So... this is a pretty fast update, no? What can I say-I just wanted to get it out as soon as possible. Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review.


The rain was bitter, cold-it went through his cloak as if he was trying to soak up a lake with a paper towel, and soon every inch of him was surrounded by that unavoidable chill. Despite that, he did not do anything to stop it; he did not pull his hood over his head, neither did he fasten his cloak properly.

Naruto walked beside him, his gait steady and his vision directed dead ahead. His friend was observant though, more observant than most. Sasuke could see the worry that creased the blonde's brow, the worry for him that had aged him prematurely.

Blue eyes suddenly swiveled to the right, and the two spiritual brothers met gazes. It was calmer than their earlier eye contact-not as heated; it was as if the cool rain had soothed the tensions that had developed between them.

"You're still adamant about it, aren't you?" Naruto said.

He had tried, and failed, for the past ten minutes since they had left Sasuke's apartment to change his best friend's mind.

"I am," Sasuke said.

Clearly, it was to no avail.

The Hokage's tower loomed above them; and as if Kakashi knew what storm was coming, he was visible in the window-dark eyes watching the two as they walked through the street, the Uzumaki and Uchiha sticking out like a dab of orange and black paint in a sea of murky brown.

He turned, and ducked out of sight. Sasuke's gaze lingered on the window for a moment longer, before he followed Naruto into the building itself. Up the winding staircase, past shinobi who beamed at Naruto and silently glowered at Sasuke. Two ANBU stood guard outside the door of Kakashi's office; they did not say anything as Naruto pulled the handle and the two stepped inside the brightly lit room.

"Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi said, and he was seated in his chair now, looking rather impressive swathed in the Hokage's white robes, the red hat perched on his desk. "What brings you here today?"

Naruto's smile was grim, and Kakashi frowned beneath his mask as the blonde placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke wants to put forward a formal request," Naruto said, "to leave the village under a signed agreement; sort of like the one Sandaime-jiichan had with ero-sennin."

Kakashi looked rather impassive about what Naruto had just said; then again he looked stoic about pretty much everything nowadays. Sasuke shifted, and refused to meet Kakashi's gaze. He had stared down Madara, he had stared down Naruto, but Kakashi reminded him far too much of himself and his mistakes for Sasuke to be entirely comfortable in his presence.

The silver haired Kage heaved a sigh.

"I suppose I saw this coming," he said, and he swiveled around in his chair so that he could face the sprawling village. It was still raining outside-drops of water ran down the windows, and a slight fog had descended upon Konoha. It wasn't particularly dense, but it was thick enough that one couldn't even see the walls that surrounded the village.

It was almost a reunion of sorts. Team Seven had not spent much time together since the end of the war-Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had interacted quite a bit, but there were four people in Team Seven, not three; and that was if you didn't include Sasuke's replacement and the Mokuton user that Sasuke had nearly killed all those months back at Orochimaru's hideout.

If Sakura had been there, it would have been a reunion of the (old) Team Seven. Too bad it wasn't a happy one, not by any means.

Kakashi raised a hand, and formed a seal. Sasuke and Naruto both felt the light pulse of chakra he let out-less than ten seconds later, an ANBU had materialized in the office.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" the ANBU asked.

"Fetch me a scroll," Kakashi drawled. "It's in the archives, row sixteen, the third shelf from the bottom with the label 'U-S-C-P Fourteen' on it."

"Of course." The man disappeared.

Kakashi turned around in his chair; Sasuke and Naruto gave him a look.

"What?" Kakashi said, scratching his scalp. "The sharingan wasn't the only reason I could memorize a thousand jutsu; I wasn't called a genius for nothing."

Naruto groaned. "Please don't go trying to list them again…" he said. Sasuke merely shook his head.

Kakashi chuckled. "That was only to torture you," he said, placing his elbows on the desk. "And besides, I could list them all off if I wanted to, and you know this very well."

Naruto groaned once more.

A minute later, the ANBU guard swooped back into the room, a scroll clasped in his hand; he handed it to Kakashi, bowed low, then disappeared once more.

"U-S-C-P Fourteen?" Sasuke questioned.

"Uchiha Sasuke Contingency Plan Fourteen," Kakashi recited.

"You have fourteen contingency plans for me?" he muttered.

"Two dozen, actually," Kakashi said. "Don't worry-they're just a precautionary measure; we even have a few of those plans for Naruto."

"Hey!" Naruto said. "Why do you need a contingency plan for me of all people?"

"Well, it should be pretty obvious, no?" Kakashi pointed out. "We have one in case you're corrupted by evil-" He listed them off on his fingers. "- one in case Sasuke went rogue and convinced you to go along with him, one if Ichiraku's Ramen burnt to the ground and you went out of control…"

"We get it," Sasuke said, exasperated. "Can we get onto whatever I have to do in order to get out of this place?"

Kakashi chuckled. "If you're so eager," he said, as he unraveled the scroll and spread it across his desk. "I figured that you'd want to leave the village at some point; so, I crafted this iron clad contract. Basically, you'll be a shinobi of Konoha who is on a 'long term' mission of sorts."

"What are my obligations for this… 'mission'?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, if we need your services we'll send for you," Kakashi said. "You're liable to be called back by the Hokage at any time, and that right also applies to whoever my successor will be." They both looked at Naruto, who grinned. "You are not allowed to enter into a contract with any village or nation; you also can't father any children unless it's with a Konoha kunoichi, so don't think you can go out spreading your seed or something like that."

"Spreading my seed…?" Sasuke murmured.

Kakashi continued on, unabashed. "You're also subject to the Daimyo's authority, so if he calls on you then you have to answer it, blah, blah, blah, I should probably mention the fact that this has a time limit on it too."

"A time limit?" Naruto asked.

"Basically, it's set to only last for five years right now." Kakashi said. "It can be canceled or extended indefinitely; I did manage to get the council to back the agreement as it stands, but if you go out there and do some unsavory things, they can refuse to sign the renewal in five years. Which means you'll have to come home, or you'll be considered a rogue ninja… again."

He slammed through a few minutes of meaningless things.

Kakashi explained that he technically he had to get a visa to cross the borders to any other country; he also needed to check in with Konoha once a month, either in person or through an animal summon.

By the time Kakashi was done, the rain outside had intensified to something only a hair less than a storm.

"Do you accept these conditions?" Kakashi said.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment-just a moment, before he realized that this was probably the best deal he was going to get. Kakashi had really pulled out the stops to score him an agreement like this; the council must have been furious that he was allowed so much freedom.

He did not say anything. Sasuke simply picked up the pen Kakashi had placed on the desk, and put down his signature on the dotted line.

Naruto had to sign his signature as well, and he did his in an untidy scrawl. The two council members had already put down their names in faded ink, and Kakashi completed the document by putting his own signature down.

The deal was struck.

"You can leave whenever you want," Kakashi said, "as soon as you've made all the necessary preparations."

There was a hint of elation in Sasuke's gaze, one that he quickly buried beneath layers of his typical stoicism. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning," he said, and left it at that.

"Should I tell Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke turned his back to them. "If you want," he said, and took a step toward the door.

Naruto frowned. "What about Hanabi?" he asked. "Are you just going to leave without telling her that you're going to be gone for at least five years?"

He paused for an instant, but only for that instant. "You can tell her as well," Sasuke said. "If you want, that is."

There was a moment of silence.

"If that's all, then I'm going to head back to my apartment and pack."

Sasuke left the office without another word, Naruto and Kakashi's eyes lingering on him until he had whipped around the corner and out of sight.


Hanabi groaned.

'This,' she thought, as she cracked her fingers, 'is what I get for staying up all night.'

Desperate seemed a lenient term to describe her frenzy last night-she had spent hours poring over that book, scrutinizing every paragraph, making sure that she was at the top of her game. If one thing could shake Sasuke out of his slump, Hanabi reasoned, it was seeing her kick butt and take names when it came to learning that jutsu.

She rubbed the dark circles beneath her eyes, and half wished that she actually knew how to put on makeup so she could conceal them. Then again, she wished she could do a lot of things when it came to cosmetics-she wasn't like her sister, who had an army of girl friends who she could call upon to dress and makeover her whenever she wanted.

Hanabi heaved a sigh. "I swear," she murmured, "you better be there sensei…"

He had been so tired yesterday, or at least it seemed that way; what if he just couldn't be bothered to get out of bed? It wasn't as if she could access his apartment anymore, with the spare key being moved or removed.

It took her a good while to get dressed and such; and it also took Hanabi a minute to realize that she was trying to pull a glove onto her foot as if it were a sock.

Cold cold cold. Why was it so cold all of a sudden? It was as if the temperature had plummeted ten degrees in the night; even the ever stoic Hyuga guards seemed affected by the chill.

Hanabi made it about halfway to their usual training grounds before she was stopped.

It was Naruto, there was no doubt about that. "OI, HANABI!" the blonde bellowed at the top of his lungs as he came hurrying down the road. Everyone in the street seemed to part to make way for him-and though he had been on the opposite end of the road when he'd seen her, it took him less than twenty seconds to come to a stop before her.

"Naruto?" Hanabi said. "What are you doing here? And where's your jacket?"

"Gave it… to some… old lady who needs it…" the blonde said, wheezing slightly. "Running in the cold sucks," he declared. "Also, I really hope that jacket doesn't disappear when I dispel-that would be really awkward."

"You're a clone?" Hanabi asked.

"My original's setting up a nice little surprise for Sasuke," he said. "Anyway, I came to tell you that Sasuke's gonna leave the village! Again!" He laughed in an almost maniacal fashion, and grinned at Hanabi for a moment.

Hanabi stared at him.

And stared.

"What?" she said, after a long pause. "Is he like… defecting again?"

"No, of course not!" Naruto said, waving his hand as if to brush off her concerns. "He's got this agreement with Kakashi-sensei that lets him strike out on his own for a couple of years; you know, clear his head and stuff like that."

"You're going to just let him leave?" Hanabi murmured, white eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Well, there's really nothing else I can do." Naruto said. "If you want to see him, you'd better hurry-he'll be leaving any second."

Naruto blinked, and she was gone; if he had been a lesser shinobi, he would have missed her, but the blonde quickly spotted her sprinting off in the direction of the village gates.

He shook his head, and dispelled without another word.


Sasuke hesitated.

Sakura stared at him with those big green eyes of hers, and he hesitated-fingers only a few inches from her forehead.

He thought about it.

Five years was most likely the minimum he would be gone; and there was no doubt in his mind that Sakura would wait for him if he told her to do so. And what about Hanabi? Would she wait for him if he asked, would she wait for him to come back so that he could pass onto her the knowledge that he had cultivated throughout his years of life?

She probably would if he asked.

That would be five years… wasted; and Sasuke alone knew how one could waste years-after all, he had spent eight years trying to kill Itachi, only for that to fizzle out in his face.

Even if this was a vastly different situation, Sasuke didn't want to put that on them.

He had to redeem himself; and to do that, he couldn't have any commitments. He couldn't let Sakura wait for him, only for him to possibly never return her love. And he couldn't have someone like Hanabi waste five years of her young life waiting for her sensei. Especially when he had that little project prepared for her..

He sighed.

"Take care," Sasuke said.

Sakura blinked at him.

Sasuke turned, lowered his hand, and walked away-cloak flapping around his legs, his pace even and steady.

Sakura stared at his back, dumbfounded.

Then, perhaps twenty seconds later once Sasuke had made it quite a ways down the road, a tiny figure sprinted past Sakura. Once again she blinked, only to catch a whip of brown hair before she was chasing him.

"Sensei! You'd better wait up you bastard!" The word was venomous-truly venomous, because there was a tone of anger in her voice that seemed unbecoming for such a fragile looking girl.

Sasuke turned.

"Hanabi?" he said.

She came to a stop before him, a fiery look in her otherwise pale and empty eyes. "You're just going to leave?" Hanabi snapped. "You're supposed to train me you… you… you big fat jerk!"

Sasuke had to stop his lips from twitching. "I know," he said.

"You know?" Hanabi said. "Then why are you leaving, huh?"

"I have to."

Her hands balled up. "Oh, you have to, huh? You know what I have to do? I have to stop myself from punching you in your stupid face right now, sensei!" Hanabi said, and there was steam practically pouring out of her ears. A dull red color creeped up her neck. "You think you can just bail on the village again?"

It went on.

"I swear! You taught me what… one jutsu? That's not what a sensei does! You need to teach me more, and you can't do that if you're gone!"

And on.

"And what about your stupid books that you were supposed 'to give to me when I'm ready'? Huh? HUH?"

And on…

Until Hanabi finally drew breath, and realized she had nothing else to say.

Well, she had a little to say.

"You're leaving?" she wheezed, throat sore from her yelling.

Sasuke exhaled. "I am," he said. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me, Hanabi."

All she could manage was a few deep breaths. "You-" Whatever last bit of feistiness she had petered out like the last flicker of the filament in a lightbulb. "I- I don't…"

She screwed her eyes up, and mentally, said 'screw it'. Hanabi threw herself forward, and wrapped her bony little arms around his torso.

Sasuke did not return the hug, as one might expect. But he didn't throw her away, he didn't flinch, he didn't seem repulsed by her touch-and that was all she needed.

"You'll be back?" Hanabi said.

"Someday," Sasuke murmured; he paused, and tilted his head thoughtfully. "I put my spare key back in the original place," he said.

"Why do I need to know that?"

"Because you do."

And it was clear that he was going to leave it at that.

There was another brief moment of silence.

Hanabi swallowed. "Sensei, when's your birthday?" she asked suddenly.

Sasuke paused. "Why do you want to know…?"

"Because," and a devious grin broke out across her face, "When you come back, I'm going to punch you once for every year you've been alive. So you'd better come back soon, mister!"

Sasuke chuckled. "I think I'll keep that information to myself then," he said. He reached his hand out-and muzzled her hair. It was still, robotic, and would have been awkward coming from anyone else, but getting a gesture of affection like that from Sasuke of all people overruled any amount of awkwardness.

Hanabi gaped at him.

"I'll see you around, Hanabi," he said.

Sasuke turned, and walked away. Hanabi was dumbstruck for a moment, before she shook her head, flattened her hair, and summoned back her wits.

"I'll find out your birthday from someone!" she called after him."Don't think you won't get what's coming to you!"

Sasuke raised his lone arm in a way that seemed as if he was saying goodbye, and he held it like that until he was long out of sight.

Naruto was waiting for him in the forest.

"I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show," Sasuke said offhandedly.

Naruto grinned, and tried not to touch the headband that lay concealed beneath his cloak.

"It's been a long road… hasn't it, Sasuke?


Hanabi grasped the spare key and opened up the door to the apartment.

Her fingers were shaking; why were her fingers shaking? She felt nervous-surely, Sasuke had to have something here, for him to so cryptically tell her that she could once again access his apartment.

Soft footfalls guided her through the apartment, until…

Right there, smack dab in the middle of the coffee table; several piles of books, stacked up to half her height, and looking as if half of the Uchiha's library had been brought here. On top of it, a note.

'I expect you to get through all of these by the time I get back.'

It wasn't signed, but who it was from was obvious.

Hanabi blanched.

"He expects me to get through all of these?" she whispered, horrified.

And she didn't even notice the piles of books that were concealed beneath the table either…

End of Arc One


And that's a wrap. Nine chapters in, and we're already to the first time skip.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. Make sure to leave a review if you enjoyed it, reviews are awesome, reviews are life, reviews take thirty seconds to leave and you don't even need an account to do it! Also, don't forget to follow and favorite the story... because why not? :D

Thanks for reading, and as always have a great day.