Uchiha Itachi walked within the clan grounds, and the bright moon in the sky was deathly pale, making even the road surface a little hard to discern.
The streetlamps on both sides of the road also seemed to have malfunctioned, flickering on and off, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, unstable between light and dark.
Those flickering patches of light were cast onto the walls, turning into countless struggling hand-shadows.
Only at the end of the street, the white lantern at the entrance of his home emitted a warm red glow, guiding Uchiha Itachi forward.
His footsteps were light, and he returned home filled with joy. He reached out to push open the door and stepped inside.
"I'm back!"
"Oh, Oni-chan, you're back…" Sasuke's voice was somewhat muffled, and he stood with his head lowered before the entryway.
"Mm? What's wrong?" Itachi cheerfully finished changing his shoes, walked over and reached out to lift his younger brother, asking with a smile, "Were you naughty again and got scolded by Mom?"
Sasuke lowered his head, burying his face deep in Itachi's embrace, speaking in a muffled voice: "Oni-chan, where is my head?"
"What?" Itachi trembled all over as though struck by lightning, his entire body frozen.
Sasuke slowly lifted his head, and under the dim light, Itachi clearly saw that Sasuke's seven orifices were bleeding, his facial features had all been gouged out, leaving only a face full of pitch-black holes. Grinning with a blood-soaked mouth, inside it was bare and smooth, not a single tooth left.
"Hey, Oni-chan, where is my head?"
"My head hurts so much!"
"Give my head back to me!"
"My teeth hurt so much!"
"Why can't I see you!"
"No…" Itachi let out a wretched scream and abruptly sat up from his bed, gasping heavily for breath.
On the desk before his bed, Sasuke's head was placed neatly there, and a pair of eyes, like those of a dead fish, were faintly staring at him.
"Sasuke…" With trembling hands, Itachi lifted Sasuke's head and held it tightly in his arms. Tears streamed down from his eyes, and his voice was shattered, barely audible. "I'm sorry…"
In another room not far from him, Obito was also "enjoying" his own "beautiful dream."
He stood blankly in an empty field, looking around in confusion. Everything seemed so familiar, yet everything seemed so strange.
But before he could think carefully, he heard a familiar voice calling him from afar.
"Hey, Obito, over here…"
When he raised his head to look, he saw Rin in the distance hopping and skipping, happily waving her arms at him.
"Rin…" Obito's heart welled up with great joy, he was incredibly moved, his tears were about to fall, and he immediately forgot all his doubts, hurriedly running at a quick pace over toward Rin.
However, he had only run a few steps when a figure flashed before his eyes, and a familiar white-haired figure overtook him, reaching Rin's side one step ahead.
"Raikiri!"
The familiar lightning sphere of light, right before Obito's eyes, crackled as it plunged into Rin's body, piercing through from front to back.
"No!" Obito let out a miserable scream, hurriedly rushed forward, knocked Kakashi down with a punch, and pulled Rin into his arms.
Rin spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood, her eyes full of disappointment. "Obito, why didn't you save me?"
"Why didn't you save me?"
"Why didn't you save me?"
"No, I was going to save you, I just came late…" Obito wept bitterly, sobbing so hard he could not get his words out as he explained.
"Obito, you really let me down…"
"You really let me down…"
"No!" Obito let out a miserable howl and woke from the nightmare, staring at the empty room, his mind a complete blank, dazed and muddleheaded, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
A long time later, he finally buried his head in his arms and muttered: "Soon… very soon…"
"Rin, don't worry, I will create a world where there are only victors, only peace, only love, and no war."
"By then, we will be able to be together forever."
While Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito were being tormented by nightmares, in the distance Uchiha Yasuo lightly wiped away the bloody tears beneath his right eye, felt that unfamiliar pupil power, bared his teeth, and began to smile silently.
'Now then, Itachi, Obito, your life in hell has already begun, you two should properly start enjoying it!'
'Starting from today, these kinds of nightmares will keep entangling you, and will gradually level up, constantly challenging your psychological endurance.'
'Not stopping until death!'
Embracing such fervent feelings, Uchiha Yasuo, carrying his sincere "blessings" for the two of them in his heart, sank into a deep dreamland.
When the next day arrived, Uchiha Yasuo got up as usual, moved around for a bit, and then went to give Nagato treatment.
Walking upward along the tall tower toward the top, he happened to meet Sasori and Uchiha Itachi coming from the opposite side.
Uchiha Itachi's face was deathly pale, full of a sickly look, with dark circles around his eyes, looking like he had not slept well. After Uchiha Yasuo saw him, his heart was filled with glee, and he almost wished he could stab him with a few more words.
But in the end, worrying about being found out by him and ruining his own eye technique, he kept his mouth shut and did not speak.
"Hmph!" The two of them met head-on on the road, and when they saw each other they both felt disgust, each rolling their eyes. Neither was willing to give way, and they just stood in the middle of the road, glaring at each other.
Sasori, however, did not have any particular feeling toward Yasuo. Hidden inside that ugly puppet body, he merely nodded toward Yasuo without speaking, then took a step back and moved his body aside to open up a path.
Yasuo let out a cold snort, did not say a single word, and strode forward, brushing past Itachi.
Itachi's gaze was fixed dead on Yasuo, and only when he saw his figure go far away and disappear in the stairwell did he slowly withdraw his gaze, lower his head, and follow after Sasori.
Yasuo arrived at the top of the tower, knocked on the door and entered the room, and as usual began to give Nagato treatment.
"Itachi and Sasori have already gone to recruit Kakuzu," Nagato took the initiative to say. "Although after I recover I will no longer need more power, his savings are still something we urgently need."
"Originally this job was intended to be handed over to you. After all, you are the one who provided the intel and definitely understand his weaknesses the best. But now you have to carry out treatment for me, so the job has been transferred to the two of them."
"Originally I wanted you to provide them with some intel on Kakuzu, but Itachi refused."
"The hatred between you cannot be resolved, but before the organization's plan is completed, I will not permit any acts of infighting to occur."
"Mm, mm, mm!" Yasuo simply did not mention the matter of having secretly screwed over Itachi and Obito, and only solemnly nodded his head, raising his hand high like a well-behaved child. "Leader, rest assured, the one I hate the most is actually Konohagakure, what I most want to see is Konohagakure's destruction. I will not destroy the organization's plan!"
"That's best." Nagato nodded in satisfaction. "As long as I can gather the Ten-Tails, I can use powerful strength to suppress all the shinobi villages, letting them all personally experience the pain of war."
"At that time, the ninja of the great nations who have experienced pain will no longer casually start wars, and will not dare to casually start wars again!"
"Under the light of Gods, there will also no longer be war and death in this world."
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!" Acting like an over-the-top yes-man, Uchiha Yasuo kept chiming in as the supporting act and said, "Leader, what you said is absolutely right!"
"Just like Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, on what basis were they able to end the age of chaos and let the various countries establish the shinobi village system?"
"Was it not precisely because their military might was too strong and others could not beat them?"
"They originally had hope of allowing the shinobi world to have long-term peace, but the stupidest thing they did was that they did not gather all the shinobi villages together to form a great unified nation, and instead split them into the various countries."
"The various countries already had grudges to begin with; once they died, war immediately broke out again."
"Moreover, they even went so far as to separate the nine Tailed Beasts, leaving none of the countries with overwhelming power, which ultimately led to once fighting started it would never end, and no one would submit to anyone."
"Leader, this time you must draw a lesson from their failure!"
"As for those nine Tailed Beasts, from now on they must all be placed under our unified management!"
In all these years, this was the first time Nagato had seen someone acknowledge his ideals so much, and what was more they spoke with reason and evidence, so he immediately approved of his companion Uchiha Yasuo even more in his heart, and nodded in satisfaction, saying: "What you say makes a lot of sense."
"Merge all the countries together and unify them, and in the future everyone will be one family, and naturally they will not be able to start wars."
"I will carefully consider your suggestion."
"However, for the moment there is a mission for you."
"Some annoying bugs have come from outside; they should be spies sent by Konohagakure. You are the most familiar with Konohagakure ninja, so go wipe them all out!"
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