Chapter 1 – The fall of a clan

Uchiha Itachi. First son of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. Immensely skilled from the very beginning of his shinobi career, he proved time and time again that he deserved the title of a prodigy. Graduating at the academy at age seven, a feat that no one ever managed; since he only took a year to become a genin and it didn't take him long to pass the chunnin exams at the age of ten. By the time he was thirteen, with an already completely evolved sharingan, his family's famous doujutsu, he was already enrolled in the most prestigious and honored ninja organization in Konoha called Anbu.

He was revered by everyone, both because of his lineage and his skills. Men would dream of surpassing him and women dreamed of marrying him (Fan girls). He was pretty much the center of attention, which was pretty hard, considering that Konoha had already some famous shinobi like Sharingan no Kakashi and one of the Daimyou's Twelve Guardians and first son of the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Asuma. However, in the midst of all these qualifications, the one man who could've made a difference in Itachi's life was his father Fugaku. Because of his position as the first born son, Itachi's father always pressured him for better results than his second son Sasuke. Strict and never once displaying any hint of emotion that would make a son happy, Fugaku did, instead, create a weapon capable of pretty much everything that was chakra oriented.

Now at the age of seventeen, Itachi now had a team of Anbu under his charge and one of the most capable captains since Hatake Kakashi, son of the White Fang Hatake Sakumo. So, one could say that he was pretty happy with the ways things were going.

Wrong!

For those who knew him or rather thought they did, like his father, mother and little brother Uchiha Sasuke, ever since he joined Anbu, Itachi grew cold and distant, often times, accusing the Uchiha Clan of not using their gifts to their fullest capacity, which infuriated his father Fugaku greatly.

It was already midnight the rain was pounding heavily in Konoha and Itachi's Anbu team was in charge of scouting the village for any suspicious activity going on. Standing on top of a rather small tree was a lone Anbu member wearing a weasel mask while looking at the area below. Because it was night, one could only see his body outline, but if one were to look closely, he or she would be able to envision the famous sharingan eye in all its glory. Bloody red and with three black tomes would send shivers even to the most ruthless of individuals with the promise of a quick death, courtesy of the famous Uchiha Clan.

Suddenly, his eyes caught the usage of chakra running through the rooftops and the Anbu captain was positive that whoever it was didn't belong to his team and the fact that everyone was sleeping this time at night, so it could only be a rogue ninja. Immediately positioning two fingers on the side of his mask, he signaled the intruder's position to his team, before he left his position to follow the perpetrator.

It didn't take long before the Uchiha appeared in front of the man who in turn stopped immediately upon seeing resistance to his plan. Itachi could very well see the Iwa headband and the fact that it had a horizontal slash to it, meaning he was in fact a missing-nin. So speaking with a monotone voice, Itachi addressed the man.

"You have no business in here Iwa-nin and on top of that, you just committed a serious offense by invading the Hidden Village in the Leaves. A very stupid mistake which will be dealt with immediately, prepare to die" – Said Itachi, while with his arms crossed not doing anything, but what the enemy didn't know was that the Uchiha already trapped him inside a genjutsu.

"Go to hell all of you leaf scum, I will kill at least one shinobi from the Leaf because of what your Yondaime Hokage did for my village. Because of him, my family was killed and my mother sacrificed herself to save me, prepare Anbu for your death!" – Shouted the missing-nin, but before he could thrust his kunai on Itachi's torso, the man suddenly flinched in agony as it appeared that a hidden enemy was lurking in the shadows.

However, he realized too late that he was looking directly at Itachi's eyes, a move that proved to be one fatal mistake. Itachi's genjutsu was meant to disrupt the man's senses and overload his brain until it proved to be fatal. When Itachi's team arrived at the scene, the man was already unconscious lying on the Uchiha's feet. Turning to his second in command, an Anbu with long purple hair and a cat mask, he ordered his team to take the man to Ibiki and then return to their first assigned mission, before vanishing within a great number of crows.

===the next day===

Due to the sunlight in his eyes, Itachi woke up and immediately set out to do his morning routine which composed of a few stretches followed by heavy and very advanced taijutsu without the use of the sharingan, of course. Itachi firmly believed that the sharingan, while a handy tool in battle, could blind its user from over-depending on the doujutsu to fight his battles.

Afterwards, he went inside the compound for some light breakfast, before wearing his boots once more to train some accuracy in a secluded place that only he knew.

However just as he was about to get up and leave, he heard someone screaming while running straight at him, before Itachi poked the infant's forehead with his fingers, thus stopping little Sasuke's movements.

"Niisan, you know I hate it when you do this. Hey, do you want to play ninja with me?" – Asked Sasuke with a broad smile on his face as expected from any child his age. Itachi, despite his stoic demeanor, just couldn't say no to his little brother. Sasuke was like him, he enjoyed training and wouldn't give up until he learned it correctly, a posture not at all followed by the rest of the clan who preferred to train only until their sharingan awakens.

"Sasuke, I'm not interested in playing ninja with you" – Said Itachi, before he saw the dejected face of his brother, carving for his brother's attention. "However, you could accompany me and see me training, instead" – Stated Itachi, this time seeing Sasuke's smile once more.

It didn't take long until the Uchiha brothers were in a secluded vegetation sight filled with the trees and rocks. Sasuke was looking around and noticed a few targets displayed in multiple directions and he presumed that Itachi would hit them one by one, however when the little one saw his brother holding eight kunais in his both hands at the same time, Sasuke was skeptical even if this was his brother he was talking about.

Suddenly, Itachi vanished from his place in the middle of the field, before appearing up in the air and flipping his body for a free head fall. While falling, he calculated the exact moment needed and threw six of the kunais towards the targets, but only four were aimed for the bulls- eye. Afterwards, he flipped his body once more and used the remaining two projectiles and threw them towards the two that weren't heading for the target, thus fixing their trajectory and the same time, aiming towards the last two targets. When he hit the ground, Sasuke couldn't say a word as he saw the eight targets all with a kunai in the middle at the same time.

Niisan, that was amazing, can you teach me how to do it?" – Shouted Sasuke and Itachi could very well see that the boy was eager to learn it, even though it was considered an advanced move to perform. So, he gave a few pointers and told Sasuke to practice.

Eager, Sasuke tried and tried harder, but much to his dismay, he just couldn't do it. He has been trying for a whole hour and only the most obvious targets were hit, leaving out the hidden ones. However, while Itachi could do it for a longer period of time, Sasuke didn't have enough chakra to sustain that long, hence why the big brother had to carry the little one on his back the way home.

Eventually, Sasuke managed to wake up and noticed where he was and who was carrying him.

"I…I'm sorry Niisan. I don't have as much chakra as you do" – Said Sasuke with a dejected face.

"That's only obvious Sasuke-otouto; your chakra pathways are only beginning its development. Not to mention that I have more experience than you in being a shinobi. You couldn't afford to be better than me where not even the academy you graduated yet" – Explained Itachi, earning a temper from his little brother.

"Yeah…well not everyone graduates after only a year, you know; but I will surpass you, mark my words Niisan" – Stated Sasuke, earning a nod from Itachi.

"It's greatly beneficial to think like that otouto. It wouldn't anyone any good if surpassing the older generation wasn't one of their goals. Growing up, surpassing father was a goal of mine, you know" – Said Itachi while Sasuke was listening to every bit of the older brother's reason. "It will come a time Sasuke when we'll fight against each other and it's my wish that you surpass me in every way" – Said Itachi, until they arrived at the compound.

After getting Sasuke to bed, Itachi was now walking towards his room until his father called out to him for a conversation. Just seeing his old man, Itachi couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Fugaku had the skills and no doubt could become way stronger than he is right now, but just like all Uchiha, the man was focused exclusively on his sharingan and nothing and no one convinced him otherwise.

Itachi kneeled on the tatame and eyed his father for a while, before the man initiated the conversation.

"Itachi, I know you have your duties as an Anbu captain, but this exact time tomorrow, the Uchiha Clan will gather for a reunion and I expect you to be here on schedule, am I clear?" – Asked Fugaku, to which Itachi nodded, before getting up and leaving, not even bothering to greet his person he had to call father, which infuriated the man.

"How dare you just leave and turn your back on me, I'm your father and as such, I demand your respect" – Shouted Fugaku, but much to his dismay, Itachi didn't flinch nor did he turn to look at his father in the eyes.

"For all I know, this conversation was over the moment I offered my consent to the Uchiha reunion. There is no reason for me to remain here. So, if you excuse me, I'll be in my room for the duration of the day" – Said Itachi, before walking outside the room and closing the door, without even waiting for a reply which pissed Fugaku even more.

Once Itachi started walking, he saw Sasuke practicing the first katas of the family's taijutsu and smiled seeing that even if Sasuke passed out first from chakra exhaustion, he was now training once more with the intent of surpassing his older brother.

===Two days later===

No sooner the sunlight appeared, members of the Uchiha Police Corps knocked on the door demanding to see Itachi. Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Tekka and Uchiha Yashiro found, this morning, the body of Uchiha Shisui at the river near the Uchiha propriety and next to his body, a note was found as well, apparently being a suicide note.

Suddenly, Itachi appeared outside the house while facing the three Uchihas.

"What's the meaning of this outburst?" – Asked Itachi as he stoically eyed his sharingan peers. Uchiha Inabi, black long hair and wearing a gray outfit, narrowed his eyes.

Oi Itachi, we would like to know why you didn't attend to the Uchiha clan meeting yesterday?" – Asked Inabi, but as usual he saw no reaction whatsoever from the elder Uchiha. "I understand that, as Anbu, you have to be involved in many troublesome tasks. Your father says so and somehow covers for you, but we do not play favorites here"

"I understand, I'll be careful from now on" – Said Itachi with his eyes closed, thus dismissing the manners of the reunion incident, but the interrogatory didn't end with the reunion.

"There is another manner that needs to be discussed. This morning, we found the body of Uchiha Shisui dead at the river and we also noticed he wasn't present at the meeting either. Now, I know that you and Shisui are quite close Itachi" – Stated Yashiro, gray hair, looking like his eyes were closed.

Itachi just nodded and looked down in memory to his old friend/older brother.

"I haven't seen him in a while, its unfortunate" – Was all he said, but something about it didn't bode well with the Uchiha detectives.

"So we of the police force, devoted our time to solving this manner" – Said Inabi to which Itachi narrowed his sight.

Yashiro, then, grabbed a note from within his holster and gave it to Itachi.

"We checked the note and Shisui's hand writing indeed matches, however we know that anyone with a sharingan could mimic it, making it look like he committed suicide" – Explained Yashiro, while Itachi was reading the suicidal letter.

"Uchiha Shisui was one of our clan's elite and feared throughout the elemental nations as Shunshin no Shisui. It's hard to think that such a man would kill himself" – Said Tekka, before they saw Itachi activate his sharingan while crumbling Shisui's note.

"Why don't you say it already? You're accusing me of killing Shisui" – Snarled Itachi, before he charged the three detectives, before pounding their faces with force, sending them to the ground, before getting up.

"You shouldn't judge people based on appearances alone. You don't know what really happened and even so, here you are accusing me of murdering Uchiha Shisui" – Said Itachi, before he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Itachi…stop right now. Ever since you joined Anbu, you've been acting strange lately" – Said Fugaku, before he saw his son standing and then kneeling down in apparent shame for what he did

"I didn't kill Shisui, but what I did was improper and for that I apologize" – Said Itachi, before getting up once more and went back to his house, since he was ordered to present at Anbu in half an hour.

Fugaku eyed his son with suspicion. He once thought that Itachi joining the Anbu division would bring glory to the clan, but instead it changed his son in a negative manner, he thought.

===the day of the Massacre===

Sasuke Uchiha was going home after a nice day at the academy. His class learned the first steps of shuriken throwing and Sasuke got the highest score of the class. Another thought that made him happy was that the conversation he had with his father and that his Tou-san didn't hate Itachi, even after Itachi did a number on the Uchiha Detectives from accusing him of killing one of the clan.

It was already late at night and he thought his mother would reprimand him from being out in the streets this late. However, the minute he stepped inside the Uchiha Compound, he froze. He didn't know what this feeling was, but all he knew is that it made his instincts shout at him to turn and run away. Suddenly, he looked up to a lightning post to where he thought that someone was there watching him, but no one was there.

As he walked inside the compound, he noticed the light was off, but it couldn't be bed time, since the sun just barely set. However, by making a turn into a corner, his vision paled. Looking around, all he saw were bodies sprawled on the floor, kunais lodged on the walls and lots and lots of blood all over the place. He was already too scared to even make another step, but now a new thought entered his mind, before he screamed his mother's name and ran towards his house.

The minute he grabbed the doorknob, the feeling of dread returned full speed and he was already hyperventilating from fear. He looked around but saw nothing, until he saw his parent's room which happened to be the last place he needed to search. The problem, though, was that he just couldn't open it, fearing that his mother and father shared the same fate as those on the street. Sasuke was a child; he couldn't help but shake in fear at the situation. He, then, sucked in and opened the door with a thud only for immediate tears to soon fall from his eyes.

There they were, his mother and father on the floor covered by their own blood. Itachi was there as well with his Anbu uniform as he looked at Sasuke.

"Niisan, what happened…!" – Said Sasuke, but was interrupted when a flying shuriken just passed from him before being lodged at the door, but immediately afterwards, Sasuke's sleeve was cut as well as his skin, before he used his hands to stop it from hurting.

"Niisan, what happened, what are you doing? Who did this?" – Shouted Sasuke, too afraid to link the dots of the fact that it was the very person he was asking that committed the heavy sin.

"Foolish little brother" – Said Itachi, before he saw Sasuke just drown himself in tears as he finally learned what happened.

"Why Niisan, why did you this? Why?" – Shouted Sasuke.

"To test my capacity, otouto; you want to know how it happened, don't you? I'll grant your request…Mangenkyou Sharingan!" – Said Itachi, until his three tomoe transformed into a full-fledge black shuriken, before the technique hit Sasuke dead on. Right before his eyes, a full horde of shurikens flew through the Uchiha Estate killing everyone and those who managed to deflect the projectiles, tried attacking Itachi only for the genius Uchiha to wipe them out with his ninja-to.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, the screams, the sound of shurikens being imbedded on the bodies, the sound of his father and mother screaming for Itachi to stop this madness and then hearing the screams of his mother of agony after receiving a direct attack from Itachi's sword it was too much for a child's mind to bear. He screamed and screamed like there was no tomorrow and just ran away scared that his brother would finish him too.

However, the torture wasn't over and when Sasuke appeared outside, Itachi was there as well and used the technique once more, thus forcing Sasuke to relive everything over and over again.

The reason why genjutsu was so feared was that the attack couldn't be seen or heard or at least felt it before it already happened and it could very well destroy the opponent's senses and organs by disrupting the inner chakra. So, after replaying such a gruesome sight over and over again it proved to be too much to the young Uchiha who suddenly stopped crying…stopped holding his head to ease the pain and just fell limp on the ground.

After dispelling the technique, a thunder suddenly illuminated the area like it was Kami's way of punishing Itachi for the sin he just committed. Killing his family in cold blood was cruel, yes, but doing what he did to Sasuke was truly a work of a monster, a psychopath who didn't know the word remorse.

===With Naruto===

A few minutes before the massacre, Uzumaki Naruto walked out of the apartment the Sandaime Hokage so kindly rented for him to use; after he was kicked out of the orphanage for god knows what. The Hokage even gave Naruto some money for the essentials, food and some water. However, without any known reason, when Naruto tried to purchase anything, he was either kicked out of the shop or they refused to sell him anything in a secret hope that the demon kid as he was known throughout the streets for, to die from thrust or hunger.

Now, because of this all he was left with were searching through garbage cans to see if he could find any leftovers. Not knowing what was happening at the Uchiha clan compound, Naruto found a large stock of garbage cans right in front of the compound entrance, but sadly for him, the garbage was empty and his stomach was voicing his discomfort for the lack of food.

He was cursing the rich red-eyed people for not supplying him with at least a piece of bread, until he heard something that shocked his entire system. A pitched scream, but it wasn't just a scream. Naruto could sense that the person was suffering enormous pain and looked up only to see two shades one standing and one kneeling on the ground holding his head and Naruto could see that it was the person keeling on the ground that was screaming.

Suddenly, though, the person stopped and just fell on the floor like nothing happened. Wanting to help the boy, Naruto ran with all his might to help, however before he made another step inside the compound, he saw a bright light coming towards him. The light proved to be a small fire that hit Naruto dead on his face, which earned a loud shout of pain coming from the blond.

Cursing this boy's intrusion and obviously loud scream, Itachi figured that the entire Anbu force would find out what happened, meaning he had to escape right away. And so he did, not even bothering to see what his attack did on Naruto. As to Naruto, the pain was so unbearable that the kid passed out on the floor.

===At the hospital===

Sandaime Hokage was having a normal day. People were coming in and out of his office with papers to sign; the normal schedule of a kage. However, when the news hit him of what happened in the Uchiha compound, his heart immediately sank and he couldn't believe Itachi did kill his whole clan. He was now looking at the window from the door that both Naruto and Sasuke were being treated, until the doctor appeared for the report.

"Hokage-sama, may I speak to you?" – Asked the head doctor, earning a nod from the old man, before the doctor continued. "Sir, we've been able to heal Uzumaki Naruto's wounds and I'm happy to report that his face wasn't damaged even though he received a small fireball directly" – Said the doctor, but the smile on the Hokage's face proved to be too much for the physician to handle right now as he continued with his report.

"Nevertheless, Hokage-sama, while his face wasn't damaged, little Naruto's eyes took all the damage. The fire burned his retina and eye sockets. Sir, I'm afraid that little Naruto won't be able to use his eyes ever again" – Reported the physician, before he saw the old man's eyes wide in shock, just before tears started to fell.

"Isn't there anything you can do, Takashi-san. You can't heal his eyes?" – Asked the Hokage, but looked down once the man nodded his head in the negative.

"We could do one thing, although I need your permission for it" – Asked Takashi, before he saw the Hokage lift his head in surprise. "I was about to say it after Naruto's report but we checked for any form of reflex coming from Uchiha Sasuke, but sadly we couldn't find one. You see when the person is unconscious, his body parts would still move on occasion. So, upon checking his body for further injures, we managed to see some heavy damage to the brain cells as it's obvious that Sasuke suffered from some serious mental trauma that led to brain death" – Explained Takashi.

"What did Itachi do to him? He couldn't possibly use a genjutsu on a six year old, it's just non-human, but why are you telling me about this? What's on your mind Takashi?" – Asked the Hokage.

"Sir, there is a way to salvage Naruto's sight, but that will only happen if we find another pair of eyes that we could replace his damaged ones with. Being that said, I believe that the best option would be to transplant Sasuke's eyes to replace Naruto's. Giving the case, it's the only option we have" – Said Takashi, before he studied Sarutobi's facial expressions.

Hiruzen for his part began to think about what the head doctor was offering. In one hand, Naruto would be able to see once more and thus he could pursue his dream of becoming a shinobi in the future, but on the other hand, Sasuke's eyes carried the sharingan doujutsu and thus by giving it to Naruto, the doujutsu will be passed on to the blond. Sarutobi wasn't ignorant to the effects the kaleidoscope eye did to the user and he feared that Naruto will become too power-hungry just like many Uchihas in the past.

However, it wouldn't be the first time one shinobi receives a sharingan transplant and the one who received it, managed to control its urges without any trouble. He had no choice, though, as this is Naruto's only chance of seeing once more.

"Takashi-san, you have my consent for the operation, please proceed and let me know if something happens" – Said Sarutobi, before he turned and left towards his house to get some rest, cause from tomorrow forward, Konoha will surely change.