In the dimly lit secret room, Uchiha Itachi's knees buckled. He fell heavily onto the stone floor and hit his forehead hard. A thud echoed through the vaults. Thin cracks ran through his resurrected body, molded from ashes and ashes.
"Brother, you're dead, aren't you?" Sasuke's voice sounded strangled.
— Uchiha Itachi, what are you doing? Jiraiya stepped forward, frowning at him. He didn't understand why the one who had just listened to their plan and saw Sasuke suddenly prostrated himself.
Itachi raised his head, his eyes filled with despair, were fixed on Tsunade.
"You can't, Mrs. Tsunade! Mr. Third! You can't send Sasuke there! This is certain death!
He was panting, his words coming out raggedly.
"I'll do anything you order, anything, but not him!" Don't touch Sasuke!
He had never imagined that the plan would turn out like this.
Their resurrected bodies are modified so that they can enter the dead zone around Uchiha Yue. And Sasuke will be held alive with them. And there… they—Danzo, Hiruzen, and himself, Itachi—would kneel. They will repent, ask for forgiveness for "harming the village," and thus try to awaken the forgotten Will of Fire in Yue.
And if he doesn't listen…
Then they will put a blade to Sasuke's throat. To shock. To show Konoha's indomitable determination. To force him to admit his guilt and commit suicide.
Classic carrot and stick. A plan that should have worked. After all, according to the management, the only reason why Yue still hasn't wiped Konoha off the face of the earth is his younger brother Sasuke.
Kneel down? Admit guilt? Even if they kill him, he agrees to everything, because he's already dead.
But Sasuke... Why involve Sasuke? What if he couldn't stand it and died in this dead zone?
The Uchiha clan was cursed, its members deserved to die, just like his parents. But not the younger brother. Sasuke was different. He alone did not deserve such a fate.
— Itachi... You scum! Why are you still alive?! Sasuke, who was being held by two Anbu, froze for a moment, and then roared and began to violently struggle. —Didn't Yue kill you?!"
His eyes burned with pure hatred. He was ready to tear this man apart with his bare hands. Others might not know the truth about the clan massacre, but he did! It's all his brother's doing.
All eyes were on Itachi, but he was only looking at his brother.
—I'm sorry, Sasuke,— he said softly. "I did it for the village. For the Sake of the Will of Fire. You don't understand now, but one day you will.
He apologized, but there was no trace of remorse in the depths of his dead heart. He wasn't wrong to destroy the clan. If he had been given a second chance, he would have done the same without hesitation. Moreover, he would have killed Yi Yue before he could awaken his Mangekye.
With this cold thought, Itachi turned away from his brother and again, like a faithful dog, bowed down in front of Tsunade and Hiruzen, renewing his pleas.
But in response, he was met with only cold bewilderment. Even Danzo, who was standing in the shadows, did not understand him. "It was you, Itachi, who slaughtered your entire clan with your own hands. If it wasn't for this Yue, your little brother would have been dead a long time ago. By your own hand. So what kind of performance are you putting on now?"
Hiruzen sighed heavily. He seemed to be the only one who understood what was going on in Itachi's soul. He was willing to sacrifice the entire clan, but not this boy. Sasuke was an exception. Itachi wanted to destroy the old, rotten Uchiha in order to raise new ones devoted to Konoha on their ruins. And Sasuke was the seed he left behind.
The third Hokage understood this distorted but still loyal attitude. He came over and put his hand on Itachi's shoulder.
"Itachi, I understand your pain. But sometimes great sacrifices are needed for the sake of the village. Pull yourself together. Do not betray the trust that we have placed in you.
— Mr. Hokage...
Itachi raised his head, looked into the old man's eyes, then shifted his mad gaze to Sasuke, who was still burning with hatred. He shook his head again.
No. There is no! He couldn't do that.
It's one thing to risk your brother's life in battle. It's quite another thing to use him as a human shield, as a hostage. And for what purpose? To threaten another Uchiha?
It was he, Itachi, who was supposed to be the one being blackmailed! Sasuke's life should have been threatened to break his will! And now... Now he had to put a knife to his brother's throat to break the other.
It was like a crazy farce.
"Damn bastard, if you don't give up, I'll kill my brother!"
What monstrous, unthinkable savagery!
Ah-ah-ah-ah!!!
A soundless scream froze in his throat. "Why is it like this?! why?! Damn Yue! Why couldn't you have died quietly like my father?!"
This absurd reality was crushing him, plunging him into the abyss of madness.
—Oh, Itachi... It's all for the sake of the village," Hiruzen repeated sympathetically but adamantly, looking at his agony.
And a funeral alarm sounded in Itachi's split mind.:
"For the sake of the village… The Will of Fire...I'm sorry...I'm sorry, Sasuke..."