章 66: Chapter 66 - Uchiha Clan Massacre - Prelude 01

Itachi Uchiha.

Itachi walked with heavy slow steps and soon reached his destination.

'This place… This is where I made my promise to Shisui… Before he gave his life for everyone's sake.'

It was the cliff where Shisui committed suicide and the place where he entrusted Itachi with the future of the Uchiha clan and the village.

'Tomorrow the clan will launch the coup.'

Itachi sat down and thought about the last twelve years of his life. Each important moment from the twelve years of his life flickered to his mind and vanished. He closed his eyes and the memories of his childhood appeared.

'It all began that day…'

Itachi Uchiha, who had only turned four recently, was standing in the rain. The rain poured down so heavily that he had trouble opening his eyes.

"Remember this moment, Itachi. Burn this image into your heart. This battlefield… This is the truth of the ninja world." Fugaku Uchiha's words pierced through the sound of the rain and reached Itachi's ears.

Dozens upon dozens of bodies scattered all across the battlefield filled the child's vision. The ninjas wearing the leaf forehead plates and the rest from other lands. The numerous dead bodies covered the earth. All of their faces showed nothing but misery and pain. None of them at peace, as they surrendered to their inevitable death.

"This war will end soon. And in a few years you'll become a ninja. But the truth is battles between ninjas never end. We kill our enemies so that our allies can live. This is the world you'll step into."

Fugaku's cold hearted voice filled his head. Itachi couldn't move as he looked ahead... Itachi felt a tightness in his heart and he could barely endure it. His fists clenched and face tightened. He was determined not to cry. The child desperately tried to control himself but he failed to stop the tears that came spilling out.

'Are the ninja arts and chakra techniques only for fighting and causing destruction? No. It can't be. There has to be more to this than senseless death and chaos.'

Itachi opened his eyes and brought himself out of that memory. He let out a slow tired breath. 'Father wanted to show me the reality of this world. He wanted me to see what he saw and understand what ninjas are… But he failed to see what I did and what I understood that day.'

Itachi never accepted his father's concept of a ninja and chose to take another path.

'I never forgot that day. I promised myself that I would become stronger. Stronger than anyone else so that I could become a deterrent to all the wars and pointless deaths… But now… All of those efforts…Meaningless.'

Itachi thought about the end of the third world war and the beginning of the new Hokage's reign.

The third Hokage decided to end the fighting with the stone village despite the war flowing in the Leaf village's favor. The decision to not seek reparations were opposed by many and in order to keep the stability of the village Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped down from the position of Hokage and handed the title to the hero of the war Minato Namikaze. And the village slowly began to recover.

'That day when Minato was selected as the fourth Hokage, Yashiro, Inabi and Tekka confronted my father at the house and showed their dissatisfaction. They were angry that father's name wasn't considered for the position despite his efforts in the war. That day their meeting… It was filled with malice. It was the same as that battlefield…'

Itachi trained and days turned into weeks and into months. His fifth birthday came but he didn't care about it. To Itachi it was just like any other day. To him training was the most important thing. But that year another significant change happened in his life.

"Meet your baby brother." His mother Mikoto Uchiha said as she laid back on the floor.

Itachi stared at the small creature lying before him. The small newborn baby was content with sleeping in his cozy blanket. Itachi gently touched his baby brother's cheek. The infant twitched at the sudden touch. Mikoto smiled watching her two children.

"Sasuke Uchiha… We decided to name him after the father of the third Hokage." Mikoto said to him.

Itachi looked at his new brother. "Sasuke…" He uttered his brother's name for the first time and in that moment his heart was filled with indescribable happiness and the desire to protect his innocent and precious little brother.

As he thought about his little brother, the sunlight hitting his face made Itachi open his eyes. He thought about Sasuke and his future.

'I'm sorry I can't be there for you…'

That apology came from the bottom of his heart, for Itachi was going to walk down a path he could never come back from. At that moment the image of his best friend and the one he looked up to as an older brother showed up in his mind. Itachi remembered the first day he met Shisui Uchiha.

Itachi was training and sharpening his skills whenever he could. A grove near his house was where he practiced his shuriken techniques. Wooden targets with circles drawn on it were hung all around. Holding 8 kunais between his fingers he jumped high into the air and let them lose. 8 flashes of metal shot to both sides of Itachi and perfectly pierced the center of all targets.

"Good job. That's some serious skill there." Someone spoke from behind him.

Itachi looked back and saw an older boy with black hair and a leaf forehead protector. Itachi had seen the boy before in his clan grounds. So he knew the boy was an Uchiha.

"How old are you?" The ninja of the Uchiha clan asked.

"Five." Itachi gave a short reply.

"Such mastery of shurikenjutsu at your age. You're definitely something special… I'm Shisui Uchiha." The older boy extended his hand. Itachi was about to introduce himself as well but Shisui interrupted him. "I already know who you are… Wanna see something cool?"

Without waiting for Itachi's answer Shisui disappeared. Itachi followed the boy's aura. Shisui was high up in the air just like Itachi had been seconds ago and he let out several kunais at once almost mimicking Itachi's movements earlier. The new kunais all struck right next to Itachi's on the target boards.

Itachi's eyes widened as he saw the scene. "Wow."

"Not too bad huh. I got some skills too… Hey, let's be friends… What do you say?" Shisui held out his hand once more.

Shisui's gentle smile and warm demeanor tugged on Itachi's heart. The younger Uchiha walked forward and shook the extended hand. That day he made his first and greatest friend.

Itachi recalled the words Shisui said to him during his academy days. "As long as you're here the future of the Uchiha clan is safe and secure."

"Caw… caw…" The cry of the crow above him shook Itachi from his memories.

'Your death was meaningless Shisui. The Hokage and village elders didn't find a solution and the clan didn't stop. Things have reached a precipice. There is no stopping what's to come… I couldn't keep my promise. I failed you… All of this because of that one incident.'

Itachi's mind went back to that night. The night that changed everything for him, his clan and the village.

Itachi stared at the full moon with Sasuke in his arms. Despite its brilliant radiance, the young Uchiha had an uneasy feeling in his heart.

"What is this feeling…"

As though feeling his brother's tension, young Sasuke began to cry in Itachi's arms.

"There, there… Everything's going to be alright. Big brother is here to protect you." Itachi held his brother tightly in his arms.

Itachi remembered the disaster the Nine Tailed fox brought to the village. The creature rampaged indiscriminately. Destroying and killing everything in its path. He remembered fleeing with his brother in his arms through the village streets.

All around him were people running and shouting. Trying to escape their deaths or trying to save others. He saw a man who lost his arm, a child who lost his mother and a woman on her knees staring lifelessly at a mountain of rubble that used to be a home. He ran desperately trying to escape the violence of the malevolent beast. It was a destruction the likes of which the village had never seen before.

Itachi remembered the construction of the new clan compound and was satisfied with the location of the compound because of its close proximity with the Naka Shrine and the abundant training space. But he could see that the adults were not. They were feeling the exact opposite of content.

He remembered seeing several clan members coming to meet his father throughout the weeks after the attack. False accusations and discrimination. Those were the words he often heard during their meetings. Itachi realized that one of the Uchiha was suspected of causing the Nine tails incident and the whole clan was being punished for it. He understood his father's and the clan's outrage. But he couldn't accept it.

'That day was the beginning of the end… The village lost trust in the clan and accused us. Even in the academy, I had to bear the brunt of their misplaced anger and aggression. No one believed we were innocent and victims like them. And with each day passing like this, it pushed everyone in the clan to their breaking point… And with people like Danzo, Madara and Yashiro scheming and plotting their own agendas… Perhaps the end of the Uchiha clan was inevitable…'

Itachi remembered his first day at the academy. He recalled what he said to the class as the teacher asked Itachi to introduce himself.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha and my dream is…. My dream is to become the greatest ninja ever. So I can stop all the fighting in this world."

Some laughed at those words while others applauded. But none of them believed in him or his dream. To them it was just an absurd and delusional goal that would never come true. Only Itachi believed in himself and his dream. And he worked hard everyday to realize it.

In the academy Itachi displayed a level of talent that couldn't be matched by anyone. He set new records after records for each of the tests that was presented before him. His flawless shurikenjutsu, his vast knowledge, his ninja skills… All of them earned him the title of genius. But those talents and titles also made it impossible for him to make friends. His classmates hesitated to interact with him. But it was fine with Itachi. He never cared about making friends. His focus was on training and bettering himself. He had no energy to spare on something as trivial as friendship with his classmates.

'No. There was one person who reached out to me.'

As he thought about his academy days an incident came to his mind. Some of the senior students tried to intimidate him but at that moment someone stood up for him. Spoke on his behalf.

The image of a certain girl came to Itachi's mind.

'Despite my attitude she stuck up for me when others tried to pick on me. She talked to me and somewhere along the way she became my second friend… Izumi Uchiha.'

Itachi spent his days training and studying. In six months he completed every test and homework his teachers assigned him. Itachi mastered everything the academy threw at him and the staff decided there was nothing more they could teach him. Due to the lack of capable ninjas because of the war and nine tails attack, the village was in need of talented ninjas. Itachi graduated from the academy in 6 months and began his duties as a genin.

Itachi opened his eyes and stared at the sky. He could hear the rushing water of the Naka river below him. His fingers gripped the hard stone underneath him as he thought about his genin days.

'I thought I could change my clan and the opinions of the village by becoming a ninja… But… Everything I endured. It was all for nothing.'