PROLOGUE

You can never tell just how heavy a man is till he's dead to the world. Because then, his body will sag and you've got to lift his him and fight against gravity weighing him down at the same time.

Now add your own fatigue, stabbing pains in your everywhere, a scar where you had a hole through your right lung not 20 minutes ago, and you've got possibly the worst, most painful 20km stumble back to your village.

"Sakura better damn well appreciate this."

SMACK!

My nose is now broken. Oh well give it 5 minutes and it'll be back to normal in no time.

Sometimes I fear I may be too detached from my own pain to be healthy.

"YOU HURT MY SASUKE-KUN YOU DEMON!"

Oh fate you cruel merciless bitch, you.

The room smells like old cabbage, somehow. I doubt it's actual old cabbage, and more so a mixing of the smell of self-important assholes. That's what this council is, at least the civilian side and those three relics, Danzo, Homura and Kohara.

Must be some pointy poles up their bums.

And now I want to throw up. Joy.

Now I admit, logically Danzo doesn't really hate me, he just wants me weak and hated so he can easily turn me towards his little ROOT force. He approached me once, I called pedophile and Kakashi, then known to me as Inu, took him away, might have even chuckled a bit, not to sure.

Anyway… Saru-Ojisan's old teammates are out for their best interests and no others, and because of that the civilian's have far too much control within the workings of Konoha's Shinobi forces.

Therefore, when it comes to me, those spiteful bastards throw logic straight out the window, thus my childhood and this;

"I'm sorry, I think I have something crazy in my ear, what did you say?"

A fat, balding, civilian, stood up and sneered in that, ever so arrogant, condescending tone of voice I've been hearing from everyone that isn't a Hokage, Sannin, ANBU, Iruka Sensei, Hinata-chan, or Sasuke all my life. You know, the logical people.

"You, boy, are hereby banished from Konohagakure no Sato, for brutalizing the last Uchiha. You have 3 hours to leave these gates and never return unless invited. Also as compensation for the damage you have done you will gift your sword to Uchia-Sama"

"CHA! That's right Demon, now give me that sword so I can give it to Sasuke-Kun!"

Oh yeah, did I mention she was here?

A cacophony. That's really the only way I can describe the outrage from the Shinobi side of the council.

They were outvoted concerning my banishment, but to a Shinobi, his weapons are his pride.

To see Civilian's demand a Shinobi's weapon is tantamount to me pissing in Kami's face and expecting not to be smote.

But again, like hell I was giving them 'Wrath' in the first place. I found it fair and square.

"So let's see if I have this straight, I'm being banished for beating on the last Uchiha, a fellow Konoha nin, who went rogue, out to join our biggest traitor since his Ancestor Madara, when according to the Konoha Charter, Section 4, subsection A; paragraph 5 Lines 4 through 6 "Should a Shinobi go Rogue, unless otherwise stated, said rogue is to be terminated with the utmost prejudice?"

"STOP YOUR LIES DEMON SCUM!"

"SHANNARO! THAT'S RIGHT! NOW GIVE ME THAT SWORD!"

"Whatever dick cheese, and go fuck yourself with a rusty shuriken Haruno. What you idiots failed to realize is this."

A quick 1-finger salute to the civilians, a two fingered one to Haruno, a respectful bow to the Shinobi and Hokage-Obbasan.

"I'm not even really here. AND I have your Forbidden Scroll. Good day idiots, Shinobi.'

"Hokage-hime, sorry, looks like I can't succeed you after all. I BE NINJA-GOD!"

My Kage Bushin dispels just as Haruno goes to punch it in the jaw and half way to Wind Country I smirk. S Rank Bounty here I come.

What? Jinchuriki of the fox, theft of the forbidden scroll of sealing, AND wounding Sasuke, I think S rank is reasonable.

Okay, I suppose I could settle for A rank, if I must.

"How are you still walking? I just stabbed you through the lung!"

"Sasuke, Arigato."

"Wha…?"

"You'll… understand soon."

"Understand what? What's going on Naruto. Why are you thanking me? I just shoved a bolt of lighting through your chest. We've been beating on each other for the last 40 minutes. I'm defecting to Orochi-fucking-maru! And you're THANKING ME? WHY?!"

"Because… You've been a good friend Sasuke, a good brother. Please… Protect Konoha… for me."

"What are you talking about? Protect Konoha, I'm leaving Konoha. YOU'RE MAKING NO SENSE!"

"No, you're not leaving. When you wake up, go to the place where Itachi sent you 7 years ago."

"Wake u… Wait, how do you know about that?"

"You'll understand."

"Why can't you just…"

"Gogyo Fuin! (Five Elements Seal)

"Ugh… Narut…o…."

The next thing Sasuke knew was the ceiling of the Konoha Shinobi's hospital.

When a doctor had thanked Sasuke for driving away the "Demon Bastard Uzumaki," Sasuke knocked him out and ran to the Hokage's office, demanding to know about Naruto and what had happened to him.

60 minutes, a guilt trip and one crushed ego later, he felt like shit.

Because of him, Naruto was banished… Because of him, his brother's dream had been taken…

His dream? Naruto was a completely different person at the Valley. Assertive and powerful, yet he looked so serene. Like he had been set free.

Sasuke didn't understand why.

"No, you're not leaving. When you wake up, go to the place where Itachi sent you 7 years ago."

So that's what he had done.

And there on the shrine that once held the Mangyeko scroll, were 3 scrolls addressed to him.

To Sasuke-Teme

From Naruto Uzumaki

Genin

To Sasuke

From Hiruzen Sarutobi,

Jonin, Saindime Hokage

To Sasuke

From Itachi Uchiha

Anbu Captain, Aniki

"What the hell Naruto?"

Sand.

I've never hated sand, not even after fighting Gaara and the monstrosity that was the Ichibi; sure, afterwards I had to thoroughly scrub out some uncomfortable places that had become literal deposits of the stuff.

But after 10 minutes in wind country, I'm really starting to reconsider my stance on hating the stuff.

Maybe it's not the sand I should hate, because to do that I'd have to hate Gaara, who's continuously covered in the stuff, and really, I can't bring myself to do that to my fellow Jinchuriki.

So instead I'll hate the concept of desserts.

You hear that Kami? Desserts suck!

…

…

…

Huh no reply… guess there really isn't a God, and if there is, well, bastard don't seem to care about us... or maybe it's just me? Although I think it's just humanity in general.

Desserts being Exhibit A.

Gotta tough it out though, it's for the sake of the plan, and the plan is really, really, important.

I just hope I catch up with Gaara soon, otherwise I may just rip this dessert a new hole.

And this close to Suna? Don't want to start an incident.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, dessert's suck.

…

…

…

"100 bottles of sake on the wall, 100 bottles of sake…"

Yeap, I've officially gone insane.


Saskue-Teme,

Sup?

Naruto.

Sasuke's eyes twitched. He wouldn't burn the letter, he wouldn't let his emotions rule him.

P.S.

Oh Kami.

If you managed to keep hold of yourself long enough not to reduce this letter to ashes;

Another twitch. He would not burn the letter.

I congratulate your self-restraint, must be hard to repress your instincts like that;

Oh yeah, the letter would burn.

But this isn't actually the entirety of the letter.

Read Saru-ji's letter next then Itachi's after that's done come back to this one and you'll know what to do.

Ja ne, Teme.

Sasuke palmed his face; trust Uzumaki Naruto to complicate things.

"So Konoha could not abandon its hatred of you?" Gaara spoke in that soft monotone, never wavering, never cracking.

Wish I could ignore puberty like that.

"Nah, the Shinobi have never really hated me, just been wary, I do have the strongest Biju sealed within me after all, as it turns out, the civilian's just outnumber us on the council."

Gaara's nodding his head, his face still devoid of emotion, but the sand surrounding us is starting to churn, ever so slightly.

He was pissed.

I turned to his siblings, Temari was cracking her fists, hands drifting towards her fan ever so slightly and Kankuro was flexing his fingers, chakra building in the tips..

To think, they wish to hurt the council, for me!

Oh look I'm blushing.

Because I really don't have enough on my plate as it is...

Don't worry, Ninja Yarn, Playing with Reality and Four Front War are still going, this is just a small little plot bunny that popped into my head.
Anyway I'm not going to be working to dilligently on this, but if you want permission to use any of the main points I've given (Sarutobi Itachi and Naruto with their plan) or hell, if you just want to use this chapter as a starting point, PM me and a breif outline of where you want to take it and you can, so long as you give credit where credit's due and don't try to claim this as yours.

Anywho, Jordan Out!