It wasn't for Itachi that Sasuke was leaving. He told himself that over and over again, although he was never sure if he was convinced. For his revenge, sure, but not for Itachi. That couldn't be the reason, and he refused to do anything for the brother that had murdered their family and become the target of his hatred.
No. Not for Itachi.
And it sure as hell wasn't for Orochimaru. He didn't give a damn about the old snake. Really, the Sannin was simply a means to an end. He would go to the Sound for power, and if he did not find it there, then he would go elsewhere. He didn't have any intention of giving his body to Orochimaru, although he couldn't say he was entirely against it if his revenge was exacted to the extent he envisioned.
No. Not for Orochimaru.
He told himself that he was leaving because he could not learn anything else here. He had stagnated, and that just wasn't going to cut it. He had the Chidori technique, but it wasn't enough to keep Itachi from breaking him and leaving him in a coma. He was weak, like all Konoha shinobi were weak. It was some sort of inherent thing, in Sasuke's eyes. They were all weak. None of them had been able to stop any of the destruction that had been wrought on the village. They couldn't stop the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, even if they had tried to. They could not stop the death of the Fourth, and without his sacrifice they wouldn't have been able to stop the rampage of the Kyuubi, either. And they could not stop the death of the Third at the hands of Orochimaru, not to mention the other deceptions they'd allowed since Sasuke had become a genin.
He told himself that he was not weak, and that his surroundings were weak. So he would overcome them, as he would one day overcome Itachi. He would not sit here and watch Naruto, of all people, grow stronger than him while he lost the only battle that mattered - the battle of the Avenger, the battle of his revenge.
Sasuke had imagined himself standing at the gates of Konoha, ready to leave, many times when he was very young. Before he'd become a genin and made those ridiculous "bonds" with Naruto and Sakura, he'd been living for the day he could walk away from Konoha on his mission to avenge the Uchiha clan. This dark night was never what he had imagined, but it was the only thing suitable for him, suitable for this weakness he had developed by staying too long in a place where he could never really grow strong.
It wasn't for Itachi that he was leaving. But it wasn't for Konoha, either. He had no thanks left for this place that had allowed that idiot Naruto to grow strong while he, Uchiha Sasuke, fumbled around in unconsciousness because of that murderer.
In his dreams, he had always planned to come back here after exacting revenge. He wanted his clan to live on, though he'd never thought quite far enough ahead to know how he'd accomplish that much. It wasn't important then, and it sure as hell wasn't important now. All that mattered now was that Itachi died by his hands. He just wasn't strong enough, yet. And now that he knew he could never truly grow strong in Konoha, he had no intentions of ever returning. This last look was all he would ever need to remember of this place.
He knew they would not let him leave without some futile attempt at convincing him to stay. The Konoha shinobi had their stupid ideals about the "will of fire," and all of that. Ironic, that the Uchiha clan's trademark fire had been all but snuffed out here, living on only in Sasuke. And maybe more ironic still that Sasuke himself did not rely on fire, but on lightning. Although, really, the fire that a lightning strike started could be devastating, in its own right. It depended on circumstance, didn't it? Just like everything else.
The will of fire meant nothing to Sasuke, because it would not burn strong enough within him to allow him to defeat Itachi. That much had been proven. And this would be his last look on the village, and the last time he would allow anyone at all to call him weak without repercussions.
Let them come after him, then. If nothing else, that idiot would find him and try to tell him that their so-called friendship meant something. Sasuke might even agree, although the meaning in his eyes was so much different than whatever meaning Naruto would come up with. Naruto was the only person he could really consider a friend. At least, he was the only one that could really hold enough of Sasuke's attention. Because of that, if Naruto was a big enough idiot to follow him, he would consummate that attachment in blood. He would have no choice.
If he was lucky, then the Fifth wouldn't allow him to follow. Then Sasuke would settle just for severing the bond with his departure, and that would be enough. If he stayed here, though, there would be nothing that could stop him. All of Konoha, the Hokage, Sakura...no one would be able to stop his rage from boiling over. The confrontation between them on the rooftop had been close enough, hadn't it? Although he'd been shocked at Naruto's strength, there was not a world in which he would lose to that idiot. Such a world did not exist.
Sasuke was unsurprised at Sakura's appearance. It was easy enough to tell her that she was merely an annoyance to him, although it wasn't entirely true. At the moment, her crying was rubbing him the wrong way, and he could say that he was annoyed and mean it. Although, if she was here, instead of somewhere else, she couldn't warn anyone else that he had left. And she couldn't run off and tell Naruto.
Her confession of love meant nothing to him, because he did not want to hear it. He didn't want to matter to anyone, because he could no longer allow anyone to matter to him. The strongest bonds he had would be severed after tonight, and if they weren't careful, someone would die for his ambition. Unlike Itachi, he was not a murderer. But wars had casualties - weren't they all taught that? If he played it right, no one would be his casualty. The only person he wanted to kill was Itachi, regardless of the state of his eyes.
As Sakura fell in front of him, he whispered, "Thank you, Sakura." Thank you, for coming here alone. Thank you, for reminding me of what I have to leave behind. If I didn't remember what I was leaving, I would never get stronger. Thank you, for reminding me that I will never lose anyone important to me again. Thank you, for not bringing Naruto with you.
It was not for Itachi that he was leaving. But it probably wasn't for himself that he was leaving, either. The near-disaster on the roof proved that, when nothing else would have. Some part of him couldn't help but think, as he walked toward the trees and toward his goals, that it might...have been for Naruto.
Sasuke closed his eyes for a minute and swallowed his resolve.
In front of him, there was only darkness. And for now, until he had done what he set out to do, he would welcome it.