Disclaimer: Neither of us own Naruto, and we make no profit writing fanfiction about it.

File Title - we prolapse in here

(AN - Ajax): Let's give Naruto a harem, but he can ditch them to give Sasuke an mpreg baby.

(AN - White): NO.

(AN - Ajax): Might be nice to add a touch of humor xD. I have a sneaking suspicion this story will be a little dark. And more than a little angsty.

(AN - White): I wonder if people think we're serious writers? We put out this detailed political/angst stuff. They must have this image of us hunched over our desks, desperately comparing notes about ideologies and psychological character development. But in reality behind the scenes it's all gratuitous cursing and pictures of Sasuke as a roasted sausage.

Sasuke was shocked back into awareness as a cold deluge of water was thrown over his form. Sputtering in shock, the Uchiha shot up into a sitting position to glare at the orange haired teen that was standing blank-faced over him, metal pail in hand.

"My apologies for the blow to the head, Uchiha Sasuke." the older boy offered tonelessly with nary a blink. "Until an agent's stealth capabilities meet Danzo-sama's approval, they are not permitted to witness travel to or from the Den."

There was a faint burning at the back of Sasuke's tongue that the Uchiha dismissed as resentment, swallowing poisonous words in favour of a clenched jaw.

A part of Sasuke wanted to lash out, to sneer viciously or strike with a closed fist. It was demeaning to be treated as if he were an incapable child, but the expectations of his new boss were what he'd agreed to.

Whatever it took to close the distance between himself and Itachi.

"You may notice an uncomfortable sensation at the back of your tongue. This is a temporary side effect of the fuinjutsu applied to you while you were unconscious. It prevents you from speaking of Danzo-sama's plans or of our organization, Ne. It will pass."

Lurching to his feet with a snarl, Sasuke shoved aside the urge to stick his tongue out and see if he could detect the seal in favour of shoving his glaring face in the older agent's. After the man failed to so much as twitch in reaction, the raven-haired boy subsided with a growl. "Don't just do things to me without my permission."

"Simply agreeing to join Ne is implicit permission to perform any procedure required on you, for the benefit of the organization or of Konoha." A slim orange brow quirked in an almost sarcastic look - as if the man wished to express amusement but was unable or unwilling to. "You have also been linked into the ANBU seal matrix by the tattoo on your left bicep. As of now, these are the only procedures that have been performed on you by Ne or its agents."

Sasuke was distracted from his instinctive attempt to inspect the curling red tattoo - and he just only realized that he was naked from the waist up - by the Ne agent spinning about and stalking off in sharp, efficient steps.

"Follow me, Uchiha Sasuke." The orange haired boy ordered him without bothering to wait and see if the Uchiha was following. Sasuke scrambled to catch up, quickly falling into line behind the teen and scanning his surroundings with a suspicious glare.

Steel pipes snaked periodically out from burnished soldered plates. There were just the barest hint of smattered copper rust, visually accompanying the faint trickle of water pumping through the pipes. Faint spots of fluorescent light shimmered along the bends of metal.

The ceiling arched over them, easily passing two stories in height. Every sharp corner was harshly lit up by scattered, cheap electric bulbs. No concealing shadow could be found anywhere within the room, giving a false appearance of open space.

Yet Sasuke could feel the very earth itself pressing in on him, heavy and dense pressure that instinctively made him feel smothered. The Den must be buried deep underground, amongst the very foundations of Konohagakure.

As they left the enormous chamber Sasuke had woken up in, the pair rounded a corner into a tight steel corridor. "Where's Danzo?" the Uchiha demanded as they wove around into another passageway without catching sight of any other living beings.

The orange haired teen stopped so abruptly that the genin nearly ran into him. Without giving Sasuke time to open his mouth, the Ne agent spun about to stare down at the shorter boy with a frigid stare. "Danzo-sama has appointed me to be your commanding officer within Ne. The Councilor has many affairs to manage, and it would be a waste of his time to spend it orientating a new recruit. You may refer to me as taichou or sir within the Den, and by Yamanaka Fuu in public settings. You will be summoned when Danzo-sama wishes to see you. No earlier and no later."

Fuu's yellow eyes were lit with the sort of fanaticism only years of indoctrination could create, and Sasuke repressed a shiver until the man turned away and began to lead him into the nearest door on the left.

The walls were covered with the iconic armour that all citizens of the village associated with the ANBU corps in differing sizes and colours. Below them at the foot of the walls were a myriad collection of tanto in different lengths, as well as pouches that seemed to be stuffed full of either kunai or shuriken.

"Strip." Fuu commanded, all the emotional devotion to his leader that had been visible only a moment ago drained away into the Yamanaka's familiar empty mannerisms. "You have no need for that clothing at the current time. I will properly fit your gear and weaponry. For the rest of the week you will remain in The Den, practicing stealth exercises in full combat outfit unless you pass inspection."

Embarrassment burned fiercely in Sasuke's veins, his cheeks flushing red as he obeyed and stripped naked under his Taichou's clinical gaze. The automatic roving and cataloguing of his body condition the Ne agent performed was almost worse than the act of stripping naked itself.

Nodding once in acknowledgement, Fuu turned away to begin checking size labels among the hanging ANBU outfits. "If you manage to pass preliminary inspection, we will spend the remainder of the week instructing you in kenjutsu. Next Sunday morning you will report to The Roost to take your assignment on the squad Gamma-3 under Hatake Kakashi."

Fuu shoved a skin-tight sleeveless black spandex shirt into Sasuke's hand, not bothering to watch as the Uchiha wriggled into the top. Breathable shorts followed, and then dark sweatpants.

Unwillingly, Sasuke felt flickers of excitement curling in his gut as the Yamanaka demonstrated how to strap on his pale carbon fibre body armour and arm guards. It was such a silly thing to look forward to, that he would merely look as Itachi did when that man held captaincy of an ANBU squad. But it felt like Sasuke was closing the gap between them, if only by an inch.

"Your other squadmate will be the jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto."

"What?!" Sasuke exploded, slight contentment easily forgotten in the wake of shock and indignation. "You can't seriously expect me to work with that murderer! How the hell is he even on a squad anyway?" He hadn't liked Sakura, but the girl hadn't deserved to be ripped in half by a wild animal.

Yamanaka-taichou blinked, his cold eyes betraying no hint of reaction to the statement, yet Sasuke felt as if he had failed some basic test. "Shinobi Rule Number One - A shinobi must follow their commander's instructions." Fuu paused before selecting a tanto, drawing the tipless blade and pressing it firmly into Sasuke's right hand.

"Test the weight of it." Fuu commanded absently, gripping the tanto's sheath in both hands and stepping away to give Sasuke some space to swing. "Shinobi Rule Number Four - A shinobi must always put the mission first." the Yamanaka continued as the tanto's sharp blade began to cut through the air with deadly precision.

A muscle in Sasuke's clenched jaw tensed, jumping beneath the boy's pale skin. But he forced himself to nod with satisfaction and hand back the tanto.

"Yes, sir."

Kakashi settled a hand over the porcelain mask strapped to his hip. Four years out of the forces and it was still a familiar and comforting weight. The bone white surface was smooth and unyielding beneath the tips of his gloved fingers, and the reinstated ANBU Captain smiled.

Unbelievably, he'd missed life in the corps. It was harsh and tiring and full of sweat, blood, and tears. But every mission was a tangible contribution to the betterment of Konoha, he had told himself. Kakashi also knew that only when the weariness settled into his bones that he could sleep without dreams.

The first three months after his discharge he'd been able to do little but stare at the walls of his apartment with nothing to do and no way to drown the surging tides of memory.

Giving the dog mask a final proprietary pat, Kakashi slid a kunai into the crack between Naruto's window and the sill. The ANBU captain popped open the cheap lock with a silent movement, and then slithered into his subordinate's apartment with a smirk hidden beneath his traditional mask.

Kakashi peered down at the blonde boy sleeping fitfully on his ratty old futon. The harried expression and dark bags under Naruto's eyes spoke of night after night poorly sleeping. Nightmares, in all likelihood. The ANBU captain made a mental note to schedule a psychological evaluation for the child. Naruto was unlikely to pass, but at least it would give Kakashi an idea of what to do to ease the kid's guilt.

The silver haired man already knew how to ease his guilt. Solemn hours before the memorial stone. Cheap porn and the meaningless release found between a kunoichi's thighs. Gai, stupid jokes, and warm sake. The next mission, and the next, and the next. Kakashi archived his sentiments for a later date with practiced ease.

Acknowledge.

Flaring a burst of chakra through the ANBU seal on his left bicep, Kakashi smiled with his eyes as Naruto jolted awake with a girlish scream. The mental command combined with the burning sensation and the figure looming at the foot of his futon was more than enough to shock the boy out of any post-sleep drowsiness.

"Good morning, Naruto-chan!" Kakashi beamed as if he were a cheery waitress taking a lunch order rather than a trained killer showing up silently at five in the morning. "Rise and shine! Time to tackle a new day!"

Bewildered, the blonde peeked out the window at the early morning darkness. "What the hell, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto flickered the blue eyes he'd inherited from his father back towards the man. "It's gotta be like, the middle of the night! What are you even doing here? And what's with the red eye? You expecting a fight?"

Blinking his scarred eyelid over the revealed Sharingan, Kakashi shrugged. It was better to get back in the habit of constantly using the doujutsu, learning to compensate for the drainage of frequent use and increase his reserves, but he has little desire to launch into a lengthy explanation for Naruto's benefit.

"It's 0500 hours, Naruto. I'm giving you an hour to get ready and something in your stomach before we report off to the Roost. Better get used to early days and long nights kiddo."

Naruto grumbled, scowling at the ANBU attire that covered Kakashi as if it had done him personal wrong before the Uzumaki shuffled out of the room. A moment later the jounin heard the rattling whistle of steam hurtling through old pipes.

While he waited for the blonde to get cleaned up for the day, Kakashi decided to take a peek around his student's apartment. He'd gotten a brief look many months past before Team Seven had taken the Bell Test, and he'd been… unimpressed.

Grimacing as he stepped over a pair of dirty underwear, Kakashi sauntered into the kitchen. The jounin ignored the ramshackle collection of chairs and a table in favour of peeking in the fridge. There was little more than nearly expired milk and half-rotted, long-forgotten vegetables. Cups of instant ramen filled the cupboards.

"You want one?" Naruto asked as he entered the kitchen, hair still dripping with beads of condensation. The signature orange jumpsuit was bunched around the jinchuuriki's short form, sticking awkwardly where the boy had rushed through his drying.

"No." Taking one of the cups with a frown, he tossing it over to the new ANBU recruit and closed the cupboard with a bang. "When we're done at headquarters today I'm taking you grocery shopping. If you didn't have the Kyuubi's chakra compensating for your terrible diet, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd died of malnutrition."

"Ramen's good for you!"

Turning to give the blonde a dour look, Kakashi merely shook his head and motioned for the boy to hurry up and cook his salt loaded breakfast. Naruto didn't waste any time, rushing through the few minutes it took to boil a kettle and slurp down the cheap noodles under the man's impassive gaze.

"Let's go," Kakashi ordered after the boy finished, leading him back through the musty apartment and out the window into the early morning chill. Sparing a gauging glance towards the fingers of light peeking over the horizon, Kakashi turned and began to leap across the roofs of the village's buildings. Sensing his subordinate following his lazy movements closely, the ANBU Captain made a beeline towards the Hokage monument.

The location of the Roost was no great secret. ANBU's headquarters was a series of buildings nestled on the top of the mountain that overlooked the village. Given the sheer size of the black ops corps despite member attrition, attempting to disguise the location with the amount of traffic the Roost experienced was impractical.

When building the headquarters of the ANBU corps, the Nidaime Hokage had chosen a location based on defensibility and command of the nearby terrain rather than secrecy. Thus the Roost had a constant heavy guard presence, and was designated as the command center of the village during invasion rather than the impressive but difficult-to-defend urban Hokage's Residence.

Identify.

A warning tingle pulsed through his arm as Kakashi lead Naruto up the narrow pathway that scaled the face of the Hokage monument. The unseen eyes of several patrolling ANBU squads dug into the pair, and Kakashi knew if any visitor didn't quickly provide proof of their right to the Roost they would be quickly intercepted and interrogated.

ANBU Reporting. Callsign Hound-One. Kakashi sent the mental reply back over the matrix link with a familiar burning of the tattoo and a tiny precise burst of chakra. The observing eyes didn't subside, but no further challenges to their presence came.

"Welcome to ANBU Headquarters Naruto." Kakashi called out as they touched down. Giving the panting genin a moment to catch his breath, the jounin turned to watch the horizon with an easy smile. "Also known as the Roost. Though I suppose you know that already, don't you?"

"Are you kidding?" Naruto huffed, red face normalizing quickly. "Everyone and their mother knows about this place. I'm not that stupid, you know?"

Ruffling the jinchuuriki's blonde locks, the jounin ignored the squawk of annoyance to give a shrug. "Well you never know. I distinctly recall you not knowing what chakra was."

"I knew what it was!"

"Really? Because I seem to remember some interesting things about this stuff called 'chatra'..."

Stomping his foot with an exaggerated look of anger, Naruto turned his best puppy dog eyes up at the silver haired captain "Kakashi-sensei!"

"I'm immune to those looks." the Hatake deadpanned, smirking inwardly at the mental image of Pakkun. This was good. Healthy. Keep the boy talking, and keep his mind from wallowing in guilt. Keep Naruto distracted, so that he could keep moving forward, the methods he wished he had followed himself. If his sensei's son couldn't prove useful to the village, Naruto would face execution.

Casting a glance at the timepiece that was built into the wall next to The Roost's front entrance, Kakashi nodded in satisfaction. 0540. Slightly early, but in ANBU the early bird was the one that got the worm. Unless it was the sneaky bird that did? Something along those lines…

Ah well. Clapping a hand over Naruto's shoulder, Kakashi spun him about and began to steer the apprehensive looking blonde through the great double doors that led into The Roost's main foyer. It was deceptively pretty, just like the external furnish of the building.

Welcome to Konoha's hellmouth. Kakashi thought cynically.

Naruto remembered well the feeling of disconnection he's always had with the people of Konohagakure. From his very birth as a wailing babe, he'd been peered at from every corner with distrustful eyes and frowned at with hard mouths. The rejection of his childhood at been complete and total, hate nipping at his heels for what he'd been born to contain.

The Roost gave Naruto an equal feeling of disconnection, it was different from the burning resentment that had cut him away he got from the common man. ANBU's headquarters was filled with nonrecognition - a lack of caring born of the way that eyes simply skated over his skin with indifference. Amongst the hardened killers of Konohagakure's black ops, the jinchuuriki garnered as much immediate interest as a new piece of furniture.

The Uzumaki was unsure which atmosphere he preferred. At least in their hate, the people of the village had seen him.

Shuffling closer to Kakashi, Naruto hunched orange clad shoulders in as they passed along a maze of corridors. Masked shinobi prowled on by, not sparing an instant to gawk at either the garishly clothed blonde or the now dog-masked jounin.

Closed doors lined the walls, the pale beech surfaces pockmarked with age and crowned with bronze plates. SIGMA-2 one read, the printed black letters peeling away and the gold knob covered in the scratched of well use.

"We're here." Kakashi murmured, voice low and cool. Naruto knew just from the sound of it that he wasn't listening to Kakashi-sensei any longer. The armour clad man looming in front of him was ANBU Hound-1, and gentle teasing had vanished.

GAMMA-3 greeted his cerulean gaze as the blonde peered up. The sign was brand new in comparison to the door around it, the polished bronze reflecting the electric glare from the fluorescent tubes dangling from the ceiling.

Slipping into the room as Kakashi held the door open for him, Naruto quickly scanned it before frowning in disappointment. No windows. A cheap desk shoved into one corner. A pair of ragged plaid couches occupied the full length of one wall, with a small beaten up cocktail table in front of the furthest one. The room was small, with the stale tang of poor ventilation.

Not at all what he had expected from the meeting room of a squad in Konohagakure's elite special forces. "Seems… homey." the blonde commented for lack of a better polite description. By the rusty chuckle the jounin gave off, it seemed his commanding officer agreed.

Kakashi bent over behind the desk, rummaging about on the floor before reappearing with a small crate in his arms. The ANBU Captain carelessly tossed it on the desk, not reacting at the alarming creak it gave off before he tore into the container.

Similar black spandex to what the jounin was wearing emerged from the container, followed by a small chest plate and a pair of arm guards in a diminutive size. Bundling up the gear, Kakashi shoved them in a gaping Naruto's hands.

"What are you so surprised for? You knew you were joining ANBU. Or did you think you'd be allowed to prance around in orange still." Clucking with mock disappointment, Kakashi meandered over to the door. "Get changed. You've got two minutes."

Naruto tried. He really did. Wrestling the skin tight outfit on was easy enough, after the blonde got used to putting in the effort to stretch it. He was still struggling with the buckles for his chest plate when Kakashi reappeared.

The white and red painted mask peered down at him before the man wordlessly reached out and demonstrated how to properly clip up the chestplate. Naruto repressed a shiver. It was one thing to look up at Kakashi's masked face and see a smile under the black spandex. It was another to not see even an inch of skin and only witness an unchanging porcelain facade.

"Thanks." Naruto muttered into the silence, pulling uncomfortably at the undershirt. He folded his orange jumpsuit up with solemnity, fingers lingering over-long on the starched material. For so long the eye-catching suit had shouted to the world in a bid for attention. Look at me! Here I am! This is me!

Without the familiar weight of it around his shoulders, Uzumaki Naruto didn't really know who he was anymore. The blonde knew that everything in his old life was over. His cupboards would be cleaned out and replaced with food based on nutritional value. His well-worn orange suits would be trashed. No more sleeping in or pranks.

The life of a soldier.

"Trash it." the blonde whispered, voice twisting rough and hoarse with unshed tears. There was nothing left of that young hopeful genin that had once been. The boy with a smile that had sworn to become Hokage died on that damned bridge with Sakura-chan.

All that was left was him. A corpse in living skin, moving around long past his expiration date. There was no more Team Seven. No more rival Sasuke or lovely Sakura or wise Kakashi. Just him choking on his own sins and failures, drowning until the weight of it because he couldn't - he couldn't-

Wiry fingers threaded through his hair with surprising strength as Kakashi moved close, other hand coming up to brace the genin's heaving back as Naruto bent half over. Naruto was trembling and pale, taking gasping breaths with pinprick pupils and the warming roll of Kakashi's voice in his ear "Breathe Naruto, just breathe."

It took five minutes for the panic attack to subside, leaving Naruto sweaty and shaken with the taste of bile in the back of his mouth. He hadn't vomited, thankfully, and with a muttered "Thanks." the blonde wiped his burning eyes with the back of his hand.

Kakashi released him a heartbeat later, eyes unable to be seen through the dark hollows where the eyes of his mask were. ANBU masks only went one way, save those tailored to jutsu users that required ocular contact or open air to the eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

It took the jounin a moment to realize the grinding sound in his ears was his own teeth. What the hell was the Council thinking? Naruto was falling to pieces right in front of him, and they wanted to press a boy still torn up about killing his own teammate into assassination and special tactics? Minato-sensei would expect better than this from the village he'd died for.

But orders were orders. Kakashi resolved to pick up gather the shattered pieces of Uzumaki Naruto before it was too late.

"Come on. I'll take you to the Commander to get your mask and call sign sorted out. Then I'll show you how to use that tattoo."

"You fail."

Glaring at Torune, Sasuke released the chakra flow to his feet and dropped down from the ceiling. The Uchiha wiped the sweat out of his eyes with a grimace. Three days of gruellingly running the same obstacle course and he'd yet to pass a single time. Only the improvements he noticed in himself kept the Ne recruit from exploding with frustration.

The Aburame stared at the new recruit for a moment through his dark goggles before pointing a finger up towards the ceiling. "You are forgetting to take into account the special capabilities and characteristics of the shinobi you're trying to fool. Such a tactic may have worked on the taichou, but my kikaichu are sensitive to chakra. With little other sensory input, I will notice their reactions. Consider utilizing a distraction to sneak past chakra sensitive individuals if chakra use cannot be avoided."

Clenching his jaw under his crow mask, Sasuke wordlessly nodded before spinning on his heel and retreating. For years he'd been in the Academy, spoiled by the taste of his own genius after almost instantly understanding any lesson. The tree climbing exercise in Nami no Kuni had been the first time he'd been forced to feel inadequate next to a peer since he'd been six years old.

Three days of intensive stealth exercises and training, and the Uchiha still felt like a bumbling fool compared to Fuu and Torune's comparative mastery.

Sasuke settled carefully into the dirt at the lowest point of the Den where metal gave way to soft earth, picking up a pebble and sliding it into his pocket. Once he'd stomped in after a poor run, tied up in frustrating, and almost immediately failed the next run when his zori tracked clumps of clay all over the facility.

Ascend from the lowest point of the Den to the highest while Ne's members were on minimal alert without using any special techniques to detect his movement or presence. Simple enough to say. Difficult in practice. So difficult that when he'd finally touched the halfway point three hours past, it had felt like a magnificent achievement.

"So this is the strength of ANBU members, huh?"

Waiting another four minutes for his heart rate to subside and settle the faint burning in his muscles, Sasuke activated the Sharingan with a trickle of chakra and began to slink forward. His kekkai genkai easily pierced through the shadows, not constrained by the mask that was invisible to the bearer when worn.

ANBU's masks were truly useful little devices. Powered by stored chakra, they sealed themselves to the face of the wearer and filtered every breath for most of the more common poisons employed by shinobi. The faintest brush of chakra against the front of the mask with his fingertip would let the lens over his eyes go clear to cast genjutsu if his Sharingan was fully mature.

Which it wasn't. With only two tomoe in each eye, Sasuke didn't have the capability to ensnare another in the enhanced illusions his clan's red eyes could produce. But even immature as they were, they greatly improved the power of his visual perception. Hence why he'd forced himself to keep them active as long as possible over the course of his training, learning to more finely allocate the minimal amount of energy needed to keep the Sharingan active.

That control was something Sasuke had to stumble through on his own, because there was no other Uchiha to show him save Itachi. And Sasuke would hardly accept a lesson from him, even if his murdering traitor of a brother offered one.

Sasuke halted next to a corner, the transition from clay to steel abrupt and jarring. Taking a slow, silent breath, the genin pulled out his hitai-ate. Inspecting the carefully polished surface for a moment, he held it up to his eye slits and then began to slide it inch by careful inch out from concealment. It was a poor man's mirror, but the spit-shined surface did its job.

Clear.

Moving up through the maze of corridors as quickly as he dared, the Uchiha kept a hand hovering a hair above the surface of the wall. It had taken him a day to realize he could use his hands just as well as his feet to stick to a surface, and keeping one near the wall would allow him to heave himself up and away if he encountered unexpected sentries.

Sentries of which the Rat-masked operative's ink animals were by far the most annoying. The tiny, spying little creatures were part of the reason why Sasuke had forced himself to constantly use his kekkai genkai. He couldn't avoid them or kill them to prevent them from reporting back to the odd boy if he couldn't see them.

The Uchiha lashed out with his tanto, destroying the coal-colored rat that skittered over his toes before hauling himself up to the ceiling, proceeding to flatten himself against the cold steel. He was close then - the animals never seemed to venture beyond a hundred metres from wherever his current opponent was.

Slowing his breathing, Sasuke took in a long breath and held it. Then he began to slither forward, suspended close to the roof of the tunnel like some sort of mutated human-gecko creature. The Uchiha passed over the black-haired agent, craning his head to fix red eyes on the boy's painting figure while ignoring the burning in his lungs.

Breath was noise, and noise was failure.

Failure was not an option.

Spots began to dance before his vision by the time Sasuke felt safe enough from detection to release the pent up carbon dioxide in his lungs slowly and carefully. Even a rushing sigh of relief could get him detected.

Then he dropped, landing in a crouch before rushing forward as quickly as he dared.

As he moved up and up through the maze of corridors that made up Ne's Den, Sasuke drew on every lesson that had been hammered into his tired mind over the last half a week.

When he saw Torune at the distant end of a corridor, he threw the pebble he'd picked up before beginning the run as far down a side hallway as he dared, waiting with baited breath as the goggled agent rushed on past after the noise.

Other agents he avoided by taking advantage of the information he'd gained over the course of his failed runs. A boy in a bear mask had a tendency to watch the ceilings, so the Uchiha stuck low to the ground and slithered on by. A man in a fox mask patrolled in the same area as a woman in an otter mask, crossing paths every now and then. By henging into the woman, he was able to slip past the man with the agent none the wiser.

Triumph began to build in his veins as Sasuke passed the halfway point, ascending from the maze of tunnels into the great chambers of The Den that were closest to the surface.

Slipping past a hunched agent in a ferret mask, Sasuke began to catalogue his surroundings with a frantic mind. A great bridge stretched out over an abyss, the faint glimmer of dark water barely visible at the bottom. Likely a training arena for Suiton jutsu.

The crow-masked recruit restrained a pant of exhaustion as he dove under the bridge in a flash of white and black, connecting to the bottom to move across the underside. Ne must have less members than he'd assumed, because although the location of where each patrolled seemed to change, he'd ceased to encounter new masks half a day past.

Sasuke stepped into a circular room with a thick rusty pillar in the middle. Bars were welded into the side with precision, forming an orderly ladder of handholds that extended to a dark open hatch in the ceiling. Double doors extended outward along the circular walls, opening into differing training rooms and further mazes. Evidently The Den was far bigger than he had realized. The air in the room was fresher than any other, and the Uchiha instinctively knew that he was close to the end.

Near to victory.

Fuu-taichou was there with arms folded and standing guard near the base of the pillar. Sasuke repressed a sneer at the honourific, as the man had refused to teach him anything unless he'd addressed him with 'proper respect'. Gold eyes burnt along the walls and ceiling, flickering with such frequency that Sasuke knew with a sinking heart there was no way to slowly sneak on by.

There was only one choice.

("You will be familiar with this jutsu." Fuu had said solemnly, standing over a sweating and panting Uchiha after eighteen hours of constant stealth course runs. Long fingers demonstrated a single seal. "Direct the chakra reinforcement to the muscles of your limbs. Quadricep. Calf. Bicep. Tricep. Twist it like so before application…")

Bringing a shaking pair of hands up, Sasuke swallowed drily as he forced his chakra to his limbs in a clumsy-but-familiar rush. Tiger seal to initiate. He'd been too stubborn to try touching the familiar dizzying rush. Too caught up in staying away from thorny remembrances and his own pride to bow to need.

But Sasuke wanted to win.

Shunshin.

Sharingan interpreted the rush of colours that flowed by him perfectly. The crimson eyes split apart what would be an incomprehensible mess to anyone else into sharp, clear cut images that he could perceive and react to. Only an Uchiha could steer the movement of the shunshin safely. Any other shinobi could only move in clear, linear lines lest they risk collision.

The first time Sasuke dove into the beautiful chaos of the body flicker had been when he was three years old. Still chubby cheeked, giggling at Shisui-nee when his cousin had scooped him up with a booming laugh and decided to show the toddler something neat.

("Don't tell your mother." Shisui-nii had winked, thick lashes threading together over the red eyes that the shinobi world associated with danger, but that little Sasuke had only associated with home. With all the solemnity he could muster while a fist was shoved into his grinning mouth, little Sasuke had promised. Shisui had shown him what it meant to fly.)

Sasuke flew, dark form cutting through the air with a near silent hiss as he blurred beyond the ability of almost any shinobi perceived. Passing over Fuu with the Ne Captain none the wiser to his presence, Sasuke fell out of the shunshin and grabbed onto a bar near the top of the ladder desperately.

His momentum almost carried him right on past. But with chakra applied to his hands and a strain of burning effort in his core, Sasuke silently settled onto the pillar like a perching bat. The inside of his mask was wet - Sweat, not tears he swore - as the Uchiha began to climb.

Passing through the dark hole, Sasuke moved up and up and up into light. The heaviness of the earth surrounding passed away, and then with a final heave Sasuke was pulled out of a hatch in the floor into the basement of a house.

"Congratulations."

Sasuke's head snapped around in shock as Danzo revealed himself. The old councilor was sitting cross-legged before a low table, papers spread out in front of him with a cup of tea steaming near his visible hand.

"You have managed to attain the skill of an average chuunin in stealth. If any mission comes up to require you to infiltrate and steal information from the typical paper pusher that staffs the Record Department, I expect that you will succeed."

That was it? Sasuke scowled. So much damn effort, and for what? To be considered equal to a mere desk jockey? Not even held on the level of a chuunin in the field? Frustration bubbled inside of him, and the Uchiha opened his mouth to demand more.

Danzo anticipated him.

"Return to the Den. Inform Fuu on the way down to shift the difficulty of the course and begin training you to reach the skill in stealth Konoha typically expects from its jounin."

Thus having dismissed the new recruit, the bandaged man turned his attention back to the papers spread out before him.

As Sasuke descended back into the earth, Danzo listened to the sounds of the Uchiha boy fade away. The stealth of a chuunin in three days was… impressive. Admittedly, the boy hadn't been trained in the evasion aspects of stealth, or how to eliminate his tracks, or how to function in any environment that was not the interior of an urban building. But to grow swiftly enough to be considered equal to a shinobi of a higher rank in a controlled setting over so short a period?

Sasuke's skills would be acceptable for the next stage of his training in less time than previously anticipated.

The boy was a very special case, too old to go through the typical ROOT experience of emotional conditioning, and too important of a political figure to have him disappear for an extended period of time. However, Sasuke's natural ability and intelligence would serve to compensate for years of wasted potential, lost in the typical Academy softness promoted by Hiruzen.

Once the Uchiha was able to sufficiently disguise his movements, the true training would commence.

(AN - White): Ahh, 6000 words.

Canon Divergence - This story is more like an AU that's very similar to canon with some big differences. I wanted to get away from Madara as the root of all evil in the world and attribute more misfortune and conflict to human nature and the military village system rather than the result of decades of careful manipulation by one dude that can't even leave the cave he lives in. It takes a great deal of the gravity off of (insert plot spoilers here) if we learn that Madara has been pulling an Aizen. Does he, and by extension Obito, have a great deal of influence in this world? Absolutely. However, there is no mind-numbingly overdone manipulation. Yagura is simply a piece of shit, not a Sharingan-hax-slave to Madara.

(AN - Ajax): Danzo's choice of Sasuke in lieu of pressing the case for his 'custody' of Naruto was not random. Hiruzen lost a lot of face and political capital in the aftermath of the Wave mission, be he is still Hokage, and undeniably has a personal interest in Naruto. Danzo would have a much harder time sinking his hooks into Naruto, and in doing so he would make a powerful enemy in Hiruzen.

Sasuke doesn't have an emotional bond with Hiruzen, and is therefore much more accessible. Also, not only does Danzo now effectively control the Uchiha bloodline, but he also gained a significant piece of leverage over Uchiha Itachi, who Danzo certainly does not trust. That said, Danzo doesn't trust many to begin with.