Chapter 35: The Original Uchiha tragedy.
"Tragedies are the story of the insoluble. They are born from pure actions, be in intention or emotion, done with the best of reasons…but all tragedies end the same way"
Uchiha Itachi
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Sasuke was sitting on the ground with Sakura near him. Naruto's grave was the third corner in the triangle, done purposely to symbolize that because the three of them were a triangle: All for one, and one for all. Alive or dead, it didn't matter. They would always draw strength for each other.
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Like most tragedies, the one of the Uchiha clan started out with two people falling in love. Their names were Hyuga Mirika, a young woman from the famed Hyuga clan and Mochizuki Hijiko, a man from a small, almost unknown clan. Mirika belonged to the Huyga's branch house, and maybe that fact, was the single most important reason that created the tragedy.
The Hyuga clan was as it is now, the most powerful clan of the region. Fire Country didn't even exist.
The couple lived happily, until the birth of their children: First one girl, Midori later one boy, Yoji. None of them had white eyes, the trademark of the Hyuga clan. The tradition stated that children from the branch house had to be marked with the Branch Seal. However a horrified Mochikuzi refused to let his children marked. On the other hand Hyuga Mirika was proud to be a member of the Hyuga clan and disagreed with her husband. The couple quarrelled and eventually divorced. Mirika was granted custody of the girl and Hijiko of the boy.
When their parents divorced, the two children lost contact with each other, as their parents didn't want them to know of each other. They travelled far away from each other: Hijiko because he was afraid the Hyugas would force Yoji to be marked; Mirika because that was the normal clan procedure in case of a divorce. Each of children were raised believing they didn't have any siblings. and none of them knew that their other parent was still alive.
That was the way it should have ended: A marriage, a divorce, and four people going on with their lives. Nobody had to die, nobody's life had to be destroyed.
Sadly, more than twenty years later, Hyuga Mirika died because an embolism. Despite the fact that Midori was now considered an adult, she felt more alone than ever. This loneliness prompted her to reach out to her mother's clan, the Hyugas.
That same year a routine blood test discovered that Midori's Hyuga blood had suffered a strange evolution. The modified Hyuga genotype was dominant, against the recessive genotype from the Mochikuzi clan. If Midori could have a descendant with somebody with the same genotype, that descendant would only have the modified Hyuga's genotype. Preliminary tests indicated that this dominant genotype could far surpass any physical restrictions that the Hyuga eyes suffered from. Based on this information, the head of the Hyuga clan determined that this genotype could be an important addition to the clan gene pool and took measures into his own hands to ensure its growth.
The head of the Hyuga family was Hyuga Shingen. He wasn't a bad person. Tales of the time even told about his excellent leadership. He knew the true golden rule: Being a good leader means being able to care about your people, cry for their deaths, and yet being able to sacrifice pawns for the greater good without a second thought.
Shingen offered to Midori a possible upgrade to her status, he offered her to let her join the main Hyuga family. The only condition was that she needed at least a descendant with somebody with mixed Mochikuzi and Hyuga blood.
The problem was the Mochikuzi clan was really minute and no member could be located. Well no member, except for the old Hijiko and the young Yoji who lived far away. Obviously the young Yoji, the brother of Midori, was the better option since he was younger.
Midori was very surprised when she heard his father was still alive and more so when she heard she had a brother. For the sake of the clan and for her own need to get out of the branch family, she agreed to have an offspring with her brother.
The opportunity to breed a new Hyuga creature with advanced genes was taken and the efficient Hyuga High Command started a plan.
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"Wait!" Sakura asked. "You are saying that they were brother and sister!"
"That's right." Sasuke explained, stopping his tale.
"And there was a plan to… create a new son… with both of them as parents? That's…
"… incest? Sick? That's right. It was also a brilliant idea. I'm not saying it was the most ethical idea. I'm not even saying that I have to like it, but…" Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly "It was a most ambitious plan."
Sakura rubbed her hands together. Suddenly she was feeling cold. She glanced at Naruto's tomb. She almost cried when he thought how much Naruto would be screaming in horror at that moment.
"Please continue." She pleaded.
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Mochikuzi Yoji was a satisfied person with his lot in life: He worked as a qualified bodyguard and sometimes as a bouncer and he was saving money to buy a house big enough for him and his fiancée, his high-school sweetheart. His was a simple, productive, happy life.
The first "weird" thing that happened to him was one job as a bodyguard for a caravan. His employer, one creepy lord with totally white eyes, ordered him to write everything about himself. The reason, the lord explained, was that he had this superstition that any bodyguard of his had to come clean about himself. Yoji didn't mind. The trip would be short and the pay would be large. So he wrote, about his life, his father, his fiancée… Yoji mentioned, when asked, that his mother had died when he had been born and he barely had any recollection of her. The lord asked if he had any sisters. Yoji explained that he didn't. He would have liked to have one though. His only family was his father, but that was fine for him since he loved his father very much and they had a great relationship.
The trip didn't have any incidents.
His good life started to go wrong when his father, Hijiko, was killed in his house. The police deduced that the killer had entered the house to rob it, thinking it was empty. Hijiko had surprised him, there had been a fight and the robber had killed him; just a robbery gone wrong.
Yoji took care of the funeral. A lot of friends came to pay their respect. Sadly, there wasn't any family present since he didn't know any other relatives of his father.
Tragedy struck again two months later. Yoji's fiancée was killed in a strange fire that partly destroyed one whole street in the village. Police proved that the fire had been intentional, but they couldn't identify the arsonist.
The street started to be rebuilt, but Yoji didn't care anymore. He was so devastated about his recent losses that he didn't even realise that among his new neighbours there was a woman around his age.
He met his new neighbour on the street four months later. She presented herself as Hyuga Midori. She mentioned her family, the Hyuga clan. Yoji mentioned the first time he had met a person from that clan and they had a good laugh about superstitions.
They met again two weeks afterwards in his amateur drama group. He discovered she had his same tastes. When she asked, he recommended to her his favourite gym and she joined with the same timetable as him. They started going out. Yoji was glad he had found such a good friend.
She helped him recover from the pain of his loss and, with time, he fell in love with her. He was glad when he found out she returned his feelings.
They were married almost three years after meeting each other for the first time, or so Yoji thought.
Just a few weeks later his life started to go really wrong again. He was accused of a murder he didn't commit. He didn't want to run away, but the false evidence seemed to be overwhelming. His wife convinced him to flee to the holdings of the numerous and powerful Hyuga clan.
Yoji was sorry he had to leave his home behind, but he was willing to start a new life with the family of his wife.
The Hyuga clan was an extremely weird family. Almost all of them were shinobis, and very strong at what they did. They mostly kept their feelings to themselves, and he couldn't understand at all the division between the main Hyuga family and the branch family. At least his wife belonged to the main family.
Probably the worst one was Hyuga Shingen. He was very correct and polite with him and his wife. He helpfully offered him a house and even a nice-paying job. He was almost too courteous, but there was something… off in him.
After a few weeks he came to understand Shingen better. There was an exceptional mind behind his white eyes, he could notice that with a simple glance, but there was still something incorrect in him. Like if some kind of god had created an artificial human, but forgot about the feeling of empathy.
Life went on. People were cold but well-mannered. Toji couldn't say he loved the place, but nobody ever gave him a reason for leaving. Also, his wife loved living there.
After some years his wife got pregnant. He couldn't believe his joy. As always, the creepy part came from Shingen, who congratulated him as a general would congratulate a commander who had won a battle. The head of the Hyugas mentioned the importance of perpetuating the species and the glory of helping the Hyuga clan.
After a difficult pregnancy a son was born: Mochikuzi Hokuse, who had his eyes totally white, as fitting for a member of the Hyuga clan. Five years later a new son was born, Mochikuzi Otoro; his eyes were normal.
The two brothers loved each other very much. From the beginning they showed great shinobi abilities. Hyuga Shingen and Midori loved Hokuse dearly. Probably it was related to the whiteness of the older brother's eyes. Yoji tried to be fair to the both of them, but he had to admit he was somehow closer to Otoro. Hokuse was wise and strong. Otoro was also very strong but he had a wild streak.
Years passed.
Hokuse and Otoro became shinobis. Hokuse was very serious and hard-working. Otoro had a sense of adventure. At the age of twenty-five he had already travelled to far-away lands and visited numerous different clans. He brought a woman from his travels. She wasn't a Hyuga, meaning she wasn't exactly well-liked by the Hyuga clan. Her name was Sakura and her hair had the colour of wild fire.
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"Sakura?" The person with the same name interrupted again the narrator.
"That's right, Sakura." Sasuke stated.
After a pause, he continued.
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Both siblings were among the top of the Hyuga shinobis, but the supposed evolution hadn't happened yet. Life was peaceful, and it could have stayed that way. It was an accident, really. Just a comment carelessly said which shattered the peace forever.
Hokuse and Otoro were training hard with other Hyugas. Shingen and Midori were conversing about the two outstanding shinobis and praising their abilities. Yogi arrived in that very moment and walked behind them. Neither Shingen nor Midori heard him coming. Shingen said one casual comment that changed all their lives and started what the Hyuga's historians named as the "Uchiha tragedy"
"The plan worked perfectly". Shingen commented, almost to himself. Midori nodded.
Yogi heard Shingen's words and watched Midori's gesture. He backed silently away and returned a few minutes later. Midori lovingly kissed him and Shingen congratulated him for his extremely talented sons. Yogi made small-talk with them while he wondered what "plan" were they talking about. The decision to enrol Hokuse and Otoro into shinobi academy had been taken by him and Midori together. That supposed plan had to go further back.
It sucked to hear again the voices from the back of his mind that had warned him against the Hyugas.
A few days later Yogi hired a private detective totally unrelated to the Hyugas to inquire about his wife. The detective he hired wasn't very good; maybe Yogi chose a bad detective on purpose, a subconscious attempt to let things slide.
Unfortunately the detective aced his job. He found out that the supposed robber that had killed Hijiko, Yogi's father, had used a kunai; a weapon hard to use for non-shinobis. The detective also discovered that a woman with totally white eyes had bought some oil the day before the fire that had killed Yogi's former fiancée. The description of the woman matched Midori's.
All of the findings were bad, but the most startling discovery was yet to come. When the detective tried to confirm if Midori was Hijiko's killer through DNA's remains that were found on the murder's site, he found out that Midori and Yogi were actually brother and sister.
After receiving the detective's report, Yogi confronted his wife/sister. Midori didn't bother anymore with pretending. She confessed her deed; it had been an order from Shingen, and she was proud to serve the clan; her honour demanded it so.
Disgusted to the core of his being, Yogi turned around to leave. He was suddenly attacked and stabbed from behind by her sister. He agonized for more than ten minutes under the gleeful scrutiny of the person that he had promised to love "till death do them part".
Midori told her two sons that Yogi had killed himself. They believed her, of course. Doesn't every child instinctively trust its mother?
It was very ironic that the piece of evidence that destroyed the Hyuga clan's plans was just a harmless-looking bill. When Hokuse and Otoro were cleaning the house, they found the detective's receipt. The two brothers noticed the date, right before his death, and went to ask questions to the detective, who was very helpful.
When they learnt the truth, they felt the whole world turned against them. Their parents were brother and sister, and most, if not all, of the Hyugas above a certain age knew also the truth. They had been lied to by everybody they trusted.
Hokuse, the serious brother ran away, trying to make sense about why everything he believed was a lie. Otoro reacted differently. Blind with rage and fury, he decided to become an avenger. He decided to exterminate the Hyuga clan to the last man, woman and child.
The opening of his vendetta was the attack against one of the Hyuga clan's main villages, and killed sixty-six people before he was chased away. To the few survivors, he announced that he was not a Hyuga anymore. From that moment on, he was Uchiha Otoro. The name came from her mother's paper fan.
The Rubicon had been crossed. Shingen decided that Otoro was going to be captured alive, tortured, dissected alive, kept his intestines for examination, and thrown the other leftovers to the dogs. As a first measure, almost all of his non-Hyuga friends were arrested after paying enough bribes to the proper authorities. Later they were questioned and tortured, hoping to draw out the Uchiha. It didn't work, as Otoro was walking the Meifumado, a path of demons and damnation towards achieving his revenge.
For seven years Otoro waged war on his new enemies, which included all his childhood friends and all the people he had lived with. Otoro through guerrilla warfare, single-handlely killed hundreds of Hyugas, without sparing anybody with white eyes. The Hyugas tried to kill him through mercenaries, bounty-hunters and allies of the Hyuga clan, besides the famous shinobis of the Hyuga clan. They fought him with bravery, but discovered to his horror that Otoro had learnt many deadly techniques from the clans and lands he had visited.
He took her girlfriend Sakura as his mate since he needed a descendant to continue his revenge as he was likely to die before exterminating the whole Hyuga clan. He had loved her before, but now there was just emptiness in his heart. He gave Sakura every reason to leave her, almost encouraging her to leave him and yet she didn't. Maybe she found something in him that he didn't think existed anymore. Maybe she was too stubborn for his own good. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. Therefore the winged Cupid is painted blind.
Hokuse appeared a few times… still not siding with anybody, but appalled at the violence he was watching. He tried to stop the war, but only managed to make both sides agree that they didn't want a peaceful settlement. Hokuse tried to protect the innocents. He saved Sakura's life three times and innumerable Hyuga lives. While Otoro was known as the Avenger, he was known as the Protector. Otoro didn't want to fight his cherished brother, so he usually fled whenever he saw his brother.
It was only at the end of those seven years that Otoro finally was trapped. He was chased by seventy-seven hunters-nins from the Hyuga clan, specially prepared and trained to kill him and led by no other that Hyuga Shingen. It was almost the last card of the Hyugas. Otoro would have tried to stand and fight, but his mother was also there. He tried to retreat, but since he was trapped, he was given no other choice but to fight back.
In the terrible battle that lasted twenty-four hours, Otoro finally developed his ability, which he named the Sharingan. Covered with blood from head to toe, his eyes also turned red; the expert of understanding foreign techniques got the bloodline ability to copy the skills of his enemies. It was a glorious battle.
His mother also died at his hands.
In the middle of the combat lust, he didn't notice it was her till the last second. He tried to stop his weapon's thrust, but it was too late. He saw his katana's going through his mother's belly, the place he had come from originally. He screamed in denial, till another hunter-nin took out part of his face with a spiked club. Otoro's body, honed by a thousand battles, reacted. He used all his pain against them, slashing and tearing and killing to save his own hide.
The last one left was Hyuga Shingen. Otoro hated him, because it was the head of the Hyuga clan who had started the plan that destroyed his life. Shingen hated Otoro because all the pain and death the young warrior had caused.
They fought with mighty rage and consummate skill, black fire throbbing on their blood. Eventually Otoro got the upper hand and managed to twist Shingen's neck with a precise move.
He had almost accomplished his revenge… he was just so tired… just a little bit further and he could die in peace.
He returned to his temporal base. One of the many he had, because he had to be constantly on the move to avoid his enemies. Sakura was there, the person that had offered rest and shelter even in the worst situations. She told him that she was pregnant. An offspring was not needed anymore since the Hyuga clan was as good as finished, but Otoro decided that he didn't want to leave behind a legacy of blood. He tried to escape the circle of violence. He opened some negotiations with the Hyuga clan and a temporary truce was made.
Otoro and Sakura tried to live in peace. They managed for four years. They had a beautiful son called Satoshi. They dreamed of living in peace.
Then Hokuse appeared again.
He came into sight of the house of Otoro and Sakura. They saw him, but didn't make any attempt of trying to approach him. They could feel the shadow of death on him.
He stood in front of their house for the whole day. It rained that night. When dawn came he was still there. He didn't move for the whole day again. When nightfall came, he hadn't moved, as if he were a statue of salt. The third day was very cold, but Hokuse didn't waver.
At dawn of the fourth day Otoro went to meet his dear brother.
"Long time no see, aniki." Otoro said.
Hokuse closed his eyes.
"I tried to stop all of you. Now you killed mom." There was pain in Hokuse's voice.
"She killed dad. She deserved it." Otoro soothingly answered. "I didn't mean it, though."
"Does it matter?"
"I guess not."
Otoro looked at his house. Hokuse nodded. They had always been very close. They didn't need many words to understand each other.
That night Otoro and Sakura made love sweetly with each other. They slept together. Their thoughts, their thoughts together, their bodies, touching each other... and then sleep flowed through each of them. When she woke up, he was gone.
Hokuse was waiting for his little brother. They took off together. The avenger turned protector and the protector turned avenger.
They visited the place where they had been born. It had been burnt to the ground, as it was one of the first places that Otoro had attacked.
At that chosen place they battled. They had been brothers and even the best of friends when they were young. Now there was only regret.
They fought with hate, savagery and regret. Both of them had bathed in blood too often. So they met, equal in fury, equal in blood, equal when the fall. They were breathtaking and deadly forces of war, raised to the level of an art form
It took ninety-nine minutes of combat, where Individual wounds didn't matter and where pain, both physical and mental, was an environment. Finally Otoro, more experienced in the art of killing, struck an almost-fatal blow. Hokuse collapsed, trying to hold his guts inside. Otoro was on him in an instant, ready for the final blow… but they were still brothers. Otoro hesitated when the chance came and gave his brother a second, which Hokuse took.
There was a loud sound as Otoro's side was sprayed with a mist of hot crimson, and there was a supernova where his arm used to be. Shock raced through Otoro's system, caressing every part of his body with the urgency of a rabid lover.
Both of them were using their last strength. They were standing only through force of will. Otoro and Hokuse collapsed on the other, hugging and stabbing each other simultaneously. They used the other's body as support, till Hokuse fell down from blood loss.
Otoro kneeled and kissed him a good-night kiss. Then the protector turned avenger died. Otoro screamed as his eyes suffered a change: The Mangekyou Sharingan, the evolution of a terrifying gift created through sins and experiments. The platoon of Hyugas that had been waiting to kill the survivor of the fight didn't stand a chance.
Otoro desperately tried to crawl towards his love, towards life. He died halfway.
When Sakura learnt the death of his love, she went crazy. She set fire on the house, trying to kill herself and the child. They both died on the fire, or so the Hyuga clan thought.
Fifty years later, four shinobis appeared. They were the second and third generation of the Uchiha clan appeared: Uchiha Satoshi and his three sons. All of them had the ability to turn their eyes to the color of blood and to copy any jutsus used against them. Their favorite techniques were related to fire, as Satoshi's nightmares were packed with the flames that devoured her mother.
The scared Hyuga leadership decided to settle for peace rather than risking another war: All parties accepted the lasting peace treaty between the old Hyuga clan and the newly created Uchiha clan. The leader of the Hyuga clan, the daughter of Shingen, accepted the peace, and yet issued a warning.
"This is a treaty of peace. It is actually a trap. You Uchihas are beasts. You will fight each other until there is only two left. Those two will fight each other until there is only one left. The one left will kill itself."
The treaty was signed. There was still a lot of bad blood between them, but time heals everything. A long time later the First Hokage created the village of the Leaf, and two of the clans that worked together to create it were the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan.
Four generations later the Uchiha massacre took place, and the wheels of destiny started moving again.
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Sasuke ended his tale. Sakura noticed that it was dark already. The cemetery didn't look a very welcoming place to stay at night. The story had been long, and she had felt it was even longer.
"That's the story. I learnt the story reading some old manuscripts. It's not that I care about old stories. But…" Sasuke shuddered "I have considered the possibility that the prophecy will come true. That Itachi and I will kill eventually each other and nothing will be left."
"The hell he will." She firmly said.
"Sometimes I feel the avenger taking over me. Many times I feel I'm losing myself on the Avenger."
"The hell you will." She firmly added. "You were right. The story is too old. Let's not tell this tale to anybody else."
"I just can't let Itachi go, and his anger has left a scar inside of me. I'm pathetic. My weakness caused Naruto to die." Sasuke said the last part so quietly she almost couldn't hear. He lowered his head.
She stood up and moved toward him. She tenderly hugged Sasuke
"Honor Naruto's memory by cherishing what you knew of him. Honor who he was and be proud you were a part of his life. Remember that he would have died for you."
Sasuke leaned his head on her.
"We have to go to speak to that fortune-teller" He warned.
"True." She agreed, still leaning on him. "I don't care about prophecies or psycho brothers. You are not dying. We are going to live happily. Is that clear?"
"Hn. Maybe with your help I can".
Probably the cemetery wasn't the most romantic place in the world. It was cold and wet. But it was more than fine for them as they had each other. In a few seconds they were in the ground exchanging kisses and tasting each other.
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Itachi and Kisame had been working hard preparing the place for the battle: They had recognized the place and gotten the upper ground; booby traps had been set; weapons had been hidden; they had eaten well to get enough energy.
The only thing left to do was to wait. In the meantime and loss. He had expected his bulky teammate to understand it after repeating it nine times. Apparently he was too optimistic.
"I don't get it. That Otoro was gay. Why did he have to stop killing the Hyugas just when he was about to exterminate them all? And he stopped because of a woman! Boring!" Kisame complained.
Itachi growled at his teammate.
"… Kisame… That's not the point of the story."
"Well, the story was too long anyway. I only cared about the part when the guy was killing his enemies."
"I'll try giving you a short version: In Greek mythology when Orestes killed his own mother, Clitemnestra, the furies came to punish him, as the act of matricide demanded an accounting. The tragedy of Orestes is that, had he spared his mother, the furies would have come all the same since his mother had murdered his father, Agamemnon. He never had a way out." Long sigh "Do you understand now the metaphor of the story?"
"Errr, well… I think… Maybe… could be… errr… No. Was Orestes an Uchiha?"
Itachi rolled his eyes.
"Besides me, there are only psychos and morons in the ranks of Akatsuki."
"Yep, that's what I am. A true psycho!" Kisame boasted. "Wait. You aren't calling me a moron, are you?"
"Orestes didn't have anything to do with the Uchiha." Itachi explained without bothering to answer. Suicide would be anticlimactic, wouldn't be? "This is Greek mythology. I just used that story as an example of things that can't end well, that will have a terrible ending no matter what the characters will do or the choices they make. That's what a tragedy is. It means my future may well be damned. Do you understand now?"
"I understand it" Kisame declared not understanding at all, Itachi noticed to his desperation. "And what are the furies?"
"In Greek mythology they were the female personifications of vengeance" Itachi wondered about going on a rampage again.
"I get it now! They were female Uchihas!" Kisame yelled, glad to have finally understood
For the umpteenth time Itachi groaned with great displeasure as he felt the urge to murder suddenly arising from within.
The conversation was interrupted by somebody approaching. Itachi and Kisame felt it, an incredibly powerful chakra, coming closer. Both Akatsuki members stood in sober silence, feeling the tremendous powerhouse and two smaller satellites arriving. The hate emanating from the monster was overpowering. It reminded Itachi of his foolish little beloved brother. Kisame started to laugh when the thought about the beautiful battle coming.
After a few minutes, the three pursuers arrived with intents of killing. The person leading the chasing team had an important duty, but decided to leave everything behind because a death of a precious friend.
"Nice to meet you. I have heard a lot of you, Gaara-kun." Itachi saluted.
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Well, here is finally the Original Uchiha Tragedy, which spawned the Uchiha clan. I hope you liked it. Please, give me your opinions.
According to the canon, the Uchiha clan spawned from the Hyuga clan. However I found unlikely that the powerful Hyuga clan would let the sharingan ability escape from their clan without a terrible fight.
When I wrote the story, I tried to depict the characters as neither of them necessary evil, but moved by different fair reasons, like the desire to help the clan or the desire to revenge one's father.
Also, I didn't expect Kisame would become the comic-relief in this story. As with so many things in this tale, it just happened on his own
I expect that next chapter will bring the conclusion to the second part of the saga, with appearances from Orochimaru, Gaara, the Hokage and Itachi, besides the golden couple, Sasuke and Sakura. Please don't forget to post your review.