Author's Note: Hello. Here's my third fanfiction. It's going to be a bit darker than my previous works and it is written in first person point of view, a style that I'm admittedly not too familiar with writing myself. Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you thought about it. If you like it, I'd be more than happy to write another chapter. If not, please provide tips on how I can improve. Let's begin.

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that I do not own the Naruto series in any way, shape or form. No legal action is required against me.

Scars

Part One: A Change of Fortunes

The prison door slammed against the stone wall as it was opened roughly. A bento box was thrown in, a quarter of its contents spilling out. The prison guard glared at me.

"Eat, Uchiha." he ordered, folding his arms as he stood in the doorway. From his stance, I knew he would watch me until I finished eating. The problem is with that is I didn't want to eat.

"Why should I?" I asked, sounding like a petulant child as I remained seated on my steel cot, refusing to move.

A vein bulged in the man's forehead, indicating his growing anger towards me. He grit his teeth, "Listen carefully, you treacherous scum. I don't give a damn about you. As far as I'm concerned, you should have been executed for all the shit you've put this village through." he growled at me. "I don't know why, but the Hokage decided to give you a chance and you should be grateful that at least somebody gives a rat's ass about you. Now eat."

I didn't feel like eating, but more than that, I didn't feel like hearing the man speak any more about the Hokage. I slowly raised myself off the cot and picked up the bento box, leaving the rice that had spilled out on the floor. The guard continued to glower at me as I ate slowly, taking my time and no doubtedly angering the man further. I didn't care. So what if he had to stay here twenty minutes more? At least he would get to go home at the end of the day. I still needed nineteen more years in this hellhole.

Or so I thought...

"Get up, Uchiha!" The prison guard yelled before kicking open the door. Two masked ANBU marched in. Before I could react, I was handcuffed and dragged off my cot.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded to know, irritated at having been woken up so suddenly.

"Silence!" an ANBU shouted. I flashed my Sharingan angrily and was struck by the female ANBU. Her gloved fist split my lower lip open and I felt blood drip down my chin. "Watch it, Uchiha. If you do that one more time, I'll personally see to it that you lose those eyes of yours."

I glared at her for the threat before repeating my earlier question, "Where are you taking me?"

"The Hokage wants to see you." the woman answered, dragging me through the hallways. The male ANBU signaled for the prison guard to unlock the door to the prison entrance and the bright noon sunlight nearly blinded me. Having been in prison for a year, I wasn't used to the light and needed to walk with my head down for the entire trip, squinting at the ground. As expected, neither ANBU was concerned and the three of us wordlessly continued our walk to the Hokage's office.

When we entered the Hokage's reception area, a familiar face was waiting for me. Arms folded and a stern expression on his face, the Hokage's advisor, Nara Shikamaru, watched me distrustfully. "Uchiha Sasuke, the Hokage will see you now."

Stepping aside, Shikamaru allowed the ANBU and I to enter the office. I couldn't help but notice that the two ANBU had tightened their grip on my arms as I stood before the Hokage's desk. The Hokage himself had his back towards me, gazing out the window and at the village below. At last, he turned around, the sunlight streamed onto him, illuminating his golden hair and bright grin.

"Hey, Sasuke." The Sixth Hokage of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto, greeted me cheerfully.

"Hn..." was all I said.

The male ANBU to my left elbowed me in the ribs, annoyed with my impertinence towards the village leader. "Greet your Hokage with the respect he deserves." he hissed.

I rolled my eyes in response to his order, but said nothing else. Naruto laughed at my actions, "It's nice to see you haven't changed much, Sasuke." he said, that same grin still on his face.

I remained silent.

As expected, Naruto was not discouraged in the slightest. "Anyway," Naruto said, sitting behind his desk, hands folded together. "The reason why I called you here is because I've decided to let you out of prison early and -"

"What?" the ANBU screeched in alarm near my right ear. She tightened her already strong grip around my arm. "You can't be serious, Hokage-sama! Uchiha needs to locked up for good, not released early from prison!" Her comrade nodded in agreement with her words.

Naruto sighed and held a hand, signaling he didn't want to hear anymore. "That's enough." His blue eyes fell on me, frowning as he saw the trail of dried blood on my split lip. Annoyance darkened his features. "Why did you hurt him? Your orders were just to bring him here, not hurt him."

The female ANBU's voice trembled slightly, "But Hokage-sama, he flashed his Sharingan and I -"

Shaking his head in disappointment, Naruto continued, "My orders were simple enough. I just don't see why you didn't follow them."

"I'm sorry." the woman said, lowering her head in a respectful bow. "It won't happen again."

"It's fine, but can you do me a favor?" Naruto asked, a faintly mischievous glint in his eyes. I knew that look well. The dobe had an idea.

"Anything." the other ANBU replied.

"I want to talk to Sasuke alone." answered Naruto.

"But, Hokage-sama!" she protested while the other ANBU tensed up, clearly not enthused about the idea.

"Don't argue. After all, you did say anything." Naruto reminded them, still grinning.

The ANBU exchanged looks and finally released their grip on my arms, leaving my handcuffs still on. I moved my hands, making the chain bounding them together jingle. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

The male ANBU snorted, "No. Hokage-sama only said he wanted to talk to you. He did not say to take off your shackles." With that, both ANBU bowed to Naruto before following orders and promptly leaving the room.

When the door closed, Naruto spoke. "Don't let them get to you, Sasuke. They're not trying to be mean. They're just a little over-protective of the village and me."

"Hn." I replied, not really believing him. I knew they treated me badly because they hated me, plain and simple. Truth be told, I really can't blame them for how they behave. If I had to deal with someone like me, I'd probably act like a jackass too.

"Anyway," Naruto said, "Don't you want to know why you're getting released early?"

"No." I answered, hoping to annoy him. Sure enough, it worked.

Naruto glared, "Doesn't anything make you happy?"

"Nope."

"Whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes before getting back to business, "I decided to have you get out of prison early because I figured that it would be better for you and the village itself. If you're out here being productive, you'll be a more valuable asset to Konoha than you would be sitting on your ass in prison."

"I guess, but what if I don't want to be productive."

"If that's the case, then you'll have to be thrown back in jail. There's no other option."

"I see, but how am I supposed to be productive? The whole village hates me." I reminded him.

Naruto tried to comfort me. "They don't hate you, Sasuke. They're wary, that's all. You've only been back in the village for a year."

"Don't sugar-coat it, dobe." I snapped at him, not hiding my annoyance with his attempts to be nice. "The only reason why I'm here at all is because of you! I didn't want to come back, but you had other plans, Hokage-sama."

Naruto lowered his head briefly before speaking in a lower tone. He clenched his fists on the desk before meeting my eyes once again. "I didn't know Tsunade-baa-chan would retire and make me Hokage after I brought you back, but you should know that I didn't bring you back to become Hokage. I had other reasons for doing it."

"Like what?" I asked. I still hadn't forgiven Naruto for bringing me back to Konoha. A little over year ago, Naruto found me traveling through a small town near Kumo. Naturally, he asked to come back to Konoha and I said no. After we fought and he won, (barely, I might add) Naruto became the village hero and I was reduced to being considered the living proof of his victory. Shortly before I was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, I found out Naruto was named Hokage... and became engaged to marry Haruno Sakura. I didn't care about that last part, but I was irritated beyond belief that Naruto was actually benefiting from me being incarcerated by becoming Hokage. I firmly believe that the reason why he became Hokage so suddenly is because he brought me, an S-class criminal wanted for murder and treason, back to this damn village to rot in prison.

A sad expression appeared on Naruto's face. He looked away from me, indicating he would not speak. His silence annoyed me further and just as I was about to demand an explanation as to exactly why he brought me back to this hellhole called Konoha, the door opened.

I turned around, ready to give my best death-glare... and was knocked a few steps backward as a pink-headed girl tackled me before hugging me tightly.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I've missed you so much!" Sakura exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Get off of me." I growled at her, feeling the beginning of a headache caused by her shrill voice next to my ear.

To my annoyance, she didn't let me go completely. Instead of holding me so tightly, she loosened her grip from around my neck, but still kept her hands on my shoulders. She smiled at me for a moment before a soft whimper escaped her lips and tears gathered in her eyes, "Sasuke-kun," she murmured, before wiping her eyes and finally letting me go. "I'm sorry for crying, but I'm just so glad you're here."

I didn't say anything, just watched her warily.

Naruto left his desk and put a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder. He smiled at her, then me, "I'm glad he's back too, Sakura-chan."

Sakura returned the smile at Naruto and patted his hand on her shoulder before giving it a light squeeze in gratitude. Watching them, I didn't believe they were getting married. They acted like friends, not lovers.

"Are you two getting married or what?" I asked them without thinking about it.

My former teammates exchanged looks of surprise before Sakura finally shook her head, "No. We decided to call off the engagement a few months ago."

"Yeah, we're better off as friends." Naruto added.

"Why did you split?" I questioned them. Judging from how they were acting, there was more to the story.

"I already told you. We're better off as friends." Naruto said.

I thought about his response and watched Sakura carefully. She seemed almost relieved at the prospect of not getting married to Naruto, and looking at Naruto, he seemed slightly sad, but pleased that he did not have to marry her. For some reason I can't explain, I felt the slightest glimmer of relief myself finding out they wouldn't marry.

Sakura turned to Naruto, changing the subject, "Naruto, have you told Sasuke-kun the good news about where he'll be living?"

Grinning sheepishly and obviously forgotten about it, Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Not yet, but I was just about to."

She shot him a disbelieving look before explaining cheerfully, "Well, we've arranged you to have a fully furnished home in the village. It's a bit small, but I think it would be perfect for you, and best of all, you can move in right away. You don't have to pay rent either."

I was surprised, but definitely not happy about the prospect of living in the village. I also couldn't shake the feeling that there were conditions to my supposedly 'perfect' home. As expected, I was correct.

Hesitating for a second, Sakura continued. "In exchange for no rent, you need to work part time for the landlord as well as completing any other tasks you're assigned..."

"What kind of work?" I asked her, glaring.

Naruto answered, "It's nothing, Sasuke. Just different ways to prove yourself useful to the village. You'll be paid too, so just think of it as getting a job and having a normal life."

"Hn." I replied, unable to be enthused about a normal life. Why? I knew I could never have a so-called normal life.