"Annoying class reunions. Big brother shouldn't have any missions today. I could've spent the whole afternoon with him... And Mom's delicious cooking too—I've missed everything..."
Young Sasuke, running through the night with his small legs, muttered complaints under his breath.
Meanwhile, in the Uchiha clan's territory, squads of people were ransacking the Uchiha's wealth and seizing Sharingan.
By the time Sasuke returned to the clan grounds, everyone had already left.
"Strange. It's already nighttime—why is it so quiet here?"
Approaching the entrance to the clan, Sasuke paused in confusion as he gazed at the gate just ahead.
It wasn't yet time to sleep, but the clan grounds were eerily silent.
This filled him with an unsettling sense of dread, mixed with a little fear.
With these thoughts in mind, Sasuke sprinted toward his home on his small legs...
As he entered the clan grounds, the air was thick with a metallic scent.
Young as he was, Sasuke didn't understand that it was the smell of blood.
He had seen blood before, but he didn't know it had a distinct smell...
---
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat quietly in his office, watching as his and Danzo's men ransacked the Uchiha clan's wealth.
He observed their orderly retreat and young Sasuke's return home.
He watched intently...
He saw Sasuke's terror as the boy discovered his neighbor lying in a pool of blood near the gate.
He saw Sasuke frantically running toward his house.
He saw the boy's disbelief turn into overwhelming pain, eventually leading to him fainting.
Hiruzen observed everything carefully.
This would affect how he handled Sasuke later.
Should he be killed, imprisoned, brainwashed, or allowed a normal childhood?
---
The office was silent for a long time.
At last, Hiruzen's weary voice broke the stillness.
"Take Sasuke to the hospital…"
Hiruzen's father had been named Sasuke Sarutobi, and this boy was named Sasuke Uchiha. Perhaps it was fate…
Hiruzen's murderous intent faded away.
His mind turned to how he could fabricate a flawless explanation.
One so seamless that even a mature and meticulous Sasuke wouldn't uncover the truth…
---
Under the moonlight, Itachi stood, untying the ninja headband from his forehead.
Then he crouched down, picked up a kunai, and drove it into the edge of the headband.
With a deliberate motion, he carved a deep scratch through the Leaf emblem.
"Kid, damaging your headband and becoming a rogue ninja right in front of me? Pretty bold..."
While Itachi was deep in thought, a calm voice came from behind him.
He donned his scratched headband without a word and turned to face the masked figure perched on a tree branch.
"I'm curious—why didn't you, as a member of the Root, strike me immediately?"
Itachi's gaze held a hint of confusion as he looked at the masked individual.
---
"Lord Danzo asked me to relay a message: the Akatsuki is no simple organization. Be cautious. Also, the people pursuing you earlier were all ANBU in disguise."
The Root member looked indifferently at the Uchiha prodigy before disappearing into thin air.
Itachi stood silently, slightly puzzled by Danzo's intentions.
After a moment of thought, he recalled the original events. Danzo might have been ruthless, but his talent for gathering intelligence and carrying out covert schemes was undeniable.
While Danzo's current motives eluded him, Itachi decided that once his strength grew, no conspiracy or scheme would be of any consequence.
With that thought, and seeing no one around, Itachi pulled out a container from his belongings. He intended to inspect Fugaku's eyes and confirm if they were Mangekyo Sharingan.
Back in the village, Obito's presence had forced him to restrain himself.
Mangekyo and Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan were entirely different.
The Eternal Mangekyo could continuously hone its visual prowess, unlocking the fourth stage of Susanoo and growing increasingly powerful.
In contrast, the Mangekyo severely diminished eyesight every time it was used. Achieving the full-body Susanoo was a pipe dream.
Just one use might render the user blind, relegating them to a career in blind massage therapy.
---
Looking at the blood-stained eyes in the container, Itachi activated his Sharingan to examine their visual power.
He soon realized that his seemingly ordinary father had hidden much deeper secrets…
Apparently, the ability to hold back was hereditary in the Uchiha clan.
First, Fugaku possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan but refrained from using it, resulting in his defeat. Then there was Itachi, a Mangekyo user who struggled against a mere three-tomoe Sharingan.
At this thought, Itachi felt a bit conflicted.
He wanted to immediately remove his own Mangekyō Sharingan and replace it with Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Then evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
But he hesitated.
He didn't know any medical techniques, and if something went wrong, it would be a disaster.
Besides, he still needed to join the Akatsuki.
Orochimaru was still in the Akatsuki at this time.
The reason for joining the Akatsuki wasn't for anything else—it was for Orochimaru's treasure...
Hashirama's cells, the thing Itachi coveted the most.
And the sooner he could get them, the better.
This was tied to his plans for the future.
It would determine whether he'd be eating meat or just sipping soup.
...
Itachi carefully placed the container into a storage scroll and tucked it inside his clothes, securing it tightly.
Now that he had confirmed it was indeed a Mangekyō Sharingan, he couldn't treat it carelessly anymore.
This wasn't the right time to transplant the eyes, but carrying them on him made him uneasy.
It felt like holding a delicate treasure—afraid to drop it, afraid it might melt if held too tightly.
Most importantly, he worried someone might steal it.
Lingering in place for a moment, Itachi felt a tinge of disappointment.
With a trump card like this, he was itching to use the Mangekyō for an exhilarating battle.
Who cared about the curse of the bloodline? Who feared blindness?
Nothing scared him now.
With the Eternal Mangekyō, he could dominate the ninja world in the early stages.
What was there to fear?
And if he could acquire the Sage Body later, wouldn't that make him unstoppable?
Though, if the curse of the bloodline could somehow destroy a Sage Body... well, he'd just forget he ever thought of that.
...
"Sigh, no one's coming..."
After waiting for about half an hour, no one had come to hunt him down.
Itachi casually found a riverbank and lit a small fire.
At this point, there was no need for him to be overly cautious anymore. His mindset had shifted dramatically.
A person with nothing to lose thinks differently from someone with things to protect.
Earlier, he was focused on escaping quickly and reuniting with Obito.
He had worried that using the Mangekyō too much might cause blindness or inadvertently trigger the bloodline curse.
Even his chakra usage had been carefully rationed.
After all, he was alone, with no teammates to cover his retreat.
And as for the eyes in his bag—whether they were truly Mangekyō Sharingan or not—he hadn't been sure at the time.
He hadn't dared to hope too much; the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
...
After finishing his grilled fish, Itachi found a sturdy tree and prepared to rest on its trunk for a few hours.
His urgency to reunite with Obito had faded.
Let him wait for a bit longer...
If the circumstances allowed, he would've loved to fight Obito.
He wanted to test Tsukuyomi to see if it could affect an opponent with the Mangekyō Sharingan.
This was a theory he had been pondering.
After all, his Tsukuyomi—and Shisui's Kotoamatsukami—were far too overpowered.
If they could work on opponents with the Mangekyō Sharingan, the implications would be terrifying.
That would mean having no restrictions, no natural enemies.
Thinking about this, Itachi recalled the Mangekyō Sharingan embedded in his summoning beast's eye sockets, as well as the one in Danzo's.
Orochimaru's image also surfaced in his mind...
Suddenly, his interest in Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan wasn't as strong anymore.
Of course, all of this would have to wait until he met that legendary figure—Orochimaru.
---