Konoha's landscape remained just as it had been—ruins and rubble stretching out in every direction.
Life had long since withered away from the world, yet Konoha stood out from the rest. This village... had ghosts.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu—the four elders once sworn to protect the village—now kept that vow for eternity. Bound forever to this land, they would guard Konoha until the seas ran dry and the rocks crumbled to dust.
Such a touching sight, wasn't it?
Besides the Konoha 4, there was another spirit drifting through the village—Itachi.
In a particularly cruel twist, Sasuke had turned his beloved brother into an earthbound spirit too. But unlike the other four, Itachi had more freedom—he could roam the entirety of Konoha, unshackled, and didn't need to... eat that.
The five spirits remained conscious at all times. Madness wasn't even an option. From the start, Itachi adjusted to the situation much faster than the other four. After all, he wasn't trapped in a dried-out sewage tank, endlessly repeating the action of that, over and over again, like they were.
Most of the time, Itachi lingered in the Uchiha clan cemetery, serving as an eternal guardian. Day after day. Year after year.
He had no idea what had become of the shinobi world. In the past, the occasional traveler would stumble into Konoha—some by accident, some in search of "treasure." But the moment they saw the ghosts, they'd usually run screaming.
Then one day... they stopped coming.
Seasons passed. Eventually, not even the smallest creatures remained.
Spiritual bodies like theirs weren't sensitive to environmental shifts, but Itachi noticed it all. Large animals were the first to vanish. Then came the small ones. Even the hardiest insects didn't last. Eventually, even the plants withered and died.
Water sources dried up. The bed of the Naka River was crusted with red crystal formations. The land was slowly turning into a desert. Everything was falling apart.
Itachi, burdened with a heart that still worried for his village and the world, could only watch helplessly.
Alone in a vast, empty village, he often felt a deep, marrow-chilling loneliness. Sometimes, just to hear a voice—even an unpleasant one—he'd force himself to go chat with the former higher-ups of Konoha.
By now, the Konoha 4 had long since stopped pretending. After enough conversations, Itachi keenly realized that it wasn't just Shimura Danzō who was untrustworthy. Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other two so-called advisors weren't much better.
There's a saying: "Judge by actions, not intentions." Whatever the inner thoughts or honeyed words of the upper echelon—led by the Third Hokage—it didn't matter. Their choices, and the consequences those choices brought to the village, were what truly mattered.
No amount of flowery speech or lofty ideals could change the reality. The results spoke for themselves.
As leaders, it wasn't their cruelty that mattered. It was their stupidity.
If cold-blooded, ruthless methods had actually made the village stronger, then maybe their cruelty would've been worth it. But if it didn't? Then all they'd done was make stupid mistakes.
Judging by results was the simplest—and most brutal—way to evaluate a person.
Itachi couldn't help but think of his own clan.
Danzō's insistence on wiping out the Uchiha... was it right or wrong? That could only be measured by what came of it, not by lofty speeches.
Yes, the Uchiha were planning a coup. But when you really thought about it, perhaps they weren't entirely at fault. Since the founding of the village, the Uchiha had poured out their blood, sweat, and tears—only to receive nothing in return. No recognition, not even the basic respect they deserved.
They bled and wept on the battlefield, only to return to a village where they were feared and watched by their own comrades. No one can endure that forever. Not every clan could be like the Hyūga—humiliated and crushed underfoot, yet swallowing their own blood and shame in silence.
Some people... would rather die standing than live on their knees.
Itachi often wondered—what if the village had treated the Uchiha fairly and justly? What if Shisui hadn't been killed by Danzō, and had successfully used Kotoamatsukami on the hardliners in the clan? Would things have turned out differently?
If the Uchiha hadn't been annihilated, Konoha's strength wouldn't have plummeted. Others wouldn't have had the chance to exploit the chaos. One wrong step had led to another. Sasuke wouldn't have gone mad, wouldn't have lost his humanity...
Ever since Sasuke turned him into an earthbound spirit, trapping him in the ruins of Konoha, Itachi had far too much time on his hands. Too much time to think.
Back then, he didn't want to dwell too deeply on whether wiping out the clan had been right or wrong. He feared what his brilliant mind might uncover—truths too cruel for him to accept.
But people can't control their thoughts forever.
Even as a child, Itachi had pondered the meaning of life, of peace. He'd grown increasingly distant from his proud clan, gradually aligning himself with Konoha's leadership. In the end, for the sake of the village and for Sasuke, he had murdered his own parents and destroyed the Uchiha.
In truth, when Sasuke first used Shukaku to level Konoha, Itachi had already begun to sense that he'd made a grave mistake. But he hadn't wanted to admit it. He kept walking the same dark path until his head was bloody and broken...
If the Uchiha coup had succeeded—would the ending have been better?
At the very least, Sarutobi Hiruzen and his lot didn't have the power to go as mad as Sasuke and obliterate everything.
—Unaware of the full truth, Itachi believed that the broken world of the shinobi had everything to do with Sasuke.
He called his clan arrogant, but Itachi himself had been no less so. In the original timeline, he'd believed without a doubt that Sasuke, with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, could rebuild the Uchiha alone. Even now, he still believed it must have been Sasuke's dōjutsu that shattered the entire shinobi world.
Every Uchiha placed boundless faith in the Sharingan~
Perhaps when his soul is finally scattered, the pain will stop. More than anything, Itachi longed to disappear completely—to be erased, body and soul.
To kill someone is one thing. To destroy their heart... that's true cruelty.
And Sasuke... Sasuke was a master at killing both body and soul.
Then again, Itachi wasn't much better. What was Kotoamatsukami, if not a weapon that obliterated a person's mind and will?
Killing the body was one thing. Kotoamatsukami twisted a person's thoughts—nullifying their entire existence.
Earthbound spirits weren't truly immortal. Over time, Itachi began to feel himself fading.
It was, perhaps, the happiest thing that had happened to him in a long time.
He had walked every inch of Konoha countless times. What had once been love had dulled into numbness. In the depths of his boredom, all he could do was count bricks...
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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