Chapter Text
October, 1863 — Edo Period
Kageyama (影山), Shimokita Peninsula
It was a chilly autumn night, and the crimson leaves of the maple trees drifted across the entire garden. The moon remained hidden, veiled by thick, heavy clouds that blanketed the night sky. In the distance, the violent crashing of ocean waves against the rocky coastline echoed through the dark.
Inside his quarters, Sasuke stared at the blade of his katana. The glowing amber light from the paper lantern reflected off the wavy hamon of his sword. The boy was entirely oblivious to the chaos brewing outside at that very moment. The words his cousin, Obito, had whispered into his ear just the day before during training replayed in his mind as he locked his eyes onto the steel: "Your brother is far too calm, Sasuke. He focuses on tea ceremonies and poetry while the world outside burns. If we rely on Itachi's benevolence, our clan will turn to dust. You know that true fury runs in your blood, not his." He did not yet know the staggering weight of those words, nor did he realize these were the final, fleeting moments of peace in his life.
Outside, mercenaries lay in wait, watching for the designated signal. At this hour of the night, the majority of the samurai would be fast asleep in their quarters, leaving only a handful to walk the night watch. The invaders had already been fed every piece of intelligence: the guards' exact routing schedules, the layout map of the estate, and the designated breach points where they were to infiltrate and spread out. It was a daring, audacious plan; the samurai of the Uchiha clan were legendary for their talent, renowned even in the neighboring provinces. However, if the mercenaries succeeded, there would be no one left to defend the town, leaving the port entirely open for them to control and smuggle their illegal contraband.
A light drizzle began to fall, and right then, the mercenaries caught the signal. A deafening blast shattered the silence of the night—the first gunshot, the exact sign they had been waiting for. Armed with rifles and swords, they stormed through the massive main gates of dark timber. They already knew the gates would be unlocked, granting them unhindered access to the main manor. Their mud-caked sandals soiled the pristine tatami mats, leaving filthy trails wherever they stepped. They breached the estate, firing indiscriminately at anything that moved or crossed their path. The wooden floors gradually stained a deep crimson as the slaughter pressed on.
Sasuke jumped at the sound of the first blast. It echoed like a clap of thunder, yet it was so close it was impossible to be a storm. Before the boy could even process the thought, the door to his room swung open with a violent crash, and his brother burst inside, gripping his own sword. Floding in right behind him, the acrid, sulfurous stench of burnt gunpowder filled the corridors. Panic-stricken screams and the frantic pounding of heavy footsteps began to echo through the estate.
"Nii-san! What's—"
"We are under attack!" Itachi cut him off before he could even finish the question. Itachi's voice was rock-steady, yet an undeniable urgency radiated from his posture.
Sasuke leaped to his feet, following his brother down the long corridor that bordered the courtyard garden. They bolted into the master bedroom belonging to their parents. The moment Itachi threw the door open, the sheer horror of the night was laid bare. The bodies of their parents, Fugaku and Mikoto, lay bleeding out upon the bed, their pale silk futons turning a dark, heavy crimson in the dim shadows of the room. Their throats had been slashed; they had likely never even realized what was happening before their lives were stolen from them.
"They..." Sasuke couldn't form the words. They choked in his throat. Pure panic surged through his body, and sheer horror painted his features.
"Sasuke! Listen to me very carefully." Itachi's commanding voice forced him to tear his eyes away from their parents' bodies. Itachi was locking eyes with him, filled with absolute determination. The young boy couldn't comprehend how his brother could remain so unshakeably calm in a nightmare like this. "We are heading to the stables. Take a horse and ride straight toward Mount Osore. Find the hermit Jiraiya on the volcanic slopes. Do you understand me?"
Sasuke could only nod frantically in agreement. Itachi grabbed him by the arm, dragging him back out into the long hallway. Projectiles tore through the delicate rice paper of the shoji doors, splintering the polished cedar beams of the beautiful estate. The two brothers sprinted across the courtyard garden as fragments of shattered wood and shredded paper swirled in the wind around them. Suddenly, two mercenaries materialized, cutting off their path. One of the men raised a rifle, aiming it dead at Itachi. The Uchiha heir tracked the mercenary raising the barrel, and a split second before the trigger pulled, he lunged forward in a blinding diagonal step, causing the bullet to tear harmlessly through the empty air right past his face. In the next heartbeat, he drove his blade clean through the man's chest, who collapsed dead onto the grass. The second mercenary lunged at him with a katana; the two blades clashed with a sharp ring. Itachi forced the steel aside and disarmed the invader in two fluid motions. With a single, precise slash, he tore open the man's chest. Blood sprayed across the ground, mingling with the crimson leaves scattered beneath the falling rain.
"Move!" Itachi commanded, and Sasuke bolted right behind him. He was terrified. This was the first time he had ever witnessed a real, blood-soaked battle; before tonight, he had only seen his brother's lethal grace in peaceful training sessions.
They sprinted through the garden toward the stables as the roaring chaos inside the manor grew deafening. Another member of their clan stumbled out onto the lawn, pursued by a mercenary. The Uchiha brandished his sword, but the invader was faster, firing a bullet clean into his chest. The gunman then spotted the two brothers in the garden and shifted his aim toward them, pulling the trigger. Itachi yanked Sasuke closer to dodge the trajectory, forcing the younger boy to run ahead of him, shielding his brother's body with his own. They managed to break into the stables, but the gunman caught up to them at the entrance. Itachi raised his katana, dropping into a lethal offensive stance.
"Go, Sasuke!"
The mercenary prepared to fire again, but suddenly shifted the barrel, aiming directly at Sasuke. Itachi lunged forward, throwing his entire body in front of his younger brother, taking the bullet directly to his shoulder.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke looked back, his heart stopping as he saw his brother wounded. Itachi charged the gunman before the man could reload or fire another round.
"The horses, quickly!"
Sasuke dashed deep into the stables, frantically untying one of the mounts. From outside, he heard his brother calling out to someone.
"Obito-niisan! Over here! How are the others?" Itachi shouted to their older cousin. Sasuke felt a sudden wave of relief wash over him; at least there was someone else alive to help his wounded brother.
"They're all dead." Obito's reply came cold, hollow, completely devoid of the grief an Uchiha should carry in such a tragedy. The sound that followed was not the blast of a rifle, but the sickening, wet slide of steel slicing through flesh.
Peering through the narrow slits of the stable's wooden wall, Sasuke froze in absolute terror. The external lantern cast a harsh light on Obito's silhouette, standing mere inches from Itachi. Their cousin's katana was driven clean through the abdomen of the clan's heir, blood pooling down the polished steel. Obito tilted his head, leaning close to Itachi's ear, whispering his final words with a cynical, twisted smirk: "You never possessed the cruelty required to lead a clan, cousin. Your calm brought us to ruin. The world belongs to firearms and pragmatic men now."
A traitor! Their own cousin was a traitor—that was why the infiltration had been so ruthlessly flawless. Sasuke knew with absolute certainty that if he was discovered in here, it would be his execution. Itachi's final command flashed through his mind: head to Mount Osore. He threw himself onto the horse and spurred the animal into a full, desperate gallop out of the stable. Obito whirled around, caught completely off guard by the boy's sudden escape.
"Shoot him!" the elder Uchiha roared.
Sasuke charged at breakneck speed toward the main gates, trampling right over a few men wielding weapons. He could hear bullets tearing through the air, whizzing past his body. A final blast echoed through the night, and a sharp, blinding pain flared in his shoulder, followed by the sensation of something warm trickling down his arm. He had been hit, but likely just a graze. By now, he was already too far into the darkness for them to aim at him again. He kept riding furiously into the pitch-black night, terrified to look back. For the very first time in his life, he felt utterly and completely alone.