The night of the full moon arrived.
Konoha was silent, but it was the silence of a tomb. The air in the Uchiha district was thick with the scent of incense and the unspoken tension of a people who knew their end was near.
Itachi Uchiha stood on top of a telephone pole, his ANBU mask reflecting the pale moonlight. His heart was a desert. He had already made the choice. To save Sasuke, to save the village, he would kill everyone he shared blood with. He had already killed his parents—their bodies were cooling in the main house.
"It's a beautiful night for a tragedy, isn't it, Itachi?"
Itachi didn't flinch, but his chakra spiked for a microsecond. He looked down. Standing at the base of the pole was Ren.
"Ren," Itachi said, his voice flat and dead. "You shouldn't be here. Go back to your room. Close your eyes. It will all be over soon."
"Will it?" Ren asked, jumping up to stand on the wire across from Itachi. "Or will it just be the beginning of a cycle of hatred that ends with Sasuke's death and the destruction of the Leaf?"
Itachi's Sharingan flared. "You know nothing of my choices, Ren. I am doing what must be done to prevent a civil war."
"Danzo played you like a cheap flute, Itachi," Ren said, his voice dripping with pity. "He wanted the Uchiha dead so he could harvest their eyes. He never cared about the village. He only cares about his own power."
"I have no choice!" Itachi roared, vanishing and appearing behind Ren with his katana at Ren's throat. "If I don't do this, the village attacks! Everyone dies! At least this way, Sasuke lives!"
Ren didn't move. He didn't even try to parry. He simply activated the **Jogan Stage 2**.
"Save him? Let me show you what your 'mercy' actually looks like."
Ren grabbed Itachi's wrist. Before the older boy could react, Ren's blue-silver eyes pulsed with a blinding light.
*Jogan: Future Vision — Chrono-Sync!*
Itachi's mind was suddenly ripped from his body and thrust into a swirling vortex of images. He didn't just see the future; he *lived* it.
He felt the coldness of the night he left Sasuke in the dirt. He felt the years of agony as he watched his brother grow into a monster of hatred. He saw Sasuke murdering his best friends. He saw Sasuke joining Orochimaru and being experimented on like a lab rat. He felt the moment of his own death at Sasuke's hands, only to realize that his "sacrifice" had pushed Sasuke into an even deeper darkness.
Then, the vision shifted. He saw the Fourth Great Ninja War. He saw the world burning under the Infinite Tsukuyomi. He saw Sasuke, consumed by madness, trying to execute the five Kage and rule the world through fear.
"NO!" Itachi screamed, the sound echoing only in his own mind.
The vision snapped back to the present. Itachi collapsed onto the telephone wire, his sword falling to the streets below with a sharp *clang*. He was hyperventilating, his face pale and covered in sweat.
"That... that is the future you are building, Itachi," Ren said, standing over him. "A future of ash and sorrow. Is that the 'Will of Fire' you were taught?"
Itachi looked up at Ren, his eyes bloodshot. "But... the ANBU... Danzo's ROOT... they are already in position. The massacre has to happen. If they see us stop... they will move in."
"Then we give them exactly what they want," Ren said, a dark, brilliant glint in his Jogan. "A massacre they will never forget. But first... I need you to trust me."