"Damn it."
Sasuke stood in the courtyard, repeatedly throwing kunai, each one thudding into the wooden post dressed in Uchiha Itachi's clothes.
His actions were already well known to the ANBU. Even though today's surveillance had rotated in several new chunin-level ninjas, they had already been informed about Sasuke's nightly routine.
High in the tree, the crow tilted its head to watch Sasuke, its mood worsening.
His younger brother… was too foolish.
This was no different from ordinary people venting hatred by stabbing little paper dolls—ignorant and powerless.
Cough… cough cough.
After hundreds of throws, Sasuke's breath became unsteady. He coughed and finally collapsed to the ground.
The ANBU watching didn't react much. They'd seen this before. It was nothing surprising.
It was purely venting—wildly throwing kunai without any technique. No wonder he was exhausted.
"My foolish…"
The crow muttered inwardly. But just as it began its mental ridicule, it suddenly noticed something—another crow had appeared beside Sasuke.
It wasn't sure—it had only caught a flicker, and then everything blurred.
"My foolish brother…"
A raspy voice rang beside Uchiha Itachi's ear. Before he could react, a hand grabbed him tightly.
In the next moment, Itachi's crow clone was yanked into Sasuke's system space, appearing beside Sasuke's shadow clone, who was in the middle of training. Nearby, two corpses lay peacefully.
"Oh? Planning to dispel yourself and return to your main body?"
The shadow clone didn't know the full context of what was happening outside, but since Itachi's crow clone had been dragged into the system space, he assumed it was a system-triggered event.
"Sasuke… my foolish little brother. Do you think capturing one of my clones means you've gotten your revenge?"
Itachi, from within the crow clone, still didn't fully understand the situation. And even though he had been caught, it was only a clone. His true body remained unharmed.
"You're a crow clone. I'm a shadow clone. We're the same—and we're not."
"Because when I dispel myself, I return to the main body. But you?"
"You'll stay here. You'll stay right here… to atone beside the corpses of our parents."
Sasuke's shadow clone let out a sneer. Then, in front of the crow clone, he dispelled himself and returned to the original body.
The crow clone, left behind, tilted its head and looked around. In the end, it flew over to the side of the bodies of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha.
Its wings stretched out carefully, as if trying to touch them—but just before contact, it hesitated and stopped.
It no longer had the right to touch the corpses of their parents.
He had sent them to the Pure Land with his own hands.
How dare he disturb what they left behind?
Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Uchiha Sasuke lay on the ground. A tear slid from the corner of his eye as one hand covered his left eye, hiding the blood-red liquid from the watching ANBU.
He had just used the Nine-Tails' chakra—and Shisui Uchiha's left eye.
He couldn't use Kotoamatsukami, but the standard genjutsu of a three-tomoe Sharingan could still be forcefully maintained for now.
The price, however, was steep: his body felt hollow, and the pain in his eye was overwhelming.
"Can't waste time. There's still the exam tomorrow."
Feeling the shadow clone's return and memories flow back, Sasuke muttered to himself and forced himself up from the ground.
Staggering, he made his way back to the room. Only once he collapsed into bed did he finally remove his hand from his eye.
The damage was painful, and he had no way to treat it right now.
He could only hope things held together through the night—so he could enter the system space and properly train and recover.