Tailed Beast
Green shoots of grass poked at his bare legs. The dirt was cool relief from the blazing heat of the day. He sheltered under the shade of a reaching oak as he watched the two little children at play.
"Sasuke, over here!" The boy crouched over the earth as he called for his friend, blonde head bowed as he inspected something closely. No doubt some insect or forgotten piece of jewelry. A child that age found every lost bit of debris to be of interest. He raised a sharp instrument off the ground, holding it up with both of his chubby hands clenched around a roughly hewn hilt. Itachi sat up.
"Woah." The little boy exclaimed, eyes alight with glee at the find. Sunlight glinted off the dark point.
"Give that here." Itachi gently extracted the knife from his weak grasp. Two pairs of eyes watched him with awe.
"This is a kunai." He explained, pocketing it. "Dangerous."
"It's mine, I found it!" His brother's friend exclaimed. Large blue eyes glared up at him with indignation. A tiny pout pulled down at his round cheeks.
"No Naruto. If you want one you have to ask your Father." He said. "Let's head home, Mother will be making lunch soon."
The two boys lit up at the idea of food, trotting along to the house behind him. His Mother greeted them at the door, having seen them come from the window. She caught him in a loose hug that smelled of mint and white tea.
"Ready for lunch?" She asked, leading the way inside.
"Of course!" Sasuke darted ahead, racing Naruto to the table. The boys fought for the seat closest to the food. Itachi stepped between them, catching the flash of annoyance in his mother's eye at their antics.
"Behave, Sasuke." He chided.
The child straightened at his reprimand. Eyes flitting up to meet his own in dismay. He softened the rebuke with a small smile.
"You too Naruto." He added. The rambunctious blond didn't seem to have heard him, his attention already diverted to the meal placed before him.
Lunch passed in relative quiet, the quaint fare proved more than enough to snare the attention of all three boys. Itachi's mother returned to the kitchen with their plates and the sound of the faucet signified the end of the meal. It was time for Naruto to head home.
"We don't need you to come." Sasuke said as they walked to the door.
"We're old enough to walk down the street by ourselves." Naruto added, affronted at the babying. Four did seem old enough to walk the short distance. He nodded, holding the door wide for them.
"Thank you for watching them today, Itachi." His mother said, emerging from the kitchen. She handed him a treat.
"You have always been so responsible." She praised. His heart swelled at the compliment, but he kept the emotion from his face.
Shinobi do not show emotion
"Thank you." He said, turning to head up to his room. The sticky sweet tasted good in his mouth.
The sky split without warning. A sonic boom emanated, shattering every window in the house. He heard his mother shriek from below and flew down the stairs. His foot caught on glass and he trailed blood as he sprinted across the wooden floors.
"Itachi!" His mother cried out as she saw him. The sky was orange, black pillars of smoke marred the color. Then- a roar. The sound of which he'd never heard before. Like a giant animal. A bear or a tiger. The roar came again and he felt it reverberate deep in his stomach.
His mother was leaning forward over the counter, staring wide-eyed out the empty window pane.
"Stay down next to me. It's right next to us. It's...oh god. Where are the boys? Where is Sasuke?" She cried out, looking around.
He caught sight of the window. Tails whipped across his vision. Enormous. Hundreds of feet across. Each strand of gold fur seemed to him to the length of the trees outside.
"He hasn't come home from dropping Naruto off." He whispered. The enormous animal appeared to be just over the little blond's house. Just a few streets away. It bellowed again and his mother trembled. He turned, flying out the door before she could grab him.
The enormous animal rose above him in its full glory. A giant, nine tailed fox. He nearly froze at the sight of it, but the iron spirit within him held and he continued forward at full pace. The animals hind leg was just in front of him. Its enormous clawed toes left deep rifts in the dirt road. The bushes served as his cover as he wound his way through the neighborhood. This was the way they always took. Every day he walked the two of them home past these houses. Every day uneventful. Tears burned in his eyes as the enormous animal let loose another mighty bellow.
He heard shouting and dove toward it. Naruto's father's voice. The fourth Hokage stood his ground against the menace, drawing its attention to himself. Itachi watched wide-eyed as the man leaped nimbly away from an enormous paw. Then he saw them, huddled together. Sasuke pressed with Naruto into a woman's long skirts. Naruto's mother held the boys against her as she watched her husband draw the beast away, and even from this distance, Itachi could see the fear etched on her face. He crept closer, wary of a ten-foot paw situated not too far to his right.
Just beyond the enormous appendage, he saw a glimpse of movement. Another figure in the bushes. A man masked and cloaked in black. His right arm hung limply at his side. He watched the man creep through the underbrush, circling away from the scene. Pain lanced through his sliced foot and he realized with horror that he'd created a trail of blood leading right to his hiding spot. He backed away, cursing quietly as he tried not to drip blood from his lacerated sole. Overhead, the fox was moving away. Each enormous footstep demolished home and hill. Itachi shuddered in horror.
"Kushina!" He heard the Fourth Hokage's terrified bellow. He whipped around back towards his little brother. The fox lunged at the huddled group. A pointed white claw descended on them. Itachi heard himself screaming as he bolted forward. The masked figure darted in his peripheral.
"NO!" He heard the woman shriek. She threw herself between the beast and the two little boys. Red blood exploded out as the claw tore through her chest, stopping just before making contact with her son. The air was loud with screaming now. His own. The boys. The Hokage's fraught sobs as he attacked the fox again.
"Sasuke" He shouted out, too far gone to fear alerting the monster. It shook its paw and the claw slid out of the woman's body. She dropped to a limp heap on the ground. Little Naruto was wailing, his hands buried in her long red hair.
"SASUKE!" He screamed again, and his brother heard him. He tore himself away from the bloody scene and ran toward him with his arms wide and eyes closed. Itachi caught him and held him to his chest. The boy's heart was pounding so hard he feared it'd burst. Again he caught sight of the masked man, frozen in place and watching them. His arm was injured, blood dripped from his right hand into the dirt from an open wound.
"Naruto. What about Naruto?" Sasuke cried out. He looked back to the gruesome scene. The woman was drawing a seal onto her child's torso in her own blood. It bubbled from her open mouth. He marveled at her ability to move. Another roar filled the air as the Hokage battled the fox. Konoha's shinobi forces had begun to engage, darting at the beast in platoons of four.
Naruto's crying increased in pitch as the woman's hand went limp and dropped to the ground. She shuddered and then went still, a pool of blood spread out from the horrific gaping wound. He placed Sasuke next to the house and rushed back into the fray.
"Naruto, come with me." He scooped him in his arms. The Fourth Hokage landed swiftly beside him, reaching down to take his child from Itachi's grasp.
"Go. Run!" The man leaped away as the monstrous animal turned its blood red gaze on the pair of them. Itachi fled, yanking his trembling brother from the bushes and dragging him through the streets and away from the madness. He turned round a corner and the nightmare was hidden by undemolished homes. The image of the dying woman clung to his mind's eye.
Sasuke's terrified crying rang in his ears. He was struggling in his grip. He held on tighter and continued at a breakneck speed down the streets.
"It's okay Sasuke, the Hokage will protect us!" He lied, knowing full well that The Fourth was outmatched. No one could protect anyone here.
"Itachi!" His own mother came into view. Unharmed. Unmangled. His knees shook with relief. She pulled Sasuke from his grip, hastily inspecting him for injury.
"We have to go." She grabbed his hand and turned away from the fox, leading the way to the outskirts of the village. A shattered piece of wall crashed into the house next to them as they fled and the dust brought tears to his eyes. The warm summer air had turned hot with the heat of flames. Fires were spreading across the dry grass away from the heart of the destruction. Glancing back behind him he thought he caught a glimpse of the Hokage's white robes as he darted around the demon.
"Where is Naruto?" His mother asked. Sasuke was sobbing into her shirt, his little fists clenched on her sleeves.
"He's..." He started. The urge to vomit overtook him. His mother glanced down at his face and saw all she needed to. Tears gathered, leaking down her pale cheeks.
"Where is Father?" He asked.
They were almost to the forest encircling the village now. The nine tailed fox let out a monstrous howl behind them. Energy snapped through the air and he spun around. The sky was empty save for the pillars of black smoke. It was gone. Disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
"Mother..It vanished." He whispered.
She nodded.
"Let's stay in the woods until your Father finds us."
Sasuke slid from her grasp and onto the grassy earth. Tears coated his soft face. Itachi threw his arm over the boy, feeling his thin shoulders tremble. His mother stood between the two of them and the burning village, a hand shielding her eyes as she scanned the destruction.
"Itachi" Sasuke whispered, his hands balled into shaking fists. "Are we going to die?"
His heart clenched at the question. He pulled the child closer.
"No. I won't let anything hurt you." It was a promise he wished he had the strength to keep.
"Is Naruto dead?"
"No." His Father answered. Fugaku Uchiha appeared quietly before them. His Mother rushed to his arms, shaking with relief. Itachi and Sasuke stood before him.
"Papa." Sasuke's voice broke. He stumbled towards the man. Itachi felt a comforting rush of security at his Father's presence. Safe for the first time all night.
"Sasuke." Fugaku dropped to a knee before his son. "You cannot play with Naruto anymore. Do you understand?"
The boy stopped before him, eyes wide.
"What?" His Mother gasped. "What on earth?"
Fugaku turned to shoot her a dark look and she covered her mouth.
"Both of you." He said, raising his eyes to Itachi. "Stay away from the boy, and stay close to the house for the next few days. The fox will not be back."
Itachi's mind was reeling. What did this have to do with Naruto? Tears were once again pooling in Sasuke's eyes, but he knew better than to question their Father's command. The family made their way down toward the center of the village. The fires were quickly being contained. Miraculously, their own house was still standing. The same could not be said for their neighbors.
"Itachi, dress your foot before entering the house. You're bleeding." His Father said. An odd expression flitted across his face as he stared at the wound. Itachi continued to watch him as he turned away to enter the house, using his left hand to awkwardly open the door. His heart froze as he caught sight of the bloody gash along Fugaku's right arm.
"F-father." His voice wavered. The man turned to face him. "You too. You're injured too."
He pointed at the wound. Fugaku's dark eyes drilled into his own and Itachi knew, with sudden certainty, that this was the masked man he had seen skulking next to the Hokage's house.
"Thank you, Itachi. It must have happened when I was helping with the fight." He said, and turned away.
He couldn't sleep that night. His mother came to his room and sat with him for a while. Her hand traced gentle patterns across his forehead, pushing his fine black hair aside. Doing all she could to soothe him. The image of Naruto's Mother splayed out on the monsters claw hung in front of his eyes. It was no surprise to him when, hours into the night, he felt Sasuke crawl into his bed and cling to him.
The next morning their parents left to attend to matters concerning the village. Sasuke had yet to leave his side. Ever so often he would whimper out in fear, and Itachi would rush to comfort him. The innocence that he'd so hoped to foster in his younger brother, that had been stolen from himself, was all but destroyed. Sasuke had seen death now, just as Itachi had. It was, he mused, the fate of all shinobi to suffer early in life. The destiny of a shinobi was one bathed in blood and tragedy, and even the smallest children were not spared that truth.
"Itachi, why can't I play with Naruto anymore?" The boy asked. He shook his head. Naruto, as the Hokage's son, was by birth a target. Perhaps he was somehow connected to the fox's appearance.
"I don't know Sasuke." He said. He stood, rummaging through his desk drawer. His hand caught on round glass. Twin mirrors.
"Take this, and do not show it to anyone. Even Mother and Father. No one must know you have it." He said. Remnants from a recent mission. The dual mirrors had fascinated him when he found them. The seals used on each were intricate in design.
"What is it for?"
"For talking to Naruto. I'll give him the other one, and then you two will be able to speak to each other. No matter how far apart you are."
Tears welled up in his brother's eyes. Truly the bond between the boys was remarkable. Destined to a close friendship. His brother would need that now more than ever, despite whatever his Father held against the Hokage's child. Itachi would see to it himself that the connection between the two was defended.
Dinner that night was a solemn affair. His parents spoke little but to give them more news. The Fourth Hokage had died in battle with the nine tailed fox, and Naruto was placed under home care with the Third Hokage. The small council would begin deliberation over who would hold the mantle in Minato's place. Fugaku himself was a candidate, something that his mother had reacted to with great pride. This revelation had slid into place in Itachi's mind as a puzzle piece slid into a fit. He had congratulated his father with numb lips, eyes blanked. Fugaku's dark eyes had appraised him coldly long after Itachi looked away.
After the meal, late in the night, he stole away from the small family home. The mirror clenched tightly in hand. Naruto was not hard to pick out in the dark. His unruly yellow hair a beacon to Itachi's finely tuned vision. The boy was curled against a bedroom window in the Third's house and greeted Itachi with a desperate, heart-rending sob. Hugs were all he had to give as comfort. His heart broke for him, this child he had come to see as his own brother. He slid the cold mirror into his small hands and repeated the same instructions he'd told Sasuke. Never, ever let anyone know. And remember, I will always look after you.