Chapter 1
The Nine-Tails attack had caused great mayhem in the Village. Even now, years later, the devastation of that day still lingered, and the consequences of that wretched day pained him still.
No one knew about the perpetrators of the attack, though immediately after the attack, a rumor had spread. A strange rumor that implicated one of the Village's founding clans. Rubbish it may have been, there was little love in Konoha for the Uchiha clan, given their position in the Village as its primary Police Force.
The whispers turned into rumors, and the rumors turned into taunts, and the situation worsened with every passing day. Despite many attempts to subdue this volatile sentiment, many within the Village simply stoked these fires until the Uchiha found themselves pushed against the wall.
With their pride wounded, and their loyalties questioned, disagreements turned into hatred, and rebellion began to fester.
He had tried to stop it. They had tried to stop it.
But in the end, it was all futile. The enemy was simply too strong. Too well rooted.
And with Shisui gone, war was inevitable, and Itachi knew well what a war would entail.
Death. Destruction. Decimation.
Not just for the clan, but for the Village as well. This war would not just be the end of their clan, but it would spell the end of Konoha itself.
But he was offered a choice. A cruel choice, but one that would allow him to protect the thing most precious to him, and as he walked through the clan compound, he knew the decision that he had made.
He found himself standing outside a decrepit house, and once the place had been full of life and joy. At the door, he could still read his friend's name as he walked into the wooden place and gave a small knock.
"Who is it?" a small, kind voice called out from within, and his heart trembled, and his entire body screamed at him to turn back. To make a different choice.
But he did not stop.
He could not stop.
Not now.
And so he continued to walk until he reached a small room, and as he slid back the door, he found himself staring at the only occupant within the room.
She had always been weak and frail. The medical-nins had given her only a year to live and that was three years ago, yet she had managed to push through with sheer will.
The smell of medicine and flowers hit his nose as he saw her sitting in a chair staring out the window. Her hair was black, much like his own mother, and she had the typical Uchiha features.
Their clan was obsessed with their kekkei genkai, and this obsession had led to some rather tragic consequences for them, and Hana Uchiha was born bearing the consequences for both herself and her brother, Uchiha Shisui.
He wanted to say something. Wanted to greet her, and yet his chest felt heavy.
He had come here first for this would be the greatest of betrayals. If he could swing his blade here, then he could swing it for everyone.
But as she turned her head to look at him, he found himself stilled.
It was no jutsu, for she was incapable of it, and yet he felt his palms fill with sweat as the girl by the window looked at his attire with a sorrowful expression. He said nothing.
He could say nothing.
What he was about to do was indefensible. It was repugnant.
And yet he would do it still, for that was the only way he could protect his little brother.
"So you have made your choice," and the words hit hard as Itachi's hands began to tremble, and his chest heaved.
"I am sorry," he managed to eke out, and as he tried to reach for his sword, his hands shook.
"You need not do that," she added, as Itachi's eyes widened as she raised her hand that was resting on the edge of the window.
The wrist. It was cut.
And now he noticed the paleness and the slight dimness of her eyes.
"You knew," he gasped as his body grew weak, and she closed her eyes, and once she opened them again, he found himself taken aback by the pattern in them.
"Mangekyo," he whispered, and he had never thought that she would possess the cursed eyes of their clan.
"How?" he asked.
"Our mother's death," she answered, as she put her wrist on the edge once again, so she bled out into the garden outside.
"Come sit," she pointed towards the chair opposite to her.
"We should talk," she whispered, and it had been months since he had last seen her, for he could not gather the courage to face her after failing her brother.
"I know that it was not you who killed Shisui," she said, and he could not believe his ears.
"How?" but he could not say more.
"Come sit," she said a bit forcefully.
"I am afraid I do not have much time left," and so he stepped forward, and put one foot in front of another as he plopped down on the chair opposite to her.
"You are doing this for Sasuke-kun and the village," and he could not defend himself.
"It is the only choice I can make," and right now, the situation in the Village was tense, for the border with Kumo had been in turmoil for some years because of Kumo's attempt at stealing the Hyuga princess.
And the Uchiha were being blamed for the hostilities here as well, even though they had no direct link to the shinobi who had slaughtered the Kumo retinue.
Though there was a connection. A faint one.
"You could have waited for him," and he knew who she spoke of, but Itachi already knew what choice he would make, and it was why he could not wait.
"I am sorry," he eeked out, and what else was there to say.
"I have not seen him in more than a year, ever since he was forced to go to the border," she whispered softly as she stared out her window, and that was by plan as well.
For Danzo and the higher ups knew that he would never let this happen. That he would never make the choice that Itachi had made.
"I have missed two of his birthdays now," and he saw a tear slide down her face as Itachi ground his teeth.
"I am sorry," he whispered as his own eyes began to tear up.
"Don't be," she said as she sniffed up her tears.
"I was not meant for this world," she answered with a bright smile.
"My body has long given up. Even the medical nin called it a miracle that I have managed to live for so long," and he knew that.
"I would have left him alone sooner or later," and she would have.
"He will hate you," she added, and Itachi knew that.
"He will hate everyone," and Itachi knew that as well.
"I am prepared to bear his hate," he answered, and not just his.
Everyone's.
"Shisui always said you were the kindest shinobi he had ever met," and he was wrong.
Itachi was not kind. He was anything but kind.
And he could see her heart quicken, as her blood began to drip ever slowly.
"Hana-chan," he gasped, and she fell back weakly and braced her head.
"It seems like I have run out of time," she added, as she blinked her eyes slowly as she met her gaze.
"But before I go, I have a request of you," and she could demand anything from him right now, and so he offered her a nod as he refused to trust his mouth.
"We had so little time that I fear he will have nothing to remember me by," she began as she looked out the window.
"He did so much for me, and yet I have never given him anything. Not even a single flower," and she pushed back her hair behind her ear, as her breathing began to quicken, and her heart began to fail.
"So, before I go, I wish to give him my greatest treasure," she declared as she looked him in the eye.
"I wish to give him these eyes...."
.
.
.
With the streets littered with Uchiha blood, Itachi stood and stared at the consequences of his actions, when he heard someone come behind him.
"What have you done?" he heard a gasp, as he turned to face the very person he had been waiting for.
His hair was a shining white, and his headband pushed it up, as his dark eyes met his own. His uniform was dirty, caked with blood, and his chest was heaving.
"I told you to wait," he said in a haunted tone, and Itachi knew that.
"Hana," he asked, and Itachi did not lie.
"I will kill you," he said, and he could. He was strong. At his best, Itachi and him were equals.
But he was not alone.
"Tsukoyomi," he whispered, and those eyes shifted slightly but only for a fraction of a second, as he steadied himself once more.
"You genjutsu does not work on me," and he knew that as the masked man appeared behind him.
"We know that..."
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