A/N: Thank you Skreech! Hopefully this will be a bit of an adventure!

And I'm not doing the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. It's been beaten over with a stick and then set on fire. A lot.


Sasuke's mind was a thousand miles away. His sensei had the sharingan. But it wasn't his own, it was transplanted. It explained why he wore his headband over it. The sharingan was constantly activated, draining chakra with each passing second. One day he would activate his own sharingan and use it to kill his brother. He just needed to train more, to make it awaken. He felt his hands clench into a fist.

Itachi...one day I will kill you.

"-training." Kakashi finished, looking at the door.

There was a boy around their age, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. There was something else about him that felt different. Sasuke glanced at his teammates to see if they caught it.

"Oi! Who are you?" Naruto shouted. Did he ever had an inside voice?

"Peter!" Tazuna grinned. "Come meet the shinobi who saved my life!"

Peter arched an eyebrow. "These kids saved your life?"

"OI!" Naruto jumped to his feet. "We're shinobi! Adults!" He pointed to his headband as he spoke.

"What's all this noise?" Another voice, younger. Peter half turned revealing a younger child with a hat. He crossed the threshold, walking around Peter and climbing up to hug Tazuna.

"Inari." Tsunami rose from her place on the floor. "Say hello to the people who saved Grandpa."

Inari frowned at her words, "Mom, these people are going to die."

"What did you say you little brat!" Naruto just about yelled, looking indignant.

"There's no way you're going to win against Gato."

"You brat! Why I oughta-" Naruto almost jumped forward if not for Sakura who grabbed his arm. "Inari! Listen. I am a superhero and a great ninja and one day I will be Hokage! There is no way I won't beat Gato!"

For a second there was a moment of silence, mostly out of incredulity. Sasuke resisted the urge to facepalm. Despite being on multiple D-class missions with the blonde idiot, Naruto seems to be able to reach new heights of stupidity. Even he could feel the severity in the air, the despair that had settled on this village like a fog.

"What are you, stupid?" Inari sneered. "There's no such thing as a hero."

"WHAT!"

"Inari." Tsunami scolded. "Mind your manners."

The boy glared at the sliding door before opening it. "Yea." He mumbled before vanishing.

Naruto was already striding down the room, following Inari through the opening.

"Ehhh..." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

"So." Peter began. "You guys are ninjas?"

"Yep."

"Huh." Peter half turned before looking back at Kakashi.

"That is Kakashi, their teacher. He's the only reason I even trusted them in the first place!" Tazuna added, helpfully. "They protected me from a really dangerous guy."

"The big sword guy right?"

"Yep!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. They didn't tell anyone who exactly attacked, just that he was dangerous. He could see Kakashi take interest, sitting straighter, now looking at the brunette with renewed interest. Peter didn't look like much, but then only the best could hide in the plain sight. Besides, there was something about this guy that he couldn't pin down. With Kakashi out of commission, it would fall to him and his teammates to protect the client.

A few hours later, Sasuke found himself sneaking down the hallway. After a rather hellish time trying to walk up a damn tree, he was finally going to lay to rest a few issues. The branches of the trees that he was training on had the marks of use. Like someone was using them as a means of travel.

There.

Movement. Sasuke pulled the kunai out of his pouch. He turned the corner, prepared for anything.

Nothing.

"Tch." He placed the kunai back into his holster, turning on his heel.

"Hey."

He lashed out with his fist before his eyes even registered the image. Sasuke felt the iron hard grip on his wrist, before he was swung and shoved up against the wall, an elbow against his throat. His arm was pinned to the wall, the kunai falling from limp fingers. He pushed grunting with effort. His arm wouldn't move. Sasuke stared at the other boy, stared into those chocolate colored eyes. Just like the hunter-nin, someone who was his age and yet better than him. Would he always be this weak? How could he ever be strong enough to defeat Itachi when he couldn't even stop this guy?

For a second his mind flashed back to Itachi. Then to his team. He was Sasuke Uchiha. He was top of his class! And he wasn't going to lose, not here.

Not now.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and kicked out. Idiot didn't knock him out, didn't disable his other limbs. This guy may be strong but he wasn't better than him. The heel of his sandal hit nothing but air, as Peter twisted out of the way, letting Sasuke go. Sasuke surged forward, kicking forward. In the small enclosure, it would be difficult to move around.

"Uff." He felt himself flipped. He bounced off the ceiling, landing in a crouch.

Peter stood there, watching him. He flexed his fingers. So this was a shinobi?

"Why are you stronger than me!?" Asked Sasuke, his hand reaching into the back of his pack.

Peter held his hands up. "Not that strong." He wanted to say something witty but they were moving so fast, he'd probably just bite his tongue.

Sasuke charged his hands flashing through seals. He took a deep breath, ex-

A fist slammed into his sternum, knocking out all his air. He hit the ground, wheezing. "Sorry. I can't let you do your magic." Said the feet. No, it was the voice that owned the feet. His vision was swimming and he could barely breathe past the pain.

"Maa, maa." Another pair of feet. Hands helped him up, leaned him against the wall. Then footfalls.


Kakashi looked at Peter, his single eye narrowed.

Peter stared out at the ocean. He looked back, hands in his pocket. "Sorry bout that."

Kakashi shrugged. "No harm done." He had watched the fight from his hiding spot. The only reason it went the way it did was because Sasuke was suffering from chakra depletion. But, he couldn't discredit how fast Peter was. "You never had formal training, did you?"

"No."

He couldn't recall any bounties that matched the boy's description. Probably some civilian with greater than average chakra stores. Maybe even bloodline brat. Procedure dictated that he should investigate the situation, see if the target could be retrievable. Children with bloodlines were useful, and a valuable commodity.

"Did you ever want to learn how to do...ninja magic?"