Sasuke dropped to his knees in exhaustion when he reached Nekobaa, and the elderly woman just managed to catch the unconscious Aiko when she fell off of his back.

"What happened?" The woman asked the panting and frightened Sasuke.

"A-A man came after us..." Sasuke managed, "He wanted to... to take us... because we're from the Uchiha Clan... We tried to hide, but... he found us... Nichi-jisan and Megumii-bachan tried to fight him, but..." Tears filled the five-year-old's eyes as he noticed the tear stains on Aiko's cheeks, "I-If only I was stronger... I-I could've... A-And Niisan is still..."

"I'm right here Sasuke." Itachi said reassuringly from the doorway. The younger boy whipped his head around to look at his brother, and Itachi's eyes widened as they took in the sight of the Sharingan in Sasuke's eyes. He immediately crossed the space between them and hugged Sasuke tightly to comfort him. "It's all right, Sasuke." He said comfortingly, "It wasn't your fault." Sasuke barely had time to let out a sob before he passed out in Itachi's arms. Itachi tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his own eyes and turned to Nekobaa, "I should take them back to the village."

"No, you should rest." Nekobaa said firmly. "It doesn't matter how skilled you are, Itachi, you can't possibly carry two unconscious children half your size back to the village with a target on your backs. I'll send word to your father that you need back up. In the meantime, you should sleep too. You must've used a lot of your chakra to defeat a man who succeeded in killing Nichi and Megumi."

"I didn't defeat him." Itachi said in frustration, "He just retreated when he realized that Sasuke had probably made it back here and his chance was gone."

"Even so, you survived, but you still must be tired. Get some sleep. With any luck, the children will have recovered by the time reinforcements arrive."

兄弟

The following morning, Nekobaa looked at Aiko as she sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. "Aiko-chan, please eat." Sasuke and Itachi were already eating in front of her, but Aiko merely shook her head.

"Aiko-chan," Itachi said gently, "You used up most of your chakra yesterday. You need to eat to replenish it." Aiko shook her head silently and laid her head on her knees, effectively curling into a ball.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and a moment later, Itachi's best friend, Uchiha Shisui, entered the room, accompanied by Itachi's childhood friend, Uchiha Izumi.

"Shisui... Izumi..." Itachi said in slight surprise.

"Your father wanted to come." Shisui told him as he shut the door behind Izumi, "But he had other obligations, so he sent us."

"Are you guys okay?" Izumi asked with worry.

"We're unharmed," Itachi assured her, "But Aiko-chan refuses to eat."

"I'm not surprised." Izumi replied, "When I first awakened my Sharingan, I didn't feel like eating for days."

"But I awakened my Sharingan and I'm still hungry..." Sasuke said in confusion.

"It's not quite that..." Izumi said awkwardly. She knelt down next to Aiko and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Aiko-chan."

Aiko looked up at Izumi, then suddenly threw herself into her arms. "Izumi-neechan!" She cried before sobbing into Izumi's chest.

Izumi stroked her short brown hair soothingly, "Shh... It's all right." When the younger girl's sobs had died down a bit, Izumi gently pulled her back slightly, "You need to eat, Aiko-chan."

"I'm not hungry..." Aiko muttered.

Izumi smiled knowingly and reached into her waist pouch. "I know, but just eat this." She held a round ball out to Aiko.

"What is it?" Aiko asked in confusion.

"Try it. It's good." Izumi encouraged. Aiko pouted at Izumi's evasion of her question, but she accepted the ball and bit into it. Her eyes almost instantly lit up in delight.

"What is this?!"

Izumi smiled, "It's a food pill. When I awakened my Sharingan, my mom made these for me since I didn't feel like eating."

"Izumi-neechan, you awakened your Sharingan during the Kyuubi attack on Konoha before I was born, right?"

"That's right." Izumi said with a nod, "My father died protecting Okaasan and I, and I awakened my Sharingan as a result."

Aiko looked down sadly, "My mama and papa..."

Izumi hugged the younger child close to her again, "I know. But you aren't alone, Aiko. You are a member of the Uchiha. The clan won't abandon you. Did you know? The kanji for clan means 'one family'. Even though we have different parents, we are all one family."

"The same way everyone in Konoha are supposed to be friends?" Aiko asked, "Papa said that even though we don't always get along, we're all part of the same village, so we should be friends."

Izumi smiled and nodded, "That's right. Your papa and mama are gone, but you have a big family and a village full of friends waiting for you at home. So let's go home, okay?"

Aiko nodded, "Yeah."

Izumi turned to Itachi and Sasuke as she reached into her pouch and pulled out two more food pills. "Here. You guys should eat one too. They'll help replenish your chakra."

"Thanks, but there's no point in giving one to Sasuke. He hates sweet things." Itachi said as he accepted the pill. Izumi blinked, and then burst out laughing.

"Are you sure he's your brother, Itachi-kun?"

"Hey!" Sasuke exclaimed, glaring at Izumi with indignation.

"I'm joking, I'm joking." Izumi said with a wave of her hand, "You're too much like Itachi-kun in other ways to be anything but his brother. It's just funny that your tastes in food are completely opposite."

Sasuke blinked, "I'm similar to Niisan? How?"

Izumi smiled at him, "Dedication to your training, for one. And you don't seem to be very sociable for another." Sasuke made a face in response to that, as if he didn't know whether to be pleased or insulted.

Suddenly Aiko's eyes alighted with remembrance, "Oh! I almost forgot!" She reached into her own pouch and pulled out the small scroll from the day before, holding it out to Itachi. "Here. The paw print you told us to collect."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly as he accepted the scroll from Aiko, "You were able to collect it?"

Aiko nodded, "I sensed that man's presence just when we had captured the target. I collected the paw print as quickly as I could before making a run for it."

Itachi sweat-dropped slightly, "Why would you bother with that if you knew you were being watched?"

"A Shinobi always puts the mission first." Aiko answered simply. Itachi face-palmed and Izumi sweat-dropped.

"She's as gung-ho as you and your brother..." The older girl remarked.

"Aiko-chan is actually our second cousin..." Itachi replied, his exasperation clear on his face.

"That explains it." Izumi replied.

Shisui smiled, amused by the scene, before returning to the task at hand, "Let's head back to Konoha now. Izumi, you carry Aiko-chan. Itachi, I'll leave Sasuke-kun to you."

"I can keep up on my own!" Sasuke insisted. Shisui gave him an apologetic smile, knowing that the child was probably feeling babied at the moment.

"I'm sure you can, normally. But under the circumstances, we can't take our time. We have to return to Konoha as quickly as possible to avoid further trouble. That being said, if we should encounter trouble, Izumi, I want you to take the children and hide. You're not a genin yet, so you should avoid getting involved in combat if you can help it."

"Right!" Izumi said with a nod of confirmation.

"Itachi, you'd probably already be a Chunin if you'd been given a chance to take the test. If anything happens, you'll be my support." Shisui added.

"Understood." Itachi said with a nod. Sasuke secretly marveled at Shisui forming a plan and giving directions ahead of time, as if this were a real mission.

Aiko buried her face in Izumi's back to hide her expression. To her, the reason for Shisui's gravity was obvious. Her parents had been killed by a man who had been trying to kidnap her and Sasuke. It was only natural that Shisui, who was already a jonin, was giving this task the same levity that he would an escort mission. Nonetheless, she didn't want Sasuke, who was technically her senior, to notice the "well, duh" expression she had on her face in response to the one of amazement on his own. Nonetheless, she decided to help him understand once they were on their way.

兄弟

"Did you know, Sasuke-senpai?" Aiko began as Izumi ran beside Itachi with her and Sasuke on their backs, "If this were a mission assigned by the Hokage, it would probably be a B-Rank, or maybe even an A-Rank"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. "An A-Rank?"

Aiko nodded, casting her gaze to the ground rushing beneath them, "Shisui-san is a jonin, and as he said, your brother would probably be a chunin if he'd been allowed to take the exam. Meanwhile, Izumi-neechan is almost a genin. The normal method of assigning missions is to assign three Genin to a D-Rank with a jonin to supervise them, three genin and a jonin or a team of chunin to a C-rank, a team comprised of Chunin and Jonin to a B-Rank, and usually only Jonin to A-ranks and above. By definition, the risk of combat with enemy ninja makes a mission at least B-Rank, but the man from yesterday defeated my mother and father, who were a chunin and jonin, so he must be a criminal of at least A-Rank Level."

"Actually, I think S-Rank may be more likely." Itachi said thoughtfully, "Until yesterday, I never realized that your father was so skilled, Aiko-chan."

"Papa preferred to keep his abilities a secret." Aiko replied, "Only Mama knew the true extent of them. Papa's specialty was infiltration, and he said that success in those types of missions began with nobody, not even the people of your own village, being overly familiar with your name and abilities. The only time Papa ever particularly stood out in Konoha was when he married Mama."

"You know a lot about the ranking system, Aiko-chan." Shisui commented mildly.

"Mama was an aide to the Hokage." Aiko replied, "She spent a lot of time helping him to rank and assign missions, so I learned about it from her."

Shisui nodded and then noticed Itachi squinting slightly with water lining his eyes. It didn't look as if Itachi were about to cry—and honestly, Shisui would've been shocked if he had—just as though his eye were watering from physical discomfort. He'd probably be rubbing at them if he weren't carrying Sasuke. "Are you all right?" The older Uchiha asked with worry.

Itachi turned and smiled weakly at Shisui, "I'm fine. My eyes are just throbbing a little. I think I might've strained them a bit yesterday. That man's own visual jutsu was very powerful."

Shisui frowned in thought, "I'm not sure that's the reason... But right here isn't a good place. I'll take a look at your eyes as soon as I have a chance when we get back to Konoha."

"But Shisui-san, you're not a doctor." Izumi said in confusion.

"No, but I know more about the Sharingan than either one of you." He answered cryptically.

兄弟

Fortunately, the group made it back to Konoha without incident. Itachi and Sasuke's parents greeted them at the gate, and then they went to speak with the Third Hokage about what had happened in Sora-ku. Uzumaki Kushina, the wife of the late Fourth Hokage, was also there, along with Itachi's instructor, Minazuki Yuuki.

"So a man calling himself 'Oyashiro En' attempted to kidnap Aiko and Sasuke simply because they had the potential to awaken the Sharingan?" The Third asked.

"Yes." Itachi replied, "However, I believe that name is only an alias. According to what Aiko's father said at the time, he is actually a member of the Chinoike Clan."

"The Chinoike?" Fugaku said in surprise. "But the Uchiha destroyed them during the Era of Warring States."

"That was believed to be the case, yes." Aiko replied, "But my father identified the man's visual prowess as the Chinoike Clan's Ketsuryuugan, which, in terms of genjutsu, only the Sharingan can match. His genjutsu was really powerful... Mama was dead before Papa even hit the ground..."

"Itachi, explain to me how a jonin, a chunin, and a genin went to rescue two children and only the genin came back alive?" Yuuki asked out of nowhere.

"Nichi-san ordered me to wait in hiding in case he and Megumi-san should fall during the battle..." Itachi said replied, "When he went down, I wasn't able to get to Megumi-san in time."

"Under the circumstances, my father would've prioritized Itachi-san's life over that of his or my mother's." Aiko added flatly, attempting to keep her emotions separated from the facts of what had happened, "Papa was skilled at combat, but Mama wasn't. Even though Papa had helped her train to be able to fight blind against an opponent with visual prowess, she was never particularly skilled in combat to start with. For that reason, it's possible that Papa was partially distracted by his concern for her, which gave that man an opening. When she heard my father cry out, my mother forgot about the danger and opened her eyes, and that was her end..." She closed her eyes and bit her lip in an attempt to avoid sobbing before she managed to speak again, "I don't know what happened after that, but Itachi-san has the Sharingan, and he didn't have the distraction of watching somebody else's back."

Itachi nodded slightly, "When I intervened, I told Sasuke to take Aiko back to Nekobaa's room. That said, the only thing I had to do was prevent that man from going after them. Once he realized that Sasuke had probably made it to a safer place, he retreated on his own."

"Itachi, did you...?" Fugaku began.

"Yes." Itachi replied in response to his father's unspoken question, "Per the protocol of the Uchiha Clan, I retrieved Nichi-san's eyes before returning to Nekobaa's room."

The Hokage breathed out a bit of the smoke from his pipe in thought, "The Hyuga will need to be made aware of this man. According to Itachi, he's only targeting younger children, presumably because they are more easily brainwashed into obedience... Therefore, I think the village may require a policy that children who are not yet Genin, are below the age of eleven, and have the bloodline of a Kekkei Genkai, must not be allowed to leave the village, unless they are being accompanied by sufficient protection." His eyes shifted over to Izumi, "Izumi, that will include you until your official graduation."

"Understood." Izumi said with a nod.

The Third took another puff from his pipe, and then moved to the next order of business, "Now then, we should discuss how to deal with Aiko's situation..."

"Mikoto and I have already discussed that." Fugaku said, "I am Aiko's closest living relative among the Uchiha Clan, so we will take responsibility for her."

"I suppose that would make the most sense." Hiruzen agreed, "It's possible that Aiko has a closer relative among the Shimura, but... since she possesses the Sharingan, it would be better for her to remain among the Uchiha."

"That reminds me..." Aiko said, having apparently calmed down a little, "When I woke up this morning, Nekobaa gave me this. My mother entrusted it to her just before she left with Papa and Itachi-san to help us. I was told to give it to you." The child pulled out a small scroll and handed it to the Hokage, who opened it and scanned the contents, before his eyes widened incrementally.

"Summon Kakashi right away!"

兄弟

It took less than two minutes for Hatake Kakashi to arrive, a perpetually bored expression on his face, which quickly changed to surprise when he took note of the entire head family of the Uchiha, the teenaged jonin, Uchiha Shisui, the daughter of Uchiha Megumi, a young Uchiha girl that he was not familiar with, Minazuki Yuuki, and his late teacher's wife, Kushina, all gathered in the room along with the Hokage.

"Um..." Was all that the nineteen-year-old managed.

"Kakashi, close the door." The Third instructed, if only to snap the young man out of his daze. Kakashi did as instructed and walked forward, wondering what in the world was going on. The Third Hokage set the now closed scroll from Megumi on his desk, taking a puff from his pipe before he began. "This is a letter from Uchiha Megumi, which she entrusted to her daughter just before her death one day ago. It contains explanation of a theory that she had formed." His gaze turned dead serious, his head dipping slightly, "She believed that Uchiha Obito is still alive, and that he was responsible for the Kyuubi incident five years ago."

Kakashi's visible eye widened in shock, as did the eyes of Fugaku, Mikoto, and Shisui. It was Kushina who spoke first.

"Obito?!" She exclaimed in disbelief, "But he was Minato's student! Why would he...?!" She didn't bother to finish her thought.

"Megumi wasn't the type to come up with crazy theories." Fugaku remarked calmly as he looked at the Hokage, "So I take it she explained her reasoning?"

Hiruzen nodded, "Megumi spoke at length with Itachi regarding the incident two years ago, during the Daimyo escort mission. The matters of the Kyuubi incident have been kept mostly secret, but... on the night of the attack, a masked man kidnapped Kushina just after she had given birth to her son, extracted the Kyuubi from her, and then set it loose upon Konoha. Minato sacrificed his own life to reseal it. There were naturally suspicions among some of my colleagues that a member of the Uchiha was responsible, but considering the damage done and the Uchiha lives that were lost, Megumi always believed that it couldn't have been anyone who bore loyalty to the Uchiha Clan. It was after speaking to Itachi about what happened two years ago that she came to the conclusion that the person responsible was Obito."

"For what reason, exactly?" Kakashi asked in moderate disbelief.

Hiruzen shifted his gaze to Itachi, "When the Daimyo's traveling party was attacked, there were only three people who weren't caught in the assailant's genjutsu: Itachi, his teammate, Izumo Tenma, and you, Kakashi. Itachi, the man who attacked you that day wore a mask that revealed only his right eye, correct?"

"Yes." Itachi said briefly.

"And that right eye was a Sharingan?"

"Yes."

"The man who attacked me was the same way." Kushina remarked, "But I never once thought he could be Obito, even though... that is the eye that he would have..."

Hiruzen nodded in understanding, "There were three reasons that Megumi believed it was him. Kakashi, as I recall, your left eye, the eye you received from Obito, is not just a Sharingan, it's a Mangekyō Sharingan, correct?"

"...Yes." Kakashi said reluctantly.

"What's a 'mankegyou' Sharingan?" Sasuke asked in confusion, tripping over the new word slightly.

"An evolved form of the Sharingan, triggered by intense emotional trauma," Aiko explained, "Usually either witnessing the death of somebody close to the user, or intense feelings of guilt, stemming from the user's belief that they are somehow responsible for the death of someone they care about." At this, she cast a sidelong glance at Itachi, causing both his and Shisui's eyes to widen in surprise.

"As expected of Megumi's daughter and the great-granddaughter of the Second." Hiruzen said with a sigh before returning to the matter at hand, "Your Mangekyō Sharingan... It's a time-space jutsu known as Kamui, am I right?"

"Yes." Kakashi said with a nod, "I've done a bit of training with it, to get used to its abilities, but... I avoid using it as much as possible, because it drains my chakra significantly."

Hiruzen nodded, "Nonetheless, it's one of the reasons for Megumi's theory. Kushina gave birth to Naruto inside of a barrier maintained by members of the ANBU. It shouldn't have been possible for somebody to get past that to attack her, and yet, somehow, the masked man did. Megumi believed that perhaps, somehow, Obito, assuming that he is somehow still alive, also awakened the Mangekyō in his right eye, and used the time-space abilities of his eye to bypass the barrier."

"But my Kamui only allows me to teleport things to another dimension and back, not my entire body." Kakashi said in confusion.

"The abilities of the Mangekyō are often different in each eye." Aiko stated matter-of-factly. Kakashi looked at her and sweat-dropped.

"But to explain that, we need to move onto the third reason why Megumi believed that Obito was responsible for both events." Hiruzen continued. "Itachi, you told Megumi that the masked man intended to attack you, but retreated when he sensed Kakashi's approach, correct?"

"Yes." Itachi said again, "He muttered Kakashi-san's name, and then disappeared, just before Kakashi-san arrived to help me."

Hiruzen nodded, "Megumi believed that this particular fact indicated a desire to avoid Kakashi, mostly likely due to a personal grudge against him and the chance that Kakashi would recognize his chakra. Given what we know about the Mangekyō Sharingan, that grudge was most likely caused by the death of Nohara Rin. Rin threw herself in the path of Kakashi's Chidori in order to end her own life, for the sake of foiling a plot by Kirigakure to attack us by using her. If their plan had succeeded, she would've died anyway, so she chose to end herself to protect Konoha. However, if Obito had somehow survived and had arrived just a little too late, to him, it would have looked as though Kakashi had murdered Rin."

"Which would've given him reason to bear a grudge against both Konoha and Kakashi." Fugaku acknowledged, "That part makes sense. But why would he bear a grudge against the Uchiha? And how do we even know that this person is an Uchiha? It's unlikely, but... his Sharingan could've been stolen and still be Obito's. His body was never accounted for."

"No, this person must be an Uchiha." Aiko said thoughtfully, "The Sharingan puts strain on the chakra of the user, and even more so when transplanted. Not to mention that anyone with a transplanted Sharingan is unable to deactivate it. That's why Kakashi-san keeps his left eye covered. Nobody with a transplanted Sharingan would go around wearing a mask that reveals only the transplanted eye. That's why it has to be Uchiha Obito. There are no other members of the Uchiha who went MIA, were presumed dead, and would be missing their left eye. As for the grudge against the Uchiha, it's difficult to say, but... Perhaps simply because we are part of Konoha." Aiko said quietly, looking thoughtful, "It's also possible that his mind has been poisoned..."

"Poisoned?" Kakashi questioned.

"According to Papa, there was a... creature... who poisoned the mind of our ancestor, Indra, and caused him to turn against his father and brother. Whenever a member of the head family would form a bond with a member of the Senju or Uzumaki, that creature would reappear to poison their mind, and prevent the familial bond from being restored. However, with the help of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, Uchiha Madara, was able to overcome the creature's influence and return to his true self, breaking the curse that had been plaguing our family for centuries. With that in mind... the creature would have needed a new target. Someone from outside the main family."

"Why is this... thing... so stuck on the Uchiha?" Kushina asked.

"I don't know." Aiko said while shaking her head, "Papa thought it may have had something to do with the Sharingan, but he was never entirely sure. His research on our clan's history was extensive, but... records from that time are... nearly nonexistent."

"Okay, so we have reason to believe that Uchiha Obito is alive and is being influenced by some... thing... that has been basically haunting our clan since it came into existence..." Fugaku remarked, "But where does that leave us?"

"I can't be certain..." Hiruzen sighed, "If the masked man is indeed Uchiha Obito as Megumi believed, that makes things very difficult. As a former member of Konoha, he could easily slip in and out of the village without being detected by the sensory unit. I will discuss this matter with the advisors. For now, all of you should be careful and keep your wits about you. Itachi, would it be possible for you to perform a transformation of the man who attempted to kidnap Sasuke and Aiko?"

"Yes." Itachi replied with a nod.

"Then we should have you do so to produce photos for the Bingo Book, as well as distribute the information to our allies. The Shinobi World needs to be wary of Oyashiro En."

Finally finished this chapter. And yes, Aiko is very, very smart for her age. Some of what she says is more reciting things she's heard her parents say rather than what she actually understands, but for the most part, she inherited the same intelligence as Itachi, along with intelligence and perception from the Shimura.