Suddenly, a noise echoed from the living room of the Uchiha compound. Tatsun and Sasuke rushed toward the source, hearts pounding and feet stumbling as fear rooted them in place just outside the door.
They glanced at each other, both pale and breathless, unable to ignore the dread in each other's eyes.
Finally, Tatsun summoned his courage and pushed the door open.
The sight before them was chilling.
Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto—Sasuke's parents—lay motionless in a pool of blood. Their eyes, once warm and strong, now stared blankly into nothingness.
"Dad… Mom..." Sasuke whispered, his voice cracking. He staggered forward, but a soft sound of footsteps halted him. From the shadows of the room, a figure emerged.
It was Uchiha Itachi.
Clad in standard black ANBU armor, his face was calm—too calm. The etched lines of the weasel-like mask on his hip were untouched by blood, though his blade was not.
Chen ignored the figure in the dark. Tears streamed down his face as he collapsed at Mikoto's side, clutching her lifeless body. The warmth had already left her. He couldn't speak. His grief was too deep for words.
Sasuke's eyes widened. "Brother…? Brother, why would—how could this happen? Who did this?"
But instead of an answer, a shuriken whistled past him, grazing his shoulder and embedding itself in the wall behind.
"Why?!" Sasuke clutched his wound, his voice rising in horror and confusion.
"Foolish little brother," Itachi said coldly. Without emotion, he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
And then it began—Tsukuyomi.
Sasuke and Chen were pulled into a nightmare world. Time slowed. In that crimson illusion, Itachi forced them to relive the massacre over and over—the slaughter of the Uchiha Clan in brutal detail.
"No—stop—don't make me watch—Brother!" Sasuke screamed, his hands gripping his head as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
When the illusion broke, both boys collapsed. Sasuke stared up at his brother, barely able to move. "Why… Why did you do this?"
"To test the limits of my strength," Itachi replied coldly. "To awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, one must suffer the death of their closest friend. Just like I did."
Sasuke's eyes widened. "You mean… Shisui… You killed Shisui-senpai?!"
"Yes," Itachi confirmed, voice devoid of regret. "With his death, I gained these eyes. If you seek the truth of our clan, go to the Naka Shrine, under the seventh tatami mat from the farthest right. There, the secrets of the Uchiha will be revealed."
Sasuke's hands shook. "Then why did you leave me alive?"
"To make you hate me. To push you. One day, when you gain eyes like mine, come and face me," Itachi declared, activating his Mangekyō once more.
Another illusion engulfed them. The moment Itachi finished, both Sasuke and Chen fell unconscious.
From behind, space distorted in a swirling vortex. A masked man in a dark cloak emerged—Tobi, the man who would later be known as Obito Uchiha.
"Is it done?" he asked.
Itachi did not answer. He glanced down at Sasuke and Tatsun—his eyes momentarily soft.
"Then we move," the masked man said. Placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder, the space around them warped, spiraling until both figures vanished.
Silence fell again in the blood-soaked room.
[Hospital Scene – Dream and Awakening]
"Chen... Chen... wake up..."
"M...Mother?" Chen's eyes opened slowly. Mikoto stood before him, smiling softly.
"Take care of Sasuke... and yourself," she said gently.
"No, wait—where are you going? Don't go!" Chen reached out, but no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't catch her. Her form faded like mist.
"Mom!"
Chen awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat, sitting upright in a hospital bed in Konoha.
His eyes flashed red—Sharingan. Three tomoe rotated clearly in both eyes.
"Was it… a dream?"
The room was quiet, unfamiliar. He staggered out of bed, still dazed, only to be struck by a sharp pain in his head. Flashbacks of the massacre returned—Fugaku, Mikoto, the blood, the lifeless faces.
"No... no... it can't be true!" he screamed, clutching his skull in agony.
Driven by desperation, Chen bolted from the hospital, past startled nurses who shouted for him to stop. Down the corridors, out the doors, his only goal was the Uchiha compound. He needed to prove it wasn't real.
Behind him, Sasuke stood quietly in a hallway, fists clenched so tight his nails dug into his skin. He'd already accepted the truth, but his heart was just as broken.
When Chen arrived at the gates of the Uchiha district, he froze.
Yellow warning tape lined the area. ANBU masked shinobi stood guard. The compound—once filled with the proud legacy of the Uchiha—was silent, deathly silent.
It wasn't a dream.
Mikoto's voice echoed in his mind.
"Chen is back. Dinner will be ready soon."
But the house would never be full again.