A Growing Affection

Chapter 51: The Fallen Clan

"I did kill my clan," Itachi asserted.

"He did kill them," Sasuke shouted at the same time, "I saw him. My father's blood was dripping from that sword!"

In the soul cage he pointed, not caring that no-one could see him. Jiraiya coughed to gain their attention.

"While it may be technically true that Itachi ended the lives of the Uchihas," the Toad Sage capitulated, nodding at the older brother, "The fact of the matter is, those were mercy killings. The rest of the Uchiha clan was beyond saving, and all Itachi did was spare them days of drawn out pain."

"It is still my fault," the elder brother insisted, "I failed the task I was given, and my clan, my family suffered for it."

"And that is why I am glad I did not take your body, Itachi," Orochimaru mocked, "Your streak of martyrdom runs too deep. I fear it might have tainted me. After all, you could just as easily say you bought your clan more than a decade of life. And your brother his very existence."

"What does that mean?" confusion tainted Sasuke's anger, "What is he talking about, Itachi? ANSWER ME!"

"It started when I was three," the elder son of Mikoto and Fugaku explained, "I had been told not to leave the village, but the woods beyond the wall had this mystical pull. And like most children that age, I thought I was invincible..."

With the evil rogue ninjas vanquished, the young boy dropped the stick that had served as his mighty sword, and plopped down against a tree. He unwrapped the rice balls he had snuck out for a snack, and bit into one. A chipmunk eyed him carefully, torn between hunger and curiosity, and fear of the much larger predator. Itachi smiled at the rodent's antics. He took off a small corner of the mochi, and tossed it gently towards his admirer. The chipmunk quickly grabbed the morsel, and stuffed it into its mouth, its cheeks puffing out. The son of the Uchiha clan giggled at the sight.

Then the forest seemed to grow cold, despite the warm July weather. The chipmunk scrambled away, spooked. Overhead, the twittering birds fell silent. Itachi pulled himself up, his hunger and entertainment forgotten. He pressed his back against the tree, nervous. His eyes darted from tree to tree, searching for what was causing the unnatural calm.

He spotted something. A figure, crouching on a branch a few dozen feet away. At first Itachi thought it was human, until he saw the eyes. There was no white to them; instead they were just soulless black pits, accentuated only by glowing red spirals, three crimson lines circling from the outside to the center. The Uchiha youth tried to push closer to the trunk behind him, frightened by unnatural being.

"Is this coincidence or providence?" the figure hopped down lightly, and walked boldly towards the boy, "My clan's time is chosen, and one of them comes to offer himself to me."

The boy wanted to run, but those pitiless, impossible orbs held him fast.

"You would be Itachi, the son of Fugaku," the monster told him, "How fitting that the first to fall is the last heir of the superior line. Goodbye, child."

The figure's hands began to move, and Itachi recognized the chakra seals he had only begun to master. He began to shake with terror, realizing the shadow intended to kill him.

'I don't want to die. I don't want to die,' the child chanted in his head, 'Don't what to die.'

"I don't want to die!" he suddenly shouted out loud. His eyes hurt, and he did not know why. Itachi seemed to lose control of his hands, and they began to mimic the monster's motions. As suddenly as he had begun, the figure stopped forming the Jutsu.