their eulogies sang us to sleep [ ITACHI & SASUKE ]

i.) remember, this is a battlefield

( In one world, Itachi Uchiha slaughters his entire clan in a single night, leaving only one alive. He leaves his brother in the street, slipping from the village like a ghost.

In another world, Danzo Shimura never approaches the boy. Never asks a thirteen-year-old child to bloody his hands. Itachi leaves the village on a mission, and a squad of ANBU Black Ops carries out the attack in the dead of night.

There are no survivors. Except for one. )

"Remember, this is a battlefield," his father says.

It's the earliest memory that Itachi has. Four years old and standing in the middle of a bloody field. Corpses piled around him, the grass soaked in red. Rain falls heavy on his face, turning his cheeks numb.

His father stands beside him, offering nothing in the way of sympathy or support. And Itachi doesn't wish for any.

The powerful words push through the roar of the rain, piercing Itachi's heart. Battlefield. It's not a word for a child to fix in his memory.

"In a few years, you'll be a shinobi, too. This war might end, but the reality of a shinobi does not change. This is the world you will step into."

His father's words are callous. Itachi stands still and endures. If he relaxes his control, then he knows the tears will come.

It isn't that he's scared. He isn't even sad. An emotion that he can't put into words surges within him, and it causes such a tightness in his chest that he can hardly stand it.

Soaking wet in the rain, his father won't notice if he cries. Still, Itachi refuses. He feels that if he cries here, he'll lose something fundamental to himself.

"Father." Itachi hears his own voice, as if from far away. He realizes that he's shaking. "Why did you bring me here...?"

It isn't the chill of the rain. It isn't fear of the corpses. It's rage that causes his body to shake.

A warm weight settles on the top of his head. His father's hand.

"I wanted to make sure you saw this reality."

Itachi searches his head for the meaning of his father's words. He's only four years old; he doesn't understand the difference between reality and fiction. But he's able to grasp what his father is saying.

"This is the reality I will live in..."

"That's right, Itachi," his father responds. "Shinobi are creatures of this fight. Never forget what you have seen here today."

Itachi stares out at the bodies, and he burns the sight into his retinas. This is the reality of war. This is the reality of fighting.

The tears come then, despite his attempts to stop them. They spill from his eyes and fall down his cheeks, hidden from sight by the rain.

Remember, this is a battlefield.

It's the earliest memory that Itachi has. He never forgets it.

The morning before Shisui plans to use Kotoamatsukami on Itachi's father to halt the coup d'état, the Commander sends Itachi's ANBU squad off on a mission.

The timing strikes Itachi as a bit suspect. Tensions between the village and the Uchiha have never been higher; unofficially, Itachi has been taken off active duty as he works to help mediate the situation. After weeks of careful planning, it's finally reached a critical juncture.