Wow, this chapter's long. It is now revised, so my apologies go out to those who read it before, when it had quite a few grammatical mistakes. This chapter took a lot out of me, so please enjoy my hard work!

Chapter 7 - The Point of No Return

Sasuke was glad Itachi didn't make any move to enter the actual house, because that would have been an unendurable violation of everything Sasuke held close to heart. He suddenly felt very possessive of his precious things and people, and he didn't want this man anywhere near them. He moved purposefully to position himself between Itachi and the door of the house. If Itachi noticed the significance of the gesture, he made no mention of it, simply saying, "Perhaps you would be more comfortable sitting down."

"I would prefer to stand," Sasuke replied. If spoken words were visible, his would have emerged as solid ice. Itachi didn't push him, but he did sit down himself. His body draped itself gracefully over the wooden boards as he arranged his legs into a cross-legged pose.

Ha! He must feel like an idiot, sitting down there like a kindergartner, Sasuke thought, not bothering to suppress a smirk of superiority. That was before he realized that he felt just as stupid, standing there awkwardly trying not to look at his brother's face, because that just made him irrationally angry. Finally he plopped himself down on the porch with an ungracious snort, keeping a healthy distance between the two of them. Itachi straightened slightly, now seriously preparing to tell his tale. He'd been waiting for Sasuke to sit, obviously.

Crap, how did he know I even was going to sit down? Sasuke thought, annoyed. It's like he knows everything. His eyes roved over Itachi's calm, collected visage and he suddenly felt uncertain. Does he know everything? he wondered uneasily. His unbearable "inner voice" popped up again, answering his question.

No, he's just a smart guy. And he knows you. And jeez, can't you come to one sensible conclusion without me there to give you a nudge?

He thinks he knows me, Sasuke snapped. And I was doing fine before you butted in! Give me a break!

Whatever, you angsty jerkface.

"Confronting personal demons, Sasuke?" Itachi's quiet, robotic question brought Sasuke back to his natural surroundings.

Yes, and you're the worst of them, Sasuke thought, but he kept that to himself and said coldly, "I thought you were going to explain?"

"That was my original intention, yes," Itachi admitted. "What, specifically, would you like to know?"

"Like you said, everything."

Itachi nodded. "I will start at the beginning, then. If I can find it."

Itachi's Story

A thirteen-year-old Uchiha Itachi walked slowly home, clutching a scroll which contained the details for the mission he would undertake the following morning. A mission which he had not asked for, but which, as usual, had been doled out to him just five minutes after he had completed the previous one. Ever since he'd joined ANBU and become captain, the work had become never-ending. He barely had time to eat proper meals now. He was only a teenager, for Pete's sake! Where in the law, he thought, clenching the fist that held his mission scroll, is it written that an exceptional ninja must spend his every moment accomplishing something, without a break to relax and enjoy the ride? The answer wasn't difficult to see. Exceptional ninjas didn't need to work constantly. Only exceptional Uchiha ninjas did.

Itachi used to think that being an incredibly gifted young shinobi was a good thing. That was until he realized that he had no control over his talent. The Uchiha clan dictated his every move, had already mapped out his entire career for him, probably. They looked at his abilities as simply a way to advance the clan and not as something personal belonging to him. They expected him to complete each mission perfectly, and he did. They expected him to serve the clan willingly and obediently, and he did. They expected him to be the best, and he was. But he was tired of meeting expectations. He wondered if any other thirteen-year-old had to carry this much pressure on his shoulders. Some days, like today, it felt like a physical weight, so heavy he could barely stand.

His legs had led him right up to his front door, and he opened it and went in. A joyful shout of "Aniki!" was the first thing he heard, and next moment there was a black-haired bundle hugging his legs. Itachi smiled slightly and reached down to ruffle his little brother's hair. "Hello, Sasuke."

When he had detached himself from Sasuke, he entered the living room. His father, stern-faced, sat at the table, flipping through a thick volume. He looked up briefly when his son came in and asked, "Did you complete your mission successfully, Itachi?"

Itachi stared at his father and almost poured out all of his feelings right then and there. But then he bit the words back. Approaching his father with his complaints? His father was one of the people who ran the clan, and the source of most of the pressure on Itachi. Just his question proved that the only thing in his eldest son that he cared about was his skill. Had he asked, "Did you have fun?" or even "How are you today?" No, all he said was, "Did you complete your mission successfully?" like that was all that mattered. Because to him, it was.

"Yes, Father," Itachi said dully. He looked down at the scroll he'd been carrying, and saw that it had been crumpled into a tiny ball.

--

Itachi stopped for a breather between the trees, bending low with his hands on his knees and panting harshly. He had been travelling very fast to catch up with his ANBU squad after he had separated from them for the purpose of the mission. Too fast - his body was punishing him now.

He straightened up moments later, and cursed inwardly. His weariness had prevented him from noticing before, but now he sensed the presence of strangers surrounding him. From the amount of Chakra he could feel, he guessed that there were three. He activated his Sharingan and took a defensive stance.

Unusually, they all stepped out of the bushes at once, not aiming for a surprise attack. There were three, proving Itachi's estimate correct. One was a boy with red hair who looked younger than Itachi, one had pale blue skin and shark-like features, and the last had dark, heavy-lidded eyes and blue hair decorated with a flower accessory. The one thing they all seemed to have in common was their garb - they all wore long, loose black cloaks with red cloud patterns stitched on. Itachi registered every detail of their appearance for future reference. Near future reference, if they wanted to fight him.

"Are you Uchiha Itachi?" the blue-haired female asked. Itachi considered denying it, but it was obvious from his eyes that he was an Uchiha, and if she was asking, that probably meant she was searching for him and already knew what he looked like.

"Yes," he said warily.

The female's expression didn't change, but he thought he spotted a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. She turned to her companions, and they hastened to introduce themselves.

"I am Sasori," the red-haired boy said. Itachi scrutinized him for a long time - he seemed young, but there was something off about his youth. The shark-like one sounded somewhat miffed as he said, "I'm Kisame," probably because of Itachi's lack of attention towards him.

The female didn't follow suit, however. She seemed content to leave herself unnamed. Itachi was sweating and felt afraid, but it was only now that he realized that it wasn't because he felt any killer intent from the threesome - instead he sensed a rabid interest radiating from them, directed towards him. It made him very uncomfortable. What did they want him for?

"At what age did you graduate from the ninja academy of Konoha?" the shark guy, Kisame, asked suddenly.

"Seven." Itachi didn't lie; he got the feeling that if he did, they would know.

"Achieve the rank of Chuunin?"

"Nine."

"It seems to be him all right," Kisame said gruffly. This seemed to be some kind of cue for Sasori, because he immediately launched into a brief explanation.

"We are from Akatsuki. Our leader has had his eye on you for some time now, and we were sent to inspect you more closely."

"Inspect me for what?" Itachi asked coldly. He knew he was risking provoking an attack by trying to hurry them, but he couldn't delay long anyway if he wanted to catch up to his squad.

"More precisely," Sasori verified, "we wish to recruit you." He looked at Itachi expectantly, as if waiting for some sort of momentous reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I have little to no idea of what you're talking about, and at the moment I am in something of a hurry," Itachi said. "If you have anything further to say, please make it as short as possible." This was being rude, but he was liking the situation less and less with every passing moment and just wanted to get out of it. Besides, these three odd characters didn't seem to mean him any harm; quite the opposite, in fact.

"Why does Leader-sama always pick the bold ones?" Kisame wondered under his breath.

"Shut up, Kisame," the blue-haired woman commanded, and she seemed to hold some authority, because he obliged. "We won't hold him back." She turned to Itachi. "We apologize for using your precious time, and we would like to meet with you again. Is a week from now, same time, same place, convenient for you?"

Itachi still wasn't sure exactly what they wanted to do with him, or if he wanted anything to do with them, but their message, however cryptic and vague, excited him a little. Was this his chance to finally break free of the Uchiha clan's restraints?

"Perhaps," he said carefully, unwilling to make any promises, "but, again, why have you singled me out like this?"

He would remember Sasori's next words until his dying day, for they struck a chord in him that was seldom ever touched. "Because you, Uchiha Itachi, are a special case."

The people from "Akatsuki", as they said, left him then, and he found himself alone with nature once again.

Itachi rejoined his ANBU squad fairly quickly following the incident, and had soon returned to Konoha, but he told no one of his encounter with Akatsuki. He could not deny that meeting the three strangers again held an irresistible appeal for him. He knew that he was a special case - he was of Uchiha blood, to begin with, and was a prodigy even among that prestigious clan. But most of all, he was completely apathetic towards the clan's wishes. Their policies, their expectations - he no longer cared to fulfill them. And that was what made him special. But how could Akatsuki know that?

--

Itachi was not ignorant to the dangers of consorting with Akatsuki, however. Like any shinobi with an ounce of sense, he did his research, heading over to the library when he had a spare minute. From the way Sasori, Kakuzu and the blue-haired person had spoken of it, he figured that Akatsuki was either a town or some kind of group. After checking several atlases and finding no trace, he decided it was a group, which left him with a more difficult task. He tried what seemed to him like hundreds of books before he thought of something.

There had definitely been something shifty, suspicious about that threesome in the forest - he couldn't see them as being average, law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding; what if they were criminals? He visited the criminology section and soon hit upon a promising volume, entitled "A Lawbreaker's Encyclopaedia: a comprehensive guide to all people, places and things outside of the law". And there they were, under A: Akatsuki.

Itachi crouched there between bookshelves, heart beating faster than normal. It was a very short article, but he soaked up what little there was like a fish breathing in life-giving water through its gills.

Akatsuki is probably the most famous and feared of any criminal organization in history. It consists of the most dangerous criminals and missing-nins in the world. Information about this mysterious group is difficult to find, as most who had dealings with them did not emerge in any condition to tell stories, but Akatsuki's members are believed to wear long black cloaks decorated with red clouds as a type of uniform. It is said that they accomplish missions in pairs, and -

Itachi sensed someone approaching at that moment, and he slammed the book shut and shoved it back on the shelf. If anyone saw him reading about a criminal organization, they would definitely be suspicious. He turned and stood, forcing a smile when he saw that it was Uchiha Shisui, his best friend.

Shisui grinned back at him. "Hey, Itachi!" he said. "What're you doing here, in the library? Becoming a bookworm?" Itachi was used to Shisui's constant stream of jokes and teasing, but wasn't really in the mood to play around today. "Yeah, sure," he said.

Itachi's less-than-jovialness seemed to get through to Shisui, because his grin faded as he asked, "Hey, what's up, man? You okay?" Then he added quickly, "On second thought, don't tell me - I've got enough problems without you dumping yours on me!" Not giving Itachi time to answer, he rushed on. "So, wanna go and train together? You've been away on so many missions lately, I've barely seen you. I missed our sessions."

This cheered Itachi a little. He always enjoyed time spent with Shisui, even if his friend went a bit overboard at times. "That sounds great, Shisui," he said, and meant it.

--

The knowledge that the three he'd met in the forest were dangerous criminals drew Itachi in at the same time as it repelled him. His rebellious side, so long stifled by the obedience enforced on him by the clan, was answering the call at last. So he met Akatsuki at the agreed time, ready to listen and hang around long enough to understand.

Sasori, Kisame and the blue-haired woman (who still hadn't told Itachi her name, and he was too polite to ask) filled him in on all the details. Apparently they had heard of his genius and incredible capabilities at such a young age and had immediately thought of him as their next member, seeing as they were lacking some. Itachi wasn't sure how he felt about this - it was flattering in a way, but also scary, and also oddly tempting. The clan would never condone this - but did he care about the clan anymore? Not really. And Akatsuki might actually be the escape he was looking for. Certainly he would still have to go on missions if he joined them, but he would not be controlled and pushed in every direction except the one he desired. He would be free to use his abilities as fully as he wished.

He told them he needed time to think about it. They didn't object, and merely set up another meeting time.

Throughout the next month or so, Itachi was almost as busy with Akatsuki as he was with his Konoha missions. Sasori, Kisame and Blue, as he referred to her in his mind, taught him things, things which he found much more useful than much of what he'd learned in the academy. But with every new lesson, he became more aware of how far behind them he was in skill. They were truly dangerous people, and Itachi wanted to reach their level. He knew he could, too, if he worked. And work was exactly what he did. He trained and trained, and trained some more, and he checked out practically every book of jutsus in the library, teaching himself as many as possible.

It was during one of the many hours he spent in the library that Itachi stumbled upon what would become his most powerful jutsu. He had just opened a book that explored all the attack methods of the Sharingan, and a small scroll had slipped out. Itachi bent down to pick it up. His eyes moved from side to side as they scanned the paper, and then widened. Hurriedly replacing the book in its place and slipping the scroll into his pocket, he practically sprinted home and locked himself in his room.

--

An hour later, Itachi was still sitting on his bed, and his hands were still shaking so badly he couldn't hold the scroll steady. What he'd read terrified him, not least because he was seriously considering it. What it suggested was unspeakably abominable, and yet he was thinking about doing it.

The Mangekyou Sharingan...Itachi thought. Why haven't I ever heard of it before? Although really, considering what you had to do to obtain this particular Sharingan ability, it made sense to hush it up.

Kill. Kill your closest friend. That was what you had to do. Murder them in cold blood, and then, supposedly, you would gain a special version of the Sharingan. By using this Mangekyou you could trap someone in a world created by you, where you could torture them for days, and yet only a second would pass by in the real world - it was called Tsukuyomi. That wasn't the only thing it could do, either, but it was enough for now. With something this big, and this horrible, you had to take it slow. And yet, if it was so horrible, why did Itachi want it so badly?

He knew why. It was powerful. To be able to completely incapacitate someone in a matter of seconds, just by looking in their eyes - that was truly formidable. And anyone who could wield it would be a truly formidable ninja.

Itachi's next meeting with Akatsuki decided it for him. He was still behind them, and now he could catch up so simply. This very night, I will do it, he thought as he returned home. Then he remembered that the Uchiha council was gathering tonight, and he was expected to be there. It doesn't matter. If I don't do it tonight, I will never be able to.

He left the house early that evening and dropped by Shisui's place. "Shisui," he said as soon as his friend had emerged, "I would like to speak with you. Will you walk by the river with me?"

"Sure," Shisui said. "But make it quick - the meeting, remember?" Itachi couldn't breathe for a moment - Shisui was grinning so widely, having no idea of what awaited him in a matter of minutes. But he could only swallow and nod. "It will be brief." Oh, I do so hope it will be.

As they walked, Itachi asked out of the blue, "Shisui, do you ever feel...used...by the clan? As if all they care about is how well you do, not how well you are?" He glanced hopefully at his friend. Maybe, if Shisui felt the same way he did, he could find a way out of this - they could start off on their own together, and he would never have to commit this atrocious murder. But Shisui's response squished those dim hopes.

"Not really," Shisui said lightly, shrugging. "I mean, we belong to the clan, so it's only right that we use our abilities to help it flourish." Itachi's heart sank until he thought he could just reach down and pull it out of his shoes. Shisui was just like all the others - the Elders, his father, everyone who had pressured him into a life he hated. There was no way out of this. To break free of the ropes that chafed him more every day, he needed power, and sacrifices had to be made to get that power. Shisui would be the first sacrifice.

Itachi waited until they were along the edge of the very deepest part of the river, and then he just gave Shisui a little push. It was enough to send him sprawling, right into those dark, rushing waters. Not nearly as dark or rushing as Itachi's heart when he leaped in after Shisui, however. Shisui struggled, but being the stronger swimmer and better ninja of the two, Itachi subdued him. It was so hard, and yet so appallingly easy, to hold his best friend underwater, feeling the life drain out of him. Finally, when Itachi felt Shisui's body go limp, he released him, and swam ashore, soaking wet. He sat by the river for almost half an hour, dripping everywhere, staring at his hands, the same hands that had just felt death. Clean, damp hands, and yet dirty, permanently stained.

The confusion, the fear, the hurt, in Shisui's eyes as he looked at Itachi for the last time, would stay in his accursed memory forever.

--

Sasori, Kisame and Blue were all favourably impressed, and much astonished, by Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. "That ability will become famous one day," Blue predicted, very accurately as it turned out.

Itachi was slightly bothered that they didn't even bat an eye at the fact that he'd murdered Shisui to gain this ability. Kisame, in fact, congratulated him on committing his first murder. But Itachi couldn't shake the feeling that he'd overreached himself the day he ended the life of another human being, a human being who liked and trusted him - it was his first kill, and he was not as proud of it as his Akatsuki acquaintances thought he should be.

"Itachi," Sasori said, snapping Itachi out of his morbid thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I - we - believe you are ready to join Akatsuki, if that is your wish."

Itachi thought of Shisui's dying convulsions under that cold water, and almost backed out. But then he thought of his best friend's words that same night - we belong to the clan, so it's only right that we use our abilities to help it flourish - and everything in him rebelled. No! His abilities were his to use as he desired, and no longer would his every move be someone else's command. He had come this far along a path he was quite sure no Uchiha had ever followed before, and he would not turn away from what he now believed was his destiny.

"I do wish to be a part of Akatsuki, if there is a place for me," Itachi said. All three of his companions relaxed simultaneously. They had been watching him intensely, trying to figure out which way his internal struggle was going.

"Wicked!" Kisame celebrated, with a beastly grin. 'Wicked' seemed to be the perfect word. But Blue was not so hasty. "It's not quite that simple, Itachi," she informed him. "There is always an initiation. You must prove your worth to us, with an act of greatness."

"Please specify," Itachi said.

"Well, it must be great, but it must also be something else...think about what type of people we are, Itachi, and you will know what I'm getting at."

"What she means is, it has to be evil," Kisame said, seeming to take pleasure in this statement. "Like, really evil." He snickered.

Itachi looked at Sasori and Blue, and although they said nothing and looked a bit pained at Kisame's bluntness, their faces said it all: Pretty much, yeah. Itachi felt at a loss. Hadn't Shisui been enough? Apparently not. Steel yourself, he told himself. Once you're actually in Akatsuki, you're going to have to commit acts of "evil" all the time.

Sasori offered him some inspiration. "If you don't know what to do, think about whether anything stands in between you and your membership to Akatsuki. If there is something, eliminating it could count as your act of greatness." Either that was an extremely obvious hint, or random, eerie coincidence.

Itachi thought long and hard about it over the next few days. The Uchiha Clan. The only thing that stood in his way. The only thing that had always been in his way. Eliminate? he thought. That word is much too gentle for what I'm about to do. But he was going to do it nevertheless. What kind of person had he become, anyway?

--

That evening, the weather was calm. Deceptively calm, when Itachi compared it to the storm inside him. He left on his ANBU suit. ANBU was his job, and if he thought about this as a job, maybe he could do it more easily. He walked into the house. His mother looked up from the couch, where she was reading the newspaper. "Good evening, Itachi," she said with a smile.

Face blank, Itachi unsheathed his katana. The glint of the sharp steel was dulled by the lights, but the sight of it, held in his experienced hand, frightened him for a moment, as much as it did his mother, perhaps. He took a step forward and raised the blade.

The bloodshed began now.

--

Itachi stood in the living room by the bodies of his parents, bloody katana in hand. It was amazingly easy, he reflected, to kill people when you were close to them and they hadn't an inkling of what was coming. That was the main reason why the Uchiha clan was now extinct.

Well, almost extinct, Itachi corrected himself as Sasuke came barging through the door. Sasuke stared at his dead parents, his horror rendering him speechless for a moment, befor stating the obvious, that Mother and Father were no longer among the living. Then it dawned on him. "Aniki - you - why??" he gasped.

"To measure my container," Itachi replied mechanically. It seemed as good a way as any to describe his motives. It was pathetically simple to stop Sasuke from hurting him, and Itachi didn't mince words in letting him know it. But as he watched the pain on his brother's face as he was forced to live all the killing, he felt his conscience surge up. Get down! Itachi snarled at it. You have no business here! But it refused, and he was struck by an idea. Sasuke...Otouto...you will be my conscience.

If God wished to punish him for his deeds, so be it - he would give him a fair chance. He would see if someone who remained faithful to the clan could defeat someone who crossed its boundaries and threw away its stupid ideals in pursuit of something bigger. Sasuke would live. Sasuke would hate. Sasuke would avenge.

"Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life." Itachi knew he could not have chosen better words - words that would stay with Sasuke wherever he went, spurring him on in endless revenge. Words that would be more than enough to bring Itachi to his knees, if the punishment ever came about.

Itachi left his little brother, wracked with pain, and his former life, wracked with misery, there in the middle of the street. The point of no return. It was a phrase Itachi had seen in novels, usually the melodramatic kind, but Itachi had always thought it somewhat clever, in a poetic way.

He now realized there was no meaning in that old phrase, coined over and over again.

The meaning lay in what it took to get there. To the point of no return.

This chapter really took a lot out of me. Man, Itachi's memories take a long time to explain. He seriously has issues. :P But so does everyone else in Naruto, so he's not alone. He's only one of many characters that I think really could have used a Kids' Help Phone when they were younger. You may think that Itachi's sudden decent into "evil" was a bit unbelievable, but you have to take into account that he must always have been a bit dark to begin with, and all the pressure on him just pushed him that much further. Well, anyway, please reward my hard work with a review, and then I will reward you with a new chapter! Heh..hopefully that is a reward. Anyway, gotta go. Thank you :)