Chapter 1: Path to Hatred

There was a sudden movement in the dark. My crimson eyes hadn't managed to pick it up. "Who's there!?" I asked in an angered voice. Well, whoever it was clearly was quite the skilled shinobi. "..." I heard bated breaths.

It was clearly a hired assassin. Possibly from the Mist. I closed my eyes. Look for their heartbeat. The Ability that had awakened in my right eye which for the past 7 years had been a Mongekyo Sharigian. I called this dojutsu…Hatonome!

A stream of warm blood leaked down from my right eye which strained in pain. This ability to put it simply allowed me to track my opponents through locating the sound of their heartbeat. There. On the ceiling above me!

The second I realized that, a sharp metal kunai flew into my shoulder. I let out a loud yelp as the moonlight that shone in through my window glinted on the fresh blood stain on my white wall. "I'm getting rustier as I age." I muttered under my breath.

I quickly weaved the signs for a fireball-jutsu aimed right at my assailant. I summoned the chakra from my inner core before storing it in the back of my throat. I felt a searing heat run up my throat and exit through my mouth in a massive explosion of flames as I blew.

"Fire-style: Fireball-jutsu!"

The massive fireball that was far bigger than a large boulder engulfed my house in a wildfire of chakra. To hell with it all! That's gonna be over 15,000 in repair fees! I hope I killed him… A blunt force that sent pain all throughout my neck. My body flung mindlessly across the destroyed room like a ragdoll. He knocked me back with a single attack…he's no joke, most likely a Jonin.

I caught a glimpse of my attacker; he was a man with neat beige-colored hair and blue eyes with skin the same shade as snow. I watched him mutter a few words under his breath before disappearing into thin air. It's not a genjutsu and it doesn't appear to be a kekkai-genkai…maybe space-time jutsu. Even so I believe there's something more than just teleportation.

"Ahh!" I held my right eye as it cried out in pain. I only have eight minutes before I go completely blind in my right eye. Whether I like it or not…I have to deactivate it.

The moment I deactivated my Hatonome I felt as if cold water was splashed on my face, as if a surge of energy was pulsing through my whole body. I quickly kicked up to my feet and removed the kunai that was lodged into my shoulder. The hair stood up on the back of my neck.I gripped the kunai in my right hand and instinctively swung it back.

I felt the kunai connect with something, human flesh. Blood sprayed on my face. It was an unruly sight that made me appear animalistic. It gave me a sense of nostalgia back to my days when I was in Konohagakure's secret service, the ANBU. I remember the feeling of sneaking in and gathering or battling strong shinobi before I left due to learning the true nature of Danzo Shimura.

I pressed the kunai deeper into the man's neck which caused him to scream out in pain before I tugged on it which ripped open his throat. The man held his throat which coated his hand in crimson red blood. I threw the Kunai to the side and prepared a kick that would've ended the man.

"Forever Mist Village Dokukumo!" The man shouted as he pulled out a syringe that he had stashed in his sleeve. I was right, he was from the Mist village although I wonder why he doesn't have a Mist headband on his head.

The purple poison-like liquid the man had injected into his veins through his wrist caused the man to writhe in pain before he spoke the words "Kieru-Kagami." before stepping closer to me then, disappearing into thin air.

It must be a forbidden technique from the Mist.

…

Behind me.

I side-stepped, barely managing to avoid the long curved katana that was aimed at the back of my neck. "Hm, you managed to draw blood from my cheek. Well, I'll let you know that you won't be so lucky next time." I said smugly.

"I would expect nothing less from the man that Itachi or Madara Uchiha could kill on the night of the Uchiha massacre." The man said.

"Those days are long gone. Tell me, who employed you?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Why should I tell a deadman walking?" The man retorted.

"No, you mean why should a corpse such as myself tell my killer? Right?"

"What are you going on about!?" The man asked with a scared expression on his face.

"What's wrong, you're scared?"

The man paused as sweat began to run down his cheeks.

"You see, when I dodged your attack I managed to wrap around my extremely light string around your neck." I said while pointing at my neck and looking at the small string that came from my index finger.

"When did you-?"

"This string is a ninja that I created just yesterday and planned to sell it off. Well I when you kicked me across the room I managed to grab it and meld it to my flesh allowing it to become one with my chakra pathways. Now it becomes useless after being pumped with chakra once and the string itself is pretty dull. But what do you think would happen to your head if I supplied it with a tiny amount of my chakra?" I asked with a smile.

"I won't let you!"

He began to desperately try to grab the string and remove it from his neck although what he didn't take into account was just how small the string is. In fact I made it so small that only someone with a Sharigian would be able to see it.

"If Madara Uchiha is known as the god of the Uchiha…what do you suppose that makes me?" The man's eyes narrowed. "The devil."

"Bingo."

As my chakra traveled up the string and ran around his neck, I tugged on the string. The man's head fell from his torso and blood painted the flaming debris that used to be house red.I put all my power into my legs and sprinted away from my home that was now a burning mess. I ran, and ran with no time to think, I may have been one of the strongest shinobi of the leaf back in my prime but now, I'm a 35 year old man so I now that I need to go back into hiding for a long time, maybe till I'm 50.I need a doctor, it'll be hard to patch up my shoulder on my own.

I might not want to admit but compared to a lot of fresh shinobi I'm just a relic of the past. If only the nine tails was never unleashed that October night. "..." I haven't fought since the night Itachi and the man calling himself Madara Uchiha showed up. The strain I caused my eye drained a lot of my energy and my shoulder feels like it's on fire.

Damn it all…I'm going to pass out.

My eyelids grew heavy. My legs and arms felt as if they weighed as much as boulders. My mind grew clear and concise to the point where I could hear my thoughts being spoken aloud. My vision became hazier. I lost balance and fell into a ditch in the middle of the woods just 26 meters away from my small hermit hut. All my muscles relaxed.

Everything faded into darkness.

Warmth. I felt a calming warmth focused on the center of my forehead. I had yet to open my eyes and yet just by moving a little I could tell that I was in a bed with a blanket covering my body. I opened my eyes. "Where am I?" I asked in a daze. Above me was a wooden ceiling that I blankly stared at as the smell of burning wood filled my nose. "Ah, so you're awake." I heard a soft female voice say from a corner of the room.

I turned my head and saw a beautiful young woman who was no older than hair was short and snowy white and her eyes were a violet color the same hue as the flowers I would encounter in the forest as a child. Her smile was inviting, despite only just meeting her, I felt as if I could trust her with my life. The woman was dressed in an all white gown which made her look like a religious nin sent from god. And in her hands was an all black flower that she held tightly. "Who are you?" I questioned politely. "Who am I? You could call me a guardian angel I suppose." She teased.

She chuckled. "I'm only kidding of course. The name is Hanako Kurosaki." Hanako. It means flower child, I can't say that it doesn't fit her perfectly. "It's alright. I'm assuming you saved me and brought me here?" "Yeah. I found you while looking for wood for my village's upcoming festival that celebrates the god of rain Itadori. Your house was on fire when I came across you and unfortunately there was nothing I could do to stop the raging flames. I figured the least I could do was save you and allow you to recuperate back at the village. You've been out for about 4 days."

I was out for 4 days, the shoulder wound must've been deeper than I thought it was and it didn't help that I was drained by using Hatonome. "Thank you, you really are kind." Hanako blushed a little. "No need to thank me, I was just doing what I thought was right." She really is an angel. She looked at me before quickly looking away. "What is it?"

"It's just…your eyes, their Sharingans, meaning you're of the Uchiha clan right?" She asked while still facing the wall. I simply nodded, not knowing how to answer such a question in this situation. "I thought the Uchiha clan was wiped out and all remaining Uchiha were quickly tracked down and killed. So if you don't mind I want to know, how are you alive sir?" I paused for a moment as the events of that moonlit night assaulted my mind.

"October 1st, a date that has been burned into my brain, the date I lost everything. At the time the Uchiha coup was reaching a sort of zenith but I always made sure to stay as neutral as possible because I was torn between my clan and my village that I had called home all my life. I was returning home from a simple errand but as soon as I stepped foot in the compound I instantly sensed the dozens of chakra signatures that were alive and well this morning gone. Not to mention the fact that there was the body of an elderly man who was known for having trained Fugaku Uchiha, the clan head. Whoever had killed him clearly didn't want him to escape. He was sliced into 3 chunks and his skull was badly burned leaving a bloody mess around him."

"That must have been a horrible way to die." Hanako said faintly. "Indeed. There were two large chakra signatures that I could sense, one unknown but was definitely the largest and the other belonged to Itachi Uchiha, a prodigy to say the least and the only one who could've done it"

"Wow, I can't imagine two people let alone one person being able to destroy the most infamous clan in Konoha." "That was the strength of Itachi Uchiha. After I witnessed the man's body I ran past dozens of corpses to reach my house that was in the back of the village where me and my elderly mother stayed. And when I arrived I…"

My entire body was paralyzed, I couldn't move a single muscle as my breath sight, the memory, my throat wouldn't allow me to speak of the horror I witnessed in a single second of time."What's wrong!?" Miss Hanako rushed to my side and held my hand tight. "My mother, her head was on…it was…impaled on…a…ka…tan…a"

Black, nothingness filled my mind.

I was there, that day, October 1st, my mind had pulled me back. A puddle. My foot was drenched in a strange foul-smelling liquid. It was a pool of my own mother's blood. The person who had given birth to me, laid dead at my feet, I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream but I had no I could do was stand there and watch her cold lifeless body slowly enter the initial stages of decomposition. I stood there for 6 whole minutes without moving a single muscle, the only thing my mind was focused on was my mother's body. Then I heard a cruel symphony pierce through the silence, it was a voice, the voice of Itachi Uchiha.

"Akihiro, do you wish to be with your mother?"

I turned around, my vision turning the sky red. My three tomoe had shifted it had become something more, a Mongekyo. "Itachi…I want to live." I had said that and yet, deep down on the inside of my soul, I wanted to be with my mother more than anything–seeing my mother's smile again was more important than drawing oxygen from trees.

Deep down Itachi knew he couldn't beat me, even with his Mongekyo he had no idea of the abilities I had just gained but neither did I and he didn't wish to take that risk. "You and I both know that it would be a dumb move to kill you now like this so I'd suggest you leave before Madara finds you himself." Itachi said with a bold tone. I had no time to question the fact that he had just spoken of a legendary figure being his accomplice but I neither had to time quench my thirst for his blood.

My body moved on its own accord and I sprinted out of the house. Before I knew it, I was miles away from the compound. I was in the massive forest of "Maho" that served as the border between Konoha and Sunagakure. The border had protected us from war during the weakened period after the nine tails attack.

I was cold and hungry, my mogekyo had stayed active for 4 days straight which had devoured most of my chakra and began to cut into my reserves. In the darkness I heard a warm and kind voice, it was the voice of my mother that had saved me. It had locked away my anger and made me pass out for days on end. I woke up to the image of a man in an owl mask and the sound of pounding footsteps. Danzo had saved his number three now thanks to Shisui's death and Itachi's betrayal.

The ANBU members had fed me and supplied me with a portion of their chakra yet, I felt nothing. Empty, hollow, shallow, void. The only feeling I could express was solemnity.

They ran for about 2 hours before then dropped me at the feet of Danzo. His office was pitch black except for a single lamp that allowed me to see his face. For a moment I simply just sat in the chair across from him and stared into his soul. "Akihiro I…" I listened deeply for the exact tone and structure of his tone. He was lying.

"Lord Danzo, you did, didn't you? You finally did what you said you would do from the moment the nine tails was unsealed from Lady Kunshina." "I don't know what you're talking about. What are you trying to imply?" "You and I both know you ordered Itachi to do it."

Danzo's eyes widened in some sort of forced surprise. "I must say that I'm quite surprised that you managed to figure it out but when dealing with someone with your level of intellect I shouldn't expect less along with you being a high ranking member of ANBU. I can guess how you feel just by looking at you. You don't wanna kill me, you just want to die."

"..."

"No need to respond. I did what I had to do for the sake of Konoha, I prevented the coup and saved us from being destroyed by your clan." I paused, thinking over his words deeply. "Danzo Shimura, from here on out I resign from the ANBU."

"I figured so, but I need you to do one more thing before you go." A Dozen ANBU members flooded the room with blades in hand. My body tensed, preparing for battle. "Please…give me those mangekyo!" He tried to quickly gouge out my eyes but I countered by smacking him into the wall hard enough to create a crater. The ANBU members tried to close in but before they could lift their blades I turned around and activated my left mongekyo ability. "Shigyoshi!"

All 12 recruits in the room collapsed the moment I looked at them, their hearts having exploded from within their chests. I got up and wiped the blood from the burst blood vessels in my eye. While the ability took 3 years off of my life and I could only use it three times, it was worth it in that moment. "Heh, one day I'll have those eyes." Danzo said as he attempted to stand up weakly. "Try as you might but you can never have my eyes." I said while glaring at him with utter hatred.

I then leaped through an open window and never looked back. October 6th.

The day I realized that the cycle of hatred will haunt me for as long as I live.