I remained quiet as we walked back to the village. Kakashi was still unconscious, his limb body being carried by a small herd of Naruto Clones. Being silent was fairly atypical of me, given my…preachy…disposition.

I feel strangely contemplative at the moment, though. My nails scratched at my discolored arms, almost reminiscent of vitiligo. Naruto regenerates remarkably fast, so a good quarter of the skin on my arms and back were from Naruto. Obviously, we were both unconscious during the procedure.

Naruto and Sakura did not ask why I needed the skin graft and blood transfusion, which made things much easier. Not to say Naruto trusts me; he will claim he does, but his behavior says otherwise.

The blond is clever, something that was completely my fault. He rode the emotional high of meeting his parents for a day or so, but that tapered off eventually. Now, he is keeping me at arms-length, mentally going over everything that happened.

He will eventually want to know how I knew who his parents were. He will want to know why I needed the blood and skin. Naruto will want to know things that I cannot—will not—give him answers to.

I currently sit on a web of lies that will collapse if pulled in the wrong direction. Naruto was right when he said I was manipulative. I am manipulating him. I'd gone about my treatment towards him in the completely wrong way.

Originally, I thought that it was just positive affirmation that Naruto craved—that was only partially true. Naruto wants to be trusted more than anything. So, sure, I did give him the positive affirmation he desired. And, yes, it caused him to flourish…but I always ordered him around.

Even when I allowed Naruto to come to his own conclusions, I was still the one spoon-feeding him the texts that would allow him to come to the conclusions I wanted him to make. I shaped his fighting style in the way I thought was best, not telling him why I wanted him to fight in x, y, or z way.

I need to pull back more. Naruto will give me the benefit of the doubt at the moment because he said he trusted me when he was under the influence of intense emotions—Naruto isn't one to go back on his word, but he will back on that trust if he feels slighted.

Naruto needs to be allowed to feel like he is in control. He and I fundamentally have very similar personalities, even if those personalities are expressed in remarkably different ways. It is why Naruto and Sasuke in canon clashed so much. Both are leaders who struggle with authority.

I've made Naruto defer to me as a figure of authority, haven't I? A frown crossed over my lips as I considered this fact. Making Naruto feel subservient was never going to be the proper way to help him. Taking the backseat may be the best way to deal with him; if I allow him to think he is in control of everything, he'd trust me far more.

I promised Naruto that I would stop manipulating our squad…I grimaced, looking downwards. No one on the team knows what is best for them—the only one who knows what is best is me. Yes, that is an awfully arrogant claim, but it is true! I've seen how their entire lives have played out. I know their personalities, their ticks, their idiosyncrasies from the inside and out.

There was a debate I had held once with a friend. It was a theological and philosophical debate about the concept of a person. Basically, who am I conceptually? Is it who I think I am? Is it what others think of me? Is it all of those combined?

I ended up concluding that all of those concepts were unsatisfactory—they were incomplete concepts. I argued that you do not conceptually exist if there is no God as the only perfect concept of you that can exist is one that an omnipotent being thinks of.

Anyways, I am getting off track. The point is that the concept you hold of yourself is terribly inaccurate. I would fully and truly argue that my concept of each member of Team Seven is as close to perfect as any human being can reasonably get to perfectly conceiving something. I know them better conceptually than they know themselves.

But, I did make a promise. I don't particularly mind breaking promises, but I'd prefer to not have to break them. I really am a terrible person, aren't I? Well, when making an omelet, sometimes you have to crack a couple of eggs.

Not that I am going into greater good bogus. I will do evil that is evil for a good cause, but the good end will not make the evil mean retroactively good. But, I will be avoiding obvious manipulations for now.

If the worst happens, I can always brainwash them…I'd prefer not doing that, though. As chronic of a liar as I am, I really do consider Naruto to be like a younger brother. I care for those three like family.

"Sasuke?"

I slowed down to be parallel to Sakura. I looked towards her as I was pulled out of my thoughts. "Hn?"

"What made your Sharingan activate this…Mangekyou stage?" Sakura's gaze had been creepy ever since we had left Tsukuyomi. It was fully my fault, obviously. "I'm presuming intense emotions?"

Naruto was walking in the back, stuck into his thoughts. He did not seem to be even remotely aware of what was going on. Naruto…had a lot to think about.

"Every evolution of the Sharingan occurs due to intense emotions." I carefully say, not wanting to reveal anything too important. "How perceptive of you. These eyes of mine, the Mangekyou, are something I have always had."

Cogs seemed to be whirling in her head as she processed what I said. Sakura had been much quieter, more analytical since the Tsukuyomi. Her eyes narrowed. "The Massacre. If each stage of the Sharingan activates due to increasing levels of intense emotions…" She frowned, forehead creasing. "The Mangekyou must be the final evolution of the Sharingan…so it must require substantially more feelings than the previous evolutions. Does it activate from seeing a loved one die?"

I opened my mouth to correct her, but she quickly kept speaking, stuck in her own world. "No, that wouldn't make sense. If that was the case, most of the Uchiha Clan before the Massacre would have had the Mangekyou. Something unique must occur to cause such intense emotions." Sakura tilted her head, tapping her chin. "The only emotions I can think of that would be more intense than seeing a loved one die is feeling guilt for a loved one dying…or, perhaps, having a child on the positive side?"

"You are corr—" Sakura, yet again, ignored me. She kept talking. "Then again, is the Sharingan even able to activate from positive emotions? Negative emotions tend to express themselves far more violently than positive emotions. It must only be complex emotions that activate it, which would explain why every Uchiha who had procreated did not activate the Mangekyou from pleasure."

She was thinking about the Mangekyou—and the Sharingan in general—with far greater depth than I ever had. I know that in Boruto, canon-Sasuke's daughter activates the Sharingan due to intense happiness. I don't know of any other situation where this occurred.

"Complex pleasure, then, would likely activate it. Not happiness, but a feeling of extreme joy." Sakura was looking forward, eyes unfocused as she spoke. A scowl appeared on her face. "...I have no clue what that would be like."

"The most intense positive emotion?" I curiously asked, speaking to myself more than anything. Sakura's eyes widened and her head snapped to me, almost like she forgot I was there. She probably did. I'd find it funny if it weren't so worrying. "Maybe saving the life of a loved one who you thought was dead? Or, perhaps, finding spiritual transcendence?"

By this logic, I imagine Naruto would have awakened the Mangekyou when he met his parents—if he had the Sharingan, of course. Honestly, that sounds mildly reasonable…especially when you consider the fact that intense negative emotions are more common than the inverse.

Wow, that is depressing.

I looked back to Sakura, but she was already back in her own little world. She'd make for an excellent case-study on the effects of extended isolationism on a person.

Hm…I wonder if she took samples of Naruto and my DNA? Probably. If her goal is to make humanity reach the perfect state biologically—something that sounds terrifyingly like eugenics—Naruto and I would probably be some of the best sources to draw from.

Uzumaki vitality is all kinds of unfair while the Uchiha neural network was far beyond any other clan's. It is why we get so many prodigies in the clan…well, used to get so many prodigies. The way that the Uchiha brain is wired for the Sharingan also helps speed up mental processes.

Wait, how am I going to revive my clan? I have no desire to indulge in polyamory…I'll donate my gametes to willing people, I guess.

I sighed deeply, looking between my teammates. Both of them were lost in their own worlds at the moment. I'll drag Naruto into a conversation later.


I clicked my tongue as I walked. I hate long, silent trips—they just aren't for me. I am too fond of yammering on and on, something that the silence prevented.

It was ironically quiet, all things considered. The dichotomy between the fight we had with two S-ranked ninja and this silent journey home was just terribly incongruent. You'd expect there to be noise, but no. Just…quiet.

Well, mostly quiet. There was still a pesky bird keeping an eye on me from the branches above, its kaleidoscopic eyes boring down at me. Each eye had a different pattern, each coming from a different person.

Itachi had given his freaky crow the eye he stole from Kakashi. I…really do not know how to feel about that. On one hand, the Sharingan actively made Kakashi-sensei weaker, but on the other hand, Itach stole my teacher's eye.

It'd make fighting Obito so much harder as well…I shot another death-glare at the bird overhead, but I was fully confident it was laughing at me.

I contemplated killing it to steal back Kakashi's eye, but it wasn't worth it. Not yet. If anyone were to get that eye, it'd be Naruto. Kakashi cannot handle an implanted Sharingan like Naruto should be able to.

But that bird would die, that smarmy avian twat. Just…probably in two to three years. More likely two, but I'd leave some wiggle-room on Itachi's death date.

It took all of my effort to take my heated glare away from that avine detrivore, but I managed. It was tempting—highly so—to just bend space and end its life…so tempting…I slowed down so I could become side-to-side with the main Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto." I casually greeted, shoving my distaste for Itachi's crows to the back of my mind.

Naruto blinked, pulling himself out of whatever trance he had been in. "Waddya want?"

"I'm curious what your opinion on deontology is now, honestly." I shrugged my shoulders lightly. "Are you still a fan or…?"

"Of course I am! It just makes sense, ya know?" Naruto huffed, glaring into the distance. "Just 'cause some people do bad things, it doesn't mean that actions become defined by teleology or something."

"So no virtue ethics or consequentialism for you, got it." I amusedly said, a smirk crossing over my face. "But are you still going to hold onto pacifism?"

Naruto went quiet for a moment, forehead creasing. He opened his mouth and then closed it, hissing. "Shut up, you stupid fox." He mumbled, staring into space. Naruto shook his head. "And I want to do the right thing! So obviously I'm not gonna kill anyone! Killing is bad!"

"So no fighting either, right?" I tilted my head, giving him a curious glance. "Because isn't violence also bad?"

"Well—" Naruto paused, seemingly taken aback. "Huh." He, apparently, had not considered the fact that violence in general was bad, not just killing. "Well—I—um…"

Naruto kept blubbering about, trying to figure out if his desire to not kill was compatible with violence at all. I patted his shoulder. "Or what about when you call me a bastard? Is that moral?"

"...but you are a bastard." Naruto huffily said, pouting at the ground. A ticked gleam grew in his eyes. "Shut up, Kurama!" He shouted, glaring in the distance.

Well, it seems like the two of them were getting along well. I wish I could hear their private conversation, but alas, Naruto had banned me from touching his brain with my creepy eyes.

"Anyways, Naruto…your worldview seems to be incompatible with the actions you are taking. You refuse to kill because killing is immoral, yet you are completely fine doing other immoral actions." I peered into his soul. "Why is that?"

"...some evils are worse than others, ya know?" Naruto defended his view, but it sounded weak to the both of us. He continued speaking. "And—and killing causes more harm than other, lesser evils do in the end."

"Sounds like consequentialism." I playfully prod, voice cheerful. Huh, I just realized my coping mechanism is to act like a cheerful asshole. Kakashi, I am far too much like you, aren't I?

Not to say I am not, as Naruto loves to say, a total bastard. I completely am, but I definitely do fall into that persona as a way to avoid confronting my own beliefs. Interesting.

Naruto shook his head. "No it isn't." He protested, shooting a small glare at me. "I'm not saying the ends make the means good! But a bad end can make a good action bad. A bad action can't be made good if the end is good, ya know?"

"Selectively consequentialist, then." I bob my head in understanding, considering his perspective. It sounded like the moral system of the Catholic Church…or, at least, the version a friend of mine preached to me. "I still think that position is flawed."

"Why?" Naruto asked me.

I tapped my lips and hummed. "I don't know, I wouldn't want to be a preachy prick, ya know?" God, I love mimicking his verbal tic. It annoys him so much.

Naruto groaned, visibly getting annoyed. "Now you're just being a normal prick, you bastard. Tell me!"

"Hm…fiiine. I'll educate you, you uneducated peon." I amuse myself so much. It is the only pleasure I garner these days. "So, you are arguing that a good action can become a bad action if there are negative consequences, yes?" He nodded, so I continued. "Well, wouldn't every action have negative consequences in the long term?"

Naruto furrowed his brow, thinking over what I said. "How? How will every action have negative consequences? That doesn't make sense!"

"Okay, I was slightly over-exaggerating." I admit. "But all actions tend to lead to chains of other actions…suppose I save a baby. One day, they grow up to have a kid. The kid befriends another kid. The two kids stop being friends, resulting in kid two growing spiteful and hateful. Kid two ends up bullying another kid, kid three. Kid three then grows up lonely and friendless, eventually killing their bully. Kid three then becomes a sociopath and kills dozens more."

"That…is completely ridiculous." Naruto complained.

I shook my head in disagreement. "Only in scale. But it only takes one descendant of the baby I saved to do an action that results in a terrible effect. If we go by the longtermist lens you are taking on your deontology, it'd mean every action would be bad as most actions will inevitably have some sort of bad effect. The good action will be bad due to bad longterm consequences will the other actions will just inherently be bad."

Naruto remained frowning, thinking over what I said. He groaned deeply. "I hate trying to argue with you, you know? You suck!" He pouted, arms crossing. "Fine…"

"So what is your excuse now for doing lesser evils? What makes insulting me or fighting people fine to do?"

"It isn't…I just want to…" Naruto mumbled, glaring at the ground like it was the most offensive thing ever. "...bastard."

I smiled, enjoying my verbal triumph over a twelve year old. "Well, that's fine. I do think you should remember this fact, though. You may need to kill someday, even if you really do not want to. It doesn't mean it is a moral act, but you aren't a paragon of morality yourself. No one is. Just leave the possibility open, Naruto, okay?"

Naruto didn't respond to my words, deep in thought. His forehead was creased as his brows were furrowed. I wouldn't be terribly shocked if Naruto was talking to Kurama. It was slightly annoying that he didn't answer my question, but I am remarkably interested in seeing how he develops from here morally.

I think I'll avoid giving him any more books to read. If he asks for anything, I'll give it to him, but he needs to not let me be the one to shape his ideals any more. Losing debates with me is alright—I mean, it is me, I never lose—but I won't engage him in it.

Hm. I wonder if Kakashi-sensei will let us go on any missions before the Chunin Exams? Or if he will even let us take the exams…he should be a great deal paranoid now, so he might not. I was banking on us going to the Land of Waves, so I do hope we still get that mission.

I have plans for that little island, the kind that I won't be directly doing in Konoha. Nothing terribly unethical, not really. It will just be a lot easier if we get sent there for the mission.

Well, who knows? The universe hates being nice to me.


AN: Shorter chapter than usual because I am sick as a dog. This is my...fourth(?) day with a fever. Anyways, I miss the comments. I feel neglected :(

Jkjk.

I also started a RWBY self insert, Haute-wrought Peccancies, if you, for some reason, actually like my writing(that'd be strange). The MC in that, though, is going to be of a different breed of immoral than Sasuke here.