Chapter 3: The Boy Named Uchiha
The flickering warmth of a fire and the cool breeze whipping his hair in front of his face lifted Sasuke away from the realm of dreams back into the realm of consciousness. He was sitting at the base of a stone pillar, but the detonation rope looped around his body, around his wrist, and around the pillar several times before the looping around all three of them entirely. His neck and forehead were also tied back with the same detonation rope, and not a gap was left between them. He would barely be able to swallow if he were fed food or water as the rope was tightly wound between neck and stone. And the blindfold over his eyes seemed to be an extra precaution.
Sasuke should have never been caught off guard, but he had never dreamed he would see the Sharingan in someone other than his own reflection again. Until he had his own child, the clan was essentially gone. With his difficulty in connecting with others, he found the revival of his clan to be a harder task than ever before.
But even as he lay with his body bound to the stone column, there were ways to release himself. The boy and his friends didn't truly know the abilities Sasuke possessed. But Sasuke wouldn't escape just yet. He wanted to speak to the boy and perhaps this was the best way to do so.
"Kid," Sasuke said. "What's your name?"
The stick poking at the fire suddenly stopped, and not even crickets chirped after that. He was a quiet and reserved one. Another staple of the Uchiha name. Sasuke was used to others talking up a storm, but when faced with another one of his own, he needed to find the words he never could before.
"Kid, it's clear that I lost," Sasuke continued. "What is your name?"
Another, heavier presence stood up. Sasuke assumed this was the person who activated the mud prison while the boy had him distracted.
"My name is Asami. If you would like to speak, please speak to me," the woman said.
Her voice radiated power far stronger than any woman Sasuke had ever known. She wasn't brash, screaming obscenities, high-pitched, squealing, or giggling profusely. She had the strength in her tone that he had only heard in the Fifth once before. The Fifth during the battle against Madara - as a mother protective of her children. That tone.
"Are you his mother?" Sasuke asked.
"I help raise any orphans I find on the outskirts of the Fire Country," she said. "Isui was found without anyone nearby."
His name is Isui…
"Did you give him that name?"
"My mother gave me that name," he interjected.
Though Sasuke couldn't see, he felt Asami stiffen. She seemed just as surprised to see the boy interject as strongly as he did.
"I think we are the ones who need to be asking the questions," she said. "Who are you and what do you want with Isui?"
Should he tell them who he was? There were inherent dangers that came with that, and he wasn't sure if a peasant village in the outskirts would be enough to handle that.
"Rock Lee," Sasuke answered. "I'm just on my way to the Hidden Sand and I came across the boundaries of your village, I presume. I didn't mean to intrude."
Rock Lee came from a relatively unknown family, so that was naturally the first name that popped into his head. But after the words escaped his mouth, he shrunk down, wondering if they had heard of the loudest ninja Konoha had to offer, second only to Uzumaki Naruto.
"You were walking far off the main path," Asami said.
Relief. They must have never heard of the Lee clan so there were no more questions to be asked of it. His identity was still safe for now. And without ever activating his Sharingan, that meant they didn't know he and Isui channeled the same bloodline either. The beauty of finding the true hidden villages of a country was truly that - freeing.
"Because I heard what sounded like fighting, but it ended up just being two kids playing 'Ninja' I presume."
"No, we were playing Naruto and Sasuke!" one of the boys shouted.
"Be quiet Kenta!" Asami shushed.
"That no longer interests me," Sasuke said. "What interested me is Isui. What does he know of his mother and father?"
"Why is it important to you?" Asami asked.
"I can tell he's curious about his eyes," Sasuke said. "What did you tell him about those?"
"Just that they're special," Asami said. "I don't know what they are, but as far as I've seen, no one else has them, so he is."
"You're not wrong," Sasuke said. "He is special. He can see things that no one else sees. He senses movements at a pace no one else can keep up with. And he probably found himself understanding and copying other shinobis without the years and years of practice it took them to master their craft. Now you tell me, Asami, Isui, anyone who wants to answer - am I wrong?"
The crackle of the firewood split into two. The silence told Sasuke everything he needed to know. The boy had no idea he was an Uchiha and his world was about to change.
"How do you know that?" Isui asked quietly.
"Because I knew many people who possessed the same power you do."
Isui crawled closer. Asami tried to pull him back.
"Isui!"
"I just want to know," Isui said. "Someone finally knows."
Isui sat right beside Sasuke and through the weeds sprouting out of the cracked stones, Sasuke could feel the boy's chakra, radiating like a sun. A sun, an untapped well, a powerhouse that didn't realize the capability within himself yet.
"Why are my eyes cursed?" Isui asked.
"They are not cursed," Sasuke said. "They belong to one of the strongest clans in Konoha. The Uchiha clan."
Isui suddenly stiffened. The pool of energy in his chest had chilled to an icy degree, and instead of a barrage of rapidfire questions, only silence returned him.
"The Uchiha clan is cursed," Isui said quietly.
"Yes, but cursed from its time and place in the Great Shinobi Wars," Sasuke said. "Times have changed now. If you are an Uchiha or not, the world should hold no bearing on who you are and what you can do."
"I… I don't want it…" he said.
Isui suddenly took off running and though Sasuke wanted to chase after him, the pillar kept him bound to his post.
"Isui!" Sasuke shouted.
The pitter-patter of rushed feet on forest brush soon faded into the symphony of night, and he was gone.
"He never saw the Uchiha clan in a good light," Asami said. "They had caused so much pain and destruction of Konoha, he had a difficult time processing the fact that the Hidden Leaf was able to forgive Uchiha Sasuke for his crimes."
"H-how much do you guys know about what happened during the Fourth War?" Sasuked asked slowly.
"Not much. News doesn't travel quickly out here," Asami said. "But we had heard about the crimes of Uchiha Sasuke and how the Uzumaki Naruto was willing to sacrifice his life and the world to save his friend."
"Naruto wouldn't have sacrificed the world," Sasuke said adamantly.
"If Naruto had died battling Sasuke before the Infinite Tsukuyomi hit, the world would have ended then and there. While Naruto was very noble to do that for a friend as far gone as Sasuke was, it was reckless of him to be so stubborn about it when the world needed him more. That's just the way Isui saw it."
Sasuke understood the sentiment. He had battled that shadow of a past for years and still continued to this day. With time, he realized he could never change a mind set on believing that, but no one was lost to a change of heart. Naruto had taught him that much.
"I don't plan on hurting him or anyone from your village," Sasuke said.
"We don't even know who you are and how you know so much about the Uchiha," Asami said. "And you want us to release you?"
"I can help Isui hone his powers with the Sharingan," Sasuke said. "I'm the only one who can."
"And how's that?"
"Because…" Sasuke breathed. "I trained with Copy Ninja Kakashi, one of the last men in this world to wield such a power. I can train Isui to learn how to control his curse, instead of letting it control him."
A/N: Lolol Sasuke taking Rock Lee's name. I never thought I'd see the day...
