The Uchiha Massacre - 3

"Sasuke!" Sakura had lost sight of the Uchiha boy after he made a sudden right turn down another street, "Where are you?"

They had left the streets, and had ventured towards the main house of the Uchiha clan. There were fewer bodies out in the open, but the smell of blood hung thick in the air.

She was scared. Losing track of Sasuke could mean his death. Her head was spinning. What would become of Haku and Naruto? Were they safe?

And Sasuke had run off without saying anything.

'I hope they're alright...' Sakura tried to keep her thoughts ordered while she ran around the outside of the houses of the complex, 'Haku and Naruto can look after each other, but Sasuke is all alone and...I have to find him!'

Sasuke flew down the paths of the Uchiha homestead, sweat pouring down the sides of his face.

"Mother? Father?" He found himself calling out into the silence of the place, disturbed by every dead body so carelessly abandoned in the rooms he passed by.

They really were dead.

And not just dead: someone had killed them. Weapons were strewn about; there were signs of a struggle.

Someone powerful, who could kill dozens of ninja quickly and easily had done this for a reason he couldn't even fathom.

Cold-hearted murder; the murder of his clan.

The desperation he felt made him scream, "Itachi! Please be alright! Itachi!"

Only silence.

His feet thudded hard against pavement as he raced down another alleyway.

"Aniki! Please!"

Suddenly, fear made him wise. He had made himself a perfect target if the killer was still present, by calling out to his family members.

Sasuke didn't make a sound as he entered the courtyard of his home.

'Please be alright...Please be alright...'

The front porch was bare. In silence he moved towards the house, racing to find his loved ones.

He thought he could hear his own heart beating in his head like a sledgehammer as he stood outside the door of his parents' room. It was closed and it was quiet.

"Mother?" He whispered, wondering if his parents were even in their room at a time like this.

Sasuke was shaking badly as he slowly pulled open the door. He only took a half-step forward before freezing where he stood.

It was dark and they were there.

The silence burned his ears.

His eyes darted to the two figures ahead of him on the floor. They were piled one on top of another, and there was the metallic smell again.

But oh, sweet relief found him for the briefest of moments as he saw his brother with them, standing up and he seemed perfectly fine.

"Itachi?" He murmured.

After a moment, he could see better in the dim light. Itachi stood there, wearing a blank expression, with his swirling red eyes aglow in the darkness. He was wearing his Black-Ops armor.

His sword was drawn and bloody and it was then Sasuke understood.

His parents and everyone of his clan...they were all dead.

Itachi had killed them.

"No..." Sasuke said softly, shaking his head, "H-How...?"

He could only stare at his older brother's emotionless face as he stood mere feet away from him. Itachi slowly sheathed his sword without a word, and Sasuke watched, fixated with his parents' bodies.

He wanted comfort and justification; to beg Itachi to tell him why he could ever do such a terrible thing to his own family.

But this was not Itachi.

Before him stood an evil, heartless creature that had crawled into his beloved brother's skin and slain so many people for no reason.

Itachi was the caring older brother who acknowledged him and spent time with him. Itachi was a genius and his role model and his friend.

Itachi was not a murderer.

Something in his older brother's eyes told him that Itachi already knew what he was thinking. Sasuke also understood in an instant that his brother could not justify what he had done, for whatever reason.

"Why…why did you do this?" The boy cried.

"To measure my own capacity." His brother's voice was calm.

"You mean…you would kill everyone just for that purpose?"

"It's essential."

Sasuke felt that his death would be nothing more than a favor on his brother's part. The least Itachi could do would be to kill him quickly and reunite him with his parents and end his heartbreak.

"How could you do this!" Sasuke screamed, holding the sides of his head as he wept.

In response, a shuriken shot past him, and Sasuke felt a cut open on his arm.

"Foolish little brother."

The words made his heart stop. Itachi's stoic face was tearing him to pieces. Did he feel nothing? Not even an ounce of regret for killing his clan?

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to look away from the red, swirling pools and soon knew why it had been a huge mistake.

"Tsukuyomi."

Sasuke felt himself being surrounded by a world of shadows and he could feel the seething aura of his older brother all around him. He couldn't move or speak.

He had found himself trapped inside a world that was completely controlled and projected by his older brother. It was a world that perfectly resembled the Uchiha compound. An illusion.

'...what?'

His family members were near, all of them standing up and alive. Everyone just stood there, not doing much of anything.

And then there was Itachi, in full ANBU attire, standing in the middle of the street.

Without any sort of warning, Itachi began to kill them, one by one, letting Sasuke witness the piercing screams of agony as they were cleaved and gutted.

Their blood flecked the ground like scarlet rain drops.

And Sasuke watched in terror as Itachi effortlessly ended the lives of his family members.

He looked on in dread as his parents attempted to plead with their eldest son, but to no avail.

His parents were cut down. He had to view every last lurid detail of the annihilation of the Uchiha clan.

They all died terrible, painful deaths.

And he was next.

In a matter of seconds Sasuke was released from Tsukuyomi, and he stumbled down to the floor in a state of mental collapse.

"P-Please...don't kill me!" Sasuke was sobbing, fearing for his life and grieving for his family.

Itachi did not move and said nothing to his younger brother.

Sasuke's legs felt as limp and useless as wet paper, but he felt such an instinctual drive come over him that he was almost shocked when he was able to stand up.

He was shuddering like a leaf in the autumn wind.

"Don't kill me!"

When he saw that his brother still had made no motion to harm him, he didn't give it a second thought.

Sasuke fled.

He ran until his legs failed him and he tripped and fell to the dusty ground outside, sobbing and screaming, and begged any higher powers to allow him to wake from such a disastrous nightmare.

When he looked down the alley ahead of him Itachi had caught up to him. Sasuke froze.

"You have potential sleeping inside of you...to become an opponent that can truly test my limits. You've been filled with jealousy and hatred in the hope of surpassing me…that's why I'm letting you live."

Sasuke listened with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Foolish little brother, if you truly wish to kill me: Hate me. Detest me. Live a wretched, miserable existence and run. Run and cling to life…" Itachi told him, "And when you finally obtain the same 'eyes' as me, come before me once more!"

His older brother fell silent again and Sasuke's tears ended. What choice would he have but to take Itachi up on the proposition? His knees quaked but he made himself stand upright and stare at the terrifying man in front of him. He felt motivation and energy surging inside his chest.

And after a moment his surroundings were illuminated with perfect clarity. Though Sasuke was unaware of it, his irises dyed red and a single tomoe swirled in each eye. He watched his brother suddenly leap away, finally trying to make his escape.

If he was going to be allowed to live then what did he have to lose? He gave chase.

"Get back here!" The boy shouted.

Sasuke sprang, pulling stray kunai knives from the wooden fence beside him, and bounded over the complex wall after his brother. With precision he had never known before, Sasuke hurled the weapons at his brother's head.

Itachi was taken aback. He handily blocked two of the kunai with his sword. The third brushed the back of his head, cutting the tie of his headband and a few strands of black hair. Itachi's hitai-ate fell to the ground and he kneeled down to retrieve it.

The burst of energy faded and Sasuke collapsed again, holding his injured arm as he watched his brother retie his headband. He sat panting on the walkway and Itachi turned to him.

His face was distraught. A tear trailed down his cheek.

Sasuke swooned and felt the world go black.