Naruto: Threads of Crimson

The two tied-up bandits were thrown to the ground with little care, their groggy eyes fluttering open as the sleep genjutsu wore off. The leader, his gaze unfocused, blinked rapidly before locking eyes with me and glancing around, seemingly trying to assess the situation.

"Wha- Where am I?" he rasped, staring at me as though I were the one in control.

"Sorry, man," I said, shrugging and spreading my arms out in front of me. "My sensei's the one who told us to tie you both up. We're just following orders."

At that moment, the other bandit, the taller one, came to his senses and immediately began wriggling in his binds, panic flooding his expression. "Come on, boys, you can't do this! We're just bandits trying to get by in life," he begged, his voice trembling.

From nearby, Reika-sensei's voice rang out, calm and detached. "Shiro, you take the one that's begging. Shisui, you take the leader. Once you're done, come over to me, and we'll continue the mission." With that, she disappeared among the trees, presumably to check on Lady Sachiko.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the two bandits lying helpless on the ground. They looked small now, vulnerable, their earlier bravado stripped away. 'They're just bandits, hardly any chakra to speak of. They'd be defenseless if we left them. But… this is part of the shinobi life, right?'

I glanced at Shisui, who gave me a nod. He seemed as uncertain as I was, but he moved forward anyway. So did I. My hand reached for the kunai in my pouch, fingers trembling as I wrapped them around the handle. The begging bandit's eyes widened in fear as I stepped toward him.

"Please don't! I have a family, a life, friends I want to go home to," the lanky bandit pleaded, tears welling up in his eyes. He was shaking now, his voice desperate, his words spilling out faster with each breath.

Pump Pump Pump

My heart started to race, pounding in my chest as I crouched beside him, pressing the blade of the kunai lightly to his neck. "Please, please, please, don't, man. I swear I won't bother anyone again," he sobbed, his voice breaking. The fear in his eyes was raw, real, and something in me—something deep—responded to it.

A strange sensation crawled up my spine, an electric thrill, sparking in my brain. Dopamine. It was intoxicating, almost euphoric. I felt a rush, a sharp clarity as I watched his terrified eyes. I backed the kunai off his neck for a moment, and his chest heaved with a sigh of relief.

'He really thought I was going to let him go,' I thought, observing the way his breath hitched, the brief spark of hope in his face.

"Thank you," he started, his words spilling out in a rush. "I swear I'll change, I won't ever—"

I pressed the kunai harder into his neck this time, and a thin trickle of blood seeped out as his face drained of all color. His sobs turned into wails, louder and more frantic.

Bum bum bum bum

My heart was pounding now, erratic, as if it could barely keep up with the adrenaline surging through me. A slight smirk tugged at my lips as more blood pooled from the shallow cut. His tears mixed with the dirt beneath him, and I felt the rush again, stronger this time—the tingling under my skin, the light-headed giddiness, the overwhelming sense of control.

"Nononononono, PLEASE!" the man screamed, his voice cracking as he thrashed beneath me. I clamped my hand over his mouth, muffling his cries, feeling the raw power of his life slipping through my fingers. The sensation kept flooding my senses, the giddiness, the release—it was all-consuming.

Thump thump thump thump

The feeling intensified further as I stared into his eyes, my hands shaking. His fear, his desperation—it was almost addictive, and I couldn't stop myself. I pressed the kunai deeper into his flesh, slicing into his carotid artery. Blood spurted out in warm jets, spraying across my hand. He let out a guttural, wet wail, barely audible through my hand.

'Am I- enjoying this?' The thought struck me hard, cutting through the haze in my mind. I could feel his life draining away, feel the warmth of his blood running down my fingers, and yet… part of me felt exhilarated. I stared into his eyes, now wide with terror, as his body convulsed beneath me.

The smile split my face as I watched the man twitch a few times before falling still, the light in his eyes fading away into nothingness. For a moment, everything was still, the sounds of the forest muted, the world around me narrowing to just the lifeless body in front of me.

'That can't be right. Did I really take pleasure in tormenting someone... and then killing them? How should I feel about this?' My thoughts swirled like a storm, my heart racing faster with each one. I felt my crimson eyes shifting, the tomoe spinning, as if reflecting the chaos in my mind. My breathing grew ragged, and I could hear each shallow gasp in the back of my throat.

Stepping back from the man, the rush that had felt so thrilling moments before suddenly turned into something cold and terrifying. My foot caught on a root, and I tumbled to the ground, landing hard. My body began to shiver violently.

I gripped the sides of my head as if I could squeeze the confusion and guilt out of my mind. 'Am I a bad person? Should I have enjoyed that? Why did that give me such a rush? What's happening to me? Who am I?'

"Why, why, why, why, why..." I mumbled, my voice trembling as I rocked back and forth, my hands digging into my scalp. I could feel the pressure building behind my eyes, the heat spreading from my chest up to my face. In that moment, I was drowning in the weight of it all.

The storm consumed all of my attention, so much so that I didn't notice the world sharpening around me—my vision becoming more precise, the chakra signatures in the air now distinct and alive in a way I had never seen before.

Unbeknownst to me, my Sharingan was changing. The singular tomoe I had relied on for so long began to twist and expand, splitting into two distinct tomoes. A sharp, stabbing pain erupted in my eyes, but I couldn't focus on it. All I could feel was the turmoil inside, the questions that spun uncontrollably in my mind.

The surrounding trees and shadows now pulsed with vibrant life. My eyes, now with two tomoes, were seeing the world with twice the clarity. The faintest movements around me were crystal clear, and I could now track chakra signatures with an accuracy that would have once overwhelmed me. But none of that mattered as I lay there, shaking in the dirt.

I glanced over at the second bandit, who had fallen with a kunai in his chest, his body limp. Shisui stood nearby, staring at me with wide eyes, his face pale, as if he too was lost in his own thoughts. When our eyes met, I noticed it—his Sharingan had finally awakened, a single tomoe circling in each of his pupils. His face, usually so full of life and warmth, was blank, devoid of the playful spark I was used to seeing.

"Shi-Shisui!" I croaked, pushing myself up from the ground. My legs felt weak, unsteady, but I managed to stumble toward him. When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around him in a fierce hug, clinging to him as if he were the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart. 'Shisui... my friend. My brother. I need him right now.'

I felt his arms tighten around me in return, his grip just as desperate. His body was trembling against mine, and I could hear the shaky breaths he was trying to control. His heartbeat thudded against my chest, fast and uneven, mirroring my own.

He held on to me like I was his anchor, and in that moment, we weren't Uchiha, we weren't shinobi—we were just two scared kids, holding on to each other to keep from drowning in the overwhelming weight of what we had just done.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I felt the tears before I realized they were mine. They fell silently, dripping onto Shisui's shoulder, followed by his own tears. We stood there, in the middle of the forest, two seven-year-olds clinging to each other after our first kills.

The world around us seemed to disappear—there were no bandits, no mission, just us and the shared, silent understanding of what we had just gone through.

The hug stretched out longer than it should have—five seconds turned into a minute, and then into five. Neither of us said anything, but the silent comfort of the embrace was enough to keep the rising tide of fear at bay. By the time we finally pulled back, the tears had dried on our faces, though the weight in our hearts lingered.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand, sniffling as I looked at him. "Are you okay, Shi?" My voice cracked, barely holding it together.

Shisui looked back at me with a half-smile, though it was more broken than reassuring. "I'm not sure if I'll ever be okay after that." He paused, wiping his own eyes. "But I'm just glad I wasn't alone. I had you by my side."

I nodded, feeling a knot tighten in my throat. "We went through this together. That's something no one else will understand but us."

Our Sharingans locked onto each other—his single tomoe spinning in each eye, mine now bearing two tomoes. We had shared a moment that would stay with us forever. I pulled him into another hug, this time with a firm pat on the back, and we both stood there, silently acknowledging that our friendship had just grown stronger, even if the path forward was darker than we'd imagined.

"I'm starting to think we were a little naive when we decided to graduate early," I said, breaking the silence with a dry chuckle.

Shisui let out a breath of laughter, his face softening. "You're telling me. The academy felt like a walk in the park compared to... this." He gestured to the bodies with a slight grimace.

I smirked, nudging his shoulder playfully. "Hey, at least you finally unlocked that Sharingan you've been wanting so badly. Now you can try to catch up to me." I flexed my muscles slightly comically, trying to lighten the mood, and Shisui let out a genuine laugh, shaking his head.

"Yeah, yeah, now I have to try and keep up," he said, his smile growing more real as the tension eased a little.

"Come on," I said, jabbing his arm and nodding toward the bodies. "Let's get these guys back to Reika before she thinks we ran off."

Shisui snorted. "As if she'd believe that. We're fast learners, but she knows we're not that fast." Laughing along, we bent down and carefully lifted the bodies, doing our best to avoid the blood. 

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(A/N: So, pretty heavy chapter. Hopefully, it doesn't seem too overbearing, but I just wanted to show how strongly the emotions run in the Uchiha bloodline, even if sometimes in the novel it won't be as heavy, emotion-wise. I also figured it was a good chance to have a little character development for Shiro as well. Let me know what your guys' thoughts are!)