Chapter 7: How to make sense of evil.

It is always worrisome to see how easily a person can get used to even the most atrocious environments. After a while, even the sight of perpetual agonizing screams echoing across the sulfur smelling lands decorated with an infinite number of desecrated corpses from any sentient creature to ever live in the Geese's territory become only slightly horrifying. Hell, if Sasuke were to close his eyes hard enough, there was a small chance he would manage to convince himself that the crunching feeling at his feet sole were just dry leaves.

At least his guide was being very helpful and offered him an insightful conversation about morals in their way to the nursery where Shisui was being treated.

"… and then we have the concept of the banality of evil which is usually oversimplified either to attack it or to applaud the hypothesis it formulates. Although it would make sense for some to explain my actions as an everyday man doing despicable things due to everyday reasons, I do not see the point of even trying because of a simple reason, I have little to no interest in morality to begin with. No…that is a lie. There are certain things that I wouldn't do because I know they would make me feel sad afterward, but the whole concept of good and evil have always been too convoluted for me to care. At the end of the day, I feel like that any justification I gave for my actions would be meaningless if they contradict the effects said the actions produce. So I will act as I feel like and if something negative were to happen to someone I like as a direct or indirect consequence of that, well, I guess I will go suck a lemon or something like that."

"I think I get it, boss." Bobby the goosling nodded in understanding. "You are saying that that I'm lacking the intend to do cause true harm so I need to step up my game because nobody really do good or evil by accident. Do not worry, I will become a goose worthy of being the right hand of the Antichrist."

While Bobby really didn't get what Sasuke meant most of the time, the Uchiha could appreciate the goosling's eagerness to hear his words in order to better himself (or worsened himself, depending on your point of view.)

"Close enough." Sasuke shrugged. "On another subject, while I was disappointed when I first learned I lacked the chakra to summon one of the older and stronger geese, I am happy to have you as my main summon."

"Oh, you are gonna make me blush." Even though that might be biologically impossible. "It wasn't an easy task, let me tell you that, boss. I had a lot of challengers for that job. "

"Oh, what happened?"

"I HAD challengers."

Months of experience of dealing with he geese made ignoring the bloody knife that Bobby was carrying way easier that it should be.

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There were times when Sasuke wondered what did his ever growing capacity for ignoring the evilness of his summons say about him as a person. Fortunately for him, they had arrived before he was forced to recognize his own failures as a human being.

"Hey, Shisui. Nice to see that you are doing better."

If one were to ignore his distinctive lack of eyeballs, his older cousin seemed to be in great health. The geese truly were masters of the arts of healing, even if their reasons were arguable nefarious.

"HA, I would love to say that it is nice to see you too, but, you know, being blind and stuff."

And this is why Shisui was Sasuke's second favorite family member.

"Don't worry, we have a pair of eyes for you." The younger Uchiha turned toward the nurse goose that was in charge of changing Shisui's bandages. "Where are they?"

"They are in fridge, between the penguin corpes and the salad. Just don't expect them to be from the same person, all humans but the Antichrist look the same for us." At that Sasuke fist-bumped with the goose, the bird was treating the remainings of his late family with way more respect than he expected.

"So Itachi really did it, eh? I guess that I failed my mission." The smile on Shisui's face strained and became as bitter as a cup of black coffee without any sugar, something that no person with working taste buds would wish to even his worst enemy.

That made Sasuke feel something strange, something that he wasn't used to…he felt empathy for another human.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Sasuke tried to reassure his cousin.

"Does it involve replacing toilet paper with explosive seals and geese?" Shisui raised one eyebrow.

"Am I becoming predictable?" He asked, clicking his tongue in annoyance. If that was the case, then he would have to step up his game. Maybe learning to create narwhals made of fire would be a good start.

"Not really. Altough I wish that were the case." He shook his head relieving Sasuke of his fears. "Anyways, let me handle it, we are gonna play the long game. "

"Shouldn't we just stabby stab Danzo?"

"YEAH, LETS FUCK HIS SKULL. BLOOD FOR THE FORSAKEN GOD. " Bobby, who hadn't said anything in a while, screamed in excitement, causing both Uchihas to stare at him in an uncomfortable silence. "I…will go looking for your eyes in the fridge."

For someone so determined to become the beast of apocalypse, the goosling was really shy. It was endearing in its own way.

"Anyways… Danzo is the only reason why this village is still working so we can't just kill him."

"Oh, come on. Is he really that good at his job as the shadow of the village?" The excuse of necesary evil that author used to introduce drama in their stories was becoming increasingly annoying for our protagonist.

"What? No. Danzo is probably Konoha's worst shinobi." The blind Uchiha must have sensed the incredulous look that Sasuke gave him. "Ok, he kicked my ass, but there is way more to being a shinobi than being decent at fighting, you are supposed to hide your intentions and act in way that convince your opponent that you are not a threat to him. Danzo is so shitty at being an asshole that he is first person everyone suspects of when something bad happens…. funny enough, Gai is great at make others underestimate him, even If he doesn't realize it."

"Did the geese put something in your drink or…?"

"I'm serious." Shisui waved off Sasuke's concerns. "Danzo is Konoha's most convenient scapegoat. Every time something morally dubious or suspicious happens here, we put the blame on Danzo and that way we still can say that Konoha is the most righteous shinobi village. It is practically a miracle that Danzo hasn't realized this yet."

"So…you are telling me that we let an obvious incompetent and paranoid man do shitty things so we can then blame him of other shitty things he may or may not have done."

While some readers may feel confused with the protagonist being the voice of reason in any kind of conversation, I can assure you all that nobody is as confused by this new turn of events as the author…but that is probable due to him being drunk when he wrote that scene.

"It is practically a tradition for us to put the blame of all our problems in a particular individual or minority. We first did that with Madara, but then he became a traitor, so the Nindamime changed his focus to the Uchiha in general. A few decades later the Sandaime decided he didn't want to anger one of the most dangerous and convenient clans in all the village so he started to groom Orochimaru to become the next scapegoat, but he did too much of a great work and the snake Sannin also became a traitor. After that we kinda had to promote Danzo from a spare scapegoat to a full time scapegoat. Hell, the original plan was to use my mangekyou sharingan on our elders and convince them that every problem that the Uchiha had with Konoha were Danzo's doings."

Sasuke blinked and raised his finger to said something, only to decide against it and lower his finger in silence.

"Shisui… How did Konoha manage to survive till now? Did they let us win the last few wars?"

The older Uchiha made an so-so gesture. "A bit of luck, a bit of the other villages being even worse than us, we breeding geniuses like rabbits in heat, etc"

"Do you think that Kumogakure would accept me?" It was a well-known fact that Kumo shinobi loved to ¨save¨ children with bloodlimits from their evil villages.

"Not unless you want a harem, but nobody that has been in a serious and healthy relationship before wants that." Shisui stated.

After this whole conversation, there was only one single thought lurking in Sasuke's head:

¨What is the legal age to drink in this village?¨