The night was quiet. Too quiet.
Itachi stood in the doorway of the cramped Gotham apartment that served as his family's home. His Sharingan eyes glowed faintly in the dark, reflecting his hesitation. His parents — ordinary, weary Gotham souls — slept soundly inside, unaware of the storm in their son's chest.
The system screen had appeared hours ago.
[Next Milestone Available: 50% Synchronization.][Requirement: Eliminate your family.]
The words burned into him like fire. This was Itachi's original sin — the massacre of the Uchiha. A bloody pivot that defined his life in the Naruto world. And now the system demanded the same.
But this wasn't the Uchiha clan. These were just his parents. People he had never grown close to, strangers in blood only. They weren't villains, weren't enemies. And yet…
His hand trembled on the hilt of his ANBU sword.
Do I deny the system? Do I refuse and stagnate here, forever weak compared to what's coming in this world?
Gotham whispered back to him — a city of predators and prey, where hesitation meant death. And in his heart, the answer formed, heavy and cruel.
He stepped forward.
The blade was silent, mercifully swift. His father never stirred. His mother gasped only once, then silence fell again. The smell of iron filled the room. Blood spread across the sheets.
Tears stung his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. He stood there in the stillness, sword slick in his hands, his chest hollow.
And then the system spoke.
[Milestone Achieved: Family Massacre.][Template Synchronization increased: 50%.][Current Strength: Jōnin-level Itachi.][Abilities Unlocked: Mangekyō Sharingan.][Mangekyō Techniques: Tsukuyomi. Amaterasu. Susanoo (Second Stage).][Experience Integrated: Jōnin-level combat. ANBU operations mastery.][Elemental Mastery: Wind, Fire, Water — advanced level.][Physical Upgrade: Hand seal speed increased — 7 per second.][Skill Maxed: Uchiha Shurikenjutsu. Uchiha Swordsmanship. Taijutsu mastery.][Item Obtained: Akatsuki Cloak.][Chakra Reserves: Elevated to Kage-level.]
Agony lanced through his eyes as the tomoe of his Sharingan spun violently, warping, reshaping — and then the Mangekyō opened. Power unlike anything he had felt before tore through his body. Flames darker than night licked at the edge of his vision. He knew their name: Amaterasu. His left eye pulsed, whispering of illusions so real they broke minds: Tsukuyomi. His aura flared with the shadow of a warrior's titan form, ribs of ethereal chakra rising around him — the beginning of his Susanoo.
The ANBU sword felt like an extension of his hand. Every motion carried lethal grace. His body thrummed with chakra, endless, vast, roaring through his veins.
And yet none of it made him feel whole.
He stood in the silence of the apartment, the corpses of his parents cooling on the sheets. Power dripped from him like blood, but his heart felt empty.
"Forgive me," he whispered.
He pulled the black cloak over his shoulders, the red clouds catching the dim light. The Akatsuki mantle was heavy, symbolic of betrayal and solitude.
And in Gotham's darkness, a boy named Isaac ceased to exist. Only Itachi remained.