Means... Uchiha Yue is alive?
But how?
Itachi recognized Yue's strength, but to face the whole Konoha alone? It's absurd. This was beyond the realm of possibility.
"This can't be happening! It flashed through his split mind. — Who was Yue before that day? An ordinary member of the clan. If the blow had been fatal, if I had cut off his head instead of just wounding him... he would be dead."
And what could he rely on? Is it really all about a pair of Mangekye Sharingans? But Itachi had them too. He knew better than anyone: yes, Mangekye gives incredible power, but this power is not unlimited. It burns out the eyesight, depletes the owner, but does not make him a god capable of destroying one of the Great Villages alone.
So how did Yue survive? How could he...
Stop.
Itachi's gaze darted to Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen. Up to this point, his mind had been paralyzed by shock and an avalanche of regrets: he had failed to protect the village, failed to protect the clan, and committed the sin of fratricide... And Sasuke?
What happened to Sasuke?
The Uchiha clan deserved their fate. Even his parents. But Sasuke was different. His little brother, his precious little brother, shouldn't have died. He was not like the rest of the Uchiha, poisoned by the curse of hate. Itachi, a genius who understood the essence of the Will of Fire from a young age and thought about the welfare of the village as a Hokage, saw this clearly. His brother was different.
"Damn Yue... if you dare to touch Sasuke..."
— How is this impossible? Jiraiya growled, and his voice was full of venom and pain. "It's all because of you, Itachi! Because of you, you bastard! If you hadn't touched the clan, if you hadn't touched Yue, would it have come to this?!
— Would the village be on the verge of destruction?! Would Teacher Hiruzen have been killed by him?! I... I will destroy you!!!
Enraged, the Sannin stepped forward and delivered a crushing blow. A fist smashed into Itachi's face. He didn't even move. He froze in a complete daze, all his beliefs, his whole life turned to dust. He had neither the thought nor the will to resist. Would he be able to withstand Jiraiya's fury in his current state?
Unless Yue is dead... if everything Jiraiya said is true...
Back then, Konoha's greatest criminal was not Yue. It was him, Uchiha Itachi.
It's him... If he hadn't raised his hand against his clan, if he hadn't touched Yue, this monster would never have awakened. This disaster would not have happened. It turns out that he, Itachi, is the root cause of everything. He betrayed Konoha. Betrayed the clan. He betrayed his father's last will.
He destroyed the family to eliminate the threat to the village, to fulfill Shisui's wish, to resolve the eternal conflict. He followed the great Will of Fire, protecting the village and his clan in the only way he could... and what did it lead to?
He didn't achieve anything. On the contrary, his act inflicted a wound on Konoha, disproportionately more terrible than any rebellion. Maybe if he had killed only his parents and the top of the clan back then, leaving the rest alive... would the outcome have been different?
— How so... His lips whispered. — How did it happen?.. Impossible... It's all a lie! One Uchiha Yue, one pair of Mangekyos... He couldn't threaten the village! Jiraiya-sama, you're joking, right?
Itachi looked at Sannin with desperate hope. He prayed that it would all turn out to be genjutsu, a death nightmare in hell. Yes, it's just a joke, a cruel joke. How could one man single-handedly crush an entire village?
It wasn't just beyond comprehension—it was crushing the foundations of his universe. It's like a brilliant strategist who has studied the rules of the game all his life suddenly finds himself playing on a completely different board, according to laws he didn't even know he was playing on. He refused to believe it.
"W—is he really that monstrous?" Shimura Danzo croaked. He couldn't comprehend it. Does Mangekye really give such power? No... When he ambushed Shisui, everything went surprisingly smoothly...
And then he remembered. Uchiha Madara.
As an elder who had seen the dawn of the village era, Danzo knew about him. I knew that Madara had once stood on a par with the very God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama. And even though the First Hokage defeated him, Madara's power was legendary. Perhaps the power that Yue had awakened was akin to that ancient and terrifying one.
That explained everything. The power of Uchiha Madara's level.
— Uchiha Yue... Danzo, I shouldn't have let you act! Hiruzen looked at his old colleague with gloomy fury. He did not expect that even after his death, Yue would be so powerful that he could single-handedly break Konoha. Such power... such a disaster... If it wasn't for the stupidity of Danzo and Itachi, nothing would have happened.
Damn it! If he had known the horror of Sharingan, he would never have approved of Danzo's plan. He would not have watched the conflict unfold indifferently, and sometimes with secret satisfaction. If he had known earlier... If he could go back in time, he would have killed Uchiha Yue first, even before he awakened his Mangekyo. And for everyone else…