Thirteen Years later

Konoha

"Not good enough!" a rough voice bellowed as he was thrown to the floor yet again. A new bruise forming on his elbow, joining the others that painted his body in a unique combination of purples, blacks and yellows. His porcelain skin was drenched in sweat as he got up once again to face his opponent. Not hesitating, his attacker struck again. "Your moves are slower! Why are you not protecting your right?" the voice came again, along with a heavy blow to his side, knocking him down again to the now familiar floor. If he focused properly he could see where his blood had splattered the ground and name exactly what type of attack that had drawn the red liquid from him.

"Father, perhaps we should finish for today? Surely he has worked hard enough," a smooth baritone broke through the dojo where he was training. His elder brother stood in the doorway, barely masking his anger. But if was at him for not being strong enough or their fathers method of training he wasn't sure. Self-loathing weighed down in his stomach as heavy as if he had swallowed an anvil.

Their father snorted in poorly disguised disgust at his youngest son. "You do not deserve the name Uchiha," he spat before turning on his heel and walking out the dojo, ignoring his eldest who had started to move forward to the lone boy in the center of the room.

"Are you alright, otouto?" his elder brother asked, gently grasping his arm so he could pull him up and examine his elbow and side. Snatching his arm out of his brother's grasp, inwardly wincing at the pain that shot up his arm at the rough action.

"I'm fine Itachi. I just need to practice more. What did you come here for?" the younger sibling deadpanned, not wanting to dwell on his failure. Itachi sighed, partly in frustration against their father and partly in exasperation. He knew he was still taking passing the exam rough but his otouto wasn't one to just lie down and roll over, he could see the determination burning in his eyes right now. If Itachi didn't keep an eye on him,he would probably be training until the sun rose again, missing dinner and breakfast, just to prove to that man that he was strong. Before succumbing to the psychological torture that was the academy.

'You're strong enough already' Itachi thought with pride at his brother. He was top of his gennin class and had just passed the graduation exam as top rookie. Not an easy feat these days. Smiling in a way that would probably have their father lecturing about weakness, Itachi decided to help his brother with his training before dinner.

"Would you like me to help you with your taijutsu, little brother?" he asked charmingly. The younger brother's eyes widened. If Itachi helped him, he was guaranteed to improve! Itachi was only eighteen, but he was already an Anbu captain! He graduated the academy when he was seven, that was six years less than him. And when he was his age was when he became an Anbu captain. Remembering that little fact made him taste that bitter feeling of self-loathing again. He was thirteen already and he had only just graduated if albeit grudgingly. He had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up to his aniki. Feeling useless standing there and pitying himself, he immediately ran out the door yelling at his brother.

"Hurry up aniki! We only have a few hours till dinner!" chuckling at his otouto's antics, Itachi followed at a more leisurely pace.

"Yes, Sasuke."

...

Life was bleak in the Hidden Leaf village, well that was what Sasuke Uchiha thought anyway. If it wasn't for his group and Itachi, it would probably be unbearable. He had finished training with Itachi, sat down at the uncomfortable, regular evening event that was dubbed family dinner and was now wandering the streets, loathe to go back to the place he called a home. Things had changed drastically since the Third had stepped down from power thirteen years ago, and the leader of the Anbu division 'Root', Danzo, had been named Godaime Hokage by the council. The ideals that the First and Second created the village with were all but forgotten. The new Hokage valued power above all else. Meaningless bonds and attachments such as love and friendship had no place in the newly reformed village.

Sasuke thought that being named Rookie of the Year would make his father look at him with pride instead of shame and disgust. It seems that if he wasn't as good as Itachi, he was nothing to him. Strength was what was valued in the Uchiha house, and now all of Konoha, and he wasn't strong enough it seems.

Konoha was one of the strongest villages, without a doubt, all but Iwa bowed to them in might. Danzo's methods were strict and cruel, but they were effective. Hundreds of missions poured in daily from other countries, wanting Konoha's ruthless nin to do their dirty work for them. The economy had never been better. But with every great empire, there were those who did not agree with it.

The ninja clans of Konoha held great power. They could trace their ancestory all the way back to before the villages were founded and the ninja clans roamed the land separately, selling their skills as a whole. As such they were the ones that chose to let the Senju clan lead them and create the prosperous and peace loving Leaf Village. Now, with the new leadership, they were seriously beginning to question their allegiance.

Inuzuka, Aburame, Nara, Yamanaka, Akamichi, Hyuuga, and a few lesser known clans were the strongest opposition. Their family ties were strong and were greatly acknowledged as the source of their strength, in particular the Inuzuka who were extremely loyal as their canine partners taught them. In any way they could, they attempted to undermine the new Hokage's authority; doing missions haphazardly and achieving the bare minimum, excusing themselves from doing the supportive D-rank missions and other any other annoyances they could think of.

The Nara, Akamichi and Yamanaka clans were especially resentful. They had a long history working together and having impeccable teamwork, all the way back to the first clan heads. Now they were in the fifteenth generation, and all their morals and ideals were being threatened. The past thirteen years had been difficult for them. Raising their children had been difficult, teaching them to value their companions whilst the academy taught them to achieve their goal at all costs, including risking your teammates lives.

Sasuke sighed again, graduating the Adacemy was a bigger feat than it was before the Godaime came into power. Before you sat a test run by chuunin, did a justu and bam! You were chosen as a gennin just not in active duty, hitai-ate and everything. A survival test later conducted by a jounin and you became a full-fledged Gennin ninja of the village. Now, barely anyone passed.

The previous system allowed for those who did not have the stomach to be ninja to drop out. Once you achieved gennin, you had on average a year or so to adapt to missions, usually D rank and occasionally a C rank. This allowed them to come to terms with the hard work and occasionally death whilst still being watched and guarded by a jounin. Then the chuunin exams would pit them in combat and those who did not want to go on anymore were able to drop out safely and find other paths of employment. Once you were a chuunin, it was all C and B- rank missions. The main brunt of the village's mission load. Then only the best of the chuunin applied to go jounin, the elite. Jounin took only B, A and even S-rank missions, the dangerous missions that only the best could ever hope to accomplish. And if they wanted to go further, they could apply for ANBU, the black ops, Who only dealt in S and SS rank missions, doing covert operations to secure the villages safety.

The standards now though had been raised, and raised high. To even be considered to take the exam, your test paper score, which evaluated your ability to strategize as well as name various laws and shinobi rules highlighting the new regime, had to be passed with a score of eighty percent or higher. Then you had to perform the basic three jutsus: henge (transformation), kawarimi (substitution) and bunshin (clone), But you had to utilize them to retrieve a scroll being guarded by one of the chuunin proctors. Getting to the scroll wasn't enough, you had to leave the room with the scroll regardless of chuunins were only permitted to use taijutsu and weapons, but were allowed to use them with lethal force. This was to make sure they knew that becoming a ninja wasn't a easy, dream job, but one that was kill or be killed. There was no friends and their was no mercy.

Needless to say the new survival test that awaited the gennin hopefuls who passed the written exam,had been revised by the new council, personally selected by the Hokage himself. Instead of a test that tested a gennin's knowledge about reading underneath the underneath and promoting the values of friendship and teamwork, it was a bloody free for all. In other words, the survival test had drop the test part, it was now just survival. The jounin was assigned their squads of three and took them to one of the ninety-three different training grounds of their choice. There, the gennin were pitted against each other in fights to the death, using all their skill and tactics to take down the competition. The one left standing was to become a gennin. But you had to survive and stay conscious enough for the jounin sensei to come back and retrieve you, for you were locked into the training ground for three days with nothing but your survival kit and what you manage to scavenge off your dead ex-classmates. If you were unconscious from hunger, thirst or exhaustion when the jounin sensei came back, you were dead as well. No weakness, that was the new mantra in the Leaf village.

The purpose of the survival test was to rid them of their hesitation to kill on the field. No matter the type of person, the first kill is always remembered whether it be seasoned ninja or lowly farmer to little orphan child. Once they were numbed to the horror of murdering your fellow classmates, you were then and only then able to call yourself a gennin, a shinobi in training of the Hidden Leaf village.

Since the values of teamwork were all but shot, it didn't matter if multiples of three were promoted, such as the previous curriculum stated. As each time they took a mission, it was with new comrades. Another method created to further destroy the previous Kage's efforts at creating a happy, peaceful village. The gennin was granted a jounin sensei who would personally train them one on one, this allowed their skills to improve exponentially. Gennins were then put into teams without their sensei and sent on missions. usually C and B rank. D rank missions were handled by the academy students now. The Hokage claimed it to be preparing them early, despite the many seeing it as free, child labor.

Six years ago only one gennin passed, and then there were no more graduates until one year ago when only three managed to survi-... pass... This year though, there were seven people who passed. Seven was unheard of when it came to the exam. It was the most amount of people to graduate at one time since the new exam had been put into place. With the three that had graduated the year before, it encouraged the pupils to go for the exam in overwhelming numbers, allowing such a large number of passing students. Unsurprisingly though, the graduates had all come from the powerful and well known clans, with only one of them being from a clan with unshakable faith in the new system, Uchiha.

Sasuke remembered when he killed the unfortunate boy that had been pitted against him. He could still hear the tortured screams as he was roasted alive, he could still smell the aroma of cooking human flesh as the fire devoured him hungrily, he could still see the boy as the skin on his body slowly blistered and peeled away under the merciless flames, only for the soft tissue underneath to be burnt black and his bones reduced to ash. It had been the single most horrifying thing he had ever seen. He didn't mean to kill the boy, no he had to stop thinking of him as 'the boy'. He had had a name, and a family, and most likely, secret friends, and he had killed him. His name was Gin Taisho, from a small but profitable merchant family in the east district.

Gin had lept out from concealing his chakra behind him, kunai held ready to attack. Sasuke only knew he was there due to the horrified gasp of their female adversary, still hiding in the bushes. Turning sharply he had performed his clans most basic katon jutsu, and the boy didn't have the skill to dodge or dissipate it. So he fell to the ground writhing in pain as the flames ate through his body. And Sasuke had stood there and watched, unable to tear his eyes away from the slowly dying boy, that he had condemned to die.

A choked and gurgling gasp was what drew his attention back to the other opponent he had. Ignoring the silent tears trekking down his face, he came face to face with a masked figure. Sasuke quickly recognized the outfit as one of the Root Anbu, loyal only to Danzo. But that was not what caught his attention. At the Root's feet was the girl hiding in the bushes, throat slit and eyes staring lifelessly. Whites still visible in her eyes from the look of horror at seeing a boy being burnt alive. Blood dripped steadily from the short tanto blade in the Anbu's hand, the only sound in the suddenly quiet training ground. The Anbu stared at the boy in front of him, unmoving in his stance.

drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

"Why?" he had whispered, unable to take the sound of blood dripping from the sword to the ground, already soaked by the life sustaining liquid. The Anbu didn't move but a voice floated from behind the mask, as cold and as unforgiving as the harshest of winters.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha, youngest son to the head of the Uchiha clan. A bargain has been made with the Hokage and I have orders to ensure your survival during this exam." The words struck deep inside his soul, his father would have been the one, wanting to ensure the name of Uchiha wasn't tarnished by his weakness. The corruption of the Hokage was undeniable, favoring those within his council, for Uchiha was very much a prominent figure in the Hokage's council, and ensuring they are kept content. Even if it means breaking the laws he himself had lain.

Before he could move or utter a sound, a dull thunk was heard along with a pain in the back of his neck and Sasuke fell into unconsciousness. When he awoke it was to the Anbu nudging him awake, having stayed in the grounds and keeping his vigil. Then the Root agent was gone and his jounin sensei was walking through the trees to discover if any of his prospective students were still alive.

Trying to rid his head of dark thoughts, Sasuke pushed through the third bush from the right, in front of the second fence that ran from the gap of the corner of the ally that lead to the market street that went past his district. Coming to the fifth plank, from the divide that met the edge of the bush he had pushed through, he made the appropriate hand-signs and channeled chakra into the normal looking fence. A seal lit up brightly, to complex for Sasuke to understand, before vanishing into the wood. A creaking sound announced the opening revealing itself a little to his left. Sasuke ducked through the secret passage entrance and it closed with a smart snap behind him. Walking down a flight of stairs, that was not visible from the outside due to an incredibly strong genjutsu being placed over it, Sasuke emerged into a well lit chamber which held eleven people. Six of them his age, three of them a year older, one of them he saw not twenty minutes ago and the other was dressed in shadows and had unruly blonde hair. The blonde looked up when Sasuke entered and smirked.

"Great, every ones here. Now, time to plan a revolution."

Iwa

A loud bang made a blonde head of hair raise itself weakly off the floor. The door to his room a been kicked open and in the doorway stood a dark silhouette. Letting his head drop, the blonde remained on the floor of his 'room'. It wasn't even a room, but it was the closest thing he had to one. Cold, hard bricks made up three of the walls and sturdy, impenetrable bars made up the other wall. The door was thick steel and the only entrance in or out his little cell. A kick in his side made his attention go back to the dark silhouette. It was rather small in statue but authority and power was clear in the way he held himself. The blonde snorted.

"To what to I owe the pleasure, old man?" he asked, not bothering to hide his disdain for the man. The man came forward and the little light that came through from the end of the hall outside his 'room' illuminated his features for a brief moment before they were hidden again as the man moved closer to the blonde. A large bulbous nose was the first feature that drew attention. Little eyes that were kept under eyebrows that seemed to be in a constant frown and tanned but wrinkly old skin. The frown got more pronounced at the disrespect the boy showed.

"I see your conditioning hasn't been effective enough, I must schedule you for another three sessions a week." the old man watch in pleasure at the visible flinch of the blonde boy.

"What do you want?" the blonde sighed, already resigned to his fate. The old man smirked.

"That's Lord Tsuchikage to you, and I have a mission for you and One." The blonde raised his head higher, interested since he would be working with One. One was his closest friend. They were trained and conditioned together, though since it became apparent that the conditioning wasn't working on him, they were separated and only met when they were sent out into the world to do the Tsuchikage's bidding.

"Nine! Pay attention!" the voice of his keeper broke through. Nine, it was his name and Identity. A number was all they knew as to who they were. Nine leveled a stare at the leader of the Hidden Rock village. The man seeing as he had gotten the boy's attention continued with the briefing.

"A scroll has been taken from out vaults. It is of utmost importance that it is returned with all due haste. There is a seal on it to prevent others from reading it, but that will only deter them for so long. If any outsider comes to read the knowledge stored within this scroll, Iwa's political position will be weakened immensely and most probably begin the next Great Ninja War,"

Nine listened with rapt attention. This was big. This was really big. But something yelled at him to go with caution. As he thought it through his eyes narrowed.

"We're the last resort aren't we? You would have sent your best and most loyal to retrieve this scroll immediately, and since they've obviously failed you would of then sent a bulk of ninja to try and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. Now you have no choice but to rely on us, your secret powerhouses." His suspicions were confirmed as the Tsuchikage's posture stiffened. Nine smirked in victory.

They never did retrieval missions or any mission that had something to do with the political on-goings of Iwa for that matter. They were the assassins that crept in and slaughtered whoever the old man pointed them to. They were the ones they sent when a subterfuge team from a rival village came to spy. They never left anyone alive, but did enough collateral damage to tell the village who sent them to back off. It was why Iwa was tied as the number one strongest village out of the great five.

Of course there were reasons why they were never allowed to touch anything that could potentially harm Iwa. It was because they hated it here. They were prisoners. Each time one of them did something that was not approved of, they were punished. Burned into their very skin, a seal was placed in the back of their necks, shaped into two rocks, the symbol of Iwa. When they disobeyed, try to retaliate or even escape, the seal would activate.

Words could not described the pain the seal evoked, it was like your blood boiled within your veins whilst white hot needles jabbed at every pore on your body. Searing agony entered your head until your sure it would explode. So intense was the torture that one wished for the sweet release of death to stop the torment.

"Four and Five will be escorting you as well."

This brought Nine's attention straight back to the Tsuchikage. The four of them were going on a mission together? That hasn't happened before. Usually it was only one of them on a mission, occasionally two if it was a tough one. Once they had reinforcements from another so the three of them were outside three village at once. This meant one thing.

This was really, really, REALLY big.

"Who are the targets, and what was their last known location?" Nine said in full mission mode.

"The names of the individuals who took the scroll are unknown, but it has been confirmed they belong to a group called the Akatsuki. It is a group compiled of S-rank missing nin."

Nine waited for more information. How many there were, which villages they came from, the ultimate goal of the group, who their leader was, where they were based, what they intended to use the scroll for. The pause grew longer until Nine raised an eyebrow, prompting the little old man to speak.

"That is all that is known about the group," He said uncomfortably. "No one has ever been able to get close to them, the only reason we know of it is because one of our spies managed to bribe a councilman from the Leaf village after a meeting with the ex-Hokage and his pupil, Jiraiya of the Sannin,"

Nine couldn't help it, he laughed.

"You mean there's a village out there that is doing better than you?" he asked between gasps. The Tsuchikage growled, aware that while his village had might, it's information network was severely lacking compared to Konoha's. The new Hokage was cunning and ruthless, and it was all that Iwa could do to not bend to his rule. Eying the laughing blonde, the leader of Iwa decided he had allowed the blonde enough leniency for today. Biting his thumb, he swiped a trail of blood of a small kanji of the number nine that was on his wrist.

Nine's immediately stopped laughing. Biting his tongue do he wouldn't give the old man the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in pain. He knew he was pushing it, it was only a matter of time before he went that little bit to far. As he felt his nerve endings slowly being eroded by what felt like a slow burning acid, he was dimly aware of a small scroll hitting his back and footsteps retreating. A loud clang confirmed his thoughts that the rock leader had grown tired of watching him writhe in pain and had left, leaving the mission details here for him to go over.

'Stupid old man, just you wait, I'm gonna get us all outta here,' Nine thought viciously as the pain started to subside. Pulling himself into a sitting position gingerly, nine grabbed the scroll and started going through his objectives.

"Akatsuki huh? Might be fun to have a challenge, what do you think Kyuubi?"

So so, what do you think? ^^ I was stuck onto how i was going to move onwards from here, had many mant different starts then scrapped it the started again haha, anyways hope you enjoy!