Year 70 of Konoha
Deep in the forest outside Konohagakure, night hung low, staining the sea of trees a stifling shade of ink. Only scattered moonlight struggled through the layers of branches, casting mottled, eerie spots across the ground.
Rapid panting and unsteady footsteps shattered the forest's silence.
Two young figures ran with all their might. The older one was Uchiha Sakuya, about seven years old. He gripped the wrist of his younger brother, Uchiha Ren—a boy of only five or six who was already gasping for breath—and practically dragged him through the rugged woods. Their Uchiha Clan outfits had been tattered to begin with and were now nearly in shreds, caked with mud and bits of grass. They looked utterly miserable.
"B-Brother... I can't run anymore..." Ren had inherited their mother's beauty in full. His voice was hoarse with tears and exhaustion, his small face deathly pale. Every breath sounded like a bellows being pulled.
"We can't stop! Ren, just hold on a little longer!" Sakuya's voice was just as breathless, but resolute. He glanced back, alarm filling his still-childish black eyes, yet he tried to project calm for his younger brother. "We're almost in the village's guarded perimeter!"
But the whistle of something cutting through the air behind them cruelly shattered their hopes.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several shuriken struck the tree trunks in front of them with deadly accuracy, forcing them to skid to a halt.
"Tch. Two little Uchiha brats, and they can run pretty fast." A chilling voice came from the shadows. Three mercenaries in simple flak jackets, their faces twisted with malice, closed in around them in a triangular formation. Their eyes were like jackals sizing up their prey.
They had been hired by a faction that feared the Uchiha's remaining strength. Their mission was to eliminate these "seeds of potential danger."
Sakuya immediately moved in front of his younger brother, quickly pulling a kunai from his pouch and taking a defensive stance, though his hand trembled slightly. He knew these were seasoned desperadoes, far stronger than two Genin who had only recently graduated.
The scar-faced mercenary in the lead sneered. "Boss, let's not waste time. Finish them off and get our reward."
"Brother..." Ren hid behind Sakuya, clutching the hem of his clothes and trembling all over with fear.
"Don't be afraid, Ren. Stay close to me!" Sakuya growled, searching for an opening to escape.
But the mercenaries gave them no chance. Two of them attacked at once, kunai and short swords flashing with deadly light. Sakuya barely managed to deflect the attacks aimed at him, but the tremendous force numbed his arms and sent him stumbling backward.
"Die, brat!" The other mercenary slyly circled around behind them, aiming straight for Ren, who looked weaker.
"Ren! Get out of the way!" Sakuya's eyes nearly bulged with panic. He tried to rush to Ren's aid, but the enemy in front of him kept him pinned down.
Just as the cold blade was about to pierce Ren's chest, the little boy who had been trembling in fear behind his brother somehow found a burst of courage. He screamed and shoved his brother toward safety, then used all his strength to charge forward with his tiny kunai!
"Don't hurt my brother!"
His voice was shrill with childishness, yet full of desperate resolve.
Clang!
How could a tiny kunai withstand a full-strength blow from an adult mercenary? Ren's weapon was instantly knocked away, splitting his palm and sending blood streaming. The tremendous impact sent him flying like a kite with its string cut. He slammed into a tree with a dull thud, then slid limply to the ground and coughed up blood.
"Ren!!!" Sakuya's roar tore through the night. He watched helplessly as his younger brother was sent flying like a rag doll. Ren's little body lay curled beneath the tree, his life uncertain.
In that instant, boundless terror and anguish seized his heart.
"What touching brotherly love." The mercenary who had wounded Ren sneered as he approached the helpless boy step by step. He raised his blade high. "Let's start with you, little brat!"
The blade reflected the pallid moonlight. It aimed at Ren's tender neck, then came crashing down!
"No!!!"
Fury, despair, and the boundless terror of losing his only family erupted within Uchiha Sakuya like a volcano! A searing pain, as if it would tear his eyes from their sockets, burst from deep within them.
The world changed before his eyes!
His vision sharpened beyond belief. He could see the minute tremors in his enemies' muscles, the blade's path as it cut through the air, even the slow fall of the leaves... Everything seemed to slow down and become clear. The torrent of scorching emotion broke through some innate barrier, transforming into a cold, powerful force that surged into his eyes.
His black pupils turned blood-red in an instant. Two black tomoe rapidly appeared in the crimson, spinning as they gave off an eerie, chilling light.
The Two-Tomoe Sharingan had awakened!
Time seemed to stand still.
The mercenary's movements were full of openings in Sakuya's eyes, laughably slow.
"Get... away from him!"
Sakuya's voice was so low it didn't sound like a child's. It brimmed with murderous intent. His body seemed driven by instinct, moving at incredible speed and leaving a faint afterimage.
A split second before the blade touched Ren!
Squish!
A kunai, thrust from an impossibly precise angle, pierced the mercenary's throat with deadly accuracy.
The sneer froze on the mercenary's face, turning to incredulous shock. He uselessly clutched the wound, warm blood spraying from it, and choked out a wet, rasping sound before collapsing heavily to the ground, his eyes unfocused.
It had all happened so quickly that the other two mercenaries hadn't even reacted.
"What? The Sharingan?!" The scar-faced mercenary stared in horror at Sakuya's eerie red eyes. Alarm bells rang in his mind. "The intel was wrong! This kid—"
His shout was cut short.
With the Sharingan activated, Sakuya fought like a completely different person. He could see through every movement and predict every attack. Driven by rage and murderous intent, he pushed the Taijutsu he had learned to its limits.
Their figures flashed past each other, kunai clashing with a harsh spray of sparks.
In just a few moves, Sakuya saw through the other mercenary's feint. His kunai sliced cleanly through the man's wrist, and as the mercenary faltered from the pain, a deadly strike was already at his throat.
Only the scar-faced leader remained. Fear had taken hold of him, but Sakuya gave him no chance. Even a Two-Tomoe Sharingan's genjutsu was enough to make an unsteady opponent lose focus for an instant.
The scar-faced man's movements faltered for a split second.
That was all it took!
Sakuya darted close like a ghost and drove his kunai into the man's heart without hesitation.
The forest fell silent once more. Only the thick, nauseating stench of blood lingered in the air.
The red slowly faded from Sakuya's eyes, and the tomoe disappeared. The tremendous chakra drain and mental shock left him dizzy and weak. But he had no time to care. He staggered over to his younger brother.
"Ren! Ren!" He shakily lifted his brother's limp body, his voice filled with terror and relief.
Little Ren struggled to open his eyes. Seeing that his brother was safe, he managed a weak but reassured smile on his bloodstained face. "Brother... you're okay... That's good..."
Seeing his younger brother so weak and feeling his faint breaths, Sakuya remembered the despair of that split second. He hugged Ren tightly, and tears finally spilled beyond his control. His newly awakened eyes, meant for killing, now shed burning tears only to protect.
In the shadow of the peaceful era that the Seventh, Naruto Uzumaki, had worked so hard to create, the Uchiha's wheel of fate seemed to turn once more—cruelly, slowly, and upon the shoulders of a young child. It was as if the Uchiha Clan carried a terrible curse...