I just returned to Konoha and found that all my clan members were gone.

When Sasuke's eyes met the crow's pinwheel-shaped kaleidoscope, an unprecedented pain suddenly tore through his consciousness.

Sasuke felt an intense pain in his head. Those fragments of memory that did not belong to him came flooding in like a tide, mercilessly washing away his once clear thoughts, as if to completely drown him in the ocean of memory.

Those memories were Itachi's entire life, all the price he paid in pursuit of the illusory Eternal Eye.

Now that he has completed his revenge and obtained the eternal Mangekyo, it is time to return to Konoha and protect Konoha from any invasion together with his good classmates and respected teachers.

Such a memory would be imprinted in his mind like a brand, changing his own thoughts and becoming the person Itachi imagined himself to be.

Just as Sasuke was engulfed by this sudden torrent of memories, a figure quietly appeared beside him.

As Itachi had lost his eyesight, he could not see clearly who was coming, but he thought it was Ye Lan and struggled to speak.

"Ahem... It's useless. Kotoamatsukami's power is enough to change a person's will... Sasuke will return to Konoha again."

"I know, Itachi..."

What responded to him was a familiar and gentle voice, which made Itachi unable to believe his ears and thought it was an illusion for a moment.

"This... sound is..."

Itachi asked tentatively, for the first time he felt a little bit of panic, the last time he felt that was when his father went to the battlefield.

"Other Gods, release..."

It was this voice again. Itachi was already sure of it. He opened his mouth slightly, not expecting to see this person again before he died.

Shisui, with his impure body, has been following Sasuke. This was Ye Lan's order, and his goal was his own eye.

He stretched out his arm, and the crow with the kaleidoscope just landed on him.

He took out the eye that originally belonged to him, and now both Uchiha Shisui's eyes were complete.

Sasuke has fallen asleep because of Kotoamatsukami, and now only the two old friends are left talking.

"Immortality Reincarnation? I didn't expect Ye Lan to have learned this technique."

Itachi witnessed Shisui's suicide with his own eyes, and after analysis, this was the only possibility.

"Huh, I was also surprised when I saw Ye Lan again. I didn't expect that so many years had passed..."

Shisui took a deep breath, a familiar smile on his face, the two of them seemed like old friends.

There was a long silence between the two of them afterwards.

After first learning about the Uchiha clan, Shisui was indeed angry and unwilling, but when he saw Itachi, the child who once followed him, he was speechless for a while.

Shisui did not blame or question Itachi's actions, nor did he talk to Itachi about the Uchiha clan. In the end, he just let out a long sigh.

"Ahem...Shisui, am I disappointing you?"

Itachi broke the silence, a dying man had nothing to care about, except being able to see Shisui again.

There was fear, and reluctance at not being able to use other gods, but there was also happiness in facing his "brother".

"I shouldn't have put all the responsibility on you. You and Ye Lan both supported me, and I..."

Shisui looked at the embarrassed Itachi, and a deep sense of self-blame surged in his heart.

His suicide at the time was more like an irresponsible act. Ye Lan was on a mission outside at that time and his life or death was unknown. Among his fellow tribesmen, only Itachi trusted him.

But he put this responsibility on Itachi, who was less than thirteen years old at the time. While he was disappointed with what Itachi did, he also understood that he had his own responsibility.

"Family, village...I really don't know how to do it. This is the best solution I can think of..."

Facing Shisui, Itachi also opened his heart. At that time, he was deeply trapped in this question and didn't know how to make a decision.

The conflict with the Uchiha clan members became the final fuse that made him make up his mind.

"Itachi, you make me sick!"

Sasuke, who had already woken up, stood up, and the hatred in his eyes had disappeared and turned into an intense disgust.

He no longer had the idea of ​​killing Itachi. This sick man was not worth killing. Looking at his condition, he would probably die without any care.

Just like Ye Lan said, it’s just a knife. If you want to kill someone, kill the culprit.

"Shisui! Ahem..."

Itachi felt that Sasuke was leaving and was really panicked. He wanted to shout loudly but was choked by the blood.

He even used up his last Kotoamatsukami, and he has no more trump cards left.

In his opinion, Sasuke must not follow Ye Lan, and returning to Konoha is his best choice.

"Itachi, you know what? What disappoints me most is not that you attacked your clan members...but that you changed Sasuke's will."

Shisui looked melancholy, wondering why he didn't see that Itachi would be such a person.

As the possessor of Kotoamatsukami, he had always wanted to use persuasion to change the conflict between his tribesmen and the village, but he had no intention of using it until the very end.

But Itachi wanted to change Sasuke's mind and erase his original existence.

"But...don't you always do this?"

Itachi's voice was as thin as silk, and he looked like he was about to die at any moment.

"That was my choice. I remember when I first told you about it, you were yearning for it, but Ye Lan was disdainful."

When Shisui recalled, he couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of Ye Lan's appearance.

"But even Ye Lan supported me at the beginning, respected my ideas, and even gave a lot for me..."

Shisui's expression changed, and his face became serious.

"Whatever you choose is your own path. No matter how others view it, just keep going forward unswervingly. I don't think your parents blamed you before they died..."

Itachi's lifeless eyes suddenly became moist.

"Really... So you chose their side..."

"Don't be afraid... This is your own decision. Compared to you, our pain is only a moment. Even if we think differently, we are still proud of you!"

"You are a gentle child..."

The words of their parents before they died seemed to still be ringing in their ears. In the end, they did not blame themselves but chose to believe in themselves.

"If you really care about Sasuke, don't plan his life. Let him make his own choices."

Shisui's words were spoken to Itachi as well as to himself.

He couldn't comment on Ye Lan's plan. His vision and perspective made him, as his brother, feel ashamed of himself.

Now I just need to stand behind him quietly, just like Ye Lan stood behind me back then.

"Is that so..."

A silent sigh. How could the clever Itachi not understand this? In the face of death, all obsessions disappeared.

The sun gradually set, and the sunset shone on Itachi's face. Even without the light, Itachi felt a hint of warmth on his face.

Itachi closed his eyes forever at this moment. There was no reluctance on his face, nor any obsession from the past. He faced death calmly.

Throughout his life, he was regarded as the hope of Uchiha's revival as soon as he was born. Perhaps it was because Team Leader Takamine followed his father to the battlefield when he was very young, and fortunately, he was taught by Shisui later.

However, with Shisui's death, the conflict between the clan and the village became increasingly serious, and the clan was at risk of a coup. Between the two, he chose the village and turned his butcher knife against his clan members.

Until his final death, he returned to an abandoned Uchiha site.