One year later…
Minako enjoyed her time under the moon as she slowly lept from building to building, heading for the Uchiha clan house to meet up with Sasuke, who had decided to leave before her. As much as she loved the sun and sparring under the light with Heiwanakuro, as someone who had lived most her life in the forests as a huntress, she found the darkness to be the most comfortable place to be.
As she entered the manor, she felt something was off, it was far too quiet. Even though it was night, there was usually quite a lot of activity near the clan hall and training grounds, but currently she could even hear the leaves rustling under the silence. A pit began to form at the back of her stomach as he instincts were screaming at her that something bad was happening. She slowly broke into a sprint as she rushed over the clan head's house where she usually stayed during the weekends.
She silently made her way over the roof without making a sound, making use of her huntress shoes that silenced all noise from her steps.
"We are proud of you no matter what you do Itachi, all I ask of you is to protect Sasuke and Minako in the coming years, no doubt people will be after them." She heard a voice say, recognised it as Fugaku.
"Remember, we will always love you." Another voice said, this time from Mikoto.
She silently removed a brick from the side of the roof and peered in to see what was happening. She could see Itachi with his ANBU mask on the side of his face with pained eyes as if he was holding in his tears and emotions. Mikoto and Fugaku both sat on the floor, backs turned from Itachi, eyes closed and smiling slightly.
"…Of course… I'm sorry." Itachi croaked out, and before she could register what had even happened, two flashes of silver appeared as both Mikoto and Fugaku fell to the floor in a pool of blood.
"…D-don't be… This is necessary… to protect the village… we have been prepared for this… since we decided to become shinobi…" Fugaku muttered, struggling to speak as life was slowly seeping out of him.
Horror was evident on Minako's face as she held in the urge to vomit at the sight. If it were just her, she would have most likely revealed herself with a scream, but Kurama was silently holding back the urges without making a comment, perhaps frozen in surprise herself from what she was seeing.
She had just witnessed two of the most important people in her life die, not to mention by the hands of someone she had considered an older brother. Kurama had taken over the body as Minako was beginning to hyperventilate and possibly pass out from shock. The tailed beast had never fully taken control of the body before as it was never needed, but this was a situation where she could not allow Minako free reign. Who knew what the child would have done in her blind rage.
She watched as Itachi simply stared at the bodies of his two parents in silence, possibly in shock at what he had just done. Minako and her had overheard several times plans of overthrowing the current Hokage and taking over the village, but had dismissed them as she didn't believe that the Uchihas that she had grown up with would do such a thing. From the looks of things, the situation must have gone South for the Hokage to order such a deed.
Or did the Hokage even order such a thing? No matter how much Kurama doubted Minato's abilities, it was clear that he was a man that valued relationships, and seeing that he a close friend of Fugaku's it didn't seem likely that he would send a kill order for the whole of Uchihas as a whole, so did someone else order it?
Neither Kurama nor Minako knew much about Konoha's government, but they did know that the council held a noticeable amount of power over the village, perhaps more than the Hokage if they all banded together.
Or maybe this was done behind the Hokage's back without any permission or council meeting? It was unlikely, but the conclusion couldn't be thrown out the window yet.
"What's this, a survivor?" A voice mused from behind. She twirled around to see a man dressed in a coat with red clouds, donning an orange twirling mask. Before she could reply, the man reached out with his hand at an impossible speed, aimed at her heart for a swift kill. Perhaps the man underestimated her simply due to her age, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be blown back towards the street by a kick to the stomach.
***
Tobi, otherwise known as Uchiha Obito, was having a good day.
He had met Itachi earlier and was helping with the extermination of all Uchihas when he noticed a small shadow looming over the roof of the house that Itachi had explicitly told him not to approach nor let anyone approach except Sasuke.
To his surprise, someone had made it through his keen gaze, but instead of a shinobi, he found a child dressed strangely designed clothes, seemingly made for hunting.
Just a lost Uchiha child I suppose, I must be getting old to let such a novice pass. He thought as he approached the child, a girl, and attempted to end her life as swiftly as possible so that she couldn't cry for help.
To his surprise, the child managed to dodge the attack and kicked him onto the empty road. He certainly didn't remember academy students kicking so hard, perhaps it was a fluke? No… the way she reacted meant that she was experienced with combat to a degree, but who would teach a child such things? Perhaps the girl was a secret weapon that the Uchihas were raising to use in the uprising?
He didn't have much time to think as the child had leapt quite high into the air, and to his surprise materialised a sleek black sword of a design he had never before seen. Her black gear suddenly exploded in light before transforming into a pure white battle dress, armour covering various parts of the body. He could tell that the armour was of high quality as he had witnessed several samurai and swordsmen over the years, not to mention the mysterious black sword that was one of its kind.
The girl descended with a spin, swinging the blade downwards with considerable momentum. He activated his Sharingan, searching for any techniques that were present, but to his disappointment it was just a simple downward swing.
Deciding not to use his Kamui to let it faze through as it would drain chakra that could be used later if the ANBU arrived, he raised his hand, determined to catch the blade and show the child that it was pointless. As the girl got close, she let out a determined cry whilst aiming for his right arm, as if challenging him to a contest of strength, earning a snort from Tobi.
"HHAAAAA! [Weight of the World]!" Before he could even comprehend the words that she had shouted, the sword struck down and sliced straight through his arm as if it didn't even exist.
"What!?" He cried in surprise as he refused to believe that a child had beaten HIM in a contest of strength, so clearly as well. He didn't have time to think further either as he swiftly retreated a great distance backwards.
The girl continued the motion of the swing until the blade hit the floor. He expected the sword to either bounce off, or at best dig slightly into the concrete, but instead the surrounding area shook as a significant area around the point of impact caved into a crater.
"…"
What in the FUCK was this girl? To not only be able to beat him in terms of strength but to actually cause this much destruction with a single swing, furthermore without the use of chakra! Fortunately for him, the amputated arm could be regrown since it was on Zetsu's side, but the wound to his pride would remain for quite a while. Though it was true that he wasn't giving it his all when he attempted to catch the sword, he still put quite a significant amount of chakra into his arms just to be safe.
"…You're an interesting child to be able to wound me… The last person to do so was your precious Hokage." He said whilst ignoring the pain that was slowly disappearing as Zetsu's cells began to stop the bleeding. The girl's eyes widened before narrowing. Without another word, the sword disappeared and in its place a bow materialised. She swiftly nocked and arrow and aimed it straight towards him.
Though in most cases, he would simply go for the kill on the girl, he decided to see what she would do, as the more information he had, the better. As the arrow was released, the air around the girl shrieked as the projectile flew towards him at speeds that only jounin-ranked shinobi or above could track. He activated his Kamui to let it fly through him, and watched as the arrow flew straight into a nearby civilian building that previously belonged to an Uchiha and blew it into smithereens.
…An unknown variable that could possibly grow even stronger in the future, taking her out now is the best option, and with that, he leapt towards the child at full speed, not taking the risk of her having anymore tricks up her sleeve.
***
It went straight through him… Kamui? so an Uchiha, Kurama thought, still in control of the body as Minako was still recovering from the shock. There was a chance that she could win if it was just a random assassin, but she knew that this was the masked man that had fought with Minato on equal grounds, there was no way for her to win normally, so instead she gambled on his pride and caught him by utilising the weight shifting of the sword to raise its overall mass to its limits, not daring to use any chakra as it would alert the self-proclaimed Uchiha Madara.
Unfortunately, the man had dodged the moment the sword cleaved through the arm, causing her to miss the killing blow, leading to her situation now, most tricks used and a superior opponent in front. The only way to hit him when he could utilize Kamui was to be either faster than him or catch him off-guard, which was now highly unlikely as he would be on guard due to the loss of an arm.
She panicked as the man seemed to lose all the playfulness that was present earlier as he lunged at breakneck speed. Bringing her sword up to meet the attack hurriedly, she blinked as the attack never came. She looked up to find Itachi standing in front of her, blocking the attack meant for her.
"The girl's not an Uchiha, leave her." He said plainly, devoid of emotion.
The masked man stared at Itachi for a moment, before his gaze landed back onto her, analyzing the situation and weighing the pros and the cons. After a few moments, he sighed before nodding slightly.
"If you say so, then let us take our leave." He replied before swiftly vanishing with a Kamui, possibly to get his injury treated more thoroughly. She released the breath that she had unconsciously held. Though she had managed to injure the man, it was simply due to his arrogance, and if the two of them were to fight, she would most definitely lose as she had no real way to injure the masked man, not mentioning the fact that her combat experience was almost non-existent compared to him.
She collected herself before looking up at Itachi, who was facing away from him, slowly walking towards the forest.
"…You're not a bad person, Itachi, don't ever think you are." She said calmly whilst staring at the back of the man she considered as a brother. The words caused said man to freeze in his spots. He turned his head to stare at her with an irritatingly expressionless face on par with Yoshina.
"I am a man who killed his own family for power, how could you say that I am not a bad person?" He asked, staring at her whilst awaiting an answer.
"If that were your own choice, then you most certainly would be, but remember that I am tens of thousands of years old, and I have seen that look in your eyes in many who have gone down in history as traitors, yet in reality are heroes." She said, earning a gasp from Itachi as his eyes widened. From the words, he could tell that he was not speaking to Minako, but the Kyuubi, Kurama.
"I-I see…" He struggled to say as he gulped.
"Don't worry, I've generally figured out the situation, but I won't say a word to anyone, not even Sasuke." She replied, causing the stoic man to sigh in relief.
"…Look after him, will you?" He pleaded.
"With my life, he is one of the only remaining people Minako has left, if he decides to embark on the path of revenge, then I will help him as this is the path you have chosen, don't regret it now."
"…I won't… goodbye." He called, but before he could take another step forward—" [AMATERASU]!" A voice from behind called as black flame erupted from Itachi's coat, causing both of their eyes to widen in surprise. She turned her head to see Sasuke glaring furiously at Itachi, blood dripping from both eyes as a strange pattern consisting of three ellipses replaced the usual tomoes of his sharingan.
'Mangekyou' Kurama concluded as she reviewed the events that had occurred recently. The most likely scenario was that either he had seen Itachi execute their parents, or he had stumbled upon their dead bodies. It was distressing to know that someone so young could wield such a power, but nothing in her life nor those involved with her life could ever be normal.
Before Sasuke could damage his eyes further in his own rage, she dashed forward and delivered a swift jab to the back of his neck intended to knock him out for the rest of the night.
After confirming that he was unconscious, she turned around and looked the expressionless Itachi in the eye.
"Take care of yourself." She finally said, breaking the awkward atmosphere between the two.
"…Of course, I leave him to you then." He replied before dashing off into the distance.
Left alone in the middle of the street littered with bodies, she looked back up at the moon that was directly overhead.
"Why is life so cruel to the best?" She muttered to no one in particular. Her trance continued for minutes until she heard footsteps coming from her far left. She once again switched into her huntress clothes and took to the rooftops after laying Sasuke down in a spare bed in one of the now empty houses of the district.
As she approached the source of the noise, she could see an elderly figure moving through the bodies in a hurry. The man stopped at the body of a nearby corpse, and to her disgust he pulled out both eyes and stored it inside a jar before sealing it inside a storage seal.
"Robbing Sharingans? Not on my watch…" She muttered as she silently nocked an arrow and fired. The man reacted swiftly as the sound of piercing air caught his attention, but it was already too late. The arrow went straight through the man's heart before cleanly exiting through his backside, leaving a gaping hole in his chest. He instantly fell to the floor lifeless with his eyes still wide in surprise, not even knowing the cause of his own death.
Kurama could feel a slight headache, most likely from Minako's reaction to her first kill. Even though technically she didn't kill him personally, she still experienced the action as if she had done the deed herself. Kurama berated herself mentally for a moment, forgetting that her counterpart had not killed a human being before, and now she had just added more weight onto Minako's already frail mentality from the events in the past hour.
Deciding to apologise later, she approached the corpse, gasping in surprise as she recognised the identity of the corpse—a member of the council, Shimura Danzo if she remembered correctly. Was this the person who had given Itachi the order? It was very likely, as the timing of his appearance suggested that he knew of the massacre at this specific time.
The most likely scenario was that the man had given the order to kill all the Uchihas and flee so that he could harvest the Sharingans for who knows what purpose. It certainly was a lot more plausible than Minato sending the son of one of his closest friends to kill that said friend and a large number of innocents just to take care of a few troublemakers.
She could feel her vision beginning to fade slightly, most likely from exhaustion, both physically and mentally from the events of the day. Deciding not to spend a second longer near the corpses of those she had known for years, she grabbed Sasuke from the house she had left him in earlier and headed for village to both inform them of the situation and call for help. She decided to leave Danzo with his jars of Sharingans next to him along with the storage scroll. Best case scenario, it would expose the man for his foul deeds and everything would be well, at worst there would be some political backlash due to the death of an influential member of the council, but she decided that having the man exposed for his crimes was more important than more paperwork for Minato.
…It really was a long night, wasn't it?