Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

The Naming of Hakumei

Uchiha Itachi was one of the few actual ANBU left in Konoha. Although most of the Uchiha were in the Military Police, Itachi had been permitted to keep his position as ANBU captain.

He knew perfectly well why he was still ANBU. It was so that the ANBU would remain under control. The ANBU had been made up mostly of people who had supported the Sandaime's philosophy, and Danzou, who was opposed to it, should still have been unstable enough for the ANBU to remove him. Unfortunately, Danzou had wide popular support other then a very few, and that gave Danzou the edge. Just in case the ANBU did show itself to be a threat, Itachi was there as a spy to report to his father.

Those who didn't support Danzou had to keep their thoughts to themselves, or suffer not only the suspicion that the might be traitors from the Military Police, but the dislike of their fellow ninja and the civilians.

Itachi was on patrol duty around Konoha. It was a boring job, and even more tedious now that most even his squad had been discharged. It was only him, a woman named Uzuki Yugao, and a ROOT transfer who didn't seem to have a name other then 'Boar' on his squad. Even people like Hatake Kakashi and Tenzo had been discharged and made into Jonin.

He stopped at a point on top of the Hokage Monument, often called Hokage Mountain by some of the Academy Students. He had giving the orders for Yugao and Boar to meet him there once they had finished their rounds.

The village looked so peaceful that night. It was hard to tell that they were at war. Because there had been no attacks and few loses, Danzou was only growing in popularity. He appealed to the people's fear. If Iwa had been able to kill the man who was widely considered to be the greatest Hokage, what else would they do? Danzou's speeches were always brief, and surprisingly emotional. While the man himself never showed any, he seemed to be more then happy to exploit those of others, and with the Military Police behind him, few chose to oppose him.

After all, the Uchiha clan was the oldest in the village. The Hyuuga had come later after giving their aid very suddenly during a battle that would have destroyed Konoha only a few years after it had been created. The others had followed one by one, but the Uchiha had always been there. It gave them a degree of respectability, even though most ninja feared them slightly. If a clan of that kind of power was unanimously behind Danzou, how could he be anything but best for Konoha?

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly and his hands clenched and unclenched.

But not all the Uchiha clan was behind him.

Itachi secretly hated the man.

He had been four, almost five, when Itachi had been forced to see battle. Even at that age, Itachi had been seen as a genius, and since his mother was pregnant with Sasuke, it was dicided that Itachi would take her place helping the Medic-nin. It had been the end of Itachi's childhood. Years afterwards, he would wake, screaming, from the memories of the blood, pain, and death that he had seen that day. Not everyone had been dead, and plenty were delirious. When he was trying to stop the bleeding of a man was obviously going to die no matter what he did, he stopped by the Yondaime himself. He had been furious that Itachi had been made to go out there, but the damage had been done.

Itachi hadn't understood at the age just why he had been made to go out there, and had tried to put up a good show of not crying for his father. Fugaku had seen his silence as control, and saw him to be the perfect weapon. Itachi's training began shortly after that, but he had been permanently changed.