After running to the clan compound, Sasuke stopped, panting. He looked around, but there was nothing but darkness in every direction.
The compound was exceptionally quiet—quiet to the point of being eerie. Sasuke's heart trembled. Never before had the Uchiha compound felt so cold and unfamiliar to him.
Without time to think, he sprinted toward home. Five minutes later, he arrived. It was pitch-black, and there was not even the sound of insects in the courtyard. The silence was deathly.
He cautiously walked forward. The living room was dark. After looking around, he headed toward his parents' room. He had to check on them. Only then could he feel at ease.
He did not know where his anxiety came from. Nothing had happened on the way here, and the compound was merely quieter than usual. It might even have been his imagination. But why could his racing heart not stop?
The wooden door was gently pushed open. In the next instant, his pupils suddenly contracted. The sight before him was one he would never forget for the rest of his life, one that would become his most terrifying nightmare through countless days and nights to come.
Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto lay on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood staining the wooden boards. The two lay peacefully within it.
Uchiha Itachi, dressed in shinobi attire, stood behind his parents, sheathing the short blade in his hand into the scabbard on his back.
"Brother... this... what happened? Father and mother... what's wrong with them?" Second Pillar trembled all over, his voice filled with terror. His heart had already collapsed. He could not understand it. It had been an ordinary day. He had merely come home a little late—so why were his parents lying in a pool of blood? Why