Author's Note: Here's the real chapter 1; So sorry about the mix-up!


Chapter 1

Day 1: The Return

"This fog is driving me crazy."

The brown-haired man spared him a glance. "Its annoying." He conceded, switching the toothpick in his mouth from left to right.

"I mean, it's just not common in Konoha, and it makes it so hard to see. Its freaking freezing too." he added, rubbing his hands up and down his arms to prove his point. "I don't get how I'm always stuck with guard duty on the shitiest days. I mean,"

"You always have guard duty." his partner interrupted, the slightest hint of a snarl creeping into his face. It was too damn early for Jin's whining.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It's just soooo dull. And come on, you can't tell me you like having to stand out here in this cold with this freaking fog rolling around like…"

Hiro watched the early morning sun strain through the clouds, trying his very hardest to ignore Jin's ranting.

"And why do we even have to do guard duty? We're good shinobi, we're strong! We could be out there!"

"We're here because you botched that mission." Hiro reminded him, biting back a few choice words.

Jin, like always wouldn't take the hint. "But how long are we gonna be here?"

"Until HQ says so."

"But, come on! This just isn't,"

"Shh." Hiro held up his hand, eyes focusing ahead of him.

"What?" The shinobi stretched his neck, trying to peer through the fog. "What is it?"

"Shut up, Jin." The toothpick fell to the floor, unnoticed as he reached for a kunai from his pack.

Ahead of them, the figure of a man was cutting through the haze, striding casually towards the gates of Konoha. From his gait, the brown-haired man knew he was a shinobi. It was when he saw the Uchiha fan stitched into the breast of a traveling cloak that he knew.

"Bloody hell," he murmured. Instantly his hand flew to the communicator at his ear. "Main Gate to Station One, over."

The crackle of static brought back an answer. "This is Main Gate guard, Naga Hiro requesting back up. Uchiha Sasuke is at our front door."

As soon as the name left his lips, a four-man cell of masked shinobi flew from the trees. They strung around the newcomer and pulled his arms behind him, chakra restraints already at his wrists. A soprano voice addressed him, "You're under arrest for defection and betrayal to the Village of Hidden Leaf."

Uchiha Sasuke didn't even flinch. In his signature lazy drawl he interrupted the woman with the neko mask, "I request an audience with the Hokage."

"Yeah, and you'll get one when she sentences you." they jostled him towards the gate, until he sunk the heel of his foot into the ground.

"I invoke my right as clan elder."

The woman turned to face him. Her eyes were hard beneath the mask. "You, little boy, are a missing nin. Whatever privileges you held as an Uchiha have been revoked. And In any case," she added as an afterthought, hoping to smite him, "you're brother would hold that title."

He lifted his head for the first time and the blue-black bangs fell from his eyes. "My brother is dead."


Tsunade was reaching for a half-empty cup of sake with one hand and massaging her temples with the other when the door to her office opened. Her secretary walked in, holding a manila file.

"You know its only midmorning," Shizune added, placing the file on a precarious pile of documents and shooting a pointed look at the sake.

"Were you here to tell me something or scold me?" Tsunade said through a rather large, unladylike slurp.

"There's an ANBU outside, Captain Hirosaki. She's here to report."

She didn't look up from her cup, "About?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." The name made her snap to attention. Shizune was impressed by the clarity in her eyes. "He was detained this morning at the front gate."

The Hokage seemed to process the information. "Where is he now?"

"At the detention center, awaiting interrogation." Shizune paused at the wooden doors, "Should I tell Hirosaki to pass?"

The Hokage refocused on Shizune and she waved her hand, "Yes, send her in."

When the double doors snapped shut, Tsunade fell back against her chair.

Back in Konoha. Kami, she thought. Her hands reached for the bottle of sake. "This is going to be one hell of a day."

The sound of sandaled feet made her focus on the figure at the door. "Captain Hirosaki of squad Delta, reporting."

She looked towards the glint of eyes behind the cat mask and tried to tie the sharp voice to a face. It struck her that this was the wife of Hirosaki Akira, recently deceased. She'd been at the funeral.

"What do you have to say," she finally added when Hirosaki cleared her throat.

"He was spotted by two guards at the gate. He put up very little resistance and only insisted on seeing you."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this. "He says Uchiha Itachi is dead."

Tsunade set the cup down slowly and stood, her height and posture every bit as proud as her station demanded. "Take me to him."


"So, what do you have to say?"

Sasuke looked up as the blond entered. "About what?"

Tsunade pulled out a seat from the table; the one furthest from the missing nin. "For starters, why you're here. Not that I'm trying to sound inhospitable." A hard smile blossomed across her face.

Sasuke reclined in his chair, playing the part of nonchalant bastard and trying hard to ignore the chill of the room. "I've achieved my objective. I want to make amends."

She almost laughed at his choice of words. "Amends. Just like that?"

His bored shrug was more than she could handle. Leaning towards him she let her voice drip with more venom than was necessary, "listen well, Uchiha, if you were under the impression that you've done nothing wrong then let me clear things up for you. You defected this village ten years ago, joined Otogakure,-which, need I remind you, is an enemy of Konoha-attacked and nearly killed several Konoha nins, killed countless others, conceded to human experimentation, learned and practiced forbidden jutsus, created your own team out of rogue nins, have, for the past decade, been on a murderous vendetta, and, most importantly, went AWOL a second time. Your crimes are serious and numerous and they will not be taken lightly by me or the council. People have been executed for much less."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, or at the very least sigh. With an imperceptible shift of his feet, he tipped the chair back. "I believe the point of our previous agreement was that my crimes be pardoned. I did, after all, cut two of Konoha's loose ends."

Tsunade wanted to tell him he was a loose end himself, just like his brother, but his reaction to the comparison would've ended the conversation prematurely. She didn't want to see a temper tantrum and he certainly didn't need another slash against his record.

"I never initiated any attack against Konoha nins," he continued, "and never killed one. Naruto came close, but the dobe survived." Tsunade jolted at the name, earning her a curious glance from Sasuke. The words were on the tip of her tongue when he spoke again, eyes still carefully observing, "I have killed others, but there isn't a shinobi out there who hasn't. My team's only target was Itachi and I made sure they stuck to it. I did not meddle in or enforce Kabuto's experiments. Nor did I fail my end of the bargain. Besides, I doubt that, even with what I have done, the council would kill their last link to the sharingan and the Uchiha clan, especially after I cooperated."

She drummed her fingers on the table, irritated by his arrogance, and though he was right, she couldn't resist disputing. "You're cooperation was questionable at best and we have other shinobi with the your skills."

"The Byakagan isn't the sharingan, and while Kakashi may have that miracle eye, he can't pass it on." He answered coolly, that same smirk curling his lips.

"You could face hard time. Decades in prison, you've done enough to get yourself a life sentence."

He still seemed unaffected. "No Uchiha has ever been locked away. I'm more valuable to this village outside of jail."

"Complacency brings the best man a bitter end," she repeated the same words the Third had said to her team long ago. "Your clan and blood trait don't make you indispensable."

With a scoff he leaned his elbows on the table. "You're lying."

"Am I?"

His response came without hesitance and with all the confidence of an Uchiha. "Yes. We both know the influence my clan holds, even now; the assets we own and the investments we've made-assets and investments which are very beneficial to the council and Konoha, assets and investments which will be donated to some very lucky organization in the case of my death. And even without the money, the sharignan alone guarantees me clemency. It and the Byakagan are the best weapons in Konoha's arsenal, not to mention their source of pride."

Tsunade stepped out of her chair and walked to the door. "Konoha's pride, and its best defense, are our shinobi. Don't get so cocky, that's the reason your clan's dead." She slammed the door shut just before a chair shattered against it.