In Their Shadow

Fragmented Memory 1

Sasuke believed in power. He believed that those with power were destined for greatness. He believed that those without power were destined for misery. He held such beliefs because of one unchanging fact.

Itachi Uchiha was amazing.

Itachi could perfectly perform Ninjutsu without breaking a sweat. Itachi was a survivor of the Third Great Ninja War. Itachi was a anbu. Itachi was a prodigy. Itachi was a master of Genjutsu. Itachi was one of the strongest ninja alive in the Hidden Leaf. Itachi was smart in both body and mine.

Simply put, Itachi was amazing.

Sasuke loved and envied his older brother greatly. He wanted to be his brother. He wanted to be as strong and smart as his brother. Surely, his brother was the greatest. The manifestation of pure strength in Human form. That was what Sasuke thought of him as.

Because of his adoration for his brothers greatness, he himself became obsessed with strength. Sasuke believed that strength was all that mattered, he believed the weak deserved to only bow before the strong. He believed the only truth of the world was that the weak suffer and the strong prevail.

One day however, that had all changed.

It was a bright sunny morning in the Uchiha compound. Sasuke woke up, ate breakfast, got changed, and began to walk to school. Along the way, he met up with his childhood friend Naruko, and eventually both had arrived at the academy.

"Hey Sasuke during practice today, can you teach me that great fire thingy, can you?" The blond chatter box asked.

Sasuke sighed.

"How many times do I gotta say no. Besides, it wouldn't work that well for you anyway." Sasuke responded.

"Yeah, yeah because my main element is wind, I get it." Naruko responded with a pout.

They walked into the classroom after navigating the hallway, confronted with the usual people wanting to suck up to the second heir to the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage's daughter.

"Oh hey Sasuke, you look amazing as always!" One girl shouted.

"Hey Naruko, please go out with me!" One guy pleaded.

"No me!" Another shouted.

"Get away from my Sasuke!" One girl screamed.

"Your Sasuke!?" Another yelled.

Naruko smiled awkwardly, declining boys' dating requests and Sasuke smirking at the usual girls flocking near him.

'That's right, admire me. i'm amazing after all' Sasuke thought cockily.

As the usual rabble gathered before them, Sasuke condescendingly pondered how amazing he was. He was in the middle of gloating when, out of no where and completely out of the norm...

"Out of my way."

A sudden curt demand cut through the messy jumble of compliments the two were receiving. Sasuke turned to look at the person who dared to order around THE Sasuke Uchiha.

There stood a pale boy, with a ponytail, two bangs, and a scowl on his face.

Sasuke didn't even have a chance to respond, as he quickly cut through the crowd of people, the strange boy muttering to himself. Sasuke catching a small snippet of his quiet words.

"Oh Naruko and Sasuke, your soooo cool~. Who gives a shit who they are. Privileged assholes." The boy said in a disgruntled whisper.

Sasuke couldn't even comprehend the audacity of the boy. To just spit on the honor of the Uchiha's and the Hokage's daughter with complete disregard, it infuriated Sasuke to no end. That unremarkable boy, lowly weak insect, he dared to act in such a way. He couldn't even fathom such blatant disregard of the strong.