Hello again! These chapters are pre-written. Unless I say otherwise. :) Well, I really feel tired cause it's Monday and then I had a band competition on Saturday. And I spent all day yesterday walking around. #band kid probs So I feel like stabbing a bitch. Please excuse my extreme violence. And I'm sounding really formal. That's what happens when I'm tired.
Enjoy.
Kei's evening went very nicely. She and Kizashi enjoyed a very expensive meal, then went and hung out at his house. They watched a few movies Kei fell asleep. Kizashi, being the respectable and kind boy that he is, carried her home (His house was close to the Uchiha district).
When he got there, he was greeted by Kei's father, who was displeased that his daughter was consorting with someone outside of the clan. His yelling woke up Kei, who immediately came to her boyfriend's defense. Things got heated, and Kizashi was banned from ever setting foot in the Uchiha district. If he did, the punishment could be as severe as death.
While all of this occurred, another teenage boy wearing an ANBU mask watched from the rooftops. This boy had been watching Masato Uchiha for a while now under orders of the Uchiha clan head. Masato was one of the few privy to the secret Uchiha coup d'etat that was to take place 3 days from now. Masato was suspected of perhaps leaking information to the village. Though the boy on the roof knew otherwise.
Masato was the last person, besides Fugaku Uchiha himself, who would ever leak information about the clan. Masato was so desperate, so power hungry, that he'd do anything. Including betray the village to prove his loyalty to his clan.
The boy on the roof was supposed to be doing what Masato was doing. He was supposed to betray his village for his clan...but that was never going to happen.
The Uchiha clan was never going to get the chance to betray the village because the boy was given a choice, to either join his traitorous clan, or to defend his village.
The boy decided to protect his village rather than his family. He didn't feel much attachment to anyone in the clan anyway. There were only three people that he honestly cared about. His friend, his mother, and...his little brother.
This boy's little brother, who was far too young to understand clan matters. Too young to be killed because of the clan's mistakes. The boy chose, no, he vowed to protect his younger sibling months ago. He vowed to protect the little child from the clan. The boy's little brother would never have to face the pain and suffering that the boy had faced. He would never feel the pressures of the horrifying expectations of his parents.
His parents...The boy on the roof closed his eyes as his parents faces swam to the forefront his mind. They understood what they were doing. The boy couldn't protect them, like he could his brother. They were on their own.
The boy heard the wind whoosh, and his eyes shot open as he whipped out his sword to deflect a kunai.
Turning around he to see the Ōkunomizu boy. His name was Kizashi of the famed Ōkunomizu clan, the only survivor besides the few others that the ANBU boy knew of.
"What are you doing here?" Kizashi asked suspiciously.
The boy stood up. Kizashi tensed.
"You should leave." The boy said quietly. Kizashi narrowed. This was an ANBU. What was he doing here? He sounded about as old as himself and Kei.
"What business does the ANBU have here?" Kizashi demanded.
"Why should you care? You're from the dead Ōkunomizu clan."
Kizashi took a step backwards. "How do you-?"
"Your real parents died fleeing from the Mist. You are one of the few survivors of your clan."
Kizashi glared at the ANBU boy. "You-"
"Your parents died right before your eyes that night..." The ANBU boy's voice softened while Kizashi's eyes hardened with anger.
"Shut up. You don't know me." Kizashi snapped, tears springing to his eyes.
"You're right." The ANBU boy said. That poor child, having his entire clan murdered. The ANBU boy could never imagine his clan being killed like that.
However, he'd know soon enough how that felt.
"I don't know you at all." The ANBU boy slowly held up his katana. "That makes it easier to kill you."
Kizashi inhaled sharply. "You wouldn't-"
Suddenly, Kizashi's eyes widened in horror. He looked down at his chest to see the ANBU boy's sword pierced through his chest.
"How did you-" Kizashi began, and then collapsed in pain as the sword was pulled out of his chest.
"You shouldn't have come up here." The ANBU boy said, his voice cold and emotionless. "You should've left well enough alone." Kizashi coughed violently, and curled into a fetal position, his hand grasping hopelessly at the hole in his chest.
"I...Tell Kei that...that I...love..." Kizashi's eyes glazed over, and the hand holding his chest fell limply to ground.
The ANBU boy walked over to Kizashi's body, and put his eyelids down.
"I am sorry." The boy murmured. A single tear fell from behind the mask onto the dead boy. "I am so, so sorry..."
The ANBU boy stood up, wiped the blood on Kizashi's shirt, and put away the katana. The boy breathed deeply, and then doing some hand signs, reappeared in front of his father. The boy went upon his knees.
His father, who was drinking some tea, set down his cup.
"What are you doing here ANBU-san?"
"I found Ōkunomizu, and had to kill him."
The boy's father raised an eyebrow. "Why ever did you do that?" He asked lightly, almost in a laughing manner.
The boy clenched his fists. "He was in the way."
His father picked up the teacup once more, and took a sip. "I warned Masato that this would happen. This is what happens when you let your children run around wild and crazy, like uncultured swine." The man stood up with a sigh.
"You've done well Itachi. Now go give your report to the ANBU."
The boy, Itachi, nodded. "Hai."
Disappearing again, Itachi appeared again on the roof with Kizashi's body. He looked down at the dead boy. How fragile human lives were. How easily they could be snuffed out. It sickened him.
It sickened Itachi even more to know that he was the one who did this.
Kizashi was just bringing home Kei Uchiha, daughter of Masato Uchiha. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Unfortunately, he did get in the way. Itachi planned to leave him alive, let him live, but he had to go up to him. Kizashi just had to be curious and go to the roof.
Itachi didn't want to kill him. He didn't want to kill anyone. He just wanted there to be peace in the village. And the only way for peace was for his clan to stop their rebellion.
There were two options for his clan. They could just give up the ridiculous notion of this idea of rebellion or...the option that the Konoha's Head of ANBU and elders decided was, unfortunately, best.
The Uchiha clan would have to be eliminated. Since the Uchiha would obviously never give up the idea of rebelling, they would have to be killed.
Itachi Uchiha was the one who was ordered to do this task. He was the only one who could do it anyway, since his entire clan would easily be able to take out any ANBU team.
Quite a few of the Uchiha were in ANBU too, which complicated matters slightly.
Itachi couldn't fathom why his clan wouldn't just stop. They must know that Konoha suspected their uprising, and had an agent on the inside.
Then again, the Uchiha were arrogant enough to believe that no one knew except for the ones involved. They thought they were oh-so clever and untouchable. They thought that they had the perfect double agent on the inside of the ANBU reporting everything to them.
What they didn't know, was that their double agent was indeed a double agent, only not for them, but for Konoha.
Itachi Uchiha vowed to protect his village to his dying breath. That's what he planned to do. Even if it meant...the extinction of his clan.
But the entire clan wouldn't all die. He would live on...as the last Uchiha. The only man with the Sharingan besides the Copy-Ninja. The Copy Ninja's Sharingan wasn't even his. It was given to him by a Uchiha, who died with honors on the battlefield.
Or so everyone thought...
You see, a few months back Itachi met a man who called himself 'Madara'. However, that couldn't be possible since Madara had been dead for a long while now.
It seemed much more likely that this was Obito Uchiha. How he would've survived, Itachi didn't know. He read the report. Half of Obito's body was crushed under a boulder. Kakashi Hatake and another girl left him. They watched him die. The three of them were surrounded by Stone ANBU. It would've been impossible for Obito to escape, especially with half of his body crushed.
However far-fetched this seemed, this explanation seemed much more likely than the mysterious man being Madara Uchiha. So Itachi was more inclined to believe that this mystery man was Obito.
Anyways, 'Madara' offered to help Itachi with the impossible task of eliminating his clan. 'Madara' would take out the southern part of the district, while Itachi would take out the northern half. The northern half being where his parents and his brother lived.
Perhaps it was better this way. Maybe it was better that he killed his parents and brother rather than this nameless rogue ninja who had the Sharingan.
How this could be better? Him killing his parents? And Sasuke? Did he want to prove a point to the other clans? Did he need to prove himself to the ANBU, showing his prowess? Why...?
Sasuke...
Itachi breathed, and then did the hand-signs to appear outside of his house again. He watched through his cat mask, his little brother playing with toys, alone in the garden.
How could he ever lay a hand on Sasuke? His little brother? Sasuke didn't deserve a brother like Itachi. Itachi's hands were covered in the blood of the many that he'd killed as an ANBU and as an agent for the Uchiha and Konoha.
All of this lying and double-crossing was taking a great mental and emotional toll on him. He could barely bring himself to get out of bed in the morning because the emotions of guilt ate at his heart and soul.
He had to kill his clan in 3 days. He had only days to prepare himself...to take the lives of his parents and Sasuke.
This pain...this guilt. Itachi could barely breathe from it.
He grabbed at his chest, and tried to grab his heart to stop the pain. Tears fell again from behind his mask, as he watched his innocent brother play.
This had been happening a lot in the last few weeks. The guilt would eat away at him, and he'd feel the full blow of the pain.
He hated to imagine what would happen when the pain finally caught up to him.
Wiping his eyes, Itachi reappeared in the council room. The old bats were sipping tea like his father was, giving Itachi the unusual feeling of deja vu. His face was hid behind a newspaper, while she read a book.
"Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama, I am here for my daily report on the mission." Itachi said tonelessly.
"Proceed, Cat." Koharu said without looking up from her book.
"They are still continuing on with their plan. They show no signs of stopping for anything or anyone." Itachi paused. "A shinobi interfered with my mission."
They both exchanged quick looks, and looked at Itachi.
"What happened to him?"
"He was eliminated."
Silence fell between the three. Finally, Koharu spoke again. "Who was it?"
"Kizashi Ōkunomizu." Itachi replied trying to ignore the guilt that was again eating at him.
Homura raised an eyebrow. "What was he doing in the district?"
"He was courting Kei Uchiha."
She sighed. "Poor child..."
Itachi didn't know if she was talking about Kei, Kizashi, or himself.
"Would you like me to continue with surveillance?" Itachi asked.
Homura shook his head. "No. That's enough for now. I think that's all we need." He then set down his paper and tea, then stood up. Walking to the window, he looked out over Konoha.
"Cat...Itachi."
Itachi stiffened. "Mitokado-sama?"
"I...am so sorry. For you. For your clan...I am regretful that this is the only way." Homura's voice rang with false pity.
Itachi said nothing.
"You don't have to do this Itachi. You could stay away and let the other ANBU handle it." Koharu interrupted. Her voice also sounded mocking and cold.
"With all due respect Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama, but that would be an act of cowardice. To let someone else handle my family. It would be humiliating for me. I could never live with myself if I stood by and let my family be killed by another."
"But can you bear killing your family?"
Itachi grit his teeth. The guilt was starting to hurt him. He was going to break down in a moment.
"Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama that is all on my report."
"You are dismissed." Koharu said. Itachi's last look at the two was of the both of them staring coldly and blankly at him. In that single moment, Itachi was very grateful for his mask.
Itachi did a few hand seals, and reappeared in the ANBU locker room where he quickly changed his clothes, then left the headquarters and took off across the rooftops towards the woods.
Itachi stopped in the familiar clearing where flowers bloomed. He found this place when he was seven, when he had ran away from home because his father had yelled at him for something small and stupid that Itachi couldn't remember.
He stopped, and sat in the little field. The tree branches overhead concealed the beautiful flowers from anyone who might be jumping through the trees above. Sunlight would stream through the smallest openings in the bright green leaves.
Itachi fell to his knees and began to hyperventilate.
No one would think that the great prodigy Itachi Uchiha would ever have anxiety issues. But with what he was about to do in 72 hours...
Could he do it? How could he bear the pain of having to kill his family?
How could he?
There ya go. Chapter 2. Boom. And you finally have Itachi! :3333