Chapter 426: Another Ending, Sasuke's Relief
Adult Sasuke's voice dropped. "What did you say?"
Young Sasuke drew a deep breath. He wiped the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes, his small hands trembling slightly.
"In this world, Itachi really did raise his blade against the Clan."
"He also tried to use that so-called 'righteousness'and'capacity' you mentioned to weigh the lives of the entire Clan."
Young Sasuke's voice suddenly rose, cracking with raw emotion.
"When he moved—"
"Father and Hokage-sama... stopped him!"
Adult Sasuke's mind went entirely blank. The rushing sound of blood filled his ears.
Stopped?
"And then?" His voice betrayed a slight tremor. He leaned forward, desperate to carve out the ending of this alternate tale. If his brother had been stopped, where was Itachi in this world right now? Imprisoned in the deepest levels of the Anbu dungeons? Or exiled to wander the continent as a missing-nin?
"A public trial by the whole Clan!"
Those words fell like a heavy iron hammer against Adult Sasuke's chest.
"At dawn the next day, beneath the gaze of every single Uchiha." Young Sasuke's fists clenched at his sides. "They read out Itachi's crimes."
"Betraying the Clan, colluding with foreign enemies, intent on murdering kin!"
"Each one a capital offense!"
Young Sasuke took a ragged breath. "Finally—"
"Itachi was bound to a wooden frame and left beneath the blazing sun for three full days and nights."
"No water. No food."
"In despair and regret, he was baked alive!"
"Baked... alive?" Adult Sasuke's voice scraped out of his throat, hoarse and hollow.
In his own memories, the rain had been pouring. Itachi had collapsed in front of him, blood dripping from his lips. Smiling, tapping his forehead one last time with two bloodstained fingers, whispering, 'Forgive me, Sasuke, this is the last time.'
Yet in this world, his older brother had been chained to a post, cursed by the very people he shared blood with, left to wither and die beneath the scorching sun?
The sheer magnitude of the divergence made Adult Sasuke's breathing turn shallow and erratic.
"What of Father?" Bloodshot, mismatched eyes locked onto the boy before him. "Why didn't he stop it?"
"Even if Itachi made a fatal mistake, he is still his own son! How could he just stand by and watch him suffer like that?"
The father who had knelt on the tatami mats, willingly offering his neck to Itachi's blade on the night of the massacre—how could that same man allow such absolute cruelty?
"Stop it?" Young Sasuke let out a cold, sharp laugh. The crimson irises of his eyes flared to life, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning wildly within them. "You think Father didn't give him chances?"
The younger boy stepped forward, closing the distance, his presence pressing heavily against his older counterpart.
"When Itachi raised his blade, Father held back again and again for the sake of their bond!"
"But Itachi?"
"He cast Tsukuyomi on Father. He wanted him dead!"
"If Hokage-sama hadn't arrived in time..." Young Sasuke drew a shaky breath, the anger in his chest threatening to spill over. "Father's head would have been severed by that beast himself!"
"In your world, Itachi succeeded. He slaughtered everyone, so he could invent whatever twisted reason he wanted and package himself as a tragic hero."
"But here—"
"Itachi failed!"
Young Sasuke stared hard at the man from another world, the rims of his eyes burning red.
"I... didn't believe it either."
"Even before you appeared, even in these years after Itachi's death."
"In the dead of night, I would lie awake and wonder—maybe Big Brother had some hidden pain? Maybe we were too cruel?"
"After all, he was my brother..."
Young Sasuke's voice faltered, the tough facade cracking for just a fraction of a second.
Boruto, standing off to the side, did not dare breathe. He kept his back pressed stiffly against the wall. He had never seen his master look so shattered, and he had certainly never seen this younger version of his master act so utterly hysterical.
Then, Young Sasuke jerked his head up. The lingering confusion and guilt in his spinning red eyes vanished entirely, replaced by cold clarity.
"After hearing that in your world the Uchiha Clan was wiped out by Itachi, our parents brutally murdered, leaving you alone to suffer like a wandering ghost—"
"I finally made peace."
Young Sasuke exhaled a long, stale breath, as if expelling years of quiet torment.
"The punishment Itachi received wasn't cruel at all."
"Had he succeeded, Father and Mother would have ended up exactly like they did in your world."
Adult Sasuke fell into a deep, suffocating silence.
A long while passed. The wind rustled through the courtyard, carrying the distant, lively sounds of the bustling Uchiha compound.
"Perhaps..."
Adult Sasuke slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the turbulent ripples within his Rinnegan and Sharingan seemed to have smoothed into still water.
"This was the best end for him."
In his own timeline, Itachi bore the crushing infamy of genocide. He served as a spy inside the Akatsuki, his body rotting from the inside out with illness, only to die at the hands of the little brother he loved more than anything.
It was too exhausting.
Truly, far too exhausting.
But in this world—
Though his death was ignoble, stripped of all honor and glory, the little brother he had wished to protect lived proud and confident.
The Konoha he wanted to shield stood strong and prosperous.
Even the Clan that supposedly 'had' to be sacrificed remained glorious, standing at the absolute pinnacle of the shinobi world.
Everyone, except Itachi himself, found happiness.
Adult Sasuke let out a soft, low laugh. The sound carried a heavy mix of ultimate release and bitter self-mockery.
"So that's how it is."
"So... there can be an ending like this."
After a long, quiet daze, Adult Sasuke suddenly turned.
He looked directly toward Uchiha Akira.
This man was a variable who had never appeared—or had perhaps died entirely unnoticed—in his own world.
Precisely because Uchiha Akira existed here, all the dark schemes and inevitable tragedies had been violently twisted and crushed beneath his heel.
Adult Sasuke drew a deep breath.
To the absolute shock of both Boruto and Young Sasuke, the cloaked man bowed deeply, bending at the waist.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Thank you for saving the Uchiha Clan in this world."
"For leading the Uchiha past the catastrophe of extinction and making the Uchiha... great again."
It was a declaration of gratitude torn from the very depths of his soul. As the last wandering orphan of the Uchiha, as the failure who bore the heavy burden of reviving his Clan yet could do absolutely nothing to bring back the dead—seeing this thriving Uchiha compound, seeing his Clansmen alive, laughing, and proud, even in another time and space, was a deep kind of salvation for him.
Uchiha Akira watched Adult Sasuke bow. A strange, unreadable glint flickered in his dark eyes.
"Stand up."
Uchiha Akira's voice was calm, yet it carried an absolute weight that commanded obedience.
"I didn't do any of this for your thanks."
"I am the head of the Uchiha."
"Guarding the Clan and guiding it to its absolute peak is my duty."
"As for Itachi—"
"That was his own choice."
"Since he chose to betray the Clan, he had to be ready to face the consequences."
"In my Uchiha—"
"There is no need for a twisted 'righteousness' that sacrifices the Clan for the Village."
"Because..."
Uchiha Akira flung his sleeve back. A terrifying, domineering aura surged skyward, suffocating the very air around them.
"I am righteousness!"
"The will of the Uchiha is the will of Konoha!"
"As long as I am strong enough, I make the rules!"
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