Sasuke Awakens the One-Tomoe in a Rage

"Shinji, can you give me half a month to prepare?"

On the way home.

Shinji recalled Hiruzen Sarutobi's words and shook his head.

Does that old bastard need me and Itachi to fight to the death before he'll fully trust Uchiha Itachi's loyalty?

He does seem genuinely interested in investigating Akatsuki...

Did the information I had Itachi give him make him feel threatened?

"Old fox!" Shinji cursed under his breath. He looked up, momentarily dazed.

When did I get here?

He was standing outside his home.

Shinji stood there for a long time.

"Me... fight Itachi?"

He looked up at the sky, where snow had begun to fall, then leaned against a lamppost and gazed at the warm Hikari spilling from the courtyard.

He could faintly smell dinner in the air.

Had his little brother cooked dinner and been waiting for him to come home?

How heartwarming.

Clatter!

The door swung open.

Nobihi poked his head out of the kitchen. "Nii-san! Dinner's just ready! I thought you weren't coming home tonight either!"

Shinji took off his coat. "Where did you go today?"

"Huh?"

Yehuo froze, then said helplessly, "I went to see Itachi yesterday. I told him you'd become clan head. I wanted to comfort him."

"But..."

"But then he said those things... I felt a little... So I stayed home all day today."

Nobihi lowered his head, dejected.

Shinji nodded.

Then he dropped the news without warning. "Uchiha Itachi defected."

"What?"

Nobihi jerked his head up, shock flashing in his eyes.

He waved a hand with a smile. "Nii-san, stop joking! It's not funny at all."

Shinji took the food from Yehuo. "He killed thirty-seven clan members, including his girlfriend Uchiha Izumi. He betrayed the Uchiha and deserted Konoha."

"The Hokage Building has issued an S-rank wanted notice!"

"Nii-san?"

Nobihi stood rooted to the spot. "You're not joking with me?"

"I don't have time for a stupid joke!"

"But... but how could Itachi kill thirty-seven Jonin on his own?"

Bang!

Shinji slammed his hand on the table and glared fiercely at Yehuo. "Fool! Do you know why you'll never measure up to Uchiha Itachi?"

"Because you're naive! Because your head is full of idle fantasies! Uchiha Itachi has gained the Uchiha's greatest power—"

"Mangekyo Sharingan!"

"And you knew nothing about it! Do you know his ultimate goal was to kill me?"

"To kill your own brother!"

"No—!"

Nobihi's expression went blank. Then he screamed, "Impossible! Nii-san, you're lying to me! I'm going to find Itachi and ask him myself!"

Thud, thud, thud!

Shinji glared after him.

Uchiha Yehuo ran frantically out of the house without even taking off his apron...

Shinji glanced at the drops of water on the wooden floor.

He shook his head.

"Yehuo, Yehuo..."

After a while, Shinji silently went into the kitchen, served himself dinner, ate it, washed the dishes, and sat down on the sofa.

"Fine. For Mom and Dad's sake... I refuse to believe a guy who crossed worlds with a cheat can't get through this."

Uchiha Fugaku drank in silence, his face taut.

Uchiha Mikoto sat beside him, wiping away tears. In a single day, she had grown noticeably thinner and lost her usual quiet elegance.

"Fugaku... did Itachi really do those things?"

Uchiha Fugaku stared into the cup in his hand. "I don't know... I can't tell. I can't tell anymore!"

In truth,

Uchiha Izumi's death had been staged by Shinji and Itachi to make their deception convincing to that man.

But...

To make it even more convincing, Uchiha Itachi had worried his family might give them away, so he had ignored what Shinji told him.

Saying goodbye to his family?

Not a chance!

So when Fugaku and Mikoto heard the devastating news, their world came crashing down.

Fugaku smiled bitterly. "No wonder there was such a commotion last night, yet a bunch of kids guarded our door and wouldn't even let me out."

"So it was him..."

"It's my fault. I was wrong from the start. I shouldn't have made him bear all this. Shinji was right. I was never fit to be Clan Head..."

Uchiha Mikoto wiped the corner of her eye. "Fugaku..."

Uchiha Fugaku looked at his wife, guilt written across his face. "Mikoto, I'm sorry! I was the one who sent Itachi into ANBU to gather intelligence from the Hokage... Now I see that I caught him between two conflicting beliefs and twisted his thinking. I cared too little for him when he was young and exposed him to the dark side too early. That's why he grew up so quiet, shut away in his own world..."

"My mistakes caused all of this!"

Bang!

Fugaku slammed his fist onto the table.

His face was full of remorse.

Mikoto stared at her husband in disbelief. "You sent Itachi to the Hokage Building as a spy?!"

"Yes..."

Slap!

Uchiha Mikoto slapped him hard across the face, then collapsed to the floor.

"You... I'm so disappointed in you!"

Uchiha Fugaku touched his cheek.

He stared at his wife, who looked as though her soul had left her.

Mikoto...

She was a quiet woman.

A woman nothing like an Uchiha, gentle as water.

But now she was utterly different.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Kaa-san, Tou-san... what are you arguing about? Where's Nii-san? I haven't seen him all day..."

At the turn of the stairs,

Sasuke Uchiha stood in his pajamas, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he looked at his parents.

Mikoto quickly sat up, smoothed her disheveled hair, and gave him a sweet smile. "Sasuke, why are you up? Itachi went on a mission. He won't be back for a long time..."

Bang!

Suddenly,

the front door burst open.

Nobihi charged in at a sprint, oblivious to what was happening.

"Uncle Fugaku, Aunt Mikoto, where's Itachi? I don't believe he'd become a Missing-nin! I don't believe he'd slaughter his own clan! Where is he? I want to find him and get the full story!"

"I want to ask him myself!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

A deathly silence fell over the house.

Fugaku's expression changed drastically.

Mikoto looked toward Sasuke. Her face went deathly pale, and tears rolled silently down her cheeks...

"Sasuke..."

At the turn of the stairs,

Sasuke Uchiha's pupils widened. He stood frozen, looking as though he had fallen under Genjutsu.

His eyes grew redder and redder.

Blood vessels spread across them.

A tiny black tomoe suddenly appeared in each eye and began to turn slowly...

"Nobihi... what did you say?"

"Nii-san... defected?"