Chapter 21: The Bridge Connecting the Future

"What's up? You look like your soul has been sucked away by a goblin. Those who know you'll think you're just here to look around, but those who don't might think you're coming to drag me down to hell with you."

Shisui couldn't help but tease Itachi when he saw his blank - eyed expression.

No need to think twice; it must be about his dear little brother. Otherwise, he couldn't think of anyone else in the world who could give the tough Itachi such a heavy blow.

"Ah~ I feel that ever since Sasuke made friends, he's grown up overnight. He doesn't stick to me and ask me to train with him like before. He even looks at me disdainfully now. Does he think I've been too cold and doesn't like me anymore?"

He sat on the stool, propping his aching head up with both hands, looking as if the world was ending.

?_?

Really! When the relationship between the village and the clan was so tense before, he never looked like the sky was falling.

"You're such a brother - crazy! Sasuke isn't a kid anymore. It's perfectly normal for him to have one or two friends. Now that he's grown up and sensible, he knows you're busy and doesn't pester you. Shouldn't you be happy?"

"Happy? I'm not happy! I just want him to call me brother forever and follow me around!"

?_?

"Come on, not only does Sasuke seem to despise you, but even I'm starting to look down on you."

"How about you? Is your body feeling better?"

Shisui smiled with a sense of relief.

"To be honest, if it weren't for Sasuke and Naruto, I might have died before achieving my goal. Although I got a bit injured, it's nothing serious now. The doctor said I can be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days."

"Yeah, you need to get better soon."

"Itachi, I heard you're leaving the Anbu to become a Jonin?"

"Yeah, I also heard you've become the second - in - command of the Police Department. Father even half - jokingly told me that he'll be retiring early before long."

"Who would have thought that Lord Fugaku, such a serious person, would crack such a joke."

"Yeah, ever since Sasuke became friends with Naruto and Naruto often comes to our place, there's more laughter at home than usual."

"He's such an incredible kid! Despite all the ridicule he's endured, he still stays optimistic. That's an attitude we should really learn from."

"Yeah! So, with me by the Hokage's side and you by Father's side, we'll be the bridge between the village and the Uchiha clan, ensuring everlasting peace for this big community."

Itachi held out his right fist. Shisui immediately understood what he meant and also extended his fist. The two fists met, and the door to a new era opened.

....................

At night, the corridor of Konoha Hospital was brightly lit by the moonlight. Itachi, who had come to visit the patient, had already gone back to rest after seeing Shisui. The corridor was so quiet that there wasn't even a sound. Everyone was sound asleep at this hour.

In the ward, Sasuke was sleeping soundly. Suddenly, the space around him became extremely distorted like a spiral. The spreading vortex patterns slowly pulled his body into another space.

The space was empty and terrifyingly silent.

A man in a black cloak stood there, holding a sharp kunai and ready to end Sasuke's young life.

It was all this brat's fault. If it weren't for him and Naruto suddenly showing up, Tanzō wouldn't have lost so easily. Then today would have been the night of the Uchiha clan's extermination!

His appearance here had changed the original course of the world. Naruto couldn't move now, so he would take it out on this hateful little brat!

He was going to put the brat's body on the Third Hokage's desk. He didn't believe that Fugaku Uchiha could still stay in the village calmly after seeing his youngest son horribly killed.

The kunai glinted with a cold, eerie light. He twirled the kunai in his hand, then held it in a reverse grip and stabbed fiercely at the tender neck of Sasuke!

Suddenly, Sasuke, who was lying on the hospital bed, opened his eyes. His rapidly changing pupils were as red as blood, with the hexagram pattern extremely alluring.

Amaterasu

Black flames suddenly appeared on the body of the man in black, tightly enveloping him.

The fierce black flames seemed to be able to devour everything. The man in black could only scream and wail incessantly, and his body was rapidly vanishing at a visible speed.

Izanagi

The body of the masked man in black reappeared beside the black flames. He completely lost his previous calmness. Even through the mask, one could feel his fear and caution.

"You're not Sasuke. Who the hell are you?"

Sasuke sneered. Suddenly, a puff of white smoke appeared around his body. After the white smoke dissipated, a handsome adult man walked out of the smoke.

It was Sasuke, but not the young and vulnerable one in the eyes of the man in black. Instead, he had transformed his body into that of Sasuke in his prime, twenty years later!

Looking at his tall and imposing figure, as well as those Mangekyō Sharingan, this person was obviously also from the Uchiha clan, but he had never seen him before. How was that possible?

There was actually a powerful existence in the Uchiha clan that he didn't know about. Just thinking about the Amaterasu earlier made him shiver. If it weren't for his spare Sharingan in his left eye, he would really have died here today.

So who on earth was this person? Why was there no record of him in the long history of the clan?

"You don't need to know who I am. You just need to know that what you think and wish for will never come true!"

Hearing this, the man in black seemed to have been pressed on a rage button and became extremely irritable.

"You bastard..."

Sasuke raised his head and surveyed this quiet space. It was quite nice here. It saved him from causing too much commotion later and exposing himself.

He took out a scroll from his pocket and unrolled it.

"Puff!" A long sword was summoned into his hand.

The Kusanagi Sword was still with Orochimaru. He couldn't get it for the time being, so he'd just use this as a substitute.

He held the sword in his left hand, took a lunge forward, and launched the first attack.

The sword was imbued with lightning - type chakra, making a sound like thousands of thunderbirds screeching.

Chidori Blade

The man in black was very familiar with this kind of chakra type. It looked like Kakashi's Lightning Cutter technique, but it was different.

Sasuke moved swiftly. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the man in black, lifting the sword with one hand and slashing at the stationary man in black.

Even this incredibly swift attack failed to inflict any harm on the man in black. The sword blade sliced through him as if he were but a puff of air.

Although the man in black didn't know who the Sasuke standing in front of him was, he dared not take this swift attack lightly. When Sasuke failed to land a hit, the man lunged forward and drove a kunai straight into Sasuke's chest.