[She wouldn't, she claims, and Sasuke -- wonders when he reached the point that he wants to scoff at that, at the attempt to cling to some higher ideal. Part of Konohagakure grows aboveground, and the rest of it tunnels in darkness. More than ROOT, more than Danzo, until the Hokage's office is planted firmly at the base of the lie, the bright pretty reputation of being a peaceful village a veneer over truth.]

You say that. [He has no doubt many have said that, the First being -- the first, and through the succession.] I trusted the Third, too.

[It's the first he's admitted to that. The Third had been kind to him when he'd been alone. There had been a time when he'd mourned the man, genuinely, a childish grief amplified by the weight of sombre black around him.

And then he'd betrayed the Third's memory, and then he'd learned that he'd been betrayed by the Third long ago. But Sasuke didn't raise the dead to continue to tear the world apart on the strength of fury and vengeance. He'd wanted the truth, from every side he could hear it, and the truth was -- the truth, stark now that it's clear. He glares a moment longer, then forces himself to exhale, turn away from a target that knows nothing.]

Konohagakure was built on betrayal and blood from the start. Everything that has happened since has just been repetition.