Author's Note: As promised, here is my new story. Please read and/or review. I appreciate all of the feedback I receive. I'm so excited to share this story with you!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Following the infamous attack of the Nine-Tailed Demon, Konoha suffered massive casualties and significant destruction to its infrastructure despite the sacrifice of many shinobi, including the Fourth Hokage. Entire parts of the village had been ravaged by violence, and portions of the younger generations were orphaned or missing a parent. The village was desperate for answers, so the Uchiha became the scapegoat. They were suspected as perpetrators of the horrid event given their visual prowess's ability to hypnotize and control others. From then on, the clan was distrusted, isolated, and feared by the villagers which in turn revived the Curse of Hatred within many members of the clan. The Konoha Military Police retaliated against the villagers' suspicion by misusing and overextending their power as law enforcers. Of course, the village leaders became aware of their inappropriate behavior and were forced to take action.

The leadership was split into two factions. The first side, led by Danzo, wanted to put the Uchiha under surveillance while the second side, led by the Third Hokage, wanted to negotiate and seek a peaceful solution. However, the police brutality worsened, and the first side won out. The Third Hokage relented and instructed Itachi Uchiha to spy on his own clan with the promise of peace talks between the council and the Uchiha in the future . In turn, the Uchiha assigned Shisui Uchiha to watch Itachi due to his odd behavior and criticism against his clansmen. Fortunately, both Shisui and Itachi recognized their clan's failings. Neither believed that the possibility of another war was justified by the Uchiha's bad blood with the rest of the village. The absolute carnage and immense loss from the Third Shinobi War had shown them the true cost and implications of war.

Meanwhile, Danzo had his own goal in mind: eradicate the Uchiha at all costs. Peace talks were breaking down, so Danzo was confident that he would succeed in his goal. Unfortunately, he had a minor obstacle. Shisui Uchiha wanted to use his Mangekyo to influence the Uchiha leaders and sway them to accept the village council's propositions. However, Danzo didn't believe it would stop them because so many Uchiha were ready for revolution. Additionally, this unique ability of Kotoamatsukami could only be used every ten years, so Danzo planned to steal Shisui's eyes that very night for himself. He had ordered Shisui to meet him at an isolated training ground under the guise of discussing the recent failure of negotiations. There, he would take the Uchiha's eyes and gain more power to protect his beloved village. For Danzo, his greed for power outweighed and sometimes justified his desire to preserve peace in the village. However, another's desire for power would soon challenge his plan.

X

At the tender age of seven, Sasuke Uchiha was unaware of the complex political inner workings of his clan. Sure he heard some of the adults in the village murmur fears and criticisms of his clan, but he chalked that up to jealousy. His clan was the most powerful in all of Konoha, so they would naturally be a target of those weaker than them. It was similar to how most of his classmates disliked him since he was always top of the class.

His parents were at another clan meeting that night, the third one this week, so Itachi was tasked with serving him dinner. Their mother had already set the table and prepared the food; thus, Itachi only needed to heat up their meals. Sasuke insisted that he could do it on his own, but his mother refused to let him use the stove on his own at such a young age. Sasuke hated when others had to do things for him, but he was secretly delighted to have an evening alone with his older brother.

After finishing his academy homework, he entered the kitchen area to find his brother wearing an apron and stirring two pots. It was funny to see his brother, an Anbu captain, looking domesticated.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke couldn't hide his excitement at the opportunity to spend time with Itachi. Little did he know, his older brother was just as excited as him which was conveyed by his soft smile directed towards the young boy.

"Sasuke, could you please bring me the two bowls on the table?" The younger boy nodded eagerly and retrieved the bowls. As Itachi served them, he asked Sasuke about school, and Sasuke launched into a story of how he obtained the top score on the most recent exam on shuriken jutsu.

As dinner progressed, Itachi listened while Sasuke did most of the talking.

"Are there girls you're interested in?" the older boy inquired. Immediately, Sasuke flushed and scowled at his brother with his arms crossed.

"Hmph! Girls are gross!" He was supremely offended that his brother would ask such a ridiculous question. He was focused on becoming the best ninja, not on something as silly as girls.

His brother found his overreaction hilarious and decided to tease him some more.

"Kaa-san is a girl, and she's not gross." Itachi laced his fingers under his chin as his eyes peered into Sasuke's identical coal ones as if challenging him.

"Well she's different. She's Kaa-san."

"You still didn't answer my question. Are there any girls in your class you've taken to?" Sasuke blushed and became flustered. There was a classmate of his who he found kind of cute. She was a shy girl with pale pink locks and the prettiest jade eyes he had ever seen. Plus, she was smart, so smart that she scored the highest in their class on all of the theoretical exams. However, he wouldn't divulge that information to anyone, especially his brother. He didn't want to be seen as weak for admiring a girl.

"No! So stop asking." He huffed and continued eating his food while Itachi looked on at him with adoration and mirth. At times when the pressure of being a double-agent wore on him, he reminded himself who he was doing for - his brother and all of the other innocent children. They were unrelated to the political turmoil he was caught in, and they didn't deserve to be punished for their elders' missteps.

"If you say so. I'm going to have dango for dessert. Would you like anything while I'm up? A tomato perhaps?" Sasuke's feelings of embarrassment and anger dissipated at the suggestion of eating a tomato. He had a particular affinity for the fruit because it was tangy and refreshing. Unlike Itachi, he preferred savory foods over sweets like dango or sticky mango rice. He nodded eagerly, and Itachi went to get their snacks. After they finished their snacks and cleaned up, it was time for bed. They turned off all of the lights, locked the doors, closed the windows, and proceeded to the west wing of the house where the bedrooms were located.

"Nii-san, will you tell me a bedtime story?" the young boy asked shyly.

"Yes, but after we both get ready for bed." The pair changed into their pajamas and brushed their teeth. Itachi padded over to Sasuke's room and saw him waiting under the covers of his bed. The room was dark except for the patch of moonlight that pierced through the small window above the bed.

Itachi sat beside Sasuke and sunk into the mattress.

"Which story do you want to hear?"

"The one about Nekomata!" He loved to hear tales about Itachi's adventures, especially since he was now in Anbu and unable to share details about his missions. This particular story relayed how Itachi obtained the king cat's footprint, a most impressive feat.

"A few years ago, I was given a week off from missions to make a decision about my offer to become an Anbu captain. As you know, one of my hobbies is to collect footprints from cats, which I was able to do up until joining Anbu. I had one cat footprint left , Nekomata." The Anbu captain paused as he heard movement within the house. His parents weren't supposed to be home until midnight, but it was 8:30. Something was amiss, and Sasuke could tell as well.

Putting a finger to his lip, Itachi activated his sharingan. He detected four unknown chakra signatures. Immediately, he encased the room in a genjutsu. He needed to notify someone of the intrusion, so he summoned two crows to send messages to Shisui and his parents for aid. He considered abandoning the house to find other clansmen, but it was likely that there were more trespassers outside of his sharingan's range. With no knowledge of the intruders' skill levels and Sasuke's life at stake, he wasn't willing to gamble his luck. His best option was to wait in the house for his parents and cousin.

"Sasuke, I've sent word to Shisui and our parents to come help us. Do you have any weapons in your room?" He had a handful of kunai, shuriken, and paper bombs. Itachi kept his voice low as he gave instructions to Sasuke and divided up the weapons.

"If I decide that we need to leave, we'll create a distraction with the paper bombs and run as fast as we can to meet our parents or Shisui, whomever is closest. And if for some reason I can't get away, you'll need to go without me." As expected, his little brother pouted. He wanted to stay and fight.

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself nii-san!" he countered in a harsh whisper.

"You've said that I'm the strongest in our clan. I'll be ok."

"If you think you'll be ok, then why did you contact other people to come and help us?" Sasuke made a fair point, but enlisting others was more of a precaution since Itachi didn't know what he was walking into.

"Trust me on this Sasuke. There's no telling who we're up against. We can't afford not to be reckless. Besides, I doubt that you'll have to go off on your own anyway. Shisui or our parents will likely arrive here before it comes to that." Sasuke signed and nodded.

"Where is that Uchiha brat?"

"Keep your voice down Sora!" a low voice admonished.

Several footsteps approached the door. Itachi glanced at his brother to signal him to ready himself. Sasuke nodded at his brother in acknowledgement and gripped his shuriken. Although he was unsettled that four individuals were able to infiltrate their compound, he relished the chance to prove himself to his brother.

The footsteps stopped, so they were probably caught in the genjutsu buying them a minute or two. Itachi took that as his cue to hide from above on the ceiling. Moments later, two cloaked individuals with foreign headbands burst through the door.

Sasuke threw his shuriken, which they dodged, but they didn't see Itachi's shuriken coming from above.

"Fire ball jutsu." The fast flying shuriken were now engulfed in deadly flames. The two individuals were pinned to the wall. Itachi made quick work of them and flung kunai into their hearts. They were dead within seconds.

"Sasuke let's go." His younger brother was slightly taken aback by his brother's actions. He knew Itachi killed people, but he had never seen him do it. He was stuck in a trance-like state, so Itachi pulled him by his hand outside of the compound where they saw Shisui on the porch and their parents quickly approaching them several meters behind.

"Shisui! Did you detect any other intruders on the way here?" His cousin turned to face him and shook his head.

"I only detected the two inside the house. I presume you took care of the other two?"

"Yes. We should immobilize the others and take them in for questioning. Their headbands were from a village I don't recognize."

His father appeared by his side as his mother tended to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-chan are you alright?" his mother questioned as she pulled the boy into an embrace.

"Kaa-san! I'm fine! Itachi was with me." He was embarrassed that his mother was smothering him, but he was glad to have her hold him. Her soft form and jasmine scent were comforting to him.

Fugaku glanced at his youngest and deemed his condition satisfactory. "Shisui and Itachi, you'll immobilize the remaining intruders. Once they've been captured, bring them to the police station for questioning. Mikoto, Sasuke, and I are going to join the rest of our clansmen in searching the compound for others."

"Hai, Oji-san," Shisui responded. The young men entered the house while the others dispersed around the compound. Mikoto and Sasuke stuck together, but Fugaku went off on his own. It was very personal to him that someone had the audacity to break into the clan compound and attack his family. Whoever was responsible for this would answer to him.

The two nin were no match for Itachi and Shisui and were apprehended within seconds.

"Why are you here?" Itachi asked bluntly. He wanted to see if he could find out anything before the police force got involved.

"Like we'd tell you anything," the larger prisoner spat. He and the other intruder were tied up with wire like Christmas turkeys. They had also suffered some minor burns from the infamous Uchiha fire jutsu. They didn't seem to be in a sharing mood, so Shisui sighed and attempted to negotiate.

"Look, we have other more unpleasant means to obtain the information we want, so it would be best to cooperate now. If you're good, the police will be more lenient." Itachi activated his sharingan as a warning.

"Who did you come here looking for?" he asked slowly.

"I can't say," the first prisoner said with a smirk.

"I'm sure your master will be less than pleased that you've been captured. My guess is he'll kill you before you return to where you came from. If you work with us, we might not kill you. The choice is yours."

The prisoners exchanged wary looks. Their master was not understanding and didn't tolerate any weakness. This mission had been a test to prove their competency as servants, and they had failed. It was likely that they would die at their master's hands once he realized that they had been captured. He didn't like loose ends.

"Fine. We'll cooperate, but we want guaranteed protection from him."

"That can be arranged," Itachi answered. "As for this mission, what was the objective?"

"We were told to kidnap the little one and bring him to our master."

Itachi's blood boiled at the mention of someone hurting his precious little brother, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he kept a calm facade and escorted the prisoners to the police station with Shisui. There, he would do what was necessary to get to the bottom of this outrage. He had promised the prisoners protection from their master, but not himself.

"There are others in the village," the other prisoner added quietly once the group entered the police station.

A formal interrogation would have to wait. For now, he needed to find Sasuke and keep him from being kidnapped.

X

Groups of Uchiha canvassed the compound in search of additional intruders. Mikoto, Sasuke, and Shota, one of Fugaku's younger cousins, were together. Like many in his clan, Sasuke admired Shota. His prowess as a ninja commanded respect and attention. He was a former Anbu member turned police sergeant. Under Shota's tenure, his father claimed that they had seen a dramatic drop in petty theft and armed robberies. His success at the police station brought honor to their clan's name. When Sasuke was older, he hoped to join the police force and make their clan proud as well.

Currently, they were patrolling the northwest portion of the compound, but they hadn't found any enemy nin yet.

"Oji-san, what are we going to do if we find someone?" the young Sasuke asked.

"We'll arrest him since that's what the police do," the older man offered with a grin. His mother clutched his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Sasuke-chan, there's no need to worry since we're all together," she offered with a gentle smile. Instantly, Sasuke felt at ease. Nothing would happen to him with his mother and Shota with him. The police always caught the bad guys, and this instance would be no different.

A tree branch behind Sasuke suddenly snapped, and the party turned and got into a defensive position. Then, a bunny came bounding out from the bushes.

"See, just a little -" Shota started as a grey snake sprung from the bushes towards Sasuke. With a flick of his wrist, he flung several kunai which pierced the snake and rendered it motionless.

Mikoto grabbed Sasuke's hand and leapt back only to come face to face with a ghostly pale man. His waist length hair was black, and he donned plain grey pants and a black tunic secured by a thick purple rope belt. The nin's most striking feature was his eyes. They were golden slitted pupils, similar to the eyes of a snake. The moment Sasuke laid eyes on this nin, he knew he was a foe.

"Mikoto, how nice to see you and your son. I don't believe I've met this one," the strange looking nin commented in a cheery tone.

How did this guy know Kaa-san or Itachi? Sasuke thought.

His mother stood in front of him and gripped her shuriken. From his mother's reaction, Sasuke could tell that this nin was not to be taken lightly.

"What business do you have here Orochimaru?" Shota inquired as he materialized next to Mikoto.

The snake-like man cackled, "Shota! Not Anbu anymore, I guess they're letting you play the good guy for a change." Shota was still in his police uniform, so one could easily deduce his position. He glared at Orochimaru, and his lip formed into a harsh frown.

"You're under arrest for trespassing in our village." He activated his sharingan and lunged at the snake-like man who effortlessly flipped backwards. Sasuke nearly gasped as he hadn't seen anyone that fast except for Itachi.

"You won't be taking me, but I'll be taking something from you," he taunted as he licked his lips. In an instant, his tongue elongated and grabbed Sasuke from behind his mother and snatched him away.

"Kaa-san!" he cried.

"Orochimaru, give me back my son!" Mikoto yelled. She aimed shuriken at his lower half and charged at him with a strength that Sasuke hadn't expected. His mother may have been a housewife, but she was a jonin for good reason. Her obsidian eyes blazed with anger and ferocity.

Shota tried to help the matriarch by attacking Orochimaru from behind, but both limited the range of their attacks to avoid hurting Sasuke. A powerful attack such as a fireball jutsu may have temporarily disarmed Orchimaru, but it would injure Sasuke.

It was a game of cat and mouse. Mikoto or Shota would throw something or charge forward, and Orochimaru would dodge.

The young Uchiha had never been so afraid in his life. No matter how much he wiggled, he couldn't break free of the slimy appendage. His inability to escape combined with the sight of his terrified mother activated his sharingan for the first time. Suddenly, he remembered that he had a few weapons leftover from his room in his left pocket. Not wanting to alert his captor, he slowly reached down and grabbed a kunai. He pushed the weapon into the tongue, and a dark purple liquid seeped out.

His captor began to laugh. The kunai had done nothing, and his relatives weren't fast enough to catch Orochimaru. In fact, they had been chasing him for so long that they were beginning to tire. Sasuke began to panic and hyperventilate. Was anyone coming to save him before this evil man took him away? Why was he being targeted? Would Shota and his mother be ok?

His whirling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a sword cutting something. The tongue constricting his body slackened, and he fell to the ground. He turned around and saw his brother yielding his sword.

Orochimaru growled and reeled his severed tongue back into his mouth. He was displeased with the interruption.

"How nice of you to join us Itachi-kun," he bit out.

"Take Sasuke and find Tou-san," he quickly ordered his mother and Shota. Itachi's red eyes blinked, and he rushed towards his opponent. The Uchiha matriarch swept her son up in her arms and took off with Shota to find her husband.

"You're not supposed to be here," Itachi remarked. Orchimaru tried to move to strike him, but he was stuck in place.

"Impossible! A paralysis genjutsu?!" Vines tightly constricted Orochimaru's body and prohibited movement. The Uchiha flashed in front of him.

"Why are you after Sasuke?" He held his sword to his throat ready to strike any moment.

"Isn't it obvious? I desire his body since I am unable to take yours. After I take him captive and raise him under my care, I will have the power of the sharingan." The blade struck his hand, and he gasped.

"A mere sword won't stop me." It wouldn't, but it prohibited Orochimaru from breaking out of the genjutsu. Itachi prepared to strike him with a fireball jutsu, but a masked man arrived and carried Orochimaru away. Itachi ran after the pair until they left the village. As much as he wanted to get his hands on Orochimaru, he couldn't leave without permission from the Hokage.

Looking behind, at the village, he observed that some of the buildings within and near the south side of the Uchiha compound had been damaged. Smoke and debris shrouded the area in a grey cloud. He hurried to see what had transpired.

X

He was livid. Today, he was supposed to accomplish a major step in his plan to bring down the Uchiha. However, his target did not show up to their meeting. He did not have the sharingan as he desired, and someone had infiltrated the village. This invasion would further postpone his goals, but the destruction of the Uchiha was inevitable.

An Anbu tracked him down and informed him that Orochimaru had invaded the village and was thus responsible for foiling his plan. The ex-Konoha nin had been a constant thorn in his side; he continued to threaten the security of Konoha through intercepting missions, selling secrets to other nations, and now invading the village. Thus, Orochimaru was an immediate threat that needed to be mitigated. It didn't hurt that the Uchiha had suffered some casualties from the sannin and his lackeys, but other residents of Konoha had suffered loss of life or homes from a bomb placed near one of the village entrances.

The wretched Uchiha would have to wait, but their day would come.

X

Several hours after the assault on the village, the Sandaime called a meeting with the village elders, clan heads, and Itachi to discuss the extent of the damage to Konoha and a course of action.

"Itachi, could you please inform us of what happened?" the Sandaime inquired politely.

"Hai Hokage-sama." He nodded and proceeded to inform them of how the four intruders broke into the main house, sending word for help, and the intention of the intrusion.

"I killed two of them, but Shisui and I captured the other two and took them to the police station for questioning. From what they said, we can confirm that they serve Orochimaru and their objective was to kidnap Sasuke, my younger brother." He paused as discussion erupted. It was not unheard of for children from powerful clans to be targets of kidnap, but it was rare.

"Silence; let the boy speak," Hiruzen interjected.

Itachi smiled weakly and continued. "After Shisui and I took the two prisoners to the police station, I searched for Sasuke. I found him with my mother and relative Shota on the northwest part of the compound. Sasuke had been captured by Orochimaru, so my mother and Shota were trying to get him back. I snuck up behind Orochimaru and put him in a paralysis jutsu. When he saw me, I cut Sasuke free and sent him with the others to find my father. I briefly spoke with Orochimaru, and he confirmed that he intended to take Sasuke and raise him as his next host."

Hiruzen inhaled sharply. "What did he mean by host?"

"He means to take a new body, specifically Sasuke's body when he becomes of age. He also said that he wanted the power of the sharingan." Hiruzen and others were visibly horrified by the sannin's evil intentions.

"Thank you. Please continue Itachi," the Hokage instructed.

"Before I could continue fighting Orochimaru, a masked man took him and ran. I chased after them until they crossed the village border. Then, I returned to the compound."

"It is clear that Orochimaru must be dealt with swiftly," Koharu commented. The other elder nodded in agreement.

"He should have been executed long ago." Danzo glanced at the Hokage who scowled back. As Orochimaru's former teacher, he had been unable to take his life despite his crimes.

"We will do something to address Orochimaru, but I believe it is more important that we tend to the village first," Hiruzen countered. "A bomb, presumably placed by one of Orochimaru's henchmen, went off near the west side of the Uchiha compound and damaged many of the buildings in and outside the compound." He looked at Fugaku for further explanation.

"My clan has suffered thirty five casualties and seven injuries. As for the other villagers, we lost eleven and thirteen suffered injuries. Of course, these numbers could and probably will increase as the police and medics account for more individuals." The room was silent. Over forty lives had been lost due to a missing nin that had slipped through the village's fingers.

"How long until everyone is accounted for?" Shikaku Nara questioned.

"Within the next twelve hours," the Uchiha clan head answered.

The rest of the meeting discussed how they would repair the damaged infrastructure, relocating residents, putting together a memorial, and what they would tell the other villagers. The narrative would be that a missing-nin with a vendetta against the Uchiha attacked the compound and set off a bomb. In order to prevent mass panic, they would not reveal that Orochimaru was involved. Lastly, it was unanimously decided that once the dust had settled and the village recovered, they would start searching for Orochimaru.

Hiruzen instructed the clan heads to inform their clans of their plan, save Orochimaru's involvement, while he and the elders informed the other citizens of Konoha. There was the issue of some Uchiha, especially those who were police officers, that already knew of Orochimaru's role in the assault. However, Fugaku assured the other clan leaders that they would keep quiet with his order, which he did immediately after the village meeting.

"We are to keep quiet about Orochimaru's role in the attack because we do not want to alarm the village even more given the significant loss of life and damages to Konoha." Fugaku scanned the room of his clansmen for any sign of resistance.

"What are we going to do about the sannin? He killed so many of our own and attempted to take your youngest," one of the clansmen said. Fugaku sighed. He knew that this would be the main point of contention among his relatives. He figured that many of them would want to seek out Orochimaru as soon as possible and kill him.

"The police force will be focused on investigating his whereabouts in conjunction with Anbu. At a later time, the Hokage will handpick a team to find and assassinate him." Normally Fugaku would want to take care of a threat as soon as possible, but this was Orochimaru. He may be crazy, but the man was intelligent. It would take months, possibly years of planning and searching to locate and kill him.

There were quiet murmurs among the group. "If you have questions, ask them," the patriarch commanded.

"Will we be able to send some of our own on the mission?" Shota asked.

"I see no reason why we wouldn't be able to do so, but I will confirm that with the Hokage at the next village meeting." No opposition. Good.

"What about the coup? Will we proceed with the plan?" Their clan had planned to take over the village in a few weeks after peace talks broke down between them and the village leadership. The clan head had mulled over what to do, but he knew to be patient.

"We will not proceed as planned. First, we have lost a quarter of our manpower, so it would be much more difficult to take control. Second, I'd like to take care of Orochimaru before we make another enemy." This response got much resistance.

"The village is already our enemy, and now may be an opportune time to take over since the village has also had losses. We'd also have the element of surprise since they wouldn't expect us to attack given our own losses." Inabi's argument had some merit, but Fugaku disagreed and had the final word.

"I will concede that we would have the advantage of surprise if we attacked soon, but we have lost three times as many shinobi as the village has. I am not willing to go up against the other Konoha shinobi while we are at a severe disadvantage and risk further loss of our clansmen. We will not take over the village until Orochimaru has been killed and we have rebuilt over strength. Is that understood?" The majority of the group nodded or gave verbal affirmation. Their clan took the loss of their clansmen and destruction to their grounds extremely seriously. Risking more lives with a lower likelihood of success was not a viable option.

"But!" Inabi started until Fugaku cut him off with a harsh glare.

"Enough! I have made my final decision on the matter. As for those in our clan who need a place to stay until other residences are constructed, I need ten volunteers to host one to two people. My own home will be hosting two individuals." There were more than enough volunteers. Fugaku knew that he could count on his clansmen to come together in a crisis. Nothing was more important the Uchiha than family.

As for Itachi, he finally had something positive to report to the Hokage; his father had postponed the coup. There was still time for a peaceful solution, and a common enemy of Konoha and the Uchiha could be the catalyst.