"Itachi, why are you doing this?" Fugaku shouted as he stared up into the cold eyes of his eldest child. The child he and his wife had raised to be a prodigy and who had graduated the ninja academy at the tender age of 4-years old.
"To stop what will become of the village," Was Itachi's simple reply. After a few moments of silence, Mikoto spoke up in a shaky and small voice. "Itachi, where are Mina and Sasuke? Please, just at least let us know that they are fine."
"Yes, Kaa-san. They are fine. No need to worry about them. I have put Mina-chan under a protective henge, and Sasuke-kun will be returning from his training soon."
"What do you mean "To stop what will become of the village?" What are you talking about, Itachi?"
"Don't worry about it, father. It will all be over soon," Itachi said, his tone blank and his face gave nothing away to how he was feeling.
Itachi stalked up behind his parents. His black clothes blended into the night so well that you couldn't tell he was there. He gripped his knife tighter, and stabbed the knife through his fathers back, walking over his dead body, relishing the feel of warm blood on his hands.
He carelessly kicked them over, knowing he could take anyone that came near with a single flick of his knife. He slipped the scroll his father was holding out of his hands and ran out into the crisp night air.
Itachi. It sounded exactly like how he was. He was no more than 13-years-old, but he was the most skilled Uchiha in the entire world. He would soon regret what he had done that night, but it was for the good of the village.
He stopped and walked into the street. He pushed aside the scattered remains of ninja tools as he leapt up onto a nearby rooftop to survey his surroundings.
"Well, now I just wait until Sasuke returns I guess."
"Itachi?"
He turned around to see his sister, Mina, in her disguise of Uzumaki Ruto. Her long, shoulder-length crimson hair was tied into twin-tails on her head and her now violet eyes stared into his as she silently observed him. For being only 9-years-old, she picked up on things very quickly. She had known what Itachi was going to do to the clan, yet she didn't stop him. Exactly how much does she know? Itachi had a feeling that his intelligent younger sister knows a lot more than she leads on. But the question was… exactly how much did she really know about what was going on in the shadows? How in the world did she know about what the Uchiha clan had been planning to do? And more importantly: Why does the thought of his pure-hearted little sister being robbed of her childhood innocence
bother Itachi so much more strongly than anything else currently going on in the shadows of their own clan?
"What is it, Ruto?" He asked, turning to look at her as she leapt up onto the roof to join him.
"I know Hokage-sama didn't give you those orders." She said bluntly.
"I am aware of that, Ruto. But what will I tell Sasuke?"
She shrugged her shoulders and absentmindedly played with one of her crimson pigtails. "I love you, Itachi-kun. Your my big brother. I know you would never intentionally hurt someone, and I know Sasuke knows that as well. Just tell him the truth, Tachi." Ruto said, blinking her eyelashes at her brother, as she called him by the nickname she always used when making sure that he listened to her.
"And I also know that you love Sasuke as well, Itachi. So just tell him the truth." Ruto says gently, Itachi frowned slightly as he stared down at his sister.
"Shikashi, ruto-chan, sasukekun ga watashi ga yatta koto o naze yatta no ka o rikai suru koto ga dekiru to dōshite kakushin dekimasu ka?"
"But Ruto-chan, how can you be so sure that Sasuke-kun will understand why I did what I did?" He asked again, this time in English. Mina- No- Ruto, giggled as Itachi asked the same question twice.
"Itachi-kun, you just asked the same question twice," Ruto said, and Itachi blinked in confusion and stared down at her.
"HEY! ITACHI!" The two siblings looked down from the ledge to see Sasuke, who was looking around for Itachi as he called out for his parents or anyone else who could hear him.
"Mina-chan, run! Quickly, get out of here and go to the Hokage's office."
"But-But Itachi-kun! I want to stay with you, and what about Sasuke? I just want to help you, big brother. Just please, let me help you, Itachi!"
"Ruto-chan, just go! Leave here and don't look back, understand?" Mina's sapphire blue eyes filled with tears, but she nodded her head slowly to show her elder brother that she'd heard him loud and clear.
Her brother's own eyes soon filled with tears, and he reached his arms out toward his sister, pulling her tightly to his chest and hiding his tear-stained face in her dark crimson hair.
Mina cloaked back a sob, clenching her eyes shut and carrying her face in to her brother's dark shirt with a soft, moral cry. "B-but I can't leave without you, big brother! I just can't!" She let the tears come then, and she looked up at Itachi through blurry vision.
Itachi couldn't quite keep the tremble out of his voice when he finally found his voice to form words properly again. "I-I know, I know. It's going to be hard at first, believe me when I say that it's tarring me apart inside knowing that you only have a chance of making it out of here alive if you leave. Without me."
Please, Mina-Chan! Just go! Leave now, while you still can." He hugged her one last time before stepping back and giving her a hard, but firm nudge toward the putter gates of the compound.
The older Uchiha sighed shakily and placed his hands on both of Mina's shoulders. Now then, you'd get going, little one. Hurry up, run out of the Uchiha compound as fast as you can." He paused for a moment to glance up at the still darkened sky before speaking up again.
"Don't stop running until you're far away from the village. Only stop to take short breaks, and remember this, Mina-Chan, keep your eyes straight ahead of you at all times. Don't turn around or look back for anything, do you understand?" The older Uchiha ordered, and with one last glance at her older brother, the girl ran for it and didn't look back.
"Y-yes, yes I understand." Was all the younger girl could get out, eyes still wet with tears, and throat raw from crying, all Mina could do was nod her head mutely in response.
The two siblings shared one last tight embrace before reluctantly separating to split ways for the next Force knows how many years.
"I love you, little sister." Itachi croaked out, onyx-colored eyes shining with moisture as he watched his sister dash away and out of sight.
"Stay safe out there. Keep on your toes, and may we meet again under better circumstances."
"I-I love you too, big brother." Mina called back in a near-silent whisper as she ran from the only home she had ever known for the first 0 years of her life. "No need to worry. I'll be okay on my own, considering all the survival skills you imprinted into my brain from the day I turned 4."
Oh Kami-sama! Please keep both of them safe. I beg of you, please don't let any harm come to either one of my brothers when I'm not there to help them. Mina silently prayed to herself as she kept on running.
And may the Force be with you, big brother. She added quietly to herself afterwords as a near half-hearted afterthought that seemed to tug something loose from her mind as she kept up her mad dash out the gates leading outside The Hidden Leaf Village.