Child Sasuke now carried more than a decade's worth of lived experience. The thought that he would soon face his once-hated older brother in a final, all-or-nothing battle, and kill him with his own hands, filled his heart with conflicting emotions.
He knew this was an illusion. Once he left this place, he would still be Sasuke Uchiha, a student at the Ninja Academy. That future had not happened yet, which meant he could stop it no matter what.
Compared to the foolish version of himself in this illusion, Child Sasuke was certain of one thing. He would never reject Naruto and the others' help. They would find a way together to change the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha.
"Come out, Naruto Uzumaki. I want to talk to you."
?!!
Child Sasuke, who had been planning to change his father, his brother, and the fate of the Uchiha Clan the moment he escaped the illusion, froze.
He hadn't expected the one to find Itachi first to actually be Naruto's side.
"So you're here to capture me, Itachi Uchiha."
Right. The Akatsuki's goal was to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
'You absolute idiot! At a time like this, you should've sent a signal to Kakashi and the others first! You can't even beat me. How could you possibly stand against my brother?!'
"Why?" Itachi asked calmly. "Why are you so fixated on my younger brother?"
Those words stunned the Uchiha Clan.
Wasn't this Itachi, the one who would slaughter them all in the future? The traitor to the clan and to Konoha? Shouldn't he be serving the Akatsuki and immediately capturing Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?
Why ask something so strange?
Within Naruto's consciousness, they stared along with him at the Konoha missing-nin, the traitor of the clan.
Itachi continued, "Sasuke Uchiha is also a missing-nin, isn't he? So why do you persist in chasing after him?"
No.
Naruto didn't say it out loud, but the Uchiha Clan and Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, who had followed Naruto for over a decade, all knew the truth.
Sasuke Uchiha…
Had never been officially labeled a missing-nin by Konoha.
His name did not appear in Konoha's bingo book. There was no bounty, no public notice, no official pursuit.
In fact, most Konoha ninja didn't even know that Sasuke Uchiha had left the village.
All of it…
Was because of Naruto Uzumaki's relentless pleas to the Fifth Hokage, and…
—"No matter how much you beg, a missing-nin is still a missing-nin! Sasuke Uchiha defected to Orochimaru, who killed the Third Hokage, and he nearly killed you himself. That's an undeniable fact!"
Tsunade had once smashed a desk over this.
She knew Naruto's true identity. The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, who had been saved and changed by Naruto, had truly come to see this loud, reckless child as her own grandson. As the last hope she entrusted to the future after Nawaki and Dan.
—"Grandma! I promise! Sasuke will never do anything that harms Konoha! I will bring him back to Konoha!"
—"And what are you using to guarantee that? These life-threatening injuries? Without the Nine-Tails' power, you'd be dead already! Even if you survived, you might never be a ninja again! Have you forgotten your dream?!"
When his dream was mentioned, Naruto fell silent for a long time.
At that moment, when the Uchiha Clan, Child Sasuke, and even Sasuke's parents and brother all thought Naruto had given up…
—"If I can't bring Sasuke back…"
—"Then I won't become Hokage!"
—"What?!!"
Tsunade and Jiraiya were both stunned.
But Naruto's eyes were unwavering.
—"When I bring him back, I'll make him watch me become Hokage with his own eyes!"
—"Sasuke is the last ninja of the Uchiha Clan and one of Konoha's most important pillars! As the future Hokage, I'm willing to stake everything on guaranteeing him! One day, I will bring him back to Konoha!"
—"If he ever tries to harm Konoha, I'll stop him with my life! I won't let him lay a single finger on Konoha! I'll defeat him and atone alongside him!"
…
Upon hearing Itachi Uchiha's question, nearly every member of the Uchiha Clan residing within Naruto Uzumaki's consciousness recalled that conversation Naruto once had with the Fifth Hokage.
The words "Sasuke is the last ninja of the Uchiha Clan, the most important part of Konoha" touched something soft and deeply buried in the hearts of the Uchiha.
And the words "As the future Hokage, I'm willing to stake everything I have to vouch for him" struck Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke especially hard. He was the one who had once declared he would kill the Five Kage, who had been stopped in the end by Naruto, and who now had no idea how much time had passed in the real world, nor whether the idiot in his own world was still alive.
Hit after hit, straight to the heart.
He was almost at his limit.
"Answer me, Naruto Uzumaki," Itachi Uchiha said calmly. "Why are you so obsessed with my younger brother?"
"Compared to you," Naruto replied, clearly knowing he was no match yet refusing to retreat, "at least compared to you, I treat Sasuke like a real brother."
"If you fail to bring Sasuke back, what will you do?" Itachi continued. "And if Sasuke chooses to attack Konoha, what then?"
"What are you talking about?! Sasuke would never attack Konoha!"
"No," Itachi said. "Sasuke is like a blank sheet of paper. He's too easily used by others and led into changing his stance."
"…"
Naruto fell silent.
That silence, and the faint agreement buried deep in his heart, flowed straight into Sasuke Uchiha's consciousness, leaving his emotions tangled and uneasy.
Itachi asked again, "When that time comes, would you kill Sasuke to protect Konoha?"
"Of course not! I'll protect Konoha, and I'll never kill Sasuke!"
"Naive," Itachi replied. "Ninjas are often forced to make a single choice when faced with two impossibilities. You can't have everything."
Inside the genjutsu, Itachi's words felt strangely dissonant.
Not only did Naruto fail to understand them, most of the Uchiha couldn't either.
"But I don't see it that way! Konoha isn't some delicacy you can carve up, and Sasuke isn't something to be harvested! Sasuke will always be Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha! And if he ever really turns his blade on the village, then I'll stake my life to beat some sense into him and drag him back to everyone!"
Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, who already knew the truth behind everything Itachi had done, noticed something then.
Itachi… was smiling.
The bitterness in his heart tasted the same as the bitterness on his tongue.
It felt like a cruel cycle of fate. He couldn't catch up to Itachi. Naruto couldn't catch up to him. And when he finally turned to chase after Naruto, the line ahead had grown so long that he could no longer even see that idiot's figure.
When Itachi forced Naruto to swallow the crow, the incorporeal Shisui Uchiha felt as though cold sweat drenched him from head to toe.
He knew Itachi was planning something, but he couldn't guess what it was.
As Itachi Uchiha disappeared from sight, they were immediately obstructed by that annoying, infuriating, utterly troublesome lunatic.
"Yay yay~ Hello everyone~ I'm Tobi~ the newest member of the Akatsuki! Please take good care of me!!"
"Don't be in such a hurry, Konoha folks. How about we play a little game?!"
"Oh dear~ Isn't this dangerous?!"
"Now it's time for Tobi's counterattack!! Don't get scared to death!!"
"Secret Technique! Umbrella Lizard Jutsu!!"
"Why aren't you scared? I've already finished demonstrating my jutsu. Yep, the cloak flips upside down and turns into an umbrella lizard. Oh? Did I ever say this secret technique was meant to attack? I was just messing with you."
Shisui Uchiha: Too shameless.
Uchiha Clan: Damn it! What an idiot!!
Adult Obito: It's decided…
Rebellious Obito: When we get back, I'm developing a new jutsu—
Young Obito: Earth Release: Bury Myself Alive Technique!
"The battle is over. Itachi Uchiha is dead."
The sudden message delivered by Black Zetsu and White Zetsu left Naruto frozen.
Shisui: !!!
If circumstances had allowed it, his Sharingan would have popped right out of his eyes.
Young Itachi Uchiha quietly let out a breath of relief.
When they arrived at the battlefield, the Uchiha Clan stood dumbfounded.
What kind of battle had these two brothers gone through?
Just the two of them had reduced the entire area to ruins.
'No body of Itachi. No body of Sasuke. They must've been taken away by that masked man.'
'That masked man has the Sharingan. Based on previous intel, it has to be Obito Uchiha!'
'I swear I saw that Obito kid going in and out of the clan head's house not long ago! Next time I see him, I'll beat him—…no, I probably can't anymore. Guess karma really does come around.'
Having no idea what had happened to Sasuke, the Uchiha Clan was left restless and anxious. Sharing Naruto's heavy mood, they returned to Konoha together.
The third blow came soon after. Sasuke slipping past them once again, failing to bring him back, and the news that Jinchūriki were being killed one by one by the Akatsuki plunged Naruto Uzumaki, temporarily without missions, into a deep slump.
Until that message arrived.
Within his consciousness, Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke felt it just as sharply.
From underestimation straight into despair.
"Naruto… Jiraiya, he…"
"He died in battle."
Naruto's heart—collapsed completely.