Paradox

06 - The Truth

Being trapped within Tsukuyomi was not what he had expected. Okay, maybe it was. Of course his brother would trap him in this terrible genjutsu again. However, instead of being tied up and watching his family die over and over, this time he was free. It was in the same surroundings as before, just in shades of blood and ebony. He could not summon his own sharingan to dispel the jutsu, and his brother was in front of him. Sasuke felt rather small, but instead gave his brother a feral look.

"It is best that we discuss this within this space," Itachi said, "It will be quicker, and you will have more time to understand everything."

He gestured behind him, and that particular area showed flashes of what Sasuke assumed were Itachi's memories. Still, Tsukuyomi could be manipulated to show false memories, so Sasuke did not feel like believing his older brother, considering how he had lied numerous times. Some memories were weird though, considering some seemed to not even be from Itachi himself...

"Before we get into anything, I want one thing to be clear. Konoha is my home, and I did everything I could to protect it, as well as you. I planned as well as I could, but... clearly what I had planned did not go how I wanted. You found out about what had occurred, but from the lips of someone who wanted to use you against the world," Itachi said slowly, as if picking and choosing his words, "Obito Uchiha. He was assumed dead many years ago, even before you were born. He was kept alive by Senju cells with Madara Uchiha's help."

'Madara... I've heard that name before,' Sasuke thought to himself frowning at the name he could not fully remember. He was someone important to the Uchiha clan – oh, he was the one who formed the Hidden Leaf with the first Hokage. Madara Uchiha was a person who was known throughout the Uchiha clan as being the most powerful member that had ever existed. He remembered hearing his father say that Itachi's strengths could make way to him becoming as powerful as Madara once was. In the end, Madara had attacked the Hidden Leaf, but... Sasuke supposed that was where there may have been some distrust with the Uchiha, considering other Uchiha were apparently involved. But it happened ages ago, so surely no one was still thinking the same thing.

"Obito has his own reasons, that I am sure of, but I know that he is wanting to revive Madara and have him join the Akatsuki as it is now," Itachi crossed his arms, "From what I've seen of Sasuke's and his discussions, that was what the plan was. It did not seem like you were happy with the idea, but Obito promised you that the Hidden Leaf would get destroyed before then. I wouldn't be surprised if Obito turned on you."

Obito Uchiha. In one of the rare moments where Kakashi opened up to his squad, he mentioned that he was on a team that had an Uchiha on it. Sasuke does remember the name being similar to Obito, but there is always the chance that could have been another Uchiha.

"Yes, he was one of Kakashi-sama's teammates," Itachi said coolly.

Can he read my thoughts? That thought made Sasuke very uncomfortable. He did not like the idea of his older brother being able to tell what he was thinking. Sasuke could not feel his head being rummaged through, but he was sure it was happening. He somewhat pictured it as someone going through files in a filing cabinet.

"You say you care about Konoha?" Sasuke started, eyes now on the ground, no longer crimson with his kekkei genkai. "Then why destroy the Uchiha?"

"It was a mission."

'A mission?' Sasuke thought, 'So the village had something...'

"Shisui had wanted to use a special jutsu – Kotoamatsukami. The jutsu is able to... quite literally... change a person's opinions on everything. However, the jutsu has one major drawback. It can only be used once every ten years. Technically, Shisui could use it twice at the time that he had wanted to use the jutsu on all of the Uchiha," Itachi said, his own expression hardening, "But Danzo didn't want that, and convinced the Third to not go through with it. Instead, they chose me to... extinguish the Uchiha, due to me being with the ANBU. I was their spy, after all. Otou-san never noticed."