"I'm so close!" Naruto threw his once-again-empty hands up in the air. "What am I missing?"

"Let me talk you through the process again," Jiraiya said. "First, you have to hold the image of your desire in your mind. While doing that, you manipulate your chakra until you have something solid in your hand, and keep going until it's as hard as you can get it. Make sure your thrusting motions are vigorous enough, or you won't get anywhere. After that comes the really important part, which is keeping it up until the end—the last thing you want is to release the energy from your spheres too early and lose all your penetrating power."

Naruto focused once again. He could do this. He knew it must be physically possible. After all, if his father hadn't managed it, he wouldn't be here.

"Relax and take a breath, kid," Jiraiya said after watching yet another attempt fizzle out. "This kind of thing can happen to anyone, especially if they're stressed and inexperienced."

But after another couple of minutes of Naruto practising his thrusting motions, the self-proclaimed great sage jumped up.

"Damn damn damn! I can't believe I didn't see it before. Of course it's not working as it should. Why would it? You're only twelve years old!"

"Hey!" Naruto objected. "You know how advanced I am for my age."

"This isn't a matter of being advanced or not. If your body isn't ready, it isn't ready."

"What do you mean?"

"This technique is designed for jōnin, who already have top-tier chakra control and still have to pump a bunch of chakra into it in order to make it work. Of course a twelve-year-old genin can't pull it off, especially with your chakra reserves."

Naruto scowled. "Hey, what do you mean, my chakra reserves? Am I or am I not this year's most promising genin, who blazed his way through to the Chūnin Exam Finals on his first try?"

"Which you did by spamming the Shadow Clone Technique until you made Gai's apprentice look like a generalist."

"Well, duh. Not using it would be like, I dunno, Kakashi-sensei not using those canine summon combos that nearly killed Zabuza while I was fighting Haku."

Jiraiya snorted. "Like he'd ever give up his best counter to Gai's tortoises. But you're only proving my point. Kakashi uses his dogs as part of a ninjutsu arsenal that would put some clans to shame. You use shadow clones as… well, gee, I guess that's it."

"So what?"

"So what does the technique do to your chakra?"

"It divides it up."

"Exactly," Jiraiya pointed his finger at Naruto accusingly. "It doesn't drain it—at least not much, with your chakra control—it divides it up. And then you get it back. When's the last time you ran out of chakra?"

"Running out of chakra is for suckers," Naruto said, but he couldn't put much conviction behind it.

"Sure is. But almost running out of chakra is how you join the ranks of the shinobi elite. Half of how I got to be the world's greatest ninjutsu master is that I always had a use for my remaining chakra come night-time, if you know what I mean."

"But how much chakra could a sleep-improving ninjutsu possibly cost?"

"Depends on how many people you're sleeping with, kid, and how creative you're prepared to get."

Jiraiya hadn't struck Naruto as the pyjama party type, but then again, he had to be picking all those girls up for something.

"But forget me for a second. Your problem is that you coast so well on chakra control that your body never feels that desperate need to deepen its reserves. It's like copying another ninja in Academy tests. Sure, you get what you want, but it's their brain that gets better at learning and applying information, not yours. The more you do it, the dumber you'll be when you graduate—if you graduate.

"Hell, I reckon you must have the lowest chakra reserves in your year. Your Uchiha friend's going to die laughing the first time he scans you with that Sharingan of his."

It was like having a bucket of cold water poured over him.

Sasuke had never looked at Naruto with the Sharingan except in combat, when Naruto's chakra was divided between a bunch of clones and Sasuke hardly had the spare attention to add it up and calculate Naruto's total. What would he think when he found out?

Sasuke had already mastered multiple C-rank techniques before graduation. How hard must he have worked to build the chakra reserves to pay for his advanced ninjutsu, while Naruto, relying on his incredible chakra control, hadn't bothered?

But Naruto should at least be doing better than Sakura. Her reserves were notoriously low, so she couldn't have been training them that seriously. After all, if she'd even got them to average, then her superior mental skills would have put her miles ahead of Ino where Academy ninjutsu was concerned, instead of a slim lead that occasionally got reversed as Ino pushed herself to catch up.

Then again, if you flipped that thought upside down…

Sakura, despite her naturally poor chakra reserves, was making the heir of a ninjutsu specialist clan struggle to keep up. On reflection, Naruto would eat his hat (or somebody else's hat, anyway—he didn't have so many clothes that he could waste them for the sake of an idiom) if Sakura hadn't trained at something like a demon in order to seize and maintain that advantage.

None of this was to say that Naruto himself didn't dedicate time and effort to training, because he did. But he was a genius who grew fast even when he took the path of least resistance. Developing the Uzumaki Style was fun. Taijutsu practice was fun, since it mainly involved pranking people until they tried to kill him, or messing with Sasuke, or training with shadow clones and stopping whenever he got bored (the clones could train on their own, but the memory transfer process was less efficient than he'd hoped, and besides, they got bored just as easily as he did). Clone AI hadn't exactly been fun, but it had been an intellectual challenge that he'd chosen for himself, and one that had been giving him something he couldn't get anywhere else.

Whereas Sakura... suddenly he saw her anew. On some level, he'd always dismissed her as bright but ordinary, acknowledging her high academic performance but unimpressed with everything else. A teammate who was, if not a dead weight, at least not good enough to make an equal contribution. All of that was still true. And yet.

Everyone in Teams Asuma and Kurenai had been receiving special clan training since they were born. Sasuke was (inaccurately) considered by some to be the most talented genin of his generation. Naruto had proved his cunning, courage and combat skill by defeating a traitorous chūnin in one-on-one mortal combat. And Sakura... had earned a place on one of the three jōnin-led elite teams just by being smart and hard-working.

Apparently, he'd been more right than he knew. Even if Naruto was cleverer than everyone else, intelligence wasn't the only virtue worth respecting people for.

"Teach me," he said urgently to Jiraiya. "Tell me what I need to do to beat them at their own game."

"Finally," Jiraiya said. "This is the part where I get to stand over you while you meditate, and hit you with a stick whenever I see you getting distracted."

"Wait, people actually do that?"

"Only metaphorically. But believe me, as a veteran writer, I can get a lot of mileage out of a metaphor."

Jiraiya gave one of the most evil grins Naruto had ever seen, though admittedly it wasn't possible to see Kakashi-sensei grinning.

"First things first, though," Jiraiya said, "I need to start figuring out what I want you to spend your miserably limited chakra on. How about we test your elemental affinity and go from there? Elemental ninjutsu is designed to make the most of the element's natural properties, so pound for pound it's more chakra-efficient than neutral techniques like the Rasengan. And believe me, kid, you're going to need all the chakra efficiency you can get."

For once, Naruto didn't rise to the bait. "So how do you test an elemental affinity?"

Jiraiya fished around in his pockets. "Chakra paper. Supposedly the Second discovered it by accident during his research. Worthless for sealing work, perfect for what we want."

"And you just randomly carry that kind of thing around because…?"

"Kid," Jiraiya smirked, "You're never going to be the ultimate lover if you aren't prepared for everything. There's a reason why, in some circles, they call me the Pack Capybara."

"That has to be the stupidest nickname I've ever heard."

"That's all right, I just made it up on the spot anyway. Now give me your hands, palms up. Both hands, on the off-chance you're a double type."

Naruto obediently stretched out his hands, and Jiraiya dropped a square of paper into each.

Naruto couldn't feel anything except maybe a slight tingle, but the chakra paper in his right hand suddenly developed three sharp vertical tears as if assaulted by the world's smallest kamaitachi.

Jiraiya nodded as if not particularly surprised. "Wind, huh? That one's pretty rare. Good for ranged attacks, which you can't afford, and deflection, which you don't need because your clones are expendable."

"Joy of joys," Naruto said flatly.

"Now, what've we got—"

Naruto got a brief glimpse of black ink before Jiraiya snatched the second piece of paper away and stuffed it into a pocket.

"What element was that?"

"Faulty Paper Element," Jiraiya said. "You don't want to hold onto one of those—with your reserves, random chakra drain could really mess you up."

What were the odds that Jiraiya would just happen to draw a faulty piece of paper when testing Naruto?

Based on precedent, pretty high. It was surprising how often there was exactly one piece of broken or dangerously malfunctioning equipment when the Academy instructors were handing them out, and it would invariably be Naruto who got it. Besides, what would Jiraiya be hiding from him? That on a deep metaphysical level, Naruto was made of ink?

"But forget that," Jiraiya said. "We've already got what we need. The good news is, Wind affinity's on the easy side; consider yourself lucky it wasn't Lightning. First thing we'll need to do, obviously, is to go peeping on girls in the hot springs."

"Obviously."

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Jiraiya said. "Have you never heard of the art of wind and water?"

"You mean that thing that's supposed to let civilians control the ambient chakra in their home? I've had the worst education of any genin in history, and even I know that's a load of crap."

Jiraiya shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"It really wasn't. And seriously, trying to get me to peep on girls on our first day of training? Has anyone told you that you're a complete and utter pervert?"

"Of course," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms with pride. "But then I'm many things, kid. Including but not limited to war hero, expert lover, bestselling writer, supreme pervert and mighty sage. In parts of the world where they get how important sages are, they treat me with respect and call me 'Enlightened One', you know."

How Naruto had waited for this moment. A man who insisted on calling him "kid" was begging for a counter-nickname, but "old man" was already taken by the Hokage, and besides, anyone who could match Naruto snark for snark deserved something special. Now, inspiration had finally struck.

Naruto sank to the ground in the humblest of bows, his forehead touching the grass. "I beg of you to forgive me. I was unaware of your greatness, Perverted One."

"Hey, quit it, kid, that's not funny."

"I heed your words with reverence, Perverted One."

"All right, maybe it is a little funny. But quit it anyway."

"Your wish is my command, Perverted One."

-o-

"You summoned me, my lord?"

"It is time," Lord Hiashi said to Neji, "for us to speak of your actions during the Chūnin Exam... and their consequences."

Judgement Day was here. The only mercy offered him was that it had come quickly. Neji suppressed the trembling in his limbs. Lord Hiashi would, of course, perceive it anyway, but to willingly show weakness would only shame himself more than he had already.

"My daughter described your performance against her, sparing no detail."

Of course she had. Lady Hinata was beyond deception. He had known this when he chose to use the Eight Trigrams—knowing the price he might pay whether he won or lost. As a member of the branch family, he walked alongside death every day. It would be a lie to say he didn't fear it, but at least it couldn't come as a surprise. Part of him had been happy that his death would be for her, rather than on some random mission as most shinobi died.

"Tell me, Neji," Lord Hiashi's gaze became more piercing than any Gentle Fist strike, "did you restrain yourself for her sake during that battle? Did you permit her a victory she had not earned?"

What a strange question. As if Neji would use a technique that was about to cost him his life if he intended to lose anyway.

"No, my lord. I swear I did my very best to defeat her."

Lord Hiashi nodded with an approval that had no place in this conversation. "As it should be. The pride of the Hyūga is not such a shallow thing as to be shaken by base sentiment."

"Thank you, my lord." Neji had spent his life dedicating himself to that pride in the face of every challenge, whether it meant enduring the cruel joke that was Rock Lee or protecting Lady Hinata from filthy worms that would exploit her innocence. It gave him a small measure of satisfaction that he would die as he had lived.

"To my knowledge," Lord Hiashi said coolly, "very few have successfully deceived me since I first mastered the arts demanded of a Hyūga heir. My daughter is not among their number."

Then... she had tried. For the likes of him, she had tried to defy her very nature. Neither in this world, nor in any other, could there be a second Lady Hinata.

She had tried.

Lord Hiashi's voice turned grave. "There is but one punishment for those who would invoke the Eight Trigrams without the blessing of the First Hyūga—the blessing that flows through my family's veins, and flowed through your ancestors' until they chose to betray it. And now, to layer iniquity upon iniquity, as if to walk directly in their footsteps, you dare to turn the Trigrams' power against the Hyūga heir."

No! If there was one thing Neji wanted understood, it was that he'd committed his crime out of loyalty. If not to the totality of the Hyūga Clan, then to Lady Hinata.

"My lord, I never—"

"Silence."

Lord Hiashi did not need to raise his voice to control the conversation. In a sense, control was what he was.

"Your fate has been determined. Your opinions are of no interest to me."

Neji bowed in apology. A Hyūga died with pride, but also with grace.

But he couldn't have predicted Lord Hiashi's next words if he'd lived as long as the sun.

"You will dedicate your every effort to preparing her for the Finals. You will live every hour of the day for her, resting only when she rests, eating only when she eats, sleeping only when she sleeps. You will teach my daughter everything you know that may aid her in the coming trials. Whatever miracle you accomplished to draw forth her potential, you will repeat it as many times as it takes."

The ground disappeared from beneath Neji's feet. Only the pride of the Hyūga kept him standing upright.

"My lord…" He knew all the reasons why he mustn't ask the question, but he couldn't help it.

"Why?"

Lord Hiashi contemplated him for a while. Strength began to return to Neji's legs.

"Because it is not duty that impels the Hyūga to seek the sun beyond. And because in her twelve years of life, my daughter has sought to deceive me exactly twice."

The words explained nothing, but their inflection told him that he had been privileged to hear even that much, and was now dismissed.

As he bowed and left, he felt as if he was walking through another world. Him, Lady Hinata's tutor? There was no question that he was fit for the role—he knew techniques she didn't, and was without doubt a better ninja in every conceivable way—but hardly so to the same extent than any of the jōnin, or for that matter, he thought with a touch of bitterness, any of the chūnin that Lord Hiashi had at his command. Had it not been Lord Hiashi's decision, he would have thought it mad.

It was a second chance that he could not have imagined, and did not deserve. But a second chance to do what? Even with her strange new power, the most Lady Hinata had managed was a draw, or something close enough to make no difference. She had been left lying in a hospital bed, the winner fallen alongside the loser. Was he to accept defeat with that ambiguous result, to resign himself to helping her further along the path of blood and darkness that was shinobi life? To allow her purity to get her killed in a world that did not forgive weakness, all in pursuit of her impossible dream?

Or perhaps… it felt like stabbing himself with a knife to so much as think it, but as Lady Hinata's tutor, he could steer her awry. There were a thousand ways to sabotage her, from incorrect teaching to training accidents, a thousand ways to cause a failure at the Finals that would prove to everyone her earlier success was just a fluke. Lord Hiashi would not forgive him, would rescind his stay of execution without a second thought. Lady Hinata, too, would face consequences he could not predict. But past them lay her only hope of salvation, of a different path that she could not yet see. Some things were worth any sacrifice.

All Neji could do was choose between two ways of betraying Lady Hinata, and the one that saved her would also be the one that cost his life—this time for real. It was obvious which one he would choose.

But before he could commit himself, a single thought flickered across his mind. Was his secret dream any less impossible than hers?

He pondered, but no answers came.

-o-

Affinity training was nothing like Naruto had imagined. According to Jiraiya, while chakra paper gave you information, it didn't give you understanding, and understanding was the difference between some mediocre child with delusions of grandeur (sic) and a promising young man who could in theory aim for jōnin rank one day. Chakra paper was nothing but a shortcut, a tool that had helped Leaf mass-produce frontline genin during a war for the village's very survival. (Naruto had an uncomfortable flashback to Onigahara Tariki's words—a valuable reminder that whatever personal happiness he himself might find, it wouldn't make the real world any less cruel.)

For now, though, Naruto was to experience attuning himself to all five elements. If he wanted to understand Wind, quoth the Perverted One, he also needed to grasp the others. It was no different to how Academy students who weren't Rock Lee had to study the basics of taijutsu, ranged combat, ninjutsu, stealth and so on before they could call themselves ninja, no matter how much they would specialise afterwards. Fortunately, Shugenja Forest's main draw was exactly its suitability for this purpose.

Earth had been easy, if boring as heck. He could feel its deep, immeasurable power—probably greater than any of the others—but that power just sat there, doing nothing, and even resisted human efforts to tap into it. He got that the element's techniques were supposed to be strong and durable in exchange for that higher chakra cost, but if it were up to him, he'd replace it with something more interesting in a flash. (The earth was full of awesome things like magma, and metals, and crystals, and ancient civilisations that had delved too deep, and what did Earth users get? Mud and rocks.)

Lightning they were going to skip for now. Jiraiya was hoping for a decent thunderstorm to give Naruto the full experience, though he had some "unique ideas" for if one didn't come along (this time, the grin was even more evil). In principle, Naruto was all for the element that would give Earth its well-earned comeuppance, but in practice, he had a very bad feeling.

Water was another element that made him apprehensive. It wasn't that he had any philosophical objection to Water as he did to Earth. He was a passable swimmer—not everyone could count on getting rescued if they fell into deep water—and while public baths were another institution that had barred him entry until he became a genin, his few experiences there had been both pleasurable and relaxing (let's pretend that one time never happened).

No, it was more that Water seemed to have an objection to him. From murderous rivers and an endless series of ever deadlier water bullets, to the Demonic Mirrors of Ice Crystals, to pretty much everything about Zabuza, it was a scientific fact that Water was out to get him, and he had no intention of giving it another chance. Unfortunately, Jiraiya refused to consider this phase of training complete until Naruto cleared all the elements one way or another, and yes, it didn't take a genius to figure out where this was going.

In the meantime, Fire was probably the first time he'd managed to surprise the Perverted One for real. With flint and tinder, Fire was the spark of life and hope. As a campfire, it was empowerment and protection, a loyal if capricious ally in the face of a hostile world—as long as it was treated with respect. Even its final form, which evoked only awe and terror, could sometimes be a bringer of rebirth.

Fire was Wind's greatest enemy in the circle of elements, he knew, a destructive force against which Wind was powerless, against which any attempt at resistance only made things worse. With enough dedication, it was possible to resolve the inner contradiction and acquire the nemesis of your birth affinity—a ninjutsu specialist jōnin might do it as a means of cancelling out their weakness—but nobody skipped the affinity part and just rewired their soul for the hell of it.

Jiraiya, after resetting his jaw, had thought about it for a while and decided to put it down to Naruto being so contrary it even bent the laws of nature. This might have been the greatest compliment Naruto had ever got.

Naruto knew the simple truth, though. Fire was his friend because it was the enemy of cold. If Fire was life, then cold was death, sapping its victims' strength until they fell asleep, never to wake up. Even when fire killed people, at least it was honest about it. He'd seen descriptions of the Naraka Path in some of his scarier manga, and there, too, the cold hells were the worst part. The hot hells might be places of constant violence and conflict, but the cold hells were unending solitude, now and forever. Who cared about the physical torture compared to that?

But if Fire was his ally, Wind turned out to be him.

Free. Whimsical in behaviour but constant in nature. Taking whatever shape it wanted, for only as long as it wanted. Playful except when it wasn't. Chaotic and mischievous, but always there for those who needed it. Power overwhelming or a soft caress. Remaining itself despite any attempt at imprisonment or domination.

Every element had its place. Every element had its role. But Wind was just… better.

Wind was free.

Today, Naruto had spent hours on a hilltop facing the south wind, dressed only in his underwear and using chakra adhesion to stay on his feet in the face of a gale that had come as if summoned for that very purpose (not that Naruto would put it past the world's alleged greatest ninjutsu master). The feeling of his consciousness expanding, of recognising a kinship with an element of the world itself, had been worth enduring the freezing cold… at least for a little while.

Afterwards, Jiraiya (who'd been showing off by sitting on a different hill and calmly penning the draft of his next novel in those same gale-force winds) had taken him out for a hot, revitalising bowl of ramen, and then called it an early night, at least for Naruto. But before he went out to pick up girls, or whatever it was war heroes, expert lovers, bestselling writers, supreme perverts and mighty sages did with their spare time, Jiraiya had a few words for his exhausted temporary apprentice.

"You probably weren't in any state to listen over dinner, kid, so I'll say it again. Nice job. Maybe you do have some genuine potential behind that self-satisfied exterior of yours.

"That's a compliment from Jiraiya of the Three himself, by the way. Remember this moment so you have something to tell your grandkids, assuming Hyūga Hiashi doesn't have you killed first."

"Huh." After another day of serious instructions interspersed with relentless mockery, the last thing Naruto had been expecting was direct praise.

"Thank you," he said with unfamiliar, rusty sincerity.

Jiraiya gave a grin that for once wasn't particularly evil. "You get some sleep, kid. You'll need to be on top form for tomorrow's training."

"Hey, Perverted One," Naruto murmured as he turned over to a more comfortable position in his bed, "what's the deal with that Jiraiya of the Three business, anyway?

"I've heard of the Leaf Three a few times, and you're supposed to be living legends, not that I'd know it to look at you. But I didn't know who Tsunade was until some random missing-nin told me, and I still don't know who the third one is. What's up with that?"

"The Leaf Three, huh?" Jiraiya said, sitting down on his own bed. "Well, I guess after all that hard work you've earned yourself a bedtime story."

Naruto shifted his pillow a few times until it felt right, and listened.

Jiraiya's voice took on a slow, nostalgic quality.

"Once upon a time, longer than you'd guess based on my youthful yet manly looks, there were these three kids who ended up on the same genin team. The first was a prankster and buffoon whose craziest ideas kept working against all the odds. The second was the love of his life, a hot-tempered beauty who could split mountains with her bare hands, but chose to become a healer. And the third was a gentle, quietly brilliant boy who understood much and said little. And their teacher was the greatest teacher of all, Sarutobi-sensei, the Professor, the man who would become the Third Hokage."

The future Third Hokage had taught Jiraiya. Jiraiya had taught the future Fourth. The future Fourth had taught Kakashi-sensei, and now Kakashi-sensei was in the process of teaching the future Fifth (or Sixth, if the Third retired too soon). It was too regular to be natural, Naruto thought absently as he continued to listen.

"They may well have been the best shinobi team in Leaf history," Jiraiya went on. "Loved by their friends, feared by their foes, and respected even by those who hated them. Somewhere out there, in another world, they might have changed everything and broken the cycle of vengeance and alienation that defines shinobi existence. But in this one, the Second Great Ninja War broke out, and the world changed them instead.

"The kunoichi, Tsunade, lost her family and her hope for the future. The quiet youth, Orochimaru, lost his innocence and his power to love. And the buffoon who'd managed to go for so long without growing up, yours truly, lost the two people he loved most in the world, and learned that he didn't have the strength, or the smarts, or the wisdom to bring them back."

Naruto felt a faint sense of sorrow, almost as if the story was his own.

"I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't be," Jiraiya said. "It's ancient history, for all that it's been cut out of your textbooks.

"Now if you'll excuse me," he smiled, "I saw a pair of the most gorgeous twins sitting downstairs looking bored, and I wouldn't be a legendary hero if I failed to come to their rescue. Don't wait up."

Naruto obediently gave an enormous yawn.

"And anyway," he said as Jiraiya turned to leave, "wouldn't hitting somebody with a stick only make them more distracted—"

"Good night, kid."

Naruto watched him go, thinking about the gesture of trust he'd just received. Manipulation or honest gift? Educating a student or building a personal bond? Where did you draw the lines, and when did they stop mattering?

But his pillow was comfy, and it had been a very long day, and there'd be plenty of time to angst over his relationship with Jiraiya tomorrow.

-o-

Sasuke was the best in the clan at kunai throwing. For his age, anyway. They'd let him use real kunai any day now, and then he could prove he was a real ninja, and get accepted into the Academy, and join ANBU and get the Wolf mask and go on missions with Itachi!

He couldn't wait to tell Itachi that he'd hit all the targets today, even the hanging one that swayed with the wind. But that wasn't what had him running home like lightning. Tonight, tonight was the night of the Blood Moon, that incredibly rare astro-nomical event that was like a full lunar eclipse but really cool! He could already see it in the sky, enormous, so much bigger than he'd expected, glowing a red that was both exciting and a little scary.

But even the Blood Moon wasn't the best part. The best part was that Blood Moons were very rare, and it was Sasuke's birthday (or close enough, anyway), and weeks ago Itachi had promised that, no matter what he had to do that night, he'd finish it all in time to spend the evening alone with him! They'd sit and talk together, and Mum had promised to make his favourite dumplings, and he could show off his new kunai skills (he could hit things even in the dark now, as long as they weren't too far away!), and he had special permission to stay up past his bedtime, and he'd tell Itachi he'd solved all the riddles, and since the moon was so bright maybe they could go and play in one of the ninja training grounds (Itachi was allowed anywhere) and… and something wasn't right.

Sasuke slowed down as he passed the gates to the district. Why was it so quiet? Shouldn't everybody in the clan be out in the streets looking at the amazing red moon?

Maybe they were too boring. Grown-ups did that kind of thing—they were allowed to stay up as late as they liked, and instead they went to bed early because they had work in the morning. Sasuke wasn't sure he wanted grow up (at least past the age when he could go on missions with Itachi) if that was what it did to you.

The other kids should have been watching, though. That was weird. None of his friends were boring enough to miss the Blood Moon. Well, maybe Shūji, but his little sister would drag him out anyway.

And if everyone was asleep for some weird reason, it was even more too quiet. Where were the earthshaking snores of Uncle Jin, which you could normally hear right across the district? Where were the reassuring, deliberately loud footsteps of the night watch? Where was the yowling of those stupid cats?

Ow!

Sasuke, still looking up at the moon, tripped over something in the middle of the street and found himself on his hands and knees. He managed not to scrape anything, though, because he was almost a real ninja. But who would drop something big in the middle of the street and not pick it up?

Sasuke turned around to look. It took him a second to understand what he was seeing. The shape on the ground was a person, fallen over and not moving. And completely silent, not even making the noises a grown-up did when they were passed out drunk.

Sasuke crawled over to the person in case they turned out to be hurt and he needed to call for help.

"Uncle Jin?" he recognised the man. "Uncle Jin, are you all right?"

In the bright light of the Blood Moon, Sasuke could see liquid around Uncle Jin's neck, pooling on the ground. It smelled of copper… like blood.

There was another shape under Uncle Jin—Auntie Kanako, his wife. She wasn't moving either.

Sasuke knew about death. He was the brother of a ninja, after all. But people were only supposed to die on ninja missions, somewhere far away. Or if they were really old, like Granny Oribe when her heart stopped working. Nobody died just because.

There were more shapes in the street up ahead. He ran over to them, hoping, praying.

Auntie Marina, Minako's mum, still holding the rolling pin people said she could use like a jōnin. Minako herself, the Academy student who babysat Sasuke on Tuesday evenings, and on whom he secretly had a crush.

He couldn't keep looking. There were more shapes, more people, lying everywhere. Sasuke knew what blood meant. It meant somebody came and killed them all. Was it an army from another village? Was there going to be a war? Were they going to kill Sasuke too?

Sasuke ran home. Everything would be all right when he got home. Mum and Dad would be there. Itachi would be there, and nobody could ever kill Itachi.

-o-

It couldn't be real. It couldn't be real. Ninja could make people see things that weren't there, right? So there had to be an evil ninja around, using his powers to confuse Sasuke. He repeated that to himself, over and over, trying to make it true.

But deep down, he already knew it wasn't. That was Mum, and that was Dad, shapes on the floor like everyone else. Death meant they weren't going to wake up again.

He looked through the open doors into the inner garden. Itachi stood outside, in his ANBU armour, looking up at the Blood Moon as blood dripped off the ninjatō in his right hand. Sasuke felt a rush of hope for the first time.

"Itachi! You're all right! Did you get them? Did you get the people who did all this?"

But there were tears streaking down Itachi's face, and for some reason Sasuke knew he wasn't just sad about Mum and Dad.

"No…" Sasuke whispered. "No…"

It wasn't possible. It didn't make sense. This was Itachi. Itachi who didn't do things wrong. He couldn't, he wouldn't have done this.

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't strong enough," Itachi said to the Blood Moon.

"I don't understand."

Itachi turned to look at Sasuke. "I don't know if I do either," he said after a pause.

"Why, Itachi?" Sasuke pleaded. "Why did you have to kill Mum and Dad? Why did you have to kill everyone?"

Itachi took a long, slow breath. His next words sounded like he was forcing himself to say them.

"If you wish to know the truth, be strong. Be stronger than I was. You are the Uchiha Clan now."

"Itachi, please…"

Itachi's mouth made something that had too much pain in it to be a smile. "Forgive me, Sasuke. Another time."

He sheathed the ninjatō while it was still wet, which even Sasuke knew was bad for it.

"When you are ready, when you can find me and defeat me, then I will give you the answers you need."

He went down on one knee until his eyes were level with Sasuke's. They were not the Sharingan Sasuke knew, but some sort of scary wavy triangle.

"Goodbye, little brother. This is the only gift I can give you."

Sasuke woke up in hospital after a year of coma, a year during which there were no thoughts, nothing but sleep, and a distant sense of the broken pieces of his heart drifting together until it could beat again. He didn't understand when the doctors told him it had only been a week.

-o-

"No good," Sasuke said. "This time I didn't catch it even when I saw his Sharingan."

"Let's take a break," Kakashi-sensei said. "Putting too much strain on your—"

"Again."

Sasuke blinked through the tears until he could see Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan eye clearly. "Do it again. How am I supposed to defeat him if I can't even beat his memory?"