Story of an Uchiha
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, the arc going on right now wouldn't exist.
Akiho Uchiha smiled as four-year-old Fugaku tried to hoist himself into his seat at the dining room table. He wasn't used to chairs, they usually sat on tatami mats. She found it amusing but her husband, Rei, set his mouth into a firm line, clearly not pleased that his son couldn't complete such a simple task. Finally, Fugaku managed to get into the seat. He smiled broadly at his success but the smile wiped off his face when he saw his father's critical expression.
"Fugaku," Rei said seriously.
"Father," Fugaku replied.
"We have something important to discuss with you," Rei said, crossing his arms. Fugaku looked curious.
"Yes?" he asked, fidgeting in his seat.
"You know that you are the future of this clan, do you not?" Rei asked, not expecting an answer. "You will be in charge of everyone and everyone will rely on you. Whether or not the clan succeeds will be based on your decisions." Rei looked at his son. Fugaku looked bored and was playing with the end of the tablecloth. Akiho felt sorry for the child. He'd been playing in the garden when her husband had summoned him.
"Listen to me!" Rei commanded. Fugaku looked up, frightened. "You must begin training immediately! You aren't a child, you are the heir of the Uchiha clan! You should've begun training years ago!" Akiho was to blame for that. She had insisted on Fugaku's freedom and childhood but now he was four years old and the family stood against her pleas and threats, no longer heeding them. "You begin in half an hour."
"Um," Fugaku asked nervously. "Can I go play in the garden?"
"No," Rei said. "You are banned from the garden from now on. You are also banned from the bakery and Haruki's house." Fugaku bit his lip. Akiho thought this was a bit harsh, Haruki was Fugaku's best friend, and Fugaku enjoyed helping out the bakers. "From now on you are to focus completely on training. In a half hour, your uncle will be teaching you a few techniques and you begin at the ninja academy on Sunday."
"Yes father," Fugaku said, his voice cracking. "Can I be dismissed?" Rei nodded and Fugaku fled the room, his sobs echoing down the hall. Rei's face relaxed from its stern expression and he rubbed his eyes with his thumbs, sighing.
"What are we going to do with him?"
xxx
Fugaku was walking home with his cousin, Haruki. Fuagku wasn't allowed to go to his house, but the two seven-year-olds walked to school and back together every day. As they passed through the gates to the part of the village that was dedicated to the Uchiha, they waved at each other and began in opposite directions. Fugaku was tired, he'd just had a taijutsu lesson and it had taken a toll on his muscles. When he reached the door, he was fully prepared to fling himself onto his bed and sleep. After greeting his mother, she informed him that his father wanted to speak to him in the dining room in fifteen minutes. Fugaku sighed and walked up to his room, dropping his bag on the ground next to his bed and lying down. He watched the clock's second hand slowly circle the clock fifteen times then went downstairs to the dining room.
"Hello, father," said Fugaku after he'd taken his seat.
"Fugaku," Rei replied in greeting. "Two years ago, a friend of mine had a child." Fugaku nodded, wondering how this had anything to do with him. "Today, we made an agreement that you are to marry her when you are twenty-four." Fugaku looked at his father blankly. Rei sighed. "It's called an arranged marriage. She is your, let's say, betrothed." Fugaku blinked.
"...what?" Fugaku asked. "You just..decided?"
"Yes," Rei said, looking at Fugaku seriously. Fugaku, who was more mature than other children his age, realized this wasn't a good thing.
"I don't even have a choice?"
"No, you don't," Rei said. Fugaku stared at his father.
"What if I don't love her?" he asked.
"Learn to," Rei said simply. "You are dismissed."
"But-"
"Dismissed," Fugaku's father repeated, and his word was final.
xxx
When Fugaku was nine, he graduated from the academy. Happily, he searched for his parents in the crowd. Spotting his mother, he ran up to her. She grinned at him and pulled him into an embrace. When they pulled apart, Fugaku looked up at her.
"Where's father?" he asked. Akiho Uchiha bit her lip.
"He's on a mission," Akiho said.
"Oh," Fugaku's face fell.
"Cheer up," his mother said and lifted his chin. "You're a genin now!"
"Yeah," Fugaku forced a smile. "It's...fantastic."
xxx
"That's her," Haruki whispered, pointing at a girl with the trademark Uchiha black hair and eyes.
"Who is she?" Fugaku asked.
"That's Mikoto Uchiha, the girl you're gonna marry," Haruki replied.
"Really?" Fugaku asked and looked at the girl again. She was about seven years old and was of average height. She had a smile on her face and was calling something at someone in the distance. "She's...small."
"Well, you're like, five years older than her," Haruki replied. Fugaku was twelve years old and planning to take the chuunin exam next week. He frowned.
"I guess," Fugaku said, and they kept walking. They reached the fork in the path they were taking that led to their houses. "Bye Haruki!" he called and Haruki waved back. Fugaku took off towards his house. That was the girl? Did she even know about her future? What if she hated him? What if he hated her? Fugaku shook his head, deciding not to worry about it until he had to.
xxx
"You failed?" Rei looked at Fugaku angrily. Fugaku had failed the chuunin exam and his mother had been sympathetic. His father, on the other hand...
"How could you fail this test!" his father shouted. "Did you not train well enough?"
"It was hard!" Fugaku protested.
"It shouldn't have been!" Rei yelled. "You are the-"
"Heir of the Uchiha clan, I know!" Fugaku shouted back. This wasn't fair! He'd tried his hardest! As if failing hadn't hurt him enough without his father rubbing it in! "Well, I'm also human! Why aren't I allowed to make mistakes sometimes?"
"Because you are the heir of the Uchiha clan," his father bellowed. "You aren't supposed to make mistakes!"
"Well," Fugaku said, fuming. "I'm sorry I'm not perfect!" He left the table and stormed to his room, slamming the door behind him, and burst into tears. He'd trained every day, from dawn til dusk, and his father still wasn't happy. It was so unfair! He grabbed his pillow and screamed into it, hoping it muffled the voice of his frustration.
xxx
When Fugaku was fourteen, he passed the chuunin exam. He was extremely happy and rushed home to tell his father, eager to see the pride on his face. He skidded to a stop in front of Rei and waved the vest in front of his father's coal-colored eyes.
"I did it!" he exclaimed. "I passed!" His father said nothing and Fugaku moved the vest. His father looked at him disprovingly.
"Don't lose control of yourself like that," he said sternly.
"I'm sorry," Fugaku apologized. "I'm just really happy!"
"Learn to discipline your emotions," Rei said.
"Yes, Father," Fugaku bowed.
"As for you becoming chuunin," Fugaku's face lit up. "You should've been able to do it the first time." Fugaku's jaw dropped. "Close your mouth. You look demented." Fugaku shut his mouth and watched his father walk away with wide eyes. He looked at his vest and had a sudden urge to tear it to shreds, but kicked it under his bed instead.
xxx
"I can't believe you're a jounin," Haruki said with admiration in his black eyes.
"Yeah," Fugaku said idly.
"What do you mean, yeah?" Haruki said indignantly. "You should be jumping for joy!"
"Whatever," Fugaku muttered. "It doesn't matter much, really."
"Doesn't matter?" his friend exclaimed. "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Sixteen and a jounin? That's amazing!"
"...My father became a jounin when he was nine," Fugaku said. "It isn't really much of an achievement." Haruki looked at Fugaku sadly before reaching the fork in the road and saying goodbye. Fugaku walked slowly home.
"Well, how'd you do?" Akiho asked after he pushed open the door.
"I passed," Fugaku said monotonously. His mother grinned.
"Congratulations!" she hugged him.
"Thanks," he said dryly. She looked at him.
"What's the matter?" Akiho asked.
"Nothing," Fugaku replied. "Where's father?"
"He isn't home right now," she replied. "I'm sure he'll be very happy about this!"
"That makes one of us," Fugaku said, and turned to go to his bedroom before Akiho could ask what he meant by that.
xxx
"Fugaku," Akiho said quietly. Fugaku had just taken a seat at the dining room table. For once, it had been his mother who'd called him in.
"Yes?" he asked. She gulped. "Is something wrong?"
"Fugaku," she said in a soft tone. "Your father..."
"Yes?" he asked. A part of him knew what had happened, but he ignored it.
"Your father...he's dead."
Fugaku's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"
"His last mission," she said, trying to keep a clear head. "It..didn't go so well-and he..and he..." She burst into tears. Fugaku was at her side in a flash, trying to comfort her. "Th-thank you, Fugaku."
"Mother," he said. "Go..get some rest." She nodded and went slowly up the stairs. Fugaku, on the other hand, was shocked. Sure, his father hadn't always been exceptionally kind to him, but it was his father. And Fugaku knew he'd only wanted the best for his clan. He went up to his room and tears rolled down his cheeks. He realized that he'd never even said goodbye.
xxx
Mikoto Uchiha was a very nice person. She was gentle, always wore a smile, and was kind to everyone around her. She was average height and her black hair reached to the midst of her back, pretty in a simple way. She was a great ninja, a jounin, and was highly respected. She was very empathetic, trustworthy, and easy to talk to. But Fugaku didn't love her.
When they got married, she was smiling gently and waving hello to the children, even dancing with a few of them. She took a few of the roses in her bouquet and used them to decorate her youngest sisters' hair. Fugaku thought she seemed kind, although he had never met her before today. After they were wed, she settled down from her duties as a ninja and became more of a housewife, cleaning and cooking.
Two years after they got married, she had their first child, Itachi. Fugaku was busy on a mission, his duties as the leader of the clan keeping him very busy. When he saw Itachi, he realized that Itachi was just like he was. He was to be the successor of the Uchiha clan. But he wasn't going to make the same mistake his father made, no. He'd begin Itachi's training while he was still young. If he never knew what freedom was like, he wouldn't have to miss it.
xxx
War broke out four years later. Fugaku was a soldier in the war, doing his best for his clan. He escorted his family to the emergency homes to keep them safe and led their army into battle. Fugaku was scared for the lives of his wife and children, but knew he couldn't turn back. Everyone was depending on him. So he fought.
The next year, the nine-tailed fox attacked Konoha. Everyone thought it was the fault of the Uchiha clan and Fugaku was called in for questioning. He couldn't believe it! After everything he'd done for the village, they thought he'd try to destroy it? He argued for days with the people, trying to convince them that there was no way he'd done such a deed, but he had a feeling they didn't believe him. He was very angry and wanted to break something. At midnight, when they finally let him go, he went into the forest, taking his anger out on random trees. It wasn't fair! How could the government really believe such nonsense! And they threatened to put it in his record! He grit his teeth and a thought struck him. The government had something against the Uchiha clan. Wasn't it so many years ago that the Uchiha had fought with the same family over the title of Hokage? Someone was going to pay. And he had an idea. They'd overthrow the government.
xxx
During the war, Fugaku's second child, Sasuke, was born. It wasn't that Fugaku didn't care for him, he really did, but he had to ready Itachi for his task of leading the Uchiha. After the war, Fugaku focused most of his attention on Itachi. He wanted Itachi to love his clan and be willing to do anything for them. Fugaku didn't have enough time to pay much attention to Sasuke. He was busy with the clan, doing missions, arresting criminals, training Itachi, and planning the coup d'etat of the government. When Itachi graduated at seven, Fugaku was amazed beyond belief. A part of him was impressed, but a very small part of him was jealous. Jealous that his own son was a better ninja than Fugaku had been at that age. He hid that part of himself and tried to show Itachi his pride. He encouraged Sasuke to follow in his brother's footsteps, hoping Itachi would be Sasuke's motivation to be an amazing ninja. That night, they invited Akiho Uchiha for dinner. She praised her grandson and played with Sasuke until it was time for her to leave.
"You're doing an amazing job," she whispered to Fugaku as she made her way out the door. Making sure his children couldn't see, he grinned broadly at her. She blew him a kiss and left.
At age ten, Itachi was promoted to chuunin. On his first try. Fugaku, of course, showed Itachi as much pride as he could muster, but he failed to silence the voice in his head that kept telling him that his own father would've rather had Itachi as a child than Fugaku. Mikoto seemed to sense Fugaku's pain and took Itachi and Sasuke out for dinner herself, telling them that Fugaku needed some rest after the long mission he'd come back from the day before. He tried to ignore his painful memories and concentrate on his plan against the government.
The next year, when Itachi became a jounin, Fugaku wasn't surprised. He was beginning to expect it of his son. Sasuke, on the other hand, was slower at this than Itachi was. Fugaku felt sorry for the child, knowing he probably had an immense amount of jealousy for Itachi on his chest. He knew what it felt like. He wanted to talk to Sasuke, to tell him he was proud of him too, but he was very busy and was afraid that showing Sasuke pride would take away his motivation.
xxx
"Father, you wanted to see me?" Itachi asked, walking into the living room. Fugaku motioned to one of the mats on the floor and Itachi sat on top of it. Fugaku had never liked chairs much, and much preferred sitting on the ground.
"Yes," Fugaku replied. Itachi waited. Fugaku tried to look official as he informed Itachi of the coup d'etat. Itachi was silent, listening intently and showing no emotion. When Fugaku was finished, Itachi merely nodded, most likely wondering how this had anything to do with him. Fugaku got to the point. "I think you should join the ANBU as a spy, to make sure they don't suspect us. You'll be helping a lot of people by doing this."
"I see," Itachi said after a moment. "Very well." Fugaku tried to hide his surprise. He'd been expecting more of an argument. He knew as a fact that if Rei had asked him to do such a thing, he'd have protested until his father forced him to do it, usually ending with Fugaku racing to his room, slamming the door, and crying. Itachi's calm demeanor startled him, and once again he found himself thinking his father would rather have had Itachi as a child.
"That's all," Fugaku said finally after a moment of silence. "You're dismissed." Itachi calmly stood up and left the room. Fugaku sighed and rubbed his temples, wondering why he'd never been perfect like Itachi was.
Months after joining, at age thirteen, Itachi became captain of his ANBU squad.
xxx
Six months after Itachi had joined the ANBU, he'd begun acting strangely. Despite Fugaku's protests, the Konoha Military Police Force (which was made up entirely of Uchiha) instructed Shisui, Itachi's best friend and Fugaku's nephew, to keep an eye on him. Fugaku was sure Itachi would never do anything to betray the clan, so he found this completely unnecessary and a violation of Itachi's privacy. Everyone else disagreed, though, so that was Shisui's new job.
A month after beginning his task, Shisui committed suicide by drowning himself. Shisui had been extremely devoted to the clan and this was very unusual and ucharacteristic. The suicide note was also highly uncharacteristic, claiming that the Uchiha clan was useless and allowed people no freedom. Fugaku was appalled, but the rest of the police force suspected that Itachi had done it, using the sharingan to forge the suicide note. Fugaku couldn't believe it! But he went with them to question Itachi, and Itachi pleaded his innocence. Fugaku defended his son, but he could feel the police losing faith in him. He knew their faith in Itachi was now hanging by a thread. A very thin thread, at that.
xxx
Fugaku knew the Uchiha would probably rebel against Itachi after Fugaku passed away and Itachi became their leader. So he began focusing on Sasuke. He taught Sasuke the family's fireball jutsu as he'd tried to before, and was impressed when Sasuke could do it on the third try, with flames almost as large as Itachi's. He realized Sasuke had been practicing in his spare time after Fugaku had given up on him months ago. He trained Sasuke and praised him. And one day, he realized Sasuke would end up the same way as Itachi if this didn't go well. He told Sasuke to be his own person, and not to follow in Itachi's footsteps. He wanted at least one of his sons to be trusted and loved.
xxx
"But you throw them better than father does," Fugaku heard Sasuke say in Itachi's bedroom. Fugaku had just been passing through the hallway when he heard Sasuke trying to convince Itachi to teach him how to throw shuriken. So even his seven-year-old son knew Itachi was better than him! Fugaku clenched his fist and continued down to the kitchen, trying not to make it obvious that he was jealous of his own child.
Later that day, Itachi came into his bedroom. He was carrying something Fugaku couldn't see.
"Itachi," Fugaku said. "You need to ask permission before entering our bedroom." Mikoto smiled and beckoned Itachi closer.
"Did you need something?" she asked him sweetly. Itachi looked very upset.
"Please," he whispered. "Don't make this harder than it already is." Mikoto looked confused. She cupped Itachi's face in her hands.
"What's wrong?" she asked him. A tear spilled from his eye.
"Mother," he whispered. "I love you very, very much. Please...forgive me."
"What are you talking about?" she asked him.
"Say you love me," he seemed to beg.
"I love you," she said, looking as though she wanted to say something else.
"Thank you," Itachi whispered before shouting. "Tsukuyomi!" Mikoto's black eyes widened and she fell to her knees. Fugaku could only watch in horror as Itachi finished her off with an iron kunai. Itachi turned around, Mangekyou Sharingan in his eyes, and the bitter realization that Itachi really had killed Shisui came over Fugaku. He rushed at his child to put a stop to this, and to save Mikoto's dead body from further damage.
"What is the matter with you, child?" he asked Itachi.
"Father," Itachi looked up sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Itachi was crying now, red tears staining his young face and silently dripping onto the floors.
"Why are you doing this?"
"It's for peace," Itachi shouted, as though trying to persuade Fugaku of something. "It's for the good of the village, for the innocent children who'll have to see war! Don't you know what you've done? You're going to hurt everyone, I have to stop you!"
"This is about the coup d'etat?" Fugaku screamed in shock. "Why didn't you say something?"
"Because, father," Itachi whispered. "You'd never change your mind. You're...you." And before Fugaku heard the cry of "TSUKUYOMI!" he realized he'd become what he'd feared most. He'd become Rei. He'd become his father. His past came flooding back to him, and it was too much pain to handle. He wanted to close his eyes to it, wanted to shut it out, knowing he shouldn't bother, knowing it'd be the same. His father stripping him of his freedom, failing the chuunin exam, his mother always having to defend him, being forced to marry a stranger, not being able to see his best friend, his father dying, his own son surpassing him, knowing he wasn't good enough, and the dark thought he was afraid to think: he'd failed again...he'd led the clan to its destruction.
A/N: I probably should've uploaded these as separate chapters… oh well. Reviews are always nice :D