Disclaimer: Naruto is a Japanese manga created by Masashi Kishimoto. All characters in this story are copyrights of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump and Studio Pierrot.
The Lazy Uchiha
By Bud
Chapter 3: Secrets Revealed
"Father, how come 'Niichan is so lazy?"
It was morning time, the same day that Sasuke asked his brother to help him with his shuriken training. Sasuke sat with his father at the diner table while his mother finishing cleaning up the dishes and preparing something. His father seemed to be thinking hard on the question he was just asked.
"That guy... is a little strange," Fugaku finally sighed. "He's been like that even before you were born. He didn't want to do anything but relax of sleep in all day, even skipping classes at the Academy to do so. Even as his parent I try to understand him..." He shook his head. "I even asked him why he was so lazy, and he was too lazy to even answer that!"
Sasuke giggled. That was his brother, alright.
"Here you go, Sasuke. Your lunch." His mother turn around and handed him the wrapped package. She smiled at him. "If you want to practice with your shuriken, I'll help you out after you come back."
Grabbing his lunch, Sasuke smirked at his mother. "It's not practice, it's training." Uchiha Mikoto looked amused, following her son to the front to see him off. "Bye!"
Sasuke exited the house and started walking to the Ninja Academy with a smile on his face. Today he'll train extra hard on his shuriken techniques so that they next time Itachi teaches him, he'll impress his brother and hopefully learn a knew technique. When Itachi promises something, he delivers and even as lazy as his brother could be, he never forgets a promise.
As Sasuke continued to school, he passed through the small shopping area of the district. One of his relatives, an Aunt, noticed him passing by and greeted him.
"Sasuke-chan, are you heading to school?" she asked, pausing in her sweeping. Sasuke stopped to talk to her.
"Yeah."
"I haven't seen Itachi today, yet." She shook her head at a funny thought. "My, that boy is so lazy, but it is surprising how intelligent he has become. He has grown-up really well and became an excellent ninja. Even as lazy as he was, he graduated the Academy with top grades and became a Chuunin at 11, right?"
Sasuke felt proud of his brother. "That's because Itachi is the smartest shinobi in the village!" he exclaimed. "He didn't even need the Sharingan because he used his mind and not his eyes!" He remembered his brother saying that one time.
His aunt nodded, looking out into the distance. "Yes. He's the only genius Uchiha that has accomplished so much without the aid of our bloodline. And I'm proud he part of the Uchiha clan." she looked back down at Sasuke. "Oh yes, how old are you now, Sasuke-chan?"
"Umm.. seven.." He looked down in thought. I'm the same age as Itachi when I graduated, but I...
His aunt noticed his expression. "What's wrong?"
"Hey!" greeted another person. It was his Uncle, his Aunt's husband. "Stop talking about those stupid things." He approached Sasuke and firmly gripped his shoulder. "Sasuke, you and Itachi are both of the Uchiha Clan, a Noble family of Konoha. Be confident about yourself. You can one day be a great ninja like Itachi one day."
Sasuke nodded. "Of course!" He turned and started running off to school. "Bye!"
"Do your best!" his Uncle called out.
"Be sure to study hard!" said his Aunt.
-----
Sasuke took those words of encouragement to heart. Arriving at the Academy, he did his best and he studied hard. Of all the people in the world, he wanted to impress his family the most. His Aunt, his Uncle, mother and father. But he wanted to impress his brother the most, to show him that he was catching up to him and one day will be equals.
Yes, I'm part of the Uchiha Clan like my brother. He thought while throwing stars left his hands and riddled a target in a crossing pattern. His technique was getting better thanks to his brother. I'll show my brother that I can be a great ninja like him, too.
Even after the Academy classes ended for the day, Sasuke remained and went over and over the techniques which Itachi taught him until they were done by instinct alone. By the time his arms were too sore to throw anymore, he realized it was dark and he was once again late in getting home.
Damn it.. I've stayed out too late again. He mentally cursed himself as he ran home. I should of payed more attention. Mother and father must be worried about me...
Huh! A feeling suddenly came over Sasuke and that forced him to stop. Looking up, his eyes gazed at the top of one of the telephone and power poles, but nothing but empty space was there. What was that? I thought someone was there...
Then he realized something very important when his eyes came back to ground level and took in his surrounding. All the lights were out in the homes.
The lights are out... it's not time to sleep yet.
He continued forward in a jog. He passed more buildings until he was nearing the turn that would be apart of his regular route. But the turn before that came up and something important caught his eyes.
"This is...!"
His eyes took in the sight of the street. It was nothing less of a war zone. Windows and doors were broken threw. Kunai, shuriken, kama and the occasional katana littered the street, embedded in walls, doors and even seemed to cut through many objects. But more importantly, blood flowed through the street. Blood which oozed or poured out of the many bodies that laid dead, lifeless from various implements of death. Bodies were beaten, sliced, chopped and as sickening as it was, some were mutilated beyond recognition. But there was only one thing that Sasuke recognized.
They were all Uchiha's.
"W-what is this!" he stared in horror, a sick feeling in his stomach. His legs were shaking. He continued forward in his run. What the hell is going on! He turned the corner back into his normal route and only found the same results, but worse.
Hin Aunt and Uncle lay dead, both with kunai stabbed into their hearts.
He slowly moved forward, not believing that this actually happened. He reached out with a shaking hand to touch his Aunt, but then a more important thought came to his mind.
Mother... father...
He moved faster than he even thought he could move, worry etched on his face. Within a couple minutes he arrived at his home and threw open the doors.
The house was dark and silent.
"Mother? Father?" he called out, swallowing a lump in his throat. He moved in, removing his sandals and dropped his school bag on the ground. "Are you here?"
Sasuke started searching the small mansion. He carefully moved without making a sound, in fear that something might happen. He first checked the kitchen, but signs of his mother were not there. His check the living room for his father, but no signs of him either. The dining room garnered no results. Not even the family parlor showed signs of someone present.
Sounds of something falling and hitting the ground caught his attention. They were coming from the dojo! Running through the house, he stopped at the small family training hall and felt a wave of fear washed over him. The training hall doors were closed. They were never closed, day or night.
Reaching for the door handles, fear again claimed him and he froze. His hands, his arms, his knees. They were all shaking in fear. Fear of what he didn't want to see. Fear of what he would find when he opened those doors. But he had to find out.
Someone's in there.. he thought. His breathing became quicker. His heart started to pound rapidly. It was becoming too much for Sasuke. But he had to go in there! Shutting his eyes, he willed himself to move. Move... His leg moved forward. MOVE! His hands grasped the door handles.
He opened them.
The inside of the training hall was dark. Frighteningly dark. Sasuke had to swallow the fear the was building up and step inside. But then his eyes saw it. The luminous light pouring through the only window of the small dojo. His eyes followed it's rays traveling down and across to the center of the dojo floor.
Where the dead bodies of his mother and father lay.
"Father! Mother!" He stared at the bodies, tears building up in his eyes. He didn't have to check the bodies. They were dead. Lifeless. Not living. Deceased. Why! He thought. Who did this! Why did they have to die!
Foot-steps alerted him and he looked passed the bodies. Fear laced through him once again and he started backing up in fear of his own life. It was another person dressed in all black and shinobi armor. It was a man with a katana strapped to his back wearing the unmistakable armor of the ANBU Assassination Squad. When his body fully came into the light, the fear in Sasuke partially left and he recognized the person.
It was Itachi, his brother.
"'Niichan!" Tears suddenly came to Sasuke's eyes. "Father and mother were...!" He shut his eyes. He couldn't say it. "Why! Why... Who did this!"
Sasuke's eyes snapped open at the sound of a shuriken planting itself in the door behind him. He winced when a cut on shirt opened and he felt the sting of the wound under it. He grabbed it and applied pressure, his eyes disbelievingly turning to Itachi. "'Niichan, what are you---"
He froze. His eyes... Sasuke realized. Instead of the pure black orbs like his own, this 'Itachi' had pure red irises with black pupils surrounded by black pins that formed a wheel. Sharingan...
Sasuke's visage turned to anger. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! WHY DID YOU KILL MY PARENTS! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER!" he shouted in rage, knowing that the person before him was using genjutsu.
The 'Itachi' in front of Sasuke seemed to become angered for some reason. He brought up a kunai and prepared to attack the defenseless boy, but a familiar voice made him freeze in his tracks and bring hope to Sasuke's eyes.
"How come these damn lights don't work!" shouted a grumpy Itachi. His voice was getting closer. "AND WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THIS GOD DAMN NOISE! I'M TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP DAMN IT!" he yelled, stepping into the doorway of the training hall. He saw the image of himself in his ANBU uniform, but he was only in his boxers and a tank-top. "What the---!"
"ANIKI!"
The real Itachi moved quickly, shoving Sasuke aside and catching the kunai between his fingers just millimeters from his face. He sent a death glare at the intruder.
"Who are you?" he asked coldly. The fake Itachi locked onto the real deals eyes. Sasuke caught Itachi's attention first.
"'Niichan! Father and mother---!"
Itachi's eyes left the intruder and locked onto the bodies on the floor. His eyes widened at seeing his mother and his father. Tears formed and fell along his cheeks. Two of the three people he loved more than anything in the world lay dead before him. His heart sunk as he felt the regret, for not apologizing to his father for all the things he had said over the years, for causing all the grief he placed upon his mother and father.
"You were suppose to be on a mission." The intruder stated using Itachi's voice, but also catching his attention in a most inappropriate time. Pure black eyes met Sharingan. Itachi slowly rose to his feet and his face changed to his killing face.
Calm and collected. Emotionless.
"I canceled the mission and passed it to another team. One of my members became sick." he explained. "So I slept in most of the day and decided to wake up early to help my brother train in the morning. But when I hear noise disturbing my sleep, not only do I find an intruder impersonating myself using Henge no Jutsu..."
".. I find my brother injured by your shuriken and my parents dead." His eyes narrowed. "For killing my mother, my father, and for injuring my little brother, I will kill you."
"And I will enjoy it." Itachi's eyes changed.
Sasuke gasped! No way! There was no mistake of what he just saw. His brother's eyes shifted color and changed completely. For as long as Sasuke had known and lived with his older brother, not once had he shown any sign of developing the family advanced bloodline. But his eyes were not fooled. The red irises, the black pupils and the three pins. Sharingan!
The copy Itachi was shocked. "Sharingan! How! You have never shown you know of the ability."
"I mastered the Sharingan at the age of 8. They do not call me a genius for nothing. But I refused to use my bloodline ability, because I wished to develop my mind, as you should know." His genjutsu is strong, though Itachi. I cannot see through his Henge no Jutsu. He is also an Uchiha with a mastered Sharingan.
"Sasuke." Said person looked at his brother. "Did he kill anyone else?"
"Y-yes! EVERYONE!" he cried, backing away out of the door. The killing intent of his brother's chakra was overwhelming him. Yet, he also felt comforted and safe because of it.
"Hide. Now." Came the command, and Sasuke didn't hesitate to comply. Itachi's focus remain on his double. "Now, you shall pay."
The fake Itachi rushed the real one, quickly pulling out a bundle of kunai. Itachi moved backward, flipping away from each swipe of the faker's hands as he tried to claw at him. Flipping back once more, he landed in a crouch, his Sharingan following the fore-image of the fake and connecting with his ankle with a sweeping roundhouse, tripping him up. The fake moved slightly and rolled in a quick recovery from the sweep.
He is fast and trained. He could actually be an ANBU like myself, he thought. He noticed the fake forming the tiger seal. And he is definitely an Uchiha...
"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!"
Itachi flipped up, dodging the array of small fire-bolts being fired at him. As he flipped and dodged each of the bolts, his arms weaved around them while his fingers plucked out kunai they were hidden inside. Landing on his two feet, he moved forward faster than the copy-Itachi expected. His one hand waved in a half-circle, throwing kunai in a fanning attack. The enemy moved as he predicted, and he felt satisfaction when a kunai ricochet off of a rock and stabbed into his right calf. He watched the fore-image of the impostor pulled the kunai out of his leg and leap away, just as he performed said move. Itachi followed only the fore-image, tossing a pair of kunai at it. As he did that, he threw the remaining kunai in a vertical fan-move at the next fore-image.
Itachi licked his lips when the intruder cried in pain when several kunai stabbed into his right leg.
"The Sharingan, our bloodline, is powerful indeed." Itachi started to explain, moving across the courtyard toward his enemy. "But it's greatest weakness are those that specialize in taijutsu. Mêlée-combat with the Sharingan verses someone with mastery of the body is suicide for those of our clan. Those with great speed that specialize in hand-to-hand combat can move faster than the Sharingan user and take advantage of our bloodline and turn it into a handicap."
The fake Itachi seethed, his hand drawing his katana from his back and holding it in a reverse grip. Itachi continued.
"By looking into your eyes, I can tell the power of your Sharingan is strong." he stated, stopping twenty paces from the fake. "But as I said before, those that specialize in taijutsu, hand-to-hand combat experts, are a bad match up against the Sharingan."
The fake charged, preparing to deal a death blow to the elder Uchiha.
"The only thing worse than a taijutsu specialist verses Sharingan match up, is a taijutsu specialist also having the Sharingan!"
Itachi ducked under the swipe of the katana, his hand rising up and catching the copy's right arm. Using the momentum, he jerked the arm back toward him and slammed his free palm into the elbow, breaking the arm at the elbow joint. As the katana fell to the ground and his enemy screamed, Itachi wrenched the broken arm and poured chakra into his muscles. With a mighty swing, he sent the impostor flying up into the air! He used his foot to flick the katana into the grip of his left hand while his right hand did the seemingly impossible.
The fake Itachi's eyes widened as he started falling back to the ground. The real Itachi started forming one-handed seals! "Impossi----!"
Half-Serpent. Half-Dragon. Half-Hare. Half-Tiger.
"KATON: RYUUKA NO JUTSU!"
Fire erupted around Itachi's body, burning the ground and some of the surroundings within five feet. With a simple blow of his mouth, the fire was sent skyward. Unlike the Grand Fireball, which flares out into a huge ball of fire, the Dragon Fire technique is released as one long stream of extremely hot fire chakra in a straight line. The pillar of fire that came from Itachi's mouth rose high in the air within seconds, engulfing the fake Itachi and lighting up the sky above Konoha. And as quickly as the move was performed, it ended sending the burnt corpse of his enemy falling legs first.
And just before the murderer of his father and mother hit the ground, Itachi spun quickly and sliced off his partially burnt head with the katana, making sure the bastard remained dead.
Blowing the remains of the fire from his mouth, Itachi examined the head to get the identity of the murderer since the genjutsu should of canceled. His eyes widened at seeing the burnt face.
"No..." He backed away from the face, the katana dropping from his hands. "No way... impossible..." Tears welled up in his eyes at seeing the face he had missed and supposedly laid to rest months ago.
It was the head of Uchiha Shisui.
"NOOOO!" he shouted to the heavens, clutching his head as pain suddenly over came him. He fell to his knees, his hands landing for support in the koi pond with a splash. He's gaze turned to the water, tears freely dropping into it's shallow depths. When the water stilled, he noticed why his head flared in pain.
His eyes changed.
Instead of the three-pins that formed the pin-wheel of the Sharingan, there were three blades that formed the wheel that connected the extended pupils. To anyone else they would look like the Uchiha clan's triple-windmill shuriken blades, but to someone as intelligent as Itachi, who had read and studied almost every scroll of the clan, he knew exactly what they were.
Mangekyou Sharingan.
Itachi slowly rose to his feet and stumbled as he walked back toward the house. Tears clouded his vision and he didn't see when he slammed into one of the support post of the walk-way and fell on his ass. He leaned back, leaning against the post as the river of tears continued to flow. Sobs shook his body as he openly cried for the first time in his life. Pain stabbed his heart over and over. The pain of betrayal by his best friend that was suppose to be dead. The pain of loss for the clan he hated and loved at the same time. The heart-wrenching pain of finding his father and mother dead. He had nothing left.
Nothing.
"A-aniki!" came the a crying voice.
"Sasuke!" he cried, pulling his little brother into a tight embrace and allowing him to cry into his chest. Both of them let all the sadness and sorrow from their bodies, sobbing and wailing at the loss of everything. They now only had each other.
And after almost an hour of pouring their broken and shattered hearts out to each other, multiple masked figures appeared around the Uchiha mansion and closed in on them.
"Wha--!" Sasuke suddenly found himself being ripped from his brother by a couple pairs of strong arms. He thrashed and screamed, calling for his brother. "ANIKI!"
"SASUKE!" Itachi cried out, a wild look in his eyes at seeing his last remaining family member being dragged away from him. It took almost all of the remaining masked figures to restrain him. "GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER OR I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
One of the masked figures moved forward forming hand-seals. Itachi immediately recognized it as a very strong forced-sleep technique, and with his arms restrained by the other figures, he couldn't counter it. Except...
Itachi looked directly into the jutsu casters eyes through the mask. "Mangekyou Sharingan!" The jutsu caster suddenly froze creating the final seal and a split second later he screamed and collapsed, falling limp to the ground. One of the other figures moved to him and checked on their comrade. He shook his head.
He was dead.
"LET. ME. GO!" Itachi shouted again, against thrashing around to find an opening.
A rag was suddenly forced over his mouth and nose. His thrashing made it easier for the masked figures and allowed the ether that soaked the rag to take a faster effect.
Within seconds, Itachi was unconscious.
"NO, ANIKI!"
-----
Itachi slowly opened his eyes. He could hear hushed voices all around him yet he couldn't pin-point any location. He felt drowsy and disorientated. He couldn't focus completely on anything and he couldn't concentrate. All he knew was that he was in a pitch black room sitting under a bright and hot light while strapped to a chair by steel chains and thick leather straps.
He was in the ANBU Interrogation Unit dungeon.
A deep, voice filled the air from a speaking, talking directly to him. "If you are feeling drowsy and cannot focus correctly, you should be under the effects of a powerful truth serum that I injected into you. It's a very, interesting serum. It makes you tell the truth, whether you wish to or not, unlike the old crap that just makes you tell the truth when you speak. You'll talk no matter what."
"Name?" the voice asked.
"Uchiha... Itachi."
"Rank?"
"Chuunin... ANBU platoon commander..."
"Age?"
"...Thirteen."
"What happened during your last mission with the ANBU?"
"... one of my subordinates came down with the flu, forcing me to cancel the mission and request another team to take it.."
"Why are you so lazy?"
"..." No answer.
"... I see the truth serum isn't that strong, but no matter. Tell us the real reason why you canceled the mission! Was it to murder your whole clan!"
"I did not killed anyone except the murderer..."
"And that murderer would be...?"
"Uchiha Shisui."
"Shisui died months ago. Are you to tell me that you are blaming the deaths of over two hundred men, women and children on a dead shinobi!"
"No, Shisui killed my mother and my father.. and he tried to kill my little brother... so I killed him..."
"On the night that Shisui was found dead by the Nakano river, your alibi was that you were on a mission, except no such mission existed in the records. Where were you exactly?"
"... I .. had a private meeting with the Hokage.."
The voice paused.
"Why were you having a meeting with the Sandaime Hokage?" The voice was suspicious.
"I wanted to warn him... warn the village..."
"Warn the Hokage? Warn him of what?"
".. the Uchiha clan..."
"What about the Uchiha Clan?"
"... the clan.. was planning to take over the village..."
"Why does the Uchiha wish to betray the Leaf? Explain!"
"Power." Itachi said. "The Uchiha Clan wanted the control of the Leaf, to be the head family of a shinobi village in a country of fire. Who better have have as a Hokage than a genius of a genius clan whose hearts and minds burn with fire. My clan wanted power and they had planned for many years to get that power."
"Did the Uchiha think that others would just sit and allow them to start a coup de'tau? The Hyuuga and other Noble and minor clans would not allow such a thing to happen."
Itachi stared forward, feeling the drug in his system starting to fade. "The plan to take over Konoha took six years to create. It involved positioning key clansman in certain jobs and positions around the village. Mission Center. Hokage's aides. Military Police Corps, of course." he paused. "ANBU. When the time was right and the plan was executed, the Hokage would be assassinated along with the high council. When the ANBU responds, they would find themselves betrayed by their own comrades and killed swiftly. The Hyuuga would be dealt with in a similar matter also along with the other clans." Itachi closed his eyes. "For every plan that would fail, there would be seven or more contingency plans."
There was stone cold silence for a few moments. The voice spoke again.
"Why did you betray your clan and warn the Hokage?"
Itachi lowered his head, a tear dropping from his eyes. "In the end... the plan would of failed. Of the 237 members of the Uchiha clan, only 143, including myself, can access or have mastered our bloodline, the Sharingan. The numbers we would be facing would be too great for our clan to complete the coup de'tau and successfully claim the village as ours." He raised his head and looked forward with a pained expression. "I didn't want my brother living in a time of civil war! I don't want him to see his brother dead because he betrayed his village! I didn't want him to see me die in a hopeless battle for power!"
"So that is why----"
"I love my clan..." Itachi continued, completely on his own and not by the serums influence. "..but I hate them for forcing me to act out their will, their desires, their dark ambitions. I'm the heir of the Uchiha, but I'm also a chuunin and commander within the Hokage's special forces, the ANBU..."
His head dropped, tears freely flowing once again.
"... I will always chose my duty to my Hokage and my family before choosing my clan..."
"Choose your family? Then why did you kill them?"
"I DIDN'T KILL THEM, YOU BASTARD!" Itachi screamed as he lunged forward, almost ripping himself of his bonds. "I'LL KILL MYSELF BEFORE I EVEN THINK IF KILLING MOTHER, FATHER OR MY BROTHER!"
"That's enough." Came a voice within the shadows directly in front of Itachi.
The light above him shut up and was replaced by the total illumination of the room. Itachi's sensitive eyes stung from the sudden brightness change but he started to adjust. He was correct in assuming his location. One of the newer ANBU-IS (Interrogation Squad) dungeons. White-wash walls and floors with the typical interrogation light and speakers. He was surrounding by ANBU, but he recognized that they were from the ANBU-AS (Assassination Squad). Going by mask, he knew that the elites were surrounding him, three of which were his own subordinates. He even noticed the village genius, Hatake Kakashi standing next to the originator of the second voice.
Sandaime Hokage.
"Hokage-sama..." Itachi again lowered his head.
"Itachi-kun, what you have just told the ANBU and your comrades is the same as what you have told me many months ago, correct?"
Itachi nodded.
"What you did not know, Itachi, was that a month previous, Uchiha Shisui had already informed myself and the high council of these special meetings which the Uchiha Clan as been holding." Sarutobi pulled his pipe out from under his sleeve and lit the tobacco inside. After a few puffs he continued. "He had revealed the same information as you have, though you went into more detail. During that month, spies were set up in key locations which further weakened my disbelief that the Uchiha clan was actually going to betray this village. That is when the plan was established that certain Uchiha would not go unpunished."
Itachi stared wide-eyed at the Hokage.
"Shisui's suicide was set-up by our Hunter-nin's that left him in a near-death state and looked like he was drowned. Once the Police Force had finished, the ANBU cleaned up the trash and recovered the body." The Hokage stared into Itachi's eyes. "When was the last time you attended one of those meetings, Itachi-kun?"
"... before my meeting that night, months ago.."
Sandaime nodded.
"My spies discovered that the Uchiha were planning to move soon. Very soon." He sighed. "The Police Force found some of the spies within their ranks and had dealt with them. According to the report, they died because of a training accident."
"T-that happened last week!" Itachi exclaimed.
"Five Hyuuga and three chuunin level shinobi were killed in one training accident, Itachi-kun. No investigation was conducted and the bodies were already cremated so the cause of death would only be known on paper."
"..." He had nothing to say. Blatant murders like that were all to obvious to anyone.
"Because of those murders, the conspiracy to act against the Leaf and it's inhabitants along with the unmistakable evidents to do so..." The Hokage sighed. "The council and myself have ordered the elimination of the Uchiha Clan."
Itachi stared, wide-eyed at the Hokage.
...elimination of the Uchiha Clan...
"Why..." He continued to stare at the Hokage. "Why send Shisui! Why make him take my face and kill my family!"
Sarutobi shook his head, taking off his Hokage head-dress. "That is the problem, Itachi-kun. We didn't."
"What...?"
"Shisui was placed in isolation away from the village after his suicide." began Hatake Kakashi. "During those months, he was left un-monitored but supplied with goods bi-weekly from one of merchant families. Last week, the merchant didn't return and one of our teams were dispatched to investigate. The cabin Shisui lived in was littered with blood and bodies of what we identified as missing-nin of several villages, mostly our own. They also discovered writings made by Shisui that told of his dislike of how the Uchiha have grown, his hatred for certain individuals in the clan, and creative poems which gave the hint that he was bordering the line between hatred and psychotic obsession."
"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.
"Many of his writings were about the Sharingan and wishing to attain it's ultimate form?" The 21 year old Kakashi scratched his head after reading the paper. "We could not find out the meaning of this, but deduced that it had something to do with the Uchiha bloodline."
Itachi's eyes again dropped and he stared at the floor in deep thought. Shisui.. wished to attain the Mangekyou Sharingan. Itachi closed his eyes as he remember the passage in one of the Clan's blood scrolls. To attain true mastery of the Sharingan, blood must be spilled and hate must thrive in the mind. To reach the greatest height of achievement... one must end the life someone loved, yet does not share the same blood. Itachi's eyes watered.
"... you must kill your closest friend." he mumbled, gaining the Hokage's attention.
"Itachi-kun, what are you saying?"
His head raised and he looked at his Hokage with a sad and broken smile. He then explained Shisui's motive.
"To attain the ultimate form of the Sharingan... you must kill your closest friend." Tears again flowed down his cheeks. "Shisui could never defeat me.. so he sought others in the clan until he came to my family... and went after his other closest friend.. Sasuke.."
Why, my friend, why did you desire the power of the Sharingan so badly that you went as far as killing the whole clan? Was it temptation? Was it your dislike of the clan turned hatred that drove you so such actions? Jealousy? Or was it something else?
While Itachi's mind went through the why's, his body was set free and he was carried away by those under his command. And as he disappeared, the Hokage remained with those of the ANBU-IS and Kakashi's AS unit, watching the broken man being escorted to a safe location to be with his brother.
"A sad night for Konoha," stated one of the IS Chuunin. Sarutobi couldn't agree more.
"Send the Fire Extinguisher unit out and clear the Uchiha Clan's district. Retrieve the body of Uchiha Shisui and conduct a full autopsy to find any reason he went rogue. And make up a cover-story for this. We do not need to have the village in chaos right now." He paused. "And make sure to preserve the bodies of Itachi's parents. They.. should get a proper burial."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
This is just one big mess, thought Sarutobi.
End of Chapter 3
Author's Notes:
Another chapter done. This chapter takes place in the manga and obviously goes over the Uchiha Massacre. It also goes into detail of what goes on behind the scenes within the Uchiha, explaining why they had those secret meetings.
Why didn't Itachi kill the clan? He's lazy, duh! The Itachi, from how is personality is up to this point, in this story is lazy but he has a sense of honor and pride for being the smartest Uchiha. He also knows his priorities being first himself, his brother, his family, the Leaf then his clan. He doesn't care for power or wishes to test his capacity in any way. But when people anger him in anyway, he talks a lot of shit that he can back-up, especially when his clansmen threaten him with their Sharingan.
Why did Shisui kill the clan? I'm gonna leave that as the big question that will go unanswered. Because from reading this chapter, it's self explanatory, even if some key answers are missing.
Why give Itachi the Sharingan when he's strong without it? Re-read the story. Itachi is a GENIUS. He mastered the Sharingan at the age of 8 (like in canon-Naruto) on his own. It's just like Hyuuga Neji being a born genius of the branch family that mastering the Hakkeshou Kaiten and Hakke Rokujuuyon on his own. He's a born genius. If you were a born genius, wouldn't you master your family's advanced bloodline ability?
Why didn't Itachi use his bloodline then? Re-read the story. A lot of things are self-explanatory.
As for the Uchiha clan, I kinda got the hint that somewhere in the Manga that the reason for those meetings was truly because the Uchiha were planning a coup de'tau, or taking over the government by military force. It would be hilarious of Masashi Kishimoto-san if that was the true reason for killing off the clan by Itachi.
I just wanna let folks know, who especially follow my stories, that Nov. 9th is coming up real soon. That's when Halo 2 comes out. That's when I'll probably write like once a week or not at all. When I mean write, I don't mean chapters. I mean like taking my time to actually put stuff down.
Anyways, next up will be Chapter 4: Growing Distant