(Your father Uchiha Itachi was killed by your own uncle!)

Here was a dark cave, the only light emanating from the pink lake at its center. Standing by the lakeside was a black-clothed boy, quietly gazing at the still water surface. His delicate yet masculine features seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, giving him a cold and heartless aura. His pitch-black pupils were unfathomable, devoid of any visible light. A black leather belt was wrapped around his waist twice, the outer layer slightly looser than the inner, secured in front with a simple metal buckle. From his waist hung a long blade, its mysterious and charming black sheath nearly touching the ground.

Suddenly, he drew out the blade. Looking at the icy cold gleaming knife edge, he faintly frowned.

This was not the knife from his dreams, not the one that belonged to him. But now was not the time to dwell on this realization. His eyes suddenly shifted to the side.

A few meters away, a white-haired boy knelt down on one knee, saluting him respectfully. “Good morning, Lord Chitose. Is the blade still handy?”

Perhaps due to his usual reticence, he spoke slowly, one word at a time. However, this did not hinder the black-haired boy from understanding his meaning. He remained silent for a while, and just when the white-haired boy thought he would not answer as usual, he suddenly spoke. "... It’s ordinary."

Observing the astonishment on the white-haired boy's face, Chitose narrowed his eyes at the other's three-tomoe Sharingan. The other reacted quickly, immediately lowering his head again, his demeanor even more respectful. “…I see. Then I’ll go find a better blade for you,” he said, deeply bowing to Chitose before preparing to stand up.

Out of the white-haired boy's sight, Chitose observed the unconcealable joy on his face, and his dark pupils darkened slightly. Just two words of reply had made him so happy. And earlier, when he helped heal his injured arm, although he didn't say anything, this guy was still very happy for a long time.

"Stop," Chitose suddenly spoke out, making the white-haired boy look back at him in astonishment.

"No need to go anymore. Where is your father?" he asked, sheathing his knife and turning it slightly.

However, the boy, who had always readily answered his questions, suddenly fell silent.

Chitose raised his eyes slightly to see an expression on the other's face that seemed like he wanted to speak but hesitated. But the hesitation on the boy's face disappeared entirely the next second. He raised his head to look at Chitose’s handsome face, his expression even more determined. Seeing him like this, Chitose suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

***

Sitting in the darkness, Sasuke was waiting to meet with Naruto who would come to see him. In the silence, he tapped his knees uneasily with his fingers.

Earlier, Kakashi had sent a message by hawk, saying that the mysterious Sharingan boy had appeared in front of Chitose, and had taken him away with just one sentence of "Do you want to know the truth?". They left using space-time ninjutsu, Kakashi didn't manage to stop them in time, and now he was hurrying back from the distant land, but that would take at least two to three days, it was unlikely to count on him.

Sasuke's tapping fingers suddenly stopped, and he fiercely knitted his brows.

"The truth..." He murmured, the image of his brother with blood at the corner of his mouth flashing through his mind, slowly collapsing after poking his forehead.

He clenched the clothes under his hand tightly.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He got up abruptly and looked towards the door: "You're late, Naru--!"

He saw the two children walking in, and the person he was going to meet following behind them, he stopped in surprise. But soon after, he frowned at the blonde Hokage: "What is this, Naruto? Why did the children come here?"

"Uh, well..."

"I wanted to come here myself." Sarada spoke up, attracting everyone's attention. Head lowered with unclear expression, "Knowing brother is in danger, how can I just sit by unconcerned," She raised her head to look at Sasuke's indiscernible eyes, her face extremely gloomy, "Broke the first promise so soon, dad?"

Sasuke looked at her silently. The atmosphere became somewhat heavy.

Boruto knitted his brows and broke the silence: "Although I don't know what's going on, but let's not bother with these things for now first, right Sarada? We need to properly think about what to do now."

He said, looking somewhat sad as he lowered his eyes, clenching his fists hanging by his sides, "We also don't know what Chitose is thinking at all."

Naruto's blue eyes dimmed slightly. He glanced at Sasuke, unsurprisingly seeing his somewhat solemn face.

"No." Sarada paused for a moment before speaking, "What brother is thinking, we do know, don't we?" Sarada averted her gaze that was looking at Sasuke, looking at Boruto instead, "Brother said, he wants to know the truth. And those enemies happen to know those truths, also..."

The exceptionally perceptive little girl raised her face, looking seriously at her own father, "Brother said, this is a matter between him and you——dad, just the two of you."

She saw her father's complexion change in an instant. The only visible black pupil widened somewhat, something extremely quickly flashing through that she couldn't discern clearly.

Boruto stared at that hand of Sasuke's for a while, then worriedly took a look at Chitose. The aloof look on the young lad's face held no expression besides indifference. Making those present feel somewhat uneasy.

"So what exactly is that truth about..." The golden haired boy knitted his brows lowly murmuring, cerulean blue eyes sized up the two fathers with exceptionally grave looks back and forth. However, no one answered his words.

In the silence, the two adults suddenly glanced outside the door, then simultaneously pounced towards their respective child, hiding them behind themselves. The next second, dense small black blades shot in from outside the door, avoided by the two fathers holding their children.

Sasuke drew out his Kusanagi Sword, smashed open the wall in three to five strikes, bringing his daughter outside. While deflecting the concealed weapons shooting over, he brought Sarada to Naruto's side. Here, Naruto had also come outside, the golden chakra forming the head of a fox, protecting everyone.

Having just stood firm, a man wearing a black robe with red clouds, his right eye a Sharingan, jumped down from a big tree together with a white-haired boy. Sasuke tightened his grip on the sword in hand, stepping out of Naruto's protective range in a few strides, rushing close to the enemy with his sword tip pointing straight at the man's vital point.

However, the corner of the opponent's mouth instead hooked up in a bizarre arc. He directly grabbed the sharp blade with his hand, disregarding his own freely bleeding wound. Dodging to the side to reveal the weapon-wielding boy closely following behind.

Sarada couldn't help worryingly crying out: "Dad!"

Sasuke's gaze sharpened, his hair fluttering in the wind to reveal the Rinnegan below. The next second, he had switched positions with the boy, then swiftly turned to release a technique: "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The enormous, scorching hot fireball roared towards the enemy. Yet suddenly, as if pulled by something, the white-haired boy shifted out of the way in midair, blocking most of the fireball for the man!

Seeing Sasuke's fireball blast the two people to the ground with tremendous impact, Boruto's eyes lit up: "So powerful!"

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Naruto laughed proudly: "That guy's skill isn't limited to just this!"

Sasuke paid him no heed, only looking at the man who had stood up by now to ask: "Where is Chitose?"

The armless man with Sharingan covering his left arm and head smiled coldly at the question: "Uchiha Chitose, he's Itachi's son, inheriting Itachi's genes, the true successor of the Uchiha..."

As he spoke, the Sharingan in his right eye was bulging slightly, even stronger greed displayed from his left: "His genes are the finest! He's the most important link to evolution!"

Sasuke knitted his brows somewhat uncomprehendingly, Naruto even directly voiced out his doubts: "Evolution?"

"That's right!" The man stopped his actions for the moment, turning to explain his thoughts with open hands to everyone present, "A child is formed from a mixture of half the parents' genes each, this is merely a spontaneous act to create superior genes. Moreover, wars will select and create better genetic traits, this is human evolution!"

Sasuke and Naruto's expressions sunk. They had vaguely guessed what this man wanted to do.

"Therefore! Shinobi under the coerced peril of war, will swiftly produce new ninjutsu and skills, then, further screen out stronger shinobi!"

Whilw speaking, his countenance was already nearly deranged, "To facilitate human evolution, war is indispensable, that's precisely Akatsuki's reason for existence!"

"Don't joke around!" Naruto's voice, rising steeply all of a sudden, drowned out the man's frenzied words. His azure blue eyes stared at the astonished man, the tightly knitted brows bespoke his utter disagreement in his heart.

"You completely don't understand what's most important to parents! And what's more, your mouth says Chitose is the most crucial, but in reality you just want to exploit that child!" He said, fiercely swinging his arm, his words already brimming with fury.

"There's no point conversing with the likes of him..." Sasuke's tone was icy cold, turning his Kusanagi Sword slightly to initiate an attack. But the man before him looked at his sword, the corners of his mouth abruptly hooking up in a smile for some reason.

Before Sarada could understand why he was laughing, Boruto's panicked cry rang out in her ears: "Daddy!"

She blankly turned to see her father's sword piercing through Naruto's abdomen!

Sasuke looked at the sword that had suddenly moved on its own in shock, abruptly realizing this was the effect of the man's ocular power, he had marked the sword when grabbing it previously!

In a flash, the injured Naruto's defensive barrier already vanished, the short blades that had been deflected earlier now moved once more under the man's remote manipulation, swiftly striking the completely unguarded Sarada!

"Sarada!" A loud shout rang out at the critical moment, accompanied by the clear sounds of blades clashing. Sarada looked back in surprise to see herself being shielded by her father who had also turned to look back. From her father's side, Sarada caught sight of the black-haired boy's back at a glance, her pupils contracting as she exclaimed: "Brother!"

Boruto had already turned the moment that loud shout rang out. Now seeing the unharmed boy, he relaxed inwardly then tensed up again the next second. Before he could say anything however, that boy had shifted his gaze towards the man and boy opposite them. Boruto inadvertently saw his extremely sharp black eyes.

"I told you not to attack unrelated people already!" The black-haired boy's aura intensified sharply all of a sudden, the urge to kill bursting out torrentially to engulf the man.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him in astonishment, while Boruto and Sarada were completely dumbfounded.

In just these few days, Chitose's aura had already become completely different from before! Seeing the young lad, a sense of shock rose in Naruto's heart.

But faced with this sort of boy, instead of enduring like before, the man only coldly sneered: "Don't get too arrogant, Uchiha Chitose! You can be so formidable today only relying on Itachi's genes! Once I obtain your eyes, you'll have no more value!"

"Is that so..." The boy responded coldly, a cold arc appearing at the corner of his mouth, "So you finally revealed your true intentions. In the end, it's just a toad lusting after swan meat!"

"What did you say...!" The man's face darkened instantly, his cold gaze fixed on the handsome and unreasonable boy in front of him. At this moment, the ugly and beautiful duo formed a sharp contrast.

But the next moment, as if he had found his backbone again, the man looked at Chitose with a sneer and said slowly, "So, after knowing the truth, will you still be as confident as you are now, Chitose, my boy?"

Sasuke's breath suddenly stopped. He stared at the black-haired boy, his right hand tightly clenched into a fist, the strength so great that his whole hand trembled, the leather half-finger gloves creaking.

Boruto stared at Sasuke's hand for a moment, then looked worriedly at Chitose. The black-haired boy lowered his head slightly, his expression unclear, but there seemed to be a hint of red light flashing.

Amidst the silence, Naruto's voice suddenly rang out: "Chitose—"

"Seventh Hokage," Chitose interrupted him extremely quickly. Naruto was startled then slowly lowered his eyes, averting his gaze.

Sarada looked left and right. Her intuition told her the so-called "truth" that was about to be revealed would surely not be pleasant, whether for her father or her brother, Chitose. She suddenly felt very panicked. A feeling of being about to lose the most important thing made the hand placed on her chest tremble uncontrollably.

On the opposite side, the man observed Chitose's current expression with the smile on his face growing bigger and bigger. "You think your esteemed Uchiha clan walked the path of light? Huh, how laughable!"

"Shut up!" Naruto raised his head to glare at Shin, the blue in his eyes full of refusal and reluctance.

"The Uchiha clan used to be ostracized by Konoha Village and wanted to launch a rebellion before being completely massacred overnight!!"

Sasuke's entire body violently stiffened. Not daring to look at Chitose's expression, at the same time having a premonition of how cruel the upcoming words would be, for him and for Chitose.

"And do you know who did it, Chitose? That person is—" The man's voice went lower, like a venomous snake luring prey with bait, sinister and pleased with itself.

Chitose slowly lowered his head with the hand holding the long blade gradually tightening. Seeing him like this, the man's smile grew even bigger.

"That's right! That person is none other than your father that you've always longed for and respected so much, Uchiha Itachi!!"

Sarada couldn't help but gasp sharply, then hurriedly covered her mouth with a hand, taking a step back with chaotic eyes fixed on Chitose. Boruto also widened his eyes in shock, but still unaware that Chitose no longer had parents, especially not having a father since before he was born, so there remained more or less confusion in the blue eyes. To him, something like annihilating an entire clan lacked a realistic feeling. But the boy that everyone thought would be greatly shocked only stood there like a statue without moving a bit.

Such a reaction made Shin somewhat puzzled as he frowned and carefully observed the boy's expression but still failed to detect even a hint of surprise on it. Finally, under everyone's gaze, the boy moved slightly and changed the angle of the blade in his hand a little. His voice was low but still very calm as he opened his mouth:

"I already knew about that long ago." His tone was plain but listening carefully still carried traces of helplessness and sorrow.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him in astonishment. Sasuke felt a sudden acute pain in his heart. You had already guessed it long ago, Chitose! Then all this time, what kind of mood were you in...

Amidst such an atmosphere, Boruto suddenly felt something was off. He stared fixedly at Chitose and read out a different implication from his barely maintained calmness that he himself felt incredulous about. He couldn't say what that feeling was, it was as if...

Before he could think it through, Chitose had already moved slightly and slowly raised his right hand with the blade tip pointing at Shin's heart: "You have lost your value, go die—"

"Is it really over, Chitose?" Shin's low voice interrupts Chitose.

Boruto, who has been closely watching the boy all this while, immediately captures his barely noticeable stiffening. Something in his heart is gradually becoming clear.

With barely any pause, Chitose waved the knife and took a step towards Shin, answering frostily: "It's over."

"Hmph, no. You know clearly in your heart there is still the most critical question left—"

"It's over, Uchiha Shin!!" Without letting him finish, Chitose interrupted him even louder than before.

At the same time, his left hand jerked sharply to one side as if desperately trying to convince the other or frantically preventing something from happening. While his footsteps also started becoming hurried. But in reality, perhaps he was just desperately trying to convince himself to believe in something.

This time even Sarada started feeling something was wrong. She looked left and right at the silent Sasuke and Naruto watching the situation unfold, vaguely sensing they were waiting for something. But their expressions clearly told her they were strongly resisting, extremely resisting, that thing happening.

While Boruto had already affirmed that unbelievable guess of his. Chitose was afraid.

He was evading something. He didn't want that man to utter the remaining words. Seeing the boy who had clearly lost composure, Shin finally revealed a confident smile.

This boy had never called him “Uchiha” because that's what Shin called himself, while Chitose didn't acknowledge him to be a true Uchiha and looked down on this half-baked person with only the Sharingan but no Uchiha lineage. But just now, in his fluster, the boy had blurted out “Uchiha Shin” to boost momentum. He stretched his lips in a smile, waiting for Chitose to get near.

"You also vaguely sense it now, don't you, Chitose."

"Stop talking."

"Why does your uncle treat you who suddenly showed up so well? Why does Konoha's Seventh Hokage accept you and help you without any resentment?"

"......Stop talking."

"Why did your father who killed the whole clan only spare your uncle? Why are your uncle's eyes so special?"

"......Stop talking!"

"Why did your father Uchiha Itachi, that extremely powerful prodigious shinobi, die so simply at the young age of 22?!"

"I told you to stop!" he black-haired boy suddenly roared, unprecedentedly furious. In one move, he raised the long blade in his hand to chest level. On the front side invisible to those behind, the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes glowed blood red. Holding up the knife like a bolt of black lightning, he charged towards the hideous man with extreme speed.

The man laughed manically, ignoring the blade that had instantly reached before him. Still madly laughing, he shouted out words that sounded no less than thunder in a few people's ears —

"That's because your father, Uchiha Itachi, was killed by his own younger brother, the uncle you revere so much — Uchiha Sasuke!!"