Uchiha Ryuu walked into his house and headed up to his room, ignoring his father's wave. son's hand, not even bothering to change out of his ANBU captain uniform.

'Now that's not like him' Sasuke thought, following his son.

Sasuke opened Ryuu's door and found him sitting on his bed, staring at his reflection in a kunai. "Hey buddy. How was your first day of school?"

"Fine. Can we train?"

Sasuke smiled. His son really was a lot like him. "Sure, Ryuu. What would you like me to help you with?"

The young Uchiha looked a little ashamed. "My aim could use some work."

"Alright. We can fix that." Sasuke took his

Ryuu threw his shuriken again, about half of them hitting the target "You're aim really isn't that bad. I'll bet you're better than half your class." Ryuu beamed at the praise from his father. "It's getting later, and your mom will want to hear about your first day." Sasuke noticed his son's eyes fall at the mention of the academy. "Hey what's up with you?"

"Hn."

"Don't you 'Hn.' me, young man. I'm the one that taught you to hn!"

"Exactly." Ryuu responded with a smirk. "Be proud. You wanted us to go, right?"

Sasuke sighed. "You'll have to tell me sooner or later. Let's go."

The Uchiha men walked down the street towards their home, Sasuke silently contemplating what was wrong with Ryuu while the younger Uchiha silently contemplated ways to hide his distress from his father. At some point Sasuke had stopped to talk to one of the ANBU in his cell. Unfortunately, Ryuu didn't notice that until he was surrounded by a bunch of older boys from the academy.

"There." Sasuke said with one of his rare smiles that were reserved solely for his wife and son. "I thought they'd never go away, eh Ryuu?" The Uchiha turned to where he presumed his son to be and paled more than usual, before running in the direction of his home, hoping to find his son.

"Don't you dare come back to the academy! You're a disgrace to all males!"

Sasuke's head snapped around, and he saw three boys, all three or four years older than his son, looming over something menacingly in the back of an alley. He moved in closer to investigate.

"Ya." another boy sneered. "How can you go out in public."

"My dad says I'm goanna be a great ninja! Better than any of you ever will be! So leave before you do something you regret!" The ANBU captain's eyes widened in shock as he heard a very familiar voice.

The tallest by scoffed. "Ya right. You're father's ashamed of you. To think the legendary Uchiha Sasuke could have something so pathetic."

Sasuke watched, Sharingan flaring, as tears formed at the corners of his son's eyes, who was handling this surprisingly well up until now for a six-year-old. The enraged father jumped down from the rooftop he had been watching from and landed silently next to his son, ruffling the hair that was spiked so much like his, though looser so it looked less like a chicken butt.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the children who had cornered his son, eyelids narrowing over swirling Sharingan. "I don't particularly like finding my son cornered in a dark alley by cowards who can't pick fights with children close to half their heights. What do you think I should do with you?" All three boys gulped. "If you apologize to my boy now and never come near him again, I may let you off with a simple warning."

All three of the bullies bowed so low their noses were pushed in the dirt. The tallest looked up to Ryuu and stuttered out an apology. "W-w-w-we're v-v-very s-sorry Uchiha-sama. We w-won't let it happen again." With that the three boys ran away, presumably crying to their Mama's.

The ANBU captain kneeled down in front of his son and deactivated his Sharingan, face plainly showing his worry. "Is this what you've been trying to hide from me?" Sasuke received a hesitant nod, and sighed. "Why were they picking on you, anyway?"

Coal black eyes bored into Sasuke's identical ones. "Dad, I have pink hair."

That was the night Uchiha Ryuu finally died his hair black.