A blade that severs bonds, severs certainty, severs karma.

Chapter 4: Dream of Bloodstains

Time passed slowly. And with every passing day, Sasuke grew better at his Kenjutsu, and forgeworking.

After being caught out with having made a blade for Naruto, he didn't attempt to bring anything else from the dream into reality, besides that wooden sword his mentor gave him. When he told his mentor about the confrontation of sorts, the man simply chuckled and shrugged, saying 'What can you do? Some secrets eventually come out, brat.'

Clearly the man wasn't worried about their lessons coming to light. Maybe they weren't supposed to be secret in the first place? He had no idea, his mentor never said they had to be... maybe he could tell his family about them eventually.

But... not now.

Not when everything was so tense.

It all started with Shisui Uchiha's death.

Sasuke wasn't super familiar with the teen. A distant relative, much like all others in the clan, and his brother's best friend. Shisui would visit every now and then when they trained. He was... a bright and happy sort of guy. Incredibly loud and outspoken for an Uchiha. His hair was also unreasonably... curly for an Uchiha. He was... kind of like Naruto, only less obnoxious because he actually had the skill to back up his words. He was, in his own words, the fastest Shinobi in Konoha, second only to a certain 'Majestic Green Beast'. Which was...

...a daunting prospect, to say the least. Even if Sasuke had no idea what that green beast was supposed to be.

Sasuke liked Shisui, for however little they interacted. Even if they weren't close, Shisui felt like a reliable person. A kind person. A happy person. The kind of person who'd listen to you as you talked about your problems, and then he'd find a way to cheer you up and keep a strong and steady heart. The kind who just... couldn't possibly give up, no matter what.

Which is why the news that he had apparently committed suicide struck him harder than he expected. But not as hard as the confrontation his brother had with other Uchiha clan members... who accused Itachi of being involved with that suicide. As if... as if his brother had murdered Shisui!

That confrontation ended with their father interrupting and keeping it from escalating...

...as well as Sasuke catching a glimpse of Itachi's Sharingan... changing. In one smooth transition, before Sasuke's eyes, he saw those three tomoe slowly spin and merge with the pupil, transforming the wheel of the Sharingan into a three pointed shuriken-like shape... a sight only made even more intimidating by the sheer determined wrath in Itachi's expression when it happened.

Sasuke had no idea what he'd witnessed. He wasn't even sure if it was real or just his imagination.

He wanted to ask his dad about it... but... he wasn't sure. The way things were, how tense everything was... asking for an abrupt lesson about something that may or may not have been a hallucination sounded unwise.

But if there was one man who would know anything about the Sharingan... then it would be the man who had seen the pinnacle of the Uchiha clan's prowess.

"Sensei?"

"What's up, duckling?"

Sasuke's brow twitched at the nickname, grunting as he continued to sharpen a tanto his mentor made against a grindstone. "You're old, right?"

"Oi." The redheaded man whose name he still didn't know grunted from his spot at the anvil, hammering away as always. "Rude, but yeah."

"What I meant is.. you've seen a lot of Sharingan, right? Since you lived as the Uchiha clan's blacksmith?"

"That's right." His mentor nodded, quirking a brow. "Why?"

"Have... have you ever seen a Sharingan... change shape?"

"...ah."

Sasuke watched as his mentor slowly stopped working and just tossed a now ruined blade into the pile of discarded metal, exhaling loudly as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess should've expected this question. 'specially after what you saw with Itachi."

"So you can see what I see?"

"Only snippets for now. Never anything too clear. Just stuff that really rankles your brain." The man replied, tapping his own forehead. "But to answer your question... yeah, I have. Its a special kind of Sharingan. Something that only the best of the Uchiha could gain. The Mangekyou Sharingan."

"Mangekyou... Sharingan..." Sasuke repeated, halting his own work at the grindstone, only to yelp as his mentor manifested a weird tiger patterned shinai from nowhere and bopped him on the head with it, prompting him to continue working. Why did that damn thing hurt so much!?

"Mhm. Its the pinnacle of Uchiha Doujutsu. The Mangekyou Sharingan are evolved versions of the regular Sharingan, with unique patterns depending on their wielders. The powers they grant are vastly different from the regular Sharingan. Some just give you the ability to do far more intricate and powerful Genjutsu. Some let you set people on fire just from staring at 'em. Eventually they even let you do bullshit like coat yourself in a giant set of armor made from a Chakra construct."

"Wait what-"

"The point is, the Mangekyou is the height of what the Uchiha strive for." The man interrupted him, ignoring Sasuke's incredulous look. "Those eyes of the kaleidoscope can turn any Uchiha into a real monster of a Shinobi. Figuratively, and literally sometimes."

"...did Madara have one?" Sasuke asked, turning back to his work at the grindstone, trying to focus on it. He was almost done sharpening this blade...

"Mhm. Him and Izuna. His brother." The redhead clarified before Sasuke could ask. "With those eyes... Madara was a real force of nature. The man was a walking natural disaster. Honestly... there's genius, there's hard work, and then there's demigods made flesh like him. Darn shame.."

The man trailed off with a small, despondent sigh, shaking his head. Sasuke's brow furrowed as he heard that tone, before he pulled away from the grindstone, holding up the tanto. His mentor took it out of his hands and examined it for a moment before slowly nodding. As the redhead walked over to a rack of blades to set the new one up, Sasuke asked him yet another question.

"So... does... does Itachi have a Mangekyou?"

"Absolutely. Honestly, your dad probably has one too. Its not exactly a super rare ability to get for older Uchiha. Especially if they were alive during a time of war."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke blinked in confusion. His mentor paused briefly amidst setting up the unfinished katana, before finishing up and standing up, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well.. its the method of acquiring a Mangekyou. You know how an Uchiha unlocks their Sharingan, right?"

"Yeah. Through adrenaline and stress, usually from combat." Sasuke nodded. "Near death situations and stuff, right?"

"Right. Well... a Mangekyou is similar, but.. different." The man sighed, turning around to look down at Sasuke tiredly. "It takes a great amount of emotional pain and trauma to unlock."

"The way we obtain it... it is.. by experiencing a deep, haunting anguish that will haunt you for the rest of your life. A sense of loss so profound that.. it changes you. Whenever we activate these eyes..." A young man leaning against one of the pillars in the Swordsmith's forge trailed off solemnly, lifting a hand to brush his fingers against one of his partially closed eyelids. "..the catalyst for when we first unlocked them.. the memory of what had happened, the events that triggered the transformation, and all the emotions we felt during that time.. they flash before our eyes and fill our hearts.. as if to remind us of the price that had to be paid to unlock such power. As if to remind us of the anguish we suffered to gain this strength."

"Or... that's how Izuna always put it to me." The redhead said softly, the image of his old friend briefly superimposing itself over Sasuke. 'They look so alike.. so uncanny..'

"...what kind of anguish..?" Sasuke asked quietly, a sense of dread building in him.

"Depends... but usually its either from watching someone you loved or cared for die in front of you..." His mentor trailed off, before his golden eyes closed.

"...or its because you killed them with your own hands."

That knowledge haunted Sasuke. He felt like he was unable to look his brother in eye after what he learned. Not that he did, since Itachi only seemed to grow more and more busy and scarce.

Did Itachi kill Shisui? Or... was he present when Shisui committed suicide?

What happened?

He had no answers, he had no chance to get any either. So he just continued with his training.

His training with his mentor didn't let up. But Sasuke's body grew accustomed to the mental exhaustion of training in his sleep. Enough that he didn't look nor act tired during the day anymore. He was growing better at working the forge. Soon, he was going to be able to make his first katana. Maybe he'd give it to Itachi? He was sure his brother would love it.

Speaking of katanas, his Kenjutsu training had been put on a temporary halt. Mainly because his mentor didn't have much to teach him.

"Honestly kid, not really much of a swordsman. I know how to use them, but that's about it. You know enough of the basics, but if you wanna go further, you'll need an actual tutor. Otherwise? Just keep practicing in your own time. Learn to wield other tools and weapons. I can help ya' there too, but again.. just basics and other self-taught stuff."

Become a jack of all trades, master of none. At least where combat was concerned. Fantastic. Now he had to find someone else to teach him. Maybe he could do what his mentor did and just teach.. himself? Probably.

One of these days though.. he was going to figure out how his mentor was doing some of his tricks. Because his ability to suddenly summon practice weapons and smithing tools from nowhere... at first he thought it was just a dream thing, but ever since he realized he could bring things from the dream with him into reality... he began to wonder if the two were connected.

One surprising twist in his life however had been Ninjutsu training. Specifically, from both his father, and his mentor.

Being taught the Grand Fireball by his father was a rough experience. Mainly because, much like the Hiding in The Ash Jutsu, he sucked at it.

It didn't matter whether he was taught by his father, or his mentor, his prowess in Fire Jutsu seemed to be... remarkably sloppy. Stunted even. At one point his mentor had even loudly groused in despair about possibly having a blacksmith apprentice whose main element affinity might not have even been fire.

Which was an alarming thought. All Uchiha were genetically predisposed to having Fire as their main element. If his element was something else entirely... like Earth or, Kami forbid, Water...

The disgrace. The humiliation. The embarrassment. The shame. Not just because he'd be an outlier among most Uchiha, but the fact that he's the son of the clan head and his main element isn't even Fire... the scandal.

Fortunately, his mentor's knowledge of Ninjutsu wasn't limited. He knew Jutsu from all Five Elemental Releases, though the specific Jutsu he knew were fairly... different in their utility, and he mainly learned them to utilize them when he made certain weapons in the past. So while his mentor had various elements he could have tried having Sasuke learn from, he felt that was unnecessary for now and just wanted Sasuke to practice the Haijingakure no Jutsu, and the Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Maybe if he worked hard on both those two Jutsu, then the progress in one would lead to improvements in the other as well.

Days and nights of training finally produced some results.

'Just watch, dad!' Sasuke thought to himself. He'd managed to drag his father out of the house to witness him perform this over the lake. The man had been skeptical, especially after the last attempt he'd witnessed.

'Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger!' Sasuke flipped through the hand-signs, his brow furrowed with concentration as his cheeks bulged with his deep intake of breath.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Before Fugaku's eyes, a massive fireball erupted from Sasuke's mouth. It didn't launch, it simply hung there, flaring furiously as Sasuke's brow pinched in concentration. A fireball large enough to rival his father's own. Truly, a Grand Fireball. The water's surface was pushed back from the heat and pressure caused by the flaming orb, its light reflecting in Fugaku's fairly wide and astonished eyes.

'This boy...' Fugaku thought to himself. 'This isn't innate talent like Itachi... this is hard work.'

Finally, the fireball died down. Panting heavily, Sasuke looked over his shoulder at his father with an expectant, innocent grin.

The man simply turned around and began to walk away.

Sasuke's expression fell as he watched his father begin to walk off without another word... before a bubbling sense of frustration built up in him. Was he still not good enough? Was he still being compared to Itachi!?

"I'm not done yet!" Sasuke shouted, interrupting his father's slow walk, unknowingly stopping the man who was mere seconds from praising him after being in deep contemplation. Turning around, Sasuke breathed in again, this time keeping his hands free of any hand-signs as Chakra built up in his lungs.

If his father wanted to compare him to Itachi so much, then he'd show him something Itachi couldn't do!

"Katon! Haijingakure no Jutsu!"

The utterance of that name caused Fugaku to turn around abruptly, his eyes widening. "What-"

And for the second time in the span of five minutes... Fugaku Uchiha was caught off-guard. He watched as his son expelled a cloud of burning ashes from his mouth, the smog traveling over the lake for several meters, spreading upwards and outwards. The cloud crackled with flames flickering within its ashen bulk, cinders flickering and drifting out from it and down onto the lake.

'Impossible.' Fugaku thought to himself. 'It.. it isn't the actual Jutsu. It cannot be. Had... had he managed to recreate it?'

Even then... this recreation was incredibly impressive. Even recreating a Jutsu lost to time was more than genius. Especially one that nobody knew the hand-signs for.
Was he secretly the father of two geniuses? Had Sasuke been practicing since that failed attempt of a nameless Fire Jutsu he cast that one time? Granted, the cloud of ashes wasn't nearly as impressive as the legends made it out to be, being only a few meters long and wide rather than the legendary battlefield spanning death cloud Madara was said to have created. But even then...

Perhaps it was simply his son childishly naming the Jutsu after the one lost to time. But... something within Fugaku, something within his very soul just.. told him otherwise. He wasn't sure what it was.

The heavy cloud hung there for several seconds before it finally died down as Sasuke began to cough, cutting the flow of Chakra. Just like the first time he did it in real life, the result burned his mouth and his eyes. But this time... this time he didn't lose control. He wasn't about to fall into the lake again. Coughing, he wiped his mouth as the cloud died down, and turned around to witness his father's shell-shocked expression. An expression he had never seen before on the man.

He felt a sense of pride in himself for being able to cause such a reaction.

"How..?" Fugaku murmured, stunned. "How did you.."

"I... figured it out." Sasuke lied, wiping his lips, coughing again. He could feel guilty about discrediting his mentor's help later. He just wanted to impress his father for once.

His father just stared out at where the cloud of ashes was, before he began to chuckle with astonishment. Closing his eyes, he smirked lightly.

"That's my boy. I am... astounded beyond words."

That was all Sasuke had wanted to hear. He beamed at his father's praise, walking over to the man in time to receive a pat on his head, which only heightened his joy. But they didn't head home just yet.

After all, there was no way Fugaku was going to just walk away from witnessing such a Jutsu and not have Sasuke teach him how to perform it.

'What a novel experience... learning from my own son.' Fugaku mused as Sasuke explained in deep detail how he performed it...

..before bursting out into uncharacteristic laughter when Sasuke revealed the truth about its lack of hand-signs.

"Sasuke showed me something interesting today."

"Oh?"

Fugaku sat at the breakfast table, for once not touching neither newspaper nor his cup of tea. Instead his arms were crossed, an odd expression of... pride on his face. Mikoto hadn't seen him make such a face in a long time. That certainly piqued her curiosity.

"He performed the Grand Fireball. Perfectly even." Fugaku said after a moment, prompting a bright smile from his wife as she heard the news.

"That's wonderful! He must have worked very hard to achieve it. At such a young age too." Mikoto giggled softly, only to pause as Fugaku smirked. Oh?

"That wasn't all. He... showed me another Jutsu. Something I never thought I'd see with my own eyes." Fugaku hummed, showing the most emotion he'd ever expressed in a long time. "The Hiding in The Ash Jutsu..."

Mikoto's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember which particular Jutsu that was, before said eyebrows shot up, a look of astonishment and mild skepticism forming. "Are you sure? Isn't that Jutsu..."

"Practically lost to time? Yes. But he apparently 'figured it out'." Fugaku shook his head with a wistful chuckled. "It wasn't just some attempted recreation of the Jutsu either. There are plenty of Fire Jutsu using ashes as their main medium after all. No.. what he performed.. the surety of how he said its name... there is no doubt in my mind that he'd somehow managed to recreate one of the oldest Fire Jutsu in the world."

"That... our little Sasuke did that..?" Mikoto murmured, a sense of astonishment and pure motherly pride growing in her chest. Their boy... a little genius like Itachi? Was he always one or had he just.. discovered his talent perhaps? It boggled the mind. "Surely you had him teach it to you?"

"I did. It was... remarkably simple in the end. And to perform it myself... I felt as if a long buried childhood dream of mine had finally been realized." Fugaku hummed, closing his eyes slowly. When he performed the Jutsu on his own, he'd blanketed a fairly large portion of the lake in burning ash clouds. A far more superior result compared to his son's. Hearing the awed sounds of his youngest child had certainly stroked his ego, even if they both had to immediately escape as a few local Shinobi began to run up to complain about all the 'pollution' they were causing. "And he potentially answered the age old question of why nobody could figure out its hand-signs." Fugaku chuckled again, looking quite pleased.

"Oh, that's right, the people who saw Madara use it said he did it without hand-signs right? It was because he practiced that technique so much that he could cast it without using any."

"That's what we thought. But as it turns out... Madara Uchiha didn't use that Jutsu without hand-signs because he had simply trained himself to perform it without them." The Uchiha patriarch looked at his wife with the most amused expression he had ever worn, as if he'd just figured out the punchline to a joke. "He used that Jutsu without weaving hand-signs... because it didn't have any."

"...so.. so this entire time the clan has been trying to recreate it-" Mikoto started, her eyes widening.

"We had been over-complicating what was essentially an incredibly simple Jutsu." Fugaku nodded.

The two sat there silently before they began to chuckle together. Sharing in the warmth of their pride in their youngest son.

"...I wonder if his dream had any influence on this." Mikoto said after a while. Fugaku's expression had returned to its usual stoicness, though there was still just a sliver of emotion.

"Perhaps. But it matters little... for now at least." Fugaku hummed, his eyes closing.

"...I wish moments like these could last forever." His wife said softly.

"...as do I."

A full moon rose on a sleepless night.

The crow shed tears as it took flight.

A ghost danced madly, his eye unbound.

A home is broken, bereft of sound.

Peace could never last forever.

As Sasuke soon found out on his way home.

Night had fallen. The full moon hung high in the sky. Its luminous glow was cast down upon the Uchiha compound...

...shedding light upon all the blood drenching the streets.

'This isn't real. This isn't real.'

That was what Sasuke chanted to himself as he ran through the Uchiha clan compound, his eyes wide with terror. Sasuke ran through the streets, panting as a cold sweat broke out over his body. Everywhere he looked, there were bloodstains. Everywhere he ran, he saw bodies. Bodies of the Uchiha clan, both old and young, littered in various places. Some were laid out in the doorways of their own homes. Some were in the streets. Others hung from windows, perhaps in the middle of an escape attempt. Some were still wielding their weapons, his eyes drinking in the sight of the bloodless steel that failed to land even a cut on their wielder's killer.

It mattered little. Man, woman, elder and child... all dead.

'This isn't real!'

He ran home. It was the safest place he knew. Terror filled his heart as he reached his home, and saw the door was wide open. He ran inside, not even bothering to take off his shoes as he panted and wheezed for breath, eyes flitting all around the house as he entered.

"MOM! DAD! NII-SAN!" He cried out, running through the house. The lights were all off... maybe their bedroom-

"Don't come in here Sasuke!"

His mother's voice. His heart leapt into his throat as he immediately disobeyed her, running up the stairs and heading straight to the bedroom as he ripped the shogi door open-

"Sasuke..."

His heart stopped.

He saw his parents. His kind mother, who always smiled at him and praised him gently for everything he put effort into doing.
His stoic father, who he'd only recently just managed to finally gain the look of pride he'd so desperately craved for a long time.

Both laid death, in a pool of their own blood... their bodies side by side, collapsed onto their fronts as blood seeped from backs of their necks...

...both laid at his brother's feet.

"Nii-san..?" Sasuke murmured, shakily stepping into the room. This wasn't right. Nothing about this was right. His parents couldn't be dead. The clan couldn't be dead. His brother didn't have such cold, cruel eyes.

"Nii-san... what's going on? What happened? Please.. I... you..." Sasuke whispered in fear and horror, tears trickling down his face. His eyes were full of panic, desperate for something to tell him everything was alright. Desperate for his brother to comfort him.

But Itachi only stared at him with those cold, heartless Mangekyou Sharingan...

"Tsukuyomi."

...and sent him straight into Hell itself.

Itachi watched with guilt and pain wracking his body. He stood within Sasuke's mind, watching the boy run through horrifying phantom images of how Itachi slaughtered the civilians of the Uchiha clan, screaming his lungs out, pleading to an older brother that Itachi was going to make sure never existed.

Truly... he was the worst of the worst. But... he had to do this. He must.

It was the only way.

"Yer a real cruel one, aren'tcha?"

Itachi's eyes widened, and he spun around to find himself...

...at a forge...

"You..." Itachi murmured with recognition, his eyes focusing on the redheaded man who stood leaning against one of the smithy's wooden pillars, arms crossed. "You're that man... the Swordsmith."

"And you're not that boy I remember." The man replied, his gaze... disappointed. Saddened even. Itachi felt like he'd been slapped for some reason, just from seeing the look in those eyes. "What happened to the gentle boy with hands that could never hurt a soul? What happened to Itachi Uchiha, the pacifist?"

Itachi didn't answer, his hackles raised, eyes narrowing, the windmill shuriken shape of his Mangekyou spinning. He tried to trap this.. mysterious figure in a Genjutsu-

"Don't bother." The man said, staring right into his eyes without an ounce of care. "Your Genjutsu's powerful and all, but I've stared better in the eye."

Itachi's brow furrowed. It.. didn't work. The man just broke through his attempt... or perhaps.. he was immune? It was hard to tell. "What is your name?"

"None of yer business right now. Not anymore. The better question is, who the hell are you? Because you sure ain't the kind older brother that the brat keeps harping about. You're not the little kid I saw a long time ago, tired and jaded at an age too young. A kid wise beyond his years." The redhead scoffed, pushing off of the pillar. His golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

"And how would you know? Have you been watching me as well from my own mind?"

"Not since the first time we met. But I can tell a lot about a person from a first glance. You could say I can see your karma. The threads of fate, weaved around your soul." The man said as he walked closer, his expression serious and yet.. heartbroken. "I know you, Itachi Uchiha. I know each and every Uchiha like they're my own fuckin' kid. And even though I'm not with them, I could feel them getting snuffed out in droves tonight."

He took a deep breath, fists clenched tightly at his sides. "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt right now. Its the only reason I haven't tried to throttle you. This.. isn't you. What the hell happened? Why would you do this to your own clan? Do your parents? To your damn brother? The brat worships the ground you walk on, you know? He loves you more than anything. So why..?"

Itachi flinched with every question. He felt.. he felt more guilt than normal. He had never met his grandparents, and yet in front of this man.. it felt like he had disappointed one. A grandfather who had seen his grandson commit a heinous act.

"I have to do this." Itachi reinforced his decision, desperately trying to justify his choice. "This was the only way. He has to hate me. He has to so that he has a reason to get stronger. So that..."

"...Kami, you're trying to kill yourself aren't you?" The man asked rhetorically, his eyes shutting.

"...after what I've done.. he is the only one who can judge me. Who can execute me for what I've done. But right now.. he's too young. Too weak. He has to grow and get stronger... he has to use his hate as a drive to gain the strength he needs to be able to punish me-"

A loud crack filled the night air of the forge as Itachi's head snapped to the side from a hard punch. The redhead's eyes were burning, almost literally.

"Damn it kid..." The redhead growled out, before he grabbed a stunned Itachi by his collar, yanking him close. "There's a fuckin' ton of things wrong with what you just said. You're turning your little brother into a hate-filled avenger!"

"Its... to keep him safe..."

"Safe, sure. Maybe he'll grow stronger with nothing but hate as his drive. Maybe him wanting to kill you one day will be enough to keep him alive. Powerful even. Or maybe you'll traumatize him and leave him a terrified pacifist with no desire to fight a single damn battle for the rest of his life." The man rolled his eyes, shaking Itachi briefly. "Maybe he turns into a vengeful but powerful Shinobi. Sure. Maybe. But do you think he'll ever be happy like that!? You think the brat is ever gonna find happiness, even after he kills you? If he even makes it that far? Hate doesn't make anyone's life complete! It just twists them and strangles them until they've got nothing left inside! Hate makes you turn on your loved ones, it makes you break your bonds and tears your soul to pieces!"

Madara storming out of the clan compound with frustration and anger on his face.

Izuna's body laid to rest, bandages covering the young man's eyes.

The depths of a valley that hadn't existed days before, as he scoured through it for a body to bury.

The Swordsmith's eyes burned with the faintest of tears, taking a shuddering breath. "What the hell are you gonna do when after the dust settles, the only thing left in his heart is a cold, empty void that hatred and vengeance can never fill?"

Itachi didn't reply to that. He just hung there silently and limply in the man's grasp. And the blacksmith finally noticed that the teen's eyes were brimming with tears, the elder brother's gaze unfocused and staring up at the moonlit sky of the hermitage.

"Damn it.." The redhead growled, dropping Itachi on his ass. "Damn it! He loves you, kid. And you love him. You're brothers damn it! So why... damn it, even Madara wasn't cruel enough to do this to Izuna.."

Itachi stiffened from his spot on the ground, his head snapping up. "What did you just say?"

The man's eyebrows furrowed at that reaction, shaking his head with a scoff. "Why's that what you focus on right now? Honestly-"

"The man helping me slaughter the clan claims he is Madara Uchiha."

The redhead froze. His eyes focused on Itachi, seeing his shocked but deadly serious expression.

"Show me." The Swordsmith ordered him, his eyes narrowed. Itachi nodded, slowly standing up before looking right into the redhead's eyes...his Mangekyou Sharingan slowly spun as the redhead let his guard down...

An image of a man with long, spiky black hair clad in dark robes came to be. Upon his face, a mask with only a hole for the right eye to peer out of, an eye bearing a Sharingan.

"Very well then... we have a deal." His deep, baritone voice said, gesturing a gloved hand in the direction of the village. "I will handle the military portion of the clan... and you will handle the civilian portion. By the end of it all.. only three Uchiha will be left remaining in this world."

The blacksmith's lips twisted into a frown as he took in that vision, brow furrowed. "...that's not Madara."

"How can you be certain?"

"A gut feeling. He sounds similar but.. something's off about his voice. And the Madara I know... he's too proud to hide behind a mask of all things. A hood is what he'd wear at most, but a mask?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "Whoever he is and whatever he showed you... he's just a convincing fake is all."

Even he didn't sound too sure of himself. If anything... the vision he saw rankled him more than he could have expected.

Itachi stood there silently, before slowly exhaling and closing his eyes. "It matters little who he is I suppose..."

"Oh no, it matters a LOT who he is considering he helped you murder our damn clan. Speaking of which..."

A hand clamped down onto Itachi's shoulder with an iron grip, the teen looking into smoldering golden eyes alight with barely restrained fury.

"Now that I've hammered the fact that you're an idiot into your head... why don't you tell me why the hell you're massacring the Uchiha in the first place. Depending on the answer I get... you might leave your little brother's mind with a hell of a headache."

Deep within Itachi's heart... he felt a sense of dread for what should happen if he refused.

That... and he felt so very tired already. His plan had only just begun.. and he already felt exhausted. Too much had happened tonight. He just wanted the screams in his ears to stop.

"I... will show you. If you will let me." Itachi said, the pinwheel of his Mangekyou slowly beginning to spin. The Swordsmith nodded.

And as he witnessed the truth... the golden embers of those eyes became a roaring inferno.

When Sasuke felt the hellish illusion end abruptly, he threw up.

He collapsed to his knees on the floor and vomited his guts out, coughing and wheezing as tears streaked down his face.

So many people cut down by his brother. The screams of the children, the cries of the adults. Every single person in the compound, slaughtered to the last... leaving just the two of them.

"Why.." He whispered hoarsely, his eyes pinpricks as they shook, before those black orbs slowly shifted. Red overtook his irises as a single tomoe formed in either eye, his teary gaze flitting up towards his brother.

His brother... whose face was also streaked with tears.

Beyond the fear, beyond the horror and anguish, beyond the growing sense of rage and even hatred in his heart... there was now also confusion. Before his brother's eyes had been so foreign. So heartless and cold.

And yet now... they were more familiar. His eyes were gentle and full of love... but also a sorrow that mirrored Sasuke's own.

"Nii-san..." He rasped out weakly. Nothing made sense. The cruelty made no sense, and now neither did the anguish. Nothing about this night made any sense. "Why...?"

"...there was no other choice." Itachi said quietly, his eyes closing. He turned to the side, towards the open window as the moon illuminated his tearful face. "Sasuke. There comes a time in every Shinobi's life... where they must make an important decision. A choice... between what you want.. and what you think is right. A choice between those you love... and your duty. And the decision you make.. is one you will have to live with."

"Duty... what... what duty!?" Sasuke cried out, managing to stumble to his feet, fists clenched. "You... you killed everyone! You massacred the clan! Even the children... even the babies! And you're telling me it was your duty!?"

Itachi offered no response at first. His shoulders shook. Sasuke's expression twisted into one of frustrated pain and confusion.

"...I had no choice. There are forces at work that you do not understand yet. Things I did not want you to learn of. But it appears I have little choice in the matter."

"Things you didn't want me to learn!? Like what!? Your Mangekyou Sharingan!? Is this how you got it!? Murdering Shisui!?" Sasuke yelled out, drawing a brief look of alarm from his brother, before he quickly regained his composure.

"I suppose you asked our father about the Mangekyou Sharingan? Or perhaps... the blacksmith told you about these eyes."

"Wha... how did you-" Sasuke started, only for his brother's red pinwheel eyes to start spinning again. The young boy's vision began to blur. He grit his teeth, trying to lift his hands up form a hand-sign so he could break the Genjutsu being cast, but his fingers felt numb. He collapsed onto his side, all feeling gone in his body as a sense of emptiness began to overtake his mind.

"It matters not. Not right now. This may be the last time we will ever speak to one another for a long time. Just know this Sasuke." Itachi's lips twisted into a pained frown, and he seemed to choke up briefly before Sasuke as the boy's vision grew darker and darker. "Become strong. Form bonds. Make friends. Do... do not fall into darkness as I have. And no matter what... all of this... it... I... I will..."

Itachi's lips continued to move, but Sasuke heard nothing but white noise. Yet... even still...

...his Sharingan memorized every mouthed word.

All before everything went black.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had never felt so old.

In one night, everything had unraveled, in one of the worst ways possible.

The coup that the Uchiha clan had planned... had it gone through, there would have been untold casualties. The Uchiha clan were powerful. And Shinobi of the likes of 'Wicked Eye Fugaku' were nothing to scoff at. If the clan went through with the plan, then Konoha would have been in the throes of a civil war that would leave it weakened and vulnerable, regardless of who came out the victor. Its reputation would be tarnished. And enemies would swoop in like a horde of vultures seeking carrion.

And yet despite that..

This outcome wasn't much better.

An entire clan, slaughtered. One of the founding clans of Konoha.. residents of his home, Shinobi and civilians of his village... completely wiped out. Adults, children, infants, and the elderly, killed to the last. All because it was the only option left.

All because of that attack, all those years ago. That damned demon fox and the rumors that had sprung up because of the attack.

'Perhaps if I had been more proactive.. I could have fixed something.' The old man thought to himself. 'I could have stopped a child from becoming an orphan... the last survivor. Perhaps if Minato was still here... he could have found a way to stop this.'

The Sandaime Hokage looked upon the sleeping Sasuke Uchiha. The boy looked pained, even in his unconscious state. As if he was caught in a nightmare that wouldn't end. His heart went out to the poor boy. His life was going to be one wrought with painful emotions for a long while.

Hiruzen would honor his promise to Itachi however. He'd keep Sasuke safe from the likes of Danzo. He owed the poor teen that much.

"Hokage-sama." Inoichi Yamanaka said as he entered the room, bowing.

"Report."

"Clean-up is proceeding... smoothly. Most of the bodies have been relocated to the morgue... though the stains in the compound proper have yet to be cleaned. It will.. likely take another day or two before the entire location has been cleansed of all blood." He said quietly, his expression pained. "...do you wish for me to do a mindscan now?"

"...no. Wait until a day or two after he's awoken." The Hokage replied. Inoichi nodded and exited the room, leaving Hiruzen to sigh. What a mess. There was going to be a long council meeting after this.

"M-mngh..."

His eyes were drawn to Sasuke as he heard the boy groan and begin to stir. Quickly, a couple of nurses rushed into the room as the Hokage alerted them, the healers standing by as Sasuke began to sit up, rubbing his red rimmed eyes.

"I... where..?" Sasuke murmured, before he looked out to find himself in an unfamiliar room. A hospital room. His eyes locked onto the nurses standing by quietly, and then the Third Hokage himself near his bedside. "Sandaime-sama..?"

"Hello, Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen smiled somberly, taking a seat at the chair beside the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I.. I feel... I feel sick.. my head's spinning... my eyes are sore.. I.." Sasuke murmured. Then... his expression began to grow anguished, the blood leaving his face. Hiruzen dreaded this. The realization was setting in. "My... my brother.. the clan... they're all..."

"...I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen said gently, his smile dropping into a sad frown.

Sasuke stared down at his own lap, at his open hands that shook and trembled. His shoulders shook, breath growing heavy as he started to hyperventilate, leading to the nurses attempting to step in before Sasuke began to sob.

"Everyone.. everyone's gone!" Sasuke cried out. Hiruzen could only nod sadly and reach out to put a hand on Sasuke's back. The boy didn't retreat from it, and only fell towards the old man, sobbing into his robes, desperate for something to hold onto. "Mom... dad! Nii-san, he... he killed them!"

"..I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun..." Hiruzen repeated himself, gently rubbing the crying boy's back. His own heart broke at hearing those anguished cries, the Hokage resolutely staying there to comfort the poor child... until he eventually fell silent.

Even as minutes passed and Sasuke calmed down enough for the nurses to check his condition, the boy remained quiet, expression dead to the world.

And in his head... he could see his brother's face.

And the words that were said before he passed out played in his mind over and over again.

"No matter what... I will always love you. I'm sorry."

Deep within Sasuke's mind...

...a lone blacksmith grieved for what had become of the clan he called his family.

"Madara..." The redhead murmured, raising a cup of sake up to his lips, gazing out to a sea of swords planted at the foot of each and every tree surrounding his phantasmal hermitage. "Startin' to see why you left... only took me 'bout a hundred years..."

Slowly sipping from the alcohol, he sighed, eyes dried from tears but still red and filled with sorrow. "I miss ya'. I miss Izuna. I miss Rin and Sakura. Fuck, I even miss Hashi and Mito. And now I'm all that's left of our generation.. and Sasuke and Itachi are all that's left of theirs."

His eyes closed slowly as he sat there on the veranda, head tilted up towards the eternally hanging moon.

"The Uchiha clan... down to just two brothers, a faker, and this stubborn old fool. Guess we really are cursed. I guess its... fate..." He murmured, before his eyes snapped open with steel in those golden eyes. "No.. I ain't gonna let it. Not now. Not now that I've found him. He'll break us from this fate. This destiny." He tossed his sake cup over his shoulder and grabbed the entire flask instead, starting to chug it as he stood up. Once emptied, he tossed that too over his shoulder and began to march to his forge.

"He's the one. He'll realize my ambition. He'll sever us from this curse. I know it."

The sound of hammered metal began to echo once more.

"I'll make sure of it."

A maddened gleam shone in eyes of molten steel.

"And I'll make sure whoever's pretending to you gets real acquainted with the brat's steel."

The 'prologue' part of the story is almost over. After the next chapter, the tale will start to properly unfold.

Hope this was worth the wait, I suck at writing anguished children.

Some hints of how things worked were dropped here and there. Hope the whiplash from this chapter didn't hurt much. I knew that as I was going into this, that the massacre would still happen, but I also knew that I didn't want it to end the same way it did in canon. So yeah, here is where some of the more drastic shifts in canon will happen. Don't expect 'too' many of these drastic shifts. I dunno when I'll upload the next chapter seeing as I'm still writing it. Probably after Christmas?

Either way, hope you all enjoy the holidays!