Hey all, I have upped the rating for this story due to this chapter as I am unsure if it counts as too graphic. Sorry if people get offended but its meant to be horrific to get the point across. Enjoy though. Oh! And from now on the chapters are going to be a little longer as we start to get into the main story of this piece.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.

Chapter 2: The Incident

-At 10 years old my eyes changed shape.-

After three months of emergency planning it was time. The massacre was imminent and arrangements had been made. I took advantage of the anonymity of civilians and secured places when I could keep the Uchiha children where no one would look for them but I could also still keep an eye on them.

I had manipulated the Himuras into temporarily settling into the village near Konoha so I could patrol and search for signs that it was going to be 'that night'.

I was deathly afraid that Tobi who was also likely to be hanging around would catch me but so far I had not been caught. I can only assume its due to the sheer insignificance of my abilities that I had not even registered as a threat.

By using the Uchiha secret entrances I was able to infiltrate the compound and after a couple of days observation I soon located the houses of all the Uchiha children. There were 5 in total two of which were twins. They were unfortunately awkwardly placed around the compound. There was one positive though, they were all peripheral members of the Uchiha clan and therefore not placed in the centre of the compound where the head families resided. I can't pretend I was not noticed during my time there but I acted like a curious civilian interested in clan life of which I could never have been a part of. I was mostly ignored but a couple of times I was shooed away from the walls of the compound where I was 'peeking'. I never saw anyone from the head families nor anyone practicing clan jutsu which would have been nice but I supposed it was for the best.

I had determined that the whole operation was going to be supremely difficult with the hardest part being able to collect all the children while still making it seem as if they had died. I was hoping that I could use liberal use of fire to cover my tracks.

With all my preparations set it was all I could do to wait for the night my family were slated to be killed.

In the story the massacre happened on a full moon but I wasn't confidant in my ability to accurately distinguish what stage of the cycle a full moon was so I started sneaking to the compound as soon as the moon rounded.

It was on night number three that I ran into trouble. Before I even got close I was waylaid.

'Where do you think you are heading?'

I startled and turned to the voice that was right behind me! There were suddenly three masked individuals of indiscriminate gender with black cloaks covering their attire not three feet away from my position.

Root ANBU!

'Picking herbs Shinobi-san,' I demurely replied playing up my civilian innocence and trying not to show my horror. I was unsure whether they bought it or not but I suppose it didn't matter what the reason was- I simply just wasn't supposed to be there. Two of the three ANBU flash-stepped away while the third that had spoken pointed in the direction where I had come.

'Civilians are not to travel this close to the wall, leave immediately.'

I scampered away pretty fast. There was no way I was going to take on an ANBU. Their presence though was still suspicious so I didn't travel very far.

It must be tonight.

After what I deemed as 'long enough', I travelled slowly back to the wall spreading whatever senses I had far and wide. I didn't detect anything but that also didn't mean much. I wasn't a chakra sensor by any means but I was able to flick my Sharingan on occasionally to try and catch the watchers in the trees using chakra when they jumped. I just prayed that there were no true sensors of the watching ANBU or this would be a very short night.

I sighed in relief when I finally made it to the secret entrance to the compound where they wouldn't be able to follow and quickly glanced behind me and prepared myself to go in.

I was definitely unprepared for the sheer chaos I stumbled upon.

People were screaming, children were crying and the number of roaring katon jutsu was impressive. I always assumed that this had been a stealth attack. It always had appeared to be in the story?

There was no time to lose though. I ran to my first contact point on the far side of the compound to collect the twins. It was there that I ran into another obstacle. I could not breach the circle of flames that encircled that portion of the compound. I had no talent at water jutsu and I couldn't risk draining my sparse chakra supply this early on attempting what I could. I had no choice but to prioritise and go to the next house. This too was made hard as I was also dodging fire that seemed to be coming from everywhere. When I stopped briefly to regain my sense of direction I was alarmed to note that everyone seemed to be attacking nothing at all. It wasn't till I then fled up a so far untouched tree that I also noted that most of the fire damage was being produced by the older generation of Uchiha.

What on earth is going on?

Kunai, shruikan and swords were also flashing under the moonlight, cutting deep into friends and family alike. There was no enemy to fight but there was destruction and there was pain. Why? Where was Itachi? Where was Tobi? Why with all this noise was no one from outside the compound come to investigate? Did they hate the Uchiha this much?

It wasn't until the tree I was sitting in was set alight in friendly fire from who I peripherally recognised as my great uncle that my confusion turned into suspicion.

The compound was never destroyed in the story and I had ensured that the story stayed on track so this couldn't be happening. So if it wasn't happening then the only explanation is that… it wasn't real.

Genjutsu… is this all genjustu?

'KAI!' I became aware I was back at the entrance of the secret passage with two tomoe'd Sharingan emblazed. I was also lying down beside the entryway partly hidden in a bush. I sat up warily and looked around.

I had been placed under genjutsu… how? When?

I had time later to figure that out for now I had some children to save. I switched off the Sharingan and after a deep breath entered the tunnel.

The compound was silent as I left the tunnel but that may have just been because my heartbeat was sounding loudly in my ears outcompeting everything else. I could already see the bodies in the street. Fear sunk into my heart.

Am I too late?

I snuck into the closest child's house and found that I recognised it as one of my second cousins on my father's side. I crept forward and it wasn't long before I found the bodies. My cousin had been older than me by about 10 years and already had a two-year-old child that I had intended to save. Seeing the prone form of said two-year-old child still leaking blood from a slice in her throat served to enhance my sense of hopelessness. She had died just out of grasp of my cousin who had obviously dragged himself to her body despite his heavily wounded stomach but had died a few feet short. I gritted my teeth and went to leave to move to the next house but remembered something. My cousin's wife had been heavily pregnant. She didn't appear to be a born Uchiha and I was unsure whether she would be spared because of that and only the child in her stomach killed. If so she might have survived.

My hopes were dashed when I found her in the library face down and surrounded by too much blood for there have been any chance she was alive.

I turned her over and saw the slowly congealing blood on her throat. It was obvious she had received the same deathly stroke as her child.

It seemed that even Uchiha that could not possibly have the Sharingan were killed. The sight of the pregnant woman's untouched stomach gave me pause though.

Is there any chance… that the baby is still alive?

I didn't know how long I had been out before I released the genjutsu on me. The woman's body was still warm though so it surely can't have been too long. There may have been no point in attempting what I was considering doing but I refused not to try. Not trying is what put me into this mess after all.

Taking a kunai that had been hidden in my sleeve I braced myself above the dead girl. Her stomach was still firmly rounded and I tried to figure out how to go about this. Caesareans usually took from below but I wasn't sure if this was due to preference for low scarring for the mother or it was the best option to safely remove a child. Deciding not to risk the baby to uncertainty I set to work slicing below the round of where the child lay and carved a line in the soft flesh. The first slice was too shallow so I continued getting deeper and deeper. I could feel bile rise in the back of my throat but I swiftly swallowed it down and kept going. It wasn't until a rush of fluid escaped the cut that I stopped. Guessing that this was the amniotic sac I had run into and not another organ I gently sliced flesh away enough to reach my hand in.

I will never forget the sensation. The feeling the still warm flesh between my fingers as I slid a hand into her belly, the stench of death in the air and the sight of the bloody kunai I had used to desecrate the body in my other hand.

I found the head of the child easily. It was a little more difficult to get it out. It took taking up the kunai again to slice the rest of the girl's stomach away for the baby to slide out. The baby appeared covered in fluids and it was evident that it wasn't breathing. I felt despair rise in me.

What do I do next? I don't want to give up.

Thinking hard while I cut the umbilical cord of what I discovered was a baby girl I pondered my next step. I had heard once before in my previous life that rubbing the back of babies encouraged them to breathe and so I rested the child in the chest of its mother and used both hands to rub up and down the back.

I think I arrived too late…

The baby didn't appear to be responding. I bit my lip to withhold tears. I grabbed a throw rug from an armchair in the room and lifted and bundled the child in the rug while rubbing its skin and tried not to sob. The baby was so tiny. I rubbed away the blood and amniotic fluid from its face and in a desperate attempt I decided to try and do basic CPR. It was a last ditch attempt and I knew I did it poorly. It shouldn't have worked, but it did.

At the first breath that the child took herself I cried silent, heaving sobs. The fluttering of her eyelids and the screwing of her face was my only warning before she decided to use her vocals.

The baby didn't so much as cry as scream.

'Shush, shush, shush!' I begged the little girl. My breath was coming in short gasps and I'm sure my eyes were twice the size and crazed.

We'll be caught!

I'm also sure that I was a little more forceful than necessary when I pulled back the eyelids of the child and activated my Sharingan.

When the baby became limp and it was silent once more I became twice as nervous.

Was it this silent before?

I flipped the unfortunate mother over to hide her stomach and had a slight panic attack at what I was suppose to do now.

This is not what I expected. This is NOT what I planned!

In my terror I made a snap decision for the better or for the worse I'm not sure but I decided I needed to destroy the evidence. I grabbed a bunch of papers from the library shelves and raced back to the body. After a sudden impulse I put aside some of the scrolls placed them into the throw rugged bundle with the baby inside and tied the bundle to my back. The rest of the paper was placed the rest around the girl.

No one could ever know she had the baby.

It was with a measured amount of chakra I was able to spark a flame upon the paper. I fanned them with the tessen I had on me and prayed as hard as I could that the small chakra spike was ignored.

Thank goodness my elemental nature is fire.

The flames took more quickly than expected though and a large portion of the tatami mat flooring was engulfed in a matter of seconds. Confused at the suddenness of the fire I found the source to be a broken lamp leaking oil near where I was sitting. I jumped to my feet but my pants had been partly soaking in the lamp oil when I knelt and were soon consumed with the racing fire. I bit back a scream as I rushed and cut the fabric off my leg.

The bundle on my back fidgeted at the movement and I hoped the genjustu would hold on the child.

It was too late to prevent burns but I did manage to fling the fabric off by the time the fire had reached the shogi screens. I braced the bundle on my back to be more secure and then jumped out into the night.

I painfully raced to the other properties where children lived. Some I didn't bother to search as the parents had already tried to escape with them and little bodies lay fallen on porches and garden beds alike.

Not one of the five Uchiha children I had attempted to save was found alive. I had failed my mission.

All but one.

I had in my grasp a small miracle. A child that I hadn't even calculated that I could save. A child I ripped from the stomach of a dead girl in the wake of my murderous relative. Which relative I'm not sure, as it could have been Itachi or Tobi who had been responsible. I wasn't keen to find out though as it was miraculous enough I hadn't encountered either.

I'm definitely going to have nightmares forever.

I stayed in the shadow of the moon as it rose higher. As it was topping the building I spotted movement. Someone was entering the gates. Sasuke must be coming home from the academy.

I need to get out of here!

As I was going to leave through the secret entrance I soon found out the mysterious ANBU that kept the Uchiha in had not left. They stood in the darkness with eyes on the wall clearly trying to keep something in rather than something out.

Preventing any Uchiha from escaping their fate…

Since I couldn't go outside to escape I decided to try and hide inside the village until such a time as I could leave. I found the minor entrance to the village was not as well guarded and I so I was finally able to escape the compound. I intended to hide anywhere I could as I was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

As I ran for safety my leg wasn't appreciating the jagged steps I took nor the burden I was carrying. It ached from the burns and I couldn't comprehend why it felt so… real. It wasn't until then that the sudden reality of what was happening occurred to me and I spun around to the calamity I had left behind.

Looking back at the eerie shadows engulfing my home hiding the horror within that I felt my heart shatter. A small thought I had pushed down for years was brought to the forefront.

Did this really have to happen?

Remembering the illuminated bodies of uncles, cousins, mentors and children all slain in the streets under the light of the full moon I received my answer.

Possibly, but I didn't even bother to try to stop it.

I knew I could have possibly saved them, I could have warned the Uchiha elders of Konoha's suspicions- of what Danzo was planning. Perhaps even explaining what Itachi was made to do but I chose to save myself and let my family die. In hindsight who cares if the Uchiha were to take over Konoha? Not me. I was an Uchiha. I would have been safe. I would have my mother and my clan at my back not lying dead in the streets.

I had essentially killed my family.

I hadn't been the wielder or even the sword that had struck them but instead I had been the shield that disappeared when they were vulnerable. I had been the girl who knew their fate and left them to it deciding that it would be best. I killed my family and let my cousin bring shame to the Uchiha name. I would forever be thankful after this that I had not come across my mother's body. But that didn't stop me imagining it.

I let my mother die.

I hated myself fully and completely and as a scream of a young child rose from the direction of my home I turned to compound walls again and noticed a thin trail of black smoke rising from within. With the echo of the scream sounding in my mind this moment was seared through my crimson eyes onto my memories.

This is on my hands... What have I done?

-At 10 years old my eyes changed shape.-