Insert disclaimer here
Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)
Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind
Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi talking Jutsu will also be bold
BLAH BLAH BLAH yelling or emphasis of some sort
Naruto of the Nine Tails
Rated M for language, violence, adult content, and graphic imagery
Chp 21: Last of the Uchiha
5 Years Earlier…
"Wha-what's going on…" Sasuke whispered, horrified as he took in the sight before him...
The corpses of his family lay scattered and broken in the street; aunts, uncles, cousins, all dead. Kunai and shuriken littered the walls along with other obvious signs of a struggle. Blood pooled like puddle rain water all around him and the stench of death lingered heavy on the air like a funeral shroud.
What was going on, how could this have happened?
Panicking, Sasuke fell into a dead sprint; his feet automatically carrying him along the familiar path toward his parents' house, moving him blindly through the carnage. The scene never changed as he got further into the district… his home had become a war zone.
How could this have happened? They were in the middle of the village! How could an enemy strong enough to wipe out the battle hardened Uchiha have infiltrated so deep into the village? It made no sense.
"Tou-san! Ka-san! Aniki!" he cried as he crashed through the front door, desperately hoping to find someone, anyone, alive.
"Sasuke! Don't-" his mother's voice was cut off by the wet sound of steal on flesh followed by a meaty thump.
"Ka-san…" Sasuke whispered in muted horror as he stood in front of the door, unable to comprehend what was happening. He couldn't believe this, she couldn't be…
His hand trembling, Sasuke reached out pushing the door aside.
And there, standing over the lifeless bodies of there parents, was…
"Itachi?" Sasuke asked with dawning horror.
"Sasuke…"
"Wha-what's going on?" Sasuke stammered, praying to anyone who would listen that this was not what it looked like.
"I would think it would be obvious," Itachi replied with a curious tilt of the head.
"You...killed them..." Sasuke whispered, the words somehow finalizing what he already knew as rage began to bubble in his gut. Itachi had killed them, tou-san, ka-san... everyone.
"Yes," Itachi answered with an unnatural calm... as if it were nothing.
That did it.
"RAGH!" Sasuke cried at the top of his lungs, rushing his brother.
"Foolish otouto," Itachi muttered before he sank his fist into Sasuke's solar plexus, dropping him to the floor.
"Why…" Sasuke gasped, clutching his stomach.
"To test myself," Itachi answered evenly.
"You… killed everyone… for that?" Sasuke asked from his place on the floor.
Itachi's reply was simply silence. No trace of doubt. No regret. No remorse. Not even a hint of compassion on his blood soaked face.
"Bullshit…" Sasuke hissed.
Itachi lifted a brow curiously.
"Bullshit!" Sasuke screamed, pressing off the ground and launching himself at his older brother.
"Foolish otouto," Itachi murmured, burying his fist in Sasuke's gut again.
"A-ah," Sasuke gasped, collapsing once more.
"You aren't even worth killing," Itachi sighed, stepping past Sasuke's prone form toward the door.
"B-bastard," Sasuke gasped, trying to catch his breath.
"Stay down Sasuke," Itachi replied as he stepped out into the moonlight, not even sparing Sasuke a second glance.
"Don't turn your back on me," Sasuke whispered, pushing himself up again. He was angry, so angry he could taste it like a bitter acid on his tongue.
But Itachi was already gone.
"No…" Sasuke growled. Using the wall he got to his feet and stumbled out the door after Itachi, slowly gaining speed as he regained his balance. Sprinting out of the house Sasuke snatched some of the weapons that had been strewn across the ground as he darted into the streets after the older Uchiha.
Itachi had barely cleared the fence around his family's home when he had to duck beneath a brace of shuriken.
Twisting into a hunter's crouch the young ANBU captain turned to face his attacker, expecting a patrol, only to find Sasuke running through a set of very familiar seals.
"Gokayu no jutsu!" Sasuke cried, belching a massive fireball.
Reacting on instinct, Itachi rolled to the side and toward the gout of flame to cut off the angle of spread and used his momentum to power a roundhouse kick that Sasuke manage to dodge by the barest of margins.
"Foolish otouto," Itachi chastened as he followed his kick with a straight left punch that knocked Sasuke into the wall.
What followed was an extremely one sided battle as Sasuke attempted every trick he knew to try and kill his brother. He punched, kicked, kneed, bit, stabbed, and slashed but no matter what he tried, Itachi countered him easily at every turn.
Sasuke would punch, and Itachi would use it to throw him.
Sasuke would kick, and Itachi would step into it to deliver a blow of his own.
Sasuke would knee, and Itachi would sidestep.
Sasuke would bite, and Itachi wouldn't even notice it through his armor.
Sasuke would stab, and Itachi would redirect it.
Sasuke would slash, and Itachi would dodge.
And that's when he realized it. He couldn't win. Itachi was going to get away. His brother, his idol, who had taken everyone from him, was going to get away. The injustice of it enraged the young Uchiha, igniting an intense fury within his being that he'd not known possible.
And then he saw it.
Itachi never noticed that, for a split second, his little brother's eyes flashed red, a single tomoe rotating slowly in each eye.
Sasuke wouldn't realize it until much later, but this was what the clan told him of all these years. The sting, like tears in his eyes, was but a faded memory as he ducked beneath his brother's approaching fist, watching as the prodigious teen's eyes widened in surprise as he sprang forward and drove his kunai into the older boy's side, feeling the warm spray of blood across his face.
The next moment, Itachi froze as he felt a searing pain in his side. Alarmed he looked down at the wound assessing the damage, "Oh no," he whispered as he realized that Sasuke had grazed several arteries, the wound was beyond his skills to heal… he would bleed out in a matter of minutes. "No… no! No! This can't be happening! FUCK!"
Cursing incoherently, Itachi's fading mind raced as he attempted to find a way to salvage the situation.
All the while Sasuke looked on stunned and confused. This just seemed so… wrong. Itachi never lost his cool; he acted composed and collected at all times. Why had his demeanor suddenly changed? Why hadn't he left to treat his wounds? What was going on? It didn't make sense!
"Damnit!" Itachi hissed, he only had moments before he bled out, he could feel it, there wasn't enough time to… time! Spinning to face Sasuke, Itachi locked gazes with his little brother, his eye's immediately twisting into Mangekyo Sharingan, "Tsukuyomi!"
What he was planning would kill him but, then again, he was already dead.
For several moments the two brothers stayed there, staring at each other in a genjutsu induced trace as Itachi pushed Tsukuyomi far and beyond its limits.
Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over, Itachi crumpling bonelessly under his own weight, Sasuke catching him as best he could.
"Aniki…" Sasuke muttered, cradling his brother's head as Itachi's life slipped away.
Smiling weakly Itachi poked Sasuke in forehead one last time, "I'm sorry Sasuke… There won't be a next time…." he whispered, his eyes slowly closing as a soft smile played across his lips.
And then, Uchiha Itachi, one of the greatest unsung heroes Konohagakure had ever known, died.
In that instant Sasuke's eyes glowed red, a stylized black Magna Tomoe rotating ominously in each eye as he stared mournfully down at his brother's peaceful face. The lines of stress had given way to a mask of contentment; it was almost like he was sleeping, like he was dreaming…
Bloody tears ran down Sasuke's cheeks as he screwed his eyes shut, his face twisting into an anguished grimace as his fingers tore at his hair, a scream of purest fury ripping its way out his throat, releasing his anger and grief into the sky.
Uchiha Madara would die, one way or another…
Omake: Naruto of the Nine Tails and the Fox of Doom
By: Silent Magi and EDelta88
Inspired by: "Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom"
A Brilliant Ballad By a Budding Bunch of Bards Because they Became Bored
Naruto of the nine-tails,
And the Fox of Doom.
It has its beginnings in ages past,
When Minato set forth to battle the demon Kyuubi.
And sealed the fox into the deep,
Guarded forever by the child of the wind and sea.
When Naruto found the Fox of Doom,
In the darkness deep in the gloom.
He never thought,
That it would turn him into a Fox of Doom.
The Akatsuki, the Sound-nins too.
The daimyos, and the Uchiha pox.
They came to know the power
Of Naruto The Demon Fox.
Naruto of the nine-tails,
And the Fox of Doom.
It started with Minato
Sealing Kyuubi in the gloom.
The power of the Fox it grew,
And the Third sat in thought.
He knew that it must be consumed,
And its hatred long forgot.
For if in evil hands it fell,
The Earth would surely know its end.
No force of arms could win the day,
No army would dare contend.
For evil flourished across the land
But hope there grew, in the festering malignancy.
As in Konoha dwelled,
The child of a prophecy
In a distant land, the noble Naruto,
The greatest heir to wind and sea
He suffered in the darkness
To become the hero he was born to be
Naruto of the nine tails,
And the Fox of Doom.
Accepted a heavy burden,
More than one could presume.
Naruto of the nine tails,
And the Fox of Doom.
Why does he have nine tails?
Does the Fox still dwell in gloom?
We may never know know for sure.
The truth of Naruto and the Fox of Doom
A/N
And there you have it.
Special thanks to Silent Magi for his help with this chp and the cracktastic omake idea.
My apologies for not following through on my promises of the editing overhaul but life got in the way and I felt a little cruel for leaving you hanging. So, I chose to forgo the overhaul in favor of finishing the chp for you guys.
As always, I remind everyone that I do accept omake ideas and will give credit for the ones that I post.
Now then, in all probability I will not be updating this for the next few months since I want to work on several of my other projects and need to get ready for the spring semester.