ng to do."

Sasuke turned back to the counter and downed the glass of water almost instantly. "He used a..technique. Tsukuyomi. It..sucks the victim into a dream world where the user forces the victim to see..anything. Thousands of times over, again and again. One day in the Tsukuyomi is less than a second inside. He used it to show me. Show me his murder. His Massacre."

He licked and smacked his lips as if they had suddenly gone dry. Ayame got him another glass of water and took the old one, putting it into the sink behind the counter.

"I saw him kill everyone. I saw it again..and again..and again," Sasuke continued, downing the second glass and then gripping it so hard it might've started to crack. "He told me, once all was said and done, that it was all to test his abilities."

"Thank goodness he didn't kill you," Naruto said quickly.

"He said I wasn't worth killing," Sasuke hurriedly wiped his eyes. "He said in order to get the strength to beat him, to obtain the power he had, I needed to hate him. Despise him with every fiber of my being..and I do. I really, really do."

Ayame hummed. "I have a few questions."

Sasuke waved it off. "Fine."

"My first would be, well, why would he encourage you to get strong enough to kill him?" Ayame asked bluntly, tapping her chin.

Sasuke was frozen for a second. "Because he wants me to actually test his abilities?"

"Because he wants you to test his abilities," Ayame repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," Sasuke shrugged, his dark eyes uncharacteristically wide. "That's just what he did."

"Hm. The man who killed an entire clan, men, women and children decides that his brother isn't worth killing and tells him to hate him and get stronger," Ayame reiterated, balancing a metaphorical story on one hand. "I that makes no sense to me."

"He's insane," Sasuke retorted with a frown, looking off behind him, then at his bowl. "It doesn't need to make sense."

"Hm. Fair enough, next question," Ayame began. "The massacre that he showed you. Obviously, no one can argue that it happened, but did it happen the way that he showed you?"

"How else would it have happened?" Sasuke blurted out suddenly.

"Well," Ayame started. "If I'm not mistaken, your brother showed you the massacre as him killing everyone with only token resistance at best, right?"

Sasuke paused for just a second. "Yeeeeees."

"Now, this was a clan of Ninja," Ayame continued with a thoughtful frown. "A clan of ninja with similar skills as him, though maybe not with the same level of quality. Many of whom were war veterans from the Third Shinobi War. Am I right about that?"

Sasuke turned the thought around in his head. "Yes, I think so."

"So you really think these war veterans would really go down with so little resistance?" Ayame asked with a frown.

"Itachi was faster. He was stronger," Sasuke insisted with a glare. "He is faster and stronger."

"He was an extremely capable ninja, obviously," Ayame nodded. "But do you really think he'd show you if one of them gave him a challenge since he clearly wanted to, I don't know, scare you?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

Naruto made to say something again but Ayame stopped him with just a small shake of her head.

"Why are you asking these questions?" Sasuke asked finally. "It doesn't matter if someone gave him a fight or not, he still killed everyone and he still has to die."

"That much is true," Ayame nodded with certainty. "But the point is he might have been concealing the fact that he had help."

"He-he wouldn't have needed help," Sasuke shook his head. "There's no way. Itachi was the best Ninja of his generation."

"But was he capable of fighting an army by himself?" Ayame asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Sasuke retorted defiantly.

"Alright," Ayame shrugged. "You got time for one more question?"

"Last one," Sasuke growled.

"Just a simple one," Ayame started. "You got a plan for what you'll do after you kill Itachi?"

"Rebuild my clan," Sasuke responded immediately. "Bring the Uchiha back."

"Okay, how are you going to do that?" Ayame asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you seeing anyone right now? Or, were you thinking a political marriage?"

"I can't do that right now," Sasuke shook his head. "If I try that, Itachi will just take everything from me again. He made that clear the first time he took my family away from me."

"Perhaps not right now," Ayame replied with a nod. "But you should come up with a plan now so that when you succeed in avenging your clan, you're not caught short with no idea of what you're going to do. Does that make sense?"

Sasuke's face was now in a frown that seemed like it might never go away. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Alright, well I'm glad I was able to help a little bit," Ayame said with a smile. "So anyway, we're going to start closing the stand, you boys want some for the road?"

"Yup!" Naruto answered immediately.

"I'm fine," Sasuke said, immediately walking out of the stand.

"Sasuke," Naruto made to chase after him.

"Naruto no," Ayame stopped him with a word. "Let him go."

"But.." Naruto looked at her. "We're just trying to help him."

"I think we helped him a lot," Ayame replied. "Gave him stuff to think about. At this point, it's up to him to decide what to do with it. If he takes any of it, fine, if he doesn't that's his decision. Alright?"

Naruto took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, okay. You need help cleaning up?"

"You know, I'd like that actually," Ayame answered. "Many hands makes light the work, after all."

"Is that from a book?" Naruto asked, hopping the counter.

"Eh, I heard Daisuke say it a few months ago while he was eating here," Ayame shrugged. "I really like it. Does he have a lot of those sayings?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "He's got a lot."