…
Once Obito finished recounting the history of the Senju and Uchiha, he began to explain Itachi's actions to Sasuke and Kanon.
"Sixteen years ago, during the Nine-Tails' attack, the Uchiha came under groundless suspicion. Perhaps the crime of plotting a coup was pinned on the Uchiha's heads; from then on, the clan was placed under total surveillance by the Anbu. The Uchiha residential district was moved to a remote corner of the village, an isolation in all but name. Their suspicion bred resentment, and the suspicion gradually became reality. The Uchiha began plotting a coup d'état to seize control of the village. And the Konoha high command planted a spy within the Uchiha clan: your elder brother, Itachi. That was the beginning of Itachi's hell..."
Kanon's eyes trembled in confusion. "The Uchiha plotted a coup? Itachi was a spy? What kind of sick joke is this!"
"Kanon, you weren't even six years old then. You were completely in the dark. But what I am saying is the absolute truth. Your father, Fugaku, was the mastermind behind the coup. Itachi was originally planted in the Anbu as a spy on his father's orders, but the reality was the opposite: Itachi leaked Uchiha intelligence to the village instead. He was what they call a double agent. Neither of you can imagine the sheer weight of that burden."
Kanon felt something was wrong; a sharp, twisting pain flared in her heart once more. This was too strange. Why? Why did it have to be like this? Everything that had happened over the last two days had shattered her worldview and everything she cared about. She felt like a hollow shell without a soul, looking helplessly at her brother, Sasuke.
But Sasuke was in no state to comfort his sister; he was reeling. "Why... why would Itachi betray the Uchiha!"
The masked man nodded slightly, explaining to the stunned siblings.
"Having never experienced war, you likely cannot understand. During the Third Shinobi World War, Itachi witnessed the deaths of far too many people at the age of four. He experienced war far too young; war is hell. That trauma shaped Itachi into a man who loathed conflict and loved peace. He became a man who put the stability of the village above all else, a shinobi who loved the village and refused to be bound by the shackles of his clan. The village elders... they exploited that."
"The high command gave Itachi a top-secret mission. An eye for an eye; to deal with the Uchiha, one needs the Sharingan. Yes, that mission was..."
"To exterminate every single member of the Uchiha clan. Including his favorite younger sister: you, Kanon."
Sasuke lowered his head, biting his lip. He looked at Kanon with eyes filled with tears and constricted pupils. He realized then just how much his sister had suffered on the night of the massacre.
The masked man continued, "What he felt at that moment is beyond anyone's imagination. Itachi faced a horrific choice. Normally, laying a hand on one's kin and younger sister would be an impossible option. But if a clan as powerful as the Uchiha triggered a civil war, both the Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Fire would be violently shaken. Other nations would surely take the opportunity to invade, potentially serving as the fuse for a Fourth Shinobi World War. The selfish desires of the Uchiha clan would have dragged innocent people who had nothing to do with the shinobi world into the conflict. Many more would have died. If you were Itachi, what would you have done?"
Facing the masked man's question, Kanon kept her head down while Sasuke grit his teeth.
"And so, Itachi made his decision: he would personally bring down the curtain on the Uchiha's history. He didn't betray them because he hated them; he had no choice. It was the consequence of the discrimination and discord that had existed since Konoha's founding. It was an act of self-sacrifice, a decision to shoulder everything alone. In fact, I was also waiting for an opportunity for war, as I held a grudge against both the Senju's Konoha and the Uchiha. But Itachi even discovered my presence."
"He was the only one to notice me. Itachi approached me and proposed two conditions."
At those words, Kanon's pupils shrank. This time, her expression was one of pure despair and agony. Sasuke was confused—why was Kanon looking so hopeless? Seeing Kanon's body trembling, unable to support herself as she collapsed onto the bed, the masked man nodded slightly.
"That's right. It seems you've already figured out one of the conditions. Itachi would assist me in seeking revenge against the Uchiha clan. The first condition was that I must not lay a hand on the village. The second condition... was that he couldn't bring himself to kill his own blood-related sister, and so he begged me to kill you, Kanon."
The moment the words left his mouth, Sasuke's world felt like it was hit by a tsunami. He watched Kanon's face contort with despair.
"At the time, only the Third Hokage was still seeking other ways, attempting to negotiate with the Uchiha for a path to reconciliation. But because time was tight, he failed. The conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha was irreconcilable. And so, that night happened. It was a mission. To become a criminal who slaughtered his clan, to shoulder infamy and become a rogue ninja; it was all a mission. Itachi completed that mission successfully, with one small failure."
"He could entrust his sister to me to be killed, but when it came to his brother, he simply couldn't go through with it."
The revelation hit Kanon and Sasuke like a bolt from the blue. The siblings locked eyes, both seeing the utter shock in the other.
"The one he cared for most was you, Sasuke. He even gave up Kanon for you. But he couldn't tell you the truth. So, he could only say those things..."
Sasuke remembered the night of the massacre, why Itachi had been crying at the very last moment. If the masked man's words were true, everything finally made sense.
"He hoped that by giving you the goal of revenge, he would make you stronger. Sasuke, he also hoped you would always see the Uchiha as a noble clan of the Hidden Leaf. He begged the Hokage never to let you know the truth. From the moment he left the village, he had already decided to die in a duel against you. All so he could grant you new power. That is the truth about Itachi."
Sasuke's face was a mask of horror and collapse, and Kanon was the same, though she remained deathly silent.
"Lies... it's all lies!" Sasuke screamed. "You must be lying to me! Total nonsense! He nearly killed me several times!"
But the masked man's next words slapped Sasuke back to reality.
"If Itachi truly wanted your life, you would have been dead long ago."
"Bastard! He even used his Mangekyo Sharingan's visual jutsu to try and kill me! How do you explain that?!"
Hearing Sasuke's outburst, the masked man spoke indifferently. "Even your reactions were entirely within his calculations. Itachi had to push you to your limits in that battle. As for the reason... you've likely realized it by now."
"Then what about me..." Kanon finally spoke, her voice strained. "In my fight with him... he used his full strength from the start, didn't he?"
The masked man stood up and reached out to stroke Kanon's cheek as he untied her bindings.
"Because you were the one he abandoned from start to finish. Only by killing you, the unexpected variable, could he rest easy knowing Sasuke would follow his plan. So he wanted to kill you. He wanted to kill you from the very beginning. Even when he fought you, he intended to kill you. Uchiha Kanon, you were never supposed to survive. I was the one who let you live back then. Otherwise, you would have died that night."
Now freed, Kanon didn't raise her head. She collapsed by the bed, hopeless and weak. Sasuke wanted to comfort his sister, feeling a surge of injustice on her behalf—why hadn't Itachi chosen Kanon too?!
The masked man looked at Kanon's despair, a faint smirk forming beneath his mask, before turning back to Sasuke.
"Itachi did it to liberate you from the Curse Mark, and to use the death of his closest kin as the battle that would awaken your Mangekyo. After his death-struggle with Kanon the day before, where he nearly died, he dragged his terminally ill body and used his sheer willpower to force himself to fight you the next day. He played the part of the eye-stealing villain until the very end."
Seeing Kanon lying flat on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling while Sasuke sat in silence, the masked man chuckled.
"It seems you are both starting to understand."