AN: Hello, everybody. I've returned to after years of absence. I think my old account, Loudest_Voice, is still around somewhere, but I forgot my password long ago. This is a rewrite of an old fic of mine, The Traitor and the Nine-Tails, which used to be moderately popular on this archive. My goal this year is to get something finished in this universe. Wish me luck.
Warnings: There's some M/M here. Not sure if you still warn for that on this archive, but if you do, here it is! However, this is not primarily a romance story. Also, how am I supposed to put scene breaks on this site nowadays?
Chapter One
His duty orders arrived a day after he saw his passing grade listed at the Academy's front noticeboard. Report for Team Assignment on 6/1 at 700 hours, Academy Classroom 1. Even less fanfare than getting the headband, which was probably for the best. People whispered last day of class. That little traitor, from that clan, becoming a ninja. It made people nervous.
It made Sasuke nervous too, not that he would ever admit it. He tried very hard not to think of Itachi, but how could he not remember that at twelve, Itachi had been recruited for ANBU? Graduating at the top of his class barely ranked as an accomplishment.
Around him, his classmates chattered like hens that didn't know they were in line for slaughter, excepting clan brats maintaining an air of professionalism. Well . . . Yamanaka argued with that pink kunoichi with high scores on written tests, Nara seemed to be napping, and Hyuuga always faded to the background. A handful of minutes later, Sasuke himself had a dumb fight with that moron Uzumaki, who'd somehow weaseled a headband from Iruka-sensei.
Not much professionalism from anyone then. Sasuke could hardly take the high road when he worked himself into such a tizzy that he accidentally "kissed" that imbecile. The girls acted like they were in a soap opera over that, but Sasuke had little to report besides faint nausea that he knew Uzumaki had cheap miso ramen for breakfast.
Ending up in Uzumaki's team irked him, but traditions were traditions. No matter how dumb. Getting Haruno actually bothered him more since she was one of the annoying girls always harassing him (he would have picked Hyuuga, if only because she rarely talked to him . . . or even looked at him). None of it mattered. Only his jounin-sensei mattered, and then only if whoever they were took their teaching assignment seriously.
And didn't shun Sasuke for a traitor.
His head pounded as the jounin arrived for their teams. The new Ino-Shika-Chou team got the Hokage's son, as expected, and the rest got jounin that Sasuke couldn't recognize. Which didn't mean much, since Sasuke no longer had any connection reason to know who was who in Konoha's army. Then he was alone in the classroom, Haruno and Uzumaki grating at his nerves.
"Why isn't he here yet?" whined Uzumaki, voice pitched to a note that made Sasuke's eardrums recoil.
"Maybe he's busy," said Sakura.
Sasuke grunted and laid his head on the table.
"Now you're bothering Sasuke!" screeched Sakura.
"Am I supposed to give a shit about that?"
"Shut up, both of you!" said Sasuke.
Haruno made a sound fit for a wounded animal, but at least she retreated to a desk a few feet away from Sasuke. Of course, Uzumaki took that as a challenge and rushed closer, chanting some random challenges that Sasuke didn't bother registering. He couldn't afford to beat some sense into the idiot today, not when there was the slightest chance that he'd get a jounin-sensei with the mildest of intentions to train him.
Sasuke's short supply of patience was exhausted by the time the sun was halfway through the eastern sky, and there was still no sign of his jounin-sensei. Maybe it was all a hoax and the council was waiting outside, making bets about how long the Uchiha traitor would wait meekly for a jounin-sensei that would never come.
"That's it," yelled Naruto, rushing to the front of the classroom. "I'm gonna show this asshole."
"What are you doing?" Sakura followed him, wringing her hands as Naruto grabbed the eraser and headed to the door. "You're gonna get us in trouble! Stop it, stop it; Sasuke do something!"
Sasuke sighed. He wasn't going to make it.
At least Uzumaki calmed down after setting up his little trick, and settled at a front desk to giggle and fidget at odd intervals. Haruno glanced anxiously between him and the eraser, making Sasuke wonder why she didn't just disable the dumb trap if it worried her so much. Not that she should. Their jounin, if he bothered to show up, wouldn't fall for it anyway.
The door finally nudged open about an hour later. Sasuke couldn't keep himself from leaning forward, certain as he was that the trap wouldn't work. He heard Uzumaki and Haruno gasp loudly, then froze on his seat as the eraser missed a long braid by a breath.
"Damn it!" yelled Naruto. "He dodged."
"Juvenile."
His voice was the same. Sasuke's throat spasmed. He almost doubled over when those dark eyes passed over him briefly. No expression whatsoever. Maybe he didn't see Sasuke at all. Maybe it wasn't him.
"I'm so sorry, sensei," Sakura breathed out, bowing almost to the floor. "Naruto's just deficient; he never knows any better."
"Like hell I don't," said Naruto. "Why are you so late?"
"For good reasons, rest assured," said Itachi.
Itachi. It was Itachi. Sasuke would recognize the bastard blind and deaf. And in hell.
"Follow me," said Itachi, without bothering to look up at Sasuke.
Somehow, Sasuke's joints hadn't locked in place. Proud that he didn't tremble, he got up and followed Haruno and Uzumaki. He even managed not look like was hurrying, though his teammates were tripping all over themselves.
"This isn't fair," said Naruto as they walked through the village, a few paces behind Itachi. "Shikamaru gets that badass with a beard and we get the girliest-looking fucker . . . besides Sasuke."
"He can hear us," hissed Sakura, punching Naruto's shoulder and glancing back at Sasuke in obvious despair.
"I hope he can," huffed Naruto.
Sasuke focused on his heartbeat. No. He focused mostly on the fat braid between Itachi's shoulder blades, or on the ACE bandages wrapped around his calves, trying to judge if he was skinny or not. It was too hard to judge an enemy's weight when they wore the bulky standard uniform favored by Leaf jounin. Bile bubbled at the back of his throat. Itachi walked around as one of the most respected jounin in the village. Maybe he thought it was a fair reward for ripping through his family in a crippling wave of betrayal and murder.
Itachi paused on the trail leading to the Hokage monument, then gestured at a bench meant for sight-seeing. He leaned on a fence and scanned them, his expression placid. Sasuke couldn't restrain a reflex to curl his hands into fists when their eyes met, but Itachi didn't seem to recognize him.
Maybe it wasn't him. Sasuke hadn't seen him in five years, and it wasn't like Itachi had ever been particularly striking. Straight black hair and dark eyes, voice soft. There might be those birthmarks under his eyes, but they were only obvious up close. And the jounin was standing with his back to a wide tree trunk that shrouded him in a veil dim shadow. Maybe it wasn't him.
"My name's Itachi," he said.
Sasuke's throat clenched.
"That's nice," said Uzumaki. "Now what?"
"Naruto, don't be rude!" Haruno slapped his shoulder, then turned to Itachi and bowed to her waist. "He's uneducated, Itachi-sensei. I'm Haruno Sakura, and that's Uchiha Sasuke over there, and this idiot is Uzumaki Naruto."
"I know your names," said Itachi.
"So. What. Now?" repeated Uzumaki, perhaps angered at how Itachi's words made Sakura's shoulders slump.
"We get to know each other, I suppose," said Itachi. A gust of wind blasted through the tree, blowing some locks of hair in front of his eyes. He ignored them. "Hobbies, goals, and dislikes. That sort of thing."
"You tell us first," said Naruto. "Why are you a ninja?"
"Well," said Itachi, tilting his head at Naruto. "I was born here, a Hidden Village, and happened to have some talent."
Happened to have some talent. Sasuke swallowed back vomit.
"I don't have much time for hobbies," continued Itachi, gazing at the sky with an absurdly wistful air. "I'm fond of candy . . . I think I would collect the wrappers if I was one for indulgences."
"That's the weirdest shit I've ever heard," said Uzumaki.
"Naruto." Sakura slapped his shoulder again, and then turned towards Itachi with a saccharine smile. "And what do you dislike, sensei?"
"Paperwork," said Itachi. "On a positive note, I'll have a lot to delegate now."
"So you're a desk jockey," said Uzumaki.
"Sometimes," said Itachi, "I'm very organized."
"That's not fair!" Naruto actually stomped his foot, making Sasuke consider the possibility that he was hallucinating. "I want a real jounin to be my teacher."
"There's a box at the main Mess Hall for suggestions and complaints," said Itachi.
Sasuke hated to admit that from almost anyone else in the world, he would have found that funny.
"Please just stop talking," Haruno pleaded with Uzumaki.
"That's alright; honesty is valuable among comrades," said Itachi.
"I became a ninja because there's a man I have to kill," said Sasuke before he even registered the fury Itachi's words triggered.
Itachi turned to him, tilted his head, and . . . smiled. His lips twitched.
"That's dumb," said Uzumaki, "especially for you. I became a ninja because I want to protect the village."
"You became a ninja because you want people to like you," said Sasuke.
"Fat chance. Everyone hates you."
"Not as much as they hate you and your traitor family, asshole."
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled at the same time that Sasuke prepared to rain down on Uzumaki like a beast on soldier pills.
"That's enough," said Itachi, voice devoid of levity for the first time.
Sasuke stopped in his tracks, gaze fixed on Uzumaki's frame, now in a defensive position. He glanced at Itachi, noting that he'd straightened up and shed all pretense of being relaxed. With great effort, Sasuke dropped his fighting stance. Attacking fellow shinobi outside of self-defense was grounds for dishonorable discharge. Technically. He would not make it so easy for Itachi.
"And you?" Itachi asked Haruno after the moment had passed, voice subtly light once more. Haruno blinked.
"Huh?"
"Why do you want to be a ninja?" repeated Itachi. Sasuke zoned out Haruno undoubtedly idiotic answer, determined not to lose his mind again. He needed to make it home, and then . . . one step at a time. For now, he just needed to get home.