Prologue
Sasuke's day started out by being awakened by his alarm clock, at 6 AM, like any other day.
The annoying sun made its way to his eyes, making him groan and turn around to shut his alarm off
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It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining brightly, caressing the boy's bare pale torso. He yawned loudly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. After reluctantly getting out of his bed, he did some stretching exercises to wake himself up.
Another day, another mission, another tormenting moment of my life thought the raven haired boy as he headed to the bathroom for a steaming shower. He took off his clothes and tossed them in the hamper, turned the knob of the shower and got in. He let the water loosen his muscles and let a rare smile tug at his lips. After being sure he had washed himself thoroughly, he turned the water off and got into a towel.
Sasuke looked at his reflection in the mirror while drying his hair. He dried the rest of himself quickly and put the towel around his lean hips.
After combing his spiky hair, the raven made his way back to his room and put a pair of black boxers on his hips. Sasuke looked through his drawers for some decent clothing. With some consideration, he decided on a sleeveless black shirt, some dark pants, and a navy vest with a high collar, trademark of the Uchiha clan. He also took out of a small box a pendant that he put around his neck.
A knock on his room window got him out of his daze. He opened said window and saw the annoying blonde.
"Oi! You done pampering yourself?! Get down here, we're going on a mission!" Naruto shouted impatiently.
Sasuke, seeing as the blonde would break in his house and drag him out if necessary, hurried, taking his bag and putting his shoes and headband on.
How long had it been since he first put it back on? It seemed like ages ago since he was a missing-nin, a criminal, a rebel. After the war, the blonde had convinced the raven to come back to the village, Konoha.
Sasuke got out of his house at the sound of an impatient friend of his.
"What took you so long?!"
"Will you shut up? Isn't it too early for you to be whining?" Sasuke retorted.
"Yeah, well at least I don't take an hour getting ready!"
"Hn."
The two walked on the path to the village gates, bickering all the way. They were soon joined by Sakura, who hit Naruto on the back of the head as he whined.
"Ow! Sakura-Chan, that hurts!"
"You should've seen it coming" the girl said while crossing her arms across her chest.
"She's done it enough times that you should know to protect your head" Sasuke stated coldly.
"Shut up, Teme!"
This continued until the three were near the gates, waiting after their forever late sensei.
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The sun was still only rising and the morning was deliciously cool. Just the way he liked it.
An Inner Self walked on a path towards another village. The last one he was at was in the Tea Country. The one he was headed to now was in the Fire Country, close to Konoha. Hopefully he would sell a little more than he did lately, Kami knows he needs the money. But for now, what he had would last him for another two months or so.
A strange feeling overwhelmed him. As if something was going to happen soon…very soon.
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"Good morning guys!" Kakashi chirped happily to his team.
"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura said in unison.
The gray haired man cracked a smile behind his mask. "Sorry, seems I got lost on the path of life."
"Yeah right!" the blonde shouted. "So, what's the mission?"
"Some genin level bandits are stealing stuff from a market in a village a few hours from here. The chief is chunin level and we're assigned to capture them for interrogation and to get the stolen merchandise. Got it?"
The team all nod their heads.
"Then let's go."
With that, Team 7 left the village.
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"Mercy!" the bandit chief pleaded as an angry Sasuke approached with his Sharingan activated.
The raven mercilessly grabbed the man's neck and slammed him against a tree. The bandit coughed up blood and looked into the Uchiha's eyes. The Sharingan started spinning and the bandit fell into a genjutsu and fainted.
All the other bandits had either collapsed or were badly injured by the rest of the team.
"Mission accomplished guys" Kakashi stated. "Let's tie them up and head to the nearest village for rest."
"Ha! Finally, let's do it quick, I'm starving!" Naruto shouted excitedly.
When the bandits were tied up and a team of Anbu came and got them, Team 7 started walking the nearest village.
While Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi chatted idly in the front of the group, Sasuke was walking in the back of it, minding his own business. Without knowing it, the chain around his neck with the Uchiha symbol on it, broke and fell to the ground. This is a valuable item that the raven cherished with his life.
Little did he know the loss of this item, would bring him closer to himself.
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The Inner Self was still walking on the path, now only a few minutes away from the village. If he could get there quickly, he would have time to set up his little market tent and have the rest of the day to sell his merchandise.
A glimmer of light caught his eye. He bent down and took the item that shined in the light. It was a necklace, with the legendary Uchiha crest on it. This little artifact could sell for a good fortune.
Putting the pendant in his pockets, he set off again to the village.
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"Damnit!" Sasuke cursed rather loudly in the hotel room.
"Whoa, what got your panties in a bunch?" the blonde asked.
"I lost something!" he replied while looking through his bags.
"Well, what did you lose?" Sakura asked.
The raven gave a groan. "It's nothing any of you need to know about!"
"We could help you find it if we knew what it was" Kakashi stated.
"NO!" Sasuke retorted.
They all shut their mouths at how the raven was acting. It was strange to see him this way when usually he was calm. This "something" must mean something to him.
"Well, look for it latter, we're going to the market" the gray haired Jounin said and pulled Sasuke out of the room, much to the boy's displeasure.
The team headed into the busy side of town where there were small merchants' tents, selling whatever you could think of. Sasuke certainly did not want to be here, but rather looking for his pendant.
"Oh! Look at this!" Sakura said and showed the guys a cut bunny plush animal. "I used to have one of these when I was little. Everyone had one back then; it was the toy to have."
"I had one too!" Naruto exclaimed happily.
They continued looking at the things on sale for a while. They now stopped at a red and black satin covered market tent with various items for sale.
Something caught Sasuke's eye.
He looked and saw his beloved pendant that he had lost not too long ago.
"Anything you would like to buy young man?" the merchant asked.
The team looked at the merchant, and was completely taken aback by his looks.
He had long gray-blue hair, ashen skin with a black cross in the middle of his face. His nails were short talons and had large canines protruding from his glossy lips. And his eyes… The white was black and there was a forever activated Sharingan in them.
Sasuke's mouth was open in what was an expression of both surprise and horror.
"Who are you!?"
To be continued…
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