Jiraiya pinned Shimura Danzo to the floor and unleashed a hail of furious punches on him. With each of them, a wave of grief, pain, and impotent anger poured out of his chest. This rage, this pain, gave him superhuman strength. Everything he's lost... everything he was… It's all because of this old bastard who drove the Uchiha clan to the extreme and gave birth to a monster named Uchiha Yue.
If it wasn't for him, Jiraiya wouldn't have lost his legs, wouldn't have become... a pathetic imitation of a man, a helpless cripple.
"Damn you, Danzo!" he gasped, putting all his hatred into another blow.
"Jiraiya, what are you doing?" Stop it! Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped forward to stop him, but Tsunade immediately blocked his path, silently shaking her head.
— And you, teacher?! Jiraiya roared without turning around. "Completely blind?" How could you let that bastard run the affairs of the village?! Why were you Hokage at all?! If it wasn't for your connivance, your blindness, the Uchiha clan wouldn't have been destroyed, and none of this would have happened! I... I…
He finally raised his head, and his bloodshot eyes bored into the face of the Third Hokage. It seemed to Jiraiya that he had long ago resigned himself, buried the past under a thick layer of indifference. But as soon as the two of them—Danzo and Hiruzen—appeared in front of him, rage burst the dam.
"It's not me,— Danzo croaked from under him, raising his hand with difficulty. — Destruction of the clan… The root was not involved in this. It's all him... Uchiha Itachi! You're hitting the wrong guy, Jiraiya!
The old man pointed at the young man, who had been standing silently by the side all this time.
Danzo's words hung in the air. There was a dead silence in the room.
"Itachi?" Destroyed the clan? Jiraiya froze. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The thought did not fit in my head. Itachi, the young genius, the pride of the Uchiha clan, its future head... destroyed his own family? How is this possible? How could the heir, the main beneficiary, do such a thing?
"I'm not joking,— Danzo wheezed, looking at Itachi. "Tell me." It was you who massacred your clan.
All eyes turned to him.
Uchiha Itachi nodded silently, seeing no mistake in his actions. Only regret. If he had been more determined then, if he hadn't given Uchiha Yue a single chance, everything might have ended differently.
"I'm sorry, Father, mother, Sasuke... clansmen. I failed. You must be very disappointed, Father," he thought bitterly.
Why? Why couldn't Uchiha Yue understand? Couldn't he, like his father, accept the inevitable with dignity? Why cling to life? After all, death is only a moment of pain. And he, Itachi, was going to carry the brand of a traitor for the rest of his days. Why couldn't they show him some sympathy? To think about his sacrifice... as his father had done.
A Hokage-minded genius who had learned the wisdom of the elderly from a young age, Itachi suddenly realized that Uchiha Yue's logic was beyond his reach. Perhaps a normal person like him would never understand a madman.
Bang!
A heavy fist smashed into Itachi's face, knocking him against the wall.
— Itachi! Why?! Jiraiya's rage has found a new purpose. "Why did you do that?" You were their hope!
"Everything I did... was for the sake of the village," Itachi replied dully, getting to his feet.
And he began his story. A calm, almost lifeless voice told about the conspiracy, about the inevitable clash, about the terrible choice he had made between his family and Konoha's future. When he finished, there was a deafening silence in the room.
Tsunade cast a hard look at Danzo and Hiruzen. At first glance, it was the madness of one man. But she saw deeper. It wasn't just Itachi who was to blame. These two old men pushed the Uchiha clan to the limit. Sarutobi, as Hokage, ignored the growing conflict for years, and Danzo, without a doubt, only added fuel to the fire.
— So why did you bring us back? Danzo shook off his stupor, glaring at Tsunade. "Because of Uchiha Yue?" I admit, the guy is strong, but he won't be able to stand up to the whole village alone!
Danzo has already decided that since he's back, he's not going to die again. He, Shimura Danzo, is the shadow that protects the light of Konoha. And the village needs him more than ever.
— Tsunade, Jiraiya, how are things in the village now? Hiruzen asked. There was deep anxiety in his voice, unlike Danzo's self-confidence.
Unlike Danzo, who died too soon, he experienced firsthand what Uchiha Yue was. A creature against which any army is powerless. His elite guards burned down in a second. He himself, carrying the will of the fallen, died at the hands of this monster.
— Konoha? Tsunade was silent for a moment, then bitterly outlined the current state of affairs.
Uchiha Itachi whispered when she finished. His face contorted. — How can Mangekyo Sharingan be so strong? How could Yue become... like this? This can't be happening!
His whole faith, his whole worldview collapsed in an instant.
He thought he had been resurrected for trial. He was ready to accept the verdict for not being able to end Yue once and for all — this was his only mistake. But the reality turned out to be scarier. He was not tried. He was brought back to help fix what he had created.
His sacrifice, his terrible sin, his self-denial... it was all in vain.