The next day had began in the worst possible way a sleep deprived Sasuke could have wished for.

The Uchiha was woken up on the crack of dawn by a nagging presence constantly getting in and out of his sensing range. But it never came close enough for him to make out who it was. Or at least close enough for him to ask.

It pissed Sasuke off more than he wanted to admit.

After the sleeping daze had cleared for a bit he realised that the nagging presence, one he wanted to kill very badly right now for interrupting his rest, was probably his surveillance team. Or a surveying person since he only felt one chakra signature.

Sasuke had flared his own chakra showing that he was aware of the observer. Kakashi warned him to leave the ANBU alone but complete ignorance was as good giveaway as any. He was a damn good ninja and he would confront them as any sane ninja would do.

As Sasuke was slowly getting up from his sleeping bag the presence had suddenly disappeared leaving absolutely no trace left behind.

"A shadow clone?" he murmured surprised.

So that's how they would keep tabs. Too afraid to do it in person it seems.

Smirking at his realisation the boy saw no sense in prolonging his stay and decided to head out immediately. Anger now gone from his mind as well as sleep.

After everything was packed he found his way to the main road once more. It was still barely visible but the sun was slowly but surely taking its place in the sky. Sasuke thought it was around six in the morning, good enough time to start the day.

If memory served him well he was supposed to end up near the first big trading village inside of Konoha territory.

The village where I saw Itachi for the first time after so many years.

And of course the memory didn't fail him.

After an hour of peaceful walk he started to notice first signs of human intervention. The branches in the woods were bent in the wrong way, smaller paths being visible from the main road. Moments later he even saw a what appeared to be a local hunter with arrows and a bow at his side. The older man looked at him once and after that went off with his pursuit. Sasuke couldn't decipher anything of his emotions apart from cold curiosity and an obvious question of 'What are you doing here so early?'.

In another hour he found himself in front of the small gate in a not so bigger wall which was stretching all around the perimeter of the settlement.

It looked like it might fall at any second.

Sasuke wondered why would such a wealthy village have a wall of such low quality. Made of wood. Probably by a child.

Seeing that the entrance was still closed Sasuke decided to jump over and not disturb anyone inside. It was still early morning and most were probably still asleep.

Unlike me, he frowned.

What came to view on the other side had shocked the young adult quite greatly.

What once was a wealthy trading village with lots of small booths everywhere, selling everything one would ever wish for, now was a village of ruins. Most of the houses were destroyed or partly destroyed by enormous chakra tree branches sticking out of the earth. Some cocoons were still laying on the sides with flies flying over them. When he came closer to the nearest white cocoon he was greeted with a rotten smell of death.

Why haven't anyone cleaned this? He wondered when his eyes caught the decaying corpse inside. It's almost two months after the war.

The streets were empty so far so Sasuke decided to walk around the town hoping that in the center things were better.

And I still need a sharpening stone.

As he went through the streets he noticed that the situation was the same everywhere. At some places he even saw traces of a fire right in the middle of the road.

Fighting? Were there clashes here? But what for?

No, he answered to himself. The evidence didn't point to a fight. It had to be something else.

When Sasuke turned to another block his eyes were met with by far the biggest chakra tree root he saw. In diameter it was as big as the houses around it. Some of its smaller branches looked like a spiderweb and they stretched as far as his eyes could follow. Probably all around the village.

Coming closer the Uchiha outstretched his sole hand and touched the root. It was cold to the touch but strangely charged. As if the energy was still flowing through it!

But it couldn't be.

When Naruto and him stopped the jutsu it was supposed to stop the chakra gathering process completely. Everywhere.

Furrowing his eyebrows Sasuke took a kunai and cut off the smaller branch but right before his eyes it grew back to the way it was. He tried again and again to no avail.

Strange.

"This won't work Sasuke Uchiha."

Turning around the boy saw an old man staring at him through the broken window. He looked rather sick.

"Why wasn't this cut off?" the Uchiha asked straight away.

The old man scowled.

"We tried you brat, but it's no use! It only grows back."

Sasuke was about to ask why hadn't they hired any ninjas to cut it for them but the word 'brat' stopped him.

"And it's all your fault Uchiha! Don't think of us as stupid, we heard the stories, we know of your help, traitor! All these lives lost are on your hands!" after saying this the man turned around and disappeared in the darkness of the house.

Looking around Sasuke could see that more people came out to look at him, none of them left the protection of their houses though. But it's not this fact that surprised the black haired adult, it was their faces...

Hate.

Sasuke saw hate and fear on them.

His eyes landed on the root again and in seconds a plan was formed in his head.

The tree was the source of their problems. It looked as though people continued to die because of its presence and no ninjas were here to help.

He decided to get rid of it.

Very slowly Sasuke reached for his sword while already molding the right amount of chakra needed for a strong lightning release.

A soft, almost unhearable whisper made him pause.

"Are we going to die?" came a child's voice somewhere from behind him. Sasuke immediately turned his head trying to find the questioner.

There, behind the debris of a shop he saw a kid and a mother cowering in fear. The protective mother looked Sasuke straight in the eyes almost challenging him to act. To prove to everyone that he was indeed a monster responsible for this.

"No." he breathed out. Either to himself or to the small family in front of him. Calming his chakra and taking his hand off the hilt he moved ahead without looking at the people surrounding him. As he was about to turn the corner his eyes caught the same kid who spoke before. Now instead of fear it was curiosity present on his face. He almost started to follow Sasuke when his mother pulled him back by his collar.

"Leave him be. Let him walk away."

His end destination was a small weapon shop at the end of the block. The last time he had been here he was on his way to destroy Konoha. Even in his fragile state of mind he remembered that the owner of the shop was a very sharp grandpa, not afraid to talk his mind out. 'Don't act stupid my boy!' he warned him while Sasuke stocked all the kunais and shurikens available. The warning fell on deaf ears though. Revenge was the only thing Sasuke could comprehend at that point. Remembering it now the Uchiha felt a strong sort of resentment towards himself. It was his rush that made him end up at where he is now. If only he used his mind more a lot of things could have been avoided.

Itachi could have stayed alive.

Sasuke shook his head trying to clean away the nagging pain and anger at himself.

The store came insight few minutes later. Maybe it was luck or maybe not but it was in one piece, completely untouched. When Sasuke tried to knock he was greeted by the familiar, though aged, face. The keeper was already opening the door before Sasuke's hand made contact.

"Back again my boy?" the man asked in his light manner. Sasuke knew it covered something else though. He stood at the door not letting him in. Waiting.

"I need a sharpening stone for my sword." the Uchiha confessed quietly.

The man's gaze fell on the hilt that was not covered by his cloak.

"So it seems." he replied slowly. "But do tell me, how did it go?"

The question came suddenly and Sasuke took a double take trying to see if the shop owner had something planning. But he seemed honest enough. Just standing there. But even with this Sasuke didn't see a need to answer. He knew that the keeper was a retired shinobi. And shinobi always keep up with information flow.

Always.

"If I had my way I wouldn't even let you hold a knife." the man continued calmly. "But I need money to feed my family." and only then he moved aside, opening up the entrance. "Come in."

The inside of the shop changed quite drastically. The shelfs that once held every weapon in existence were empty and with a thin layer of dust already visible there. The walls no longer looked spotless white, instead there were cracks and dents everywhere.

"When the war started shinobi came here and took everything they could carry." the man started explaining while opening drawer after drawer. A wry laugh escaped his thin, white lips, "They even took hammers! Can't imagine how hammers could be of use…" he then exclaimed 'aha!' at something and showed to Sasuke the object he was looking for. "They said that when the war will be over they will pay me back." The man looked at the stone and then at the Uchiha boy. "As you can deduct - they haven't." a steal look had settled on his face after this. "So tell me now my boy, why do you wanna sharpen your sword again?"

Sasuke didn't want to answer at first but something in the man's eyes made him reconsider. Words came easily to his lips after this.

"Shinobi can only be as sharp as their weapons."

"And?"

"I'm on my road to redemption I will need this to do right."

A slow hm escaped the man, "Do right you say… well, it's not like we can stop you, heard, though, that you were banished…?" He brought up his light brown eyes and stared deeply in the carol black ones.

"I chose banishment." The Uchiha corrected narrowing his eyes.

"Chose?" A surprised look crossed his face. "Interesting." he once again looked Sasuke straight in the eyes but this time he was searching for something there. Sasuke let him, somehow he felt that this was important.

"Alright here's your stone, take it, but I'm double charging you and that's final!" He handed the package to the boy and showed a small smile which looked more like a smirk.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this but otherwise kept quiet.

If this is what he wants, then.

Opening his small waist pocket the Uchiha reached inside and took all the money he could find. With a confident move he put everything on the counter and turned to leave.

"Hey boy! The food is too expensive now. If you give me all of this what would you eat?" The slight note of wonder passed through his voice.

Without turning Sasuke just showed the same sharpening stone clenched securely in his hand. When a quiet sound of approval reached his ears the Uchiha understood - this is how he would start his redemption.

One thing Sasuke was enormously grateful for was Orochimaru's training in survival. If things were bad Sasuke was positive he could go without nutrition for few days. And water was rather easy to find in the wilderness. In the worst case he could hunt. But even with these ways out a lone voice inside his head told him that enough was enough. Half of his life was spent sleeping in caves and bathing in rivers, surely, now he could let himself wash and sleep normally! But for that he needed money. He gave away everything he had to the weapon master and the remains were only good for a piece of bread. As Sasuke walked around the village - ignoring the intense stares easily - he decided that his next destination would be a bank filial. Assuming those were even functional. As he looked around the destruction he doubted this greatly.

The whole hour had passed before the lone Uchiha finally found the old stock building but just as he feared - it was closed. Looking inside through the broken windows he only saw overturned tables and papers scattered all over the floor. Judging by the interior the bank would stay close for an extended period of time. Time, Sasuke did not wish to spend in this town.

Seeing no other choice the young adult changed his course and headed to the open market he saw on his track.

In order to get money out of his account he needed to find another village. To travel there Sasuke needed at least something to take with him as food. It made sense.

Unlike in the other parts of the gloomy settlement the market was alive and breathing with people running around and fowl hanging from the weak, barely holding together wooden arcs. Sasuke discarded the fresh game and opted for rice since it was universal in making food but as it turned out it was almost impossible to find it. And the ones he did find simply cost too much. At some point Sasuke thought that the cosmic prices were only for him alone (the stares never stopped coming his way) because he saw other people buying the product without any trouble. It took him one incidental glance at the buyer's eyes to see that he was wrong in his assumptions. Yes, the market was crowded but the people were poor.

The economy was fully destroyed.

And his budget was just the same.

The afternoon was spent in the shade of an oak tree in the local park. No people came here and the silence was comfortable.

Pleasant.

Few times a familiar nagging presence came close to him but as soon as it did it vanished. It was annoying.

Sasuke couldn't place why the ANBU was so annoying, irritated. Usually he just ignored such happenings but this time it was as if he already knew that person. The observer really was familiar.

As much as Sasuke tried he couldn't place his thoughts in the right order so he decided to meditate. There was nothing for him to do anyways all the way until late evening.

He closed his eyes and relaxed.

This time it was so much more harder though. As Sasuke closed his eyes he felt a constant need to open them up and look around.

He was unsure of his surroundings.

Giving the name to this the boy tried to concentrate on his breathing while being very careful to listen to the happenings around him.

A small hum of the wind was the first thing he heard, it was followed by a great whoosh of a bird flying up. After that came a quieter sound of footsteps - someone was walking on the nearby road. Another hum reached his ears this time it sounded like wood was dragged over wood.

The village was being cleaned.

And then he felt a strong gust of wind hitting his face. Sasuke barely resisted the urge to cover his eyes with his hand but he tried his best to sit still. Unfortunately his meditation was doomed no matter how much he willed himself not to react because in the next moment a panicked scream was heard and all the calmness was sent to hell. Getting up Sasuke contemplated wherever he should interfere or not. The villagers probably thought he was the one to hurt someone. Deciding to go and see what happened instead of speculating the boy sped up.

What met his eyes made him stop and stare. A branch of the chakra tree came out of the ground (Sasuke clearly remembered that it was not there before) and already the white straps were slowly spreading around the new victim. The victim was a woman, already unconscious, who was laying on the ground, her still free hands clinging to some ordinary white bags. At the corner of his eyes Sasuke noticed that some people came out of their houses with a look of horror on their faces but none of them came to help.

Letting out a breath the Uchiha silently cursed his luck and then moved. In a second he appeared near the branch and with a trained movement he went for his sword. On the next instance the unnatural piece of wood was cut in pieces.

It took him less than 10 second in general. After letting out a smirk at the surprised faces of the spectators Sasuke turned to leave. But then a distant memory stopped him.

This one detail that made this godly tree so dangerous.

Impossibility to be destroyed by ordinary means!

As he turned around he was not that surprised when he saw that the places where he made the clean cut started to grow back together. In few more moments the white straps started to wrap around the woman once again.

"Fire." he heard someone breath out from behind him.

But fire would kill the victim, Sasuke thought fast not even bothering to look to see who spoke. The images of of the previous fire spots made him realise that such outcome was well known.

They were burning people alive together with the tree. The realisation made him frown. And they call me a killer!

Getting back at the task at hand the Uchiha molded his chakra but instead of fire release he opted for lightning release. After the molding was done he let the chakra flow freely through his hand and into his sword. When the loud sound of birds clipping reached his ears he tried cutting the the tree again.

And this time it stayed put.

"Is she alive?" a small voice sounded somewhere behind him. Turning his head the Uchiha saw that a small crowd had already gathered. They were gaping at his unshielded sword with a badly hidden unease but the curiosity obviously was lot more stronger.

Stepping away he let the villagers check on the lady. Just in mere seconds someone let out a joyful "She is!" and a collective sigh was let out.

Sasuke cast one last look at the root confirming that it stopped regenerating and turned to leave.

The Uchiha emblem proudly visible for everyone to see.