Naruto 398

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Naruto
#398: The Beginnings of Konoha
[Top text: The power to take catastrophe itself prisoner. The eyes that made that clan a legend lie within unbreakable chains.]

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Tobi: ...Do you understand?
Sasuke: ......!
Tobi: Why it was that your brother Itachi... / ...placed that "Amaterasu" into your eyes?
Sasuke: *pant* // *pant*
Tobi: It was because he wanted... / ...to do whatever it took to stop you from joining up with me. // And if you hear me out, you'll understand exactly why that is...
Sasuke: .........

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Tobi: ......... // The only people to know the truth about Itachi were Danzou and the Third Hokage of Konoha... // ...and the two counsellors, Homura and Koharu - four people in all. // With the Third Hokage dead... / The only ones who know the truth are those three old-timers... // And I sincerely doubt that the three of them... / ...will ever see fit to disclose that abominable truth to another... // The truth about Itachi will forever fade into the darkness... // ...and that is what Itachi himself, too, desired.

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Sasuke: .........
Tobi: But I, too, know the truth about Itachi... // I just said, didn't I...? / That Itachi went to his death oblivious to that fact... // ...But still, he was cautious... // It seems Itachi never truly trusted me. // In anticipation of the slight possibility that I might know the truth... // He tried to close my lips forever with that "Amaterasu"... // He must have anticipated... / ...that I would show you my Sharingan in order to speak with you.
Sasuke: What are you... saying?

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Sasuke: What the hell are you saying...?
Tobi: ......!
Sasuke: To protect me...? // ...protect...??? // ...The......"truth"...?

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Tobi: ......Cast your thoughts back. // Take a little time to remind yourself of Itachi...
Sasuke: *pant* // *pant*
Tobi: Of that kind brother you once had...
Sasuke: *pant* // *pant*

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Sasuke: But he... tried to kill me back there... // He tried to steal my eyes...! // *cough*! / *cough*!!
Tobi: Calm down... / Take some deep breaths.
Sasuke: DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!!

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Sasuke: Ugh... // *pant* // *pant*

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Sasuke: Unhh...
Tobi: Ah, you're awake... // Sorry, but I had to restrain you. // It didn't seem like you were likely to just listen calmly to what I have to say.
Sasuke: ...He's... // ...Itachi is my enemy...

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Sasuke: He killed my mother and my father... / ...He slaughtered the whole clan... // He's a missing-nin... and a member of Akatsuki... // He's a man to be hated... // My one goal...
Tobi: That night... / ...he certainly did slaughter the Uchiha clan. // And then he fled Konoha.
Sasuke: ...Well, then...

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Tobi: And that was a mission given to him by Konoha itself.
[TN: Oh, shit.]
Sasuke: .........!
Tobi: This is the first step along the path to the truth about Itachi.
Sasuke: ......A... / ...mission...?

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Tobi: That's right. On that night, Itachi slaughtered his own... // ...and in so doing, accomplished his mission.
Sasuke: ......
Tobi: ......... // It seems you have calmed yourself a little.
Sasuke: What is the meaning of this?!
Tobi: In order to tell Itachi's story... // ...We must first go all the way back to the founding of Konoha.
Sasuke: ?

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Tobi: Itachi was simply a sacrifice. // A sacrifice for a cause... that long preceded the man himself. // There was an issue that had existed since the very birth of the Hidden Village of Konoha. // It was this that decided Itachi's path in life.
Sasuke: ...Sacrifice......?
Tobi: Indeed.
Sasuke: .........
Tobi: ...This will be a long story, // but what I am about to tell you is nothing but truth.

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Sasuke: And why should I believe you? // I have no reason to trust your words.
Tobi: I have no proof to show you. // It is your choice whether or not to believe the words I speak to you. // ...But you will listen, right to the end.
Sasuke: .........

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Sasuke: Fine... // Talk.
Tobi: Heh... // It begins over eighty years ago. // The world was in an age of war and suffering.

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Tobi: The various existing states warred amongst one another in hopes of expanding their own territory. // In that chaotic age, ninja organisations were still limited to small, armed family groups. // These various clans were hired by the different states, and took part in their wars. // And amongst those many different shinobi clans... / there were two feared as the strongest of all. // Those two were our "Uchiha Clan"... // ...and a clan known as the "Senju Clan of the Forest".

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Tobi: We of the Uchiha Clan possessed the greatest Chakra, and our Sharingan. // We were known across the land as a warrior clan, excelling at combat. // And even amongst that Uchiha clan... / I was special, born with an immensely powerful Chakra. // I suppose the proof of that lies in how I stubbornly lived on through it all. // In those days, I lived and breathed the roar of battle. // Back then, power was everything. // I sought greater and greater power, using my friends and brother as necessary.

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Sasuke: ......... // ...You scum...
Tobi: But as a result of all this, I obtained the perfected Mangekyou, / and became leader of the Uchiha. // And using that power, I fought any number of times with the Senju clan. // It was inevitable that I should find myself facing the clan head, a man named Hashirama. // The future Shodai Hokage, Mokuton user Hashirama. // He was the pinnacle of the shinobi world, and the man I truly looked up to.
[side text: An age of war... and these two great men meet. The Senju and the Uchiha... now the full story of the clans who brought about the rise of Konoha will finally be told.]