*The Leaf Village*
The night in Konoha was too quiet. Unnaturally quiet.
Sasuke Uchiha sprinted through the empty streets, clutching his small training bag close to his chest. He had stayed late at the academy grounds again, practicing shuriken throws until the moon hung high. Usually, the Uchiha district would still be alive even at this hour—parents chatting at their doorsteps, children laughing, lanterns flickering softly in the windows.
But tonight, not a sound. Not even the hum of a late-night breeze.
Sasuke slowed, confusion flickering across his young face. His sandals scraped against the stones as he stopped.
*Strange… why is it so quiet?*
He turned toward one of the nearby clan houses and slid the door open. Darkness. Silence. No voices, no warmth. He tried another house. Then another. Each one empty. The air felt heavier with every step, pressing against his chest.
It was as if life itself had drained out of the district.
Still, he forced a nervous smile. "Maybe… maybe they're planning something. A surprise, maybe?" he muttered to himself. "But… my birthday isn't for another week."
He tried to laugh, but the sound felt hollow in the silence. So he kept walking—toward home. *Mother and Father will know what's going on. And big brother… he'll probably scold me for staying out too late again.*
But the closer he got to his house, the more the air began to change. A strange, coppery scent clung to his nose. Metallic. Sharp. Wrong.
Sasuke froze mid-step. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
The front hall was darker than usual. His sandals slid across the wooden floor—and caught on something sticky. He looked down. Faint red streaks stained the boards.
His breath hitched. He took another step. The walls bore the same stains, some dark and dry, others fresh. His stomach turned violently.
Then—a dull *thud.* Something heavy dropped in the next room.
He spun toward the sound, eyes wide. A bundle of blankets lay on the floor, decorated with childish patterns—brightly stitched animals and stars. It looked harmless at first. But the way it slumped, the way it sagged…
Sasuke's fingers went cold. He dropped his training bag, voice trembling.
"Mother? …Father?"
Silence answered him. His voice echoed down the empty hallway, swallowed by the walls.
Then—faintly—he heard it. A voice. Weak. Wet.
"Sa…su…ke…"
It drifted from upstairs.
His heart pounded so hard it hurt. "Father?" he whispered, already climbing. Each step creaked beneath his feet. His hands trembled as they gripped the railing.
The voice came again, lower now. A moan… no, a growl.
He stopped before the door to his parents' room. His fingers brushed the cold metal knob, slick with sweat. He turned it. Slowly.
The door swung open.
The smell hit him like a kunai to the chest—thick, metallic, suffocating. His eyes widened.
There, sprawled across the blood-soaked tatami, were his parents. Uchiha Fugaku. Uchiha Mikoto. Their bodies lay motionless, their clothes drenched in red. The floor beneath them was a sea of blood and silence.
"Mother… Father…"
He dropped to his knees, the world spinning around him. His trembling hands reached out, pressing against them, shaking, pleading.
"Wake up! Please! Who did this?!" His voice cracked into a sob. "Wake up, please… please!"
His cries broke the suffocating stillness—but there was no answer. Their eyes would never open again.
Tears blurred his vision as the truth clawed its way into his chest. The weight of it crushed his breath, crushed his voice, until all he could do was scream.
Then—footsteps.
He spun toward the door, heart leaping.
There, standing in the doorway, was his brother.
"Itachi!" Sasuke gasped, choking back a sob. Relief flooded him. "Brother! Someone—someone killed them!" He stumbled toward him, blood-streaked hands reaching out.
A kunai whistled through the air.
The blade nicked his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
Sasuke froze. His voice broke. "Brother… why… why'd you do that?"
Itachi's face was cold, unreadable. His voice was flat, almost hollow.
"My foolish little brother."
Sasuke's breath caught. "What…?"
Itachi's eyes were half-shadowed in the moonlight. "It was I," he said quietly. "I killed Mother and Father."
The words struck harder than any blow.
Sasuke stumbled back. "No… no, you're lying! You—you wouldn't—"
Itachi stepped closer. His voice sharpened. "Not only them. I killed the entire Uchiha clan."
The air left Sasuke's lungs. His mind refused to believe. *No… not him. He wouldn't… He couldn't.*
Tears blurred his vision. "You're lying… please tell me you're lying…"
But Itachi's eyes glowed with a new, terrifying pattern—three tomoe twisting into something sharper, darker.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Sasuke's blood ran cold. "What… what is that…?"
"Look closely," Itachi whispered.
And the world shattered.
Sasuke screamed as his mind was ripped apart by Tsukuyomi. Blood. Endless blood. The clan's death replayed again and again. He watched his parents fall a thousand times, heard their final breaths echo endlessly. Time lost all meaning.
When the illusion finally broke, Sasuke collapsed, gasping, drenched in cold sweat. His trembling hands clawed at the floor.
"Why…?" he croaked, voice barely a whisper. "Why'd you do this…?"
Itachi's gaze didn't waver. "To test my vessel," he said coldly. "You will become my rival—the measure of my existence. That is why I spared you. For my sake."
Sasuke's eyes widened in horror. "To test… your vessel?"
He lunged forward, fist trembling, but Itachi caught his arm easily and drove his foot into Sasuke's stomach. The boy collapsed, coughing, choking for air.
"My foolish little brother," Itachi said, his tone like ice. "If you wish to kill me, hate me. Despise me. Live in an unsightly way, clinging to life. And one day—when you possess the same eyes as I do—come before me."
He leaned down, his whisper cold as death.
"To gain that power… you must kill your closest friend."
Sasuke's heart twisted, his eyes shaking with horror.
Itachi turned and walked away, the crimson of his Sharingan fading into the dark.
Rage and grief ignited inside Sasuke. Through tears and fury, his own Sharingan awakened for the first time—two spinning tomoe blazing red in the moonlight.
He grabbed a kunai and hurled it. Itachi deflected it with ease. Another followed—this one grazing his headband, leaving a long scar across the metal plate.
Sasuke's legs gave out. The world blurred into red and black. His vision dimmed, his body trembling. His eyes still burned crimson as he collapsed.
By the time ANBU arrived, the killer was gone. The Uchiha compound was silent once more.
That night, the proud Uchiha clan was erased from Konoha.
Only two souls remained.
One bathed in blood.
The other in hatred.
**End of Chapter 1**
---