Chapter 22 – Two Tragedies

"Talk"

'Think'

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. So…yeah.

A/N: Thank you Saint of vice koncor for your support

"You!" Fugaku lost his composure.

Inabi just cackled madly "Yes, me" he said gleefully.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Fugaku.

"Why am I doing this? WHY AM I DOING THIS?!" yelled Inabi "We are supposed to bring Uchiha clan to its glory! But you! You and Shisui desecrate our tradition! So I'm cleansing the Uchiha!"

"By killing them all?" asked Fugaku incredulously.

Inabi smiled meaningfully "I'm saving the Uchiha clan"

'Saving?' thought Fugaku 'He could not meant that? That's crazy! I have to tell Shisui, but I can't use chakra now'

"Why did you kill Keiko-san then? She got nothing to do with us?" asked Fugaku, he attempted to stall Inabi while hoping for back-up.

"Her death was supposed to awaken my Mangekyō Sharingan" spat Inabi. He was told that the death of loved ones would trigger Mangekyō Sharingan. Between Ichirou and Keiko, he decided to kill her as he had loved her once while he despised his nephew.

'So you knew about that too, huh? Wonder who would have told you' thought Fugaku. This confirmed his suspicion that Inabi was working with someone, not just any someone, but an Uchiha, and not just any Uchiha, a powerful and knowledgeable one. 'Could it be-'

"What's the masked man promised you?" asked Fugaku.

"How could- What masked man?" asked Inabi, feigning ignorance.

Unfortunately, his blunder confirmed Fugaku's suspicion.

"You really are an idiot, Inabi" said Fugaku. Inabi snarled while Fugaku ignored him and continued "The masked man was the reason behind the unfair treatment that we've received-" seeing Inabi's surprised face "Guess you didn't know that. He played you for a fool"

"You've found out, huh" said a voice. Fugaku and Inabi turned to it and saw the masked man "Well, I've had my experiment. What a failure, tsk, tsk, tsk" said the masked man, turning to Inabi "He's right. You are an idiot. You don't even realized that he's stalling and there's another team coming here"

"Due to you failure, I'm taking these" the masked man disappeared and reappeared in front of a stunned Inabi, plucking his eyes. "You are a disgrace to these eyes" he said with contempt before slit Inabi's throat.

"And you" the masked man turned to Fugaku "I've had a good mind to kill you, but where's the fun? So…" he pointed towards Mikoto and Sasuke, and formed hand seals. Seals appeared at both ends of the both ropes and the masked man disappeared,

'Explosive tags!' thought Fugaku. Without thinking, he activated his sharingan, accumulated chakra on his feet and jumped towards Sasuke thus inadvertently, activated the seals on him. As he was about to reach Sasuke, the tags on the ropes exploded. Fugaku reached out to Sasuke and hurled him towards the clearing on the cliff. Then he heard Itachi's voice "Okaasan!"

'Ah, Itachi's here. Sasuke will be alright' he thought before the seals on his body exploded.

As Itachi approaching with his sharingan activated, he saw a masked man hold out his hand to the left and to the right before formed hand seals and disappeared. Then he saw his father jumped to the left so acting on a hunch, he jumped to the right and to his horror, his mothed was tied between the two cliffs. As he was about to pull his mother, the rope exploded and his mother fell into the Naka River "Okaasan!" he yelled desperately. The three tomoe in his eyes changed into three spiralling curves around his pupils

Then he heard a noise on the left and saw his father being engulfed in explosions. 'Otōsan!' his yelled inwardly, then he remembered his father had jumped to the left, presumably to save Sasuke

'Sasuke!' Itachie pushed himself up and turned his head to the leaf. He saw Ichirou walked slowly and fell on his knees near a lying figure while his teammates untied Sasuke from his rope. He ran to Sasuke who hugged him immediately and cried his heart out.

Respecting their privacy, Ichirou's teammates went to Ichirou.

"I heard…he was the perpetrator…" Ichirou said hoarsely, staring in disbelief at Inabi's corpse.

His teammates looked at each other.

"No one will blame this on you, you know" one of them said gently while the other patted his shoulder.

Moments later, Kakashi dropped down and scanned the area.

"Uchiha Itachi, you and your team are required to report to Hokage" said Kakashi while walking towards Inabi's corpse. He kneeled next to Inabi's body, unrolled a scroll and sealed the body inside the scroll.

Kakashi's action roused Ichirou from his stupor. Carrying Sasuke on his back, Itachi and his team went to Hokage's office while Kakashi sent the corpse to the morgue.

Shisui was waiting with Uchiha Tekka when Itachi arrived. He asked Ichirou's team to bring Sasuke to the hospital. Sasuke was reluctant at first but relented after Itachi promised he'll come soon after he has reported to Shisui.

Tekka reported that five buildings in Uchiha clan was destroyed but luckily, there is no casualties as with the aides from the Hyūga and ANBU, they've managed to evacuate the residents from those buildings.

Itachi reported of the masked man and his parents' demise. Then he asked Tekka if he can take the position of clan leader temporarily. Although Itachi was the clan heir, he felt at this moment, Sasuke needed him more and Tekka himself has proven to be an excellent leader.

Tekka humbly accepted it and departed to find lodgings for those people whose houses were destroyed as well as thanking the Hyūga for their assistance.

Once Tekka has departure, Itachi went to the hospital, leaving Shisui to his thoughts.

End Chapter 22

Okaasan – mother

Otōsan - father