The Hyuga affair was undoubtedly terrible, with one of the villages best ninja killed in canon.
Well, this was the affair times ten.
Utter fucking chaos.
The police force was searching every nook and crannie in the village, people, normal everyday people, were joining in the search for the lost children. Echo of calls rang through the village as people looked behind cellars and under porches.
Two clan heirs and a clan heads daughter captured in one fell swoop, two with bloodlines? A shitstorm.
But the icing on the cake was an eye witness account of an academy teacher staying late to grade papers. Hearing screams of the same children he taught, Umino Iruka got up and witnesses a shinobi with a bloodied sword, a crumpled figure lying at his feet. Konoha's symbol was shown loud and proud. The three children were clinging onto each other a group of six or seven more 'Konoha' shinobi surrounded them and vanished.
Since headbands are heavily regulated and almost impossible for outsiders to get their hands on a copy, plus the fact that even if they took it off an unretrieved corpse, the blue fabric would have degraded by now. Each body and headband is recorded, and the fact that the headbands were still in apparent top condition led to the fact that Konoha shinobi did this. People had their doubts 'maybe it was just a disguise?' but again, read above.
Konoha shinobi did this.
To their own fellow Konoha shinobi.
Not to mention murdering a defenseless retired Akira. Akira who, was one of the most popular people in the village, not to mention Uchiha. Akira who ran the Institute, held talk circles, painted for everyone and anyone. Akira whose painting was in the Hokage tower, who was a part of the police force. A man who was a newly wed, and left behind a widow-who was another huge figure on Konoha's horizon.
Shock waves were traveling through the village. The Uchiha were throwing everything into this.
While is certainty seemed like it, they couldn't be certain the Uchiha were the main target. If so, why were the two heirs dragged along too?
The fact remained, after scourging the village, the children were nowhere to be found. Were they even still alive? If they had been killed, their bodies were well hidden. All they could do now was wait for the ransom demand...
Sasuke laid wide awake. It was past two in the morning but he couldn't sleep.
He remembered playing with Sakura, eating cherry tomatoes plucked off of bushes in her mothers garden. The just gotten into a game of ninja when real ninja burst from the bushes. The Police force! They said nothing and pulled him away from Sakura. When his mother had saw him she shrieked and hugged him tighter than he had ever been hugged before. His father had sighed in relief and Itachi bowed his head. Sasuke noticed something was missing.
"Wheres Miko?"
At his mother's broken expression, he started to cry.
His sister was always good at comforting other people, she knew what to say and how to make them feel. Whenever he was sad, she let him sleep in her bed with her. It was always nice and warm, and it smelled like mint and paint and books-like his sister. He liked her bed.
Which was where he was now. But instead of his sister's scent luring him back to sleep, it just kept him awake, reminding him of what was missing.