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BEFORE NARUTO PART ONE —

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Itachi's PERSPECTIVE

Fugaku & Mikoto's Uchiha Residence.
HIDDEN LEAF.
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A few weeks passed — Itachi's guilt still ridden him beyond means now, the proposition he faced today shivered his mind, what he had to accomplish by tonight shivered him. Sasuke & [Name] had been away at school as Itachi sat at the dining table in an absolute burdening mood. Gatherings of someone's lied at the front door yet they hadn't packed it themselves, he did. He clocked the time like it was his last day — standing up from the table as he walked over to the front door and picked up the backpack & brief like a suitcase and walked out the door.

He made his way to the Academy to pick up [Name] & Sasuke, knowing this would be a difficult day for the both of them. He was only met by one Uchiha today, [Name] precisely. "Where's..Sasuke..?" he asked her as [Name] approached him with an equally confusing question to ask. "He's staying late to get help with Shuriken throwing..! What's with the bags — Wait those are my bags.." [Name] concluded, noting the offbrandish navy blue of the bag.

Itachi stared at the girl blankly, not sure how he could tell her — how to once again break it to her. She had still been oblivious to Shisui's death, believing he had been on a long-term mission this time. "Your..other side of the family. Your father's side, The Hyuga's. They want you home, and..we can't do anything about it.." he simply stated to her, in a mannerism he hoped wouldn't cause an outburst from her. "I— Huh?!" she responded back in confusion, the information not grasping to her well.

"This is so..sudden.., W-What happened..!? Why!??" She was beginning to gain the attention of the children and parents outside of the Academy, they stared over in the two Uchiha's directions before turning to their kids and mumbling out words that probably correlated to [Name]. "They think..We're too violent for you..I— I think it's best for you, [Name]. It's a few family members there for you..I promise..I'm..sorry.." he concluded with the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder as they began to walk away from the Academy.

"Will I still be able to see you guys.. after this..or is that too violent" she asked Itachi, curiosity filled within her at this new setting she would, unfortunately, have to adjust to suddenly. Had it been under better circumstances, she felt that she wouldn't feel nor react the way she did. "You'll be able to see Sasuke still..I promise.." She hadn't caught on to the fact that Itachi had left himself out of the equation. Believing it was because she held a closer relationship to Sasuke.

As the usual route of home drifted to the other side of town, a lump began to fill in her throat and she thought for a moment that she would begin to cry and runoff, but she had to push through. The compound of the Hyuga's stood in a similar isolated area of the Uchiha's yet this one more was hilly. [Name] noticed someone out front near the gates, as if they awaited her arrival. Maybe it was so bad? Maybe she would be welcomed — Those were the same thoughts Itachi had soothed himself into believing.

"Thank you." A man spoke as they arrived at the gate, he looked identical to [Name]'s father and it almost shook her to the core before she realized that her mother mentioned that her father had an identical twin. This must have been him, he looked at [Name] with such a cherished look, "Thank you for bringing her home." he stated to Itachi, who stared blankly at the man as he passed [Name]'s belongings on to her. "Please take care of her well, and allow her to see Sasuke enough."

"Of course." Hiashi reaffirmed to the younger Uchiha, Itachi nodded in confirmation as he looked at [Name] one last time, she looked up to him with doe eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say anything & so he began to walk away, urging himself not to look back as he could still feel her stares on him. He had a mission to accomplish, the tears couldn't fall down now.

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Neji's PERSPECTIVE

Hyuga Compound.
HIDDEN LEAF.
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He sat in his room quietly as he examined over the words that his Uncle had told him the day prior, overwhelmed with thought for the first time in a while. "Sister..?" he questioned to himself, looking over at the empty bed to the left in his room that had been set up for his so-called sister. As he sat down in thought, he tried to remember things his father would say to him or even reaffirm over the letter his father wrote him before his death. 'One day soon, you'll meet someone I've never introduced to you..and you will be overcomed to protect her..' Before he could get more into thought, the 'door to Neji's room clicked open, he first noticed his uncle before the little girl behind him, peeking over to notice Neji and looking at him in confusion. "[Name]." they both listened to Hiashi intently, "This is your brother, Neji. Neji, this is your sister, [Name]."

Neji's lavender eyes bore into [Name]'s, a silence ensued between the two newfound siblings. Hiashi looked at the two before he cleared his throat, "We will have a family dinner later..and after that, we will commence the ceremony for you, [Name]." Neji raised an eyebrow at the proposition, realizing quickly what he meant in those terms. "Okay..., t-thank you." Hiashi left the room soon after, Neji stared at the girl blankly as she shyly walked to her side of the room and place her things under the bed. "That ceremony isn't going to go the way you want it to. He's sugar coating, it's not a special welcoming, it's a curse."

"Curse?" [Name] asked, looking at the boy confusingly, wondering what exactly she had been brought into. "Curse mark.." he mumbled out, shifting the headband on his forehead up to give a glimpse at the mark on his forehead. "This.." her eyes bore into his forehead, the off-colored green mark taking up the majority of his forehead. "They punish us for what we think, were nothing but servants to the Main house. Our father always apologized for this.."

The day commenced with worry-filled within the girl's mind, hoping that what Neji spoke wasn't true & that he was only brooding his painful experience to scare her. She had a difficult time adjusting to him, he was rather quiet and more offputting, she wasn't used to this type of behavior within a person. She was sure he didn't mean any harm to her but, she felt as if he was offended by her or even despised her? [Name] & Neji sat next to each other at the dinner table, [Name] stared down at the other end and noticed Hinata, a girl she had known as her classmate initially but had come to find out that they were related that day.

The latter girl felt a stare upon her and looked over to [Name], a soft smile sprawled on her face as she saw [Name]. She seemed friendly, even before this she had always seemed like a friendly person to be around. [Name] couldn't understand why Neji was so.. offset by what she had come to find out was the Main house, the main family that Hinata & her younger sister Hanabi was a part of. The Hyuga's did seem a slight standoffish towards [Name] though, but she didn't let it bother her as much, thinking that her being new to the compound was possibly a reason for that. Dinner had ended and the Hyuga's began to gather within a meeting room that had been to the left of the dining hall.

[Name] noticed Neji going the opposite direction, possibly back to his room. "Neji—" Hiashi had grabbed the girl by her arm, Neji still aware that [Name] had called to him. "It's time." the man spoke to her, leading her to the front of the filled meeting room. The lavender-eyed clan all stared above to the podium that Hiashi & [Name] stood on, Hiashi looked down at the girl ominously, "Commence already, Hiashi." an elder Hyuga spoke from the front of the crowd within the room, the man seemed hesitant within his eyes as he moved pieces of [Name]'s [H/C] out of the way, holding his hands up and suddenly began signing towards [Name]. "This is for the protection of you..and the clan.."

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Sasuke's PERSPECTIVE

Uchiha Compound.

He couldn't wait to arrive home that day to show Itachi & [Name] his new skills he had learned that day, to hear the praise from Itachi & [Name] would've meant a lot to him today after all the hard work he had been through. He raced home quickly, reaching the compound to a rather..quiet surprise. It was too early in the evening for the streets to be this..empty? The Uchiha's had a lively nightlife so he wondered why it was so quiet until — he heard a scream. A loud bloodcurdling scream. Sasuke began running towards the direction of the scream, eyes widen as he turned the block and saw what he had wished he hadn't seen that day. Splatters of blood riddled the ground and nearing walls, bodies silently lied on the ground. "[Name]!" was all he could say before he began running off towards his house.

She was all that flashed through his mind as she ran towards the house, all he could do was hope & pray that she was alright from what lurked in the Uchiha compound that night. He ran through the streets, more bodies riddled the ground before he finally reached home, and was dismayed to see an open front door of their house. He walked in, it was eerily dark and quiet within the house, nothing gave an obvious sign that..someone was there until he heard something drop within a room to his right. He stealthily walked towards the room he heard the noise from, his heart rate quickening.

"Sasuke." he heard the voice of his brother from the room, relieved at first before he walked in the room to see Itachi standing over the dead bodies of their parents. His heart dropped. "I-Itachi...w-what did you do..!?" Sasuke shivered out as he tried to avoid looking at the bodies that riddled the floor, [Name] still heavily lingered in his mind as he wondered where she was. "Wheres..[Name]..P-Please..tell me.." he had broken down into tears, "I used them to test my ability..Everyone here..was a test. And.. [Name]..? They came by and took her earlier.."

He sounded so coldhearted. Sasuke couldn't believe this, he couldn't believe his brother's actions, what possessed him..to do this? To kill his family? To kill his clan? Sasuke felt a pain riddle his shoulder, a sudden pour of blood spouted out the wound as he realized Itachi had thrown a Kunai at him and split the skin on his shoulder open. "You're so naive.., you truly believe you know me.." The red glistening in his eyes bore into Sasuke's onyx eyes. The pain Sasuke felt then was undoubtedly excruciating, mentally & physically.

Sasuke's vision suddenly clouded and plagued into a red & black dimension before him. What stood before him was his two parents and Itachi standing behind them. A sword within his hands as he slashed through the backs of Mikoto & Fugaku in front of Sasuke. It continued on continuously numerous times in his mind, tormented by the images of his parents dying forth and forth.

And all he could do was scream from the misery, praying that [Name] hadn't had to go through Itachi's vengefulness.

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Neji's PERSPECTIVE

Hyuga Compound.
HIDDEN LEAF.
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Screams echoed throughout the compound, he flinched upon the noise before looking back down at his book. He tried to block it out, block out the screams he heard and what followed as loud sobs. It reminded him a lot of himself when he had gone through the process at the age of 4. Despite Neji not knowing [Name] as well, he viewed her as someone that didn't seem like one to cry, he believed she held a strong mentality within her. From viewing the hardships she had gone through in the past month, she held up well. So to hear her crying like she was now, it was difficult to listen to and even watch had he been in the room where the ceremony took place.

A few minutes had passed before he heard the sound of the door clicking open to his room, he dared not to look up from the book as he heard the quiet sniffles of [Name] overcome in the room. "Neji..." she mumbled out as she approached the boy quietly, her face displayed with pure sadness as Neji lowered the book from his face. "Neji..why..., Why do they do this to us..?" she questioned to the boy who stared at her quietly, speechless as to what to say. The curse mark covered her [S/C] forehead brightly. [Name] dropped to her knees near Neji's bed and began to cry again. "It..was so painful.." She tried to avoid touching her forehead at all costs, the lingering effects still bothered her. "My..head..it hurts.."

Neji didn't say anything, but he looked over to his night dresser next to his bed. He opened the dresser draw before rattling around for a white bottle. "Here." he rattled out two pills from the bottle. "These will help.., the effects are going to be everlasting for a while..so expect some migraines from time to time." She looked up at the Hyuga with doe eyes once again, taking the medicine from his hands. "Thank..you Neji.." she mumbled out in response.

"Of course. We're siblings now..we have to protect each other through these times..You're all that I have now.."

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[Name]'s PERSPECTIVE

Konoha Academy

HIDDEN LEAF.
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[Name] came to school the next day, unaware of what happened the night before with her other side of the Clan. But the hushed whispers around her had given it away. "Sasuke is in the hospital...?!" Ino whispered yelled to Sakura, Sakura pursed her lips at the girl to be quieter as she schemed around to see if anyone else had heard her. "Yes..." [Name] side-eyed the two from the right overhearing their conversations. "His clan..—Sasuke & [Name]'s clan..got k-killed last night..I'm..surprised that [Name] is here..today..she seems.." [Name] began to drown out Sakura's words as she registered what she had said forth.

My clan...? her heart dropped as she began to registered why everyone had looked at her so oddly this morning, had been so suspicious towards her. "Sasuke...!" She yelled out suddenly, ushering out of her seat before rushing past students that walked into the class. She ignored the voices that called for her, her mind clouded only of Sasuke as she ran past Shikamaru. The Nara had a card with him addressed to the Uchiha ironically, his eyes widened as he saw her run past with tears streaming down her face. "[Name]...?" he called out for her, but she continued on. Ignoring the voices that called for her.

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[AUTHORS NOTE] ominous ending ehhh 😏