Allow me to remind you that I do not own Naruto. All rights are reserved to Masashi Kishimoto, or TV Tokyo, or Shounen Jump, or someone else, but not me.

Chapter One: Introductions

The time had finally come. Sasuke and Naruto were prepared to face each other and let their destinies rest on this fight. Neither of them really knew how it would end, but each expected that one of them, at least, would not live to see sunset.

They were standing in a canyon that formed the border between the Fire Country and Grass. A river had carved it once upon a time, but it was long since dry. And they were alone. They didn't want spectators. Hardly anyone was even aware they were there. Most were too busy with the war to care. The real fighting, that between Akatsuki and the allied countries, was far away, several days distant. They were here for that very reason. No one who mattered would hear them. And no one capable of it could stop them.

Not a word was spoken between the two. Naruto knew that all words were in vain, his strength had to speak for him now. While Sasuke had nothing to say. He had come here to kill.

One moment all was still. A leaf falling from the top of the stone walls wouldn't have been disturbed. The next, they charged. Only fists were drawn for the first blow, though they could not expect to hit with such a simple attack, not against each other. So it was hardly surprising when, for a second or two, they reached an impasse, each having caught the other's fist.

But Sasuke wasn't prepared to be patient. He was no longer one to underestimate the class loser. He knew Naruto was strong, but he would not be defeated. He would end this before it began. He would crush his opponent. Taking advantage of the seconds before Naruto drew back, his eyes took on a new form: the Eternal Mangekyou.

But something went wrong. It was Sasuke who stood there in shock. The moment in which his doujutsu transformed, the world melted away around him. He could only watch as Naruto, the canyon, everything disappeared. The pebbles under his feet turned to grass, the rock walls to tree aisles, and instead of that moron it was his brother facing him.

This was impossible, utterly impossible. He was back in Konoha, in a little grove that had grown near the Uchiha compound. When he had been young, he and Itachi had gone there often. It was close enough that sounds from the village filtered through. The indistinct noises of people chatting and bartering, and even the clack of doors sounded. And every spring there was a nest of morning doves in one of the spruce trees. He had always liked to hear them cooing. But now, not even a cricket chirped. Sasuke couldn't say a word. This was Itachi's Tsukuyomi. And it couldn't be, because Itachi was–

"My foolish little brother," the dead man said. "What are you doing?"

Sasuke stared. He might as well have been seven again faced with the impossibility that his kind brother had murdered their parents. Because Itachi couldn't be here, couldn't have performed the illusion. And the only explanation he could think of was that he was facing a ghost.

His older brother smiled. Perhaps he had read some of the terror in his eyes, or perhaps he just knew Sasuke that well. Either way, he said, "I left Amaterasu in your eyes. You don't supposed I couldn't do something similar to someone else? This," he looked around him, "this is my last resort."

"L-last resort?"

"Yes. In case Madara should convince you to do what you're doing now; I wanted you to know the truth."

"The truth?" At those words Sasuke tongue was loosened. "The truth? You lied to me for years! You let me think you were a monster!"

"I didn't want you to become the monster."

The younger of the two laughed bitterly. "So you want to stop me. You planned all this, you planted this in Naruto, just so you could tell me from the grave not to avenge the clan? Or you?" He bowed his head, as though in thought, or perhaps in pain.

"No. It was to tell you that you are blaming the wrong people," Itachi said, and Sasuke started. "Konoha didn't start this. The village is only a pawn. Just like you, just like me."

"Then who..."

"Madara. He sent the Kyuubi to attack the village, knowing the Uchiha would be suspected. He wanted to turn the village against the clan. He planned it all from the start."

"You told me about the Kyuubi before, but everything else you said was a lie. Why should I believe it now?"

"I've no reason to lie anymore." He looked at his little brother and smiled again. "Sasuke, you've got work to do. But if you destroy Konoha, all you'll have accomplished is to finish the massacre. Remember, Uchiha was one of Leaf's founding clans. So long as the village survives, our legacy does too. Stop the person responsible. Avenge us on Uchiha Madara."

Sasuke stared at him, his mind still unsure. "Nii-san..." but even as he said it the vision died away. He found himself on his knees in the canyon, looking at a wide-eyed Naruto who had watched him collapse.

"Oi, what just–"

"Naruto." He struggled for a moment, not only to his feet, but with whether he would believe his brother, and whether he would follow him at last. In that moment he made his choice. "I don't need to fight you."

"What d'you mean? I already told you, you're not getting near Konoha without going through me first. I'll take whatever–"

"Idiot. That's not what I meant. I'm not– I'm not planning to attack Konoha anymore."

"You're– but– you're not?"

"No. Uchiha Madara, he–"

Naruto didn't wait for him to finish. "Heh, yeah. I know," and he did. Heaven only knew how – Sasuke certainly didn't – but the idiot knew. He was smiling like the last three years had never happened. "You wanna take him down?" he said, and there was in it an invitation implied: if you do, we'll do it together.

Sasuke's face hardened. "Yeah."

Five years later...

The world had descended into insanity. That must be it. There could be no other reason for this.

Sasuke looked down, with no small degree of disgust, at three kids, three newly minted genin, sitting on the grass. Little brats.

He had brought them to the park. It was a pleasant morning and the fresh air would do them good. But that wasn't the reason he brought them there. The park was adjacent to the Academy. It was the quickest and most convenient place to get this over with. He had no desire to spend more time with them than he had to.

Iruka had been, justifiably, worried that the last Uchiha wouldn't even appear to pick them up. Sasuke considered doing just that. But Naruto and Sakura had bullied him – as only friends can – into a promise that he would take this seriously: his appointment to be a jounin sensei, that is.

All three of them were jounin now. In fact, everyone from their year had made jounin, even timid little Hinata. It was unusual, but everyone noted that the ninja who had graduated in that year were all remarkably talented. And Naruto was, finally at the age of twenty-one, being seriously considered as the next Hokage. He was, after all, the hero of the village, of the Fire Country, of the Five Shinobi Nations, and of the known world. He was known universally as the man who had single-handedly defeated Uchiha Madara, and he was miserable about it. He didn't regret that people loved him, or the likelihood of his soon becoming a Kage, but he regretted the lie. He hadn't defeated Madara alone, and he wouldn't have been able to if it hadn't been for Sasuke. But hardly anyone knew that. No one had witnessed the battle, and Sasuke refused to take credit for his share in it. He demanded that Naruto keep quiet about it himself, on pain of... extreme pain.

Sasuke didn't want to be a hero in Konoha. He didn't want anything to do with Konoha. If it had been up to him, he never would have gone back. But Naruto and Sakura, and even Kakashi, would not let him leave so easily a second time. They, at least, knew the part he had played in ending the war – no number of threats could keep Naruto from telling them – and they were, as Naruto and Sakura continually insisted, still his teammates. After much haranguing, Sasuke was made to agree, and to come home. And despite the sullen face he put on, he didn't find the prospect entirely disagreeable.

He didn't want to stay in Konoha, it was true. Both because of the bad memories the place held, and his own persistent resentment towards the role the village had played in his family's murder. Itachi had convinced him not to destroy it, but that didn't mean he liked it. And living there meant that his "teammates" were constantly and irritatingly pestering him for his company. Usually when he'd most prefer to be alone. But Konoha still had one thing that he couldn't find anywhere else in the world. People who cared about him. Not because he was powerful. Not because of what he looked like. Just because they wanted him around. And that was... nice.

So he remained. The Hokage was, by necessity, told of the part he had played, and Tsunade welcomed him back. Many in the village wondered at his return and his quick acceptance back into the ranks of loyal shinobi. But by most, in the post-war chaos and the business of rebuilding, he was forgotten. The Uchiha compound was not restored. New houses were built over the old graves. And the next generation learned little of them except as an obscure name to be remembered on tests as one of the founding clans.

Eight years after Uchiha Sasuke had been a name to cause an international stir at the Chuunin exams, he was nearly forgotten. If he walked around town, older shinobi might occasionally watch him or whisper about him, but civilians and children did not even know who he was. Which was fine with him. He was a part of team seven, and that was all that mattered. The rest of the village could rot as far as he was concerned. And most of his fellow shinobi felt the same about him. There was really no question of assigning him to another team. If he was to work with anyone, if anyone was to work with him; it was team seven or no one.

That was how it had been for the past five years. But now things were changing. Naruto was being considered for Hokage. And the council had decided on a stipulation. To give him some leadership experience, Naruto was to follow in the footsteps of past Hokages, and take on a genin team. Which, simply put, meant he couldn't serve missions with his old team anymore.

This might not have broken them up. They could probably have continued with missions without him, though it would never be the same without Naruto. Or perhaps the space might have been filled by Sai who, despite Sasuke's immense dislike, and his own return to ANBU, was still considered by the others to be a teammate.

But it wasn't only Naruto. Sakura was being sent off, more and more often, with other teams. Field medics were few and far between, and needed everywhere. Her skills were in high demand.

The final blow came when Kakashi was asked to take up the position as the head of ANBU. He refused, of course, but he did agree to rejoin among their regular ranks.

That just left Sasuke, without a team. Without any team that would take him. So Tsunade did what seemed best. She made him a sensei, like Naruto. Children just out of the Academy knew next to nothing, if they knew anything, about him. So it was the perfect plan. Or it would have been if not for Sasuke himself.

He glowered at the kids, and they shifted under his looks.

At last one of them, a boy with messy black hair and red fang tattoos, burst out, "Aren't we supposed to be doing something? We're ninja now. Shouldn't we be going on missions and fighting bad guys, not sitting around like–" he quailed at a look from his "teacher" and went silent.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked.

"I-Inuzuka Tsume. And this," he brightened a little, "is Kurokishi." The little black dog in his lap barked. "We're from the Inuzuka clan, and–"

"And your name?" He cut him off and turned towards the next one. It was a girl with dull red hair, and eyes that refused to meet him. That was only interesting because she had been staring at him before he'd addressed her. "I...I'm Ooyusaru Ko...Koishi." Her face was growing steadily redder the longer he looked at her. Inwardly Sasuke sighed. Not another one.

She looked like she wanted to say something more. She sat there gaping, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, but no words came. Sasuke didn't care. He wasn't Kakashi. He didn't want to know their likes or dislikes, he just needed names.

So he turned to the third one. "You?" he asked. Koishi shut her mouth and her face turned even darker.

The last, a sandy-haired boy sitting up ultra straight, said, "You haven't told us your name yet sensei." Sasuke scowled. He recognized that tone, one that feigned respect behind thinly veiled contempt.

"There's not much point when you know it already," he said.

The two others stared at their teammate. "You already know sensei?" Koishi voiced her surprise, as did Tsume. Though his sounded more like, "How come you get to meet sensei beforehand?"

Which was just one reason why Sasuke hated kids. They needed everything to be explained to them.

The sandy-haired boy ignored the others. He was still glaring at his teacher. "Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "Obaasan told me about you. She said you are a traitor and a liability to the village."

He figured it was something like that. But it didn't matter. He wasn't going to be their teacher for long. "What's your name?" he asked again, in such a tone as to remind this brat that he had yet to answer that simple question.

"Kei. Utatane Kei," and he, at least, didn't try to say more.

"Good. Then we're done. Show up at sunrise tomorrow at training ground five."

"Training ground?" asked Tsume. "We finished training. We're supposed to be going on missions now."

"Hn. Finished training, have you? You said you're ninja now, but you're not. Most of your class won't be either. Only those who pass the final test get to become genin. And we'll find out tomorrow if that's any of you." Of course, he didn't intend for it to be any of them. He would fail them, and then he'd be rid of this stupid assignment. Maybe afterwards, he'd try out for ANBU.

"So if we fail, you'll send us back the Academy?" Kei was fuming.

Sasuke simply shrugged. "Or you can quit being ninja. I don't care. Just be there tomorrow. If you show up late, you've already failed." With those words, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three kids sat staring at where he'd been. At last Koishi said, "Sensei's kind of scary."

-Spesa

-Beta-ed by SilverEyeShinobi