Author's Notes:

Happy Christmas Eve everyone (or whatever holidays you may celebrate), and to help you enjoy the holidays I pumped you out a new chapter of your favorite (hopeful) Naruto story.

Now, while this chapter is on the short side, do not worry, its part of much bigger chapter which will be posted soon. I have over another 10K words written out that I planed to post on Christmas along with what was written bellow, but I wasn't sure if I would make it in time (still have around 2K left to write out and a ton of editing to do). So I decided to post this first and the rest later. But don't worry, even if I don't get it out by Christmas, I'll defiantly get it out withing the next few days at worst as I'm almost finished.

And as some of you may know, I had gotten a job recently, which has cut into my writing time (and is the reason why my release speed dropped), but never fear, as I plan to do my best to juggle both work and my personal time until I can my written back up to reasonable speed again, so don't worry me about dropping this story.

Now, without further a due, let the chapter begin.

They Call Him Danzo

One day, my father told me a secret.

I had thought I understood. Twelve years ago, when I had first awakened to this world, I thought I knew what it meant to live in such a place. It was a world full of lies, where every shadows could be hiding a silent killed and even the kindness smiles could be nothing but an empty mask to hide a cold heart.

I thought I understood that this world was one where only the strong survived and the weak perished, and that kindness was nothing but a liability. Back then I truly believed I knew what it meant to live in a world full of monsters.

Then with a single sentence, my father taught me how little I understood

The Uchiha Clan was slaughtered by Konoha.

Shadows danced on my father's face, which was as blank and hard as I had ever seen it, as the single candle in the room flickered. We were alone, so only I would ever remember the words he had spoken back then.

That morning, the one after my twelve birthday, my last as an Academy student, my father called for me. He had brought me here, to this tiny room in the heart of the compound, bare of any furnishing but the worn tatami mats we sat on and the single lit candle sitting between us.

Around us runes lined the walls, engraved into the wood by human hands long ago and were filled so densely with Chakra that I could sense them without resorting to my eyes. It felt like I was standing next to an open oven, the Chakra in those runes lapping on my skin like waves of heat, and had I tried to flash open my eyes – my all-seeing Byakugan – I would have found that my vision could not pierce beyond those walls.

No, that was not precisely true. I could see through the walls, despite the runes best efforts my sight still managed to pierce through them as they did everything else, and with a single glance I knew where everyone in the compound stood. From my mother who was tending the flowers in her garden, to my Hanabi who was trying her best to help our mother but failing to do anything but dirty her clothing with her efforts though neither seemed to mind, to Naruto who snoozed contently in the bedroom next to my own, dreaming who knows what.

I could see them all, but I could not see them clearly.

The wall distorted my sight, it felt as if looking though a pair of old prescription lenses or even through a wall of running water; ever so slightly out of focused. I could still see everything around me but the small tiny details, they were now beyond me., the Chakra running the wall from the runes in a constant but fluctuating stream made sure of that.

And in a single moment of contemplation I understood their puropse. The runes were not meant to protect us from outsiders trying to listen in, but from the rest of the Clan.

We may not be able to hear with our eyes but that did not mean we could not understand what was being spoken. Lip reading, though an uncommon skill due to precision needed to focus one eyes on a person lips and lungs from afar, was not a skill possessed by me alone.

And it was here, in a room that no one could learn the words spoken between the two of us, that my father told me all the secrets of my Clan.

It was amazing the amount of dirty secrets a Shinobi Clan can accumulate over the centuries, and how every one of them had to be kept a careful track of least they return to bite them in the ass one day. As the future leader, I was expected to manage the Clan and its secrets, and as I was about to become a Genin it was decided that the time has come for me to be inducted into the dirtier aspects of being a Clan Heir.

And so from the centuries of secrets that my father held in head, the knowledge of which he had received from his own father, who in turn had been given from his own father and so on for who knew how many generations, he chose to begin with the most recent.

He told me the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.

How all of Konoha played a hand in it.

Leaders from three of the four Noble Clans of Konoha; Aburame, Akimichi and Hyuuga.

Leaders from the four largest Clans not among the noble four; Inuzuka, Nara, Sarutobi, Shimura, Yamanaka.

The Anbu Commander.

And of course the Hokage.

All of them had played a part in the extermination of the Uchiha.

They all saw the signs, how could they not. It was obvious to anybody watching that the Uchiha had been unhappy. They had all noticed their discontent, how unsatisfied they were with their position in the Village, and when the entire Clan had begun to withdraw into themselves, alienating themselves further from the rest of the village, they had all been watching and took note of it.

The discontent of the Uchiha was an old grievance, there from the time of the Village's founding. They had been passed over not once, not twice, not even thrice but on four separate occasions when it came to deciding who would lead the Village. Though they were widely considered by many to be the most powerful Clan in the Elemental nations, not once had any of their members bore the title of Hokage.

The discontent had been there for years, long before the Kyuubi incident; the Kyuubi's rampage and the rumors that an Uchiha was behind the attack only helped flame what was already there. Their resentment over slights, real and imagined, built over the years until it began to festered like a diseased limb, poisoning their hearts against the very village they had sworn to protect.

The other Clans, they saw the signs, they knew which direction the wind was blowing and that trouble was brewing just beyond the horizon. They had all gathered together to deal with the problem, and after months of meeting, discussion and planning, a decision was made.

So, like the metaphoric diseased limb, they decided to amputate the problem.

It didn't take much convincing. At first they had wanted to reconcile with the Uchiha, to mend the rift that grew between the Village and its oldest Clan, but once they discovered that the Uchiha were planning to perform a coupe all talks of reconciliation were thrown out the window.

The decision was made that very night. It was unanimous.

The Uchiha was sentenced to death for treason.

Traitors deserved no mercy.

That was the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.

Every member of the Clan, every man, woman, child, every mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, young and old, all were to be executed – none were to be spared.

I listened as my father told me with clear and passionless words the role he played in it, as if he was discussing the weather rather than the slaughter of an entire Clan. From the oldest half blind crones to the crying babes clench to their mother's breast, all butchered to the last. And not only did he support it, he help make it happen.

Really, these ninjas made me look normal.

It when then, as I laid stunned by the revelation, that a stay thought crossed my mind and I had to stifle the urge to laugh.

Looks like owed Sasuke an apology, turned out he was right all along.

Konoha did murder his Clan.

Oops, I'll be sure to send him flowers if I ever drop by his grave for a visit.

Though now I look back at it, I shouldn't have really been surprised by it. It was actually more of an astonishment that I hadn't figured it out myself. All the clues were there, the signs laid out before my eyes for me to see. If only I had bothered to stop and think, to puzzle on the holes and wonder rather than gloss over it all like I had.

I, at twelve, could see any inch of the Village I choose so long as I stood within its boundaries, and I knew I was not the only who could. So that brings the question, 'how had Itachi managed to murder his entire Clan without anyone noticing or jumping in to help?'

He couldn't have killed all of them in silence, not when there were over a hundred of them in total, several of who were trained and highly experienced ninjas. There must have been a battle, a clash of steel and an exchange of jutsu, no matter how brief it may have been, so why hadn't anyone noticed? In an entire village full of ninjas, who had all sorts of abilities from super hearing to Chakra sensors to eyes that can see for miles and through walls, how had he gotten away with it without a single person noticing it happening?

Simple, he didn't.

They had all just looked the other way.

On the day of the Uchiha Massacre, they made sure that Konoha was emptied. The majority of the ninjas who were responsible for guarding the region of the Village where the Uchiha compound was located were given emergency missions and assigned elsewhere, to the borders of the Land of Fire where 'reports' of increased activity of foreign ninjas had been sighted. While other people, who like me had the ability to sense what was happening from a distance, were either sent outside of the Village on random missions or assigned to a location within the Village that would place the Uchiha compound outside of the range of their respective senses.

All of which was done to make sure that no one would catch sight of something they shouldn't have and try to interfere. Due to this, the Village was almost entirely barren of ninjas, holding only a small fraction of the usual population it usually had available.

The real irony of it all was that because the Village was so empty, the Uchiha had decided to attempt the Coupe far sooner than they initially planned. With the Village so empty of forces they had a golden opportunity to act, one that they had no intentions of letting slip from their finger.

Had it been under any other circumstance, the Uchiha may have been suspicious to discover the Village so empty, but instead all they saw was the opportunity it presented. To them, who wanted to overthrow Konoha, it must have been like a Godsend. It was the perfect opportunity to strike, and given another day to prepare, they probably would have. It was nothing but pure karma that the very night before they intended to betray the Village, they were betrayed instead.

And so, Itachi slaughtered his Clan, and when the time came for him to make his escape they made sure to leave a large hole in Village's security. S Rank or not, there was no way he could have gotten past all guards patrolling the village undetected, not without being forced to kill some of them. And yet, other than the Uchiha that died that day, Itachi hadn't killed a single Konoha Shinobi during his escape.

If I had only bothered to think on it, then I would had realised that the only way that would have been possible was if he had inside help getting away.

Everything made sense, even why the Hokage would bring the other Clans into the fold when the time came to execute the Uchiha rather than try and carry it our in secret. Could you imagine the what would happen if anyone would find out? Civil war.

There was no way that the other major Clans in Konoha would let the matter lie if they ever found out that Hokage had allowed an entire Clan to be exterminated, a noble one that co-founded the Village, it would have sparked a civil war at worst or have him imprisoned at best.

And besides, it would have been stupid to try and keep it a secret. There was no way the other Clans wouldn't have figured it out, they had to blind not to.

The Uchiha steadily secluding themselves over the years from the rest of the Village behind their compound walls, shutting everyone out as all the while rumors for their rising discontent and dark muttering continued to rise. Then over night the Uchiha, a trouble making but extremely powerful Clan, was wiped out over night by a single Shinobi, one who had no motive other than insanity.

No, it wouldn't take much to realised there was something strange going on beneath the surface – and with the resources some of the Clans had in their disposable, it wouldn't take much for one of them to put the pieces together.

But if they were brought in on it, well, then things would be different.

They – every single one of the Clans agreed – that none would be spared, not even the children. As should any of the survivors ever discover the truth, that it was their Village that was responsible for their Clan's demise, they would seek out revenge. It was a rather common tale in the Elemental Nations for children of a fallen Clan to try and avenge it. They were duty bound; avenge their Clan or die trying, no other option was acceptable.

So no, there would be no survivors, no children that would grow older and stronger in their midst, trained by the Village's own resources, fed by its food, protected by their power, only for them to end up betraying it in the end.

All would be killed, for the good of the village.

All but for one reluctant exception.

Uchiha Sasuke, only he was to be spare. That was the price for Itachi's loyalty. His Clan he would slaughter without hesitation; his cousins, uncles and aunts, his father and even his own mother, he would kill them all, if not gladly then for duty. But not his brother, never him. He was the only one who he would not forsake for the safety of the Village.

And reluctantly, the Clans all agreed he would be spared. They all swore that they would not seek retribution upon him for the actions of his Clan, and that he would be treated as any other member of the Village. To secure Itachi's loyalty, they would allow Sasuke to live.

But still, they were uneasy. They all understood the risk that Sasuke represented. Right now he was harmless, nothing more than a cub. But time had a way of changing that, and as the years go by he would grow, both wiser and stronger. And one day, should he every discover the truth, Konoha may find itself with an anger tiger within its walls.

But still, it was a price they had to pay, and so they paid it.

They agreed with Itachi's price, but they were apprehensive. For they all knew that so long as Sasuke live, the business of the Uchiha clan would never be truly finished.

And well, I took care of that unfinished business.

Only now that I had all the piece in front of me do I realised how unbelievably lucky I had been that night.

To give room for Itachi to escape, security in Konoha had been lowered significantly. Guards normally patrolling the streets were sent to the boarders instead, ninjas on their downtime in the Village were sent away on emergency missions, while many of those that still remained were sent to track down and capture Itachi. And most important of all, the Uchiha, the Village Police Force, no longer existed. Over a hundred ninjas who duty was to patrol Konoha's streets and guard the inner city were gone.

While the Clans and the Hokage had anticipated it, they could not act on that knowledge, not without giving themselves away. It would have looked far too suspicious to have a newly trained police-force ready to take the streets the same day the last one died. To make the Uchiha's demise appear like the actions of a single mad man rather than an order from the Village, they needed to appear as blindsided by the incident as everyone else. So they allowed the natural chaos and confusion that would follow such an event to reign for a time before they reestablished order.

For the following two days after the massacre the Village was so barren of ninjas that had a foreign army tried to invade then, they would have probably succeeded. And in that forty-eight hour period, the whole of Konoha was in chaos as it scrambled to recall its ninjas and tried to fill the gaps that the Uchiha left behind with their absence.

Which was perhaps the only reason why I got away with it.

A hole in security was created for Itachi to escape. I just happened to use that security flaw to kill Sasuke. Had I chosen any other night, I would have failed. Sometimes despite all the hours spent planing and honing your skills, it was only luck that determines if you win or lose. In the end, it all came down to luck and timing.

And that night luck was with me.

They did not bother sending any ninjas to guard Sasuke, why would they? They all knew that the 'threat' Itachi did not want to harm him, so he was safe. And with the Village's defenses so dangerously thin as it was, with the police force completely decimated, they could ill afford to spare even a single man to guard someone who they knew was in no danger.

They were just as shocked as everyone else when they woke up the next morning only to find he was missing.

They hadn't realised until almost half a day later. The nurses noticed he was missing reported it in, but they did not panic, believing that he had hidden himself somewhere nearby to grieve, needing time alone to get over the shock of losing his entire family. It was only after the staff, and then some guards they called in to help, failed to find him did they begin to realise something was wrong.

They never did end up finding out what happened to him.

And perhaps, in the end, they were better off for it.

None among them had wanted Sasuke to live, not the Clan Heads, not the Anbu commander, and maybe not even Sarutobi. It was only their promise to Itachi that stayed their hand and saved him from sharing the same fate of the rest of his Clan.

And while they did make an effort to search for him, the simple truth of it was they were happy to have failed, because no one wanted him to be found. He was a loose thread, unfinished business, and a threat to the Village and their families, but because their hands were tied it was a threat they could not take care of.

So when went missing, when they couldn't find him anywhere in the Village, more than one among them felt relief. With him gone, the issue of the Uchiha Clan would final come to a close, and they could say with complete honestly that they had nothing to do with it. So even though the Clans made a show of desperately searching, in secret they celebrated this turn of events.

No matter what was Sasuke's fate, it no longer mattered to them.

If an outsider had killed him, that was fine. It got rid of their unfinished business while leaving their hands entirely clean. If he had committed suicide from grief over the loss of his Clan and the betrayal of his brother, that was even better. If another of the Hidden Villages had managed to take advantage of lowered security to sneak in and kidnap him then that was fine too; Itachi will track them down soon enough and his wrath will fall upon their Village instead of Konoha. And if it was one of their own who took care of Sasuke, well, it wouldn't do to look too deeply into the matter.

So long as they never learned the truth they could tell Itachi with a clear conscious that they had nothing to do with Sasuke's disappearance, and with Itachi's Sharingan – whose skill with it was so prodigious that it was said to be able to see through all lies – he could take one look at their faces and know they spoke only the truth. They honestly didn't know what happened to him, and thus they could not be held accountable for Sasuke's fate.

Somehow, I doubt Itachi saw it that way.

Though I desperately wanted to know what was Itachi's response to his brother's disappearance my father didn't bring up, and I didn't dare ask. No matter how much time has passed, I didn't want to show the slightest bit of interest in Sasuke. These Shinobi have shown themselves to be far more conniving than I ever gave them credit for; it wasn't impossible that they might suspect me and simply did not show it, so it's best not to take the chance just to satisfy my curiosity.

But there was more to the tale of the Uchiha.

For among the Clan Leaders, the Anbu commander and the Hokage, there was one more man involved in their massacre.

He was there during every meeting, standing by the Hokage's side like an obedient lapdog, or perhaps a shadow would been more appropriate. Yes, a Kage's shadow, that was best the best way to describe him.

He never said a word during those meeting, never contributed anything, just stood by his master's side, observing silently, judging with his single watchful eye.

He was an unassuming man, slight and frail. At first glance he would have appeared harmless, a crippled old man well past his time. With a lame leg, one working arm and but a single eye, what threat did he pose to a room full of experienced killers?

No a single person in the room was fooled. They knew who he was.

Even Gods cast shadows.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, the Professor, the Monkey Summoner, he was all of these things and more. But during his prime, when he was in the peak of his power he was known by one other name, one that was both a praise and a warning. To the people of Konoha, Sarutobi was a beloved father figure, adored and revered, but to the rest of the Shinobi world, he was a monster. He was hailed as the 'God of Shinobi', a title he earned because in a world full of killers, he was unrivaled at his skill in killing.

A God among killers.

And like every man had a shadow, so too did God.

That was title given to the man who forever stood by God's side. KamiKage - 'God's Shadow'.

The darkness born from God.

Utterly loyal, absolutely obedient, the Shadow only moved to fulfill God's will. In the entire Village there was not a man more obedient to the Hokage, or more trusted by him. To make sure God's hand remained clean, he, the shadow, will go where God must not tread, do what only devils dare do.

Assassination.

Child soldiers.

Genocide.

Betrayal.

There was nothing he would not do. No sin too cruel, no crime too reprehensible for him. Like a fanatic fighting in the name of his God, all was justified in his eyes.

In the room full of killers, he was perhaps the most blood-soaked of them all, and only the Hokage had nothing to fear from him. To the rest of the Elemental Nations, he was a bogyman.

The shadow had a name.

They call him Danzo.

And now he has come for me.

*Chapter End*

Author's Notes: Next chapter coming up soon. Hope you enjoyed it.