Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. Which I thank Kishimoto for inventing Itachi!

Chapter 7:

Secrets Revealed: The Past Part 4

Itachi had gotten back from his latest mission early. He had been walking home when he felt a surge of energy coming from the Uchiha district. He wasn't entirely sure what it was but it gave him a bad feeling.

He activated his sharingan and ran in the direction the feeling was leading him. He soon noticed that it was coming from inside his house. He didn't hear anything unusual so he paused for only a second on the porch.

But the feeling vanished in that instant so he came bursting through the door to see what was going on. He made his way through the house to the hallway that led to the bedrooms. He first saw his mother and a man he did not recognize lying on the floor with their eyes closed.

His eyes then shifted further down the hallway to the three small bodies lying in front of Sasuke's bedroom door. He immediately noted the amount of blood all around them.

He knelt and went to check every person's pulse. They're all still warm to the touch...but two of them are dead.

He stood back up slowly. I'll need to take the other three to the hospital. He could only carry one at a time, so he picked up Sasuke and flashed away to the hospital. The next person he took was Hinashou, and then his mother.

He knew that with two people dead, his house would turn into a crime scene and the police would want the dead bodies to be left exactly where he found them for the investigation. He knelt down again to remove the mask on the unknown victim.

He saw a flash of green light on the walls from behind him. He turned to Tonbo's body to notice that her chest was now moving up and down. The flash of light was enough for his sharingan to understand now what had happened.

He knew that when everyone woke up, things wouldn't go so well if he didn't do something. He had to think of a plan. Trying to cover up Tonbo's mistakes wouldn't do anything, he had to completely erase the evidence.

He left the Leaf shinobi's body alone and walked over to Tonbo. He used his sharingan to peer into her mind scape.

"Tonbo," he called out to her. Her mind's self opened its eyes at the sound of her name. She sat up and she looked around. She was in a place with almost no light. Instead of solid ground, there was a thin layer of glass supporting her. She couldn't see an end to it in any direction, and looking down, she couldn't see a bottom to the empty space below the glass.

"Tonbo," Itachi spoke again. Tonbo looked up and now she could see Itachi standing on the glass in front of her without any expression on his face. However, she could feel his aura of disappointment threatening to suffocate her.

She had never seen the sharingan before, and his red eyes surprised her. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but no sound came out. She paused herself in confusion and then tried again to speak. Nothing.

She looked on to Itachi for some sort of guidance. And he spoke to her again. "You have lost all innocence. Just because you are still a child, doesn't excuse you. You have done the unthinkable and commented murder. Do you understand what it is you have done?"

The realization hit Tonbo hard. She had only been thinking about protecting her family. If she was honest with herself, she had actual been afraid. She didn't want to see her family taken away from her, but she wasn't really thinking about what she was doing at the time.

She nodded slowly in the affirmative. Itachi registered, "If everyone wakes up and remembers what they witnessed, they will fear you. People are afraid of what they don't understand. My guess is that the council will debate over what to do with you. But I don't expect them to be very forgiving at the thought that this could happen again."

Tonbo hung her head low. "But..." Itachi began. "...if I were to give your innocence back to you, would you promise not to throw it away again?"

Tonbo snapped her head back up. She didn't understand what he meant, but she knew she wanted to stay with her family. So she nodded to him, promising not to kill anyone ever again.

"Very well then." Itachi responded. His body then started pulling itself apart. Each piece that left his figure turned into a crow and flew off, disappearing from Tonbo's sights.

Tonbo tried to call out for him, and tried to make him stay. She reached out her hand in his direction, but he completely vanished.

The next thing Tonbo knew, she opened her eyes and sat herself up in one abrupt motion. She took a moment to gauge her bearings. She could hear a heart monitor next to her in sync with the pounding in her chest. She was in a hospital bed and the sun was shining through the window into her eyes.

"Tonbo?" she heard someone say. She turned to see Mikoto in the hospital bed next to hers.

"So you are wake. Do you remember anything?" Mikoto asked.

Tonbo had to think for a moment. Remember what? she thought to herself. She began to try and think back when she came to the realization that she had no idea what she was doing in the hospital or why she might be there.

Her mouth felt dry as she tried to speak. "The last thing I remember is being in Sasuke's room with him and Hinashou."

Mikoto gave a weary smile and clasped the back of her head. "So you don't remember what happened either. The last thing I remember was washing the dishes. Itachi told me that he found all of us on the ground in the hallway. Sasuke and Hinashou haven't woken up yet, but the doctors say they're both just sleeping."

"Itachi?" Tonbo felt uneasy and she didn't know why. "Where is Itachi?"

Mikoto smiled again, "He hasn't left Sasuke's side more than once. He came by when the doctors told him I was wake, but other than that, he's been glued to Sasuke's bedside."

At this, Tonbo felt almost jealous. She could never have the same kind of relationship with Itachi that Sasuke had with him. Itachi was one of the people Tonbo admired the most. But she smiled anyway. She knew that Itachi really did care about Sasuke and she supposed she didn't really need to see Itachi that badly for now.

Later that day, Fugaku attended a council meeting about what had happened in his own home.

"We need to have a full-on investigation into this matter," one of the council members spoke up.

"I agree, a Leaf shinobi died and we need to know what happened last night," said another.

"The man had a heart attack, there was no foul play. We don't need to investigate an accident," a third said from across the table.

"Even if it was, that still doesn't explain all the blood and the kunai."

"Well yes, but there was no evidence of anyone else being injured at all."

"Well then who's blood is it? There could have been someone else on the scene. Whoever's blood that turns out to belong to was somehow involved. Their blood will place them at the crime scene."

"It isn't a crime scene!"

"Oh really? You have a dead body, a weapon, four people who were found unconscious and couldn't remember anything, and a mystery person's blood!"

The council chamber erupted with noise as everyone tried to make their own points. Everyone grew silence when the third Hokage raised his hand indicating he would speak.

He removed the pipe from his mouth, "As far as we know, no crime was commented. When the DNA test results come back from the lab, if it belongs to someone else then there will be probable cause to launch an investigation. Until we know more we cannot be certain of anything."

The old man turned to the head of the Uchiha clan. "Fugaku, this took place in your household, and therefore, it is very personal to you. Because you are the leader of the police force, if you wish to learn what really happen, then you have my permission to pursue answers. I leave that decision to you." The third Hokage then raised himself from his seat, "Everyone is dismissed."

Everyone submitted to his authority by rising and bowing to him before departing. As Fugaku started to head out the door, Mikoto's father caught his eye, waiting by the camber doors for him.

Fugaku took a deep breath before walking up next to his father-in-law. They began walking side by side down the hall, neither of them speaking until they got far enough away from the others.

"Could you hear the conversation?" asked Fugaku.

"Yes, ever word. They couldn't be much further from the truth at this point. I know what must have happened," replied the old man.

Fugaku looked to him, "How would you know what happen?"

The old man waited a few steps before telling him, "The girl you took in has learned how to use her power as weapon on her own."

"What do you mean?"

"She must have killed the Leaf shinobi," he lowered his head slightly and shook it in disappointment.

"But that's impossible, you were the one who sealed her chakra away in the first place. If you really were listening in, you would know that the man died from natural causes; he had a heart attack," Fugaku defended.

"No, the man was young and healthy. I looked at his physical records, he had no prior heart problems, or health problems at all for the matter. He rarely even grew ill."

"That doesn't prove anything. There was no evidence of any jutsu being used on him, and there isn't a known jutsu that can kill without leaving evidence behind. Let alone make it look like a heart attack."

"It wasn't a jutsu. Her chakra uses electricity to sense electrical signals, but if she can control her chakra, she can send signals into a persons body as if they were from the persons brain. The body will respond to the signals and do what they tell them to. If I am correct, all she would have to do to kill someone, is to tell their heart to stop beating."

Fugaku had to think about this for a bit. This would mean the girl could control people. That kind of power could help him accomplish anything. Ever since Tonbo's chakra had been sealed away, he had abandoned the idea of using her in his plans. But knowing this, he could once again make very good use of her. But there was still one problem with that theory.

"That still doesn't explain how she could do any of that if her chakra has been sealed away," he pointed out.

"Yes, well you see, I discovered this sealing jutsu long ago. It was old and came from the Uzumaki clan. But the book I found it in was so worn, the writing had mostly faded. Most of the parts I could be sure of, but I've been trying to fill in the blanks for decades. I could never test it because that could be dangerous. But when you brought that girl to me, I knew she was dangerous, so I went for it. I thought it had worked because I couldn't feel her chakra anymore. But perhaps it worked only partially."

"So then you tested a dangerous jutsu you didn't have all the parts to on my three-year-old daughter?!" Fugaku was livid.

"Now Fugaku, she isn't your daughter. You only have temporary custody over her, which means that once she reaches a certain age, she won't be yours anymore. You won't be able to protect her forever, once the DNA results from the blood come back, it will be hers. Eventually I'll have to speak up and tell the council the truth. For the sake of the village," the spoke sternly.

"For the sake of the village? Where do your loyalties lie?" Fugaku questioned.

"With the Uchiha clan first and then with the village. She is not an Uchiha. Just because you changed her surname doesn't make her apart of this clan. I see her as a threat to the village and the clan."

"If your loyalties really do lie with the clan first, then I'll adopt her and she really will become an Uchiha. I'll raise her to be loyal to the Uchiha alone."

Mikoto's father stopped walking, but Fugaku kept going on ahead. The old man sighed. "If you do that she'll be dragged into the clan's plans, and she will face the same fate as all Uchihas, whatever that fate may be. If things go wrong, she will be punished as an Uchiha, they won't excuse her from anything," he called from behind.

Fugaku paused his walking. "She is the plan," he said without facing his elder. Then he continued to walk on.

Age 6

"Sasuke, Sasuke. Come on, wake up," Tonbo was shaking Sasuke who had been asleep in bed.

Sasuke squinted his eyes open. "Tonbo? What do you want?"

"I told mother that we would be at the training grounds."

Sasuke put his forearm over his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost three in the morning," she said without tire.

"Three in the morning? Why are you getting me up now?"

"Because, this is one of the only times the training grounds are empty," she reasoned.

"Yeah, that's because everyone who's smart is asleep right now."

Tonbo crossed her arms, "How else are we supposed to get training in before the entrance exams?"

Sasuke sighed. "Just let me get dressed first," he said as he swung his legs over the side of his bed.

Tonbo smiled with satisfaction. After Sasuke finished getting dressed, Tonbo climbed on to his bed to reach the window.

"Come on, we still have to get Hinashou," she said.

"If you told mother we'd be at the training grounds, then why are you climbing out the window?" Sasuke had skepticism written on his face.

"Because we don't want to wake anyone up," she said in a completely clam manner.

Sasuke gave her a look. She sighed, "I asked her last night." She already had one foot out the window.

She held out her hand to help Sasuke up. After a moment of thought, he gave in and took it. They both went over to Hinashou's house and knocked on his window until he opened it. After Hinashou got dressed and climbed out his window, they left together for the training grounds.

"Are you excited for the entrance exams next week? We'll finally be able to start training to become real ninjas like Itachi!" Tonbo was mostly just thinking out loud.

"Yeah, if it means we can catch up to Itachi some," Sasuke decided to reply.

"Yeah, maybe someday we'll even surpass him. Although I think you two are more likely to do that with your sharingans," Tonbo admitted.

"Well that doesn't mean that you can't surpass him too," Sasuke tried to encourage her.

Tonbo smiled, "Yeah, I guess your right." She looked over to Hinashou who had been quite. "Aren't you excited too Hinashou?"

Hinashou looked across Sasuke at her. "Actually, I won't be taking them yet."

"Huh?" Tonbo was surprised.

"I won't turn six until February, so my mother decided to wait until the spring class to enroll me."

"Well there goes our chances of being on the same team when we graduate," Tonbo wasn't being very considerate.

"I'd only graduate six months after you two. It isn't that long," Hinashou was trying to convince himself more than anyone.

"They decide teams as they graduate, so there's no way we'd all end up on the same team if we aren't all in the same class."

"What if we ask them if we can be on the same team?" Hinashou felt a bit uncomfortable for asking this. "I know that you two would have to wait to go on missions but..." he trailed off.

Tonbo wasn't sure what she would do. I know that we've always wanted to be on the same team and everything, but waiting six months to go on missions would put us behind the other teams. We'll need as much experience as we can get before we attempt to pass the chunin exams. And then we'll either be outclassed or we'll fight kids a year younger than us. Which would be embarrassing.

Sasuke interrupted Tonbo's thoughts. "We'll do whatever it takes to be on the same team." Both Tonbo and Hinashou were surprised at him. "And here's how we'll do it. Hinashou, your coming with us to the entrance exams. Not to enroll, but I think if we show them how well we can work together and how badly we want to be on the same team when we graduate, we might have a chance." Hinashou smiled.

"Yeah, okay, but how do we show them how well we work together?" Tonbo asked.

"We'll have to do something coordinated, and demonstrate it for them," Sasuke offered.

"Well if we're going to do it, we better practice, right?" said Hinashou.

Tonbo smiled, "Then let's get going!" They ran the rest of the way to the training grounds.

They practiced all week early in the morning when shinobi weren't using the training grounds. They always got back in time for breakfast and all three of them ate more than usual.

A week after they had taken the entrance exams, Fugaku and Mikoto met with board of education to go over the results of Sasuke and Tonbo's exams.

Sasuke received high marks in every area for his age group. He would be put in the class that was scheduled to graduate in the spring when he turned 12. Tonbo however, was a very different story.

"Tonbo's scores were quite varied. In mathematics she scored higher than anyone else has ever scored on this exam. It seems that she is able to calculate things in her head that most people can't. She never showed any work. Watching her, we noticed she just looks at the problem and writes down the answer. However in language and literature, her writing is very lacking. But, luckily for her, that isn't as important for becoming a ninja. Oh and another thing, her handwriting is awful and extremely difficult to read, so make sure she works on that. We will be placing her in the class scheduled to graduate this spring," the man finished.

"This spring? She would graduate younger than Itachi did," Mikoto was shocked.

"Yes, she would, but we won't be graduating her that early. For some reason unknown to us, she has an extremely low amount of chakra. The cause isn't lack of conditioning either. We aren't sure why, but it seems she won't be able to preform ninjutsu or genjutsu. So, that of course leaves taijutsu. So for the remaining time between then and when Sasuke graduates, we will put her with a taijutsu specialist to train her. That way she can graduate the same time as Sasuke does. They wanted to be put on the same team, didn't they?" he asked.

"Well yes they did, but they also wanted to be put on a team with Hinashou Uchiha. He won't be graduating until the fall after they do, unless he somehow gets ahead," Fugaku explained.

"I am aware of that. I took it up with the third Hokage seeing as how the Hokage is the person who decides who gets put on what team. He said he liked how strong their bonds are. They call each other siblings even though none of them were actually born siblings. So he worked out a plan for in the case Hinashou doesn't get ahead. When Sasuke and Tonbo graduate, they will train with an older team of ninja. Of course, when that team goes out on missions, they will stay here. But they can learn a lot from an experienced team. After Hinashou graduates, they will be assigned a jounin sensei."

"Thank you for allowing them to be on the same team, I know they will all appreciate it," Mikoto bowed her head in gratitude.

He smiled, "Of course, we like kids who are passionate."

Mikoto and Fugaku both bowed and left.

A/N: Read and Review!