My Foolish Little Brother

"Don't kill me!" Sasuke was still just like in the show, crying as he ran down the street. This was the final act of the night of the massacre.

"Brother! Itachi! Where are you?!" Sasuke sobbed, his childish voice echoing through the deathly silent Uchiha compound, only drawing an even heavier silence and the faint sound of weapons clashing in the distance.

He ran toward home. It was his only hope.

But when he stumbled to the front door, what he saw was a door left ajar and an ominous darkness seeping from within.

"Brother..." Sasuke's voice trembled. He reached out with his small hand and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

There was no light inside. Only moonlight spilled in through a broken hole in the window, illuminating the bloodstains spreading across the floor. Sasuke's heart sank bit by bit. Following the trail of blood, he walked step by step toward the inner room, each step like treading on the edge of a blade.

Then he saw it.

His parents lay on the cold floor, no longer breathing. And standing before them was the brother he admired most, Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi had his back to the door, dressed in an Anbu uniform. The moonlight outlined his tall yet icy figure. He slowly turned around, his face utterly expressionless. Those black eyes that had once been filled with gentleness now held only a deathly chill.

"Why... Brother... why?!" Sasuke's world collapsed in an instant. He fell to his knees, both hands clawing hard at the ground, his nails digging into the earth until they bled. Immense grief and despair swallowed him like a tsunami. He wanted to question him, wanted to scream, but all that came out were broken sobs.

Itachi looked at him, not the slightest ripple in his eyes, as if he were looking at a stranger. He slowly raised a hand, black flames gathering at his fingertips. It was a power colder and more terrifying than the Great Fireball Technique—the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan, the precursor to Tsukuyomi.

"Hate me, Sasuke." Itachi's voice was icy to the bone, devoid of any emotion. "Then live on with that hatred."

The next second, Sasuke's consciousness was dragged into boundless darkness and pain. With Tsukuyomi, Itachi branded the scenes of himself slaughtering the entire clan into Sasuke's mind again and again, forcing him to endure torture crueler than death.

When Sasuke woke from the nightmare of Tsukuyomi, Itachi had already vanished. All that remained was the reek of blood filling the room, his parents' cold bodies, and the hatred in his heart, clinging to him like maggots in the bone. He lay on the ground, vomiting wildly, tears mingling with snot and bloody water as they ran down his face.

"Uchiha Itachi..." Using every last bit of strength in his body, he squeezed out that name through clenched teeth, every word carrying blood and tears, carrying a hatred that burned his heart and gnawed at his bones. "I'm going to kill you!!!"

His shrill cries rang through the entire Uchiha compound, echoing beneath the silent night sky, filled with despair and the resolve for vengeance.

At that moment, Duanmu had already reached the entrance to the eastern drainage passage with Izumi in his arms.

Just as Itachi had said, there were indeed no guards at the entrance. Only the faint smell of blood proved that a battle had once taken place here.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the fight between Obito and Kakashi had also reached a fever pitch.

Obito's attacks grew increasingly vicious. The black longsword traced deadly arcs beneath the moonlight, each swing carrying a shriek that tore through the air.

It was then that Itachi appeared beside Obito. "Madara, it's time to go. Konoha's Anbu and Root are both rushing this way."

"Oh? You've already dealt with those two brats?" Obito stopped fighting Kakashi, his gaze sweeping over Itachi with a hint of scrutiny.

Itachi met his eyes expressionlessly, his black pupils deep and unreadable. "They were taken away by the Third."

Obito raised his eyes to Itachi. He knew Itachi was definitely lying, but now was not the time to look into it.

Konoha's reinforcements really were closing in. He could sense more and more chakra signatures gathering toward the Uchiha compound.

He glanced at Kakashi not far away, whose expression was grave and whose Sharingan was turning slightly, then curled his lips into a cold arc. "Until we meet again, Kakashi Hatake."

With that, Obito turned into a black afterimage and merged into the shadows deep within the alley, as if he had never appeared at all.

Kakashi looked at Itachi and had just been about to say something when Itachi turned into an illusion of crows, leaving only a few pitch-black feathers behind before vanishing without a trace.

Early the next morning, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo arrived at the devastated Uchiha compound with a large number of Konoha ninja.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the blood covering the ground and the ruined walls all around him. His cloudy eyes were filled with unbelievable pain and anger.

Although this was something he had tacitly allowed Itachi to do, when he personally witnessed this hellish scene, that heavy guilt and powerlessness still pressed down on him like a boulder, leaving him almost unable to breathe.

"Lord Third," Danzo's voice came from behind him, carrying a trace of hoarseness that was not easily detected. A complicated, unreadable light flickered in his single eye—there was the hidden pleasure of a plan succeeding, and also a slight fear in the face of such a large-scale massacre. "Uchiha Itachi killed his clansmen to obtain power and defected to join the Akatsuki. The evidence is conclusive."

In his hand, he held a "investigation report" that had long since been prepared. It recorded in detail all sorts of "evidence" of Itachi's "defection." This was the explanation their upper ranks had planned long ago, not only to preserve the honor of the Uchiha clan, but also to conceal the irreconcilable conflict between Konoha's upper ranks and the Uchiha, as well as this bloody purge they had personally orchestrated.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took the report. The edges of the paper were almost crushed by his trembling fingers.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of air thick with the smell of blood. When he opened them again, only the authority and exhaustion of the Hokage remained in his eyes.

"Pass down the order," he said in a heavy voice. "List Uchiha Itachi as an S-rank rogue ninja and issue a bounty for his capture. At the same time, do everything possible to comfort the survivors of the compound and properly handle the aftermath."

He paused. "As for the Uchiha clan, Second Pillar should be the only survivor, correct?"

Danzo was just about to respond. After all, this was what Itachi had said—that he would leave only Sasuke alive. But Kakashi hurried over and interrupted them.

"Lord Third, there is one other Uchiha survivor."

The news struck like a thunderclap, exploding between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo. Hiruzen Sarutobi abruptly looked at Kakashi, his cloudy eyes full of shock and doubt. "There's another survivor?"

"Who?" A fierce glint flashed through Danzo's single eye in an instant, his killing intent almost condensing into substance and making the surrounding air seem to turn several degrees colder.

The perfect purge he had meticulously planned absolutely could not allow any accident, especially not a "survivor" who should not exist. This variable could very likely become the fuse that ignited everything in the future, and might even expose the deal between them and Itachi.

Kakashi knelt on one knee, his right hand pressed against the ground to support his slightly staggering body. Last night's battle with Obito had drained him greatly, and the burden of the Sharingan also left him dizzy at this moment. He raised his head, revealing the Sharingan half-covered by his forehead protector. His voice was hoarse with exhaustion, yet exceptionally clear. "It's Uchiha Izumi. She's still alive."

"Izumi?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's brows knitted tightly. That name made him think of the little girl who was always following Itachi and Sasuke around, the one with a bright pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

How could she have survived? Itachi had clearly said...