A/N:Heys guys, chapter is a little late. I have been working quite a lot lately and just haven't had the time to write. I have also purchased Microsoft Office, should be here in about a week as I live in a very remote location and it has to be shipped. Hopefully that will do away with my terrible grammar and spelling. Once again guys thank for your reveiws, it's all been good so far and hopefully it remains that way. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 3: The Massacre
Uchiha Shisui's death hit the Uchiha clan hard. He was considered one of the most talented members of the clan since the day of Konoha's founding and had earned the title Shunshin no Shisui (Shisui of the Body Flicker) amongst the ninja ranks of the village. Most of the clan respected Shusui for his abilities and he was a key part in the upcoming coup. They mourned the loss but they would eventually move on with their lives. Although no one was hit harder than Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto.
The funeral was a small affair. Excluding Naruto and the Hokage, only clan members attended and it was over shortly. Itachi stayed behind, simply kneeling in front of Shisui's grave for hours never saying a word. Naruto and Sasuke stayed for a while but soon left, being dragged off by Mikoto to leave Itachi to his thoughts.
Something changed in Itachi that day. He became distant and the only time the boys saw him was at dinner. He no longer trained with them and avoided them at every turn. He retreated into himself and the boys were worried that they had lost their brother.
Things only got worse when the information about Shisui's death came forward. Apparently he had crushed his eyes and killed himself by jumping into the Naka River which runs through the compound. It was also revealed that Itachi was the last to see Shisui alive and was the one to discover his suicide note. Many in the clan believed that Itachi had killed Shisui and taken his eyes and whilst the boys knew this to be a lie, many spoke out against Itachi and some even attacked him. After one confrontation in front of Itachi's own home, Fugaku had put an end to the rumours and the attacks.
Naruto and Sasuke threw themselves into their training to handle with the greif, often training themselves to exhaustion. While they had accepted that death was a part of a ninjas life, losing someone so close still hurts. They just hoped that Itachi would return to normal soon. They wanted their brother back.
XXX
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, slowly smoking his pipe and looking over his paperwork. He had almost finished for the day when his secretary knocked on the door to his office. "Hokage-sama, Uchiha Itachi here to see you". she said as she walked in with another pile of paperwork. Right when he started making progress..
"Send him in" he said, tapping the tobacco out of his pipe and refilling it. "Itachi. What can i do for you?"
"May we speak in private, Hokage-sama?" Itachi said
Hiruzen nodded to his secretary sending her out. As soon as the doors had closed the Hokage made a handsign and sealed the room. "Go ahead Itachi"
"Hokage-sama, I do not believe that the coup can be avoided. With Shisui's death im afraid that there is no changing my fathers mind." itachi said, lightly flinching when he mentioned Shisui.
"How much longer until your father plans to act?" Hiruzen questioned, a dozen things running through his head.
"Two days" Itachi said looking up at the old man in front of him "If we wish to stop the coup, then something has to be done before the end of tomorrow, Hokage-sama"
Hiruzen contemplated Itachi's words before making the only decision he really could at the current time. "Itachi, I want you to return here tomorrow morning, I need to seek advise from the Elder Council."
"As you wish Hokage-sama" and with that, Itachi was gone. Sarutobi stared at the spot in his office where the boy was for a few moments. He knew what Danzo would want to do and his old teammates will most likaly stand behind Danzo but none the less he still had to bring this to their attention.
XXX
The meeting with the Hokage and the elders didn't go very well. As Itachi expected, Sarutobi was going to attempt to end the coup diplomaticaly. Itachi really wished that this was an option. He knew the moment that the Hokage stepped foot into the compound, his father would here about it and the coup would begin. He had suggested the idea that all those participating in the coup be dealt with in the cover of night but this was quickly shut down by Danzo stating that the remaining Uchiha would lash out at the village and do more harm then good.
So Danzo approaching him in a secluded part of the village came as no surprise to Itachi.
"Itachi, you know as well as I do that Hiruzen can not reach a diplomatic solution with your father. Should the coup go ahead, we will have no choice but to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan, including yourself and Sasuke. I know you do not want this. I have come with a proposition." Danzo said emotionlessly, not even blinking.
Itachi studied Danzo carefully, he never fully trusted the man and Danzo wasn't here on the Hokage's orders. "Go on." he said, deciding to here the old war hawks proposal.
"You alone kill the Uchiha clan. Doing so would mean you can save your brother and young Naruto wont grow up friendless."
"What do you gain out of this?" Itachi asked, wishing to know the mans motives.
"Simply the protection of the village." Danzo said, he disliked being questioned by a child. Everything he did was for the greater good of the village. No one ever undertood that.
"Very well." Itachi said and left Danzo where he stood. If he had to murder his clan, his parents, he would. As long as his brothers werent there to witness it.
XXX
Naruto and Sasuke were on their way home from a long day at the academy and training. They had been out thinking of a way to get Itachi to start acting normal again and came up with plenty of terrible ideas, simply deciding that he would be normal again if given enough time. Once they got closer to the compound -about two blocks away- Sasuke had noticed that the normally busy streets were completely empty. Naruto thought nothing of it and they kept walking, although once they reached the compound they immediately knew something was wrong.
There was no one at the front gates of the compound which sent alarm bells off in both of their heads. Tehy looked at one another and nodded and took off in different directions. Sasuke to his home and Naruto to his apartment.
Naruto had been looking for people on the way to his apartment and he wished that he hadn't. The street were lined with the bodies of dead Uchiha clan members. He didn't need to check the bodies to know that they were dead, the large pools of blood had indicated that fairly well. Realising the odds of finding anyone alive in his apartment building, Naruto changed directions and headed to Sasuke's house. He arrived there shortly and was greeted with a bone shattering scream. "SASUKE!" he yelled into the house.
Bursting through the front door he scanned every room as he made his way to Sasuke's room, but it was empty as was Itachi's. A cry of anger drew his attention to Sasuke's parents room. He entered the room as Sasuke exited through the window and the sight before Naruto brought him to his knees, tears trailing down his face. In front of him were the bodies of Fugaku and Mikoto, their corpses slowly bleeding out on the floor. Agony and despair swept through Naruto's body before nothing but hate and rage towards the person who did this. looking up to the window that Sasuke left through with red slitted eyes he followed determined to rip the murderer to shreds.
XXX
Itachi had felt fear very few times in his life. His first battle against a superior opponent, his first anbu mission, but those paled in comparison to the night that the Kyuubi attacked the village. Although he was young he remembered that night like it was yesterday. So when he felt a wave of the Kyuubi's chakra as he incapacitated Sasuke he thought that the beast had taken over Naruto, but when he saw the boy he knew that wasnt the case. Naruto calmed when he saw Itachi but he made the mistake of looking into the teens eyes.
The world around Naruto distorted and changed until it was nothing but a white space with only himself and Itachi. "Itachi-nii what happened?" Naruto said as tears started falling down his face, remembering everything he had seen.
It broke Itachi's heart to see his surrogate brother like this, he was as broken as the day that Sasuke had first brought him home. "Naruto. This may be unpleasant." he said as he was surround by crows and the one he implanted Shisui's eye into flew towards Naruto. The blonde looked and was about to say something when the bird flew straight into his mouth and down his throat. Unpleasant was an understatement.
"Naruto, I have given you one of Shisui's eyes. He gave it to me before he died so that it didnt fall into the wrong hands, I'm trusting you to keep it safe." Itachi said as he slowly walked towards Naruto. Kneeling in front of the boy, he placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair and brought their foreheads together. Looking into his eyes he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Remember Naruto, no matter my actions, be it now or in the future, everything I have done to to protect you and Sasuke. My little brothers."
The last thing Naruto saw before he lost conciousness was a smile grscing his Nii-sans lips.
Chapter end.
A/N: I know it's a short chapter but I drew a major mind blank and I just didnt know how to write it. I'm going to do a major timeskip next chapter to the day of graduation. You can complain if you like but I'll do flashbacks to explain things.
