AN: I'm so sorry it's been so long! Summer has been crazy busy! But here is an extra long chapter for you guys as a sorry present. Enjoy!

Itachi: age 18

Sasuke: age 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

"Tomorrow night is when we gain all power."

In the dead of night, four dark figures talked among themselves, plotting and scheming.

The moonlight revealed that they were Kumo ninjas.

Rogue Kumo ninjas.

"Our goal…. is to steal the sharingan from Konohagakure." Said a man with black hair, who appeared to be the leader of the group. "In return, we were promised power."

"What's the plan, Hiroshan?"

"I've looked into some files and found out that the individual who possesses the strongest sharingan is named Shisui Uchiha," Hiroshan began. "He possesses the kotoamatsukami, an extremely powerful mangekyō sharingan ability. However, he appears to be out of the village for a top secret mission that I can't get any information on."

"So what now?" A purple haired ninja asked.

"Usually, we would wait for Shisui's return and then strike, but we don't have time to wait around. So, I've found another Uchiha whose sharingan is almost on par with Shisui's…" Hiroshan explained. "A fellow named…..Itachi Uchiha."

"Itachi Uchiha?" An orange haired shinobi said. "Isn't he the prodigy of the Uchiha clan? He's supposedly extremely skilled and has no weaknesses. We have no chance against him."

"Ah, but we do," Hiroshan said, smirking. "Yes, Itachi Uchiha is a phenomenal shinobi, indeed. However, he does have one weakness."

Everyone gasped.

Itachi Uchiha, the Uchiha clan's prodigy, has a weakness?

"What is it?" A man with a large scar across his face asked, eagerly.

"More like, who is it." Hiroshan corrected.

Everyone looked at each other puzzled.

"Our first step…...is to capture Sasuke Uchiha."

"Nii-san?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"Can you train with me today?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi looked at Sasuke, he would love to train with his otouto, but he was just about to leave on a mission. He gestured Sasuke over to him, who obediently came like he always does. He was met with two fingers poking him in the forehead, making Sasuke wince.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I have a mission. Why don't you train with Naruto and Sakura instead? They are your teammates after all." Itachi said, poking Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke scowled at the mention of his teammates names.

"No way. It's almost impossible to train with those two. One fawns over me the whole time and the other is completely and utterly clueless." Sasuke said, unconsciously touching his forehead. "Plus, I already see them way too much during the week. There's no way I'm training with those losers."

Itachi laughed at his otouto's rant.

"Looks like you need to train on your teamwork skills, otouto." Itachi said, playfully putting his hand on Sasuke's head. "But if you do go out to train, don't come home late, kaa-san and tou-san won't be home and I should be coming back late."

Sasuke nodded.

"See you later, otouto." Itachi said, ruffling Sasuke's hair.

"Bye, nii-san."

After Itachi left, Sasuke decided that he would go train by himself. He gathered his stuff and left.

On his way to the training grounds, Sasuke spotted Naruto and Sakura walking towards him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out.

Great…. Sasuke thought, annoyed. Just what I needed.

Sakura latched onto Sasuke while Naruto watched with a slight hint of jealousy on his face.

"What are you doing right now?" Sakura asked. "Naruto and I were on our way to meet Kakashi sensei and team 10 at Ichiraku, do you want to come?"

"No thanks, I have things to do." Sasuke said, shrugging Sakura off and began walking again.

"Why? Where are you going, teme?" Naruto asked.

"None of your business, usuratonkachi." Sasuke answered, not bothering to look back.

Naruto gritted his teeth, annoyed at Sasuke's arrogant attitude.

"You think you're better than everyone else! That you're too cool for all of us!" Naruto yelled angrily at his teammate.

"Not everyone," Sasuke retorted. "Just you."

That pushed Naruto over the top and he began yelling a bunch of things Sasuke didn't bother listening to. He just stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued walking with a smirk on his face, glad he got to irk his blonde teammate.

It was getting late. Sasuke had been training non-stop since he got to the training fields. He worked on his ninjutsu, taijutsu, sharingan skills, and did a little bit of some kunai and shuriken training. After all that, he was exhausted.

Sasuke decided he should head home now considering the fact Itachi didn't want him home late. He gathered up all his things and began walking home.

As he was walking, Sasuke felt a bit on edge, like he was being followed. He swiftly turned around, but no one was there. He continued walking.

It's probably that baka, Naruto. Sasuke thought, rolling his eyes.

He suddenly felt an unfamiliar chakra signature a few feet behind him, making him stop in his tracks.

"Who's there?" Sasuke demanded.

"Wow, you're a sharp one." A man said, sarcastically.

"What do you want?"

Sasuke heard a slight chuckle come from the man, making his eyes narrow.

"Listen brat, this is how it's going to go down. You're coming with me whether you like it or not, so if you want to make this difficult, you'll regret it." The man said in a dark tone.

"Like hell I will." Sasuke retorted.

Sasuke quickly turned around and began doing hand signs for a fire jutsu.

"Fire style: Phoenix Flower jutsu!"

A three huge fireballs were launched at the man, however he dodged them with ease.

"I guess we're doing this the hard way." the man said, beginning to create hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

He knows I can use Fire style. Why would he use Wind style against me?

Sasuke countered with a fireball jutsu, making the flame twice as big. The fire engulfed the man and Sasuke watched as the man fell on the ground. But something wasn't right.

Soon he realized the man used a substitution jutsu and was aiming a punch at his face, most likely planning to knock him out.

Activating the sharingan, Sasuke blocked the punch by grabbing the man's fist and punching him in the face, causing him to fall on the ground.

The man looked up at Sasuke and was met with crimson eyes scowling at him.

"Nice sharingan you got there," The man said smirking. He observed the kekkei genkai and realized Sasuke's sharingan only had two magatama marks. "But it doesn't look fully mature yet."

"That doesn't concern you. Now tell me, what do you want with me?" Sasuke asked, roughly.

Behind the dark haired man was one of Sasuke's shadow clones threatening to decapitate him with a kunai if he made any wrong moves.

"Don't think you've got me cornered kid." The man said. "Water style: Exploding Water Shock Wave!"

Water style jutsu?! Sasuke thought.

Thanks to his sharingan, Sasuke was able to see through the man's jutsu. However, before his shadow clone could make a move, the jutsu was activated, causing the clone to disperse and send Sasuke flying.

Sasuke landed a few feet away from his attacker with a hard impact that's sure to leave some bruises. That jutsu was insane! It destroyed most of their surroundings and he didn't even have time to counter even with the sharingan!

Sasuke tried getting up, but something was tied around him, constricting his movements.

"What the hell?"

"I got him, Hiroshan!" An orange haired shinobi said.

"Good. It was such a pain having to fight him." Hiroshan replied.

Sasuke struggled against the rope, trying his hardest to break free, but it was no good. The more he struggled the more he began feeling weaker and weaker.

"It's no use brat, those ropes consume chakra, so the more you struggle, the faster your chakra drains." Hiroshan said, smirking.

Sasuke glared hard at Hiroshan. He hated feeling so weak and defeated. It reminded him of when he was bullied at the academy.

Slowly, Sasuke began feeling his consciousness slip away from him due to his chakra being consumed and since he had just been in a fight, there wasn't much left. This was bad, really bad.

"I told you, you would regret it." Hiroshan said, arrogantly.

That was the last thing Sasuke heard before he was consumed in darkness.

It was around eleven o'clock when Itachi returned from his mission. He was tired, but not exhausted, the mission was fairly easy. Maybe he could spend some time with Sasuke when he got home.

"I'm home." Itachi called out, stepping into his home.

He took off his shoes, expecting Sasuke to greet him, but nobody came.

He couldn't possibly be asleep this early. Itachi thought, knowing his otouto too well.

"Sasuke?" Itachi called out.

No answer.

The older Uchiha decided to check the younger's bedroom. Maybe he was asleep.

Itachi carefully opened the bedroom door, expecting to see Sasuke, but the room was empty.

Itachi frowned.

Could he still be out training? Itachi thought. I told him not to come home late.

Itachi walked out of Sasuke's room and into his own to change out of his uniform

Once he was done, Itachi decided to go to the kitchen and wait for Sasuke to come back.

He's pushing himself too hard, staying out this late to train.

When Itachi got to the kitchen, the first thing he noticed was a note on the table. Thinking it was from Sasuke, he picked up the note and began reading it.

Itachi's heart stopped.

What he just read made him feel both sick and furious.

The note said:

We have your brother.

If you want him back, meet us in the forest near the Hokage Monument at midnight.

If you choose not to come,

he's dead.

Itachi crumpled up the note angrily with one hand and in a flash, Itachi was already far from his house, ready to kill whoever was responsible.

Huh? Where am I?

Carefully opening his eyes, Sasuke regained consciousness. His vision was blurry as he looked at his surroundings. After a couple seconds, his vision came back and he realized he was in a forest still tied up.

"Hey look Jisho, he's awake." An orange haired shinobi said.

"Good, now we can question him." Jisho said, running a hand through his purple hair.

Both men walked up to Sasuke, who was leaned up against a tree.

Sasuke scowled at them.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, harshly.

"Relax kid, we just want to ask you a couple questions." Jisho said, a hint of malice in his voice. "You have an older brother, correct?"

Why do they want to know about Itachi? Sasuke thought.

Sasuke glared in response, not attempting to answer the man's question.

Smack!

"Tch!"

Sasuke received a very strong punch to the face that caused his cheek to start bleeding. He looked down to see that Jisho had brass knuckles on, that were stained with his blood.

Sasuke groaned in pain.

"You better answer brat, we were ordered to get information out of you, no matter what it takes," Jisho said, adjusting his brass knuckles. "And there's plenty more where that came from."

When Sasuke still wouldn't talk, both men grew irritated and began attacking him.

They punched him, kicked him and even cut him a few times, but no matter how much it hurt, Sasuke still wouldn't talk. At this point, both men were extremely frustrated.

"Why don't we use that jutsu Hiroshan showed us, Raishin? That's sure to make this brat talk." Jisho said, anger oozing from his voice.

Raishin nodded.

Raishin quickly went through some hand signs, then slammed his palm on Sasuke's chest, causing Sasuke to yell out in pain.

"What did you do to me?" Sasuke asked, panting.

"We're the ones asking the questions here, brat." Jisho snapped. "Now, for the hundredth time, do you have an older brother?"

When Sasuke didn't answer, a searing pain went through his entire body making him scream out in agony.

Both men smirked.

"You're experiencing the effects of our jutsu." Raishin said, a matter-of-factly. "If you don't do as we please, we'll make the pain even worse."

Sasuke tried to withstand the pain for his brother's sake, but it was unbearable. If this went on, he would surely pass out. He had to answer.

"What if I do!" Sasuke yelled. "What do you want with him anyway?!"

After he answered, the pain died down, causing Sasuke to sigh out in relief.

Jisho smirked.

"Nothing much. All we want from him is…..his sharingan."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

They want his sharingan?!

Sasuke then smirked, causing both men to frown.

"Good luck with that. My brother is an elite shinobi, a prodigy. He won't fall for your stupid tricks."

"Of course he won't. That's why we have you." Jisho said, evilly. "If Itachi Uchiha wants his precious baby brother back alive, he'll have to give us his sharingan in return. He'd probably be useless by then so it wouldn't matter if we killed him in the process."

Sasuke scowled.

"You bastard!"

Jisho only laughed in response.

"However, if our plan backfires and he doesn't come, we need to know where we can find him and you're going to tell us." Raishin said.

"You're an idiot if you think I'll tell you that!" Sasuke retorted.

And just like that, the excruciating pain came back, causing Sasuke to cry out in pain. He wanted so badly for the pain to stop, but no matter what, he won't give them any information about Itachi, even if it kills him. He needs to think of a plan.

After, painfully, thinking long and hard, Sasuke came up with an idea that might work.

"Leave my brother alone." Sasuke said, his voice strained. "If you want the sharingan, take mine."

Sasuke looked up at the two men with his sharingan activated.

Jisho laughed.

"Awe, how touching! You would rather sacrifice yourself instead of your brother! You must really love him, huh?" Jisho said, mockingly.

Sasuke glared at him.

"Can't wait till I tell Hiroshan about this." The purple head murmured to himself. "Nice try, but your immature sharingan is useless to us. We need a sharingan that's fully matured and powerful, and that's exactly what Itachi has."

Damn, Sasuke thought. This is bad.

"Now, where can we find Itachi Uchiha?" Raishin asked.

When the young Uchiha didn't answer, Raishin went through more hand signs, making the pain ten times worse.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed out in torment.

His body couldn't stand the pain anymore. In less than a second, Sasuke lost consciousness.

It was now midnight and Itachi arrived right on time. He was in a clearing, right beside a cliff. In front of him were three rouge kumo nins.

"I see you decided to come, Itachi Uchiha." Hiroshan said, smirking.

"You'll give back my brother if you know it's good for you." Itachi replied, killing intent leaking out of him.

The kumo nins froze upon feeling the killing intent. This guy was no joke.

Hiroshan smirked.

"Awe, I guess your brother does mean something to you." Hiroshan said, mockingly. "But unfortunately, that's not how it's going to work. If you want your brother back, you have to give us something in return.

Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"And what would that be?" Itachi asked, skeptically.

Hiroshan chuckled slightly.

"The precious kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan….the sharingan." Hiroshan replied, evilly. "And who better to get it from than the prodigy of the Uchiha clan?"

Itachi glared at Hiroshan.

This can cause an international crisis.

"Is that so? You're fools if you think I'd simply just give you my sharingan." Itachi retorted.

"We thought as much," Hiroshan answered. "That's why we came prepared."

Hiroshan thrusted his thumb towards the cliff.

Itachi shifted his gaze and found Sasuke all beaten up, hanging over the cliff with the rope tied around his waist, unconscious. Above him was Raishin, threatening to cut the rope that would make Sasuke plunge into his doom.

The prodigy's eyes slightly widened in horror.

Sasuke!

"If you make one wrong move, Raishin will cut the rope, killing your brother instantly." Hiroshan said. "That really would be a shame, considering the strong bond you two have. The little brat even tried sacrificing himself for your sake. Of course, it didn't work. His sharingan is useless compared to yours."

Itachi scowled at Hiroshan.

He wanted so badly to slaughter everyone of those kumo nins and make them suffer. However, he couldn't act rashly. Sasuke's life was on the line, he can't let his emotions get the best of him. He needs to carefully think of a plan. He can't afford to lose his brother over something as trivial as this.

After a moment's hesitation, Itachi was about to make a move when he heard someone call out to him.

"Nii-san!"

Itachi jerked his head towards the cliff. It was Sasuke. He finally regained consciousness.

"Nii-san! You have to get out of here! They're going to try to take your sharingan! Don't worry about me, just go!" Sasuke warned.

"Raishin! Shut the brat up!" Hiroshan said, annoyed.

Raishin nodded and went through a series of hand signs, activating the jutsu.

Sasuke screamed out in agony as his insides throbbed harshly with pain. A second later, he lost consciousness once again.

Although he didn't show it, Itachi was horrified. What the hell did they do to him?

That just infuriated him even more.

Itachi activated his sharingan and caught the gaze of Raishin. Big mistake. Itachi discreetly put him under a genjutsu then shifted his gaze over to Hiroshan.

"I guess you want to do this the hard way." Hiroshan said. "Too bad, your brother had a lot of potential to become a great ninja. I guess that'll never happen."

Hiroshan turned to look at Raishin and Sasuke and gave some sort of signal. When Raishin didn't do anything, Hiroshan frowned and did it again. Once again Raishin remained motionless. Hiroshan grew irritated.

"Raishin, you fool! Are you blind?! I did the signal! You're ruining the plan!" Hiroshan yelled, angrily.

When Raishin didn't give an answer, Hiroshan turned back around to look at Itachi, but to his surprise, he found both of his comrades on the ground, knocked unconscious and Itachi gone.

He suddenly felt someone's presence beside him releasing the strongest killing intent he's ever felt, making him freeze on the spot. It had to be Itachi.

"Your plan was clever, I'll give you that. However, you underestimate the power of the Uchiha clan and the sharingan. Your arrogance got in the way of your success, for that, you pay the price." Itachi said, darkly.

The older Uchiha pierced a sword through Hiroshan's chest, causing him to cough up blood. However, Hiroshan's body disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing Itachi's sword lodged in a log.

Substitution Jutsu!

Itachi swiftly turned around to find Hiroshan holding a kunai against the rope holding Sasuke, threatening to cut it. Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"You still have a chance to save him," Hiroshan bargined. "Just give me your sharingan and I'll let your little brother live."

I have no choice….

The prodigy dropped his sword in surrender. His head hung as he brought his hands to his face, his bangs covering his face.

Hiroshan watched intently as Itachi stood there with his hands over his eyes. When nothing happened, Hiroshan became impatient.

"What are you waiting for?! You want your brother to live don't you?!" Hiroshan yelled.

Blood trickled down Itachi's face and through his hands, making Hiroshan smirk. He slowly released his face, his bangs still covering his face. His hands were coated in his own blood.

"You make me sick." Itachi retorted, looking up at Hiroshan.

Hiroshan gasped.

Itachi's sharingan had a different pattern to it than before. There was no doubt, it was the mangekyō sharingan.

Tsukuyomi!

Hiroshan tried to look away, but it was too late, he was already put under the genjutsu. This fight is over.

Itachi jumped up on the branch above Sasuke and kicked Hiroshan off. He carefully got Sasuke down and instantly enveloped him in a hug.

The older Uchiha released a shaky breath, as if he had been holding it the whole time. He had been so close, so close to losing him, Itachi just wanted to burst out in tears, but he kept his composure. Itachi nuzzled his face in Sasuke's hair, breathing the sweet scent of his precious otouto. Having Sasuke in his arms allowed relief to wash over him. Words cannot explain how scared and worried he was. If he lost him, Itachi wouldn't know what he'd do.

After a couple of minutes, Itachi picked up Sasuke, minding his injuries, and carried him home.

When Sasuke regained consciousness, he found himself in his room. He looked around, confused.

How did I get here?

All his cuts and bruises were tended to, but he didn't know how. Sasuke tried to remember what happened. Once everything came back to him, he frantically sat up.

"NII-SAN!"

A second later, Itachi came into the room, a worried expression on his face.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Itachi asked.

The young Uchiha got up and raced to his brother, giving him a big hug.

"Are you ok?" Sasuke asked, nuzzling his face in Itachi's chest.

Itachi chuckled.

"I'm fine, otouto. How are you feeling?" Itachi said, kneeling down.

"I'm ok. I'm just a bit sore, but- wait. What are we going to do about that jutsu Raishin put on me!?" Sasuke asked, frantically.

"Don't worry about that, I already took care of it." Itachi replied.

The younger raven sighed out in relief.

He then looked up putting both his hands on either side of Itachi face and looked directly into his eyes.

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" Itachi asked amused.

"You still have your eyeballs, right?"

Itachi laughed.

"Yes, I still have my eyeballs, otouto."

Sasuke smiled and gave his brother another hug, which Itachi gladly returned. Soon Sasuke's shoulders started shaking and Itachi realized he was crying.

"Otouto?"

"Aniki, I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you," Sasuke sobbed out. "And I thought I going to die. I didn't know what to do."

Itachi hugged Sasuke tighter.

"It's ok, I've got you." Itachi said, rubbing circles on his brother's back. "You're safe now. However, if a situation like that comes again, don't sacrifice yourself for me like you did. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. I'm here to protect you, ok?"

Sasuke nodded against his brother's neck.

"I won't let you die. That's a promise."

AN: Aaand, finished! Sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. I wasn't really happy with how this turned out, but if you guys enjoyed it, it's ok. I'm going on a trip in a couple days so there might be a hiatus, but I will try my best to write while I'm away. This story was supposed to be split into two chapters, but this is supposed to be a series of one shots so I decided to make it into one whole chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed!

Please Review!