welcome all to to the next chapter.

Titles or "Bijuu speech"

"Thinking or reading"

"Dialogue"

BTW. I don't own Naruto. All rights to the show belong to Kishimoto.

Chapter 3. Desperation

Rain battered upon the window of the Mizukage's office. A heavy storm had set upon the village, embodying many of the residents mood.

Inside the office sat 2 people, both having a unique sword resting upon them. both of these people were shinobi. But not just any shinobi, these were two of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist-some of the the most fearsome warriors in all the elemental nations. Representatives of the strength and ferocity of their village, unyielding and unmerciful forces of nature. But right now both men were looking rather troubled, beads of sweat ran down both of their faces and an anxious silence permeated between them. The doors to the office opened and in walked five more people, Three of them were members of the village council the other was Yagura Karatachi- the man who was being groomed as the next kage. Utakata, the 6 tails jinchuriki was there as well. Quickly everyone took their seats in the office.

The oldest council member decided to speak first, clearing his throat. "I apologize to everyone for having you gather here today on such short notice, but, something has happened that is of the utmost concern to our nation. Recently, a decision was made by a few leaders in the army to plant the three tails inside of a Konoha ninja. Once Konoha recovered said ninja, the seal would be set off and the beast let loose." It was at this moment that Fuguki Suikazan holder of Samehada, interjected.

"Who approved of this this councilor? To put one of our best assets into Konoha's hands is an extremely risky strategic move.

After all, the official plan was to give the three tails to Karatachi-san."

Yagura waved his hand to Fuguki. "Please allow the council member to finish Suikan-san"

"Yes well to put it in simple terms, the plan backfired completely and Konoha has control of the three tails. The Fourth Hokage was able to stabilize the seal, and extract the asset. All party's involved in the operation have been dealt with accordingly but." The councilman let out out a long tired sigh. "The damage has already been done." Everyone was silent for quite a while, basking in the sheer hopelessness of their situation. Konoha had been a dominant force in the war. What they lacked in manpower, they made up for in the quality of their ninja. Now They had gained a tailed beast.

Raiga Kurosaiki spoke up. "Well we need to make an attack upon Konoha immediately, hit them now that they don't expect it."

Yagura cut in. "Don't be foolish, Raiga, as we are now it would be suicide to attack konoha, Keep your bloodlust in check. I won't allow your funeral fetish to be the reason for the destruction of our village."

Raiga bristled at the remark. "Careful yagura, Your untouchable status as the next Mizukage is being put in question. Now that you won't be getting the three tails your value to the village is, hmm how should I say it" A smug grin emerged from Raiga. "Short." Yagura shot him a death glare.

Suddenly chakra flared throughout the room, originating from Utakata. The brown haired teen was looking at them with quite an annoyed expression.

"Both of you Stop bickering, our village is in a time of crisis and you're acting like children. We need to figure out what the hell we're gonna do, so get your shit together." Both Raiga and Yagura looked at Utukata, before sitting back down in their seats.

"So who is the next Mizukage? If not Yagura, then who is the candidate?" Asked Fuguki.

The second council member, a woman in her later years, responded. "Well Suikan-san that is what we are gathered here today for. Partially this was to inform everyone who is an important figure in the village of the loss. But more importantly, we need to have a figure to lead the village in this time of crisis."

Fuguki stood up "Well then, we need someone who can manage a village efficiently, we need to have a lockdown on all assets in the village." He declared.

Yagura stood up as well. "Considering the fate of the other swordsmen and how you were supposed to be their eyes and ears, I don't believe the village would be in the best of hands." Fuguki shot him a glare.

Utakata massaged his temple sighing in annoyance. "I'm surrounded by power hungry fools" he said under his breath.

Raiga also gave his reasons as to why he should be kage. Before the last council member spoke up as well. We the council believe that the best course of action is to put it to a vote. The only caveat being you can't vote for yourself." Utakata flexed his power to shut down any potential complaints.

"I don't like our future being put to a vote" Fuguki remarked before sitting down.

The head council member addressed the room. "Then we must vote, for the future of our village." And so the fate of Kirigakure would be decided on a vote.

Konoha. Uchiha Compound.

He sped through the treetops as fast and as quiet as physically possible for him. Scanning the through the never-ending green of his surroundings, he knew somewhere in there was his opponent. Stopping in the epicenter of the forest he took out his shuriken and focused his senses: a sound, a smell, anything slightly different that the natural world around him. Suddenly! a rustle of leaves, jumping out of the tree, he performed the correct hand-signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." A fireball shot out from his mouth and impacted the target area, completely scorching the ground but no hit. He'd given away

his position and sure enough, jumping up from the trees to his left came a figure, tanto drawn. Quickly bringing out a kunai he blocked several swings of the vicious attack, backstepping to give himself space. Finally a he was able to deflect a strike well enough to put his opponent off balance. Using this opportunity he backflipped onto another tree, throwing a few shuriken. The figure deflected the shurken before charging back at him.

"Now!" Pulling on the hidden ninja wire it quickly tightened, wrapping around his opponent, immobilizing them. Poof, the figure dissappeared.

"A clone! When did he-" Cold steel touched the back of his neck. Itachi let out a Sigh, "Ok Shisui you win again."

Withdrawing the tanto from his neck and putting it back into its sheath, Shisui Uchiha was standing before him with a grin.

"Good fight Itachi, Your awareness has really improved over the last few weeks!" Shisui enthusiastically gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks, I've been training quite hard with father, good to know it's working." Itachi's demeanor shifted ever so slightly. "I still can't beat you though." The young Uchiha was emanating something akin to disappointment in his voice, but Shisui was able to read the boy.

"You know, If you keep training at the same pace you'll be able to beat me soon." Ruffling the boy's hair trying to cheer him up.

"C'mon Let's go back to the compound, it's starting to get late and our parents will want to know we're safe." and they two boys headed back.

As they ran Itachi spoke up. "Say, Shisui when did you replace yourself with a clone during the fight? I kept my eyes on you the whole time."

"But you didn't keep your eyes on me the whole did you?" Itachi thought to himself for a few few seconds before realizing the answer.

"You switched out with a clone during the backflip."

"Ding-ding-ding! Yep I used that half second to switch out before using my a technique I've been working on for a couple months."

"Hmm, is it based off the Hokage's teleportation jutsu? That's the only way I could think of for you to move that quickly."

"Well Itachi, that's for me to know and for you to find out." Itachi just rolled his eyes. The boys stopped upon the hill overlooking the compound.

"Here we are, home sweet home." Before them lay the Jewel of Konoha, and one of the main reasons for its dominance of the shinobi world.

The Uchiha clan had been an asset to Konoha since its very creation. Clan members had played a crucial part in every shinobi war; utilizing the terrifying power of their bloodline to brutalize the village's enemies, both in hand to hand combat and the psychological warfare of genjutsu.

The compound was a flourishing ensemble of individuals: children ran around wildly their mothers yelling at them to come back, aspiring shinobi sprinted across the rooftops trying to catch one another, and police force members patrolled the streets, keeping crime at bay.

"You know Itachi. if you want to get stronger it might do you some good to get some friends to spar with." Itachi just stared blankly ahead ahead of them.

"All the kids my age just want to play tag and goof off. I'm not interested in doing stuff like that, I'd rather train with you."

Shisui just ruffled his friends hair and smiled. "Idiot." Finally, the boys got to the fork in the road that separated the paths to their houses and said their goodbyes.

Darkness was starting to overtake the village as the sun kept going down. Shisui was walking back to his house on the edge of the compound whistling to himself to occupy the monotonous walk. "Itachi has been gaining so much ground these past few months, I need to keep pushing myself. to protect him." Suddenly Shisui's hairs stood up on edge, quickly he Body-flickered into a nearby tree. Quickly he surveyed the area, attempting to find out where this feeling was originating from.

"Have enemies infiltrated the village?! How would they have gotten past security? Wait.." Shisui could have sword he saw a shadow move over by the Naka Shrine.

Moving a little closer, he did his best to focus his eyesight. Sure enough, he saw three maybe four people gathered by the shrine. The figures were hard to identify, but he could make out one distinguishing feature, a white and red fan on each of their clothes. "Why are clan members sneaking around the shrine after dark?" Shisui was tempted to go ask them. After all these people were part of his family, albeit a very large family of a few hundred but still family. Yet for some reason he couldn't shake this feeling off of him. Something telling him that he can't let them know he's there. A few more Uchihas joined them, before heading into the shrine. Shisui waited for a few minutes but nothing happened, no one else went in and nobody left. Shisui left the place quickly,

his feet carrying him faster than he thought possible. "What were those people doing?"

War. Loss. Grief. Anger. Vengeance. Death. Those were the inheritance of every Uchiha who chose to become a shinobi. Although it was practically a given that Uchiha would be a shinobi, lest shame be cast upon your family among many other things.

Many Uchiha entered the war: some joined to protect their village and family, some for power, others joined to satiate their own bloodlust.

Whatever the reason for joining many would fall to the blade, the one thing that connected them all was a single emotion. Pride. He had seen many a brother and sister enter a battle with that smug grin on their face, thinking their eyes would protect them.

His clan had seemingly been cursed with the feeling as only a select few of them were spared of it. Those were the kind hearts that despised violence, truly a rare breed.

For a select few members of the clan they would bear a special curse known only to a unlucky few, The Mangekyou Sharingan was a legend in the clan.

An eye of unimaginable power that allowed a shinobi to pass into a new tier of ocular power, but only when they encountered great loss.

It was told that the eye would as the user kept indulging in the eyes, consuming more and more of its power it would drive the user mad.

Hashirama had told the people that the eyes were the reason for the madness that consumed his best friend Madara, betraying the village and swearing to destroy it.

Those same eyes stared at Fugaku Uchiha through the mirror. The eyes themselves seemed to radiate hatred and anger despite Fugaku's current stoic face.

He had gained the eyes during the third war after a good friend of his was slaughtered before his very eyes. He then proceeded to mercilessly annihilate anyone associated with his friends killers that day. The terrified look in their eyes as he poured a rain of fire and steel onto them was etched in his memory.

If Fugaku could have one wish for his children, more than anything. He would wish for them to never gain these cursed eyes of his.

The distinct creak of the door opening roused him out of his deep thought. "Mother! Father! I'm home."

Fugaku left the bathroom and walked down the stairs to greet his son. Eager to

By the time he got downstairs the boy was having his ribs crushed, courtesy of one of his mothers hugs. Fugaku just let out a sigh

"Mikoto let the boy go. He's starting to turn blue." Mikoto let the boy go before giving him a kiss on the head. "Could you give the boy and I a moment."

As Mikoto walked past fugaku towards the stairs she whispered to him. "Are you going to tell him?" Fugaku nodded in response.

"Come boy." Fugaku walked through the backoor and out to to the backyard, Itachi following. Walking through the terrace nothing was said between the two.

Fugaku broke the silence. "My son, I can see the improvements you've made recently and i want to tell you." Itachi braced for whatever would come next.

"Your going to have to work even harder if your going to be a good example to your younger brother." Fugaka let a small smile grace the edge of his lips,

as his son was looking quite shocked. "Your mother is pregnant with a baby boy Itachi." Fugaku was tempted to activate his mangekyo for just a moment so he could capture the boy's expression. It was moments like these that Fugaku wished he could have forever, a small respite from the cruel ninja world.

Chapter End.

Hey all, sorry for such a short chapter but I didn't really know how to bridge into my part. I should be updating like once a month.

Thanks to anyone who reads my stuff after all I'm quite new to writing