AN: There's a lot that I can say about why it took me so goddamn long to update. But concidering many of those things are either personal or rather depressing I wont. All I'll say is that I was in a bad place, and now I'm not. I apologize for the long wait, and hope you enjoy this chapter. Bakkughan out.
Naruto and the Overpowered Academy Three
Chapter 10: The Fall of the Uchiha
For the third time, Naruto Uzumaki was enrolled in the first year of the Ninja Academy. And he was completely bored out of his mind. The material for the first year consisted of an introduction into the Shinobi World combined with a regular civilian curriculum like math and writing and such. Which meant that the first half of the year was mostly just theory, with some light physical activity thrown in.
Mostly stuff like, how do you properly use a kunai.
Which eventually boiled down to: 'poke em with the pointy bit'.
Around the halfway point of the year, students would be taught how to unlock their chakra. Them still being children, this meant that their chakra pool wasn't really usable for anything yet, but it did allow the teachers to guide the students in getting a feel for their chakra, teaching them how to manipulate it using the handseals they had learned previously.
This would eventually culminate in one of the basic Academy Three: the Henge. Each year would focus on a single jutsu, with the students having to perform all three at their final exam.
Unfortunately for Naruto, he had already listened to the material twice before (whenever he wasn't ditching class that is), had already unlocked his chakra, and his special Henge was far superior to the ordinary Henge the Academy taught. The physical portion of the Academy didn't really pose any serious challenge to him, except for spars with Uchiha Sasuke, who for some reason appeared to have taken Naruto's skill as a personal affront.
And so his first year passed in a haze of boredom, furious spars with the Uchiha genius and running away from one irate Umino Iruka, who was most often the victim of the young Uzumaki's aforementioned boredom.
Because since Naruto was unable to go prank the ANBU with Lee under the guise of training, as Lee had been far too busy taking missions and training with his new team, he simply decided to apply his skills in class instead.
Such as confetti bombs in the drawers of Iruka's new desk.
Or painting Iruka's new, new desk a vibrant orange.
Or even destroying it on accident by throwing one Uchiha Sasuke through the window and subsequently the new, new new desk during one of their more heated spars.
Long story short, Iruka had to go through an inordinate amount of desks, and was forced to use hair dye by the end of the year in order to disguise his early onset of graying.
Outside of school however, Naruto still trained with the Akimichi, trying to learn from them how to use his shapeshifting in combat. It was a slow going process due to the difference in their respective abilities, and Naruto was still used to fighting with the bastardized version of the Strong Fist he had picked up under Gai's tutelage.
During these training sessions the Inuzuka were getting more and more involved as well, since they were the clan with the best senses in Konoha (barring the legendary eyes of the Hyuuga and the bugs of the Aburame, but the former weren't really interested in joining these training sessions and the latter were unable to share their form of combat with anyone not of their clan) and thus the ideal people to help train Naruto in using his new senses.
This eventually led to a tighter bond between Naruto, Kiba and Choji, who insisted on dragging his best friend Nara Shikamaru along as well.
Whenever the four of them would be together, usually in the Akimichi compound or the Nara forest, Naruto and Kiba would engage in friendly rivalry, ranging from spars at the Akimichi, or hide and seek in at the Nara.
Choji was happy to just sit there and bask in the friendly atmosphere, but Naruto had a knack for getting the rotund boy fired up and willing to jump in on the competition, which would inevitably mean that Shikamaru would be dragged along as well.
Choji and Shikamaru would always end up teaming up against Naruto and Kiba, and though both feral boys were undisputedly the better combatants of the four, with Naruto's greater chakra and more advanced taijutsu and Kiba's combo's with his partner Akamaru, their match-ups ended up in draws more often than not, Shikamaru's sheer genius an excellent companion to Choji's natural strength, which was already higher than that of Naruto and Kiba, which as part of the physically strongest clan in Konoha, would persist well into adulthood.
In response to Shikamaru's excellent tactics driving him and Kiba into Choji's (enlarged) hands, Naruto let his prankster spirit out, circumventing the young Nara's careful strategies with sheer unpredictability and sneakiness.
Initially taken off guard by the switch in tactics, Shikamaru quickly began adapting to the blonde's unorthodox way of thinking, his own mind becoming far more flexible and alert than it otherwise would have been, which combined with his raw intelligence made for a scary combo.
For a while, everything was right with the world, the bonds between the next generation of Konoha's warriors growing ever stronger, their skills increasing day by day.
Everyone was content (with the exception of Iruka of course, though the company that sold him their desks were over the moon) and so it didn't come as a surprise to the older and more cynical generation when in a single night, this peace and happiness was shattered beyond repair.
Because in one night, the Uchiha Massacre took place.
Silhouetted in darkness, a cloaked figure waited patiently underneath one of the giant Hashirama trees, waiting for his contact to finally arrive. There was no doubt in the unknown person's mind that his companion would show up at the agreed upon time.
There was too much at stake, too much already set in place, to back out now.
Finally, the stranger's patience was rewarded when a slim figure dropped down in front of him in the small clearing underneath the ancient trees.
"So, you decided to come after all, Uchiha Itachi." The figure spoke up in a leisurely tone, though his voice had an undercurrent of malice to it.
The small figure straightened itself to reveal that it indeed was young Itachi, dressed in his ANBU-gear. Despite who his companion claimed to be, and the grim task they had before them this night, his pale face didn't betray any emotion at all, his eyes settling coolly on the robed figure in front of him.
"Of course I came. It isn't like I truly had a choice in the matter, do I?"
The stranger chuckled, but it was a sound of cruelty, not amusement, as he stepped out of the shade of the trees, allowing the moonlight to illuminate the mask he wore.
"In the grand scheme of things, do any of us?"
Walking past the younger Uchiha without even looking back, the man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara made his way towards where the Uchiha Compound laid, its inhabitants unaware of the terrible fate that was about to befall them.
"Come then, young Itachi. Let us bring peace to the world."
Itachi stood rigidly alone in the clearing for a moment, before he closed his eyes in acceptance. The prodigy then turned on his heel, and followed his older clan member towards his home, ready to commit acts that would doom his soul for eternity.
They approached the walls of the compound without being noticed by the Clan's monitoring system, Itachi having been trained in avoiding them by his father and the stranger… well, he might not be who he claimed to be, but if he had been in contact with the real Uchiha Madara, then there was a pretty big chance that there wasn't a single Uchiha secret the man didn't know about.
The high wall surrounded the wall was heavily guarded, as it had been for the past few months, the security gradually increasing ever since tensions had begun to rise within the village from the moment the rumor had spread that the Uchiha had been responsible for all of the death and destruction the rampage of the Kyuubi had caused.
This was it.
The moment of no return.
The moment Uchiha Itachi would forever be branded the worst traitor the Elemental Nations had ever seen in its violent and blood-filled history.
'For the Village. For Konoha. For Sasuke.' Itachi thought to himself, as he drew his tanto.
Next to him, he could feel the chakra of the stranger flex as he bent at the knees. Then as one, they cleared the tens of feet separating them from the wall in a single bound, landing on the ramparts with nothing more than the rustle of cloth and the spinning of their Sharingan.
The guards never stood a chance.
As Itachi's blade flashed through the night, spilling the blood of his family with every stroke, the impostor went on an offensive of his own, kunai finding their mark unerringly, while each hastily executed counter-attack simply missed, even as they passed straight through his body.
It took all of three minutes to clear their part of the wall, leaving only corpses in their wake.
As Itachi glanced away from his fallen clan members, he didn't feel any guilt or remorse. He didn't feel anything at all. Feeling would come later, when this night and Konoha itself were far behind him, when he could crumble apart in private.
"Our element of surprise is waning. This little scuffle won't go completely unnoticed. Let's get a move on." The unknown Uchiha said in an even tone.
Without waiting for a reply, the impostor sprung forwards, landing on the roof of a two story house, before making his way inside. Itachi didn't need his excellent senses to know that the inhabitants, be they man, woman or child were already as good as dead the moment the murderous Uchiha set foot in their home.
At least, that was what he expected, until the upper floor of the house exploded, the man calling himself Uchiha Madara jumping away from the destruction without so much a scratch. Landing next to Itachi in a crouch, the villain tilted his head in curiosity.
"Well, this certainly is unexpected."
Standing in the ruined wall of the house of some unwitting Uchiha family stood a squad of ANBU-operatives, some of them already sporting some gruesome wounds, while Itachi's Sharingan spotted a couple of their team members lying in pools of blood behind them.
'No, not ANBU. They are ROOT.' Itachi wondered to himself, caught off guard by this new development.
"What is the meaning of this!?" thundered a voice above the ruckus, as the rest of the Uchiha compound stirred awake, people coming out of their houses looking disheveled and half-asleep, but instinctively brandishing their weapons.
Itachi glanced at the speaker, recognizing him as one of his great-uncles, and one of the most vehement supporters of the coup.
The answer came from an unexpected source, being so out of place it even caught the Madara-imposter of guard.
"Quite some time ago, the Hokage uncovered rumors and whispers that Madara wasn't quite as dead as everybody believed. In response to this threat, I was tasked with creating an elite ANBU team, codenamed ROOT, to hunt these rumors down, and if they proved to be true, eliminate their source. Though we didn't receive any intel that Uchiha Madara had taken on an apprentice." The dry voice of Shimura Danzo called out, as the ancient warhawk shuffled out from behind his operatives, his cane striking the floor with every step.
Itachi's mind raced faster than the Hiraishin as he tried to understand this sudden shift in events.
'What is ROOT doing here? For that matter, what is Danzo doing here? Shisui is supposed to have him contained under Kotoamatsukami… of, course! There's no way Danzo of all people would be so open with his intel and motivations. Shisui must still control him! So is that your plan, Hokage-sama? Three birds with one stone? Have your traitorous adviser redeem himself by making it appear as if his private army was your doing all along. Then get rid of him and the traitorous Uchiha, by having them fight a three way battle with the Madara imposter. But why imply that I'm aiding him?' Itachi thought to himself, all of this passing through his mind in less time than it would take to blink.
Next to him, the man claiming to be Madara straightened from his crouch, his posture still unbothered, despite facing a previously unknown hit squad and the waking of the Uchiha Clan, though there hung an air of danger around him as he replied.
"So, Hiruzen's attack-dog finally shows his true colors. But you should be thanking me Shimura! I am doing you and Konoha a service this night. Don't tell me you were unaware of the traitorous ambition of those I once called family?"
"Silence you dog! You claim to be our family, but to us you are a stranger! Who are you to kill our clan members, and then speak of treason?!" another elder of the Uchiha roared, unsheathing the katana that hung from his belt even as his Sharingan swirled into life.
The masked man turned his gaze on the elder who had spoken, the air filling with potent killing intent as his voice dripped with malice.
"Dog you call me. But what does that make you, I wonder. Aren't you all dogs, snapping at your chains in the end? But you forgot whose holding the leash, and now his right hand has come to strike you down." The faux-Madara growled out, as the air itself was ripped apart in a swirling vortex of nothingness, the impostor sticking his arm into the distortion without hesitation, before retrieving a katana of his own.
Cold sweat dripped down Itachi's back as he saw several Uchiha glare suspiciously at Shimura and his operatives, though his face betrayed no emotion.
"And why should I believe a word you say? Between the two of you, it is you who is covered in the blood of my kin. And you appear to have even turned my son against us. No, whatever Shimura's reasons and purpose for being here are, they can be discussed at a later point. Now, however…" a hard voice cut through the din of the assembled Uchiha and ROOT-operatives.
Itachi couldn't stop himself from tightening his grip on his tanto as his father strode through their assembled clansmen, already fully dressed and looking both alert and dangerous, his Sharingan blazing in the dimness of the night.
"… now you die. Both of you."
And with those words, the battle had begun.
Itachi's father jumped at him with incredible speed, his katana leading the way, glinting in the light of the jutsu already being thrown around by the other combatants. It was only Itachi's own Sharingan and prodigious skill that allowed him to catch the tip of his father's sword on the flat of his blade, through the sheer force of Fugaku's attack cleared them both over the walls surrounding the compound and carried them deep into the woods of Konoha.
While still in mid-air, Fugaku managed to close in on his son, and put more pressure on his blade, before violently swinging his blade, slamming Itachi away from him, though the young Uchiha managed to right himself and land on his feet, though his sandals tore deep furrows through the underbrush.
Even as he settled into a defensive stance, Itachi's dōjutsu managed to pick up miniscule cracks in his tanto and the young ANBU knew that his blade wouldn't survive another clash with his father. Said father landed in the small clearing opposite his son, his expression stern but his breathing still even.
For a moment, father and son simply gazed into each other's Sharingan, neither one even moving a muscle, as the wind blew a few stray leaves in their path, the only sound being the screams of the wounded and the dying from the direction of the compound.
Even though Itachi didn't show it, he was a jumble of nerves on the inside. His father was strong, ridiculously so. He was considered as a candidate for the position of Hokage, with his opponents being the Yellow Flash and one of the Sannin, that's how powerful his old man was.
And he had just committed high treason.
Suddenly, Fugaku lowered his sword, his form suddenly slumping as if exhausted, his voice filled with weariness and pain.
"So, what's going on, Itachi. Why are Uchiha Madara and Shimura Danzo duking it out in my Clan Compound, and why is the blood of our kin staining your blade? What has that mad man promised you? What do you get out of it? All of this, just for the Mangekyō Sharingan perhaps?" his father asked, and more than anything, the defeated tone in the Clan Head's voice broke Itachi's heart.
"No. I'm doing this for Konoha. The Uchiha Coup cannot be allowed to come to pass. It would mean civil war for Konoha, and eventually total war for the entire world. I have to stop it, even if it means that I have to kill those dear to me. I will make sure Sasuke will never have to look at a mountain of corpses as I was forced to do." Itachi whispered, a tear streaking down his cheek.
His father's hand tightened on the hilt of his katana, the creak of leather filling the air between them, and for a moment, Itachi feared that his father would strike him down then and there.
"And the innocents in all of this. What of the children? The elderly? Would you cut them down too? How much is your peace worth, if it is won on the backs of those who had no stake in all of this? Isn't what you're doing right now planting a mountain of corpses at your brother's feet as well?"
His father wasn't shouting, but that just made it worse. Each statement, each word, hammered into Itachi with the force of one of Tsunade's famed punches, and the young Itachi almost buckled under the furious and desperate look Fugaku sent at him.
"I had no choice. This was the only option. I didn't want it to be this way. I didn't. It was just supposed to be the leaders of the coup, the rest… the rest would be free to pick up their lives, the Clan would come to Konoha for protection, Sasuke… Sasuke would grow up in a time of peace."
"Trust me when I say this, son; your brother will never know peace again. Not after tonight. Not after what you have done. Not after what you must still do."
Those words finally shattered Itachi's resolve, and he sunk to his knees, tears freely flowing from his eyes.
"Then what should I do. What can I do? Either Madara will slay you all, or the Uchiha will rise up against Konoha and they will destroy each other in turn." Itachi sobbed, his fists clenched in frustration.
"You must carry out your original plan."
Itachi's head whipped up in shock, his mouth falling open as he gaped at his father, the Clan Head standing tall once more, though his eyes showed a bone-crushing sadness.
"What?" Itachi whispered, but his father plowed on.
"Madara will not stop at simply eliminating the leaders of the coup, if he gets his way the entire clan will be wiped off the map. However, Shimura and his so-called ROOT will buy us enough time to evacuate the innocent. The rest of us, we shall face Madara and die in battle. We shall pass away from this world with our honor, and our children will know peace, not war." Fugaku said, his voice unwavering as he sentenced himself and his comrades to their deaths.
"But…" Itachi started to say, but cut himself off. What could he say, really? This was honestly the best result that Konoha could hope for; both of its traitorous elements eliminated driving away a third threat.
It had to be this way.
"You shall fight by Madara's side. Do not bother with the ROOT-operatives, I know that they aren't what they claim to be. My best guess is that they are Danzo's personal killers, but that hardly matters anymore. If I know Hiruzen, and I'd like to think that I do, then he'll have some way of knowing when those complicit of the coup have been eliminated, and swoop in to save the others. It's your task to slay the would-be traitors, so that reinforcements can arrive and drive Madara away, safeguarding the remaining Uchiha. Do you understand Itachi?"
Tears falling to the ground, Itachi closed his eyes, grit his teeth, and bowed his head to his father.
"Yes."
"Good. Now, you cannot hope to overcome all of the members of the coup with your current power, and if you survive this night then you'll need to be able to stand on even footing with monsters such as Madara. Your eyes aren't capable of that. Mine are."
Itachi's head snapped up again, his words dying in his throat as his father plucked out his own eyes without so much as a flinch in his movements or a hitch in his speech.
"I don't know how much you know about the next stage of the Sharingan, the Mangekyō, and its superior form, the Eternal Mangekyō, and there's no time to explain it all. But take these eyes, and make their power your own. You are going to need it." Fugaku said, as he held his eyes towards his son.
Itachi hesitated only for a few seconds, before plucking out one of his eyes. The pain was easily shunted away, though the loss of half of his field of vision was jarring. Sealing his eye away, he quickly took one of his father's eyes and implanted it in his empty socket, applying healing chakra as best he could, before repeating the process with his other eye.
He could tell he would need to get a professional medic to look at his eyes properly, but for now, his patch-up job would simply have to do. Already he could feel new power filling him as he looked at his blinded father with his new eyes.
"Have you implanted my eyes?" Fugaku asked sternly, and gave a nod as Itachi answered in the positive.
"Very well. Activate the Mangekyō form, and memorize every name I give you. This new form of the Sharingan will grant you perfect recall, so I will not have to repeat myself. They are members of the coup, and need to be eliminated. Only then can reinforcements arrive, do you understand?"
Once more, Itachi answered in the positive, shunting chakra towards his eyes as he did so. Briefly, his eyes flared up in pain, before the world shifted into a far greater clarity than he could have ever been able to imagine as blood ran down his cheeks.
His father started to rattle of names, urgency slipping into his speech as the sound of battle grew more intense, great pillars of flame illuminating the night sky. They had already lingered for too long.
"… Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Tekka and finally…. Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku."
It was as someone had dropped a bucket of ice water into his veins, but all that Itachi could do was accept his new mission.
"Do you recall every name?"
"Yes." Itachi whispered.
"Can you identify every name?"
"Yes." Itachi whispered again, unable to keep his voice from shaking.
"Then I hereby give you your final mission as Head of Clan Uchiha: Uchiha Itachi, kill every single person I have named. Do you accept?"
"Y-yes." Itachi chocked out.
A large hand clamped on his shoulder, and his father's voice softly smoothed his troubled mind.
"I wish it would have gone differently my son. I truly do. Keep an eye on Sasuke. He will struggle dealing with all of this. Anyone would."
"I understand father. I will. I promise."
And with those words, Itachi drove his tanto through his father's heart. Fugaku stiffened, before giving a weary sigh, slowly falling towards the ground, leaving his son standing in the small clearing by himself, tears of blood marring his cheeks.
Itachi sobbed once. Only once. Then he wiped his face with his sleeve, steeled his resolve and killed his heart, and made his way back towards the Compound.
His task was not yet done.
With a leap, he crossed the high walls of the Uchiha Estate and landed in hell. Fire raged everywhere, the Uchiha's easiest element springing eagerly to their defense but also destroying their home. The streets were filled with the corpses of both ROOT and Uchiha, and not all of them were of shinobi age Itachi noticed, dragging his eyes away from the still form of a young woman trying to shield a small bloodied bundle with her body even in death.
Further down the street, a battle of epic proportions was taking place, as a group of Uchiha and ROOT-operatives were giving it their all to destroy the figure flitting in-between their midst, sometimes moving so fast even the Sharingan thought it to be teleportation.
While the masked figure was still driving his opponents back, felling an enemy with every swing of his sword, he hadn't come out of the battle entirely unscathed, several patches of his wide robe burned and charred, and Itachi's new Sharingan managed to spot what appeared to be a hairline crack in the man's mask.
'So, you can be harmed. That means you can be killed. Good.' Itachi thought coldly, before closing in on the battle with the fastest Shunshin he had ever preformed in his life, coming to a halt right in front of a charging Uchiha.
The man wasn't all that older than Itachi was, and in a single glance with his Mangekyō Itachi noticed that he looked more scared than anything else.
It didn't matter.
His name was on the list.
With a single swing upwards, Itachi's tanto cleft the young man in half, already moving onto his next victim before the man's body parts hit the floor.
He had killed five of his clan members before someone caught on.
"TRAITOR!" came from behind him, and Itachi looked over his shoulder.
It was one of his uncles, who-knew-how-many-times-removed, and proud member of the Konoha Military Police, as evidenced by the Jutte he expertly twirled around. The cop made to close in, but Itachi's Mangekyō pulsed once and the man died screaming in a blaze of unquenchable black flames.
"Amaterasu." Itachi muttered, before turning to look at his other clan members, many of whom shrunk away from his gaze.
'Madara' landed besides him, his tone unnaturally light considering the situation.
"So, I see you have unlocked the next evolution of our eyes. Well, I suppose if there was ever a way to unlock them, tonight would be the time for it. We'll have to talk some more on it when this is all said and done."
"You and I have nothing to discuss." Itachi seethed through clenched teeth, but the stranger's retort turned the blood in his veins into ice.
"Of course we do. Quite a lot, in fact. Starting with the intriguing little fact that so far, you have yet to be attacked by a single of these so-called ROOT-agents." The masked man said, his voice harsh and filled with hate.
Itachi was spared a reply as both he and the cloaked figure dodged away from each other, the ground which they had occupied not even a second ago being blasted apart by gales of wind sharper than any ordinary sword.
The moment the man claiming to be Madara landed on his feet (once more, without having suffered any visible damage) he was attacked, a wind-laced kunai cutting straight through his form as if it weren't even there.
"That is quite some arrogance you have, if you think you have time to chat with me as your opponent." The aged voice of Shimura Danzo said, as he stood in front of the masked man in a crouch, wind-kunai in hand and with an impressive scowl marring his bandaged face.
The faux-Madara simply shifted the grip on his bloodied katana as he regarded his enemy.
"Really? And why should I be cowed by having you as my opponent, Shimura Danzo? What have I to fear from a decrepit old man such as you?"
Danzo simply raised his eyebrow as he nodded at where he had slashed at the man's shoulder.
"I cut you didn't I?"
The masked man looked at his shoulder in surprise, visibly taken off guard by the small rip in the rough material of his cloak, the cut showing all the signs of having been made with wind-natured chakra.
A dark drop of blood welled up in the tear, before dripping over the cloak.
"Clearly you have some upper limit to how fast you can turn intangible. Let's test that limit shall we?" Danzo said coolly.
The masked man didn't say anything, simply letting out a growl as he gripped his katana tighter, before closing in on Danzo, who made his own counter-attack, and the battle was picked up once more.
Meanwhile, Itachi was tearing through his clan members, his naturally greater talents elevated to even greater heights by the power of his new eyes. From all directions Ninjutsu and Genjutsu flew his way, but the Genjutsu might as well be non-existent and no Ninjutsu could match-up to the powers granted by his eyes.
Everywhere he looked the world went up in ebony flames, every time he gazed in his opponents eyes when they tried to trap them with their dōjutsu they were left catatonic the moment he looked away, and his tanto claimed a life with every flash of its stained steel.
Steadily, as his world burned down around him, his family's bodies cooling at his feet, he crossed the people of his list, one by one, until after what felt like an eternity only one was left.
Uchiha Mikoto.
His mother was covered in soot and ash, while behind her several people of varying ages were cowering behind her, only a few of them handling weapons and even fewer of them showing an active Sharingan.
But they weren't his target, they were innocent of the foolishness and hate of the Uchiha who had stood behind the coup.
Only his mother was left.
"Itachi… my son… why?" his mother sobbed, even as she kept her sword raised in his direction.
His mother's tearful voice cut deeper than anything else he had experienced so far this hellish night, but he couldn't fall apart.
Not yet.
"Where's Sasuke?"
His mother's eyes widened, before her face twisted in anger as she snarled at her eldest son.
"I do not know what has happened to you, Itachi, but you will never get to Sasuke!"
"Mother." Itachi's voice cut through his mother's tirade, cutting of whatever rightful rant she was about to unleash on him.
"Is he safe?"
His words seemed to take his mother aback, before she narrowed her eyes and studied his face. Her gaze rested on his newly gained Mangekyō and he could see something in her expressions shift, traces of horror, despair, and finally what seemed to be understanding.
Finally she gave a stiff nod.
"Yes."
That was all Itachi needed in order to clear the space between him and Mikoto faster than she was able to react, his tainted tanto raised to cut her down, as he had done with so many others this night.
Before he could strike however, they made eye contact.
"Tsukuyomi."
Colors inverted as the world fell away. With a sickening lurch, as if the entirety of existence had been yanked a few feet to the left, Itachi and his mother found themselves in another world, a red moon casting everything in a crimson hue.
For a moment, neither one said a word, letting the silence stretch out between them, before finally his mother spoke.
"So it is true then. Fugaku has sacrificed himself."
Itachi was startled by the softly said statement, before allowing his shoulders to sag in defeat.
"How did you know?"
His mother gave a bitter chuckle, her voice brittle and her face showing only crushing despair.
"After about 20 years of marriage, one comes to recognize their husband's eyes. Even when they're looking at you from someone else's face. And you and I both know that a battle between the two of you would be felt across the entirety of Konoha, and even if you were to emerge the victor, then you wouldn't be able to stand before me so unharmed as you are. I seriously doubt you'd be able to stand at all. So he gave up his eyes voluntarily." His mother explained, before she sank to her knees.
"Oh Fugaku… why? Why is all of this happening? Itachi… please, tell me what's going on!" Mikoto cried, and across from her, her son's heart shattered in a million fragments.
"The coup had to be stopped mother. The Uchiha are strong, yes, but to think the rest of Konoha is weak is the height of foolishness. We would never have been able to seize control without enormous amounts of bloodshed. Even if we were to emerge victorious from the ashes, we would never have the support of the citizens and the other Clans. Konoha would be in a state of civil war, and the other Nations would be all too eager to jump on our weakened Village and pick off whatever scraps remained.
I couldn't allow it. I wouldn't allow the hubris of the Clan to doom Sasuke to a lifetime of war." Itachi explained, his voice filled with unshed tears.
"And this is better? The destruction of the Uchiha? You're dooming Sasuke all the same!" his mother screamed at him, and Itachi reeled back as if he had been struck.
For a moment, both didn't say anything, the only sound in Itachi's distorted world being the quiet sobbing of his mother.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way." Itachi softly whispered, but his mother heard him all the same and looked at him through watery eyes.
"At first, Shisui was supposed to convince you all to consider peace using his special jutsu. But then Danzo screwed everything up, and assassination became the only option. But only the supporters of the coup. The innocent would be spared, and allowed to grow up without the hatred of the older generations marring their views. But then someone calling himself Madara showed up and… and things became worse from there." Itachi explained, feeling some of the immeasurable weight lift off his chest as he confided about what happened to someone for the first time since he had been given his original assignment by the Hokage, what seemed like a lifetime ago now.
His mother looked at him with wide eyes, her face covered in tear tracks, before she softly grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down so he was kneeling in front of her, looking at her at eye-level.
"Tell me everything."
And Itachi did.
At first just about the events leading up to this hellish night, but soon he began to talk about anything that came to him, a waterfall of words as he spoke more during those hours than he had spoken his entire lifetime.
He spoke about his fears and his dreams, about his regrets and insecurities. He spoke about Sasuke, and how he worried what would become of his beloved little brother. He spoke about Izumi, a girl whose mother was from the Uchiha clan and who he had started to develop feelings for.
For hours and hours he spoke with his mother about everything that came to mind, Mikoto simply listening without interruption, eventually smiling softly as her eldest son bared his heart to her.
But eventually Itachi trailed off, a desolate expression on his face. His mother caught on immediately.
"The jutsu is about to end, isn't it?"
"Time between the Tsukuyomi and the real world doesn't flow the same, but it does flow. During the hours we have been talking, in the corresponding seconds in the real world my attack has continued its course. In about a minute in Tsukuyomi-time, which would be less than half a second in the real world, you will have died, and this technique will fall apart." Itachi explained, grabbing his mother in a tight hug.
"I don't want this to end." Itachi whispered brokenly, feeling his mother hug him back.
"Neither do I my son. But even the might of your Genjutsu must yield to reality eventually. I wish things could have gone differently. Looking back, there were so many other paths we could have taken, so many what-ifs and could have beens. But the reality is that we didn't do any of those, and so we ended up here."
Pulling back a bit, Mikoto took her son's face in her hands, her calloused fingers gently caressing his wet cheeks.
"Know that I still love you, Itachi. I know your father never really showed it that much, but he too loved you very much, and both he and I are proud of your strength. No matter what road your life may end up taking, always remember that that will never change, do you understand my son?"
Not trusting his voice, Itachi simply nodded, before burying his face in the crook of his mother's neck, sobbing as she gently rocked him back and forth. They sat there for a few precious moments, before cracks started to appear in the red-colored sky, rapidly spreading to encompass the entire world, before finally shattering into millions of pieces, leaving mother and son huddled together in a vast, unending whiteness.
"I love you, my son."
And then the whiteness disappeared as reality rushed back in, and Itachi opened his eyes to see his tanto buried up to the hilt in his mother's chest. He glanced up at her face, only to see that life had already left her, though her face was surprisingly serene, without any of the pain or anguish it had shown mere seconds ago.
Guiding his mother's body gently to the floor, Itachi saw a well-hidden ROOT-agent staring at him intently. Giving an almost imperceptible little nod, the black-ops ninja made a handseal, his chakra pulsing briefly, before the agent fled the scene.
Not moments later, a massively thick and potent slammed down on the entirety of the Clan Compound. Turning to look around, Itachi saw a small army of ninja standing at the burned out gates, and in front of them, having shed the wide robes of his position and showing the ancient armor underneath, stood Sarutobi Hiruzen, somehow towering over every other ninja there, despite his small stature.
Enma was already in his staff-form in his hand, and the Third Hokage's eyes glinted with steel and fury, though Itachi's superior eyes read another emotion: Sadness, and regret.
Once more, the masked man landed next to Itachi, and though he didn't notice any wounds on the man, he did observe that 'Madara' landed rather heavily, and his hearing picked up labored breathing from his companion.
"Well, it seems things just got interesting, didn't they? I think it's time that Konoha learned the meaning of pain once more." The imposter said menacingly as he straightened, before a swirling vortex began to appear in the midst of the assembled shinobi-
BLAM!
-before 'Madara' was taken clear of his feet by Emma slamming in his abdomen. It was a credit to the man's strength that he didn't crumple into a pile of broken bones, instead flipping around in the air and managing to land on his feet, though he couldn't quite keep a grunt from escaping him.
"Well done, young Hiruzen. That is the first clean hit someone has managed to land on me in a long time. How did you figure out how to do it?" The masked man said as he straightened once more, his voice steady.
Enma retracted into a more manageable length as the Third Hokage glared at the man, his chakra swirling around him with such intensity it doused the flames around him with its sheer pressure.
"I did not earn the title of The Professor just for nothing. I recognize that technique, Madara, and though I do not know for certain how you make yourself as intangible as a ghost, I do know that Kamui is an advanced enough technique that it is nearly impossible to keep another technique going alongside it. In short, you can either attack with it, or be in a ghost-like state, but not simultaneously." Hiruzen explained grimly, making sure to pitch his voice so his forces caught on as well.
It might have been seen as spilling Clan secrets under any other circumstance, but considering the threat of their opponent and the state of the Uchiha, it really didn't matter all that much.
"And how do you know that my 'ghost state', as you put it, is not simply a result of my new state of being? After all, isn't it taught in your precious Academy that I died long ago at the Valley of the End?" the masked man mocked, though Itachi could tell he was unnerved, since he made no move to attack, and his stance was that of someone ready to flee at a moment's notice.
In response, Hiruzen smiled grimly.
It was a terrifying sight.
"If that were true, then I wouldn't have been able to hit you just now, wouldn't I?"
For a moment, there hung a heavy silence, before 'Madara' scoffed, and turned around.
"What a clever monkey you have become, Hiruzen. But be warned; all of this, is neither the beginning nor the end of my revenge on Konoha. You will know absolute despair, Hiruzen, and it shall be at my hands." The masked man threw over his shoulder as he began to walk away.
"You think I'm just going to let you leave?! After all that you have done here?!" the Third Hokage roared at the man's retreating back, making him pause in his stride.
"Well, to be fair, young Hiruzen, you do have a history of simply standing there and letting traitors to the Leaf run away." The man mocked, but the Hokage's reply was as fast as a whip.
"Then you should also take note of the history of every traitor to the Village opting to run away from me rather than face me in battle. Which now includes you."
'Madara' stiffened at the verbal barb, before letting out a low growl, as a swirling vortex began to consume his form. A storm of jutsu and metal rained down on where his form had been moments ago, Enma slamming into the ground just before the man disappeared, before the dust settled, revealing that the traitor had managed to escape.
Feeling the eyes of the assembled ninja settle on him, Itachi decided that it was time he left as well. While he would welcome death at this point, the hints that the masked man had dropped in their first conversation meant that his task was not yet done.
An internal threat to Konoha had been taken care of this night, now it was time to tackle a far more dangerous external threat.
It was time to take up 'Madara's' offer of joining Akatsuki.
A towering wall of black flame sprang up between him and the small army come to kill him, but not before he had made eye contact with the Third Hokage. There was nothing but sorrow and regret in the aged Sarutobi's eyes, before the leader gave the smallest of nods.
Mission accomplished.
And with that, Uchiha slinked away into the night, seeking out a man claiming to be the first traitor in Konoha's history, in order to join his world-threatening organization.
It would be five years before he would ever set foot again in his home village.
The Uchiha Massacre shocked the entirety of Konoha. I'd like to say it shocked the world, but it was kept strictly under wraps by the Hokage, only allowing trickles of information to leak to the other Villages.
The only thing that the rest of the world knew was that there had been a dissent in the ranks of the Uchiha, which left only most of the children and the elderly alive, and a small portion of their active shinobi.
The other Villages made two conclusions from this information. One, the Uchiha, and Konoha by extension, were severely weakened after losing a sizeable amount of able-bodied and above averagely powerful warriors.
Two, and this was far more unsettling, apparently there were individuals out there that were so ridiculously powerful that they were capable of wiping out the majority of one of the strongest clans on the continent.
And Konoha was powerful enough to kill these individuals, or at least send them running, ever while still recovering of having a Demon stomping around their Village.
So in the end, everybody decided to simply do nothing, though all eyes were now trained on the oldest Hidden Village, the rest of the Nations holding their breath, wondering whether this meant the end of Konoha, or the birth of their next generation of monstrously powerful legendary warriors.
Exactly as Hiruzen had hoped.
The rest of Konoha was also shocked by the news of Shimura Danzo's death, who on his Hokage's orders had assembled a team of elite-shinobi to track down, evaluate and eliminate the threat of Uchiha Madara, who appeared to be still alive, despite having to be around a hundred years old by now.
Danzo had valiantly come to the Uchiha's defense and had even engaged the legendary ninja in one-on-one combat, allowing the young and the elderly to be evacuated to safety. However, the wounds he had been dealt by the ancient Uchiha were too much, and when he had been found on the battlefield, he had just enough energy left for a private conversation with his old friend and rival, the Third Hokage kneeling in the dirt and bowed over the body of his advisor, before the aged Sarutobi stood up and regretfully told the ninja present of the passing of the aged ninja.
To Konoha's credit, it's villagers were both outraged and shocked at the news of the Uchiha Clan's near destruction, and in no time relief efforts had been set up, the traumatized remaining members of the Clan being offered housing with the other Clans and with even individual ninja and civilians alike opening their homes to the diminished dōjutsu users.
After several weeks of administrative whirlwinds and head-aches, a new Compound had been erected where there once used to be the Konoha's Military Police's Headquarters, the task of the Police having temporarily taken over by ANBU, there being too few Uchiha left to take the responsibility upon themselves.
Not a single one was in any state to do any police work at any rate, though not one person blamed them.
Already there were talks of filling the Uchiha's ranks with those of the other Clans in order to get the Police Force up and running again. A cop with an Inuzuka for a partner, or a Hyuuga, was a terrifying prospect for any criminal.
Uchiha Shisui, by dint of being the most senior active duty ninja of his clan, was made interim Clan Head, having announced he would only hold the position until Uchiha Sasuke was of age and could take the positon that was his by birth.
The young Uchiha had been almost comatose for about a week after the Massacre, the death of his parents at the hands of none other than his own brother almost crushing him with guilt. Through gentle guidance of Shisui and some of the elders, the young child was dragged out of his shell bit by bit, though Sasuke was forever changed.
While he used to be a happy and rather care-free child before the Massacre, he had now become a solemn and intense youth, determined to work himself to death so that he was worthy of leading his fellow Uchiha children, many of them orphaned as he was, and with nobody to really look up to.
Entire days were spent either training, studying Clan responsibilities and politics and brooding over how he would avenge all the fallen members of his family.
He would've burned himself out long before he had even graduated from the Academy if it weren't for Naruto.
One day, a few weeks after Sasuke had come back to school, Naruto and he were once again pitted against each other in a sparring match. While they had been rather evenly matched before, Naruto's greater experience and raw strength competing against Sasuke's natural genius, now they were rather one-sided, Sasuke attacking with a ferocity and intensity that Naruto, for all his rambunctiousness, was rather hesitant to match.
However, after weeks having suddenly become the young Uchiha's stress-relief, Naruto had had enough, and used what he had learned from Gai in order to give a solid beating to Sasuke, who returned the favor in equal measure, until they weren't so much sparring as simply rolling around on the ground trying to bash each other's skulls in. Surprisingly, it wasn't Iruka who jumped in, but Choji and Shikamaru, Choji's enlarged hands and Shikamaru's shadow pinning the combatants so they were separated.
Both boys were panting heavily, staring intently at the other, completely ignoring Iruka's ranting as they studied each other's face.
Finally it was Naruto who spoke up first, catching both Sasuke and Iruka off guard.
"It's gonna be okay, you know?"
Sasuke stiffened, before glaring at the blond with a murderous expression.
"I'm not saying it's gonna be okay now, or tomorrow or next week or even next month. But eventually, it will be okay. Eventually, the pain goes away."
By now, Choji and Shikamaru released their hold on the combatants, as even Iruka fell silent, waiting for the raven-haired boy's answer. Sasuke seemed to struggle with finding his words, balling his hands into tight fists, the split skin on his knuckles beginning to tear open again.
Finally Sasuke whispered his reply, refusing to look at anything other than the ground.
"How? How did you make your pain go away?"
In response, Naruto walked up to the Uchiha legacy, clasping his shoulder with one of his bloodied hands, giving a smile which showed several teeth having been knocked loose.
"You fill that pain, that emptiness. You fill it with friends." Naruto said, nodding his head to where Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji were watching them intently.
"Friends, huh?" Sasuke muttered, following Naruto's gaze, before looking at the blonde again.
"Yeah. Tell you what, after class, we were gonna go to the Akimichi for some training, wanna come with?"
For a moment, it seemed as it the Uchiha Heir would decline, but then Sasuke recalled Shisui's face, and all those young Uchiha, who like him had lost so much.
Who had lost too much.
Sasuke had every intention of restoring the Clan to its former glory, he would make sure that his remaining family members would be part of something strong and mighty, not live like the charity cases they were now.
He would wash away the stain of treason his brother had left on him by becoming the very best Clan Head anybody could ever hope for.
This included political alliances.
While Sasuke would much rather train on his own, he couldn't ignore the fact that he had just been invited to an informal gathering where the children of three Clan Heads would be present and one of the few remaining Uzumaki.
So in the end, Sasuke saw only one option.
"Very well. I shall meet you all there."
As time wore on, Sasuke found to his surprise that he enjoyed these training sessions more than he had expected.
While Naruto and Kiba could be insufferable loudmouths, and the lack of ambition and drive in the Akimichi and the Nara boys could raise his hackles, he could not deny that training with them proved to be very beneficial.
For all their brashness, Naruto was a genuinely strong opponent, his year under Gai and the Akimichi's tutelage leaving him with very decent taijutsu, especially for someone their age. And while Kiba might not be as much of a physical powerhouse like the Uzumaki, the feral boy had an undeniable edge whenever they decided to train in the Nara woods, his senses unmatched by any of the other boys.
And while he and Choji didn't quite mesh, Sasuke occasionally found he enjoyed the rotund boy's steady presence, which sometimes proved to be rather soothing to Sasuke's frazzled nerves after a particularly bad day.
And even though Shikamaru's laziness made his blood boil, Sasuke couldn't deny the Nara boy's sharp mind and clever wit, the genius capable of making up complicated strategies faster than Sasuke could blink.
And so, when the first year of the Academy ended, and all of them managed to perform the Henge and advance to the next year, Sasuke, in the privacy of his own mind at least, admitted to himself that something had happened that he hadn't thought possible anymore a few months ago.
He had made friends.
Fun Fact: Standing at an impressive 193,5 cm (roughly 6,4") Ibiki Morino is oficially the tallest shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Since I'm Dutch, being over 6 feet isn't something that I find all that special: we are the tallest people in the world, and about half my friends are taller than Ibiki by a couple of inches.