Uchiha Fugaku prided himself for his first son, a prodigy like those that had come around only once in a generation. His son's skill was impossibly honed for his age and his intelligence was rivalled by none, thinking much like a Kage in his early years and showing unmatched prowess.
Now five years old and expecting a younger sibling, Uchiha Itachi was praised and lorded above the heads of the other clan heads by his father. He had become master of his emotions, never revealed much of anything to even his close family.
Contently sitting in the kitchen with a newspaper in hand, Fugaku could hear his pregnant wife treating herself with an unhealthy amount of very specific vegetables and tomatoes, a complete oppositions to her cravings of sweet foods when bearing Itachi.
Fugaku was slowly growing slightly concerned. It was full light outside and yet his son was still not downstairs. Breakfast had been forsaken the last few months in exchange for overlooked thievery from his wife's new stockpile of healthy nutrition.
Just as his concerns reached the point of warranting active intervention, he heard the faint sound of feet on the stairs. Calming himself, Fugaku looked up from his paper and froze.
Uchiha Fugaku looked at his son — his emotionally well-guarded, very put-together son — and nearly choked on his own spit.
Itachi was uncharacteristically slouched, torso lax and shoulders limp. Something very similar to a glare squinted his eyes, clouded by grogginess from oversleep and an unwelcoming attitude.
Fugaku's wife, his Uchiha Mikoto, turned to speak to her son, but was silent as Itachi proceeded to start climbing the kitchen drawers, a clear goal to his quest: toast.
It was almost half an hour that was spent toasting bread and Itachi feasted on the over-buttered food with adorable vigour.
Despite the plan of another day dedicated to training, Fugaku found his son in complete disarray and chaos, relaxing and wreaking havoc with behaviour unfit of the Uchiha heir. It was not a good idea to go outside.
Something was anomalous with only this one single day because, the next day, Itachi was his regular self and had no recollection of anything unusual the day before, only that he had trained (which he most definitely had not).
When this sudden day of possession consistently came again and again and again every month with the same results but no answers, Fugaku consulted a shinobi who was leading in the field of psychology and was told that everything would be fine, that it was normal that his son wanted a break every once in a while, especially with his status, so he put up with the random days of unproductiveness.
It would always seemed to happen when Itachi was most stressed and overworked, Mikoto tried to reason with him, and he would always act infinitely better after forgotten days that were jokingly theorised as a foreign body temporarily taking control of of a noble clan heir.
The psychology specialist Fugaku had consulted, Yamanaka Inoichi, was apparently a believer of rumours and brought his concerns to the Sandaime Hokage.
The familiar sound of feet coming down the stairs alerted Fugaku of his not-son. Staggering down the last step, Itachi pattered into the kitchen, hugging his mother's legs on his way to his buffet of overly buttered toast.
Watching their son's relapse into eating an extortionate amount of toast, Mikoto and Fugaku exchanged a glance and affirmative nod. This was the 'possessed' Itachi.
Really, why did they have to do this?
Itachi didn't complain as Mikoto and Fugaku brought him to the Hokage's Tower. He was actually quite content and would do most anything without question if supplied with butter and toast.
The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, paused in speaking with Inoichi as the Uchiha family entered without so much as a knock from Mikoto, who led them inside with Itachi trailing behind them quietly, gnawing at the folded piece of toast in his hands, leaving a constant crinkling munching sound in the air as he left a trail of breadcrumbs for the janitorial staff.
Having never seen the Uchiha heir in this uncommon state until then, Hiruzen was a little taken aback by the — usually polite and well-mannered — boy's sudden lack of care for cleanliness and affection for toast.
Hiruzen cleared his throat and leaned forward to address the distracted young boy standing between his parents.
Itachi looked up to show the Hokage that his attention had been taken.
Sighing, Inoichi began his part.
"Your name is Uchiha Itachi, correct?" he asked.
"Of course." The raven said before taking another bite of his toast, which slightly muffled his voice. "That's my name, don't wear it out."
"I don't plan to," Inoichi replied to himself in a mumble. He then looked to the Uchiha child. "You may be Uchiha Itachi, but you are not our Uchiha Itachi, correct?"
The constant crinkling munching sound stopped. Crimson eyes flashed tauntingly at Inoichi and a wicked smirk stretched his face.
"How very..." He paused. "...discerning of you, Ino-chan."
Inoichi would have been annoyed by the statement if he had not caught sight of Fugaku's eyes, which were wide and crimson as they stared at his son. Itachi payed no attention to the panic and suspicion that had very quickly seized the room.
Fugaku suddenly took 'Itachi' by the arm and forced him to turn and face him. 'Itachi' scornfully turned away, resisting the stronger hand that kept him in place.
"Who are you?!"
Fugaku's eyes burned crimson and the black mitsudomoe design spun in his irises as his 'son' (almost dutifully) looked away, toast forgotten as the crinling gave away his flexing hand.
The Sandaime, unpleased but empathetic of the Uchiha's behaviour, spoke up, "Itachi-kun."
The boy turned his head farther away from the intense Uchiha patriarch in acknowledgement to the Kage.
"Please, can you explain to us who you are?"
The boy went to nod before he collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Mikoto ran to her son, shouting out in concern. Fugaku left his grip on the small boy as concern wavered into his eyes.
A medic was immediately called in as Mikoto saw the blood pooling at his feet.
The medic came in - almost too soon - as Itachi's coughing fit died down and the blood being hurled up from his lungs gave way to let him breathe.
The medic took one look at Itachi from the doorway and a glare overtook her originally beautiful visage.
"Karasu."
The boy side eyed the taller woman.
"Namekuji."
The two stood off against each other for several moments, the air in the room getting more and more tense before a young man came barrelling into the room, ramming into the medic.
Itachi suddenly burst out laughing as Namikaze Minato fell on top of the spiteful woman.
"SORRY!"
Minato picked himself up, stifling giggles as he helped up 'Namekuji' from the floor.
Itachi's laughter quickly turned into another coughing fit, though this time bloodless. Nonetheless, Minato rushed to his side faster than Mikoto, who'd hardly backed away from the last time she'd anxiously knelt by Itachi's side.
Minato rubbed comfortingly at the small boy's back as Itachi leaned against him for support, gripping onto the blonde's flak jacket with the strength of an adrenaline-amped pain fest.
The medic huffed in disdain before begrudgingly poking Minato's shoulder and whispering something harshly.
Minato looked at her like she had smacked his wife.
Speaking of: Uzumaki Kushina came through the doors with pursed lips and a look that promised pain.
"Can anyone care to explain why half the people in the village have progressively been quote unquote 'possessed' on every second Wednesday of each month?"
When Minato spoke up, it was the only noise in the room.
"Better?"
"Better," Itachi echoed, nodding and sitting up against the adults on either side of him with a pained grunt.
"What is going on?"
All heads turned to Fugaku.
"Well~" Minato began, only to get cut off by the medic.
"Basically, people in Konoha have progressively been getting episodes of 'possession', causing them to act differently than what they normally would, though not always very. It can be hard to notice some people's changes and exceedingly easy with others, as I'm sure you've noticed with Itachi."
Fugaku frowned at the lack of honorific, but otherwise looked to his 'son' and what he could now recognise as not-Minato.
Minato was a collected person with rare outbursts and secrets so well hidden that no one knew to ask about them, but the man before him was neither collected nor hiding his every reaction.
He couldn't say of the medic, but something was also wrong about how she addressed Itachi.
"'Karasu'." Heads turned back to Fugaku. "Why did you call him that?"
Minato spoke up now.
"The truth is that a lot of these episodes are being triggered by a jutsu created by Orochimaru." A pause for gasps. "He's been attempting to recreate the Nidaime Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation, but, without access to already departed souls, he's attempted on live subjects. Of course, that meant: every person he could lay his hands on. Instead of the desired effect, every time he tries this jutsu, almost religiously every second Wednesday, the soul is shot back in time to a vessel most closely resembling or linked to their own and forced into their body for roughly 12 hours."
Itachi began muttering, hardly loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"Every time he attempts on a new soul, every soul he has already tried is sent again, hence the growing number."
"This also isn't happening in just Konoha, as expected of Orochimaru." Kushina was speaking up despite being quite herself. "One of the last missions I went on had me encountering a friend from the Land of Waves, but he was...different. Knew too much."
Inoichi nodded to the Hokage, not liking what he knew. How could they be telling the truth?
'Minato' sighed.
"Our only hope is that someone finds Orochimaru, as his chakra flares out dramatically during this jutsu. I was originally the best sensor we had, but I was one of the first to go...along with Itachi."
The Sandaime's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
'Minato' looked up with sad eyes.
"Namikaze Minato died the night I was born. He was the closest match to me this far in the past."
"Who are you?" Inoichi reiterated.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto."