Last Chapter Where Brothers Never Return

1.

 I became your cage,

 so you'd never taste my chains

 forgive me too late.

2.

 Each lie was a blade,

 but I held them to my chest

 so you'd learn to live.

3.

 You cursed my shadow,

 yet I prayed your light would bloom

 far from my silence.

4.

 I died on your sword

 smiling as my blood thanked you

 for hating me right.

5.

Not once did I speak of

how much I loved your laugh

I left it to rot.

6.

Blood upon still hands

shadows weep where brothers part,

truth dies in silence.

~

For Itachi, the written exam was easy. He had seen when it started that the point of the first exam was to make use of ninja techniques and cheat without getting caught by the examiner. 

He had confidence in the strength of his memory. Ever since he was little, he had read a lot of books in between bouts of training, to develop his ninja techniques. That habit didn't change when he started at the academy, or after he became a genin. 

So Itachi had all kinds of knowledge tucked away in his brain: 

- The history of the ninja continues from the Sage of Six Paths. 

- Alliances, treaties, and laws of uniformity among the different lands. 

- Fundamentals, advanced techniques, and practical strategies in fighting. 

- Theory on physical ninja arts, kekkei genkai. 

- Introduction to chakra. 

- Tailed beasts, ninja beasts. 

- Overview of sage barriers and natural energy fundamentals. 

And many other documents, books, theses. 

Thus, there was no need for him to cheat. 

A balance between brain and brawn. This was the most important element of Itachi's ideal ninja. 

When there was first a clear mind, superior physical abilities could be amply shown off. But no matter how skilled in the ninja arts the body was, if a ninja was unable to make appropriate decisions, failure was almost inevitable. And in the world of the ninja, failure was directly linked to death. 

The face of Tenma, killed by the masked man, came to life in the back of Itachi's mind. He slid his pencil across the page as if to banish the terrifying vision. His answer sheet was already ninety percent filled in. 

After finishing his own test, Itachi observed the other examinees as one after another was ordered to leave, suspected of cheating. Who was cheating in what way? 

His face remaining expressionless, he sent his chakra out in all four directions. 

Some were slipping into the minds of their targets; others, watching the movements of hands. Still others traced out the answers from the sound of pencil rubbing against paper. They were all cheating with the technique they were best at. Itachi coolly picked out who was using what type of technique. 

Everyone there was his rival. If he could study their skills, he would be able to choose the most advantageous circumstances when they fought. 

Everyone else was in three-person groups. Itachi was alone. He had no teammates. It was quite plausible that in one of the tests before him, he would end up in a three-against-one situation. Obtaining information now on his enemies was also an important fight for him, in order to turn the tables in an unfavorable situation. 

"Time!" the examiner for the first test called out. 

"Put your pencils down. Everyone still here, go to the second exam. The results of the first exam will be announced once the second exam is complete." 

"Question!" One of the test takers raised a hand. The supervisor nodded permission to speak. "Does that mean that even if we pass the second exam, we won't be able to proceed to the third exam, depending on our score on the first exam?" 

"That is what it means, yes." 

The examinees all started to talk at once. 

"Quiet!" the examiner roared. "You are on the road to become chunin. And once you are chunin, you will be in the position of leading a team. Not all missions yield immediate results. There will sometimes be cases where you will turn all your mental energies toward the job at hand, while you are waiting on another result. During this exam, you should have expended every effort. In which case, trust in your own abilities, and fight in the second exam with all your might." 

The rousing cry of the jonin left the test takers speechless. 

"Now, off you go to the second exam." 

Itachi stood up, the words of the examiner in his ears. 

---

"Not like you can surround all three of us," the boy said with a grin. 

Itachi dropped his eyes to the scroll in his hand. 

Those who would become chunin were scattered about the area known as the forty-fourth training ground, nicknamed the "Forest of Death." The scroll in his hands had the character for "heaven" written on it in bold, black calligraphy. 

"Taking the chunin exam by yourself is suicide," a different boy shouted down to him from behind. 

And then the laughter of a girl came, ear-splittingly high-pitched. 

The three ninja were spread out in a triangle formation around Itachi. On their foreheads, they wore the protectors of the village of Kirigakure. 

Itachi looked at the boy standing in front of him, the most assertive of the group, maybe fifteen or sixteen. He seemed to be the leader. 

"If you hand over the scroll like a good boy, we won't kill you. But if you're gonna fight back, then I can't promise anything." 

The boy had the scroll that paired with the one in Itachi's hand. It would have "earth" written on it. 

The second exam aimed to reach the tower in the center of the training ground, with both Heaven and Earth scrolls in hand. In small squads of three-person cells, the examinees were given either a Heaven or an Earth scroll, and sent scattering throughout the training ground. There, they were to take the complementary scroll from its owner, wherever they might be in the field. After getting both scrolls, they had to make it through the Forest of Death, with its man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, and all kinds of dangerous creatures, to reach the tower standing in the center. 

The time limit was five days. 

On the first day, Itachi was suddenly attacked by the enemy, the Kirigakure ninja before him. 

Rather than making the foolish move of searching for the matching scroll, Itachi was heading straight for the tower. Just like he wanted the Earth scroll, his opponents wanted the Heaven scroll. If he moved toward the tower, his opponent would certainly come to him. It was just as he planned. 

The Kirigakure ninja had already confirmed that Itachi held the Heaven scroll—he had deliberately held the scroll open as he walked toward the tower for that purpose. These three were the ones who had fallen into Itachi's trap. 

"So, three against one. Be good, and—" 

"There's an item in the examinee qualifications for this test," Itachi cut off the boy in front of him, "that you have to participate in a three-person cell. So why am I here alone like this?" 

"Maybe your teammates ditched you," the girl called out from the left, like she was making fun of him. The boy in the back laughed. 

Turning his head the slightest bit towards the girl, Itachi noted, "The other two are waiting in ambush. Can't you anticipate that much, at least?" 

Careless smile still on her lips, the girl's face grew pale. 

"Relax. I was alone right from the start," Itachi said, and turned his gaze back to the leader. "The only conclusion you can come to from this three-against-one situation is that it's to your advantage. As a leader and as a chunin, you're a failure." 

"Y-you watch your mou—" 

"You're even using my childish appearance as fuel for your carelessness." 

"Hey, Kiruru, let's just finish him already," the boy in the rear called, sounding uneasy. 

The leader, Kiruru, swallowed with a gulp the saliva building up in his mouth, sweat running down his forehead. 

"Why doesn't it make you uncomfortable that I'm here alone? Why don't you consider the possibility that I was allowed to take the test alone? Don't you think there's some meaning behind the fact that I'm taking the test alone, when the basis for the test is the three-person cell?" 

"Kiruru!" This time, it was the girl. 

The opposing team was starting to lose themselves in an unfathomable fear. 

"G-get him!" Kiruru half-shrieked, half-shouted, and shuriken were launched at Itachi from three different directions. 

In the next instant, the leader before Itachi, and the boy to his rear, both started running. The girl leapt up, aiming for the top of his head. He was caught in an attack from both sides and if he fled upward, the girl would catch him. 

*Physical Fundamentals for the Three-Person Cell, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3.* 

Such a childish strategy. 

Itachi didn't move. 

The shuriken dug into Itachi. Countless shuriken stabbed every part of his body. 

Without pausing, the two boys racing at him from in front and behind tried to catch him in a pincer attack, and drove kunai into his belly and his back. 

Blood jetted out of Itachi's mouth. The two boys didn't have the luxury of watching this; as they yanked their kunai out, they took a half step back. Immediately, the girl landed on Itachi's shoulders and plunged a dagger through the crown of his head. 

"Got him!" she cried out, happily. 

Itachi burst open. 

Every one of the black fragments scattering in all directions transformed into crows. In a cacophony of caws, they started to peck at the heads of the three ninja. 

Itachi watched for a while from the top of a remarkably tall tree nearby, observing the silly way his enemies were being taken down, all three frantically trying to beat the crows back, while covering their faces with their arms. Eventually, he dropped down in front of them. 

"Release!" 

The crows disappeared at his cry. 

Not understanding what was happening, the three ninja stood dumbfounded, their eyes finding Itachi all at once. 

"Be good and hand over the scroll." Itachi held out his hand toward the leader. "If you do, I'll let you go." 

"D-don't underestimate us." Kiruru dropped his hips and began weaving signs. The boy and girl to his left and right also wove the same signs. "Got it?" 

"Right," his teammates responded. 

"Water Style!" Kiruru shouted, and that's as far as they got. 

The wall of flames that abruptly materialized before them scared the three senseless, to the point where they forgot to activate their techniques. 

At a speed three times that at which the three were weaving signs, Itachi had activated the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique. He used chakra that he had been building up the whole time, during the first exam, and from the start of the second exam. The field of view of the opposing team should have been swallowed up by flames in an instant. He had released these flames with such control, that they were at a distance that was just barely not a direct attack on the three. The flames were meant only to be threatening. 

This was a test. There was no need to kill or injure anyone. All he needed was for his opponents to lose heart. 

The flames danced up to the heavens and disappeared. 

Legs trembling, almost giving out from under them from fear, the three still managed to stay on their feet somehow. A thin veil of tears welled up in the eyes that stared at Itachi. 

"If you still want to go, I don't mind." Itachi closed the distance between them. "But if you do, then this time, I'll be forced to pull out my trump card." 

"What?" Kiruru asked, looking about ready to burst into tears. 

Itachi stared at him and focused his chakra in his eyes. His field of view was colored red, and the waves of chakra flowing through the bodies of the three before him began to hazily come into view. 

"Sh-sharingan," the boy next to Kiruru muttered. 

The threatened tears began to spill from the eyes of the stouthearted Kiruru. 

"I don't know if you've ever seen eyes like this before, but if you're ninja, you should know what they are," Itachi said. 

The girl moved her pointed jaw up and down several times. All three of them were completely ruled by the fear of death. 

"Your techniques don't work on me." 

"H-have mercyyyyy!" Kiruru pressed his forehead to the ground, and then reached a trembling hand into his bag, and dug around for something. Itachi stared at him for a moment, until the boy thrust the Earth scroll at him. 

Itachi took the scroll. "As long as you all understand." 

He sent a little chakra down his legs. Flicker feet. He quickly went around behind Kiruru, and brought the edge of his flat hand down on his neck. "I can't have you attacking me from behind. Take a little nap here." 

Kiruru collapsed on the ground as if prostrating himself, and Itachi moved swiftly around behind the girl and the boy, to deliver similar blows to each of them. 

The two Heaven and Earth scrolls were together. Now he just had to head for the tower in the center of the training ground. 

"Time elapsed in the second exam: five hours, thirty-seven minutes. This is a new record for the exam held in the Forty-Fourth Training Ground. Taking also into consideration the fact that the exam is based on three-person cells, this record is astounding." 

As he listened to the weirdly hard voice of the Anbu in the white tiger mask, Danzo smiled faintly. "That's what happens when you graduate from the academy in a single year. Nothing strange at all about that boy managing this." 

He stood up, the white tiger mask nodding in the corner of his vision. "It's about time for the third exam to start. We should be on our way." 

"With regard to that, I have a single report." The man stopped Danzo as he was about to step forward. 

"What?" 

"The genin of our village who were to be his opponents in the first round defaulted." 

"Afraid of Itachi's power?" 

"Naturally." 

Danzo tossed his head back toward the ceiling and laughed loudly. The white tiger stayed silent, waiting for his master's words. "I've thought any number of times how much better it would be if he wasn't Uchiha. But I've never felt it so keenly as now." 

"The Uchihas have their own utility." 

"I don't need someone like you to tell me that," Danzo replied, and started walking. "Who is his opponent in the second round?" 

"If the first battle is chosen properly, it will be a Kumogakure genin who advances. Nemui." 

"'Sleepy?' What a ridiculous name." 

"The boy is known as Shunmino Nemui. Among the young ones of Kumogakure, he is a quite popular ninja." 

"A ninja with a pseudonym is second rate." Danzo snorted with laughter. "A true ninja does not need a pseudonym." 

The man walking alongside him nodded. 

"How will the pseudonym-free Uchiha Itachi cook up this genin with the foolish name of Sleepy Hibernation whoever? I am indeed looking forward to it." 

Surprised at himself for sounding more excited than he had in several years, Danzo composed himself as he walked toward the competition ground. 

"To repeat, there are no rules. The contest continues until one side admits defeat. However, when I judge that continuation is impossible, the match will stop there. You both understand?" 

The half-asleep face before him listened silently to the announcement of the high-handed supervising examiner. He had yawned any number of times now, to the point where Itachi wondered if he might fall asleep on the spot. 

The boy's name was Nemui, which meant "sleepy." He was a ninja from Kumogakure. 

"Maybe we should have them push our turn back, so you can get a proper sleep?" Itachi asked, gently. 

Nemui looked at Itachi, his eyelids hanging halfway over his perfectly round eyes, exhaustion playing at the corners of his mouth. "No need to worry," he said, smiling, but even his smile looked sleepy. 

A curving wall swept in and around the circular grounds, while the ceiling was rounded and open. The ground was covered in dirt, and trees grew here and there. Scaffolding stretched out horizontally, protruding from the top of the wall, where a large number of spectators watched the matches on which the futures of the genin depended: daimyo and people from the ruling classes in all lands, officials from the villages in the ninja world, chunin, jonin. 

Among them were even the faces of black marketeers who had disguised themselves, and snuck in. 

Which village would stand with the responsibility for the future of the ninja world on its shoulders? Everyone held their breath as they watched over the battles of the young ninja. 

This place, where capable genin from every village risked their lives in battle, was a microcosm of the battlefield. Not infrequently, the fights here were directly connected with the power structures among the villages several years later. 

Which was exactly why Itachi had to show off his true power. 

*Konohagakure has Uchiha Itachi…* 

He had to demonstrate such overwhelming strength that the adults gathered there wouldn't so much as think of laying a hand on Konoha. That would be his first step toward a world without fighting. 

He had absolutely no intention of going easy on anyone. He was going to give this everything he had. 

"Second round, third exam. Konohagakure ninja Uchiha Itachi against Kumogakure ninja Shunmino Nemui. Start!" the supervisor shouted. 

"Haaaah." Nemui opened his mouth in a great yawn as the start signal was given. There was a smattering of whispered laughter in the venue. 

Itachi got into position. He leaned forward slightly and braced his feet. He had no weapons in either hand. He relaxed his entire body and set his awareness adrift, not concentrating on any particular spot. He was ready to react immediately, no matter what his opponent did. 

"I'm so sleepy." Nemui stood up straight, arms dangling loosely at his sides, looking as though he was not in any kind of ready position, and then started to wobble from side to side. 

"Maybe you should just go to sleep." 

Before Itachi's response had even reached his ears, Nemui's eyes were closed. His stiff body pitched forward, like a stick falling to the earth. 

Immediately before he slammed into the ground, the other boy disappeared from his field of view. Itachi took a sharp breath. He hadn't felt a hint of movement in Nemui. His action was too sudden. He hadn't seemed to be shifting his weight to either side. 

He had been slow to anticipate his opponent's movement. In that momentary opening, Nemui had gotten the jump on Itachi. 

He heard a snore from behind. 

*Thunder…* 

Itachi immediately tumbled forward in a basic somersault, and the right arm brandished by the sleeping Nemui grazed the front of his face. The arm pushed past him with incredible force, white electricity turning into countless bolts of lightning, enveloping the arm. 

*So is that the true form of lightning?* Itachi wondered absently as he landed, getting some distance from his opponent. 

As before, Nemui remained asleep. 

Standing up. 

Was it an act? Or was he really sleeping? The only way to find out was to just attack him directly. 

Itachi pulled a kunai from his breast pocket and threw it. The blade flew in a straight line toward the face of the sleeping Nemui. 

His body, rocking from side to side, shook violently, and just barely evaded the kunai. 

Was he awake? 

At any rate, the other boy's eyes were closed, so Itachi couldn't use the sharingan. 

Nemui stood upright, still sleeping, as though the attack of the previous moment hadn't happened. Just when Itachi noticed him swaying violently once more, Nemui disappeared from his field of view again. 

Faster than the eye could follow, Itachi danced up into the sky. 

Nemui's lightning-covered arm swept through the spot where Itachi had been standing. 

Itachi landed near the wall to put some space between them, and caught his enemy in his field of view. His thoughts were racing at a dizzying speed, trying somehow to analyze the phenomenon happening before his eyes. 

He couldn't use the sharingan, and all the chakra that consumed. In the formula for an overwhelming victory, the sharingan was essential. He needed to keep it aside until that time came. 

But he was confident he could unravel the phenomenon before him, using the decade of experience he had already. He didn't need to rely on the power of the sharingan. 

*Think…* 

He stared at Nemui, wobbling off in the distance. 

He had to assume that his enemy was using a type of technique that brought out the full potential of his physical abilities through the selfless state of mind that was sleep. By sleeping, he kept the ego in check, and he could carry out specialized movement through pure instinct and animal intuition alone. 

His opponent's somnolence had surprised him, so he had lost sight of the fact that this fight was basically about physical abilities. If he simply concentrated on his physical abilities, he could easily stand in the same arena as this boy. He focused all his attention on the enemy before his eyes. 

Wobbly Nemui twitched. He was coming. 

Vision, hearing, scent, all his senses. He felt Nemui with everything he had. He caught his aura tracing the wall to his right. 

*Lightning.* 

He dodged. 

*It's all right…* 

So Itachi was better physically superior, after all. Once he knew that, it was possible to deal with this. With flowing movements, he evaded the attacks launched from Nemui's selfless dream state. 

He had a flash of insight: *Why did his enemy specialize in a technique that relies on sleeping?* 

He imagined what his enemy thought about while he was asleep. If he was sealing away his self to increase his physical abilities, then there was a real possibility that he lost his memory, as well. If that were true, then Nemui didn't remember the self who fought. 

*If I can wake him up, I can win…* 

Why did Nemui need a technique like that? 

Because he was a coward. He was totally terrified of hurting anyone, of being hurt. So he escaped into sleep. If Nemui was a coward, then he would be afraid of the endless sleep, the one no one woke from. 

You had to have your eyes open in order to carefully examine a situation. 

That moment would clinch his victory. 

The back and forth of Nemui attacking and Itachi dodging gracefully lasted about ten minutes. Just when people in the arena were starting to fuss about the lack of any real developments, it happened. 

Nemui stopped abruptly, shook faintly, and lifted his closed eyelids the tiniest bit. Their eyes met. 

This was the moment Itachi had been waiting for. He poured his chakra into his eyes. 

*Sharingan.* 

It took less than a hundredth of a second to activate. Itachi was betting on that moment. He hammered into Nemui's pupils the detailed image he had drawn in his mind while dodging attacks. 

"Eee!" Nemui shrieked. Awake for a mere instant, he fell asleep once more. 

*I did it…* 

He slipped around from the rear, and slit Nemui's throat with his kunai. 

The image Itachi had imagined so faithfully, down to the very last detail, became reality, replaying in his enemy's mind. Nemui died, his throat slashed. But he was aware that he was still alive, and he opened his eyes again. But he couldn't sleep as soundly anymore. 

Itachi dodged Nemui's attacks for a few minutes, but then his opponent's eyelids fluttered once more. In an instant, his field of view was dyed red. 

This time, the image was of Itachi gouging into his stomach. 

*Repeat.* 

Each time he was killed, Nemui's sleep grew lighter. Stabbed, strangled, beaten, poisoned; Itachi killed the boy any and every way possible. 

Finally, Nemui couldn't sleep at all. If he closed his eyes, Itachi would kill him. After being subjected to brutal deaths over and over and over, he was now completely ruled by his fear of the final sleep. 

"Eee… Eee… Eee…" Chest heaving, almost hyperventilating, Nemui trembled and shook. 

The spectators had no idea what was happening. At best, only a few people there had realized Itachi was using the sharingan. 

Itachi continued to evade his attacks, while Nemui's movements gradually grew sluggish. Sweat streamed down Nemui's face; he started to cry. Itachi hadn't once used a physical attack on him. 

"H-help me," Nemui groaned in supplication. He fell to his knees and began weeping loudly. "I-I don't want to die anymore! Please, help me… Please." 

"We have a winner!" The examiner stepped in between the two of them. 

The arena fell silent. Everyone seemed to be confused by the incomprehensible situation. 

Nemui wailed and wept, half-mad, right up until he disappeared, carried out in the examiner's arms. "I don't want to die," he cried over and over, the terror in his voice reaching into every nook and cranny of the arena, sending shivers up spines. 

He would probably give up on being a ninja. That was the level of fear Itachi had put into him. 

Ninja were the main cause of fighting in this world. One fewer ninja meant that much less fighting. Itachi hadn't been wrong to break Nemui's spirit so utterly and horribly. 

The venue felt the same. Itachi had, all by himself, produced the aura of death that wafted through the entire arena. He had demonstrated an incomprehensible power, and the ninja from all lands now knew his unfathomable strength. 

*We mustn't make an enemy of this boy…* 

The more people who thought that, the less likely that Konoha would get dragged into battle. 

Using the sharingan to cast genjutsu was an effective means of making his opponent see visions. But if he used this trick the right way, he could turn it into the famed genjutsu of suggestion on a large number of people like this. 

*It's all to rid this world of fighting…* 

Itachi was grateful from the bottom of his heart to the Konoha officials who permitted him to take part in the chunin exams. He turned his back on the arena, now empty of Nemui and the examiner, and started walking. 

In the silence, he could hear someone clapping. He lifted his head, and looked in the direction of the sound. 

A face, covered on the right side with bandages. 

"Shimura Danzo," Itachi murmured, not attaching any of the honorifics he should have to the name. 

A dark, twisted smile stretched out on Danzo's lips as he looked down at Itachi. 

***

"My son has been promoted to chunin," Fugaku noted dispassionately, before the assembled brethren. Beside him, Itachi stood smartly in a Konoha jacket. 

"Congratulations." It was his father's trusted aide Yashiro who spoke. His normally narrow eyes narrowed even further as he smiled. The brethren quickly followed suit, shouting out their congratulations in unison. 

"Say a few words," his father urged. 

"Yes," Itachi replied, in a voice devoid of emotion. He bowed deeply toward the brethren. "I am prepared to continue to devote myself body and soul to the path of the ninja, for the sake of Konoha, and for the sake of the clan. I look forward to walking it alongside you all." 

Itachi's short speech was far more grown-up than his ten years would seem to allow. 

In the first exam, he had gotten a score second only to the record holder, Namikaze Minato, and he had completed the second exam in the shortest time ever on record, even though he was alone, and not in the usual three-person cell. In the third exam, his opponent in the first match had defaulted, leaving him the win, while his performance in the second bout led officials to decide there was no need for him to take part in the third match. And so, his exams ended. 

Obviously, Itachi was promoted to chunin. 

Fugaku's son was a ninja blessed with a terrifying talent. Occasionally, Fugaku almost forgot the boy was his son, and felt jealous of the genius he possessed. 

"If a ninja of Itachi's caliber joined the Military Police Force, it might perhaps improve the standing of the Uchihas within the village," the long-haired Inabi said joyfully. 

Looking down on that head of shiny black hair, Fugaku gave voice to his own thoughts. "I have no intention of letting Itachi into the Military Police Force." 

At once, a stir rose up in the room. But Itachi simply stared silently into space, giving no outward sign of surprise. 

Had his son understood? A feeling of doubt welled up in Fugaku, but he couldn't exactly question the boy here in front of everyone. Changing gears, he spoke to the brethren. "I would like to have my son go into the Anbu." 

"The… Anbu?" Yashiro spat out, a note of animosity in his voice. 

Fugaku nodded silently. 

"Our Military Police Force and the Anbu have clashed any number of times in pursuit of public order in Konoha—" Yashiro began to reproach him. 

"I know that better than anyone," he snapped. 

To maintain the peace in Konohagakure, the Konoha Military Police Force had been established with the Uchiha clan as its center. Even now, with Fugaku as the chief, the Military Police Force worked day and night for the sake of Konohagakure. In other words, the Military Police Force policed the village. 

However, there was another force that maintained the peace: the Anbu. Under the direct control of the Hokage, the Anbu was a unit composed of capable ninja, and basically always made an appearance on important missions inside, and in the vicinity of, the village. Major crimes committed in the village were taken out of the hands of the Military Police Force, and entrusted to the Anbu. 

There was no clear line between what was the jurisdiction of the Military Police Force, and what was the subject for investigation by the Anbu. At the discretion of the Hokage, the nature of the investigation would simply shift from one to the other. This led the Military Police and the Anbu to clash every so often. And each time they did, Fugaku would stand at the head of the Military Police, and negotiate with the Hokage and the Anbu. He knew better than anyone the friction between the two peacekeeping forces. 

The main building of Nakano Shrine erupted in raucous discussion. Some criticized the Anbu, others tried to guess at Fugaku's true intentions, still others noted Konoha's treatment of the Uchiha clan. The different resentments they each held in their hearts exploded into the closed space of the shrine, all at once. 

"Listen to me!" Fugaku roared. 

The main shrine fell silent, filled with an undirected bloodlust. 

"I understand how you all feel." Fugaku began speaking slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I feel the same way. Which is exactly why Itachi will join the Anbu. I intend to have my son act as a conduit between the village and the clan." 

Everyone present held their breath. 

"As you all know, members of the Anbu Foundation are secretly watching over our compound. In which case, we will also bring watchful eyes to the village." 

"And you're saying that's Itachi?" 

Fugaku nodded at Yashiro's question. 

The people of his clan stirred once more. 

"But we are all comrades of the same village," he heard a murmured voice say—and it seemed he was not the only one to hear it. Hitting in a moment of silence, the voice had reached the ears of everyone in the building. 

Its owner stood beside him. Itachi was silent now, head hanging as if to avoid their eyes, a sad look on his face. 

"What did you just say?" Yashiro asked. 

Eyes still turned to the ground, Itachi started speaking without seeming to direct his words at any one person. "The Senju clan and the people of Konoha are still our village comrades… We should stop creating this distance and doing things to fan the flames of rivalry." 

The bloodlust blanketing the room grew thicker. 

Itachi appeared to notice this, too. But regardless, he continued to speak. "One side does one thing, the other does it too. You kill your opponent, someone comes for revenge. And then a fight breaks out." 

"Are you siding with Konoha?" 

"You're looking at things from the perspective of who is your ally, so you can't see the big picture." 

"You—!" An enraged Yashiro leapt to his feet, reaching as if to grab hold of Itachi's collar. 

Fugaku stopped the hand of his trusted aide. 

"Chief!" Yashiro shouted, anger bleeding into his voice. 

"Calm yourself." 

"But!" 

"It's fine. Calm yourself." 

With an ostentatious sigh, Yashiro sat. Itachi didn't so much as twitch, but instead stayed silent, head still hanging. 

"Apologize, Itachi." 

Everyone turned angry eyes on the silent Itachi. 

"I understand what you're trying to say," Fugaku said. "But ideals and reality are two different things. What you're saying is at best an ideal. Fighting and war are indeed linked with hatred. But you are too young to understand the true predicament of those who are persecuted. If you could see what a difficult position the Uchiha clan has been driven to since the founding of the village, you wouldn't speak so lightly, or impulsively." 

"I'm a member of the Uchiha clan, too. I know about the predicament of the clan." 

"Then apologize!" Yashiro shouted. 

With a sad look in his eyes, Itachi slowly turned his gaze on Yashiro. "I'm very sorry," he said in a voice that nearly disappeared. 

Fugaku heard the cry of pain in his son's heart. He understood, almost agonizingly well, Itachi's desire to avoid fighting. But he understood to an equal extent the dissatisfaction of their brethren. Or rather, Fugaku himself had had trying experiences any number of times, in the life he had lived thus far as a Konoha ninja. 

Simply because he was Uchiha, he had been excluded from the village center. The dreams he had in his youth had been cruelly shattered, for the sole reason that he was of the Uchiha clan. 

*Hokage…* 

A fleeting desire that would never be achieved. 

"We'll talk about this at home," he said, pitching his voice so that only his son could hear him. 

He got no reply. 

"Master Itachi!" The voice was shrill enough to pierce his eardrums. 

Itachi turned around. Konoha was full of people coming and going in the evening. He was on his way home from making an appearance at the Hokage Residence to take care of procedures for his chunin promotion. 

Standing before him was a girl he had seen before. Older than he was. The girl who had been his teammate until six months earlier. 

"Himuka. Suzukaze Himuka," the girl told him her name as if reading the confused Itachi's mind. That was the first Itachi had ever heard of the surname Suzukaze. "Congratulations on your promotion." 

"Thanks." 

Himuka was older than he was. But as a ninja, Itachi was more experienced. Given his strange position, he was at a loss for what sort of words to use. Should he speak more politely? Or should he talk informally? After a minute of indecision, he had landed on "Thanks." 

Not noticing this indecision on his part, Himuka looked at him with shining eyes. "I really admire you so much for getting such incredible results in the chunin exams! I'm proud that we worked on the same team together, even if it was only for a little while." 

He didn't know how to respond. He wasn't fighting so people would praise him, or be proud of him. "Are you still on the team with that quiet guy?" 

"You mean Yoji, right?" That was his name. "Around the same time as it was decided you'd be taking the chunin exams, Yoji was transferred somewhere else, and I haven't seen him since." 

"Transferred?" 

"It was pretty sudden. He didn't even say goodbye." 

Something felt weird about this. What kind of transfer happened so suddenly that you couldn't even say goodbye? There was only one thing he could think of. 

The Anbu.

But Yoji had only just been made a genin. And Itachi couldn't remember him ever doing anything vaguely amazing when they went

But Yoji had only just been made a genin. And Itachi couldn't remember him ever doing anything vaguely amazing when they went on missions together. 

"I'm working hard now, with Master Yuki and two new teammates!" Himuka recounted in a bright tone. 

As he looked at her, Itachi carved the name Yoji into one corner of his heart. 

---

"Lately, every time you come over, you end up talking about Uchiha Itachi," the Hokage said, sitting in his chair and puffing on his pipe. 

Danzo stood at attention, watching him. He had advised Hiruzen before that a ninja shouldn't smoke, given that the scent of tobacco would linger on him. Hiruzen had laughed and replied that the Hokage didn't go on secret missions, so it was fine. 

Danzo hadn't been talking about the present. He was talking about being prepared. Hokage or genin, a ninja must never forget that at any given moment, in any given place, they were at war. If they needed to not be noticed by an enemy, the scent of the smoke hanging around Hiruzen would give them away. 

Nothing was absolute in this world. 

Unaware of what Danzo was thinking, Hiruzen emptied the ashes from his pipe into a dish on the desk, grabbed a pinch of tobacco from the container to one side, and put a flame to the bowl of the pipe. Purple smoke rose up and rolled out the window, disappearing on the wind, and piercing Danzo's nose. 

Even as he winced at the unpleasant smell, his expression did not change in the slightest. 

Hiruzen was an "acquaintance" from his genin days. Danzo had never once used the word "friend." Friendship was the product of feelings of collusion between human beings. People used the word "friend" for the wretched idea of leaning on another person. Danzo had never wanted to lean on someone or be leaned on himself. So he never used soft words like "friend." 

Exhaling smoke, Hiruzen turned his eyes on Danzo. "Just as you said, it's been five months since he was promoted to chunin. And Itachi has carried out his missions almost too perfectly. Even on missions using genin, he has such a grasp on each of their areas of specialization and gives such impeccable orders, that it's hard to believe he's only eleven. The reports he sends in, too, are very nicely in order, strictly following the format." 

"So those two years as a genin were a loss to both Itachi and to the village, hm?" 

"Better to think of it as necessary experience." Hiruzen always considered things in a positive light. This way of his was likely what earned him his popularity among the ninjas out in the light. However, ninjas were essentially creatures of the dark. Danzo always thought it was funny that they set up the Anbu as if they could keep the light and the dark separate. 

"Speaking of …" Hiruzen dumped ashes into the dish, and sighed. Then he sat up a little straighter in his chair. "Lately, long hours of desk work tire me out. Maybe I'm just old." 

"That's your job." 

"Not a single word of sympathy for me?" 

"Tell me the story you were about to start." 

Snorting a little at Danzo's unapproachable manner, Hiruzen opened his mouth. "Uchiha Fugaku made an interesting proposal." 

Fugaku … The sour face of the head of the Military Police Force popped up in Danzo's mind. 

"He sounded out the idea of Itachi joining the Anbu." 

The instant he heard this, Danzo's heart leaped up, and nearly did a little dance. He was not foolish enough to allow this glee onto his face, however. He simply replied, "I see," and waited for Hiruzen to continue. 

"Fugaku says that Itachi likely won't be able to use his abilities to the fullest in the Military Police Force. He's not looking at him as his son, but from an objective perspective: he thinks Itachi possesses unparalleled talents as a ninja. He says it's his duty as a father to guide his son to a place where he can fully use that genius. And so he came to me about the possibility of the boy joining the Anbu." 

Darkness in the depths of his eyes, Hiruzen turned a questioning gaze on Danzo, but he hadn't gotten to the end of the story. He wrapped up by stating his own opinion. "Homura and Koharu are opposed. They say it's preposterous to have an Uchiha in the Anbu, given its status as a special unit under the direct control of the Hokage. They asked me if I'd forgotten about how the Second Hokage established the Military Police Force." 

"The Military Police Force was created to drive the Uchiha clan away from the central functions of the village." 

"Mm." Sighing, Hiruzen packed tobacco into his pipe for the third time. 

"Maybe you could stop while we are discussing important business, at least." 

Like a child scolded by his father, Hiruzen shrugged his shoulders slightly in dissatisfaction, before setting the pipe down on his desk. "They went so far as to bring up your name, you know. Even if they did eventually agree to the boy being in the Anbu, what would you say, given your dislike of the Uchiha line? Nothing but pushback from those two." 

Homura and Koharu, of the Konoha Council. They were also "acquaintances" of his since childhood, old people with no great talent who had not stood out in any way during the harder times of the fierce Great War, when so many of their comrades died. They had managed to live such long lives through luck alone. But they had the self-awareness at least to know that they should gratefully accept the honorary positions on the Council. They didn't have the power to push their own opinions through without leaning on someone with a bigger, more authoritative, voice. 

"So you're also—" 

"Can't we just let him in, then?" 

Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly, a note of suspicion rising up in them. Naturally, he also thought Danzo would be opposed. 

But Danzo was not opposed in the slightest. Quite the contrary. Fugaku's proposal was a godsend. Right from the start, he had planned for Itachi to join the Anbu, whatever he had to do to make it happen. 

Uchiha Itachi was an essential element in fulfilling Danzo's ambitions. So much so, that Danzo feared that Fugaku would harden in suspicion when he recommended the Anbu. The fact that the proposal had come from that side was nothing other than a windfall. 

"I know you're partial to Itachi, but I thought you would've shown some disapproval of putting him in the Anbu." Hiruzen didn't try to hide the probing look in his eyes. 

Danzo was calm in the face of the other's man suspicion. "Itachi is the sort of ninja you see maybe once every hundred years. Even if he is an Uchiha, we cannot afford to not take advantage of everything he has to offer the village." 

"That answer's very you." The third Hokage nodded deeply as if convincing himself. "If you approve, then I don't have any objection to Itachi joining the Anbu, either. To eliminate this rivalry between the village and the Uchihas, we need to first win over the hearts of the young people. Bringing Itachi into the center of village life should be a good opportunity for that." 

Danzo would never agree with Hiruzen's optimistic thinking. But he was grateful that the Hokage approved of Itachi's entry into the Anbu, whatever his reason. 

"But Itachi's only eleven. We need to see that he's ready for the Anbu." 

"A mission to join the Anbu, hm?" 

"Exactly." 

"Would you leave that to me?" 

Break time … 

Itachi coolly watched the version of himself that drifted up to the surface when he was relaxed. Izumi walked alongside him, laughing. 

Five months since he became a chunin. 

Concerned about Itachi never taking a proper day off, the village ordered him to take a longish break of a week. They were going to force him to rest. His father nodded at this order, noting that the timing was right, and told him to also take a break from training with Shisui that week. 

Given that Itachi had no idea what to do with his time other than missions and training, he couldn't stop feeling like he had suddenly been set adrift in a calm sea. He tried to sleep all day, but his body used to missions, woke him up before the crows started cawing in the morning. Having no other choice, he was forced to kill time playing with six-year-old Sasuke, and helping him with his training before he started at the academy. 

Sasuke's gotten big … 

Just yesterday he had been crawling around babbling, but now he could speak like a proper person. He followed Itachi everywhere, calling his name constantly, and telling his big brother all about himself. He was beyond delighted to have Itachi there spending time with him, given that the older boy was normally never at home. 

After Itachi had spent three days watching over Sasuke like this, his father told him to go out and talk with someone his own age. "You're tired. Take some time and enjoy this vacation. If you do, you'll stop saying things like that." 

Things like that … 

Fugaku meant the incident at Nakano Shrine. 

Itachi still regretted giving voice to his true feelings when his brethren had been shouting about how they hated the village. He could have talked until he was blue in the face, but people carried away by passion like that had no ears to listen with. Speech alone was pointless. 

But he meant what he had said then. Not a word of it had been a lie. The more a person hated, the more the object of their hatred hated them back. And this inevitably led to fighting. He understood his clan's distress, but what exactly would come of holding hatred in their hearts? 

His father crushed Itachi's complicated thoughts with one word: "tired." 

"Hey, are you listening to me?" The high-pitched voice broke into his thoughts and echoed in his brain. 

Itachi blinked for a moment, before turning in the direction of the voice. Izumi was walking beside him, a bounce in her step. Her eyes caught his, and didn't release them. 

"You should watch where you're going, you know," he remarked. 

"Uh-huh." Her voice also had a bounce in it. "You wanna take a break over there?" She pointed at a tea shop ahead of them. 

They had left the clan compound, and come into the center of the village. Itachi wasn't worried about what people would think seeing them together like this. He was taking a walk with a friend. There was nothing else to it. 

"Two, please!" Izumi called out, and sat down on a long bench in front of the shop, where a scarlet carpet was laid out. Itachi sat beside her. 

"Comin'!" He heard a familiar voice from inside the shop. "Oh! If it ain't Itachi!" The accented voice was that of an old teammate. 

"Shinko." 

"Been ages, hm?" Shinko had been with him on Team Two, the team he had first been assigned to after becoming a genin. He was told that confronted with the reality of the world of the ninja, she had given up her genin certification. "I'm workin' here now." 

"So it seems." 

Izumi hesitantly watched Itachi talking so familiarly with the older Shinko. 

"So? Yer girlfriend?" Shinko asked, eyes glittering as she set two cups of tea down on the bench. 

"Friend." 

"Oh! I bet she's all disappointed now!" Shinko teased, and Izumi jumped up, surprised. The older girl laughed, and turned her eyes back to Itachi. 

"Heard you made chunin. Nice one." 

"Thanks," he said. 

Izumi sat quietly, her face turned to the ground. 

"Knew I chose right when I quit the ninja." Shinko hugged the tray she had brought the tea onto her chest. "There was all that with Tenma dyin'. But halfa why I quit the ninja was cos of you." 

"Me?" 

"Seein' a genius like you up close, I saw the limits of my own talents so clear, I hated it. An' then I got sad, y'know? Started wonderin' if I should really keep at it and all. So the very next day, I went and quit it." She laughed loudly and delightfully, before he heard a voice calling her from inside the shop. "Right, then. Can't be lazing about here. I'll be back when you've got your order sorted." She disappeared into the shop. 

"You really are amazing, huh, Itachi," Izumi murmured, head still hanging, after watching Shinko leave. "I don't have the kind of talent that would make anyone just give up on being a ninja." 

"But you're going to graduate this year, right?" 

She was eleven, so her graduation was about a year early. It wasn't as if she didn't have talent herself. 

"That doesn't count as talent, you know," Izumi noted sadly; as he watched her, Itachi felt a faint joy. 

Half of the reason Shinko quit is me … 

That meant that his power had removed a ninja from the world. One fewer ninja meant one less fight. Shinko's confession was proof, albeit meager, that he was not headed down the wrong path. 

"I wanted to ask you something," he said. 

Izumi lifted her head and looked at him, a thin veil of tears in her eyes. 

"Why do you want to be a ninja?" 

"What?" 

"Being a ninja means actual battle. Which means you'll have to deal with so many awful, terrible things all the time. A girl like you shouldn't have to go through that." 

"But I mean, my dad's a ninja, so …" 

"Is that the only reason?" 

"It's not just that," Izumi replied, almost a declaration. He caught a glimpse of anger in the black eyes beneath her long lashes. He didn't know what it meant. "Walking down the same path as the person you like...maybe I shouldn't want that." 

She stood up. "See you." When she looked back to smile at him, tears were spilling out of her eyes. She turned around, and didn't look back again. 

"What's this? Made yer girl cry?" Shinko teased, having come to stand behind him at some point. 

"If you can hide your aura that well, maybe you should become a ninja again?" 

"No, thanks!" 

---

"Fugaku already told you, then." 

Itachi listened expressionlessly as Danzo spoke, taking sidelong glances at the boy. They were in the living room of the man, the leader of an organization separate from the Hokage's Anbu. 

The Foundation … 

The organization Danzo ruled over was, at least in name, affiliated with the Anbu, but it had a different command structure. The Foundation was an elite squad that recruited the finest in the village when they were still children, and faithfully carried out its work in the shadows, to maintain the peace from the darkness in the village. 

Itachi himself had only learned all this after Danzo summoned him here. The majority of people in the village weren't even aware of the existence of The Foundation. Danzo had been Hiruzen's right-hand man since they were young, and most people thought of him as something like an administrative official, who managed the surface Anbu. 

Danzo's rooms were in the depths of the building at the foot of the mountain with the Hokage Monument—the faces of previous Hokage—carved into it, located due north of the village. On the surface, the building was for the storage of documents and materials related to administration. Most people normally never went anywhere near it. The back gates, where the members of the Anbu slipped out of the village on missions, were nearby. 

It was a shadowed place, no light hitting it, even at midday. And this particular room was in the center of this dark place, so dark that although it was past noon, large candles burned in the four corners. In the flickering flames, Danzo appeared bewitchingly otherworldly, a statue of the Buddha in the middle of the night. A more cowardly person would no doubt cry and cower at just standing here like this. 

"So I assume you have also agreed to join the Anbu." 

"Yes," Itachi replied, briefly. 

The corners of Danzo's mouth turned up the slightest bit. His eye, so narrow it was nothing more than a line in his face, was focused intently on Itachi. His gaze seemed to catch every breath, every tremor of every hair; it was so sharp, it filled Itachi with horror. The boy almost felt like he was on the battlefield with an enemy. 

"There's resistance from above at having an Uchiha in the Anbu." 

Even here, that black darkness twisted up around Itachi. The enmity of his father and the others at the clan meeting. The prejudice and discrimination of the village ninja toward the Uchihas. As long as he stayed in Konoha, he would be shrouded in darkness. 

Which is exactly why … 

It had to be the Anbu. Not because of his father's order. This was what Itachi himself wanted. 

The Anbu was an elite squad that only accepted select ninja from the village. If he distinguished himself there, the idea of building an unshakeable position for himself as a pillar of the village moved out of the realm of dreams, and into reality. 

To change this village, he would have to become important. If he became Hokage, he would be able to change everything. The first Hokage of the Uchiha clan … 

Bit by bit, he was starting to see clear signposts on the path he must walk in order to remove war from this world. First, he would join the Anbu. He would distinguish himself there, and establish himself as a central figure in the village. After that, Hokage. He would become Hokage, and get rid the village's prejudice toward the Uchihas. 

And Itachi's dreams didn't stop there. Once he was Hokage, he would be able to meet regularly with people of influence from other places. If he worked together with ninja from other villages, he should be able to eliminate ninja rivalry. Ninja would disappear from the world. Once there were no more ninja, the daimyos would lose their means of making war. What lay beyond that was a world without war or fighting. 

For Itachi's dreams, the Anbu, and becoming Hokage, were nothing more than checkpoints. 

First, step number one: join the Anbu. He had no time for the opposition of the village officials or the members of the Anbu. He intended to overcome all resistance. 

"An achievement is required to show us whether or not you are suitable for the Anbu." 

"Do you mean a mission?" 

"Precisely." Danzo didn't move a muscle, frozen like a strange doll. 

Itachi had also not moved. He felt like if he so much as twitched, Danzo would see right through to his true intentions. 

A silent battle was unfolding between them. 

"I have been put in charge of giving you that mission." Danzo's being in charge meant that it would be a dark mission, where the light of the sun did not reach. 

Itachi had long been long prepared for just such an eventuality, and simply stared resolutely at Danzo. 

He cut to the heart of the matter. "There is a man in the Anbu, age thirty-four. From your perspective, he is already an old ninja, I suppose," Danzo said, in a monotone, perhaps sarcastic or joking. 

Itachi didn't bother to react. 

After a period of flowing silence, Danzo started speaking once more. "Although not as great as your own, many have seen great talent in him, from the time he was a child. This man came up the ranks through genin and chunin without incident, and joined the Anbu at the same time as he was promoted to jonin. But—" he cut himself off, and the flames in the four corners flickered together. "Recently, we learned he has been colluding with Kirigakure." 

A traitor … The general framework of the mission coalesced in Itachi's mind. 

"Only a very few people in the village know of the man's collusion." 

"So the one to take care of him is me—" 

"I'm not finished." The cold voice shot through Itachi. "Those who belong to the Anbu do their utmost to keep the people of the village from learning of their affiliation. On the surface, this man lives an average life as a jonin. He has a wife and two children, ages three and one." 

What is Danzo trying to plant inside me? Itachi asked in his heart. Was he trying to test the boy somehow, by telling him that he had to kill someone with a family? If this speech was motivated by a suspicion that Itachi would be carried away by emotion, and hesitate to fulfill his mission, Danzo was seriously mistaken. 

"Other than the fact that he was linked to Kirigakure, this man is capable, a great ninja, trusted by the Hokage himself." Danzo spat out the words "great ninja" too theatrically; they had no truth to them. Itachi knew that Danzo was being sarcastic. He had had several times more experience that the average eleven-year-old child, and understood these subtleties of emotion. 

"But if we permit a traitor, the village will never be strong," Danzo continued. 

"I understand," Itachi said, with a hint of irritation at Danzo's circuitous way of speaking. And then, as soon as the words were out, he regretted his own imprudence. Danzo had probably noticed that Itachi was annoyed, and also that he regretted it. Despite knowing the man had seen through him like this, Itachi didn't let it show on his face. He felt, to an unpleasant degree, the unfathomable darkness of this man who walked in the shadows of Konoha. 

"For someone as insightful as you, this tale is quite roundabout. Forgive me." 

"Not at all." 

"But it is all for the singular purpose of having you know this man." 

Itachi swallowed the question of why he had to know the man. 

"Kill this man," Danzo instructed. 

"Understood," Itachi replied, immediately. Family or no, gifted ninja or not, a traitor was a traitor. This was his mission. Whether he wanted it or not. 

Danzo stood up. "It is likely obvious at this point, but I am convinced that the place you belong is the Anbu. You are permitted one comrade on this mission. I leave the selection of that person to you. Take whoever you trust the most." He went around the desk in front of him, and leisurely approached Itachi. "Peace is actually a troublesome beast," he remarked, looking down at the boy's adult face and holding Itachi's gaze. "It is hard to produce, but maintaining it is next to impossible." 

Itachi felt like Danzo was a tiny bit pleased with himself. 

"People eat food. While one person is finishing that day's supper, another suffering somewhere, with nothing to eat. When one person gets something, someone somewhere loses something. Bit by bit, these trivial inequalities warp the days of rest." 

The faces of the Uchiha clan gathered at Nakano Shrine popped up in the back of Itachi's mind. He clenched his teeth behind closed lips, unwilling to have the slightest change in his heart be noticed. 

"There are always people suffering in the shadows of this fiction called peace. People burdened with darkness. Don't you think we should actually hold in contempt those who forget this fact, and simply gorge themselves on peace?" 

A smell that made him want to vomit penetrated his nostrils. When he realized that it was Danzo's breath, Itachi silently endured it. 

"Unless there is someone, someone totally free of emotion, to cut away the fraying bits on the edges of peace, this world will not see even a moment of tranquility." In other words, in this village, the "someone" shouldering this responsibility were the Anbu and The Foundation. "Previously, I said you were the bearer of bad luck." 

Itachi remembered. The day of his graduation from the academy. 

"Your life will be ever shadowed by chaos. That's why you need to become strong enough to cut out the root of that chaos yourself." 

"And you're saying the place where I can obtain that strength is the Anbu?" 

The face covered in bandages on the right side nodded firmly. "They say a wise man only needs a word, but you only need half a word—no, the first letter. But that cleverness will make you suffer." 

--- 

"I'll suffer …"

"Stop trying to hide yourself in front of me," Danzo said, placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "The desire for true peace, wanting a world without war, is making you suffer."

"How did you—"

"I know everything about you." Danzo opened his eye wide, revealing a darkness so deep it threatened to suck Itachi in. "The one who can bring about true peace is one who has the deepest darkness inside him. I believe you can become that person." His wicked lips stretched out in a smile. "Come to me, Uchiha Itachi."

Before Itachi had the time to even think, his instincts were turning his face away, as if trying to whisk him away from the darkness and its mysterious appeal.

"Assassination, huh," Shisui murmured, as if to confirm the story Itachi had just told him.

They were facing each other on top of the cliff that only they knew about, but Shisui made no move to look Itachi in the eye. He kept his gaze focused on the ground to one side, as he quietly thought the situation over.

"When he told me to take someone I trusted, I thought of you," Itachi said.

"Kohinata Mukai, he's a pretty decent ninja," Shisui of the Body Flicker noted, having himself grown up into a leading ninja in Konoha, before falling into thought again.

"I don't have any right to ask this of you, given that you're not connected with the Anbu in any way. But I don't know anyone in the Anbu, and there's no one else I can trust with a mission like this."

"That's 'cause you're bad with people," Shisui said, with a grin.

Kohinata Mukai was the name of the man Danzo had ordered assassinated. His family was distantly related to the Hyuga clan, but they had branched off several generations earlier, so they didn't have the Byakugan kekkei genkai.

"I can't believe he's secretly connected with Kirigakure."

"What's he like?" Itachi asked.

"He might be Anbu, but he's also a sharp jonin. He does regular missions, and the Hokage really trusts him. He was definitely following his orders as an Anbu when you were guarding the daimyo."

So that meant Mukai had been there when they were attacked by the man in the mask. Itachi knew that other than Hatake Kakashi, the Anbu had been caught in the masked man's genjutsu. And Mukai had been one of them.

"Do you know anything about him being susceptible to genjutsu?"

"It's not like we go around telling each other our weaknesses, you know."

Naturally. Itachi regretted asking such a stupid question.

"But I do know what he's good at." Shisui lifted his face and looked at Itachi. The light in his friend's eyes dispelled the shadow of unrest. From long years of opening up to each other, Itachi knew that this was proof of his friend's resolve. "Mukai's good at physical techniques."

Itachi felt like that basically made sense. If you followed Mukai's bloodline back, you reached the Hyuga clan, one of the most distinguished families in Konohagakure. If you traced the origins of the Hyuga, you arrived at the founder of the ninja, the Sage of the Six Paths. And the Byakugan kekkei genkai was a visual jutsu on par with the Uchiha sharingan. The Hyuga could see the path of chakra circulating in the body and seal chakra by severing the pathway in someone who had become an enemy. Their vision was also said to reach out in all directions, with no blind spots.

Once the pathway was sealed, the Hyuga clan used physical techniques. Their physical jutsu, known as Gentle Fist, aligned the flow of the user's chakra with the chakra extant in all living creatures, allowing the user to deliver a series of blows based on circular defensive movements, destroying anything inside their opponent's body, such as internal organs. Gentle Fist was a secret of the Hyuga clan, but given that they were a branch family, it was no stretch to imagine that at least some knowledge of it had been passed down to the Kohinatas.

"He uses Gentle Fist?" Itachi asked.

Shisui nodded.

"So as long as we don't get close, we have the advantage."

"Mukai's pretty skilled. I can't imagine he'd let you fight him from a distance." It seemed that the hypothetical battle with Mukai was already happening inside Shisui's head.

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course." Shisui bumped his fist up against Itachi's chest. "You got no one else you can trust, right?"

"Yeah."

"You join the Anbu, and you'll be closer to the center of the village. And if you do that, you'll be invaluable for our clan."

Itachi thought about just what those words meant.

He and Shisui were driven by the same thing, and they didn't begrudge their own lives if it meant the peace of the clan. With each of the secret monthly meetings at Nakano Shrine, the atmosphere grew progressively worse. Both boys believed that resentment toward the village was already approaching the limit. They had to avoid an explosion, no matter what. This was their shared understanding.

If the clan rose up, the village would be dragged into battle. The last Great War, the attack of the Nine-Tails; the village had overcome both crises, and was finally starting to build a real peace. If the Uchiha clan were to start something now, the village would once more be shrouded in sadness and death.

The lone Anbu among the Uchiha clan … It was just as Shisui said: Itachi would become invaluable to the clan.

"You becoming Anbu's actually a dream for me, too."

"A dream?"

"That the Uchihas and the village would become brethren in the true sense. And for that, I think we need a ninja in the clan who has a deep connection with the central figures of the village. Someone who can tell it like it is, talk about the clan's suffering and hopes. If you join the Anbu, you'll be able to do that. And since you want peace for the clan more than anyone, I know you'll actually do it for us."

Itachi lifted his chin up and down slightly.

Shisui brightened abruptly. "I'll be a jonin of the village, you'll be Anbu, neither of us'll be in the Military Police. We'll be able to look at the clan objectively."

"My father and the others are closed up in their own shell. They can't see the world outside anymore."

"Itachi," Shisui said his friend's name like he was spitting out the suffering in his own heart. "The people in our clan are locked away in their own little world. They don't even try to take a look outside. They say it's the village's fault that our fate doesn't change, and their grudge just grows. They just blame everything on the village, the Hokage, the Senju clan. They never look at their weak spots. But …" He opened his eyes and looked at Itachi. "You're different."

Itachi held his breath.

"You've always opened up your own road with your own power. You graduated from the academy in a year, you made it through the chunin exams all by yourself, and now you're poised to join the Anbu. You've never blamed your fate on your clan, and given up."

Was that really how it was? Itachi didn't know. He felt like he had simply been racing intently down the path he should be on. And that feeling wasn't going to change.

"I mean, you could even be the Hokage." Shisui grinned. "I believe that you'll be the one to break through the hostilities between the village and the clan, as the first Uchiha Hokage."

Itachi's heart beat faster.

The dream of being Hokage …

He had never told anyone. It was a dream he hadn't even spoken of to his one and only friend, Shisui. He hadn't told anyone, because he was afraid it would vanish in a cloud of smoke if he said it out loud.

That dream became words in Shisui's mouth, and reached his own ears. Surprise and joy surged through him.

"I'll always be your best friend."

"Shisui …"

"I can hardly wait to see how big you get from now on."

Itachi desperately tried to hold back the hot thing that welled up from the depths of his heart. He had never once cried before someone else in his life. He believed a ninja should never expose their own emotions.

No …

He had cried in front of someone, just once. When he was four. That time when his father brought him to the battlefield, once the fighting was finished. When he saw the mountains of abandoned bodies in the heavy rain, his tears had flowed freely. He still remembered desperately trying to keep himself from shaking so his father wouldn't notice.

Itachi hadn't changed since then. Fighting was something to be avoided at all costs. War must never happen again. That moment when he was four, he had decided this in his heart, as he cried in the pounding rain.

To that end, the Anbu.

To that end, Hokage.

"Let's do it, Itachi." His faithful friend grinned.

Itachi nodded firmly, full of gratitude.

In the silent woods, his heart pounded hard enough that it nearly leapt out of his chest. Feeling the lively aura of his growing baby brother on his skin, Itachi hid in the shadow of a large tree, and grinned to himself.

Hide and seek …

For Itachi, it was a game, but for Sasuke, it was a serious contest.

"Where did you go, Itachi?" Sasuke muttered to himself, and his older brother watched, charmed.

Itachi knew it was childish, but he pushed his ninjutsu to the limits to completely kill his aura. For a child who had only just turned six, there would have been no way to find him.

His little brother would be entering the academy in a few days, and he was full of enthusiasm. He insisted that he wanted to get even the tiniest bit stronger as a ninja before he started school. Itachi hadn't even been given the chance to take his shoes off after his mission was over, before Sasuke was dragging him into the grove surrounding Nakano Shrine.

His little brother was so adorably full of hope, Itachi could hardly stand it. He surprised himself at how much he cared for Sasuke. Itachi had always been different from other children. The age of four or five, the age he had been when Sasuke was born, was a time to be coddled by mother and father. But that was when Itachi had become aware of walking forward down his own path. He would become a powerful ninja, in order to create a world without fighting. He had thought about what was needed to do that, and put it into practice. So when his brother was born, he hadn't felt in any way that his parents were being stolen away from him. He had simply been delighted that there was now someone who shared his blood. And that feeling gradually grew greater, as Sasuke grew up.

When Itachi looked at his brother, at the way the younger boy openly adored and trusted him, he felt like he had to live up to Sasuke's expectations. He felt like he wanted to be the self who would not shame Sasuke. These feelings became the power to propel himself forward. Sasuke gave him a motivation that he certainly couldn't have managed alone. He had nothing but gratitude for his brother.

"Itachi!" Sasuke called out, irritation in his voice. He couldn't find any trace of his big brother, so he was starting to get mad.

"No choice, I guess," Itachi muttered to himself and released just a little chakra.

"Ngh!" Sasuke, who had been whirling around in all directions, froze, and a single large shudder ran through his body. He had felt his brother's aura.

The faint smile on Itachi's lips grew more distinct.

It had been a minute flicker of chakra, the sort that an ordinary child definitely wouldn't have caught. But Sasuke had clearly sensed it. His talent as a ninja was unquestionable.

"I'm here, Sasuke," he said to himself once more.

Footfalls came straight at him. As they got closer, the pace changed to something more like bouncing. His brother's small feet stepped on the dry leaves as he advanced, and yet, his feet didn't make a sound. He could join the academy at that moment, and he could probably beat the older students.

"Found you!" Sasuke cried, shooting a finger out at the crouching Itachi. His little brother looked down at him, eyes glittering brightly with dreams and hope.

"Not quite," Itachi said, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Shadow Clone.

The real Itachi was above Sasuke's head.

"Aah! No fair!" his brother cried out naively, and abruptly lifted his face.

"Ah!" Sasuke caught sight of his brother, looking down on him from a thick branch.

"Hee hee!" Itachi unconsciously erupted in laughter upon seeing the wild look on Sasuke's face as he stared up at the sky, tilting his head so far back, it seemed like his neck would break. Although Itachi rarely let his feelings show in front of other people, he was able to naturally express what was in his heart with his brother. It was strange.

"Itachi," Sasuke murmured, dumbfounded, the energetic tone from earlier vanishing into the ether.

"So you found me, huh?" Still smiling, Itachi nimbly dropped down from the branch to stand in front of his brother, whose mouth still hung open.

Sasuke was supposed to find his brother through a deliberate act, but he had unintentionally stumbled upon his goal, and he passed through a certain regret to stand in a state of stupefaction. "N-no fair using Shadow Clones," he reproached Itachi with pursed lips, coming back to himself to a certain degree.

Smiling from ear to ear, Itachi looked down at his little brother. He noted fondly how big Sasuke had gotten. Until very recently, he had only reached up to Itachi's knees, but now his head soared up past Itachi's waist. "Nice work noticing my chakra."

"Well, I am starting at the academy soon. Only natural I can do that much, at least." Sasuke didn't realize that the chakra he had sensed was so faint that the average six-year-old wouldn't have been able to feel it.

"So it's only natural, huh?"

"Yeah."

Itachi deliberately didn't praise him. Because it wasn't a bad thing to think that being able to do that was only natural.

When people thought they were special, they got lazy. Thinking that what you could do was only natural meant knowing your own insufficiencies. You still couldn't do everything, so you weren't particularly admiring of what you could already do. So you didn't think you were special. People who thought like this would always keep pushing ahead. He didn't want to stop Sasuke's uncompromising path forward by praising him.

Abruptly, he remembered what Shisui had said: "You've never blamed your fate on your clan, and given up." He didn't want Sasuke to give up either. He didn't want Sasuke to be the kind of man who is held prisoner by the obligations toward, and dark feelings of, their clan, the kind who refuses to march forward toward his own fate.

He was sure Sasuke would be all right. His little brother had an innocence that he didn't. He didn't have the bad luck Danzo spoke of, either. Itachi believed that Sasuke would surpass him. And he didn't mind being overtaken by his little brother.

He didn't let it show on his face, but Itachi was more of a sore loser than most. He couldn't have become the sort of ninja that ends up joining the Anbu at age eleven if he wasn't. But sore loser that he was, he still thought it would be all right to lose, if it was to his brother. He himself didn't understand the nature of this feeling. He didn't know why he thought like that. But there was no doubt, at least, of the fact that he hoped for this in his heart of hearts.

"We should be getting back."

"What? Come on, hide one more time." But Sasuke shuffled forward when Itachi beckoned him.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." Itachi poked his brother in the forehead.

"Ow!"

This whole thing, from the beckoning hand to the poke in the forehead, was something they'd done any number of times before. But each time, Sasuke obediently approached, and took the finger to the forehead. This naiveté in his brother soothed his own heart.

Itachi could see a glimpse of Sasuke's growth in his reaction to being poked in the forehead. The first time he had done it, Sasuke was about three years old. He hadn't been speaking in sentences yet, but he kept bugging Itachi for "up, up," so Itachi poked him in the forehead, and made him give it up. At that time, Sasuke clutched his forehead and started wailing. Itachi hadn't intended to put much force in the prodding finger, but it had hurt his three-year-old brother immensely. But now he endured it with a little scowl. It was only natural, of course, but Itachi felt reassured at this growth, Sasuke getting used to stimulus from the outside world.

"Let's go, Sasuke."

Their shadows stood side by side in the evening sun, Sasuke's never leaving Itachi's side as if trying to catch up with the taller boy.

His feet touched the branch and leapt off again, moving to the next tree he had targeted. Repeat.

Itachi was in flight.

Around him were three ninja, teammates he was working with for the first time. Itachi knew only one of them. Kohinata Mukai, the target of Danzo's assassination order.

One member of the mixed jonin/chunin team led by Mukai had been injured on a day off, so there was suddenly an opening on the mission, and Itachi had been hurriedly brought in to help out.

Itachi saw Danzo's shadow behind the chain of events that led to the chunin's injury, and his own selection. He could only assume that Danzo had used one of his own men to injure the chunin, and then intentionally had Itachi take his place. There was no other way the team his assassination target led would suddenly have a vacancy, and he himself would be brought in to fill it. Without a doubt, this was a silent message from Danzo to carefully study Mukai's skills, as they carried out the mission together.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry," the chunin to Itachi's immediate right said to Mukai's back, flying in front of him.

"Forget it," Mukai replied briefly, and moved indifferently through the trees.

If they went just a little farther, they would come out in the plains. Once they got that far, the border was dead ahead. The number of their pursuers would likely drop abruptly. Rather than chatting pointlessly, their first priority at that moment was to get to that place. Mukai's reaction was the right one.

It was supposed to be a simple infiltration mission.

The Great War was over, and the villages were maintaining friendly relations. But from time to time, that exchange was excessive, to the point of impropriety.

Konoha had gotten a hold of the information that Sunagakure and Kirigakure were secretly trying to form a military alliance. In the event that Suna and Kiri went to war with the other villages, whatever the reason, they would be allies. In this time of peace, they would agree on the same hypothetical enemy, and cooperate to bring about the fall of the target village.

A secret agreement, with the condition of war.