The night was dreary and the moon shined red as the blood of the members of the Uchiha clan flowed on the streets because of a silent assassin in the form of a 13 years old child. For many, even the most experienced ninjas, it would be a mind-boggling thing, one thirteen years old, who by all means should normally be with one foot out of the academy, slaughtering his entire clan.

Then again, Itachi was smart and the master of genjutsu. But most importantly, he was trusted by the people in his clan. And that... was eventually their undoing. ​​

...

Rei. carefully hidden by the best concealment seals he could put together, watched from the treetops near the Uchiha Compound as Itachi was doing a short work of his clansmen in the eastern part of it. Rei was also very pleased with the Shadow Corps of his village. He knew he had around fifty of them and their leader, Shizuka Kaguya, hidden somewhere around, waiting for his signal to intervene, but for the love of God, he could not find their positions without using nature sensing which meant no normal ninja could discover them. This was incredibly good in Rei's eyes since this outing could be said to be the very first official mass infiltration to a hidden village by his troops. After all, Rei doubted Kumo or Tsuchi could successfully get fifty of their best in the enemy village without anyone being the wiser about it.

Konan suddenly appeared next to Rei in a silent flurry of black-colored paper and whispered, "The radicals among the Uchiha clan are dead."

Rei hummed in acknowledgment. He was not happy about it since most of these were high-ranked ninjas but he knew he couldn't have everything. "Good job, Konan. Shizuka, the Shadow Corps is free to start collecting the Uchihas." Rei ordered and instantly noted the shadows briefly flickering as the ninjas of his village got to work.

Wryly smiling, Konan spoke, "I could have them bound in paper coffins with stasis seals in under twenty minutes."

"Maybe but our ninjas need the practice." Rei nodded, knowing Konan was completely right. Her paper technique was extremely good at covert operations during the night and considering she could color her paper black and put knock-out, stasis, and teleportation seals on them... well, it could be almost called foolish to let the Shadow Corps do the job. Then again, Rei made a village so he wouldn't need to do everything himself. Maybe in a few years, he could comfortably sit in his living room while the village ran itself? Well, one could dream.

"Meh, you just want to see our ninjas work and feel proud of yourself." Konan rolled her eyes at him.

"I can't argue with that." Rei smirked. Sure, it was more of Shizuka Kaguya's achievement that the Shadow Corps were efficient and well trained but... unimportant details.

Konan chuckled, correctly deducing Rei's train of thoughts, and decided to change the topic, "Shall we go? Itachi and this self-proclaimed Madara are still massacring our would-be kidnapping victims."

"Yeah... I guess it would be prudent to put a stop to that endeavor. Honestly, there is no courtesy amongst thieves in this world." Rei dramatically sighed and stood up.

Soon, both were on their way to intercept their respective targets.

...

Izumi Uchiha desperately ran for her life as her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She was confused and frightened, not understanding what was happening despite her fully matured Sharingan coloring her eyes red. The only thing she understood was that...

Someone was attacking the Uchiha clan!

It was really just sheer luck she spotted a small flicker in her peripheral vision and turned towards it which allowed her to notice her assailant in time, making her able to dodge the attack. Izumi quickly understood the hooded man in black clothing was far above her paygrade. As such, she did the logical thing and turned tail as if her life depended on it.

As she ran through the Uchiha compound, Izumi could notice a few instances where Uchiha ninjas tried to resist but they were quickly and most importantly, SILENTLY taken down before they could alert other clansmen. From what she briefly noticed, their attackers played dirty, never really going one versus one against her clansmen and usually attacked from the back.

Izumi contemplated using Fire Release: Great Fireball to give others at least an inkling that something is wrong but every time she slowed down in preparation for the Jutsu, a chill ran through her spine which made her forsake her plans and run even faster through the shadow-covered night.

'How? We are in Konoha! Who could attack our clan? We are supposed to be safe here!' She frantically thought as she quickly ducked into a side-alley as her eyes spotted shadows flicker before Tadako Uchiha, her former classmate from the academy, suddenly fell backward as if she was paralyzed. It completely scared her out of her mind. She had her Sharingan activated! She should be able to see clearly even in the dark! And yet she simply failed to notice the attacker through the veil of night!

Disbelief, shock, confusion, and hopeless desperation filled the mind of the recently promoted chunin. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there alive. She wanted nothing more than to reach the house of her grandma and make sure she was fine. She wanted...

Izumi finally ran out of the side alley into the street near her grandmother's house before the sight in front of her made her freeze in her tracks. In front of her stood her budding crush, Uchiha Itachi, clad in his ANBU gear and holding a katana with blood-stains on it.

'Ita...chi?' Izumi, in utter disbelief, slowly moved her sight towards the opened door to the house of her grandma, the woman who raised and cared for her after she lost her parents. What really made her rooted in her spot, however, was the body of her beloved grandmother on the porch in the puddle of her own blood. 'No... Itachi wouldn't! No! Not my grandma!' Tears started streaming down Izumi's cheeks as she fell to her knees. It was then, Izumi really understood why Sharingan was deemed to be a curse.

The smallest signs of guilt on Itachi's cold face. The droplets of blood falling onto the ground from his katana. The unrelenting and ruthless yet sorrowful look in his eyes as he looked at her. His posture that told a story in itself...

No... no matter what Izumi wanted to tell herself, her Sharingan mercilessly gathered all information for her and made the scene burn into her mind with complete clarity. The boy she dated... loved, killed the most precious person to her.

"I am sorry Izumi. It was necessary." Itachi evenly said, taking a step towards her. "I didn't want you to witness this." He said sadly, "I at least wanted to give you a fulfilling life before sending you off."

Grief, betrayal, pain... hatred, as if something broke within her as she dearly wished what she saw was just an illusion. As the raw emotions filled her head to the point it felt painful... her eyes morphed.

Itachi only managed to widen his Mangekyo Sharingan as two voices reverberated through the street, one in disbelief and another in grief, "Tsukuyomi!"

The standing Itachi and the kneeling Izumi absently stared at each other for three seconds before Izumi fell head-first onto the ground, unconscious as tears of blood wet her cheeks while Itachi staggered backward, still in utter disbelief as his hand subconsciously reached towards his head due to the sudden headache.

'She almost fought me off right after awakening her Mangekyo?' Itachi thought with wide eyes, gulping for air as a small tinge of jealousy made itself known in the back of his mind at what Izumi Uchiha just accomplished. He quickly squashed that thought though. He knew Izumi was extraordinary but this... He wasn't even able to implant the illusion of a happy lifetime into her mind with her own Mangekyo so ferociously fighting his. Yes, letting Izumi see the corpse of her grandmother was certainly a mistake.

"Such a pity." Itachi whispered before sighing and started walking towards the unconscious form of Izumi. "I am so sorry." He prepared to stab his katana into her when suddenly a bored and leisure voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Eh... don't worry. She will get better."

Itachi's head whipped in the direction of the voice, only to see a smug-looking blond man assessing him, no... Izumi as if she was a particularly interesting research project.

"I think," The man started talking again, his lips stretching into an excited grin. "I just found a girl I really, really want to kidnap."