3. Dreams, Reality and growing threats

 By the side of a lake, a child is practicing hand signs to release Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. After practicing for some time, he goes near the lake and attempts to perform this ninjutsu. However, the results are unsatisfactory; he can only create a small fireball that is merely 30cm in diameter, and it vanishes after moving just 1 meter away from him. After several attempts, he finds that he can only breathe smoke instead of fire from his mouth. He has expended all his chakra just to practice a few times. It is at this point that he begins to recall his father's words, filled with disappointment.

"Your brother mastered Fireball Jutsu after watching it once."

"You are different from your brother."

 Remembering them reluctantly, he intensified his efforts, but could only produce smoke with a few sparks. The child gasped for air, feeling weak, and sought refuge in the shade of a tree. If anyone had seen him, they would have noticed his beautiful, tear-filled eyes, slightly red but defiantly holding back the tears. He resembled a dejected rabbit, evoking both pity and the desire for protection in some, and the urge to bully in others.

"Why is my fireball jutsu becoming smaller as I practice? Now, I can only breathe smoke. Could it be that I'm making the hand sign incorrectly?"

The child questioned himself as he tried to remember the hand signs. He knew he was not a prodigy like his brother. He had believed that with hard work, he could catch up to his brother, but after practicing for two days, the results remained the same. His belief began to waver, and he started to doubt his talent and dedication. Just then, he heard someone calling his name and turned to see his brother approaching with a concerned look on his face.

"Sasuke, it's time to go home. We've been searching for you. What are you doing here? Are you practicing? Did you burn yourself while practicing?"

Itachi walked over to his brother and gently examined him, his expression filled with worry. Despite his typically cold and calculated demeanor, when it came to his brother, Itachi's words and actions were infused with gentleness, as if he was handling something fragile. If Kakashi were present, he might have thought he was under a genjutsu, given Itachi's usual cold-blooded approach to missions. Itachi was even more composed and ruthless than Kakashi. On missions, Itachi was like a machine assigned a task; there was no room for human emotions.

"Brother, you promised to teach me the fireball jutsu here. I waited for you, and you didn't show up on time, so I started practicing on my own. It's all your fault for breaking your promise," Sasuke complained to Itachi as usual. Itachi, employing a tactic that always worked with his little brother, lightly tapped Sasuke's forehead with his index and middle fingers and asked for forgiveness.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Perhaps next time," he responded.

Itachi turned his back to Sasuke and asked him to climb up. Sasuke was a little shy about being carried by his brother, but he was exhausted from practice, so he reluctantly agreed to his brother's help. Still, Sasuke felt happy being carried by his brother, even though he was reluctant to admit it. The picture was very warm and filled with family love and bonds. On their way back, they were greeted by their fellow clan members; after all, they were the clan leader's kids. The scene then changed to a dining hall, where a family of four people was seated to eat their dinner.

"Sasuke, where did you go in the afternoon? We were all looking for you in many places. Your father even sent some patrol teams to search for you," Mikoto started to ask her youngest son out of worry but was interrupted by her husband.

"Hn... Sasuke, the next time you go somewhere, you must notify Mikoto or your brother. Do you understand this, Sasuke?" Like a strict father, Fugaku reminded his son.

"Sorry for making you all worry," Sasuke apologized like a good boy. Then the family started to eat their dinner. After finishing their meal, Sasuke started to head to his room, but his father stopped him again and gave him a scroll that contained a detailed process of the fireball jutsu and ointment to apply to his burn marks over his mouth.

Even though he felt a pang of sadness due to his father's tone, he knew his father cared about him deeply. As the mother and elder son observed their awkward interactions, they couldn't help but be amused. On his way to his room, Sasuke glanced back at them standing in the doorway. In that moment, he saw a strict yet caring father, a gentle and loving mother, and a tender-hearted brother. Sasuke longed for these family moments to last, but amid that desire, he grappled with endless sadness, anger, longing, and self-pity. Unsure of the source of these emotions, he turned away, concealing his tears from his family.

As the scene shifted before him, he found himself standing at his clan's entrance, desperate for the prior scene to be real. However, upon entering the compound, he was confronted with a sight he had witnessed countless times before. Despite his fervent desire to speak out, he found himself unable to, becoming numb to the overwhelming experience. No matter what he did or said, the scene unfolded as it always had. He helplessly witnessed his once kind and gentle brother transform into a ruthless murderer, perpetrating the annihilation of their clan and family.

In the end, he returned to his living room and witnessed his death at the hands of Itachi's sword. This finally pulled him out of his numbness. Sasuke was unwilling, but lacked the power to take action. He began to sob, but the sobs were silent. He wanted to be strong and resisted the urge to cry, as Uchihas are meant to be resilient. Yet, the tears kept flowing. He longed to halt them, all the while yearning for his father to chastise him for crying, or for his mother to come and comfort him. In that moment, he felt utterly pathetic, yet still craved a return to the past, when his entire family was alive.

Sasuke gazed directly into the lifeless eyes of his parents, once brimming with warmth but now devoid of their former luster. Then, he fixed his eyes on the one responsible. Once, he aspired to follow in that person's footsteps, catch up to him, and fight alongside him. Now, his dreams, his ambitions, everything he desired, boil down to just one thing – to end this person's life. He shattered his own reality, yearning to retreat into a dream but unable to do so. Sasuke wished for death, to reunite with his parents, but the thought of them seeking vengeance compelled him to live; otherwise, he would have gladly embraced death. Sasuke was only alive to eliminate Itachi; after that, whether he restored his clan to its former glory did not matter.

Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi so much that he started to rage, but it's a pity it was a dream. He woke up from the dream with a shout filled with vengeance, "Itachi...haa.... haaa," and he started to arrange his thoughts while grasping to breathe. The time is still 3 a.m.; it was not the first time he had this dream, but as he got used to it, his tears still started to fall. He's only an 8-year-old child right now, and who can imagine the pain and what's going on in his mind? Then he started to get ready and went to his yard to train, wanting to reduce his pain and improve himself to kill Itachi. His mind is now only filled with vengeance, wanting his brother's blood to cool down.

As the early morning silence enveloped the Uchiha compound, Sasuke would make his way to the yard to train, seeking solace in the one constant in his life since the tragic massacre that had taken the lives of his family. His mind was consumed with a singular purpose: to improve himself and exact his revenge on Itachi.

Despite the passage of time, Sasuke's dreams had yet to lose their potency. He was still haunted by the memories of that fateful night, and the once-happy home he had known now stood as a silent reminder of the loved ones he had lost. The streets that had once been filled with the sounds of laughter and greetings were now eerily quiet, adding to the heavy burden that Sasuke carried with him every day.

With his eyes closed, Sasuke could still see the faces of his fallen clan members. The pain and sadness he felt were overwhelming, but he pushed through it, determined to become stronger and end the cycle of violence that had claimed so many innocent lives.

Sasuke doesn't notice that there are people in the dark still monitoring him. They are from the root. After watching Sasuke's practice, they sometimes leave from there. They go to the root to inform their leader, Danzo, about what they have observed. After hearing their report, Danzo starts to think, and with a slight smile, he begins to talk to himself.

"Sasuke had the taijutsu of a genin at the age of 8 and doesn't possess Sharingan. Sasuke's upper limit will only be at Elite Jonin. If he had Sharingan, he would reach the threshold of Kage. He was an average Uchiha overall, not much of a threat to me or Konoha."

"Just in case, monitor him for another month and leave him alone if he doesn't possess any specialty or try to assassinate him. Make one of you use Henge Jutsu to act as Sasuke."

Sasuke still doesn't know about this threat, even though he knows it doesn't matter because he has three bigger threats awaiting him. The systems that were destroyed by Indra have already started to repair themselves, using their energy, and have escaped from Sasuke's mind space without Indra's leftover energy noticing. They have selected their respective new hosts and have been given only one task, which is to kill Sasuke. The god on this planet has already noticed the system energy on Sasuke and has started to keep an eye on him to see if he is a threat to eliminate him.