His Good Looks

In which Sasuke decides that he doesn't want to kill Itachi. He wants to make him Itachi killed his entire family, then logically he should just make a new one. The Playboy! Sasuke you never knew you wanted.

Chapter 1

Sasuke still could not believe this was happening.

As the sold survivor of the Uchiha massacre, he had been designated a special spot all on his own in the front of the mass of people that had gathered to pay his respects. Directly behind him sat Hiashi Hyuuga and his two daughters. He tried not to meet their eyes whenever he turned around to greet another mourner.

His entire extended clan, everyone who bore the name Uchiha was being put to rest here today. And he, Sasuke, the sole survivor, was not going to cry. Not when the spirits of everyone he had known were counting on him to be strong. To be strong for them.

I can't cry until I've killed Itachi

It was unbelievable. His brother, his dear, beloved, older brother, had done this. For some reason he had felt the need to butcher his own parents like animals in front of his younger, barely trained brother. Blood washed across the streets like a tidal wave, bodies lay about everywhere, it was-

"You're crying."

A large, tall man he had never met before clapped him on the shoulder. He was wearing a mask and a leaf headband covering his eye. His hair was snow white. He must have been quite old.

"Am not." Sasuke sniffed.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did." The man said quietly. "I…. my condolences."

He walked away just as suddenly as he had come. Sasuke did not watch him go. He was already greeting the next arrival.

And just like that, it was over. Sasuke stood as if in a daze as people spoke to him. About fond memories of his cousins, exploits of his family, how his father met his mother. No one dared speak of Itachi. No one dared to.

After the funeral had ended, three shinobi that he did not recognize stepped up to him.

"Sasuke…"

The woman among them kneeled down before him to look him at eye level. The men stood on either side of her, at a distance.

"Who are you?" He asked them, a little reluctantly. He was a little shy even on the best of days, and this was certainly not the best of days."

The woman offered him a sad smile. "We worked with Itachi." She explained, her voice soft. "We… wanted to apologize to you, Sasuke."

"Apologize?" Sasuke repeated. "To me?"

"For not seeing the signs." The woman said to him. "We… we are quite a bit older than him, you see. Although he was far more skilled than any one of us, we still saw him as a child in many ways. He never talked much about himself, but I always thought that…" She hesitated. "Forgive me." She said. "I'm rambling."

"What she means to say is that Itachi should have been stopped." The man next to her rumbled. His voice was deep and intimidating. "We should have known him better… figured out what he was going to do."

"He was so quiet…" The woman murmured. "I never would have thought…." She shook her head wildly "Forgive me, you don't want to hear this."

"He never really spoke of the Clan that fondly." The other man noted. "He only seemed to care about Shisui…. And you."

Sasuke recoiled as the others shot him dirty looks. "Me?" He repeated. "He cared about… me?"

"That's… what it seemed like, sweetie." The woman said, reaching out a hand and stroking his hair. Sasuke pulled away almost instinctively "Oh…."

"If you need anyone to talk to, Sasuke… we're always here for you."

The three were not the most reassuring, but they meant well. Sasuke bowed to them and thanked each of them for offering to help him in this difficult time. He did it on reflex… it was not sincere. He still felt rattled, broken, dead inside.

And he was beginning to wonder if he would be like this for the rest of his life.

….

"What are you best at, Itachi?"

"Best at?" Itachi had asked, sounding vaguely amused. "Mmm…. Getting up bright and early, I suppose."

"Oh, you know that's not what I mean?"

"Oh, then what did you mean?"

Sasuke had pouted at him, like a very young child. "What are you best at doing as a Shinobi!"

"Ah, you mean work." Itachi had put on a thoughtful expression. "I don't think of myself as being particularly good at anything…."

"Liar." Sasuke had had Itachi's accomplishments drilled into his head from a young age. Graduating the Academy at six, and becoming one of the finest Shinobi the Leaf had to offer at thirteen. Sasuke had already been told that he was a bit of a disappointment compared to his brother, but it didn't particularly bother him.

"But what I can tell you is what I'm bad at."

Sasuke made a face.

"Itachi, you're the best ninja in the village. You aren't bad at anything."

"Oh, is that what you think?" Itachi smirked at him, twiddling his fingers. "Although it's true I am a fantastic fighter, there is more to being a shinobi than pure strength."

Sasuke had looked at him questioningly.

"I'm strong, yes, but I could never do what the Hokage does. Meeting with foreign diplomats, running the village, supporting everyone who serves me… sometimes I feel aw if my team and I don't work well together enough."

"Huh?"

"What I mean is that there are things that I can't do that other people need to do. I could never… oh, inspire people. Or even get people to like me." His mouth curled. "Did you know I've never had a girlfriend, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered open. He had been having odd dreams about Itachi for the longest time. Had that been a real conversation they had had together? He certainly thought so, although he could not place when or where it had happened.

Itachi had claimed that there was more to being a ninja than pure strength. If that was true, then how had he slaughtered the entire clan and made out like a bandit? No one knew where he had gone or why he had done what he did. It was starting to seem to him that everything Itachi had ever told him was a lie.

Sasuke was starting to attend the Academy again. He had taken a break following the massacre to rest and recuperate. But even as he sat and watched his teachers lecture about the basics of handling chakra his mind was wandering. His teachers were sympathetic, and those around him even more so.

"Sasuke…."

Sakura Haruno was standing right in front of him, her long pink hair held back by a ribbon.

"I…. I want to talk to you."

Sasuke did not want to talk to her. He did not want to talk to anyone. But regardless, she climbed up to where he was sitting and sat next to him.

"I've… heard." She said to him, her voice soft. "About what happened."

Sasuke did not look her way. "I see."

"And I wondered…" She gulped a little. "If you needed anyone to talk to…. I'm here."

"I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Sasuke…"

She wasn't leaving him alone." He realized irritably. He had to leave this place. He stood up and walked out into the yard.

He spent hours just standing in their training ground, throwing kunai after kunai at a target. His hands were cramping, but still he did not stop.

Itachi could do all sorts of things with these knives. He could hit targets with his eyes closed. Surely he would not have stopped killing the Clan because his HANDS were cramping.

"Boy."

A strong hand clamped down on his shoulder. Sasuke froze.

Standing there above him was a shinobi wearing a bright green track suit and a brilliant smile. He was looking at Sasuke with an expression he could not identify.

"How's your Taijutsu?" The man asked him. His voice was deep and powerful, but not unkind.

"My… hand to hand?"

"Yes."

Sasuke closed his fist. It hurt.

"Training is all well and good, but you have to do lots of different things! Not just the same thing over and over." The man gave him a thumbs up. "That's how you get stronger!"

That was true. Sasuke realized, as he thanked the man and walked away. There were so many other things he could do…. Jutsus to learn, moves to practice, maybe a little bit of reading would go a long way….

The more Sasuke thought about his advice, the more he began to think. He couldn't just do the same thing over and over again and expect to grow stronger. Sitting alone, crying, hating Itachi and everything he had done was not going to bring his parents back.

He had to do something. But what?

….

"Sakura."

The girl looked up at him, surprised, as he stepped up to her desk.

"I'm… sorry about before." He said, his voice still a little chilly. "This… has been very hard for me. I hope you forgive me."

"Y-yes, of course!"

He stepped away from her and to his own desk, ignoring the girls glaring at Sakura, who had gone completely red. Sasuke wondered what the big deal was. Was it really that odd that he spoke to a girl?

The lesson went by smoothly Sasuke did his work, took notes, and then left. The day had been uneventful, and already his thoughts had drifted back to Itachi.

"Grow stronger, brother. Grow stronger so that you may kill me."

It took him several days to track down the three Shinobi who had worked with Itachi. He talked with length to them about his relationship with Itachi and what he had been thinking about lately. He spoke of Itachi's last words to him and his worries about what he was going to do. The three listened attentively, and spoke little until he had finished.

"Itachi wants you to get stronger?" The woman asked, cupping her cheek in her hand. "Why?"

"I…. don't know." Sasuke admitted. "He… told me that I was too weak to kill."

One of the men snorted. "I've seen Itachi kill people with no shinobi training at all. You were stronger than them, kid. They couldn't have gone through that."

"Shush." The woman said to him, before turning back to Sasuke. "Sasuke… thank you for telling us this." She said. "Do… do you feel better?"

"A…. little." Sasuke admitted. The woman was wearing an open cut blouse, and from this angle he could see a little bit of her chest. How strange. He thought. The girls from school didn't look like that…. "But I'm still not sure what to do."

"That's easy." The man said, scoffing. "Get stronger and kill Itachi!"

Sasuke nodded. The woman groaned, waving her hands in front of her. "No, don't encourage him!" She cried. "Sasuke…. Sweetie." She leaned in closer to him. "You don't have to do something like that. Itachi is incredibly dangerous. You… I don't think anyone could beat him. I really don't."

"But then… what shall I do?" Sasuke muttered, his eyes roaming around the room. "I know he's strong… but I can't let him get away with this." The woman flinched as she looked deep into his eyes. They had gone from the soft look of a child to the hardened look of a determined killer.

"Sasuke." The third man, the one who had not spoken at all yet spoke up. "Running after him to kill him is exactly what he wants you to do. I don't know why, but he's trying to manipulate you."

"Manipulate me?"

"He wants you to find him again, when you're stronger." The man told him. "Maybe he wants to kill you, maybe he wants you for some other reason. I can't say. But what I do know is that you CANNOT play into his hands."

Sasuke stared at him "What are you suggesting?"

"I want you to think, think, very, very hard about what Itachi did to you, why he may have done it, and what you could do to hurt him just as he hurt you." The man gave him a bitter smile. "Death is too good for a shinobi like him, I think."

Vengeance without murder, huh….? Sasuke stepped down the dark streets of Konoha, lost a little in his thoughts. He had started taking long walks at night to clear his head. It helped him think.

Two women stepped outside of a bar, talking amicably with one another. One was a lovely lady with long black hair and red eyes. The other a smirking, tomboyish looking thing with… quite the assets.

They looked his way as he passed by, and Sasuke tried not to make eye contact.

"That's the Uchiha kid, isn't it?"

"It is…."

He stopped. "I have a name you know." He said to them. "It's Sasuke."

He turned to face them and was surprised to see that they were both ninja, although he could not tell their rank. The short haired one giggled. "Oooooh, he's a feisty one." She said, laughing. Sasuke glared at her.

"Please." The other one said, holding out a hand to her friend. She leaned forward to Sasuke and gave him a considering look. Sasuke looked away from her. Her eyes, although not Sharingan eyes, reminded him a little of Itachi's red stare.

"Sasuke." She said. "Are you lost? Do you need help getting home?"

"I'm not a child." He told her. "Not… anymore…" He looked down at the ground, embarrassed.

The woman stared at him for a while, before nodding. "Anko, I think I will take Sasuke home."

The other woman pouted. "Oh come on! The night is still young and yet you're going home with this guy!"

She stuck out her tongue at him. Sasuke stared. It was… oddly endearing.

"Please, Anko." Kurenai told her, as she wrapped her arm around Sasuke. "I'll see you tomorrow, alright!"

They stepped away as the other woman, Anko, began to yell ater them. "Don't get her pregnant? You hear? Always use protection?"

"What?"

"Don't mind her, she's just messing around."

Sasuke turned his head forward as they stepped down the street in silence. The hustle and bustle of the district they had been in gave way to the still and quiet- the TOO still and quiet Uchiha compound.

"My name is Kurenai, by the way." The woman offered. "Ah…. Which house is yours?"

"I'm not really ready to go home yet." Sasuke admitted. "I'm thinking."

He led her off the road, across a small park, and to a small dock near a pond. They stood there, staring out over the water.

"I practice my fire jutsu here sometimes." Sauske said. "I…. like the way it reflects off the water."

"Oh? At your age? I would like to see it."

Sasuke took in a deep breath, did some hand signs, and blew. A small ball of fire burst from his mouth over the lake. Kurenai clapped politely

"Impressive, for your age."

"Itachi was a registered ninja when he was my age." Sasuke snapped.

They froze, staring at each other. Sasuke turned away from her unflinching stare.

"I… I apologize." He told her. "That was rude of me."

"It was." Kurenai told him. "But you had a good reason to be angry."

They stared out over the water for a while. "You aren't the only one who has been compared to Itachi, you know." She told him. "The team he led wasn't exactly happy about being led by someone that much younger than them."

They had not given him that impression, Sasuke thought. Or perhaps it was a different team that she was referring to.

"He was good, wasn't he?"

"At what he did? Yes."

"But not a good person?"

Kurenai smiled sadly at him. "Those two often don't go hand in hand, Sasuke."

They stood there for a while longer. Sasuke found himself starting to feel curious about his companion.

"What are you best at, Kurenai?"

"What?"

"What do you specialize in? As a ninja?"

"Getting personal, aren't we?"

Sasuke felt a little bold. "Well, you were nice enough to ask about me. Now I'm asking about you."

"Hmm… that's fair." She nodded to herself and then spoke. "I'm a Genjutsu specialist… I specialize in illusions. Among other things."

"Other things?"

"Yes I'm… you could say an infiltrator, I suppose."

"An infiltrator?"

"Yes, I get… men to trust to me, and I collect information from them."

Trust… yes, Itachi had mentioned trust, didn't he.

"I think Itachi once told me that he couldn't handle work like that." He murmured. "He said he wasn't likeable enough."

Kurenai chuckled. "Did he really? Well, it's generally not seen as men's work, what I do…."

"Did you like him?"

Kurenai stopped laughing. "I… I never knew him." She said. "I don't think…." She paused, trying to find the right words to say. "I don't think anyone did." She murmured. "We always said all of his friends were in the family, but seeing what he did now…." She sighed, letting the sentence trail off. They stared out over the water for a couple of minutes, both of them deep in thought.

"Kurenai."

"Yes?"

"I…. I want to get revenge on Itachi." He said, his voice slow and considerate. "At first I wanted to kill him. But the more I think about it… the more I think about what he said to me, the more I realize that that is exactly what he wants."

He tapped his foot against the dock in agitation. "I don't want to do that." He said. "I want to make him suffer, as I have suffered."

Kurenai stared sadly down at him. "You are far too young to be saying such things, Sasuke." She said. "But I can tell you mean every word."

Sasuke nodded at her. "Itachi killed every last Uchiha except for myself." He said, his voice dark. "Their spirts are watching me, I can feel them. They want me to avenge them. They want the clan to rise from the ashes and become even greater than it was…."

He jolted. It hit him. He finally figured it out. The one thing about all else that Itachi would hate. The thing that he fought for, killed for, and would eventually die for, the extinction of the Uchiha, would NEVER come to pass.

Sasuke was going to rebuild a new Clan of Uchiha, while Itachi still lived, and thrive here, in the village that he had betrayed so callously. He, his wife and concubines, and his many, many children would be killers of the highest caliber.

In Itachi's last moments, he was going to die the same way he was born. Surrounded by his family.

A/N

Many thanks to romantiscue, the author of Effloresco Secundus, a Harry Potter crossover that was so good it got me interested in Naruto fics again.

The premise of that story is that Sakura is possessed by Hermione, and therefore becomes super awesome and likeable. Seeing her make Sakura such an interesting character in that fic really made me think about the possibility of changes that could have improved the dynamic of Team Seven and made it more interesting. I think improving Naruto himself has been done to death, but the idea of changing Sasuke significantly was appealing to me… especially after I watched clips from the Road to Ninja movie online.

Those of you who loved Sasuke's portrayal in that will love this. This is more of an origin story about how Playboy! Sasuke became a thing in the main story. It's not really an idea I've ever seen explored before, so I hope you guys find it entertaining.