#daughter always ready to squish my heart and make me think of Things(tm)

[kiigan]

@guidemetothedark asked: What is 1 truth, and 1 Lie Your muse tells themselves?

I did what needed to be done. There was no other choice.

Regarding the Uchiha massacre, obviously.

ㅤTruth and lie, they are one and the same at the same time. Or, should I say... what starts as something that Itachi believes to be an earnest truth/to the point of almost dogma (and also a massive, subconscious self-defense mechanism because how do you keep your sanity in this situation otherwise), eventually morphs into something that, where not a lie per se, has its moments of being questioned.

ㅤImmediately after the massacre, and for some years to follow, Itachi truly believes it had to be done for the greater good. Doesn't mean he agrees with the solution and surely doesn't mean he thinks it was a good solution, but it was the lesser of two evils. A hundred people dying, or however many the clan members were, is objectively better than the whole village being thrown into a civil war that might produce ten times that number of victims. And, with Sasuke's life and well-being being thrown into the equation, he [Itachi] also truly believes there was no other acceptable choice. Again, it doesn't make it a good choice; it's the slightly less terrible choice.

ㅤAs years go by, then, and he ponders the matters with proper distancing and, more importantly, he himself keeps maturing and collecting life experiences, Itachi's perspective becomes less black-or-white. He starts considering all the nuances. Starts entertaining the what ifs. What if he and Shisui chose to not keep their plan a secret? What if, instead, they chose to keep it a secret from the Council and went through with Kotoamatsukami without telling a single soul? What if he told somebody about the truth of Shisui's death? What if he did choose to carry on with the massacre but told Sasuke his true motives? Too many possibilities to consider and, ultimately, none of them will be useful anymore. What's done is done and there's no changing it. So, whereas the previous absolute truth does not become a lie now, it definitely loses the 'absolute' privileges.