TRUE MASTERY: MASSACRE

A/N Firstly, my apologies for the late update.

That was the apology. The actual reason for not updating this story is very, very simple.

I have received two flames on this story, one of whom was kind enough to edit his/her flame on my story into one with more genuine criticism, but based on a flawed premise. (Their premise was that after getting a bottle stuck into her, Sakura would need medical attention. Again, Sakura did not get a bottle stuck into her, she was hit with the bottle. It's comparable to a very hard kick in the groin, but with a bottle.)

I have received one flame on my Naruto Crack Drabbles story, which was about this story.

I have received zero flames on my Fairy Tail story, and a lot more reviews.

Which do you think I would rather update?

To AddyBrained- I probably wouldn't have ever updated this without your review. I would have intended to, of course, I wouldn't willingly abandon a story, but I think I know myself enough to know that I would not have gotten back to this one if not for your review. So, thank you.

It had been six months since that incident. Sasuke had been strangely calm about the whole 'killing a person' thing. He had, instead, started training more and more. He had most definitely surpassed Itachi in shurikenjutsu, and could keep up with Shisui's speed for about half a minute. He had managed to increase the duration of his battle form by two seconds, and his base speed had also grown considerably.

He had expressed interest in learning to use swords, but his father had shot that down, saying Sasuke should keep both hands free for throwing shuriken. Itachi had gone against his father's orders and gotten Sasuke an Anbu sword. It was perfectly straight, light, and its blade stretched as long as the distance between his elbow and middle finger.

A few times a week, he would go to visit Sakura in an orphanage. Well, not really an orphanage. It was a place run by the police, solely for people with abusive guardians. Sasuke's great-aunt ran the place, and she was the one who'd asked him to come visit sometimes. He and Sakura had become friends, and she trusted him.

But then, Sasuke could feel that his father came home more tired every night, and Itachi was always at a state of agitation. They made time for the second genius of the family, of course, but it was obvious that something was going on.

Then three days ago, Shisui had been found dead, and Itachi had gotten absolutely closed off and irritable about the subject. Then, that night, Sasuke came home after sparring with Naruto to see that everyone was dead. And standing in front of his parents' corpses was-

"Itachi?!"

"Sasuke." Itachi kept his face guarded and closed off. He itched to put his mask back on, hide his face, but he couldn't. He had to do this face to face.

"Mother, Father… Itachi, who did this?'

Itachi took a deep breath, steeling himself. "I did."

Sasuke took two steps back. "B-but-"

"Itachi?"

Itachi froze, looking past Sasuke's shoulder into two Sharingan.

"Izumi?" he asked, inwardly yelling 'SHIT SHIT SHIT' as his calm demeanor broke.

Izumi stared at his face. Then she shook her head. This wasn't happening.

"Kai!"

Okay, so it was happening. But why was Itachi crying-

Sasuke started sparking with lightning, his sharingan whirred into existence, and then he blurred-

Straight into Itachi's outstretched palm.

A quick jab to the jugular knocked Sasuke out (Itachi had planned a Tsukuyomi, but he couldn't do it), and then he turned to Izumi.

He had bargained for his brother's life. She didn't fall in that deal. She had to die. He needed to kill her.

He put his hands slowly into his pouch, bringing out a three pronged shuriken. He willed his hands to move, fingers clenching and unclenching as his body shook, cutting deep grooves into his palms.

Then she smiled at him (how, he had no idea) and he stopped breathing. She walked up to him slowly, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I trust you. I know you had a reason."

She shouldn't trust him! Why did she trust him? His own family was lying dead around him, trusting him was not a good sign for a shinobi. Itachi looked into her eyes, which were open and warm.

And that was when Itachi broke. Through the window. And disappeared into the night sky.

Izumi stood still, feeling oddly serene. She looked around the room in a detached manner. The first thought she had, surprisingly, was that what had just happened was better suited for one of Lord Jiraiya's novel endings.

Using medical ninjutsu to wake him up, Izumi told Sasuke to stay right there, then thought better of it and brought him with her to the Hokage's office. She tried to talk to Sasuke throughout the walk, but Sasuke's face was blank, and he wasn't responding.

Hiruzen was poring over his notes, wondering how he could avoid having to massacre the Uchiha. Danzo was in favor of the massacre, and Hiruzen suspected that he would go ahead with the assassination even if Hiruzen said no.

Bloody childhood friend.

Hearing a crash, Hiruzen looked at the window to see Itachi, covered in blood. His eyes widened. That crackpot old fool!, he thought. Then he chuckled self deprecatingly. I suppose I'm one too.

"Sir, the Uchiha are all dead, apart from Sasuke and Izumi. Protect them."

Though a little surprised that Itachi had spared someone else, Hiruzen did not ask further, choosing to nod and go along with it.

"Very well. You may leave. I trust Danzo gave you funds to survive and a way to contact us if necessary?"

Itachi nodded curtly. "Yes sir. He also has my summon details, if you need to contact me for some reason." He cocked his head to the side. "For example, if you decided to tell people the truth about the massacre, instead of making me out to be the mad culprit, then you could ask me to come back. Just conjecture, of course."

"Yes, of course. Just conjecture."

Itachi just nodded before jumping out of the window in a Shunshin. It was good timing too, because a moment later, Izumi came into the room, holding a blank Sasuke by the shoulder.

"Sir-"

Feigning what he would do if he hadn't had an inkling about what was going to happen, Hiruzen stood up immediately, pushing his chair back with just enough force to clatter against the wall, and turned to the two remaining Uchiha.

"What happened?"

"The- Sir, the clan was massacred. Itachi-"

"Yes, what about Itachi?"

"Sir, it seems that Itachi was responsible for the massacre."

Making the appropriate face, he asked, "Really?! Are you sure? Why would Itachi-"

It backfired. Sasuke looked at him with twin Sharingan activated. "Itachi would never do that. Somebody must have forced him."

Hiruzen backtracked. "I was merely expressing surprise. Do you think anyone could ever force your brother, the prodigy, into doing something he didn't want to do?"

"No, but-"

Hiruzen breathed. "I will send Anbu to the scene, but as of now, you have to operate under the assumption that Itachi Uchiha killed his clan alone. Owl."

Yoshimura, an Anbu wearing an owl mask, dropped into the room. "Yes, sir?"

"Dispatch a team to the Uchiha clan grounds. Itachi has killed his clan and gone rogue." As the Anbu disappeared, Hiruzen turned to the pair. "I'm sending you both for appointments with a therapist. Don't-" he said, seeing Sasuke open his mouth. "You may say you don't need therapy, but you do. It does not mean you are mad, it's a precautionary measure. Also, you're both in denial about Itachi."

Naruto had not been sitting idle these six months. He, much like Sasuke, had created his own technique based on the Shunshin. It did not provide much of a boost in speed, rather, his steps caused tremors.

It even left deep footsteps on the ground, crushing rocks and grass alike. Naruto called it the Crushing Step. He could even stomp on the ground to make it stronger.

He had trained his rasengan-skates, and could hold them indefinitely. It took about three seconds to create the first rasengan, and five to create the second one. He could not create them both at once, he simply didn't have enough concentration for that.

However, he had discovered a very interesting application of the rasengan-skates. While they did increase his speed and maneuverability, they weren't enough to take on Sasuke. Their main use was that they could be detonated to immediately propel himself forward at a tremendous speed.

He had also been learning some deeper applications of fūinjutsu, and had proposed an idea to his father, about a marker that you could place anywhere, which you could teleport to instantly. For some weird reason involving a thunder god, his father had broken down laughing, and then told him that such a jutsu already existed.

One thing his father had discovered was that, even though exercising in his mindscape (with time outside slowed) did not help strengthen his body, muscle memory carried over.

Which was why he was currently sparring with his father. Although, 'sparring' was too strong of a word. Losing horribly would be a better description, he thought, as he flipped backwards to avoid a kunai. He kicked over the kunai in an arc and grinned as Minato materialized in front of his foot.

The rasengan on his foot came inches close to his dad's face, and missed. Minato smirked, and Naruto immediately detonated the rasengan in contact with the ground, propelling himself backwards, just in time to avoid an explosion.

Losing precious seconds to create a second rasengan again, Naruto zoomed on the skates just in time to dodge a barrage of kunai.

Taking out an empty tag, he touched it with a finger to create the stabilization seal (practice from using it again and again), and wrapped it around a hastily formed rasengan. The moment Minato got close enough, he threw his rasengan and jumped back to avoid the explosion.

Which did not seem to be coming.

Minato grabbed the paper and raised an eyebrow at him. Naruto blushed and muttered, "Just a little something I came up with. I used a seal to stabilize the rasengan. I guess it didn't work."

"The rasengan is still spinning. How?"

"Oh, uh, you remember when I made a constantly shifting chair and table? I was supposed to make them not interchangeable? So, I made the points on the seal interchangeable, and it should keep spinning forever."

"So why do you think that it didn't work?"

Naruto shrugged. "Because it didn't detonate?"

Minato took a deep breath. Sure, Naruto was a genius sometimes, but he was still a kid and should be allowed some mistakes. Even if the mistakes were painfully obvious to him.

"Naruto, what is the purpose of a stabilization seal?"

"To stabilize chakra constructs by fixing different ends of it to different points, and prevent them from collapsing."

Seeing that Naruto still hadn't understood, Minato sighed. "And how does a rasengan detonate?"

"Uh, it explodes outwards upon being disturbed or after a bit of time."

"Exactly. Now do you get it?"

Naruto looked clueless. Minato clenched his jaw.

"It collapses, Naruto. The stabilization seal keeps it spinning forever, and it doesn't explode. No boom."

"Oh! I get it! Thanks, dad! Want some ramen?"

Minato smiled. "When do I not?"

Naruto brought him over to the corner of his mind dedicated to ramen, and they both took a bowl and started eating.

Being his mindscape, the bowls never emptied, but after having eaten the equivalent of about thirty bowls, Minato said, "So, Naruto, you should try making your mind slightly more… private. You're growing older now, I'm sure you don't want your dad to see everything you do. And I don't want that either."

"Eh", Naruto shrugged, "I'm fine with it."

"But you won't be fine with it when you become a teenager."

"I will be fine with it. I can talk to you through my mind, and I'm perfectly willing to sacrifice privacy for that. I'm not gonna lock you out of my mind."

"Oh, that's what you're worried about", Minato realized. "Don't worry, I won't be able to call you or see your thoughts, but I'll still be in your mind. Just in a different, locked part of it. Like Kurama."

Kurama wagged a tail lazily in acknowledgement.

"And it will also work as incentive."

Naruto looked confused. "Incentive for what, dad?"

"Incentive for learning to access your mindscape on your own, so that you can talk to me."

"Wait!" Naruto stood up suddenly. "Wait, wait, wait. Hang on, I won't be able to see you again until I learn to access my mindscape? When do you leave, then? How much more time-"

"Well, you'll need to learn how to block me out first, so, a week, give or take. A month, tops. But don't think of it as 'the last month' or any of that, or it'll take you longer."

"Okay…" Naruto didn't show his warring emotions. Of course, since they were in his mindscape, Minato could see a few Among Us-y people of different colors (the emotions) warring in the background. "So, how do I start?"

Minato pointed at the giant Kyuubi cosplayer. "Ask him, he has a lot of experience in mindscapes."

"'kay", said Naruto, running up to the bars of the cage. "Hey, Mr. Kurama! How do I start?"

"I'll tell you if you bring me grapes."

As Naruto ran out of that room, Minato turned to Kurama, an eyebrow raised. "Grapes? I know you like ramen better, so what's the deal with grapes?"

Kurama sighed, breathing out a puff of smoke. "He has a corner of his mind dedicated to ramen, that's why you're sitting at a ramen shop. To get grapes, kid's gonna have to edit his mindscape. That's the first step to banishing you."

"Banishing?" Minato asked, but he put in a hand through the bars and patted Kurama. "I knew you were helpful."

Kurama bit his arm off.

"Ow, ow, ow, that hurts!" said Minato, clutching his arm. "Bad fox!"

"Oh, don't be a sissy, it's already growing back." Another side effect of it being a mindscape.

When Sakura had first been sent to the orphanage, she had been worried, anxious, and confused. She hadn't slept for the first two nights, just sitting curled up with a thick blanket. It had felt uncomfortably warm, but it was like a shield.

Upon discovering that she could eat as much as she wanted, Sakura did not waste that opportunity. What if they decided to stop later?

She didn't talk, unless asked a question. The sad eyes of the Uchiha matron when she shrunk into herself did not work as intended, causing her to shrink even further. But no one pressured her.

The third night when she finally slept, she had nightmares. Graphic nightmares that made her wake up drenched in sweat, eyes so puffy that she couldn't see much.

She pushed off the blanket with her feet, bringing her knees to her chest as she started crying again. A few minutes later, she tensed, feeling an arm around her shoulders. Then she let out a breath, feeling something ice cold on her eyelids.

"They're refrigerated spoons", said the girl holding her. "All of us have been through the same thing as you, and this helps." And that was when Sakura understood. This wasn't a place that was going to hurt her. The people there were all like her. They knew.

That day, she talked. The matron smiled at her. She was then officially introduced to the other boys and girls.

The girl that had given her the frozen spoons was called Rei. Rei Yuki. She was a few years older than Sakura, and used to live in Kiri.

She had a bloodline, which the matron had told her to keep secret from anyone outside the orphanage. Something about 'Danzo', 'as soon as you're of age', and 'breeding program'. Her father was abusive, and had tried to kill her and her sibling, and had succeeded in killing her mother.

When Sasuke had visited for the first time, Sakura could only imagine him covered in blood. It had taken her a few days to warm up to him. Rei remained cold, though.

Bad pun?

Six months had passed in the blink of an eye.

That night, she went to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, she was shaken awake.

"Sakura, wake up! There's a shinobi in the living room, saying she needs to see all of us."

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Sakura stumbled over to the living room, which was filled with the other children. They all stood, surrounding a purple haired shinobi with a mask.

"So", the woman clapped, making about half of them flinch, "all the Uchiha are dead, including the woman that ran this place." She waited a moment to let them all gasp, which some of them did. "Now, it would be very difficult to fund all of you. You understand, right?"

She waited a few moments to make them think that they were to be kicked out.

"However", she continued, "if you wanted to become shinobi and add to our force… I suppose an exception could be made. Or multiple exceptions", she said, counting the children. "Around fifty exceptions, in fact."

It was masterful manipulation, and it worked. Almost every single child went up to the woman to get their names written down. Even the ones that didn't want to be ninjas, because they needed a place to stay, food to eat, and being a ninja was a source of income too..

Almost every single child.

Sakura turned back, looking at Rei, who was staying back. She smiled lightly, and Sakura understood. The thing the matron had told her. She had no idea what breeding meant, but Rei did, and it was definitely something bad. It would be impossible to hide a bloodline limit in the Shinobi Corps.

Sakura went forward to the ninja.

"What's your name?" the ninja said, holding her clipboard.

Sakura had wanted to be a ninja when she had been young. That dream had been quashed by her father, but now she had a chance.

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura."

A/N No, I did not forget about Sakura's mother. No, I'll not tell you anything yet.

Yes, I will have some original characters. Konoha is a big place. Don't worry, they are not going to be very important to the plot. Of course, I may have important OCs as villains, but otherwise… they're as important as, say, Tenten. Of course, some OCs are going to be created and developed solely for the purpose of dying, because I am rather attached to the canon characters. But I won't tell you which, because I am evil.

The owl Yoshimura is a reference to Tokyo Ghoul. Unimportant, recurring.

Stay alive, everyone.