Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am not making any money off this. This is simply my take on the large blanks Kishimoto-san left for us in the Uchiha's history.

Warnings: This story spans from war to massacre to abuse of various forms. Topics in this may be unpleasant for the reader so reader discretion is advised.

Spoilers: This contains spoilers for Kakashi Gaiden. All other information referenced in the story should only involve episodes that have been shown on Cartoon network and Chapters that have been published in volume format in English.

I don't have a Beta right now. If this changes, this note will change

Notes: This was completed for National Novel Writing Month and is complete, it will be posted chapter by chapter as they receive their final edit.

The Uchiha Massacre

- Chapter 5 -

Itachi spent several weeks in the hospital. His chakra had been depleted from the early activation of his Sharingan as well as the damage inflicted by the enemy Nin. He had over done it in the battle, and even though he was a prodigy, his chakra reserve were not those of an adult. He had the chakra of an eight year old, albeit a powerful eight year old. The extended time he has used his fully activated Sharingan, combined with the Jutsus he had used caused a near fatal chakra depletion. He had damaged all of his chakra channels and that made healing his physical wounds all the harder.

No one could fault him for risking his life like that. He may have been betting his life by overdoing it, but if he had not, his death was assured. Under less life threatening circumstances, his actions would have been foolhardy, but as it was, they were heroic. The Third visited him in his hospital bed, his old academy instructors, even a great aunt of his, Uchiha Uruchi brought him some flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop. He did not want flowers. He did not want visitors. He simply wanted to get better and get out of there. He wanted to heal. He did not have time to be side lined for weeks healing from broken bones and wounds. He did not have time to rest while his chakra channels healed. He needed to get stronger. He needed to find a way to escape this Uchiha curse. He needed to find a way of saving his brother from the same thing he was going through. If he could not save the clan, he would at least save Sasuke.

His father had been on a mission when he was bought back by the recovery team. Itachi had been in the hospital for three days before Fugaku showed up. The man strode into the hospital room as if he had every right to be there. Of course, no one stopped him. The man was the clan leader of the Uchiha in addition to being Itachi's own father. The staff probably thought that it was a wonderful thing for the man to be visiting his heroic, injured son.

When the door closed, the public façade the man wore disappeared. He walked straight to Itachi and grabbed him by the chin. "Activate the Sharingan." It was not a request. It was barely an order. If it was anything, it was a threat.

Itachi could not refuse his father. He knew his father knew that it was against the doctor's orders and the risks that using his eyes right then entailed. He also knew Fugaku did not care. This was clan business. He needed to know the truth of the rumors first hand. His hand remained on his son's chin as the pale boy's eyes changed in an instant from pitch black to vibrant red.

Itachi did not flinch. He could not flinch. He could not let this man know how repulsed he was. He could see so much though. As Fugaku looked into his son's eyes, checking the toma of the Sharingan, first to make sure there were three in each eye and then to check that they were fully formed; Itachi saw how his father's skin flushed. He saw the slight tensing of the muscles of his father's hand as he held onto his chin. He saw the slight changes in breathing as his father pulled closer. He saw his father's pulse speeding up. He saw a thin sheen of sweat appear. He saw the blood rushing through his father's body causing a slight flush to his skin.

Itachi couldn't not see it. Every detail of his father's arousal at holding his son's chin like that. Every detail of the man's reaction to knowing his son was weak and helpless. Every detail recognized whether he wanted to or not as the Sharingan eyes discerned every detail. Itachi struggled to hide the panic, knowing now that if his father ever approached him with Sharingan activated he would be unable to hide the truth. That is how the Uchiha kept their secret. No member could lie. Everything was stripped bare and laid out before the Sharingan. Every nuance of body language. No lie detector could ever be more exacting than this new found clarity his eyes brought him. Suddenly he knew how difficult it would be to work against his clan.

He could only hope his father would not risk doing something here. All the signs he was seeing from the older man's body seemed to prove that hope false. He just had never seen his father like this as clearly before – it was no where near the first time he had seen him like this though. Before anything could happen, there was a gentle knocking at the door and Itachi's jaw was released. Before the nurse walked into the room, he had released the Sharingan. All she saw when she walked in was a concerned father with his son. Fugaku even went through the motions of asking how Itachi was doing. He accepted the offer to talk to the doctor. Finally, Itachi was left in the room alone again. He was sure his father would not visit again; however he knew when he returned home things would be worse than they had been. There was no escape that he had found. That did not mean he had stopped looking.

When he was released, he slowly made his way back to the Uchiha compound. He was still tired. He was still weak. It was too much of a risk to travel by rooftops. He walked along in a loose shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back and dark loose pants. Everything was loose on his slight frame though. He was built more like his mother than his father. His delicate frame surprised people when they learned that he was next in line the lead the Uchiha. When they learned it was for his ability, they were even more surprised. Eight years old and had already activated the Sharingan. It was almost unheard of in someone his age.

They had been talking of letting him test for chuunin at nine, however these injuries changed that. Since they were not in wartime anymore, rank increases were being done more slowly. Children were taking longer to graduate the academy, and once they graduated, they were staying at Genin level for longer. It made sense. There was no need to rush the children of the village now. It made perfect sense to use these times of peace in order to strengthen the shinobi fighting for Konoha. Taking advantage of the luxury of peacetime allowed for higher survival rates. More skills were passed from teacher to student. Even the Uchiha prodigy could use the extra time – or so it was believed.

Itachi was wiling to play along with whatever the powers that be wanted. He would continue to train in secret. He would find a way to grow stronger -- whether they aided him or not. As he walked, he heard whispers. He hated how people talked. Always it was an endless drabble about how talented Itachi was, how lucky the Uchiha clan was to have such a strong heir, how other clans could only wish for someone as worthy to be born into their own blood lines.

The pride of the Uchiha clan scowled as he walked through the fan marked gates. How he was growing to hate the symbol. There was little that Itachi did not hate in fact. His village, his clan, his family, his bloodline … everything except the little boy in the kitchen looking up at him with a small ball in his hands. Kneeling down in front of his little brother, Itachi wrapped his arms around him. He did not care that his mother walked into the room to see Itachi hugging his brother. She did not know of the silent pledge he was making in his heart to save his little brother from the fate that was waiting for the members of this clan.

Itachi had some time that day before his father would be home and want to 'talk' to him. He was too weak to practice or train, so he did something he rarely allowed. He spent the late afternoon playing with his little brother. If anyone who did not know his secret were to see the two brothers playing, they would think it was a sign of a wonderful family. The eight year old played with his little toddler brother, throwing a ball and running around and letting the little boy catch him. The yard of their house was filled with the delighted squeals of the little boy. It all came to an end though when their father came home.

Dinner at the Uchiha household was a quiet affair. After dinner, Sasuke was left with their mother and Fugaku took his soon back to Itachi's room to have a small talk about how he was becoming a more responsible member of the clan. Four hours later, Itachi was in the freezing Nakano river, trying to wash the stain from his body. Somehow, life had gotten worse. He had thought it was as bad as it could ever be, but he had been wrong. Now Itachi was involved even more in the evil of his clan. He did not think he could ever be clean again. He would not let this happen to Sasuke. No, this could never happen to his little brother. He would run away with him as a worst-case scenario if it came to that. His only peace came from the fact that as long as Sasuke could not perform the Fire Jutsu to prove he was a full Uchiha, the boy was safe. He would not let Sasuke learn to do that attack. He had to keep his little brother safe.