Uchiha Sasuke was nothing more then a name to people. The last Uchiha, a prodigy, last of the Sharingan and so on and so forth. He kept to himself, in the Academy and even now that he graduated and had a team.

Said team wasn't too bad, Naruto had become steadily better and Sakura seemed to take training now serious. Still he wasn't satisfied, the Chunin exam had told that much, he couldn't beat Gaara, where Naruto could. It was frustrating, though he had learned the Chidori, which gave him the upper hand.

He still wasn't satisfied especially since he wasn't given the title of Chunin and noticed how others began to grow stronger while he stood almost still with his progress. He still continued to train, honing his control, his Chakra reserves by pushing himself to empty them as good as he could and his physical prowess.

Then the chance to become stronger, under one of the Sannin was offered to him, at the cost of abandoning his village. He accepted, after them showing that they were stronger than him, despite having no Sharingan and being the same age. He would meet them in a few days at the gate of Konoha.

These days he trained harder then before, because he knew Konoha would never let him go peacefully. Then the night came and he was surprised that Sakura knew he would leave. She wanted to go with him, told him she loved him, though he was surprised, he knew he couldn't do that to her. It would be completely different then what she was used to, she would leave family behind, friends.

He knocked her out and placed her on the stone bench by the gate, before continuing on. He walked out of the village unhindered, probably thanks to the Ninja of Orochimaru. He stopped as a bush rustled and out jumped a little girl, perhaps nine years old. She was a Hyūga, as only they had such eyes and she looked fairly nervous.

"What do you want?" he asked, not exactly kindly. He was on a tight schedule and some brat wouldn't cost him this chance. "I would like to come with you" she didn't sound as nervous as she appeared and his eyes narrowed. When a small kid knew he would leave, why shouldn't the Hokage know? Damn.

"Why? If I take you with me you would only slow me down, kid. I need to get out of here" he spoke, not harsh or cold, but just as if stating a fact. "But I can't keep living here. I have the same seal as my cousin Neji and I am basically a slave to my own sister" she spoke, tears of frustration and helplessness falling.

He remembered the seal which Neji had shown, how Hinata had taken him down without mercy and tortured him even after the fight had ended for laying a hand against a member of the main family. He was disgusted by the practice of the Hyūga, enslaving their own family and he was sure after the display of Hinata that she had no grudge of using the seal on her sister too.

His eyes softened and he turned around to leave and join the Sannin which had abandoned Konoha years ago. He felt no remorse, especially since a village tolerating such a barbaric tradition would never gain his favor. "Come on, we are leaving" he said, just loud enough that she heard him. It took her two paces of him walking before she ran after him.

Without looking back both of them disappeared into the night, soon joined by four other people. "I didn't realize you would bring company" spoke the redheaded girl and he looked down at the smallest of them, how she kept close to him. "Well, it seems we are a package deal. Either both of us or none" he replied and the redhead scoffed, but said nothing and so they left Konoha behind.