Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto

Prologue: New Beginnings

Konohagakure.

One of the Five Major Hidden Villages. One of the most powerful nations within the world. Home to some of the world's greatest shinobi and kunoichi.

But with so much wealth, recognition and power, their own image is bound to differ from person to person. Their villagers see themselves as untouchable: their enemies merely see them as arrogant. But, ultimately, the only opinion that mattered was that of their contractors. Fortunately, they preferred the villagers.

That didn't change facts though. Konoha's consistent success had let them become self-satisfied and unlike many other Hidden Villages, their civilians had lost the feeling of conflict, even letting this attitude spread to their shinobi. And this very fact is what many would have thought had led to the event that was occurring…

Itachi Uchiha stared stoically into the black flames that were currently chewing away the bodies in the pile stacked in front of him. His expression didn't show any emotion, but his eyes conveyed every shred of sorrow, seemingly framed by the blood that shed from his eyes. He put out the Amaterasu as the last body was reduced to ash, before suddenly buckling over in exhaustion. The seven-bladed black shuriken pattern in his eyes span rapidly, before becoming onyx again once he deactivated them.

Getting up again, he watched carefully as the ashes that represented every last Uchiha he had just killed blew away with the wind. Despite the carnage that had just occurred, the Uchiha compound was spotless: to any other person, the only odd thing would be the fact that the place was empty. The young ANBU captain had made sure to be careful.

A gloved hand rested on his shoulder, causing him to tense. His hand had already drawn a kunai, before he realised that the person that had grabbed him was none other than his accomplice. "Apologies, Madara." he said, not bothering to turn around as he pocketed his kunai once again.

"We need to go now, Itachi" Madara responded. Itachi sensed a shift in the air around him, as Madara began to exert his chakra. Casting one last glance to the place that he had once called home, he sighed sadly. His mind was still on Sasuke. On what would happen to him in this place while he was gone. He threw the thought aside, before nodding once, as he was sucked into the ancient Uchiha's dimension.

An eight year old Sasuke Uchiha ran happily through the streets of Konoha, looking forward to getting home. The sky had turned a milky shade of orange, as the sun set in Konoha. He was in a hurry, knowing that his parents would likely scold him if he got home late again. Seeing the sun inch a bit lower, he decided to increase the speed of his run to that of a sprint, feeling is feet thud roughly with the thought of getting tired had long left his mind, in favour of one of the trouble that may have been caused if he didn't get home on time.

Soon, the compound came into view. Relief washed over him, but his train of thought veered off track when he noticed that the main gate was wide open. Slowing down to a walking pace, he peeked in to see if maybe they had guests. Cautiously stepping in, he tried to find someone to explain what was going on. "Guards!" he yelled out loudly, trying to catch the attention of the guards that were usually on duty near the gates. When he got no response, his caution turned to worry. Taking off, he tried to find someone or something to explain what was going on.

However, he just became more and more confused as he searched each empty house. It seemed as if everyone had disappeared while they were going about their daily duties: dinner tables were still laid out, pages on desks were half filled, as if someone just got up and left. But within all this, not a single person was present. Sasuke's worry soon turned to panic, and he stopped searching, before running through the courtyard, toward his own home, hoping to find his parents, or Itachi.

Swinging the door open, he stormed into his house, louder than usual. He scoured the entire area, every second stealing a sliver of hope from him, until he realised that there was no one. Not one single person. No note to say where they were, no note to say where they were possibly going, just gone. As the loneliness began to enclose on the young Uchiha, tears began to push at the edge of his eyes.

Why would they leave him? What had he done? Had the clan simply packed up and left him for dead? Or had someone taken them? How could so many people disappear without a trace? He wanted to find out, but he didn't know how. His thoughts wondered aimlessly in their sorrow, as he curled into a ball, tempted to begin wailing where he sat, until the late afternoon breeze blew a small bit of ash on his face. He brushed the black dust away, until he realised that his mother kept a very clean home, not even allowing him to come in if he had ash on his clothes from training.

His thoughts stayed on the ash for a while, before he decided that he needed to tell someone about this. The village could not go on ignorant of the disappearance of one of their most pivotal clans for any moment longer. Picking himself up, he wiped away the tears that had already fallen from his face, before he opened a window and leapt out.

His emotions were a wreck, but he knew that as a shinobi in training, he had to prioritise the village over his own personal state. He still had no clue what had happened here, but he knew who could figure it out. The Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead as the Village Civilian Council argued vehemently in front of him, while the clan heads remained silent. This had followed the announcement of probably one of the biggest incidents in all of Konoha's history besides the defection of Madara Uchiha: the Uchiha clan was missing. Every last one. The old Hokage would have laughed at the correlation between the event and Madara's, but the migraine that he was getting from the Council was enough to repress it.

He looked out bitterly at all the people that argued before him: most of them likely had no understanding on the sheer magnitude of this, yet the screamed at each other as if they were experts on the topic. Hiruzen did know though, that only a select few in this room actually knew of the Uchihas' plans for a coup.

But, despite knowing about the Uchihas' plan for an overthrow, he was still shocked that they had simply disappeared. His thoughts instantly jumped to Danzou: he would have wanted for the Uchihas to be taken out altogether. However, a complete vanishing of the clan, with absolutely no solid show of their fate? Danzou would have wanted something visible. Something that proved to even the most simple minded fool that they had either died or defected.

Sarutobi knew for sure, however, that this was the doing of someone other than the Uchihas themselves. Definitely a high standing person within Konoha. And that was what infuriated him most. The man known as the Professor did not often get angry, or even emotional, but this had been building up over a long time. He thought back to all that had happened within the village because he was not willing to intervene. Not willing to exercise his power. Not able to put whelps like the ones that argued before him in their place.

He had noted that Konoha's own council was probably the most powerful out of all of those within the Five Major Villages. In fact, all of the other Villages merely had Councils as advisers where as Konoha's basically ran the Village. This meant that Konoha's Civilian Council, also advised on military decisions. The days of peace had made the civilians so out of touch with military power that they didn't even realise just how valuable a Jinchuuriki was; namely one carrying the most powerful Bijuu of them all. Hiruzen hated to admit it, but Danzou was right. Konohagakure had become soft. In all honesty, if another village had decided to attack right now, the Village would likely fall, or at the very least be seriously damaged.

And this was what infuriated the Sandaime Hokage most: the fact that he had let his power slip to the point that he now doubted his Village's safety. This infuriated him more than any one single decision that the ignorant fools before him had made. There was only one solution if this problem was to be solved. If mistakes like the Uchiha vanishing were to be avoided.

The moment that Hirzen Sarutobi slammed his hand violently against the table before him, all activity ceased. Danzou and the clan heads raised their eyebrows at this action, while the rest of the Council was momentarily stunned. Raising his voice for all to hear, Sarutobi said calmly," The Civilian Council of Konohagakure is dissolved and the Shinobi Council is suspended until further notice. There shall be no explanations or reversals of this decision until I myself deem it fit. Adjourned."

The rest of the Council stared in horror as their Hokage simply ignored them and walked out, leaving no room to argue.

And that concludes the prologue.I didn't write much in it, because I feel that I need to see how you as the reader react to this turn of events before I dedicate myself to expanding this.

Espada175