Chapter 3: Carnage
Night had fallen upon the village, and the moon hung high in the sky, casting a pale light over the entire Konoha.
An eerie silence hung in the air, and the streets were empty, save for the occasional gust of wind stirring up dust from the dirt streets.
A haunting silence shrouded the village, and not even the sound of footsteps echoed across the streets. It was as if the village had become a ghost town, with not a single person or presence present anywhere. Even the homes of the villagers were completely dark as if abandoned.
This night was unlike any other.
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In the heart of the Uchiha clan, the air was heavy with tension. Itachi stood before his father and mother, and despite the turmoil in his heart, he forced himself to speak.
''Father, mother, for the peace of the village… I am sorry.'' he said in a choked voice, and the tears began to flow down his cheeks.
With a deep breath, he raised his hand, which held the katana he had been gifted upon awakenings his Sharingan.
Mikoto, who had already seen the look in his eyes, let out a choked sob.
''You are still on their side, after all, Itachi.'' she said, her voice quivering.
Fugaku, who had been the one to gift him the katana, spoke in a steady, yet sad voice.
''We don't blame you, but remember, the ancestral shrine must not be destroyed at any cost.''
''And take care of Sasuke.'' Mikoto added as she thought about her youngest son.
With the sound of the katana inserted into the flesh, two figures fell together on the ground, blood soaking into the ground underneath them.
The room was saturated with the metallic scent of blood.
A soft sound, like a whisper, broke the tension, and Itachi's nerves screamed at him to stop. But he couldn't, not yet.
He had a mission to fulfill, and a promise to keep!
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Itachi walked out of his house, the Anbu uniform clinging to his body. The blade in his hand was still wet with the blood of his biological parents, and a few drops rolled down the cold steel.
Wiping away the tears from the corner of his eyes, he suddenly disappeared, reappearing in another pool of blood.
His two scarlet eyes reflected the entire Uchiha clan, an unspoken apology to the spirits of his parents, and his next victims.
"For the peace of the village, I'm sorry!" He disappeared once again.
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The sound of feet on grass echoed in the empty streets of Konoha, and Itachi, with his Anbu uniform and a blade, still smeared with blood, walked towards a group of Uchiha.
One of the Uchiha looked on in disbelief as their usually calm and collected clan member stood in front of them, his eyes glowing with a fiery intensity that none of them had ever seen before.
Despite the gravity of the situation, one clan member couldn't help but ask.
''Itachi, what happened?"
But before anyone could utter another word, Itachi disappeared in an instant, only to reappear a few feet away.
He locked eyes with the clan member who had just spoken, and in a flash, his blade was out, poised to strike.
The clan member barely managed to dodge the lethal blow, but at that moment, he knew the answer to this previous question.
"You bastar--" another clan member called out but was quickly silenced as Itachi turned to face him.
His eyes were like daggers, cutting into the man's soul, and before anyone could react, Itachi closed the distance between them and sliced the man with a single, fluid movement of his blade.
"Where is Fugaku-sama!?" one clan member cried out, hoping to find the clan leader to get some answers.
But Itachi quickly silenced him with a simple gesture of his hand, the next instant, the man was lying dead on the ground.
Itachi seemed to be everywhere at once as if moving in a blur. The group tried to surround him, but he was too fast, too strong, and their efforts were in vain.
They couldn't even manage to scratch his uniform, and before long, the group was nothing but a pile of corpses.
Itachi gave the corpses a final glance before disappearing.
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From the rooftop, a black-robed man watched the carnage. His eyes were cold, but he was not distracted by the chaos below him. Instead, his gaze was fixed on Itachi, whose Sharingan glowed like a crimson flame.
As he watched the massacre unfold before him, Obito felt a strange sense of detachment. He didn't care about the lives of the Uchiha who were being slaughtered by Itachi, and he felt no remorse for the deaths of men, women, and children.
He remained on the rooftop, waiting for any signs of trouble. If anything went wrong, he would be forced to step in and take action.
But for now, he remained a silent observer, his cold eyes fixed on Itachi as he moved through the crowd, his Sharingan gleaming with a strange, light.
As he gazed across the village, Obito's eyes fell on a small group of Root ninjas.
The Root was a secret organization led by Danzo Shimura, and these ninjas were sent to monitor Itachi and ensure that no members of the Uchiha clan were left alive.
"That Danzo…" Obito watched as the Root ninjas moved into position, taking up strategic locations around the outskirts of the village.
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As one of the Uchiha stared at his dead family, his mind snapped. With a desperate roar, he rushed towards Itachi, his heart filled with rage and grief.
He knew he couldn't take Itachi, but he was driven by his need for vengeance.
He wanted to hurt Itachi in the way that Itachi hurt him and make him feel the same pain that he was feeling.
"You monster! Why did you betray us like this?! Why did you kill my family?!" he screamed, his voice tearing through the air like a knife.
Itachi stood there, completely calm, as the man rushed towards him. He didn't move, didn't even blink as the man approached. He simply stood there, watching as the man's anger and grief engulfed him.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Itachi's Sharingan activated.
"Tsukuyomi." Itachi muttered, the man stood still, his body frozen in the genjutsu's powerful grasp as Itachi's eyes glittered.
The man's mind was trapped in a world of illusions that Itachi had created.
The sounds of his dead wife and children's screams echoed in his ears, his heart filled with grief and despair. His sanity completely collapsed, and he was unable to do anything but stand there, frozen in time and space.
Through it all, Itachi stood there calmly, watching as the man's mind and body were torn apart by the genjutsu.
The man's desperate roar was nothing more than a meaningless sound to him, his mind was too consumed by his own pain to hear anything else.
For a moment, the man was trapped in his own personal hell. But then, as quickly as it had come, the Tsukuyomi vanished, leaving the man broken and hollow.
He slumped to the ground, his eyes unseeing and his body unresponsive.
Itachi approached the man and plunged his sword into his body.
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Meanwhile, a seven or eight-year-old child was running wildly on the deserted street.
Sasuke felt his heart race as he sprinted down the empty street, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the eerie silence. As he ran, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was not right. An ominous premonition lingered in his heart, a sense of impending danger that sent shivers down his spine.
Suddenly, a strong odor of blood filled his nostrils, he felt a terrible premonition sink into his guts.