Chakra surged through the air, along with the sounds of battle: the hiss of Fire Release burning through the air, Kunai clanging against metal, grunts and furious shouts.
The clan leader's guards were holding off the intruders.
Uchiha Itachi did not join them. He flashed out of the corridor's shadows, his wooden sandals making no sound on the stone-paved ground.
With several Body Flicker Techniques in succession, he crossed the corridor, the courtyard, and one half-open paper door after another. Moonlight stretched a trail of afterimages behind him, and his robes snapped as he sped past.
He stopped in the shadow of an old pine tree.
Three meters ahead, a dark figure crept silently along the wall. Dressed in black and masked, he showed only a pair of cold eyes. His hands hung at his sides, fingers slightly spread, their tips an unnatural black.
Aburame Torune.
Uchiha Itachi stepped out of the shadows and blocked his path.
Aburame Torune stopped short. His eyes narrowed; his pupils contracted in the darkness, then swiftly widened.
"Itachi."
"Konoha needs Lord Danzo, and you know it! Without him, Konoha can't deter the other ninja villages or eliminate Uchiha Yongye and Madara Uchiha!"
"For Konoha, for the greater good, sacrifices have to be made!"
"Today it's you. Tomorrow, it might be me!"
Uchiha Itachi watched him. The triangular pinwheel pattern turned slowly in his pupils, its Kurenai glow stark beneath the moonlight.
"I don't care if you kill anyone else."
"But you will not... touch my little brother!"
Aburame Torune stared at the triangular pinwheels in Itachi's eyes and felt the cold Eye Power pouring from them. Still, he stood firm.
"It's Lord Danzo's order!"
"He said one person from each of the three families. That's only fair."
Uchiha Itachi said nothing. The silence stretched