For a fleeting mont, Uchiha Itachi even entertained a ridiculous thought.
If I ca clean now—if I admitted that I'm actually an undercover agent, not a traitor, that I infiltrated the Akatsuki under orders from the Hokage… would it still be in ti?
The Uchiha Clan could be known for loyalty and sacrifice. We could love the village. We could stand on the side of righteousness.
The thought lasted only an instant before Itachi cast it aside.
He imdiately understood that if he wanted to break this vicious cycle, there was only one solution—he had to stop Sasuke from defecting.
Of all the reasons listed for failing political scrutiny, Uchiha Madara's failed rebellion belonged to Madara alone. The Uchiha Clan hadn't followed him back then. As for the clan's own attempted coup, very few people knew about it, and it had never been carried out.
Surely, they couldn't be condemned just for harboring intentions.
His own defection and the massacre of the clan, however, could never be washed clean. But even that could be turned into a stepping stone for Sasuke.
If Sasuke returned to the village carrying Itachi's head, he would be hailed as a hero.
All of those things could be explained.
But Sasuke's defection could not.
Even if he were later pardoned by the Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, his record would forever bar him from becoming Hokage.
Worse, it would affect the next generation's chances as well.
"No… if it cos down to it, I'll just eliminate Orochimaru first."
The thought surfaced suddenly in Itachi's mind.
Killing Orochimaru would prevent the Konoha Crush Plan and also stop Sasuke from ever defecting.
It was a clean solution.
Until now, Itachi had only thought about helping Sasuke grow strong enough to restore the Uchiha Clan's honor. But the mont he realized that an Uchiha could also beco Hokage, sothing in him shifted.
Perhaps Sasuke's generation wouldn't make it—after all, Uzumaki Naruto was a powerful rival.
But the next generation…
For reasons unknown, Naruto would encounter so kind of disaster, and Uzumaki Boruto would defect. That would leave Uchiha Sarada facing an unprecedented opportunity in the clan's history.
And to seize that opportunity, Sasuke's future defection had to be cut off completely.
As the thought took root, Itachi's eyes grew brighter.
—
"So Kakashi becos the Sixth Hokage…"
Uchiha Sasuke frowned slightly. Becoming Hokage held little appeal for him. That dream belonged to Uzumaki Naruto, who had spent his entire childhood shouting it out to gain attention.
For Sasuke, the only thing that mattered was restoring the Uchiha Clan.
"Naruto… the Seventh Hokage," he murmured. That much he had already known. "And sothing happens to him in the future?"
Ever since learning the truth about the night Naruto was born, Sasuke could no longer bring himself to call him "dead last."
Naruto becoming an orphan hadn't been his fault. His early struggles hadn't been his fault either.
He should have grown up as the village's prince, living a stable life.
But everything had been destroyed by soone from the Uchiha Clan.
The one who released the Nine-Tails and indirectly caused the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife had been an Uchiha.
As the current representative of the clan, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a trace of guilt.
And after spending ti together recently, he had gradually co to accept Naruto as a teammate.
Especially after seeing glimpses of the future in Kaede's diary, where the two of them fought side by side as comrades.
So when he saw that Naruto would face sothing in the future, his first reaction was concern.
And then there was Uzumaki Boruto—the boy Kaede described as idolizing him, even dressing like an Uchiha—who was forced to defect.
For reasons he couldn't fully explain, that detail tugged at him.
Maybe it was because of their shared fate.
Even though Sasuke hadn't defected yet, he knew that his future self would. He couldn't say for certain whether he himself would take that path.
The thought alone made him uneasy.
But when he saw that his defection would even affect his future daughter's chance of becoming Hokage, a bitter feeling welled up in his chest.
He didn't have a daughter yet, and according to Kaede, that daughter might even be the sa age he was now. Still, he couldn't help but put himself in her place.
If he were burdened by his parents' mistakes, wouldn't he feel resentnt too?
That realization weakened his resolve to follow Orochimaru.
If he was going to return in the end, then why go down that path at all?
What surprised him even more was that Shikamaru would beco the Eighth Hokage.
In Sasuke's mind, Shikamaru was the very definition of lazy. He barely paid attention in class and was always dozing off. His grades weren't bad, but they were never outstanding either.
Even though Kaede's diary had shown his brilliance in the battle against Hidan, it still felt far removed from the image of a Hokage.
—
[When I got Kakashi's request today, I was caught off guard. Didn't expect it to be the Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow mission. It's not difficult, but it does an another long journey.
This tiline is getting more and more chaotic. Hard to tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I helped Kakashi lead the team today—the original Team 7, the future New Sannin (lol). Sasuke's progress is seriously impressive. As the Indra of this generation, his talent is undeniably top-tier.
A lot of people say that compared to prodigies like Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui, Sasuke's talent seems pretty average. Especially with all those "Sunny Sasuke getting wrecked" monts that make people underestimate both his potential and his growth rate.
He's basically the Vegeta of the Naruto world—clear skies, rain's gone, and suddenly Sasuke thinks he's got this again, hahaha.
But people forget that he broke the Uchiha Clan's record for awakening the Sharingan. At seven years old, pushed by Itachi's tornt, he awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan. The previous Indra, Uchiha Madara, didn't awaken his until his teens.
Speaking of which, could Itachi developing a Kekkei Genkai Disease so young have sothing to do with awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan too early?
Itachi was brought to the battlefield by Uchiha Fugaku at just three or four years old to witness shinobi killing each other. As he grew older, Uchiha Shisui personally guided his training, molding him into a perfect ninja. That's how he reached such heights at such a young age.
But Sasuke never went through anything like that at the sa age. Later, he even experienced the destruction of his entire clan, which made him seem far less dazzling than Itachi.
Even so, in just three or four years after graduation, his growth has been explosive. Aside from Uzumaki Naruto, no one of his generation cos close.
In just a few years, he was able to orchestrate the assassination of Uchiha Itachi. Sure, Itachi held back, but Sasuke's rapid improvent during that ti is undeniable.
In terms of talent, he's absolutely among the top three in Uchiha history!]
—
As Sasuke read the new entry appearing in the diary, his face darkened when he saw Kaede calling him "Sunny Sasuke" again, especially with those references to him getting beaten down.
But when he read the praise about his talent, what he felt wasn't just embarrassnt—it was confusion.
That prodigy Kaede described… was that really him?
Even Sasuke himself wouldn't claim such overwhelming talent. As far as he knew, Itachi surpassed him, and so did the equally renowned Shisui.
Both had been famous prodigies at his age, already powerful enough to make a na for themselves.
anwhile, Sasuke had only just graduated from the academy. His strength was barely on par with an elite chunin. He was still far from reaching the level of a jonin.
Did he really deserve such high praise?
In his mind, even Kaede Kitahara—who didn't carry the Uchiha na but undeniably possessed Uchiha blood—had far greater talent.
After all, how long had it been since Kaede beca a chunin? And yet his strength had already surged to Kage Level.
If Sasuke had ever imagined his own growth path, it would have looked sothing like Kaede's.
That was why Kaede's words left him so perplexed.
But soon, sothing else caught his attention—sothing that made his blood boil.
In just three or four years, he would orchestrate the assassination of Uchiha Itachi.
That confird it.
Just as he had suspected, his future self would kill Itachi.
It aligned perfectly with what had been hinted at earlier in Kaede's diary during his battle with Shimura Danzo.
"Uchiha Itachi… I will kill you," Sasuke muttered, a grin spreading across his face before it twisted into wild laughter.
Even though that mont was still far away, the re thought of achieving his revenge filled him with excitent.
"But what's this Kekkei Genkai Disease?"
Sasuke frowned, completely lost. This was territory he had never even considered.
Could a Kekkei Genkai really cause illness?
And what did it an that Itachi had "held back"?
He hadn't seen the term before, but from the context, he understood it ant that Itachi had gone easy on him.
"So I only won because he let ?"
Sasuke's expression darkened instantly, anger flaring.
"As if I'd ever need that."
What did Kaede think this was?
A joke?
Where was the humor in it?
Those were the lives of his clan—his family.
Even if he didn't bear the Uchiha na, didn't that blood still run through him?
Did their deaths an nothing at all to him?
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