Flowerhead_Evan

At just four years old, Uchiha Itachi is introduced to the harsh reality of the ninja world when his father, Fugaku, takes him to a battlefield strewn with corpses. The sight stays with him, planting a deep desire to end the endless cycle of war. Determined to grow stronger, Itachi throws himself into training, convinced that power can be a tool for protection rather than destruction.

When his brother Sasuke is born, that resolve hardens. Sasuke’s fragile presence becomes everything to Itachi, and he swears to keep him safe. But the world around them grows more dangerous. The Nine-Tails attacks Konoha, leaving ruin behind. In the aftermath, the Uchiha clan is blamed and pushed to the village’s outskirts.

Tensions rise between the Uchiha and the village leadership. Itachi is torn — caught between his family’s growing resentment and his hope for peace. His bond with his friend Shisui offers some comfort, but even Shisui can’t shield him from the pressure closing in. Fugaku, Itachi’s father, grows fixated on the clan’s struggles, and whispers of rebellion begin to spread.

Trapped between duty and loyalty, Itachi struggles to find a way forward. His love for Sasuke remains his anchor, but the burden he carries feels heavier by the day. As conflict brews, Itachi faces a choice that will define his legacy — and change the course of the ninja world.

Naruto : Itachi's Story (Completed)

Six years old. Itachi finally started at the academy. It wasn't that he was particularly overjoyed about school itself. It was that school held for him a concrete sense of achievement, the feeling that he was getting closer to his long-awaited goal of being a ninja. School would be completely different from the way he had trained in secret by himself or with Shisui. The days at school were the path to ninjahood. And that made him indescribably happy.

"Now then, please introduce yourself and tell everyone your dream for the future," the older male teacher said, looking out at his students.

Their first class. The slightly nervous students looked at each other, confused. Itachi watched as the others chatted—"Hey, what're we doing now?"—still unfamiliar with one another. And then he thought, as if he were not a part of the situation himself, that it was no wonder they were confused. They couldn't just get up in front of all these unknown people and spill out their dreams.

"All right then, maybe we'll go by student number," the teacher said loudly, rolling over the murmurs from all corners of the room, perhaps understanding how his students felt, perhaps not.

Uchiha Itachi… The first character of his name was "u." That was toward the beginning of the student numbers. He didn't worry about what he would say. He had had the same dream ever since he could remember. All he had to do was say it.

The nth classmate was applauded. Her dream was to be a great ninja like her father.

Be a great ninja like her father… He imagined his own father. Fugaku was great. But Itachi felt like it wasn't enough for him to be the head of the Military Police Force. Which didn't mean he was rejecting his father; he did want to excel like his father did. But the place Itachi had his eyes set on was beyond that, and he couldn't say that his father was currently standing there.

"All right then, next, Uchiha Itachi." The teacher looked at Itachi and smiled.

With the thought that there wasn't much point in a self-introduction if their teacher said their names first as he had been the whole time, Itachi stood up and walked to the front of the class. The other students, the same age as he was, turned interested eyes on him, and he felt a faint itching on his forehead. He patted the space between his eyebrows with a finger, and then thrust his chest out.

"I'm Uchiha Itachi. My dream is…" He faltered.

The teacher and the students cocked their heads, almost as if to ask what was wrong.

It wasn't that he didn't have a dream. And it wasn't that he was having trouble choosing the dream he was going to talk about. And naturally, his mouth hadn't stopped working because he was nervous or anything of the sort. He wasn't sure if he should actually talk about his dream in this place.

The dreams the people before him had shared were all so modest. I want to be like my father. I want to be a great ninja and do a lot of missions. I want to be a cute ninja. This was the sort of dream the teacher and his classmates expected.

"It's all right, go ahead and say it," the teacher urged him.

It doesn't matter what they think. "I want to be the greatest ninja ever, great enough that I can erase all fighting from this world."

He heard someone laugh in a corner of the classroom. And then immediately after that, came the pre-established harmony of applause.

"Well done," the teacher said and patted Itachi's head.

Apparently, it was just too absurd. No one believed him. They all thought it was a dream that could never come true. A delusional dream, that came from a young child's ignorance of the world. That's what they all thought, so they laughed at him, they clapped mechanically.

Only one of them—only Itachi—was serious.

And his teacher and classmates would learn just how serious later.

Chapter 7: The Path of a Prodigy