Speedrunning Naruto to the Top

A fist-sized black hole appeared out of nowhere and rapidly expanded.

Uchiha Sasuke emerged from it, expressionless.

Just by sensing his emotions, Izayoi already knew the outcome of the fight, but he still asked, as though he didn't know the answer:

"He's dead?"

"Mm."

Sasuke nodded, but he didn't exhibit any delight that one might feel after killing an enemy.

Glancing at Itachi, who stood opposite him with a complex expression, Sasuke turned to Izayoi and said, "Let's go back."

Izayoi patted Sasuke's shoulder, not uttering words of consolation.

"Sasuke…"

Right as Izayoi was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to return them both, Itachi suddenly spoke up. His voice reached the two.

Izayoi paused, canceling the chakra flow he'd been gathering, curious to see what Sasuke's reaction would be.

Sasuke took a deep breath, keeping his back turned to Itachi. He shouted, "You bartered the clan for my life. I'm the only one not qualified to kill you. But… I don't care about your eyes, I despise your eyes, and I… I'll never forgive you!"

"Izayoi, let's go."

"All right."

Not even sparing a glance at the vacant Itachi, Izayoi simply gave a somewhat regretful nod and teleported away with Sasuke.

Staring at the spot where they disappeared, Itachi recalled Sasuke's words—"I'll never forgive you!". The support that had kept him alive all this time seemed to break in that instant.

"Pfft—!"

He coughed up the hot liquid he had forcibly swallowed earlier. Already ill, his condition plummeted yet further.

Such agony—far more painful than death—would torment the true shinobi that he was, in every minute and second to come.

…

"Sasuke-kun, Izayoi-kun, you've returned—!"

In the Hokage's office, Hinata and Karin were helping Izayoi with paperwork. They immediately got up and walked over.

Izayoi nodded, then looked at Sasuke, who was clearly in low spirits, and asked bluntly, "You want vengeance? I can help you."

The others didn't grasp Izayoi's implication, but Sasuke did. Izayoi was referring to taking an eye-for-an-eye approach, annihilating the families of those involved in the Uchiha massacre.

Sasuke was moved.

Though now the Hokage, Izayoi was plainly on his side, showing no hesitation. In Sasuke's current fragile state, such unconditional support was comforting.

He shook his head. "No. I'm not Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi had been able to slaughter countless uninvolved victims who had no idea. Sasuke couldn't do that.

Indeed, even in canon, though blackened in many ways, Sasuke never wantonly killed uninvolved civilians. That was exactly why he found Itachi's choice unforgivable.

However, Sasuke had no right to kill Itachi, and equally no right to forgive him.

"Not killing them is fine—maybe punish them a bit," Izayoi said with a smile. "From now on, you'll be the Anbu Commander in Konoha, second only to me. You can do whatever you wish."

The proposal thrilled Sasuke.

He remembered how, after the Nine-Tails rampage, the village high-ups had forced the Uchiha to move from the village center to the outskirts near Naka River, effectively robbing the clan. Even if those people had been ignorant of the deeper conspiracies, they'd still benefitted from Uchiha land and resources.

Sasuke vowed to make them cough up twice what they'd eaten. Let them experience the feeling of being singled out like the Uchiha had been under Danzō.

He finally found direction, re-igniting a glimmer of motivation. Sasuke nodded at Izayoi. "All right."

"Go and rest for a few days to recover. Once you're feeling up to it, come start the job," Izayoi said, patting Sasuke's shoulder again. "If you ever feel troubled, you can talk to me. If you need anything, come find me. Don't overthink."

"Yeah."

Sasuke nodded once more, then, as though recalling something, pulled out a wooden box created by Mokuton and handed it to Izayoi:

"This belonged to him—his eye. Its dōjutsu was decent. I'll give it to you."

"All right, I'll take it." Izayoi accepted it cheerfully.

Hinata and Karin saw Sasuke hand over the precious Mangekyō Sharingan. He had no further use for it, but it was indeed extremely valuable. Izayoi was pleased—this was proof that Sasuke trusted him fully.

Now Sasuke's clan vendetta was resolved. Going forward, Sasuke would be Izayoi's number-one operator. With Mangekyō's formidable "Ohirei" ability, once he advanced further—perhaps someday awakening the Rinnegan—he would become Izayoi's first Six Paths-level subordinate.

In the future, all the dirty or troublesome work could be handed to this well-rounded subordinate.

Walking away from the Hokage building, Sasuke decided not to look for Orochimaru immediately but instead went to the Uchiha graves. He carried a small wooden box.

"Sasuke?"

He'd just entered the graveyard, not yet reached the cluster of Uchiha burial sites, when the voice of Hatake Kakashi called out.

"Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Sasuke responded curtly, typical of his manners.

"I came to pay respects to a friend."

Already quite used to his pupil's attitude, Kakashi merely gave a straightforward reply. He then glanced at the wooden box in Sasuke's hand. "What's in that box…?"

"A human head."

Noticing Kakashi's probing tone, Sasuke saw no need to hide it and replied:

"It's the head of a traitor to the Uchiha clan. I'm using his head to pay respects to my family."

Kakashi was startled and asked in confusion, "There was another Uchiha survivor besides you and Itachi?"

No wonder he looked so astonished. Kakashi had been part of the cleanup after the Night of Massacre, recording names of the dead and comparing them to the Uchiha genealogy. Apart from Itachi and Sasuke, everyone else's name got a red cross. There shouldn't have been anyone else.

Naturally, Sasuke had no idea why Kakashi would react like that.

He simply sneered, "He faked his death to escape—one of the perpetrators of that night."

The final confirmation that someone besides Itachi had exterminated the clan.

Kakashi's eyes widened, for it validated his suspicions: that Itachi alone could never have wiped out so many Uchiha—including veteran elites—in a single evening. Now Sasuke's words confirmed a higher-level accomplice.

Kakashi grew worried, glancing at Sasuke. But he was even more surprised that Sasuke was so calm. Logically, someone like him should be so consumed by hate that he'd go crazy.

Could it be due to the Sixth Hokage?

He refrained from prying, simply pressing: "What's that traitor's name?"

"Uchiha Obito," Sasuke spat.

He turned away, heading toward his clan's section. Kakashi, dumbfounded, followed after.

In front of the gravestone where Uchiha Fugaku lay, Sasuke placed the wooden box on the ground. Using Mokuton chakra, the box automatically opened, revealing a severed head sliced in two and reassembled—twisted in death.

Kakashi gasped at the ghastly sight.

This half-split face bore a massive scar from the Kannabi Bridge battle. Neither Hashirama cells nor White Zetsu cells had healed it. That told Kakashi everything: The one who had died under a rockslide, whose body was never found, truly had never died.

He was… Obito.

But how? Why didn't he return to Konoha?

Why would the kindly Obito incite Nine-Tails to destroy it? None of this made sense.

For a long time, Kakashi simply stood there in shock. Eventually, he managed to say in a trembling voice, "Sasuke, where—where did you find him?"

Just as Sasuke was about to scold him for prying, he saw Kakashi's shaken face and realized something.

"You knew him?"

"A lot of people from my generation knew him," Kakashi answered softly. "Uchiha Obito was just like me… both students of the Fourth Hokage. He supposedly died as a hero in the Kannabi Bridge battle, his name on the Memorial Stone."

"Yes. The one said to have died in the Kannabi Bridge battle, the name carved on the Memorial Stone—a so-called hero of Konoha." Sasuke let out a scornful chuckle. "If those people knew that the one behind the Nine-Tails' attack— the one who caused the Fourth Hokage's death— was actually their 'Hero,' would they dig up his grave in anger?"

Kakashi felt his chest seize up. "The Nine-Tails rampage… caused by Obito? That's impossible. He was so young… Why would he harm Sensei!?"

Sasuke's black eyes remained aloof. "If you don't believe it, go ask him yourself."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

Without answering, Sasuke activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and created another small black hole. It hovered in the air, swiftly expanding. A fearsome gravitational force enveloped Sasuke, Kakashi, and the severed head of Obito, distorting them all into the hole.

…

Some underground lair. Orochimaru and Kabuto had just been arranging their equipment, awaiting Izayoi's instructions. Suddenly, both tensed.

A fist-sized black hole had formed nearby, floating in the air.

"That's… some kind of space-time ninjutsu," Orochimaru said in a murmur.

"Is it Izayoi-sama…?"

"No, Izayoi-kun doesn't use this technique." Orochimaru shook his head, his expression serious yet unafraid. Because he knew Izayoi was constantly watching over him—so he wouldn't die in some trivial accident.

Then Kabuto and Orochimaru saw two people step out of the swirling void.

"Sasuke-kun? Kakashi?" Orochimaru recognized them both.

"Kabuto. Orochimaru." Kakashi tensed up at once. Meanwhile Sasuke pointed to Obito's severed head on the floor and said, "Orochimaru, I want you to use Edo Tensei on someone."

Noticing Sasuke's Mangekyō eyes and the miniature black hole slowly collapsing in the air, Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and gave a sly smile. "That's quite some dojutsu, Sasuke-kun—makes me think of Uchiha Obito's technique."

"You know Obito too?" Sasuke and Kakashi both looked surprised.

"But of course. He and the Akatsuki leader almost finished me and Kabuto off at one point," Orochimaru said. "His eyes could turn his body intangible and warp him through space-time. No barrier could hold him. Without Izayoi-kun's intervention, I would have died."

"I see…" Sasuke muttered softly.

Kakashi found it all overwhelming—everyone else seemed to know the truth. He felt lost about Obito's story.

Disregarding that, Sasuke stared at Orochimaru. "This man is Uchiha Obito," he said, gesturing at the head severed in two. "Use Edo Tensei to resurrect him."

Orochimaru blinked in realization, then clicked his tongue, "So this is the face behind that mask… Dying by your hand, Sasuke-kun—he can't complain."

Kakashi stood there, mind a whirl. Why did everyone know the truth, except him? Was the man who'd shared his old dream truly this Obito? Or was he something else entirely?

~~~

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