My Techniques are a bit off

Training Ground Seven, late night.

Iris and Ami had already left after an intense training session. Exhausted, Sasuke leaned against a rock and suddenly spoke:

"I want... to hear the second story."

Link, standing nearby and gazing at the dim and fragmented moon, began speaking slowly:

"The story starts with a man named Uchiha Shisui—"

This time, Sasuke didn't interrupt. Perhaps he was too drained from training, or maybe he already had his suspicions. He simply listened in silence.

With his current sensory abilities, Link was confident no Anbu could eavesdrop. Even if the Third Hokage attempted to spy using his Telescope Jutsu, Link would sense it. He wasn't worried about his words spreading; he had already prepared an explanation for his vast knowledge.

So, he laid everything out clearly: Shisui, Itachi, Danzo, and all the events surrounding the Uchiha massacre.

In the manga, Obito deliberately distorted the timeline, shifting the Uchiha clan's persecution to just before the massacre to drive Sasuke against Konoha. The truth only came out during the Fourth Great Ninja War when Orochimaru summoned the past Hokage.

The so-called persecution had begun decades ago, rooted in Madara's departure from the village and his control of the Nine-Tails in an attempt to destroy Konoha.

Everything that followed stemmed from unresolved conflicts and suspicions. The Second Hokage tried to address them but was killed by the Gold and Silver Brothers. The Third lacked the ability to resolve the issue, leaving Shisui and Itachi with limited options when the Uchiha attempted their coup.

In the end, they chose the worst solution, manipulated by Danzo and Obito.

Under the pale moonlight, with clouds drifting to obscure its dim glow, Link's youthful voice delivered the story. He concluded with Itachi infiltrating the Akatsuki as Konoha's spy and entrusting Sarutobi to care for Sasuke.

Sasuke sat silently for a long time, his tone devoid of emotion when he finally asked:

"How do you know all this?"

"I've had the ability to communicate with the dead for a long time," Link replied, weaving a half-truth into his answer.

Sasuke didn't press for proof. Instead, he asked, "Why are you helping me?"

After hearing so many secrets, Sasuke didn't believe Link was simply a ten-year-old chunin. Surely, there was more to his intentions than the concept of "comrades from the same village."

"I was born during the war," Link began, recalling his backstory.

"My mother didn't even know she was pregnant when she went to the battlefield. She returned severely injured, discovered my existence, and recovered in the village before passing away when I was two. My father died on a mission when I was five."

He reflected on his life in this world—initial joy, subsequent sorrow, and lonely efforts. His childhood, devoid of possessions or family, seemed to boil down to these two simple sentences.

"Hey, Sasuke—" Link extended his hand.

"You should know the pain of loss, shouldn't you?"

After a moment, Sasuke's voice finally came:

"Prove it—"

"Prove your ability to me."

…

Phase Three.

Link smiled, prepared to demonstrate. For the sake of securing an invaluable ally, he was willing to go all out.

Gathering his chakra, he performed a summoning jutsu. Infusing it with an excessive amount of chakra, he materialized the image of a deceased individual in the real world.

"Crossing the boundary between life and death, who are you—?"

The summoned figure, a semi-transparent man with short black hair and a deep blue robe bearing the Uchiha clan's fan symbol, stopped mid-question when he saw Sasuke.

"Sasuke—" the man called softly.

Sasuke froze, his body trembling as he struggled to speak.

This guy—

Link maintained a neutral expression but was internally astonished. The randomly summoned spirit turned out to be Fugaku Uchiha?!

What exactly determined the medium for his summoning jutsu?!

Sasuke suppressed his roiling emotions and formed hand seals to dispel an illusion, but nothing changed. The figure of his childhood memory stood firmly in place.

"I'm Link," Link introduced himself, breaking the silence. "I'm Sasuke's comrade and the one who summoned you here."

Fugaku turned to look at Link. His gaze lingered on the Konoha headband before his tone lightened slightly.

"Then, what do you need me to do?"

"Sasuke has some questions for you," Link replied, stepping back slowly. "I'll leave you two to talk privately."

Sasuke raised his head and watched Link walk away before turning to face his father.

"Father..."

…

From a distance, Link stood in the shadow of the forest, too far to hear the father and son's conversation clearly.

Looking up at the sky, he noticed the thin drizzle forming faint lines in the summer night breeze.

"It's raining," he murmured.

…

Thirty minutes later.

The rain intensified, forming a near-solid curtain that obscured the forest in a misty haze.

Walking through the muddy ground, Link approached Sasuke, who had not moved since Fugaku's spirit returned to the afterlife ten minutes earlier.

Drenched and staring into the distance, Sasuke's face was unreadable.

"Now that you know everything—" Link's voice was muffled by the rain.

"What will you pursue power for?"

He repeated the question he'd asked before.

After a while, Sasuke turned to face him. Despite his soaked and disheveled appearance, his gaze locked onto the person who had revealed the truth to him.

Pain? Sadness? Hatred?

No, the crazed desire for destruction had already been experienced before he sought the second story.

Now, only profound confusion and emptiness remained.

"The world is far from perfect," Link said, meeting Sasuke's gaze and extending his hand once more.

"And being a ninja isn't the best job."

"But there are still things worth cherishing."

"I've lost everything before... So I don't want to see my precious comrades die in front of me again."

Sasuke's eyes seemed to regain their light as memories of his teammates and Link's sunny smile resurfaced. Slowly, as if his arm weighed a thousand pounds, he raised his hand and clasped Link's.

Looking at Link's gentle smile, Sasuke murmured words even he couldn't hear:

"For the sake of never losing anything again."

Unnoticed, his Sharingan evolved to three tomoe, swirling with new resolve.