"Shisui...why..."

"Your clan has betrayed Konoha..." Eyes of crimson wheels bore down upon the staggering woman, "Where is your son?"

"I won't let you kill him!"

"Stand aside, you have no chance." The crimson wheels spun until they had transformed into a pair of black kaidoscopes while the woman readied herself, "Don't throw your life away. Surrender and I will do no harm to you or the boy."

"How do I know that you will keep your word?"

"You don't." The Uchiha bluntly answered as screams of terror and death filled the air, "But time is running out for you. Yield or die...that is the choice for you and your-"

"SO BE IT!" The pale-eyed woman charged the Uchiha with white chakra in the shape of doves palmed to strike down the Uchiha. But as great as her attack was, the Uchiha was quicker...he was quieter...

He was deadlier...

Satoshi's eyes slowly opened, tears running out onto his face from the nightmare he had seen. Eyes that were only saw a garbled room around him, he looked down at his hands and it appeared that he had four.

"You might as well purchase this room. You've been in it for so many times." An old woman tending a vase of flowers commented humorously, "Your life is a gift, why are the youth so hasty to quicken it? If you go to fast then you'll end up as wrinkled as I am at half the age."

"Hai..." Satoshi replied, wincing from the pain on his bandaged shoulder and the right side of his skull, "Of all of my injuries, those two are the ones that hurt most..."

"Of course they are. They were the most neglected until now." The woman pointed out more sternly, "Why do you insist on battling every man who antagonizes the young Uzamaki?"

"If I were really doing that then the village would be half empty, Toshiko-sama."

"And our strength would be halved as well." Toshiko added wearingly, "When you spend yourself on battles best retreated, you weaken yourself against the battles that must be fought."

"Speaking of Naruto...how is he-"

"He is under your teammate's care until you recover." Satoshi exhaled in relief, "And he keeps trying to sneak off to see you. The boy has warmed up to you sooner than I had hoped."

"Guess so...I'm just keeping a promise..."

"And Kushina would be so proud as to how you've looked after your brother."

"Not well enough..." Lying back on his bed, Satoshi growled at how garbled his vision remained, "Am I-"

"The inner peace required for the final form only comes with a lifetime of reflection amongst other more-demanding requirements." It was an answer that the elder had given Satoshi many times before though it was never any easier to accept, "You have yet to unlock your second form anyway, focus on that once you recover."

"Fine..." Just as Satoshi was about to return to sleep, Toshiko placed a small bottle on the small table next to the foot of Satoshi's bed, "Medicine?"

"Hiashi-sama brought this by when you were first admitted." Toshiko said as she walked towards the door, "He also wished for you to have a full recovery and thanks you for protecting his daughter."

"Did he thank Naruto too?"

"As a matter of fact, he did." Toshiko remarked while Satoshi scoffed, "I know you are not fond of your uncle. But remember that he did acknowledge Naruto's actions, twice in fact."

"Maybe he did...to save face? I don't know Toshiko-sama...it's hard for me to..."

"Forgive him? He had no part in what happened to our clan on that horrible night."

"The one who did...looked exactly like him..." It wasn't fair, but every time Satoshi saw Hiashi, he also saw the man's late twin brother, Hizashi, "How do you cope after your sons were killed?"

"The only way that a mother can." Toshiko replied, "By ensuring that their Will passes to future generations."

"I wish that that I had such an answer."

"Of course you don't have an answer, you are a child." The old woman laughed as she left Satoshi to recover amidst his thoughts. Thoughts that now turned to the late Hizashi and his son, Neji.

When the boy grew, would he hate him for resembling his father?

Did he hate that man so much that resemblance was enough to foster mistrust?

Then why did he feel such grief for a man who he hated?

Or was it even hate at all? Did he feel guilt for Hizashi's fate?

"There wasn't any other way..." Satoshi said to himself as he had many times before and like before, he knew that it was only a half-truth. What happened to Hizashi didn't just happen because it had to happen, it happened because Satoshi wanted it to happen. Because he had wanted a chance to make that man pay for betraying his own sister. Whatever the truth was, Satoshi deep down knew the truth about his actions.

If there had been another way, Satoshi wouldn't have cared to find it.

Academy Entrance

"Nii-san!" Itachi waved at his little brother as the boy charged towards him and jumped onto his chest, "I thought you had to work?"

"I finished a big mission and was given a break," Itachi replied as his brother set himself down to the older Uchiha's relief. Though healed, his injuries from the duel with the pipa assailant two days ago, "Where's Naruto?"

"I think he was talking to Hinata-"

"SASUKE-KUN!" Itachi smiled while his brother shook in sheer fear at the calls of the girls that were coming outside, "WHERE ARE YOU SASUKE-KUN!"

"Nii-san..."

"Just turn around and wave." Itachi advised his brother whose back was facing a large mob of girls with hearts in their eyes for Sasuke, "They won't bite."

"Eh...hi..." Sasuke followed his brother's advice and sure enough, all of them started to giggle and run away with embarrassed red faces. Much to young Sasuke's confusion, "Did I scare them?"

"They're girls, Sasuke. Pay them no attention."

"I didn't see Sakura with them..." Itachi's eyebrow rose upon his brother mentioning a girl's name, "Maybe I really did make her mad..."

"What about this girl? You're not scared of her?"

"No...she's nice and smart...but..." Sasuke blushed though Itachi could tell that the boy was about to tear up, "I got mad at her yesterday and made her cry."

"Why did you make her cry?"

"Because she didn't like Naruto..." Itachi could already see where the rest of his brother's story was going to go, "I asked her why and she said that her parents told her Naruto was trouble and stupid. I yelled at her and said told her Naruto was my friend. That I wouldn't be friends with anyone who didn't like Naruto just cause someone told her to dislike him."

"I see..." Sasuke truly cared for Naruto as a friend and that sore spot was causing contention wherever he went. Despite his many adoring "fans", Sasuke had placed a mental wall between himself and anyone who unfairly antagonized Naruto. It had even become a large source of friction between him and their father. Friction that had resulted in a verbal spar in which Fugaku lost his temper and struck Sasuke hard enough to nearly give the five year old a concussion.

Itachi personally ensured that incident would be the last time Fugaku ever laid a hand on his little brother.

"I just...want her to get to know Naruto for herself and instead of being a sheep."

"Not all sheep are stupid!" Naruto countered, followed by a Hyuga Hiashi's quiet daughter, "Big-horn sheep are smart enough to remember different kinds of grass!"

"You mean tasty grass and bad grass?"

"Exactly!"

"Any idiot could do that..."

"Boys, this not how you should act in the presence of a lady." Itachi lightly reprimanded the boys and respectfully bowed towards Hiashi's daughter, "Hinata-sama, I am glad to see you well and in the presence of friends."

"Thank you for your kind words." The girl replied though Itachi could already see pressured seams in the girl's posture.

"Why are you acting all weird Itachi, it's Hinata. She's a friend."

"It's alright Naruto, I am fine."

"No you're not." "I am glad to see that, Hinata-sama." "You watched a trusted and beloved bodyguard die before your eyes. Yet, you poster as your father does and keep a strong front to keep from making your clan appear weak."

It was a mentality that sadly reminded Itachi of many members in his own clan, especially his father.

"I was just speaking with Naruto-kun about today's lesson. I don't wish to be a burden."

"Why would you be?" Naruto asked, oblivious to the girl's apparent infatuation and her currently heavier grief, "You should come play with us."

"You are kind, but my nii-san will escort me back to my clan estate soon..." Hinata apologized with a respectful bow, "I hope to see you both tomorrow!"

"Alright...bye Hinata..." Naruto waved at the girl while she ran off to meet with a slightly older boy in Hyuga traditional robes a few feet away. Naruto seemed disappointed by her departure, but quickly perked up, "Oh well! We'll see her tomorrow."

"Of course we will dobe."

"Shut up teme!"

"Boys...speaking of lessons, what were you talking about?" Itachi inquired while the three of them started for Satoshi's apartment. The boys spent the whole trip talking about the Sanada 12 and all of the amazing things that this group of shinobi reportedly did. It was humorous to see the two boys argue over what was true and was was mere fiction.

"It's true! The Yondaime and his teammates got to be chunin within a year of graduating!"

"Nii-san and Satoshi-san graduated at 7, so I guess that makes sense." Sasuke conceded to a grinning Naruto, "But there's not way that the Yondaime won the Chunin tournament! He'd be fighting older and stronger shinobi too!"

"I'm just telling it the way that it was."

"And how are you so certain?" Itachi asked Naruto while Sasuke also grinned, "For all we know, it was a legend based on truth. Maybe Minato got really far, but still lost?"

"Satoshi told me he won...that my mom met my dad there..." Naruto widely smiled, but Sasuke and Itachi could see a fault-line that they wouldn't press. The boy wanted to see Satoshi, but had already been warned that he couldn't receive visitors for another few days, "I guess it is a little silly for a kid to get that far in his first tournament..."

"Not necessarily. You see...chunin exams are about more than just strength." Itachi explained to the boys, though he wanted to be careful about telling them too much about the stages of the exam, "It measures everything that you can do as a shinobi and gives as fair of an assessment as possible."

"So is it really true about ten years being chunin, nii-san?"

"How do you think I became one?" Itachi asked his brother who blushed at how he had forgotten his older brother's status, "In the shinobi world, there are many types of strength. In fact, there are likely shinobi out there who are half my age, but just as strong."

"Okay, that's ridiculous."

"In fact, I remember facing many shinobi who were thrice my age and experience during my exam." Itachi explained to the boys while a memory began to emerge in his mind, "It's this adaptability that the chunin exams keep in mind when testing participants. Pushing them to their limits so that even lesser shinobi can overtake them if they don't pace themselves or become overconfident."

"Then how do the best shinobi make it to the end?"

"That's what I asked myself after I nearly lost..." Itachi remarked to Sasuke's shock, "Yes Sasuke, I was nearly dropped from the exam...because I underestimated my opponent and overestimated myself. Sometimes it's alright to do one, but both? I was lucky that the fool didn't take full advantage..."

xxxxx

Sunagakure Chunin Exam Preliminaries...one year ago...

Itachi had made a terrible mistake.

Jiro Takehara of Iwagakure was a C-level genin at best. He was only adequately skilled in taijutsu and decent with ninjutsu. Yet, he had below average chakra levels which deprived him of any ability to use even moderate level ninjutsu on a long term basis.

But he was tough.

Itachi received another first hand reminder in the form of a heavy fist to his jaw. As he rolled on the ground, the ten year old genin recalled that Jiro possessed Chunin level chakra control and his D-grade jutsu was therefore all the more damaging in Itachi's current state.

Jiro's technique was known as the Hokori No Ken. A taijutsu based ninjutsu that allowed the user to gather loose dust in the air or in the ground and convert that dust into a thin chakra sheath upon the user's arms and legs. This further gave Jiro limited ability to sense movement within the ground which gave him the ability to anticipate Itachi's own taijutsu.

As exhausted as Itachi was, he couldn't liberally use his ninjutsu and then there was his mistake.

"Not so tough when blind, aren't you Uchiha?" It was an attempt to goad him, but Itachi had to admit that Jiro was right. Silently agreeing not to use his clan's kekkei genkai was thus far unadvantageous. A point that was further hammered into Itachi when Jiro stomped his foot into the ground and a solid block of condensed dirt rocketed into Itachi's stomach.

The boy cried out as he felt blood drip from his mouth. Jiro smirked and cracked his encased fists together intent on ending the fight. Itachi growled in pain and disappointment in himself. He had honestly fought and defeated shinobi more experienced than this boxer and yet he was being manhandled too easily.

Was he truly so reliant on his kekkei genkai?

"Giving up? Jiro mocked while Itachi stood on his feet with his back to Jiro, "Come on weasel! Fight me like a man!"

"That's an Uchiha?"

"What disgrace!"

"You suck!"

"Just quit boy!"

"Perhaps I should..." Itachi muttered to himself, the jeers of the crowd surrounding the arena easily drowning out any cheers that his squad may be giving to him, "I cannot defeat him."

"Our greatest enemy is often in the mirror, Itachi." The genin spied in the audience a familiar individual who casually sat with a warm smile upon his face. Looking into his visage, Itachi did not see any doubt in Shisui Uchiha. It was as though the elder Uchiha was waiting for Itachi to break an unseen chain or that he believed that Itachi was putting up a good show.

In a sense, he was right.

"Do not allow pride to distort your thoughts..." Itachi whispered to himself, his eyes turning from black into the fully matured trademark crimson pinwheel of the Uchiha Clan, "How can I fight like a man when we are both children?"

"What was that!" The fourteen year old yelled when Itachi looked back at him. The man rapidly blinked for multiple moments before he grinned, "I get it...you want me to think that you've got that sharingan of yours on. But you can't use one...can ya?"

"I could, why would I need it to defeat you?" Itachi inquired, calming himself while preparing to defeat his opponent, "It is clear that you only came here by riding on the backs of far superior teammates. You are not a true shinobi, you are merely dumb muscle meant to distract from the true threat."

"That jaw is looking really loose...I think I'll knock it off if you don't behave..."

"Or what? You will spank me?"

"Come to think it...maybe I will." The dirt on the boxer's fists condensed into a growing aura of brown chakra as Jiro's muscles flexed and bulged, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Disappear."

Itachi looked directly into the Iwa boxer's eyes as the shinobi charged to finish off the Uchiha boy. But the boxer's heavy blow only managed to connect with dust before he realized that his opponent had vanished. The soil of his bare feet warned him of where the leaf child was standing, but it was already too late.

"Emblaze..." Itachi had completed the final hand sign of his clan's signature technique when Jiro hastily completed a series of handsigns before lifting up his foot to initiate the attack, "...The Entangled..." Jiro cried out when a series of before unseen wires constricted around his leg and tightened to paralyze the limb in place. As the boxer screamed, Itachi released his fireball, engulfing the shinobi while the audience stared at how quickly the tide had turned.

When the fire ceased, the victor was fairly clear to the stunned audience.

"Where did that come from?"

"I believe my opponent is finished." Itachi stated to the proctor, not even bothering to look upon the smoking and barely conscious genin that fell onto his stomach. The Suna Proctor rose up his hand to signal Itachi's victory while the Uchiha leapt into the stands and took his place between his squadmates.

"What was that about not needing my clan's jutsu?"

"He really didn't use it at all." Itachi's teammate noted whilst the announcer prepared to call out the next match-up, "Or did you?"

"A subtle genjutsu...why did you not use it earlier?"

"Sensei...because I incorrectly judged myself able to defeat my opponent without my sharingan or my genjutsu..." Itachi replied to his squad's instructor, "I wished to use this match as a means of obtaining victory without my kekkei genkai."

"A bold challenge, but you are too young to take such risks. It is also disadvantageous in the world of the shinobi, to deprive oneself of that which you are strongest in." The blind jonin said to the recovering Itachi, "A swordsman will not train himself with the sword and enter battle without it to prove to his enemies that he does not need a sword. Remember what I've taught you, the thoughts of the mob are just thoughts, they hold no more weight than bands of cloth."

xxxxxx

"And like bands of cloth, they can be easily removed." Itachi said after he finished his tale to the awe-struck boys, "Why do you have stars in your eyes?"

"Cause you're amazing nii-san!"

"That was cool...I guess..." Naruto reluctantly agreed, "But you had to use that sharingan thingy to win. Isn't that kind of cheating? I mean...not cheating, but...how's a shinobi any good if they have to rely on a special power?"

"Dobe! They're using their kekkei genkai with their skills."

"But they'd still be nothing without that kekkei genkai...it's just a cheap advantage."

"Sometimes cheap advantages are what keeps a shinobi from dying," Itachi admitted to the boys, "It's truthfully an ironic paradox for those with a dojutsu or a kekkei genkai. A shinobi is meant to be prepared for anything and yet is expected to make use of any tool and ability at their disposal. Inevitably, this means that I must utilize and strengthen my sharingan to continue performing as a strong shinobi. Yet without my sharingan, would I still be worthy of shinobi? Would any kekkei genkai wielder be worthy of shinobi if that bloodline were to be deprived from them?"

"Still wish I had a bloodline power..."

"Weren't you paying attention to nii-san at all?"

"Yeah. But all it means is that you've got to learn stuff other than what you're best at." Naruto guessed remembering the story of the Wind Master and the fire cracker, "A predictable enemy is a dead one right? Since you're still alive then I guess it means you're too good with a sharingan to be worried and that you're strong in other ways too."

"But no matter how good, a shinobi without a kekkei genkai will always be at a disadvantage right?" Sasuke inquired of his brother, "It's not like there's a jutsu that can cancel out kekkei genkai. So doesn't it come down to which shinobi has the strongest jutsu and abilities?"

"The truth about reality is that chance can never be measured or predicted. Sometimes what you said is true Sasuke, other times it is not the strongest or the smartest shinobi that survives. It is the shinobi who is quickest to adapt and act before it is too late." Though he had only been in the ANBU for barely a full year, Itachi could still remember the faces from older ANBU who were found dead while he survived by a whim of fate, "But much like the shinobi world itself, things are never completely certain."

"So it's all about whose most prepared and lucky?"

"That is one way of putting it Naruto." Itachi replied, "Though luck should be relied as nothing more than a complementary addition."

"Compli...what?"

"It means you should be more skilled than you are lucky dobe."

"I know that teme!"

"Behave or you won't get cake." Both boys immediately calmed down as Itachi chuckled, "I miss being a boy."

"But...you're still a boy." Naruto pointed out, "Satoshi says that stuff too about being too old, but he's only five years older than me! You're still kids...just...older kids..."

"Nii-san and Satoshi-san are shinobi! When you get out of the academy, you're considered an adult..."

"Yeah...but they're still kids."

"True...you could say that we grew up too fast." Itachi replied, gasping when his sight replaced Naruto and Sasuke with two farmboys who lied slain upon a blood stained rice field in the middle of a burning farm. He began to heavily breath even as his focus returned to the present, "Sometimes a man can experience things that makes them older than they actually are. Just ask anyone who grew up during the Great Ninja Wars."

"Nii-san...are you alright?" Sasuke asked when Itachi realized that he had been sweating, "Do you have a fever?"

"No...I'm fine." Itachi said to Sasuke's relief though Naruto seemed to see through his calm facade, "It is nothing unusual..."

"Alright...by the way, what kind of cake are we having?"

"Oh yes...I did promise cake." "Itachi, you fool! They're too young to have a lot of sugar!"

Author's Notes:

While Satoshi recovers, Itachi watches over the boys and entertains them while satiating their curiosity.

This chapter is a little slow, but it does have a few subplot threads and themes which will be followed throughout the story.

Not much else to say for now, till next chapter!