Chapter 5: The Night of the Nine-Tails

He looked up at the moon.

Just me and Sasuke…

His mother and father had gone out. He left the sliding doors open after stepping out to sit on the veranda, Sasuke in his arms.

The moonlight was dazzling. The full moon, shining so radiantly that it nearly erased the light of the surrounding stars, seemed like it would fall from the sky.

A gentle breeze softly stroked his cheeks. "Hm?" He furrowed his brow at the faint unpleasant smell riding on that breeze. Sasuke began to fret in his arms, perhaps sensing the change in his older brother, or perhaps because of the keen sensitivity of a baby noticing something out of the ordinary.

Itachi stared at the moon in the sky. "What is this feeling…" Sasuke began to cry.

"There, there." Even as he rocked his baby brother soothingly, his eyes stayed focused on the moon. The wind blew once more, smelling like a wild animal. "I don't like this feeling. Why are Mom and Dad always out at times like this…"

Sasuke began to cry even harder. This was not the time for staring up at the moon; Itachi dropped his gaze to his adorable baby brother, a smile creeping across his face.

"Don't cry, Sasuke. Your big brother will protect you, no matter what."

Sasuke's cry changed from a scared wail into something sweeter. It was still almost as powerful, the faintest of differences in the strength behind the wail. Rather, the change was more in the baby's mindset, because he knew they were brothers.

Something's coming…

All Itachi could do was tighten his arms around Sasuke.

***

The village was abruptly thrown into total chaos.

Uchiha Fugaku stared at the cloud of dust rising up off in the distance from the roof of the Konoha Military Police Force headquarters, his face grim. His aides, the best and brightest of the Uchiha clan, stood around him, waiting.

"Oh! That's…" white-haired Yashiro murmured from his left.

Fugaku had already discerned the cause of the commotion with his own eyes.

"N-Nine Tails…" This from Inabi at his right. Long black hair pulled up, Inabi desperately tried to stop himself from trembling in fear.

Fugaku cast sidelong glances at his subordinates, their fear on full display, and then stared resolutely at the reality before them. "No mistake. It's Nine Tails."

Out of the dust cloud rising up in the center of the village crawled nine tails, writhing like serpents. The tails converged on the body of a burnt orange beast, a sinister fox roaring as if to swallow up the full moon hanging in the sky. A beast of legend, here to wreak havoc on this world.

"Send a unit to the scene immediately. I'll go, too."

"Lord Fugaku, you intend to set out yourself?" Yashiro's voice quivered as he asked the question.

"Of course!" Fugaku shouted, even as his eyes remained fixed on Nine Tails. He could hear bellowing and shrieking from every corner of the village. Given that the figure of the monster was no doubt visible from all areas of Konoha, even places not yet under attack wouldn't be exempt from the confusion, once the people there caught sight of Nine Tails. "This might be the biggest disaster to befall the village since its founding. Do you think I can just sit back and watch at a time like this? Me, the chief of the Military Police Force?"

"But…"

Going near Nine Tails meant risking death. Some of the ninja hurrying to the scene had likely already been sacrificed. It was no small wonder Yashiro was scared.

"I have never once begrudged my life to do my job."

"Chief…" Tears blurred Yashiro's thin eyes.

"The only thing that can control Nine Tails is the sharingan of the Uchiha clan. If we don't hurry, stopping it will be impossible."

"Chief!" His aide Tekka appeared, panting as though he had run up the stairs. From the ghostly mien of his capable subordinate, Fugaku guessed that something alarming had happened.

"What is it?"

"Instructions have come down from top brass. The police are instructed to strengthen the village defenses."

"What did you say?" Fugaku glared at Tekka, doubting his own ears.

Cleverly grasping his superior's anger, Tekka gave voice to his own supposition. "Only the sharingan can control the Nine-Tails. Brass likely has misgivings—"

"Are you saying that this commotion is our fault?!" Yashiro shouted.

Fugaku understood so well it hurt. The Uchiha clan was part of Konohagakure. They had no reason to release a creature like Nine Tails and bring about this chaos. If whoever was controlling Nine Tails avoided just their own home, they would obviously soon be a suspect. No one in the clan would do something so foolish. Not to mention that the raging beast before his eyes was rampaging indiscriminately. If a member of the clan had indeed summoned it, they had basically called disaster down upon their own self as well. At the very least, it could not be the work of any Uchiha currently living in the village.

"Tell them, understood," he spat bitterly at Tekka.

"Chief!" Yashiro drew in closer.

Fugaku nodded wordlessly, before turning toward the stairs leading to the lower floors. He was worried about Itachi and Sasuke at the house, but right now, his duty came first.