Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Sasuke couldn’t get the words out of his mind. He curled his fist around the frame, his jaw clenching as he took in the sight of the Team 7 picture. It wasn’t that man’s words. The bruises stamped on his body from the fight with those four freaks was proof enough that he was weak. Not those words.

The blue man’s words.

I tachi, you sure are destroying him more than you destroyed Orochimaru.

The words had cut through the pain, just as Itachi had slammed him against the wall. Sasuke couldn’t remember much after that, besides his complete ineptitude. He set the frame down. It shouldn’t make sense to listen to a blue man’s words, who worked with Itachi Uchiha, but..but if they were true, Orochimaru hadn’t been strong enough to defeat Itachi.

If he went, he might waste his life training under someone who didn’t have the tools to beat Itachi. Sasuke couldn’t risk that, especially if the deal meant getting another head, or two new arms; things that he wouldn’t mind, if they served a purpose. But they wouldn’t serve a purpose, if Itachi Uchiha had already defeated Orochimaru.

Sasuke slipped out the window and headed to the Hokage tower, greeted by a pair of Anbu masks. It was easier than expected to convince them to take them to the new Hokage, though they made him wait in the hallway for a few minutes. When he was allowed in, he found the Hokage behind her desk, a serious face masking clear annoyance. It was late, he supposed.

She was one of the Legendary Sannin, just like Orochimaru and Jiraiya. She had apparently been the only reason that he woke up from that coma. He gritted his teeth, relaying the four freaks’ message. He watched her send a group of Anbu to scout the areas, before her attention turned back to him, a delicate eyebrow raised.

“That mark of yours would suggest you would have gone with them.”

Admitting to that would land him in jail, or at the very least under heavy surveillance. None of which he needed. He hadn’t gone. It counted for something. “I heard Orochimaru wasn’t strong enough to defeat Itachi,” he spitted out. “What good would it do me to go with him?”

“Where did you hear that?”

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets. “The man with Itachi. I heard him say that. I can’t train with someone weaker than Itachi, that’s stupid.”

The Hokage was looking at him with a blank expression. “We’re still trying to find traitors after that invasion. Orochimaru won’t give up on getting you, even if we find those four shinobi. Until I can guarantee your safety, you’re to have a full Anbu escort and you’ll move in with Kakashi once--”

“Is Kakashi strong enough to defeat Orochimaru?”

A vein in her forehead popped. “Alright, brat, I guess you’ll move in with me.” Five Anbu appeared behind her. “Pack your stuff and don’t think I’m going to clean after you. Are we clear?”

“I can live by myself--”

“Do we understand each other?” The Hokage stood up.

Some sense came over him, and he nodded. Maybe the realization that the Hokage couldn’t possibly want him with her anymore than he wanted to be with her. He was escorted back to his apartment by the Anbu, their faces covered for anonymity or intimidation. Itachi had made Anbu at such a young age, but a lot of them had died in the invasion, hadn’t they? So they probably weren’t strong enough to defeat him because they hadn’t been strong enough to defeat Orochimaru.

Back in his apartment, he shoved more stuff in his backpack, muttering that Kakashi always said that a good shinobi had to be prepared for anything, at a moment’s notice. None of the Anbu replied and he’d expected that, but the backpack had to be explained somehow, and Kakashi had woken up Sasuke before dawn enough times to make it a plausible explanation.

The Hokage, as it turned out, lived in an apartment covered by layers of genjutsu that Sasuke had always assumed was an old retirement home that had stopped being functional before he was born. Apparently, the Council Elders lived there too, and apparently, plenty of Anbu had survived the invasion judging by the way the place was crawling with them. They took him to a room, bigger than his apartment, and disappeared.

If he activated the Sharingan, Sasuke wouldn’t be surprised if he found them standing next to the door, their lifeless masks staring at him. But activating the Sharingan would not end well for him, could be seen as a threat, and it might land him in less than ideal quarters.

He supposed there was nothing wrong about living with old people, even if the mattress was less firm than he liked. Didn’t old people need firm mattresses for their backs?

It didn’t matter.

He stared at the ceiling while his mind tried to come up with a plan for tomorrow. He didn’t expect to find out whether or not they had rounded those Sound shinobi up, or managed to get anything out of them. The fact that they were able to get into the village suggested a lack of common sense excused only by the village’s diminished defenses after the invasion, but could cause mass hysteria if it was leaked.

The Hokage said that the cursed mark would have suggested he went and the shinobi had talked about it, as a gift. But he still remembered the way his body crumbled under the burning spreading from his neck during the invasion, when he couldn’t do anything except stop Naruto from slamming into a tree. He turned on his side, glaring at the wall. The Sound shinobi showed no problem controlling it and fighting with it.

Had he made a mistake?

He huffed. It didn’t matter now . If he tried to leave now, he would get hunted down and he didn’t even know where Sound was, the village not an official one, not one taught in the Academy. Even if he found it, he doubted Orochimaru would be happy with him for turning in four of his subordinates.

No, he couldn’t go anymore. The Hokage might be in the next room, and the Anbu must still be hovering by the door, inside or outside the room, it didn’t matter. No. He just needed to find out someone stronger than--than Itachi. Kakashi was out. But he had been in the fight, and Sasuke didn’t know anything about that, so he could talk to him and ask him how it was that apparently, there had been no deaths.

He spent the rest of the night staring at the wall, trying to come up with possible explanations about how there hadn’t been a single death in the encounter with Itachi. And who could train him to finally kill him. Getting out of bed when the first light peeked through his curtains. He grabbed his backpack, tossing anything that wasn’t food or money out, and slipped outside the window, leaving it open because he was feeling nice and was sure the Anbu following him would appreciate it.

He hovered on the windowsill outside of Kakashi’s apartment, knocking on it. Twice. Three times. What was he doing? Sighing, he broke in, figuring he could pay him for the damaged window, literally broken at his feet. But the apartment was empty. And here he thought Kakashi would congratulate him for not betraying his comrades or whatever.

It hadn’t been about that. It had been a purely logical decision. Orochimaru wasn’t strong enough to defeat Itachi, therefore, training with him was a waste of time. Of course, Sasuke would take Kakashi’s compliments and congratulations, if only to make sure the man was in a helpful mood and would narrate exactly who was involved in that fight. He poked his head inside each door--the bathroom, mostly. Kakashi’s apartment was standard-size for a bachelor. It didn’t have a lot of doors, which meant that it didn’t have a lot of hiding spots. That, and the fact that his travel pack was gone confirmed that he was out the village.

Sasuke swallowed a groan. Of course it was just his luck that Kakashi got sent out on a mission. Convenient. Fine. Fine. He could be resourceful.

Before Kakashi got knocked out, he had been talking to other Jounin. His friends, Sasuke assumed, and people present at the preliminary matches. Konoha Jounin senseis, then. Right. The other rookies. And that other guy, the one who wore the hideous green jumpsuit. He’d been in Kakashi’s bedroom that day, too, when Sasuke found him.

Those three were a start. He ran out of the apartment, leaving the door open, but a glance over his shoulder confirmed that someone had closed it. Anbu. Might as well, there was no point for someone trying to break into Kakashi’s house.

Who would be stupid enough to break into an elite Jonin’s apartment, anyway?

He set out across the rooftops, towards the training grounds. He crouched down as soon as he caught sight of their generation’s Ino-Shika-Cho formation, but without any sign of their sensei. He remained in the trees, not to spy, just waiting to see if their sensei ever showed up. But forty-five minutes, he finally allowed himself to believe that if Kakashi had been sent out on a mission, then it followed that other senseis would too. Hopefully not all of them. He jumped through the trees, covering the extensive training ground three times before deciding that no one else was there.

He hit the marketplace afterwards, knowing that everyone might as well be meeting at the training grounds at the moment, but he couldn’t be in two places at once. He’ll just have to check later. He walked through the shops, occasionally taking bites from his apple, sticking his head in restaurants he knew shinobi tended to congregate. But most of them were older shinobi, or younger ones. The random Chunin. All of which Sasuke knew didn’t have a single hope to go against Itachi. The village, it seemed, was devoid of higher-ranked shinobi.

It made sense. Two months or so after the invasion, and the village was still working through reparations, some of the buildings still missing half of their walls, still crumbled to the ground. They needed the money from missions, especially higher-ranked missions, which would required more capable squads. He tossed the core of the apple into the nearest trash can and leaped onto the store’s rooftop.

He only stopped when he could see the edge of the village, the entrance--or exit--he would have walked through just last night. It was crawling with shinobi, but none for whom he was looking.

He really had shit luck, didn’t he? He’d been running around the village, from one corner to the other, without spotting a single sign of any of the shinobi that had been in Kakashi’s room that day. He sat down, cross-legged, sighing while he tried to collect his thoughts and consider his options for the rest of the--

“You’ve been summoned to the Hokage tower.”

Sasuke still had no idea how the Anbu’s voices weren’t muffled by their masks. But the brown cape was gone before he could consider asking. He wouldn’t have asked. It didn’t matter. He pushed himself to his feet and leaped towards the tower, the center of the village.

He knocked once. The door opened. That invisibility genjutsu was tempting. Sasuke stepped inside, seeing the Hokage again behind the desk, this time with a woman with short hair, holding a pig, next to her. The Hokage’s assistant, Sasuke vaguely remembered catching a glimpse of her while he was in the hospital.

“What have you been doing the entire day?”

Sasuke turned his attention back to the Hokage. A stupid question, considering that she had Anbu trailing him the entire day, but in her shoes, he supposed he would be wary, too. “Trying to find Kakashi. For training.”

“Kakashi- sensei .”

Sasuke stopped himself from rolling his eyes, somehow. Self-preservation, maybe. “If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

Sasuke just looked away. But maybe he should be calling him that, if only to freak out Kakashi enough, catch him by surprise, to get him to cooperate. He hadn’t even paused to consider that Kakashi had tied him to a tree yesterday, furious he used chidori against Naruto--like that idiot hadn’t hauled a jutsu at him either that, judging by the water tank, would have ended up with Sasuke’s stomach gone. But whatever. “I was looking for him.”

“Why?”

Sasuke turned back to her. Had he not just said it a second ago? It didn’t matter. “Training.”

“Kakashi is out on a mission,” the Hokage said, flipping through some files. She looked like she couldn’t find something. “In the meantime, you are to report to the east gate every morning at zero five hundred hours for patrol duty for a twelve hour shift. At the end, you will report to the hospital no later than eighteen hundred hours, at which point, I will be studying the curse seal to remove it. It should take about two hours daily. If I get a good report from Gemma, I will declassify the information about the fight with Itachi Uchiha and allow Kakashi to debrief you. Understand?”

Sasuke kept his face blank as he nodded, “yeah.”

“Great. In that case, I’ll see you in the hospital, third floor, room 3033A in an hour. If I were you, I wouldn’t eat anything. You’re dismissed.”

Normally, people would bow. But Sasuke could do without that right now. He left the

Hokage’s office with a light step, trying to relax his muscles. Patrol duty was nothing difficult, especially because it didn’t involved protecting a single target--though, he supposed, if the intended target was the entire village, it would be difficult. It didn’t matter. He saw the assignment for what it was.

The Hokage was dangling deflection in front of his eyes, to see if he would ditch. He wasn’t. Orochimaru couldn’t defeat Itachi. Besides, Itachi was a rogue, and Sasuke would prefer not following those footsteps; especially because somewhere in the village was someone who stopped him from killing anyone.

And if he had to wake up at five in the morning for months to prove his loyalty to the half-crumbling village so Kakashi could tell him what happened? He would .

He made his way to the hospital, landing on the rooftop--the village limited resources apparently going to fixing that water tank. He leaped onto it, his eyes trying to spot any sign of damage, but giving up after five minutes. He watched the sun with vague disinterest, until he felt the hour fade away, and he made his way to the room, 3033A, spotting the Hokage walking down the hallway.

She looked different without the Hokage robe. Looked younger than she should, but what did Sasuke know anyway? He waited for her, only because the door was locked. Once inside, he looked around, finding that it both looked like a hospital room and did not look like one. There was a bed with white sheets, but there were no beeping machines, no windows. He sat on the bed after catching the Hokage’s expectant look, losing the shirt too, figuring she’d have to see the mark to study it.

“Do you remember how long you were out when he placed it on you?”

Sasuke shook his head. “A day or so, I’m guessing.” He and Naruto had been out of it, and when they were ready to move, they were almost disqualified from the exams due to the five day time limit. “Kakashi sealed it a few days later. He said the seal only worked if my will didn’t falter.”

It didn’t make sense, though, because his will hadn’t faltered against Gaara, but the seal mark still consumed him. It was chakra exhaustion, too, clearly--it really begged the question as to how those Sound shinobi had been able to go through chakra exhaustion, come out of it on the other side, and learned to control it. Did they have to die beforehand?

He felt a faint, soothing warmth on his neck. From the corner of his vision, he spotted a green light. Healing. Was there anything to heal?

“Are you--”

“Quiet,” the Hokage said, her tone firm, but not unkind.

Sasuke remained there, staring at the wall, occasionally feeling like his bones were on fire for seconds, before the feeling would recede, and he could draw in another breath. Only for something else to burn. Only to recede. It was not quite as painful as Kakashi’s seal, but his nails still dug into the sheets involuntarily.

“How are you feeling?”

She cared? Could have fooled him. “Fine,” he gritted out.

The Hokage handed him his shirt. “Go rest. You’ll need it tomorrow. Make note of anything that doesn’t feel right tomorrow, understand? You’ll be writing a biweekly report about this.”

Him? You’d think the person doing the...healing, or whatever would be the one needing to take notes. “Right,” he said, shoving his head through his shirt. “Got it.” He left without another word, finding the abandoned building, activating the Sharingan to find the correct door to enter, and managing to find the room he slept in yesterday.

His body felt warm. Feverish, but not sick. Tired, but not weak. He found a piece of paper to jot those incredibly helpful observations, set his alarm, and went to bed. He turned the whole night, kicking the blankets off of him, dragging the blankets up to his chin, laying on his stomach, laying on his back. But everytime he closed his eyes and his mind began to drift off, he was jolted awake with the sickening realization that someone was watching him.

The Anbu. He knew that. He’ll have to get used to it, eventually. Fast, preferably, he realized when the alarm rang and his eyes were dried and his entire body was sore. It didn’t make sense. Hadn’t the Fifth just shoved healing chakra into him? Shouldn’t he be feeling at his best? He rubbed his eyes, dragging the blankets to cover the bed, to pretend he made it. After grabbing his kunai pouch, he left through the window, this time closing it. The Anbu could open it themselves. Or walk through it. He wouldn’t know.

He showed up at the east gate with a few minutes to spare, spotting a man, around Kakashi’s age--Genma, he realized, when he recognized the senbon in between his lips, the proctor from the arena. A second later, Genma was breaking from the group and coming to meet him.

“Sasuke, you’ll be with me today,” he said.

He nodded. Whatever. He didn’t have an option, but Genma was apparently the one giving evaluations, the one in charge, the one with whom Sasuke had to play nice. “Do we have specific sectors?” He considered adding a sir to really play nice, but people might get used to it, and Sasuke had no intention to ever follow through.

“Sectors twenty-five to forty-nine are ours. We’ll be support for sectors one to twenty-four and sectors fifty to seventy-four. I’m assuming you’ll be able to keep up.”

“I will,” Sasuke said, doing his best to keep his tone flat. Professional.

“I know,” Genma replied, “that’s why I asked for you. Normally, we don’t cover this much terrain, but we’re short-staffed.”

No kidding. The group had begun to dispersed, Sasuke could only count six other people, either Chunin or Jonin, judging by their uniform. He nodded, now beginning to see how four foreign shinobi would have been able to sneak in. “Got it,” he said.

“Before we head out,” Genma continued. “We do have a jutsu to signal for help, if you don’t mind.”

The Sharingan came to life, the world bleeding a little red on the edges. Genma ran through hand signs, each one scratched into his memory forever. A second later, he followed suit, feeling his chakra accumulating on his right hand, until it exploded out, a bright light into the sky. Sasuke looked away, afraid it’ll blind him.

“We don’t usually use it, but it doesn’t hurt to know it. Don’t stare at it, either,” Genma said. A little too late, if anyone asked Sasuke. “It’ll give you a few seconds to move out or counter-attack while the enemy can’t see.”

Sasuke nodded, squinting, the Sharingan fading away. He rubbed his eyes, feeling someone landing near them.

“Nothing on our shift.”

The man disappeared before Sasuke got a good look at anything other than the green vest.

“Come on,” Genma said.

Sasuke followed him, landing on a branch behind him. The other teams had already disappeared, but they were running straight, so the other three teams must have been fanning out, to their respective sectors. After awhile, Sasuke found that Kakashi’s crazy drills and being chased through the woods by his pack of dogs had been useful. The pace was manageable and if Sasuke didn’t think about it too much, one might even consider it enjoyable.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Sasuke replied, proud that he didn’t sound out of breath. Judging by the sun’s position, they were about halfway through the shift. Had covered all of the sectors twice, spanning out fifteen miles in each of them. His legs were starting to burn, but he wasn’t going to admit to that. Clearly, they were short-staffed, Genma apparently been one of the only few Jonin left in the village. Patrols by genin were usually outside the village, with a full four-man squad. He knew even village patrols were generally done in squads of four, chunin and jounin, with eight-hour shifts.

“Tell me if you need us to pause.”

As if. Sasuke would swallow his own tongue before saying something like that. He managed. Even if by the end, once back inside Konoha’s walls, the only thing keeping him upright was pure stubbornness.

“See you tomorrow, Sasuke. Rest up.”

Sasuke nodded, watching Genma disappear onto a rooftop. He walked in the general direction of the hospital, his mind figuring out why the Fifth gave him an hour to get to the hospital. He thought that training that month with Kakashi had been exhausting, between the chakra drainage and grueling stamina and speed exercises, but running across a forest, back and forth, always worrying about the sector that was just checked, always worrying about the sector that hadn’t been checked yet, was worse.

Once in the hospital, he took the elevator to the third floor, resting his forehead against the cool metal as it went up, managing to compose himself by the time the doors opened. He stood in front of room 3033A, dozing off until he felt the spike of the Fifth’s chakra. He stepped to the side, following her inside. She asked him to lay down, and the offer was too good to put up a scowl for it. Although his eyes couldn’t stop staring at the green chakra hovering over his forehead, the burning sensation from the day before never appearing, replaced apparently, by deep throbbing in the back of his temples.

But laying down for two hours was better than standing up for two hours.

“Your chakra hasn’t been mixed completely with the seal’s,” the Fifth said, once the green glower disappeared and her hands were by her side. “You’ve been rather lucky, I think Jiraiya and myself will be able to remove it.”

“Were you checking my chakra?”

“I was,” she replied. “It’s not recommended, usually, someone not as smart as myself could mix in their chakra too; you can imagine that disaster. I’m going to try to push the strayed chakra back towards the seal, while Jiraiya returns.”

Sasuke nodded, although he doubted she was really asking for his permission. He pushed himself to a sitting position, halting when he saw the green light again, this time going hovering over his legs. The soreness remained, but it was more of a vague memory than a constant throbbing.

“Thanks.”

“You are in the hospital, after all,” the Fifth said, again the light receding into her hands. “And you’re dismissed.”

Sasuke left without another word, stopping at his apartment for--well, for food. The food pills providing the energy required to keep going throughout the day, but he would like to chew something at least once a day. And he did, he managed to chew three pieces of salmon, shoved some rice down his throat, and left for the ruined retirement home.

He could still feel someone watching him, but the alarm was set already, and he needed to rest.

Over the next days, his body seemed to get used to the strain, no longer dragging his body to the hospital at the end of his shift. Finding Genma’s presence bearable; he was a lot like Kakashi, enough to make him think that the general disposition of relaxed danger was a requirement for any Konoha Jounin. Genma was more collected, though, and the weight of his words wasn’t hiding behind a lazy, amused smile underneath an impenetrable mask. The occasional questions that Sasuke asked were answered matter-of-fact, in elaborate, but not tedious detail.

It was his eleventh day patrolling when a snake of light crashed against the sky. Genma switched directions immediately, Sasuke following him, activating the Sharingan, his eyes catching Genma’s jaw clenching, no longer absentmindedly playing with the senbon.

“Ten miles out, zigzag, fan out,” Genma said.

“I thought--”

“I’m hoping it’s not a distraction, but if it’s one, this entire sector will be free for anyone to attack. I’ll signal if we need reinforcements.” He halted, the tree branch shaking under the force. Sasuke paused next to him, watching the hand seals, watching him bite his thumb until blood dripped down, watched him slam his hand on the ground. “If it is a distraction, call reinforcements yourself, Kaoru will alert Hokage-sama, understand?”

Sasuke nodded, watching, presumably Kaoru, a white dove fly overhead. His eyes caught sight of Genma’s retreating back. He leaped to the next tree, watching the bird’s shadow over him. He supposed if they could take care of the threat themselves, there would be no need to alert the Fifth, at the moment, there wouldn’t even be forces available, especially not to scatter them through the outskirts.

Once he reached the ten mile point, he began zigzagging, five miles into the village, five miles back out. The adrenaline catching up when he spotted four shadows flying through the trees. Followed by three more, ten meters out. Kaoru’s shadow left him. He coated a genjutsu around the area, following them from behind.

From the corner of his eye, he caught another alarm go off, in the opposite direction than Genma had left. Sectors fifty to seventy-four would be waiting for reinforcements now too, but Sasuke couldn’t let those shadows get closer to the walls. But he had to let Izumo and Kotetsu know that he wouldn’t be able to make it there, either. His hands moved like he’d practiced the hand signs a hundred times, and he let the chakra rush out of his hand, into the sky. He leaped out, watching the shinobi--from Kirigakure, judging by their headbands--paused. Looking around. Trying to find him. Sasuke was already behind them, only realizing what Genma meant when he said the signal provided a good cover. He also knew what Genma meant when he said that his summon, the dove, would be the one alerting the Fifth.

Oh, well.

It couldn’t be helped.

He wasn’t expecting reinforcements to come--there weren’t any, really. But maybe if he managed this, Sasuke would be allowed to go back to his own apartment, would really prove his undying, literal loyalty to the village, for whatever that was worth. Ha. His eyes picked the ones who still looked disconcerted, someone with blond hair, and a girl with long, black hair. Close enough that if he was lucky, it would take one shot for both of them. A kunai in his mouth, the chirping birds blocking any other sounds before he realized he’d gone through the motions.

Before they realized it, too. Warm blood splattered on his face, the Anbu masks making sense a second later--they were to block blood. The Sharingan spun, collecting the girl’s surprised expression into his brain forever. He leapt back, the place he’d been standing, sunken under water.

Two down. Five to go. One of which could use Water Release jutsus. That went all the Fire techniques in his repertoire. Maybe if he could force them into a neat, unmoving line, he’d have a shot with the chidori.

Heh.

Two of them were on him a second later, the Sharingan catching up to them before his body could. He leapt back, avoiding a slash directed at his throat. Another one directed at his stomach. Three of them--the other three, were moving forward again. He threw shuriken at them. They would have landed. But they didn’t. Not even buying him time to get in front of them. Not with the other two trying to slash his throat.

Without the Sharingan, they would have managed. But another light up in the sky, worked again. They could have been foot soldiers. Even blinded, they deflected his kunai. So maybe not foot soldiers. Didn’t matter, it was enough to turn to the other three who. Were still running. Sasuke hurried after them. Feeling the other two’s chakra catching up to him. Feeling the chakra in his chest, until he released fire, his eyes catching the signs for the water wall that rushed up, evaporating his attack.

The chidori was in his hand already. His eyes locked on someone. The water user. His fist went through his chest. A sharp pain in his calf forced his eyes shut just before the Sharingan could take that man’s expression in. The distinctive sound of a sword being unsheathed. Not meant for him, he realized, when his eyes opened, and the two other shadows--men’s throats were bubbling with blood.

Anbu. Three of them. In front of him. He turned around. None behind him. Just Genma. And Iwashi and Shinobu. A little worse for wear. Iwashi was bleeding, but Sasuke looked down at his calf, a kunai clawed into his muscle. He was bleeding, too. He barely had time to register what was happening when a cloak took it out, green chakra hovering over the wound until it stopped bleeding.

Sasuke let the Sharingan fade away, but the clearing didn’t become any less red. They’d been invaders. Had been a choice between himself and them. But those thoughts did nothing to erase the blood seeped into the water, into his hand, into his mind. It had been necessary. And if it had been the initial stage of another invasion, it would remain necessary. Sasuke caught the brown bag Genma threw at him, opening it to find food pills.

“We’re scouting,” Genma said, nodding in the direction of the chunin. Sasuke only realizing that they had been healed, presumably by the same medic-nin. Only realizing that the Anbu were gone. “Are you okay to come?”

Sasuke swallowed two pills, nodding. Iwashi and Shinobu were already leaping through the trees, their chakras fading quickly. Sasuke followed Genma into the trees, the exhaustion he should be feeling--and would come back with a vengeance, he knew--crushed down as the food pills took effect. Despite the adrenaline kicking inside, flaring the Sharingan alive every few seconds, every time he so much as heard a tree branch snap, it seemed they were the only ones around.

It was a new formation, though Sasuke assumed it was the normal one. The one they should have, if the numbers were available, if he had joined patrol duty before an invasion--or two, now, maybe. He was by himself, separated from Iwashi by five miles to his northeast and from Genma by five miles to his southwest. A neat formation that allowed them to catch each other’s blind spots, while they zigzagged through the trees. If there had been another team, they would be covering the entirety of the first forty-nine sectors.

They decreased their separation by twilight. Sasuke managed to catch a glimpse of four Konoha shinobi before they headed out, and Genma’s team was heading in. Relieved from their duty, presumably. Sasuke did his best to squash the relief down. He should have better stamina than this. He thought he’d gotten better at running, but evidently, he had not, and to his complete dismay, the stiffness did not remain controlled in his legs, it was spreading through his entire body, promising an awful morning.

A medic-nin should really get into developing some kind of morning-after pill. No one liked to crash. His eyes trailed to his hand, the dry blood looking more brown than red now. Had they left the bodies there? He couldn’t remember if the corpses were still laying there when they headed out and, somehow, he’d never been responsible to oversee that area himself.

They landed in front of the Hokage’s door, stopped by an Anbu, his cloak missing, the fox mask fully visible under the dimmed light. Sasuke leaned against a pillar while they waited, refusing to stoop so low as to sit down, regardless of how much his legs wanted to give in. Regardless of how the seconds felt like minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. He forced the Sharingan to activate, to keep himself awake. Deactivating it a few seconds later because he didn’t need to pass out, just stay awake.

The door opened, but no one came out. But when Sasuke walked in, the last one to do so, the large windows behind the Hokage’s desk were opened, so the last squad could have left through there.

“Captain, report,” the Fifth said.

Genma did, starting with the first light, shot up by, Sasuke learned, Iwashi after fending off five shinobi and spotting twenty more. Including the seven he encountered, that was twenty-seven, and someone had shot up another alarm in the next sectors. An invasion, then. The Fifth’s face said as much, her lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes hard. They were joined by two Anbu, apparently, before they all made it back to the clearing he had been. Apparently the two men with the slashed throat having died by Anbu, and the two who tried to slash Sasuke’s throat died by Genma’s and Shinobu’s hands.

“Uchiha, report.”

Sasuke didn’t let the surprise at being called by his last name slip into his face. At least he hoped it hadn’t. It probably had not, and if it had, the exhaustion would have hid it well enough. Or this being the first time he’d been personally called to provide an oral report, the hassle using going to Kakashi, as squad leader--or Genma in this case. He set his jaw, willing the feeling of collapsed lungs to...go away. “After ten minutes of patrolling, I spotted seven shinobi, branding the Kirigakure symbol. Under an illusion, I approached and sent out the signal, eventually taking out three of them using chidori.” He frowned, before continuing, “two of them were distracting me. The other three, I think, were just trying to breach the walls.” He couldn’t be completely certain, but the three of them, the ones who were running, hadn’t turned around until he attacked them directly. “The last one I took out was right as reinforcements arrived. A kunai landed on my right calf.”

The Fifth gave a small nod. “Genma stay, the rest of you, report to the hospital.” She sighed, “sorry to say, but you are to report to patrol duty for your usual shift tomorrow.”

Sasuke always thought D-rank missions were stupid and a waste of time, but he wouldn’t mind painting someone’s fence tomorrow instead. But he kept that thought carefully away from his face as he realized anyone who’d been meeting with the Fifth before them had left through the window, as he did the same.

They were admitted into separate rooms. A woman with a tight red bun looked him over, presumably checking for poison from the kunai. Sasuke wasn’t surprised she didn’t find anything. Wasn’t even surprised when he was asked to sleep there, only to be woken up by an annoying, screeching alarm just in time to take a shower, purposely deciding on black pants instead of shorts that clearly didn’t help out there, and making it to the east entrance.

Maybe Genma was tired too, because the pace he set was slower than usual. Sasuke wasn’t complaining, though. It was just an observation.

“Are we still expecting an attack?” Sasuke asked, as they passed the clearing he had been just yesterday, where he had murdered three people. The floor had turned to mud. He was careful not to stare too closely, not wanting to find anything too reminiscent of the day before, finding the Sharingan had done enough imprinting already.

“We’re always expecting an attack,” Genma said. “Anbu are scouting further out and Hokage-sama is recalling all available shinobi, but until they return, we are the first line of defense.”

Sasuke wasn’t ready to die, but no one was. He was a shinobi and he had to be more ready to die than the civilians inside the village, couldn’t be any less ready to die than the Anbu who saved him yesterday. He had already failed innocent civilians before, six years ago. He couldn’t do that again. “Jonin too?”

Genma nodded. “I don’t know much else, Sasuke. No one knows much else.”

Sasuke nodded, getting the hint. At least Kakashi would be back. It hadn’t been that long since he started patrolling, but yesterday felt like an entire year. But it hadn’t even been two weeks since Kakashi tied him to a tree, or since Naruto and he tried to blow each other up, Sakura stupidly running in between them. They could have all died that day, if Kakashi hadn’t showed up. The Sharingan had been activated and in the off-chance that his stomach wasn’t obliterated by that blue jutsu, he would have had Sakura’s death in his memory.

But if Kakashi hadn’t interfered, there was an even greater chance that he would have died, just like he could have died yesterday. If he could die at any point, he’d preferred to die doing something meaningful, even if he couldn’t kill Itachi.

              He had been so tired after each patrol, after letting the Fifth poke and probe him each night, that he hadn’t thought much about Naruto or Sakura. Hadn’t thought about them at all. Were they stuck patrolling, too? The west gate, or south? Even the North, though Sasuke now knew that one was manned by an entire squad of Jonin. Maybe that’s why the invading shinobi hadn’t tried to go through that one. It probably was.

              “Have you ever thought of using something else besides kunai?”

              The question brought him back to reality, to the trees, to the solitude of patrolling. “No. Why?”

              “If you’re trying to get close enough to land a hit with chidori, you might want to have a weapon to fall back on if it fails, or if it succeeds, but there are more enemies around.”

              Like yesterday, his mind added helpfully. Sasuke would have died if Anbu hadn’t shown up, he had been well in the range of anyone with a kunai, had been within arm range someone to crush his windpipe, if the Anbu hadn’t shown up. “Like what?”

              “I’m thinking a katana,” Genma said. “If you trained it with your non-dominant hand, and with the Sharingan, it might give you an out if one hand is still stuck in someone, while someone else is trying to kill you. Something to think about. Kakashi used to be handy with one.”

              Kakashi still wasn’t stronger than Itachi. But if yesterday proved anything was that if he was going to kill Itachi, he had to survive everything else first. “Right,” he said. “Something to think about.”

              The conversation died then, the rest of the hours spent in silence. Uneventful hours, comfortable silence. At the end of their shift, Sasuke headed to the hospital, still tossing around the idea of wielding a katana. The hospital room was open, but the Fifth wasn’t in there. Instead a man wearing a red robe, and long, white hair, and red lines down his cheek, was sitting on the bed. He recognized him as the last Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya.

He stood by the door, the man seemingly oblivious, or ignoring him, until the Fifth’s chakra consumed the hallway, and she was standing behind him. Sasuke moved aside, watching her close the door.

“He’s going to try to remove the mark,” the Fifth said, apparently those words being

interesting enough to make Jiraiya look up from the papers he’d been reading through.

“It’ll probably leave you out of commission for a week or so,” he said.

Sasuke glanced between them and nodded. There was nothing else for him to do, without Orochimaru’s guidance, the curse mark was a liability more than anything, and yesterday, he’d been lucky about everything, but he’d rather not have to worry ever again about being immobilized in the middle of a death match. It wouldn’t take him very far, especially if a war broke out.

The Fifth motioned towards the bed with two long fingers, “you’ll be happy to know that Genma’s report stated enough nice things about your continuous performance that I’ve decided to let Kakashi brief you about that particular security breach. Although, as soon as you’re able, you are still to report to the east gate for patrol duty, same shift, and I’ll have to closely monitor your health for a while to make sure the seal doesn’t deteriorate anything. Outside of those commitments, you are free to train as you see fit.”

By the time the Fifth had finished speaking, he was sitting on the bed, his skin trying to adjust to the unforgiving coldness of hospital rooms. If he leaned back a little, he risked falling onto the ground, though Jiraiya was standing right behind him. “Every shift?”

“Depends on how everything turns out, I imagine,” the Fifth replied, her tone like steel. She stood to his right side, her hand hovering over his forehead, the familiar warmth of the healing chakra spreading soon enough.

“It might hurt some, kid,” Jiraiya said, addressing him directly for the first time.

Sasuke knew. He passed out with Kakashi’s seal, and that had been preventative, Kakashi hadn’t even considered trying to break the mark. But apparently, the pain wasn’t comparable, because Kakashi never offered him a towel to bite down on. He took it, clenching his teeth around it, as hard as he could, locking his jaw just as someone--Jiraiya--trailed a kunai down his back, slicing his skin. Another hand grabbed his right shoulder, keeping him in place, as.

As the kunai trailed all the way to his lower back, only for it to start a new column again, falling down slower each time. Kakashi had used his blood, but apparently, this required his own. The healing chakra sped up the healing process, but Sasuke could feel the warm blood dripping down his back. The hold on his shoulder tightened; a second later, the only thing he could focus on were his own muffled cries as a hand pressed down on the crook of his neck, right on top of the black spirals. His back burned, somewhere, somehow, realizing that the Fifth hadn’t been healing his back because he could feel as his skin pulled itself together, welding the cuts shut as the fire neared his neck.

The room’s details began to fade away, until everything was replaced by darkness.

He blinked. The sun’s rays somehow getting passed the closed curtains to hit him directly in the face. He reached for his neck, unable to fully believe that he managed to move his arms and not feel a single pang of soreness or pain, the last thing he’d been aware of was feeling like someone had thrown him into a pit of fire. He hovered his hand over his neck--

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kakashi, his brain provided helpfully. “It’ll hurt. A lot. You already tried once, and promptly passed out.”

Sasuke let his hand fall on his chest, turning his head to get a better look at him, finding him on a plastic chair, the orange book opened lazily in front of him. He knew him well enough to know that he was only half-reading it. “When?”

“Two days ago.”

Days ago? He pushed himself to a sitting position, his body seemingly not minding that, either. “How long was I out?”

“This is your fifth day,” Kakashi replied, snapping the book shut. “You’ll have to wear the bandage for a good two other weeks, or so I’ve heard.”

Sasuke’s fingers went up to his neck, touching the annoyingly soft fabric of a bandage. Around his neck. “Right,” he said, tentatively accepting the bottle of water Kakashi handed him. “The Fifth said you could brief me on--”

“I know,” Kakashi cut him off. “I want to hear more about what’s been going on with you first, though,” he said cheerily, positively grating on Sasuke’s nerves. “I’ve been gone for awhile, and I’ve caught up with Naruto and Sakura. It’s your turn. Go.”

Sasuke considered keeping his mouth shut, but--but Kakashi would just keep his mouth shut too. He shrugged, “patrol duty, with Genma. Nothing much to say--”

“What happened that night?”

He shrugged again, a scowl firmly in place. “Some weirdos came up to me after you left, said Orochimaru wanted to train me--”

“Why didn’t you go?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He would have preferred a congratulations for not deflecting, but an interrogation was just as well. “Itachi’s partner said Orochimaru hadn’t been strong enough to defeat him. What good would it have done me, then? It wouldn’t have made sense.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Sasuke replied, feeling his patience thinning out. “The Fifth already asked me this, Kakashi. Can you just tell me what happened? Who stopped Itachi from killing people?”

Kakashi leveled him with a look that Sasuke was too annoyed to try to decipher, but eventually he talked, an amused tone lacing his words, “Guy did. He was also the one who brought you back.”

Sasuke blinked. The day of the written exam coming into his memory. Kakashi basically had him copied their speed, the green jumpsuits, burned into his memory just like everything else he had the misfortune of seeing with the Sharingan. Just like--he hadn’t exactly--he suspected that as soon as he began sleeping, instead of being passed out, he might start to relieve the fight in that clearing, might start to feel the blood splatter on his face. He glanced towards him, “the man with the bowl cut and the snapping turtle? The green jumpsuit?”

“Yes, Sasuke, that one,” Kakashi’s smile was covered by the mask, but Sasuke knew it was there.

Okay. Okay. He hadn’t...out of everyone that he’d considered, that had not been one of the options. It didn’t matter. It made sense, if he thought about it. Kakashi had told him at the beginning of their month before the final exam that Taijutsu could overcompensate for many deficiencies, especially if one was a master like...like Guy. But that still didn’t explain why he would have been able to stop Itachi. Unless his speed was faster than Itachi’s Sharingan, and his body was unable to catch up. Just like it had happened to him and Lee.

“Apparently, Itachi and his companion ran away as soon as Guy showed up. Are you going to ditch me for him now, Sasuke?”

Itachi Uchiha ran away when Guy showed up? That. Sasuke needed to come up with a plan to convince the man to train him, even a few days a week, considering that he was still bound to patrol duty. “No,” he said, as his mind caught up with the rest of Kakashi’s words. He’d gotten defeated by Itachi, just like Orochimaru, but Genma had raised a good point. “I was hoping you’d teach me to use a katana.”

“So you can also stab your friends?”

Sasuke would have rolled his eyes. But Kakashi’s jibe wasn’t entirely unfounded. “Naruto also hurled a jutsu at me, you know.” He crossed his arms, “one that destroyed a water tank.” He had looked at the damage with burning jealousy that day, but trying to fend off seven shinobi on his own had made it crystal clear that he was incompetent. That anyone was incompetent. He would have died if he hadn’t sent those distressed signals out, and if other shinobi hadn’t known what it meant, hadn’t gotten there. That, and knowing that the chidori could kill--it didn’t matter the damage that two jutsus made, if both of their results was death.

“I didn’t teach him that,” Kakashi replied. “Look at me.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, turning to face Kakashi. “What?”

“If you really want me to teach you anything again, you need to understand that if you turn anything I teach you against your comrades ever again, I will make you regret it, Sasuke.”

“I won’t,” Sasuke said, not wanting to explain, not when Kakashi was looking at him like that, not wanting to explain ever. “I haven’t even seen them.”

Kakashi stared at him for a whole two minutes, finally breaking eye contact by opening his book and flipping through the pages. “That’s because Naruto has been helping to rebuild the west side, hit the hardest, still in shambles, but his shadow clones are helpful. Sakura has been at the Academy.” He leaned back, again, forgetting the book in favor of staring at Sasuke. “Naruto’s leaving tonight with Jiraiya on a training trip, and Sakura’s going to transfer to the hospital starting tomorrow. She managed to get the Fifth to take her on as an apprentice.” He clicked his tongue, “how does that make you feel, Sasuke?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, “fine?”

“Don’t feel any hint of jealousy about Naruto being trained by a Legendary Sannin, and Sakura, too?”

Sasuke was in a hospital bed, without any possibility of doing anything else than consider that. He shook his head. “No. I already turned down my invitation to train with the other Sannin. And I’m guessing I was recruited, instead of forced. As for Sakura...weren’t you the one who always went on and on about her chakra control? What better thing to be than a medical ninja?”

Plus, if...he was going to die, then it wouldn’t exactly hurt to have medical ninjutsu around.

“Cut the crap.”

Sasuke smirked, “I’m serious. I don’t care.” He might still be too tired to care. Maybe he’ll care later. He might. He could. It didn’t matter. He had other things to deal with, now. “Itachi was looking for Naruto, right?” He asked, not waiting for a response, his brother’s words still clear in his mind, telling him that he wasn’t interested in him at the moment as he stared at Naruto. “Makes sense that they’ll take him out of the village. We’re still rebuilding.” And there had been another attack, a week ago.

They had been woefully unprepared, would still be woefully unprepared for a few months, at least. If the attack had been because Naruto was there, for whatever reason, then it made sense for him to leave, at least until the defenses were good and genin, as capable as he was, weren’t trying to protect twenty-five sectors of the village’s outskirts.

“Funny,” Kakashi drawled out. “I can’t tell if you’re lying or not.”

“I’m not.” He shrugged, “I don’t care. Besides, if Itachi is looking for him and if Naruto is bound to come back, then Itachi is bound to attack him again, right?” He could be jealous that Naruto was strong enough to catch Itachi’s attention, but that only meant he had both time and urgency to get stronger himself. If only to make sure he was the one to kill Itachi, not Naruto. He’d killed Naruto if he did that, chidori or not.

“I...guess.”

Sasuke shrugged. “Well, then. I can just wait here until he shows up again, after Naruto returns.” Might Guy was in the village. Kakashi was in the village. Many Konoha shinobi were renown across the five nations. He just needed to find them. Besides, with the curse mark actually gone, he was legitimate out of other options.

“Tsunade-sama said you were assigned to patrol duty. I’ll talk to Guy, put in an... okay word for you, but while you’re laying here, come up with a back-up plan in case he doesn’t feel like it.”

Sasuke already had a back-up to that. Spy on him and copy whatever he could. “Whatever.”

Kakashi stood up, “oh, and Sasuke? Don’t get yourself killed.”

Sweet sentiment.

Sasuke watched him leave, before turning his attention to the ceiling, until he was drifting off.

Until he woke up, drenched in cold sweat. The girl’s face frozen. The room was pitch black, but Sasuke didn’t need to see to know that his hand was dripping with blood. He sat up, leaning against the wall, focusing on the coldness of it, drawing in small, steady breaths. It had been necessary.

----------------------

The first time Sasuke saw Sakura again was a Monday, almost a year after being discharged from the hospital. He knew it was a Monday because it was the day of the week that he was wearing...that green jumpsuit. After Guy had burst into his hospital room, his face full of ridiculous tears muttering something about the fountain of youth, he’d agreed to let him join in on his and Lee’s training every other Monday.

So he had been wearing the green jumpsuit, figuring that half of the training involved avoiding anyone seeing him in it. Sasuke wasn’t vain , but he also didn’t enjoy looking like an idiot. Even though, in the privacy of his own mind, he had to admit that the jumpsuit was made out of breathable material that made the excessive sweating just a bit more bearable. And the fountain of youth, whatever that was--it was. There had been measurable improvements in his Taijutsu over the months since he’d joined them.

That particular Monday, he had managed to avoid both Lee and Guy’s attacks at the same time for the entire session, all of three minutes, through an elaborate combination of deflecting the blows and strategically retreating. Still with the annoyingly stupid seal over his eyes. So, he was leaving the training ground rather pleased with himself, figuring it was early enough to stroll down the training grounds and find a nice tree with a large shade to eat his breakfast. Until he walked into Training Ground Seven, his mind making sense of the scene in front of him slower than he would have liked.

Sakura, looking a little taller, was standing in a single spot, dodging soccer balls thrown at her by the Fifth. Punching one that shattered immediately, into dust. Sasuke had stared, surprised she was dodging so well until their eyes locked. And she stopped moving, her mouth opening, and Sasuke looked down at himself, still covered in green--looking worse than Naruto used to look in that orange outfit--and when he looked back up, Sakura was on the ground.

The Fifth was screaming that concentration was key for any successful shinobi, but even more so to any competent medic-nin. Sasuke didn’t stay long enough to see what would happen, running towards his apartment to change out of the offending clothes. Feeling more centered in his black pants and loose fitting shirt.

Sakura showed up at his door an hour later, and they talked. At the end, Sasuke told her not to die in the upcoming Chunin exams, where she’d be participating with the remaining groups of Team Ten. Held in Kirigakure, an elaborate show of faith after what, Sasuke gathered, had been long, tensed meetings on the attack. Mercenaries and rogues. Apparently. True enough for the Fifth to send their genin for the exams there. Or maybe sending genin there provided a great cover for Jonin-level Konoha shinobi to infiltrate and gather intelligence.

 Sakura told him not to go blind looking at himself in any reflective surfaces. He closed the door, but heard a laugh on the other side.

A month later, he was reporting to the Hokage’s office in lieu of Genma, after exchanging a month’s reports for a week of free practice on him with the chidori senbon. Not to kill, obviously. Just a moving target practice. It baffled him that Genma agreed, but he had, and Sasuke wasn’t stupid enough to argue, even if he had to drag himself all the way to the Hokage Tower after each shift.

It was more of a mental hassle than a physical one, the shifts, over the months, becoming shorter until they ended as the normal eight-hour shifts, though the amount of sectors they were responsible for never shrunk. It was fine. Sasuke could run through their sectors with his eyes closed, and still be able to detect foreign chakra. The perks of going through the same trees every single day for hours on end, for months on end. With the occasional break in monotony to go with Kakashi on a mission. Nothing exciting. Enough B-rank missions to last a lifetime.

He waited outside the door, secretly pleased with himself when he saw Kotetsu arriving only a few seconds after he did. Good, he could wait until Sasuke finished his report this time.

“Genma has you doing his job again?”

Sasuke shrugged. “Only so I can electrocute him.”

Kotetsu groaned, “if I let you do that to me, too, would you take my job?”

“No.” He would preferred not patrolling those sectors, too. “You can get Izumo to come, can’t you?”

“Already tried.”

Sasuke would have rolled his eyes, but his attention was on the people filing out of the Hokage’s office. Two thirds of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, and Lee, and...Sakura, a giddy smile on her face. All wearing green vests. Who would have guessed Sakura would have been the first member of their team to be promoted? They locked eyes, but Sasuke could feel Kotetsu thinking about entering first. Sasuke closed the door on his face. He still had to prepare dinner and continue to try to make a thunderstorm.

“Reporting again, Uchiha?”

Sasuke shrugged. “Nothing to report.”

“To be clear, I’m only accepting that because I actually need to talk with you and I don’t want to take more time than I have to,” she said, leaning forward.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but stayed motionless otherwise. The Fifth looked like she was itching to scream at someone, and he would prefer it if that someone was someone else...Kotetsu could take one for the team, couldn’t he? He could. She gave a small wave, and the room lost three chakras. Dismissing Anbu? He didn’t think he had the clearance for that. Over the past year, their relationship had evolved from general distrustfulness to...a professional one, much of that improvement because he hadn’t tried to run away. He wasn’t planning to. He could hold his own with most Jonin now and his ass hadn’t been handed to him by Guy the entire month during Taijutsu practice, not even with a seal over his eyes. Measurable improvement. There was no reason to run away. Naruto would have to show up eventually, and Itachi was bound to follow. He’ll be ready.

“Are you listening to me?” The Fifth snapped.

“Yeah.” He lied, watching the vein on her forehead.

“I want you to join Anbu.”

He narrowed his eyes, waiting for her to start laughing, or something. But she didn’t. Her expression serious, her eyes fixed on him, but Sasuke’s emotionless mask was no match for anyone’s eyes trying to decipher his thoughts. He knew that. Was grateful for it, especially at the moment. His father had been so proud of Itachi when he’d made it in, even more so as Captain. Would he have been proud of him too, now? Anbu was...

“Why?” He settled on, figuring it’ll buy him more time. He was still technically a genin, and while recruitment into Anbu was not measured by formal rank, it still seemed like a rather stupid choice. Sasuke might be able to train with the best, but his one and only A-rank mission was still escorting that bridge builder almost two years ago. It hadn’t even been an official A-ranked mission. Besides, he hadn’t technically deflected, but he knew that she knew that he’d considered it and--and he wasn’t sure that showed the correct kind of loyalty to the village required for Anbu.

He was sure that she also knew that if it came down to remaining loyal to Konoha and a chance to kill Itachi, he wouldn’t even hesitate on that decision.

“Three reasons--”

Sasuke didn’t let the surprise show that she was answering. Maybe she was required to, before anyone sold their soul away.

“One, Kakashi says he’ll come back only if you join, and I’d like him to,” she leaned back on her chair. “Two, I’d like to be able to seal up your records. Plus, I thought you’d appreciate it. You know that Anbu have orders to kill rogue ninja from Konoha on sight, don’t you? Lastly, you’ll be in a team designed to prevent any attack on the village from any tailed beasts.”

“What?”

The Fifth’s eyes turned to the sake bottle next to the biggest stack of papers. “The last time the village suffer an attack from a tailed beasts, our intelligence reported...promising theories on controlling a tailed beast with the Sharingan. As the only true heir of that bloodline, I’m sure you understand the importance of it.”

Sasuke clenched his jaw, his mind tossing aside the Fifth’s reasons in favor of considering the kill on sight orders. He’d assumed that once Naruto returned, they’ll be back on the same team again, along with Sakura and Kakashi--they were the only team from their graduating class who weren’t still together, after all, and didn’t they spend hours arranging those teams at the academy to keep them together in the long run, anyway?--and he’ll happen to run into Itachi Uchiha by approximation to Naruto.

Though leaving the village on missions more frequently, with permission to kill on sight, did increase the chances of finding him--

“Of course, it’s Anbu’s duty to destroy their bodies if they ever become too weak to continue to fight or flee. You, like Kakashi, will have to worry about transporting back the Sharingan before you do.”

A second later, Sasuke nodded. Figuring if he was ever in that situation, he could just blow himself up before sending the Sharingan back. That was Uchiha. It belonged to the Uchiha clan, not a village. Besides, Kakashi made it abundantly clear that someone without the Uchiha’s chakra networks would never fully benefit from it, too drained to reap most of the benefits. But the Fifth didn’t need to know that. “I understand.”

“Is that a yes, then?”

He’ll just have to figure out a way to make sure that if push came to shove, the explosion would take Itachi, too. He nodded, but the Fifth continued to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Finally, he said, “yes.”

“Report to the retirement home tomorrow at first light. You’re dismissed.”

Sasuke turned around and left, ignoring Kotetsu’s vague glare as he jumped onto the nearest rooftop. The retirement home? He supposed it made sense. The Hokage lived there, and why wouldn’t Anbu headquarters be there as well? It was convenient.

He strolled through the village, taking the long route to return home. At least he wasn’t living in the retirement home himself anymore--but now that he knew it was were the Anbu congregated, the unsettling feeling of being watched every night for three months made more sense. He opened his door, scowling when he found Kakashi sitting on his kitchen counter, munching on a rice ball, the stupid orange book in front of his nose.

“At least sit on a chair,” he mumbled, shoving him off the counter.

Kakashi turned around to face him, setting the book down. “Did you hear? Sakura-chan got promoted. What are you going to gift her?”

Sasuke turned on the stove. He wasn’t planning on gifting her anything. But he could. She was the Fifth’s apprentice. A medical book? She’d probably read every single one already. “What are you getting her?”

“Two of my precious water jutsus,” Kakashi replied. Sasuke didn’t have to look at him to see the cheeky grin underneath the mask.

“Isn’t that technically regifting?”

“Of course not,” Kakashi said, sitting back on the counter. “It’s not my fault other shinobi don’t know how to take care of their techniques. Last I checked, she could use some ninjutsu.”

He began boiling water for rice. “I’ll give her some money--”

“The most thoughtless gift.”

Sasuke didn’t reply. What was he supposed to get her? Money wasn’t a thoughtless gift, it was a useful one; and even if it did show a certain callousness, he didn’t particularly care. He turned his back on Kakashi, hoping against all hope that he would just leave. He had a long day, and he’ll like to eat dinner and collect his thoughts before he left to train. But by the time the rice and salmon were ready, Kakashi was still there, on the counter, reading.

“You can leave.”

He flipped the page. “I heard you did agree to join. Advice free of charge, Sasuke? Anbu does care about formalities.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I don’t think so--”

“I’m serious.” Kakashi’s tone, suddenly devoid of emotion, made that abundantly clear. It was just that Sasuke didn’t care. “Part of being in Anbu is showing the appropriate respect to your comrades and to the Hokage, not just an individual worthy of respect, but as the symbol of the village and all it represents.”

Sasuke spared him a glance, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “Isn’t there a test I have to pass to officially join--”

“Every mission is a test. If you fail it, you die. I’m sure I’ve told you before.” He gave him a wave, “see you tomorrow, Sasuke.”

Kakashi disappeared, in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke spent a good five minutes picking them up and throwing them in the trash, wiping down the counter, before he finally sat down to eat his dinner. The next morning, stopping by Sakura’s house and slipping an envelope with money underneath the door.

--------

“Remove your mask, Pup.”

He kept his face blank at the nickname and command. Sasuke hadn’t removed the mask, unless he was completely sure that he was alone, for almost six months. Since he’d received it and commanded to keep it on his face for the rest of the time he remained on duty, remained in Squad Ro’s assigned room. He didn’t like the idea of taking it off in front of one of Konoha’s elders, the overseer of Anbu’s training and paperwork. Sasuke had only seen him for the first, and only, time during his first day, first hour , and it wasn’t as if the man inspired trust.

He had been waiting in an empty room, below the retirement home. The man showed up, supporting himself on a cane. Told him he was the one responsible to ensure every Anbu’s mission ready state and that Sasuke would be skipping most of the orientation recruitments were forced through, because as a Sharingan wielder, all the information could be transmitted and understood quicker. Sasuke had followed him through three corridors, to Squad Ro’s room, and was introduced to Coyote.

Sasuke hadn’t seen Danzo Shimura since, and he knew--had heard enough rumors to know--that being summoned individually by the Hokage could be a positive sign, but being individually summoned by Danzo was never cause for celebration.

Sasuke pushed the mask back, along with his bangs, feeling the room’s coldness brush his cheeks. It was purely psychological, he knew, but he felt utterly exposed.

“You look so much like him--”

His jaw clenched, as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“Don’t you? Though maybe you’ll just have to take my word for it, I can’t imagine you’ve seen your reflection lately.”

Somehow, even the weapons lacked their normal reflective tendencies. It--Danzo was right. Sasuke couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked at himself; for all he knew, he could resemble Itachi Uchiha. He’d certainly heard enough whispered insinuations in half-lit hallways. Not looking at his face and wearing a mask even while asleep, sometimes, Sasuke forgot who he was, why he was there--Sasuke Uchiha, not Pup; a better chance at killing his brother, not to attempt to tame a demon. After the first time he caught himself referring to himself as Pup, he started falling asleep mentally repeating his name and the names of every murdered Uchiha. There was not much he could do to maintain some level of connection to his clan, something he should have, but hadn’t, foreseen when he accepted, when he remained sitting down as someone carved the Anbu tattoo on his arm, and gave him his uniform. He couldn’t even mutter his name, the mask patched into every member of Squad Ro’s masks, too.

“Have you?”

Sasuke waited, but the question, as rhetorical as it should be, seemed to require an answer. “No.”

“No, sir .”

“If you say so.”

Obviously, he saw the deliberately slow cane move to hit him before it stroke him across the face. But what was he to do besides stand there? Attempting to throttle the man, no matter how tempting, would only lead him to a treason charge. Rot in jail, death row, or his chakra sealed forever. All terrible options, at least while his brother was still alive.

“No what?”

Sasuke stood there, but to his credit, he didn’t even raise an eyebrow. He’d had this conversation a couple of times back in the Academy, although the cane--deliberately slow again, so he could see it coming, apparently--was a nice addition. It hit the same spot, this time cutting the skin.

“Your brother was as impertinent as you,” Danzo said, his voice cold and slow, just like his cane. “Should we have to worry about you, too? Should I seal you and let you rot in prison before you have a chance to murder innocent people, too?”

Sasuke always thought that Itachi was...respectful, if only somewhat quiet. He remembered him getting down on his knees to ask their father for forgiveness after antagonizing fellows clansmen. Of course, as a child, he would have never imagined his brother capable of murdering their entire family, so his opinions of Itachi were evidently wrong. Had always been wrong. He knew that. He should have known that. He stopped caring about formalities because--frankly, he didn’t want to be anything like Itachi, but--he just...hadn’t thought about it that way.

“No.” He paused. “Sir.” The reverence felt wrong and foreign on his lips, but he couldn’t be like Itachi, he had to erase everything reminiscent of him, had been erasing everything about his brother as hard as he could since forever.

Danzo leveled him with a look that--was not like anyone before. It felt like Danzo was looking into him, but Sasuke refused to flinch away. “You can learn fast. Good,” he nodded. “In that case, explain what happened in the last mission.”

A frown slipped on his face, but he managed to hide it a second later, keeping his face as expressionless as if he had slipped the porcelain mask on again. It was an A-rank mission--the last one before Squad Ro was allowed to move out of their assigned room at headquarters and back to the privacy of their own homes. Sasuke had looked forward to that, earn back some of his sanity and identity by sleeping in his own bed, under his own roof, without a mask on. The other members must have been looking forward to it too, he was sure.

Until he fucked it up, and now the team was back on probation, waiting to earn enough brownie points to be allowed back home.

It had been a stupid, unnecessary mission, though. There was never any reason that a four-year-old boy should be murdered, it hadn’t been his fault that his parents were selling village secrets to Iwagakure. “The responsible parties were taken care of,” he replied.

Wolf had taken care of it. Rather effectively. Sasuke still had trouble aligning Wolf with Kakashi.

“Follow me. Put the mask back on”

Sasuke did and followed him through hallways that should have better lightning, down stairs. The temperature dropped. He never considered that the mask provided some comfort, but it must because it narrowed his view, helped him focus. And dissociate somewhat. They stopped in front of the cells. In front of the four-year old, knocked out, a straightjacket holding him to the wall.

“If it was taken care of, then why is that boy alive?”

“Because he’s four and--”

“That was a rhetorical question, Pup,” Danzo said, running through hand seals, and ripping a seal on the door. It swung open. “You’ve been practicing interrogation techniques, have you not?”

Sasuke waited, but apparently that was a question. “Yes. Sir.”

“Go on,” he said.

Sasuke stepped inside the cell, noting the coldness. Assholes. It was a four-year old kid, with a hood over his head, with a straightjacket strapping him to the wall.

“Go on.”

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, before reaching for the kid’s hood, the Sharingan imprinting the kid’s pale face, sunken cheeks into his mind. Entering memories usually took more effort, but he supposed there was a difference between breaking down the barriers of a toddler than those of Anbu-trained shinobi.

He was slammed into the ground. The Sharingan caught sight of the kid’s glowing face, before it was covered by the hood again.

“The traitors put a seal on him. If Iwagakure shinobi, or enemy shinobi steal him, they’ll be able to learn anything that his parents wanted. Including now, the Sharingan. The blast, of course,” he said, his voice grating on Sasuke’s nerves, worse than Kakashi’s ever could. “Grows bigger upon every attempt to gather intelligence. Not only did we lose the older sibling, apparently because of your hesitation, but now we have a ticking bomb inside the village--”

“He’s in--”

“Quiet.”

Sasuke took a breath, standing up.

“If our hunters are unable to find evidence that the sister is dead, we’re going to have to spend resources, including time and money, to ensure that no information is leaked, while also worrying about this four-year old.”

“He seems--”

“Quiet.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Team Ro has been assigned a new mission. You are to transport the subject to Iwagakure and dispose of it there. Your Captain will provide the details, but you can carry him.”

It took awhile for Sasuke to figure out how to remove the straightjacket from the wall, but he managed, after finally deciding that the hand signs that Danzo ran through to open the cells were his last option. He should have started with those. He tossed the kid over his shoulder and made his way back to the room.

He hated that room.

Kakashi--or Wolf. It was Wolf, Sasuke found out there was a difference quickly enough. He hadn’t even realized that it was Kakashi, until he saw the Sharingan, weeks after joining. It had been fun. Wolf was standing by the door, strapping the chest plate on, and Raven was packing the medical supplies. Coyote sidestepped him.

Dog and Owl moved out, then, followed by Raven. Wolf hovered by the door and Sasuke could imagine that if it had been Kakashi and he was...well, if he weren’t Pup, then Kakashi would have said something now. But he was Pup, and Kakashi was Wolf, and the only thing that happened was that Wolf disappeared down the hallway a second later.

Sasuke set the boy down on the floor, before strapping the katana across his chest. He picked him up, then.

The journey to Iwagakure was long and quiet. Sometimes, Sasuke felt insane. No one talked and the truth was, that he was always comfortable with silence, but only when he could enjoy his solitude. With the mask on, he was patched into everyone’s mask, regardless of how stupid that was, which meant that he couldn’t really enjoy the silence. Nevermind traveling through rougher terrain, avoiding all and any towns. It made sense. He was carrying an unconscious four-year old over his shoulder--someone would have been bound to ask questions.

But they arrived, weeks after leaving Konoha, weeks of undying silence, they arrived. Then, Coyote filled him in on the details and Sasuke’s stomach coiled too tightly. The seal could be an explosive. They had transported him--it--all the way to ensure that if it was an explosion, it created havoc outside of Konoha and inside...

Hadn’t the Hokage signed a treaty with Iwagakure?

It seemed like there were always treaties. Of course there were, Sasuke realized, because there was always backstabbing. Like right now. He’d never been sure what Anbu entailed, when he was a child, waiting for his big brother to come back home from a dangerous mission. He unshielded his katana, watching the rest of the team disappear into the trees. There hadn’t been that many trees, but they still hid them well.

Maybe the backstabbing had drove his brother to--no, no. Itachi was just crazy and evil and sick. It would have happened either way, Anbu or not. He brought the katana down. Sasuke was behind the mask to ensure that when he found him, he’d be able to kill Itachi, even if it wasn’t a fair fight, even if he was hiding from the shadows. Over the months, he’d realized that it didn’t matter how it got done, as long as it got done, just like in any other mission.

The blood looked different than it should--dirtier somehow, blacker. Until it didn’t look like blood, it looked like snakes slithering across the grass, leaving a trail of fire behind. The Sharingan glanced down at the bubbling throat, finding the skin glowing an unnatural golden color, a second later, black. The snakes turned golden then, and expanded. A moment later, without the Sharingan, he would have been engulfed in the explosion. He didn’t realize that he’d been moving in the first place, but he had been. Just enough to escape the radius and--

And then, they were on them.

Iwagakure shinobi. Just like--it was fine. It was not the only ambush that he’d been involved in, except that usually, they were doing the ambushing. But he was fast. Except they were fast, too. Some senbon crashed against the chest plate. But their blood wasn’t black or golden and it didn’t create snakes and didn’t create explosions, and in the end, Coyote buried the bodies into the trees as they fled.

-------------

In retrospect, maybe Sasuke was the one who started it. After the explosion, there were missions for counterintelligence, months away from Konoha. Assassinations, mostly. Powerful important people. Who knew that even rogue shinobi cared enough to try to obliterate their own bodies to protect its secrets?

Apparently dying in explosions was the rage. Everyone was doing it, and Sasuke had spent one too many hours considering whether or not having Itachi blow himself up counted for revenge; he figured it did, if he was the one who drove him into it.

It was one of the only thoughts that kept him moving.

But one thing was clear, distance did make everything grow fonder. It had been...too many months, maybe seven, since he’d last been inside Konoha. Counter-intelligence for Sunagakure required too much prepping time, but the pay was good--not specifically for them, but for the village. Almost four years after the Sound invasion and they were still in an economic downfall. At least the missions brought income into it, and they were making a difference, he realized, looking at the Hokage tower, apparently with new paint. Maybe they paid for it with the money that Team Ro brought into the village after murdering a Daimyo’s daughter.

The Sharingan had done an amazing job at etching that particular face into his memory just because he wasn’t quick enough to look away.

But most of the faces were in his memory now.

He made his way to his apartment, shutting the door. At least there was some privacy now. That had been gained back with, funnily enough, that initial explosion. He ripped the chest plate off, tossing it on the floor. He should pick it up. But he would much rather sit down and eat something, finally, something other than food pills, and then he would like to take a shower and then, maybe, he would pick it up.

He dragged himself to the bathroom, swallowing back a curse when the freezing water hit his back. He hurried out, cursing out the months he’d been gone. For what, exactly? Too many near death experiences, too many people almost killing him. They hadn’t, obviously, but Kakashi had been right those months, or years, ago, when he said that every mission was a test. They were, not just for himself, but for his teammates.

He knew their names now. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it happened sometimes, apparently, when people were under emotional duress and exhausted, and thinking too slowly for the actions that they were required to take.

It was only fair that he knew their names, though, because, evidently, they knew his. He’d even caught sight of Dog’s--Satoshi’s face, a small scruffy beard, before it disappeared behind the mask. He was almost sure that Rave--Sakumi’s eyes were hazel.

And--

“We’re summoned.”

Sasuke would have thrown a kunai if he hadn’t recognized the voice. He turned around, finding Kakashi standing in the middle of his living room. It was the first time he’d seen him out of the uniform, without the mask, but he looked the same as the last time they’d really seen each other, months ago.

He bit back a sigh. “We just got back.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Hokage’s orders. Don’t wear the uniform, it’s casual.”

None of that made it any easier to drag his ass to the bedroom and change. It felt weird, not having the chest plate strapped, or the katana on his back, or the mask. Even weirder when he showed up to find Kakashi, with his Jounin vest, and Sakumi. Sasuke never realized that her dark hair reached to her lower back, having grown accustomed to the enormous bun at the top of her head. She looked younger than Sasuke would have ever thought possible. Without the mask, she looked to be around his age. Funny, he always thought that she was at least five years older.

He turned back to the Hokage when Sakumi winked at him.

A second later, the door opened, and a...baby showed up. It was not a baby, per se, it looked like a fresh-faced Genin, right out of the Academy. He didn’t even reach to Kakashi’s shoulders, or his own shoulders to be honest. Sasuke hit another growth spurt in the middle of Sound. It had been fun.

“Haru, this is Sasuke,” the Fifth said, a lazy wave in their general direction. “And this is Sakumi. They’ll be your new teammates for the Chunin exams--”

“They’re Genin, too?” Evidently, judging by the voice, the baby hadn’t even reached puberty yet.

Had he sounded so annoyingly high, too?

“Yes, and this is Kakashi. He’ll be your Jounin instructor.”

“Kakashi of the Sharingan?”

Sasuke glanced at him, watching the kid’s eyes practically turn into hearts, as he looked up at Kakashi, who was giving a precise, yet lazy wave. Sasuke hadn’t seen that disposition coming from him since...

Since forever.

Even the way that Kakashi walked out of the room, followed by the baby was more relaxed since, maybe--maybe during their first bell test when Kakashi was clearly toying with them.

All of it had to be a joke.

But it was not.

Apparently, Sound was entering for the first time and apparently, it was an excellent idea to send him near that shit. It was amazing. Apparently, Sakumi and he were technically the only Genin in Team Ro, and apparently, it made perfectly good sense.

“Powerful people are wondering why Sasuke Uchiha is still a Genin,” the Fifth said.

Of course. Of course. Sasuke had never been promoted, and it didn’t matter, because he had enough experience to, at the very least, be a high-ranking Chunin, not to stroke his own ego, or anything. But no one really knew, he supposed, considering that he’d spent the years in Anbu and everyone who saw the Sharingan ended up buried deep into trees, too dead to recount the horrors of a squad with two Sharingan users.

“Of course, I’m not interested in getting either of you promoted since you won’t be out of Anbu,” she continued. “But if Sound is entering and if Sasuke Uchiha is entering...it goes without saying that Orochimaru will show up and he will die. Understood?”

“Yes, Lady Hokage,” Sakumi said, like Sasuke and her had any hope of taking on, let alone, defeating Orochimaru in the middle of exams, while also being stuck babysitting a kid who couldn’t possibly be old enough to be sent into a death tournament.

Of course, the fact was that if he couldn’t defeat Orochimaru, then he didn’t have any hope against Itachi. He knew that.

“Sasuke?”

His eyes focused back on the Hokage, who was leaning against her clasped hands, her lips set into a serious frown. “Understood.”

“Kakashi is waiting for both of you in Training Grounds Three. Don’t fail.”

Sasuke and Sakumi walked out of the office, both of them, apparently, sharing the same thought that it would be better to walk to the training grounds without any care in the world. They’d just gotten back after months away, otherwise, Sasuke would have gone over the roofs to avoid everyone.

“How old are you?” He asked, feeling rather foolish for having to ask, considering that she’d worked with him for about two years.

“It has never mattered before.”

“It doesn’t,” he said. It didn’t, really. She was an amazing healer with sharp reflects and sufficient chakra to heal any wound that anyone--or everyone--had, each and every day. But that was Raven, not Sakumi. “It’s just--”

“Seventeen,” she said, sparing him a glance, something on her lips that could almost resemble a smile. It was weird, watching her expressions after staring at her with a mask for the entire time they ever knew each other. “How old are you?”

“Hilarious.”

“I’m serious,” she said. “Do you think I keep track of other people’s birthdays?”

“Any shinobi worth their money would,” he said. “It’s important information--”

“It’s useless information,” she said. “Unless I was planning to buy presents, which I’m not. It’ll just slow us down.”

“Like I ever carry as much as you do.”

“Everything I carry is useful,” she paused, her eyes fixed on the playground. Sasuke stared at it, watching three boys sprinting around the swings, and a girl sliding down the slide; judging by the careless giggles, it was fun. “And more than once, it has saved your life, so the only thing you should be asking is when my birthday is so that you may buy me a birthday present. I’m running low on summoning scrolls and I need ink.”

Sasuke took money from his pocket and handed it to her. “I don’t want to know when your birthday is, but you can buy yourself something nice. It’s on me.”

“You realize I make more money than you, right?”

He shrugged, “you realize I’m rich, right?”

Not that it mattered. He wasn’t in the village long enough to spend money and roughing it out during missions was mostly free.

Fun.

Sakumi pocketed the money, “I guess that makes sense, but also not something that I want to know.” She halted, grabbing his shoulder, “in fact, I don’t want to know anything and I don’t want you to know anything either. It’s unprofessional, so when we have to do bonding exercises, which we all know Kakashi-sensei loves to do,” she rolled her eyes. Sasuke couldn’t help but agree. “Make sure you make everything up. I don’t care what your real favorite food is and I definitely don’t want to hear your dreams and aspirations, so make it up. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Sasuke huffed. He wasn’t at all that interested in hearing her life story either, he’d just being curious about her age because she was, apparently, one year older--unless she was lying, which she could be, she should be, she’d just said that she would be lying about everything--so, it made sense that he wouldn’t remember her during the academy, one year older. Not that he would remember, he supposed, considering that he barely remember the rookies from his own year.

It was just weird, that was all. He didn’t want to know her and considering how obsessed most girls he’d been around...he appreciated that she didn’t want to get to know him, either.

He just never considered what a terrible liar he could be. It was a problem, he realized, when he was standing beside Sakumi, with the baby and Kakashi sitting on the grass, in the middle of the training ground. Apparently, the baby desperately wanted to be a great shinobi so that he could do something involving something. Sasuke didn’t pay attention, too busy deciding what he should say.

“Yo, Uchiha.”

Was it his turn already? Had Sakumi even said anything? Did Kakashi?

“I like sweets,” he said. “And my dream is to...fly.”

“What do you dislike?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Annoying people.”

“Right. Sakumi, your turn.”

“Well,” she said, her voice suddenly higher than it should be. “I really love to do my hair and pick flowers. My favorite animal is...uh, all of them! Excepts ducks, I hate everything about ducks. I want to write a medical book and have Sakura Haruno sign it!”

Sasuke was almost sure those were all lies. Although, last he heard Sakura was an impressive medical shinobi, as expected, some claimed, from the Hokage’s apprentice, so maybe there was some truth to wanting a signed book.

“Great,” Kakashi said, like he couldn’t have cared less. “In that case, we’re going to have a test. If you fail, you’ll...”

Sasuke tuned him out, knowing exactly where the speech was going. Last time, he’d believed Kakashi, but Sakumi and he were only there now to enter the exams and they couldn’t do that if they failed, which meant that Kakashi wouldn’t fail them, and for some reason the baby was joining them. It seemed stupid, quite frankly, because they could have had a more experienced member, too, even another Anbu, incognito, or something. Kind of like the way that Orochimaru did in those first exams. Whatever. The kid was excited. Until Kakashi disappeared.

“He’s so fast!”

Seriously, how were they supposed to enter the exams, not die, kill Orochimaru, and keep track of the baby? It was absolutely ridiculous. It looked like a set-up, there wasn’t another logical, possible explanation. Whatever. It wasn’t his place to question , it was his job to do . He needed to find Kakashi right now and steal those bells, to show teamwork obviously--he was planning to hand one over to Sakumi and the other to the kid. He really should figure out the kid’s name.

Eh. Maybe later.

 ----------

Later happened two weeks after passing the test, on the way to the Exams. It was Haru, Sasuke found out, when he looked over the kid’s form. Haru Akiyama, a twelve-year-old, fresh from the Academy, but not fresh enough, apparently, with two teammates murdered in a mission that was too reminiscent of Team 7’s wave mission for comfort.

“We always said we were going to be Chunins together.”

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. They were camping for the night, a day out of Sungakure’s main entrance, the desert too familiar now. They had just left the desert and now they were back . It was horrendous. “Go back to sleep.”

“I can’t,” Haru said. “There’s--”

“You need to,” Sasuke said. “You won’t get a good night sleep once we’re inside those exams.”

“I know.” Haru stood up, walking closer. “I know. It’s not a game, I know.”

Sasuke knew that Team Ro was lurking around, which was nice. It was nice backup. Sakumi was within arm reach too, but Haru wasn’t particularly special. His Taijutsu was average and his Ninjutsu was average--the only thing he had going for him was his above average ability to sense chakras, but it came with baggage. A lot of baggage, as the kid couldn’t forgive himself for not sensing the enemy shinobi before they sliced through his best friend. Haru was there to sense Orochimaru, though he didn’t know that. But if he didn’t sense him and neither Sakumi or he did--which they probably would not, having relied too much and too long on Owl for that.

Haru would be sliced through in a second, too. After all, Sasuke was under no impression that if Naruto didn’t have a demon in him and if Orochimaru hadn’t wanted Sasuke himself...both of them would have died in those exams. Sasuke still couldn’t figure out why Orochimaru hadn’t killed Sakura or Naruto, but he suspected that if they crossed paths again--well, Orochimaru couldn’t be too happy that Sasuke never deflected and had since accepted missions to destabilize Sound’s economy and political hold on the surrounding lands.

Which meant it was going to be a bloodbath. He knew what the mission entailed and part of him--the more stupid side that continued to persist regardless of any logic--was excited to find out how he compared to Orochimaru now. But the more sensible part of him....well, he just hoped Ro would be quick enough for backup.

Before the kid got sliced through, unnecessarily.

“It’s not a game, you’re right, so you should sleep.”

“I’m just nervous.”

Sasuke hummed. “Just don’t die.”

Haru left to go back to his sleeping bag, then. Three hours later, Sasuke nudged Kakashi, or hit him, if he was being honest. “It’s your turn.”

Kakashi hummed, too, and Sasuke couldn’t help but feel that he should stop humming because it sounded just like--clearly, they spent too much time together. It was awful. “You should be nicer to Haru.”

“I’m very nice,” Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes. “You always tell me not to die, I thought I’d pass along your words of wisdom.”

“Hilarious,” Kakashi deadpanned. “I also tell you that I’d give my life for you.”

“Yeah, well, I have plans I need to fulfill before I die for anyone, especially a kid I hardly know.” He still had to kill Itachi. He couldn’t die beforehand, regardless of how noble it would be.

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Sasuke did. He told himself that all through the first exam. He would not die for anyone. He’d already almost died a lot of times for people and...and he really needed to stop doing that. He needed to kill his brother and avenge his family, and then maybe, he would start considering dying for people.

“Nervous?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “No. Are you?”

“A little.”

Sasuke glanced at her. He still couldn’t read her, would probably read her better if she was wearing her porcelain mask. “Why?”

“It’s a joke,” Sakumi said. “You need to improve on your reading of body language.”

“You’re not moving. How am I to read your body language if you’re not moving?”

“Tonal intonation.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. However Sakumi decided to create her persona, she needed to go back to the drawing board. “You know, if you act like this all the time, no one’s going to believe you’re a genin.”

“I’m only acting like this around you.” As if on cue, Haru walked up to them with three scrolls and Sakumi’s voice increased a thousand pitches. “Oh, wow, thanks! We should figure out which one is the real scroll as soon as we get in.”

Sasuke stared up at the gate. It was no Forest of Death. There were no trees, which presented a perfect setting for...a blood bath. “Why? We’re not trading any of them.”

“But what if the enemy finds us and we have to give the real one to them?”

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Had he really been that stupid when he was twelve? No wonder so many people had handed him his ass. “If the enemy finds us, we’ll just tell them that we don’t have one anymore--”

“But then they’ll fight.”

So incredibly stupid. “They’ll fight anyway.” The gates opened. “Just don’t die.”

“Sasuke-kun, don’t say that to him! You’ll scare him,” Sakumi said. If possible, she sounded more annoying than Sakura used to sound; probably because she was doing it on purpose. “No one’s going to die. I’m a medic-nin, remember?”

“Everyone dies.”

Uh. Maybe Haru wasn’t as stupid as previously thought.

----------------

Except he was. All of them were stupid. He threw a kunai, watching it fly across the landing, only to be deflected. Sakumi was on the ground, her hands glowing green, hovering over Haru’s body.

The woman’s neck elongated. Stretched on forever. Sasuke pushed chakra out. The neck--face--he shook his head. Orochimaru halted, his smile slippery like his neck as it retracted back to the body--the stolen body, the body that could have been Sasuke’s. He shook his head. Where the fuck was Coyote? Owl? Dog? Everyone?

He glanced at the floor. Haru’s stomach was blown and Sakumi...she was doing her best. Just like he was. Of course, their best was simply mediocre under these circumstances.

“How is he?”

“Alive. Keep your eyes on him.”

Sasuke’s eyes were on Orochimaru, obviously. They couldn’t not be. But it was difficult to concentrate, the images too closely mimicking everything about his first exams. The neck. The peeled face. He shook his head. All that was missing was the bite, the mark, scorched into his skin.

He tossed his backpack in Sakumi’s direction. “Get him out of here.”

“I’m not here for him.”

Of course not. “I can’t concentrate with a half-dead body next to me. Get him out here. Try to find our reinforcements. I’ll hold him off.”

Her response took a long time. But Orochimaru was seemingly nice enough to remain unmoving. “I’ll be back.”

Sasuke glanced in her direction, but they were gone. Orochimaru flashed in front of him. He leaped back, avoiding a kick to his ribs.

“My, my, Sasuke-kun. What have they done to you?”

He hated fighting in Sungakure. The sand. The stupid, stupid sand. No place to hide. No place to recollect his thoughts. Plan a strategy. Who was he kidding? He wasn’t the one who came up with the plans.

Whatever. He drew his katana and leapt forward.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke pushed his mask back. Threw it on the ground. Unsheathed the katana, unstrapped the chest plate. It clanked against the ground. The shower scorched his skin. It was not terrible, but not nearly as distracting as he’d hoped. Walking out of the bathroom, he wrapped a towel across his torso as he hunted for black clothes.

They were snug. But it would do.

He slipped out of his apartment, jumping on roofs until he landed on the clearing. The memorial stone was polished, the sun’s rays glistering off the rock. Haru Akiyama. The name shouldn’t be there, of course. The kid hadn’t died in combat, just in exams. The name was rougher than the other ones. Sakumi, he was sure.

He wouldn’t have pegged her as someone who’d vandalize the village’s memorial stone, but who else would it be? He sat down, twirling a blade of grass around his finger. Pulled on it. Grabbed another one.

Leaves fell on his head. Kakashi .

“Not in the mood.”

“Well, sorry,” Kakashi drawled out. “But this is my hangout and you’re the one trespassing.”

Sasuke pushed himself off the ground, shoving his shoulder against Kakashi’s. A hand grabbed him by the collar. “What?”

“Isn’t it interesting?”

Sasuke took a deep a breath. “What is?”

“That they would send a kid like that to a mission like that.”

“If you have something to say, spit it out already, I don’t have all day, unlike you.” Lies, of course. Sasuke had nothing to do until Ro was sent out again. Maybe train. Maybe nurse his ego after finding out Orochimaru could still hand him his ass. Seven casualties. At least only one from their own village. The other six had been necessities.

Kakashi hummed. “Just a thought. That’s all.”

Sasuke turned around, “what? Are you saying someone wanted the kid dead so he was sent out with us to get killed? Why would anyone want a twelve-year-old dead so badly?” But then again...why had they sent him out with them? If they wanted a sensor with them, why not just send in Dog with them? It would have saved them some trouble. Some deaths.

“You said it, not me,” Kakashi shrugged. “But now that you mention--”

“Cut the crap.” Sasuke shrugged Kakashi’s hand off. “Nice try, but if you want me to commit treason by questioning the Hokage’s orders, then you can do that all by yourself.”

Kakashi chuckled under his breath, like there was a joke in there, somewhere, and Sasuke knew there was, of course, because not that long ago, he’d been gratefully, gleefully, planning treason, to run away, to join Orochimaru, of all people, of course, but he hadn’t, he wasn’t like that, he wasn’t like his brother, and there was no joke at all.

“I’m not trying to get you to do anything, Sasuke. I’m just voicing your thoughts in--”

“Fuck off.”

“Watch the language. Talking to a superior like that is--“

“You’re not my superior.”

“Jounin,” Kakashi pointed at himself. Then, he pointed at Sasuke. “Genin. You know, for such a genius, you must have the worst track record on the Chunin exams. One hundred percent failure rate.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked away. When he glanced over his shoulder, Kakashi was still there, staring at him, though he was pretending to read that book. Idiot . That was all it was, Kakashi was an idiot.

Then again, he raised good questions. Sasuke had thought about it, before Kakashi opened his mouth, it didn’t make any sense. Even if they had killed Orochimaru, they didn’t need a twelve-year-old with them to achieve that. He jumped on the nearest roof. Leapt to the next. Akiyama . The name didn’t mean anything.

And he had better things to do than this.

 ----------

It was difficult to breathe in Kumogakure, the air thinning at such altitude. But hidden by the clouds and layers of genjutsu--there hadn’t yet been a real deficiency in breathing. Though, Sasuke suspected that once they started moving, there might be a more pressing issue to breathe. As soon as Owl gave the signal. He gripped his katana, feeling a deep pulse of chakra in the back of his mind, images of a small room, a rectangular table, the Raikage sitting at the end of it. Three personal guards. The ones he had to be faster than.

Owl peeling back Dog and Wolf’s genjutsu for the faces of the four targets. Three eliminations. The slowest ones. Iwagakure’s symbol carved into their forehead protector. Sasuke unsheathed his katana, slowly building chakra around it until it morphed into lightning, his Sharingan spinning. The faint throbbing turned sharp, the edges of his vision blinding white. He moved, faint amusement coating his movements as he realized that yes, moving did make it more difficult to breathe.

Ah. That’s why the waterboarding regimen was required.

He moved along the mountain, his breaths coming in smaller with each step, but steady, as needed. Just like he’d been taught. He spotted the targets’ bowing to the Raikage, his Sharingan confirming the layers of genjutsu on each of the men. He bypassed Owl’s temporary body to pierce Degree Two and Three, their bodies falling, disappearing through a cloud. It didn’t matter. Sasuke had made sure any possible autopsy would declare their deaths as a lightning attack, to match First Degree’s memories. Owl’s body moving to the bodyguards. Sasuke was on Degree Four, slashing his throat with his lightning blade, his body caught by First Degree. Fleeing down the mountain. Faster than they had anticipated. Dog was on First Degree, a blur behind him, keeping the genjutsu intact.

Sasuke turned around, Owl already gone. Having left a bodyguard buried into the mountain, with only a blue hand left for a burial. Dog’s genjutsu was fading away. And Sasuke wasn’t the best at layering genjutsu on top of someone else’s, but Wolf’s illusion wouldn’t hold the Raikage. He let his illusion matched the images already in their heads, careful to weave his chakra above’s Wolf’s. And then he was on Owl’s footsteps, keeping three miles behind him, well within range of a genjutsu.

The problem with Owl’s jutsu, besides being unable to defend one’s body, was that the techniques from the possessed body were foreign, and for the most part, unusable. Owl had practiced that rock burial the entire journey to Kumogakure, after plans had been finalized. Sasuke had picked up the technique, too, letting the Sharingan do the work for him and being utterly amused at Owl’s constant groans of frustration.

They stopped in a rural village, on the border. Sasuke arrived minutes after Owl, finding Coyote standing by Owl’s real body, leaning against a tree, only lowering his katana when Owl’s body provided a small nod.

“We’ve lost contact with Wolf and Dog,” Coyote said. “If you’re unable to make contact, eliminate First Degree. We’ll take Zero back to intelligence.”

“Understood, Captain,” Sasuke said, his voice deeper through the mask, keeping his annoyance down. Not at Coyote, just the general idea of trying to catch up to First Degree. But he left without a glance back, feeling just a tad bit more comfortable when he was surrounded by the cover of trees, even as the last remains of Owl’s chakra faded away from him and he was truly alone. He bit his thumb, summoning three hawks, soon losing their shadows too as they spread out for him.

If First Degree hadn’t run off so quickly, Wolf and Dog would have had time to layer on another illusion, on both parties. One making the Raikage believed they had more time to surround the double-crossers. The other to make First Degree believe hell itself was chasing him after a failed attempt on his life, too. Both illusions allowing Wolf and Dog an escape route, to trail First Degree into Iwagakure and transcribe his report to the Tsuchikage.

When Sasuke joined Anbu, it really had been for a chance to kill Itachi, not to work on destabilizing blooming alliances that threatened the village. But Kakashi had been right. Every mission was a test and if he didn’t performed, he died. So he performed because if he didn’t, he’d never get a chance to kill Itachi.

And now, instead of helping guard Owl’s body with Coyote, while Zero was running directly towards Konoha’s Torture and Interrogation Unit, he was running to find Wolf, Dog, or First Degree. He needed to throw more effort into his campaign for Wolf to copy another lightning jutsu, besides the chidori, so he could be the one mimicking Kumogakure’s traditional fighting style and eliminate their targets.

Sasuke was tired. Seven months out of the village, orchestrating and eliminating targets, would wear down anyone. His chakra coiled. One of his hawks disappearing. Twenty miles out. North. At least it was away from the village. He forced more chakra to his legs, slipping food pills under his mask.

Three minutes later, he felt Dog’s chakra; his breathing coming through the radio minutes later. “Stop breathing so loudly, Dog,” he said.

“Shut up, Pup.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, though for the large part having grown accostumed to his codename. Regardless of how demeaning it really was. Wolf had thought it was hilarious. Asshole. Whatever. “Owl and Coyote are heading back.”

“First Degree is still carrying Four, en route.” There was a pause, “I think Wolf stayed behind for damage control.”

Or he was dead. Not much damage control, if the Raikage was involved. Sasuke picked up the pace, activating the Sharingan, spotting Dog’s illusion, his cloak seven trees ahead. With another burst of chakra, he was by his side. “First still fleeing for his life?”

“He sure is.” Dog’s cold reply came. “If it hadn’t fucked us over, I would say that it’s a good thing he has proof now.”

“Right. We’ll just have to destroy the body ourselves now.” Instead of having it lost, like Degree Two and Three. Sasuke had studied the traditional attacks from Kumogakure’s shinobi even before leaving Konoha--having studied them for each village--but the idea that he hadn’t mirrored the amount of chakra and the strike perfectly, leaving noticeable discrepancies, leading to a failed mission...

“Or an unfortunate accident can happen,” Dog said. “Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to be attacked by someone and First will lose the body halfway through.”

Not for the first time, Sasuke decided that Dog was an idiot.

But nothing happened, and a week later, when they were nearing the blank clearing leading to Iwagakure, Dog released the Genjutsu and Sasuke summoned a hawk to follow First Degree, all the way back to the summoning room, one of Dog’s mice on its talons. If Wolf was there, they would have entered the village, but the sporadic change of illusions between them had drained them. If they made it back to Konoha, they would have to spend more time practicing together, to prevent chakra exhaustion on the next mission. If Wolf was dead, Sasuke was Dog’s genjutsu support--not because he was particularly adapt at it, Coyote’s was better by leaps, but because his Sharingan was quick enough to detect it and adapt faster, even if his chakra control left much to be desired.

Sasuke sent out another hawk to scout the area behind them. They’d been playing that enemy shinobi were following First Degree, but they had to make sure that, in fact, no shinobi had been following them.

No one was.

And the return of a sole shinobi on a covert mission to betray Sunagakure and Konoha was apparently important enough for an immediate meeting with the Kage, Sasuke’s hawk back only seven hours later.

Not a botched mission.

Sasuke returned the favor to Dog by pretending he also didn’t see the way his shoulders slumped just a little forward at the news, and they headed back to Konoha, Sasuke’s hawk flying out ahead. He handed his last soldier pills to Dog, four days away from home, figuring he needed them more to keep his summon in the Tsuchikage’s building. He carried him the last two days, dropping him in the Anbu emergency room, dragging himself to the Hokage’s tower only after ensuring they force fed him three soldier pills, for enough chakra to keep the summon. Not for the first time in the past three months missing Raven’s healing.

Raven had died four months into the mission. Sasuke had seen the hand signs to melt away a fallen Anbu into the ground only in a scroll, during his third day as part of the organization. But Coyote performing them had been the first time he’d seen the blue chakra rushing out of his hands, cascading onto Raven’s bloodied body. She had kept Owl’s body alive, despite the ruthless assault on the possessed body. Her body glowed red before it seeped into the ground. They stocked up on soldier and food pills after that, moving on. But working without their medic had brought a new sense of urgency into the mission that had chased them for the rest of it.

The Anbu stationed outside the Hokage’s doors made him wait before he was allowed inside, kneeling before the Hokage.

“Squad Ro, Captain Coyote, sixth, Pup.” Saying his codename, much like kneeling in front of the Hokage had become ingrained habits over the years. “Report for Mission 009182.”

“Coyote has reported up till your separation and have been briefed by your hawk. Proceed.”

Sasuke did. Until he fell forward.

He woke up in an empty room, an IV drip connected to his hand. He spotted his mask hanging from the right bedpost, on top of his cloak. Had he finished his report? He couldn’t remember. He lay there, until a medic came in, working through his vital signals. Chakra exhaustion, but nothing bad enough to be forced to remain there. He was left with a message scroll with the Konoha seal, a summoning for the next day.

The entire team was there. Even Wolf. Sasuke was grateful for the literal mask covering his face. Kneeling in front of the Hokage, listening to the brief congratulations for a job well done.

“Thank you, Hokage-sama,” Coyote replied.

There was a moment of silence, before the Hokage began to speak again. “Squad Ro’s moved to protection duty. Naruto Uzumaki is expected to return to the village in two days. Wolf, you will resume the role of Jonin sensei for Team 7.”

Sasuke closed his eyes.

“Yes, Hokage-sama.” Wolf’s voice was emotionless.

“Pup--”

He opened his eyes, staring at the only dirty spot in the otherwise spotless floor.

“You will act as fellow teammate to Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.”

“The rest of you will serve as escorts, engaging in all actions required to maintain Uzumaki’s well-being and safety.” She continued after the chorused yes, Hokage-sama s. “Wolf, Pup, no one outside of this room is to know of your association to this mission. You are to prepare and memorize a report detailing the years since Uzumaki has seen you, to be submitted for approval by tomorrow at noon. I suggest you work on it together. Dismissed.”

Sasuke made it home, his eyes catching the dust settled on every piece of furniture, but his body unable to care. He shoved a tomato down his throat, and made it to the shower. Staying there until the water was icy cold. Perfectly reasonable, after not having a proper shower in months. It took awhile to scrub the dry blood off his hair, under his nails. On his hand. He wrapped a towel around his waist, catching a glimpse of his reflection in the fogged mirror. He wiped it clean, his eyes trailing to his Anbu tattoo, the explosion seal carved into his arm. Long sleeves, it was then. Until forever. His hair was longer, but that didn’t matter.

He barely recognized his face. The only times his mask had come off in the past seven months had been for the occasional meal. Pills didn’t require the whole removal of the mask, and it wasn’t like he was staring at mirrors while he ate. At the very least, he had lost weight since the last time he saw himself. Easily explained away.

He left the bathroom, hunting through his drawers for something. Other than the green jumpsuit, or pants that clearly didn’t fit him anymore. Too small. Too tight. He found his old shorts. Too old. And short. He swung around with a surge of chakra behind him.

Kakashi. Already wearing the Jonin uniform that--that Sasuke hadn’t seen on him since those Chunin exams.

“Who invited you?”

“Meh, Sasuke, I think I like you better as Pup,” he said, tossing a backpack on his bed.

Sasuke glanced at it, but turned his attention back to him. “Funny, I like you better as Wolf too. What happened?”

“You outgrew your clothes, obviously, and I figured--”

“To Wolf,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Kakashi sat down on the bed, resting his elbow on the backpack. “I stayed to ensure they believed they had been betrayed. Made it back once I was sure.”

“You couldn’t have made it back faster than Dog and I,” Sasuke pointed out. Unless--

“Took a shortcut through the Great Sea.” Kakashi replied. “It was riskier than I would have liked,” he chuckled. “But what isn’t a risk out there, right? Thanks for the laced illusion, by the way.”

Sasuke just nodded, nudging Kakashi away from the backpack, taking clothes out and laying them on the bed. Two pants that...looked like they would fit, and three long-sleeved shirts. It’ll do until he found time and energy to go shopping. He was right. It didn’t matter. Not anymore. He was here. Not as Wolf, just Kakashi.

The first week in Anbu the differences had been jarring. Sasuke now knew that his process into a team had been streamlined, the necessary three month training for other recruits shoved down his throat, courtesy of the Sharingan. But when he had been assigned to Squad Ro, he didn’t figure who Kakashi was until a sparring session, when the Sharingan was looking at him behind Wolf’s mask. Never having occurred to Sasuke that Kakashi wouldn’t be Coyote and his mind unable to link Wolf’s constant killing intent with Kakashi’s easier demeanor. It took two missions at the border of Otogakure to figure out Dog’s and Coyote’s name, to see their faces. Another week for Raven’s name and Owl’s. He still didn’t know last names.

Obviously, he hadn’t been afforded the same courtesy, but on the off chance that they crossed paths with him outside of their masks, they pretended he didn’t exist, as he did. A practice, he’d learned, which made it easier for Anbu to step into their roles, and easier to move on from deaths. There was nothing to mourn other than ability if there was no history behind the mask. Sasuke was sure Raven’s death would have haunted him more if he knew Sakumi’s history, if Sakumi hadn’t pretended to be an annoying girl during the Chunin Exams. No real way for him to know who would mourn her death. In the off chance of capture and inability to blow yourself up? It would be a lot more difficult to rat out other members.

The anonymity convinced him that Kakashi had made them a package deal because there was no way he would have been placed on a team with someone who shared a history with him, even with the Sharingans attempting to...control a demon. Fun.

Sometimes, Sasuke thought that Kakashi had expected him to refuse the offer.

Especially now. Crossing the Great Sea would have dropped him inside Kirigakure’s borders, the mist providing as much of a cover to him as a hindrance. Crossing into Otogakure’s territory wouldn’t have taken long, but he must have pumped pills into his system like candy, to not pass out from chakra exhaustion halfway through. He wouldn’t be surprised if his chakra network was burned. But Sasuke wasn’t doing too hot in the chakra department at the moment either, so he couldn’t particularly judge.

Even if he preferred Kakashi not laying down on his bed. Sasuke shoved his head through the donated shirt, finding that it fit well enough, the muted gray covering going down to his fingertips. “Are you dead?”

“I’m just giving you privacy to change.”

Ha. Hilarious. “I’m done,” Sasuke said, rolling his eyes when Kakashi remained there. “Guy-senpai and Genma-senpai know about Anbu.”

Kakashi chuckled behind the mask. “Lots do, but by this time, Tsunade-sama should have given them a gag order.” He sat up, “I’m thinking we’ll just say we left to train. You’ve seen enough of the world to pretend you traveled it to train, if Sakura or Naruto ask. I have, too.”

So much less professional than Wolf, it was baffling. “I think when Hokage-sama told us to come up with a report for tomorrow, she actually--”

“Eh,” Kakashi shrugged. “I’m used to deflecting questions from them and you are used to not talking to them. Besides, Naruto is going to be too busy talking about what he did for almost four years to really care much about what we did, isn’t he? Just let Sakura and he talk to each other, just make sure you call him an idiot, occasionally--”

Sasuke crossed his arms. Although, he supposed those were good points, and he had to admit, he was curious about what Naruto had been doing. Though, he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with it.

“For nostalgia sake. Also, for nostalgia’s sake, the bell test.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. As it turned out, getting his ass saved by people a hundred times over years did wonders for his appreciation for teamwork. “For what? It’s not like you’re going to send us back to the Academy--”

“Well, you and Naruto,” Kakashi chuckled, “are still technically Genin, aren’t you? You could be demoted back to Academy students--”

“Fuck off,” he gritted out, not concerned about hiding the scowl.

Kakashi just waved his hand off, “kidding, kidding. Look, everyone needs to figure out what everyone else can do. Squad Ro needs to figure out what Team 7 can do, and we need to figure out a way to support both teams. I won’t tell you that you guys shouldn’t split off for the test, but I--and I’m sure our Captain does, too--do expect you to brief us on anything that happens while you cute guys are trying to hide from me. I’ll focus on Squad Ro future support.”

“Fine, whatever. If we are really telling Hokage-sama that and there’s nothing else to discuss, can you leave now? I’d very much like to sleep.”

“Ah, of course,” Kakashi stood up, “Sasuke-kun. I understand you need your beauty sleep--”

Sasuke threw the discarded towel at him, not surprised that he disappeared before it hit him, but utterly annoyed that he left those annoying leaves behind again. Sasuke knew that Kakashi could disappear without dirtying everything up, so he knew he was doing it on purpose. He glared at the scattered leaves on the floor, until he decided that he could clean them up tomorrow, in favor of passing out.

Waking up too late the next morning to wash his cloak. He needed a new one. So he showed up to the Hokage’s office without it, doing his best to pretend that his chest plate wasn’t still covered in blood. He slept until ten minutes before noon, so he didn’t have time to clean it.

They were dismissed after Wolf’s report. Sasuke was convinced Kakashi was making it up on the fly, answering questions with information that Sasuke knew--side restaurants they would have stopped at, if they had been training, instead of in a mission; motels they had stayed in, when the opportunity arose. They were dismissed with instructions to meet Squad Ro on the North gate, to escort Naruto and Jiraiya-sama back the rest of the way.

Sasuke was sure that Jiraiya-sama felt them, but Naruto appeared oblivious to the five Anbu trailing them. He looked taller, though still shorter than him; if he wasn’t behind the mask, Sasuke might have smirk at that, knowing how much Naruto had hated being a shrimp. The neon orange seemed duller too, thankfully, and mixed in with black. He’d developed some fashion sense along the way, too--though it was hard to tell how, considering Jiraiya was wearing a riddicculous red.

He trailed after Owl, until they crossed inside the village, and Naruto was running up a pole, clearly excited about being back, judging by the loud, annoying screech that announced his return to the unfortunate people around him.

Well, with that attitude, it wouldn’t be difficult for Itachi to hear of his return either.

Sasuke stopped himself from huffing, still patched into their frequency, but he did, once he was inside his apartment and the mask was off. He decided to keep the katana because he’d been practicing with it before he joined Anbu, and he liked it, even if it felt weird strapped to his back, without the chest plate.

He walked to the Hokage Tower, as slow as he could manage without being late, although it would make sense if he was late because he was convinced that Kakashi would be, too. Would it make sense for him to be as well, then? If he supposedly had years to acclimate himself to Kakashi’s tardiness, instead of Wolf’s punctuality?

He had been late to his first Chunin Exams, so maybe there was some validity to arriving later than the summoned time. He made his way to Training Ground 7, finding Kakashi standing in front of the memorial stone. He walked up to it, his eyes trailing until he found Sakumi’s name carved into the bottom of the stone, stopping just in time before he read her last name.

He didn’t need to know the family mourning.

“You two should be at the Hokage Tower in less than a minute.” Coyote. The mask half-hidden under the shadow of the hood.

“I am their Jounin-sensei, now,” Kakashi drawled out. “Being late is part of the job. Sasuke, though--”

“I picked up your worst habits on our training trip, Kakashi--”

“Ah. Does that mean I need to lend you Icha Icha --”

Sasuke disappeared. Standing in front of the Hokage’s door. Alright, so he hadn’t picked up Kakashi’s bad habits. He had grown to hate them. Made sense. He could go with that. The Anbu didn’t stop him from walking into the office, spotting Naruto next to Jiraiya-sama, talking about something that involved Ramen, and Sakura standing next to him, wearing the Chunin vest and...a skirt. Not tactically sound, but, he supposed, a potential improvement from a dress.

“Where’s Kakashi?”

Sasuke’s eyes landed on the Hokage, sitting behind her desk, looking less serious than she normally did. It would be weird if he suddenly starting using honorifics. He didn’t, Pup did. And the Fifth didn’t want Sakura and Naruto to know he joined Anbu. Seemed like a reasonable excuse, when Squad Ro was debriefed and he was asked about his attitude. “What? Are you paying me to babysit him now?” He shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

“You can’t talk to Tsunade-sama like that, Sasuke-kun!”

Ah, maybe using honorifics would have been an acceptable change, if Sakura had changed enough to scold him.

He turned to her. “Are you paying me to talk nicely? No? Then, I also don’t care.”

Ah. Maybe using honorifics would have been acceptable, considering that Naruto’s jaw clenched and the glare--he’d seen better, but rather impressively, he didn’t utter a single word.

Oh, well. Too late to change his mind. He glared back at Naruto, deciding he could wait for Kakashi as he egged him on. He pulled the smirk, too. Naruto turned to face away from him. Ah. Impressive. Sakura did the same, turning her attention to the Fifth, her back muscles tensed. Not what he’d been expecting, but if he changed, it made sense that they would have, too. Plus, the last time they had all being together, Naruto and he had tried to murder each other, while Sakura tried to commit suicide. Idiots. All three of--

“YOU’RE LATE!”

Apparently, when it came to Kakashi’s tardiness, they were still idiots. The same tone, the same pointing finger.

“Ah,” Kakashi said, coming to stand next to him. “I lost track of time trying to find a four-leaf clover and--”

“Liar.”

Kakashi had been right. Nostalgia would do it for them. Or at least with Kakashi, he realized as he listened to the Fifth explain that they’ll be taking the Bell Test again, to gauge their teamwork and abilities, a twelve hour mission to steal bells from their sensei. To start in ten minutes at their old training grounds. Sasuke was the first one there, disappearing from the tower as fast as Kakashi had, but of course he’d hide in the trees, waiting for Sakura and Naruto to arrive so he could pretend to be late.

Closing his eyes, he leaned against one of the posts in the middle of the clearing, across from the memorial stone. The one Naruto was tied to on their first test. Afterwards, Sasuke had spent a lot of time and energy convincing himself that he had known Kakashi was watching, waiting to see if someone would offer food to their teammate, but the truth was that the grumbles had been too loud and Sasuke knew hunger too.

He felt both Sakura and Naruto join him, a few feet away to his right, could hear them talking about nothing at all. Nothing useful, at least. Sasuke didn’t move until he felt Kakashi, annoyingly crouching on top of the same post, looking down at him, blocking the sun.

“Well, now that we’re all here, let’s start, shall we?”

Sasuke refused to stand up until he absolutely had to move, regardless of whether or not Sakura and Naruto were now standing in front of him, proclaiming that they were ready and that they would kick Kakashi’s butt. He would love to see that, genuinely. Not because he didn’t think it could happen--he didn’t know anything about Naruto skills now, and last he’d seen of Sakura, she’d been dodging and punching soccer balls into oblivion.

But he did know Kakashi, and knew that the man’s chakra was still recuperating; even more so, he knew that Kakashi hadn’t had a need for anything other than quick attacks, aiming to kill. He would have to spend some time adjusting his reflexes to avoid deadly blows, just like Sasuke would.

“Well,” Kakashi said. “Let’s start then.”

Sasuke swiped the fallen leaves off his hair, honestly, fuck him. The asshole. One of these days, he was going to disappear in a burst of flames and see how Kakashi liked that.

“Didn’t you train with him?” Naruto’s voice didn’t sound as high as it sounded a few minutes ago, when he’d been jabbering about the food in Sungakure.

Sasuke nodded. Except it hadn’t been Kakashi and it hadn’t been training. A flash of the Sharingan confirmed that Wolf’s telltale genjutsu wasn’t on any of them. He did caught Sakura tightening her gloves, though.

“And?” So incredibly bossy. Although, he supposed, she’d always been bossy, just not to him.

“He likes to hide underground,” he said, figuring that Kakashi did use to bury him up to his neck whenever he could. One of the reasons Sasuke had made a contract with hawks, just to stay above ground. “Can you guys fly?”

Naruto huffed, “can you?”

But before he could respond, Sakura’s fist touched the ground and the earth shook, dirt flaring up. Sasuke hadn’t seen any hand signs and he doubted she was fast enough for the Sharingan not to track them, but that meant that it was...raw strength. It seemed she had moved up from pounding soccer balls. Sasuke at least, was staring with his mouth closed, unlike Naruto.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said.

He spotted him, no longer able to hide under the shattered ground. Sasuke couldn’t be sure because Kakashi could be acting surprised on purpose, but judging by his expression, he hadn’t known about this either.

“I found you.”

Kakashi uncovered the Sharingan and disappeared.

“Sakura-chan, you’re really strong,” Naruto said, his eyes wide as Sakura turned to face them.

She had a smile on her face and Sasuke realized, had never stood as straight as she did now. “I am Tsunade-sama’s student after all.”

She was, wasn’t she?

“Great! We’re totally going to get those bells!” Naruto’s chakra spiked, and Sasuke made a mental note that he was still too eager.

They wouldn’t be able to get those bells unless they found Kakashi. Sasuke knew how well he could hide, even if he wasn’t technically hiding, but instead watching them, too. Even with Sasuke undeniable lack of talent in the sensing department, he could still feel Kakashi somewhere in the clearing, near Dog.

“Idiot,” Sasuke muttered. “We need to find him first. That’s half of the challenge--”

“Yeah, sure, but once we do--”

“It can take the entire day trying to find him,” Sasuke cut him off. It could. Kakashi was a sneaky bastard, a useful quality in Anbu, but an annoying one right now. “He has no reason to let us get close enough to find him.” At least he wouldn’t, if Kakashi didn’t have to let them find him to test their capabilities. But they didn’t need to know that and Sasuke knew Kakashi well enough to know that he’ll make them chase him for a couple of hours.

He waited to see if Naruto made an army of clones, to began the search, but he’d begun talking about actually trying to run through the grounds to find him themselves. No idea about the real use of shadow clones, then. Amazing. “Oh,” he said, cutting their conversation short, and biting his thumb, pretending that the idea had only occurred to him now. “My hawks can help look for him, too.” He summoned five of them, watching them fly out. Preferably to spy on Squad Ro, too, just to get an idea of how much they were cackling on his behalf. “We’ll know if one of them finds him.”

“We need a plan for when we do find him,” Sakura said, glancing around. “But we should probably move out of here to talk.”

Maybe she could feel someone’s chakra too. Who knew. Sasuke didn’t. He should figure that out, for his report--although, the Fifth would have to know that, wouldn’t she? Didn’t she already know what Sakura could do?

He followed them through the trees, enjoying the slower pace they set, mind-numbingly trying to decide if he had done anything to really piss of the Fifth, enough to make him be there, trying to hide Kakashi’s abilities, trying to make sure he gave enough information to collaborate the training trip story and to pretend he cared about the bells. Trying to ignore Dog’s chakra tailing them.

“Do you think that’ll work, Sasuke-kun?”

He glanced at her. No. Not particularly. Though something had to be said about overcrowding the grounds with shadow clones--Naruto apparently not knowing that he should be able to know if any of them saw Kakashi once they dispelled--to fight Kakashi wherever he might try to hide. Good idea, if Kakashi couldn’t just hide under genjutsu. “Worth a shot,” he said. Something else had to be said for them deciding that to keep the element of surprise on their side, Sasuke would be the one to distract him. The irony of which wasn’t lost on him, but it was a logical set-up. Just in time for one of his hawks to disperse, conveniently straight ahead. “He’s near the lake, up ahead.”

“Are you sure you can do this?”

They had no idea what Kakashi could do and they needed to be caught up, as fast as possible, without giving their own skills away. Sensible plan, except for making a teammate bait, but whatever they wanted. Sasuke rolled his eyes, “are you?”

He picked up the pace, leaving them behind, pulling his katana over his shoulder to slash at Kakashi.

He dodged, “you do understand what we’re doing here, don’t you?”

“Their idea,” he replied, avoiding a kick to his stomach.

Returning the favor a fraction of a second later. Pressing for Kakashi to get off of the damm lake and into the trees. A water clone grabbed him by the ankle, dispersing after a full body chidori. Sasuke pretended that he landed on his knee on purpose. He really was tired, wasn’t he? It didn’t matter. With the chidori rushing across his body, it was a lot easier to chase Kakashi off the water.

Kakashi barely deflected the senbon Sakura threw at him, aimed at his neck, her face devoid of color. She threw another three, just as two shadow clones rushed him from the left. Kakashi threw the first one over his shoulder, kneeling the other one in the chest, and leaping back to avoid the senbon, directly into Naruto’s attack.

The blue ball of chakra spinning on his hand. Kakashi disappeared in smoke. What a cop out. Sasuke landed next to Naruto, “you couldn’t have moved any slower?”

“Shut up,” he said. “I didn’t see you helping!”

So easily riled up. Huffing, he replied, “were you closing your eyes the entire time I was delivering him to you guys?”

Naruto shoved him. “You could have helped more.”

“We could have all helped more,” Sakura said, stashing the last of her senbon. “I think it’s clear Kakashi-sensei is going to keep puffing away. There needs to be another way to get the bells...”

“Do either of you know how to seal chakra?”

“Me,” Sakura said, just as Naruto was shaking his head. “But it’s dangerous and I’ve never tried it outside of the hospital. I think it could really hurt Kakashi-sensei.”

“If the plan is to exhaust him, then--”

There was fire rushing towards them. Sasuke saw Sakura leap away, and he grabbed Naruto by the collar, tossing him away, meeting Kakashi’s fire with his own. The Sharingan caught his shadow behind the smoke, the chirping of birds across the forest. He leapt back, ten Narutos standing between him and Kakashi’s chidori, appearing as fast as Kakashi was cutting them down, his eyes still fixed on Sasuke.

A blank echo in the back of his mind. Play along, Pup . Owl. The chirping grew smaller, and Sasuke, holding his breath, flipped back, understanding the message a fraction of a second before feeling Kakashi’s chidori dance across his leg, before disappearing. He landed on his butt, not surprised that Sakura was kneeling next to him a second later, Naruto joining them as the green chakra soothed the prickling pain.

Fuck. He clenched his teeth, the memorial stone and three posts flooding his mind. “I’m fine, Sakura,” he said.

“Let me concentrate,” she said, taking a deep breath, steading the shaky hands.

Naruto took a seat next to him, a small frown on his face. “He really isn’t playing anymore, is he?”

Sasuke huffed, “you should see him when he’s really trying.” He stood up, ignoring Sakura’s protest. “I’m going after him--”

“You’re injured--”

“This is a team effort, idiot!”

Sasuke huffed, “he just tried to kill me with his chidori.” Overdramatic, but Ro wanted him to play along. He turned to face Naruto, “do you know how many lectures I’ve endured to this day, for throwing one at you years ago?” Just two, with the occasional disappointed look thrown his way, but he was playing along. “And he goes and pulls this shit? Over a training exercise? You two can come up with another plan. I’m going to return the favor.”

Not surprisingly, they chased after him. A little more surprising, and more worrisome, was that they were slow . Not fair, he supposed--he didn’t know what Naruto had been doing for the past years, but he assumed that Sakura had mostly stayed in the hospital, supplementing her income with the occasional mission. Nothing compared to patrol duty and Anbu--well, there was a lot of fleeing involved in the missions for which Squad Ro had been responsible. He lost them five minutes into the chase.

“Seriously?” He said, once he landed next to Kakashi, crossing his arms.

“Eh, Sasuke, it’s just your leg. And the Hokage’s protege was at hand. She dispelled my little illusion, and she even said I wasn’t creative enough. So, here we are.”

That’s why she looked so pale. “What illusion?”

“On you guys’ first test, I pretended that you were dying and she fainted. Evidently, she didn’t faint this time.”

“That’s because she clearly doesn’t have a stupid crush on me anymore, I could have told you that.”

“Ah, interesting theory,” Kakashi nodded. “I just assumed the stakes weren’t high enough for them. You don’t mind, do you? We promise it’ll be superficial wounds.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, spotting Coyote and Owl across the clearing. Owl, the asshole, even waved. “Fuck you, guys.”

“Keep the ninjutsu down, though. We don’t want them to find us yet.”

Sasuke didn’t have time to glare before Coyote’s katana clashed against his own, the beginning of his worst Anbu training session he’d have in over a year. He lasted about seven hours, although, he would have lasted longer if he could have used ninjutsu and if he hadn’t been forced to retract his footsteps when Dog stopped him from entering the area under genjutsu. He had enough time to spot Sakura and Naruto, looking like they were drawing something on the dirt with a stick. After Dog turned him around, Coyote and Kakashi were on him, their attacks relentlessly synchronized, pressing him back to the memorial stone.

By the time Owl took over his body for the fourth time, he’d been too tired to expel him. He could feel Kakashi tying his hands behind his back with chakra sealing bonds. He saw Dog grabbing Owl’s body and disappearing into the woods, Coyote on their tail, Owl’s consciousness losing its hold on him.

Kakashi sat on him, much like the same way he had sat on him during their first test, his shoe pressing his face into the dirt. Sasuke turned his head, to avoid having to eat dirt, too.

“I’m actually going to kill you.” He said, though his voice lacked the heat it would have if he was still a twelve-year-old idiot.

Kakashi chuckled lowly, “yeah, yeah, I know. But I think it’s time we help Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun acclimate themselves to reality. Here.” He moved his shoe away, only to tie a piece of cloth behind his head.

Sasuke glared, but saved himself the embarrassment of hearing his threat come out unintelligible and muffled by the cloth. He’d run through this scenario a few countless times, the correct response being to wait as long as possible to give your comrades time to flee the explosion. He hadn’t had the displeasure of living through it, but if Kakashi was going to put Sakura and Naruto through it, not unlike their first test, now that he thought about it--

“Sasuke!” That was Naruto, his voice cracking at the end.

Kakashi clicked his tongue, Sasuke couldn’t look at anything other than his own katana hovering millimeters away from his nose. “If you guys had shown up five minutes ago, maybe this would be ending just a tad bit different.”

Laying on the floor with Kakashi’s full weight on him wasn’t how Sasuke necessarily envisioned the test to end, either, but he found it...anticlimactic. Kakashi had forced his face to look away from Naruto and Sakura, and they had apparently not thought to arrive in his range of vision. The least Owl could do was provide the live reel, even in broken images--it was boring , they were probably staring at each other, sizing each other up, and he could do nothing else but watch the memorial stone. Though the thought that Naruto could ever be this quiet an amusing one.

Kakashi chuckled, pushing his face deeper into the dirt. “Not a genjutsu now, is it, Sakura-chan? Go ahead, I’ll let you try to dispel it again. You should try too, Naruto, pick up your slack and all that.”

Sasuke felt a spike of chakra coming from them. It would have broken through low-level genjutsu, but was too messy to identify the subtleties of deadlier ones. Troubling, considering Itachi was after Naruto. Though the Nine Tails’ chakra could probably compensate for that.

“ Is it genjutsu ?” Wolf was really milking this. “Oh, I get it. You two are mature now, grown ups, who know how to keep your mouths shut. But let me walk you through my rules--”

Sasuke bit down on the cloth.

“If you try anything funny, I stab him. If you don’t answer my questions, I stab him. If I think you’re lying to me, I stab him. If I think you’re planning anything funny, I stab him. If you don’t do what I tell you, I stab him.” He paused for, what Sasuke could only assume was, dramatic effect. “Sakura-chan, you’re a medic now, how long would it take someone to completely bleed out?”

She didn’t reply, though it was hard to decide if it was because she thought Kakashi was bluffing or because she understood that information was never to be given up, especially during a hostage situation. Sasuke groaned. It was more of a slash than a stab, along his left shoulder, and it didn’t hurt, not the way that real injuries hurt, but Sakura and Naruto didn’t need to know that.

“Kakashi-sensei!”

“Are you two done trying to call me out on a nonexistent bluff? Good” They must have nodded. “I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding,” he continued. “In that case, Sakura-chan, how long does it take someone to bleed out and die?”

“It...depends on the depth and location of the wound.” Her voice sounded strained, but she also didn’t sound like she was crying, so...improvement.

“For example,” he said. Sasuke felt the tip of a blade poking his lower back. “If I were to cut along Sasuke-kun’s back, he’ll die slower than if I were to slash his throat, is that correct?”

“Yes,” she said.

The most unsettling thing was Naruto’s dead silence. Maybe he had grown up. Or maybe he genuinely thought Sasuke needed to apologize for his actions on the hospital roof, and was enjoying seeing him with his face pressed to the ground by their old sensei. It was hard to tell without looking at him.

“How interesting,” Kakashi mused, sounding more like Wolf than himself. “Would you like to take back your words about my lack of creativity?”

“Yes.”

Maybe Naruto’s silence wasn’t the most unsettling thing, maybe it was Kakashi’s lack of attempt to bait him into the conversation.

“How about you, Naruto-kun, do--”

“If you lay a finger on him--”

Sweet. Maybe Naruto did care.

“You have anything you’d like to share with your teammates? Any deep, dark secrets?” But Naruto didn’t say anything, a whole minute dragging out until Kakashi spoke again, “no? Okay, well, Sakura-chan, since you seem to understand the rules better than he does, pick: his throat, or his wrist. Or Naruto’s shoulder.”

At that point, in a mission, the Anbu hostage would be expected to activate the seal and the squad would have been expected to flee. Sasuke couldn’t lie to himself well enough that having a kunai hovering over his throat and knowing he would have had to blow himself up--

“How dare you put Sakura-chan in this position again...”

“You’re the one who’s not playing nice, Naruto-kun.”

Sometimes, he told himself he’d be able to do it, even without killing Itachi. The prospect of a failed mission leading to war too much of a threat. But even in the make believe scenario, knowing that it didn’t matter what Sakura picked, Kakashi wasn’t going to murder him, the idea of blowing himself up and dying was--

There was a surge of chakra. Sasuke was thrown over Kakashi’s shoulder, his eyes fixed on Naruto, watching as red chakra overtook him, four tails sprouting from his back, looking like a beast, like a fox, like a smaller version of what Sasuke imagined the Nine Tails must look like. He felt his bonds released, his chakra flowing again. Quickly enough to stick to a tree when Kakashi tossed him aside, running away from the village, Naruto much faster than when he’d been chasing Sasuke only a few hours ago.

Sakura landed next to him, running green chakra over his shoulder. Her healing speed faster than her running. “Are you okay?”

He stood up, shoving chakra into his eyes. Catching Coyote forcing a wood barrier between Kakashi and Naruto. A cage, with a roof and all. Sasuke had cut it down once with his lightning blade, but he’d passed out for a week, and then gotten yelled at for another three days for not knowing his own limits. He wasn’t sure it would be enough to absorb the Nina Tails’ chakra, though. The earth rumbled. Coyote dropped to one knee, Owl appearing beside him in a flash, his body caught by Dog.

Sasuke had seen Owl drop like that enough times to know he’d transferred his consciousness to Naruto, but he didn’t think Owl had ever tried that jutsu on a demon. The Fifth appeared next to him, but Jiraiya-sama was nowhere in sight. Wouldn’t he be able to stop Naruto? Shouldn’t he? Unless they were trying to see if Coyote was enough. Coyote and Owl. He extended his hand out, stopping Sakura from going over there, too. Wolf or he were supposed to step up too, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise, wouldn’t it?

“Don’t you think going over there might make things worse?”

“That Anbu is in a coma.”

Sasuke pretended his jaw didn’t clench. Not strong enough to fight a demon over control of Naruto. “So? Hokage-sama will fix him.”

Sakura stared at him flabbergasted. “It’s my duty--”

“If Naruto sees you, it might make him lose even more control.”

Sakura took a deep breath. “Did you know?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke said. “Did you?”

“It made sense when Tsunade-sama explained chakra control to me. I never told her I knew, though. But I know Kakashi-sensei must know too, so what in the world was he doing poking it with a stick?”

Probably trying to figure out Naruto’s emotional threshold before he lost control. Would the Fifth allow Sakura to stay with them, after being the reason that Naruto lost it? Should Naruto even be allowed to be in a team, if he turned into a demon when someone was hurt--not even physically, just emotionally? Shouldn’t someone bench him? That amount of emotional ineptitude was a liability out in the field. “Maybe he didn’t know this would happen.”

“Kakashi-sensei is not that stupid.”

Sasuke glanced at her. “You realize the last time he saw all of us together, we were all about to die, right? He probably didn’t think that Naruto still cares.”

Sakura crossed her arms. It was baffling to be in the receiving end of a glare from her, but Sasuke kept his face blank. “You do know that the day before he left, he spent the entire time looking for you to say goodbye and Jiraiya-sama had to knock him out to take him, right?”

Sasuke didn’t know that, but Kakashi’s presence behind them saved him the trouble of trying to respond to any of that.

“Just for the record,” Kakashi said, very much sounding as lazy as Wolf would never. “It’s been twelve hours, and you’ve all failed.”

Did it even matter? Sasuke turned his attention to the clearing below them, the Fifth’s hand hovering over Owl’s head. Dog seemed to be the only reason that Coyote was not flat on the ground. But there was no longer chakra peeking through the holes of the cage, and the wood looked more brown than red.

“But I’m happy to know that now, you wouldn’t chose Sasuke over Naruto, Sakura.”

Maybe Sakura glared, but his attention was on the disappearing cage. Naruto was on the ground. Despite the fact that Naruto’s injuries would heal on their own, Sakura ran to his side. Sasuke glanced at Kakashi.

“If you were going to purposely get the Nine Tails out, shouldn’t we have done this outside of Konoha?”

Kakashi shook his head. “Jiraiya-sama would have stepped in, if there was any danger to the village. We just had to see if Coyote could hold him back--after all, Jiraiya-sama has better things to do now than watch over Naruto. I’m sure Tsunade-sama will tell you soon enough, but you’re dropped from Team 7. We can’t have Naruto go on a rampage everytime someone is holding a kunai to your throat.”

Sasuke couldn’t care less if he was out of Team 7, but the reason for it was stupid. “He didn’t do it because of me. It was Sakura’s distress.” Not to mention that if it wasn’t because they told him to play along, no one would have been holding a kunai to his throat in the first place.

“You really are the stupidest smartest person I know.”

Kakashi was right, of course. Not about the stupidest smartest comment, obviously, but about being removed from Team 7. Lasted a whole day, it was amazing. The announcement came after the Fifth had spent a solid three minutes telling Owl that his actions, while noble, had been poorly thought out and dangerous, another two minutes telling Coyote that he needed to strengthen his chakra and build up more supply. When she had turned his attention to him, Sasuke had expected to be screamed at too, but she’d only told him that he’d remained as Naruto’s protection squad, but in full Anbu gear, and that if he mentioned anything to either Naruto or Sakura, she’ll have his head.

That threat wildly unnecessary because Sasuke wasn’t planning on talking to either of them, but he kept those words to himself, replacing them with the accustomed yes, Hokage-sama .

At least the first shift went to Owl and Dog.

After stopping at Anbu headquarters for a new cloak, he headed home, hoping to sleep. It wasn’t beauty sleep, like Kakashi insisted, but he liked sleeping, especially on a comfortable place. If he worked hard, he deserved to rest, too. But he also needed to clean his uniform, and that took longer than he expected because instead of twelve hours of rest, he got eight. He should have listened to everyone telling him not to let the blood seeped into the metal, but he had preferred to sleep then, too.

He slipped his hood on and dropped next to Dog.

“Nothing happened,” he said, clearly bored out of his mind. “Except Naruto can inhale ramen. I counted thirty bowls. Good luck, Pup.”

Sasuke took a seat on the roof, almost falling asleep, Naruto’s loud voice from across the street the only thing keeping him from drifting off. He was a professional, but there was nothing to gather from listening to Naruto narrate to Iruka exactly all the different kinds of ramen he’d tried, and how none of them could beat the ones right at home. Plus, there was no one from who Naruto needed protection at the moment.

If someone had told Sasuke at thirteen that in a few years, he’ll be playing bodyguard for Naruto, he would have tried to set them on fire. But the people after Naruto, if it wasn’t Itachi directly, were shinobi who worked with Itachi. Besides...he had almost died for Naruto a lot of times, hadn’t he? For Naruto and Sakura, if he recalled properly. Of course, he’d also almost killed both of them, but that had been once. He was pretty sure he’d tried to save them both at least twice.

Though, that was before joining Anbu, where the life of a teammate was worth a thousand Konoha citizens. Less than a month ago, he’d left Kakashi behind, for what should have been his death. He wasn’t sure if Kakashi would have done the same, but he knew that Wolf would have left him, too, if their positions were changed. He had to.

He watched Kotetsu land next to Naruto, before disappearing. Sasuke followed Naruto to the Hokage Tower, slipping through the window as the remaining members of Team 7 filed inside the office.

“Where’s Sasuke?”

Hokage-sama took a large gulp from a bottle. Sasuke had never seen her drink, although there had always been a bottle within her reach. “He’s been reassigned to another team.”

“What? Why ?”

Sakura was looking down, so maybe she missed the glare from Naruto. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t scolding him .

“Because I say so, brat!”

“If he’s not here, then this isn’t Team 7 and--”

How utterly heartwarming.

“I don’t want to be part of it either.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Hokage-sama replied. “As of now, Team 7 is a three-man cell. Your first mission is to escort the Kazekage to--”

“Gaara?”

“Yes. He’s requested you, specifically, Naruto. He’s meeting with the daimyo in the Land of Rice. Understandably, he’s keeping the meeting underwraps. You’ll leave immediately, Kakashi will fill you in on the details of the mission. You’re dismissed; Kakashi, I need a few words.”

Sasuke half-expected the conversation to continue, perhaps with Naruto yelling bloody murder, but it appeared that the prospect of seeing the Kazekage was too exciting to complain anymore. Sakura and Naruto left the room, Sasuke following close behind, but to they weren’t talking, presumably both deep in thought. They split in front of the Academy, back to their own houses. It was weird, following Naruto back to his apartment, but it couldn’t be helped. It’s what he was supposed to do.

He slipped inside the apartment, once again making note of Naruto’s complete inability to detect Genjutsu--it was going to bite him in the ass one day, and it was frankly, baffling that Jiraiya-sama didn’t spend more time on it, considering he knew that Itachi was after him. But maybe that’s why Squad Ro was so exceedingly geared towards that.

Naruto was in the kitchen, shoving some food on the go in his backpack, instant noodles, mostly--had no one told him yet that those things wouldn’t hold him for a mission longer than three days? Why wasn’t he packing protein bars and soldier pills ? Shaking his head, he took a deep breath--he was starting to act like a worried mother, and it was stupid: the idiot could pack whatever he wanted. Sasuke wasn’t even supposed to be there.

Still, when Naruto was in the living room, he slipped protein bars into the backpack--his mission was Naruto Uzumaki’s well-being, after all, and Naruto was an idiot, and if he didn’t have energy during the mission, it would make everyone’s life all that much more difficult. It was for the mission and for his own sanity because being forced to trail Naruto through a mission, keeping an eye on him, and listening to his rambles without the opportunity to retort back--it was going to be a pain.

Sasuke could already feel the pounding headache.

When Naruto and he arrived at the East gates, Kakashi and Sakura were waiting already.

Did Kakashi miss the feel of his sword strapped to his back? Or did he always prefer the green vest? It was stupid, Sasuke had never stopped to ask. Never came up in conversation, and it didn’t matter, except that he liked the feel of his katana strapped to his back and although he wasn’t supposed to have a preference, he imagined that not feeling it would be...sad.

Coyote appeared bedside him. “We’re on high alert. Two Jinchuuriki are bound to attract the wrong kind of attention. We’re also on the lookout for Orochimaru, eliminate if and only if given the opportunity.”

Given the opportunity? As if.

Basically, a suicide mission. Fun. “Yes, Captain.”

Maybe if he was lucky, Itachi would be a part of that wrong kind of attention. Then again, Sasuke was not known for his luck.

“If Naruto loses control, Wolf will take care of it; you’re not to engage unless it’s the last resort.”

“Understood,” Sasuke said, Coyote disappearing a second later.

But it was evidently that they were waiting for something. He took a seat, watching idly from a roof as they all remained quiet. It was disconcerting and weird . Naruto’s loudness seemed to have tapered off over the years they hadn’t seen each other. Sakura was checking her pack for the hundredth time when Sasuke knew for whom they were waiting: Team Guy. They had not changed since the last time he saw them, although Hyuga continued to refuse to wear the green vest. Those flowy sleeves simply could not be tactually sound, and not for the first time, Sasuke had to clench his jaw to swallow back his words.

Someone could pin them with a kunai, and where would that leave Hyuga? It was stupid . Sasuke had pinned the sleeves once already, and sure, it took him a good three hours to manage that because his stupid defense was not something to laugh at, and it was a combined effort with Nara, but it was still doable, and it was still utterly idiotic. As far as practicality went, Hyuga was the worst dressed, including Naruto, which should really tell him something.

Sasuke would say something, if he wasn’t on duty. But he was, so the only thing he could do was roll his eyes as he followed them outside the village.

 ----------------

Sakura brought the Kazekage back to life. Unsettling and impossible, but she did it, after killing the red-haired puppet. A team effort, perhaps, but undeniably impressive. The old woman helped, both in bringing the Kazekage back to life and killing the puppet, but still--Sasuke could give credit when credit was due.

He wasn’t twelve anymore, after all.

And then the Kazekage, ever the polite host, invited them to stay. Kakashi tried to decline, of course, as much as anyone could, but Naruto, the idiot, was too excited and too happy.

With a wave, Coyote assigned him the first shift.

Sasuke almost stabbed himself, but Itachi was still alive. So.

They talked--well, Naruto did, mostly, about nothing at all, with the Kazekage, Sakura, and Kakashi until it was time to head to bed. It should have been the end of his shift, but Coyote informed him that Dog, Owl, and himself were following the blond with the bombs--at least trying to find him. Maybe see if Guy’s team needed to be escorted back to Konoha. Sasuke of course volunteered to go, but he only got a stay in return.

Like he was a dog.

He probably was.

Still, he stayed, because that was his mission, his duty. Watching over Naruto, ensuring his safety. A mission. But no one could, or should, blame him for being a little moody. The rest of Team Ro were gone and so, there was no one to take offense at his attitude.

Naruto was getting ready for bed, with a stupid frog hat on his head, like it had been a good idea to bring something so uneccessary on a mission. He got into bed and closed his eyes, a wide, stupid grin on his face. Sasuke lifted his mask and shoved soldier pills down his throat, still marveling at the fact that no one had bothered to give them some kind of taste, but apparently not--obviously, the shinobi who would appreciate taste were too busy to think about making them, and no one else who had time to experiment had thought it was needed. In a sense, it was probably not needed--enjoyable taste, much like any luxury in the real world could be a distraction.

Oh, well.

It was weird, staring at Naruto while he slept, with the frog hat covering half of his face, his mouth wide open, snoring, but what else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t fall asleep, that was unprofessional and stupid. Until someone replaced him, he was on Naruto watch and if something happened to him, then it would be partly--largely--completely--his fault. The disciplinary action alone was enough to keep him on his toes. The disciplinary action and the possibility of the Nine-tails ravaging Konoha? Was enough to keep his attention on Naruto, rooted on the spot, until someone relieved him.

But no one did, and eventually, he leaned against the wall, shifting his weight until Naruto stirred. A crow croaked from the window. It was enough to wake Naruto up, apparently. Funny, he never thought Naruto was a light-sleeper.

The crow croaked again. Naruto sat up, rubbing his eyes. Another croak. Naruto was at the window. Sasuke’s hand went to his katana, which was stupid of course, what was he planning to do? Stab Naruto? The crow croaked. Naruto fell backwards.

Sasuke caught him. He was snoring. Great, not only was he stalking Naruto while he slept, but it turned out that the fucking idiot also sleep-walked. The crow flew away. Sasuke closed the window and carried, or pushed, Naruto back to a more comfortable sleeping position.

The next morning, they headed out. Coyote and Owl and Dog still gone, Kakashi still wearing his Jounin uniform. Team Guy presumably back in Konoha. Sasuke followed close, his hand gripping his katana while he tried to convince himself that the feeling in his stomach was because of the soldier pills and lack of sleep.

“Hey, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto began, while Kakashi scouted the area to set up camp. Kakashi hummed.Naruto evidently, took that as an invitation to continue the one-sided conversation. “If Sasuke is not with us and he’s not with you anymore, where is he?”

“I don’t know. Wherever Tsunade-sama wants him to be, I imagine,” Kakashi said, taking out his orange book and flopping under the shadow of a tree.

So much for making camp.

“But where would that be?”

Kakashi flipped a page. “I don’t know, I can’t pretend to know what Tsunade-sama thinks, Naruto. Why do you ask?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know, I just,” he shrugged. “Just curious, that’s all. Do you think that we’ll take the Chunin exams again?”

Kakashi chuckled. “Maybe. He already tried once, you know. Failed terribly, so maybe he is all out of tries.”

“He failed it?”

Kakashi flipped to another page. Over the years, Sasuke convinced himself that Kakashi wasn’t really reading, he couldn’t be, his eyes always staring at one spot on the page until precisely thirty seconds passed, at which point he would flip the page.

“Imagine that,” Kakashi said. “But don’t worry, I’m sure Tsunade-sama will find you people with whom to take the test and you will pass with flying colors.”

Naruto smiled, except it didn’t look like a smile at all. “Right. Well,” he laughed. “I better help Sakura-chan set up camp.”

That was the end of the conversation. Naruto didn’t utter a single word for the rest of the trip home, wildly unsettling and boring, if Sasuke was entirely honest. He seemed lost in thought, deep, as if he were contemplating a great puzzle that magically captivated his entire attention. Sasuke caught the worried glances Sakura sent in his direction and one or two from Kakashi. But they didn’t attempt conversation, either. And it’s not like Sasuke was complaining about the silence, but it was unsettling to see someone as loud as Naruto move quietly through the days, a stupid smile plastered on his face that never quite seemed to reach his eyes.

The rest of Ro joined them five days away from Konoha, clearly worse for wear, but alive, so who was complaining? One of them should start to pick up medical ninjustsu, though--or at least Coyote should request a new medic. Maybe two medics. That might make it better for everyone. Though a new medic would require training and moving back to Anbu headquarters--was that worth the trouble? Was taking a medic to missions worth the trouble of losing his privacy and going insane, all over again, over the watch of a thousand shinobi and Danzo Shimura?

Probably not.

Not that it mattered. If Danzo Shimura assigned them a medic, they would be back in headquarters. If Coyote requested one, they would be back there. Sasuke had no business, nor position, to even consider complaining about any of it. Nevermind the fact that going without a medic on missions was like committing seppuku; each mission without a medic the same as a kunai dragging across their abdomen, until they took a mission that was outside their means.

Back in Konoha, Sasuke was on first shift, again--having the least amount of information for the Hokage. Whatever. Naruto was impatient, though. He ran back and forth through the village a couple of thousand of times, the pace still low, but not necessarily what Sasuke would have liked to do after returning from the fucking desert. Again .

At last, Naruto stopped in front of the Uchiha compound. A little slow, Sasuke realized what he was doing. Looking for him. Rather obsessively. What an utter moron. Honestly, who had Sasuke piss off to deserve this ?

It was weird, being back there--not really there, just following Naruto around as he rummaged through his dead relatives’ belongings. But when Naruto started making his way to the main house, Sasuke--well, he sidestepped him, went through the back entrance, shoved his mask into a cabinet, ignored the rat tail rummaging through it, and stood up as the door opened.

“Sasuke.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, still wearing the Anbu cloak--though it didn’t quite look specifically like an Anbu cloak. It was a traveling cloak. From a mission. That he was allowed to complete by himself, despite the fact he was still a Genin. Incredible. Hokage-sama was going to have his head. He was a terrible liar--and it was ridiculous because he didn’t own Naruto an explanation, of course, and Naruto wasn’t even asking a question, he was just staring at him, with a stupid look on his face.

“You’re trespassing,” he said, because that was the closest thing to the truth that he could afford.

Whatever.

“Yeah, sorry.” He frowned. But at least it replaced that sick smile. “My bad. I was just...passing through.”

“Well, keep passing through.”

Without another word, without a second glance, Naruto turned on his heels and walked away. Sasuke sighed, closed the door. The motion brought back memories that he scrambled to push down, not for the first time, utterly grateful that he hadn’t had the Sharingan back then. Sometimes, Ro’s targets tore him awake from his nightmares--he couldn’t imagine the Sharingan keeping his clan’s murder vividly preserved in his mind until his death.

Shaking his head, he went back to hunt for his mask and caught up with Naruto in the park. He looked like a statue, his shoulders hunched over, his eyes fixed on his hands, folded on top of his knees. As the hours dragged on, Sasuke heard Naruto’s stomach grumbled, but evidently, that hunger cue was not apparent to Naruto, as he remained there, on the bench. It was worse than watching paint dry. But it had to be better than fighting an enemy for Naruto’s life. Sasuke stood there until the sun disappeared behind the Hokage tower, and Dog relieved him.

He wouldn’t say he ran home, per se, but he definitely got there in a minute or so. There was a crow on his window. Sasuke threw a kunai at it, closed the window, and fell asleep. He jerked awake to find a hawk-faced Anbu summoning him to Danzo Shimura. Sasuke did his best to keep his...whatever in check as he watched the Anbu disappear, even as his heart sunk to his gut. When he’d been asking who he had pissed off lately, it had been a rhetorical question, not actually requiring an answer.

Especially if that answer was Danzo Shimura.

He hadn’t done anything--not really. He’d been trailing Naruto, as ordered. Maybe Danzo found out that Naruto found him wearing the Anbu cloak. Maybe Naruto was only pretending to be asleep--no. No, Naruto had been asleep, snoring, and the croak hadn’t woken him up. And even if he had, Sasuke’s face had remained behind the mask. Unrecognizable. Professional. Shaking his head, he threw the covers off of him. The reason didn’t matter--he was required to show up for any summon by any of the village’s elders, and it would do him no good to make Danzo wait. He threw the cloak over him, slipped on the porcelain mask, and left his apartment.

The room was cold. It couldn’t not be, of course, being underneath Konoha and all, it only made sense that it was freezing. A useful psychological tactic, though. One that Sasuke should have gotten over years ago, but obviously hadn’t managed. It still made him feel exposed, made it easier to feel like Danzo was looking into him, even as he pretended to lean on his cane. Just for show, of course--Sasuke had enough experience to know that the cane wasn’t to help him walk, it was just a disciplinary tool. He fell on one knee, keeping his face down. Danzo’s footsteps resonated through the empty office.

Last time Sasuke knelt in front of him, every member of Ro, including Sakumi, had been there. Likely buffering some of the anger directed at him right now, hot and unbridled, as Danzo’s footsteps approached him.

“Someone broke in yesterday.”

Not him. Sasuke held his breath. Of course it hadn’t been him. He was stalking Naruto the entire time. Standing behind a stupid bench, while Naruto refused to act like a normal person and at least head home to shower and eat. But that begged the question, why was he there then? To find the person maybe. Preferably. Hopefully. Obviously, he didn’t break into Anbu headquarters. What was wrong with him? The thought was ludicrous. He wasn’t a traitor. He would bleed for Konoha, had already bled.

Hokage-sama knew that.

Why didn’t Danzo?

Sasuke had proven his loyalty a thousand times.

Bleeding for Konoha. Murdering for Konoha.

“Into our archive room. Do you know what we keep in the archive room, Pup?”

Was that a rhetorical question? Did it matter either way? Why did it always feel like he was in the losing side when he was in the man’s presence? After the seconds dragged on, Sasuke gave a small nod.

“What do we keep there, Pup?”

He closed his eyes. “Archives, sir.”

Why was he such an idiot? Of course archives were kept in the archive room . Danzo walked behind him, and he did his best to relax his back muscles, his shoulders. He was supposed to be better at hiding distress signals, especially when he had nothing to be distressed about, obviously, but Danzo’s chakra was freezing and the man had a presence that made him want to throw up. Danzo circled him for an eternity, until his sandals stood in front of him.

“You don’t say.” It sounded like Death’s chuckle. Danzo bent down, pulling Sasuke’s mask off his face. Too cold. Too exposed. Presumably just how Danzo wanted him. “You are certainly not the brains in Ro, are you?”

Sasuke kept his eyes on the ground. “No, sir.”

“And what kind of archives might these be?”

“I don’t know, sir. I’ve never been in there, sir.”

Danzo’s cane hovered underneath his chin, nudging it upward, until he was looking into Danzo’s eye. Not for the first time, feeling like Danzo could see through people, into their heads--which was stupid, because Sasuke wasn’t hiding anything. And whatever he had tried to hide from Anbu had been ripped open by the Torture and Interrogation unit, written in detail in his file, that Danzo had easy access to. The majority of his secrets were Konoha’s secrets now. Danzo’s. And yet. He averted his eyes, but that only managed a more incessant poke in his throat with the wooden cane.

“Information.” Danzo replied, his voice lower than it should be. “You understand how precious information is, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“They took your file.”

Sasuke blinked. Okay--it definitely hadn’t been him, of course it hadn’t been him, but if Danzo thought it had been, why would Sasuke steal his own file? That didn’t make any sense. So, it was fine. Maybe Danzo just took time out of his day when information on his Anbu went missing, to personally inform that Anbu. Sasuke wouldn’t--

“Of course, the files next to yours, the one for Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha would be more valuable.”

Somehow, Sasuke remained motionless. Danzo couldn’t be serious. Not that Sasuke could really tell him how stupid it would be, to try to steal his brother’s and cousin’s file, only to steal his own. That suggestion would be understood as a veiled insult and that would...not lead to a good situation.

For him.

Maybe Danzo would enjoy that situation.

He wouldn’t know.

The only thing Sasuke knew was that sometimes, in the dark privacy of his mind, a small voice told him that Danzo enjoyed watching him under duress.

“And the most interesting part, of course, is that the person, or people, who infiltrated didn’t raise any alarms. Who do you think could--”

“It wasn’t me, sir,” Sasuke interrupted. His mouth was dry, but he pressed on because he already interrupted, and he would be in trouble regardless of the duration of his interruption. “I’ve never been in there and I wouldn’t have stolen my own file, sir.” That was stupid . But he kept that last thought to himself.

Danzo’s cane moved. Swung. Sasuke willed his body to remain there. But it returned to the spot against his throat, almost gently. “No, of course not. But someone is clearly interested in you.” The cane clanked on the ground. Sasuke would have jumped. But he didn’t. He was a professional. One of Konoha’s trained assassins. Unafraid of a cane, regardless of whether or not he was terrified of the man who wielded it. “You might understand, then,” Danzo continued, his voice barely above a whisper, “why I might be hesitant to put you in danger from now on. At least until we catch the thief.”

It was a joke. This had to be a joke. Wasn’t this the man that ordered him to those Chunin Exams, to try to kill Orochimaru? Wasn’t this the man who, a year or so ago, signed off on him infiltrating Otogakure for a stupid scroll? Wasn’t this the man who sent him and Ro to hundreds of suicide missions, signed off on the mission that led to Raven’s death? Would eventually sign off on the missions that would kill all of them?

“Pup?”

“Yes, sir.”

What else was he supposed to say? He couldn’t say anything else, not to a superior, definitely not to Danzo Shimura.

“Excellent.” Danzo turned around. “You will remain in headquarters until further notice.”

Sasuke closed his eyes. Swallowed back a groan. Hoped his heartbeat was only audible to himself. “Yes, sir.”

“You will serve as one of my personal escorts.”

Who had he pissed off? Another stifled groan. He couldn’t think straight under Danzo’s gaze, but--it didn’t matter. Shielding someone from an attack, taking a kunai meant for someone else, didn’t require forethought. “Yes, sir.”

“And on the off chance you have free time, you will help train recruits. A promotion of sorts, Pup.”

Something twisted in his stomach. After the years of grueling training to suppress the Nine-tails, he was removed from Ro, from safeguarding Naruto. From living in his own space. Gifted a promotion. If Sasuke ever found out who broke into Anbu to steal his file, he was running a chidori through their face. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

The cane nudged his throat until he was standing up. Danzo reached for his mask, putting it on his face, which was a weird thing to do, but Sasuke couldn’t do anything else other than stand there. Whatever Danzo wanted.

He turned around. “Dismissed.”

Sasuke bowed and left the room.

-------------

“Shimura-sama wishes to speak with you.”

Kakashi...

Wolf...

Hatake...

Hatake-san...

Kakashi-senpai...

Kakashi-sensei...

Hatake-senpai...

Sasuke shook his head. It was Kakashi. Shook his head. Wolf. Shook his head.

Hatake-san tilted his head to the side, something fleeing across his eye. “Does he wish to see me?” He hummed, the sound familiar, missing from Sasuke’s life for a few months. “But I’m not a genie, you see, and I’m running late. I suspect Sakura and Naruto don’t believe me when I tell them I got lost in the path of life anymore.”

Sasuke stared. He stopped Hatake-san from leaping onto another roof with a hand on his shoulder. “Shimura-sama has summoned you, Hatake-san. I’m to escort you.”

Hatake-san stared at him, as if he’d grown three other heads. But it was he who’d grown another two heads, or lost his head, suggesting that he would refuse a call from Shimura-sama, as if that wouldn’t be treason. As if that was acceptable. As if it was possible. But he nodded. Sasuke dropped his hand from Hatake-san’s shoulder, swallowing the sigh--if Hatake-san had refused. But he had not. Sasuke kept the Sharingan fixed on the back of the Jounin vest, until he stepped forward to open the Shimura-sama’s door.

Shimura-sama was behind his desk, reading over a scroll. It had been dropped by another Anbu earlier in the day; Sasuke didn’t know what was written on it, but after a quick glance, Shimura-sama ordered Hatake-san’s presence. Sasuke had caught him two roofs away from the Hokage Tower.

After bowing, he walked to stand behind the desk and kept his eyes on Hatake-san. Sasuke didn’t want to scramble in a fight with him, but he had almost refused a summon--enough grounds to be apprehended. Dismissed. Imprisoned, perhaps. It was impossible to know what was going on in Hatake-san’s mind, especially considering that he wasn’t even kneeling. Hadn’t bowed when he stepped inside the office, either.

Though he caught the tossed scroll in a swift motion. Perhaps, Hatake-san knew what was written on it, as he didn’t spare it a look.

“You seem to have many grievances, Wolf.”

“All of which must be listed here, I’m sure.”

Sasuke waited, but the ‘sir’ never came. Shimura-sama appeared to be waiting, too, as his chakra swallowed the room. Sasuke lowered his shoulders, straightened his back. There were no noticeable changes on Hatake-san, however. His face remained impassive, his shoulders inappropriately relaxed, his right knee evidently not on the ground.

“We do have ways to air grievances without encroaching on the Hokage’s time.”

Hatake-san’s jaw was clenched. “And do they ever make it past the red tape?”

“Of course.” The chair screeched back. Shimura-sama stood, no longer facing Hatake-san. Facing him, instead. As if it was his fault that Hatake-san was being insolent. Disrespectful. “Perhaps a refresher course will be helpful, to ensure you know the proper channels for your complaints.”

Hatake-san hummed. The cane scraped across the floor. “Has my resignation notice not made its way to your desk yet?”

His resignation ? No one resigned from Anbu. If it was possible, Sasuke would have done it a century ago. Certainly as soon as he became Shimura-sama’s shadow, his personal attack dog. To leave Anbu, a shinobi had to die or be dismissed by the Hokage. Even Shimura-sama didn’t excuse anyone from their duties, only recommending re-assimilation into Anbu, much like he was obviously doing at the moment.

“Resignation?”

“Yes, my resignation,” Hatake-san repeated, calmly. Patiently, as if he was talking to a stupid child. And not one of the village’s elders.

Shimura-sama walked to stand behind him. Sasuke did his best to keep his back relaxed. Almost managed to pretend that he wasn’t shielding Hatake-san from the murderous waves of chakra rupturing the atmosphere.

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with anyone resigning from Anbu.”

“There’s always a first time for everything,” Hatake-san chuckled. “Excuse me, I have a team training to lead.”

“ Wolf .”

“It’s time to retire that name as well.” Hatake-san paused, clearly pondering something. Hopefully pondering how incredibly stupid he was being right now. Preferably pondering how to make amends, quickly. “At least until Pup is able to work in Team Ro.”

Hatake-san was staring at him. Sasuke could feel Shimura-sama’s stare on his back, as well. Somehow, he managed to remain immobile, even as Shimura-sama removed his mask. He kept his eyes straight, fixed on a dot above Hatake-san’s left shoulder. Shimura-sama pushed his mask onto his chest. Sasuke caught it before it hit the floor, his attention still on that dot, as he did his best to ignore Hatake-san’s chakra flaring almost as violently as Shimura-sama’s. For a one too many seconds. But he simmered down.

“Pup, go ahead and tell Wolf why you’re not fulfilling your duties in Ro.”

The correct answer eluded him. Over the months, there had been so many reasons cramped into his brain: he needed protection, Shimura-sama needed protection, Ro could fulfill its duties without him, the security breach presented a problem for his teammates, his continuous ineptitude throughout the years was no longer acceptable, protecting Shimura-sama was an honor that better suited his abilities. Those were all the correct answers, directly from Shimura-sama’s lips, but none of them felt like the right answer for Hatake-san’s ears.

But Shimura-sama’s patience was fickle. Somedays, it was immeasurable. Other days, nonexistent. Sasuke had yet to correctly predict the amount of patience Shimura-sama would exhibit in any conversation, but when it ran out, the outcome was always swift strikes and for some reason, it was unbearable to think of Hatake-san being present for that.

“Shimura-sama decided this was the best place for me.”

Nothing happened. Except Hatake-san clenched his jaw, his chakra spiked. But nothing else happened. Sasuke swallowed back the relief.

“Let me know when you decide the best place for him to be is in Ro. Until then, have a good day, sir.”

Hatake-san bowed --Sasuke had never seen such a disrespectful way to do so--and left the room. Decidedly not waiting to be excused. The temperature dropped. It felt as if Shimura-sama was prying open his head. Only his imagination, of course. The cane striked his bicep. Sasuke had no way of checking, as his attention was forward, the Sharingan fixed on the door, but it felt like there was a gash through the middle of the Anbu tattoo.

Four hours later, Shimura-sama dismissed a team and directed his attention towards him. “Talk to Wolf, I’d hate to see him leave. Make sure he’s leaving for the right reasons, Pup.”

The or else followed him until he closed his apartment door. Sasuke shrugged off the cloak, tossed the mask by the door. Relief washed over him, but he pushed it aside--the only emotions he should be feeling was worry, for leaving Shimura-sama unprotected.

He shook his head.

His apartment shouldn’t be as clean as it was--he hadn’t stepped inside in months and even if he had, he would have never wasted the precious privacy time on cleaning. Shaking his head, he walked to his bedroom--thought it felt like nothing more than a stranger’s dream. He rummaged through his drawers, finding some gray pants and a white shirt that he couldn’t remember buying, but they fit.

Hatake-san would be most receptive if Sasuke was out of the uniform.

He popped soldier pills into his mouth and left the apartment, making his way to the memorial stone. Hatake-san was standing in front of it, his orange book on the grass, his hands in his pants’ pockets. Sasuke walked up to him, standing two meters behind him. He closed the distance after spending a solid five minutes racking his brain on the best way to breach the conversation and coming out blank. Shimura-sama expected results, though, and nothing would happen if Sasuke stayed quiet.

“Perhaps you should reconsider your job prospects, Hatake-san.” Which was not the best thing to say. It wasn’t even what he meant to say, as the original thought included a plea and less judgement.

“As soon as you’re back in Ro.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but stopped the glare. “I’m where Shimura-sama decided it was best for me to be.”

“You’re not where Tsunade-sama thinks it’s best.”

Sasuke had no idea how Shimura-sama transferred him away from Naruto’s protective service, but knowing the conversation that occurred was above his clearance. He wasn’t there to question anyone, even if in the privacy of his mind he could concede that it made little sense--the Fifth gave him three reasons when she recruited him and one of them, the most important one for Konoha, was the effect the Sharingan could have on the Nine-tails. But it didn’t matter. Until Hokage-sama moved him back to Ro, he was where he should be.

He bit back a sigh. “Can you just come back?”

“When you go back to Ro.” Hatake-san turned to face him. “It wasn’t a joke and I know you’ve suspected it, but I did make my rejoining dependent on you joining.” His jaw clenched. ”On the same team.”

Of course he had. It made sense, even if Sasuke didn’t have the brain capacity to work through that. There was nothing to work through, though--both of them had the Sharingan. It made sense. “Shimura-sama asked me to talk to you.” He swallowed another sigh as he ignored Hatake-san’s glare, hoped that it was his way to indicate that he understood the implications of that. As part of Team Ro, Sasuke almost had an impeccable track record. He’d like to keep it that way. “Please reconsider your job prospects, Hatake-san.”

“It’s Kakashi, Sasuke,” he said through gritted teeth.

Which was silly because if memory served right, which it did , Hatake-san might have chided him for his disregard of formalities one or two times. “Are you going to reconsider?”

The silence dragged on. “Sure.”

Sasuke pretended his shoulders didn’t slouch forward. “Thank--”

“After you pay for Team 7’s dinner tonight, of course.”

“I--”

“Meh, Sasuke.” Hatake-san waved him off. Took him by the shoulders, guiding him away from the memorial stone. “Truth is, Naruto and Sakura-chan keep bugging me about where you are. Technically, it’s Naruto’s turn to pay, but I know they are going to ambush me with more questions tonight. With you there, I’ll be spared. They won’t even complain that I’m two hours late!”

Sasuke had to return to headquarters, report to Shimura-sama, and spend some hours browsing the files of recommended recruits. But if he didn’t go to dinner, there would be nothing good to report.

Hatake-san dragged him to a barbecue restaurant. The owner, an old man with wrinkles and an easy smile, pointed them towards the back of the place. It was nearly empty, but even if it had not been, it wouldn’t have been difficult to spot Sakura and Naruto at a corner booth, arm wrestling.

Naruto lost.

Underneath Sakura’s victory cheer, there was a faint ‘meh, Sakura-chan, let me win at least once’ complain from Naruto.

Maybe he should have asked Hatake-san what lies he’d been telling them about him, so he could corroborate them.

“Hey--”

“YOU’RE LATE!”

“Look who I brought.”

Too late now.

Hatake-san nudged him towards the suddenly quiet table. Sasuke took a seat next to Sakura, vaguely returning the acknowledging nod. And somehow spending the rest of dinner avoiding the intrusive questions in favor of listening to Sakura talk about a potential universal potion detector and Naruto’s rambles about a wind-infused Rasengan. It was mind-numbing, but it had been...far too long since he’d eaten anything other than soldier pills.

By the time he was paying the bill, Hatake-san nodded at him, and Sasuke’s record was safe.

---------

Half of the buildings were down. Destroyed. Gone. The Sharingan caught sight of Naruto. A white bird flew overhead, dropping more bombs, like the village wasn’t damaged beyond recognition. The bird was flying away. With Naruto.

Genma-senpai flashed in front of him, carrying two kids. A deafening bomb ruptured the Nidaime Hokage’s face. The ground shook. The bird was disappearing. With a blood of drop, Sasuke was on Garuda, giving chase. A wildly stupid thing to do, of course, but what else was he supposed to do? Letting Akatsuki have Naruto was unthinkable.

Strategically wise.

It made no sense either. Weren’t they supposed to go in order? Had they obtained all the other tailed beasts? Sasuke was under the impression that they’d only gotten the demon inside the Kazekage a few months ago. How were they collecting them so fast? And--a white bird flew past him.

Another one flew past him. No. Not past him. Around him. He dispersed Garuda, falling as the birds exploded around the space they’d been only a second ago. Branches tore his cloak. Fuck. He was still alive, but falling down from that distance didn’t do him any favors. Fuck. He reached into his pocket, shoving a soldier pill down his throat. It couldn’t be helped. He pushed himself off the ground, ignored the floor shifting underneath his feet, summoned a hawk for back home. In pursuit . Whatever that meant. In need of reinforcements.

Whatever.

With a surge of chakra, the Sharingan locked on the bird overhead. Running after it was not the best choice, but it was the best choice until he could figure out how to fly behind it without putting himself or Gamura within explosion range.

Could he slice the bombs with his lightning blade? Would that make them explode faster? Did it matter? At least with the bird flying away from Konoha, the village wasn’t strictly under attack anymore. Ha. Maybe they would send reinforcements. Maybe falling from the sky left lasting brain damage. Maybe he should learn some medical ninjustsu. He pushed another branch, the trees providing enough cover, even outside Konoha’s territory.

Would this be considered treason? Strictly speaking, he had not been ordered to give chase. But strictly speaking, he didn’t give a fuck. Not right now. Not about this. They couldn’t have Naruto--and they definitely could not have the demon inside of him.

But giving chase on foot was impractical. And slow. He was fast, but he was sure that not even Guy-senpai or Lee would be keeping up with a flying bomb.

They would send reinforcements, of course. But they could take forever. And--and well--he halted on a branch, catching his breath. The bird was on fire. Or. No. No, it wasn’t fire, it was chakra. Burning, furious, red chakra. One tail. Sasuke jumped to another bench. It snapped under his weight. He landed on another one. Four more tails.

Naruto was falling.

The demon’s chakra would break his fault and heal any injuries, but--but Naruto couldn’t control higher than three tails, and that had been--at least he wasn’t in the bomb’s grip anymore. Improvement? The bird dived down, but one of the tails sliced through it. Something fell. Sasuke pushed on. For--for whatever. Maybe Naruto could control up to six tails--Sasuke hadn’t kept up with him in a few weeks.

Not since their dinner. Team Kakashi’s dinner.

It was totally--he halted. Bad idea. He jumped to the side, a tree breaking the branch he’d just been standing on. The air thickened. The power was intoxicating, but--but this is what he was supposed to have trained for years, wasn’t it? Not killing Itachi, not murdering his brother, not avenging his clan, just controlling a demon. Red chakra split the sky. Sasuke picked up the space. There was a small settlement fifty kilometers out--obviously not in any position to withstand a demonic rampage. He couldn’t--

He leapt out of the way of another tree, slicing through another one, pushing off another one. Couldn’t Naruto at least leave the vegetation alone? He ducked. No. No, apparently not. The chakra was swallowing the whole world, and Naruto was nothing more than a black shadow, six tails sprouting from his back, no longer human, but not quite the feared demon. Not yet, anyway.

Okay.

Normally--or ideally, the rest of Ro would be there. Watching his back, putting a wooden cage over Naruto. Losing their consciousness in front of that cage in the hope that it was enough. But they weren’t there and--and well, whatever. He rushed more chakra to his eyes, leaping out of the way of a tail hell-bent on ripping him apart. Focus. It was fine. He could do this. And if he couldn’t, then he would be dead and it wouldn’t matter, anyway.

The shadow turned to face him, tilted its head to the side, before--another tail. Another tail. It couldn’t be Naruto anymore. There was no way. He unshielded his katana, out of desperation and practice, perhaps, because his blade wouldn’t stand a chance, but whatever. It would give him a fighting chance to focus.

It could.

It would.

It had to.

He felt his body crash against the ground, but he was gone. The cold blackness surrounded him. Maybe he should have tried this from afar, where his body wasn’t within striking distance. There was nothing around him. There should be. A demon’s face, perhaps, or at least the chakra, or at least Naruto trapped somewhere, perhaps in a cage, or something.

Another one of you?

Naruto’s body--or what appeared to be his body was laying on gray smoke. A cage crept into view, but there was nothing inside. A seal on the door. In place. Safe. The Fourth’s seal, the one that saved the village. Hatake-san spent his free time studying seals, but they all knew that it was hopeless and if push came to shove, they would have better luck striking a deal with Orochimaru to try and resurrect the Fourth than anyone mimicking the seal.

Another one of you?

The voice was hollow and filled Naruto’s conscience, but Sasuke--he turned, there was nothing. Just Naruto laying at his feet, in front of an empty cage.

Come closer. Take a look. Closer.

It was coming from the cage. The nine-tails. It must be. Not sounding as enraged as it should have, as Sasuke thought it would sound, but sounding like it should be in another world, not quite---Sasuke took a step towards--

“Foolish.”

His blood ran cold. He spun on his feet. His--he shook his head. Itachi Uchiha was standing there. Inside Naruto’s conscience. Just like he was. His hand moved for his katana, but---but it was not there, obviously. He glanced down at Naruto, red chakra slipping through the bars and reaching, crawling, towards him. A growl roared in his ears. He glanced back, a face--the nine-tails behind the cage, sharp fangs sprouting from its face, staring him down. The cage rattled. It shouldn’t have, but--

Two of you, just like--

It vanished. His eyes snapped open, the sun glaring down at him. He scurried to his feet, clenching his katana. Itachi was standing before him, staring down at Naruto, an impassive look on his face. Calm. Wearing that red cloak. Sasuke was almost his height. Was his height. Itachi took a step forward, and Sasuke did, too. He stepped in front of Naruto, his katana raised.

He was in no position to fight, especially not with Naruto on the ground, no longer protected by the demon’s chakra. Just...

Itachi disappeared. Disintegrated into twenty crows, flying overhead. Sasuke spun around, a cold hand grabbing his bicep. It didn’t hurt as much as it should have.

“You did join.”

Sasuke pushed lightning out, and another flock of crows ripped Itachi’s body apart, flying overhead. Sasuke gritted his teeth, throwing Naruto over his shoulder.

“You need more power to control the nine-tails, you know that, don’t you? They know that.”

Sasuke shook his head. There was no chakra weaving his surroundings into a genjutsu, but Itachi was nowhere in sight. Not good enough to detect his genjutsu. Not good enough to control the demon that--that--

“You need eyes like mine, Sasuke. I’ve told you before.”

Itachi sounded almost...sad.

No.

No, Itachi was only taunting him, and it was working because Sasuke could feel Itachi’s breath brushing against the back of his neck, but he couldn’t see him, could feel the a hand gripping his arm, underneath the Anbu tattoo, but Itachi was nowhere in sight. He pushed more lightning out. A low chuckle rummaged through the tore land.

Focus . The last thing he needed was to lose his grip. Not with Naruto like this. Not with Itachi and...potentially other Akatsuki members around the area. He pushed more lightning out, trying to focus on something, on anything, but Itachi was a ghost, impossible to spot, impossible to strike. He pushed chakra to his legs and ran.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Foolish.

Weak.

He shook his head.

Itachi pushed the nine tails back and--and he had just. He shook his head. Just make it back to the village, just bring Naruto back to the village. Return them to Konoha. Find Coyote, find Dog, find Owl, find Wolf and ask them what they were doing as their charge was kidnapped.

He shook his head.

The floor shifted.

Return to Konoha. It was the only thing he needed to focus on, he could survive the disciplinary action for not disposing, not even attempting to dispose, of a rogue shinobi. Could live with himself for not doing more when Itachi Uchiha, when his brother had been there, close enough to touch him, close enough to hurt him. He could have stabbed him and--

He fell to his knees. The sun was gone from the sky. The moon was full, providing enough light to keep going. He should. He needed to, but his provisions were gone--he hadn’t--there hadn’t been time to pack, and though he carried emergency provisions with him, always, they were--gone and well, it had been an emergency.

He set Naruto down against a tree, took his tattered cloak off and threw it on him. Had he run so much, chasing after the bird? Or had he flew the majority of the way, until he was forced to give chase on foot? He couldn’t be far from Konoha. He should keep moving. But his body was exhausted.

He hadn’t slept. For a while now. Shimura-sama was demanding and Sasuke’s Sharingan made him more efficient than other shinobi. The Sharingan allowed him to cut many corners and cutting corners meant there was more time to cut more corners, and doing so--he leaned against the tree.

The bombs started as he was dismissed for the day.

He glanced at Naruto, his skin not holding any sign that he fell from the sky, that he’d fought off both Akatsuki members and a demon. Just sleeping, lightly snoring. Not a good habit for a shinobi, but at least it was a clear indication that he was alive. That the demon inside of him kept him alive. What else could any of them ask for anyway?

Sighing, he stretched out his legs, ignoring the painful throbbing down his calves. He pulled the mask off of his face. A stupid thing to do. But he had no idea when Naruto would wake up, which meant that he would need to carry him back home, which meant he needed to let his body rest, at least for a few minutes. Just a few minutes. If he didn’t, it wouldn’t matter if he stayed up to watch over them, because he wouldn’t be able to do anything if someone did attack them.

Sasuke rubbed his eyes, the Sharingan fading away, the world losing the faint red shade. Just for a second. Or two.

Someone nudged him. He stood before his eyes could catch up to his surroundings, but there were no foreign chakra signatures, except Naruto. Oh. He was awake. Staring at him with wide eyes, his mouth open, talking. Maybe.

Oh. Oh.

He glanced down at himself. His cloak was on the ground and he was--evidently, not wearing it.

“Anbu?” Naruto’s voice was surprisingly soft. “Kakashi-sensei said you were a Genin.”

He was. Would probably remain a Genin for the rest of his life, unless Hokage-sama or Shimura-sama wanted him to participate in the Chunin Exams again. He cleared his throat. “I am.”

“In Anbu.”

Sasuke grabbed his cloak. His muscles ache, but that was nothing new. “Sometimes,” he cleared his throat. “Are you okay to walk? I’m a little tired of carrying your dead weight.”

“Anbu? Why?”

Great. Just when he needed Naruto to take a bait, he decided to mature. He rubbed his eyes. Shimura-sama was going to have his head. Even Hokage-sama, a rare sight to him now, would yell at him. “Hokage-sama asked--”

“Hokage- sama ?”

He bit back a sigh. He got it. He’d been an insolent child not that long ago. “The Fifth.” He grabbed his katana. “And listen,” he jumped on a tree branch, Naruto next to him a second later. “You’re not supposed to know, so pretend you don’t.”

“Why can’t I know?”

“Because it’s a secret. Sakura doesn’t know. Just,” he bit back a groan. “Just forget it.”

Naruto stayed quiet. Until he didn’t. “What happened?”

“Akatsuki kidnapped you. I followed. You passed out. Here we are.”

Naruto didn’t utter another word until they were within Konoha’s walls. It was like traveling with a ghost. But Sasuke had asked for discretion, so it was stupid to complain. It was stupid to even notice the silence between them.

Within a few hours, they arrived to the Hokage’s half-standing office.The desk and the liquor were safe, however. Hokage-sama visibly relaxed upon Naruto’s entrance and she waved her arm, dismissing the invisible shadows lined in front of the window.

At least Sasuke’s face was behind his mask. Danzo would remove it, with his strange fixation to do so, but until that happened, Sasuke’s face was safely hidden behind the porcelain mask.

It was weird, bowing before the Hokage, while Naruto remained standing next to him, but formalities were crucial after an invasion on the village, especially considering that after the last invasion, Sasuke almost turned traitor. He couldn’t have anyone thinking that there was a possibility of him turning traitor, now. Not now. Not after seeing his brother, who was a traitor.

“I don’t need bodyguards.” It was the twelfth time that Naruto insisted that it was fine, that having an organization made up of S-ranked rogue shinobi after him was fine. What an idiot.

Truly baffling that Naruto had not realized that he had bodyguards since he arrived back in Konoha. Not that it had mattered, as they clearly had not done a good job--which was wrong of him to think, of course. It wasn’t his place to judge his comrades, much less his superiors. Even if it were true.

“You do. It’s not part of a discussion, brat. We were attacked, they were after you, and you need--”

“If anything,” Naruto said. “I need to leave the village.”

“You need bodyguards!”

“Leaving would prevent further damage against Konoha.”

Hokage-sama gulped down some of the alcohol, though it seemed to have no effect on the anger pouring out of her. Sasuke had no idea how Naruto wasn’t backing down, but Jiraiya-sama should have instilled better values on him.

There was a loud clank. The bottle slamming down on the desk, though Sasuke’s eyes remained firmly on the ground. “I will assign bodyguards to--”

“Fine!” Naruto groaned. “In that case, I’ll take him.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t be sure, but Naruto had to be referring to him, and if that was the case, Sasuke was going to...beg for his resignation. Of course, it would never be accepted, would certainly land him in hotter water than he already was--would be, if the conversation between Hokage-sama and that idiot was heading in the direction that he knew it was heading.

“You what?”

“Well,” Naruto dragged the word out. “He saved me. He’s obviously capable of watching over me, while no one else in the village or in Anbu could. So, if I must have a bodyguard, which I absolutely do not, then it needs to be him.”

It just had to be a joke. Sasuke couldn’t do that. Obviously, it’s what he was always meant to do, but he’d already proven his ineptitude at suppressing the demon, and the only reason that he managed to return Naruto safely was because...for some reason, Itachi Uchiha retreated. Plus, technically, Naruto already had bodyguards. Not that they had done a good job.

Not that he could point that out. Or object--even if he could, he would not.

“There are plenty of capable shinobi who can--”

“Well, they weren’t there. Only he was there and I want him to watch over me. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just turn myself over to the Akatsuki.”

What an idiot. Obviously an empty threat, and Sasuke didn’t want to imagine what Naruto was playing at, but on the off-chance that he wasn’t joking...it was a dangerous and unthinkable threat. As far as Sasuke knew, intelligence was fuzzy regarding the rationale behind the Akatsuki’s collection of the demons. But it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it wasn’t good. Naruto had no business even suggesting such a thing, even as a threat, even as a joke.

Of course Hokage-sama wouldn’t agree to such blatant blackmail, but--

“Fine.”

A cruel joke. His whole life was a joke.

“From here on out, Pup--”

Naruto snickered.

Sasuke clenched his jaw, his mind apparently realizing, once again, how demeaning his name was. It’s not like he picked it himself. He wasn’t entirely sure who did, but after knowing Wolf made them a package deal, being named Pup certainly made a crueler amount of sense.

“You will be on protection duty, watching over Naruto Uzumaki, until the threat from Akatsuki has been neutralized. I don’t need to tell you how important Naruto Uzumaki’s well-being and safety are to the village. Understood?”

Why had he given chase? Why had he--

“ Understood ?”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.”

“Dismissed.”

Sasuke stood, bowed, and followed Naruto out of the room. He glared at the back of Naruto’s head, wishing he could activate the Sharingan, place him under a Genjutsu--convince him that he lived in a ramenless world. But that would be inappropriate. Instead, he followed him out the ruins of the Hokage’s tower.

The village was destroyed. It would heal in time, but Naruto had raised a good point: if he weren’t within its walls, they might be able to rebuilt before Akatsuki blasted them to the ground. Again.

“So, Pup ,” Naruto began, a half-chuckle clearly stuck in his throat, jumping on the half-broken roof of a weapons shop. “What do you usually do in your free time?”

Uh.

Free time.

What a wild and interesting concept. He hadn’t had free time since he was seven, let alone since he was fourteen, but he supposed train. Of course, that was none of Naruto’s business, nor was it professional to reply. Even if Sasuke would love to tell him to shut up. Out of principle. Plenty of desire to do so, but unprofessional.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” Naruto tsked. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe we can stop by your house to pack up some stuff so you can move in. You know, if it’s your mission to watch over me until the Akatsuki are gone...how are you going to sleep? Eat? Or are more of your teammates going to cover for you when you need to sleep?”

He hoped they did. He would like to sleep, at least once a week.

Naruto stopped in front of the Academy. Students and teachers were picking up the fallen debris, but it was clear that classes would be outside for at least a few weeks.

“Pup, are you allowed to--”

“There you are.”

Hatake-san. Sasuke was sure that he’d been waiting for them on top of the tree with the swing. Maybe he was in charge of overseeing the Academy’s reconstruction. Last Sasuke heard, Hatake-san remained incognito as the leader of Team Kakashi, and supervising the Academy’s construction was well below his paygrade. Though Shimura-sama might have assigned it as a humility lesson.

“Hey, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said. “Guess what? Grandma Tsunade gave me my own personal guard. His name is Pup.”

The hum. “Good for you.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure if that comment was for him or for Naruto, but he hoped that it was meant for Naruto because there was nothing good for him about this situation at all. Somehow, deep down, irrationally, he knew that Shimura-sama would be displeased at his reassignment.

“I’m trying to make conversation, but he’s not very talkative. Yet.”

“Yeah, most Anbu are not.” Hatake-san glanced at him. Then, turned his attention to Naruto. “Is it part of his mission to make conversation and exchange pleasantries with you?”

“No. I guess not.”

“Then good luck getting any Anbu to talk.”

Sasuke was sure there was a joke in there somewhere, but he was tired and cranky, and not in the mood for a joke. He’d just returned from chasing Naruto, almost being blown to bits by birds, falling from the sky, facing the nine-tails, and not killing his brother. And on top of that, Naruto, the idiot, just convinced Hokage-sama that he should be shadowing him forever. The only upside was that maybe, he wouldn’t have to see Danzo, even if he first faced the initial explosion..

“Anyway,” Hatake-san waved his hand. “You need to pack. We have a mission.”

Naruto must be more convincing than Sasuke could ever understand, if Hokage-sama saw the validity in sending him away. Naruto glanced back at him. Looking for what, Sasuke had no idea because the only thing Naruto could see was a white mask with red markings.

“Oh! What--”

“Pack for a month.” The command was obviously not directed at Naruto anymore. “We’re meeting in an hour at the East gate.”

“Is Sakura-chan coming?”

“Of course,” Hatake-san said. It sounded off. He sounded upset, if Sasuke was being honest, but he had no energy to think of a reason. Other than his home maybe being destroyed along with half the village. Who knew. “See you soon!”

He puffed. And no surprise, no leaves because of course not. Why would Hatake-san disappear with leaves if there was no way to inconvenience Sasuke?

Naruto glanced at him, his eyes narrowed, his head tilted to the side, like he was considering a funny thought, but thankfully, he didn’t share it. Instead, he ran to his home. It was standing, unscathed. Good for him. Sasuke followed him inside, closing the door gently behind him. Watched him pack shuriken. And ramen.

Sasuke swallowed a comment.

And more ramen.

He bit down on his tongue. He could not.

And his frog hat.

He would not--

And two more boxes of Ramen.

“You need,” Sasuke cleared his throat. “You need something more...practical.”

“Ah. So you can talk.”

“Knock it off,” Sasuke said. Through gritted teeth. Whatever. “I don’t know what you think you’re playing at, asking Hokage-sama to--”

“You know,” Naruto said, grabbing another box of ramen. Sasuke knocked it out of his hand with a light tap. Hitting a charge like that was uncalled for, of course, but it was for Naruto’s well-being. “It’s weird hearing you call her Hokage-sama,” Naruto hopped on his counter, staring at him. “Do you also say Kakashi-sensei?”

Sasuke clenched his jaw. Naruto continued to stare at him, until he shrugged and began shoving more Ramen in his backpack. Sasuke cleared his throat. “Hatake-san.”

Naruto froze. “ Hatake-san ?”

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “Why?”

He’d gone over other options and settled on Hatake-san. That was all. There might have been some logic behind the decision, but it was long gone and the habit had been formed. “It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head at Naruto’s bewildered expression, but pressed on. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, and it doesn’t matter, but you need to pack better and I have better things to do than babysit you, so--”

“Do you, though? I mean,” Naruto shrugged. Stared up at the ceiling. “It’s your mission now. I guess...Kakashi-sensei must know. That makes sense. Sakura-chan, you said that she didn’t know. How are you going to keep up the act--”

“It’s not an act.”

“On a mission with us?” Naruto turned to face him again. “You’re going to wear the mask the whole time? How do you sleep? Or eat? Are more Anbu going to tag--“

“I don’t know.” He sure hoped so. Ro must be joining. Hopefully. He shook his head, grabbing Naruto’s backpack. “All I know is that this isn’t going to hold you for--”

“You don’t know how you’re going to eat?” He sounded utterly horrified.

“Pills. It’s easy to slip them under the mask,” Sasuke replied. He shoved a few in the backpack’s front pocket. “Can you just...stop being an idiot and--”

“Were you about to say please ?”

He swallowed something. “No. Of course not,” Sasuke handed back the backpack. “Just, you’re not supposed to know who I am.”

“But I do. And it’s weird .”

“Then why did you ask for me?”

Naruto jumped off the counter. “Because you were the only one who was there and you did bring me back,” he shrugged. “Obviously. I don’t actually want to die, you know?” He shrugged again, looking at his backpack. He glanced up at him. “Do you need to pack?”

He bit back a sigh. “I do. I also need to get a new cloak.” He paused for a moment. It was stupid, talking to Naruto like his charge, but he was his charge, and talking to him like the moron he knew years ago was unprofessional. “Stay here until I come back.”

“And if I don’t? Will you get in trouble?”

Sasuke bit back a groan. A sigh. “Are you not going to stay here?”

“I will. I just wanted to know what--”

“Awesome,” Sasuke drawled out and disappeared.

His apartment looked like a ghost lived there, which was...fairly accurate. It was still standing, which was convenient, and clean. Maybe one day, he should sit down and figure out who was cleaning his apartment. He shook his head, discarding the thought. It wasn’t important at the moment. He shoved his supplies in his pouch, locked the apartment, and headed to headquarters. He’d just asked for a new cloak a few months ago and---it was coming out of his paycheck, wasn’t it? Not that it mattered, but it did. Maybe it wouldn’t matter if it--

“You’re summoned to Shimura-sama’s office.”

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. Jackal. Still a head taller than him. Sasuke nodded and walked down the familiar hallway. Just what he needed. Not only was he Naruto’s bodyguard now, but he needed to see Shimura-sama before leaving. He stood in front of his office’s door. Maybe it wouldn’t take long. Maybe it was to congratulate him. Ha. He bit back a sigh and pushed the door open, chastising himself for thinking such thoughts.

He shouldn’t necessarily be happy to see Shimura-sama, as an assignment wasn’t worth such emotion, but it definitely shouldn’t make him wish he was anywhere else than the freezing hallway. Short of protecting Hokage-sama, there was no one more important than Shimura-sama, after all.

Shimura-sama was sitting behind his desk, writing. He glanced up, waved to close the door. Sasuke did, softly, and fell to one knee. He heard the chair screeching against the ground, the resonating footsteps approaching him, stopping in front of him.

“You’re leaving on a month mission with Team Kakashi.”

The silence dragged on. Waiting for a response. Of course. “Yes, Shimura-sama.”

The cane tapped once against the floor. The ground shook. His imagination, of course. It must be. “It’s to gather a scroll and intelligence on Otogakure. While you’re there, you are to assassinate Orochimaru. Don’t fail, Pup.”

The or else hung in the air. Like it always did. When did he piss Shimura-sama enough to deserve such a blatant suicide mission? Maybe there was still a grudge over not killing that boy years ago. Maybe it was the explosion he’d been expecting for being assigned to bodyguard Naruto. Nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could have done about it. “Yes, Shimura-sama.”

“No one’s to know about this.”

“Understood, sir.”

“And stop destroying your cloak.”

“Yes, Shimura-sama.”

“Dismissed.”

Sasuke kept his head down, bowed, and closed the door after him. Assassinate Orochimaru? He pulled the hood over his head. It was six years since Orochimaru extended his invitation to train him, six years since he wanted his body. Sasuke left headquarters, not wanting to quicken his pace, but doing so nonetheless. Maybe he could pretend to give up his body and maybe that would give him enough advantage to kill Orochimaru.

Ha.

He made it back to Naruto’s apartment, tossing failed idea after failed idea. It didn’t matter. Shimura-sama wanted Orochimaru dead--no. No, Konoha needed Orochimaru dead, and Sasuke would die trying, because that’s what the village needed out of him.

He knocked on Naruto’s door, taken back that he opened so quickly.

“Done?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. “At least admit that this is a little weird for you too.”

It was. Not that Naruto cared, but if protocols were strictly followed, he shouldn’t even be referring to him by name. He shook his head. “It’s my job, Naruto.”

Naruto looked at him funny, but Sasuke had too much in his mind already to pay it any attention. So, it was weird. It was Naruto’s fault for telling Hokage-sama that he should be his personal bodyguard. He jumped after Naruto, keeping his distance--far away that Naruto wouldn’t feel too suffocated, but close enough that he could leap in front of him if necessary.

“What should I call you?” Naruto asked once they were at the east gate. No one was there yet. “I mean, as much as I’m amused at the idea of calling you--”

“Don’t call me anything,” Sasuke replied. “It’s like I’m not here.”

“But you are.”

“I know I am, but you,” he cleared his throat. Took a deep breath. “You can use your imagination and pretend that I’m not.”

Naruto huffed. “Well, excuse me. Last time we were really together, we tried to kill each other--”

“Last time we were together, we were eating dinner.”

Naruto shook his head. “I know. I mean, I get it, but you know...we did try to kill each other and...and it’s weird to have you watch over me in a mask and hood. Wouldn’t it be easier to take all of that off, go as yourself, and just watch over me undercover?”

Sasuke bit back a sigh. “I don’t make the rules, Naruto. I just follow them.” Making the rules was for the heads of the village. Making the rules brought too much responsibility, and he wasn’t made for that.

“It’s weird that you call me Naruto.”

“That’s your name.”

“I know, it’s just you used to call me names.”

He couldn’t call his charge names. It was painful, but it was protocol. And it had to be followed. “We were twelve.”

Naruto shrugged, looking a little sad, but not as sad as maybe he would have looked like when he was twelve. It was weird. Sasuke couldn’t remember a single time that Naruto and he had a civil conversation with each other. Maturity.

“Naruto!” Sakura ran up to them, hugged Naruto, before releasing him. It looked more like a choke than a hug, if Sasuke was being honest, but it didn’t involve him, so he didn’t care. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Naruto grinned. “Me too, Sakura-chan.” He pointed at Sasuke. “And I got my own personal bodyguard for my trouble. He’s mute, though. Doesn’t talk.”

Sakura glanced at him, raised eyebrow and all. She turned back to Naruto. “You need someone watching over you. I can’t believe they’re sending you out...I mean, it makes sense, of course, but--”

“Of course it makes sense,” Hatake-san said. Judging by Sakura and Naruto’s expressions, they expected him to be late. “We’re heading to Sound to intercept a scroll with a forbidden jutsu that Orochimaru definitely should not have, ever.”

“Just us?”

Hatake-san shrugged. “Just us. And Naruto’s bodyguard, I guess.” He turned to look at him for the first time. “I trust you know how to listen to instructions well.”

Hopefully, Ro was included in the ‘us’. He nodded.

Hatake-san tilted his head, clearly pondering something. “In that case,we’ll head out.”

They did. They ran through the rest of the day, leaving Konoha’s behind, reaching the edge of its territory by nightfall. Sasuke had shoved three soldier pills already, his body beginning to protest the lack of food and rest. Still better than watching Shimura-sama’s back, though. Theoretically. He wouldn’t actually mind standing in an office right now. He shook his head. Years in Anbu and he continued to have inappropriate preferences to missions. But--well--well, actually he preferred this. Even if he was stuck hunting for wood with Naruto, not for the first time wishing the Sharingan provided night vision as well.

 “You can’t possibly tell me it’s not weird.” Naruto clearly had no qualms about repeating the same sentence over and over again, regardless of the response, or lack thereof. Someone should shove him in the interrogation unit, he’d break even the toughest prisoners in a few hours. Just by talking.

Sasuke sighed. “What is?”

“This!” He shoved him. Playfully. It was weird. “How did you join?”

Sasuke shrugged. “Classified.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded.

“I’m just trying to make conversation.”

“Converse with yourself.”

“But you’re right here. I can’t talk with myself when I know you’re right here. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I know you know that if you don’t tell me, I’ll just keep asking until we’re both dead.”

Sooner than he thought, then. Sasuke shrugged. “Hokage-sama asked me to join.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I can’t pretend to understand what she thinks--”

“Kakashi said exactly that a few months ago.”

“Did he?” Sasuke asked, hoping to sound as disinterested as he felt.

“Yeah. Anyway...she must have given you a reason? Did you get a choice? What’s Anbu like? And how are you a genin if you’re in Anbu?”

Apparently not disinterested enough. “She asked me to join. I said yes. I never passed the Chunin Exams. Here I am.” Sasuke picked up another dead branch. “It’s not that interesting and it’s not any of your business.”

“Fine,” Naruto said, storming off.

Sasuke followed, picking up stray branches along the way. No matter how pissy Naruto got, they still needed wood for a fire.

-------------------------

A strange warmth was spreading across his chest. Almost like Raven’s hands were hovering over it, fixing him before they had to move on.

No.

No, Raven was dead.

Maybe he was also dead. He groaned, opening his eyes. The air was cold against his--fuck. His mask. He shouldn’t be able to feel the cold against his cheeks. That was the whole point of the mask and if his mask was off, then--

An Anbu’s mask always remained on their face during a mission.

He pushed chakra to his eyes, straining, but managing to activate the Sharingan as he opened his eyes and the sunlight turned just a bit more red than it should be. Green eyes--Sakura stared back at him.

“Stay down--”

“I’m fine,” Sasuke replied, straining to sit up. It was agonizing, but he had bigger problems, like the fact that Sakura was healing him and his face was exposed. He glanced down. His chest was ripped open. It was fine. Sakura was healing him. It was fine--that was fine. The blood was fine, but his cloak was in shreds next to him, and well, he would need another one, unless he was fired, which was not--

Sakura shoved him back. “I said, stay down.”

“Sakura.” He winced at the sound of his pained voice. “I’m fine.”

“You almost died!”

Did he? His chest mostly confirmed that fact. He could remember the scroll and Shiino and maybe leaving Team Kakashi for a bit, to hunt Orochimaru. Maybe. No matter how much he strained, he couldn’t remember killing Orochimaru. A botched mission. Failed. “But...I didn’t.”

Sakura groaned. Long and hard, and pained, and not at all how Sakura should react to a patient on his back, but who was he to tell a medic how to react?

How was he supposed to face Shimura-sama? With a destroyed cloak and Orochimaru very much alive?

Itachi was obviously still alive, but a better outcome might have been that Sakura stopped healing him and maybe he’d just--

“That’s not the point!”

Sasuke sighed. He moved his head, watching the damage on his chest disappear under the green glow of Sakura’s hands. No scars. “I’m fine,” he said, more firmly. He sat up, pulling himself away from her reach. He stood and dutifully ignored the world spinning around him, the floor shifting underneath him. “Where’s Naruto? And Hatake-san?”

Sakura stood up, eyeing him with....anger? Suspicion? Exasperation? Confusion? Sasuke wasn’t awake enough to decipher those emotions. “They went to get water. And food.”

“And they left you alone?”

“No,” Sakura shook her head, staring directly at him. “They left me with a half-dead body who could very much be dead right now.”

Sasuke shrugged, being no stranger to scoldings, though it might never cease to amaze him whenever Sakura did so. “What happened?”

“You almost died.”

Sasuke nodded. He got it. He almost died. “And what--”

“Kakashi-sensei said that he was going to fill you in. If you woke up.”

Great. He nodded, again. It made his vision blur, but the Sharingan remained activated because that was the kind of stubborness he felt right now. He picked up his cloak, looking it over. He could....sew it. It wasn’t terrible. It would take awhile, but he could do it--not that it mattered, with a failed mission like...this one...he couldn’t even explain himself, considering that he didn’t remember anything, but--but he would like to explain himself. He was positive that he tried to kill Orochimaru. He must have. How else would he have ended with a half-blown chest?

“Bastard! You’re--”

“Leave.” Green leaves fell on the ground before him. Sasuke leaned against a tree,while his vision focused on Naruto and Sakura, and definitely not on Hatake-san. “Both of you.”

“Kakashi-sensei, he’s not--”

“He’s fine,” Hatake-san cut Sakura off. “Leave.”

With one last glance, Sakura dragged Naruto away. Hatake-san didn’t turn to look at him until they were out of sight and until his hounds couldn’t smell them anymore. It was a long time to remain standing, but Sasuke managed, mostly because he couldn’t stomach the idea of falling on his ass when Hatake-san was like this.

Wolf was Ro’s second-in-command, of course, and Sasuke had faced a few disciplinary actions in his Anbu career. Most of them given by Coyote: what he did wrong, what he should have done, how he would improve himself to prevent such failures and shortcomings in future missions. Wolf tended to be a bit more...emotional. No tears, of course not, but providing more... what if scenarios. How they could have all died. How thousands of Konoha citizens could have died. Which he knew. Sasuke was well-aware how many Konoha citizens were in danger every day that Orochimaru was alive.

He did.

“What...were you thinking?”

“To be honest,” Sasuke began. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hatake-san’’s chakra flared up, before it simmered down. “You abandoned your post, infiltrated Orochimaru’s headquarter...he was about to take over your body. You had to know that this was going to happen. What part of stay by Naruto’s side was not understandable to you?”

He might remember leaving Naruto’s side. He planned on finding Orochimaru, of course, but pretending to give up his body had been a tossed idea, more of a joke, really. “I just--”

“Do you think this is a game?”

“Of course not,” Sasuke rolled his eyes. He shouldn’t have, but of course he didn’t think it was a joke. “I had no idea that he was going to try to take over my body. It’s not like I keep a calendar of the dates he needs to possess someone.”

“Fine. You didn’t know,” It sounded like he hadn’t known that, either. Why would he? Why would Sasuke? He didn’t have a calendar for it, even if he had known--not that it needed to be public knowledge. “What were you trying to accomplish then?”

“What do you think?” He cleared his throat. Swallowed back the frustration, or anger, or anything else that was not appropriate to display in front of his superior. Though he was decidedly not in Anbu gear, Wolf was still standing in front of him. He cleared his throat, again. “Trying to kill him.”

“He’s dead.”

He blinked. “Oh--”

“Naruto tore him to pieces. Or rather the nine-tails did.”

“Great.”

Wolf was evidently not impressed that a S-rank, wanted rogue ninja was dead, though. “You must have known that you couldn’t kill him. So what were you doing?”

Sasuke shrugged, averting his eyes to the ground. He had known that. The last time he fought Orochimaru, it was during those exams, and he’d survived because Raven brought reinforcements and Orochimaru was strangely amused on his behalf. Sasuke fought for his life that day, but was fully aware that he’d been spared--for whatever reason. As soon as Shimura-sama assigned him the mission, he’d known it was a suicide mission because if he had no faith in his ability to kill Orochimaru, there was no way that Shimura-sama believed he could do it.

“I...classified.”

“Classified?” A pause. In another time, Sasuke might have looked up, to decipher the emotions and prepare for their outcomes. But whatever Wolf was thinking at the moment, Sasuke didn’t want anything to do with it. “Are you kidding me right now? Sasuke?”

He shook his head as he ignored something flaring up in his chest at his name.

“Tsunade-sama?”

“Classified.”

“Look at me.”

Sasuke bit back a sigh, but obeyed. Wolf sized him up, like he was expecting Sasuke to say something. But he wouldn’t, of course, and Wolf could understand that--should understand. Classified meant stop asking , it’s not any of your business, it’s Konoha’s business . But Wolf continued to stare at him, unimpressed, evidently frowning, a worried expression contorting his face as the dead silence dragged on between them.

After an eternity, Wolf stepped back.“You know what to report?”

Sasuke nodded. “Orochimaru’s dead. The nine-tails killed him. Mission completed successfully.”

Hatake-san nodded, looking like he had more things to say, but for some reason deciding not to. Maybe, he took pity on him. It didn’t matter. Sasuke appreciated the interrogation ending, even if Hatake-san’s chakra suffocated him until Naruto and Sakura returned an hour later.

Sakura looked him over as Naruto and Hatake-san roasted two rabbits. Sasuke should have slipped the mask over his face, swallow his discomfort and pills, and continued to watch over Naruto. It would have been the proper way to finish the mission. But he couldn’t bring himself to pick up the mask or push the disgusting pills pass his lips.

After dinner, somewhere, somehow, the pretend sleep morphed into blank unconsciousness.

---------------

“You’re back,” Naruto said from the bed. Half his face was covered by the ridiculous frog hat and his voice was softer than normal, but it still looked as if he’d just woken up. “How are you?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, though Naruto couldn’t see that expression under the mask--maybe he raised it because Naruto couldn’t see it behind his mask. He walked towards Naruto’s closet, turned to face him, and stared back at him. He was fine, thank you. Tickled.

“I’m going to make your life impossible if you don’t start making conversation, you know,” Naruto said, pointing a finger at himself. “I used to pull pranks on Anbu when I was seven, Sasuke. Come on. At least take the mask off.”

That was all true. And Sasuke well, he couldn’t afford any more trouble, if he was honest. Biting back a sigh, he pushed the mask back, keeping his bangs off his face, dropping the hood. Naruto pulled his frog hat, dropping it by his side, tilting his head to the side. Staring. For some wild reason that Sasuke was a little too exhausted to fathom.

“But really,” Naruto began, after the silence had grown too uncomfortable for him, apparently. “When do you sleep? Or eat? You know I can make something to eat.”

“I already ate.”

Soldier pills.

What?

He’d been busy, debriefing Shimura-sama and being yelled at. Revealing his identity to Sakura and Naruto unacceptable, but not more than letting his charge complete the mission for him, as if Sasuke had asked Naruto to kill Orochimaru. He couldn’t even remember that--Owl was the one who extracted the memories from him: Orochimaru’s lair, a gigantic white snake, and cold, deep water, and then the red, furious chakra tearing it apart, burning Orochimaru’s skin off his body.

Naruto killing Orochimaru also meant that Hokage-sama heard about it before she should have and--that was also a problem that was created from his ineptitude and one which Shimura-sama needed to spend energy fixing, energy which would have been better spent on more pressing matters. Sasuke couldn’t remember the last time he felt as if he were standing on the tip of a blade, with a monster seconds away from ripping his head from his body and tossing him aside.

And then his cloak.

He hadn’t checked--because that would have made everything worse--but there were red stripes on his bicep, now.

Naruto frowned. “And sleep?”

A distant dream. “I don’t sleep as much as you--”

“That’s stupid. Everyone needs to sleep, I’m pretty sure the same amount of hours. Sakura-chan told me that when--”

“You really think that Anbu on six-month missions have time for beauty sleep?” He managed to swallow the snort, freeze the smirk before it contorted his features. So many years in Anbu and his first reflex was still inappropriate.

There was a flash of sad yearning behind Naruto’s eyes. “No. But I’m guessing that you guys do sleep and that you take turns. Like normal people. But I don’t see anyone around here besides you, so who’s going to take turns with you so that you sleep?”

A sensible argument. Sasuke was vaguely aware that Ro continued to watch over Naruto, but Sasuke was no longer under Coyote’s command, which meant that he wasn’t part of their considerations during shift schedules. As Naruto’s sole, official bodyguard, he had no one to cover his shift. The situation was reminiscent of sleep deprivation training, but there was nothing else to do other than his job.

“Trust me, as long as you stop talking, I’ll be able to re--”

“Hilarious.” Naruto sounded everything but amused, of course. “I could take turns with you. I’ll sleep and then you sleep, you know. Like normal people.”

“What do you think is going to happen if someone attacks you and I’m asleep ?”

“Believe it or not, Sasuke,” Naruto said, standing up. “I can take care of myself.”

He wasn’t sure about that--but evidently, the nine-tails took care of its host. Not that it mattered--not that it would be a good idea, anyway. It was dangerous to pretend the demon was a shield, more so inside of Konoha.

“Evidently, Hokage-sama thinks that you need someone to watch over you as well.” Sasuke shrugged. “And for the last time, you were the one who asked for me. But I’m sure if my presence really bothers you that much, Hokage-sama will assign someone else.”

“I don’t want anyone else,” Naruto pushed him to the side, opening his closet. “I’m just telling you that it’s weird to sleep when I know that you’re not sleeping.” He took out a futon. “So I guess if you’re not sleeping, neither am I.”

Sasuke bit back a sigh. “Be my guest.”

“This is my apartment, idiot. You’re my guest.”

After a moment, Sasuke gave a small curt, an insult bubbling up his throat, but he bit it down. It was stupid and annoying, and ironic and terrible, but the truth was that Naruto could call him whatever he wanted, but it wasn’t okay to call Naruto names that he rightfully deserved at the moment, like stubborn idiot, or imbecile. No, those words were not appropriate for a charge, in the middle of the mission. Sasuke ignored the groan from Naruto, watching idly as he settled on the new futon.

The hours dragged on. Until the sun peaked through the window, and Naruto groaned, loud, and climbed out of the futon, sending a petulant glare in his direction. He headed to the bathroom, though at least he had enough insight to leave the door half opened. The water ran for a few minutes, and then Naruto headed out, blond hair dripping wet. Sasuke followed him to the small kitchen, watching idly as he made himself a bowl of ramen. At least there were some vegetables and a boiled egg added to it.

“Will you at least eat?” Naruto asked, staring down at the ramen as he mixed it.

Sasuke pulled out a soldier pill from his pocket. His stomach coiled at the sight of it, but it couldn’t be helped. He was on duty, on a mission. Insignificant and significant sacrifices were expected. Besides, Naruto’s ramen couldn’t be that much better. He stared at Naruto as he popped it in his mouth, kept his face blank at the blatantly disgusting flavor. Swallowed. “Just did.”

Naruto glared. He looked more hurt than angry, which was stupid, but whatever. “I made enough for two.”

“Enjoy your second plate.”

“You’re joking.”

Sasuke shook his head. “I’m on duty, Naruto.”

He pulled his mask over his face. The curtains were drawn and the door closed, there was no foreign chakra, but if someone did see him in half-Anbu gear, without his mask, in front of his charge...that was not the kind of trouble Sasuke wanted. In fact, after his mission report to Shimura-sama, he would love it if he was never in trouble again, in his life.

Naruto’s jaw was clenched. “Whatever, Pup .” He set the bowl down with a loud clank and slurped down the ramen.

Sasuke did a phenomenal job ignoring his stomach, if he did say so himself. When he was done, Naruto washed the dishes, grabbed his backpack, and headed out. Sasuke tailed behind, keeping his attention on Naruto, but giving him his distance too. He obviously needed it, at least for now.

Eventually, Naruto would need to get used to this. It was going to be fine.

For the rest of the week, they fell into a routine. A quiet routine, Naruto apparently growing accustomed to ignoring him, just as it should be. Though his silence extended to everyone around him: Sakura, Hatake-san, even Iruka-sensei. Disconcerting, but not within his mission’s parameters, so none of his business.

Hatake-san was quiet too. Sasuke caught him tailing them a few hours each day, but it was likely during his assigned times. Occasionally, he caught Dog, Owl, and Coyote, too. Good. With Akatsuki after him, Naruto needed as much protection as possible. Protecting Naruto was like protecting the whole village, after all.

That thought made the days pass smoothly. As smoothly as they could, with the dead silence from Naruto. The snores at night were louder than any noise he made while he was awake.

Not his problem.

Not his mission.

Sasuke had recited Konoha’s history for the sixth time under his breath as Naruto slept, half of his face covered by that stupid hat, clearly exhausted, after using a thousand, silent clones to rebuild civilian’s homes and businesses the entire day.

“Do you ever,” Hatake-san said, stepping out of Naruto’s bathroom. “Wonder what your life would be if you hadn’t joined?”

Sasuke glanced at him, and then turned the Sharingan towards Naruto. Genjutsu lulling him to remain asleep, once again, making him wonder why Jiraiya-sama hadn’t spent more time teaching him Genjutsu. Besides controlling some of tails, it was entirely impossible to say exactly what else Jiraiya-sama taught him. “No....but I probably would be doing patrol duty with Genma-senpai.”

“Does he know you call him that?”

Something rose up his cheeks. Would people ever let him forget how insolent and rude he’d been as a thirteen-year-old? If there was a way to travel back to the past, he’d use it to kick his own ass. And kill Itachi as a baby, of course. “Probably not. I have not seen him in...awhile.” A year or two or so, perhaps. Seeing his body flash in front of him for a second during the bombings hardly counted. “Do you?”

“No, I don’t call him Genma-senpai. We’re--”

“Ever wonder what your life would be if you hadn’t joined?”

Hatake-san hummed softly. “No.” He shoved his hands inside his pockets. “Not at all.”

Sasuke nodded, and turned his attention back to Naruto, his Sharingan receding. It was exhausting, having it activated so much. It was a wonder that Hatake-san didn’t faint more often--he used to, of course, back when they were Team 7, fresh out of the Academy. But when he became Wolf, fainting was unacceptable. And dangerous--not just to himself, but everyone else.

It had been weird, for the first time watching Hatake-san struggle. Actually train, working to build up his chakra reserves. At the time, the thought had been mortifying, the idea that someone powerful like him had to train too, spent sweat improving himself, day and night. Because that meant that his brother must also be training, getting stronger. It had seemed so unfair, that Itachi had six years of training ahead of him, because that was their age difference--but now...

Sasuke had long ago made his peace that he could always explode and drag Itachi with him.

Had almost made peace with the idea that he might not even kill his brother, if another mission killed him before he could. There would be no way to explain that to his clan, but they’d been in charge of keeping peace within Konoha for years, would understand that some missions--likely all of them--were more important than a shinobi’s personal agenda. If he died for Konoha, his family would understand. His parents would, even if Itachi continued breathing.

“I was a little younger than you when you joined.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. And then, he nodded. So for all the time that Hatake-san...Wolf and he spent together, this was foreign ground. “Right. A prodigy.”

“Right.” He nodded, leaning against the wall, his eye obviously on Naruto, but his attention, without a doubt, on Sasuke. “It was different back then. You know,” he chuckled under his breath. It echoed in the bedroom. “I was once asked to be the Yondaime’s wife’s bodyguard, too.”

Sasuke glanced at him. The mask covered his mouth, but he could tell there was a fond smile behind it. “That’s...nice.”

Wolf hummed. It had to be his imagination, but it sounded sad. Maybe melancholic, nostalgic. Not at all like him. “Anbu wasn’t always like this, you know.”

“Right.” Sasuke had no idea what like this meant, but who was he to argue with his superior reminiscing about the good, old days? He nodded. “I guess it wouldn’t be.”

Wolf patted his shoulder. Squeezed. The shock alone made Sasuke stay unmoving. “It became more...like this after your clan...passed.”

Sasuke was grateful for the porcelain mask covering his clenched jaw. “Passed?”

“Cut me some slack. I’m trying to be sensitive.”

“There’s no need.” There really was not. He couldn’t be sure, but maybe the last time Wolf tried to be sensitive, Sasuke was tied to a tree. It was out of character for him, and it was weird, and unsettling, and not at all what Sasuke would have expected when he realized that Wolf was hiding in Naruto’s bathroom.

Wolf’s hand fell from his shoulder. “You know--”

“Is this conversation going somewhere, Hatake-san?”

“Meh, Sasuke, it’s Kakashi.” He patted Sasuke’s shoulder. “I’m just trying to catch up with my favorite student.”

Calling him Kakashi was wrong, at least while Sasuke was like this. It had been...far too long since he’d been out of uniform, but if he ever was again, calling him Kakashi might be appropriate. He wouldn’t know. “I know you’re lying because we all know that I’m your least favorite student.”

“To be fair,” Hatake-san said. “You are all my least favorite students. I never wanted you guys, you know, but--”

“Again,” Sasuke said. The conversation was going into sentimentality too fast for his taste. Enough to object, as he technically had no right to deter any conversation a superior wanted to have, unless it was leading to classified information. “Is there a point to this conversation or are you just bored?”

Hatake-san patted his shoulder. It was light. “Forget it, but...Sasuke, watch your back. Take care.” He motioned to Naruto, “take care of him, too. And Sakura--she doesn’t need you to take care of her, but take care of her anyway.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t wrong: Sakura didn’t need him to take care of her and he would continue to take care of Naruto as long as it was required of him. But Hatake-san didn’t seem to be referencing the mission parameters. If Sasuke allowed himself the thought, it looked like the ‘take care’ actually meant ‘don’t die’. It was practical advice, though unwarranted, at the moment. He nodded. “Sure, Hatake-san. Whatever you need. But if we’re exchanging favors,” which they were not. “Do me a solid and stop drinking this late.”

“I’ll try.” Another squeeze. “See you later, Sasuke.”

In a second, Hatake-san was gone. No leaves to inconvenience him, just an empty space next to him, and silence.

-------------------------

“What?”

Sasuke’s breath hitched, but at least he wasn’t gaping with his mouth open like Naruto, or staring wide-eyed at Hokage-sama like Sakura, though he wished he was wearing his mask. He had just seen Hatake-san. Last night. Less than twenty-four hours ago.

Hokage-sama gripped the side of her desk. “Kakashi deflected, after attacking Anbu’s director.”

That couldn’t be it. Sasuke had been privy to the general displeasure that arose when Hatake-san submitted his resignation notice, directly to the Hokage, and Sasuke assumed that the icy attitude between Shimura-sama and Wolf would remain there until one of them died. But Hatake-san wouldn’t attack him. That was a betrayal equal to betraying Konoha, and Hatake-san would never do that.

“Kakashi-sensei?” Judging by Naruto’s destroyed voice, he also thought that Hatake-san wouldn’t leave the village.

It looked like Hokage-sama would need to replace her desk soon. “Yes.”

“But Tsunade-sama,” Sakura glanced at Naruto and Sasuke and then turned her attention back to the Hokage. “That doesn’t make sense. Kakashi-sensei loves--”

“Kakashi Hatake is a rogue shinobi. Anbu is currently looking for him, I’m only letting you know because he was, in one aspect or another...your...mentor, and if there is information you can offer up, now it’s the time.”

They all glanced at each other, shaking their heads at the same time. Withholding information from the Hokage was the kind of treason that Sasuke had been avoiding for years, and it made it difficult to breathe, but it’s not like Hatake-san detailed his plans to deflect last night. He only told him to watch out for Naruto, Sakura, and himself. Information that...the Hokage didn’t need. It wouldn’t help Anbu track down...Kakashi.

With a sigh, Hokage-sama dismissed them. Sasuke was the last to leave her office, expecting further instructions or questions, but nothing came. He was out of uniform, after the Hokage’s summon requested it so, but he followed Naruto back to his apartment, Sakura a few roofs ahead of him. At least Konoha’s reconstruction was coming along faster than it did after the Sound invasion.

Sakura made rice. Naruto made ramen. Sasuke’s uniform was by the door. The conversation with Kakashi from last night playing in his mind--it had been weird, but it sounded innocent enough. It was innocent enough--otherwise, he should have opened his mouth and replayed it back for Hokage-sama. He would have, if there had been something to indicate deflection. There was nothing like that, not last night. Last night, there was only...missing inconvenient leaves and the weird...tone of his voice, softer and perhaps, sadder, now that he thought about it.

After all, when was the last time that he told Sasuke to take care? To watch his back? Watch his back for what? From what? From who?

Nothing made sense.

And if it didn’t make sense, sharing the transpired conversation with Hokage-sama would have only added confusion to the situation. Unhelpful and unwarranted confusion.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Naruto said, setting three plates down. Sending a glare towards him.

Sasuke pulled the bowl closer to him. Picked up the chopsticks. He was out of uniform and he hadn’t eaten a meal, hot or cold, edible or not, in what felt like weeks. Months, perhaps. The ramen tasted good, was hot, and not too salty, though it was hard to tell if his opinion was biased.

“We all know that, right?” Naruto asked, looking at them like he was looking for a shared truth, or like he was gearing up to start an argument with either of them.

“Yeah.”

Sasuke nodded.

“So why?”

“If Tsunade-sama said it was true,” Sakura shrugged, helplessly. “It doesn’t make sense that she would be lying about it, but...maybe it’s a test.”

“For who?”

“For us,” Sakura said.

Naruto pushed his half-finished bowl away. “For us?”

Sasuke glanced at Sakura. “It makes sense.”

Certainly more sense than Kakashi deflecting. If it was a test, Kakashi was in on it, and that would explain why he told him to take care of all of them.

“Kakashi-sensei is always going on and on about not leaving any comrades behind,” Sakura said, setting her chopsticks down. “He wouldn’t leave Konoha behind...but...” she shrugged. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave him behind.”

“Hokage-sama playing along seems too much for a test, though,” Sasuke pointed out. Wasting Anbu squads looking for him was going too far for a test. Unless it’d been a lie and there was no one looking for Kakashi.

“Unless it was her idea.”

“Pretending Kakashi-sensei is a rogue shinobi is...stupid.” Naruto leaned back, “everyone has to know that we wouldn’t leave Kakashi-sensei behind. So what’s the test for?”

“Well, we remain the only broken team from our graduating class,” Sakura said. “We’re all investments to the village, like all other shinobi, but Konoha’s known for teamwork, and...I don’t know, maybe we haven’t shown our worth in that area. Would certainly explain why Tsunade-sama would tell us, no?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “So...we would go after Kakashi ourselves?”

Naruto nodded. “Seems risky.”

He spared a glance at Naruto, “all missions are risky. But this isn’t a mission.”

It might be a test. But the explanation was sketchy at best--if passing the test meant that Team 7 needed to deflect, too. That was stupid . Unless intelligence suggested another attack to kidnap Naruto and they needed him out of the village, and for some reason, needed to have Naruto cut himself off from the village.

There was a spike of chakra behind him. When he glanced back an Anbu was standing behind him, the brown cloak covering half his face.

“You’re summoned.”

Anbu were not supposed to show disdain, but Sasuke felt the disdain and judgement pouring off the Anbu like he was yelling his feeling at the top of his lungs. He gave a nod, watched him disappear, and...the Sharingan activated. Just to make sure that they were alone. They were. Biting back a sigh, he stood. Half of his bowl remained. Sakura grabbed his arm.

“Will you tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

“What they tell you.”

Sasuke still had a long way to go before he got used to Sakura talking to him like he was an idiot, impatient, annoyed. He shook his head, somehow managing to stop himself from huffing. “Of course not. Not if it’s classified.”

“You know,” Naruto cleared his throat. “If it has to do with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and I have the right to know. He’s....he’s Kakashi-sensei!”

“If it’s classified,” Sasuke said, slowly, so maybe they would understand. “It won’t be any of your business. And if you want to find out, then send an application into Anbu and see if they take you.”

He hoped Anbu wouldn’t take them. Neither Sakura nor Naruto had the temperament for it, and while temperament could be changed, he was proof of that, after all, a part of him, deep inside, hoped that theirs never changed. Not through Anbu, at least. It was a bad thought, of course, because there was nothing more than a shinobi could do for their village than join Anbu, but--but neither of Sakura or Naruto belonged to it. And they shouldn’t. He shot them one last glance, met by two glares, softer in intensity, but annoyed nonetheless, and then he grabbed his cloak, put on his mask, focused his mind as far away from Kakashi and their conversation last night, and left.

As it turned out, every Anbu within the village was summoned. They were in the largest room, a raised platform in the middle of it, one that Sasuke had only been in twice. He knelt behind Owl. They were to the left of the room, but with a clear view to the platform. Dog was next to Owl. Coyote in front of them. Wolf should have been besides Coyote, and Raven should have been next to Sasuke, but Wolf was gone, and Raven was dead.

The sound of a cane resonated throughout the room. Sasuke’s eyes remained fixed on the ground, as per protocol, but it was more difficult than he anticipated. Before Shimura-sama’s entrance the room was quiet, but now, it was dead. Word must travel faster than he anticipated.

“Today one of our own turned traitor,” Shimura-sama’s voice held no proof that he’d been in a fight with someone only hours ago. It was cold and deep, and commanding. “Kakashi Hatake, codename Wolf, Squad Ro--”

It couldn’t possibly be accurate, but it felt like a thousand eyes were staring at them. There was no way of knowing, but Sasuke knew that just like him, every other member of Ro recoiled.

“He broke into the archive room,” Shimura-sama continued. “Into my office, attempted to assassinate me, and then fled, like a coward, unworthy of Konoha’s symbol.” The cane was moving across the ground. Shimura-sama was moving across the room. Somehow, Sasuke knew that he was walking towards Ro. “Some of you might have known this traitor outside of Anbu. Some of you might have considered him your friend. Maybe you thought that he considered you his friend, too.”

Sasuke’s lungs stopped working when the cane stopped next to him. In his defense, he never considered Kakashi a friend . If he allowed a moment of private honesty, he wasn’t sure what he considered Kakashi. Not a friend, not quite a mentor, just someone who was there over the past few years. His teenage years, at least. Occasionally giving sound advice, but mostly being a pain in his ass.

“But I don’t have to remind you that there are no friends among traitors. Hatake waited until we suffered that attack before striking, a sound strategy from someone who held--holds--so many of our beloved village’s secrets. Hatake has been added to our Bingo book and will soon be added to our allies’ books. If you never had the displeasure of knowing Hatake, know that his elimination is of utmost importance to the village. Approach cautiously, but approach to eliminate.”

The cane continued on its path. Sasuke’s lungs filled with air easier. A bit easier.

“Anyone who had contact with that traitor within the past year will submit themselves to a psychological evaluation--”

More like an interrogation. It was wrong. It felt wrong, and Kakashi’s words kept replaying in his head, making it just as hard to concentrate, to focus on listening, just in case his original fears and suspicions were true and Shimura-sama could, in fact, really read people’s minds. Which wouldn’t be good for him. He just...had to listen to the words and shut his thoughts away. Shimura-sama probably couldn’t read minds. But--but he couldn’t risk it. Just...the words. Just Shimura-sama’s words, they were all that mattered.

“Anyone deemed guilty of aiding the traitor will be stripped of his post, rank, and chakra. Your captain will receive orders for evaluations by the end of today. Failure to comply or show will be grounds for disciplinary action. Dismissed.”

Sasuke waited until it was appropriate to disappear. About half of the room had disappeared. He wasn’t in cahoots with Kakashi, of course, but obviously, Ro would be the first to be interrogated. And he...he couldn’t have his chakra sealed. Not when Itachi was alive. He was mostly okay with dying in a mission and not killing Itachi, but not. Not whatever Shimura-sama was going to do to him. Of course, there was no reason to bind his chakra, he wasn’t helping Kakashi, but--

But he doubted that a fair trial was in his near future. Probably overdramatic, Shimura-sama might pick on him--he didn’t, not really, Sasuke was being paranoid. But even if he were Shimura-sama’s favorite punching bag, Shimura-sama wasn’t...he wouldn’t--but--still, a thorough interrogation would clearly show that he had a conversation with Kakashi, apparently a few hours, maybe one hour, before he turned rogue. Would clearly show that he withheld the information from the Hokage. Treason. Betrayal. He pushed Naruto’s door open. Sakura and Naruto were still there. Sakura’s hair was tied in a ponytail.

Sasuke pushed his mask off. “We need to find Kakashi.”

“What happened?”

The question seemed to come from both of them, but it didn’t matter. “We just--if you guys were serious, we need to leave.” Selfish of him, he knew that. They both stood up. Ran to the bedroom. Came back a second later, backpacks...packed. So, they had been ready. So, not too selfish. Still, he couldn’t tell them to turn traitor, too, just because he was scared of someone binding his chakra. It was stupid. It was selfish. But he couldn’t allow that to happen. “They’ll...label us as rogue, too.”

“Until we find Kakashi-sensei and prove that it’s a misunderstanding,” Naruto said.

It sounded optimistic and stupid, and when Sasuke glanced at Sakura, her expression told him that she thought the exact same thing, but maybe it was stupid optimism that they needed.

“How long do you think we have before someone notices we’re gone?” Sakura asked. Of course, it actually meant how long did they have to put distance between them and the village.

“Well,” Sasuke cleared his throat. “I’m supposed to have a psychological evaluation in...a day at most. Though if I were them, I would notice the Nine-tails host missing faster.”

Naruto chuckled. Unlike him. Rolled his eyes. Three other Naruto’s puffed into existence, before one changed into Sakura and the other into himself. They looked perfect, just like them, down to the shade of their hair. Down to the Anbu tattoo.

“Might buy us some time,” Naruto said.

His transformation skills had, without a doubt, improved. Maybe that’s what Jiraiya-sama spent so much time teaching him. “Are you both sure you’re packed?” He stared at Naruto. “With something more than ramen?”

“No, shit, asshole.”

“Just checking,” Sasuke replied. “They’ll leave through the front door. We’ll take the back.”

“That gets us out of the apartment, but not the village,” Sakura said.

“We’re flying out.”

Which was not the best way to go. Someone could spot them, fleeing on Garuda’s back. But it was the quickest way to do it. Sasuke was desperately short on time.

They stared at him for a moment, but then Naruto nodded. “And we’re finding Kakashi-sensei and bringing him back.”

“Right,” Sakura said. “But before we go...are we all agreeing that this is a test, or are we all okay with...deserting.”

She looked sick saying that. Just as sick as he felt. All those years trying to separate himself from his brother, only to end up exactly like him. He shook his head. “Does it matter?”

“We all know that Kakashi-sensei wouldn’t turn traitor.” Naruto cleared his throat. “We know that. We all know that. That’s all that matters. We need to find him, get an explanation. If it’s a test, we’ll pass. If it’s not a test, we’ll get answers. And...if it were to be real, for some wild reason that doesn’t exist, and Kakashi-sensei is a traitor, well...we should be the ones to bring him back, anyway.”

Sasuke was going to be in shit trouble. But letting someone bind his chakra because he had a touchy conversation with Kakashi was unacceptable. He couldn’t do that. In the back of his mind, the part that he crushed down years ago, it felt like it was an orchestrated situation so that Shimura-sama could bind his chakra. It was stupid. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t happening. But Kakashi better have answers because it would not be worth the trouble otherwise. With a sigh, he activated the Sharingan, stepped onto the balcony, and summoned Garuda.

------------------------

Naruto halted. Sakura and him stopped next to him. “They know. My clones just--”

Sasuke fell to his knees. Vaguely, he felt Sakura holding his shoulder, but his arm was burning--no, not the arm. It was the--he bit down on his lip, swallowing whatever sound his body wanted to scream, as he clawed at his sleeve. Someone took it off. Sakura. Naruto. Himself. No way to know. The black ink was spilling from the tattoo, scorching his skin, dripping towards his hand as it glowed red. Fuck . Fuck . No .

“ Run .”

But they were not. He heard their voices, far away, behind the haze of his mind. But they were there, not running, not getting out of range. He was going to--they were going to--

No. No. He couldn’t. He gripped his katana, bringing it down against his arm, sawing through it. Maybe they screamed. Maybe he did. Sakura was holding him. Naruto took his katana away, but the sawing continued. There were soft it’s okay mumbled into his ears, and green chakra covering the bloodied stump. The back of a clone faded away with his glowing arm, and the world faded.

He was moving through the trees. Not himself. Not like that. It was different, his feet never touching the ground, but his body moving, fleeing. He groaned. Stopped moving. The ground was beneath him, an abandoned road, no doubt, but his feet weren’t touching the ground.

“Sakura-chan, I think he’s waking up.” Naruto said, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

“Set him down.” Sakura. “We might as well camp for the night.”

Naruto did, rather gently, against a tree. Sasuke glanced down at his arm...or--or...it was covered in bandages. Clean, white, pristine. Like his shirt. It didn’t make sense, because there must have been blood, but there was no trace of it. There was nothing there, no blood, and only empty space where his arm was supposed to be, where he could feel where his arm was, but it wasn’t there, not anymore. What was he going to do? His arm was gone--just--no. No. It had been necessary. Better without an arm, than without their lives.

Plus, there needed to be karma for turning like Itachi, betraying Konoha. Losing arm was a small price to pay. Better than he deserved.

“How are you feeling?” Sakura sounded almost as professional as Raven used to sound.

“Fine.”

“It won’t be infected,” Sakura said. “And--”

“I know.” Sasuke cleared his throat. The legendary Sannin’s apprentice healed him. Even he would have been able to stop an infection and his medical knowledge was rudimentary at best. He swallowed, his throat dry, like he’d screamed himself hoarse. Maybe he had. He couldn’t remember anything, except the urgency of cutting the arm off, unless he wanted all of them to blow into pieces. “Thank you, Sakura.”

Sakura gave him a small nod and a worried, but understanding, smile. “I’ll go hunt for food. You two rest,” she said. She glanced at Naruto for a moment, possibly conveying something, but Sasuke couldn’t understand, and then she left, taking her kunai pouch, but leaving her backpack next to Naruto.

Sasuke would be lying if he said the promise of food was not a welcoming thought. Naruto sat next to him after a moment and twirled the grass around his fingers, like he was a toddler who couldn’t stand still. But Naruto had always been like that, hadn’t he? A little restless, always moving, or being annoying if he wasn’t.

“It was...” Naruto glanced at him. Sasuke kept his attention ahead. “It was a...bomb. Did you know that?”

Sasuke shook his head. Tired, wanting to conjure indignation and anger, but only managing tiredness. Perhaps, resignation. “You think if I had known that, I would have let someone put a bomb in me?”

He wouldn’t have. Not at thirteen, at least--maybe later, a few years into Anbu, months even. But if Hokage-sama had mentioned the bomb in her recruitment speech, Sasuke would have never accepted. Which would have been wrong of him, of course, but at least he would still have his arm. It was fine. It was whatever. It was done. He couldn’t do anything about it anymore.

“Of course not, but...” Naruto sighed. “Pervy Sage was teaching me...starting to..just...”

When was the last time Naruto was at a lost of words? Sasuke certainly had no memories of it during their Team 7 days--maybe once or twice, when Sasuke had hurled a particularly creative insult at him, and Naruto had to scramble for a retort.

“I mean, I just...” Naruto turned to face him. “That...it was looking like a cursed seal...besides the bomb, it looked like a..I don’t know, I think it was tracking you. I can’t be sure. Pervy Sage didn’t get far in his lessons, I guess,” he shook his head, maybe to clear his thoughts. “You didn’t know?”

Sasuke shook his head. “All Anbu have it, not the...cursed seal, I guess. Well,” he looked down at his--at the space where...he shook his head. “Kakashi was in your apartment, the night before he left. He told me that Anbu wasn’t like this until after my brother killed our clan. Maybe they started doing it after Itachi turned traitor. Couldn’t risk--”

“Does that mean Kakashi is dead?”

Maybe--although, no. He shook his head. “Kakashi had the tattoo before Itachi turned rogue. He never received a new one.” And even if he did, Kakashi would have done the exact same thing that Sasuke did: cut his arm off. But no--Sasuke hadn’t been told what it was and he couldn’t have been the only one, a secretive as Anbu members were, they still gossiped, and a rumor would have spread that new members had bombs sketched into their arms. Since no rumors existed, then it must be a new practice--as new as he joined. Kakashi wouldn’t have it. How would they explain tattooing Kakashi again? It wouldn’t have made sense. Kakashi’s arm was safe, then.

Awesome.

Good for him.

He glanced down, and quickly turned his attention to the decaying tree in front of him. There was moss growing on its side. How was he ever going to perform jutsus again? He was...there was...Taijutsu. It was fine. Besides, he always knew Itachi’s one weakness would be Taijutsu. It was fine.

“That...does Anbu really...make human bombs out of its members?”

Sasuke chuckled. His throat burned. “You know Kakashi’s scenario in the bell test?”

“The one where he sits on you?”

Sasuke was going to say the one that he made Sakura pick between them, but he was tired. He nodded. “That’s classic Anbu training. The hostage is meant to blow themselves up, but no one...ever mentioned that someone else could activate the seal. From a distance. That’s all.”

“How can they do that?”

“Well,” Sasuke shrugged. “If the Anbu turns traitor, Konoha is--”

“I get that,” Naruto mumbled. “I meant it more as a...from a humanistic sort of view, not a procedural one. I get that Konoha would be at risk and losing a lot, but...but that’s still a person blown.”

“A traitor deserves to die--”

“Do you deserve to die?”

Sasuke shrugged. “In the eyes of Konoha, yes.” He snorted. “Obviously. Though...I would think that they would want my body intact, to extract the Sharingan.” He tilted his head, “And they must have known I was with both you and Sakura...and I don’t imagine that they’d want you blown, either. Or Sakura for that matter.”

“We really need to find Kakashi-sensei, don’t we?”

Sasuke nodded.

“Sasuke?”

He closed his eyes. Hummed under his breath, the sound familiar and...not comforting, but familiar. Sasuke was in need of familiarity now, apparently--after--how much had he wanted to avoid turning just like Itachi? And here he was. Either a traitor or dead in Konoha’s eyes.

“How are you going to...” Naruto cleared his throat. “Hand signs?”

Sasuke opened his eyes, turning to face him. Naruto looked terrified, gnawing at his lower lip. He looked worried and scared and apprehensive, and hundreds of more emotions that he had neither a right nor a need to feel. But pretending not to notice those emotions was better than acknowledging them. “I can use my katana,” he said. “And Taijutsu.”

“I’m...sorry.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “For what? It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, but I still am.” Naruto stared up at the sky. And then turned to him. “I guess now that I’ll beat you with my eyes close...it doesn’t really count as a victory, does it? I mean--”

“Keep dreaming,” Sasuke said. Surprising and...familiar. It was stupid. He took a breath, “I can still kick your ass, anyday, anytime.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You want to try?”

Apparently, he did. Not a fight, not even a spar. More of a...half wrestling, half kicking, half slapping. It ended as a draw. Mostly because Sasuke registered Sakura’s chakra...and if Raven’s admiration for her was any indication, she wouldn’t be amused to find them wrestling on the ground.

She came into view fifteen seconds later. “Rabbits,” she said. Three of them, apparently. She dropped them by their feet.

Naruto stood up. His pants were dirty, and his hair tussled, but his shoulders were relaxed, and he had a grin on his face that was unwarranted, considering their abysmal situation. Sasuke let it go because despite losing an arm, he felt...not terrible, either. Maybe the appropriate response to losing his arm and his competency, his jutsus, his chance of killing Itachi, was delayed. Maybe it would come later. He didn’t want to be there for it, to be honest. Taijutsu. If Lee could be a shinobi without chakra then...he could be a shinobi without jutsus. Possibly. Lee trained a lot. Insane. But--but he would do it, too, of course, because there was no other option.

He couldn’t die. And he couldn’t let Naruto or Sakura die, either. He couldn’t let anyone else die, in fact.

“I’ll go set traps,” Naruto said. “I don’t mean to brag,” his grin widened. “But my traps are unparalleled.”

At seven, his traps were memorable. Sasuke believed him, watched him go. Then turned his attention to the rabbits. Back when they were Genin, he would make the campfire, but now--it was stupid. He could make fire when he was seven and now, at nineteen, it was--

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura’s voice was soft, but sure. He looked up at her, a faint smile on her face and her eyes hard. “The Fourth could make one hand seals. You’ll be able to do the same.”

Sasuke snorted. “Sakura, the Fourth was the Fourth .” He was a legend, a shinobi with flee on sight orders , the hero of Konoha, the one who managed to seal the most powerful demon in Naruto. He was a legend . And Sasuke was just a...traitor.

“So? The Fourth wasn’t born the Fourth, and you’re Sasuke Uchiha, the last of the Uchiha clan. If anyone can learn to do it, it’s you.”

Sasuke stared. Sasuke Uchiha? It was stupid, he...of course, he knew his name as a fact. He knew his last name, he knew his clan history, he knew what Itachi did to his family. But--well, it had been a long time since someone said his name like that. Like it was something important. But it wasn’t--not really. His clan was a tragedy, but he was just someone with the shared name. His accomplishments were minimal and unworthy of the Uchiha name--Anbu saved him the trouble and embarrassment because of the required anonymity, but now... now, without Anbu, he was just a Genin who’d failed the Chunin Exams twice.

If his clan was around, they would have disowned him.

Sakura shoved him. The shock sent him to the ground. Not because it was hard, but because Sakura had never shoved him. “I’m serious,” she spitted out. “Look, it’ll take us a while to find Kakashi-sensei and we’re on the run, so we’ll...have to run, of course,” she said. “But if I learned to destroy the ground with a fist, then you can learn jutsus with one hand. Plus,” she broke the wooden stick with which she was attempting to create a fire. “There’s Genjutsu and Taijutsu. Not that it matters, of course.” Another stick broken--it was more of a branch than a stick. “Hand signs are just meant to help you focus your chakra anyway. That just means that you need to concentrate twice as much now.”

Sasuke was sure that Sakura was an intelligent woman and he knew that she knew it wasn’t that simple, but she had a slight...crazy look in her eyes and the branch looked more like a small tree, tweaked in half by her hands, and who would be stupid enough to argue with that?

--------------------

When Sasuke joined Anbu, he slowly, but surely lost any mentor he ever had--not that he had many, really, but in Anbu there was minimal need for mentors and maximum need for...learning out in the field. With experience. An excellent and sound-proof way to become efficient at the job because failure to learn more often than not meant death. The most mentoring he got was through Wolf’s pointers through their comms, telling him to move faster, stop hesitating, or Coyote’s comments on weaving his chakra quicker, or Dog’s suggestions to soothe the enemy before attempting to place them over Genjutsu, or Shimura-sama’s orders to stop thinking it was a choice between the enemy and him, and accepting the fact that it was a choice between Konoha’s survival or demise. No one’s life was worth more than Konoha’s survival. Not an enemy’s life and not an Anbu’s life. Not innocent lives caught in between buried wars and not the perpetrators of crimes.

But evidently, Sakura and Naruto were mentored over the past six years, and obviously, they picked up a few tricks. Sasuke wouldn’t call them tricks, of course, he would call them...he wasn’t sure. But Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama obviously provided...some sort of--

“You’re not concentrating.”

Sasuke opened his eyes. “I am.”

“Your arm is shaking,” Sakura said. “You won’t be able to feel your chakra with your body moving uncontrollably.”

Sasuke swallowed back his indignation. His body wasn’t shaking uncontrollably . Thank you very much.

“And your shoulders are too tensed.”

Sasuke stared, baffled at her growth over the years, or her ability to suppress her true self in front of him at twelve because of an infatuation. “You know, Sakura, if you ever decide to not work in the hospital, please don’t hesitate to not consider becoming a Jounin instructor.”

“Hilarious, but I’m not a Jounin,” Sakura crossed her arms. “I’m trying to help you and I made a promise.”

“A promise?”

“Yes. That I was going to get you to use one hand signs.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “You never promised that.”

Naruto sat up. “You were asleep, after the rabbit, and it was more of a bet, really. And Sakura-chan, your time’s up.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he watched Naruto stretch his arms, roll his shoulders back. “You two bet each other on who would get me to use jutsu with--”

“Yes, but you weren’t supposed to know,” Sakura glared at Naruto. “Because maybe you would decide to pick someone and not cooperate with the other one and that would be unfair.”

“Though to be honest,” Naruto said. A clone appeared next to him. “We thought you would be more resistant to our help. The famous Uchiha pride and all that.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Uchiha pride? Of course the Uchiha were great, but he was not. It was stupid to take credit for other’s successes. Plus--he shook his head. “Right. Well, I did spent six years with Kakashi--”

“Weren’t you in Anbu?”

Sasuke did his best to wordlessly convey to Naruto how stupid he thought he was for making that comment and failing to connect the dots. Sakura was clearly biting back a smile. “Yeah. He was too.”

“ Oh .”

Sasuke stood up. It was his imagination, but he felt unbalanced, like his weight was tilting to the right, with his remaining arm. “It would have been impossible to be with Kakashi for six years and not understand the importance of being a team member.” He bit back a sigh. He would be dead if he hadn’t been a team member.

“Thought Anbu was...less friendly.”

Sasuke shrugged. “We’re in squads of six.” And now they were three. And they had never been known for their teamwork and they hadn’t worked with each other in years. They were as good as dead. Sasuke stared at them, but...it couldn’t be helped. He knew that without Coyote, Wolf, Dog, Owl, and Raven he would have died about five years ago. “We need to work on our teamwork. We won’t survive otherwise.”

Maybe losing his arm had been good--force him to re-evaluate his skills to complement Sakura’s and Naruto’s skills better.

“Our teamwork is...” Naruto stopped his sentence, obviously realizing that Sasuke was right.

“You are terrible at teamwork,” Sasuke said, tampering his tone as best as he could. It was a legitimate criticism, not a judgement. He was in no position to pass judgement. In fact, if anyone was qualified to be in the position of leadership, it would be Sakura, having apprenticed for years with the Hokage. “You fight with shadow clones and while they provide a good distraction, they all have your fighting style--”

“Excuse you--”

“And Sakura,” he said. “I haven’t seen you train, but destroying the ground must be as inconvenient to the enemy as your teammates. And I’m out of commission, obviously,” he glared down at his arm. “But even if I wasn’t, my fighting is not meant to last long, not as your fights are meant to be Naruto, and--”

“Maybe we should go back to your lack of jutsus--”

“We can,” Sasuke said. He was no stranger to criticism. Or judgement. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to improve our teamwork.”

“Did you just say that we could go back to criticising you? And work on our teamwork?”

Sasuke shrugged. Maybe Anbu had just made him comfortable with the reality that he was never going to be strong and he was wildly incompetent, and that he needed other people to be strong. There was nothing wrong with that, and if he had a way to travel back to time, he would tell himself that. He glanced down at...well, without having the option of blowing himself to kill Itachi, he didn’t have legitimate options anymore. But that didn’t matter right now. They did need to work on their teamwork, especially if news that they hadn’t died reached Konoha, and teams of killing machines hunted them down.

If Anbu squads came after them, they wouldn’t stand a chance, alone or together. Even Naruto tapping into the nine’s chakra was time-consuming. Sasuke knew that it was enough time for a skilled Anbu to slit his throat, incapacitate him, drug him, or--he shook his head.

“And we have to improve your Genjutsu,” he blurted out. It looked like Naruto and Sakura had been talking, but they really needed to do that and they could pause their conversation for a second to listen. “It’s awful. Forget Anbu hunting us down. If Itachi is hunting you down, he’s only going to look at you, and he’ll be able to take you. It’s a wonder why he wasn’t the one who came for you.”

As much as it was a wonder that Itachi didn’t take Naruto, when he obviously could have, because Sasuke hadn’t had a fighting chance against him, and Naruto was passed out, on the ground.

Sakura sat down. Pulled both him and Naruto down, Naruto to her right, Sasuke to her left. Her hold was strong. “If we’re going to stay a team,” she said. “Then I guess the place to start is to consider why they put us in the same team in the first place--”

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto whined. “It was because I was the worst in class and you two were the best. Iruka-sensei said so.”

Sakura shook her head. “Not a good enough reason. Just look at Team 8, for example, all of them together were obviously for tracking. Infiltration, even. Team 10? They come from a legacy of teams, cohesive and complementary to each other. Like I said, we’re investments to Konoha. They had to have better reasons for putting us together--”

“But Team 8 and Team 10 are still together,” Sasuke said. “When they put us together, they might have expected us to stay together, but we...didn’t.” His fault, he knew. “And that bell test,” he shook his head. A scam, he realized. Hokage-sama obviously knew Sakura’s abilities, Jiraiya-sama knew Naruto’s. Could have easily shared that knowledge. And Team Ro spent the entire time beating him up in a necessary, but brutal, training session. It had just been a way to provoke Naruto, to see what the nine tails could do, what Ro could do against it. Not that it mattered, in the end. Even without the Sharingan looking for Dog’s Genjutsu, Sasuke knew that Ro wasn’t near. All three of them were probably in prison. One traitor in a squad was bad enough, but two? The rest of Ro would have been imprisoned by association. Nothing he could feel bad about at the moment. “So it doesn’t matter why they put us together.”

“But it’s a place to start,” Sakura said.

Sasuke shook his head. “I only speak for myself, but I assure you that my fighting style is nothing like it was when they put Team 7 together.” Now, it was hardly a fighting style. Fighting was dangerous, unnecessary, and stupid when the only goal was to murder.

“Fine,” Naruto said. “So it doesn’t matter why they put us together. They did, and now we’re here. We can decide what makes us a team.”

They stared at each other. A few minutes passed before Sakura sighed. “I know poisons and punch hard--”

Understatement of the century.

”--but I’ve mostly been in the hospital.”

“Most of my training with Pervy Sage was to control Kurama’s chakra. Some Fuinjutsu.”

Sasuke bit back a sigh. So incompatible. “I can use a katana and...a bit of Genjutsu, but I’m not very good at it.”

“I refuse to believe you’re not good at Genjutsu,” Sakura said, a frown on her face--not an angry frown, just...a frown.

“I am,” Sasuke said. He was. Wolf was kilometers better than he was. Dog was, too. “But...” he turned his attention to Naruto. “I did spent,” he chuckled under his breath. “Most of my...free time trying to improve the Sharingan to...suppress the Nine-Tails, if the need ever rose.”

“What?”

Sasuke shrugged. “I don’t know...there was intelligence after the original attack, about the Sharingan controlling it.”

“With the Sharingan?” Sakura asked.

He nodded.

“Then...” Sakura paused, pursing her lips. “Well, your Sharingan works without your arm. So we have that.”

“No, we don’t.” He turned to Naruto. “When I tracked you down, after Akatsuki’s attack, I couldn’t suppress him...Itachi did.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. “Itachi? Your brother?”

Sasuke nodded.

“He was there?”

He nodded, again.

“And he didn’t take Naruto?”

Sasuke shook his head.

“Why not?”

He shrugged. Why did Itachi do anything? He kind of assumed it was to show off, to show him how much better he still was, being able to suppress the Nine-Tails when he couldn’t, even after spending years working to do it. “I--”

“It doesn’t matter,” Naruto’s jaw was clenched, his fists tightened. “He didn’t and we’re here.”

“I guess...” but Sakura was clearly thinking about something. “Well,” she cleared her throat. “I guess that...Naruto, you’ll be our offense. Sasuke-kun, we’ll get your jutsus, but even without them, you’re the one most used to working with others. I’m guessing that means that you know how to provide support the best. If Naruto loses control, your Sharingan will give you a better chance at dodging and keeping up than I could ever have. As the one with the least chakra, I’ll go first. Naruto will cover me. You’ll cover both of us.”

Sasuke shook his head. “As our medic shinobi,” he began. He might not have been in charge of strategizing Team Ro’s strengths and weaknesses, but he had innate understanding of the importance for keeping the medic safe. They should have kept Raven safe. “You can’t engage first. Naruto might heal on his own, but I can’t. You can’t engage in a fight first.”

After a moment, Sakura nodded. Slowly, but at least she was agreeing, though she was clearly not happy about it. He didn’t know why, though--he was sure that knowing they were the last to engage in a fight was part of any medical shinobi’s education. Sakura was a respected medical shinobi, so what was she doing forgetting such a vital lesson that even he knew about it?

“And,” Sasuke turned to Naruto. “You can send out clones to scout our parameters. They’ll dispel if they see either Kakashi or Akatsuki members.”

At least the idiots self-identified with those ridiculous cloaks.

“Or anyone suspicious that looks like they are following us,” Sakura finished.

Naruto nodded, not wasting any time, as thousands of Naruto’s appeared next to the original one. Seconds later, they were morphing into all kinds of people--Naruto clearly having a lot of imagination. Sasuke watched them disappear into the trees.

“Kakashi-sensei is probably not traveling like himself, though.”

Sasuke shook his head. “He won’t be. But he’ll be paying attention too. If he recognizes a clone, he might come to us, then.”

“You think?”

He hoped . “At least to tell us how stupid we were to defect. Or maybe to congratulate us for our teamwork.”

---------------------

Naruto was gone, setting traps. Sakura was wrapping a bandage around his hand--as far as jutsus went, he was failing miserably, as expected, but with Naruto’s help, he was slowly managing to conjure lightning without hand signs, considerable inspiration for that idea coming from the Rasengan.

But years ago, Genmai-sempai pointed out that he shouldn’t try to puncture someone’s chest with just his hand. Too close for a counterattack. Too stupid. So he was working on getting his katana chidori back first.

Without much luck. Or--or some luck, but not much control. Hence the burnt hand.

“Thank you.”

Sakura smiled, letting his hand go. “Don’t mention it. It’s my job, after all.”

“I still appreciate it.”

Sakura looked at him, just like she had been looking at him for a week or so. “Sasuke-kun?” She looked away. “Working in Anbu...did you like it?”

The instinctive yes was bubbling up, but--but he had never consider the question like that. It had always been about been proud of being in Anbu, been grateful that he could serve Konoha, could make up for some of the tarnished reputation Itachi left in the organization, about been allowed to serve Konoha, despite his own transgressions, his own willingness to consider deflection. But Sakura’s question was...new.

“It was...my job.”

“I had a job too,” Sakura’s voice was barely above a whisper. “And I liked it, loved it, in fact. Did you?”

“It was...just a job, Sakura. Hokage-sama asked me to join and...” he glanced away. “Originally, it was to have more opportunities to kill my brother, but it was so much more important than--”

“But if you were back there, and you were asked to join again, would you?”

Sasuke stretched out his leg. Selfishly, no. Especially now that his arm was gone. But--it was wrong. He couldn’t think like that, couldn’t be like that. Actions obviously had consequences. Cutting his arm off was...just a disciplinary action. A lesser one than what Shimura-sama would have done, if Sasuke hadn’t fled. He bit back a sigh. “How could I not? It would be selfish, refusing that request from Hokage-sama, shameful. Like you said, we’re investments to Konoha, I would have joined because it would have been my duty, if Hokage-sama said it was.”

“I...I don’t think I would have, even if she asked.”

“She wouldn’t have.”

“Why not?”

Sasuke shrugged. “You’re not for Anbu. Not because you’re a medic, or incompetent--which you’re not, obviously. But...even the medics in Anbu were unlike you.”

“What was your team’s medic like?”

“Dead.”

Sakura paused for a moment. “And before that?”

“Efficient,” he said. Raven was efficient and focused, and cold and professional, just like the rest of them. “She was good at her job.”

“If she was in Anbu, she must have been,” Sakura pushed her hair back. “And Kakashi-sensei? I know you say it’s classified, but...I’m just trying to understand.”

It hardly mattered that it was classified. They were traitors. Hopefully, Konoha thought them dead, but if they didn’t, they soon might be. He sighed. “Kakashi was...not himself. I didn’t realize it was Kakashi until...later. He was...punctual.”

Sakura snorted. “Punctual?”

“Believe it or not. He screamed at me once for being a minute late.” Understandable, of course, because a minute late could be the difference between a failed and successful mission, especially that one, when they almost did lose their charge to mercenaries. Because of him.

“And you?”

“Me?”

Sakura shrugged.

“I don’t know,” Sasuke said. Sighed, he continued. “Don’t tell Naruto,” he shook his head. “Actually, you can tell him.” Honesty was a requirement for good teamwork, and they needed impeccable teamwork if they were to survive. “It’s fine. But...I was rather incompetent, Ro’s weak link. I was in trouble each time we returned from missions. They always told me that I second guessed too much.”

“Second guessed what?”

Sasuke shrugged. “The missions. It was wrong, of course, certainly not my place, and I tried not to, but I still would.” Just like Itachi. “Mostly at the beginning. I stopped after a while. For the most part.” He had been doing so good, until...until now.

“Why?”

“Like I said, wasn’t my place to question,” he shrugged, standing up. That was too much talking for the day. It was stupid, but for some wild reason--selfishly, he didn’t want Sakura to know exactly how stupid he’d been, how close he had always been to betraying Konoha. Like his brother. “I’m going to run through speed drills. Do you want to join?”

Sakura stood up. “I actually need to scavenge for some herbs. Be careful.”

“You too.”

-----------------------

Naruto’s clone poofed in front of him. Sasuke dodged. His katana clashed against a kunai. Someone tackled him from the side. His elbow skidded across the ground, as he stared back at an Anbu mask. He kicked back, rolling on his shoulder, the Sharingan capturing three more clones leaping against the Anbu, giving him enough time to glance back. Sakura and the real Naruto were fighting with two other Anbus, who were clearly only distracting them.

“Coyote never taught you to keep your eyes on the enemy?”

Sasuke leapt back. Dodged a katana slicing the air, aiming for his throat. Sakura and Naruto were fine, he knew that, but it was hard to pay attention to the four Anbu pressing him back, decidedly away from Naruto and Sakura, when his attention was on Sakura and Naruto. Clumsy, more stepping on each other’s--his katana crashed against another one. He dodged, leapt back. Stepping on each other’s toes more than on the Anbus’.

No trust exercises, but--

He jumped over one, defecting two other kunai. Two Anbu were there when he landed, but the Sharingan was faster. He fell to his knees, driving his katana through one of their legs. Jumped back to avoid the counterattack.

But training with blindfolds might help them. Ha. If they made it out of here alive. Though, they would. With the spared peaks he threw in their direction, it was quite evident that the Anbu were distracting them...preventing serious injuries to them, while avoiding their attacks. A layer of chakra was weaving itself through the surroundings and if he could just pause to think, he might have time to worry about the impending Genjutsu, but there was no time for that, only to dodge, move his body when the Sharingan told him, to prevent the blows.

At least he was finally understanding how Ro’s targets felt, with six synchronized shinobi aiming for vital organs.

He rolled on the back of a clone, watching him poof a second later with a katana through his back. Another clone pulled him back, stepping over him, disappearing with another katana through his chest. He leapt back--though he shouldn’t be, they were separating him from Sakura and Naruto, preferably to kill him out his sight, but maybe to kill them away from his sight, which was something that he simply couldn’t allow. They couldn’t die. He couldn’t die. But they might, if--

One of the Anbu halted in front of him, frozen on the spot. Sasuke drove his katana through his throat, kicking the body back. Poision? Sakura couldn’t have aimed that far, that good, not when she was dodging and throwing punches at the same time.

“Down.”

Sasuke dropped, as the sound of chirping birds cracked the air. Sasuke ran to cover Kakashi, his hair flying wildly with the wind, his forehead protector nowhere in sight, as he pulled his bloodied hand out of a hollowed chest.

“Left.”

Sasuke moved. It was awkward, gripping the katana with his right hand and covering Kakashi’s left, but it couldn’t be helped, as Kakashi’s chidori was on his right. Whatever. The clones helped. And the fact that the Anbu were avoiding Ninjutsu. For a wild reason and--Sasuke’s Sharingan spun, freezing the Anbu in front of them. His hands went to the release hand sign, but the chidori was through his chest quicker.

“Keep one alive.”

A fifth chidori came to life.

Another body dropped.

Sasuke had never seen Kakashi so pissed, had never quite felt the urgency and anger pouring from his chakra like that. The Anbu in front of Sakura dropped to its knees, his hands running through that--Kakashi cussed, one last chidori running the man down.

“Thought you wanted to keep--”

Kakashi shushed him. And fell down.

Sakura’s hand hovered over him as the rest of the clones disappeared. It might have been his imagination, but Naruto’s eyes lost the faint orange shade.

“He’s not injured,” Sakura said. “Just chakra exhaustion.”

Sasuke snorted. After six chidoris, Kakashi would be out for a few hours, half a day, even. But maybe with Sakura replenishing some of that chakra, he would be awake in no time. Who knew? He certainly didn’t. How long had Kakashi been there? It didn’t matter, of course. But--he shook his head, turning his attention to the six bodies on pools of their blood. He took the mask off the closest one, the one who tried to blow them up. Bloodied lips, blue, dead eyes staring back at him. He shielded his katana, walking to another one. Pulling him closer to them. Collecting them, one by one. When Kakashi woke up, he’d want to inspect them, before setting them on fire.

Might as well move them closer to each other.

“You don’t look surprised,” Naruto said, walking next to him.

Sasuke shrugged. Naruto sounded surprised for both of them, his voice getting a bit pitchy at the end of the sentence. “For what?”

“What do you mean for what? Kakashi-sensei just showed up, saved our asses. We don’t have to look for him anymore, he’s right here.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m grateful.” And worried--Kakashi had just run down six Anbu, Konoha shinobi--when they went back, self-defense wouldn’t be a great defense.

“Sorry we couldn’t help you more,” Naruto mumbled. “Sakura-chan was worried that destroying the ground would mess your footing and...she said maybe I should not--”

“Your clones helped plenty,” Sasuke replied. About two hundred clones took hits for him. He’d be dead without them. “And you don’t have to apologize. It’s fine.”

“They were going to kill you.”

Sasuke shrugged. “Of course they were. It must have been their mission.”

“They weren’t trying to kill Sakura-chan or me, though.”

“You’re one of the most important resources that Konoha has, Naruto,” Sasuke said, not wanting to use the word resource , per se, but not having energy to find another word. “And Sakura was the Hokage’s apprentice--”

“But you were in Anbu and--”

“I think that makes it worse.” Sasuke was sure that Tsunade-sama was more forgiving to Sakura’s transgression than Shimura-sama would ever be to his. Or Kakashi’s. “Maybe I have more state secrets in my head than Sakura does.”

Naruto helped with the last body. Sasuke wished he hadn’t. It was stupid, but--but it felt wrong. Wrong for Sakura and Naruto. “Maybe.” It sounded sad. Though why would he be sad? They were attacked and none of them were hurt badly. “Anyway, you and Kakashi-sensei make a good team.”

Sasuke glanced back. Sakura’s hands still glowed green over his chest, but her face showed no sign of distress, showed no evidence that Kakashi would die. “Yeah...thanks.”

“Now I get why you said that my teamwork sucks.”

Sasuke would tell him that he shouldn’t beat himself over it too much, but in reality, he absolutely should. They needed to sit down and think about future strategies more frequently and they needed to practice. There was no two-ways about it. Though, now with Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto might want to go back to the village. But he couldn’t. He deflected and he knew how bad that looked for him, knew that half the people in Konoha’s leadership expected him to deflect years ago, and would only use this as proof of his untrustworthiness. They would strip him off everything, chakra and Sharingan included. He couldn’t go back. Did that mean he had to leave all of them, too?

Even Kakashi might be forgiven easier, with years of reputation and loyal service. And the luck of not being related to Itachi Uchiha.

“Sasuke?”

He hummed, focusing on Naruto. He had a frown plastered on his face. “What?”

“Do you need Sakura to check you out? Are you okay?”

“Fine.” He tilted his head, considering for a moment. “I guess asking if Sakura needs to look you over would be a waste of breath, wouldn’t it?”

The frown turned into a grin, “guess having a demon trapped inside my belly has some benefits, uh?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, before nodding in the direction of Sakura and Kakashi. “Maybe you should send some clones to scout the parameter. Set some traps? I’ll look for food.”

A second later, thirty clones stared back at him. “I’ll look for food. You stay with them.” All thirty of them were loud, cheerier than they had a right to be, after the day they had.

Sasuke nodded, shrugging lightly. The Narutos fanned out, and he headed back to Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi looked lighter than before, as if the sun hadn’t graced his skin for weeks, since he deserted Konoha. The brown cloak was tattered, but holding. Sasuke went to his backpack, pulling out the canteen. He’ll look for water later. It was fine, it wasn’t like they were trekking through the desert. He poured some water on a cloth, took Kakashi’s glove off, and began scrubbing his hand. There was blood under the fingernails, seeping into the skin, just as much as there was on the glove.

“What are you doing?”

“Cleaning,” he looked up, meeting Sakura’s puzzled expression, before turning back to look at the hand. “He has a thing about blood on his chidori glove...hand. Says it’s bad luck.”

Arguably, blood on his glove and his hand would mean good luck, considering that it wasn’t his blood and it always meant that he hadn’t died, but after asking one night, Wolf promptly ignored him for weeks. So, Sasuke never asked again.

“Why?”

Sasuke sighed, “who knows? But...I think a lot of Anbu are like that. Have funny quirks.”

“Do you?”

“If you must know, I don’t like bright lights.”

“Why?”

He cleared his throat. Pressed the cloth down more forcefully. “During patrols around Konoha, a bright light means bad news.” It hadn’t been such a problem originally--and it was hardly a problem now. His heart beat a bit faster, his Sharingan spun out of a control for a second or two. Nothing that would warrant dismissal, of course, but still noticeable enough to be both inconvenient and shameful. It was stupid, too, considering that the problem arose months after his last patrol.

“I can’t stand the smell of fish now,” Sakura said, softly. When Sasuke looked up, there was a blush on her cheeks. “It was the first animal that I tried to heal. My hands smelled of fish for a year and I couldn’t get the smell out because I couldn’t heal them.”

“Whole year?”

Sakura nodded, the green chakra receding. She placed her hands on her lap, her shoulders tensed. “Tsunade-sama said it was a mental block rather than a physical one...to be honest,” she took a deep breath. “I’m not sure if it was, but...it only started working after I began training with Guy-sensei and Lee.”

Uh. Had she worn that atrocious green jumpsuit too? Probably not. Sakura was more fashionable. “You trained with them?”

“When I could manage. A training session with them would wipe me out for a good five days, but it helped my mind be more....focused.”

“I’m sure.” He certainly felt more focused after spending time with them, too.

Sasuke squeezed the cloth over Kakashi’s face, it was awkward, with one hand, but he managed. Evidently, Sakura was done healing him. And Sasuke wasn’t Kakashi’s superior by any means, and was more or less expecting some disapproval or some comments about his stupidity, but Sakura and Naruto at least deserved an explanation, and Sasuke was there already, so he might as well listen in on the conversation.

“Physical exhaustion tends to--”

Sasuke was pressed against the ground, his hand twisted on his back.

“Kakashi-sensei!”

“Oh, sorry, Sasuke-kun. Force of habit,” Kakashi’s voice was far lazier than it had any right to be.

The grip on his wrist loosened. Sasuke pushed himself off the ground, swallowing back a groan. There might not have been deadly injuries from the fight earlier, but his body was sore, and it was not a nice thing to do--though he understood the reflex. More than once, Sasuke had kicked Owl and Dog in the stomach, after waking up. Kakashi stood up. Swaying on his feet, probably remaining upright from pure stubbornness. The fucking idiot. But Sasuke understood that sentiment, too. Sometimes, stubbornness was the only thing keeping a person alive.

“Hi, Sakura, fancy seeing you here,” Kakashi said, smile lines forming around his eyes. “Is Naruto here, too?”

“He went to scout.” Not being able to rub his wrist with his other hand was...not a problem he thought he would have, but a persistent problem at the moment. It didn’t hurt , but he’d like to rub his wrist still, but he couldn’t because his arm was sliced off to stop them from blowing up, just because Kakashi had decided to--

“Ah,” Kakashi said, looking around. “How are you going to fix that?”

It took a minute to realize that Kakashi was talking to him, talking about his arm more specifically. “Oh, I was just thinking I would grow another one, just like everyone else does. It’s a new jutsu that Hokage-sama invented right after you turned rogue, there’s quite a lot that you’ve missed in the last--”

“ Sasuke .”

Sasuke stood up, biting back his words, giving their backs to them, not because of his attitude, mostly because he wanted to spare Sakura the trouble of seeing them fight--which would be inappropriate, of course, he knew that, and whatever fight would morph into a scolding. But--if he had two arms, he would have crossed them, but he only had one arm, and it hung awkwardly, not quite portraying the emotion that he was going for right now, and it was all Kakashi’s fault.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said, sounding like she had when she was twelve and desperately trying to diffuse a situation, except that back then, she would be trying to diffuse a situation between Naruto and him. “How did you find us?”

“I didn’t, Pakkun did. Good thing he did, too.”

Sasuke snorted, turning around. “Oh, please, I’d like to see you try to fight with one arm.”

“Why? Are you trying to learn to do it correctly?”

Sakura was there. He could not start a fight with Kakashi, not only because he was going to get his ass handed to him, chakra exhaustion or not, but because Sakura always ended up in between his fights, and that was unfair. He shook his head. Sakura chuckled, awkwardly, under her breath. The silence dragged on.

“So, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura was apparently as uncomfortable with silence as Naruto was. “How did Pakkun find us?”

“Guess you guys have a peculiar smell,” Kakashi replied, his eye fixed on him. “What...uh,” he cleared his throat, clearly pondering something. “Made you guys decide to leave Konoha?”

“What do you think?” Sasuke huffed. “Hokage-sama told us you turned traitor and--”

“And we thought that it was a misunderstanding and we should find you, to bring you back home,” Sakura finished his sentence.

Or tried to. Sasuke was actually going to say that Shimura-sama was about to seal his chakra and he needed to leave too, but Sakura’s explanation sounded sweeter and less...selfish. He bit back a sigh. “Why did you leave?”

“Tsunade-sama told you I turned traitor?”

“She did, but Kakashi-sensei, we all know that’s not true. You love Konoha and you wouldn’t betray it, ever. We know that. Plus, you’re always talking about how important loyalty is and how important your comrades are. We couldn’t leave you behind.”

Kakashi cleared his throat. “Tsunade-sama, the Hokage, told all three of you that I turned traitor, and your first reaction was to defect to look for me?”

Sakura and Sasuke nodded at the same time.

“I don’t think anyone has done something so incredibly sweet and stupid for me.” Kakashi sat down, crossing his legs. Sakura scooted closer to him and Sasuke, well, he wanted answers, and if Kakashi wanted to sit down on the ground and tell them a story, then he would sit there, too. “But...maybe I did turned traitor. Did you guys think about that?”

“You would slice your throat before betraying Konoha.”

Wouldn’t he? He had just murdered fellow Konoha shinobi, after all. Sasuke bit back a sigh, the truth was that he didn’t know what to think about the situation. Maybe he didn’t want to think about it.

“Kakashi-sensei, if you were a traitor, why would you save us?”

Kakashi stayed quiet for what felt like hours. “I didn’t turn traitor.” He sighed, “Tsunade-sama said some stuff that required me to do certain stuff--”

“A mission?” Sasuke cleared his throat. “Why would Hokage-sama lie to us then?”

“I imagine in case that someone poked around in your head,” Kakashi replied. He sent him a look and Sasuke understood it to mean shut up and Shimura-sama would poke around in your head . Which was true. “I don’t think she expected you three to deflect, however.”

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. “We thought it was a test for us.”

“What...kind of test?” Kakashi was so nice to Sakura. If Sasuke had said that, he would have called him an idiot.

“You know, like a teamwork test,” Sakura shrugged.

Kakashi...nodded. Not in a I agree with you , but more like I like you, but you guys are idiots sort of way. Sakura appeared oblivious to that difference, however, which was all the same. For the best. Sasuke thought they were idiots, too, but if any of them were not, it was Sakura. Obviously. She was the only Chunin out of all of them, and the only one who didn’t cheat in their original exams. Though Naruto technically didn’t cheat either, did he?

“I have to say,” Kakashi said, standing up. “Your teamwork is atrocious.”

“We’ve been working on it, Kakashi-sensei!”

Kakashi hummed, glancing at Sasuke. “Well, we need to work on it more. Now that you guys are rogue shinobi--”

“Aren’t we going back?”

Sasuke held his breath. He was not, of course. But it would be awkward and difficult to get away from Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. It was not--

“Of course not, Sakura,” Kakashi tilted his head to the side. “I still have a mission and technically still a traitor. Sasuke-kun will be eaten alive if he steps foot in Konoha again, so he’s not returning. I’m not convinced that sending Naruto back is a good idea, either. I’d spent a few days convincing Tsunade-sama to send him away, but you guys did it all by yourselves. And you Sakura, I supposed you could go back, but--”

“I’m not going to return until all of you return.”

Sasuke felt the tension leaving his body. Not an ideal situation, by any stretch of the word, but at least he wasn’t the one who said he wasn’t returning--though hearing his suspicions about ‘being eating alive’ verbalized by Kakashi made his stomach churn uncomfortably. Was it that evident that Shimura-sama had it out for him? What had he ever done--other than a few botched missions here and there, not even botched missions, really, just bad judgement, occasionally, to warrant such--it didn’t matter. It was a waste of time and energy to wonder what he’d done to deserve the treatment, let alone the fact that it was incredibly whiny. Complaining about Shimura-sama’s behavior was inappropriate and could be misconstrued into defying a superior’s actions.

Which was not something he wanted to do, outside or inside Konoha, traitor or not.

“So what’s the mission?”

Kakashi shrugged, stretching his back. “Classified.”

Classified ? That stupid word was almost like a curse. Last mission he received that was classified almost ended in his death. But Naruto had been there, and Sasuke was thankful for that. Maybe Kakashi received a suicide mission, too. “Is it from Shimura-sama?”

Maybe the attempt on Shimura-sama’s life was staged.

“No,” Kakashi said, curtly. “It’s from the Hokage.”

“Who’s Shimaru-sama?”

“Danzo,” Kakashi said, his jaw clenched. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, but kept his thoughts to himself--it’s not like he could scold Kakashi for improper respect. “Is in charge of Anbu, part of Tsunade-sama’s council. Our boss, so to speak.”

The way that Kakashi spoke, it sounded like he didn’t think Shimura-sama was a good boss. But he was. He was efficient and calculated, and was a good strategizer. He had certainly instilled important values into him that before joining, Sasuke didn’t think were that important. Respect for authority, certainly. Utter willingness to accept his weaknesses and attempt to fix them. Proper disregard for himself in favor of a mission.

“Never seen him.”

“He doesn’t like to be seen,” Kakashi replied.

Which was an understatement. Shimura-sama avoided been seen and his reputation made it so that everyone knew that if they saw him, it meant trouble. In the privacy of his mind, Sasuke could admit that the thought of returning to Konoha and facing Shimura-sama made him sick.

Ha. Maybe that’s why Itachi never returned. Maybe Itachi was bullied, too.

It was hardly bullying though, Sasuke was just dramatic that way. It was just a tough job that required even tougher leadership. That was all.

“Anyway,” Kakashi headed to the Anbu corpses. His Sharingan spun, for what Sasuke had no idea, but all of Kakashi’s attention was on the bodies. He checked his hands before removing their cloaks--the ones that could still be cloaks at least--and all six masks. He tossed them in their direction and then set them on fire.

Sasuke looked away before the bodies disappeared behind black smoke.

A classified mission indeed.

“We’ll put them on,” Kakashi said, clearly out of his mind as it clearly looked like he was referencing wearing the dead Anbu’s masks and cloaks, which was ludicrous. Sasuke wasn’t doing that. It was disrespectful, sick, and a little morbid. “We can’t talk wearing them, though. Fortunately for us, they were a rookie team. Wouldn’t be talking amongst themselves very frequently.”

Sasuke looked down at the uniforms. “Why are we wearing them?”

“Because it’ll hide our faces and, more importantly, it’ll hide the fact that they are all dead.”

“Doesn’t every Anbu squad expect to die at some point?”

“Sure, but their deaths mean that we aren’t. Not you, Sakura, I mean, we,” he pointed at himself and then to Sasuke, “aren’t dead. Unacceptable circumstances and Danzo will only continue to send more squads after us, which means that we’ll continue to kill them, which ultimately, only affects Konoha’s security.” He picked up a mask and threw it at Sasuke. “Put it on.”

Sasuke would rather not, but he did. He couldn’t not. By the time that Naruto made it back, to report that about ten traps were set, and fifty clones were spread across a twenty mile radius, Kakashi, Sakura, and he looked like Anbu. And then, Naruto dressed up, too, and they disappeared into the trees, leaving behind the burnt corpses of their fellow shinobi.

----------------------

Sasuke leaned against a tree after shielding his katana. It’s not like without Kakashi, they had gone into towns or anything, but Naruto’s clones had, which made traveling not awful. Kakashi, though, refused to let any of them, clones or not, within ten miles of any village. Of any settlement. And of course, Kakashi had the world’s geography burned into his brain, all thanks to the Sharingan, which meant that he knew how to avoid every single, tiny village.

It was worse than any traveling he’d done under Anbu because at least then, there had been a clear purpose and a faint, but solid promise of returning home as long as he remained alive.

“Is he always like this?”

He glanced at Sakura. Her hair was pulled back, but there were some loose strands, mixed with beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. She looked so different without her forehead protector. His attention went to Kakashi, who was currently helping Naruto with the Rasengan, surrounded by a few clones. Where was Kakashi getting the energy to train each one of them individually? It was baffling.

“This?”

“You know,” Sakura waved her hand in the air, as she leaned against the tree, too. “A little over the top? My brain is having trouble adjusting this Kakashi-sensei with our Kakashi-sensei.”

Uh. That’s right. Sakura never saw Kakashi like this--Sasuke first saw him when he was learning chidori, during that month of isolation, but Sakura and Naruto did not. Nevermind during Anbu. After a moment, he shrugged. “He’s not too bad,” he said. Kakashi had not quite managed to become Wolf yet, which was nice. Not just for himself, but something told him that Sakura and Naruto would be devastated if they ever interacted with Wolf. “I’ve seen him worse.”

“You’re joking.”

He shook his head. “At least he’s not stressed about a time-sensitive mission.” Whatever mission Hokage-sama had given him, apparently, did not have a time limit. “He would be insufferable if he was.”

Sakura sighed. “I feel like I don’t know him at all. I mean...even when Naruto was out of the village, Kakashi-sensei would sometimes visit me. One or two times a year and he was still Kakashi-sensei, you know? He took me out to dinner after making Chunin and all.”

“Did he really?”

“Yeah, all of us went. Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei paid for us.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. That was...weird. Had they not been in locked down after Sakura made Chunin? That was around the time when he joined, and they were in lockdown then. Maybe it was the night before he joined. Or maybe Kakashi just sent a clone to dinner. Which was rude. But more plausible. Not that he would tell Sakura that. Judging by the fondness in her voice, she cherished that memory, perhaps now more than before.

“Sounds nice.”

“It was,” Sakura sat down. Sasuke joined her. “I still wish we had all taken it and passed together.”

Sasuke swallowed a snort. Yeah, just so that all three of them could be in unproportionate danger together again. “I almost died the second time I took them.”

“You almost died the first time you took them, too.”

All of them almost died the first time they took them. Sasuke still wasn’t sure why Orochimaru hadn’t murdered Sakura. But he was grateful that he had not.

Kakashi and Naruto were fighting each other, without clones this time. Naruto was slow . And under Genjutsu. Itachi was going to eat him alive. “Kakashi is still the same person, Sakura. He still cares about you.”

Kakashi kicked Naruto in the stomach, sending him flying against a tree. It broke in half from the impact.

“And cares about Naruto, too,” Sasuke added, because Sakura was biting down on her lower lip as Naruto stumbled to his feet. Still under Genjutsu. Kudos for having a medical shinobi in their team now, though. “It’s tough love.”

Slowly, Sakura nodded. They sat in silence, watching Naruto and Kakashi sparring each other, more violently than it was strictly necessary. There was a lot more of Kakashi beating Naruto than the other way around, but it was most likely only because Kakashi was using Genjutsu, and Naruto was woefully defenseless to that. What had Jiraiya-sama taught him ?

An hour later, Kakashi dispelled the Genjutsu. By the time Naruto was by their side, his injuries were healed, which was nice. And then Kakashi was looking at him. Biting back a sigh, he stood up, his Sharingan bleeding the colors around him. But either Kakashi pitied him and was taking it easy, or he was more tired than he let on, because sparring with him was not as bad as it could have been.

“How’s the one hand seals going?”

Sasuke accepted the canteen, softening his glare. “Terrible.”

Kakashi hummed. “I wished I had copied something from the Yondaime, but I didn’t have the Sharingan back then. Although, I’ve been thinking about it.”

There was a pause. And Sakura was worried that she couldn’t recognize Kakashi? To Sasuke he was evidently the same annoying person he’d always been. Better than Wolf, still, though. “Thinking about what?”

Kakashi nodded in the direction of Sakura and Naruto, who were nursing a fire and their dinner. Thankfully. He was starving. Obviously, he wished that he hadn’t turned traitor--that none of them had--but at least on the run, dinner was a daily occurence. “You could use someone else to do hand signs with.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “Right. Seems strategically sound, being stuck with one of you to do the other half of--”

“Well, we do have someone who can make clones like no other.”

“Sure. And they poof away every time they get hit.”

Kakashi tsked his tongue. “I’m surprised at you, Sasuke-kun. That just means they need to appear quicker. Also, keep the Sharingan activated at all times from now.”

And that was that. Sasuke was stuck with Naruto...or rather his clones, the world bleeding red from the moment he would wake up.

Training with the clones was awkward and not at all as easy as Kakashi made it out to be. The only plus side was that he could just punch the clones and have them disappear whenever he felt too frustrated. Which happened more often than not, regardless of how much he tried to suppress negative emotions. He thought he’d moved on from petty emotions, but the thought of needing to rely on a clone for his jutsus to even have a possibility of working was driving him up a wall.

His knuckles cracked, throbbing pain blossoming across his hand. He swallowed the curse and groan in favor of punching the tree again. So stupid.

“Sasuke, I don’t think--”

He sliced the clone with his katana. Another one jumped down from a branch to land on the exact same spot. He tried to dodge his katana, but at the very least, Sasuke still had his speed, even though it was the most useless thing in the world. He could start fires at seven , and now, he had to use a clone’s hand to even try to--

“Control yourself. It’s not supposed to be easy, Sasuke.”

Sasuke glared at Kakashi, as much as he could manage. “Easy for you to--”

“It’s not,” Kakashi leaned against the tree. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder. Naruto and Sakura were practicing Taijutsu together. “But letting your emotions get the better of you has never ended well for you. You know that.”

It was not a new sermon. Kakashi told him that all the time, even before joining Anbu. When he was learning chidori, he would practice meditation every hour for five minutes, because Kakashi refused to teach an angry, angsty teenager. With Anbu, of course, emotions were a liability for him and for Ro. They were discarded without a second thought because whatever frustration was felt during those missions or training sessions were not worth anyone’s lives. But now, there was no clear mission, no clear reason to put a lid over his emotions. Being calmed didn’t make it easier and there was no improvement, with or without the clones.

He kicked the tree.

“Sasuke.”

“What?”

“When has your emotions ever lead you to something productive? You’re frustrated, I get that, but you need to get a grip on yourself and focus. If you haven’t noticed, we’re being hunted down by Konoha.”

“We haven’t seen anyone in two weeks.”

“You think their absence means that they stopped hunting us down? Really?”

Sasuke’s eyes went to the ground. Of course he didn’t think that, but if he thought about how they were walking targets, to their coworkers, to every Anbu squad that Sasuke knew were murderously brutal--how would thinking about all of that help him calm down? The last time he’d been this vulnerable, his brother had sliced through every single member of his clan.

“Sasuke?”

He shook his head.

“Then, get a grip. Right now, you’re our biggest liability and we need to remedy that. Making clones disappear every five seconds isn’t helping.” The silence dragged on between them, until Kakashi broke it. “It’s your turn to hunt. Take the time to clear your head.”

Sasuke jumped on the tree, pushing chakra out, feeling some sick satisfaction that the branch broke under the pressure. They were camped ten miles from water, which was convenient because even with one hand, he could catch fish. Presumably. He hadn’t actually tried. But how hard could it be?

----------

Naruto and Sakura were asleep. Kakashi should be, too. It was Sasuke’s shift. But Kakashi sat next to him, clearly awake, potentially thinking about starting conversation. Sasuke knew how the conversation would go and though it was entirely appropriate and expected that Wolf had a proper talk with him, Sasuke would love to prevent most of it.

“I’ll keep my emotions in check. I know I’ve acted unprofessionally and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” he paused. “Or at least, I’ll do my best to prevent another emotional outburst. I’ll train more to prevent my ineptitude from harming them, or you.”

Kakashi didn’t say a word. Sasuke remained there, even at the end of his shift and the beginning of Kakashi’s. Though the apology was standard and Kakashi had heard it from him more than once, he meant it. Despite recent evidence, he did understand the liability of emotions, especially to someone like him, who was unfortunately more emotional than any shinobi ever should.

He’d never be able to live with himself if any of them died because he’d spent more time being frustrated and angry than training.

“Why did you deflect?”

Sasuke glanced at him, wishing that he could deactivate the Sharingan, so Kakashi’s expression, conflicted and upset, wasn’t imprinted into his memory for later consideration. But he couldn’t. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to the decaying tree two meters in front of him.

If Kakashi was asking him that question, it was clear that he didn’t believe he’d done it for the same reasons that Naruto and Sakura did.

Pretending that he did would be insulting.

He swallowed the incoming shame. “I didn’t want Shimura-sama binding my chakra.”

“What makes you think he would have done that?”

The question wasn’t harsh. But Sasuke couldn’t help but recoiled at it. After a shrug, he managed to open his mouth. “I was just being dramatic--”

“No,” Kakashi shook his head, his voice soft. Probably not to wake the other two up. “That’s not it. When I deflected, I didn’t mean to engage him in a fight, but I am meant to investigate him--”

Sasuke looked at him, unable to stop himself from frowning. None of that made sense. In any way, shape, or form. Technically, Hokage-sama could dismiss anyone from any duty, but he was largely sure that...it would exclude Shimura-sama and the Elders.

“And I’d like to hear from you.” After a pause, Kakashi added, “for my mission, assigned by Hokage-sama. What made you think he would bind your chakra after I deflected?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did Danzo act when you were his bodyguard?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “Like I wasn’t there. Like anyone acts when--”

“Did you ever feel unsafe around him?”

He paused. Shook his head. “Of course not.”

“Sasuke, you’re not going to be in trouble. I’m not going to tell him what you tell me.”

“I don’t know what--”

“It’s important.” He sighed, “I know that despite our constant proximity, we aren’t particularly close, but it would help a lot to understand. You might let your emotions get the better of you, but they’re never irrational. There must have been a reason you thought you’d be punished for something I did.”

Sasuke shrugged. Shook his head. It was wrong, to even consider answering the question, but if it was a mission that Hokage-sama assigned, then it was his duty to help, as much as he could, in any way he could. “I don’t know,” he shrugged again. “Sometimes, it...” he shook his head. “Shimura-sama wanted me to be better than Itachi and...I just wasn’t. I was his second chance and if I were him, I’d seal someone up before they turned traitor, too.”

The silence dragged on. Until it didn’t. “I’m sorry I dragged you into Anbu.”

“You...didn’t.”

“No, I did,” Kakashi said, lowering his voice. “I was convinced you would decline, a stupid mis--“

“I was going to,” he said. “But I’m glad I didn’t.”

Kakashi chuckled under his breath, as if he understood that Sasuke was a liar, but was too nice, or tired, to comment on it. It wasn’t a lie, though, because if it was, then it meant that he’d been rotten from the beginning, just like his brother, and...he couldn’t be.

“What happened during those three months you were his bodyguard?”

“Nothing. Why are you convinced something happened?”

“You began calling him ‘sir’ after he summoned you alone for the first time. Somewhere in the three months I didn’t see you, the ‘sir’ became ‘Shimura-sama’ and you started calling me ‘Hatake-san’.”

“The importance of boundaries and respect was instilled in me.”

“How?”

“Like any values are instilled on anyone disrespectful.” It was a gradual, tedious shift in attitude. The cane chipped away at him, at it , until using Shimura-sama was the only natural conclusion. He eyed Kakashi, his expression growing more concerned with each passing millisecond. He hadn’t been in the office when Wolf returned to his duties and the thought of Kakashi being beaten was...unsettling, but expected after the utter disrespect he displayed. “How...did...Shimura-sama...instill better values on you after the resignation debacle?”

Kakashi looked away. Too quickly, but Sasuke caught the hurt in his eyes. Had the sadness in his memory now, forever. “He told me to set a better example, or someone might be inclined to follow it, and that someone might need proper correction.” After a pause, Kakashi shifted his body to face him. “Did you?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, considering the question. Until his brain connected the dots, slower than it should have. It wasn’t his fault. There was no reason for Shimura-sama to threaten Kakashi with him, and for the threat to have worked enough for Kakashi to fall back in line without any real disciplinary action. He shook his head. Kakashi looked away. For a few minutes, Sasuke managed to keep himself in line by biting his lower lip. Until he couldn’t anymore.

“Did he really only talk to you? After you resigned, went behind his back to complain to Hokage-sama, bowed like it was a mockery, and basically told him to fuck off?”

“It was more of a threat than a talk, but--”

“Did he really not hit you?”

“Did he what?”

“Correct you.”

“No. No, he didn’t.”

For a moment, it looked like Kakashi was going to ask if Shimura-sama had hit him, but Kakashi was an intelligent man and the answer was quite evident. And--and maybe that’s what Kakashi meant when he said that Anbu wasn’t like this before.

Just another reason to hate his brother.

Sasuke stood up, “goodnight.”

He didn’t wait for a response. Kakashi might point out that he never truly answered his original question, but he was exhausted and first light was only two hours away. He settled down next to Sakura, a meter away from Naruto’s frog hat, and closed his eyes.

Sakura woke him up the next morning. Naruto and Kakashi already sparring. Naruto already under Genjutsu. Sasuke helped Sakura prepare breakfast--a broth with herbs and rabbit meat. He accepted the offered bowl, setting it down on his lap to use the spoon. Who knew swallowing so many soldier pills would make him appreciate cold soup, dried herbs, and tough meat so much?

“Sasuke-kun?”

He looked up, biting back a sigh, recognizing the look she sent him. It was the first time she looked at him so sadly, so openly, though--usually the softened eyes and broken smile was reserved for when she thought he couldn’t see. “Yeah?”

“I’d like to teach you some basic medical ninjutsu.”

That’s not what he was expecting. He shook his head. “Sakura, I’m barely working on my own jutsus.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to--”

“Maybe later.”

And Sakura dropped the topic.

And Sasuke continued to work on his jutsus.

The day that he got his chidori back, without a clone, a thousand Narutos rushed him to the ground, their excitement apparently too great that it was the day that the real Naruto also pushed through one of Kakashi’s and his layered Genjutsus. His techniques came quickly after that--relatively quicker, like a dam was broken and they were rushing out. At least the ones he cared about.

The chirping birds faded away. Sasuke dropped on the ground, leaning against a tree. Sakura and Naruto were sparring--Sakura was punching through Naruto’s clones almost faster than Naruto was producing them. Kakashi jumped down from a tree, to land next to Sasuke.

“We need to talk.”

By the tone of his voice, it sounded like Kakashi would love to do anything other than talk. But Sasuke nodded, pushing himself off the ground. He followed Kakashi deeper into the forest, until Naruto and Sakura were out of sight and Sasuke couldn’t hear them anymore. Kakashi halted, turned, faced him, his hand hovered over his kunai pouch.

Sasuke’s hand went to his katana. Kakashi didn’t move. “What?”

“My mission was to investigate Danzo for crimes committed against Konoha.”

Sasuke drew his katana out. He was a traitor--he’d betrayed Konoha and the three of them, the fucking idiots, had betrayed Konoha for him, too. At least Kakashi waited, for some wild reason, for Sasuke to be able to fight him properly. “Shimura-sama wouldn’t do anything against--”

“He may have. That’s not what’s important right now.” Kakashi pulled his hands up, an attempt to placate him, no doubt. Sasuke gripped the katana tighter. “I’m tracking your brother and I need you to restrain yourself long enough to have a conversation with him.”

Sasuke threw his katana at him. Expectantly, he dodged. It struck the ground, lightning springing forth. Kakashi dodged that, too. Sasuke flashed in front of him. Kakashi dodged the kick. His fireball crashed against a rock wall. Kakashi gripped his bicep.

“Don’t you want to avenge your clan?”

Sasuke shrugged the grip off, ignoring the fact that Kakashi obviously let go of him. “Shut up.”

“What if you kill the wrong person?”

“Shut up.”

“Would you be able to live with yourself?”

Sasuke picked up his katana. “You--”

“Let me finish my mission,” Kakashi said. “If I’m wrong, you can still murder him and if I’m right, then you will have someone else to murder. Either way, you don’t lose anything.”

“Why would Shim--”

“I don’t know yet.” Kakashi shrugged. “But take a minute and think about what would happen if you’re wrong--”

“He showed me, for days, how he killed our entire--”

“You’ve never used Genjutsu to show anyone a fake reality?”

There was the twelve-year-old, slashed down by Dog. Sasuke showed him the sun dipping into the ocean, white foam crashing against his feet, pelicans flying overhead. Before Owl stabbed her, he showed the mom her family laughing around a campfire. There was--

“Why would he--”

“You’ve been where he was--”

“I would never--”

“But you understand.” Kakashi stepped back. “You’ve been chasing this for twelve years. You owe it to yourself to find out the truth before you do anything.”

For twelve years, he grew accustomed to the idea of murdering his brother, to avenge his clan. But if there was a chance that he was wrong and Itachi wanted --he shook his head. “You were the one who broke into the archive room.”

“The night I deflected.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Shook his head. “Before that. Someone...Itachi.” He stabbed the ground. At least that would explain their last encounter. He glanced at his stump, Itachi had gripped his bicep that day--perhaps, sounding sadder than he should have when he looked at the tattoo. He must have broken in to steal his file. If--he shook his head. Thinking wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “How were you planning to complete the mission?”

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, “well, I was planning to see if they’d let me join. But now that you’re here, maybe we could use you as...incentive.”

“Wouldn’t Naruto make better bait?”

“I don’t know what actually happened, but...if it was a mission, then he might care about you. If your life is in enough danger, maybe he’ll drop the act.”

“Those are a lot of maybes.”

“Yeah.”

“What? Are you going to pretend to kill me?”

“Actually, I’ve been trying to figure out how to lure him into a fight between Danzo and you.”

“What?”

“Meh, Sasuke,” Kakashi took him by the shoulders, guiding him back to their set-up camp. “It’s just an idea. I’m open to suggestions.”

“What makes you think I’d fight Shimura-sama?”

“If you find out he ordered the massacre, what makes you think you won’t?”

Sasuke looked away. Shrugged Kakashi’s hand off his shoulder. “You waited until I could fight again to tell me all of this, didn’t you?”

“It didn’t seem fair to tell you while you were incapacitated.”

He wouldn’t have risk a fight between them, though. A tactical mistake, but Sasuke appreciated it. If he felt as useless as he had two weeks ago, he wouldn’t have been able to control himself, certainly. Leave it to Kakashi to wait until he was having a good day to deliver...those kinds of news.

If--

No. No, he couldn’t dwell on anything until there was definite proof of anything.

He sparred with Kakashi until sundown. Nothing aggressive. Certainly less violent than whatever Sakura and Naruto were doing. Sasuke couldn’t be sure because he’d looked away to avoid a kick to the ribs, but at some point, it looked like Sakura was trying to punch through a Rasengan. He must have seen wrong because Sakura was an intelligent woman and had to know that attempting that would have been stupid.

After dinner, Kakashi gathered them around the campfire, exactly the same way he did when they were fresh out of the Academy. He slipped a scroll from his pocket, extending it on the floor. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke leaned forward. The summoning scroll.

“I know you have summons, but if we’re separated, we’ll need a way to communicate.”

“Why would we be separated?” Sakura asked, though she accepted the ink from Kakashi.

Sasuke had no idea why Kakashi thought they would be, but if it was for the reason he thought it was, he’d sign whatever scrolls to keep Naruto and Sakura out of whatever.

“Doesn’t hurt to be safe,” Kakashi shrugged, easily, like he wasn’t planning on separating them.

Sakura glanced at Naruto, but wrote down her name, her handwriting more atrocious than Sasuke could have ever imagined. Sasuke signed after her. Naruto did so last. Kakashi took the scroll back. Stood up.

“Sakura and I will go into town. We should be back in a day or so. Naruto, I expect to see some improvement. Sasuke, keep him busy.” He nodded at Sakura, “let’s go.”

They disappeared into the trees.

“BRING ME SOME RAMEN!” Naruto sighed, falling on his ass. “You think they caught that?”

“I’m sure Sakura will bring you some even if they didn’t.” Sasuke bit his thumb. Three of his hawks flew out, in the direction Sakura and Kakashi disappeared. “In case they need something,” he said at Naruto’s confused gaze.

“Even if they did,” Naruto layed down on his stomach, “we’ll be too far to help them.”

“We can fly there.”

In the meantime, Sasuke nudged Naruto’s shoulder. The Sharingan spun. Naruto face planted into the ground. Some of Naruto’s memories floated into his mind, but Sasuke blocked them out. Naruto needed to work on identifying and releasing Genjutsu, there was no need for him to feel more violated than necessary.

To the day, Sasuke couldn’t get the dirty feeling that came with knowing that Konoha intelligence had seen...whatever there was to see. Whatever weakness they decided were dangerous enough to have while in Anbu, the ones they needed him to get rid of. Attempt to destroy, at least.

Sasuke kept himself occupied with his own memories. Itachi’s softer smile before he left on missions, seconds before poking his head and sending him away. The--

A light crashed against the sky. Sasuke sat up, his heart speeding up. He tore the Genjutsu off of Naruto, gripping his arm and pulling him to his feet. Another light crashed. Sasuke dragged Naruto to a branch, jumping off of it onto a new one. From the corner of his eye, he caught Naruto wiping his cheeks.

“What is it?”

“They need help.”

Sasuke picked up the pace, leaving Naruto two trees behind him. He gripped his katana. Moved faster.

The chidori was crackling through the air. Not his. Sakura flew past him. A wall of water rushed up, evaporating the incoming flames. Kakashi leapt back. Dodged. Sasuke jumped onto another tree, before a gush of wind cut him down in half. Sakura and Naruto landed next to him. A white mask with wide, red lips flashed in front of him, a bottomless, dark blob presumably attached to it. He backflipped out of the way. The stream cleared up. The mask flew back, attaching itself to a wide back.

A man with white hair jumped past him.

Sasuke caught up with him before the man reached Sakura and Naruto. His katana, his chidori, ran into the man’s chest. A maniacal laughter rushed through the air.

He jerked the blade out of the hollowed chest. Dodged a scyther.

Naruto’s back was sprouting two tails. Three masks were flying towards them. He threw his katana, aiming for two of the shapeless blobs, but only managing one. Or none, as it went straight through. He grabbed a kunai, using it to prevent the scyther from cutting his throat. One of the masks could apparently use fire release. Sasuke had never been more grateful that Kakashi had regifted those two water jutsus to Sakura years ago.

He kept out of the scythe’s range. At least the wielder was giving fair warning with the crackles of laughter before each slice. A wind-infused Rasengan crushed a mask. The nine-tails’ chakra might have helped.

The scyther turned towards Naruto and Sakura again. The man stumbled backwards, as the ground shattered under Sakura’s touch.

Not that the ground disappearing could stop a man who appear to have no injuries from lightning destroying his chest.

Kakashi flashed in front of him. Followed by the man with the wide back, with the weird masks. There was something about a bounty. Naruto, covered in red chakra, was slashing at the man--

A hand flew towards his face. Attached to the man engaging Kakashi with the same--

Upon closer inspection, they looked like black stitches. Bandages, perhaps.

Sakura threw his katana at him.

The hand retracted, speeding towards Kakashi’s chest. Sasuke threw his katana. The stitched man dodged. Kakashi’s Sharingan bled, a pattern he’d never seen. One of the masks disappeared into thin air. Sakura was losing ground. Naruto was out of his mind, a fourth tail forming.

He bit his thumb, slammed his hand on the ground. “Get Sakura,” he whispered, jumping off Garuda’s back.

Naruto’s face was disappearing behind the red chakra and the hysterical laughter continued, even as Garuda swoop down, taking Sakura with his talons and flying overhead. Out of reach, at least, from both the nine-tails and Akatsuki.

Now to get Kakashi and Naruto out of the way.

And himself.

The nine-tails was shredding the clearing apart. Somehow, not the scythe-wielding asshole. Not Kakashi or him, either.

Kakashi’s clone appeared next to him. “Get my Sharingan out of here.”

The real Kakashi was sparring with the mask man, luring him towards the nine-tails and the scythe man. The clone poofed away. Sasuke rushed forward, slashing the man’s back. Predictably, it did nothing, except redirected some of the attention onto him. He caught something about his brother, but Kakashi’s Sharingan was spinning. Blood dripping onto his cheek. The nine-tails’ fury disappeared.

Naruto disappeared.

Kakashi’s body dropped to the ground.

The scythe man lunged forward.

Sasuke dodged.

The mask man picked up Kakashi by the neck.

A full body chidori exploded from him. The man’s hand went through Kakashi’s chest.

His eyes throbbed.

The man yanked his--Kakashi’s. His heart. It was out. Dropping the hollowed body on the ground. The black stitches were--his heart was. Sasuke dropped. Jumped. His katana was somewhere. He dropped it, in favor of picking up Kakashi. The scythe was at his throat a second later. Sasuke jumped onto the nearest, half-crumbled tree. The mask man was morphing with the black--the heart. His heart. It was disappearing into his chest. The scythe man was giving chase.

There was something, but--and Kakashi was. He’d make a quicker escape without the weight. He gripped Kakashi’s torso tighter. Hopefully, Sakura was on land already. He spun, a fireball building in his chest. By the time the scythe man went through, Sasuke was on Garuda’s back.

His eyes burned. The world bled.

He dropped on his knees.

Garuda disappeared. It was a mountain. Within Iwagakure’s borders. Maybe. Sakura screamed. Sasuke wiped his face. His blood was on his hands, smeared, and hot. Kakashi was on the ground, Sakura’s hands glowing green, her tears falling through Kakashi’s chest.

The world bled.

Crimson red.

“Sakura, you can’t heal him.”

Her chakra glowed more. Her shoulders shook, wrecking her entire frame, though her hands remained steady.

Get my Sharingan out of here .

Get my Sharingan out of here .

Get my Sharingan out of here .

He knelt down next to her. Kakashi’s mask was smeared with blood. His gloves were drenched in it. Both eyes were wide open, shocked into death.

Get my Sharingan out of here .

“Where’s Naruto?”

Get my Sharingan out of here .

“I don’t know.” He set his hand on her shoulder, expecting her to throw him off, punch him into the ground. She trembled. “But I need you to transfer his Sharingan to me.”