Past
Chapter Five: At Their Mercy
At the tender age of eight, Itachi Uchiha effectively learned how to ruin a person's life without them knowing it.
Even with anger clouding his mind, he still had impeccable aim. Every kunai he had tossed made its way to the center of the target, which only served to fuel his anger even further. If only Itachi could get away with imperfection, even just once. But no, his body was conditioned to strive for perfection even when Itachi didn't want it.
"Figures I would find you here," came a very familiar voice. In the darkness, Itachi could only make out his best friend's silhouette as he approached him. The kunai throwing stopped as Itachi decided to plop down at the base of a tree.
"Imagine my surprise when the head of the clan came knocking on my door asking if I knew where you were," Shisui commented lightly as he sat down cross legged right next to the brooding heir. Itachi didn't say anything as a response.
"Mikoto san is worried about you," Shisui added, cocking his head to the side to gauge his younger cousin's reaction. Not a single muscle in his face moved.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm tired of heeding to the clan's every whim," Itachi finally confessed. "Sometimes, I wish I wasn't the clan heir."
Shisui prompted Itachi to go on.
"Toshiro already unlocked his Sharingan. The clan elders are pressuring me to unlock my Sharingan. They believe that it is abnormal that I am so slow in unlocking the Sharingan, especially since I am hailed to be a supposed genius," Itachi explained. At this, he shifted his body around so that his dark eyes bore into Shisui's. The blackness in his eyes slowly ebbed away, a red hue coloring his eyes. A lone tomoe spun rapidly in his eyes as an unwilling tear slid down his cheek.
"Why would I want this if it takes a death to unlock it?" Itachi asked, voice quivering and hands clenched tightly by his side. "What is there to be proud of by unlocking the Sharingan early?"
Shisui's eyes softened as he stared at all of the pain hidden in Itachi's eyes. If he was being honest with himself, Shisui agreed with Itachi's sentiments wholeheartedly.
Shisui allowed his own eyes to bleed red, three tomoes spinning rapidly in his eyes until it formed into a shuriken shaped pattern. Itachi's eyes widened as he witnessed the transformation go beyond what was normally seen. The infamous Mangekyo Sharingan. Possessed by few in the clan, containing unfathomable power.
"How?" That was the only word that made it out of Itachi's mouth.
Shisui slid his eyes shut for a few moments before his eyes snapped open, already reverted back to its normal black coloring. Itachi turned off his own Sharingan, feeling the clarity associated with the enhanced vision slowly fading away.
"To possess these eyes, you must shoulder a great burden," Shisui murmured, staring off in the distance, not quite able to meet Itachi's eyes. "In times of war, we are nothing more than weapons at the Uchihas' disposal. You won't be able to hide the fact that you have a Sharingan forever; however, if your eyes evolve into the Mangekyo, I would suggest keeping it a secret. After all, even many of our own vie to attain such power."
"The clansmen will fight you for it?"
Shisui shrugged. "I've heard the stories. Each eye holds a different power; others may not be able to use it effectively, but they don't care. They just want the power at their disposal."
"What does yours do?"
Shisui tilted his head upwards, his eyes locking onto the half full moon. "I don't know and a part of me doesn't want to find out. Quite frankly, the power that I wield in these eyes scares me. Even if they may be our enemy, I do not want to know what these eyes can do against them."
"How-?"
Shisui knew what Itachi wanted to ask even without him needing to finish his question. He tore his gaze away from the moon, boring into Itachi's.
"You let someone precious to you die."
Itachi felt chills go down his spine.
"Whether or not you were the one who killed them, the burden of their death will still weigh on your mind. Their death will constantly haunt you in your dreams. So you're right, why attain this power at the cost of losing someone irreplaceable?"
"War is going to break out again, you know," Shisui continued. "With all of these skirmishes happening lately with the Senju, it's only a matter of time before the peace is broken once more. Perhaps that is why they are pushing you to unlock the Sharingan, even children will become weapons of war."
"You were sent out in the last squad, weren't you?" Itachi questioned.
Shisui nodded. "To the northern border. The Senju were encroaching on our land even if they claimed they were not. We were able to push them back and reclaim that patch of land, but at the cost of half of our squad."
"Half?" Itachi whispered. His eyes fell to his lap as he thought of those who never made it back, of their families, of their friends that they left behind. Who were grieving. Who were in pain. Powerless to do anything to prevent it from happening again.
But Itachi could.
"What are you thinking?" Shisui prompted.
"I want to preserve the peace," Itachi announced, pushing himself to his feet. "For the sake of our clan and the future."
A faint smile graced Shisui's face. "It won't be that easy, you know. Many of the older Uchihas are war hawks and would rather have war than to play nice with the Senjus. Even now, many are opposed to Fugaku's declaration of peace."
"The rivalry has gone on long enough. The first thing I'll do when I become clan leader is to strive for peace."
Easier said than done, but if there was anyone in the Uchiha clan more committed to achieving said goal, it would be Itachi Uchiha. It would take more than ten years, another war would break out in the meantime, hundreds would die, he would go down as the most hated Uchiha leader in history, but all of it was worth it. Peace was worth it.
Itachi was willing to put his life on the line to achieve it.
Itachi's attitude towards learning the ropes to become the clan leader had taken a complete turn to the point where Fugaku had been convinced that it was a genjutsu of some sort. After confirming that it wasn't, in fact, a genjutsu, the entire situation left him completely puzzled at his son's sudden attitude change.
When Fugaku confronted Mikoto, the latter claimed that Itachi hadn't mentioned anything of the sort to her. Shisui had been next to be questioned, but the boy had been surprisingly tight lipped about the entire situation, feigning ignorance.
"I just went to find him like you asked," the boy had responded. "I don't know much beyond that."
After leaving Shisui's house that day, Fugaku was convinced that he needed to keep an eye on Shisui even more now. The boy had first warranted his attention when he unlocked his Sharingan at a young age, but his presence had been pushed to the back of Fugaku's mind. He was aware that Itachi frequently hung out with Shisui outside of the Academy, but that had resulted in improvements in his skills in the shinobi arts, so Fugaku wasn't complaining.
As the boy grew older, graduating the Academy at age nine, Fugaku quickly began to realize that he was a prodigy in his own right. A rare occurrence as he was a member from the branch side of the Uchihas. So much so that his latest squad leader came back from the border with only praises for the young boy.
Yet it seemed that Shisui wanted nothing to do with the main branch of the Uchihas, with the sole exception of spending time with Itachi.
Fugaku had been entirely caught off guard when Itachi had requested Shisui to be permitted to join them on the visit to the Feudal Lord.
"Why?"
Itachi nonchalantly shrugged. "He will be my second in command when I become the clan leader. It would be wise that he is experienced in clan politics."
Itachi had stated it with so much conviction, so much certainty that Fugaku didn't have the heart to deny his request. Not that Fugaku was opposed to his choice, but rather disappointed because everyone had been pushing for Toshiro to become Itachi's second in command.
"Why not Toshiro?" Fugaku just had to ask, even if to satisfy his own curiosity.
Itachi shot him a look. "I want someone who actually voices their own opinions."
And that had been the end of that particular conversation.
When that particular topic was brought up again at the next clan meeting, many of the Elders and higher ranking members of the main branch had been appalled by Itachi's decision, including Toshiro's father.
"A member from the branch family as second in command?" an Elder hissed, uncaring that said boy was sitting in the back row in the same room. Even from the back row, Shisui could hear every word, crystal clear.
Some of the more sympathetic Uchihas had shot him pitying looks, but his expression remained impassive.
As the various Uchihas continued to toss around their opinions, no one seemed to care that it was entirely too early to be discussing this issue, a decade too early.
"If I, as a clan leader, must run every single decision by the council," Itachi began, his voice capturing everyone's attention in the room. "Then I am no leader, just merely a figurehead."
The room remained silent even as the last word punctuated the air. Itachi sat back down, dark eyes roving the crowd to take in their reactions. Some had disapproving looks, others remained neutral, while others were proud at the eight year old boy's declaration. Fugaku, in particular, had been proud of his son's bold display, even if he would never outwardly show it.
One wasn't afraid to show it. The crowd watched as another eight year old clambered to his feet, climbing atop of his chair to be seen over everyone else. A wide grin was plastered on his face as he slowly lifted his hands and began to clap.
Each clap reverberated into the room, echoing off of the walls. No one joined him.
"My name is Toshiro Uchiha. Whether or not I am second in command does not matter to me, but rather, what matters, is that we have a leader at the helm, not a puppet." While Toshiro spoke, his father's face had increasingly turned more red as he tried to discreetly tug on his son's sleeve to get his attention. Toshiro had chosen to ignore his father.
"Itachi san has all of my respect and loyalty," Toshiro added. "He is the mark of a true leader."
And finally, much to his father's relief, Toshiro sat back down in his seat. But this time, there was an applause, mostly consisting of the younger members, but it was clear that it was the majority.
Itachi's eyes locked on with Toshiro's, the latter shooting Itachi a wide grin while Itachi tried to express his gratitude to the other boy. Toshiro gave him a thumbs up. Itachi then turned to his father, trying to gauge his opinion from his impassive expression.
"Looks like it has been decided," his father informed him. "I will inform the Feudal Lord that we will postpone our visit so that Shisui will have enough time to get acquainted with our claim politics."
There was no amount of words that Itachi could say to express his gratitude towards his father's support.
To put it bluntly, Daisuke Uchiha was the sort of the crazy uncle in the family that everyone tried to stay away from and only visited when they couldn't get out of it. As the head of the clan, Fugaku had no choice but to pay him a visit every once in a while. It also didn't help that Daisuke had been instated as a Feudal Lord of their land. Even if he didn't wield much authority in decision making, his position demanded respect from the village.
In Itachi's opinion, having to pay visits to Daisuke was the worst part about learning how to be the clan leader. He had met the man in a previous occasion, at an age where he was too young to remember most things, but Daisuke had proven to be frighteningly memorable. Memorable, but not in a good way.
Throughout the entire duration of the trip to the Feudal Lord's manor, Fugaku made sure to drill the dos and don'ts into both of their heads, repeating the same things that Itachi had already heard at least three other times from other people. Both children were wise enough to not comment on it and instead, mentally prepared themselves for their impending meeting with Daisuke Uchiha.
The moment that they arrived at the front gates of the manor, Itachi spotted at least three guards shifting their relaxed stance to a more rigid one. There were at least five more guards hidden elsewhere, and Itachi took it as a challenge to pick out as many as he possibly could.
That particular challenge had only lasted less than half a minute; they weren't cleverly hidden in Itachi's opinion.
He stood up straight as a guard approached them, nodding to his father, eyes barely glancing at the two children. The guard and Fugaku exchanged a couple of words before the guard finally nodded, jerking his head in the direction of the front door. Fugaku was the first to follow the guard, followed by Itachi and Shisui, walking side by side.
Though Shisui hardly showed it, Itachi knew that his eyes were sweeping every inch of the manor, taking in every single detail, just like he had been doing himself. And that continued until the guard led them to the dining room, where plates filled the entirety of the table with enough food to seemingly feed an entire army.
Itachi followed his father's lead, pulling out one of the chairs. With a little boost of chakra, Itachi was successfully able to seat himself in it. His shoulders barely reached the top of the table, neck straining to be able to see above the piles of food.
One particular detail that caught Itachi's attention were the servants that stood rigidly against the wall, side by side. None of them spoke nor made eye contact with anyone else. Neither did they move, which suggested that they weren't here to serve dinner. Then what was their purpose for being here?
Itachi studied them, one by one, hoping to receive some sort of answer to all of the burning questions in his mind. Yet most of them didn't look up, so he couldn't really see their faces. The faces that Itachi could see were all the same: impassive.
Just as Itachi was about to give up on his self imposed quest, his eyes landed on a girl, with long, raven hair framing the sides of her face. Almost like she felt eyes on her, the girl looked up, her red eyes locking on with Itachi's. Unlike the others, the girl didn't break eye contact; instead, she continued to stare into his eyes, desperately trying to convey something to him.
Her lips moved, ever so slightly, slowly forming each syllable. It had taken Itachi a lot longer to decipher her meaning than it would have been if he had activated the Sharingan, but he wasn't supposed to have the Sharingan. Instead, his mind slowly strung together the syllables to finally come up with a decipherable message.
Dungeons. Help.
Itachi gave the girl a small head nod before he turned back around, right as Daisuke Uchiha stepped into the dining room, flanked by two guards on either side of him. Daisuke held a hand up. The guards halted, taking a few steps back and obscuring themselves in the shadows while Daisuke's attention finally landed on them.
A servant scrambled out of the kitchen, hastily sliding out Daisuke's chair. The man didn't even bother to spare the servant a single glance as he maneuvered himself into the seat, hands smoothing down his robes.
"It's been a while Fugaku," Daisuke murmured. He snapped his fingers; two servants emerged from the kitchen each with a bottle of wine. They poured the wine in the glass as Fugaku and Daisuke locked eyes for a moment.
Fugaku smiled. "Indeed it has. How was the trip?"
"Wonderful," Daisuke answered. He grabbed the wine glass, raising it into the air, tipping it on Fugaku's direction before he took a sip from the wine. "I came back with a prized souvenir."
"Is that so?" Fugaku replied. "I suppose you wouldn't mind showing it off then?"
"It is among the rest of my collection," Daisuke said. "You know where to find it."
Itachi subtly glanced back and forth between his father and Daisuke, attempting to figure out the underlying meaning between both of their words, but came up short.
The remainder of the dinner continued in a similar fashion, with Fugaku and Daisuke exchanging words periodically, in between bites of food, until Daisuke finally asked about the current state of affairs. Fugaku paused, slowly lowering his chopsticks before placing them neatly on his rice bowl.
"Still in an era of peace," Fugaku eventually responded.
Daisuke had the audacity to scoff. "Peace? For every day that another Senju lives, there will never be peace between us."
"I don't even know why you agreed to the cease fire in the first place," Daisuke continued. "We were winning. And now what? The Senjus have enough time to cultivate new talent. And now what? The Yellow Flash is in his prime right now and we have no one to counter him. We could have eliminated him while he was still a child if the war had continued."
"There is no winning or losing," Fugaku responded. "There is only dying. We may have won, but at what cost?"
Daisuke tsked. "Becoming a father has turned you soft hearted." At this point, Daisuke's beady eyes slid towards Itachi. A chill ran down his spine, goosebumps formed all over his arms and legs. Despite that, Itachi didn't shy away from Daisuke's stare; instead, he continued to stare right back.
Daisuke smiled. "Your son will become a fearless leader in the future. For the sake of the Uchiha; hopefully, he does not have as much of a bleeding heart as you do."
"You may not be, but others are tired of constantly being embroiled in war," Fugaku stated. "Is there ever going to be a generation that grows up in an era of peace?"
"The younger that they learn, the better off they will be in the future. The notion, the longing for peace is for the weak. I did not fight two wars to have us compromise with the Senjus. Our ancestors did not die for us to make peace with the Senjus. They're practically extinct nowadays; most of what is left of their forces are their allies. We can easily finish them."
This time, it hadn't been Fugaku who responded. It was Itachi.
"Peace is not for the weak. It is human nature to strive for some sort of stability in our lives. Even if a shinobi fights for the sake of achieving peace, they are still stronger than one who fights simply for the sake of fighting."
Daisuke's eyes slid over to look at Itachi. He remained silent for a moment, before he finally spoke. "A fearless leader, indeed. A leader should not be afraid to voice their opinions; you have taught him well, Fugaku."
Fugaku took the compliment in stride, even if it was quite obvious that Daisuke had been anything but genuine.
The topic veered away from the discussion of war and the rest of the dinner was finished peacefully, or as peacefully as dinner could be with Daisuke Uchiha.
Once dinner ended, that was when the chaos started. After Daisuke exited the dining room, Itachi couldn't help but to turn back around when he heard noises behind him. It was at that moment that Itachi witnessed the most inhumane thing in his life.
Daisuke made the servants fight for their dinner. If Itachi had known, he would have eaten less.
Servants had scrambled to the table, desperately grabbing what they could. Some had climbed atop of the table, shoving others away when they had gotten too close to their territory. Fights broke out all over the dining room as some opted to steal from others rather than scramble for it at the table. Itachi's attention was focused on one particular girl, the raven haired girl from earlier. His eyes followed her as she casually ducked under the arm of one of the servants, one hand reaching for the food on the table while the other casually took food from the other woman's stash.
"Entertaining, isn't it?" It took all of Itachi's reflexes to keep him from flinching at the sudden voice.
"A mild version of war," Daisuke said. "Isn't it good that they are learning so young?"
It wasn't, but Itachi didn't voice that thought aloud.
"Come, I have something to show you."
The three of them followed Daisuke. Itachi snuck a glance at his father, who wore a grim expression on his face. Whatever Daisuke wanted to show them, it wasn't anything good.
When Daisuke led them down a set of stairs, Itachi became increasingly aware that this was possibly the dungeons that the girl had mentioned. But who was he to help? Was the girl in danger of being taken to the dungeons? Or was there already someone else down there?
Itachi would soon find out.
It was dark. Itachi's eyes fixated on the light coming from the guard's flashlight as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He was hyper aware that Daisuke, his father, and Shisui had all activated their Sharingans to help them see better in the dark. Itachi refrained from activating his own; he didn't want anyone to know he possessed the Sharingan yet.
Daisuke stopped in front of a jail cell. The guard shone the light onto the body that laid on the floor, curling up into a ball. The girl's backside faced them. Blood was splattered all over the jail cell, drenched all over the remaining tatters of her clothes.
Torture.
"No mercy," Daisuke told him. "Remember this: death is too merciful. Now, watch and learn. It will be useful when you become clan leader."
Itachi didn't agree. He didn't want to learn how to torture someone. Information could be as easily extracted by using the Sharingan.
The guard unlocked the cell, stepping inside the cell. The girl didn't exhibit any outward indication that she registered another presence in the cell. And then the torture began.
Every instinct in his body wanted him to turn around so he could stop witnessing the guard beat the helpless girl, but he fought against it. Every kick, every punch, Itachi watched it all. In his mind, Itachi knew that his conscience wouldn't let him get by without doing something to help the girl, but what could he do?
He was no medic and he had no plausible reason to convince Daisuke to let her go.
Eventually, Daisuke snapped his fingers, motioning the guard to stop. The guard nodded, bowing his head slightly before he stepped out of the cell. Pulling the door shut once more, the guard fiddled with the padlock chain, securing the lock once more.
Daisuke turned to Fugaku. "That's just a small lesson for your son on how to get prisoners to talk. Break them first and they'll tell you everything."
Itachi was running out of time. He needed to come up with something fast, anything to help the girl.
"What did she do?" Itachi found himself asking. Partly to stall for time and partly to get ideas on how to help her out.
"Snuck around instead of doing her assigned work," Daisuke answered. "She's only sorry that she had to get caught. Who knows how long she's been doing it...I hardly step into the library, after all."
That hadn't been useful at all.
As Itachi watched Daisuke start to move towards the exit, Itachi urged his brain to come up with something or some sort of miracle to happen. Itachi had been moments away from blurting out his true thoughts when a green aura caught his eye.
Medical ninjutsu. Itachi's eyes widened; his pleas had been heard.
Daisuke had an entirely different reaction. "Pfft, what does she think that is going to do for her?"
Itachi steeled himself, whirling around to face Daisuke.
"Uchiha sama, if I may interject."
Daisuke nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
"We've always had a shortage of medical ninjas in our force. If she can already utilize the basics of medical ninjutsu, I believe that she will be a valuable addition to our force when another war breaks out."
"And how are you going to make sure she remains loyal to the Uchiha?"
No thanks to you, Itachi thought.
"We are her saviors, so it is natural that she may repay her debt with her services. If necessary, then the Uchiha isn't renowned for their genjutsu prowess for nothing, am I right?"
Daisuke's lips curled up into a smile. "I like the way that you think. Do what you want with her; I'll leave her to your care."
Itachi refrained from letting out an audible sigh as Daisuke walked away. The guard unlocked the jail cell once more, pushing open the creaking door. With a slight head nod to Fugaku, the guard left, basking them in darkness once more.
Fugaku placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "You have a kind heart."
Did he though? Why did Itachi feel like he just ruined her life?
A/N: Hi again!
And this concludes the first arc of Rin's backstory! How did you feel about it? For me personally, Rin's backstory was fun because I got to play around with a lot of things and it was also what sparked the setting for this story and from there, it spawned the rest of the plot line. It's kind of depressing tho - I mean this entire story is depressing so no surprises there.
Theory time (because I love hearing how different your minds are compared to mine!):
-Why did Rin end up working the Uchihas?
-How did Shisui unlock his Mangekyo? This actually wasn't relevant to the story but somehow I found a way to include it - coming up in a couple of chapters!
So the upcoming chapters is where we start ramping up the pace in the present plot line (featuring our two favorite geniuses and the snake) as well as a continuation of Kakashi's childhood arc where it'll start to explain how/why Kakashi ended up with the Uchihas.
Thank you for reading! Until next time.
-MM