- The scroll was deceptively light. As if it didn't carry the weight of his decision.— First line of Kokuten
Before the Itachi reveal, Sasuke travels back in time, right before his life got wrecked by both Konoha and the Uchiha Clan's hidden machinations. All Sasuke intends when he catches wind of a time-traveling seal in Orochimaru's lair is to kill Itachi, therefore preventing the Uchiha Massacre. The problem? A sixteen-year-old boy can pick up so much more clues than a seven-year-old kid, so it's only natural he ends up discovering the truth. Such a pity (or blessing) that his actions already changed the past and allowed the Uchiha Coup d'État to happen.
Kokuten
is a Naruto fanfic written by Riya3 set in an alternate timeline Sasuke not-so-accidentally created after snooping on his mentor's belongings. It's currently a Dead Fic, with its last actualization being on January 10, 2014.
Kokuten provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Sasuke has the chance of stopping Itachi from mass-murdering their fellow clan members, which is heroic (and less bloody than his canon path of revenge) regardless of its outcomes. Moreover, learning the truth before he defected and killed his older brother allows Sasuke to restore his loyalty to Konoha even if only by virtue of how much Naruto and Itachi love the village. This somehow leads to him aiding in recruiting Tsunade so she can be the next Hokage and rein in the chaos.
- Kid!Ino displays great if foolish bravery by defending kid!Naruto (whom she still despises) from his Uchiha kidnapper. She goes as far as to form the trademark Yamanaka hand seal with the intent of overtaking the mind of the attacker — an adult kunoichi.
- Kid!Sakura, after watching her friends being kidnapped, requests the first ANBU she encounters to rescue them. She supplies said ANBU with very valuable information and is willing to accompany him to wherever her friends are being held captive.
- Civil War: A direct consequence of the Uchiha Coup d'État. On one side, there are the Konoha Council (the Sandaime Hokage and the Elders) and the shinobi clans. The first line of defense was the ANBU forces but as things got direr, Konoha jonin and chunin got called as well. On the other side, we have the Uchiha Clan who usually comprises Konoha's Police Forces but has decided to rebel in the face of the discrimination they suffer and ambitions that predate the village's founding. Later on, they manage to rope the Hyuga Clan into an alliance in exchange for political power.
- Crippling Overspecialization:
- Naori Uchiha is a strong sensor type, which is great when it comes to rapidly locating key targets such as kid!Naruto but is disastrous when she has to fend off said target's rescuer. It's stated nobody has seen Naori fight. Ever.
- Fukurou Uchiha is a specialized tracker. During the coup, her position is one of the safest ones. Downplayed given Fukurou can fare relatively well in combat (she has ANBU-level skills after all), it's just not her strongest point. She's involved in the attack to the ANBU headquarters only because she volunteered.
- Elite Mook: It's said (and shown) that thanks to the Sharingan, one regular Uchiha shinobi can take on three regular Konoha chunin. Essentially, the Uchiha Clan has an entire army of elite mooks at its disposal — any less would get them absolutely butchered by Konoha's both superior numbers and diversified abilities.
- Foil:
- The two Uchiha original characters are foils to each other in regards to their loyalty to their clan. Naori is Fugaku's (the Clan's Head) sister and values family a lot. She sticks to her brother's side and supports the coup because the village has treated her clan unfairly. By contrast, Fukurou is Itachi's (the Uchiha Heir and prodigy) fiancée and hates how her standing in the clan greatly restrains her life. She thinks the Uchiha are but a bunch of people sharing the same surname so, while being indifferent towards the coup, opts to be loyal to Konoha and act as their mole. Interestingly enough, both of them are noncombat-oriented kunoichi, instead focusing on sensing and tracking.
- Itachi and Fukurou are this when we analyze the reasons why they have betrayed the Uchiha Clan. Itachi's is the same as in canon — a civil war would severely undermine Konoha's military power and prestige, leaving it vulnerable before the other hidden villages. Fukurou's, on the other hand, is much more selfish and relatable — she loathes the position she was born into as the daughter of two Uchiha council members because it robs her of her freedom. For instance, she's betrothed to the Clan Head's son and was forced to the outer rings of ANBU (therefore undermining her career) to better serve the Clan's goals.
- Kid!Sasuke and teenager!Sasuke. The former is naive and loves his "aniki" and mother above everything else while seeking his father's approval. The latter is cynical, hates his older brother with a passion, thinks he's done mourning his mother, and only regards his father as someone who will never be satisfied with him. What he seeks is revenge. Neither of them is particularly loyal to either Konoha or the Uchiha Clan. Kid!Sasuke because he didn't notice and teenage!Sasuke because he now understand both sides are in the wrong. Both of them sort of merge after teenager!Sasuke uncovers the ugly truth, rekindles his love towards his brother, gains the Mangekyou after seeing his mother die, and notices how much Itachi (silently) misses his kid brother.
- Home Field Advantage: The conflict being a civil war would grant this to both sides, effectively nullifying it. Nonetheless, Konoha is a ninja village (i.e., heavily militarized) which means there are restricted zones only select groups of ninja can access on a normal basis.
- The Uchiha Clan compound's layout might be fairly well-known by all of the Konoha shinobi but not that of the Police Headquarters and the Naka Shrine (where they have private Clan meetings). This proves to be a problem for Kakashi when he plots to retrieve kid!Naruto. He exploits the advantage by asking an Uchiha ANBU (aka Fukurou) for help. She provides little-used entrances and the needed location but further invokes the trope by saying it's not a joke "all the Uchiha look alike", so he'll get lost in a place full to the brim of them. Fortunately, Kakashi has kid!Sakura, who saw and thus can recognize the person that kidnapped Naruto and Ino, on his side.
- Similarly, the ANBU headquarters and most of the ANBU operatives' abilities are secret to the general population. Seeing there are at least two ANBU clan members (Fukurou and Itachi), the Uchiha Clan would be able to counteract this. Unfortunately, the two of them are Konoha-loyalists acting as moles for the village.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Half the chapters are titled "When [insert Character Action]" while the other half goes like "How [insert Character Action]". For instance, we have "When the First Victim Fails" and "How Children Play". The change from one format to the other signifies the start of the Uchiha Coup. The only variation is the prologue and some titles being in passive voice.
- Inappropriately Close Comrades: Fukurou Uchiha, aka Owl, sustains a romantic affair with her captain Kakashi, aka Hound-taichou. Her previous lover was Badger but he was killed in action. Fukurou's fiancée, Itachi (aka Crow), also belongs to ANBU but he knows she's had sex with other men and that it's because he's still too young for her (he's thirteen while she's sixteen) and both of them got betrothed by their parents. In spite of that, the two of them occasionally kiss and touch each other in the hopes of falling in love or at least developing some kind of mutual affection before getting married.
- The Mole: Itachi and Fukurou Uchiha are aligned to Konoha in the conflict but feign allegiance to the Uchiha Clan in order to act as this trope. Despite both of them belonging to ANBU, their motivations differ. Itachi mostly obeys the Hokage and the Konoha Council, but since the Sandaime is missing, he parts to get Konoha a new leader. Fukurou, on her part, reports to her ANBU captain, Kakashi, and helps Itachi as per Kakashi's request. She also leaks to him information about the Uchiha Clan's moves.
- One-Word Title.
- Rogue Soldier: All of the Uchiha shinobi and kunoichi. They never officially defected from the Konoha Shinobi Forces but they started a civil war against the village.
- Titled After the Song: The fanfic is named after one of Sasuke's battle Background Music: "Kokuten", which, by the way, translates from Japanese as "Black Spot".
- War Fic: No Massacre means the Uchiha are very much alive and kicking to execute their long-planned coup d'état, therefore Konoha is in the middle of a civil war. Shinobi kids (such as Ino and Konoha's resident jinchuuriki) are being kidnapped as bargaining chips against Konoha's key operatives, ANBU has been deployed in full force, skirmishes are rampant, and eventually, the Hyuga Clan is convinced to aid the Uchiha Police force in combat.
