Chapter 908 - 3

Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel it flow. Every beat of the heart, the flow of chakra.

I meditated as I sat cross legged on my bedroom floor, wearing only my shorts.

It had been recommended for me to meditate to get in touch with my chakra even more so, courtesy of more scrolls about chakra control I fished out of a house a couple blocks from mine.

Slowing my breathing further, I timed the thrumming of my chakra that pulsed minutely with my heartbeat, timing my next action with the space between beats.

Who would've thought this exercise is the same I did for sharpshooting? I thought amusedly, remembering the lessons on making sure you didn't twitch when hitting a target hundreds of yards out.

Proper breath control and timing it between heart beats made for an ice cold killer.

With each space between beats, my chakra would steady and I could feel it flow gently along my tenketsu, almost like a pleasantly warm river.

Ba-dum... Ba-dum...

I grabbed my chakra and pushed it along the tenketsu in my left hand, the sensation strange.

I used to be right handed, or at least the older aspect of my personality was. I still didn't care whether I technically was Sasuke or not. I'm Uchiha Sasuke.

I waited for the space again and snaked the chakra up my arm again, going further than last time.

My muscles tingled a bit at the last part, the chakra slowly dissipating.

The same thing was done for another hour, until my mechanical clock rang the alarm, telling me it was now 6:30.

Ceasing my chakra exercise, I let out a jaw cracking yawn and stretched my arms, arching my back and flipping myself to my feet.

"Damn, that's fun to do." I smiled slightly, enjoying how powerful I felt doing that.

My bare feet made a soft pattering sound as I went to the bathroom and performed my regular hygienic routine, before fixing myself breakfast.

Once breakfast was done, I popped open another random book on cooking that I wanted to memorize, specifically the ingredients for different foods.

With one hand on the book, I slowly twirled five different leaves on my fingers with chakra, smirking when I thought of a way to make it more challenging. I slowly walked up the wall of my small dining room and stuck myself to the ceiling, slowly walking around as my hair hung down from the gravity.

This took some focus, and I ended up dropping a leave after several minutes.

I dropped back down when I started to feel it straining my chakra a bit from doing two control exercises and having my Sharingan activated.

Closing the book, I let the leaves fall off my fingers and I pulled my bangs away from my forehead, glancing at the inky black of my peripheral vision.

My hair wasn't just dark, it was black. You don't realize that there's such a big difference until you actually look at it up close.

Deciding it was about time for me to head to the academy, I got dressed the rest of the way and left my house, pondering what I was going to do about the money and resources available to me from my clan dying.

I could use it to possibly buy up a few business, or at least buy parts of it to make a steady income to offset the costs of the D-ranks being conducted to keep the Uchiha district habitable. I detested the thought of being a parasitic leech, even if Konoha owed me a thousandfold.

Danzo will die. Don't worry. I thought to myself, knowing I was going to go Law Abiding Citizen on the bastard at minimum. He took everything from me, so I'd take everything from him.

I need to study up on paralytics that maintain full feeling for the victim. And I'll need a mirror.

Right as I exited the house, I realized I didn't know where Naruko lived.

I'd need to correct that.

I was standing at the gates of the entrance for about half an hour, waiting on the blonde that caught my attention just yesterday.

Being perfectly honest, I had a minor panic attack after I went home following the little ramen pitstop with Naruko.

After an hour or two of pacing a hole through my floor, I'd finally calmed down enough to formulate a new plan, which I planned on exploiting in the following weeks.

Itachi would be so proud of his little brother.

Everybody else cycled through the walkway, some giving me a confused look from standing there.

To think that I was planning on creating a type of best bros dynamic with Naruto, only to be thwarted by something I never expected.

Bromance is impossible when there's only one bro.

A bromance is like a fire, you need two sticks to rub toge-

Okay, shut the hell up. I cringed at the accidental visual I created. What the hell is wrong with you, Sasuke?

Thankfully, Naruko ended up showing up, albeit at the last minute.

"I'm not late?" She asked desperately, looking like she had taken a hasty bath from how her hair was still damp.

I'm outside, aren't I?

"You're still fine." I decided to not be sarcastic, thinking Naruko may not understand it for what it was; a joke. "Let's go inside."

Naruko smiled happily and practically bounced as she followed me into the academy.

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the assorted reports concerning Uchiha Sasuke, one in particular a cause for worry.

Hiruzen knew how potent Genjutsu could umravel a person's sense of reality, but he didn't think Itachi would do something like that to his brother.

The misremembering of details about young Naruko was a more than simple detail forgotten.

He didn't just not remember that she was a girl, he had applied a different name to her, even if it was similar enough.

A closer watch would need to be had on young Sasuke, even more so from his extracurricular activities.

The chakra training exercises weren't a concern. Sasuke was very diligent and safe about improving his grasp on his chakra and steadily grow his reserves from use. With enough time, Hiruzen could see Sasuke getting some hands on tutelage for Iryo-ninjutsu. The boy had dedicated himself ever since his clan was wiped out.

At least Konoha could potentially salvage something from this.

Hiruzen detested such cold pragmatism, but it was the truth. Uchiha Sasuke would have been unlikely to unlock his Sharingan and be motivated to become adept at an admittedly complex and difficult art to learn had he not been traumatized by the events he experienced.

Hiruzen's eyes then went to Kakashi, the man still in his ANBU uniform, and three other ANBU.

"How did Naruko sustain a broken arm without you noticing?" Hiruzen asked casually, but his tone may as well have been carved from a glacier.

Only so much could be done about the civilians of Konoha scorning the girl, and preventing violence was one.

But it evidently didn't work this time.

"I understand you are all hard pressed to fill the void following the massacre of the Uchiha," Hiruzen's eyes roved over the four different ANBU that handled guarding Naruko on different shifts, "But Uzumaki Naruko was injured, and your other charge was the one who discovered it and took her to the hospital."

The nurse filed an official report that was forwarded to him about Uchiha Sasuke, specifically how he became irate when she probed for information about him when he referred to Naruko as 'Naruto'.

"Read the report." He ordered them, setting the four copies at the front of his desk. "Read every single word. Burn it into your minds. This is the price of failure, ANBU. You do not have the luxury of failing like others, for the fate of the village hangs in the balance on every mission you take."

The three men and one woman listened to the command and read the medical report, remaining silent.

The ANBU must be made to understand what happened from their error. It didn't matter what caused it or who caused it. All bear responsibility.

Out of all of them, Kakashi took it the worst. His Sharingan was opened, having burned the report into his mind, and his chakra was leaking slightly, judging by the faint scent of ozone in the air.

Eventually, the ANBU stopped looking at the reports and set them back on the desk.

"Dismissed." Hiruzen intoned after all of them read the report. "And return to your posts."

All four ANBU left through the door, leaving Hiruzen alone as they vanished from sight.

Or so they thought.

Tobirama-sensei taught us well.

"Even in your current state, they didn't know you were here." Hiruzen said to the empty room, "Come on out."

Shimura Danzo seemed to melt out of the wall, shimmering into existence.

"It almost astounds me that Hatake didn't notice me," Danzo admitted, favouring his one leg, "The other three leave much to be desired."

"The destruction of the largest clan in Konoha has stretched them thin, Danzo," Hiruzen said coldly, "Just as it has all of us."

Danzo had failed him, not by incompetence, but by omitting information and likely not taking certain actions.

"A necessary sacrifice for the safety of Konoha." Danzo remarked, repeating what he had said previously. "And yet, I doubt you will do what is necessary."

"Necessary?" Hiruzen scoffed, fixing his former teammate with a reprimanding look, "Could your agents not have discreetly abducted the infants and replaced them with the ones at the orphanage the moment before?"

The entire clan didn't need to be wiped out, not even a majority. The children could have been taken to the orphanage, and then raised safely until they came of age, reigniting the Uchiha clan within a generation.

"Did I not give you orders?" Hiruzen demanded, his tone quiet, but containing a strong steeliness to it. "Was ROOT not supposed to infiltrate and kill specific members of the clan, and Itachi take the fall willingly to avert civil war? You told Itachi to kill them all and sent no agents to assist him."

Danzo scoffed.

"That was already the final plan."

"Of last resort." Hiruzen pointed out. "After all options were exhausted."

"The ANBU cannot even protect the girl from grief stricken and intoxicated civilians," Danzo narrowed his eyes, "How could you have possibly hoped for them to protect her from an S-rank Genjutsu specialist like Fugaku? This last event has proven that your plan to protect her and avoid 'needless' bloodshed wouldn't have worked."

That last part rankled Hiruzen, unbelievably so. Naruko was to be hidden when the hammer went down, courtesy of the ANBU. But their failure recently made Hiruzen have an inkling of a doubt on whether they could have protected her from being a hostage or, Kami forbid, have the Kyuubi removed and controlled by Fugaku.

"Nothing is set in stone, Danzo, and you did not know that when you disobeyed orders."

"Such is the beauty of hindsight." Danzo countered, grimacing as he shifted his weight, "I warned that we were in no condition to reach a proper redress, yet you carried on until the Uchiha could have organized a successful coup. Stalling aided them more than us."

"Them?" Hiruzen asked softly, "They helped found Konoha. Kagami was our friend, Danzo. Have you forgotten that?"

Danzo's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing.

"I remember our friend, Hiruzen," He nearly bit out, his hand gripping his cane tightly, "We were such ambitious men when you became Sandaime. Kagami was going to be made clan head once we returned home, wasn't he?"

Hiruzen remembered that all too well. Uchiha Madara's rejection by his clan, his betrayal and later death caused an internal instability amongst the Uchiha that Tobirama had been all too ready to exploit.

Train the up and coming Uchiha, Kagami, and make him into something truly great, resulting in a respected clan head that would streamline the integrating of the tribalistic zeal the Uchiha maintained into nationalism for Konoha.

But Kagami was killed on a mission with Danzo, their friend's death haunting the man.

"This would never have happened had Kagami lived," Danzo said firmly, his voice carrying his resolve in that statement, "But we can only press on."

Hiruzen remained silent, quietly mulling over what he was going to say.

He was in no mood to deal with the needed conversation. Danzo had forever lost his confidence and trust after he took liberties in what he was authorized to do. It was one thing when conducting wetwork in the field, but within Konoha was different.

Hiruzen would always wonder whether the Uchiha could have been saved had Danzo followed orders.

"How goes the preventive measures?" Hiruzen asked tightly, needing to know the progress on it.

ROOT had to commit to assassinations and sabotage to prevent Iwa or Kumo from trying to capitalize on the Kyuubi attack, and they were needed once more.

"Jiraiya's network has assisted in locating targets, but the ANBU are no longer available for joint missions like in the past." Danzo replied, slowly removing a storage scroll from his pocket and opening it, revealing a chair that he promptly sat in.

"The violent crime increase in Konoha and overall hit to stability in Hi no Kuni has ensured the ANBU will be unavailable to assist you," Hiruzen clarified, narrowing his eyes at the dark haired man, "ROOT will not be policing Konoha in any way."

Bandits and overall crime had risen to concerning levels throughout the region once word had reached the outside world that the Uchiha had been wiped out.

"Perhaps if more funding were allocated to ROO-" Danzo began to say, but Hiruzen cut him off.

"ROOT existed for the explicit purpose of being untraceable," He glared, "Official lines of revenue being transferred will be traced. Don't be a fool."

ROOT generally looted their targets to maintain their funding, being uniquely adept at it.

"My men are unable to sustain the wide breadth we are conducting without an influx of resources," Danzo sighed, his eyes emotionless as he set his cane to the side, "Your limiting of my recruiting base has been felt."

Hiruzen tolerated Danzo's distasteful training methods for no other reason than the results ROOT got throughout the Second and Third War, but his tolerance had limits.

"Perhaps if a greater number of orphans arrived at your preferred recruiting center," Hiruzen hummed lightly, bringing up Danzo's ignoring of priority orders, "Then you may have still had access."

Hiruzen had almost disbanded ROOT for what Danzo did. He still didn't trust Danzo, but he would suffer the man so long as he complied with the newest and shorter leash attached to him.

Danzo was silent for a few seconds, seeming to think of something.

"I may have a solution to the stretched resources situation," Danzo eventually said, leaning forward some, "And I also have a solution for the ANBU being stretched."

Hiruzen looked at the man skeptically, unconvinced as of the last few weeks of furious planning.

"Go on."

"The personal funds acquired by the Uchiha clan," Danzo explained, Hiruzen remaining silent for now, "With only one member, the money and equipment could instead be used for something more productive and beneficial to Konoha. With the equipment, less of the annual revenue to arm the Shinobi corps will be needed."

At Hiruzen's continued silence, Danzo explained the second part.

"The ANBU are insufficient for protecting the Jinchuriki," Danzo stated as a matter of fact, "Reassign the ANBU to the heavily strained sections and let me train the girl."

The last part had Hiruzen standing up from his chair, his chakra springing to life from his emotions.

"Uzumaki Naruko is not to be touched, Danzo," He thundered, his presence filling the room. "You will not turn her into an emotionless tool."

Danzo was undeterred by the display, his face twitching into a scowl.

"Tragedy has robbed us of our strength, Hiruzen," Danzo slowly rose to his feet, putting an equal amount of weight on both legs, "You squander Konoha's Jinchuriki for sentimental reasons."

"She is a child." Hiruzen said coldly, his eyes nearly glowing with an inner fire.

"As were we," Danzo replied flatly, "And Tobirama-sensei as well."

"That era is dead," Hiruzen said firmly, "And it will be forgotten when our generation is laid to rest."

Danzo chuckled darkly, shaking his head.

"You are either lying to both yourself and me, or wearing those robes have truly blinded you. Sensei did not let sentimentality stop him from training you, nor did it stop him from giving you over to the Shodai for additional tutelage."

Danzo grimaced slightly as he stood straight still.

"We are old, Hiruzen. The generation after us has already begun retiring, and none of your three students are capable of succeeding us... Our time is running out."

Hiruzen wanted to refute Danzo, but the man was right. Jiraiya refused to take the position, even after Hiruzen asked him to after Minato was killed. Orochimaru betrayed Konoha, and Tsunade ran off.

"I will not entrust Minato's legacy to you, Danzo," He muttered, "Robbing an orphan is also depraved. You would truly do that?"

Stealing Sasuke's property. He was the legal inheritor of the combined property of the Uchiha clan, being the sole survivor, and Danzo wanted to straight up steal most of it without Sasuke knowing to equip and fund ROOT.

"You know me, my old friend," Danzo said quietly, "There is nothing I'm unwilling to do to protect Konoha. I have done far worse than steal from an orphaned child that didn't deserve an ounce of what he's experienced."

And I don't doubt you in the slightest. Hiruzen thought, his hatred towards this entire situation burning through him.

"Your request to train Naruko is denied," Hiruzen said in a clipped tone, "I will weigh the merits of acquiring some of Sasuke's rightful property. He will be reimbursed if it becomes a reality."

"Very well," Danzo grabbed his cane and resealed his chair, preparing to leave, "But know this. Namikaze singlehandedly stopped Konoha's spiral into catastrophe. He stabilized the front in Kumo and later destroyed Iwa's armies. Individuals can turn the tide of war."

"Your point?" Hiruzen raised a brow.

Those two words seemed to resonate with Danzo, the man bent and weathered by conflict flicking his eye towards him.

"Jinchuriki can do the same thing," Danzo almost whispered, his cane being leaned on heavily, "We can potentially have a replacement for Namikaze as a force projector of strength, but it requires the girl not being squandered at the academy."

"And be trained by you? Molded by you?" Hiruzen knew why Danzo wanted to train Naruko. True, he wanted her to be a means to fix all the weakness and damage wrought by the last 8 years, but Danzo had a habit of producing ill-adjusted people that were emotionally stunted.

"I would have her potential realized," Danzo said clearly, "I might believe you when you say the risk of my training impeding her emotional development is too great, but I know you wish for her to keep a modicum of innocence."

The Sandaime shook his head, fighting the urge to snort.

"Is the innocence of the next generation not what we fight for? So they in turn can fight for the following?"

This had been a topic of contention for decades between the two, neither of them budging on the subject.

Danzo scratched at the bandaged portion of his face, still staying rooted to the spot.

"I would believe you truly wish to protect her for that reason, but I know sentimentality is your weakness," The leader of ROOT said icily, his grip on the cane handle tight enough to make his knuckles turn white, "Your treatment of your students stands as a testament to your weakness."

Hiruzen's previously ironclad grip on his anger nearly came undone, his hands twitching in a desire to hurt.

"You let Tsunade galavant all across Hi no Kuni and haven't ordered her to return when we needed her," Danzo counted, "You let Orochimaru escape despite your unmatched skill in knowing how he fought and unleashed a dangerously intelligent and ambitious Shinobi upon the world, and you have let Jiraiya remain Konoha's spymaster, instead of telling him to do his duty in training the girl."

Hiruzen raised a brow at the last part.

"Jiraiya would be more than adequate to train her," Danzo scowled, "But he flees from responsibility that he finds inconvenient."

That was something that disappointed Hiruzen when he thought of his student, his carefree and laid-back nature being a detriment at times.

Jiraiya said he'd train Naruko when he had the time... But they may not have the luxury of time.

"You are dismissed." Hiruzen finished the discussion, returning back to his seat.

Danzo bowed respectfully and limped from the room, vanishing around the corner.

With the room to himself, Hiruzen removed his hat and set pressed his fingers against his brow, growling under his breath.

Setback after setback seemed to plague them ever since Minato was killed, a new one constantly flowing in once they just started to acclimate. Itachi and Shisui were perfect candidates to be the face of Konoha's next generation, both of them reaching S-rank at a young age, but they were robbed of that opportunity.

Hiruzen shook his head in irritation at the options laid before him, each one making him sick to his core.

The least reprehensible was to quietly funnel the bank accounts of the dead Uchiha into the dummy accounts used to fund the ANBU, and then give it back when the current predicament was stabilized.

The idea had merit, even if Hiruzen would seek other alternatives.

But Danzo was a fool if he truly thought he'd be permitted to train Naruko. Danzo lived only because Hiruzen allowed it. His teammate and old friend lost most of his trust, and he wasn't getting it back.

But he's right about my students. Hiruzen scowled, hating to admit it.

Jiraiya trained Minato into what he was. He could prepare Naruko in the same way. Tsunade's mere presence in Konoha could stave off the encircling swarm of enemies sniffing for blood in the water around Konoha.

Hiruzen would think about this for hours more, getting nowhere on what to do.

"This is boring." Naruko groaned, flailing her arms around. "Show me something cool!"

Naruko was busy trying, and failing, at a chakra control exercise that I managed almost like it was second nature.

She tried again, slipping right off the tree.

"Stupid tree!" She practically growled, punching it as hard as she could.

The bark chipped off from the deceptively strong girl's punch, but she still ended up hurting herself and was moaning as her hand healed.

I fought the urge to start pulling at my hair, the blonde's impatience and anger issues being more than a little vexing.

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it.

Naruko was a young girl that got screwed over by everybody, much like me. The difference was that she never had anyone outside of the ramen store owner and Iruka.

I didn't count Sarutobi because I really hated the man, especially when Naruko mentioned vaguely that he hadn't done anything about her 'definitely not being attacked'.

I just wished she'd confide in me so I could actually do something.

"Naruko," I kept any irritation out of my voice, knowing she wouldn't react well to exasperation or condescension, "You need to know this basic stuff to do anything complex like Ninjutsu."

"It's easy for you," She grumbled, stomping a bit and kicking up some dirt that drew some attention from the other kids, "But it's not for me."

And there's the resentment. I thought, my eyes flicking to the civilian girls that were giving Naruko hateful glares at being around me.

It had been several weeks since I started being openly friendly with Naruko, much to the surprise of all the kids and teachers.

My own chakra control training and steady reserve growth in that time had me pleased enough to begin nature release training, specifically Katon.

I knew my affinity was Raiton, but I didn't have ready access to the intricacies of it like I did for Katon jutsu because of my clan's propensity towards fire.

The problem was that Naruko's affinity, if it was wind, ran contrary to mine.

I was actually slowing my progress by helping the girl and it was annoying me how slow she was on the take.

Actually, I have an idea. I grinned sinisterly, realizing I could drive a wedge between Sarutobi and Naruko.

Was I vindictive and cruel to have a sweet and excitable girl start to hate the old man that had suffered loss? Yes, I was.

And I didn't care an ounce. Don't kill my family and I won't subvert your Jinchuriki's allegiance.

"It's only difficult for you because your clan are chakra freaks." I muttered, seeing Naruko's eyes widened.

"What?" She asked, expressive blue eyes shining in curiosity.

Hook. Line. Sinker.

"You don't know you come from a clan?" I asked, tilting my head in faux confusion.

Naruko's breath quickened, gazing at me hungrily.

"Tell me." She almost demanded, looking desperate. "I have a clan?"

I looked around to make sure no one could overhear us, even though I suspected an ANBU was watching us.

"Let's sit by the swing." I whispered, turning away from the tree and going to the other.

Naruko followed me as we sequestered ourselves away from everybody else, the blonde touching her hair like she constantly did. Evidently, her hair had been much longer, but somebody poured glue on her by 'accident'.

"My..." I paused as I thought of my mom, making an effort to keep my voice steady, "My Kaasan told me about this clan that had large chakra reserves. Their clan name was Uzumaki."

I then gave a basic explanation of what I knew about the Uzumaki clan, mainly that they had immense reserves of chakra and were skilled at Fuinjutsu.

"How did your Kaasan know about all this?" Naruko asked in wonderment, hanging on to every word.

I closed my eyes and remembered a certain memory of my mom telling me about a friend of hers who had beautiful red hair. The memory only stuck with me because I now knew who the woman was.

"Her best friend was named Uzumaki Kushina." I said quietly, "She was killed during the Kyuubi attack."

Naruko started breathing heavily, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"She might've been your mother, I don't know." I whispered, planting the seeds of curiosity in her mind.

With my luck, she would have a fire lit under her to study once she found out her mom was an amazing Fuinjutsu mistress.

"Is there anything else?" Naruko begged, grabbing ahold of my sleeve, "Please?"

I flinched at the contact, not being used to it after being relatively reclusive for the last several weeks outside of interacting with Naruko.

"I don't know anything else," I mumbled, genuinely regretful that I couldn't say much else, "Maybe the Hokage knows more."

Naruko looked almost despondent at me not saying anymore, but I could see a fire in her eyes that I stoked by mentioning the name of Uzumaki Kushina.

The blonde Uzumaki slumped into the swing, remaining quiet as she scraped her sandal against the dirt while swinging a bit. She obviously was trying to think through what I shared, so I'd give her some peace and quiet.

The break time eventually came to an end, the teacher calling us in. I would've preferred more time to myself, but I could deal with it later. So, I stood up and started walking back towards the building, my thoughts mundane and unimportant.

Much to my discomfort, Naruko followed right next to me, her arm occasionally brushing against mine.

"So," I looked at the deceptively dangerous girl next to me, the innocent child that did nothing to deserve any of this gazing at me with wide and curious eyes, "Can you manage tree walking while I do some of my own training?"

I couldn't afford to slow myself down anymore than I have. Orochimaru was coming in about four years and I needed to be prepared.

There was no way I was going to be strong enough to kill or drive him off, even if I managed a rate of progress like Itachi.

But I could try.

Iryo-ninjutsu. Shunshin. Nature release. Kenjutsu. And combining them all together to be more dangerous than Shisui and Tsunade separately. A tall order.

But I was anything but complacent. I'm aiming for the top.

Pop*!

"Shit." I hissed, spitting out some blood and guts from the fish I accidentally exploded.

I'd gone fishing, letting Naruko 'teach' me how to do it when I asked.

It'd been several weeks ago when Naruko had asked Sarutobi about her parents, but he predictably evaded the question and didn't tell her anything.

Her reaction made me hate myself when she ended up being distant from me for awhile, but I could tell from the bags under her eyes and tear tracks that she'd been crying.

She'd made progress on her taijutsu the last few weeks since I gave her one of my scrolls on some taijutsu forms, no longer being totally useless and unbalanced now. She was closer to the middle of the pack for our class, mostly from her being unable to stay down from a hit.

But she didn't talk to me until a few days back because she'd blamed me for causing a problem with her grandfather figure.

The girl apologized to me. Me, the very person who intentionally drove a wedge between them, was apologized to.

I should've felt gleeful at her trying to make an effort at being a friend, but I only felt guilty at manipulating a little girl.

How was I any different from Itachi by doing this? I hated my brother for what he did. I'd still wake up in a cold sweat almost every night, the screech of steel and the weeping and begging of my mother's voice echoing in my head.

Fuck everybody's love for Itachi from the other world. He had a screwed up sense of love when he lovingly made me watch him murder everyone I cared about, then told me I wasn't worth killing.

Wiping the fish guts off my face, I tossed the remains of it to the other side of the river's shoreline, reaching into the bucket next to me for another fish.

Using the same chakra sticking technique to stick to trees and walls, I snagged a fish with my fingers and pulled it up, setting it on the table.

After it flopped around for a time, it went still so I could finally run more practice on my diagnostic Jutsu.

Actually healing it would be within my reach later.

Going through the proper hand seals that I copied, I focused my chakra to resemble the faint chakra halo that the nurse I copied's hands looked like.

An extremely faint, green glow covered my fingers, causing a slight grin to form on my face.

Now let's have a look inside. I pressed my fingers against the fish, gently caressing it with my chakra.

The diagnostic Jutsu I was using was probably similar in some ways to Kage bunshin. My chakra stayed connected to me, and I got experiences back from it interacting with something else.

The main difference was that I wasn't getting clear pictures and images. I was getting echoes of what the fish's insides felt like. I could feel its ribs, the flesh if its underbelly, and the blood that was no longer moving through its veins after it suffocated.

I kept up the continued scanning for a few minutes, being fairly pleased with myself.

At least until my chakra fluctuated for a split second and the fish ruptured.

Scowling, I threw the dead fish aside and rinsed my hands off, going for another.

I didn't make it explode this time.

Progress.

"What is that supposed to be?" Naruko asked, seeing what appeared to be two sheets of paper in Sasuke's hand.

They were at Ichiraku's again, eating the delicious and unmatched food of the gods. Sasuke didn't seem to like it that much, but he'd come around eventually to it, she swore it.

"This is chakra paper," He explained neutrally, sounding a bit tired, "It'll tell us what our chakra affinities are. Remember what I told you about nature release?"

Naruko furrowed her brow and thought back to the complicated explanation Sasuke gave about chakra.

"People have one affinity," She said slowly, fidgeting a bit at Sasuke maintaining his gaze on her, "and... uh, some don't work together?"

Sasuke smiled slightly, giving her a nod. "Exactly, mine's probably fire because my clan almost always has fire as their's. You want to test yours first?"

"Yes!" Naruko replied excitedly, reaching for a sheet and taking it from Sasuke.

She held the sheet for a few seconds before she realized that she hadn't asked Sasuke how it worked.

"Push your chakra through it," Sasuke took mercy on her and explained, making her flush in embarrassment, "And we'll see."

Naruko did as instructed, focusing to force her chakra through her hand and into the paper, and watched as the paper was split in half.

"Um." She blinked and wondered what it meant.

"Wind." Sasuke grinned, looking back at her with a happy expression, "Wind is very rare, but it's one of the best offensive natures. You can create tornadoes and split rocks in half with wind blades."

Naruko felt her heartbeat quicken, excited at all the cool jutsu she could do.

"And it compliments fire." Sasuke continued to grin, doing exactly what she did and pulsing chakra through his own paper.

Naruko looked at it with anticipation, ecstatic that she and her new friend? were going to be an awesome team. Wind and fire, fire and wind.

It'll be amazing, 'ttebayo! She thought, watching as the paper changed.

It crinkled.

Naruko heard Sasuke mutter a curse, the paper getting chucked aside as he suddenly looked angry.

"What is it?" She asked, tilting her head in concern.

What was wrong?

"Lightning," Sasuke bit out, "Lightning." He pushed aside his half eaten ramen bowl as he stood up, pacing around.

"Sasuke," Naruko said his name, sounding worried, "Are you okay? What's wrong with lightning?"

Sasuke pushed his hair back forcefully, shaking his head.

"Nothing," He clarified, but he still looked displeased, "Lightning is extremely good at ripping through walls and shocking people, but it works horribly with wind."

Naruko didn't know what that meant, so Sasuke clarified even more so.

"Lightning is the opposite of wind like how fire and water are opposites," He said, his voice low as he glanced around all of a sudden, "Wind cuts while lightning pierces. I probably won't be able to help you at all with your wind jutsu, and you can't help me with my lightning jutsu."

Naruko slowly absorbed what Sasuke just said to her, the realization that they weren't destined to kick butt together made her slump in her seat, her throat tight.

It wasn't fair. Why did the world want to make things hard for her over and over again? Jiji wasn't telling her anything about her parents, but she knew he knew something.

Why?

"But," She heard Sasuke say that one glorious word. It meant he had an idea, "Give me some time to figure something out. I might have a way to speed up your training, but I can't guarantee it."

It was enough though. Naruko squealed happily and ran at Sasuke, wrapping up in a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She shouted, holding him tight.

Sasuke froze in her grip and was trying to get away.

"Let go," He tried to say clearly, "Please, let go."

She finally did and looked right up at him, being slightly shorter than him.

"We can still do taijutsu...right?" She asked, not seeing how their opposing affinities would change that.

"We can still do taijutsu," He promised, alleviating that particular worry, "And chakra control exercises."

Naruko almost sagged in relief, glad that they wouldn't have to part ways when training.

"But you might need to figure out how to do some of the complex exercises on your own," Sasuke said awkwardly, "I can give you some scrolls about how to do them properly, but I need to do some of my own stuff."

"Healing?" Naruko asked, expecting him to say yes.

Sasuke sounded so quiet and unsure after they fought and were in Jiji's office when he'd been asked why he was doing advanced control exercises. Healing and helping people was a nice and good thing to do.

Maybe Sasuke could help her when they hurt her sometimes.

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded, "It's really hard to do and I don't want to accidentally hurt someone when doing it."

Naruko smiled softly, wondering what she did to deserve having such a nice boy like Sasuke as a friend. She went back to finishing up her sixth bowl of ramen, slurping it up happily.

"Come on, Sasuke, you got this." I muttered to myself, hopping on the balls of my feet in preparation for what I'd been building up to since I first had the influx of memories jammed into my head.

It'd been nearly five months now, and I'd been steadily increasing my reserves and my chakra responded to my will properly.

The fact that I, who just turned 9 last week, had reserves on par with a genin, if not a bit more, and was performing Chunin level control exercises, was very pleasing to me.

With the hard focus on reserve increase and control, I could train longer with nature release, Ninjutsu, and my Sharingan.

Quit stalling, do it, coward.

Making a cross seal, I made a Kage bunshin, the chakra construct appearing with a slight puff.

I staggered and fought the urge to puke, my balance being shot by the fatigue hitting me.

"I got you." The clone said, holding me steady so I didn't fall.

Once I was sure I wasn't going to vomit or pass out, I inspected my handiwork.

A perfect copy of me was standing in front of me, having the same spiky black hair, black eyes, and pale complexion.

"Good job," The clone smirked, letting go of me now that I wasn't dizzy, "One down."

"A hundred to go." I finished, smiling widely at actually pulling it off. "You mind popping? I need the chakra."

The clone nodded and destabilized its own chakra, popping and returning to me.

The return of the chakra made me feel like a truckload of weight was taken off me and I got the experience of talking with myself, and boy was it weird.

How could Naruto have possibly kept his sanity by doing this on a massive scale? I wondered, before laughing and making an accurate conclusion.

He was never sane to begin with.

"Hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke is here now," One of his assistants said to him once she entered his office.

"Thank you," He replied, steepling his fingers and resting his chin on them, "Send him in, please."

The assistant nodded and left to retrieve the boy that Hiruzen wished to speak with.

In the ensuing months following the extermination of the Uchiha, young Sasuke had reacted in one of the two of the most common reactions to loss children like him did.

Hiruzen had lived far too long to not notice patterns among children that lost their mothers and fathers in the Shinobi wars, or war orphans that witnessed the barbarism and savagery of combat.

Sasuke became hyper-focused on not being weak, trudging forward on progressing.

It was already September and he had managed to make a Kage bunshin, started on Fire release, and was still trying to maximize his chakra reserves to the highest he could for a 9 year old by constant exercises.

If only the motivation was at a less horrific cost, then Hiruzen could rest easy.

His assistant came back with Sasuke in tow, the boy squinting slightly and his fingers on his left hand were bandaged.

Hiruzen hid any reaction to it, but he knew for a fact why his fingers were bandaged like that.

Burnt fingers from burning leaves with chakra.

"Ah, Sasuke, I'm glad to see you are in good health. Please, take a seat." He gestured towards the chair in front of the desk.

Sasuke slowly walked towards the aforementioned chair, sitting down and gazing at Hiruzen's chin.

Still averting eye contact.

"How goes your training?" Hiruzen smiled politely, his eyes flicking towards the assistant as a signal to leave, which she did.

Best to be honest with Sasuke about him knowing about the training being done.

Sasuke frowned, his eyes slowly tracing the walls and ceiling.

"The ANBU that are monitoring me would give you a better picture," Sasuke said quietly, "I assume I'm being safe because they would have intervened if I was pushing it too far."

Hiruzen's neutral expression didn't change, but his mind was appraising the boy's rationale.

I already knew he was aware of ANBU watching him from the cookies he left out, but to know that they were reporting back to me is more along what Itachi would figure out.

"I know I'm being watched," Sasuke said evenly, tapping his fingers against the armrest lightly, "The village can't afford to lose me, so the ANBU protect me."

He didn't seem to be irked by it, only stating a fact.

"Is that why Naruko has an ANBU guard?" Sasuke asked curiously.

That elicited a twitch from Hiruzen, who quickly schooled his features into a slight tilt of his head and a smile.

"I'm not sure what you are talking about, Sasuke."

The Uchiha looked unconvinced, leaning forward in the chair.

"It's okay," Sasuke whispered, looking around, "I know the secret about her."

Hiruzen failed to hide his surprise this time, his mind actively running through how Sasuke could possibly know that.

"I don't know why the villagers would hate her," Sasuke said to himself aloud, looking confused, "It's not her fault that she and her mom were who they were."

He knows. How could he possibly know?

"Sasuke," He kept his voice calm, or at least tried to, "How did you come across that information?"

Sasuke frowned as he seemed to force himself to make eye contact, his dark eyes gleaming in the light.

"My..." He blinked suspiciously quick, "My Kaasan told me."

Hiruzen's hands had discreetly lowered to his side as he was talking with Sasuke, which was good given that his fists were clenched.

He didn't want to think that Fugaku and Mikoto's attempt to adopt Naruko was out of a desire to mold the village's Jinchuriki to their view, but why else would Mikoto tell Sasuke about Kushina and Naruko being Jinchuriki?

Another dark thought struck Hiruzen. Could Sasuke's motive for starting to be around Naruko be derived from that?

"That is a classified secret that is punished severely if shared, Sasuke," Hiruzen didn't pretend to be a polite and kindly old man. He was acting in the capacity of Hokage, "I trust that you will not bring it up? Naruko would be at risk if people found out."

Sasuke stood up and glared at him defiantly, refusing to be cowled.

"Why should anybody care if she's an Uzumaki?" He demanded, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why can't you tell her who her mom is?"

Hiruzen's mind froze to a complete halt at what Sasuke just said.

He doesn't know?

Did he just misunderstand the situation completely and misread what Sasuke said?

"So," He said slowly, reining in his emotions with a practiced ease, "You mother Mikoto told you about Kushina's clan?"

Sasuke nodded, still standing up.

"She said they killed them all because of how dangerous they were," Sasuke looked down, his hands balling into fists, "Naruko's all alone, the last of her clan." He whispered.

Hiruzen felt all the pieces fall in line. Sasuke reached out to Naruko because she was an orphan survivor of a clan, just like he was. And she was the daughter of his mother's best friend, another living link to what he had lost.

There was nothing nefarious, only a little boy that was alone and reached out for friendship.

"Then you understand why it has been kept secret?" Hiruzen played along, "The secret can't be let out."

"But why does the villagers hate Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked, "What did they do wrong? What did a little girl do to deserve this?"

Hiruzen felt each word seem to stab into him, reminding him of how he failed to keep the knowledge of Naruko being a Jinchuriki from leaking out.

"The Uzumaki had their own village," Hiruzen said gently, keeping his thoughts from wondering to that, "Kushina was not originally from Konoha."

Sasuke stayed quiet and mulled over that, his hands still clenched.

"Because she's not 'one of us'." Sasuke scowled, sitting back the chair roughly.

Hiruzen felt relieved that Sasuke didn't know about Naruko's status as Jinchuriki, but his curious nature was somewhat concerning. Could he perhaps dig into matters he shouldn't as of yet? Itachi insisted that he not know so hatred could not be sown against Konoha.

He merely wishes to help a friend who does nothing to deserve scorn. I can talk with Naruko about her mother and some about her clan. It will do her good.

Once Sasuke seemed to calm down from his irritation, he looked up at Hiruzen flatly, not showing his thoughts.

"Why am I here in the first place, sir?"

Hiruzen realized that they got off track, mainly from the near heart attack he had at thinking Sasuke knew about Naruko being a Jinchuriki.

"You have performed amazingly at Iryo-ninjutsu," He didn't have to lie about that at all, "I can truthfully say that aside from my own Sensei, the Shodai Hokage, and my student Tsunade, I haven't seen someone take to Iryo-ninjutsu as well as you."

A spark of something lit up in Sasuke's eyes at the proclamation, a something that Hiruzen recognized in all three of his students at different times.

Pride.

Sasuke was proud of that.

"But you have hit a ceiling on your progress, haven't you?" Hiruzen raised a brow, being well appraised on Sasuke's slowing down on improving his skills into a more complex form.

There was only so much progress that could be made with Iryo-ninjutsu. Unlike chakra control exercises and most of the forms of nature release training, Iryo-ninjutsu took a more hands-on approach to training it.

Tsunade had a special advantage in having her grandfather's journal to help read from, along with her clan encouraging her every step of the way in hopes of having a second Hashirama in healing.

Sasuke frowned and nodded at his question, letting out an exhale.

"Would you be averse to going to the hospital to study under a junior Iryo-nin?" Hiruzen asked, offering something he knew Sasuke would accept. "It can help with your training."

Sasuke, to his surprise, didn't even think before answering.

"Yes." He replied quickly, his quiet and normally reserved attitude vanishing at the offer of progressing in healing.

Hiruzen felt a ghost of a smirk threaten to appear on his face.

"Then I am pleased to say that your first meeting will be next Saturday at 8:30 a.m."

Sasuke nodded and glanced at the door, then back to him.

"One last thing, then you can leave." Hiruzen reached into his drawer and pulled out a hand written book, the leather of the cover slightly cracked. "This is one of many books written by my student, Tsunade. You may borrow it if you wish."

Sasuke's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline, the shock seeming to roll off him in waves.

"What?" Sasuke managed to stammer out, gazing at the offered book like it was priceless.

"Tsunade also desired healing people," Hiruzen smiled softly, remembering the fiery, but kind, girl that he took as one of his students, "I see much of my student in you."

Hopefully, Sasuke could be guided to be like how Tsunade was, before she suffered loss.

Drawing Sasuke away from exclusively combat oriented training would easily prevent him from going the route of missing nin to hunt Itachi down years down the road.

Getting lost in training had mentally affected young Shinobi in the past, often for the worse.

It helped Sasuke and Konoha both to keep him occupied on a mostly positive art. Not like the boy knew about the more dangerous aspects yet.

The young Uchiha slowly reached to take the book from Hiruzen's hands, holding it as if he were cradling a newborn.

"I will make sure to keep this safe and return it to you when I'm finished, sir." Sasuke vowed, slowly turning to leave.

As he went to leave, Hiruzen thought of something that Sasuke probably thought he kept secret.

He had awakened his Sharingan.

Hiruzen didn't doubt that Sasuke did not like making eye contact with people after Itachi tortured him, but the sunglasses he often wore was likely to hide when he had his eyes active to copy things.

It also helped that Inu had noticed Sasuke drop something in his kitchen and caught it almost before it had started falling, just like how Inu had when he was adjusting to his implanted Sharingan.

Sasuke was an amazing prospect of a Shinobi that had seemed to be in his brother's shadow. But Hiruzen now saw the potential.

If Sasuke kept a semi positive mindest, cultivated more so by becoming a medical ninja, Sarutobi Hiruzen saw the potential for an S-rank Shinobi.

Regular S-ranks were immensely skilled and capable of changing the course of entire battles. But S-rank Uchiha were something else.

Fugaku was feared during the Third War, and Hiruzen saw a bright future in the form of Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

The Dark Horse that was Uchiha Sasuke was the only one left...

But that was fine.

So long as one spark remained, the fires of hope could be ignited.

With that positive thought, Hiruzen went back to finishing up the last few papers before he went home, pleased with the success at assisting the boy named after his father.

End Chapter:

The way ROOT is addressed in the series irritates the ever living hell out of me. We're supposed to assume that Hiruzen would suffer the existence of a rogue faction that is not loyal to him in Konoha without killing the leader, Danzo. In the anime, Danzo should've been killed by Hiruzen, and the elders either imprisoned or also killed for the stunt pulled with giving Itachi orders to kill the Uchiha.

I'm structurimg how ROOT conducts itself, and why Hiruzen doesn't dissolve them like he does in the anime, in a similar way to different government agencies in the US.

The NSA and CIA both center around protecting the US, but they have different jurisdictions. The ANBU and ROOT are similar in what they do, but are still very different

I'm basing ROOT somewhat on the CIA in some ways, mainly the wetwork stuff and spooky crap done. Including hurting the people they're supposed to protect in many cases.

The stealing and looting property to be untraceable, along with floating the idea of stealing from Sasuke, isn't something Danzo would shy away from. And the precedence for untraceable money to do shady crap is already there. The CIA and the drug trade is shady AF since the 70s, and the excuse of 'For national security' is used often.

But I'm not here to talk about real life stuff, I'm here to post fanfiction. So I'll get into happy and gleefully villainous fic stuff.

Everything in this chapter occurs for a reason. I've seldom seen fics that actually show some of Danzo's rationale and reasoning for doubting Hiruzen's leadership, and even less that point out why the hell Jiraiya didn't train Naruto into being dangerous early on. I can easily see that being a point of contention between Hiruzen and Danzo, because Hiruzen could order Jiraiya to train Naruto.

Sasuke's motives are partially revealed and he succeeds brilliantly at driving a potential wedge between Naruko and Hiruzen. It's child's play to manipulate a kid starved of attention, especially when the manipulator is also a kid that is all alone.

The Uzumaki clan isn't going to get expanded into like my other fic, but Naruko is still going to sniff for information now that she's aware that she's from a clan.

But that's about it. Here's a new chapter. Link to my discord is here : discord.gg/2XN2rzuFpM

Raging. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Nera-Niki, Medotarek, Dacraun and 820 othersRagingSmurfOO7Nov 27, 2022NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 4: Unwelcome surprises New View contentRagingSmurfOO7Not too sore, are you?Nov 29, 2022Add bookmark#95The week leading up to me going to the hospital for some hands on instruction and experience was me memorizing the entire book Tsunade wrote, then reading it again multiple times with my Sharingan to burn it in.

That was the most noted thing I did, although I did other things like go to the academy like usual and trained my Fire release some more so I could start doing some Ninjutsu.

But the medical stuff was more important right now. It was the key to a massive boon to my survival chances.

I'd noticed that, although I remembered the details of the book with perfect clarity from my Sharingan, there was sometimes a type of disconnect between my mind processing the memories of the words into actually meaning what they were supposed to.

Rereading it fixed it.

On a more cynical note, Naruko was in a rather irritable mood. Her plumbing stopped working because the pipe supposedly burst early today, making her apartment smell like sewage water.

The ANBU, probably because nobody else could be trusted to not put an exploding tag somewhere, were busy cleaning it up, but that left her in a bad situation. So, despite me valuing the illusion of my fortress of solitude, the ANBU making that a false sense of aloneness, I let her spend the day here under the condition she not touch anything.

She was currently busy, in my backyard, making rocks explode with her chakra.

Mildly disconcerting that a Jinchuriki was immensely fascinated with making things explode, but I didn't have much room to say anything because I enjoyed burning things.

Wrapping the book in a flame retardant cloth, just for good measure, I put it in the drawer of my father's desk, the room still holding the faint scent of the brand of sake he enjoyed.

It's already been several months. I thought to myself, walking out of the room to go talk with Naruko real quick.

The nightmares persisted, the smell of my own blood when I trained until my knuckles bled sending me into a fight or flight mindset from that being a trigger.

Fucking Itachi.

I hated having that weakness. I hated that my dreams were stained by Itachi's poison. I hated that I couldn't look at happy families in public without fighting the urge to sneer because they reaped the reward of my family being exterminated!

Calm down. I scolded myself, relaxing my fingers that I just realized were digging into my palms. No use in being angry at them. Focus on Obito and Itachi.

Forcing my breathing under control, I stood still and counted to ten, focusing on my heartbeat and the chaotic thrum of my chakra under my skin.

After a few moments, my emotions settled back to the dull, persistent ache it normally was, instead of the blaze it was just a short while ago.

With a clean set of clothes and my hair looking as presentable as I could make the spiky black locks, I opened the back door and whistled to get Naruko's attention, the blonde's bright eyes shooting towards mine as she dropped the rock she almost murdered.

My... friend? came running towards me, skidding to halt and almost stumbling.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, almost sounding apprehensive, "I didn't mean to do anything, 'ttebayo. Are you mad I broke the rocks?"

The way her eyes looked when she was afraid made me bite the inside of my cheek, fighting the urge to sneer.

"Naruko," I put my hand up, still vexed by how she'd immediately assume I was upset with her, "I'm just saying that I'm heading to the hospital for some training so you don't wonder where I'm at."

The last week had my anger at the village and Sarutobi escalate to an even higher level. This little girl was so terrified of rejection that she was hanging on to every bit of affection and was perpetually worried I would suddenly tell her to stay away from me.

"Eh," The blonde that was the subject of my thoughts rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Sorry."

"Hn," I waved it off, shrugging my shoulders, "Food's in the refrigerator. Don't eat what's in the grey bowl."

It was leftovers from last night, and I was saving it for supper. I'd just get Naruko some takeout from Ichiraku's when I came back.

Naruko nodded happily, my statement about only going to go train putting her at ease.

"Okay."

I turned and left her, silently wondering whether it was smart of me to leave a hyperactive eight year old Jinchuriki unsupervised in my house.

Maybe I could give her coffee and lock her in Itachi's room. I wondered, making my way across the rooftops to reach the hospital quicker.

A smile crept up on my face as I utilized the chakra flow exercise I'd been doing to fortify my muscles, focusing on the pattern of my breathing and heartbeat to maximize efficiency.

My sandals scrapped against a shingle, my foot digging in a bit and propelling me to the next rooftop.

I was undoubtedly a novice to any of the ANBU following me, but I knew this was a decent skill, even at the basic level I currently was, and at nine years old, it was rarely seen.

The environment blurred some as I sped up, so I activated my Sharingan, the visuals perfectly fine now. The faint ripples of chakra emanating from the people created an extremely faint distortion in the air, making me drink in the sight.

I reached the hospital and hopped off the roof of the adjacent building, dropping to the ground outside.

Shutting off my eyes for now, I entered the hospital and went to the desk, scowling when I realized I was too short to look over the desk.

The nurse let out a snort and got up from her chair, standing up to peer down at me.

"Can I help you, young man?" She asked politely, looking at me differently, probably to gauge whether I was injured or not.

I knew my way around hospitals from the other memories, but Shinobi village hospitals were somewhat different, catering to both soldiers and civilians.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," I said politely, eliciting a flash of realization in her eyes, "The Hokage gave me permission to learn Iryo-ninjutsu." I showed the pass that was dropped off at my house by the ANBU the day after the meeting with Sarutobi.

The lady took the note and read it, reaching for another sheet of paper on her desk.

"I see," She muttered, putting the note in a lockbox that hummed for a moment, before stopping, "Room 17. And I hope you do wonderfully." She added softly.

"Thank you." I mumbled, walking through the door to get to the hospital rooms.

The smell of antiseptic and the faint chakra glow reminded me of when I was last in the hospital, making me uncomfortable as my sandals clacked against the marble floor.

Rounding the corner, I caught a faint whiff of blood and bit the inside of my cheek, enough to bleed.

"Why, 'Tachi! How could you do this!"

I got to room 17 and pushed the door open, spotting a grey haired person with his back turned to me while he was washing his hands.

The junior Iryo-nin turned around and I felt my blood freeze at the sight of his face.

Grey hair, dark eyes, and a pair of glasses on his face.

"Hello, Uchiha Sasuke," Yakushi Kabuto greeted me, giving me a smile I knew was fake, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto."

I gazed at Kabuto for a few seconds, trying to recover from the shock.

At the expression on my face, Kabuto tilted his head. "Is something wrong?"

Blinking, I thought of a lie to cover up my recognition of the bastard.

"I," I swallowed, looking down a bit like I was uncomfortable, "The antiseptic... It... reminds me of the... the."

Kabuto seemed to buy it because he grimaced, or at least put on a show of it.

"I see." He said, glancing at the doorway. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I shook my head stiffly.

"I deal with it." I muttered, looking at what was on the table.

A few diagrams of the human anatomy and some other knowledge on Iryo-ninjutsu.

I can't just get out of this. I growled internally, my anger at the situation being almost indescribable.

I could very easily be on Orochimaru's radar earlier because of this four eyed fuck in front of me. This bastard was dangerous on his own, but it was his masters that scared me.

The two greatest threats to me right now were both tied to Kabuto, those two being Danzo and Orochimaru.

Be careful what you wish for. I thought to myself, regretting the immediate accepting of Sarutobi's offer. He either knew Kabuto was a ROOT agent, or he was incompetent.

And I wasn't hedging my bet on incompetence.

"Were you told about what I already know on Iryo-ninjutsu?" I asked, deciding I couldn't do anything about avoiding Kabuto without raising suspicion for now.

Kabuto gave a reassuring grin and nodded. "Yes, and it's fairly impressive. Book smarts and already able to run a diagnostic scan at nine years old. You're pretty good, probably better than me within a couple years."

I'm ripping your throat out when I get the chance. I gave a fragile smile like I was trying to be like what I was before Itachi tortured me. "Thank you."

"Now that we've finished the introduction." Kabuto turned towards the table that had the notes and a few other things I didn't recognize. "Let's get started on practical work."

The four hours I spent studying Chunin level Iryo-ninjutsu with Kabuto finally came to an end and I went straight to my house, ready to relax for a bit and ask Naruko if she wanted supper.

But once I got there, I noticed something wasn't right.

Naruko was gone.

Damnit. I groaned, looking throughout my house and my backyard that I'd turned into a small training ground. Why'd she leave?

Walking quickly to the fridge, I opened it and saw none of the food was missing.

Not having anything better to do, I made a clone with a little difficulty and told it to look for Naruko while I set up my food, taking it out of the fridge to heat it up.

Whistling to break the silence, I was heating it up about 15 minutes later when my clone popped.

The pan in my hand fell from my grip with a clatter when I got the feedback, the experience painting a horrifying picture.

Naruko had been attacked.

Ripping off the apron and rushing from the kitchen, I shoved the door open and took off running to reach the blonde.

Naruko was shivering as she sobbed uncontrollably, Sasuke, or what was a bunshin of Sasuke, having disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She was now alone again.

Nobody had hurt her this time, but somebody had tripped her and called her a word she didn't understand, but had been called constantly.

Whore.

She had gotten impatient with Sasuke being gone and was a bit uncomfortable when she realized people had died in the Uchiha clan compound, so she went with her trusty toad wallet to get some ramen.

The wallet was now empty.

After an amount of time she couldn't determine, Sasuke showed up, and the sight of him both made her feel safe and terrified her.

His eyes were red.

"Naruko." He said her name gently, his eyes darting across the alleyway she had stumbled into to get away from the angry civilians that called her names and hated her. "Are you alright?"

She shivered and looked away from his blood red eyes, the colour making her unnaturally afraid for some reason.

With supreme force of will, she looked up at the raven haired boy, his eyes now back to normal.

"They took my money." She mumbled, wiping at her eyes as she clutched the wallet in her other hand.

Sasuke, who looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden, knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder, giving her an uncertain smile.

"Everything will be alright." He promised, but it didn't reassure her.

"No it's not alright!" She cried, gripping one of her few possessions like her life depended on it, "I'm going to starve. I don't have any money!"

Rent couldn't be paid for her apartment. She was going to be on the street again, like that month of torture she went through when she was thrown out of the orphanage.

As Naruko's breathing started to get more and more laboured as she started having a panic attack, Sasuke held her steady and forced her to look into his eyes.

"I have plenty of money." The boy promised, running his fingers over the back of her hand gently. "Please, don't cry."

Naruko hiccuped slightly and stopped shaking, her only friend's presence helping her not fall apart.

After some time, Sasuke helped her up and walked her out of the alley and to his home again, opening up the door as he held her close to him.

He practically carried her to the kitchen, sitting her down in a chair as he went towards his stove.

She heard him mutter something under his breath as he adjusted the heat, ignoring the pan on the ground that had some type of meat in it.

"Do you mind pork?" Sasuke asked, picking up the pan and putting it back on the stove, his other hand grabbing at the bag that she now saw had a few leftovers.

Naruko shook her head, not trusting her voice to be normal sounding.

Sasuke shrugged and put the remaining food in the pan, spreading it around with a wood spoon.

Aside from the light sizzle, there wasn't any sound for several minutes. Once the meat was heated up, Sasuke flicked the stove off and put the food on a plate, carrying it over to her and setting it in front of her.

"Eat." He said, not adding anything as he sat down on the other side of the table.

Naruko rubbed her nose, sniffing a bit.

"What about you?" She asked quietly, knowing there wasn't any other food.

Sasuke simply leaned forward and fixed her with a serious look.

"Naruko, eat." He commanded her this time, his face flat and cold like a statue.

Naruko looked away and started eating, letting out a moan of contentment at the taste.

At this point, she would have found anything edible delicious. But that didn't matter.

As she finished, she saw Sasuke start to shift in his chair, tapping his fingers against the table.

"If you don't want to talk, I won't ever bring it up again." He said neutrally, his gaze fixed on her chin. "But I want to know what happened."

Swallowing nervously, Naruko started fidgeting at the request and tried to crush down the constant memories of every event that happened to her over the last several months.

Constant whispers of being a demon, rejection or ignoring of her like she didn't exist, and the occasional beating or two.

"I don't want to talk about it." She mumbled, her throat dry.

Sasuke nodded emotionlessly and took the empty plate, walking towards the kitchen and putting it in the sink.

"Then I won't ask again," He said quietly, turning and gesturing towards her to follow him, "Follow me."

Naruko hopped off the chair and followed the raven haired boy, flinching when her foot caused a board to creak.

Sasuke paused his steps and turned sharply towards the board, his eyes narrowed.

After a moment that seemed to stretch on, Sasuke kept walking and opened a door into a room, not walking into it though.

"There is my parents' room," He said shortly, "And Itachi's." His voice caught as he pointed his right hand at another room, his fingers gripping the doorway lightly.

Naruko's jaw almost fell in shock at what Sasuke offered. He didn't outright say it, but she could guess what he was hinting at.

"I can stay the night?" She asked weakly, her hopes raised.

Sasuke nodded, not making eye contact.

"Until you apartment gets fixed. It can be a couple days."

Naruko rushed forward and pulled Sasuke into a hug, gripping him tightly.

Sasuke froze in her grip and let put a gasp, but she didn't know why.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She shouted, almost pulling him to the ground accidentally.

Sasuke managed to force her off him, his face pale.

"It's f-fine." He murmured, his jaw clenching and unclenching lightly, "My parents' room doesn't have dust in it, so I recommend that."

Naruko was about to ask why Itachi's room would have dust in it, but she stopped herself before she could ask.

"Blankets and pillows are in the closet." Sasuke said neutrally, then he walked away.

"Where are you going?" Naruko asked apprehensively, not wanting him to leave just yet.

"Backyard to train some more." He said, turning to give her a reassuring look. "I'll be just outside."

With that, Sasuke exited out the backdoor and left her in the house alone.

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu

.

I blasted a ball of fire out of my mouth and up to the sky, grinning widely as it slowly dissipated into nothing after I completed it.

My father had taught me it before the massacre and I managed to pass his test of proficiency, but I felt I could do better.

Judging by the fire going from red to having streaks of white at the center and the sweat on my face from the ambient heat, the several weeks of training my Fire Release were paying off.

Grabbing a wet cloth rag on a small table next to me, I wiped my face off and grabbed a water bottle, gulping down the contents.

Setting it back down, I hopped on the balls of my feet in preparation for something I was wanting to try ever since I finished reading the book Sarutobi let me borrow.

Pinpoint chakra control was good not just for for conserving chakra, but also something Tsunade was known for.

Punching hard enough to make a building come crashing down sounds fun.

Walking up to the log I was toughening my hands against for taijutsu training, I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing, holding a tight grip on my chakra as I snaked it across the tenketsu in my arm and fingers.

Similar to how I used the Mystical Palms jutsu, I pulsed chakra into my fingers, focusing on the wood.

Visualizing the faceless visage of whatever bastard hurt Naruko today, I lunged forward and punched the wood, a crack echoing from the point of impact.

The problem was that it wasn't the wood.

"Fuuuuckk!" I snarled, pain radiating from my hand from punching it.

A constant stream of profanity came from my mouth that would have resulted in my mother and father arguing over who was going to discipline me, my Sharingan activating from the pain.

Growling audibly, I lifted my hand up to my face and inspected it.

I probably fractured the knuckle on my middle finger, because it was aching in rhythm with my pulse.

Hissing in pain, I went through the needed hand seals, gritting my teeth at the pain coming from my one hand.

A soft, green glow emanated from my hand and I pressed my fingers against the fracture, letting out a groan of relief as the pain faded.

Shutting off the chakra feed to my hand, I glared at the wood distastefully and went back to more chakra control exercises, needing to be better at it.

I might be a recently turned 9 year old, but I needed to progress faster. Unless I was chunin level at everything within a year, I'll consider myself a failure.

And I hate failure.

Staggering into my house, I opened the door with a shaky hand as I struggled to lift my legs up to get in, all my limbs feeling like jelly.

I had been doing exercises that Tsunade's book recommended to help enlarge your tenketsu points and make strengthening extremities easier.

I regretted ever getting that book.

Pins and needles all over my body and my chakra was dangerously low from constantly swirling it through my chakra network to 'stretch' my chakra coils to jumpstart more growth.

Leaning against the wall in the hallway to steady myself, I forced my legs to respond to my commands and dragged myself to my bedroom.

Moaning weakly, I got the door open and got to the bed right as my legs gave out.

I didn't even get under the blankets, I just laid down, put my hands under the pillow and relished in the cold feeling.

Right as I started to let exhaustion send me into the realms of sleep, my fingers brushed against paper, right under my pillow.

Exploding tag.

Fuck. I jumped up and rolled out of bed, bolting for the door. Unfortunately for me, my legs refused to cooperate and I fell face first on my bedroom floor.

Here I was, Uchiha Sasuke, reincarnated son of the Sage of Six Paths, an absolute god in the making, and I was about to die from something as trivial as a piece of paper with a bomb sealed in it.

I let out a cry of terror at dying again, whimpering in fear at my fate as I covered my face and curled in a ball.

But the explosion never came.

Shivering in fear, I forced myself up and glanced at the bed, the piece of paper on the ground from when I jumped out of the bed.

With my blood thundering in my ears and my heart hammering my chest, I crawled across the floor and grabbed the paper with trembling fingers.

It was a storage seal.

"Don't be a bomb." I prayed, pulsing a bit of my noticeably lower reserves through my index and into the seal.

The seal popped open and revealed two items, a note and a small, handmade journal that looked decades old, but well cared for.

Picking up the note shakily, I saw that it had writing on it that I didn't recognize.

Uchiha Sasuke,

There is a mole in the ANBU that is assisting the villagers in harming the girl. Trust none, save for Inu.

The book is a manual on Wind Release for the Uzumaki girl. Make sure she does not damage it beyond use.

Burn this note, you are being watched.

Good luck in you endeavors,

Signed, Konoha's humble servant.

I set down the note slowly and wrapped my hands around the book, cracking it open.

It contained detailed explanations on the inner workings of Wind Release that were frightening in their application.

The first portion literally said that wind has no weakness, and even its perceived weakness can be used to your advantage.

Whoever wrote this was intelligent and experienced in war, no other possibility.

And it was gifted to Naruko, with me as the middleman.

Closing the book up, I looked at the note and activated my Sharingan, burning the image in my mind. I then grabbed the note in my hand and pulsed fire chakra into it, burning it to ash.

A lance of pain suddenly went through me and my Sharingan deactivated, a sudden wave of nausea hitting me.

I almost just gave myself chakra exhaustion with that small act because of my previous training.

Panting for a moment until my vision stopped swimming, I forced myself up and fell on the bed, shutting my eyes and passing out.

"Can any student tell me about the Sannin?" Iruka asked, looking across the room of students.

Thanks to my jumbled memories on a couple of things, I hadn't realized this was Iruka's first year teaching. So far, he was being acclimated into the classroom to replace the old one, who was set to retire.

But that didn't matter all that much to me.

The weekend came and went, with Naruko's plumbing being fixed and her going back. To say she was clingy would be an understatement. I had to promise to send a clone with her to her apartment each day, which she told me since then that she hadn't been harassed or bothered.

So, it seemed like what the letter said was correct, a mole was in the ANBU that was running interference to get her attacked, and my presence made it too risky because my own ANBU guard assigned to me was also watching.

"No one?" Iruka asked, sighing softly. "You were taught about them just a few weeks ago. I know you have it in you to answer." He smiled reassuringly.

When everyone looked about as interested as Shikamaru, including Naruko, nothing was going to happen.

Shaking my head irritably, I raised my hand.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Iruka asked hopefully.

"The Sannin are three of the most capable Shinobi Konoha has ever produced," I said emotionlessly, tapping my bandaged fingers against the table lightly, "They were trained by the Sandaime Hokage and fought in the Second Shinobi War extensively, with Senju Tsunade taking a more passive role compared to her teammates in the Third."

I didn't just read the material for my age, I read ahead on pretty much everything. In fact, the only reason I was here in person was because my reserves hadn't recovered enough to make a shadow clone and have enough to do control and flow exercises.

"Anything else?" Iruka asked slowly, appraising me noticeably.

"All three have different summoning contracts." I said, but before I could continue, Iruka held up his hand.

"Would you care to explain what a summoning contract is to the civilian born students?" He asked politely. "Not everyone is as quick to understanding as you, Sasuke."

You mean I'm not an ill educated child. I frowned at being interrupted, but I settled for a shrug of indifference as my reaction.

"Summoning contracts," I turned and looked at the no name kids that looked at my apprehensively at times, "Are deals or alliances made between sapient, which means like humans in intelligence; they can speak and read, animals so that the Shinobi who has signed an agreement with them can call upon them for aid. The three contracts the Sannin have are the Toads, Snakes, and Slugs." I took a deep inhale and continued. "The snake known as Manda and the toad Gamabunta are nearly the size of the Kyuubi and were used to crush enemy Shinobi throughout Konoha's conflicts."

"That sounds awesome!" One of the civilian students exclaimed, looking excited at what he probably thought was the cool and glorious delusion of the world. "How cool would it be to get a contract or learn from the Sannin?"

Despite knowing better, I wanted to scare a bunch of people. I wasn't in the best of moods, or more like I was irritated by my privacy being violated by some spook. The heads-up and the book for Naruko only lightened it.

"It's even more... awesome," I lowered my voice at the word, staring at him coldly, "When you realize that Tsunade is the last of her clan and has not been in the village since before we were born, Jiraiya is practically a nomad that does totally not secretive things... And Orochimaru was... up until recently," My fingers clenched against the desk tightly, a faint creak reaching my ears, "The worst traitor to Konoha since Uchiha Madara. I'll take my chances by refusing to be near any of them." I then turned around and let go of my desk, setting my chin on my hand to look at Iruka.

Said teacher cleared his throat awkwardly and went to the next subject, slipping the history lesson entirely.

Naruko's right fist sailed towards my face as I readjusted from previously launching my own attack, the blonde much better ever since she had been gifted a taijutsu manual by me.

I raised my left hand up and, with the assistance of my Sharingan, flicked my wrist and hand to catch and divert her attack from my face. Quick as a flash, my right leg kicked out at her gut as a counter and sent her sprawling, a faint gasp escaping her.

Please, just stay down. I scowled internally, wanting to get her to learn a jutsu instead of constant taijutsu training.

My backyard wasn't the best area to train, but I didn't want your average Shinobi seeing anything.

"How do you know what I'm going to do, every time?" She asked irritably, massaging her stomach from where I hit her.

I took my sunglasses off and pointed at my eyes, Sharingan still active.

"I can read your movements and I see things in better details and slower speed." I explained once more, walking towards her and offering my hand to help her up.

Naruko took the offered limb and I hoisted her up, grabbing her shoulder to help steady her.

"Stupid eyes." She muttered, crossing her arms.

"You heal from my hardest punch in about a minute, tops." I deadpanned in response, "Your own clan has their own stupid things. You, for example."

Naruko gave me an icy glare, blue eyes narrowed.

"Not funny." She said petulantly, practically pouting.

"Prove me wrong and figure out this jutsu I know," I challenged her, not caring about manipulating her for her own good, "I did it in an hour. You might get it done within a couple days with my help." I finished arrogantly, almost concerned by how little I embellished it.

Naruko puffed her cheeks out and planted her hands on her hips.

"Bring it!"

Grinning, I made a cross sign and formed a shadow clone next me, a twin look of bemusement on its face.

Naruko's expression went from excitement to anger almost immediately, her eyes flicking between me and the clone.

"A bunshin?!" Naruko practically shouted, breathing heavily. "I'm not an idiot, Sasuke." She growled my name, her teeth bared.

Her canines are slightly longer. I noticed, silently wondering if it was from her being exposed to Kurama's chakra when Kushina was pregnant or because she had Kurama sealed in her.

"This isn't an illusion," I rolled my eyes, signaling my clone to listen, "An illusion can't touch you."

Right as I finished the sentence, the clone sent a punch at Naruko, who yelped and instinctively threw her hand up to stop it.

To her noticeable surprise, the clone's punch actually impacted against her palm and it then backed away.

"W-what is that?" She stammered out, staring at it wide-eyed.

"It's a solid clone technique called Kage Bunshin," I explained, signaling for the clone to pop, which it did a moment later, returning the memories to me, "The Nidaime Hokage created the Jutsu. It's a solid clone that can be used to help you fight and it can do Jutsu itself because it's made of your chakra."

Naruko furrowed her brow and looked like she was thinking hard, probably trying to imagine how creative she could be with it.

"How did you learn it?" She asked, tilting her head in way that was reminiscent of a curious dog.

"My clan copied it and I read some scrolls from them." I lied, not telling her the honest truth.

I don't think she'd appreciate the thought of me being a questionably manipulative and bad person.

"But there's another useful thing Kage Bunshin are for," I smiled happily, at least I hoped it didn't make me look as manic as my thoughts usually were, "You know how I told you how to make your chakra cut like wind?"

Naruko nodded, looking down as her cheeks reddened.

She had been struggling with it, which was the reason she was pesturing me for taijutsu training instead. It was a little scary how much she jumped in skill after I gave her just a little bit of guidance, but it was her technique that was atrocious in the first place. The book that I was certain came from Sarutobi was difficult for her to understand, but it made her interested in being able to cut through rocks and created tornadoes.

"Well, Kage bunshin are special because the chakra that they are made of will return to you when it pops." I made another one as an example and I walked out of earshot, letting the clone say something to Naruko.

I came back after the clone spoke to her and it dispelled, giving me the memories of what it said. A faint smirk broke out on my face at what it said, and why Naruko's eyes were narrowed.

"It said that you are shorter than me." I recited what it said, standing on my toes slightly to make myself taller.

Naruko grumbled something under her breath, but I cut her off from saying something.

"You don't just get the memories back, Naruko," I stepped closer to her, sparking some fire from my fingertips and holding it in front of her, "You can train nature release with them."

My blonde companion looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Huh?" Naruko looked completely lost, causing me to almost growl in irritation.

Don't take it out on her. I thought, scolding myself for getting annoyed at her. She's like 8 and doesn't have anybody to teach her anything. Just take it slowly.

"You," I took a deep breath, reining in my already short mood from earlier today, chakra exercises making me constantly ache like I was an arthritic old man in a thunderstorm, "You remember how I said training your chakra is like training your muscles?"

Naruko nodded quickly at that, her blue eyes focused on me.

"Having a Kage bunshin train nature release, and then popping it so the remaining chakra returns, will cause your chakra to more easily shape itself to your elemental affinity."

Not completely contrary to what was mentioned in the series, but the fanon idea of mass training with clones was not possible.

I would have questioned why and who the source for that was, but it was explicitly stated in multiple journals and training manuals written by my clan that were edited by some type of technique that meant I could only read it with my Sharingan active.

Similar to the Naka Shrine, come to think of it.

That little detail had me shivering at the thought of me not knowing how to use my Sharingan. It would have driven me nearly insane if I was unable to read some of these manuals without it all looking like gibberish. Canon Sasuke may have been subjected to something I never thought imaginable, which is being unable to use the abilities that his clan collected over the decades to avenge them.

But the training manuals that warned of Kage bunshin training, more than likely from one of many prodigious Uchiha finding out through trial and error, laid out multiple rules behind doing it safely without wasting time or killing yourself from an aneurysm.