Here's chapter 4! Not much to say, only to dedicate this to a friend of mine's new baby sister, Emma. She was just born Friday. Here's to you, young lady, and I hope you grow up to play the bari sax.
Disclaimer: I can't afford to take on Nintendo, but Kishimoto, I'm callin you out to a fight. A no holds barred, fist to fist death match, winner gets rights to Naruto, dig?
Itachi Uchiha was kneeling on one knee, facing the Third Hokage who's back was turned to him. The old man was looking out at the village with his pipe in his hand. Hiruzen took a long draw from it and sighed, exhaling a plume of smoke.
"Danzo and the Council have ordered you to destroy the Uchiha clan?"
The Uchiha prodigy sighed with an "Affirmative."
The God of Shinobi turned around and look at the poor boy. Itachi's considerable power and impressive mission record made one forget that despite all of his reputation, Itachi wasn't an adult quite yet. His teammates and his old rival were damning this boy to a lifetime of hatred. He didn't much care for the Uchiha clan with their plans of a coup, but he was afraid of what psychological damage this would do to Itachi. He was caught in between a rock and a hard place, and it seemed like there was no way out. Even the man known as The Professor couldn't think of a solution for Itachi's problem.
"So, tonight, eh?"
The prodigy looked at his leader, a cold look in his eyes.
"Yes, my lord. "
"You already killed Uchiha Shisui, correct? Did he have the Mangekyou?"
The Uchiha nodded, and if you weren't as skilled as Hiruzen, you wouldn't have caught the guilty look in his eyes.
"Yes, Lord Hokage. However, I think... I think Shisui was missing his right eye. He entrusted me with the other one. It's sealed into my arm right now, in my ANBU tattoo. He didn't tell me what happened to it. But I'm worried. Shisui's Mangekyou... it's more powerful than I could have ever imagined, my lord... it had the perfect mind control technique. But... I have awakened my own."
The Hokage looked into Itachi's eyes, and felt his heart stop as he saw the three tomoe morph into a new shape.
"Do you know the capabilities of your own Mangekyou?"
The prodigy nodded.
"I have a very powerful genjutsu and two ninjustu, but I have a lot more profiency with my genjutsu and my first ninjutsu. The second one... is still incomplete and it takes too much chakra out of me. I can only hold it for a minute."
The Hokage frowned.
"Itachi..." he placed his hand on both of the boy's shoulders.
"You don't have to do this."
Itachi shook his head, disagreeing.
"If I don't, the clan will bring about the fall of Konoha. That will cost many more innocent lives than the extermination of one clan. Lord Hokage, you are a great negotiator and a skilled leader, but even a shinobi as great as you cannot understand the Uchiha's Hatred, and therefore can do nothing about it. Your peace talks have done nothing but lull my father into a false sense of security; he suspects me of betraying him, but he knows nothing. Tonight is perfect."
"And what of Sasuke?"
Itachi visibly flinched.
"I...cannot kill my own brother. I have a plan...to villainize myself and make him hate me, then he can grow to kill me and be heralded as a hero, the man who avenged the Uchiha clan."
A villain, huh? Itachi wanted to play a villain for Sasuke to hate...
Hiruzen Sarutobi loved his three students, even Orochimaru, to a fault. He couldn't forgive Orochimaru's crimes, but he was a son to him nonetheless. Orochimaru was a fallen prodigy. What Itachi just said proved to the Professor that Itachi cared not for the power he possessed, nor for any more power to be gained. The Flames of Hatred that burned in the Uchiha clan were absent in the young man, but the Will of Fire burned stronger in Uchiha Itachi than almost any other ninja he had seen.
"Itachi... just how great at illusions are you?"
"HIT THE DIRT, BRAT! PUSHUPS! NOW!"
Said brat groaned, and got down into the pushup position. Anko had been working on his taijutsu. Her teaching method was similar to Din's, as she'd spar -lightly- with him, stopping at random points to correct what he had done wrong and comment on what he had done right. Afterward, she'd make him do a random strength-based exercise, where Naruto would do as 10 repitions for every mistake Anko counted.
"Five mistakes, fifty of them. MOVE IT!"
Naruto got to pushing dirt.
Anko smiled. The brat had taken to the training like an Akimichi took to a buffet. For a month, they had been training, and Naruto was coming along nicely. She hadn't really taught him much about being a ninja, but she was sure that he could likely hold his own against any regular civilian in a fight, and likely even fight off a genin. He definitely had stamina off the charts, as he was capable of actually wearing her out. She attributed his impressive energy and chakra to the Kyubi, but as far as she could tell, that and his healing abilities were the only influences the great beast had on her new pupil.
She had never really fancied herself a good teacher, but either she was, or Naruto was just the type to learn by having a lesson beat into him. It was likely the latter; and Naruto was just such a blank slate that teaching him was simple.
Naruto got up and dusted the dirt from the ground off, and then charged his new sensei.
Itachi could only revel at his leader's plan. Using his Sharingan, he would cast a powerful genjutsu and disguise himself as Orochimaru should Sasuke return from his training too early, something Itachi hoped wouldn't happen. The prodigy wouldn't count on it though; his luck was as terrible as Tsunade's, which meant that Sasuke would likely master whatever he was working on tonight, early, and come rushing home to brag to either him or his father. This was the ultimate compromise, but it would allow him to still be around to raise Sasuke.
Itachi's current problem was convincing his "mentor" that he could handle the massacre on his own.
If he could see through the mask, Itachi would have bet good money that Madara Uchiha had the most amused look on his face. However, all he could see was the single spinning Sharingan out the eyehole. He wasn't sure why, but Madara had changed his mask to a spiral shaped orange one.
"You think you can slay an entire clan on your own, little weasel?"
Yeah, Madara was all but laughing at him.
"Don't lie to me, boy. You don't want to leave Konoha, do you?" The elder Uchiha's voice changed from amused to serious in an instant, and Itachi flinched. Madara laughed humorlessly.
"I care not for what you do, boy. The Uchiha clan needs to pay for betraying me, so as long as I get in my fun, you can do whatever it is you want to do. I'm sure it mostly involves taking care of young Sasuke, right?"
Itachi nodded hesitantly.
"You really do care about that little boy more than anything else in the world, don't you..."
-line break-
"Well, brat, you've gotten the basics down well enough," Anko said, panting lightly. Her pupil on the other hand was dirty and lightly bruised looking, and gasping for breath.
"Heh... told ya, sis. I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage ever, so of course I've mastered your training."
Anko chuckled at Naruto's bravado, patting his head.
"You've still got a long way to go. That's all for tonight, though. And for a while now. I've got to get back out on the field. Besides, as far as taijutsu goes, you're hands down going to be the best at the academy for a while now."
Naruto frowned and began to pout, tugging at heartstrings Anko didn't know she had.
"Aww, come on kid, don't be like that. I have bills to pay and all. You can't learn half the things I know without signing at least three release forms and a Summoning Contract."
Naruto's lip quivered.
"Seriously, kid, I can't help it."
The Hero-in-training frowned deeply and sighed.
"Okay..."
A vein in Anko's head twitched.
"Fine, brat... I'll treat you to ramen for learning so well. "
Night finally fell and Itachi sighed. It was time.
Madara had already started his rampage on the farthest side of the compound. Itachi was supposed to meet him in the middle, where Fugaku and Mikoto lie sleeping. The Uchiha prodigy couldn't put it off anymore, and so he began.
He wasn't sure how it had taken him to get this far. Itachi had displaced his emotions and had been more or less acting on instinct, something that had probably saved his sanity. But he was doing it all for Sasuke, and nothing else came close to mattering. Not his friends, his cousins, his aunts, his uncles, his lover... for their decision to revive the ancient war between the Senju and Uchiha, for their choice to betray Konoha, they all deserved to die.
The thing that made this easy was that the Uchiha Clan were mostly all asleep, and the ninja of the clan had all let their guards down being in the Clan District. Very sloppy.
So, it was an honest surprise when Itachi made it to his own clan house to find his mother already dead and the spinning eyes of the Mangekyou Sharingan coming from his father.
"Itachi. I hereby revoke your status as a member of the Uchiha clan for the crime of betrayal. You will die here."
Madara could only laugh as the clan head and his son began to battle. While Itachi would one day surpass his father, and soon, Fugaku was a powerful ninja in his own right. With the Mangekyou, Itachi would have had an advantage, but Fugaku had evened the odds as he shot off a Fire Dragon at his son.
Itachi had told him of his plan to trick Sasuke into thinking that the Snake Sannin was the culprit behind the Massacre, but this could turn out to be more interesting. The Elder Uchiha smirked behind his mask. He could sense the boy entering the compound. Yes, things were going to be very interesting.
Sasuke could only scream as he saw his mother's corpse sprawled onto the floor, but his cry was cut short as the wall burst open, his brother flying through. His brother didn't notice him at first, but as he did, Itachi's eyes widened in fear.
"Sasuke, run! Get out of here!"
A fireball burst through the wall and Itachi's eyes morphed to his Mangekyo.
"AMATERASU!"
Black fire formed out of nowhere and met the regular flames of Fugaku's jutsu. Itachi grabbed Sasuke and burst out of the room.
"Sasuke, I've got no time to explain. Just get out of here."
Sasuke, currently in shock, couldn't move.
"Why... why are you fighting father, older brother? Why is mom dead? What happened to our clan?"
Itachi saw the perfect way out. The lie couldn't be disputed by anyone other than Fugaku, himself, and Madara, as there were no witnesses. Even the coucil had no way of knowing that he had done this deed. He hated to lie to his little brother, but there was no other way to get away with this and still raise Sasuke. He'd need someone.
"Father... father has gone crazy. He's killed the entire clan. I just got home to find him killing everyone. I'm trying to stop him... now Sasuke, run!"
Sasuke, instead of listening, glared. Father had done something like this? This was... this was insane! He had thought Itachi was falling into darkness, but it was really his father...
Fugaku appeared in the doorframe, holding a kunai, only to be charged by his youngest child, who had just awakened his own Sharingan.
Fugaku easily jumped over the low sweep kick and grabbed Sasuke by the throat, tossing him towards Itachi.
"You think you were the only one Madara contacted?"
As if on cue, Madara appeared out of nowhere.
"Little Fugaku, must you spoil my fun?"
Fugaku could only glare at his ancestor.
"It's time to leave. ANBU should be here any minute now."
The masked man nodded his head, and chuckled before he and the Clan Head disappeared in a spiral of energy.
Itachi could only cradle Sasuke's unconcious form, wondering what was going to happen next.
So here's a big divergence point. Instead of Itachi taking the fall and joining Akatsuki, Fugaku is now alive and well, and that will set off a whole different path for Konoha. Yeppers. I hope this is believable enough for you all. Second chapter in two days. Good stuff. Umm... Take care, and please, review. It helps my self esteem which makes me want to write more.
Later!