"Hey Sasuke lookie what I got!" The small seven year old held a wooden crate with an open lid and hundreds of white porcelain masks. "I think this means I win again."
"No way, you must have cheated. It's only been two hours." The elder black haired boy offered belligerently.
"Nuh uh." the blond continued "You only said no ninja techniques, and no body enhancing chakra, I didn't do use either. I even went the extra mile and chose not to use any ninja tools." The blond stuck out his tongue at his oldest friend.
"So then tell me how you did it." Sasuke moved over to relieve the blond of the box of masks.
"It was really easy, first I had to figure out where they were getting them from. They apparently order them all from this manufacturing place in the southern district. They apparently always pick them up from a specific drop-off point. So after learning this, I just beat them to the chase." Naurto explained.
"And how exactly did you come to learn this?" The raven haired youth still disbelieving he had managed to acquire that info without using even a genjutsu.
"I may have 'accidentally' dropped a wad of cash nearby a pair of guards who just 'happened' to know 'someone' who 'used' to be in ANBU." He laughed as his friend's expression went to one of disbelief.
"You bribed them." he was incredulous, he couldn't believe that a family member of his, let alone his appointed confidant and best friend managed to think that bribery was an acceptable way to find out this information. "No way am I paying up, you totally cheated, hell you broke the law and I should report you." He took an aggressive stance staring at Naruto pointedly.
"First off, I didn't 'bribe' them, that would imply that I handed them cash in exchange for some sot of service, and I clearly explained that I accidentally dropped some money and overheard a conversation. Secondly even if I had bribed them it is hardly a ninja technique or use of chakra. Meaning deal is still on, now pay up."
"I can't believe this." the young Uchiha pulled out his wallet and slammed some money into the open palm of the blonde. "New rule, no lawbreaking." He said adamantly.
"No deal, if I can't use ninja skills AND I can't break any laws this stuff is impossible, you seem to forget that even minor stuff like littering is technically against the law, so I refuse to agree to a wager I cannot possibly win."
"Hmm. Fine, specifically no bribery then." The raven haired child retorted.
"No can do, the things you and your brother come up with are too risky with no way to shut people up." The blond remained adamant.
"You're just afraid you can't do it." Sasuke sneered, the jab clearly intended to rile Naurto up and get him to give in.
"Umm... Duh? You realize every single thing that has been pilfered, modified, 'lost', obtained, or otherwise been utilized for the sake of our bets has been under the noses of our villages ANBU and elite ninja right?" the blond was incredulous.
"All of whom are inferior to the Uchiha, who you are supposed to be a part of."
"First off, I may be a pat of the clan but I am genetically as far from you guys as possible and we are nearly tied in spars so I reject your first point. Second your brother and other Uchiha are members of ANBU and the ninja ranks so it is had to see the validity in your argument." Years of training by Fugaku to rationalize all points of an argument came to the forefront often when discussing things with his friend. Fortunately for Sasuke it was essentially his job to ensure that Sasuke wasn't overlooking crucial details. It was hard since Sasuke was by all rights very intelligent, and finding holes in his arguments was usually a grueling affair, if at all possible. Luckily, Sasuke was currently just making demands without really thinking through his statements beforehand, something Naruto was supposed to be grilling his friend for to ensure that such things did not happen while in front of potentially important figures that the Uchiha clan couldn't afford to lose face in front of.
"I hate it when you're right, but you are... We'll figure out the terms before the next one." He then went over to the box and confirmed that these were in fact a set of unpainted ANBU masks ready to be picked up by the organization.
"My turn, hmm." Naurto sat down on his knees in the seiza position deep in thought. What originally started as a harmless children's game of one-uppery, who could climb the tree faster, had quickly devolved after they started ninja training into who could pull off the more insanely difficult task. The wager was always both pride and a good chunk of allowance money, and while Sasuke had a significantly large number of wins under his belt, Naruto had been nearly undefeated for the last month. Their current string of dares had been exclusively reserved to things that would be asked of ninja to perform. Naruto had almost immediately started by having Sasuke perform an infiltration mission into the Jounin lounge and find some blackmail material on at least one of the senior ninja there. He had succeeded in a matter of two days by managing to sneak some 'bugs' inside the building while being given a tour by one of his family members who was more than happy to oblige the younger heir's request at seeing what the place was like. Since then they had moved primarily to thefts, heists, and capers of escalating intensity. While Sasuke was much stronger and generally more intelligent than his friend, Naruto was much more deceptive and willing to use underhanded means to achieve whatever he needed done.
"Both you you get over here NOW." Itachi who had suddenly appeared from the window nearly shouted. Itachi had occasionally taken part in their squabbles by coming up with dares for one or the other to perform when they couldn't come up with one themselves. It was rare that anything he suggested ended up getting accomplished, so it was allowed to be refused by either of them, but was worth double the cash if pulled off. This particular heist was in fact proposed by the elder Uchiha brother. He then proceeded to tie their arms up, blindfold them and pick them up. He then created a clone to carry the box, and with a brief muttering under his breath transported the children and the box to the Hokage's office.
The Hokage was very aware of the two children's squabbles and dares. This was by and far not the first time that their antics had landed them here. However it was the first time that the Hokage was expecting them before the stunt was even pulled.
"You two are to be placed in detainment cell G in the second cell block for minimum of twenty four hours for theft of vital village assets and resources." His voice was stern, though lacked the usual anger and frustration that the boys were used to. They simply looked at each other and shrugged, it wasn't particularly uncommon that this happened, and they new that within the hour Fugaku would have them out, scold them for lowering the Uchiha name, give a small beating labeled as a 'training' session, and be done with it.
They were quickly escorted to the cells that could at this point be labeled as 'theirs' due to the number of times they had been in them. After the fifth hour they felt something was wrong.
"Sasuke, your dad IS in town right?" the blond boy was slightly worried as the Uchiha patriarch was much later than usual.
"Don't ask stupid questions, he was there at breakfast with us." While his pride wouldn't allow him to admit it the young Uchiha was concerned.
"Yeah, but he has never been this late before." the blond replied.
"We DID just manage to steal a shipment of masks for the ninja black-ops... It is likely that he is either being berated for trying to get this swept under the rug." Sasuke thought aloud so that the blond could try and follow along.
"No way, if they were THAT important then it should have been way more costly to get the info. I barely paid them enough to pay rent for a month." The blond retorted angrily.
"HA! You admit that you bribed them! Give me back my money, you cheated!" The subject quickly changed gears.
"Not a chance. You already gave me the money, plus I didn't cheat. I may have broken the laws, but a certainly didn't break any rules so stick it!" The blond was adamant.
Silence reigned for a period as they both brooded.
"He really is late isn't he." The black haired child brought the topic full circle attempting to change the awkward silence back to discussion.
"Yeah..."
They sat for nearly another seven hours talking before finally deciding to sleep as it didn't seem that the clan leader would be there soon.
It came as a surprise when Sasuke awoke during the middle of the second day, still bound.
"Naruto! wake up, we're still locked up!" Sasuke's panic was quite unusual, though warranted.
"Fifteen more minutes, it's the weekend." The blond mumbled out in his sleep induced stupor.
"Damnit Naruto it is Tuesday already, plus we are still in these damnable cells!" his irritation peaked as his friend refused to awaken.
"Okay okay... I'm getting up alre-." He shot awake as he realized his head rested not on a pillow but the cold hard concrete of his cell. "We're still here." He sat solemnly pondering the implications. "Ji-ji wouldn't actually force us to stay here if Pops asked for us to be let go..." The blond got quiet as he began to think again.
"Before I make it a point to smack you for getting us into this mess, you can't go calling the Hokage Ji-ji, it is disrespectful, and if father ever hears you call him 'pops' I'm pretty sure he'd kill you on the spot." Sasuke spoke slightly hysterically, half from the fact of his nervousness at being locked up, and half from the way his friend spoke of important figures in the village.
Seven hours passed, the sun having gone down hours before, when the only door to the line of cells that only contained two prisoners was opened.
"Good news brats, you have a new cellmate... though why they're putting him in here is beyond me." The ANBU guard pushed forward a black haired man that they were both familiar with, eventually unlocking a cell next to theirs and forcing him in.
"Itachi!" the two shouted together. Though generally aloof and condescending it was very are for the elder boy to completely disregard them.
"Hey what's wrong with you?" Naruto prodded visibly upset that the young ANBU wouldn't respond.
"Naruto..." Sasuke prompted, causing the boy to look at him, Sasuke then pointed at his elder brother. "Look at him..."
Itachi Uchiha was in a state that the two had never seen him. He was thoroughly covered in blood, yet there were no wounds. His uniform tattered and ripped in several places, cuts along his sleeved from what must have been grazes that missed his flesh. The worst of all was his eyes. living in the Uchiha compound meant that they were both quite used to seeing the family's doujutsu active, they were even used to seeing it active on Itachi himself. But this was wrong, the three pronged dots that were supposed to be there were just completely absent, the ring connecting them missing as well. His pupil had somehow changed from a circular dot into some sort of deformed and dissected triangle. Worst of all was the blood. While the blood on his clothes and skin was blackish, dried, and presumably from somebody else, there was freshly congealing blood still dripping from his open eyes. The young children sat there just watching for a half hour, trying to piece together what must have happened, or what they could even presume to ask. Finally the silence was broken by none-other than Naruto himself.
"Why won't you look at us!" Naruto finally shouted "You don't say a thing, you don't resist, you don't even BLINK!" his anger palpable at this point. "Being an asshole is one thing, being introverted is expected, but what the fuck are you doing just sitting there! Tell us what happened!" At his command the elder Uchiha finally moved for the first time since he was imprisoned here. Sitting up and staring right at the one who prodded him so loudly, he spoke in a monotone that lacked any sort of emotion.
"Shut up." His eyes widening in a concentrated stare. A knock on the door interrupted whatever he was thinking and the guard opened it and quickly went down the hall. Itachi immediately moved into action at this, standing despite being bound and shackled. He looked at the wall behind him in his cell, a new trail of blood began to leak from his right eye, and the wall simply melted in a burst of black flames. He spoke as he stepped through the new hole in the wall. "I am the least of your concerns at the moment. Ask your dear leader what happened." he began to move again but quickly stopped himself and made one last remark before running through the new exit. "I am not sorry for what has happened, it was exactly what I needed. You will grow to hate me, use it wisely." He then exited in a blur, seconds later screams could be heard, the village-wide alarm was signaled and several explosions sounded. Immediately afterwords the door slammed open and the Hokage was standing there, a full squad of ANBU there with him.
The Hokage looked at the two boys who appeared unharmed but still quite shocked. "Small miracles I suppose..." he muttered before facing the two. "Get up, we don't have room in this prison for teaching young idiots lessons at the moment." The Hokage signaled the ANBU, who immediately released the children. "Come with me." Neither Sasuke nor Naruto saw any reason to bother arguing.
Trekking through the streets on the way to the tower the boys noticed two things, the wanton destruction that seemed to be around most of the village, and the complete lack of any of the military police about trying to handle things. After finally making it to the Hokage's chambers the old leader sat down with a sigh, taking the lit pipe in his mouth and setting it aside. He waited for them to start asking questions, but apparently the shock was to much for them. He decided he needed to get this conversation over with.
"I have bad news. The Uchiha clan is dead."