Hi. Honestly, I have no idea why I'm doing this except I really like writing about characters and Naruto has some really great ones. I might do characters from other fandoms, and if I continue doing this I'll probably mostly do characters who don't have much of a story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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Itachi Uchiha was born to Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha on a warm summer night on the ninth of June.
For the first two years of his life, he was simply known as the Uchiha Clan head's weird, stupid kid. The boy never talked, played with the other kids or participated in any games. He just watched the crows that had taken up residence in Itachi's backyard, with bright, dark eyes.
That perspective radically changed when Fugaku began training young Itachi at the age of three as was customary for clan children. His genius, for everything, not just in the Ninja Arts was soon made abundantly clear.
Itachi was only four years old when the world suddenly wasn't the happy, peaceful place he had envisioned it. The Third Shinobi War was not a bloodless war and the thousands of young soldiers sent to the battlefield rarely came back, and if they did they were never the same. So as Itachi stood at the edge of a graveyard of broken and twisted bodies, dead bodies, dead bodies of kids, most of them not past twenty, he didn't say anything. Stayed silent as he always did as his mind frantically turned, his eyes falling onto the body of a kid, not even nine years old. The boy's hair was a bright silver, tousled and streaked with crimson blood, arms bent at crazy angles, a deep slash still gushing blood had severed the boy's body nearly in half. His hitai-ate claiming he was from Kumo, glinted in the fading light.
He wanted to scream "WHY?" as loud as he could, why, what would war accomplish, it was nothing but horror for both sides. But most of all he wanted to ask his father, standing behind him, his face as cold and impassive as ever, why had he brought him here.
A hot rush of something was pushing against his eyes, a whirlpool of burning hot energy forcing his eyes to close. Itachi took a deep breath, he would not cry, crying was for small children, not him. He forced his burning eyes open and asked his father to go back home. Later that night he tells himself that he will become Hokage if only to protect his village.
It would take several years for Itachi to realize it wasn't tears that had made his eyes burn. At four years old Itachi had nearly woken his Sharingan.
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When Itachi was five years old he became a big brother. Sasuke was so cute with his spiky black hair, his bright smile whenever Itachi entered the room. It was obvious from the start that Sasuke could never hope to reach Itachi's level of brilliance, but Itachi loved Sasuke. Fugaku, not so much. Sasuke was Itachi's glow of light in the otherwise dark world. The day he was born Itachi vowed that he would never let harm come to his little brother.
Meeting Shisui came as a surprise. Itachi was practicing throwing shuriken and kunai when a boy maybe two or three years older came out of nowhere, curly black hair a mess, with laughing eyes and a bright, almost blinding grin that held only the barest glints of a dark past. Itachi knew about Shisui Uchiha, who didn't. The most feared Uchiha, a genius whose brilliance was peaked by only Minato Namikaze, and maybe Itachi. Known for his complete mastery over the shunshin, or body flicker, you were dead before you realized another person was there. Itachi and Shisui were best friends before either had exchanged names.
At six Itachi was enrolled in the Academy only to graduate a year later. At seven his intellect and reasoning were on par with the Hokage. When he was eight he awakened his Sharingan and mastered it almost immediately. At ten he became a Chunin and at eleven he entered ANBU much to his father's delight. At thirteen he became an ANBU captain.
ANBU took a much darker turn to his already dark Shinobi career. He knew he was changing, growing colder, more aloof. When Sasuke asked him to teach him ninjutsu or taijutsu the previous tap on the forehead and "Sorry, Sasuke maybe next time." had turned into nothing but a cold, disinterested look devoid of emotion.
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When Itachi turned thirteen many things happened. One, Shisui killed himself. His best friend, more of a brother figure than even Sasuke was dead. He remembered with perfect clarity, meeting at the place they use to play when they were kids, before ANBU, before they were the fucked up monsters that mothers told their kids would come to kill them if they forgot to brush their teeth. Shisui's soft smile, the one he reserved for Itachi only, not the bright, blinding grin he wore for the rest of the world holding back every dark thought. His empty eye-sockets gushing crimson, his body a broken, poisoned mess. That night Itachi gained an eye and lost a part of him, more important than any limb or organ.
Not only was Shisui dead but his eyes were gone, one stolen by Danzo, that corrupt war-monger who Itachi desperately wanted to tear apart, let him suffer all the pain and trauma he subjugated on not only Shisui but all the children Danzo stole away. With Kotoamatsukami gone the coup d'etat that had been looming on the horizon for so long was suddenly about to happen with no bloodless way to stop it. Itachi had tried, had tried to talk to his father, had in desperation told the Hokage, had begged him to help, he knew that if his clan attacked Konoha only blood and war would follow. Itachi could not if he could help it, let another war happen again. Let blood and gore drench his village, so he betrayed his clan, his family. Let Sasuke see what madness, shallow foolishness could do, so he did what he knew had to happen.
With nothing else to do he massacred his family, his clan, he murdered his mother, with her kind smile, her willingness to do anything for her children and friends, he murdered her knowing he would never see her eyes crinkle up with joy at the mere sight of him and Sasuke, Itachi killed his father, who despite all his flaws loved Itachi with everything he had, killed his parents knowing Sasuke would never experience a normal childhood, never get to get to grow up with his parents guidance. His ANBU standard issue tanto slashing apart his ancient clan, dating back to Indra Ӧtsutsuki, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, little kids who would never grow up, never see the world, slashed apart with a flick of his blade. His clan's insides and blood staining the ground, the walls, Konoha itself.
He killed Izumi, his childhood crush who he had shared dango with on more than one occasion, locking her in Tsukuyomi, he sliced the head of his cousin, Kenji who would watch the crows with Itachi when he was just a little kid, not a monster, not a murderer.
Itachi was only thirteen, barely a teenager, with blood staining his shirt, his hands, his sword with bright crimson, his face splattered with the fresh, wet, red blood of his clan, tears held back by only sheer will, his clan was dead, his best friend, brother to Itachi in everything but blood, killed by his own hand, he was an international criminal and still he was not done.
Itachi waits until Sasuke runs in a blind panic home, screaming for help, screaming for his mother and father, screaming for Itachi. He almost wants to laugh when he sees Sasuke, who is staring at his mom and dad's dead bodies, their broken corpses staining the hardwood floor.
Instead, he uses the new Mangekyou Sharingan, his gift from Shisui, his gift that was supposed to protect, to help his village to torture his little brother. For hours he makes Sasuke witness his clan's demise over and over again until every single detail is seared into his memory and only when he hears ANBU reinforcements coming does he break the Tsukuyomi.
Itachi had just turned thirteen when he plots his own death, promises himself that he will die only by Sasuke. Sasuke will kill him, and maybe the horror he can only bring will stop.
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Itachi joins the Akatsuki. He continues to supply Konoha with information, continues to work from the shadows even as his fame grows, until the name Itachi Uchiha is known everywhere as the kid who massacred his whole clan, the famous Uchiha clan in one night.
In Akatsuki, Itachi meets Kisame Hoshigaki. At first, his new partner is nothing but an asset, strong and with insane chakra stores. Soon as time goes on Kisame is more than just a partner, not a friend but there's is a connection between the two. Itachi is sure Kisame knows everything about him, that he let his brother live, supplies intel to Konoha, that his eyes have been aching of late. Kisame is steady, Itachi can rely on him, and for it Itachi is grateful.
Itachi is fifteen when his eyesight starts to fade. He stops using Mangekyou and Amaterasu unless it's absolutely needed. His chakra, less of a whirlwind than a steady flow of soft energy starts to thin.
When Itachi is sixteen he wakes up coughing. He feels Kisame stir next to him but the giant man stays silent.
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Itachi and Kisame are assigned to capture the nine-tailed Jinchuuriki kid when Itachi is seventeen. In Konoha, he fights (more like completely destroy) his old ANBU captain. Kakashi with his bright silver hair and his one Sharingan, given to him by Obito Uchiha, attempt to fight Kisame and him was almost laughable. Only when Might Guy appears do they stop toying with the three Jonin.
Itachi meets Sasuke when they are on the same mission. Understandably Sasuke, his black hair tinted blue with dye, tries to kill him. His attempts are pitiful, his two-tomoe Sharingan and Chidori nothing against Itachi. Sasuke can only choke on his own blood when Itachi pins him against the hotel wall. As he proceeds to beat Sasuke within an inch of his life, and as he puts him in Tsukuyomi again, he hears Kisame behind him laughing and telling the Uzumaki kid and Jiraiya of the Sannin how heartless and cruel he is, using the Nightmare Realm on his little brother without a second thought.
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By the time Itachi is eighteen, he feels like he's drowning whenever he takes a breath when he coughs he tastes iron in the back of his throat. The drugs he uses to prolong what little time he knows he has left blur his eyesight making everything look like he's underwater. Kisame who by now is like an extended part of him says nothing when he wakes up coughing, now a common occurrence, blood dripping out of his mouth, just hands him water, turns over and goes back to sleep. Blood seeping out of his eyes after using Amaterasu or Susanoo could only be expected.
Itachi is twenty-one when he dies. He lets Sasuke kill him, makes sure that Orochimaru's curse mark is gone. Pretends to try to steal Sasuke's eyes only to let his mask of hatred fall away. Itachi pokes his little brother on the forehead the way he use to when they were kids, seals his Amaterasu into Sasuke, programming it to attack Tobi if they come into contact. His last words an apology, Itachi Uchiha dies with a smile on his face.
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Please review. I know this is just a retelling of the story of a character you already know... but hey it was fun. If you want me to do a chapter on a character comment me the name. Next: Genma Shiranui.