Itachi Shinden: Book of Bright Light

is an original story written by Takashi Yano and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It is the first instalment of the Naruto Shinden series.

Summary
The first instalment of the Naruto Shinden series that is released in three successive months!

Itachi Uchiha, 4 years old. After he saw the battlefields from up close, he made a certain decision: I will change this world.

The dream Itachi aimed at was to become the Uchiha Clan's first Hokage. Also, a future where his loved ones could live in peace.

His Ninja Academy era, meeting Shisui, from Genin to Chūnin and finally, Anbu....

Itachi ran on the road of glory, not knowing about the cruel despair that awaits ahead....

This is a story about the glory and failures as well as the determination of the shinobi hailed as a genius.

Part 1
Wanting his son to mature quickly, Fugaku Uchiha takes his four-year-old son, Itachi Uchiha, to see the aftermath of war-zone battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War. Seeing the mountains of corpses from numerous villages, including Konoha, Itachi becomes traumatised by the sight and vows to become strong enough to change the world and end the senseless fighting forever. A few weeks later, the war comes to an end and Hiruzen Sarutobi steps down as Hokage and appoints Konoha war hero Minato Namikaze as the Fourth Hokage.

Later, as Itachi returns home from his rigorous training, as he is too young to enrol in the academy, Itachi asks his visibly pregnant mother, Mikoto Uchiha, the whereabouts of his father for help in his shurikenjutsu. Approaching his father's study, he overhears Yashiro Uchiha, Inabi Uchiha, and Tekka Uchiha complaining to Fugaku about the status of the Fourth Hokage. They raise their anger that only Minato and Orochimaru were nominated for said position while they and the rest of the Uchiha Clan feel their leader,, was deserving to at least contend for the position, but was never even nominated. However, Fugaku is not angered by this. With this, the trio reason that the Konoha Council is making moves against the clan as they point out Fugaku's amazing accomplishments during the war were overshadowed by Minato's abilities. They then remind Fugaku about Kakashi Hatake's recent rise in fame during the war from his Sharingan when he isn't from the clan, infuriating them to no end.

As Itachi trembles in fear at the heavy anti-establishment rants from his father's colleagues, he is discovered by his father and asked to wait for him elsewhere. As Itachi leaves, he ponders at what his father and fellow clansmen are secretly planning. Not long after this, Mikoto gives birth to Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi comes to cherish the bond he develops as a big brother.

Sometime later, during the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha, Itachi is separated from his parents with his brother and goes in search of them. As he finds Mikoto, Itachi saves both her and the infant Sasuke from falling debris and begins to feel a strange sensation in his eyes growing, but he suppresses it to continue protecting his mother and brother. After the attack, the Konoha Council led by Danzō Shimura, vote to move the Uchiha to a section of the village close to the Naka Shrine as they have become suspectful of an Uchiha’s involvement in the attack. Itachi quickly realises that the Uchiha are beginning to feel distrusted by the Konoha bureaucracy, which causes Itachi worry.

At age six, Itachi enters the Academy and excels in his studies, constantly getting top grades and even passing the graduation exam in only four months. While waiting to graduate in the following spring, Itachi meets Izumi Uchiha from the class next door and doesn’t realise she is attempting to get close to him and ignores her subtle advances. Soon after, three senior students, Tenma Izumo, Katsura, and Hagiri, who believe an Uchiha planned the Nine-Tails’ Attack, confront Itachi on his success and order him to apologise for his success and for being an Uchiha. Though Itachi blatantly ignores them, Izumi sticks up for him and scares the older kids off by activating her Sharingan. However, because she cannot control her Sharingan, Izumi passes out and while in the nurse’s office, Itachi befriends her.

That spring when Itachi turns seven, he graduates the valedictorian and gives a speech to the graduating class. In doing so, Itachi quickly realises his achievements have upset Pro-Senju supporters, but they appear to not doubt his abilities have earned him said position. During the graduation, Itachi meets Danzō for the first time.

Part 2
Itachi is placed in Team 2, consisting of himself, Tenma, and Shinko Inari under Yūki Minazuki. Tenma still has a great deal of hostility with Itachi and often clashes with the younger shinobi, despite Shinko and Yūki trying to mediate between them. One of their missions is to defeat an Iwagakure spy, gaining more recognition for Itachi.

Within a year, at age eight, Itachi’s accomplishments have earned Team 2 the honour of guarding the Fire Daimyō on his annual trip to Konoha as the best genin team of the year is given the symbolic honour (the Daimyō is actually protected by the Anbu and Twelve Guardian Ninja). During the mission, the team is confronted by a mysterious man in a black cloak and orange mask, who casts a genjutsu that only Itachi and Tenma escape. Tenma foolishly attacks the assailant only to find that he is intangible and is brutally killed, which triggers the awakening of Itachi’s Sharingan. The assailant retreats though when he senses Kakashi’s approach.

With Tenma’s death and Itachi’s superior abilities at such a young age, Shinko decides to quit the shinobi way of life for less stressful civilian work. With this, recent graduates Himuka and Yōji Aburame are assigned to Team 2 as their replacements. When he turns nine, Itachi is contacted by Konoha’s higher-ups, having bypassed Yūki, and offered him the chance to take the Chūnin Exams in the following year. While Itachi contemplates the offer, he learns his father has already accepted the offer “on his behalf”, leaving Itachi to question his father’s motives.

Part 3
When he turns ten, Itachi takes the Chūnin Exams solo, unlike others who need to take the exam in a three-man cell. During the written portion of the exam, he scores one of the highest scores ever recorded, second only to Minato himself. During the second portion of the exam in the Forest of Death, Itachi defeats a Kirigakure team for their scroll and once again sets a record for the exam. The third portion of the exams Itachi once again excels in, as his first opponent is too terrified to even fight him and he easily defeats his second opponent. Itachi’s third opponent, however, Kumogakure genin Nemui or “Sleeping Nemui” puts up more of a fight, but Itachi is able to use his Sharingan to disrupt Nemui’s fighting style causing him to cry in fear, winning Itachi the match and earning him the rank of chūnin.

After his promotion, Itachi runs into Izumi, who reveals she is slated to graduate from the Academy a year early, and the two go to a tea shop where Shinko works as a waitress now. While she teases Itachi about his girlfriend, she admits she’s happier in her new position in life and attributes it to Itachi proving to be a superior shinobi than her and Tenma’s death. With this, Itachi pressures Izumi to follow a similar path (to achieve his goal of removing all shinobi from the battlefield), but her revelation that she desires to follow the path of her father because she admired him makes Itachi realise his goal will be much harder than he thinks. His pressuring and doubting her caused Izumi to cry and run off, though, prompting Shinko to chastise her former teammate for being insensitive to her goals.

Soon after his promotion, Fugaku puts in an application for Itachi to join Anbu, much to his suspicions. Though Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane are against the application, Hiruzen and Danzō are in favour of it. Danzō, hoping to take advantage of Itachi’s pacifistic personality for his own goals, request to be in charge of Itachi’s Anbu examination, to which Hiruzen naively agrees. Danzō orders Itachi to assassinate Mukai Kohinata, a jōnin with supposed connections to Kiri. Itachi is also allowed to have one other shinobi of his choice aid him and he chooses Shisui for the mission. As he is placed on Mukai’s team to monitor his skills before the proposed assassination, Itachi quickly realises Danzō had ordered one of Mukai’s teammates injured so he could infiltrate, showing Itachi how shady Danzō is.

Their mission is to monitor a meeting between Kiri and Sunagakure shinobi as they try to form a potential alliance; however, one of the team alerts the Kiri and Suna shinobi to their presence and they are forced to flee. During the battle, Mukai reveals, as a genetic throwback, he can activate a Byakugan in his left eye and he easily defeats twenty Suna shinobi before they return to Konoha.

At a clan meeting at the Naka Shrine, Fugaku announces to the clan that Itachi was going to be accepted into Anbu much to the clan’s pride. However, Itachi’s fears and suspicions about the clan’s and his father’s actions finally come to a realisation: Fugaku reveals to him that he is to use the position to spy on the Konoha government so the clan can prepare for a coup d'etat, leaving Itachi horrified at what is to come.