Itori - NOT Uchiha Itone, common mistake really (Naruto)
The sharingan was never meant to be a tool, Itone quickly learned.
The sharingan was meant to be a defense mechanism. Much like trauma responses; the sharingan was not designed to hurt.
It was meant to be a way for the Uchiha clan to protect themselves - something that only appeared under extreme stress and emotional turmoil. Yet in a village of killers; unlocking the sharingan was not seen as traumatic, it was seen as a gift.
The sharingan makes the user go blind if they over rely on it - because it was not meant to be relied on at all. It was simply the last line of defense - meant to protect the Uchiha clan if they were too weak to defend themselves.
Yet, Itone Uchiha mused, if he shared such opinions in front of another clan member the elders might just have him exiled.
Itone Uchiha had - well, he was deemed defective. He was a bastard child - and on top of that, he was physically incapable of activating the sharingan,
The reason this was decided was because of Itone's father. His father was a descendant of a long dead clan that was infamous for being completely emotionless - their specialty was stealth, as sensors would look for malicious chakra more then they would for empty chakra. Sadly people eventually caught on, and most of them were slaughtered.
It was decided the moment he was born with a completely apathetic look on his face, that he took after the long dead clan.
As the sharingan took extreme emotional trauma and loss to activate, and Itone was seen as 'incapable of feeling,' two and two were put together and it was assumed he'd never have the ability to develop it.
Of course, his mother knew otherwise.
His mother - Iyori Uchiha that is, she was a smart woman. She desired little for her only son to be thrust into the world of shinobi without his choice in the matter - and a uchiha stealth operative? With the sharingan? It was unheard of - because of Uchiha's recognizable chakra signature it's impossible for them to become stealth operatives. Most Uchiha are frontline hitters, actually. Itone would be practically forced into killing.
The clan Itone's father hailed from - it was the Hakanai clan. Once upon a time they were allies with the Uchiha, however the Hakanai broke the alliance of their own accord many years ago. A large misconception around them is that they had no feelings, which resulted in their empty chakra signature - but that was incorrect.
The clan's specialty was that their emotions and chakra signatures were so far removed that they didn't impact each other. But they were still there. Technically, the emotions were still sensable - if the sensor was very skilled that is. Iyori's choice wasn't one to be made lightly, as being around shinobi would expose him in minutes.
Inuzuka were better known for their ninken then they were for their senses - but if a particularly strong Inuzuka were to channel charka to their nose near Itone, they'd be able to sense brief impressions of his emotions. Which frankly in his opinion was completely unfair, but shinobi aren't fair either so he's not sure if his opinion matters all that much.
Hatake was also someone to be on the red alert for. His mother explained that they were a dying clan, but one of the last remaining members had the best nose seen in the clan for the last fifty years ; Hatake Kakashi. In fact his sense of smell was so strong, he wore chakra dampening face masks, with fabric woven with seals that suppress scent.
If Itone even went near any Hatake, they'd immediately call his bluff. The Hatake were a well-renowned clan for a reason, after all.
Itone was nothing if not paranoid. He tried his best to drown his scent in other things than his emotions, because frankly, from what his mother told him, he had a bleeding heart. His emotions were always plainly written on his face - even if that did freak people out, because from what they read of his chakra there was no emotions to speak of.
Because of how open he was, his emotions were probably easy to smell too. His mother must have figured the same thing, because he was taught strictly in suppression training early on. Don't let it show on your face, feel it when you are alone, curl your chakra around it, use chakra as a shield - all that.
Of course he didn't utilize the face thing nearly as much as he should have. He liked his face moving in sync with his thoughts - his emotions. It was a physical reminder that told him "yes, you do feel things." It was pleasant.
His mother must have caught on to that too, because she recommended he try to get a job at a flower shop run by the Yamanaka a few blocks away. She said he'd be fine there, since Yamanaka can't roam the minds of Civilians without consent in a non-vital situation, less they desire to face punishment.
He liked it a lot.
His life was going fine - sure the clan didn't really like remembering he existed, but he was roughly distantly related to the wife of the clan head or something, so they couldn't outright kill him. At worst they might just pretend he had no affiliation with them if he was kidnapped.
Of course, this changed when his mother died.
It wasn't sudden - it was actually rather slow. Her body was failing her, she was terribly sick. The doctors said it was Pneumonia, completely treatable - but rather costly.
Her pride was frankly too high to ask for money from anyone outside her immediate family. She insisted that'd she'd be just fine without treatment - she didn't want to waste Itone's funds or such. She waited for too long without treatment.
She died at the beginning of spring.
The elders debated on what to do with him - he was an Uchiha, yes, but he was a bastard. Not a shinobi, unable to use the Sharingan, a dishonor to the clans image. If he was sent to live with Mikoto, he'd have to be a genius in order for the elders to get over all his faults - and sadly for Itone, he was not.
So the clan disowned him. He was not to use the Uchiha name or crest. Officially he would be marked as missing; assumed dead, unofficially it was an order to get lost, if he knew what was good for him.
All of his savings from the pay he got at the Yamanaka flower shop and his mother's savings combined could only afford him an apartment at a dingy building on the edge of the red light district. Strangely enough, the owner of the building looked at him as if he was insane when he requested it, and asked him several times over if he was sure.
Of course, that all made sense when it turned out a few doors down the hall of his new apartment lived the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. He had the misfortune of only seeing him as he was literally already half-way out of the apartment building, and paying no attention to the people behind him.
Yikes, that's..definitely something.
He...looks to be three. Well of course he's three - it's been three years from the Kyuubi attack, but it's strange to actually see him. With how people speak of the Kyuubi Itone sort of expected some giant half-monster half-kid, not a sunny child.
...Where's his guardian? Strange laws aside, the hokage isn't a fool, he isn't going to leave a three year old alone in an apartment next to the red light district.
Then and there, Itone made a choice that changed the fate of the world as we know it.
He got up to introduce himself to his neighbour.
....Who apparently doesn't exist.
Okay so maybe the Hokage is a huge fool, because he left a three year old alone in an apartment next to the red light district.
Fuck.
Now, Itone was taught everything by his mother - how to move with grace, to carry himself with confidence, how to read, how to use his chakra as a mental shield, really everything. The main thing she drilled into his head however; is that children are precious.
Itone's ancestors were not originally Uchiha - they were from a clan referred to as the Seijouki. Not unlike the Uchiha who specialized in flame arts, the Seijouki did as well. The difference in their style, however, made all the difference. While the Uchiha were frontline hitters who'd use giant fans to push flames at their enemies, the Seijouki were illusionary artists who'd use the flames to create smoke to confuse their enemies, and take them out while they were dazed; if the smoke inhalation didn't already do it for them.
The Seijouki however, had very low birth-rates; and as such, were a dying clan. The Uchiha offered to house them if they gave up the Seijouki name and techniques to the Uchiha. The Seijouki eventually agreed. The Seijouki was no more after that, they were now just a branch of the Uchiha clan that liked smoke a strange amount.
The thing is, Itone's family still has low birthrates. The last time his branch had more than one kid was Grandmother and Grandaunt Mayuri and Suzuna, and they were twins. The sole exception to this rule seems to be Itone's second cousin; Sasuke, who frankly is a miracle walking.
All the same Itone was told very clearly that children are to be closely guarded until they are 11, which is the phase where they will start desiring independence. Of course; you're still to keep close eyes on them, but you can't be as hands-on. They are only, and he repeats himself, only to be left alone in a home when they are either 18, or to be wed.
Yes it's a bit overbearing, especially for a society where most people are considered adults by 13 (and joy, did mother have things to say about that) but it keeps their kin alive goddammit so frankly they don't really care. Even civilians eventually started modeling their child care system in a way reminiscent of the Seijouki, obviously not to their knowledge - but that just shows it was that effective.
So to place Itone in front of a small child? That lives alone? In a dangerous environment? Kyuubi Jinchuuriki or not, Itone was not going to leave him alone.
...Which was vaguely an issue, as Itone was legally dead, close to dirt poor, and if the clan finds out he's been near the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, they'll either try and force him to make the kid loyal to the Uchiha over the village - or just plain kill Itone.
So Itone Uchiha can't go near the kid.
Okay so what? Itone can maneuver around that easily ! Simple ; he can't use the Uchiha name anyhow, so he'll just...become someone else.
Identity fraud is surprisingly easy in a hidden village. Of course he isn't doing that - he's just listening to the elders of his not-clan. If he isn't allowed to be Itone Uchiha, he'll just become someone else.
His genius terrifies him, sometimes.
Itone Uchiha is no more ; now he is...hm....Itori. Itori, no last name. Last names aren't commonplace outside of civilian merchant families anyways - so it's fine. Yeah it's a bit on the nose, but it's not like he's hiding anything, he's just trying to claim plausible deniability when the clan tries to pull something like "you did not give up the uchiha name; but it's fine we'll forgive you if you implant propaganda on a three year old"
So after a week of scouting the area, he goes to finally introduce himself to the kid and as subtly as possible weave his way into his life.
The world never saw him coming.
Extra Stuff about the au;;
- Mikoto's opinion on Itachi and Sasuke , Seijouki hc style.
(Basically clan elders forced Mikoto to take a backseat in Itachi's education, and she argued because the Seijouki was a matriarchal clan that was taught that the mother teaches their child and the clan elders were like 'no sorry the seijouki 'clan' is a branch of the Uchiha now, don't forget that. the teaching of the clan heir is much more important than your silly little opinions' and she was super pissed about it. when she had sasuke she was overjoyed to have someone to pass the Seijouki teachings to. Sasuke still wanted to be a shinobi and Mikoto agreed but she said that he'd learn only from her, and the elders couldn't do shit because he's literally her kid so. Basically in this au Sasuke was trained in the Seijouki style instead of the Uchiha style)
- Kakashi's opinions on 'Itori' aka extremely obviously Itone Uchiha, you know - the one that went 'missing'
(Itori basically took over Naruto's education. they practically live in the same apartment, almost brothers. Kakashi is also around, as hound nd such. He co-teaches with Itori - taking over the shinobi part of Naruto's education because Itori was raised as mostly-civilian and is clueless on how to teach baby-ninja anything outside of politics and chakra uses, basically. The 'avoid hatake kakashi of the sharingan' lesson that Itori said his mother told him made Hound super wince. So you know, he got curious and looked into Itori's files and went "oh he doesn't exist, not even in the informal red-light district child way." so he looked into missing children around his age and found Itone Uchiha, said to be emotionless and went "I literally smell his emotions what does this mean??" but like doesn't tell /anyone/ about Itori because "well. this whole file is super suspicious no way in hell am I saying anything about that." and he somewhat stresses over that because he's like "is this treason?? am I committing treason by proxy right now?? is that a thing???" but he doesn't budge. by the time the uchiha massacre comes around Kakashi is super glad he never said anything because he's all attached to Itori and Naruto now and is like 'he definitely would have died if I said something' so Kakashi is now on a vaguely treasonous war-path to look after his cute tiny adopted siblings)
- Itori legally existing again to get custody of his second-cousin after the massacre
(Basically "legally" Itone Uchiha ran away after his mother died, and the clan didn't see it worth the effort to exhaust their resources looking for a bastard child. So Itori uses this to his advantage and claims that he heard about the Massacre and came out of hiding because his second cousin needed to learn the 'uchiha' traditions. Basically Itori just tells him the stuff about the Seijouki that Sasuke didn't get to. The seijouki teaching style is carefully structored to teach as much as possible from the age of 3 to the age of 11. Because Sasuke was 7 during the massacre he would have missed 4 years of teaching without Itori around. ++ Itori just thought another sibling would be nice. Basically drags Sasuke into his shitty apartment on the edge of the red-light district because "no sasuke you are not living in the house where all of our family died in front of you I don't care if you think my apartment is gross it's better then traumatizing" and sasuke goes "fine whatever let me make this place nice then" and pays people to clean the apartment building up after buying it off the old guy with the uchiha fortune. Itori was fine with it because he was like "this apartment complex is probably worth less then the average genins annual salary, go nuts kid" also!! Naruto and Sasuke becoming the gremlin youngest children that pull pranks and Kakashi and Itori being begruding older siblings that try and mantain chaos because I love family dynamics.)
aaaand extra charts in case any of this got confusing;;
(ROUGHLY) Ages at Massacre ::
Kakashi - 19 ; Itone - 15 ; Itachi - 13 ; Sasuke - 7 ; Naruto - 6 (Massacre was in summer, age birthday stuff accordingly.)
Roughly ages during Iyori's passing away::
Kakashi - 16 ; Itone - 11 ; Itachi - 9 ; Sasuke - 3 ; Naruto - 3
Family tree ::
Reiji Uchiha + Kaisai Uchiha (née Seijouki) = Mayuri Uchiha & Suzuna Uchiha.
Mayuri Uchiha(Seijouki branch) and Nameless Uchiha (unnamed branch) had Towako Uchiha || Suzuna Uchiha(Seijouki branch) and Nameless Uchiha (unnamed branch) had Senka Uchiha.
Towako Uchiha(Seijouki Line) and Takeaki Uchiha(kiri branch, moved back to konoha some gen ago) had Iyori Uchiha(Seijouki line) || Senka Uchiha (seijouki line) and Akari Uchiha(née Hatake, distant cousin of Sukomo Hatake) had Mikoto Uchiha(seijouki branch)
Iyori Uchiha and Unnamed Hakanai had Itone Uchiha (seijouki line) || Mikoto Uchiha(seijouki branch) and Fugaku Uchiha(pure uchiha, basically og uchiha origins) had Itachi Uchiha(Uchiha line, uchiha branch) and Sasuke Uchiha(seijouki line, uchiha branch)
Difference between branch and lines;; lines == ancestry, and how they were trained/taught, branch == officially recognized as a different section from uchiha, and promptly named fine to marry inside of the uchiha branch. Basically my way of excusing canon inbreeding by going "noooo they don't - listen they don't let people of the same line/branch marry" of course all of them are all Uchiha, and outside the clan doesn't really see the difference, but it's their way of trying to avoid genetic defects while still trying to get ultimate chances of children inheriting the sharingan
Basically Itori and Sasuke had the same great-grandparents , and their grandmother's were twins, so Sasuke and Itori are second cousins.