Naruto: Call of Cthulhu

As they watched the disgusting shadow fade away into the fire, the two brothers finally began to relax.

"It's gone... for now," Itachi said.

"Did we... did we really beat it, Nii-san?"

Itachi nodded.

Seeing that the humanoid figure had completely vanished, he walked toward the tea room. The young Sasuke, like a shadow, immediately followed behind him.

Upon entering the tea room, Itachi glanced at their mother still kneeling on the floor. He gently laid her body down and placed her head carefully back on her neck.

"Mom... why did this happen to her?" Sasuke's tears welled up in his eyes.

I was prepared to do this myself. Why does it still hurt so much? Itachi observed the room.

At that moment, a weak voice came from nearby.

"Itachi."

"Is that you, Itachi?"

Both of Fugaku's arms had been severed by the shadow, and he had fallen to the ground after lunging at it. Struggling, he managed to turn himself over, trying not to lose too much dignity.

"Yes, it's me, Father," Itachi said calmly.

"Come closer."

Itachi obeyed and knelt beside his father, slightly lifting him to make it easier for Fugaku to speak.

Sasuke, still crying, also moved closer to him. Fugaku was now extremely weak. His lips were pale, his face drained of color, and he had lost too much blood through his arms. Despite that, he tried to speak to them, and Itachi didn't stop him.

He knew his father was experiencing his final moments.

"Itachi, promise me."

"Take care of Sasuke."

Itachi nodded. The sadness in his eyes wasn't as obvious as Sasuke's, and he quietly replied, "I know."

Sasuke, on the other hand, was already shedding streams of tears, wiping them away as fast as they came, though they kept flowing. He was now crying all the tears he had never shed before, giving them back to the world all at once.

"And Sasuke..."

"Grow up strong and healthy."

Looking at Sasuke, Fugaku could no longer ask him to become an outstanding ninja or fight for the honor of the Uchiha clan. He could only voice the simplest yet greatest request of a parent.

"Father! I'll make you proud, I promise!" Sasuke cried out.

Fugaku tried to raise his hand to touch Sasuke's head, but after several attempts with no response from his arm, he realized it was no longer there.

Finally, he turned his head to look at his wife, Mikoto, lying nearby.

"One... last request..."

"Put me next... to Mikoto."

Itachi gently lifted his father and laid him beside Mikoto. Fugaku strained to turn his head toward her face. Despite being beheaded, Mikoto's face was still beautiful.

Looking at the face of the woman he loved, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as his eyes slowly closed. Together with Mikoto, he fell into that eternal sleep.

"Ah!"

"Waaaaah!"

"No! Please, don't go! Don't leave us!"

He knelt beside his parents' bodies, crying uncontrollably. Although Itachi's eyes showed sadness, his expression remained relatively calm.

For some reason, seeing their lifeless bodies brought a sense of relief to Itachi. After all, this was something he had intended to do himself. Those who seek peace must be willing to sacrifice even that which they hold most dear...

For days, he had tried to brainwash himself with this thought to ease the guilt of killing his parents for the greater peace and stability of Konoha.

But when the time came, he wasn't sure if he could have swung the blade decisively or if he would have shed tears afterward. Now that his parents had been killed by someone else, the guilt and pain weighing on his heart were lessened.

Although relieved, this didn't mean he was grateful to the enemy in the armor. Even Itachi didn't know who that man was, or the mysterious figure who had called himself the Black Pharaoh.

Sasuke can't know. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

As they knelt in mourning beside their parents' bodies, a small noise in the courtyard caught Itachi's attention. He quickly grabbed the sword nearby and rushed out.

"Stay here, Sasuke. I'll check it out," Itachi commanded.

In the courtyard, a dark-skinned man wearing a luxurious robe stood by the fire where the shadow had burned, reaching into the flames. His arm reached straight into the fire, rummaging in the embers before pulling something out.

Itachi saw that the man's arm bore no burns from the fire. What's more, the man held a sword in his hand—the same sword used by the armored warrior earlier.

The crimson wooden scabbard wrapped in black rope hadn't been burned by the fire. Its lacquered surface still gleamed, looking as good as new.

This sight gave Itachi an ominous feeling.

Could that warrior still be alive?

And the man pulling the sword from the flames—it was the Black Pharaoh from earlier. Were they working together? But if so, why hadn't he helped the warrior during the battle? Why didn't he stop Itachi from coming here?

Even though he had used Amaterasu to kill the Black Pharaoh's two servants in the previous fight, that didn't mean the Pharaoh was powerless.

But why?

Itachi couldn't understand the man's purpose and could only ask, "What is your goal? Why are you here?"

The Black Pharaoh looked at Itachi, his crimson eyes and emotionless face giving nothing away.

He chose not to answer but simply sneered before walking away.

"Stop! You can't just leave!" Itachi called, ready to chase after him, but was interrupted by a young voice behind him.

"Nii-san, what's wrong?"

Sasuke, his eyes swollen from crying, stepped out of the tea room, looking at his brother with confusion.

Itachi glanced at Sasuke, then back at the courtyard, only to find the Black Pharaoh already gone, leaving him standing there alone.

At that moment, he wrestled with a difficult decision: should he tell Sasuke the truth about tonight, or remain silent? Even if he wanted to tell him, Itachi himself didn't fully understand what had happened tonight.

Too many things had gone wrong. His original plan to destroy the clan with his own hands had been derailed in so many ways. Though the end result was the same—the Uchiha clan was destroyed. But who had really done it?

Was it the masked man?

Or was it some unknown force?

Where had this power come from, and how strong was it?

He didn't know the answers to these questions. But he knew that only he could investigate the truth now. Sasuke was still too young to be burdened with these secrets.

"What happened? Who were you talking to?" Sasuke persisted.

After a moment of silence, Itachi finally answered his question from a minute ago.

"Nothing."

"Nothing, Sasuke."

---

Kagami sprinted through the dense forest, leaping from tree to tree with inhuman agility. His focus was on his target: the black Pharaoh.

As he neared the location where he suspected his target to be, he formed hand signs. A puff of smoke materialized beside him, revealing Spidey.

But to his surprise, the spider remained motionless, staring at him. Kagami furrowed his brow, puzzled by its unusual behavior.

"Spidey?" 

Before he could react, the world around him began to fracture. Trees, ground, sky - everything unraveled into threads. Reality warped until he found himself in an all-too-familiar place: Atlach-Nacha's domain.

This is inconvenient.

"I must warn you against your intended course of action."

Kagami sighed. "What's the harm in gathering a bit of intel?"

"Nephren-Ka is no ordinary foe. He is a powerful avatar of Nyarlathotep, and you are not yet strong enough to make your presence known to the Crawling Chaos."

"I am not afraid of his avatars. With the power of the spider and the flames, I can defeat Nephren-Ka."

"Can you now?" Atlach-Nacha's tone grew serious. "Even if you were to defeat the avatar, Nyarlathotep would sense that something is amiss. Your use of the spider and the flames would draw his attention, and the consequences could be dire, for both of us."

"And then, there is a great risk that you would lose yourself in the process of gaining his abilities. The memories of Nyarlathotep's avatar could consume you, transforming you into yet another avatar in his game."

The young man remained silent for a moment, contemplating the spider god's words. He realized that his intentions had been too transparent, too reckless. If he wanted to succeed, he would need to be more cautious, more calculating.

"I understand," Kagami said calmly. "I will heed your warning and reconsider my approach. It would be foolish to underestimate the power of the Crawling Chaos."

"Wise choice, little spider. Remember, your strength lies in your intellect and your ability to manipulate the threads of fate. Use those skills to your advantage, but always be mindful of the greater forces at play."

Kagami nodded. He would need to mask his intentions better, especially in the presence of the Great Old Ones. With a respectful bow to the Spider God, he allowed the threadlike world to dissolve around him, returning to the familiar forest.

Outplayed this round. But I will gain freedom. I will become my own lord. But I need more strength first.

---

"My squad is heading to the Police Force headquarters."

"My squad is heading to the Uchiha district."

"Move out!"

With the orders from Danzo and Hiruzen, numerous figures from both the ANBU and Root departed, heading toward the Uchiha clan's stronghold.

Although Danzo was currently the Fifth Hokage of the village, he and Hiruzen still maintained separate control over Root and the ANBU, respectively. This division had been in place since the era of the First Hokage, ensuring that both organizations wouldn't fall under the control of a single person, which could lead to autocratic rule in Konoha.

As Hokage, Danzo held command over Root, while Hiruzen, as the Hokage's advisor and Konoha's senior councilor, remained in charge of the ANBU. However, in special circumstances, Danzo had the authority to mobilize the ANBU, and clearly, this was one of those times.

Danzo led a large number of Root members to the Police Force headquarters, while Hiruzen took the ANBU to the Uchiha district's residential area.

In the Uchiha district, Hiruzen stood with his hands behind his back in the center of the street. In front of the ANBU members on both sides of the street lay bodies waiting to be examined. Even though the ANBU were hard at work, there were still many corpses scattered along the streets, ignored.

"This is horrific," one of the ninjas tasked with guarding Hiruzen remarked, while those inspecting the bodies were visibly shaken by what they saw.

"This…"

An ANBU ninja turned over one body, shocked by the sight. The victim, an Uchiha civilian, had their face scorched and blackened by intense flames, with much of their flesh melted away, revealing bare bones.

While gruesome, the ANBU ninja, a trainee named Yugao, remained composed. She deduced the civilian had been burned to death, likely by a Fire Release jutsu. But why would someone use such a powerful jutsu on an ordinary civilian? The civilian must have endured agonizing torture before dying, as their face still showed a frozen expression of terror.

On the other side of the street, another white-haired ANBU ninja was examining another body. This civilian also wore a look of horror, their face twisted grotesquely as if they had witnessed something unspeakably terrifying. Upon closer inspection, Kakashi found blood marks on the civilian's scalp, which had been clawed at with their own hands, as evidenced by the skin and hair stuck under their fingernails.

Despite this, there were no external wounds or signs of poisoning. Kakashi concluded that this person had likely died from sudden cardiac arrest, possibly out of sheer fear, as their actions suggested they had seen something so horrifying that it caused them to claw at their own head.

Maybe a genjutsu?

Kakashi wondered if an illusion had caused such extreme terror, but as he scanned the street, he noticed that other civilians appeared to have died similarly. Some had also been burned by fire.

A combination of genjutsu and Fire Release? Was it the work of one person or more?

As Kakashi pondered this, Hiruzen issued orders, "Stop wasting time. We must collect all the bodies before daybreak—every single one, including those inside the houses."

"Also, search for survivors."

"Yes!" the ANBU members responded, quickly spreading out into the depths of the Uchiha district.

As Kakashi's team moved forward, they encountered more bodies along the streets. Their focus, however, remained on finding any survivors. They paused only briefly at each stop before continuing deeper into the area.

"This is truly tragic," commented Ko, one of his team members. The ninja had joined ANBU under Danzo's orders and had even become friends with Kakashi.

"Indeed," Yugao agreed.

Suddenly, Kakashi stopped, noticing something. He leapt from the rooftop, followed closely by his team. He now stood before the body of an Uchiha ninja, easily recognizable due to the battle gear they wore. The expression on this ninja's face was odd, a strange mixture of happiness and terror, a combination so bizarre it defied explanation.

There was a dark hole in the Uchiha ninja's head, and upon further inspection, he found that the brain had been completely removed.

Yugao then realized, "I know who he is. He's Uchiha Tenjin, the one who helped me get my ANBU gear when I first started as a trainee."

Kakashi also recalled Tenjin, who had been recommended to the ANBU by the deputy captain of the Konoha Police Force, Uchiha Yusuke, but had failed his final evaluation. His death seemed odd.

Kakashi noticed deep marks on Tenjin's body, indicating he had been bound tightly, yet there were no signs of resistance.

This suggested either that Tenjin had been captured without a fight or had chosen not to resist at all. Kakashi was puzzled by the fact that Tenjin's brain had been removed, despite his head already being fatally wounded.

As they continued their search, Kakashi's team made a grim discovery: more Uchiha ninjas, stripped of their skin, their exposed muscles rubbing against the walls as if they had been brutally peeled and then dragged. The grotesque sight sickened the ANBU, but they pressed on.

Kakashi examined the bodies, noting that their clothing remained intact, despite the lack of skin. This raised a question: How had the killer managed to strip their skin while leaving their clothing untouched?

The team advanced further into the district and found another set of disturbing clues—two piles of black flames, burning steadily despite the lack of visible fuel. Unable to identify the strange fire, Kakashi ordered his team to report it later and continue their search.

Finally, they arrived at an imposing residence, adorned with the Uchiha crest. "This must be the Uchiha clan leader's home," one of the ninjas remarked.

Entering the courtyard, they found signs of a battle and the charred remains of a fire. As they searched the residence, one of the ANBU called out, "I've found a survivor!"

Kakashi rushed over to find a young boy, eyes red from crying, kneeling in front of the corpses of Fugaku, the leader of the Uchiha clan, and his wife.

"Ko, report to Sandaime-sama. We've found a survivor and the body of Fugaku!"