Wrong Again

Chapter 8

Hello!!

This chapter is out because it's the holidays (well, sorta if you count all the holiday sales still going on) and I felt like giving. Cheesy I know, but I squeezed this chapter out; it was supposed to be ready to go on Christmas but my insecureness refused to let it out until I had finished proof reading and editing to a decent degree. Just one warning though.

!WARNING!

This chapter contains GORE!! Remember that this is a MATURE fic. Nothing is censored.

Enjoy!

It was four in the morning the next day. Obito was still on guard duty over the two unconscious boys. The village was in an uproar; the fear of Kyuubi returning had made panicked villagers and shinobi rally the Hokage to kill the demon brat.

In the messy aftermath, the Uchiha coup was shoved aside as a result of Kyuubi's rampage rather than the cause. Minato was up over his eyeballs in protests and frantic council members. People had been pressing him, demanding him to take immediate action against the demon. Already there had been an attempt on Naruto's life.

Several ANBU had been dispatched to guard the surrounding area. They were in fact no longer in the hospital but Obito's apartment. The two boys had been secretly moved here a day ago after the incident. So far no one had bothered them here but it was only a matter of time. He wasn't sure how Minato was going to handle this mess but whatever he had to do Obito knew that Minato would never let anything happen to Naruto.

His gaze landed on his young cousin; his eyes studied the closed lids that trembled slightly from a dream. He hadn't seen everything but he had gotten back in time to see Sasuke standing up to the unknown man. The boy's behavior was definitely odd, no doubt about it. As soon as things settled down just enough Minato and he were going to have a word with him.

Naruto as well; Minato might not have noticed it or simply brushed it off because he refused to see anything wrong with Naruto, but Obito had noticed on more than one occasion the strange actions and choices of words that Naruto used.

He looked over to Naruto who was sleeping on the other side of the bed with his face turned away. There wasn't any genjutsu that he or Minato had been able to break and the chakra signatures were indeed Naruto's and Sasuke's. Yet there was just something off; all his searching and snooping had been fruitless and spying on the two boys revealed nothing either.

There wasn't anything that condemned them physically yet the feeling was there. But they were just kids right? What could kids do?

That thought led to Kakashi; the man that never really had a chance to be a kid. Funny how he kept referring to him as a man. Kakashi had been a prodigy of his time. The boy had made chuunin at the tender age of six and had been a jounin for several months before that mission. He had only recently celebrated his twelfth before he had made that promotion. Almost two years older, Obito could remember being rather jealous of the younger boy.

With his level of skill Kakashi had been taking undercover missions as soon as he had made chuunin rank. After all, who would suspect a child of being capable of killing? He'd been damn good at it too.

Obito let out a sigh; it didn't help his suspicions at all thinking about Kakashi. He turned his attention to the door when he heard the fast pacing shortly before it swung open and Minato stalked in. The look on his face was murderous.

The younger man remained silent knowing that an angry Minato needed time to cool down before he even thought about bringing attention to himself. He watched silently as the blond paced angrily to the window and gripped the inner ledge. The wood groaned under the strain.

Several deep breaths later the man finally turned his attention to his sleeping son. The earlier look of fury was replaced by something Obito had a hard time describing. It was the look of a parent; so filled with love and at the same time a fierce determination to protect their child. He almost felt like he was intruding but just as the urge to leave nearly overwhelmed him Minato spoke.

"How are they?"

"Naruto is fine and Sasuke will be sore from his burns and his wound but he should be fine as well with a few more days of rest."

"Hn," Minato looked over Sasuke; he inspected the pale boy for a moment before he let out a sigh. He moved back from the bed and found a chair to sit back on. He looked tired; Obito wouldn't doubt it. Things weren't looking good at all.

"What do you think?"

"I think they should go fuck themselves," he said with a straight face, then added, "And maybe roll over and die in the process too." Minato chuckled briefly. Oh how he had wished the same thing so many times as well. The tension that he had been feeling melted a bit more.

"What do you think of Sasuke?" he asked, this time with more clarification of who he was talking about.

"I think there's a basis to the clan's actions. There's something slightly off with him. I didn't see most of what he did that night but the fact that he was there at all is something to think about. Not to mention, from what Itachi told me, Sasuke hasn't had any ninja training yet the morning he was captured he had rather skillfully attacked them.

"Not too many people know what happened to him when they locked him up. Even his mom doesn't know what they did to him when she managed to sneak him out a week later. What they learned from him Itachi couldn't find out.

"With other little aspects of his behavior up till now, I'd say it's about time we asked him our own questions. The same goes for Naruto," Obito finished solemnly. At that last statement Minato raised his brows.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah, it's not so obvious with him but he's been acting like Sasuke too. Every now and then I'll catch him saying things that he can't possibly know about. He especially acts weird when I mention certain people. He'll catch himself saying something, almost as if he knows them well when, well, they've never met.

"Which brings to mind about how he knows Sasuke; according to Itachi, Sasuke has never left the clan compound before, at least to his knowledge. Fugaku doesn't bring him out to the station on business and Mikoto hardly ever leaves the compound herself."

He looked at his sleeping cousin, "Yet when I mentioned Naruto offhandedly he instantly knew who Naruto was. Naruto immediately who he was too."

All this Minato already knew. There wasn't much that got by him, he just didn't want to hear it spoken out loud as they mirrored his thoughts in the last months. Having Naruto as a son meant more than the world to him and to even consider the suspicion that the little blond sunshine was a fraud was something he couldn't stomach.

He scooted his chair forward and placed a hand on the boy's head. Gently he stroked the soft unruly spikes. What to do? The council had demanded a thorough explanation of what had happened. After the retelling of the events they had demanded to know what he would do with the demon.

Their concern wasn't unfounded. The mystery of the Uchiha man would be investigated yet the fact that the demon fox had managed to even show that level of control over the boy had alarmed them. They wanted to know the details; had the seal somehow been destroyed or compromised?

Minato had assuaged their fears that the seal was indeed intact; going into brief detail that the seal allowed for the demon chakra to slowly mix in with Naruto's chakra over time. It was only due to the stress level and the fox's fury at the unknown man that had allowed for the fox to overpower Naruto's will.

That explanation had gotten them all into a debate about the strength of Naruto's will and if it would be strong enough to handle future complications. The meeting had not ended well and he had stormed off in a foul mood.

With a heavy heart he had agreed to have Naruto be placed in lockdown until he could be deemed safe. He had only agreed because Naruto would be kept at home and he would supervise the evaluation.

As for the Uchiha that had been captured, they would be placed on trial once a case had been formally declared against them. Unfortunately during the chaos several key members of the clan and the ones planning the coup had managed to escape. There were ninja out now searching the village for them. Minato couldn't care less if they were brought back dead or alive but for the sake of a trial they were needed more or less alive.

One of the Uchiha that had escaped was none other than Sasuke's father, Fugaku. It would be beneficial to have him brought back alive.

The blond man sighed again. He was feeling so old already. With the war between Rock and Leaf over, he thought that perhaps there would be peace. But one thing after another just kept popping up.

"Bring both boys to my place. I'll have them questioned when they're conscious," he said before he stood up and stretched. He still had much to do.

"I'll stop by shortly to reinforce the house seals." Obito nodded and stood up.

"You should get some sleep, Minato," he suggested to the other man. Said blond merely shrugged a shoulder and made his way to the door.

"I can't sleep just yet. You should go now before the sun comes up," he said before he opened the door and stepped out shutting it quietly behind him.

Obito let out his own sigh when the Hokage left and he carefully picked up one boy and then the other. With a genjutsu cloaking them he was soon on his way to the Hokage manor.

Sasuke woke up to silence. A wayward thought registered in his mind that something was wrong. He never woke to silence, not since he slept in the same room with Naruto. The boy snored horribly on some nights but if he wasn't snoring then he was either moving about in his sleep or talking. Even in his slumber the blond couldn't be quiet.

Sasuke opened one eye sleepily; damn he was tired. His other eye opened reluctantly and they fell onto an empty bed across the room. Naruto wasn't in his bed.

Then his memory kicked him in the guts and he practically fell out of his bed as he called out for Naruto. The instantaneous fear that Madara had decided to come back and take him away made his stomach clench and his legs weak.

He grasped the bed and struggled to get up but only successfully fell onto it. He struggled to even his breathing; he felt so weak! His limbs shook as he hauled himself upright on the bed. His commotion had brought about the attention of his guard.

The door opened and Izumo poked his head in to find the little boy breathing hard and paler than usual.

The moment Sasuke spotted the man, he knew Izumo from all the time he spent in the tower with Naruto and the Hokage, he shot off his question. He just had to know.

"Where's Naruto?"

"Calm down, Sasuke-kun," Izumo came into the room slowly, "Just lie down okay? Everything's okay."

Sasuke shook his head and demanded to know where Naruto was again. The man knelt down by the bed and tried to get Sasuke to lie down. The pale boy jerked back and glared at him.

"Where is Naruto!?" he shouted, hysteria creeping into his voice. The man held up his hands non-threateningly as he leaned away from the panicked boy.

"Listen Sasuke-kun, can you calm down for me?" he asked gently but Sasuke wasn't having any of it. He had lost Naruto once and he wasn't going to lose him again. Especially not to Madara; that man was going to pay if he so much as touched a hair on Naruto's head! He couldn't explain his panic, only that if he didn't see Naruto soon he was going to fully freak out.

"No! Where is he?" Sasuke bucked and kicked and clawed at the man when he tried to envelop him in a hold. It was a loud messy struggle as he screamed and shouted at the man to let him go. His breathing hitched and he began hyperventilating. Izumo was starting to really consider knocking the kid out when his thoughts were interrupted.

"What's going on here?" In their struggle the two hadn't noticed Obito's rushed entrance. As soon as he felt Sasuke's meager chakra flare he had darted into the house. At the sound of Sasuke's screams he couldn't get to the room fast enough and cursed that he couldn't just flash into the room like Minato.

"Obito-sempai!" Izumo called out helplessly as he struggled to get a hold of the still squirming boy. Sasuke had noticed his cousin and had started shouting for him.

"Let him go!" Obito ordered and he darted forward and caught the boy who had leapt into his arms as soon as Izumo had let him go. Sasuke clung to him tightly; his tiny frame was shaking. He was crying and it soon morphed into sobs as he cried for Naruto.

Obito hugged him and rubbed his back soothingly. The other man stood up awkwardly unsure of what to do. It took a few moments but soon Sasuke was just hiccupping. Obito looked at Izumo questioningly and the older man shrugged.

"I heard a thump and I came in to find him panicky and demanding to know where Naruto was. I tried to calm him down but, it just got worse," he finished lamely. Obito nodded; Sasuke was a strange kid, he didn't like many other people touching him at all and went out of his way sometimes to avoid it from those he didn't know well, which was pretty much everyone that wasn't Naruto, Minato or himself.

"You can take a break, I'll take care of him," he offered the other man who nodded and saluted him before he exited the room. Obito sat down on Sasuke's bed and eased the boy onto his lap so that he could look at him.

"Sasuke?" he asked gently. The boy looked up at him; his face was open and pleading with tear stains.

"Where's Naruto?" Obito almost couldn't take that look. Hell, he didn't think Sasuke was faking such concern. How was he supposed to tell the boy that his best friend had been kidnapped? The two were hardly ever apart and if they were, never for more than a few minutes before the other got nervous and twitchy.

When Minato had told him to take the two boys to the manor, he had done so thinking that the genjutsu would be enough to prevent anyone from following him. The only ones that would easily see through the cloak would have been someone with a sharingan.

Little had he known that the ones who had seen through it were the escaped Uchihas themselves. Overtaken and totally surprised, the five had overwhelmed him long enough to steal Naruto. Two of the five had made an attempt for Sasuke but the two ANBU guards following behind had caught up causing them to drop their attempt and flee after the ones who had already taken Naruto.

He had given Sasuke to the rabbit ANBU with a harsh order to get the Hokage and dashed off after them. The other ANBU had detained the two Uchihas in battle; Obito left them behind. Oh god, what the hell was Minato going to do if he didn't get Naruto back. He chased them turn for turn with his sharingan blazing.

It was into the clan compound that they were headed for. Obito knew that if he didn't catch up to them before that they were going to get away. Inside the compound were countless secret passages and rooms that they could escape through or hide in.

He hadn't been privileged to know where most of the passages were; the thought that they had most likely used these secrets to stay hidden burned his mind. He was going to burn that place down when he had the chance.

Just as he turned a corner building perilously close to the compound he saw the forms dash over the clan wall and his heart sunk. Determination surged through him; he couldn't give up yet!

Two minutes later though he was left standing before a door that they had passed through. He had tried several fire jutsus but to no avail; the door wouldn't budge. He didn't want to do any earth jutsus as it might collapse the tunnel or room behind the door.

His eyes scanned the door and surrounding area but without the knowledge of what to look for he was helpless. He let out a frustrated scream and pounded the unmoving door.

Minato had showed up shortly after. He briefly looked at the pale man and he ordered him to step back. Obito quickly scrambled away; he knew from the chakra being gathered what Minato was about to do.

Bang! One Rasengan later the door exploded into chunks and debris and before Obito could even warn him about traps Minato was already moving in.

"Keep an eye on Sasuke!" was the last thing Obito had heard from him. The order tore him apart inside; he had failed to keep Naruto safe but he could still see to Sasuke. Yet he couldn't just let Minato follow behind them blindly much less go by himself.

"I can't let you go by yourself!" disregarding his former teacher's order he darted in after him. They couldn't lose Sasuke but damn if he was going to abandon his Hokage.

The search had been long and fruitless. It had been a dangerous maze of traps and dead ends. With Obito's sharingan they were able to avoid setting off most of the traps, but after half an hour of searching they had come to another dead end after exhausting all the other pathways. Frustrated and more than terrified for his son's safety in his kidnappers hands Minato had made for the tower to organize a search party. He once again ordered Obito to look after Sasuke.

Obito had returned to the manor only to find Sasuke in the state that he was currently in. The older Uchiha patted Sasuke's head, smoothing down some wild spikes in the back before they sprung right back up.

"Naruto's not here right now," he said carefully. He watched Sasuke's face freeze up in fear; he wondered how a boy could know such fear? The boy's grip tightened on his flak jacket vest.

"What do you mean?" the child whispered, "Where is he? Who took him?" his voice grew in volume with each question. Obito puzzled over the boy's choice of words. This was probably a good time to get some answers.

"I never said anyone took him." He gauged the boy's reaction. To his surprise Sasuke didn't stammer or back down. The look of fear had disappeared only to be replaced by a serious apprehensive gaze.

"Someone took him," he insisted. The boy started to push away in an attempt to get away. His eyes were distant with deep thoughts. Madara, that bastard had taken Naruto after all! He cursed silently at how weak he was, how he had been so complacent with Naruto and the Fourth here. He had forgotten the cunning of that man.

"What do you know Sasuke?" Obito pressed, drawing the boy's attention back to his cousin. Sasuke blinked and stopped pushing at the man whose lap he was still sitting on.

Could he do it? What would his cousin think? They were already suspicious of him and this would only add to it. Hell, the way he had acted last night was a dead giveaway that he wasn't merely a kid.

He could do it. For Naruto's sake, he had to. Only he knew about Madara and his treacherous plans. He was too young and powerless to stop the man but maybe Obito and the Yondaime could. The man wouldn't gain enough strength until much later and even still he was merely a shadow of what he used to be according to the Itachi that he knew.

"Who took him?" Sasuke asked again. Obito stared down at those black eyes, so similar to his own yet the serious look that had entered them was no longer the look of a child but someone older. The man contemplated on how much he should reveal but sometimes you had to give in order to receive and at the moment it looked like Sasuke was willing to give.

"Your father."

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise; he wasn't expecting that at all. So Madara hadn't kidnapped Naruto? His father had? What the hell was going on?! Things were going so wrong!

First Kakashi is dead and the Fourth is alive, Itachi doesn't murder the clan and Madara appears early and now Naruto had been kidnapped by his father. The vow that he had made when he had been imprisoned came back to his mind.

He wasn't supposed to make any stupid choices yet all along he had chosen the easy way out. By not doing anything he had let these things happen. What would it be like if he had done something-anything?

"Sasuke?" Obito asked when it seemed Sasuke wouldn't be answering any time soon as he was so lost in thought. The boy blinked up at his cousin. It seemed at once that he made up his mind, "Where did they go?"

Deciding to play along Obito answered that they had taken one of the passages in the compound. His brows furrowed and Sasuke asked which one. Obito described the building and the surrounding area of the compound, he even described Minato's and his attempt to follow.

Quick as a cat Sasuke's gaze narrowed and he demanded, "How long ago?"

"Half hour ago," Obito responded to which Sasuke swore loudly, he didn't care anymore; Obito was more curious now than ever. Just what the hell did Sasuke know that Itachi didn't know? Who the hell was this kid really?

"They'll be well south of the village by now!" he cried out and jumped off the man's lap suddenly in his distress. Alarmed Obito stood up as well.

"How do you know?" he demanded.

"It doesn't matter right now," he snapped as he went for the door, "We need to get to Naruto now!" Before he could get to the door knob Obito grabbed his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Who else would know where they could be?" he argued back and tried to yank his arm out of the man's grip, "Let go of me." He glared coldly at his cousin and Obito was once again struck by how un-childlike the boy was behaving.

"Every second we waste could mean more harm to Naruto," he reasoned. Obito reluctantly loosened his hold but he didn't let go. He would take this to Minato.

"Come on then," the man muttered before he scooped the boy onto his back and they headed for the tower to find the blond boy's father.

The sudden feeling of falling jerked Naruto awake faster than his father's attempts to drown him in the mornings to get him out of bed. He found himself bouncing along on someone's shoulder as they jumped down from the high branches of a tree. It took several moments to orient himself as he was suddenly flipped over and thrown onto the ground.

"Ow," he groaned at the sting of being dropped five or more feet onto the hard forest floor. He looked up at the man through the dim light. It looked like the sun was either setting or rising but there was enough light that he recognized the pale features and dark eyes as any Uchiha.

What the heck was going on? The last thing he remembered was throwing a pillow at Sasuke for saying something mean then dozing off to sleep. The man above him didn't look friendly and movement from the other side of a tree to his left showed that the man wasn't alone.

"We can't stop yet," another man growled from further away, "He'll find us if we stop here." Naruto couldn't see this man nor did he recognize the voice. He didn't need to think too hard to guess that they were talking about his dad. Who were these guys and what were they doing running off with him?

"We lost them in the tunnels, they won't know where to find us," the man by the tree argued. The angry man stepped out of the brushes and Naruto saw his face.

"With that man you can never be too careful," he snapped, "Get him, let's keep moving." Wordlessly the man who had been carrying him bent down to hoist him onto his shoulder again.

Instinctively Naruto kicked out with all his might and chakra just as the man's face was close enough. The kick took the man by surprise; he was dead even before he could let out more than a groan as his nose was shattered and the cartilage lodged itself in his brain.

Naruto scrambled out of the way as the man fell forward in an unmoving heap.

"What the hell?" the complaining man cried out in surprise as Naruto stood up and faced the two remaining men.

"Demon!" the angry man hissed and the sharingan blazed to life in his once black eyes. Shit! Naruto avoided his gaze, an ingrained habit learned from fighting Itachi. The other man rushed him fist drawn back ready to beat the demon brat down.

Everything had gone wrong because of the stupid demon. And now he dared to take another life?!

Naruto ducked under the fist and slammed his own chakra powered head into the man's wide open chin. He knew he had a hard skull and he proved it so when he heard the sickening crack of bone. The man screamed hoarsely as he clutched his shattered jaw.

There was no time to delve on his satisfaction as he jumped back to avoid the kick that would have knocked his head off had it connected. He growled at the last man who stood back and regarded him coolly.

"So, it is true then," he muttered seemingly to himself but Naruto heard him nonetheless.

"What are you talking about? And who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded. He held himself tensely, warily waiting and preparing for an attack from the man.

The man didn't answer him. The morning light continued to grow and a quick glance from his peripheral vision told him that they were in Konoha's forests. The trees loomed out majestically with its branches high up and large enough to travel upon. Where he was exactly he didn't know though.

The man lunged and Naruto dodged, his chakra flaring to increase his speed to match the man. Several more lunges were met with equal speed and dodging. Finally the man stood back and growled out, "You don't deserve Sasuke, demon."

The words confused Naruto. This man knew Sasuke? Well, obviously he was an Uchiha and every Uchiha seemed to know Sasuke.

"Stay away from my son!" the man charged once more. Naruto was knocked back by the sheer ferocity of the attack. It didn't take long though before his own anger flared. No one told him what to do! Hell, no one told him to stay away from Sasuke either. If he didn't listen to the perverted hermit than he sure as hell wasn't going to listen to this man!

"Don't tell me what to do! And I'm not going to stay away from Sasuke!" angry he charged in with his own attack. Quick hand seals created a shadow clone to his left. Immediately the clone began what he had been created for.

The form of the infamous Rasengan was formed to the other man's surprise.

"How do you know that?" he demanded a second before Naruto's clone was dispelled and he charged the man with a cry of 'Rasengan'!

With the sharingan the attack was easily dodged. The tree previously behind him groaned under the force of the attack before it shattered and splintered. The unfortunate man with the broken jaw didn't jump away fast enough to escape the slew of wooden shrapnel.

"Enough of this!" the man barked and he lunged at Naruto once more, faster than before. It seemed he had been going easy on the boy earlier as now Naruto couldn't keep up. A punch sent him stumbling to the ground followed by a vicious kick to his stomach.

Naruto gagged from the blow, the wind completely knocked from him. Before he could even recover the man grabbed him and hauled him up by his hair. He cried out in pain as the man twisted his grip.

He kicked out but a punch to face stunned him. The man yanked his head forward and his nose connected with the man's knee. Pain exploded in his face. He felt his nose shatter painfully even as a fistful of his hair was wrenched out when the man tossed him to the side.

Naruto landed on his back on the ground; he struggled to breathe through his mouth as blood covered his face both from his nose and from his torn scalp.

A gurgled scream was ripped from him as the man stepped on his hand and ground it viciously into the hard ground.

"You're disgusting, parading around like you have the right to live," the man spat down at him. A brutal kick to the boy's side followed the scathing remark. Naruto cried out in pain once more before he clamped his mouth shut and did his best to glare up at the man. Another harder kick was delivered to his tender side breaking a rib. Naruto almost couldn't hold in his scream.

The man followed the kick with more words but Naruto had ceased to hear what the man was saying. Kyuubi, only recently shoved back into his cage, was roused to action by the man. It wasn't Madara but it was still an Uchiha.

Any Uchiha was despicable in its eyes.

Menacingly red chakra began flooding the boy's chakra system. Caught up in his anger the man noticed too late the red clouded eyes and the animalistic growl. A burst of burning chakra sent the man flying back. He caught himself on a tree and swore. He had taken too long! He chastised himself for letting his anger get the better of him.

Kyuubi growled as it crouched ready to pounce and rip the Uchiha to shreds and drink its blood.

Minato's heart skipped a beat when he felt the flare from the south just as Sasuke said. They were already heading in that direction. It wouldn't be too long now before he reached his little boy. Faster than most shinobi even without his Hirashin, Minato pulled ahead of everyone else.

He pushed himself to go even faster when the familiar feel of the red chakra pulsed from the forest. The scream he heard only served to hasten him even more.

Naruto. Oh god he hoped he wouldn't be too late! Please, just a little bit more! Please be okay Naruto! Minato prayed fervently in his mind. The images of what could be going on at the moment terrified him.

When Obito had summoned him with the three pronged kunai he had been hopeful then instantly irritated when he found himself inside the tower. His irritation instantly turned to hope once more as Sasuke who wasn't Sasuke said that Naruto was south of the village.

With only a look at Obito for confirmation he had teleported to the southern gate and from there took off. The sun was already rising and with every ray that illuminated the sky Minato had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be there in time to stop anything from happening.

There! He jumped down to the forest floor to catch a glimpse of a body go crashing into a tree. The body fell into a bloody heap but it coughed and sat up against the tree revealing itself to be none other than Fugaku. Minato saw red; that man!

Then he really did see red as Kyuubi pounced on the man. He didn't stand a chance as the claws slashed through his flesh like a warm knife through soft butter.

"Naruto!" Minato shouted. He couldn't care less that Fugaku was getting his just desserts but he was needed somewhat alive.

Red eyes turned to him and the demon snarled with no trace of his son in that gaze. It didn't step away from the broken bleeding man though. Instead it waited.

Minato stood back even as he tried to bring his son back. Knowing there really was no way to successfully defeat the fox even in this state he waited as well. Moments of fear and tension ticked by when Minato felt the others catching up. He felt Obito's chakra along with a few others. Sasuke's was among them.

Fugaku sputtered and muttered something even though he was growing weaker by the moment from blood loss.

The others came crashing through the trees with Sasuke clinging onto Obito. When he saw Naruto he jumped off and ran straight for him.

"Sasuke!" Obito shouted at the boy as he made a grab for the boy too late; Kyuubi laughed and shifted its body so that Sasuke could see the source of the blood.

"Sasuke," came the weak voice of his father. The pale boy froze in his tracks at the sound and sight of his father. He was battered and his chest and stomach looked like half grounded raw beef. Blood oozed from him and the puddle beneath him was growing bigger by the second.

"Father?" he gasped out. That night flashed before his eyes again. There was blood everywhere; on the walls, on the mats, on his mother, on his father, on his brother and his sword, on him. He shook his head. No, it couldn't be happening again. Itachi wasn't here.

Kyuubi was here. The demon chuckled with the double voice of a low growl and Naruto's voice. Sasuke's eyes snapped to red ones filled with smug satisfaction. Why was it so damned happy?

"I was waiting just for you," it purred. Sasuke was confused, hell, everyone was confused. They all stood by unsure of what the fox demon was planning.

Kyuubi leaned down toward the dying man and ran a claw almost loving across the man's bloody cheek. With no strength left the man could do nothing. Sasuke couldn't take the way that the demon was touching his father; he hated it, he hated the way it smiled.

"Get away from him!" he shouted.

"Naruto! Fight him!" Minato yelled. Inwardly Sasuke had the same fleeting thought. The fox's gaze slid slyly over to the Hokage and it snickered.

"Don't be impatient. You'll have your son back in just a moment," it purred and turned its eyes back to Sasuke.

"For you, Uchiha Sasuke, for the way it really was." Sasuke screamed as the fox's meaning dawned on him and he lunged forward only to finally be caught by Obito. The demon's clawed hand that had been stroking the man's cheek had gripped the man's face and forced it upward. His teeth sank into the soft flesh of Fugaku's neck and with no more effort than it took to turn his head he ripped the man's throat out.

With all the blood loss nothing more happened than a spray of blood that spurted briefly before it stopped to a slow drip. The body fell sideways with a thump its neck sporting a gaping, crude fleshy hole. The fox spat out the chunk of flesh and grinned at them showing off the bloody canines.

Obito wanted to puke. The cruel laugh of the fox sounded throughout the forest and it rang eerily about until it died down and the red chakra disappeared leaving behind the blood covered host who promptly slumped over unconscious.

Sasuke had frozen when Kyuubi had ripped his father's throat out. Something kept him immobile and unable to help his dying father. But as silence filled the forest he seemed to snap and his sudden jerk freed him from Obito's grasp. He fell upon his father's still form. Someone was screaming and crying but all he felt inside was disbelief.

His father wasn't supposed to die! The massacre didn't happen! Itachi didn't kill anyone!

Someone pulled at him but he tore free as he clung to his father.

He vaguely realized that he might be the one screaming. No no no no nonononononono!

It wasn't supposed to happen this way! Voices ran around him but he ignored them. Hands grabbed at him but he jerked away. How could they take him away from his father? I thought it wouldn't happen. It wasn't supposed to happen! The boy sobbed and his vision immediately blurred. The voices around him were distorted.

Sasuke.

No, Itachi was dead! He couldn't be talking to him! Yet he looked up and there was his brother standing before him. The light behind his brother's form hurt his eyes. He heard his brother say something but he shook his head.

No! You're dead! I killed you! Just like you killed father and mother!!

He refused the image of his brother but he couldn't look away. The last thing he saw was his father's gaping neck and lifeless face before everything went dark.

Sasuke!

A/N: Wow, what that as dramatic to you guys as it was to me?

I would have kept writing but I think this is a good place to stop, don't you think? This is my longest chapter yet. Don't count on them always being this long even though I will try. Anyway, this chapter didn't turn out like I had planned at all. Originally Sasuke was supposed to have been kidnapped by his father but Sasuke wanted to be the one to tell the secret. But the best laid plans can go awry or gory in this case.

Remember readers that this is a Mature fic so I won't censor anything here.

I didn't think it was too gory but maybe it is (TV and movies had dulled my senses of gory)… Cruelty and other themes will continue in various forms.

If you're confused about anything, especially the shift between POV's then let me know so I can explain. For example, it's been over a day since the Kyuubi attack but Sasuke thought that it had only been a few hours hence the reason why he says the things he does and thinks the way he thinks.