Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

"Sorry for waking you up, but the crew just finished filming the day's location shoot, so it will be quiet again soon."

Naruto spoke to Sasuke with a slightly apologetic tone, indicating that he had been woken up.

"Where is this place?"

Sasuke's gaze fell on Naruto, who was also in the room.

Naruto leaned against the window next to the bed in the room, tilting his head to look out the window.

The cold wind blowing in through the open window tore through the warmth of the room and landed on Sasuke as he sat up in bed.

The sweeping chill actually made Sasuke even more alert.

"The Daimyo Prefecture of the Land of Snow".

"Daming Mansion?"

Although Sasuke guessed that he was still in the Land of Snow, he did not expect to get involved with the Daimyo of the Land of Snow.

"Without the help of the state, no matter how remote the Land of Snow is, how could I disappear for three years under the watchful eyes of ninjas who are skilled at gathering intelligence?"

Naruto briefly explained his relationship with the Daimyo of the Land of Snow.

Sasuke was still deep in thought when the noise outside the window confirmed the source of the laughter that had invaded his dream.

Now that he's fully awake, Sasuke can still hear familiar voices amidst the laughter.

"You water monster, just obediently get blown into an ice block in the cold wind and then let me smash you to pieces with one punch!"

"You foolish, shameless woman! If you dare to mess with me just because you have a lot of chakra, I'll let you taste the power of Samehada!!"

"Oh my god, is this what ninja battle is like?! Camera! Where's the camera?! Quick, take a picture! This is a rare 'real-life special effects'!"

That was the sound of Hozuki Suigetsu and Karin arguing, this time mixed with the excited shouts of the crew director, who didn't want to miss any more trouble.

These two guys can start arguing no matter where they are.

Sasuke and Naruto were already used to it.

However, unlike Sasuke, who could only hear the sounds, Naruto could see the two noisy guys fighting from his window.

"Oh."

Karin and Hozuki Suigetsu must have gotten into some funny situation, because Sasuke noticed a slight smile on Naruto's lips.

However, Naruto didn't care about the farce outside the window. He closed the window, shutting out the noise.

……

Naruto pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Sasuke's bed, picking up a plump red apple from the fruit basket on the bedside table.

"How about eating something to fill your stomach first? Your battle with Itachi exhausted your chakra and you lost your cursed seal. Now you've been unconscious for a long time, so your physical condition is actually quite poor."

Naruto handed the apple to Sasuke and said, "You should thank Karin properly later. It was Karin who saved you from a near-death experience."

Just as Naruto said, Sasuke himself could feel the weakness in his body at that moment.

But in Sasuke's heart, there was an even more important obsession that needed to be resolved.

Sasuke's gaze swept past the apple in Naruto's hand and met Naruto's eyes.

"How is Itachi now?"

Faced with Sasuke's questioning, Naruto also moved his hand away from the apple.

"I have already lifted the Impure World Reincarnation spell that was cast on him."

Naruto's answer left Sasuke speechless, unable to say what he was about to say.

Yes, that's the truth, a truth created entirely by Sasuke.

Uchiha Itachi... his brother had already died by his own hand.

"His remains...!!"

Sasuke composed himself slightly and wanted to ask Naruto how Itachi's body was handled.

But before he could finish speaking, a sudden, intense pain shot through his eyes, rendering Sasuke speechless.

Sasuke stretched out his hands, trying to relieve the excruciating pain in his eyes, which felt like they were being burned by flames, by rubbing them.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hands even faster, stopping him from doing so.

The sound of the apple hitting the ground and Naruto's warning reached Sasuke's ears at the same time.

"If you don't want to go blind like this, you need to endure it!"

Naruto's words made Sasuke stop struggling.

He certainly understood that Naruto's words were correct, and he did not think that Naruto's words were an exaggeration.

Sasuke, who could endure even death, could certainly endure the burning pain in his eyes.

It was just that the intense pain came so suddenly that Sasuke instinctively wanted to rub his eyes.

Seeing that Sasuke no longer intended to rub his eyes, Naruto released Sasuke's hand and sat back down in his chair.

"Use this to relieve your eye pain."

Naruto reached into his pocket and tossed a small medicine bottle to Sasuke.

It was a bottle of eye drops.

"my eyes……"

After applying the eye drops, the cool drops greatly relieved Sasuke's eye pain.

As the pain subsided, Sasuke noticed a change in his eyes.

However, there were no mirrors in the room, so Sasuke couldn't see the condition of his eyes.

He needs Naruto to help him observe.

If... Itachi hadn't lied to him, his eyes were already...

"...It's the Mangekyou Sharingan."

Naruto looked Sasuke straight in the eye and gave the answer.

Sasuke's dark eyes turned red, and the patterns on his Sharingan were no longer the usual three tomoe, but rather six-pointed star patterns formed by overlapping prisms.

The patterns on the Mangekyou Sharingan are unique.

The Sharingan with its six-pointed star pattern is Sasuke's unique Mangekyou Sharingan.

"It seems you haven't gotten used to these eyes yet, so they opened on their own just now, outside of your consciousness."

Sasuke's reaction was just as Naruto had said; he couldn't yet control his new Mangekyou Sharingan properly.

But the reason it can't be controlled is because...

"...It's Itachi's eye power."

Even in his final moments, Itachi Uchiha was deceiving Sasuke. He pretended to take Sasuke's eyes, but in reality, he poured all his own eye power into Sasuke's eyes, helping Sasuke awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sasuke's current weakened state means he's absorbing Itachi's eye power somewhat slowly, but once he absorbs all of Itachi's eye power, he'll be able to fully master his Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sasuke reached out and gently pressed his hand against the lower eyelid of his eye socket, feeling the shape of his eye within the socket.

These are the truths that Itachi, resurrected through Edo Tensei, told Sasuke.

The burning pain in Sasuke's eyes was a manifestation of the fusion of his and Itachi's eye powers.

……

Chapter 70 The Avengers

……

"It seems you've chosen to believe what Itachi told you. But..."

Naruto listened to Sasuke's explanation and fell silent.

After a long while, Naruto finally broke the silence he had created for himself.

"Sasuke, I've already warned you—"

Naruto said:

"—'The Impure World Reincarnation cannot distort the will of the dead.'"

This is what Naruto said when he was giving Sasuke and Itachi some private time to talk.

He didn't say much at the time, and even avoided saying anything related to the truth about the Uchiha clan.

It merely served as a reminder of the "drawbacks" of Sasuke's Impure World Reincarnation technique.

Even Kabuto Yakushi, who improved upon Orochimaru's Edo Tensei in the original work, couldn't influence the will of the dead. He could only use methods similar to Orochimaru's to erase wills to drive the resurrected ninjas and the Allied Shinobi Forces ninjas to kill each other.

However, for Naruto, the problem of the uncontrollable will of the reanimated beings had already been solved.

The Impure World Reincarnation technique used by Naruto, which was initially modified by the prisoners in Hozuki Castle...

Naruto performed the Impure World Reincarnation by mixing in "impurities".

It is a special kind of Edo Tensei, which takes a different approach from the development and improvement paths of Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi.

Therefore, the truth that Itachi told Sasuke was actually already known to Naruto.

Sasuke couldn't possibly know about this.

After all, aside from Naruto, it's a consensus that the Impure World Reincarnation can erase but not distort the will of the returning dead.

Naruto deliberately left after bringing Itachi to Sasuke's side, giving Sasuke and Itachi ample "freedom" to talk, which was also his intentional act.

Freedom means uncontrollability.

Uncontrollable situations require subjective judgment.

The result, based on subjective judgment, is what Sasuke himself believes to be a sufficiently true truth.

Now, in order to confirm the truth that Sasuke has constructed based on his subjective judgment.

Naruto reminded Sasuke of this point again.

"Originally, my purpose in resurrecting Itachi was to directly ask him why the Konoha higher-ups possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan, a question you hadn't been able to answer... I never imagined that the truth that was uncovered would be such a massive conspiracy..."