Chapter 77: Itachi Uchiha's Decision
When Itachi Uchiha returned home again, it was already deep into the night. Sasuke and Mikoto had long gone to bed, but Fugaku was still busy in the study.
Itachi took a deep breath and looked around at the familiar interior of his home before heading back to his room.
Not long after, he emerged with a small suitcase, made his way to the entryway—and that's when a stern voice echoed from behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Itachi turned back to look at his father and replied calmly, "I'm moving out. The clan missions already delayed a lot of time, and I'll be busy with ANBU tasks for a while. Home's too far from the village center."
Fugaku's face remained stoic, though the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"Itachi, some choices, once made… there's no turning back."
Itachi paused in his tracks, then turned to look directly at his father.
"Father, what can't be turned back… is the path the clan is walking."
Fugaku sighed.
His Mangekyō Sharingan allowed him to glimpse fragments of the future—visions that would shift with his thoughts and decisions. Once, he had seen an image of himself and his wife dying by Itachi's blade, and Sasuke eventually rebuilding the Uchiha legacy from its ashes.
He had tried—tried many times—to alter that grim fate. He even considered revealing the secrets of his Mangekyō to Itachi. But after exhausting nearly all of his ocular power and almost going blind in the process, nothing had changed. He had to face the truth: he couldn't stop his eldest son. Just like he had once accepted the inevitability of his own end.
Calling out to Itachi tonight… was simply his final attempt as a father.
Watching his son's fading figure in the blurry haze of failing vision, Fugaku couldn't help but recall something Douhuan had once told him: if only he hadn't taken a four-year-old Itachi onto the battlefield, perhaps things wouldn't have ended up this way.
---
The next morning, Sasuke was the first to wake up. Despite their tense talk the night before, he'd already decided that he would apologize to his big brother and ask him to walk him to school.
But when he pushed open the door to Itachi's room, it was empty.
Itachi hadn't taken much—just a few sets of clothes, some ninja tools, and a photo of the two of them. Yet, Sasuke could sense something was off.
"Mom? Where did big brother go?" Sasuke ran into the kitchen, where Mikoto was preparing breakfast and lunchboxes.
"Itachi will be busy with ANBU work for a while," came a reply from Fugaku, who was sipping tea at the dining table.
Sasuke hung his head. "Did I make him mad last night?"
"This has nothing to do with you, Sasuke," Fugaku said. "Now hurry up and eat, or you'll be late for school."
"…Okay." Sasuke replied weakly.
---
Having spent the night in a village inn, Itachi was already dressed in his full ANBU uniform the next morning as he reported for duty at the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was visibly surprised to see him. He had known the Uchiha clan had sent Itachi out to oversee business in the Land of Fire, and he'd assumed that upon his return, the clan would quietly pull him from ANBU. Yet here he was.
"Sorry for the long leave due to clan matters, Lord Hokage," said the masked Itachi, bowing respectfully.
"No problem at all," Sarutobi said with a smile. "Whether for the clan or for ANBU, it's all in service of the village."
"Lord Hokage, are there any missions needing attention at the moment?" Itachi asked.
Instead of answering directly, Hiruzen responded with a question of his own. "Itachi, the Police Force has done a lot for the village recently. Would you consider working with them for a while? There's not much happening in ANBU right now, and it'd make commuting easier too. After all, the ANBU base is quite far from the Uchiha district."
After all that had happened recently—especially after witnessing the overwhelming power of Shisui's Susanoo against the Shimura and Mitokado clans—Hiruzen no longer trusted Itachi quite as unconditionally as before.
"I don't think I'd be much help at the Police Force," Itachi answered, head lowered. "And I've already decided to move out of the clan district and rent a place in the village."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly, but after a moment of contemplation, he nodded.
"A merchant caravan from the Land of Lightning arrived yesterday," he said. "According to several village shinobi, some of them are acting suspiciously. Shikaku suspects they might be spies sent to rendezvous with sleeper agents already in Konoha. I've already assigned ANBU to monitor them. I want you to assist them—your Sharingan will be a valuable asset in uncovering their secrets and possibly tracking down hidden enemy agents."
Itachi nodded firmly. "Understood."
---
While Itachi monitored the suspicious Lightning Country caravan, the interrogation of those involved with Orochimaru from the Shimura, Mitokado, and Koharu clans continued in an orderly fashion.
The evidence Douhuan had worked with Orochimaru to forge had been a blend of truth and falsehood, but among the dozens of detainees, many were indeed guilty—particularly the hardcore radicals from the Shimura clan.
Under Douhuan's careful arrangement, the ANBU assigned by Hiruzen were tasked specifically with interrogating those known to be complicit. Thanks to ANBU's skillful methods, confessions came quickly.
After that, the Police Force began confiscating the assets of the three clans, using those resources to compensate the families affected by the kidnappings in those old, buried cases.
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