Uchiha Itachi, unfortunately, you chose an even more complicated path."
Itachi frowned, straightened his back, and looked directly at Hinata.
"I don't understand what you mean," Itachi said in a low voice.
Seeing that he wouldn't admit it, Hinata continued speaking in a tone that stated facts, tinged with a faint sense of regret.
"Still won't admit it, Itachi? You've deceived Sasuke once again, using another meticulously choreographed 'truth' to overwrite what he thought was his own choice."
She tilted her head slightly, her voice even carrying a hint of mockery.
"As an older brother, you really do worry yourself to death."
"What exactly do you mean?" Itachi's gaze turned unfriendly.
"You've already used Kotoamatsukami on Sasuke. You claim you won't modify his will, yet you've deceived him once more." Hinata didn't bother with riddles and laid her cards on the table.
Hearing this, Itachi's heart sank directly to the bottom, and his expression shifted.
How on earth did she know? It was as if she had been standing right there, watching with her own eyes as he used it.
"Deceived..." Itachi repeated the word, no longer attempting to deny the obvious truth.
Before this mysterious Hyuga girl, pale and weak concealment might have been even more laughable. He lifted his heavy eyelids and looked straight at her.
"Sometimes, a lie can protect a person better than the truth."
Hinata took a small step forward, closing the distance. Her white eyes appeared exceptionally clear in the fading light.
"So, what did you modify?" she asked directly, her gaze locking onto Itachi's eyes, not missing a single subtle flicker.
"His deepest, all-driving obsession with revenge? Did you weaken it? Limited its target? Or did you plant a switch inside—a trigger that would let him let go or turn away at a moment you deem appropriate?"
Every guess accurately pointed toward the most likely applications of 'Kotoamatsukami,' especially the part about modifying the 'revenge obsession' itself, which almost directly hit the core objective of Itachi's actions.
Itachi's breath hitched for a moment, but his face remained expressionless.
He didn't answer, but silence itself was an answer, representing his final line of defense.
He would never personally admit to what specific 'correction' he had applied to his younger brother. That was a choice he had made by gambling everything, even the last possible connection between siblings.
Hinata didn't seem to expect an answer either; getting the confirmation was enough for her.
"As I thought," she whispered. Her gaze moved away from Itachi and toward the forest where Sasuke had disappeared.
"Well, it's a very typical Uchiha-style paranoia and self-righteousness."
Itachi suddenly began to cough violently, more blood seeping through his fingers. He struggled to steady his breathing and rasped out.
"What... do you actually want? To expose all of this? To tell Sasuke?"
"Not interested. This is your family business. I just came to take a look."
She paused, her pure white eyes reflecting the last lingering light on the horizon.
Having said her piece, Hinata didn't stay any longer.
She took one last look at Uchiha Itachi, who was surging with indescribable emotions, turned around, and her white sleeves fluttered slightly in the rising evening breeze. Her figure vanished as if she had never appeared.
Leaving only Uchiha Itachi leaning alone against the scorched tree trunk, the sound of his violent coughing echoing across the vast, deathly silent battlefield.
The physical pain was far less than the earth-shattering shock and chill in his heart.
Hyuga Hinata—she had seen through everything, understood the application of 'Kotoamatsukami,' and even accurately guessed that the core of his modification was Sasuke's 'obsession with revenge.'
He didn't remember ever telling anyone anything about Kotoamatsukami. How on earth did she know? Even Sasuke somehow knew about Kotoamatsukami.
As far as he knew, only Shisui and himself should have known about this, plus Danzo. Could it be that Danzo leaked it before he died?
Itachi was completely baffled, but regardless, his goal had been achieved... [Ding! Key plot node observed.]
[Uchiha Itachi has successfully applied Kotoamatsukami to Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke's core driving will—the intent to destroy the Konoha Leadership and his hatred—has been placed under implicit restraint and guidance by Kotoamatsukami.]
[One can only say they are truly Uchiha; these two are playing a game of 4D chess here.]
[Sasuke: I guessed you were going to use Kotoamatsukami on me, so I used a Clone to trick you.]
[Itachi: I guessed that you guessed I was going to use Kotoamatsukami to control you, and I also guessed you'd use a Clone to trick me, so I played along to make you think you successfully tricked me and that you weren't modified, but in reality, I successfully tricked you, and you've already been modified by Kotoamatsukami.]
[Ah... what a truly exhilarating gambit.]
Hinata:..."What kind of gambit is this?"
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