24

Sitting in the corner of the rooftop of the Academy, a brooding young man was deep in thought, various events and scenes from his life flashing past his head, making new connections with each event, slowly, but surely weaving a picture that Sasuke didn't want to be true.

'Was my whole life a lie? Was Itachi only doing all this to save the world? Was the clan really going to start a coup?

Yeah, they were planning for it, weren't they? All those meetings that Dad went to, or those he conducted at our house.

How all the clan members were on edge all the time after those meetings, suspicious of every other shinobi of the leaf as if looking at their enemies.

It all makes sense, but why, why did it all come to this.

There should have been another way, one that didn't end with my clan being killed completely.

Why did this all happen, why. Someone, give me some answers, I want some answers. No, I NEED some answers.' The boy's expressions kept on changing, before landing on a pained face indicating his tremendous inner turmoil.

Creak.

Suddenly the door to the rooftop opened and in walked a young man with sun-kissed blond hair and a smile that can light up a whole room.

"Yo Sasuke, it seems you made it. Come have some food." The boy looked around as his eyes settled on the brooding figure.

"Naruto?" hearing the words of the newcomer, Sasuke looked up in confusion, before anger spread across his face.

"Naruto!!! How dare you trick me into coming here, going as far as to claim you know about the massacre!!" Thinking he was duped, Sasuke raged and charged at naruto.

"Hold your horses Sasuke and listen to what I have to say first. I called you up here because I came across a SSS rank secret, one that involves the Uchiha Massacre.

I believe you should know about it since it directly involves your family." Naruto deflected the boy's charge and held him in a headlock.

"What? How, how did you come across a SSS rank secret? You think I'm a fool?" Sasuke struggled as he yelled in naruto's face.

"Believe it or not, I came across it yesterday. I was out doing my regular pranks when I heard two oldies from the Village Council talking about it.

Hearing about it shocked me to my core, so after they left, I snuck in and looked around. I happened upon a scroll containing all the plan details, but just as I was about to steal it and escape, someone came in.

So, I escaped, but couldn't carry the huge scroll out with me. Sorry." Naruto explained as the struggling boy slowly calmed down.

"From those two oldies, was there an old lady with grey hair and a pin holding two hair buns on the top, and an old man with green glasses and a grey neckbeard?" Sasuke asked slowly, his voice seething with anger.

"How did you know??" Naruto asked in surprise.

"They once visited my dad and tried to threaten him, telling him to stop doing whatever he was doing, or else there would be consequences. Though I didn't know what they were talking about then, now I do.

What was inside the scroll, and what did the two oldies talk about?" Sasuke asked, his body no longer struggling.

"I heard them celebrating the anniversary of the Uchiha clan's death. How their plan to make the clan look bad to the villagers was a huge success, and then the Kyuubi incident was the perfect opportunity to push the clan out of the village center and onto the outskirts.

I also heard about how happy they were that the Uchiha, those they couldn't control were out of the picture, and the only one left was someone they could mold to their desires. Their plans included signing you up for the CRA, and having you breed more Uchiha children that they could finally control." Naruto continued on and on about how the two were manipulating the boy before Sasuke was just a bunch of snot and tears at one point.

[The few paragraphs above are complete bullshit, I KNOW. But I need some bullshit if I'm going to be writing fanfiction. Just bear with this, as hopefully, this will be the only time I pull stuff out of my ass for the plot to progress. Thanks for understanding.]

"There, there. Let it all out. Let it all out." Naruto patted the boy's back, as Sasuke broke down completely, his tears making the front of his shirt damp.

It took a whole hour before Sasuke was able to get himself into control, but the reddened eyes and the tear marks under his eyes were proof of his outburst.

"Thanks, Naruto. I needed to hear that truth from someone else. To be honest, I had slowly reached a similar conclusion a while back, but I couldn't believe it myself.

I guess, hearing it from you, just made it seem a bit more believable." With a sad and broken smile, Sasuke, for the first time in a few years, genuinely thanked another human being.

"Don't worry about it. I revealed this to you not only because I went through a similar hell but also because you are my friend. I can't let my friends suffer like this, not when I can help it." Naruto replied, a small smile on his face as he helped the boy up.

"You might want to wash your face first, maybe clean yourself quickly, we might be late for the meeting with our jonin sensei." Naruto continued.

"Yeah. Don't want to leave a bad first impression." Sasuke chuckled faintly, before wiping his face and heading home for a quick clean-up.

"Before you go. Promise me, that you will not reveal this secret to anyone. Not yet. Not until we are strong enough to protect ourselves." Naruto called out.

"I know. I'm not stupid. After all, I am an Uchiha." 'Still has the clan's pride, huh. At least it's not the overconfidence of the idiots.'

Finishing his lunch quickly, Naruto headed down to the classroom, only to find it empty, bar for a single pinkette.

"You're LATE!!!!" a piercing shriek filled the empty room.

"hai, this is going to be a long day." Naruto sighed.

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Some might be wondering why I decided for Naruto to reveal the Uchiha Massacre's secret if I had already 'brainwashed' him, or vice versa.

Well, the answer is simple.

The guidance from Shisui's eye will allow Sasuke to reach a conclusion on his own, but to truly cement that notion, he will have to hear it from someone else, lest he thinks he is crazy for making up stuff.

If he sees that the 'truth' he stumbled upon is really the actual truth, and someone was willing to share it with him without anything in return, then he will trust that guy more, and what he knows will truly become his new truth.

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Damn, now that I write this, I feel like I did manipulate and brainwashed the poor guy.

Am I being bad?

Nah, I kind of don't care. I think. I dont know. Maybe. But I think this is needed for me to progress the plot forwards, my way.