The Dark Side of Akatsuki. Chapter 3

"No, little brother." Suddenly, Itachi moved as if he were uninjured, sitting up quickly and grabbing Sasuke firmly with one hand. "I'm so sorry. I love you. Please, find something else worth living for."

With two fingers extended, blood dripping down his hand, Itachi tapped his little brother right between the eyes.

Then everything went black for the youngest Uchiha.

The Third Hokage arrived to a scene of utter devastation. This was a catastrophe. He had not expected Danzou to launch an attack prematurely. Hiruzen and some of his most loyal agents had been delayed in a final closed meeting to make one last case for an alternative solution to the Uchiha problem that did not rely on genocide; he saw now that this attack had been timed perfectly to ensure he received the news of the assault too late to change the course of events.

Disgraceful. It was clear that Danzou could no longer be trusted to work within the system. This was monstrous, but Hiruzen knew he should have seen this coming.

The evidence of his abject failure to do so lay bare before him.

The overwhelming majority of the dead and dying around him weren't even ninja. Just civilians.

He didn't care what that devious wolf had to say in his own defense. Danzou would not be able to hide in the shadows and have others shoulder the blame this time.

Turning to the two dozen Anbu operatives standing by, he spoke. "Spread out. Three-man teams. Stop this immediately. You have my full authority to use lethal force. Signal for medical attention as necessary... End this." His face hardened as he turned to look towards his agents and took a deep breath.

"Disperse!"

Wordlessly, the masked operatives flickered away, a storm of leaves the only mark of their departure.

Too much had been lost this night. Hiruzen felt as though he had just had to amputate a limb.

He moved further into the village, walking alone. He had verified that Danzou and the majority of Root had already vacated the area, and there was no one left with both the ability and inclination to attack him. Moving in silence, he approached the residence of Clan Head, Uchiha Fugaku.

His face fell as he approached the clan head's house. Hiruzen saw a young child, smeared in blood, heaving deep sobs while holding a body that was so bloody as to be almost unidentifiable. Moving closer, he saw the body had once been Uchiha Itachi. His eyes were closed, and his slack face betrayed the remnants of a mysterious smile. What a waste to see that the promising young man was now clearly just another casualty among many. Hiruzen had never been one to shed tears when others were clearly in greater pain around him. Nevertheless, he knew they would come later.

"We were supposed to protect the village," he murmured, "We were supposed to protect Konoha... but how can anything be said to protect the village if it sacrifices so many of its people... Danzou, was the danger that you saw really so great as to be worth this cost?"

Hearing his voice, the young, sobbing Uchiha Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up in shock, still taking deep, gasping gulps of air. What Hiruzen saw in that child's eyes caused his jaw to drop and his wrinkled face to contort in astonishment. The child's face was red and swollen from tears, the left side caked with blood.

Within his right eye-socket, the child's deep, black eye was filled with the irreconcilable sadness of one who has just lost everything.

Within the left glowed the dark red kaleidoscope pattern of a Mangekyou Sharingan fading slowly away into nothingness.

The boy collapsed, completely drained of chakra just from the effort of opening his new eye.

Hiruzen gulped down his initial shock and stilled himself. This was without precedence.

This information must not be allowed to leave his most trusted circles.

Hiruzen returned to the staging area outside the Uchiha compound, leaving the worst of the smell of blood and smoke behind him. ANBU operatives had returned and were serving as guards to medic-nin or standing watch. Several surviving Uchiha clan members and one unfortunate ANBU ninja were receiving urgent treatment before being sent back to the hospital.

Sarutobi Asuma saw his father approach, carrying an unconscious young child. One look at his father told him that something unusual had happened.

"Get this child cared for by someone we can trust," his father said. "Check his eye and assume acute- possibly dangerous- chakra exhaustion. He should remain under guard until the situation stabilizes. I need you back at my office as soon as you can return."

Asuma nodded silently, knowing better than to press for more information. One look told him everything he needed to know.

"What next, Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen looked at his son with a grave expression. "Next? We light the signal-fire for our counter-attack."

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