"Coup d'état?"
The word connected the fragments of memory Sasuke couldn't previously understand.
Orochimaru was still whispering in his ear, but he was no longer listening.
The village's higher-ups and the Uchiha Clan, two sharply opposing factions...
Sasuke's breathing grew rapid. A more crucial figure emerged at the center of this chessboard.
Uchiha Itachi.
On one side, the Uchiha who gave him life and shared his blood. He was the eldest son of the Clan Head, Uchiha Fugaku, the pride and future of the entire clan.
On the other side, the village that bestowed upon him honor and missions. He was an Anbu directly under the Hokage, a blade protecting Konoha.
A clear logical chain formed in Sasuke's mind.
'If the clan was planning a coup, Itachi, as an Uchiha, couldn't possibly not know.'
'If the village wanted to stop the coup, Itachi, as an Anbu, would inevitably be drawn into it...'
Sasuke's breathing hitched at this moment.
Then, the truth of that night of the massacre became painfully clear.
'To test 'capacity'?'
'What a ridiculous lie.'
'It wasn't a simple massacre. It was an extreme action taken to prevent a coup.'
'And Uchiha Itachi was the sharpest butcher's knife used.'
'A civil war was about to erupt. No matter which side won, Konoha would be severely weakened, perhaps even left vulnerable to attack by other villages. Someone had to stop it.'
'And how do you stop a war at the smallest cost?'
'Eliminate one side before the war even begins.'
Sasuke's body began to tremble slightly, as if he could see the decision that man made back then.
Sasuke's body began to tremble slightly, as if he could see the choice that man had faced back then.
Sasuke's lips moved faintly, silently forming the name, "He chose the village."
'He personally carried out that purge, killing all the clansmen involved in the coup, even harming all the innocent clansmen.'
'He prevented a civil war at the cost of the entire Uchiha Clan.'
'But why?'
'Why did he choose the village over the Uchiha Clan?!'
'Just for that so-called 'Will of Fire'?'
'Just for that rotten village that had already pushed the Uchiha Clan to the brink?'
'He was an Uchiha too! The same blood that flowed in Father and Mother flowed in his veins!'
'And why... why spare me alone?'
Sasuke's eyes turned utterly cold at this moment.
"Hehehehe..."
Seeing the mix of hatred and pain on Sasuke's face, Orochimaru knew his goal was achieved.
He slowly stepped forward, spreading his arms, his voice filled with temptation.
"Beneath Konoha's light lies rot you cannot imagine, Sasuke-kun."
"Everything you held dear was merely a pawn those high and mighty authorities were willing to sacrifice at any time to maintain their hypocritical peace."
He extended a hand to Sasuke.
"Come with me. Let's break this old, rotten order."
Sasuke slowly raised his head, but those crimson Sharingan were unnervingly calm.
"What do you plan to do?" He asked.
Orochimaru's smile widened, madness gleaming in his snake-like eyes.
"You'll know during the Chunin Exams."
Sasuke looked at him deeply.
Then, he carved the name 'Shimura Danzo' fiercely into the depths of his soul.
Finally, without another word, he turned around.
Neither accepting nor rejecting, his slender figure simply stepped back, one step at a time, melting once more into the darkness at the end of the laboratory.
Orochimaru stood where he was, watching Sasuke leave. He extended his long tongue, greedily licking his lips.
A triumphant smile spread across his pale face.
'The seed had been planted.'
'Now, all that remained was to wait for it to bloom into the most beautiful flower under the nourishment of hatred.'
…
Sasuke sat alone on the cold bank of the Naka River, the former gathering place of the Uchiha Clan.
The river flowed silently, reflecting the broken, cold moon in the sky. The shattered light mirrored the state of his heart.
'Shimura Danzo.'
Sasuke repeated the name silently in his heart.
'So, he was the one who had pushed the Uchiha Clan into the abyss.'
'It was he who, with a web of suspicion and exclusion, step by step forced the entire clan onto that point of no return.'
His hatred for this name was pure and unadorned.
He would make that man pay the most painful price for all of this.
'But... what about Itachi?'
Sasuke's breath caught. A sharp pain pierced his heart.
He slowly closed his eyes, but the images of that blood-soaked night flooded his mind uncontrollably.
His father falling. His mother's final, gentle gaze. The faces of his clansmen, filled with shock and confusion in their final moments...
The one holding the butcher's knife was always the brother he had once adored most.
'Why did he choose the village?'
'Were Father and Mother's lives, in his eyes, merely a cost that had to be paid for so-called 'peace'?'
Sasuke couldn't understand. He refused to understand.
He only knew one fact.
It was Itachi who killed them with his own hands.
No matter how many high-sounding reasons lay behind it, no matter how heavy the choice he bore.
It was he who, in the cruelest way, severed all of Sasuke's warm connections to this world.
"My foolish little brother..."
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. That man's cold voice seemed to echo in his ears once more.
"If you wish to kill me, then hate me! Detest me! And survive in an unsightly way!"
A mocking, almost self-deprecating curve slowly lifted the corner of Sasuke's mouth.
'You told me to hate you, didn't you?'
'You told me to live on with this hatred until I possessed the power to kill you, didn't you?'
'Then I will grant your wish.'
'I will become strong. Strong enough to utterly shatter the hypocritical peace you protect.'
'Then, I will personally drive my blade into your heart.'
'This... is the sole meaning of my existence, Uchiha Sasuke.'
'As for why you spared me alone...'
Sasuke slowly raised his head, gazing up at the lonely, broken moon. His eyes were terrifyingly calm.
'It no longer matters.'
'Perhaps it was to make me a witness. But regardless, you made a fatal mistake.'
'You shouldn't have... let me live.'
'But now, the primary goal is to kill Danzo.'
The thought was so intense that Indra at his waist emitted an almost imperceptible hum.
But Sasuke didn't move.
He forcibly suppressed the killing intent within him. The crimson Sharingan slowly faded in the darkness.
'Impulse is the behavior of the weak.'
'Wait.'
He gave the command to himself.
Orochimaru's final words echoed in his mind.
"You'll know during the Chunin Exams."
'That man clearly had his own plans.'
'And those plans would inevitably plunge Konoha into unprecedented chaos during the exams.'
'And chaos is the best camouflage for a hunter.'
Sasuke understood clearly that Danzo was not a target to be approached lightly.
As a Konoha's higher-up and the leader of 'Root', he would undoubtedly be constantly guarded by powerful protectors.
A direct assault was... unwise.
He had waited this many years. He could wait a little longer.
He needed an opportunity. A chance to precisely deliver his blade to the prey's throat.
Orochimaru would create that opportunity for him.
Having reasoned this through, the frenzy and killing intent in Sasuke's heart gradually subsided.
'Waiting did not mean stagnation.'
'On the contrary, it was to make the blade even more lethal the next time it was drawn.'
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