The rain fell all around the young boy as he ran through the streets. He knew he was coming home late, but it wasn't late enough for all of the lights to be out. He skid to a halt as he looked down the street. His stomach lurched as he looked at the grotesque image in front of him. "Mother, Father…" The boy choked out as he swallowed his fear, and the lunch that was threatening to evacuate his stomach.
He had come down this way on his own hundreds of times. Usually he'd wave at his fellow Uchiha, but today there was no one to wave to; no one alive that is.
"Older Brother!" He screamed as tears streamed down his face and he was barely able to see the form of Itachi standing in the middle of the street. "Where are Mother and Father?"
Itachi said nothing, he only turned to look at their family house. His little brother sprinted into the building before a scream that would haunt the older brother for the rest of his life. He clenched his fists as he walked into the house once again.
"Itachi, what happened?" Sasuke screamed. He was tucked into the corner of the room with his legs pulled to his chest as tears streamed down his face. He looked up at his brother, desperate to see strength in his eyes. The only thing he saw however, was apathy. Itachi said nothing, merely drew his sword, revealing the blood dripping off the tip. "Itachi…" The boy said, the fear in his chest replaced by shock. That is until the bloodied sword was pointed at him. "Please, don't!" He said holding his head before glaring up at the brother. "You won't get away with it." He said between choked sobs.
"Foolish brother…" Itachi closed his eyes. "Hate me if you want. Hate is what gave me the power to do this, all of it. You will live the rest of your life in solitude, and you will come for me brother. You will come for me and take my life yourself. When you have these eyes, come and kill me!" He shouted before his eyes snapped open and revealed a three pronged shuriken design.
Sasuke looked into this eyes, and he felt a stabbing pain all over his body. He didn't feel it, but he could see it. The ground was getting closer to his face. He heard a smacking sound and then blackness covered him.
XXXX
The Uchiha's eyes shot open. "That dream again." He whispered to himself as he got out of bed and looked out the window. He tossed the blue comforter off of himself and put his feet on the ground.
Those dreams haunted him for five years. Five years he had spent alone, without a family to call his own. The only family he had left was the same man who killed them all. His brother Itachi. His lips pulled back in a sneer at the thought of that certain someone. Thinking about Itachi was one of the only things that let Sasuke really feel anything. Normally he walked through life numb to the world around him.
He'd watch people try and connect with him, but he was never able to. So he'd leave them be, and ignore their attempts in the future. The worst that did that were the girls in his class. He'd walk into the room, and all of their eyes would fall on him. The looks the other boys gave him because of that, told him that he should be happy with all of the attention, but he never was. Granted, Sasuke Uchiha was never happy.
The only thing he wanted, no, the only thing he needed was vengeance. He lived his life with the singular idea that he wouldn't let Itachi get away with what he had done. That was why Sasuke was the best in his class. The other kids just thought he was better than he was. That was because after school they stopped training. He however, would go home and train until the sun went down. That was the only reason none of them were able to keep up with him.
Today, all of that would pay off however. He opened his fridge and scanned its contents. He groaned before he shut the door and walked to the bathroom. He still had the Uchiha fortune that he inherited. Which made him one of, if not the single richest person in the entire village.
The cold water coming off of him in the shower forced his body to wake up from the restless night he had.
He came out of the shower and walked back to his room where he walked to the clothes he had laid out the previous evening. He put the blue shirt over his chest, and put the shorts on as well. Next he walked over to his dresser where it sat. The reward for his years of hard work. He ran his fingers over the cold steel, and felt the indents from the Leaf symbol carved into it.
Again he felt nothing. He lifted the headband and put it around his head. He looked at himself in the mirror and almost felt proud. He had his mother's face. He couldn't remember if he ever saw her wearing a head band, but he imagined that she would look like this.
He went to his front door where his shoes were delicately placed. He sat down on the landing before pulling the sandals on. He pushed the front door open and leapt over the bannister.
He landed on the ground with a grunt before he started to walk towards the Ninja Academy. It wasn't a long walk by any stretch of the imagination.
After a few minutes of silence he heard other children excitedly walking together. He saw most of them had headbands on just like him, there were a few that were younger that tagged along with them. He grit his teeth, remembering the time he went with his parents to watch Itachi be given his headband.
"Sasuke!" He heard a coo from across the street. He said nothing, just tucked his hands in his pockets and kept walking. "Hey, Sasuke over here!" Again he ignored the calls. He didn't even turn his head to look at who it was, because in reality they were all the same.
He came to the door of the classroom and walked in. Luckily it seemed like most of the girl hoarde wasn't there yet, so he could sit in peace. Unfortunately there were no desks that only had one seat left. He took the next best option however was next to a boy with dark pointy hair.
"Hey Sasuke." Tobio said acknowledging his classmate.
"Hn." Sasuke replied in his version of "politeness". After a few minutes the door slammed open and everyone turned to look at what the commotion was.
"I'm first!" Two voices shouted at one another.
After taking a few breaths Ino Yamanaka turned to look at her rival. "I win again Sakura."
"As if." Sakura heaved between breaths. "I had to look back to see you, my foot was at least a tenth of an inch ahead.
They both stopped their bickering when they looked into the class and could see the object of their affection. "Sasuke!" They both shouted before turning to glare at one another.
In a step they were both charging towards the desk the Uchiha was sitting at. Tobio grabbed the table, bracing himself for the shoving that was about to happen.
"Beat it Ino-Pig!" The pinkette shouted as she shoved her rival out of the way and sat in the middle seat of the desk. "Hey Sasuke, I'm so happy to see that you passed."
The Uchiha said nothing, just kept his hands in front of his face hiding the grinding teeth from everyone's view. "Leave him alone Sakura." Tobio moaned resting his head on the desk. "He's not interested, get over him and move on."
"You don't know what you're talking about idiot." Sakura crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air.
The door at the front of the class opened and their Sensei, Iruka Umino walked into the room with a stack of papers. "Alright everyone, settle down. I know that technically this is our last day of class together, but it is still a day of class. Ms. Yamanaka, I'm going to need you to take a seat."
"Yes Sensei." The blonde said, glaring back at Sakura who stuck her tongue out in response.
"Alright, as most of you know, genin teams are put into groups of three with a Jonin sensei acting as the fourth member, and leader." He tapped the papers in his hands. "These teams have been selected by the Hokage himself, so I don't want to hear any of you complaining about who you're paired up with." An awkward silence hung over the room, as nearly everyone worried about being placed in a team with the people they didn't like.
Sasuke ignored the thought, largely because there were only a few people he didn't want to be put in a team with. Namely the Hyuuga and the Akimichi. The Hyuuga was silent and most likely not going to be a strong fighter, and the Akimichi, well anyone who looked at him could tell you what was wrong with that. With a glance, Sasuke saw the heir shovel almost an entire bag of chips into his mouth.
Sakura perked up seeing Sasuke's head turn, but frowned when she saw him looking past her. "Alright, if everyone's ready, I'm going to announce the teams now." Iruka said glancing around the room.
He went through a number of teams until Sasuke's attention was caught. "Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha," The room waited in anticipation to see who would be paired with the natural genius of the fabled Uchiha clan. "Tobio Banpu." The two boys looked at one another before looking to the front of the class. "Sakura Haruno."
"Yes!" Sakura shouted standing to her feet, with her hands raised triumphantly in the air. "Hear that Sasuke we're going to be on the same team together."
"Hn." Was the only response the Uchiha gave.
XXXX
"Where is he?" Sakura asked pacing around the room. "Ino Pig's Sensei came and got her over an hour ago."
"Wonder what kind of ninja is this late?" Tobio asked leaning back in his chair.
Sasuke said nothing. He didn't have high expectations for his classmates. Sakura, while book smart, was absolutely useless and nearly every physical challenge. Sure, she passed, but that was by the skin of her teeth. Tobio on the other hand did just ok in everything. He wasn't at the top, or the bottom of the class, he was just in it. The Uchiha took a breath, he could tell that he was going to get stuck doing most of the work on the team, but that was fine with him. It meant more experience, and more experience made it easier for him to finally go after Itachi.
Sasuke's ears perked as he heard the footsteps coming down the hall. He assumed it was their sensei, mainly because he hadn't heard anyone else in the hall for some time.
The door cracked open, and a man with ashen white hair poked his head in. He had a grey mask pulled up to his nose, and his headband was tilted over his left eye. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Jonin. He almost looked like he was trying to look cool, but the Uchiha had to admit, it was working.
"Well…" The ninja said coming into the room, and putting his hand on his chin. "My first impression of you is, I hate you all."
Sasuke glared at their sensei as his new teammates deflated at the comment. "You just met us!" Tobio shouted. "How can you already say you hate us?"
"Calm down, calm down." The ninja said waving his hand with his one eye shut tight. It almost seemed like he was smiling. "Why don't we all meet upstairs so that we can introduce ourselves." He raised his two extended fingers up and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Sasuke silently stood up, and walked over to the door to the class. The other two were stunned at the weird behavior of the man. He switched from disdain, to cheerful in a few moments. Sasuke came up to the roof, he could hear the other two coming up behind him. Their sensei was sitting on the railing and watching their movements. His eye was narrowed, taking in every move they made.
Sasuke just sat on the step in front of the rail and waited for the other two to do the same. "Alright, now that we're all here, why don't we go around and introduce ourselves."
"Why don't you go first." Sakura's hand shot in the air. "So that we understand what you want."
"Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake." He said leaning back and looking up at the picturesque blue sky. "My likes? Well I don't really want to tell you." He rolled his neck causing it to pop. "My dislikes, you don't need to know that. And my dreams for the future," He put his hand to his chin in thought, "I never really thought about it."
"That was helpful." Tobio huffed.
"Why don't you go first, spiky." Kakashi said pointing at the boy.
"Me?" Tobio asked. He turned and saw Sakura looking at him, and Sasuke sitting with his eyes closed. "Well, my name is Tobio Banpu. I like hanging out with friends, and being with my family. I'm not a huge fan of loud people, or hot days. My dreams for the future," He said with a twinkle in his eye. "my dream for the future is to do the normal ninja life, marry a girl, retire and open a weapon's shop in the village."
Kakashi nodded his head. He was partly expecting to hear some crazy dream that seemed impossible, but a sensible goal meant the kid wasn't a total moron. "What about you?" He nodded to Sakura.
"My name is Sakura Haruno." She said proudly. "What I like…" She paused for a moment glancing nervously at Sasuke. "I mean who I like…" Tobio rolled his eyes aggressively.
"Why don't we skip to your dislikes." Kakashi said already knowing where this was going.
"What do I dislike?" Sakura asked putting her finger to her chin. Honestly, she couldn't think of all that much. Sure her and Ino butted heads all the time, but at the end of the day she enjoyed it; she'd never tell anyone, but she did enjoy it. "I can't really think of anything sensei." She said sadly.
"That's fine." Kakashi reasoned. He looked over to Sasuke, already assuming what her dream was. "And what about you?"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." The boy said. His eyes were burning a hole in the pole directly in front of him. "I don't like much of anything, and I don't like other things. My goal however, is simple. It's not as much a goal, as it is a promise. I'm going to find a certain someone, and I'm going to kill them."
Tobio felt a bead of sweat roll down his back as he felt the truth behind Sasuke's words.
"On that note." Kakashi stood straight up. "Tomorrow we're going to begin our training. I'm gonna start you all off with a little survival training. Word of warning to you all." He said pointing a finger at them. "I wouldn't eat anything. That is, if you don't want to get sick." He gave them another eye smile before jumping away in a blur.
"Sasuke, what do you think…" Sakura turned to look at the Uchiha but already saw that he was gone.
The Uchiha walked to his home. He was going to spend the rest of his day preparing for the task at hand in the morning. He had heard countless stories about how Itachi graduated so young, and rose through the ranks. He didn't have any time to waste. He was going to prove himself, he was going to prove that he was better than everyone else, including Itachi. That was his reason for being now, and nothing would stop him.