The Uchiha clan rose up like freed serfs finally singing their victory. Having long resented Konoha's marginalization, they grew even more overbearing after Itachi Uchiha became the Fifth Hokage, with the Uchiha Police Force acting especially brazen.
At the same time, the Itachi Uchiha who, in another world, had once told Naruto, "Only by earning everyone's recognition can you become Hokage," was gone.
He dealt harshly with arrogant Uchiha clan members, and he showed no leniency toward Konoha either.
With internal conflict brewing between Konoha and the Uchiha, other villages took the opportunity to send people to harass them.
Itachi Uchiha responded directly, deploying Susanoo in overwhelming fashion. Even after Konoha lost the Yellow Flash, the other villages no longer dared to provoke it lightly.
Of course, this also hastened Itachi Uchiha's early death.
A body that should have lasted eight years gave out in less than five.
He hastily passed the position of Sixth Hokage to his former ANBU senior, Kakashi Hatake, then used his final breath to seal Black Zetsu with the Totsuka Blade.
He told the truth to Obito Uchiha and entrusted him to serve as the Sixth Hokage's "Root," moving in the shadows to protect Konoha as a form of atonement.
He thought the illusion would finally end there…
Yet after experiencing both the pain and release of death, when he opened his eyes again, he was met once more by his young father's delighted expression and his mother's gentle, weary smile.
Itachi Uchiha immediately realized that his choice had been wrong.
Just like the real world, it was still a bad ending.
It was like being forced to clear a game with no clear main storyline.
He had no idea how to reach the ending the mission scroll wanted.
This time—
Itachi Uchiha chose to tell the Fourth Hokage everything he knew in advance.
Fortunately, the Fourth Hokage did not dismiss him just because he was only four years old, nor because he was an Uchiha.
On the night of the Nine-Tails incident, the Fourth Hokage chose to keep Kakashi Hatake as Kushina's guard.
The moment the masked man appeared, Minato Namikaze and the others, already aware of his abilities, captured Obito Uchiha on the spot. At the time, Obito was still in his rebellious phase, utterly convinced that he was Madara Uchiha.
Unlike his previous two lives, in this one Itachi Uchiha could essentially lie low, leaving all responsibility and hardship to the Fourth Hokage and Kakashi Hatake.
It seemed that his father also intervened to help behind the scenes.
Black Zetsu, having lost his most important ally, disappeared without a trace.
At the age of thirty-two, the terminal illness still erupted within this body. Itachi Uchiha passed away amid the regret of his family and clan, and Black Zetsu was still never found.
Even so, compared to before, this life was a happy one up until his death.
There was friction between the Uchiha and Konoha, but without the Nine-Tails incident and without suspicion from the upper ranks, their relationship was generally manageable.
As the son of the Fourth Hokage and the son of the Uchiha clan head, Naruto and Sasuke bickered and fought, separated and reunited, yet ultimately came to acknowledge one another.
Everything felt as though it had been destined.
In this life, Shisui also lived. However, Itachi no longer dared to become that close to him again. Shisui later accepted the Fourth Hokage's arrangement, left the village, and became one of the daimyō's Twelve Guardians.
By the time Itachi died, Shisui had already started a family.
Itachi Uchiha remained alone.
He thought this ending was as perfect as it could be.
But still…
The third time he fell into the cycle—
To be honest, Itachi Uchiha had gone numb.
He had tried choosing the Uchiha. He had tried choosing Konoha. He had tried abandoning all responsibility and doing nothing at all.
Yet it seemed he never picked the right answer to this question of fate.
At five years old, holding his soft, warm little brother in his arms, he no longer knew what he was supposed to do next.
So at thirteen, he made a bold decision.
He took Shisui's place and jumped off the cliff himself.
And then…
He never found out what happened in that world afterward.
Once again, it all reset. He became a newborn baby, received his parents' love, and grew up all over again.
Reviewing every one of his past lives, Itachi Uchiha couldn't find a single obvious mistake. Unlike a tactical debriefing, he couldn't tell where any of his previous lives had gone wrong.
That left him deeply troubled.
He was lost, unable to find a way out of this cycle, and uncertain whether others were also trapped in the same kind of life simulator.
Accustomed to taking control of everything, acting as both the sacrifice and the savior, he kept thinking about how he could break out of the illusion sooner and rescue others who might still be trapped inside it.
At that time, Itachi had no idea that the people of Konoha had already finished experiencing the illusion and were simply waiting.
The Uchiha clan also awakened after some time.
After experiencing the lives of Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, Konoha viewed the Uchiha with an unspoken sense of guilt.
After experiencing the life of Naruto Uzumaki, the Uchiha came to realize something as well. Even when trapped in adversity, it was possible to carve out a different future through relentless effort and earn the recognition of others. And that kind of recognition was what the Uchiha truly wanted, not the authority and fear-based reverence they had long mistaken for respect.
Trapped within the illusion, Itachi was completely at a loss.
Until Sasuke from the Fourth Shinobi World War entered Itachi's consciousness with his Rinnegan.
He saw his brother, lost and adrift, sitting alone in a boundless void. Without meaning to, he remembered something Naruto had once said to him in another world:
'Seeing you carrying something that heavy, looking so lost… I don't know why, but it hurts me too… it hurts so much… so much that I can't ignore it…'
Suppressing the urgent longing to see the Naruto Uzumaki of his own world, Sasuke instantly grasped everything Itachi had gone through within the illusion.
Strangely, even though he had entered Itachi Uchiha's consciousness, he did not become Itachi himself. Instead, he became Sasuke Uchiha within the world of Itachi's mind.
Perhaps because he was too deeply entangled in his own perspective, Itachi had failed to notice something that Sasuke now saw with absolute clarity.
No matter which life it was, Itachi had always subconsciously chosen to protect his younger brother Sasuke, while neglecting everyone else.
Not once had he ever told his father or mother what he was thinking. Not once had he truly faced his younger brother, believing that Sasuke could stand beside him, or trusting that his parents might understand his choices.
And so, Itachi had never understood what his father, Fugaku Uchiha, thought as the head of the Uchiha clan.
"Why…"
Sasuke finally had the chance to vent all the resentment and bitterness he had buried deep inside. As a child of only five or six years old, he hysterically unleashed his emotions at his brother, Itachi Uchiha.
"Why didn't you tell Father what you were thinking?! Why didn't you ever say out loud how much you were hurting?! Why did you always tell me to wait for next time?! Even until you died, you never once gave me the chance to choose my own life!!"
"Sasuke…"
Itachi froze. In an instant, he understood that the brother speaking to him was Sasuke from another world, the Sasuke of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
"Every time! Every single time! Every single time you told me to wait for next time!! Did you ever really think about what I wanted?! Did you ever think about how Father felt?!"
So angry that his words came out jumbled, Sasuke from the Fourth Shinobi World War recalled the final farewell etched in his brother's memories, their parents' last words:
'Promise me one last thing. Sasuke is in your hands now.'
He had once thought that, in his father's eyes, he was nothing more than a replacement for his brother. Only at that moment did he realize that wasn't true.
It was just like when he had once asked his mother, and she had replied:
'Your father is the head of the Uchiha clan. The burden on him is very heavy. He has to uphold the clan's honor at all times and act as a role model. In truth, he's just not very good at expressing his love for you as a father. When he's with me, he actually talks about you all the time~'
…
Staring at his younger brother, who glared at him in fury with both Mangekyō and Rinnegan blazing, Itachi's own dōjutsu could not compare. He was forcibly pulled into Sasuke's mind.
And once again, he saw that scene…
"Itachi, even though you chose a different path, as your father, I have always been proud of you."
The blade in his hand trembled as it came down.
Sasuke's memories followed, pouring into his consciousness.
"Hey, Mom… lately, Father finally told me, 'Not bad. You really are my son.' But I wasn't happy at all. Because lately, Brother and Father haven't been getting along, and I feel like I've become Brother's substitute in Father's eyes…"
"That's not true at all, Sasuke."
Itachi stared at the memories in shock, murmuring softly, "Mother…"
Mikoto Uchiha said gently, "Your father just doesn't know how to express his love for you. He thinks a father has to be more serious to seem proper. But let me tell you a secret. When he's with me, he always excitedly talks about you two."
"Brother! Brother, what's wrong?"
Five-year-old Sasuke shook Itachi, pulling him back to his senses.
Itachi Uchiha realized that the Sasuke from the Fourth Shinobi World War had already left his consciousness.
The Sasuke in front of him was only five years old, a Sasuke within the illusion who knew nothing about the conflicts between the clan and the village.
An illusion?
After living through three lives, now in his fourth, Itachi Uchiha, no longer even aware of what year it was, suddenly froze.
This wasn't an illusion at all.
It was a punishment for the Uchiha clan's excessive faith in their own power…
Izanami!!
All this time, he had believed himself different from the other Uchiha, convinced that he didn't share their narrow-mindedness or limited perspective.
But looking back now…
Wasn't the most arrogant one, the one who tried to shoulder everything alone, none other than himself?
The way to break Izanami was to find one's true self among all possible paths.
So the real way to leave this place, to undo the Izanami technique, was—
To reconcile with his true self.
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