Naruto 401

1
Naruto
#401: Illusion
[side text: Sasuke dumbfounded...]
Tobi: .........
Sasuke: Stop spouting this bullshit... // He nearly killed me, any number of times...
Tobi: If he had ever truly wished you dead... // ...then you would be dead. Long dead.
Sasuke: He wanted to kill me so much, he even used the power of his Mangekyou Sharingan against me! / And still you say......!

2
Tobi: He attacked you with no more than he knew you could handle. // It was necessary for him to push you to your limits, in that last battle.
Sasuke: ......!
Tobi: As for why... / Well, if you're honest with yourself, I daresay you already know, don't you?
Flashback!Itachi: ...And now you show your face...

3
Tobi: To release you from that seal... // And the death of the one closest to you, as well... that battle served as a means to awaken your Mangekyou. // Every part of that battle was planned out by Itachi from the very beginning. // He played his role, that of the villain meaning to steal your eyes, to the very end...
Sasuke: .........
Tobi: It appears you are beginning to see the truth...

4
Sasuke: You're lying to me!
Tobi: .........
Sasuke: It was Madara who set the Kyuubi upon the village! // Itachi told me himself, it was your doing!
Flashback!Itachi: Sixteen years ago, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Madara's doing, of course. // But this time the Fourth Hokage stood in his way. In other words... // Madara is nothing more than a failure. // He is not the one who shall fulfil the potential of the Uchiha clan. // ...The one who shall surpass him, / who shall fulfil the true potential of the Uchiha clan... is me.

5
Sasuke: You're the one who raised those doubts against the Uchiha! // So that you could join forces with Itachi, and do as you pleased with the clan!!
Tobi: It was Itachi who lied. It is just as I told you before... // Itachi was afraid... afraid of the slight possibility that I might contact you, might tell you the truth. // In an attempt to eliminate all possibility of that happening... // He lied to you, to make sure you would not trust me... / ...and even planted that "Amaterasu" trap in your eye.
Sasuke: And you truly expect me to believe a thing like that...?! // That man...! Itachi is evil! // He slaughtered our clan, betrayed us all and joined Akatsuki!

6
Tobi: Not only did he take upon himself the brand of a traitor, the inerasable sin of slaughtering the clan, and leave the village forever... // ...he even penetrated Akatsuki, and kept watch over a great danger to the village from within its very ranks.
Sasuke: ......!
Tobi: He only ever thought of what was best for the village of Konoha... // ...and of course, what was best for you... // As soon as the Third Hokage, who had sworn to protect you, passed away, Itachi immediately showed his face in Konoha once more.

7
Tobi: It was a warning to Danzou and the rest of the higher-ups... a warning that he was still alive. // He cared about you above all -
Sasuke: STOP THIS!! // LIES!! // THE LOT OF IT, IT'S ALL -
Tobi: And see the fruits of his labour: you live on!!

8
[no text just sasuke getting his life pwnt]

9
Flashback!Itachi: ...All men rely on their own knowledge, their own perceptions, and live bound by those cords. // That is what men call "reality". // But knowledge and perceptions are essentially ambiguous. This "reality" may be a mere illusion. // All men live within a world forged of their own preconceptions. Do you see? // Those Sharingan... // How much can you perceive?
Flashback!Sasuke: My eyes are not as blind as they once were! // My Sharingan can pierce through any genjutsu!
Flashback!Itachi: Hah... Your words are as harsh as ever. // But I will accept... // ...that they may no longer be empty words.
[TN: Dammit, they're really trying to be difficult... picking out lines from here and there, making me search through all my old translations ~~]

10
Tobi: In truth, your eyes never even glimpsed the real Itachi. / You never once succeeded in penetrating the illusion that he had created. // But Itachi... // ...murdered his friends, murdered his superiors... // ...murdered his lover, murdered his father and his mother...
[TN: Waitwaitwait, LOVER?]
Tobi: There was only one person he could not kill... his little brother. // Shedding tears of blood, this man suppressed every last shred of emotion and slaughtered the entirety of his clan...

11
Tobi: ...And yet you alone, he could not kill. // Do you understand what this truly means? // Your single life meant more to him...

12
Tobi: ...than the entirety of the village.

13
Tobi: ......... // He played his part to the very verge of death... // ...no, beyond even that, for your sake alone... // ...for the sake of granting you new power... // ...and in being defeated by you... // ...he made you the avenger of the entire Uchiha clan... // ...he made you a hero of the village of Konoha.

14
Tobi: Though disease was eating away at him, death drawing nearer every step of the way... // ...he took all the medication he possibly could to prolong his life... // ...all for his dear, beloved brother...

15
Tobi: He had to fight you... // ...He had to die where he did, there at your feet.

16
Tobi: For the sake of the village of Konoha, and above all for your sake, for Uchiha Sasuke... // He chose to die, as a criminal, as a betrayer, as a villain. // He traded the honour he had earned for disgrace... the love he had earned for hatred... // And at the end of it all, Itachi died with a smile on his face.

17
[side text: Truly a love without compare...]
Tobi: For the sake of entrusting the name of Uchiha to you, his brother... // He deceived you, right until the very end...
[insert text: Amidst the raging waves...]
[bottom text: What begins to bloom within Sasuke, now that he knows the truth...? Next issue, "Dying Words"!]