It was the end of another nice, quiet and uneventful day at Konoha. The sun was starting to set, and its inhabitants got prepared for their usual evening activities.
At the Hokage's Tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi had just finished with the daily paperwork, and was now relaxing by reading a novel on one of the tower's living rooms.
Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi were on their favorite tavern, sharing a few drinks, reminiscing about the old days, bitching about their wives and boasting about their children.
Anko Mitarashi was at her favorite spot, Dangoya, having some sake and stuffing her mouth with her favorite food.
Iruka and Mizuki were also hanging out at a bar, with the latter trying –and failing– to flirt with a the kunoichi there, and Iruka trying to remind Mizuki in vain that he was going to marry in a few weeks.
Kurenai Yuhi was at her house, doing her laundry.
Yugao Uzuki and Hayate Gekko were on a date to celebrate the first year anniversary of their relationship.
In the Hyuga Compound, Hiashi Hyuga was revising some of the clan's paperwork regarding the clan's expenditures for the past month, while his wife played with their daughters. Meanwhile, Hizashi and Neji finished some late afternoon training at the boy's request.
On a one-room apartment near the walls, Itachi looked through the window at the village, wondering why he didn't hear any news from his friend and cousin Shisui yet, and prayed for his safety.
At the Senju Residence, Tsunade was in the living room teaching Hagane and Kaida how to play Poker, while Shizune and Naruto were in the kitchen about to prepare dinner, while Shizune told Naruto that if he got ramen for breakfast and later for lunch, he wasn't going to have ramen for dinner.
The Uchiha Compound, however, was completely empty, except for one person, Sasuke Uchiha, who was fast asleep in his bed after having a rather brutal training session with his father. Little did he knew that Fugaku wanted Sasuke to be asleep as soon as possible to keep him away from what was about to happen.
…
At the west gate of the Konoha, two Chunin were finishing their shift. One of them was big, had spiky brown hair and a broad nose. The other was a skinny man who wore an eyepatch over his left eye, and a bandana over his head.
"The sun is setting down. So, I believe it's time to close the doors, right, Bekko?" the skinny one said.
"I guess so, thought our replacements didn't come yet, Iwana," the man named Bekko replied.
"Oh, who cares? It's not our bussiness if they're late. Come on, let's close the gates and go to have some drinks. My throat is dry," Bekko said as he walked towards the gates, but heard no response from his partner. "Iwana?"
The big-nosed Chunin turned around to see his eyepatch-wearing partner flat on his back, lifeless. "What the hell?"
"I'm sorry, but the gates are to remain open for the rest of the night," a chilling voice said behind Bekko.
Bekko turned around, and when he did so, the man behind him slashed his throat open. The last thing the Chunin saw before expiring were a pair of red eyes, staring into his very soul.
"West Gate, secured. Send the signal," the Uchiha Chunin said to his partner.
The other Uchiha nodded, and formed several hand seals, and cast a Great Fireball into the sky. A few minutes later, hundreds of criminals, mercenaries and low-level missing-nin that were hiding among the forests of the outskirts of Konoha left their hiding place and rushed into the unsuspecting village.
It took no time for the Konoha ninja to find themselves overwhelmed while dealing with this wave of enemies that came seemingly out of nowhere.
…
Meanwhile, on a secret Root underground, Danzo walked through a hallway while being flanked by his two most loyal bodyguards, Fuu Yamanaka and Torune Aburame.
"Everything has been prepared for the surgery, Danzo-sama. The medics are already waiting for you," Fuu mentioned.
"Excellent. What about the seals?" Danzo asked.
"Already prepared as well. It will be applied immediately after the surgery. They will make sure that nobody will be able to remove the Sharingan eye from your eye socket," Torune replied.
"Good. Come on, I want to get over with this as soon as possible," Danzo said as he finally reached the door of the operating room. "What on Earth...?"
Danzo was expecting the two Root Medic-nins to greet him and ask him to lay on the operation table so they could start. Instead, they were lying on the floor, motionless, surrounded by a pool of their own blood. On the operation table was sitting a masked man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. On his hand was a jar with a Sharingan eye on it.
"Oh, hey, what's up? I hope you don't mind, but I really need this eye, so I'm going to confiscate it for the time being," the masked man nonchalantly announced. "And if you do mind...well, you'll have to deal with it. That's how life rolls."
"Fuu, Torune, execute this man and retrieve the eye!" Danzo's voice was firm, but not without panic.
His two minions unseathed their tantos and charged at the masked man.
"I'd love to stay and play with you guys, but I'm kind of busy now. Places to go, people to kill, I'm sure you understand," the masked man said, and disappeared in a swirling vortex before Danzo's bodyguards could reach him.
"Sound the alarm, he can't be too far!" Danzo shouted, now more desperate.
…
Iruka and Mizuki were fighting against a pair of nearly identical ninja, wearing gray and dark blue camouflage clothes, rebreathers, Kirigakure forehead protectors, and large bladed gauntlets on their respective dominant arms. Said gauntlets were linked by a long, spiky metal chain.
"I think I know this guys, Kirigakure's Demon Brothers. They fled their village after a failed attempt of a coup d'etat. It seems that they're trying again here," Iruka said.
"That's nice and all, but how strong they are?" Mizuki asked, a bit nervous.
"The Bingo Book list them as B-Rank Chunin, so they're similar in power to us," Iruka mentioned. "It says that their specialty are ambushes, but are mediocre in direct combat."
"Let me show you how wrong that bingo book of yours is it! Come on, Meizu!" one of them said as he and his brother charged at the duo of teachers.
Mizuki jumped in mid air, pulled out his Fuma Shuriken, and tossed it against the chain, pinning it to the ground and stopping the brother's charge. They quickly pressed a button on their gauntlets that detached the chain from them, and allowed them to fight individually.
Balded gauntlets clashed against kunai and shuriken. While the Demon Brothers' weapons were indeed dangerous and intimidating, they stopped them from performing hand seals, and thus jutsu. They had been working on one-handed seals, but they still had a long way to go until they could use ninjutsu with just one hand.
One of the brothers left himself wide open for a second, but that was all what Iruka needed. The teacher kicked his opponent, who was pushed against his near identical brother, while Iruka made some hand seals.
"Demonic Illusion: Night Cover!"
The brothers quickly felt prey to Iruka's illusion, dropped on their knees, and soon they fell asleep. He then started to tie them with their own chain.
"Well, so much for this 'demon' brothers," Mizuki said, as he twirled a kunai on his finger.
"Mizuki, behind you!"
The white haired Chunin jumped in time to avoid a backstab from an enemy, this time an Uchiha Chunin. Iruka ran through hand seals.
"Water Release: Water gun!" Iruka shouted before releasing a powerful stream of water out of his mouth that blasted the Uchiha against a nearby wall. Mizuki finished him on by stabbing a kunai on his side.
"Why the hell the Uchiha are fighting alongside these guys? Shouldn't they be on our side?" Mizuki asked, frustrated.
"It seems that the Uchiha brought them," Iruka said, with a tinge of sadness.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I heard some rumors about the ANBU watching the Uchiha Clan because they were afraid they were doing some shady stuff. Apparently, this is what they had planned. These guys seem to be their foot soldiers."
"Great, just great. And why the hell are all the Jonin? Your pal Kakashi would be of great help here."
"Kakashi had to leave the village the last week due to a long-term mission. I don't know what are the other Jonin doing."
"Okay, in that case, this what we are going to do: so far, we don't know how this will end, so we'll find a safe place to hide there. Once the battle is over, we get out and join whoever has won."
"What? Mizuki, you can't be serious! Are you going to abandon Konoha in its time of need?" Iruka exclaimed, perplexed.
"It's the most intelligent solution! What if the Uchiha win? Being Konoha ninja, do you think they'll be nice to us and let us go back to our jobs like nothing happened? And if we side with the Uchiha and they lose, we'll be executed for treason."
"That's why we have to fight, to make sure that the Uchiha don't win!" Iruka said, staring angrily at his coworker. "Every man counts!"
"No, until things calm down, it's every man for himself," Mizuki replied as he grabbed his Fuma Shuriken and tossed it at a disbelieving Iruka.
The teacher managed to move aside before the giant shuriken would hit him...and stabbed itself on the chest of a bandit who already had a knife raised ready to stab Iruka in the back.
"That was on the house, don't expect me to save your sorry ass again," Mizuki harshly stated as he retrieved his main weapon from the corpse. "Now, be smart once in your life and find a hiding place."
With that, Mizuki leaped out of Iruka's sight. Iruka sighed, and decided that the best course of action would be to find other more alone ninja to watch each other's back.
…
Meanwhile, on his apartment, unaware of all the chaos unfolding on the village, Itachi was washing the dishes after having a light meal for dinner. He had planned to meditate for half an hour and go to bed early. The Hokage had already assigned him another A-Rank mission for the next day.
Things weren't going too bad for the Uchiha outcast. He still had a rather big debt with the bank, but he was saving up a rather large amount of money that allowed him to cover for basic needs, to pay rent and the bank each month, and still have some money that he decided to save for future emergencies.
Though maybe he could use some of that money to decorate his apartment a bit more. One of the reasons he didn't allow Sasuke to visit him yet was because he thought Sasuke wouldn't be comfortable on such gloomy place.
He was snapped from his train of thoughts when somebody loudly knocked the door.
"Coming!" Itachi said, as he dried his hands on a rug.
The person at the other side continued pounding the door as if he or she was trying to take it down. Not that it would take much effort, but Itachi preferred the door of his apartment to be intact.
"I said I'm coming! Where is the fire?" Itachi asked as he opened the door. He gasped in shock when he saw a badly beaten Shisui, covered in bruises and cuts, as well as missing his left eye.
"To answer your question...all around Konoha," Shusui said before collapsing.
"Shusui!"
Half an hour later, the weakened Shisui was lying on Itachi's bed. Itachi was no medic-nin, but he did have some first aid training as well as a medkit, so he could patch all of Shisui's wounds, including the one from his eye, without much trouble. Fortunately for both, none of Shisui's wounds were too grave (ignoring the missing eye, that's it).
"I patched you up as best as I could, but I think it's enough. I think you may have some broken ribs and maybe a fractured arm, so it would be best if you don't move. Now tell me what is going on, and what happened to you."
Shisui sighed. "Danzo, that bastard. That's what happened," noticing Itachi's confusion, the one-eyed Uchiha decided to elaborate. "I was on my way to the Naka Shrine when I was told that Danzo wanted to speak with me. He deemed me a threat, claiming that I wanted to use the Kotoamatsukami on him and the Hokage, and tried to remove my eyes. At least, I managed to keep one eye before I lost his goons. And that's not even the worst of it."
While Itachi remained stoic on the outside, on the inside he was livid. Danzo would definitely pay for such treachery. He would make sure of it.
"The coup d'etat. It's happening as we speak," Shisui announced, and saw how Itachi lost all the color of his skin. "In fact, I have been attacked by Konoha ninja on my way here. And before you ask, yes I managed to lose them before I got here."
"This happened because of me," Itachi thought. "I chose the easy way out instead of staying and trying to make things better. I shouldn't have listened to Shizune-san...not, Shizune-san is not to blame. She wasn't aware of the context of my situation when she offered her advice. I'm the only one to blame. And thus, I'm the only one who has to, and can, fix this mistake."
"Itachi?" Shisui asked, yanking the younger Uchiha out of his thoughts. "What are we going to do?"
"We?"
"Yes, we. Did you expect that I was going to stay here while our clan burns Konoha to the ground?"
"No, there is no 'we', Shisui. You're going to stay here, and rest. I'll take care of everything."
Itachi opened his closet, and started to get dressed with his ninja gear.
"You can't leave me here! Danzo still wants my Sharingan, and I'm in no condition to defend myself! Come on, at least take my eye!"
Itachi's hand quickly grabbed Shisui's before he could pluck his remaining eye from its socket.
"That eye is okay where it is now. I will be fine, and so will you. Now lie down and rest, or else your wounds will open."
"You can't be serious. Are you planning to go there alone? You have no friends or allies out there! The Konoha ninja will try to kill you the moment they see your Sharingan!"
"That won't be an obstacle. I promise that nobody will die needlessly, especially not me," Itachi assured as he put on his Chunin Flak Jacket. "I'll place a multi-layered genjutsu on this place in case somebody gets lucky and track you here. If you're not on this bed when I return and you haven't been killed or taken prisoner by the enemy, I will kill you myself."
"You can't be serious."
"I will toss you down a cliff, How does that sound?"
"Meh, there are far worse ways to die."
"Well, that's all, I'm leaving. But don't worry, I'll send somebody I trust to watch over you. I don't know when I'll be back, but if I'm never back...take care of Sasuke for me," Itachi grimly asked.
"You don't need to tell me that. But just in case, try to come back alive. I have no idea of what to do with children."
Itachi chuckled at Shisui one last time, and left through a window.
…
Hiashi Hyuga was having dinner with his wife and daughters. It was a moment he enjoyed the most, since it was one of the few rare opportunities where he could spend some time with his whole family, not counting his brother. Sure, he spend a lot of time training his daughters, but contrary to the popular belief, Hiashi Hyuga also enjoyed the rare moments he had to relax. After all, being a Clan head was a rather demanding and thankless job.
"So, how was your first day of training with Uzumaki-san and Jiraiya-sama, Hinata?" Hiashi asked without taking his eyes from his dinner.
"V-very good, father," Hinata sotfly replied. "M-my affinity is l-lightning. Though I-I have to complete a f-few chakra c-control excercises b-before I learn a-any new jutsu," Hinata explained.
"Lightining. Interesting. I heard it's a good element to use in conjunction with bladed weapons. Too bad we don't use those," Hikari casually commented.
"Maybe I c-could use lightining w-with the Gentle Fist?" Hinata meekly suggested.
"Combine the Gentle Fist with Elemental Ninjutsu? That's unheard of!" Hiashi exclaimed.
"I think it's a rather sound idea. It would give our techniques another layer of power," Hikari sharply replied..
"Still, Hinata should master the actual Gentle First first before thinking in doing modifications," Hiashi countered.
Suddenly, a Branch House Hyuga barged in the dinning room, panting.
"Hiashi-sama! You need to come with us, it's a disaster!"
Hiashi tensed, and jumped on his feet. "What's going on?"
"The Uchiha are leading an insurrection against the village!"
Hikari gasped in horror. Hinata didn't fully understand what those words mean, but she knew it wasn't anything good.
"And that's not all. There are dozens of Uchiha outside the compound. They're demanding for you to come out and face them."
"Alright, let's go. Hikari, stay here and take care of the girls. I will see what this nonsense is about."
…
Ten minutes later, Hiashi arrived at the front patio of the compound, where many Hyugas, both Main and Branch house, were already on a fighting stance, ready to engage the invading Uchiha and their mercenary allies. Among them were his brother, Hizashi.
"I am Hiashi Hyuga, Head of the Hyuga Main House. What is the meaning of this?" Hiashi demanded.
Just like the Branch House member said, there were a multitude of Uchihas present. Among them, a masked man in a black cloak with red clouds stood out. Apparently, he wasn't the leader, as another Uchiha, a tall, well built man, with a buzzcut, close to Hiashi's age took a few step forwards. Hiashi guessed he was a Jonin.
"Hiashi Hyuga, both you and your entire clan have been deemed as a threat to Konoha. You will have to come with us. If you resist arrest, we will use lethal force."
"I'm sure both me and my clansmen will come peacefully if you show us an arrest order with the stamp of the Hokage's office and the Hokage's signature," Hiashi replied back.
"The Hokage no longer rules over Konoha. The Military Police is the village's highest authority now. Now, tell your clansmen to surrender. This is my last warning," the Uchiha Jonin said.
"Now you hear my warning, Uchiha. This ground under your feet belongs to the Hyuga Clan. If you and your treacherous clansmen aren't out of our property in less than ten seconds, you will be escorted out of here inside a coffin."
"I'm going to take that as an hostile response. Everybody, attack!"
Multiple Uchiha flied through hand seals. Others grabbed some shurikens from their tool pouches.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
A barrage of fireballs of multiple sizes and shurikens flied towards the Hyuuga, still standing their ground. Though if the Uchiha thought that they could take them down with ranged attacks, they had another thing coming.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm Wall!" shouted many Hyuga as they thrust their palms forward, releasing multiple vacuum blasts that stopped some of the incoming fireballs.
"Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Spin!" other Hyuga shouted while they turned into blue chakra twisters that deflected the remaining fireballs.
While the Hyuga were defending, half of the Uchiha and their criminal allies decided to charge forward.
"Crimson Squad and Blood Squad, stay here and secure the patio! Storm Squad and Tempest Squad, get in the compound and kill everybody who puts up a fight!" the Uchiha Jonin ordered.
"Yes, Nakamura-taicho!" multiple Uchiha replied in unison, as half of the Uchiha there abandoned the patio and got into the compound.
However, Hiashi had hear those orders as well, and he wasn't going to have any of that. Thanks to his Byakugan, he spotted his brother in no time, and leaped at him the moment he stopped the heart of an Uchiha Chunin with a well placed palm strike.
"Hizashi! I need you to go inside and protect Hikari and the kids!" Hiashi shouted.
"We're in the middle of a battle right now, and I won't leave your side, it's my duty!" the younger twin replied.
"Your duty is to obey me!And if you need cover, I will provide you some! Now go!" Hiashi said as he engaged two Uchiha, a Jonin and a Chunin.
Shooting one last glance at his elder brother and Clan Head, Hizashi nodded and rushed back to the complex.
…
"Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi. You three have been declared a threat to the village, and will have to come with us. If you resist arrest, we will use lethal force," Mikoto Uchiha announced.
Shikaku looked around him. Half a dozen Uchihas, lead by the wife of the Clan Head, surrounded both him and his two closest friends just after dispatching a bunch of mercenaries that were looting a store.
"Is this some kind of joke, Mikoto-san?" Shikaku asked. "Because if it is, let me tell you is a very tasteless one."
"Yeah, you're the police, shouldn't you be dealing with these rats that are infesting the village all of sudden?" Choza asked.
"Choza...I believe it was the Uchiha who brought these rats. I didn't see any of these criminal scum attacking any Uchiha," Inoichi commented.
"Well, what is your answer?" Mikoto asked.
Shikaku sighed dramatically. "This is going to be such a drag..." then in an instant, his hands formed a seal. "Shadow Imitation Jutsu!"
Multiple black tendrils shoot from Shikaku's shadow and flied towards the Uchiha, who jumped in time before being caught. While on air, Mikoto's hands ran through hand seals as well.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
The Uchiha Clan Head's wife breathed a huge fireball at the Nara Clan Head, who was forced to move and cancel his jutsu.
"Separate them from each other! Not only are they Jonin, their teamwork is downright legendary!" Mikoto ordered.
"Yes, Mikoto-sama!" the other Uchiha replied.
"They outnumber us two to one. Inoichi, can you do something about that?" Shikaku asked.
"On it!" Inoichi said as he formed a hand seal that formed a rectangle of negative space between them. "Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu!"
The two Uchihas that were about to attack him were stopped in his tracks, realizing that they no longer controlled their bodies. Much to their horror, they started to stab each other repeteadly.
"Good work! Now is my turn!" Choza said, making a hand seal. "Multi-size Jutsu!" Choza's body inflated into a large balloon. "Human Boulder!"
Choza crushed the two Uchiha still figthing each other, while the other four managed to avoid the same painful fate. Mikoto didn't waste time and pulled out a radio.
"This is Mikoto Uchiha requesting for reinforcements to deal with a trio of Jonin-level insurgents! We're on Matabi Street! Over!"
"Insurgents? We're not the ones trying to take over Konoha, thank you," Shikaku said as he activated his Shadow Imitiation Jutsu again.
In no time, a couple Uchiha Chunin leading a group of mercenaries joined the fray.
"More people? What a drag," Shikaku moaned. "Choza, can you take care of the rabble?"
"You can count on that! Multi-size Jutsu!" Choza's size increased several times, and used his also enlarged bo staff to wipe the mercenaries and Uchihas as if he was cleaning the floor. Still, it proved to be a harder task than expected, since his foes were quicker than they thought, and his increased size made a perfect target for the Uchiha's fireballs and shurikens.
"That should keep them busy while Inoichi and I will deal with the red-eyed pests."
"Watch out who you call pest, Nara!" An Uchiha shouted as he leaped at him, which proved to be a mistake, since he put Shikaku in the perfect position of binding him with his shadow.
"Thanks for your helpful assistance, Uchiha-san. Now die," Shikaku said as he made a hand sign.
An arm emerged from the Uchiha's shadow, which reached his neck, and strangled the unlucky Uchiha to death.
Meanwhile, Inoichi was about to take control of another Uchiha's body when he felt several chakra signatures getting closer. "Shikaku, more enemies incoming!" Inoichi warned
"Where do they come from?" Shikaku said as he tried to nail the remaining enemies with his Shadow Imitation.
"Five O'clock! Watch out for the roofs!"
"Choza, did you hear that?"
"Yes! I see them now!" the giant Akimichi said as he moved to intercept them.
"I'll see if I can take Mikoto down, she's the leader of this squad!" Inoichi announced, making the same hand seal again, pointing at two Uchiha that were fighting Shikaku. "Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu!"
Once again, those two Uchiha stopped in their tracks, stopped attacking Shikaku and lunged at a growling Mikoto, who did her best to keep them at bait without killing or hurting them much.
"Shikaku, now!"
Thanks to the distraction provided by Inoichi, the Nara patriarch managed to capture Mikoto with his shadow.
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu, success. Again." Shikaku said with a slight smile. Though said smile vanished when he saw that Mikoto was also smiling at him.
"In your dreams," the Uchiha kunoichi retorted before disappearing in a could of smoke, leaving a trash can in her place.
"Inoichi, track her, now!" Shikaku frantically barked.
The Yamanaka Clan Head nodded and made a hand sign. He managed to find Mikoto in no time. Who happened to be just behind him. Inoichi tried to turn around, but not before Mikoto stabbed him in the back with a kunai. She then kicked him into the ground and jumped backwards a few meters.
"AAARGH!" Inochi instictively threw his hands at his back, trying to remove the kunai.
"Inoichi!" Shikaku yelled.
"I'm okay, it's only a superficial cut, the jacket protected me somehow. Try to remove the kunai if you can."
Mikoto's lips formed a chilling smile. Shikaku paled. Unbeknowst to Inoichi, while the kunai only made a flesh wound on his back, there was an explosive tag attached to the bladed weapon. The Uchiha Matriarch made hand sign, which was followed by an explosion, and Inoichi Yamanaka was no more.
For a second, time seemed to stop for Shikaku and Choza as they saw their mutual best friend, longtime partner and trusted teammate being blown up. When the dust settled, all that was left was his charred, immobile corpse.
"This is the fate of those who oppose the new rulers of Konoha. I'll be forgiving and will give you a chance to surrender. If you do not surrender, you will follow the same fate as your friend," Mikoto shouted, adopting now a cold, neutral tone.
Choza let out a deafening shout, and started to stomp wildly around him, in an attempt to crush the nearby enemy ninja, not caring of the buildings he could potentially bring down.
Shikaku, on the other hand, only shot at Mikoto a chilling, murderous glare, while remained there, immobile.
"That was a mistake," was all what Shikaku said.
Mikoto didn't say anything, just frowned, and motioned her hand at him. Multiple Uchiha and mercenaries leaped towards the Nara clan head from multiple directions, weapons raised in air ready to kill him. But Shikaku wouldn't have any of that. Making a quick hand seal, multiple shadow tendrils shot from his shadow, instantly catching his attackers, pinning him in one place. With another hand seal, other shadow tendrils appeared, except that this ones were material, took the shape of spikes, and impaled the paralyzed ninja. The shadows then retreated, and the enemy ninja fell to the ground, motionless.
"You're next. Shadow Gathering Jutsu!"
More shadow tendrils shot from Shikaku's shadow, these also being material, and flied at Mikoto. While far from her prime, the Uchiha kunoichi did an admirable effort dodging them so far by constantly running or jumping to the sides. She then leaped into the air and made several hand signs before grabbing some shuriken from her pouch.
"Fire Release: Flaming Shuriken Barrage!"
The ninja stars immediately caught on fire the moment Mikoto tossed them. Shikaku gasped, canceled his jutsu, and tried to out of the way, but he was too slow. The burning shuriken pierced his flak jacket, and embedded themselves into the Nara's flesh.
"Another one down!" Mikoto cheered. But her cheer was short lived as Shikaku disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "What? A shadow clone?"
Mikoto tried to look around for the real Shikaku, but then realized that she couldn't move. From the corner of her eyes, she could see that a shadow tendril had caught her shadow. Shikaku jumped down from the nearby roof he was on.
"A Shadow Clone...when did you make it? I didn't take my eyes from you this whole time!" Mikoto would have stomped his foot on anger if he was able to move.
"Certainly, you didn't. The Sharigan is rather hard to fool...but 'hard' does not equal 'impossible'. To answer your question, I used the explosion that killed Inoichi as a cover."
"What? But...how...?"
"The moment I saw that explosive tag I already knew that Inoichi was dead. All that was left for me to do was to avenge him, and devised a plan in order to make you let your guard down. And now...all that was left is for you to pay. Shadow Neck Binding Jutsu!"
Mikoto saw a black hand creeping through her body until it reached her neck, and in less than a minute her world turned into darkness.
…
After retrieving Neji, Hizashi found Hikari, Hinata and Hanabi in the dinning room, just where his brother said they would be. After telling them what was going on, he began to lead them to the one of the compound's emergency exists. When Hizashi saw many Hyuga fighting the Uchiha invaders –and in most cases, losing against them– he felt the urge to help them, but felt compelled to ignore them and follow Hiashi's instructions instead.
"What are we going to do once we get out of here, father?" Neji asked.
"We will try to find some help. Do not fear, Neji, everything will be fine."
Unfortunately for the Hyugas, two Uchihas, a Jonin and a Chunin, blocked their path.
"All members of Hyuga clan are under arrest! If you resist we will use lethal force!" the Uchiha Jonin echoed his commander's words.
"Would you dare to hurt children, you monster?" Hikari spat at him as she clutched Hanabi in her arms.
"There's no need to hurt anybody if you come peacefully," the Uchiha Chunin interceded.
Hizashi said nothing and sprung to action. Taking advantage of the Chunin momentary lack of focus, he managed to land a palm strike on his chest, knocking him backwards. The Jonin immediately reacted and unsheathed a katana and attempted to slice him.
Hizashi bended backwards just in time, and the Uchiha's katana only sliced some of his hair. The Uchiha Chunin managed to get back on his feet, and was going through several hand seals.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!" he shouted, casting multiple fireballs at Hizashi.
Juast as fast, Hikari, who no longer had Hanabi on her arms, jumped in front of Hizashi and she started to spin.
"Heavenly Spin!" she shouted, turning herself into a spinning dome of chakra, deflecting the fireballs. "Don't you dare to ignore me! I may be retired, but I used to be a Jonin!"
"Thank you, Hikari-sama. Let me repay your kind act by finishing this fight. Eight Trigrams, Thirty Two Palms!" Hizashi shouted as he delivered a quick succession of palm strikes at the two Uchihas. "Two strikes! Four strikes! Eight Strikes! Sixteen Strikes! THRITY TWO STRIKES!"
Unable to stop the barrage of Gentle Fist strikes, the Uchihas fell to the ground, prey of sudden chakra exhaustion. While that attack was nowhere near enough to kill them, or even close all their chakra points, it was enough to put them out of commission long enough for the group of five Hyugas to escape the compound safely.
"Mother, where is father? Isn't he going to come with us?" Hinata asked.
"Your father is fighting the Uchihas who attacked our home. Don't worry dear, he's strong, he will be fine," Hikari said in a reassuring tone.
As they ran away, Hizashi looked at the compound, which had several parts of it on fire, one last time, and wondered if Hiashi could escape alive and meet them again.
…
Back in the patio, the battle had finally died down. The place was littered with corpses, both Uchiha, missing-nin and Hyuga alike. Only two men were standing, Hiashi and Ko Hyuga. Both of them had some minor injuries and were exhausted, but they could stand on their own. The Hyuga patriarch looked around, and had to repress the urge to throw up. The sight of so many dead Hyugas sickened him to the core. Not even fighting in the Third War shook him so much.
"Hiashi-sama, are you alright?" Ko asked as he limped to him.
Hiashi tried to regain his composure. "Yes, Ko. Come on, let's get inside, I can hear fights still going on. We need to save as many clansmen as possible."
Hiashi then heard a sickening noise coming from Ko.
"AGRK!" Ko suddenly grunted, blood coming out of his mouth. He looked down, and saw a sword protruding from his chest. Ko fell to the ground, revealing his murderer, the masked man of the black cloak.
"Yes, Hiashi. Go and save your clan. What's left of it, at least," the masked man mocked, as he removed his sword from Ko and kicked his corpse aside. "But I don't know how can you do that if you can't save yourself first."
Hiashi didn't say anything, and slipped into the Gentle Fist stance. "You will pay for that, murderer. We both had the Byakugan activated. How did you managed to ambush Ko like that?"
"Well, I could tell you, but if I did I'd lose one of my main advantages, and that would be pretty detrimental, don't you think?" the masked man replied in the same tone, as he sheathed his katana. Hiashi tensed when he saw his enemy flying through hand seals. "Wood Release: Great Spear Tree!"
"What!?" Hiashi was shocked, though his battle instinct compelled him to jump backwards, trying to avoid the emerging sharp tree roots trying to impale him. Through his Byakugan, he saw that more roots were emerging, surrounding him. "Heavenly Spin!" Hiashi turned into a spinning blue dome that shattered the roots the moment they tried to grab him.
"Not bad, definitely not bad. How about this then?" the masked man commented, doing hand seals again. "Multiple Great Fireballs Jutsu!"
The masked man shot a successions of large fireballs at Hiashi. The Hyuga clan head dodged some, and blocked others with the Vacuum Palm, all while he dashed towards his foe, who remained in the same place, making no attempt to moving.
"Impressive! Guess that you guys don't exaggerate that much when you boast about your power!"
"If you thought that was impressive, wait until you see this," Hiashi slipped into the Gentle Fist stance again. "The battle is over, you're within my divination field. Eight Trigrams, Sixty Four Palms!" The Hyuga Clan head lunged at the masked man. "Two strikes!" But much to his bewilderment, his hands phased through the masked Uchiha's body harmlessly. "Four strikes!" The result was the same.
"Well, I'm afraid to say that that wasn't very impressive," the masked man said as he let out a yawn.
"What is this trickery? A genjutsu? Of course, it has to be. There's no way you can use the Wood Release!"
"A genjutsu, you say? Good guess. But If I'm a Genjutsu, try to explain this!"
Suddenly, at an almost imperceptible speed, the masked man unsheathed his katana again and buried it inside Hiash's chest.
"Does this feel like a genjutsu, Hiashi-sama?" The masked man pushed his sword deeper. He then pulled his sword out and kicked Hiashi's corpse back into the ground. After cleaning the blood from his weapon on Hiashi's robes, he sheathed his sword again, and pulled out an scalpel. "Oh my, Hiashi, what a beautiful eyes you have! I hope you don't mind if I borrow them!" Then, he looked around, and noticed all the dead Hyugas around him, many of them who were Main House. "Oh what the hell, I'll take all of them! You don't see a chance like this every day."
The masked man started to hum a cheery melody as he began to harvest Byakugans from the dead Hyugas.
"Jitensha! Jitensha! Jitensha! Koide! Koide! Koide kuru yo...!"
...
Meanwhile, at the Hokage's tower, Sarutobi was unaware of all the chaos and destruction that was unfolding on the village he ruled. He was happily reading a novel on one of the tower's living rooms when one of the night shift ANBUs barged inside the room, a man who wore the mask of a tiger
"Hokage-sama! It's a catastrophe!" the ANBU shouted, panicked. "The Uchiha Clan is trying to take over the village!"
Sarutobi slammed the book shut, and turned at the ANBU with a shcoked expression. "What? When did this happen?"
"We don't know, Hokage-sama, but we believe it was at sunset. They have an army of criminals and mercenaries backing them up."
"What is the situation now?"
"The Uchihas and their allies have taken over the Torture and Interrogation Headquarter, the Hyuga Clan Compound, the hospital, the aviary, and some compounds from minor clans. They're currently trying to take the Jonin Standby Station and the Academy. And we spotted an eight man team lead by Fugaku Uchiha himself heading here, probably to take over the tower and assassinate you."
Sarutobi was trying his best to process the gravity of the situation. What happened to Shisui Uchiha? Did the other Uchiha see through his ploy? There has to be the only logical explanation. However, there was no time to ponder what had gone wrong, but to remedy the problem at hand. He had to act now to prevent the number of deaths from growing.
"I want you and all the ANBU of the tower to go and liberate the hospital, that's your number one priority. Then, I want you to protect the civilians from being attacked. I will stay here and will try to make Fugaku-san to see reason."
"But Hokage-sama, we can't leave you unprotected in a time like this!" the ANBU protested.
"Are you questioning my orders!?" the old Hokage shouted, making the ANBU to flinch at the unusual display of anger.
"Of course not, Hokage-sama. I'll tell the others your orders. Good luck..." the ANBU said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Once alone, Sarutobi calmly headed towards his office, grabbed a pencil, a blank scroll, and started writing. Once he was done, he sealed the scroll, and making some hand seals, the scroll disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Then, he lit his pipe, and took a puff on it. "So, this is how it ends...why, despite living for so long, I still feel that I haven't done enough?" he wondered aloud, as he took another puff on his pipe He saw a picture of him, his late wife and his two sons, who were still teenagers at the time. The old Hokage allowed a smile to appear on his face. "On the good side, it seems that we will see each other soon, Biwako-chan..."
…
Meanwhile, on the roof of his apartment building, Itachi contemplated the village before him. Buildings on fire shone brightly against the night sky. Screams, shouts and explosions filled the usually silent night atmosphere. He didn't need to look far in order to see Uchihas, criminals and mercenaries engaged in a fight against Konoha ninja.
The Uchiha outcast bit his thumb, and made five hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
From a cloud of smoke emerged a large crow, twice as tall as Itachi. The giant bird stared at the former Uchiha with curious eyes.
"Good evening, Itachi-san. It's nice to see you again. You look distressed. Is there something wrong?"
"Good night to you as well, Kurokaze-sama. And yes, there's something going wrong. Very wrong. What I have been fearing has finally happened. The Uchiha are trying to take Konoha by force."
The Boss Crow turned around, and saw at the battles that took place at the very bottom of the building he and Itachi were.
"I see," the crow said in a grave tone. "How can I be of assistance?"
"I need you to oversee Konoha from the sky, and track all the larger groups of Uchiha. Focus mostly on those who appear to have the upper hand in their fights. Leave the weaker ones for later."
"Consider it done, Itachi-san," Kurokaze divided himself into a much smaller crows that spread above the village, and one of them placed itself on Itachi's shoulder.
"I'd appreciate as well if you used two of your clones to watch over my friend Shisui Uchiha, who's in my home, and my brother Sasuke, who's probably asleep back in the Uchiha Compound," Itachi added.
Checking his equipment one more time, Itachi unsheathed his katana and leaped towards the battle at the bottom of the building, cutting an Uchiha down upon landing. Doing so, he already choose a side, and knew that there was no going back on that. Not that he cared, since Itachi considered himself a Konoha Ninja first and an Uchiha second. And he would protect the village and his inhabitants at all costs, even if that would mean fighting his family. He needed to stop the coup d'etat as soon as possible, and there was only one thing that would stop the ongoing madness.
A massacre.