I do not consider myself so.

（ he lifts one shoulder in an elegant shrug. ）

Such blood would have been immeasurably diluted by the time of my birth — generations of interbreeding with humans — if the legend of godhood is even to be believed. It is more likely that he was simply a powerful man around whom mythology sprang. In any case, the Sage of Six Paths lived over a millennia ago. And I am no more or less remarkable than any other in my world would be with sufficient knowledge and training.

（ it isn't even humility, or some attempt at deflection. he was dedicated, and that was what drove him forwards — but itachi never saw himself as remarkable the way his father crowed about. that's my boy— it may have been meant as praise, but it always felt a little like a garrote. some attempt of his father's to take credit for the things he did or learned on his own. like the phrase was a knife by which he could pin itachi to his own shadow. sasuke had tried so very hard to inspire it even as itachi came to abhor it.

but that is an old resentment, burned to ash by the very last time they spoke. you truly are— ）