Chapter 9: The Calm Before the Storm
Ren returned home to find Uchiha Fugaku had already returned. The family was seated around the low dining table, the steam from the untouched meal rising into the quiet room. They had waited for him.
A complex emotion, sharp and warm, pricked at Ren's heart. He quickly suppressed it, building his walls higher.
"I'm home," he said, his voice neutral.
Uchiha Fugaku merely glanced up from his scroll, gave a curt nod, and said nothing more. He didn't ask where Ren had been. Mikoto, however, smiled warmly.
"Come, sit down, Ren. The food is getting cold." She gestured to his usual spot, already filling a bowl with rice for him.
"I… Thank you, Mother." He had been about to say he'd already eaten with Naruto, but the words died in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to reject her simple, caring gesture. He sat, the warmth of the bowl unfamiliar in his hands.
"Let's eat," Fugaku stated, finally setting his scroll aside and picking up his chopsticks. The day's duties had clearly left him hungry, yet he had waited. The stern patriarch's love was a silent, unspoken thing, expressed not in words but in actions like this.
The meal was a quiet affair. The only sounds were the gentle clinking of dishes. Mikoto broke the silence occasionally, serving Sasuke and Ren more food, her face lit with a quiet joy just watching them eat.
"I'm finished. Thank you for the meal, Father, Mother. I will retire to my room." Ren bowed slightly after clearing his bowl, eager to escape the stifling, loving atmosphere.
"Oh? You ate so little. Are you feeling unwell, Ren?" Mikoto's voice was laced with immediate concern.
"I'm fine," Ren replied, his tone deliberately flat, betraying none of the turmoil inside. He needed to get out. Now. "Just tired."
He turned and left before she could ask more, closing the door to his room behind him and leaning against it with a long, weary sigh.
*This is getting harder,* he thought. *Every day, it gets harder.*
---
The next morning, Ren was woken by the sound of Sasuke's excited voice echoing through the compound.
*What's he so worked up about?* Ren thought, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. *Unless… Itachi is back.*
Pushing his door open, his suspicion was confirmed. Sasuke was practically buzzing around Itachi, who stood calmly in the main room, still wearing the standard jonin flak jacket over his clothes.
"Brother! What did you do yesterday? Why were you gone so long?" Sasuke pressed.
"It's a mission secret, Sasuke. I cannot discuss it." Itachi's voice was gentle but firm. He tapped Sasuke lightly on the forehead with two fingers, a familiar, affectionate gesture. Then his dark eyes, so much older than his years, found Ren. "Ren. You're awake."
"Yeah," Ren answered with his customary brevity, moving past them toward the bathroom to wash up.
"Alright, Sasuke, stop pestering your brother. Come, breakfast is ready. You both need to leave for the academy soon." Mikoto's voice carried from the kitchen, a gentle command that finally pulled Sasuke away.
After a quiet breakfast, Ren and Sasuke walked to the academy together, the silence between them a heavy, tangible thing.
"Good morning, Ren-kun!" a cheerful voice called out the moment Ren stepped into the classroom. It was Ino, her blonde ponytail swishing.
"Morning, Ino," Ren replied politely, offering a small smile before continuing to his seat. As he passed a certain desk, he paused. "Naruto. How's the… uh… feeling today?"
Naruto looked up, startled that Ren had addressed him so openly. A wide, brilliant grin spread across his face. "Eh? It's all good! Nothing keeps Uzumaki Naruto down for long, believe it!"
"Good." Ren nodded and moved on.
"Good morning, Ren-kun," Akane said softly from the desk beside his, a shy smile on her face.
"Good morning, Akane," he replied, sitting down. He noticed Kenji, the bully from the first day, was conspicuously silent, pointedly looking away.
The days began to blur into a comfortable, repetitive rhythm. Iruka's history lessons remained a powerful sedative, and Ren often found his head drooping onto his desk, only to be gently nudged awake by Akane when class was dismissed.
Slowly, he grew familiar with all the key players from the original story. Unlike the aloof and brooding Sasuke, Ren was approachable and calm outside his home. He didn't seek the spotlight, but he didn't push others away either. People were drawn to him. Ino's initial crush matured into a steadfast, friendly loyalty, and she and Sakura remained close friends, their rivalry redirected—Sakura forever trying to get Sasuke's attention, and Ino often finding excuses to talk to Ren.
After a week of foundational lessons, Iruka finally began the real ninja curriculum: the nature of chakra, its basic properties, and the technique for refining it. For Ren, who had already mastered this through the system, it was another reason to nap. Initially, Iruka was annoyed by the sleeping student, but his frustration turned to stunned disbelief when Ren, once woken, effortlessly demonstrated perfect chakra control, forming a stable, visible ball of blue energy in his palm.
News spread quickly. Another genius had emerged from the Ninja Academy. Uchiha Ren, younger son of the Clan Head, younger brother of the legendary prodigy Itachi. While Sasuke was undoubtedly skilled, it was Ren who now captured the village's attention. The Uchiha name once again inspired awe and whispers of a clan overflowing with talent.
That year, Uchiha Ren and Uchiha Sasuke, at age six, entered the Ninja Academy. That same year, Uchiha Itachi, at age eleven, was inducted into the ANBU Black Ops.
---
**Two Years Later**
The shadow over the Uchiha clan had only grown longer. Since the Nine-Tails attack four years prior, suspicion from the village had festered into open prejudice. The clan had been forced to relocate to the outskirts of Konoha, isolated and monitored. This humiliation bred a deep-seated resentment.
A rebellion began to simmer within the clan's walls. Uchiha Fugaku, pressured by his clansmen and sharing their wounded pride, became its reluctant leader. He used his son's position, forcing Itachi to serve as a spy within the ANBU to gather intelligence on the village's leadership.
For two years, Itachi lived a torturous double life. Konoha's elders, aware of his love for peace, turned the tables, forcing him to monitor his own family. He became a pawn, trapped in the political chasm between the village he swore to protect and the family he loved.
The pressure reached its breaking point in a secret, underground meeting room. Three figures defined the fate of a clan.
Uchiha Itachi stood half-kneeling before the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. To the Hokage's side, leaning on his cane, stood Shimura Danzo, his one visible eye cold and calculating.
"Have you reached your decision, Itachi?" Danzo's voice was like gravel. "If the Uchiha are allowed to proceed with their coup, we will have no choice but to send Konoha's ninja to stop them. The bloodshed will be immense. And it will include your younger brothers."
"Danzo, wait," the Third Hokage interjected, his face lined with grief. "There must still be a path of negotiation. We cannot—"
"Negotiation?" Danzo cut him off, his tone dismissive. "Their conspiracy has run for years, Hiruzen. They are too far gone for talk. It is a cancer that must be cut out."
Itachi remained motionless, his head bowed. When he spoke, his voice was hollow, stripped of all emotion. "If I… if I am the one to do it… will you truly spare my brothers?"
"Of course," Danzo said smoothly. "However, one of them must be inducted into the Foundation." The 'Root' organization, Danzo's personal black-ops division, was a fate worse than death for many—a place where children were stripped of their identities, brainwashed, and turned into emotionless tools.
"No!" Itachi's head snapped up, a flicker of fire in his dead eyes. "They cannot go to Root."
"You have no choice," Danzo pressed, his voice hardening. "The alternative is that they both share the clan's fate. It is one life for the other. Or none at all."
"Danzo, this is too far!" the Third Hokage snapped, his authority flaring.
But Danzo ignored him, his single eye locked on Itachi. "Well? What is your answer?"
Itachi closed his eyes. His hands, clenched at his sides, were white-knuckled, his nails drawing blood from his palms. The weight of the world crushed down on his slender shoulders. He saw the future: a river of blood, his father, his mother, his aunts, uncles, all slain by his hand. He saw Sasuke's future, shattered by trauma. And he saw Ren, his quiet, enigmatic brother, swallowed by the darkness of Root.
There was no choice. There was only a path of unimaginable pain that led to a sliver of hope for the two he loved most.
He opened his eyes. The fire was gone, replaced by a bottomless, chilling resolve.
"I will do it," he whispered, the words tasting like ash. "I will carry the sin. I will become the villain. And I will leave Konoha. But you will keep your word. You will protect them both."
"Do not worry," Danzo said, a note of triumph in his voice. "I only require one Uchiha for the Foundation. The other will be left untouched."
"Then… I take my leave." Itachi bowed to the Third Hokage, not meeting the old man's grief-stricken eyes, and turned to leave the room, his footsteps echoing in the tomb-like silence.
"Danzo… why?" Hiruzen asked, his voice heavy with defeat once they were alone. "This is excessive, even for you."
"Humph. The Uchiha are too dangerous," Danzo stated coldly. "I will not allow their power to exist outside my control. This is not your concern." With that, he too turned and left, his cane tapping a grim rhythm on the stone floor.
Alone in the dim room, the Third Hokage, the Professor, the God of Shinobi, could only sink into his chair and release a long, weary sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the entire village. The stage was set for a massacre. The peace of Konoha would be bought with the blood of its most powerful clan, and the soul of its most tragic son.