Chapter 3: Itachi

"There is a higher level ocular jutsu than the Sharingan. Called the Mangekyou Sharingan. It's legendary and only occurs in a few Uchihas. I've heard it requires a very special set of circumstances in order to manifest." Fugaku spoke lightly, trying to dissuade his son from any further questions.

With Itachi, he had tried to hide the information, but he decided that he should take a different route with Sasuke and perhaps be more up-front.

'So that's what he showed back then. Itachi has this Mangekyou Sharingan. But does father know? Why did he tell me not to chase after him anymore?' Sasuke thought deeply about this information, but it just made him more confused.

"Father?"

"Hmm?" Fugaku gave his son another small smile. The boy was full of questions this morning.

"Why doesn't big brother pay attention to me, even though I'm his little brother?"

Fugaku looked down at the table and closed his eyes. "Itachi… is different. He has always had trouble getting close to people." It was a simplified explanation, but going into the psychological theories of psychosis, alienation and trauma would probably be a little too advanced for an eight-year-old boy.

"Why?" Sasuke asked, very concerned.

"Who knows? I can't read him, and I'm the boy's father." Fugaku's words were full of the helplessness he was feeling in his heart, and spoke to depths much deeper than Sasuke's question.

Mikoto turned around and gave her husband a sad look.

Sasuke didn't ask anymore questions and when he finished his tea he ran out of the kitchen. He had only fifteen minutes to get to school before the first bell rang.

"He's getting suspicious, isn't he?" Fugaku asked quietly.

"He's a very perceptive boy. Lately, he's been spending a lot of time thinking, but right now it just seems to be about relationships – how you feel about him and Itachi and how Itachi feels about him. I wouldn't worry about it too much." Mikoto smiled and sat down at the table, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Hmm." Fugaku kept reviewing the conversation, and realized that Sasuke must have seen Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan as some point.

Probably accidentally. He was sure Itachi wouldn't have shown it to his little brother on purpose.

Fugaku looked at the kitchen door when he heard Itachi and Sasuke talking in the entryway.

They were probably putting on their shoes, getting ready to leave.

'Perhaps I should incapacitate him now instead of tonight.' Fugaku thought to himself.

He stood up and exited the kitchen.

Sasuke ran out of the hall carrying his lunch and book bag, but stopped in the foyer when he saw Itachi sitting down on a step putting on his shoes.

He was wearing black pants and a wide necked black short-sleeve shirt. Frowning and taking his time, his distracted posture made Sasuke pause and look at him.

"Big brother," Sasuke said hesitantly, "could you… help me with my Shuriken jutsu tonight?"

"I'm busy, why don't you ask father?" Itachi said hastily.

"You're better at it. Even I can see that." Sasuke sulked.

Itachi waved his brother over and Sasuke walked closer. Reaching out his hand he tapped the boy on the forehead with his fingers.

"Maybe next time, Sasuke." He turned around and looked at the floor. Sasuke saw the dark circles under his eyes, but didn't think twice about it.

Standing up Itachi started walking out the door, "I don't have time for this now."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead, "You always say the same thing and then jab me in the forehead. You never have time anymore." His morose words were ignored as Itachi disappeared from view.

He sat down to put his own shoes on. "I guess he's still the same as always… what a relief."

"Itachi!" Fugaku appeared behind Sasuke a moment later and called out to his eldest son.

Itachi walked back into the foyer. "Yes father?"

Sasuke smiled at his brother and father as he finished putting on his shoes.

Slinging his book bag over his shoulder he took off at full speed as soon as he stepped outside the door.

Fugaku waited a few seconds, listening as the sound of Sasuke's running feet disappeared in the distance.

He looked down at Itachi. The teenager only came up to his shoulders, but looked shorter because of his slight build and stooped posture.

He was also looking at the floor with tired eyes. Gripping Itachi's arm he squeezed it slightly. "I'm concerned, Itachi. You haven't been eating much and you look ill."

Itachi was a little surprised by his father's words. He looked up, meeting his eyes, but instantly regretted it as he felt a Genjutsu quickly overtake him.

He tried to dispel it, but he realized it wasn't a normal Genjutsu as he watched his father's eyes change from Sharingan to a black circle with a cross inside.

Mangekyou Sharingan. Itachi couldn't dispel it fast enough and he fell forward as his eyesight dimmed and everything went black.

Fugaku caught Itachi in his arms and sighed. "I'm sorry Itachi, I have to do this."

Mikoto had heard the commotion and walked out of the kitchen to see what was going on. She saw Fugaku holding Itachi and walked over.

The boy's neck fell back over his arm and Fugaku readjusted him so his head rested on his shoulder. Stroking her son's cheek, she sighed. "You decided not to wait until tonight?"

"I don't know why… I just figured I should incapacitate him now. I'll take him to the prison and get him settled in. I am very worried about his health, Mikoto. He is very light and he has a fever." Fugaku bend his cheek down and brushed it across the top of his son's forehead above his forehead protector, feeling the heat radiating from his skin.

"With a fever this high his face should be flushed, but he's as white as a ghost."

Mikoto sighed, blinking back the tears that suddenly formed. "My poor little boy. I'll come by in a while and check on him. Perhaps it's just lack of sleep and stress instead of a virus."

Fugaku frowned when his wife called Itachi a "little boy", but quickly realized that was exactly what his son looked like right now.

After all the responsibility they had placed on his shoulders, he was still a child, only thirteen-years-old. He disappeared, reappearing a second later in the police station.

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The isolation cells were located on a secret level of the police station; only a few people in the clan knew about them and only a handful of non-Uchiha.

Fugaku placed Itachi on a cot inside a cell that he had already prepared. He quickly attached chakra limiting bracelets to Itachi's arms and locked them with a chakra key.

The key would only work if either Fugaku or Mikoto used it. Itachi's chakra would be drained, leaving him too weak to perform jutsus or use his Sharingan.

He then emptied all of Itachi's pockets, but decided to let him keep his watch.

Fugaku looked inside the box that Mikoto had dropped off earlier. It had books, various food items, bottled water, and candy.

He smiled when he saw the last item. Itachi was notorious for his sweet-tooth. Fugaku shook out a blanket and draped it over his son then exited the cell.

Once the door was locked he put a chakra-limiting jutsu on the bars as well.

Looking through the bars, Fugaku watched as the teen began to wake up. The Genjutsu was one that a boy as skilled as Itachi could break out of in ten to fifteen minutes.

Although, he suspected that if he had to use it again he would cut that time in half or even more.

Itachi slowly sat up and then stood quickly when he realized where he was. Turning around he glared at his father.

"Itachi…" Fugaku started to speak.

"What have you done? How long have I been here?" Itachi yelled angrily.

"I can't trust you to remain 'uninvolved'. I know you have been passing information to Danzo for a while now." Fugaku spoke sternly, revealing nothing in his stone-face expression.

Itachi frowned, "You… know?"

Fugaku sighed in frustration, "You have been beating yourself up about something for the last year. Of course I suspected. As a double-agent you were very bad. Betrayal doesn't suit you, kid. You have too much of a conscience."

Itachi looked at the floor, realizing that his father was probably right. However… "But… the village…"

"What about the village? Shouldn't you be asking about your clan?" Fugaku asked matter-of-factly.

"I didn't… I… don't want to see…" Itachi mumbled, then gulped and fell to his knees, "They were all dead. The entire valley was dead. Sixty- or seventy- thousand people."

Fugaku creased his brow in confusion, "Where? Was this one of your nightmares?"

Itachi continued to mumble, "Water country… they were all dead."

"You're overwrought, exhausted and ill. You need to get back into bed and sleep."

"No!" Itachi yelled, "You can't ki…"

"Itachi!" Fugaku yelled back, "I won't hear anymore about this from you. You are not in your right mind at the moment."

Itachi reached into his pocket for the bracelet he used to communicate with Madara but it wasn't there.

He quickly searched all his other pockets and discovered they were empty. Fugaku watched him silently, then shook his head.

"Rest here for now. There is some food and water in that box." Fugaku used a jutsu to disappear.

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