In the Land of Fire, within Konoha Village, the Uchiha Clan compound stood. The district, typically alive with activity, was now enveloped in an eerie, profound silence. To an outside observer, it might have seemed peacefully quiet, but the stillness was terrifying.
Anyone with a decent level of perception would have sensed the faint, shimmering barrier that encased the entire area, a powerful seal isolating it from the outside world.
Outside, the compound was a picture of unnatural serenity. Inside, it was a living hell.
Screams, sharp and desperate, cut through the air, punctuated by cries of disbelief and terror.
"Itachi! Why are you doing this?! We are your clan!"
"Ah—Itachi! Please, don't! We were just on a mission together yesterday! Agh—!"
"Demon... He's a demon... He's lost his mind... He must have— Agh!"
"Help! Someone... get out and alert the— Ah...!"
A figure clad in black moved with lethal precision, cutting down his own kinsmen. His eyes were cold, like stagnant pools, utterly devoid of emotion. He remained unmoved by the wails and pleas, continuing his grim work without pause.
His pupils blazed crimson, marked with a distinctive black pinwheel pattern—the symbol of the Uchiha clan's supreme ocular power, the Mangekyō Sharingan. He was the clan's prodigy: Uchiha Itachi.
Under the oppressive power of Itachi's eyes, the Uchiha clansmen were utterly subdued. None could resist the genjutsu he cast; they fell before him, powerless to fight back.
Itachi moved relentlessly, finally arriving at a particular home. Inside awaited only two people: Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto—his parents.
"If I had known it would come to this... I should never have allowed you to join the ANBU," Fugaku stated calmly, kneeling on the tatami, his gaze steady and resigned. Beside him, Mikoto stood trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked at her eldest son, utterly speechless.
"It is too late for words. I... cannot turn back now," Itachi's voice was ice, though a flicker of something—pain, regret—passed through his emotionless eyes for the briefest moment before it was ruthlessly suppressed.
"To think I, Uchiha Fugaku, would meet my end by my own son's hand. How bitterly ironic." A grim, self-mocking smile touched Fugaku's lips. He met Itachi's gaze directly. "So, this is our clan's supreme power, the Mangekyō Sharingan... Truly captivating eyes. Well, Itachi? What are you waiting for? Do it."
"Itachi..." Mikoto's voice was a fragile whisper, choked with tears. "Your mother has never asked anything of you... but for this one thing, I beg you. Please... spare Sasuke. He's still just a child..."
"...I promise you." Itachi's voice grew hoarse. In one fluid, merciless motion, the kunai in his hand flashed. Fugaku and Mikoto collapsed, their lives extinguished.
---
Sasuke, returning home from the academy, bounded happily toward the compound. But as he passed through the main gate, he froze. Bodies lay scattered everywhere. His heart seized with dread, and he broke into a frantic run toward his home.
Simultaneously, in a spacious courtyard within the compound, a shimmering, multicolored portal of light materialized from thin air. A powerfully built figure stepped out from its glow.
Son Goku surveyed the gruesome scene, his gaze pausing on the small form of a girl, no more than seven or eight, lying lifeless not far away. He shook his head with a sigh. "Harsh. Truly harsh. To go this far, even striking down a child... Sacrificing the few for the many? I'll never understand that logic."
"AHH!"
A sharp, youthful scream of pure terror echoed from nearby, only to be abruptly cut short.
"Sounds like a kid. Must be Sasuke," Goku mused, following the sound.
He arrived to find Itachi standing over the unconscious form of young Sasuke. The scene was self-explanatory: the elder brother had undoubtedly used Tsukuyomi on the younger, forcing him to relive the night's horrors. The shock had been too much for the boy.
"Who's there?!" Itachi spun around, his Sharingan locking onto Son Goku, a sharp spike of killing intent radiating from him. "No matter who you are... since you've witnessed this, you will not leave here alive."
"Hey now, relax! I'm just a guy passing through. Think of me as a tourist, I'll be on my way," Son Goku said, holding up his hands in a gesture of innocent pacifism.
A derisive "Hmph!" was Itachi's only reply, his mind clouded by the night's carnage and the need for absolute secrecy. A kunai slipped from his sleeve into his hand, and he launched it at Goku with lethal speed.
"Was that really necessary?" Son Goku shrugged, a hint of exasperation in his tone. In the next instant, he simply vanished, reappearing behind Itachi.
A single, casual kick sent the Uchiha prodigy hurtling through the air. Itachi crashed into a nearby rock garden with a sickening thud, coughing up a mouthful of blood. The blow was held back; had it not been, Itachi would have been dead on impact.
Impossible! My Sharingan couldn't even track his movement! Itachi's mind reeled with shock as he pushed himself up, his expression turning graver than ever before.
The tomoe in his crimson eyes spun rapidly, morphing into the stark pinwheel pattern. He activated his Mangekyō Sharingan fully.
"Tsukuyomi!" he intoned, unleashing his most powerful genjutsu.
Son Goku didn't even blink. He stood utterly unaffected, as if Itachi had done nothing. The gulf in their spiritual power was as vast as the sky from the earth; such an illusion could never hope to touch him.
He's immune to Tsukuyomi?! True alarm shot through Itachi for the first time. Yet, he pressed on. "Amaterasu!"
Black flames erupted from his eye, enveloping Son Goku in their cursed fire, said to burn anything to ashes.
The flames licked harmlessly at Son Goku's clothes and skin, failing to so much as singe a single hair.
It was a pitiful display against a physical resilience forged on an entirely different plane of existence. The difference in their power was an unbridgeable chasm.
"You about done?" Son Goku's tone cooled. A slight pulse of his ki blasted the clinging black flames away into nothingness. He took a slow, deliberate step toward the stunned Uchiha. "Take another shot at me, and I'll end this. Permanently."
"Just... who are you?" Itachi demanded, his voice tight with a mixture of pain and profound wariness. This man's power defied all his understanding. Every technique he had mastered, every skill he took pride in, was rendered utterly meaningless.