Secrets of the Uchiha Clan

Looking seriously at his companions, Kisame whispered, "The entire Uchiha clan...has been slaughtered."

--One week ago--

Itachi was strolling down the street in the Uchiha district. He was clad in his ANBU uniform, with a black ninja suit and a brown leather breastplate. His weasel shaped mask hung loosely from his neck. It didn't matter whether he kept it on or not anyway. Not many ANBU lurked near the Uchiha district besides the ones that lived there. The security that ANBU sentries would normally provide to a district wasn't needed, as the Uchiha District was the headquarters of the Konoha Police Force. The police force was entirely made up of Uchiha, who were barred from joining the regular ninja forces.

That rule was only lifted in war time, where every man and woman who could fight was needed, but in peace time, the Sharingan was feared. And for a good reason. The law preventing Uchiha from joining the regular ninja forces was one of the oldest in Konoha and was enacted by the Shodai himself, after his battle with Uchiha Madara in the Valley of End. However, lack of formal training had little effect on the Uchiha's power. Home tutoring to from the more powerful ninja of the clan left them still as a force to be reckoned with, second only to the Hyuuga.

Itachi had been one of the exceptions to the law, with a power so great it was a waste not to harness it. He had been scouted into the ANBU after he had created an explosive fire jutsu which had nearly engulfed half of the forest around Konoha. Two weeks had been needed to combat the inferno and in that time, he was contacted by ANBU captain 'Dog'. Instead of being arrested for arson, he was sent into the ANBU and passed the qualification tests with flying colors.

Three years later, he was the second Uchiha ANBU in history, the other being his best friend and teacher, Uchiha Shushui, to reach the rank of captain.

But now, his mind wasn't on Uchiha business. It was on the mission he had just been assigned.

It came from the village council itself, an S rank mission and was deceptively simple. All it wanted was the eradication of the Uchiha Clan - his clan.

The council said that the Uchiha clan were planning a coup on the Hokage, but that was all the intel he was given.

A wry smile flickered on his face. 'Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die, ' he mused.

And yet, just as he had been turning to leave the briefing, the council woman Koharu stood up and said, "Look through the records of the Uchiha Clan. You'll find better answers there."

Which is what he was going to do tonight. He knew where the records were stored - in the Uchiha Meeting House. He had been forbidden by his father from looking there before and he had never thought of it much. But now, he realized, there might be more to the clan then he realized and that his father was willing to tell him.

He made a turn down the street and opened the door, entering a spacious room. The floor was paneled with wood and a couple soft couches lined the walls. A stair case was just around the corner, along with the kitchens. In front of the couches was a tea table littered with yesterday's newspapers. Itachi threw his mask onto a couch and unbuckled his breastplate, hanging it onto a clothes hook protruding from the door. Just as he was about to head upstairs to his room, a small black haired monster charged out from no where.

"Anki!"

Itachi smiled, his eyes clouded. "Hey Sasuke."

Sasuke. his little brother. Would he kill him too?

Sasuke squeaked, "Anki Anki! Come look! I can almost breath fire!"

Itachi patted his head, "Breath fire huh?"

Sasuke grinned, "Yeah!"

Itachi let Sasuke drag him out side for a demonstration. Forming the tiger seal, Sasuke felt chakra well in him and gave a great blow.

Pshhhhhhhhffffffffffffffffffuah!

Itachi looked on in amusement as a tiny spout of flame shot out of Sasuke's mouth. As the display died out, Itachi laughed and said, "Good job Sasuke! I'll bet you'll be able to do Gokakyu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball) before long too!"

Sasuke looked at him, eyes shining, "Really Anki!? Thanks!"

Sasuke sped back into the house, his energy bolstered by his brother's compliment. As Sasuke disappeared from view though, Itachi's mirth quickly died. '...So happy, so innocent.'

'It's only 5 o'clock. The meeting house will be occupied from six to ten. I'll move in at 11...'

Satisfied with his plan, Itachi followed Sasuke into the house. He proceeded into the kitchen where he grabbed a rice cake before heading to his room.

After closing his sliding door behind him and locking it, Itachi stripped off his ninja suit before donning a pair of pajamas. Taking his alarm clock, he set it for ten forty-five. That gave him fifteen minutes to secure the area with shadow clones to make sure none of the night guards stumbled onto him.

Although Itachi didn't feel tired, he willed himself to sleep. It was a skill he had acquired as part of his ANBU training and was very effective. Within minutes, he was dozing.

The moon had long replaced the sun in its throne in the sky when a faint buzz was heard from Itachi's room. The sleeping teen's eyes snapped open at the slight noise. ANBU reflexes. He pushed the button on the top of his alarm, stopping the beeping before rubbing his eyes. It was time.

Itachi took off his pajamas in favor of his ninja suit, ideal for infiltration operations. He patted his many pockets to make sure they were still filled with kunai and shuriken. The sounds of light metallic clanging told him they were.

All he needed now were his lock picks. Walking over to his dresser, Itachi slid open the bottom drawer. There, hidden under a pile of clothes, was a ring of metal rods of all different shapes and sizes. Each one was constructed to be able to snap open almost any lock at his command.

Excellent.

Sliding his window open, Itachi jumped through, landing outside his house like a cat. The moment his feet hit the ground, he took off in a sprint. Up and down buildings, through side alleys and back streets, carefully avoiding the walls and sentries, Itachi zipped through the district. Not a sound was heard has his feet beat on the ground. His hair was swept backwards by his speed, each lock savoring freedom, blowing about freely.

And then he skidded to a stop. That was it, the meeting hall. With a few small hand signs, five shadow clones appeared around Itachi. A quick nod to each of them conveyed their orders. Secure the perimeter and make sure no one gets near the meeting house. The five disappeared, each choosing a perch, whether building or tree, to scan the area from.

As his clones got into position, Itachi closed his eyes and extended his chakra, trying to feel if there was anyone nearby. However, he felt no presences in the area besides his clones. That was good.

With his preparations done, he strode up to the entrance of the meeting hall and gave a light tug on the double doors. It was predictably locked. Taking out his lock picks Itachi jiggled one of his picks through the keyhole. With a few adjustments and some creative maneuvering, the lock clicked open.

Withdrawing his lock pick, Itachi silently padded into the meeting hall. Long rows of benches greeted him, sitting quietly below a pulpit. The door that led to the storage room was in the back and Itachi approached it, ignoring the scenery. As he progressed, a sense of foreboding washed over him, the feeling that after tonight, his life would never be quite the same again. However, he was undeterred and made it to the storage room, only to find the door locked. Taking it in stride, Itachi drew out his lock picks again and inserted one into the lock.

After wiggling it a moment, Itachi bit back a curse as handle of the pick broke off in his hand. 'Ah Shit.'

He couldn't even put in another pick, as the key hole was jammed with the remnants of the previous one.

'I suppose I'll have to destroy the door if I want to get in...Though that would make it obvious that there was a break-in."

'But I guess it doesn't matter,' he reasoned, 'the fact that half a lockpick is stuck in the door will give away my presence anyway.'

Taking out a kunai, Itachi stabbed a hole through the door, enhancing his strength with his chakra. He winced at the noise of the wood splintering and hoped that the walls of the building were thick enough to mute the noise. Sticking his arm through the hole, he tried to feel out the hinges with his kunai. Finding them, he gave two chakra enhanced swipes. The hinges broke away completely, landing on the floor with a sharp TINK!

The door itself, now standing without support, started to fall forward on top of Itachi. If it hit him, the door would probably crush him, ninja or not. With a burst of speed, Itachi yanked his arm out of the hole in the collapsing door and got out of the way. Then with his hands, he eased the door soundlessly down onto the ground.

Itachi was about to enter the room when he noticed a small seal on the floor of the room. He recognized from the Uchiha Police Headquarters security arsenal. It was more or less a 'Sharingan Detector'. Any intruder without the Sharingan trying to get past it would be attacked by the seal. An added 'benefit' was that the Police Headquarters would instantly be notified that the seal had been set off. It was primarily used as security on the Police HQ, although the fact it was here wasn't too surpising. However, the seal wasn't much of a threat. Activating his Sharingan, Itachi smirked. He was an Uchiha and could easily circumvent such tricks.

Scanning the room again, Itachi noticed no other defense mechanisms. He supposed that his father must've thought the only threat to the room came from those outside the clan and he was perfectly fine with that.

The shelves were organized with small signs. What Itachi was most interested in was the records of the Uchiha's history and promptly cleaned out all the scrolls under that heading.

He was about to leave when noticed a single lonely scroll sitting under the tab of 'Secrets of the Sharingan'. Next to it was a pile of scrolls, scrolls he had mastered long ago, on how to use the bloodline.

Itachi wondered what about the scroll kept separate from all its brothers. Was that scroll even there the last time he had visited this store house? Making sure that his record scrolls were still secure, Itachi grabbed the lone scroll and opened it.

It was a riddle... a riddle about something called the Mangekyou Sharingan. Itachi had never heard of this which was odd in itself, but even stranger, his name was inscribed on the top of the scroll. Various notes and marks were made on the riddle, but it was unclear if the person who had marked the paper had ended up solving it.

--

Mangekyou--Itachi

Spill the blood

Of the first of fire

Your dearest dear, your fifth desire

Its all that you are, you two-faced liar

And so you'll find

In all of end

What you once had loved

You're soon to rend

Your eyes shall flower

Flecked with blood

The darkest of

A latent power

--

A latent power?

Itachi shrugged at the enigma and tucked the scroll under his armpit along with the others. He would come back to it later.

He had two options now. He hadn't expected to leave a trace, but an unhinged door would be hard to hide. He would spend the rest of the night read the scrolls. And then, he would either carry out his bloody mission or he would replace the scrolls before everyone awoke and leave the break-in as a freak incident.

But could he really? He still didn't know. Could he really turn his hand on his clan? But worrying about it now was a waste of time.

Itachi placed the door back in its frame, in such a way that a casual observer wouldn't be able to tell it had been knocked off its hinges. The hinges themselves, Itachi placed in his pockets where his kunai were. Then with his arms full of scrolls, he ex-filtrated. The moment he exited the building and headed for his house, his clones took to his flanks, covering him.

Jumping through his still open window, Itachi reached his room again and dumped his load of scrolls onto his futon. Outside, his clones dispersed, their memories of nothing happening being channeled into Itachi's mind.

A candle was lit and so the night passed as Itachi leafed through scrolls.

He read about the battle between Madara against the Shodaime, the injustices done to the Uchiha Clan, the laws made against it, the services of the Uchiha clan, the honor and strength of the clan. Some of it was even fascinating, especially the stories about Uchiha heroics in the First and Second Shinobi Wars. However, the more he read, the more he saw the now very obvious hatred of the clan against all other clans as well as the position of Hokage.

A covert insurrection against the Shodaime, which was stopped when the leader somehow died on a mission. A botched assassination attempt on the Nidaime Hokage, which the ANBU foiled. Another botched assassination on the Yondaime, where the assassin was killed by the Yellow flash himself.

And then the kidnapping and murder of the Yondaime's son by an Uchiha.

At this, Itachi's eyes snapped open, turning a dark red. He was there as his father brought back Shushui from the Hokage Tower. He had asked what happened, but the only answer he got was that Shushui had been doing "A great service for the clan". And he had thought nothing of it.

But even now he did not believe it. Shushui? Never could Shushui do something so vile...

His mind turned from Shushui to the rock of those who had fallen in battle. The engraving - Minato and son. And son. A boy not fallen in battle, but to the stab of a secret and murderous dagger. But it wasn't Shushui who had held the dagger. He was sure of it!

The scroll continued. Apparently Uchiha who had helped kill the child was his best friend and mentor, Uchiha Shushui. There it was. No refuting it. And Itachi... felt... crushed. Betrayed. Angry. His best friend! His teacher! His role model! A child killer, who kill a Hokage's son. A Konoha citizen! And for what reason? ...Ah yes, politics.

So that was why he had been promoted to council adviser after the Kyuubi attack. For eliminating what could have been a future enemy to the Uchihas.

His teeth were gritted, his hands were clenched, his eyes felt like they might be on fire in his grief for how low his friend - no, the clan, had fallen.

It was mind blowing, the amount of crimes that the Uchiha had pulled off over the years. Prominent officials killed in their sleep for speaking ill of the Uchiha clan. Clan leaders amassing too much influence, suddenly disappearing. And any suspicions were easily and guiltlessly brushed off with a statement of denial from the head of clan - in this case, his father, Uchiha Fugaku.

So it had come to this. The Leaf had finally ordered the destruction of the clan. And they had chosen him to do it. But no, the death of the Yondaime's son wasn't the reason. This was eight years ago...There was more. And suddenly, Itachi felt a slight well of dread. What more could there be?

...And yet, he read on.

They had conspired with the Cloud and given them a map of Konoha when they tried to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress, in belief it weaken their rival ...

They had worked with Orochimaru by letting him experiment on Uchiha children, trying to produce a sort of super-soldier ...

And now, in the most recent scroll, it seems that they were once again planning to overthrow the Hokage. And not only that. They were going to use him and Shushui to do it. The scroll outlined the plan and in the margins, someone had scrawled, "Shushui - Yes...Itachi- Pending".

It was almost sickening, how dastardly their plans were and how easily they thought that Itachi would cooperate with their plans.

Now Itachi knew what the Uchiha Dream was, at least to men like his father. His father, who in his tenure as Clan head had committed dozens of crimes. Every bloody deceptive thing after the Nidaime's assassination was over seen by him.

Everything was done in the pursuit of more power - Uchiha power, where the unfair laws against the Uchiha clan would be repealed, where the Hyuuga would be beaten into the ground and where the Leaf would be led by the Uchiha.

Itachi, blinking a few times to ward off sleep, focused on the scroll detailing the coup again, concerning himself and Shushui.

It was now three o'clock in the morning.

The dim light was hard on the eyes but he couldn't help but feel a shot of surprise when he read the plan. On the first day of next month, he and Shushui would use knock out gas to gas ANBU head quarters. The plan stated that he would drop a timed gas canister in the locker room while Shuishui infiltrated the control room, using lethal force. Then he would get out as Shushui put on a delayed lock down of the building. That would give him enough time to make his own escape before the gas canister started to deliver its debilitating contents in what would soon amount to be a sealed environment. Any ANBU members in the headquarters at that time would be out for hours.

On that same day, the police had scheduled a mock battle exercise with the Chunnin and Jounin of the village using dummy weapons. Once the session got started, the police would coat their weapons with a paralysis agent, disabling the bulk of Konoha's ninjas.

They and the ANBU would later be picked through personally by Fuguku to see if they would fit with the new Uchiha regime.

Lastly, a small group of hand selected Uchihas, which, Itachi noted, were more selected for their loyalty then strength, would assault the Hokage Tower and over throw the Hokage. With the neutralization of Leaf's ninja forces, a Uchiha takeover would begin soon after.

So this was what Koharu had been referring too. But how had she known about all of this?

Itachi thought for a moment. No...she had probably only suspected. Each clan kept records, after all. If the villiage elders knew of all of the Uchiha clan's dastardly deeds, there was no doubt that the Uchihas would have been destroyed long ago.

For now he mulled over his mission. He still had a choice. He could ignore his orders or he could destroy his traitorous family.

Perhaps...he shouldn't...and yet... Itachi looked at the scrolls again.

No, it was for the good of the Leaf. He would carry out his orders. He was a Konoha ANBU, not a Uchiha puppet.

It was almost four o'clock now. He wanted to sleep but it was almost morning. A few hours of sleep wouldn't do him any good and would dull his nerves. He would wait until Sasuke was sent to school before he started the slaughter. His brother was young and innocent. He would be spared. 'Children should not be killed for the sins of their fathers', Itachi thought, paying no mind to his own burden. But even so, Itachi felt guilty. To bring death so close to his brother...he had seen what the claws of death could do to a man: Men have been driven mad, killed themselves, and even killed their loved ones.

What he was about to do.

'Ours is but to do and die. The way of the ninja.' Itachi thought emptily.

He saw that his parents had already left for work, his mother as a secretary in the Police department and his father as the Chief Executive of the Police Force.

He slipped downstairs and put on his ornate weasel mask before buckling on his leather armor. Wasn't it just yesterday he was walking down the street of the Uchiha District? He picked up his katana. Time passes he fast.

Itachi gazed toward the staircase. It was a strange feeling, betraying the home that had extended so much hospitality to him. Itachi shook his head. No matter.

Striding out, he was almost immediately greeted by Uchiha Shushui. The man smiled, "Itachi! How are you today?!"

Itachi gave a forced smile from underneath his mask, "Good. I have ANBU business today."

Shushui laughed, "Don't we always? Here, come with me to the river. I have something to discuss with you, private you know."

Itachi had suspected that Shushui was going to ask him in joining the coup against the Hokage, but going with him to the river was good. The river was a ways from the Uchiha district, far enough for a private conversation...or for an brutal confrontation... not to be heard.

The two walked over to the river, a calm and tranquil area, shaded by tall pine trees. Shushui sat down, patting the ground next to him, signaling for Itachi to sit down next to him. Itachi complied as Shushui started to talk. "Well Itachi, you know how the Uchiha clan has been oppressed by the Kages for the last two centuries, right?"

Itachi nodded.

"Good good. Well now we have the chance to end our oppression and usurp the rule of Konoha to ourselves - and you're a central part of this chance."

Itachi feigned interest, "Interesting. What will this chance entail?"

Picking at his shirt casually, Shushui said, "Oh, not much. All you have to do is place this-"

He took out a canister from his pocket.

"-in the ANBU locker room and press this red button on top. And then leave. Simple, eh?"

Itachi raised his eye brows. 'And even now, the Uchiha clan hides things from me...'

"Oh really...and this canister...does it possibly contain...knock out gas?"

It was Shushui's turn to look surprised. "How did you -..."

His eyes widened. "You stole the clan record scrolls! I heard the police investigating the meeting house this morning!"

A sneer crossed his face. "So, betraying your clan too, eh? Someone without loyalty…no better than a dog."

Itachi scoffed. "Who's betraying who? I'm one of the strongest in the village…and a ninja. Not a puppet. I'm not as brain dead as you think."

Shuishui looked wounded, "A puppet? We could never think of you like that! You're one of us!"

Itachi retorted in a high pitched voice, "Ooo! Ickle Itachi-kun, please put this little can in the ANBU locker room! And then leave! You wouldn't question that! Would you ickle Itachi-kun?"

He voice shifted back to its normal pitch, "Don't be stupid Shuisui. You're not much better than my father. And the fact that you've tried to trick me too tells me that even you of all people are blinded by power."

Itachi drew his katana. "Its over."

Shuisui gave a wane smile, looking at Itachi's weasel mask. "Heh, ANBU business. I have my sources Itachi. And I hoped you were still loyal to the clan. A shame its come to this. You were always stronger, but I won't make it easy for you. I will defend the Uchiha clan with my life!"

A sword appeared in Shushui's hand as well and the two ninja clashed in a flash of steel. The swords clanged off each other as two pairs of Sharingan's switched on.

Shushui brought his sword down in an overhead swing at Itachi's head. Itachi intercepted it and deflected the blow with his own sword, sending Shushui stagger back half a pace. Seeing his rival falter, Itachi lunged forward, trying to impale his friend on his sword point.

Seeing the impending danger, Shushui gave a burst of chakra and disappeared - before reappearing behind Itachi. He took a kunai from his kunai holder and flung it at Itachi's vulnerable back only to see Itachi whirl around and catch the kunai in between his thumb and index finger.

Itachi smiled, "You've gotten better at the Shunshin". Shushui smiled back, "Thanks. You've gotten better too."

And suddenly, it wasn't a fight to the death. It was just a regular spar between two old friends.

Itachi threw out some hand seals before shouting, "Katon : Housenka no Jutsu!". As he felt chakra well up in him he quietly whispered, "Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

A barrage of a dozen volleyball sized fire balls spewed out of his mouth, each one surrounding a shuriken.

Shushui dodged them, ducking and weaving, and called out, "Such low level jutsus won't work on me Itachi! I taught you b-"

Suddenly he noticed a great fire fire dragon hurtling at him above. "Not bad Itachi! Using Housenka no Jutsu to distract me and block off my vision while your dragon goes in for the kill! Now thats more like it! Shunshin no Jutsu!"

The fire dragon barreled into the ground that Shushui had been standing on half a second earlier, Shushui himself having reappeared in front of Itachi. Taking out a kunai, Shushui made as if to stab Itachi in the gut. Itachi jumped back but Shushui had been expecting this. With a quick Shunshin, he reappeared behind Itachi, still holding the kunai - waiting for Itachi to impale himself onto the needle sharp weapon.

The moment he saw Shushui disappear, Itachi understood what he was trying to do. 'Crap! He's behind me!'

There was only one option: "Kawarmi no Jutsu!"

Itachi disappeared, to be replaced by a log.

Shushui cursed lightly and called out, "Come out Itachi, you coward! How are you going to kill me if you hide like a sissy?!"

Itachi smirked at Shushui, hidden by the branches of a near by tree. 'I'm coming Shushui, and you won't stand a chance!'

Still eying Shushui, he whispered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

The copies and the copier looked at each other and nodded. They would use it. The same jutsu that got Itachi into the ANBU. It was wildly destructive burning everything in sight, but when used with a firm hand to grasp its reins, it was a deadly weapon.

"Katon : Helio's Heisha no Jutsu!"

Putting his hands up to his mouth, Itachi gave a great blow: F-whooosh!

The two clones by his side did the same and from their flames, three shapes came into being. Each one was in the form of a charioteer, complete with war chariot and war horses, and entirely made of fire. All three fire spirits took off in the direction of Shushui, leaving a wake of flames behind them.

Shushui smiled grimly. He had seen this jutsu in action before, but always against the enemy. It was a powerful one, but he had his own tricks up his sleeve.

"Katon : Faiya Hoko!" Twin lances made of blue flame appeared in his hand and he rushed toward the trio of fire spirits. With his fully developed Sharingan eyes, he could easily predict the movements of the spirits, but the only problem was even a near miss would result in him going up in flames.

With his flame spears - which, because they were fire themselves, were immune to the flames of the charioteers - Shushui battled against the charioteers. The nature of the jutsu was such that each hit weakened the spirit, resulting in the spirit requisitioning up more chakra from the summoner. Hitting a vital point on the charioteer would naturally drain more chakra than hitting, say, the leg of the spirit. With any luck, Itachi would fall over from chakra exhaustion. Summoning three flame spirits would've taken a lot out of any ninja.

Parrying another spear thrust from a charioteer and then dodging a full blown charge from another one of the spirit, Shushui rolled toward the third spirit and springing up, threw his fire lance as a javalin. The first one missed and merely clattered off the sides of the chariot. Raising his second lance, Shuisui tried again. This time his aim was true. The lance impaled the spirit through the middle of its chest.

The spirit collapsed and one shadow clone popped away beside Itachi.

However, the time it had taken him to aim his javalin had let the first spirit close in on him. He narrowly dodged the spear thrust the spirit gave, but the flames were so hot, his clothes caught on fire anyway. Wincing, he muttered, "Fuck! Shunshin no Jutsu!"

He reappeared a good distance away but he saw that the chariots had already located him and were bearing down fast. 'I need more time,' Shushui thought frantically. 'Ah of course!'

Forming hand seals, Shushui cried out, "Suiton : Suijinheki!"

The water from the nearby river jumped in front of Shushui forming a gigantic wall of water. Releasing the hold his chakra had on the water, Shushui let the water spill out in front of him, flooding the field.

The two fire spirits visiably slowed as they entered flooded area. While their heat was enough to vaporize the water on contact, the water's cooling influence still slowed them down. Meanwhile, Shushui was rolling around on the wet ground, putting the fire out on his arm. After a few seconds, he succeeded. Blowing the ash away, he saw that his entire left arm, from hand to shoulder was covered in third degree burns. He made a few hand seals, gritting his teeth through the pain. "Chiyu no Jutsu!"

His right hand took on a green glow and he sighed in relief as he placed it over the burns on his left arm. The pain ebbed away as his skin patched itself up. Looking over, he saw that the spirits had almost made their way over, across the flooded field. 'This is it!'

"Suiton : Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" All the water left in the river rallied around him, making a pitifully small dragon. It rushed at the leading flame spirit and disappeared in a swirl of mist and vapor. When the steam cleared, the lead spirit was still charging, having almost cleared the flooded field. Shuishi pursed his lips. He was out of any more water to use. But he would have to come through anyway. Gripping his sword, Shusui shunshined behind the lead spirit. Before the charioteer could turn around, he had plunged the sword into the spirit's back.

Itachi saw his last clone poof away.

The spirit crumbled into ashes as Shuishi withdrew his sword. The entire metal part of the blade had been melted clean off. Facing the last charioteer, he gave a cry of frustration and threw what was left of his melted sword at the flame spirit. It didn't slow the charioteer's progress at all.

Cursing, Shushui fell back using Shunshin. He was out of water. Fire jutsus wouldn't do much to a fire spirit. Wind jutsus would only strengthen the spirit. Raiton jutsus wouldn't be able to connect with something as incorporeal as fire. Doton jutsus! It could work!

"Doryuu Taiga!" Shushui screamed. The ground in front of the charging charioteer turned to mud, but as he feared, the heat from the fire spirit immediately hardened the mud back into clay. Shushui muttered, "Gah, well then...Doryuudan!"

A dragon arose from the soft watery mud that formed the river bed of the now empty river. It charged, a last ditch effort to halt the charioteer. It crashed onto and around the charioteer and when it hardened formed an earthen prison around the fire spirit. When Itachi saw that his fire spirit had no hope of burning its way out as it was so good at doing, he released the spirit from his chakra. Without its source of energy, the fire spirit dissipated within seconds.

Jumping out of the tree, Itachi was breathing hard, having lost almost all of his chakra. Shushui was breathing equally hard, having been pressed to the limit in his efforts. Itachi gave a strained smile, "You're the first person ever to defeat that jutsu. I congratulate you."

Shushui smiled back, equally strained, "You're the first person ever to push me this hard. You've grown more than I imagined. Lets end this now, right here, me and you."

Itachi smirked, ignoring the fact that one of them would be dead in the next five minutes. "Wouldn't have it any other way buddy."

They each took out a kunai. Both chakra reserves having been completely exhausted, they rushed at each other. No technique, no finesse, just a straight on rush. The sparks flew as the two knives clanged against each other.

For a moment, Itachi felt like he had been transported back a few years, when he was just an ordinary little boy, or at least, as ordinary as someone like him could be – a friendly spar.

But this had to end.

Shushui's breath hitched in his throat as he saw Itachi's Sharingan suddenly change. "Wait, Itachi – that couldn't be the…"

Before he could finished the sentence, Shushui fell to the ground, coughing up blood everywhere. Itachi's kunai had somehow managed to bury itself in his chest – and had no doubt managed to land in between his ribs.

His vision faded and his body relaxed. He saw Itachi, blurred into a black indistinct figure, standing above him. "…Mangekyou."

Itachi perked up. 'Have I achieved it? The ultimate Sharingan? Wait – how? What was the trigger? What had h-…oh…no."

The answer hit him with the force of the Hokage tower. Itachi whipped out the scroll, his Sharingan spinning wildly. 'Of course.'

First of fire. F

Fifth…Desire. R

Two…faced Liar. I

And all of End. End.

Friend. That was the answer. You would need to kill your best friend.

Itachi couldn't hold back the smirk on his face. 'Ha. The ultimate sacrifice? That prick deserved it."

Kicking Shushui's dead body, Itachi sighed. "Hm, looks like my decision has been made for me. If I don't go through with my mission… I'll no doubt be assassinated by father. Dammit."

...That afternoon, the Uchiha District was put to the sword.