Chapter 4


~The Uchiha Coup~

The noble House of Uchiha had always been famous for powerful battle techniques superior to many others. And yet the uprising would be marked more for the cruelty in its manner of execution rather than fighting prowess.

The third Hokage, just like his predecessors, is known for his great love of Konoha citizens but instead of admiring that trait, my father abused it in order to achieve his goal. To my mind, it was cowardly. To my father's, it was just.

The first and largest explosion was set off right in the middle of the village where common people resided. In my dream I saw people running, crying and screaming, but that part of town was silenced right after the explosion. No one was left alive to even utter a single moan. Severed limbs and charred innards were scattered everywhere.

The next set of explosives was set off to close up the town from two ends. The Uchiha ninjas then rounded up the people to serve as hostage. They did this in order to force the authorities to cede command.

The Anbu were well aware of the planned coup d'état and were preparing for it. But no one expected that the villagers would be attacked first. Every last bit of respect they had left for the Uchiha clan disappeared at that point due to such underhanded tactics.

Nevertheless, it was a well-planned strategy. It was as predicted. Sarutobi, concerned with the people's safety, ordered his men to stand down lest any more innocent person die. He was prepared to offer himself up in exchange, not just to spare the villagers but to buy time for his own men to formulate a rescue plan.

But Danzo had a different way of dealing with the situation. Behind Sarutobi's back he ordered his Root Anbu to retaliate against the instigators by proceeding to our town and ruthlessly attacking our families.

I wake up to noise I cannot make out - plenty of noise pounding on my head. For a while I consider if I'm dreaming.

What was it? I was talking to Father. He said he believed me, that he would accept the Hokage's offer to help…right? Then I had a dream but then I woke up…and then…another dream…?

It's so noisy outside. I sit up and grab my aching head. The noise…

I stay still and listen. Then I realize the noise is the sound of voices. People are screaming outside. I stand up but I wobble a little. I try to shake off the vertigo. I close my eyes.

Stay still. Relax. I apply my training to ward off this ailing sensation.

Much better.

Then I remember.

I was drugged by my own mother!

The coup!

Konoha!

I run out of my room and find smoke screening the hallway. As I race toward the living room I can feel the heat getting stronger. I hear my mother scream. I run faster.

The wall of the living room that's visible from the hallway is on fire. I get there and find Mother at the other end tightly embracing Sasuke in a protective manner. An Anbu is standing in the middle between us, his back to me and motioning to strike. I charge at full speed. He drops down dead before me then fades away. I know he's not one of my comrades; he belonged to the Root unit.

"Itachi!" My mother cries as she runs to me.

"Nii-chan!" Sasuke smiles at me and joins her, kunai in hand.

His cheeks are slightly singed. That explains the fire. He must've used the fireball jutsu against that ninja. Quick thinking, Sasuke.

My mother is hugging both of us while crying as fire continues to spread to the adjacent wall. Then I suddenly remember. I push my mother gently away from me then head for the door.

"Itachi," I hear my mother call.

"Hide yourselves," I say to her without expression, then I face my brother.

"Sasuke, get her away from here and keep her safe." He nods in understanding.

Chaos greets me outside. People are scrambling in all directions. I spot a Root Anbu as he slashes at a woman carrying an infant. Those of Root who are known to do their dark missions in secret are now carrying out their deeds out in the open.

I harden my heart. After what my mother did and what my father is currently doing, I think I've now resigned myself to the fact that I can't save everyone.

I look above the horizon and see that the smoke is scattered more widely than it had been when I first saw it last night. Black dots are flying through the air in all directions. Up and down. Up and down. Sometimes, the dots clash in mid-air. I can tell they're ninjas in the heat of battle while fire and smoke continue to rise up and engulf the village below.

I focus my attention on what's going on around me. I spot another Anbu coming out to the street in broad daylight hacking at helpless villagers. If these were the Hokage's Anbu, I'd have appealed to them orally, but these are from Root. They will not listen to reason.

I point my finger at the first Anbu who hacked the woman and watch him as he tries to dodge an imaginary flock of crows that turn into shurikens as they fly toward him. He drops to the ground unconscious. I did the same for the second.

They may be ruthless but they're still Konoha citizens. I will not slay anyone if I can help it. Besides, they are under orders from Danzo; they don't know any better.

Two more Anbu come out but when they see me they enter back into the houses. Why do I get the feeling they don't want to engage me in battle? Danzo must have ordered them to kill as many as they can in the quickest possible time. Fighting me would delay their mission.

"Itachi-san!" a woman's voice calls from behind me.

I turn around to see an Anbu behind her and he slashes with incredible speed. Her eyes are locked with mine at the moment the blade cut from her right shoulder down to the side of her left waist. She falls to the ground dead. Just a few days ago I was holding her hand and now…

I feel blood rushing to my head. I release a clone that instantly makes its way to the murderer who's still standing over her body. When the clone reaches him, it explodes blowing him up in pieces taking all of her along.

It's better this way. I don't want to leave her there exposed and cut in two.

Go meet Shisui, my love.

I'll be with you again someday.

~Fallen~

I rush to the central town to try and stop my father. I've done all I can to save members of my own clan from Root ninjas. I've had to kill some and incapacitate others. I made sure the few elderly, women and children that survived safely got out of the village. Sasuke and mother were with them. Now it's time to save the other innocents.

Innocents.

I can't help but remember what transpired back there earlier. The two Root Anbu I knocked unconscious with my ephemeral genjutsu were mercilessly beaten by Uchiha children in the middle of the street. When the older women saw them, I had hoped they would stop the activity. Instead they joined in the mauling. I understand how mob mentality can take control of one's senses once it starts but I never imagined witnessing it among women and children. If I had not stopped them, the Anbu would be dead by now, killed by little hands.

Innocents.

A ninja's death is not unusual but to have it happen by a child's hand, completely unaware of how it will affect his future...completely desensitized to cruelty…

I move on.

I spot Hatake Kakashi fighting five clansmen up ahead.

"Stop!" I yell to them.

"Get him, Itachi!" one clansman shouts.

Kakashi has the famous chidori in his palm and it is emitting bolts of electricity from its core.

One ninja makes a motion to blow a fireball at his direction. I stop the fire halfway with my water release jutsu. Good thing I learned this opposite technique early on, not that Kakashi needs my help.

"Itachi, what are you doing?" one of the ninjas asks angrily.

"I knew it, you're a traitor," I hear another say.

"Where's my father?" I demand.

"You better fight with us or you'll regret it!"

It's useless. I turn to Kakashi for the answer.

"He's in front of the headquarters fighting against the Hokage."

I nod and leave the scene. Kakashi can handle my clansmen. I run fast. I hear the sound of screeching electricity behind me but I don't look back. Kakashi must have released his chidori.

I reach the center of the village and can't believe what I've found. The whole area is flattened to the ground as if something that spanned a hundred meters in diameter pounded on it from above. So this is where the first explosion happened. Blackened bodies litter the area, none of them recognizable.

I can't stay. I must hurry. It's getting late!

Every place I pass is littered with dead bodies while those who are still breathing are engaged in battles in every open alley. Summoned animals are included in the fray. From the ninja casualties I've seen so far, I can tell that Konoha's men have gained the edge.

I pass by men fighting in a couple more alleys. In each one, an Uchiha is facing two Konoha ninjas. My clan is definitely losing. I try to brush away my mixed feelings. I can neither be happy nor sad at the lives lost from either side. It's all senseless! Senseless!

Up ahead I see Akimichi Chouza's head above the burning buildings. He has expanded full size and has a wild look on his face. He raises his fist and slams down so hard I feel the earth shake. I hear the commotion from the direction of the headquarters. I'm almost there.

Ninjas start flying through the air. They seem to be fleeing. The Uchihas! They're retreating! Father! What happened to him? Is he dead?

I reach the scene to find him holding somebody in a tight headlock. Ten clansmen are positioned in his defense at the sides and behind him. They're surrounded by Konoha ninjas ready to attack but can't. The Hokage is standing right across from Father and his hostage. I see even the Monkey King has been summoned by Sarutobi and is now standing beside him.

"Father!" I scream.

Two Anbu grab me by the arms. I throw them back.

No one else is making a move against me.

Both sides seem to be in a deadlock.

"Remember this day Sarutobi," my father bellows.

"This is the day the Uchiha Clan is released from Konoha's chains."

He leaps high with his hostage while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"The great House of Uchiha will come again and crush you all down!"

He cuts the hostage's neck and sends him falling 15 feet down then makes his escape along with other clansmen. Everyone left behind seems immobilized with shock. I know they can pursue my father if they so choose but their attention seem to be focused on the ninja that he killed. Sarutobi falls on his knees and pounds his fists on the ground, his head bowed in frustration. My eyes stray to the fallen ninja. His bloodied face made it hard for me to recognize him earlier. I look closer and begin to understand.

The Uchiha coup d'état was a page in Konoha's history to be marked as one of the bloodiest internal conflicts the ninja world has ever seen. Barely eight years after the kyuubi attacked and Konoha was on fire again.

But the Uchihas over-estimated their own strength; Konoha held other noble houses, each with their own unique abilities passed down for generations - The Hyuuga Clan, The Yamanakas, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka and many others banded together and faced the fearsome Uchiha and won, but not without an awful price.

Many talented ninjas died that day, a lot of them I admired. One of them, the one whose death I witnessed, was the last to fall marking the end of the uprising.

But I felt a tinge of envy for those fallen ninjas who defended Konoha with their lives. At least they died with dignity and honor. My clan had completely fallen from grace.

To mask his embarrassment for losing, my father made a bold threat before his retreat. But the threat wasn't completely empty. My Father is a patient man. He will bide his time, recover his strength and definitely strike again with deadlier force and more burning hatred than before.

The House of Uchiha would have been a valuable part of Konoha's defense and growth should they have chosen to live peacefully among the others. The coup dissolved their entire presence in Konoha in one day much like if they were massacred, but with one difference - Instead of just disappearing, the disgraced Uchihas were listed among Konoha's most dangerous enemies.

~Of Fathers and Sons~

All is quiet in the Village of Konoha much like how it was the previous evening. People are weeping silently as they gather dead bodies scattered all about. The wounded are being attended to in makeshift shelters since Konoha Hospital was also bombed and now lies in ruins.

There's no time to properly grieve the loss of loved ones yet. Just like the time after Konoha was attacked by the nine-tailed fox, the villagers now have to hold off their sentiments and concentrate on picking up the pieces. Helping others ahead of themselves somehow eases their own burden. That's what I greatly admire with these people. That's the kind of spirit I wanted for my own family.

As for me…

I'm sitting here on one side of my cell in the dungeons of Konoha, contemplating on my next course of action. My arms are separated by chains spread from two corners to prevent me from forming any seals. There's nothing I can do for now but wait.

Danzo openly branded me as one of the rebels and had me arrested after my father's retreat. I let him do so for various reasons. Just an hour ago, Sarutobi came and I asked him to concur Danzo's accusation. It's the only way I can pretend to feel betrayed by Konoha altogether.

As penance for failing in my duty to protect the village I volunteered to live in exile as originally planned. If I can join up with someone like Tobi, I can monitor any threatening activity and hopefully warn Konoha ahead of time. As it stood, I had no home to go back to anyway. There's no reason left to stay.

"That's not true, Itachi," Sarutobi said to me with sincerity. "You will always have a home in Konoha."

I was grateful for those words especially from someone who has suffered a great personal loss above everything else.

"I'm sorry," I said slowly. "for Asuma-san."

I gazed at him as he stood outside my cell. He brought an oil lamp with him that he placed by his feet so that I can make out his face clearly. It seemed to me the Hokage aged ten years in one day. I recalled how he cradled Asuma's body for a brief moment but he let go quickly. Everyone around him was sympathetic but as Hokage, he couldn't openly grieve for just one casualty. He let Asuma be taken away and then proceeded to other tasks at hand.

But I know everyone would have understood if he took more time to be with his son. Sarutobi Asuma came to his aid at the most crucial moment of battle. My father had somehow managed to hold everyone in a powerful genjutsu. Asuma arrived just in time after helping to release the village hostages. His chakra must have been low at that point. He broke the illusion but got too close and became the focus of my father's wrath.

"He got careless," the Hokage lamented. I tried to search for some words of comfort.

"He had to act when he saw you in danger," I said.

Sarutobi sighed weakly and tried to smile but could only contort his face in an awkward way. I heard they were not in speaking terms. I assume it was still the case when he died.

"We had a complicated relationship, my son and I," he said then he paused and looked sympathetically at me. "But not more complicated than what you have with your father, I imagine."

I drop my gaze away from him but didn't reply. Here was a man who can still treat me with kindness after losing his son to my Father who showed no mercy. I felt ashamed.

"He was an unfilial son," Sarutobi said after a moment of silence between us.

"I'm sure he wasn't."

"Of course he was. What can be more unfilial than a son dying ahead of his father?"

I knew it was his way of playing down his grief for Asuma's death, but he couldn't help but reveal his true feelings in the end.

"I would have wanted…" he said almost to himself. "I would have wanted to tell him how proud of him I am."

I bowed my head. I grew up hearing my father tell me how proud of me he was. It was a source of both encouragement and pressure on my part. How I wished I was in Asuma's place at that moment with the Hokage.

"Itachi," he said. "I'm sorry for putting this burden on you."

I shook my head. "You didn't. It's my choice."

He was about to leave when I called to him for a final appeal.

"Sarutobi-sama, please beware of Danzo."

He nodded with his back to me but I knew he understood.

And now, I'm just waiting. I'm waiting for Tobi to come as he surely will.

"Till we meet again," he said to me the last time.

Come Tobi.

I'm waiting.

~Disillusionment~

There's no real light visible in this windowless cell but my eyes have grown accustomed to the dark. If my estimation is correct, a day has already passed since they put me here. I keep my eyes closed, trying to sense any change in the atmosphere. As every second goes by, I try to recall the sensation I felt when Tobi appeared to me by the Naka River. I focus and wait, focus and wait.

He's here.

I feel the air thickening. Security in front of my cell was deliberately slackened by the Hokage for this moment. I keep my eyes closed.

"It's too bad a fair few Uchihas remain alive," I hear Tobi say.

I open my eyes and find him in the middle of my cell. He begins walking around as if surveying the surroundings though it's nothing but solid brick encasement, one side lined with thick black metal bars. He comes closer and inspects my chains.

"I would've wanted the whole clan wiped out and take the whole village with it but I can't say I'm not pleased with the outcome." He breathes down through the hole of his mask and whispers into my ear. "It was beautiful, Itachi."

I know he didn't come here just to mock me. He still wants something. I've been planning for this the whole day. It's my only opportunity to get him on my side. He walks around again, seemingly enjoying the dark scenery.

"The last kill was particularly entertaining, the Hokage's son no less. Leave it to Fugaku to make such a grand exit."

"What do you want, Tobi?"

"I just wanted to see how Konoha's treating its most loyal servant."

I've learned from my mistakes with my father. I'm determined not to let anyone see through me ever again. This will be the last time I display any emotion even if it's all fake. I proceed to perform a very convincing act of disillusionment that I've rehearsed in my head.

"Curse Konoha!" I say through gritted teeth. "I was prepared to kill my own family for them but they still brand me a traitor! I'm done with all of them!"

"It looks like they're the ones done with you, Itachi."

"I was a fool. If I ever get out of here, I will live up to how this ungrateful village sees me."

I yank my chains to stress my anger while saying those words though they're not intended for Konoha. "Father you fool", I wanted to say. "Curse you Tobi," I wanted to add.

"I did say your noble intents will destroy you, didn't I?"

I don't reply.

"If you had a chance to do it again, would you have massacred your clan instead?"

"I don't care either way. The clan posed a threat to the village but I don't care for the village anymore. I don't care for my clan either. They're all fools."

"It would've been a pleasure to wipe out the remnants with you."

"Your shallow pleasures astound me, Tobi," I said sarcastically. I will have to stir him away from involving people who cannot fight for themselves.

"You're still naïve Itachi but I like you."

"I don't like you," I shoot back honestly. Being up front in this regard will increase my credibility. I cannot sound desperate to gain his trust. He must work to gain mine.

"Tell me, Itachi-kun, just how do you plan to get out of here?"

"You're going to help me."

"Am I now?"

"Isn't that why you're here?"

I hear him snicker behind his mask. "I'm still trying to decide on it."

"You must be really lacking in capable ninjas to carry out your dirty work so you're forced to come to me again."

He laughs. "They keep killing each other off, I'm afraid."

"Don't get me wrong," he says. "They're very talented. But I need more people with brains to keep those without in check."

"Can't wait to meet them."

"Oh but I haven't decided if I want you."

"Of course you have," I say confidently. It's time for another bluff.

"I'm the only one who can find my father. You don't know where he took the rest of the clan, do you?"

"Aah, unfortunately no. I wasn't actually here yesterday. I was busy attending to other matters but I got the full report through a reliable…pliable friend."

I knew it. There's no way he wouldn't have taken advantage of the chaos in some way if he was here. He wouldn't have let the Uchiha survivors escape either. I'm getting close.

"I don't know what you're planning Tobi, but I won't be your flunky."

"I'm very aware of that. But now that you've come to your senses, let's just say you might find my vision appealing. It's beautifully called Eye of the Moon."

Eight years have passed since Tobi got me out of Konoha's dungeons. A lot has happened since. I've been trying to track down my Father all these years but he's been fairly cautious which doesn't surprise me. I've had various leads but so far no success. My father waited till I was old enough before leading the clan against Konoha. Sasuke is sixteen now. I have a feeling they will surface again soon.

Tobi once asked if I'd massacre my clan if given a second chance. Sometimes I still think about that moment when I stood on top of a lamppost overlooking our town. I made a decision then and I still stand by it. After all, who in his right mind would kill his own family? Who would be able to live with that on his conscience? I was determined to work for peace through some other way. I was positive that an opportunity would present itself. But it never did.

I waited for a chance to send a message to Sarutobi and tell him what I know of Tobi's plans so far. But it hasn't been easy and it seems I waited too long. Three years ago I learned that the Hokage died fighting Orochimaru. With no other available replacement, Danzo immediately took up the post as the fifth Hokage.

I gaze at the falling rain outside as I sit on a concrete windowsill of a tall tower in this sullen Village of Rain. I'll be leaving in an hour to meet a partner and then head to Iwagakure to hunt down the five-tails.

Hmm, this brings to mind that Konoha has its own jinchuuriki. He'll be about sixteen as well, the same as Sasuke.

I hear varied news of what's happening in the Village and they're not good. Sarutobi was my only link and that link has been severed. He once said I will always have a home there. In my heart I feel it's still true. I wonder what's happening to Konoha.

I continue to gaze outside but I can't see anything but darkness. Darkness and rain. It feels like a storm is coming.


Next: Chapter 5 ~Guardians of Konoha~