Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Chapter One
Reunion


"Hatake Kakashi has died," Madara told him.

Slash! Off went the dummy's head.

Sasuke did not respond.

"I killed him," Madara continued.

"Why are you wasting my time on such useless information?"

A shrug from the other Uchiha. Madara's strange smirk when unseen. "I'd just thought you might want to know, seeing that you are going after them right now, at this minute."

Slash!

The head that came off this time wasn't the training dummies—but Sasuke's.

The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Madara gazed almost disgustedly on the ground. "Kabuto... you bastard."


Sasuke arrived at Madara's lab. He had to see it for himself—he had to see if what Kabuto said was true. After dismissing the hawk summons, Sasuke prowled through the building at Mountains' Graveyard, easily dodging the various traps and guards.

Then he arrived at the tens and hundreds of eyes—Sharingan eyes—that lined across the entire wall. His own eyes turned blood red, blood pounding furiously against his veins.

Madara was a traitor... Kabuto was right.

He was betrayed... again. By his own family member. He'd lived a life built on lies... were they now finally crumbling down?

But, for some reason, Sasuke didn't howl and yell to the sky. His need for revenge wasn't as deep-pressed as before. Not like his Genin days, where revenge consumed every fiber of his being.

No... Perhaps he had known this himself already, had been so used to betrayal it was expected, Sasuke, seeing the Uchiha eyes, only grinned.

"Now, doesn't this shorten my trip?" he asked a skull's head by the ground. It didn't answer, and Sasuke crushed it beneath his foot.

"Of course it does."

Madara... change of plans. I am coming for you.


"Kabuto," Madara said. His voice was calm, betraying none of his anger.

Scaled and bespectacled, Kabuto Yakushi was a disgusting sight. He looked up from his hood and into Madara's mask, smiling mockingly.

"Yes, Madara-san?"

The suffix was used to mock him, to rile him up, to let his already brimming anger overspill.

Madara had no patience for his mind games.

"Why did you tell Sasuke about my collection?"

Kabuto didn't answer right away. He moved one of the stones on what seemed like a gigantic puzzle before answering, "I know nothing about what you speak of."

"Don't play this shit with me."

"Why would you need Sasuke, anyway?" Kabuto stroked one white snake. "After all, you have all of the Uchiha clan's DNA, and I'd told you how to use the technique myself—surely one temperamental little boy won't matter much?"

"He is my last pair of eyes, my last vessel if I were to host the Ten-Tail."

"Really?"

Kabuto, of course, was faking his surprise. They were two strongs shinobi; spying on each other was a given.

"Why else would I preserve Nagato's other eye? But we are wasting time with this repetitive banter. This still brings us back to my original question: Why did you tell Uchiha Sasuke of my collection?"

Kabuto was quiet for a moment, most likely debating on whether to play dumb or admit to Madara of his untrustworthiness.

Apparently, he decided on the latter. "I need to see just how far you are willing to go for our compromise."

"And how is driving him away going to help that cause?"

One yellow eye peered at Madara sideways. "It alienates him from you, which makes it easier for me to separate the boy from you later on." When Madara didn't speak, Kabuto tilted his body so the Uchiha could see his smirk. "What? Did my 'ingenious' plan surprise you?"

"More surprised by the carelessness of your planning. I thought you wanted your revenge quickly, and having the boy watched underneath my eye is certainly easier, in my opinion, than having him running rampant elsewhere.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong again, Madara-san," Kabuto nonchalantly held up another pebble. "As long as I have this, he would do whatever I want him to, go wherever I order."

Madara knew at once what the pebble contained, and, at the same time, knew he was bested. This time.


"We've finally caught up with you, Sasuke."

The raven-haired teenager stood there, unmoving, back to them. He didn't need to turn around to see who they were, though he was surprised that Naruto kept his silence for so long. Instead of charging straight at him, of course.

One could've expected their reunion to be a more dramatic kind than the last.

"What do you want?" He was greatly annoyed that they had stopped him on his way. He was about to kill Madara, after all.

Sakura paused for a moment, carefully chewing her words, before continuing. "Kakashi-sensei... you've heard about him, right?"

"Yes," came the terse response. "And what does that have to do with me?" He turned away. "You are wasting my time."

"BASTARD! Have you gone so deep that you don't even care about your own sensei?"

"Naruto!" Sakura reprimanded sternly.

The blonde immediately fell silent. Sasuke secretly wondered what they needed from him that was so important Naruto would shut up.

"If it isn't the Rokudaime and his healer." Finally, he turned to face them. Naruto glowered and Sakura flinched. "Give me a reason not to leave now."

"Please, Sasuke—"

"We're not here to beg you to come back, if that's what you're thinking."

A sardonic smirk twisted his lips. "Finally given up, haven't you? Finally realized that your goal was futile? Finally realized that I am the enemy?"

A determined look set over Naruto's features. "I won't fight you, Sasuke. This is not the time."

Sakura cut in. "There's a war going, and we need your help. Sasuke, Join us. We have a common enemy. You know it."

He placed a hand on the Kusanagi. "'Join you', I see. And what would I get in return?"

He saw her jade eyes harden just a bit, but that was over quickly as she disguised herself once more in an indifferent façade.

"Your goal," she said, her voice sounding a lot colder than before. "In exchange for your support, Uchiha, you will get to kill the elders. Konoha will provide you the information. They are traitors to the village and should be dealt with accordingly."

He was amused. "And who gives you the authority?"

"I do," Naruto said simply.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, blood-red versus cerulean. Finally, Sasuke nodded.

"Fine." He grabbed the hilt of his sword and turned away. "Just stay away from me."

He knew he did not imagine the barest of sighs that came from Sakura, or Naruto's tiny twitches of anger that he could scarcely contain.

They thought they had gotten him to agree, but that couldn't be further away from the truth.

Sasuke Uchiha would get his revenge. Alone.

He would see Konoha to ashes after that.

He smirked.

And his teammates would be the first to die.


The 8th Stone's Guide to "Sasuke Uchiha":

Sasuke's crazy. There is still one shred of sanity inside him, but he's basically gone, ninety-nine point nine percent.

His mind jumps around in weird ways: he can't focus on one goal, one person to kill, so he's determined to do everything at the same time. That's basically how I try to pull it off as, anyway.