Authoress's note: Okay! Second story up! This one's about Sasuke, and although he's not one of my favorite characters, I figured it would be fun to do a story about him.

So, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sasuke, nor Naruto. Nor any of the characters in this chapter.

Sasuke's Second Childhood

He was now the single remaining Uchiha in existence. He had killed Itachi a little over two weeks ago.

The look on his brother's face as he'd taken his last few breaths was one of Sasuke's most treasured memories now.

It had been a little too loud of a battle, though, and had caught the attention of Naruto's group and Kisame; Itachi's old partner in the Akatsuki.

Kisame had gotten there first.

Before the shark-man got the opportunity to check if Itachi was still alive, Suigetsu had confronted him. He expected to get Kisame's sword, the Samehada; but was instead met by a rough, painful, and terrible death. It had not been a pretty sight in the least.

Karin hadn't cared; Sasuke hadn't stepped in because this had been Suigetsu's ambition, and he knew hat Suigetsu would need to deal with it.

Juugo had been too busy trying to stop from going insane with blood-thirst again, but he was not winning the fight.

Before Kisame could get to them, a loud shout of "Sasuke!" was heard down the streets of the Uchiha Compound – the destination Itachi had chosen to end their fight at.

Karin informed Sasuke that they were outnumbered intensely, and that the group was close.

Kisame cut his losses and vanished, considering that he'd be in danger if he stayed on his own.

Karin was trying to avoid Juugo as she tried to figure out the exact position of the enemies.

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Naruto had finally found Sasuke! Well, his clone had, anyway. Akamaru and Kiba had taken care of tracking Sasuke down.

Hinata reported that there were three people that were in the Uchiha Compound, and there were two other; both dead.

She couldn't identify the bodies or people.

Naruto had feared the worst, and raced all the way to the scene; afraid that Sasuke had been killed by his brother.

When he arrived, he was shocked. Sasuke stood over the body of Itachi, and two others–a girl and a tall man–were by him. The man looked nauseously pale, and the girl looked alarmed.

Sasuke was the first to speak out of everyone, and he looked straight at Naruto as he did so.

"I did it."

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Right now, Sasuke was walking back from the Hokage's Tower, a thick scowl on his face. He was rather lucky, in everyone's eyes but his own.

Juugo was being taken special care of. Since he was the official 'creator' of the curse-mark that Orochimaru branded his followers with, Tsunade wanted to see if she could figure out a way to get rid of and destroy it. Juugo had been happy just to have someone keep him under control twenty-four-seven, so he hadn't complained in the least.

Karin, on the other hand, got it much, much worse. Kakashi and Kiba had caught her immediately and handed her over to the ANBU Black Ops, no matter how many things she screamed at them. Sasuke knew that they were going to interrogate her about Orochimaru; since she had been one of his closest followers. Sasuke didn't even try to stop them, either.

The father away from Karin he was, the better.

Sasuke was extremely frustrated with Tsunade at the moment, though. She had put him on a two month's worth of probation. He wasn't allowed to go on any missions during that time, which wasn't going to be pleasant. The odd glances that people were giving him weren't helping, but that was fine. He didn't mind being alone again.

He didn't mind being alone at all.

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Sakura watched as Sasuke walked down the street, his usual frown present on his face. She was settled by her window, watching the streets below. She didn't have to go to work at the hospital yet, and had been rather bored all morning. An amusing, but kind, though passed through her mind as Sasuke turned a corner.

What if I could get Tsunade-sama to give Sasuke a job to keep him occupied?

So, Sakura stood up from her perch and left her house to go to the Hokage's Tower; a light bounce in her step as she thought up the perfect speech to give to Tsunade. This was going to be great! No one would be able to resist the job that she was going to suggest to Tsunade!

She smiled as she walked up the stairs to Tsunade's office, being cautious to walk around Izumo and Kotetsu, who were carrying up the latest piece of furniture that Tsunade had tossed out the window. It was her office chair. Sakura also noted that Izumo seemed to have a rather large, new bruise on his forehead. She didn't want to know where it had come from.

She knocked on the door to Tsunade's office, earning a grunt of 'come in', before the inside was silent once more. Sakura pulled open the doors and stared at the Hokage.

Tsunade had a bottle of fresh sake in her hand, and she was sitting on her desk as if it were a seat. There was no chair in the room. Sakura suppressed a sigh, and cleared her throat.

"What do you want, Sakura?" Tsunade asked groggily. It was obvious that she wasn't quite sober, but not completely drunk. She stared at Sakura questioningly, as Shizune stood off to the side with Ton-Ton, her pet pig, curled in her arms.

"I came to talk to you about Sasuke-kun's current situation," Sakura announced.

"'Situation'?" Tsunade repeated. "You mean his probation, right?"

"Er, yes, Tsunade-sama; I mean Sasuke-kun's probation," Sakura replied. "I was thinking that you might, possibly, be able to give him a job to keep him occupied while he's stuck here in the village."

"Oh, A job, huh?" Tsunade slurred, setting her hand on the table and using it for support as she stared at her former apprentice. "What kind of 'job' were you thinking of?"

Sakura had prepared for this, and had thought long and hard about the answer. "Well, since Iruka-san is in need of a new teacher's assistant, I was thinking that perhaps Sasuke-kun could help in one of the classes. That or you could have him keep watch on some of the children."

"And tell me, Sakura; what makes you think Sasuke's going to agree to this?"

"Well, he probably won't, but . . . I'm sure he would appreciate this once he got started! No one can resist Genin. They're too cute!" Sakura stated. "It's worth a try – right? I mean, it's not like Sasuke's got anything better to do."

"Fine, then," Tsunade said with a nod. "I'll discuss it with Sasuke and we'll work something out."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

"Uh-huh. Now, get out of here before I change my mind."

Tsunade had never seen Sakura get out of a room so fast.

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As Sasuke walked into his house, or at least, the one he was staying in, he sneezed. He sighed, praying to a higher power that he wasn't catching a freakin' cold.

And then he sneezed again.

He scowled as he recalled the very reason he sneezed so much when he was living in the village. Someone had been talking about him then, and he figured that someone was probably talking about him now.

He knew he was right when the Hokage's special messenger hawk landed at his window and pecked at it. He scowled as he walked over and opened the window; the bird flying in immediately and landing on his head. Sasuke sighed, and tried to swipe the bird off of his head – only to have it jump up to dodge and land back on his head.

Sasuke let out a low growl, as he slowly reached up and caught the bird by its feet. He hung it upside down by its feet and took the letter off of its leg.

The infuriated scream he emitted was almost loud enough to wake the entire, sleeping village.

Well, there's chapter one! Please review!

Shebby