a/n: Hello again! This is the third chapter of my fic. I hope you guys will enjoy this one. Regular disclaimer still applies. Kishi-sama owns Naruto not me. Please bear with me. My lousy MS word has still some problems. I might have overlooked some typographical errors, misspellings, and grammatical errors.

Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark
For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart
To weave by picking up the pieces that remain
Melodies of life--love's lost refrain
So far and away, see the bird as it flies by
Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up in the sky
I've laid my memories and dreams upon those wings
Leave them now and see what tomorrow brings

Chapter Two: The Way of the Ninja

"Have you ever killed someone?" I asked her a rhetorical question. "I have and I have lost track of how many I killed."

Her eyes looked away from me and turned to the pouring rain. I felt a change in her heartbeat.

"Make a guess." I made eye contact with her again. "How old was I when I first killed a human being?"

"Nine…?" She tried to control a shaky voice.

Lighting flashed and thunder clapped. We were kept quiet.

"No." I whispered. "I was five."

She looked at me again. This time was it filled with pity not fear.

"I see."

It was a night like this one. The wind blew with anger. The rain fell with rage. Lightning seem to break the sky. And thunder was like a mad lion roaring. And at the same time, screaming and booming were heard a few miles away from our house. It was during the war. No, I did not participate in the battle field, but I was left all alone inside our house.

All the doors and windows were locked from the inside and I carried the keys. My father ordered me to turn off the lights and have only a small candle with me. I had with me several kunais and shurikens. He told that if I sensed anything wrong with the house I should leave with the place with my brother and run straight to hokage's office. He told me that I should not act by myself and not do anything stupid.

I was alone that night. Only my brother was with me. All the other Uchihas left with my father for some war. He explained to what the war was able but I did not understand it. Even my mom who has just delivered my baby brother that time also joined the war. She said that she would just help the wounded and that there was nothing to worry about. Before she left with my father, she gave a kiss on the forehead and told me that was her good night kiss.

Everything was going well early that evening. I quickly ate the meal my mother made me and I was practicing my calligraphy writing that night. I gave my one-month-old brother milk, just like what they instructed me. It was about midnight when something I did not expect to happen.

I was already putting away my brushes when I heard knocks on the door. I quickly took one my kunais and blew the candle. I walked discreetly to the door while carrying my sleeping brother in my arms. But, when I arrived at the door I saw no one there. I hastily concluded that it was a late night solicitation. I walked back to my room to hopefully get some sleep. Just then, I heard footsteps on our roof. At first I though it was only a cat. But when I reached the dirty kitchen to clean the bottle of brother, I was terrified to death.

The roofing of the dirty kitchen, you see, is translucent. It allows light to pass through it in order prohibit the growth of bacteria. Anyway, at that moment, I thought I couldn't move. I held my brother tightly and pushed myself in a corner. I saw on the roof three pairs of feet. They movement quietly but I still heard the weapons they were carrying clinging.

They were whispering to each other. I believe they were planning on how they should enter the house. I did not really hear what they said, just murmurs. What I quite only heard that time were my pounding heart and my shallow quick breaths. They stood there for quite sometime, a few minutes maybe. At a blink of an eye, the silhouettes disappeared. I ran back to my room. I grabbed all the scrolls and weapons I could carry with my hand. I hid behind one of the sliding doors and waited.

Nobody could imagine the pressure and fear I felt. Two lives depended on my actions; my life and my brother's. I knew I couldn't just walk out of the house because the intruders might be waiting for me. I just had to wait for them to make their first move. I waited patiently until I heard a sneer. The wall of the house was destroyed and a man came in.

"So this is the future head of the Uchiha." He had a small sneer in his remark. I remember vividly how he looked like. He wore a forehead protector that told me he belonged to the Hidden Stone Village. His piercing eyes were red like blood. I only read thing there: prepare to die. He had a broad face and a round nose. He was very tall. He had broad shoulders that match his deep voice. He had a very strong build. His muscles were like about to pop out of his body. I felt I was in front of death himself.

"Don't come any closer or I'll kill you!" I shouted with fear and desperation. I was becoming delirious. I started throwing my kunais and shurikens at him. He laughed telling me that it was a joke if I could hit him. But, I kept throwing them at him. With the last kunai I had, I charged to stab him while I carried my brother. He hit me in the abdomen. I went flying to the floor and landed back first. I began coughing blood.

"I was expecting much more from this young Uchiha. I heard from stories that your talent is beyond your age." A woman appeared. Though she was shorter than the man, I knew she was as powerful as him. Her eyes were like those of a sly fox. Her hair was tied in a bun giving her a fierce commanding look. Her look at me gave me more fear than the man. I felt in the tone of her voice that she was merciless and ruthless.

"I guess you can't trust the stories." Another man entered. I lied on the floor hugging my brother. I looked at this man from top to bottom. He seemed weaker that the other two, but the way the muscular man and woman related to him told otherwise. He had a smaller build than the first man who came in. And he was barely taller than the woman. But, his eyes, they looked emotionless. My father warmed about that kind of people. It was one you should not underestimate. In fact, you should be worried because most probably you couldn't read their moves. They are definitely the ones hardest to intimidate.

This man started walking towards me, closer and closer. I began performing a set of seals. I was planning to do a jutsu my father my taught me the day before. It was called the Great Fireball Technique. I hadn't mastered it yet and I can't even perform it properly. I knew, however, that I had no chance to live if I don't do it. So, before he touched me, I blew fire out of my mouth and the three ninjas backed a few steps.

"I see." The shorter man made a small smile in his face. "I guess I was wrong." With lightning speed, I only sensed that he was behind me. He kicked me in the back and I was sent flying again to another corner of the room. I cushioned my brother but he woke up. He started crying. By that time, I didn't know what to do. I was already panicking. I performed the jutsu over and over again until I could really feel the burns in my mouth.

The three ninjas continued to hit me and my whole body began feeling numb. My vision was getting blurry. My thoughts on how weak I was and that I couldn't protect my brother. What would my family say about this? More importantly, am I going to live?

"Enough toying around", said the superior of the three. "Knock him out and let's go."

"You won't kill me?" I angrily but weakly said.

He laughed aloud. "No, that would be foolish of us to do, ne? We'd kill 'yah later on."

I was puzzled. I did not understand what he meant. "Why don't you kill me now? You'd kill me anyway!"

"Boy, if we kill you and your brother now, you'd lose your value. We're taking you back to our headquarters."

The muscular man moved toward me. Acting out only of desperation, I again cast a set of seal and performed the only jutsu I knew. The man was burnt to crisp he fall on the floor shocked the two shinobis and made them perform a set of their own hand seals. It felt strange to me that I saw clearly what they did. The woman and the man created two bushins and I was surprised that I could tell which they were. I grabbed the nearest kunais I could reach and targeted the bushins.

I took my brother and ran down the hallway hoping to get out. I used the same seals the two ninjas to make my own replicas. The three of us ran in three different directions in hope to confuse the shinobis. The shinobis ran after my bushins. But before I was able to get out of the house, the woman got to me. I threw a kunai at her. She made a set of seals and I immediately registered it to my mind. At first, I thought I hit her. It turned to be, however, that I was only able to hit a vase. I sensed her behind me. I performed the same seals and used a pillow as my substitute. It was a good thing I did that otherwise my hand would be torn off like what she had done with the pillow. I stationed myself behind her and made the seals for the great fireball jutsu. She fainted and fell to the ground.

I was catching my breath. I still felt my whole body to be in pain. My brother was still crying. I knew that the man would find me and catch. I had no choice but to face him and hopefully knock him out.

I took a shuriken and a kunai. I created again bushins, seven. I waited until the man arrived. When I saw him, his eyes that were moments ago without emotion was now filled with rage. He threw shurikens at the bushins and punched me in the face. I landed outside the house. He performed another set of seals and he disappeared. Seconds after, I felt that he was below the ground. Before I was able to move away, he grabbed my feet from the earth and tried to pull me to the ground. I tried my best to carefully put down my brother on the ground. I blew fire on his face. He screamed frantically. I used the seals he used earlier to go underground.

After a short time under the ground, I surfaced appearing to attack him with a kunai. He threw a shuriken. I switch my body with a nearby log. I did that several times until I finally caught him unguarded. I stabbed him in his left leg, then on his right. Everything went black after that. I don't know what happened.

The first I saw after that was a pool of blood with a corpse swimming in it. The body was covered with stab wounds. And my hands, I held a bloody kunai. The smell of blood reeked. I shook with fear. I fell to my knees. It was when I realized it. I killed someone.

"It was the first time I killed. That moment in my life haunts me even up to now."

She gave me a half-smile. "Death is inevitable. Maybe, it was just his time to die."

"Maybe,"

"So, what happened after that?"

I took my brother and went to the hokage's office. As soon as the people who were there opened the door, I fainted. And I woke up four days after.

My mother was the first person I saw after I woke up. She cried and hugged me tightly. She told me that she would never leave me alone at home anymore. She apologized to me and told me she would make red and green dumplings that I love. Oto-san came in not long after. Oka-san said she would go home and prepare dinner. I was left alone with my father.

"Son," he said in his ever serious tone.

I was afraid because he might have been angry with me for destroying the house and not following what he ordered me to do. I controlled my shaky voice and replied to him, "Yes father, what is it?"

"There were three shinobis in our house, two in critical condition and one dead." He calmly said to me. "The two, who are genins, had severe third-degree burns and the other one, a chounin, had multiple stab wounds all over his body. I think-"

"I SWEAR FATHER," I explained to him. "It was an accident. They entered our house and tried to atta-"

He smiled at me. "I know and I'm very proud of you."

"You are?"

He patted my head. "Yes, I am. The only think that puzzles me is how you manage to defeat them."

I told him that I used the Great Fireball Technique and that I used it to beat the two genins. I told him also that I was able to borrow a few of their techniques. He was so surprised when I told him that. I explained to him that I clearly saw the hand seals they made and that I was able to distinguish a bunshin from the real one.

"Do you know what this is, son?" He showed me his eyes. In an instant, his raven eyes became red. I saw three swirling red dots in his eyes. "This is a sharingan. This thing can copy any jutsu and can create many illusions. And my boy, I think you have just activated your Sharingan."

"Sharingan?" I was puzzled by that word. "I have one like yours?"

"Yes, this is what makes the Uchiha clan special; far more powerful than any clan. This is what distinguishes an Uchiha from ninjas." He coughed. "Also, you have also mastered the Fireball Jutsu, right? Your mom and I were talking and we decided that it is already time for you enter the academy. You are now officially a ninja."

"You don't know how happy I was during that time. I knew that my father was really proud of me. I was not only able to master a jutsu but I was also able to awaken my sharingan."

"I guess that's how you officially became a ninja." She smiled.

"Yes, I can truly say everything has a reason."

a/n: That was the third chappie. I was actually beginning to think I might not be able to finish this chapter. Please do review. I would appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, and even violent reactions. Hopefully, I can upload the next chapter this weekend. Please wait for it.

P.S. If your guys are wondering when Sasuke's name will be mention in my fic, it will be on the next chapter. The chapter will be titled Brothers.

That's all for this chappie! Till next time! Chao!