The whole building was filled with a cold and oppressive air. Standing at the entrance, Sasuke’s Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun as he locked eyes with the strange man walking out.
Kisa grinned, revealing a rather unsettling smile. "Nice to et you. I’m Hoshigaki Kisa, Itachi-san’s partner."
Surprisingly polite.
Sasuke took a deep breath, the spinning in his Sharingan slowing down. "I’m Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to et you, Hoshigaki Kisa."
Kisa’s smile stiffened. He wasn’t sure how to react to Sasuke’s overly polite introduction.
Wait a minute—shouldn’t he be screaming at , full of rage? I was ready for him to curse out and demand that I move aside, but... this?
Itachi-san, your little brother is way too polite.
Kisa took a mont to collect himself before forcing another smile. "You’re a lot calr than I expected. Have you already gotten used to the mory of your entire clan being wiped out? So, are you here to make peace with Itachi-san?"
Yeah, he was definitely trying to ss with Sasuke. After all, getting under people’s skin was one of his favorite pastis.
But then, Sasuke, looking completely unfazed, replied, "Not really. It’s just that I run into a lot of weirdos who try to get under my skin, so I make a habit of staying calm in situations like this. Oh, by the way, have you eaten?"
Kisa: "..."
His grip on his sword trembled slightly.
Itachi-san, are you sure this is really your brother?
’Have you eaten?’ Are you kidding ? I’ve been standing here all morning waiting for you—what do you think?
For the first ti in his life, Kisa started doubting himself. He had always been the one ssing with other people’s heads, but now Sasuke was turning the tables on him. He couldn’t take it anymore.
"Itachi-san is inside waiting for you. Go on in."
"Alright." Sasuke nodded and walked past Kisa without hesitation.
Kisa let out a relieved sigh. He really didn’t know what to make of Itachi-san’s little brother. It was better to just let him go before he started questioning himself even more.
But just as Kisa relaxed, Sasuke, who had already stepped inside, suddenly stopped and turned back. His voice was calm but deliberate. "Oh, right. If you haven’t eaten, I have so rice balls. They don’t taste great, but they’ll keep you full."
Kisa: "..."
Damn it! You hear that? Damn it again!
Watching Kisa’s face twitch like he was about to have a breakdown, Sasuke scoffed in disdain.
Hmph. Trying to ss with my head? Please. This level of mind gas isn’t even close to Kurama’s. If we’re talking about ssing with people’s minds, I, Uchiha Sasuke, bow down to Kurama. You? You’re nothing.
Itachi, this is the kind of teammate you have? You’ve really fallen.
With an odd sense of satisfaction, Sasuke turned and walked further into the building. The dim lighting swallowed him whole, as if even his heart was turning darker.
Kisa took deep breaths, staring at Sasuke’s back. He barely held back the urge to slash him twice and instead turned his dark gaze toward Kakashi, who had caught up.
"Perfect, I’ll just take out my frustration on you."
After all, Itachi-san only told him not to kill anyone. Teaching these guys a lesson was still fair ga.
anwhile, Sasuke walked through the long hallway and entered the innermost room.
Inside the spacious chamber, Itachi was the only one there. He sat in the highest seat, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan activated, looking down at Sasuke from above.
"Is this all you’ve got?" Itachi sounded a little disappointed. "It seems your hatred for isn’t strong enough yet."
In an instant, Sasuke’s Mangekyou Sharingan activated on its own. His blood-red eyes locked onto Itachi, his teeth clenched as he forced out a na.
"Uchiha Itachi!"
Hatred... yes, but more than that, it felt like a helpless cry.
Itachi frowned slightly—just for a mont, almost unnoticeable.
Sasuke wasn’t exactly as he had expected.
Still, the act had to go on.
Itachi let out a cold scoff, his face curving into an arrogant smirk. The Three-Tomoe in his eyes rged, transforming into the Mangekyou pattern.
"I see. So you’ve awakened this power as well. In that case, you should already know what it is that I need."
Sasuke took a deep breath. Looking at Itachi now, he suddenly wanted to laugh—his acting was terrible.
So, to play along, Sasuke chuckled. But there was nothing but bitterness in his smile.
"Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."
Itachi was montarily stunned. Sasuke actually knew about the Eternal Mangekyou?
Before he could respond, Sasuke continued,
"By transplanting a blood relative’s Mangekyou Sharingan, you gain their visual power. The Mangekyou strengthens beyond its original limits and, more importantly, never loses its sight, allowing unlimited use."
"Your goal is to push into awakening my Mangekyou, then take my eyes to obtain the Uchiha clan’s most powerful dojutsu—the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."
"Isn’t that right?"
Sasuke smiled at Itachi. As he spoke, the swirling pattern in his Mangekyou slowed until it beca a still, ordinary Mangekyou, staring straight into Itachi’s.
Itachi was silent for a mont.
Now he was sure—Sasuke had grown far beyond his expectations. Not only had he unlocked the Mangekyou, but he also knew about the Eternal Mangekyou.
But that shouldn’t be possible.
No one in Konohagakure should know about it.
Who told him?
...Never mind. It didn’t matter.
After all, the Eternal Mangekyou had never been his goal in the first place.
Itachi thought for only a brief mont before putting on his perfectly rehearsed deranged grin.
"Oh? So you know about that power too? Not bad. That’s exactly what I’m after."
"The legendary power that Uchiha Madara once possessed—the greatest power of the Uchiha!" Itachi let out an eerie laugh. "With it, I’ll beco the strongest ninja!"
Sasuke silently watched Itachi’s performance. Just stared.
But the bitterness in his eyes grew stronger.
The belief that had been holding him up felt like it was crumbling.
Itachi... why are you still acting?
Itachi didn’t notice anything wrong with Sasuke and simply continued reciting his lines.
"Sasuke, I’m truly glad you understand . Now that you have this power too, you should be able to understand why I had to slaughter the entire clan, right?"
"It’s a pity. Mother and Father’s talent wasn’t enough to give that power." There was deep sadness hidden in Itachi’s eyes, but his face carried only mockery.
"But you’re different. You give hope. Hope that I can obtain that power!"
"So, Sasuke, tell —don’t you have anything to say at this mont?"
"Yeah, actually, I do."
Sasuke noticed the way Itachi was completely imrsed in his own performance and responded in the most casual tone.
"Have you eaten?"
Itachi: "..."
Wait.
What did you just say?
I think my ears glitched for a second...
Seeing the stiffness on Itachi’s face, Sasuke let out a bitter chuckle.
"Kurama told —if soone tries to ss with your emotions, don’t play along. Just say, ’Have you eaten?’ to completely break their flow, then enjoy watching their face look like they just swallowed dirt."
Itachi was stunned.
Sasuke didn’t give him a chance to respond and kept talking.
"Honestly, Kurama made a good point. He’s just not the best person to explain deep ideas, so it ca out a little twisted. I think what he really ant was—"
"Don’t get caught up in the other person’s words."
"You have to decide for yourself what’s real and what’s not. If you go along with their script, they’ll just turn into a clown right in front of you.
And then, with the calst voice, you say the simplest thing—
And watch all their words go to waste."
".
"The goal isn’t to ss with the opponent’s mindset in return, but to interrupt their attempt to ss with yours. This gives you ti to think and lets you judge whether they’re being truthful based on their reaction to your words."
"Interesting, isn’t it, Itachi?" Sasuke reached out his hand as if trying to grasp the sliver of light streaming in through the window.
In the next mont, he clenched his fist, and the bitterness and faint smile on his face disappeared. Calmness and logic returned as he looked at Itachi with an unreadable expression. "So, have you eaten, Itachi?"
Itachi’s dazed expression gradually returned to normal. He looked at Sasuke, who stood on the other side of the room, and for the first ti, he felt like everything was slipping out of his control.
But... Sasuke had grown. He had truly grown.
Every word he had just said, every emotional outburst, every calculated performance—it was all to provoke Sasuke’s anger, to deepen his hatred. Every line, every expression, and every act had been perfect.
But with just one simple sentence, all those years of hatred he had built in Sasuke, along with the rage from his performance, vanished into thin air.
Pride, satisfaction, happiness—perhaps that was what Itachi felt at this mont. He was proud of Sasuke’s composure, satisfied with how much he had matured, and happy to see his growth. All these emotions ca together, and for the first ti...
He couldn’t keep up the act anymore.
He smiled, feeling relaxed. Looking at Sasuke’s calm face, he spoke in the gentle voice of the past. "No, I haven’t eaten. I’ve been waiting for you since morning. I didn’t know when you’d co, so I just sat here the whole ti."
"I have rice balls, five left," Sasuke said as he took off his backpack and pulled out a lunchbox. A third of it was empty, but the remaining two-thirds still contained rice balls. "I originally planned to arrive tomorrow morning, so I packed three extra als."
"You didn’t plan for the trip back?" Itachi asked, sitting comfortably in his chair, his tone becoming casual.
"There’s a small town about half a day’s journey from here." Sasuke took out two rice balls and tossed them to Itachi.
Itachi caught them, glanced at the fist-sized rice balls in his hand, then chuckled before taking a bite.
Sasuke set his backpack down, picked up another rice ball, and took a bite as well. "I’m still growing, so I’ll eat three, and you’ll eat two."
Itachi let out a helpless laugh. "Technically speaking, shouldn’t I, as a sick person, be eating more?"
Since Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, he knew about its side effects. Itachi, who had been using it for years, was undoubtedly suffering from them.
"You really have the nerve to call yourself a ’sick person’?" Sasuke snorted, swallowing a bite of rice. "Don’t tell you don’t know that the side effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan can be countered with Hashirama’s cells. While it won’t give you the Eternal Mangekyō, it would still let you use your eyes without any restrictions. For soone who ’seeks power’ like you, wouldn’t that be the best option?"
Itachi was silent for a long ti, staring at the rice ball in his hand. Finally, he let out a deep sigh.
It was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. For the first ti, he showed a truly relaxed smile, yet beneath it lay a sorrow he could no longer hide. "So, you know."
"Yeah," Sasuke nodded. "That’s why I ca here—to ask you why."
"So you’ve just been watching make a fool of myself this whole ti?" Itachi sighed, looking helpless.
Sasuke let out a cold chuckle. "You were Dad and Mom’s pride, the most talented ANBU mber, the hope of the Uchiha clan. Seeing you put on such a ridiculous act? This might be my only chance in life to witness it."
After all, what’s more entertaining than watching soone serious try to act funny?
Nothing.
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