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The Valley of the End.
Under the torrential downpour, Uchiha Sasuke quietly looked down at the unconscious Naruto Uzumaki.
At this moment, Naruto had been struck in the chest by Chidori and lay on the ground with barely audible breathing. He had his eyes tightly closed and would no longer look at Sasuke with that stubborn gaze as if it were tangible.
To some extent, Sasuke understood Naruto.
This fool had lived amidst the village's malice from a young age and rarely possessed any positive emotions.
Their relationship was one of the few connections he had managed to hold onto so far.
So he instinctively wanted to grasp it, unwilling to let go even in death.
Yet, Sasuke also felt that Naruto completely misunderstood him.
Someone who had never had a family could not comprehend the overwhelming despair of suddenly losing everything.
He was alive now only for the sake of revenge.
Claiming he wanted to strengthen the Uchiha clan, he had never actually thought about how to do so.
Revenge was his top priority.
And his enemy, his brother, was so powerful that it was suffocating.
He had worked very hard, thinking he had made a lot of progress, but still stood no chance against that man.
It was like a chasm in strength, with no hope of revenge in sight.
If he continued to stay in Konoha and follow the routine path with Team 7, how could he become stronger?
Even their teacher, Kakashi, was no match for that man.
When would he be able to vent his raging anger and hatred?
Of course, Sasuke knew that Orochimaru had ill intentions towards him, but what of it? This was the only opportunity he had.
As long as he could gain the power to avenge himself, any price was worth paying.
"Naruto, I…"
Sasuke started to say something but then stopped.
It was time to leave.
Having made his choice, it was time to completely sever the bonds between them.
Sasuke no longer looked at Naruto, nor did he pick up his forehead protector. He turned and staggered out of the valley into the dense forest.
As he walked, clutching his convulsing left hand, the faces of his father and mother seemed to appear before him.
Then, the nightmare-like image of Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan emerged, and Sasuke seemed to hear Itachi's words.
"To obtain these eyes, you must kill your closest friend."
Sasuke abruptly focused, banishing Itachi's figure from his mind.
"I will never do as you say. I will obtain power by my own means!"
As he reached the center of the forest, the light grew dimmer.
Sasuke stopped his wandering thoughts, determined to reach Orochimaru in one go.
"Hey, Uchiha kid."
A somewhat unfamiliar voice suddenly came from ahead.
"Who?"
Was it the pursuers from Konoha?
Sasuke lifted his head to look in the direction of the voice, and the appearance of the person speaking caught him off guard.
A young man stood in the shade of a tree not far away, around twenty years old, with black mid-length hair and eyes that showed a faint smile, dressed in traditional Uchiha attire.
The most important thing was that face, which looked incredibly familiar, overlapping with the face of his mother in his memory.
Seeing Sasuke lift his head but not speak, only staring at him blankly, the man could only smile helplessly, silently taking a few steps forward to stand before him.
"Kid, what's your name? What happened to you? You're in such a sorry state."
Hearing the concerned words from the person before him, Sasuke snapped back to reality.
But he still didn't speak, just staring intently at the man's face.
Could it be there were still survivors of the Uchiha? How could he look so much like his mother!
Quickly activating his Sharingan, Sasuke found no signs of transformation.
Sasuke was suddenly excited; he abruptly grabbed the man's arm, his voice trembling as he asked, "I'm Uchiha Sasuke, who are you?"
The man allowed Sasuke to tightly grasp his arm, smiling warmly at him, and gently replied, "Uchiha Sasuke... I see, my name is Uchiha Kaito, you should call me uncle. I didn't expect little Sasuke to have grown so much, I left when you were just born!"
Uncle?
He did have an uncle who was close to their family, his mother's younger brother, whom his mother often mentioned.
But he remembered his mother saying that this uncle didn't have the talent to be a ninja, unable to harness chakra. He had gone traveling early on and never returned. Sasuke had eventually forgotten about him.
"You are... the Uchiha Kaito my mother mentioned?"
"Call me uncle, oh! Little Sasuke!"
Uchiha Kaito raised his other hand to gently pat Sasuke on the head.
"What are you doing here? Were you injured on a mission? Come back with me, I want to see my sister soon."
Sasuke, looking at Uchiha Kaito's face, so similar to Uchiha Mikoto's, saw his eyes and brows smiling, filled with clear anticipation.
Mother...
"Mother is no longer here! The entire Uchiha clan is gone!"
Shouting this, Sasuke turned his head away, a vast, boundless sadness welling up inside him, afraid to look into Uchiha Kaito's eyes anymore.
The forest suddenly fell silent.
Sasuke felt Uchiha Kaito's body stiffen, and after a long while, he heard his voice, somewhat hoarse, ask, "What happened?"
Sasuke didn't want to recall that incident subconsciously, but he felt he owed an explanation to the person before him.
Because it was his own brother who had annihilated the clan, a responsibility he couldn't shirk.
"It was Uchiha Itachi!"
Sasuke, still turned away, gritted his teeth and responded, "He killed our parents and the entire clan!"
He released Uchiha Kaito's hand, covering his eyes, "To obtain my eyes in the future, he left me alive, and then he fled."
Hearing this answer, Uchiha Kaito was stunned for a moment, then asked again, "When?"
His voice suddenly became cold, devoid of any fluctuations.
"Five years ago."
Sasuke finally lifted his head to look at Uchiha Kaito, but his face was devoid of any emotion, only his black eyes shining with a piercing cold light.
"Didn't the Fourth Hokage stop him?"
"The Fourth? The Fourth died a long time ago sealing the Nine-Tails. It's been the Third Hokage ever since."
"Heh!"
Uchiha Kaito suddenly scoffed, his lips curling into a sneer, "That old man is still alive?"
Sasuke, puzzled, nevertheless replied, "He's dead now. He was killed by Orochimaru during the recent Chunin Exams."
"Dead, huh? Well, that's good."
His expression then softened, and he looked at Sasuke tenderly, suddenly pulling him into an embrace, easily quelling any resistance.