Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Younger Brother: Weakness

Weakness is never an objective thing; it's subjective depending on the situation and the noun it is applied to. For example, Sasuke Uchiha, compared to his classmates, was not at all weak. He could beat every single one of them in a fight, and still walk away feeling slightly disappointed that he had not really exerted himself.

However, Sasuke Uchiha, compared to a variety of other ninja, was weak. The Sannin, the Hokage, any member of the ANBU and the Jounin of the village could outmatch Sasuke in battles of strength and skill. Considering Sasuke was only eight, it was not exactly a surprise or even unusual. In fact, Sasuke was pretty well-matched against quite a number of Genin, despite only being an Academy student.

When often weighed against the mighty Uchiha Clan he belonged to and a whole host of other ninjas, Sasuke often felt weak, especially when it came to his older brother. On the now rare days the two spent training together, Sasuke would see just how weak he was when it came to Itachi. He didn't have a chance when compared to such an extraordinary prodigy.

Sasuke had melded feelings of weakness into a resolve to get stronger, perhaps so he no longer needed feelings of weakness to motivate him or maybe just to get away from the insecure sensation. He trained harder than ever, particularly because he had not so recently been jumped by two ninja and did not want a repeat of that event. When training, he would reflect on all his moments of weakness, pushing himself to become stronger because of them.

It occurred to him one day that maybe he had never before felt true weakness. He had perhaps felt inferior or lesser than others, but never truly weak. The feeling of being so helpless and knowing there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it. The day that dreary thought dawned on him was the worst day of Sasuke's life.

…..

All round the day had been a swirl of unexpected events. Itachi had left on a mission that had urgently required his immediate attention, giving him only fifteen minutes to prepare and be on his way. Fugaku had been relieved of a mission he had accepted months before, less than an hour before he had to leave and Mikoto had been asked to remain within the District all day by a mysterious order of the ANBU who only told her that it was for her own safety.

Sasuke had watched all the commotion from his place at the table that morning, wondering if he had ever seen his family so disorganised and flustered before. Everyone had been in a sour mood so Sasuke quickly and quietly departed for the Academy.

Once at the Academy, the day seemed to get even stranger. Iruka was terribly late, which was a rare occurrence for the normally collected teacher and once he had arrived, he had to rush back home because he had left his plan for the lesson there – something that had never happened before.

As a result of his own tardiness Iruka was a little harsher towards his students, probably more upset with himself than anything. While training, Iruka had commented that Sasuke needed more practice with his shuriken technique. Sasuke knew that he shouldn't be bothered by the comment. He knew his teacher was being unfairly strict on them and had no grounds to back up his claim either; during the training session every single one of the shuriken Sasuke threw hit their mark, each of his throws clean and precise.

But the feelings of weakness began to creep in, like darkness creeps into a dimly lit room. It made Sasuke want to get stronger and he resolved to stay after school and practice.

As the day grew older the more the feelings of weakness grew, fed by the snappish remarks of the unusually bitter Iruka. The whole class had apparently formed inadequate clones, despite Iruka's firm assertion only a month ago that everyone's clone technique – bar Naruto Uzumaki's – had been perfectly acceptable and he launched unnecessarily hard questions at random students as the day progressed.

"Uchiha, tell me the 13th rule of shinobi conduct." The class knew their Sensei was in a bad mood when he used only their last names to refer to them.

Sasuke recited the rule but Iruka pointed out that he had left out a section. It was a section that had been abolished due to the questionable ethics it endowed and was thus no longer part of Shinobi conduct rule no. 13. Iruka seemed desperate to find wrong in everything that day and admonished Sasuke on his "inability to correctly recall the Shinobi rules of conduct." Sasuke nodded to everything Iruka said, knowing he was not wrong but having the wisdom not to tell his bristling teacher that was the case.

After all, it was rude to correct a teacher on any day, right?

Sasuke's classmates, though, seemed almost eager to jump to his defence and prove their teacher wrong.

"Iruka Sensei, they got rid of that part of the Shinobi rules so Sasuke was right!" Sakura Haruno said, looking hopefully at Sasuke for…something. Sasuke wasn't sure why she kept glancing at him; if she was looking for gratitude for defending him she wasn't going to receive it. Couldn't this girl see that Iruka was ruffled enough and didn't need to be told he was wrong in front of all his students?

"Ha, Sensei got it wrong!" one of the boys sitting behind Sasuke sniggered, watching the fuming teacher with glee.

Iruka seemed at a loss for words for a long moment, and then curtly told Sakura,

"It is rude to correct the teacher, Haruno." He then turned to Sasuke. "It does seem I was wrong, though. Apologies, Uchiha." There was definitely nothing apologetic in Iruka's words, tone or face but Sasuke just nodded and kept his head down, absently wondering if there was something bigger than forgetting his work that was eating at his Sensei.

Sasuke stayed for hours after the Academy, training. He mulled over the strange day and hoped his teacher wouldn't develop a personal grudge against him. Iruka was actually a good teacher, going out of his way to help his students achieve and (normally) never snappish.

The sky had darkened to a deep blue before Sasuke realised that something was wrong.

No one had yet come to collect him from the Academy. He had been letting his Clan members escort him to and from the Academy and if he ever stayed to train for too long someone would come to the training grounds and get him. He had lost track of time and had been training for over three hours. Sasuke considered that someone could be waiting for him along the way home somewhere or perhaps just thought to leave him to it for today and let him find his own way home.

Considering the overall strangeness of the day thus far Sasuke tried not to think too much of it, gathering his things and running home, hoping his family wouldn't be too angry with him for being so late.

The streets were clear as he ran, lampposts not yet turned on, leaving the streets in ever growing blackness. The moon cast down her pale, weak light, ghosting the pavements with a silvery hue as Sasuke ran across them.

When Sasuke stepped inside his District, his mind shuddered to a halt. It was too much for his young senses to take in.

The unnatural silence to the normally alive District.

The stench that had never before permeated the air that Sasuke inhaled.

The grotesque sight of dead bodies lying in the dust like broken, discarded dolls.

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. The ground was packed with dead bodies, some lying at unnatural angles and others with eyes wide open in death, a look of pure cold fear clearly still reflected in their irises as they continued to stare on at the world.

And worst of all was the blood. It pooled underneath every corpse, its hard coppery smell as unpleasant as its deep red colour. It was everywhere. Smeared on the walls, dripping out of the mouths of the corpses whose faces were frozen in a horrific scream, never to be heard again.

Sasuke tried to breathe, tried to focus on taking in that disgusting, foul odour that mixed with the air that kept his body alive. As he surveyed the scene in front of him, Sasuke's stomach dropped and he trembled so violently it was a wonder he remained standing.

He slowly realised he was looking at the corpses of his family members. Uncles, aunts, cousins, all lay about him covered in their own blood. Slit throats, kunai embedded into chests, some with organs spilling out of their massacred stomachs-

Sasuke collapsed onto his knees, shaking and shivering, closing his eyes, trying to make everything he had just seen go away. The malodourous air continued to fill his lungs, telling him that it was all still there, nothing had disappeared just because he wanted it to.

His family. Dead. All dead.

But maybe not all of them.

Gathering his courage, Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at the mass of corpses in front of him. None of them were his Mother, Father or Itachi. They could still be alive.

Everything rational in Sasuke's mind flew out the window. He should have gone for help, retreated and let an experienced ninja handle the situation from there. But he had to know, had to make sure his family was still alright. The person who did this could still be lurking around somewhere and his family may not even know what had happened!

He proceeded carefully, checking amongst the bodies for any signs of life and that they didn't belong to his immediate family. The collection of bodies didn't end as he walked further into the District. Sasuke forced himself to keep going, the blood laid out before him like a red carpet, some grotesque welcoming to the massacre of his Clan.

His feet became soaked, the sandals doing little to protect his feet from the thick puddles of blood he had no choice but to step in. The further he ventured into the District, the fresher the corpses became. The blood that splashed at his feet became warmer, Sasuke could feel every drop that hit his flesh. He couldn't get his thoughts straight, he couldn't stop his mind leaping from one gory detail to the next.

They might still be alive.

Sasuke repeated the sentence in his mind, until he stood right outside his house. Head ringing, he slipped inside, quietly checking each room of the house. There was no sign of his parents or brother, not even a sign that a battle or struggle had ensued anywhere in the house. Did they get away? Or were they somewhere amongst the other corpses outside, faces stiffened in fright, eyes glazed over with a sheet of ice forever cut off from the world-

Breathe, Sasuke told himself, breathe. He still had one room to check – the hall. Trembling even harder, Sasuke stood outside the door to the hall, shaking limbs refusing to cooperate. His heart was hammering inside his chest, surely too loud, too fast. With a burst of will and great effort, Sasuke managed to push open the door to the hall.

He would never know if what he saw next was timed just so he'd see it, or if it was a cruel twist of fate and chance. Wishing he'd run, that he'd gotten help or just hadn't gone to his house was no good now. It was too late.

Sasuke watched helplessly as a blade pierced first through the unguarded back of his Father, then his Mother. It must have broken through their spines and stabbed directly into their hearts. Silent, he watched their bodies fall limp to the floor, on top of one another, then completely still. Blood spread across the wooden floor, running into the cracks, soaking into his Father's clothes and caressing the tips of his Mother's locks that dusted the floor.

The weakness Sasuke felt in that one horrific moment was so painful it made him want to tear at his skull. Getting stronger, eliminating his weakness, would not make anything better. He could never right his weakness in that moment, watching, unable to do anything as someone murdered his parents, one after the other, right before his eyes, as easily as if they were no more than children. He was utterly helpless. This, Sasuke thought, was true weakness.

Tears pouring down his face, Sasuke stared at his parent's corpses. The murderer grunted, muttered something. Hands shaking, Sasuke looked up into the face of the man who had done all this.

And he hated him.

Edited 2/7/15

The whole 'don't correct the teacher' thing is something I've always been told. I personally think it's entirely wrong – as long as the correction is made respectfully – but it seems to be the way society is.

Thank you to akasukifangirl, KARASU25 and Guest for reviewing:

akasukifangirl: Haha, yeah, I guess the brothers are kind of protective of each other. Might have to write a chapter about that at some point!

KARASU25: Thank you, I'm glad you liked last chapter. I kind of imagine Sasuke being someone the whole Uchiha clan is protective of.

Guest: Thank you! I do love Itachi's caring side. I feel like I've submitted Sasuke to a lot of turmoil in these stories so far but eventually he'll get stronger

Thanks for reading,

Cipher.