It was a dark and gritty evening. The crows cawed ominously.
Itachi loomed over the Uchiha clan's unsuspecting members, as he resolved himself. He knew what had to be done. He was not sure if he had the strength for it.
He soon reached the girl whom he liked, Izumi, so he could give her a quick death. He used Tsukiyomi to show her their life together, without this painful day. In which he proposed to her after she hit Chunin, and they had children and lived happily ever after.
It nearly exhausted him.
It's the least I can do for her.
He then started with unsuspecting members in the police force headquarters. He had not signed up to be a kin-slayer.
But the village came first.
It would always come first.
One slash at a time, doing it from the back so he wouldn't have to see their faces of shock and desperation, so he wouldn't have to see their betrayed faces as he slammed his tanto into their guts.
The adults and elders were the easy bit. Killing them was logical, he told himself. They were causing a rebellion, so they had to be stopped.
It's for the good of Konoha.
But when he started with the children, he was so disgusted with himself. He was killing innocent children. He knew that as a shinobi, he would be expected to do these things, but this, this was not what he signed up for!
Each time he stabbed one of them, he would see Sasuke's face instead of theirs, looking at him, shocked, afraid, paralyzed, and betrayed.
He stabbed her, watching as the life faded from her eyes, as she uttered, "Thank you"
Itachi was crying. He was in pain.
The village comes first.
He steeled himself as he went to meet his parents.
When he reached them, his father said, "So you chose the village," as he plunged his sword his back.
His mother told him, "Take care of Sasuke" as he did the same to her.
Itachi wept in pain.
He got up. He had to leave the village, become a missing-nin.
He could not allow his clan's reputation to be tarnished by their near coup.
As he was rising, he heard, "Itachi, stand down."
He turned around to see Kakashi in full gear, with his own Mangekyou in full display.
"I don't want to do this Senpai," Itachi said.
"Neither do I, Itachi," said Kakashi.
The air was soon filled with the sound of a thousand chirping birds.
Kakashi lunged at Itachi with his Chidori.
Earlier that day,
Kakashi had a bad feeling.
The sun was out, there were no clouds in the sky, he was just back from another "suicide mission", somehow alive. He was back in Konoha after a month outside the village. It was good to be back home.
But his gut kept screaming, Something is going on .
It's nothing! Just a PTSD-ridden mind going haywire!
Of course, it was! What else would it be? Just his mind going haywire because of all these "suicide missions" he's been doing.
And what a brilliant job these "suicide missions" have done! He's still alive, after all. He's managed to survive by just a hair's breadth every time.
His messed-up survivor's luck kept had him alive alright. He'd complete more and more dangerous missions every time he survived.
Each time he survived, he'd gotten better.
Now, he could pull off a hundred Jutsu in a battle.
He felt that was unfortunate. He'd have happily died if not for his growing skill.
He didn't want to do it himself either. He was too darn afraid to do it himself.
His gut screamed, " Something bad is going to happen!"
" Shut up!" He told himself, " Nothing bad is going to happen!"
After all, what could go wrong?
His dear kohai, Itachi, not that he had any hand in training him except in ANBU, had been promoted to ANBU captain last month, when he was last in the village, with the position of Hokage within the next two years, if the Sandaime's desperation to retire was any indication.
His dear kohai, Tenzou had started coming out of his emotional shell, letting people in, the rest of ANBU was doing swimmingly, the war was gone, Konoha was ushering in an era of peace, her people happy and prosperous.
" So why does this feel like the calm before a storm?"
He went to the Third Hokage to report his mission. Entering through the window, unnoticed by anyone, and kneeled before the third, and said, "Mission successful, Hokage-sama. Sand shinobi were eliminated during their mission for their Daimyo and there are no traces that will connect them to us. Even to the trained shinobi eye, it will look like sheer incompetence. Partially because they were half-baked shinobi, thanks to my previous efforts" he chuckled.
Hiruzen took his pipe, smoked a little, and said, "Good, Kaze no Kuni's Daimyo will have no choice but to come to us. What with Suna shinobi being worthless to him.
Thanks to your efforts in fueling the civil war ongoing in Kiri, even Mizu no Kuni's Daimyo is giving us a majority of their missions."
"Now, I want to speak to Kakashi, the man, not Inu the ANBU captain"
Kakashi removed his mask and asked, "What is it, Hokage-sama?"
"What do you intend to do with your life Kakashi? Do you intend to spend the rest of it, like this, in ANBU, taking all these missions, trying to kill yourself through these missions?" Kakashi flinched at that. "Why are doing all of this?"
"I just want to serve Konoha"
"Oh cut me the bull crap Kakashi. We both know that you can serve Konoha just as well from the inside, as a Jounin, taking on students, helping the next generation grow. Serving Konoha is not why you are doing this. Why don't you stop blaming yourself for the deaths of your teammates and your Sensei? You are not responsible for it. And if you feel so responsible, then why don't you take care of his only legacy, why don't you take care of Naruto?"
Kakashi had kept away from Naruto the same way he stayed out of the village, by going on one mission after another.
The kid was far too similar to Minato-sensei! Every time he saw the kid, he was reminded of sensei, he was reminded of his failure.
His guilt crept up to him. He felt like killing himself.
But he couldn't tell that to Hiruzen. He couldn't tell that to anyone. So he kept quiet. Didn't let anyone in. Pushed everyone away. Closed himself off, and curled deep into his self-loathing life.
I don't deserve more.
I am a shinobi. Just a tool. Tools like me aren't supposed to feel emotion.
"You've spent eight years in ANBU. Is that not enough of time to figure out that you weren't responsible for the things you blame yourself for?" Hiruzen sighed as he continued, "Leave ANBU, and help Naruto if you blame yourself so much for Minato's death. You will leave ANBU, this isn't a request. It's an order. Today is the last day you spend as Konoha ANBU. A bunch of students is graduating in a few months. I'll assign you a team."
Kakashi was about to protest, but Hiruzen said, "That is an order, Kakashi. Your time in ANBU is done! Leave!"
So he did. He wandered around Konoha aimlessly. He felt like he didn't have a purpose. He could do as Hiruzen told him to, reach out to Naruto, but he was afraid. Afraid that just like everyone else in his life, he would cause Naruto's death as well.
So instead, he went to his apartment. He opened his copy of Icha Icha. But even this didn't seem to be a distraction enough. He'd read many times before and long since memorized the entire book. He knew Icha Icha was just another farce that he put up. Not only to trick others but also to trick himself into a sense of normalcy. Into believing that his life wasn't broken. Into believing that he actually had one.
He threw the book onto his bed in frustration.
He hated himself.
He decided to actually do something right and go meet sensei's kid. The least he could do was be there for him.
He wore a standard jonin outfit as he walked out.
He ignored his screaming guts as he walked out towards the academy, unnoticed by everyone.
He reached the shinobi academy in a short while. He saw Itachi giving his younger brother a piggyback ride home. From the shadows, he saw Naruto, on a swing, all by himself.
When he looked at Naruto, he could easily make out Minato-sensei's and Kushina-nee's features. He just stared at Naruto from the shadows. He couldn't bring himself to go meet him.
He was too afraid.
So he went back to his apartment.
Once there, he started writing a scroll to Naruto. In it, he put in instructions for various jutsu and techniques, such as Shadow clones, tree-walking, water-walking, henge, kawarimi, chakra control exercises, exercises to increase control of the elements, and many basic elemental jutsu. He also put in a chakra paper to determine his affinity.
In the end, he signed, Your well-wisher .
He didn't have the guts to sign his own name on it.
He dropped it off at Naruto's apartment and waited till he arrived.
When Naruto first saw the letter and scroll addressed to him, he wasn't sure of it. He opened it and went through the contents of the scroll painstakingly, he didn't know how to read kanji that well...
Kakashi was watching Naruto from the shadows. He saw Naruto's face brighten up as he went through the scroll.
Is this what sensei used to feel? When he taught us something?
Once he was finished with the contents of the scroll, Naruto looked up and said, "I don't know who you are well-wisher, but I will master everything in here! I will become the Hokage, believe it!"
I like seeing Naruto smile . Kakashi decided, he'd do this more often, actually visit Naruto soon.
When he saw Naruto smile, it felt like something in him, something buried deep in his heart came back up. He felt happy again.
He stayed, watching Naruto practice the shadow clone jutsu. It took only an hour and a half to master it.
Kakashi left, to go home, with a smile underneath that mask of his.
On his way home, he was interrupted by an ANBU, "Hokage sama has summoned you." He also flared his chakra in ANBU code for- be there in full gear, a high-level intruder.
So he shushined back home, put on his gear, and went to the Hokage office in under twenty seconds.
"Hokage sama"
Hiruzen said, "Intruder in the Uchiha district. He's been unnoticed since he entered. Be wary. We may be dealing with an ANBU defector who came back."
Only ANBU knew how to stay unnoticed even if they set off the barrier system. It could also be a teleporter. Like sensei. Teleporters could stay unnoticed as well.
Only one man had defected that fit the parameters.
And wasn't that great?
They were either dealing with Orochimaru or someone unknown with teleportation jutsu.
He rushed to the site of intrusion.
He hoped it was Orochimaru. Better a known enemy than an unknown one.
He summoned his dogs. He ordered them, "High-level intruder. Possibly Orochimaru. Find any scent you can and track it down!"
It took the dogs a while of sniffing until Pakkun came and said, "We have good news and bad news."
"Go ahead"
"It's not Orochimaru."
"What did you find?"
"Nothing"
Kakashi was not happy about this, An unknown teleporter was not good news.
The sun had started to set.
He and his dogs finally caught a scent near the clan compound and started tracking it down and it ended at the Uchiha clan fence. He entered, stealthily to make sure they didn't find him. There he saw Itachi on a pole, and Itachi started to attack his clan members.
So this was how Hiruzen was dealing with the coup. He'd known about it since he was guarding Hiruzen through most of the talks involving the Uchiha. All that talk about peace and the village wasn't even willing to let the Uchiha stay in the same vicinity as the rest of it. No wonder they wanted to coup. And this was how Hiruzen was dealing with it.
Pathetic!
The worst part is that Itachi would be forced to leave the village. Not on his watch. He flared his chakra, to let his team know that he needed them here, emergency.
Tenzou, Genma, and Yugao were there in less than half a minute.
He ordered them to take anyone twelve and younger to the hospital as soon as possible.
After giving them orders, he went to the house of Fugaku, to find Itachi killing his parents.
He sent a shadow clone to fight Itachi.
While his shadow clone confronted Itachi, he hid underground.
The Shadow CLone said, "Itachi, stand down!"
Itachi turned around to see Shadow clone in full gear, with his own Mangekyou in full display.
"I don't want to do this Senpai," Itachi said.
"Neither do I, Itachi," said Kakashi.
The air was soon filled with the sound of a thousand chirping birds.
Kakashi lunged at Itachi with his Chidori.
Itachi's eye spun revealing his Mangekyou Sharingan.
He said, "You forced me to do this, Senpai,"
Itachi's eye shed tears of blood as he used Amaterasu, burning Kakashi's clone.
Once Kakashi's clone burned down, with nothing left of it, Itachi wheezed in exhaustion and misery.
Just as he thought everything was finished, Kakashi's hand, clad in Chidori punched through the ground.
Itachi was only saved by his reflexes.
Itachi wanted to use Amaterasu again ad end this once and for all.
But Kakashi was relentless in his attacks. Not even giving Itachi a moment to use Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi, making sure to not make eye contact and not staying in the same place for him to use Amaterasu.
He shattered Itachi's tanto with his Chidori.
With each attack, he pushed Itachi further back, cutting him more and more.
Itachi soon found himself pushed to the wall.
Kakashi was already onto him, his Chidori slamming into the wall, Itachi surviving by a hair's breadth yet again. Kakashi then said, "Raiton: Denji Myakudo"[Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Pulse]
The Chidori in his arm burst out in a large sphere of electromagnetic radiation, hitting Itachi's head causing him to roll over.
Itachi saw Kakashi looming over him, just like he had over the clan.
Just as Kakashi was about to unleash a final attack, Sasuke entered the home, looking scared.
Sasuke saw his brother bloodied from too many cuts to count, "N-N-Nii-san, who is this man? What is happening?"
Sasuke was shivering in fear. His parents lay dead, his brother was nearly defeated. His clan, killed.
Itachi was distracted by Sasuke. Kakashi took this opportunity to strike at Itachi's shoulder, shattering his bone and cutting the nerves in the process. He then removed his arm from Itachi's shoulder, leaving a gaping hole where his shoulder used to be.
Itachi was dizzy, he was in pain, he was losing blood too quickly. He fell down, not able to stand. He supposes Kakashi's previous lightning jutsu he was hit with has something to do with it, along with all the other blood he's lost.
"Nii-san!" screamed Sasuke, as he saw his brother fall.
Itachi attempted to scream, "Sasuke! Run away!"
But it only came as a whisper, as he faded out of consciousness.
Kakashi applied a seal onto Itachi.
Itachi's body went limp, motionless.
Kakashi had applied a medical stasis seal, used to prevent shinobi from dying when it could be avoided.
But Sasuke didn't know that. He thought Itachi was dead.
He asked, shivering in fear and panic, "What did you do?"
Kakashi said, "I killed him, just like I killed everyone else in your clan" He held up his bloodied hand as proof.
"But why would you do that? Kill your own clan?" Asked Sasuke.
Of course, Sasuke thought he was an Uchiha. The kid didn't have reason to assume he wasn't one.
Kakashi said, "I am not an Uchiha. This eye," he pointed at his eye, "belonged to a friend. He gave me the eye as a last gift as he died, crushed under a rock saving my life."
"But your clan didn't accept his sacrifice and accused me of killing him. Why would I kill my best friend? I couldn't take it, so I murdered your clan!" He didn't want to tell anyone about Obito, but he needed a somewhat logical reason, for people to believe that he was the murderer.
Sasuke just stared in horror.
Kakashi threw a kunai at Sasuke and said, "You want revenge, kid? Go ahead, try it"
Sasuke saw the kunai. He glanced between Itachi's limp body and the kunai.
He was afraid. He was angry.
Fueled by rage, he lunged at Kakashi, his eyes evolving into the Sharingan.
Kakashi just kicked him back, without any effort and said, "I'll spare your life. After all,
dead men tell no tales "
He then left the house. On his way out, he found his team taking some kids. He told them, "Itachi is in his house. In a stasis seal. His brother is unharmed. Take them to the hospital afterward."
After giving them orders, he went to the Hokage's office. There he found Hiruzen. Upon entering, Hiruzen saw his bloodied hand and uniform, erected privacy seals.
He said, "Report"
"The intruder was not found. Most likely a teleporter"
Hiruzen sighed that was not good.
Kakashi continued, "I am taking the fall for Itachi. I put him in a stasis seal. My team has most likely taken him to the hospital by now. I want Itachi to live happily in Konoha with his brother. My team also saved all Uchiha children. I'll know if anything happens to them. And you know best what happens, to villages I mess with."
Saying so, he shushined out of the place.
Hiruzen sighed as he smoked. Hiruzen looked at the sky and sighed in defeat and anger. This was not the way he wanted the Uchiha issue to go.