The sun shone brightly down on the village of Konohagakure. People were scattered around the village, shopping, chatting, or merely walking around. A young girl, around six or seven years old, sprinted through the streets, her long black hair flowing behind her. She expertly weaved through the crowd, somehow making it through without running into anyone or knocking anything over. Some villagers shouted greetings to her, which she replied with a wave of her hand.

When she turned the last corner, she was greeted by a two-year-old boy. The boy ran towards her, arms outstretched, happily shouting, "Ane!*" She scooped him up and spun him in a circle, and he wrapped his arms around her neck, laughing.

"Ane, do you have homework today?" he asked as they started walking home.

"Not much," she replied. Seeing the boy's face brighten, she added, "Once I'm done, I'll take you to the market."

"Yay!" he cheered, jumping up and down.

The girl smiled and opened the sliding door to their house, where they was welcomed home by their mother and father.

…

"Tsubaki!" The boy, now about two years older, jumped as the sliding door banged open. He sighed, knowing exactly why the guest was here. On his fourth birthday, the Third Great Ninja War had been declared. Many ninjas had to go to war, including his father.

The guest poked his head into the living room. Seeing the boy, he smiled and asked, "Itachi, is your sister here?"

Itachi shook his head. "She's working as a Medic Ninja in the Main Group."

"All right then. Thank you." The man patted Itachi's head and left. Itachi went back to the book he was reading.

His sister, Tsubaki, had graduated from the Ninja Academy in half a year, at seven years of age. She had just recently mastered the Sharingan, the sacred eye technique that was special to the Uchiha Clan and allowed the user to predict and copy moves.

Now that the war had started, Tsubaki was almost never home. Her talent and quick-thinking were needed in the Medical Corps. She would have been sent to fight, but Mother refused to allow it. Her exact words were, "How would you feel if I forced your nine-year-old child into the fight?"

His father was the Captain of a battle squad, and his group was in charge of ambush and traps. So far, no enemies had made it into Konoha, either being incapacitated by the traps, or getting killed by the ambushes.

Itachi sighed and put down his book. There was nothing to do. He wasn't allowed out of the house anymore because his mother was afraid that the village would get attacked and he wouldn't know what to do. Tsubaki used to take him to the shops all the time, but the war took that away.

The sliding door slid open again. "Itachi!"

Itachi brightened. The one calling him was none other than his best friend, Uchiha Shisui. Shisui was around Itachi's age, older by only a month.

"I was getting bored," Itachi greeted Shisui as the latter came in.

Shisui said nothing; he merely walked up to Itachi, grabbed him by the upper arm, and tugged him towards the door.

"Shisui, what are you doing?"

"Let's sneak into the main medical group."

"What? No! We'd get into trouble with our parents, not to mention the Hokage, too!" Itachi tried to free his arm from Shisui's grasp. No luck.

"We won't be seen," Shisui refused to be swayed. "We'll sneak into where the medics are. We won't get into the way, and besides, you want to see Tsubaki, don't you?"

Itachi hesitated. He did want to get out of the house and see his sister, but at the same time, he didn't want to get into trouble. However, his hesitation gave Shisui a chance to yank him out the door. Now, Itachi had no choice but to go.

Getting to the hospital was not too big a problem since the streets were practically empty. Getting IN the hospital was the really challenging part. No one except medic ninjas and injured shinobi were allowed in. If Itachi and Shisui were found, they would be punished severely.

"Give me a hoist so I can get onto the roof," Shisui whispered to Itachi. Itachi obeyed. Shisui scrambled onto the roof, then turned back and pulled Itachi up. They had to repeat the process a couple times since the building had several floors and each floor had a roof that jutted out.

After they managed to get onto the fifth floor's roof, they were surprised by a voice.

"Looks like I've got visitors."

Shisui cried out in shock and fear, lost his footing, and rolled towards the edge. He barreled into Itachi, bringing his best friend with him. But before they could fall to their deaths, someone grabbed their collars and hoisted them back, letting both of them regain their balance.

Once they recovered from the near-death experience, they looked up into the face of their savior, who was none other than Uchiha Tsubaki. Both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that she was smiling at them.

*Ane means older sister.

Itachi-21 here. Second fan fiction I've ever written. As you probably read from the summary, this fan fiction will be mostly about Itachi. There will be a couple minor changes, but most of the story follows Masashi Kishimoto's story. Hope you enjoy it anyway, and reviews are always welcome!