Longest chapter yet. Upon furhter thought, I changed Tenten's line a bit about being miffed over Sasuke's copying stuff. Thank you, ErzherzogKarl.

There are some subtle, darker aspects in this chapter. And some foreshadowing, but by now it should be apparent my style is do first, explain later much like Naruto and many animes.

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Chapter 10: A Hairstyle Does Not Reflect Your Power Levels

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"The possesion of anything begins in the mind." ~Bruce Lee

I waited until Gai splashed some water on his student's face, causing her to come to, and then walked over. Our eyes met, and I awkwardly held out my left hand in the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Sorry about that butchering you comment." The brunette said as she returned the gesture, standing up with ease. I may have won, but she stood like it was the end of training session, while my posture was more suited for someone who had just returned from battle at a war.

"No need for an apology." I replied. Next to me, Kakashi-sensei appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"You did alright." He said, messing up my hair. "But you need a haircut. Ready to leave?"

I stared at him in question before remembering that the bangs on the right side of my forehead were severed, reaching only till my ear as opposed to chin. I huffed and nodded. The jounin teleported me alongside him to another room and then took out a brush and ink bottle.

There were pillars all around, arranged in a circle and blue tinted lighting. It was cool, with no wind. Was it underground?

"So, I see you have been busy," He commented, examining the seal on my neck. "Take off your shirt and wipe yourself with this towel. I know a temporary fix, but it's better than nothing."

"Do I need to take off my bandages?"

"Not really."

I wiped off the sweat and dirt on my upper body while Kakashi began to write on the floor.

"How did you learn the Kaiten?"

"The what?"

Kakashi did not pause in his actions. "The 'let it rip' move."

"Oh. That." I feigned innocence. "I learned that by myself. Why are you giving it such a weird name?"

"Stop lying." There was a small plop as he dipped the brush again.

"I am not." I bit into my cheek.

"Stop lying by omission then. That's a technique of the Main Hyuga Branch. Are you saying that you, an Uchiha, reinvented it on your own?"

"I, Uchiha Sasuke, hereby testify to not having ever seen that technique with these eyes, Sharingan or not and developing it on my own in isolation."

"This isn't a court. But if you feel like want to get closer to the Daimyo, I can arrange a Tora mission for you." Slight amusement covered his voice.

I crossed my arms and sulked, trying to think of a lie that would work. "Am I in trouble?"

"Hmm, not really. But I have to tell the Hokage something if a student of Copy Ninja Kakashi suddenly starts flaunting a technique of another clan without any permission."

As I wondered why the Hokage would take interest into this, I remembered a hushed conversation between Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha, about a law presented to the leader of the village back when Sasuke was a wee lad, calling for Sharingan users to stop stealing/copying techniques of other clans without consent.

"I can just tell him that you taught me."

"It's cute when people think they can actually fool the Sandaime. Worst case scenario, the Hyuga might request a surface mind probe to determine the veracity of your statements, my cute little duckling."

By now Kakashi had finished painting on the floor behind and was in front, looking at my face now and then. I was genuinely afraid for once.

"Maa, don't worry."

"Easy for you to say. You got ninety nine jutsu, but Kaiten ain't one." I rapped. Kakashi actually paused at this, before shaking his head.

"Actually, I have around a thousand. Were you always like this, or did the seal have other effects?"

"The seal makes me angry and lose control. Naruto makes me question my sanity."I crossed my arms.

Kakashi smiled at this, and some tension I hadn't noticed before seemed to dissipate from his shoulders. "Good job on fighting it back." He took out a set of kunai and began to set them across the circle. I tried to make sense of the random pattern, but gave up.

"This method only works as long as you believe in your own willpower." Kakashi scratched his head. "Maa, you can do it even without extra help, so the chances of the Cursed Seal activating again are low for you." The jounin took off his glove and made an incision on his fingers, drawing kanji on my body with blood.

I watched in fascination for about twenty minutes before he moved onto my back for the remaining seal work.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

Without further ado, he sealed. Somehow, I had forgotten about the part where pain was involved when sealing things on a person. After I was done screaming and panting, I lied down on the floor.

"Kukuku, impressive, very impressive indeed." My blood froze at the sibilant voice, and Kakashi whirled around.

I scrambled up to see Orochimaru, no disguise on his face, walking towards us.

"Orochimaru." Kakashi's voice had no hint of the teacher I knew. I wondered if that was what he sounded like before he killed someone. But that was all I gleaned of their meeting.

Utterly exhausted, without a proper meal in days and now finally free from the worry of the curse mark taking over without constant vigilance, I slipped into oblivion.

I woke up in Konoha Hospital at dusk, with a gleeful nurse hovering over me. She had short dark hair, a chubby body and tired eyes. Judging from the blue stain on her lips, she had probably chewed the wrong side of a pen.

"Are you awake, Uchiha-san?"

"Yes." I sat up. All my bandages were changed, and the left side of my body no longer hurt. My head was cleared up as well. Even the shoulder which had been sliced by a sword felt okay. The door to my room opened and I noticed for the first time no one else was there; it was a VIP room.

"Oh, he's awake." Another voice said and a male medic-nin stepped into view. He was tall and brooding, but looked a bit relieved to see me. Not just the females but the males too? Did I nearly die or something? "Get him a set B meal."

"Okay. Be sure to finish it all, alright? Or be here when I get back." She muttered under her breath. The male in the white coat cracked a small smile on his otherwise serious face.

"Don't worry Yukimi, this boy here actually gives a damn for doctor's orders." The nurse looked at me in surprise, before mouthing something to the physician who nodded in confirmation.

Ah, that was it. One time when I was practicing sliding across a pond I bent forward too much and fell in head first, hitting my head on a rock near the shore. It felt like I had blacked out, and I caught a cold on the way back, so the next day I walked into the hospital.

I told Naruto I was sick in the morning and then went to get a prescription. Describing the events to the consultant doctor got me referred to a neurologist medic-nin, Arakawa-san, who scanned my head and told me nothing was wrong, but I could come back after three days with no training in between.

Having been at it continuously, I decided to let the time be used for rest and pursue my other interests at the library after informing a surprised Kakashi. When I went back for the prognosis, the same Arakawa-san was present and shocked I actually heeded his advice.

And henceforth, the Last Uchiha became known as the one ninja who heeded medical opinions. Apparently, that fame had not been quite forgotten, nor was the consensus false.

I stayed in bed until Yukimi-san came back a metallic tray filled with rice, curry, bananas and an apple and glass of milk. "Finish everything. You're a growing shinobi!"

I nodded. Contrary to popular belief, hospital food wasn't all bad. Except for the apple, it had nothing on the ones I got from my regular dealer.

...Did I just refer to a fruit merchant in the same terms as drug seller over apples?

My door banged open and in walked Naruto and Sakura. "I'll see you in the finals, believe it!"

"I take it you made it?" I asked, peeling a banana.

"Hehe, yeah! I had to fight this Sound girl, and she went down easy after a couple of clones."

"Huh. And Sakura?" I turned to her but she avoided my gaze.

"Oh, her! She was matched with that Gaara guy," I choked on the banana, "but Kakashi-sensei told her not to fight. She gave up."

"It was the best thing to do." I said, but the pink-haired girl hung her head. "What are the matchups then?"

"Right!" Naruto nodded importantly. "I versus Kankuro, Shino versus Temari, Fuzzy Brows versus Gaara, and then your match is the first, against Neji. I think Fuzzy Brows has an extra match with the asshole who hurt Sakura-chan in the forest, that Dosu guy."

"What." I deadpanned. Did I piss off some supernatural entity that watches over the Hyuga by performing the Heavenly Rotation? And where was Shikamaru?

"What happened to Nara?" I asked.

"Shikamaru? He got matched against Fuzzy Brows. That lazy ass never stood a chance against him. He used his shadow to catch him a very cool manoeuvre but Fuzzy Brows didn't give up and broke his hold!" Naruto supplied. Then his eyes turned serious. "Kick the crap out of Neji, won't ya?"

"Why?" I asked with dread. That one match couldn't have been fixed, could it? I thought it was all random selection.

"You weren't there to see his match against Hinata, but he was a total asshole!" Naruto animatedly began to relay his thoughts on the fight, which, overall, went just like canon. In the end the genin had to be restrained before he could land a killing blow.

"So, you're asking me to be an avenger?" I pointed out and the hyperactive blond paused to think, sensing some sort of trap in the words.

"Argh! Just kick his ass bastard!"

I bowed my head in mock acquiescence, "If that is my Fate, so be it." Sakura stiffened at the comment, about to rebuke me but then aborted.

"Oi! You think its so fun-" Naruto grabbed my collar and the door to the room opened, revealing Yukimi-san the nurse. Shock showed her face, which morphed into anger.

"What are you doing to a patient?! Out, get out this instance!" She squawked.

"It's fine, it's fine." I reassured her, removing Naruto's hand from my hospital shirt. On the other hand, I wanted to see what her reaction was about; the fact that Naruto looked like he was going to punch me, or the fact that it was Naruto.

Her eyes turned sharp. "Uchiha-san, it's a good thing you're being discharged right now. I don't care if you are boys, or just having a 'manly talk', there will be no roughhousing in the wards again, understood?"

I bit back a retort at her completely neglecting to mention the Jinchuuriki. He was right there and wearing orange. Sakura moved nearer to him unconsciously, as she often did near shops or on the street and he shot her a grateful smile.

"Understood. Where do I fill the forms?" I kept my tone civil.

"Forms? Oh!" She brightened a bit again. "Sorry, I forgot bring yours with me. I mean, shinobi," she shrugged as if that word was an explanation. "I'll fill it for you so you can just go home for now. Here," she placed a premium-looking healing salve in my hands. "Don't strain your ribs, and sleep flat on your back!"

"Alright. Thank you." I slid my feet into green hospital slippers and stood on the floor, giving her a short bow. I made to grab my empty tray to drop it off in the cafeteria, but the nurse declined and shooed us out.

We walked in silence, perhaps all of us subconsciously reviewing the behaviour of the people around us for being with Naruto.

"Man! Let's go get some Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto said suddenly. I felt quite full, but little strain to my stomach was nothing to ease my teammates' heart.

"Alright," Sakura gave him a small smile, even though I could tell she wanted to do nothing more than take a long bath and do something about her messy hair. Speaking of which...

I swallowed at the idea. She did look dejected at having not had a chance to showcase her skills, and in the forest must have been when she made her resolve to be a serious shinobi. And she was my teammate and friend; it was sort of my responsibility to cheer her up, was it not?

"Sakura," I began hesitantly and she perked up. "What sort of hair cut should I get?"

Sakura blinked, before blood rushed to her cheeks. "W-Well, uh, I think any style would suit you."

Praise the Log for generic responses that get us nowhere. "Why don't you simply cut it? Girls are good at these sorts of things, no?"

"Hey! There are dozens of barbers in the village!" Naruto cried. The girl turned a shade darker than her hair.

"Okay." Sakura replied with a big grin at last. Naruto, seeing her beauty, simply sighed and muttered 'you bastard' to me. "You know Sasuke-kun, back in the academy all the girls thought you liked long hair." She said, pulling at bubblegum pink strand.

"Yeah, I remember that. Everyone was then trying to grow long hair. A girl even thought that Shikamaru liked you, 'cause he was staring at you one time and had long hair, believe it!"

I gave off a slight chuckle at that. "I have to thank whoever started that rumour. But not everyone grew their hair after that."

Naruto frowned. "They didn't? I'm sure the girls all did."

Just according to keikaku. (T/N: Keikaku means plan).

"Hn. Hinata didn't. Short hair is pleasant, isn't it?" I smirked.

Naruto spluttered and Sakura giggled. "You bastard! Are you really the Sasuke from the academy?"

We had arrived finally arrived at Ichiraku and I pondered his question. Bit by bit, the indifferent mask was falling. "No. I guess things change."

After the impromptu ramen stop, we headed to Sakura's house and entered for the first time. It was a roomy, two storey house with no lawn.

"Pardon the intrusion," I half-chanted as I took off my shoes to enter.

"So, where's your room?" Naruto asked, a bit tactlessly. Sakura reddened.

"Not on this floor. Don't enter anywhere, without permission, got it?" She brandished a fist for further persuasion.

"R-right, I won't Sakura-chan, believe it!" Naruto scratched his cheek, trying not to sweat.

"Good. Wait here while I get scissors and some newspapers."

Moments later all three of us were in the lounge, a towel wrapped around my neck as I sat on a chair borrowed from the dining room with newspapers spread on the floor.

I wondered just how becoming a ninja had led to this situation. The things I do for friendship.

Naruto contributed by holding a two by one foot mirror in front of me. Judging by the pink frame, it was Sakura's personal vanity mirror. Using a spray bottle, she moistened my hair and then got to work.

By the time she was done, I was staring at my hair parted over left brow than the middle, most it swept backwards whilst the bangs slanted towards the right on the longer side, falling onto my right eye.

"Well, what do you think, Sasuke-kun? Your hair is a bit spry, so when you tie your hitai-ate it won't get into your eyes at all." Sakura fiddled with the hem of her dress.

"Or you can let it hang and be like Kakashi-sensei, showing only one eye to the world!" Naruto chimed in.

A felt a shiver down my spine, staring at the style which was remarkably similar to what Sasuke sported at the end of Shippuden. Was that how long Haruno Sakura would wait to implement her plans? Well, certainly it did not look bad, per se. "Good job. Thanks, Sakura."

A blushing, smiling face was her response. We left before her parents arrived home and headed to the library. Naruto had gotten the hang of reading fairly advanced Kanji, but still headed for the dictionary. I pulled out a text on the Land of Lightning and Sakura went for some light reading with an encyclopaedia of weapons.

In the evening we parted ways. I went home, bathed in hot water minding my injuries, applied the healing salve and went to sleep after weapon maintenance.

I woke up to Kakashi holding a bucket of water over my head. I blinked, before jumping out of bed.

"Yo!" He crinkled his eye, tossing the water over my bed anyway. "I didn't know you still wet the bed Sasuke."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Sensei, it's-" I glanced at the clock. "-four o'clock in the morning. What in the name of White Fang are you trying to do?"

Kakashi blinked. "That's a very specific person to swear by."

"We all have our heroes." I yawned, my sleepy mind trying to remember if I had said something I wasn't supposed to. And then I dragged my feet to the bathroom, ridding any and all worrisome thoughts with Don't Give a Crap no Jutsu.

By the time I had washed my face, I realized that I had just admitted to being an admirer of his father to Kakashi's face. When I got out and turned on the light, my teacher had a faraway look on his face.

"We're heading out to train for the finals at eight o'clock, my cute little student. Naruto will have a different instructor. Pack your gear for a month. Don't be late!" With that he exited from my apartment with a puff of smoke, and no hint of movement at the doors or windows.

Eight o'clock meant nearing ten. Don't be late my foot.

If I hadn't known about this beforehand, I imagined I'd be very pissed. Deciding to share the joy of people crashing one's apartment at ungodly hours, I broke into Naruto's residence.

Emptying a glass of water on his nether regions while he slept, I waited until he woke up. He did so after a moment, and then heartlessly accused me for pouring water on his bed.

"Do I look like someone who would do that?"

"OF Course you do! Everyone is fooled by your innocent demeanour, but I know what evil lies beneath your stoic facade!" Naruto jumped out of his bed, trying to strangle me.

The dictionaries are doing him good. Not a second after being waken and he had the energy to jump up and down. With my Sharingan active at all times, dodging him was peanuts.

"Whatever. Let's go get breakfast." I turned and waited outside.

"Do we go get Sakura-chan too?" Naruto asked, trying to hide a smile but failing. He really loved hanging out, even if it was with the two of us getting on each other's nerves.

"Of course."

The Leaf village had a variety of restaurants that opened at early hours, ones that opened at night and closed at midday. Among them, Team Seven often frequented a small cafe by the name of 'Sannin Hotspot', apparently the place where the three legendary ninja gathered for an outing after the Third Shinobi War.

It was just a street away from the Konoha Library, another one of our haunts on our days off.

"Good morning." I said as we came into view of Sakura's house. She was sweeping the porch with a broom and looked pleasantly surprised to see us there. Her hair was now neater, reaching only till her neck.

"Morning, Naruto, Sasuke-kun."

"Let's get breakfast Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered back.

"I'll go tell my parents." She made one more swipe of the floor and hurried back in. We only had to wait five minutes for her, which was a remarkable improvement.

I guess she actually did spent the extra time on her hair. I thought to myself as we walked to the cafe together. To my surprise, a certain white haired man was already present there, chatting up a waitress. Was it my imagination, or did his red lined eyes seem to follow us?

After we had placed our orders at a table, I broke the news.

"Naruto, try to keep your voice down," the blond looked at me questioningly, "Kakashi-sensei is going to train me this month."

"THAT'S-" Inner Sakura took over and slapped a hand over Naruto's loud mouth, glaring at him with the promise of pain if he shouted again. The Jinchuuriki settled for a baleful glare. "Why? You already have so many techniques."

"What I did yesterday is apparently known as the Kaiten of the Main Branch of Hyuga," I drawled. "Kakashi thought I copied it, and may think I have acquired the Sharingan."

"I didn't know that," Sakura leaned forward. "But you came up with it on your own, right Sasuke-kun?"

"That's what I told him."

"But man, Heavenly Rotation? Who names their techniques with such wacky names?" Naruto snorted, not knowing his own father would have a technique called Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three if things had gone as canon.

"I know." There was more sarcasm in my tone than intended, but breakfast was served. The cuisine in Konoha had little concept of fast food, but the service was very efficient.

We shared a large omelette with plenty of vegetables, such as capsicum, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms topped with cheese. An idea I had introduced, and the chef was quick to implement. (The chef was female).

Other than that were toast, bowls of rice, grilled fish, green tea with honey, and a bowl of ramen for Naruto. The only reason he was allowed ramen was because after confiscating it multiple times, I came home to all my white shorts dyed pink with no hope for recovery.

Remembering the incident, I couldn't help but hide a twitch. Why were we friends again?

And then Naruto turned to me at that moment and we held each other's gaze, Sakura looking between us, then sighing.

"Sasuke-kun, can I be honest with you?" She asked, biting her lip.

"Hn. Always be honest with me. And don't just get angry at Naruto alone, I feel left out." I replied cheekily.

"See? He too is a jerk." Naruto pointed out eagerly to our only slightly blushing teammate and I sat back with a satisfied smirk.

"What he said."

"You two...this is why Kiba keeps asking me if you guys are gay." Sakura placed her head in her hands, raking her hair. I spit tea back into my cup and Naruto sucked noodles into his nose.

"WHAT?" We yelled in unison. Placing a hand on our heads, Sakura shoved us back into our seats. "Don't make a scene!" She hissed. Rubbing my crown, I had to admit she adjusted to instructions quickly.

"As if. I won't steal the idiot from Hyuga."

"S-shut up about her you bastard."

I steepled my fingers and rested my jaw on them. "You do know that the closest thing Konoha has to a princess likes you, right?"

"I know, she's too good for me." Naruto mumbled back. He made no gesture which indicated that he wanted Sakura to know she still held his interest. My machinations were paying off after all.

"There there," Sakura patted his shoulder. "She doesn't care about that, which means neither should you."

"Let's talk about something else." Naruto suggested and we acquiesced.

"So what do you guys know about Wood Release?" I began to set the bowls and utensils in order so the waitress could pick them up easily.

"Mokuton, signature of the Shodaime." Sakura replied and we began a back and forth, and I slipped in the idea perhaps it wasn't a bloodline, considering the Second Hokage's personality. He definitely would have pushed for a progeny to make the ability ample in the Leaf, and Hashirama was also known to be fond of children.

"Perhaps it wasn't that they didn't want to do it, but that they couldn't." Naruto seemed to focus on my words strangely.

"Ne ne, did his Wood Release have effect on other plants too?" the blond inquired. One benefit of talking about Hokages was that Naruto sometimes took interest in other things.

"Well, I don't know if he could use it for gardening, but it made him highly attuned to Nature Chakra. Now what that actually is, the books and scroll don't tell, but it apparently made him a Sage." I supplied carefully. Sakura wasn't making googly eyes at me for once, I noticed with a bit of pride.

After the food had settled in our stomachs we split the bill and left.

"I have to go train with Kakashi-sensei. He told me you'll have another instructor, Naruto."

"EEH?! But I want Kakashi-sensei to teach me! What's so special about you anyway?"

"I think it's time I learned to use that properly." I tapped near my eye. Naruto failed to be pacified and kept his grumbling up until we went our separate ways.

The rocky canyon was a part of Leaf Village, in as much as that there was a chunin patrol now and then. The only possessions I had were in a bag that been transported to God knew where the moment I handed it to the jounin accompanying me in a burst of smoke.

"Here, channel some chakra into this," He gave a paper the size of a trading card game, and I obeyed. The results were a mild surprise to me.

"Well, that's that." Kakashi spoke, seeing the crumpled chakra paper in my hand. I was definitely sure I had a fire affinity, but with how much effort Sasuke had poured in signature Uchiha techniques, it was no wonder they came to me easily, despite the chakra control.

"Are you finally going to teach me a jutsu?" I resisted the urge to bounce on my feet, warmed up and ready to go. Chidori, here I come.

"What are the ones that you already know?" Kakashi inquired, getting out of his slouch a bit. I decided to be fully honest.

"Fireball, Phoenix Flower, Body Flicker, Shadow Clone, Imagination Clone; that one allows me to form a clone as I imagine without using Transformation, and the Front Lotus." I paused for breath, stopping myself from listing all. "I can also use Genjutsu to flip a person's balance by manipulating hearing, sight and sometimes smell. Those are Sharingan techniques though."

"Show me." I made no protest and activated it, in all its triple tomoe glory. Kakashi stared back with no reaction. He simply crooked a finger like he was calling his dogs.

Eye-twitching, we launched into taijutsu. It was brutal, and by the time we were done I was wondering if he had kept count to how many times I had smashed into the ground hard enough to crack it. Kakashi's training method was to repeat and repeat.

"There's a noticeable improvement, but you are still trying to create your own pace when you spar, rather than reading and dictating the fight from your opponent." Kakashi commented after ten minutes, closing his book. Not showing any signs of efforts, he looked at me down on the ground. "Up. Again."

I hid a wince. It was a long week ahead of me. I obtained weights similar to Lee's and every morning had to sprint up and down the canyons, being chased by summons Kakashi left in the afternoon. In the evening he came back after whatever duties he had to perform.

I barely got any sleep. The man seemed to know what he was doing, and when to toss me a soldier pill, when it was time for me to deplete my chakra by consecutive Heavenly Rotations, when to practice chakra control in order to not lose practice as my reserves were forcibly increased. To top it off were pink, raw smelling smoothies that I had to consume. They consisted of meat and eggs.

The scorching heat or the rain on one day did not seem to bother him as he pummelled me into the ground in taijutsu. There was no article of clothing I had which wasn't stained with blood and dirt. Time passed ever so slowly.

I was sure I was depressed. One night when the pain kept me awake, I climbed the tallest formation in the field and considered just jumping off it. It was becoming too much, and feeling embarrassed yet passive aggressive, I couldn't even say anything.

The only solace was the stars, millions of them visible in the night sky. It was breathtaking sight, and my chest felt tight at the imagery. No doubt it was due to Konoha's clean environment, the shades of magenta, azure and amethyst sprinkled with dots of white, blue and golden.

I remember thinking it was a wonderful last sight.

But then Pakkun showed up out of nowhere. "You should be asleep."

I jumped, muttering a quick apology before sprinting back to my sleeping bag, staring at the stars once more. The pug followed me silently and climbed onto my chest, a small ball of warmth and fluffiness.

"Go to sleep, pup. Anything on your mind?" The ninken spoke very gently in that gruff voice of his. Had Pakkun realized? Dogs were very keen empaths, able to pick up distress in humans.

I don't want to be a ninja.

But I couldn't say it. I had the knowledge and thus duty, a chance the people around me would do anything for. So much suffering lay ahead in the future, it was my responsibility to act maturely. Kakashi-sensei was shaping me into handle the things that lay ahead, and I needed it.

"Nothing." I left things at that.

At the end of week, the days didn't get better. In fact, they took a turn for the worse when Kakashi handed me a bagful of leaves to practice Lightning Chakra.

"Try to transfer chakra to the leaf. Like this," I observed with the Sharingan as the leaf in his hand sparked, before cluttering to the floor in sharp, but irregular parts.

I reached for chakra, feeling it buzzing before injecting it into the leaf. Kakashi's chakra was light blue in colour, and seemed to oscillate in flow before exiting the tenketsu inside his fingers.

Much of it dissipated, leaving a vein-like pattern of the leaf with a small sizzle. Trying again, I split the leaf into three. Kakashi nodded, before opening his book again.

"Keep doing that until you get pieces as small as mine."

Internally seething at his actions, I hit the exercise with ferocity. After a dozen or so tries, with my Dojutsu to help see the chakra I had it down to pat. But release chakra from hands only was easy, and as long as I was practicing this Kakashi wasn't running me into the ground anytime soon... seeing how many leaves I had.

So I began to move chakra from my various tenketsu of my body to my fingers. By the afternoon I was proficient in channelling lightning from my upper half of the body to my fingers. The sound of Kakashi closing his book reached my ears and I began to panic, eyes darting to look for an escape before I took another leaf from the nearly empty bag and stuck it to my toe, trying to channel lightning into it.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked flatly and I flinched.

"Increasing my chakra control." I responded, sweating bullets.

"Well, carry on." Patting my head almost condescendingly, he went back to his book. I sighed in relief. When all the leaves had been tattered, it was time for him to leave. I showed the ability to juggle a few sparks between my fingers before the performed the summoning jutsu.

I thought I had gotten off a bit easy, but his pack seemed even more vicious in chasing me down. As thoughtful as Pakkun had been, I realized bitterly he was loyal to Kakashi and would do whatever his master said. It was quite irrational of me to feel betrayed, really.

After the tenth day I had finally felt a bit adjusted to the weights, which were ridiculously heavy and continuously a drain on my chakra in order to move reasonably, Kakashi replaced them with heavier ones. It was hard enough to walk without chakra, levels of which almost seemed low for me. A continuous headache developed behind my eyes.

We had barely spoken in the time he was training me, but now I refused to speak with the bastard altogether. It wasn't the meals or sleep or a chance to actually relax that I missed, or proper bathroom to wash or relieve myself; it was social contact.

But I was growing. I did not get hit as much as I used to, I was able to mimic Kakashi perfectly when he formed handseals and telegraphed his moves. He would challenge me to copy his handseals as he made them, while not performing any jutsu for me to copy, a struggle for me when he was not even using his full speed.

I already knew that to copy elemental techniques, a certain base was needed. Hand seals were more than just mnemonics that shaped your chakra, they were commands; the same combination would give the same result for any user of any nation, even if they themselves were unaware of it, which was the principle on which the Sharingan worked.

You could use the technique, but fail to understand it entirely. If the level between the copier and the copied was tilted towards the latter, the chance of a jutsu being siphoned was low. While I had copped off Shadows Clones from Naruto within a day, something without seals, like the Rasengan, was giving me a lot of trouble.

The fifteenth day, Kakashi announced, was a break. And by break he meant no sparring, running or soldier pills; I had to do pull ups, push ups, crunches, balance rocks for half an hour until my wrists were on fire and eat whatever the hell ordered me to shove into my mouth. After the meat smoothies I was afraid ask what the stuff was.

But the tasks were repetitive, rinse and repeat, and my mind began to wander, but always on edge in case Kakashi started an impromptu sparring session. Look underneath the underneath, and expect the unexpected.

So I was angry, but not surprised, when he chose to attack at the moment all my limbs felt like their bones had dissolved into gelatine and all I could was crawl, scratch and bite in response. But looking graceful would have no place in a fight to the death.

All my rage led me to climbing that tall formation once again, that in the increased moonlight seemed like a tornado sculpture. What would hurt more, another day with the ex-ANBU captain or jumping from this height?

With a snarl, I mindlessly pushed chakra into my fingers and began to punch into my tenketsu, having long memorized their positions on my own body.

Perhaps my most stupid feat to date, but at least the pain and adrenaline brought me back to alternate-reality.

"Fudge, that smarts!" I hissed, trying, to push chakra into my left arm in an attempt to undo the act. "If only there was something like Control + Z no Jutsu- shit!" I hissed, whispering a few more cuss words, remembering why I had decided not to use moves like these.

One, Gentle Fist was one truly style that could not be blocked. I had tried many times when training by myself, but once a tenketsu had been pierced with chakra, it did not reopen for an hour or two.

And two, it was my most lethal technique, conjuring images of a pseudo-genin with his chakra scalpels. If pushed hard enough, I could do that too. But I was afraid, and felt no shame about it.

Onto other thoughts, Naruto had been able to rush chakra through his system after Sixty-Four Palms, albeit from a different source. I had tried to hold my chakra, letting its circulation build up before rushing it into areas of the network affected, to no success. What was I doing wrong? Although having more chakra flow through the tenketsu than it was attacked with would mitigate the Gentle Fist strike, it wasn't a viable strategy against any user, let alone Hyuga Neji.

I frowned, rubbing my forehead to alleviate some of my headache. For all I know, I may not even be hitting my tenketsu since the Sharingan did not have the magnification of a Byakugan, just enhanced observation which let me experiment after studying anatomy.

Chakra followed the past of least resistance and jabbed tenketsu were as good as insulated points, so the attempt to push chakra directly through the tenketsu itself without aid from the surrounding ones was moot. I rubbed my forearm, wondering if there was a way to inject chakra externally...

Like I did when bastardizing a chakra strike...

I gently coated my right hand with chakra and began to massage with forearm. It increased the pain, but by now I was no stranger to it; hell, I would its best man should it decide to get married. Like the process of slowly tearing off a band-aid over a scrape, I worked slowly, letting the pain build up till I could handle it, and then rest, before starting again.

Five minutes later, I made a half ram seal, trying to feel the flow. It worked, and yet not. Any hand-based jutsu would suffer, but moving the hand itself with enhancement was no longer a problem. And if my core points were hit, sealing the source, I couldn't use my own chakra to slightly open the points like I did just now.

I sighed, beginning to stretch for no reason. There was the matter with the invasion, of changing the Hyuga, of Gaara and Kabuto which I had been mulling over to deal with but was making no progress. Contrary to popular opinion, the security did not suck.

Asking to around for Kabuto would be no hassle since he was playing a Leaf Ninja and-

I pulled out a kunai on pure reflex to dodge the casually thrown shurikens at me by Kakashi. Sharingan already active, I parried further advances with a kunai.

"You've improved my little minion." Kakashi stepped back, smiling. "How are you holding up?"

How am I holding up? HOW AM I HOLDING UP?!

Kakashi deadpanned, seeing the glare I sent him. "Hey now, I think you're doing well. More than well, in fact, because by now I was expecting you to run back to the village."

"Why would I do that? This training is necessary." I ground out, unable to control how frustrated I sounded.

"And any other genin would be trying to wring my neck, trying to ask the point of all this. Well, maybe not Rock Lee. You haven't questioned anything I've said. Not once." The jounin added wryly, walking up to me while looking at the sky. His statement was pointless because I knew what he wanted to teach me. Psych.

"You remind me of myself. Talented and arrogant, never questioning your superior officers. But tell me, what is your dream?"He asked softly.

"To bring justice to a certain man." I replied at once, the gears in my mind spinning and whirring. "To finally be myself." A goal of mine completely unrelated to Sasuke.

"Justice? That's an odd choice of words." Kakashi probed. I obliged, having waited for an opportunity to voice these thoughts for a long time.

"Odd, huh. Kakashi," I said, still a bit pissed at him, "You knew Itachi, right?"

There was a long silence. The moon was beginning to glow from underneath, signalling the arrival of the Sun. Just when I was about to walk away, he spoke.

"I like to think I did. Why are you asking?" The man's tone was carefully neutral, but I could tell he was out of his depth, flustered.

"Many reasons. One, talking about such things tends to help. Two, recently I've begun to find it very odd," I stopped, rehearsing in mind before saying the following words. "Why would someone, in order to test the limits of his strength, use the darkness of the night to kill his opponents without giving them a chance to fight? If his specialty was assassination, I have no qualms about admitting the Hyuga would have been a more challenging target, assuming Itachi's motives were what he told me they were."

Kakashi's eye widened visibly in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I'm asking if you can think of any reason for Itachi to kill the Uchiha Clan besides 'testing his capacity'," I ground my teeth at the phrase, feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Anger the world that was supposed to be only fictional, a rage at my own powerlessness and an overwhelming grief.

I had never had a sibling before, and my heart was bent and torn over having an older brother now, but he had to Uchiha fricking Itachi.

"Who gained the most from the Uchiha disappearing? Why was I left alive? He killed father and mother, mother! The woman who gave birth to him, but he left me alive!" I was pulling at the masked jounin's jacket, who was watching me with a strange calm. "He was crying! I saw it with my Sharingan! He tells me to hate him and when I throw a kunai at his head, he turns to look at me with tears!"

No longer was I on the outskirts of the Leaf to welcome dawn, but back in the Uchiha Compound at night, lying on the ground whilst looking up at the boy I had pathetically tried to kill. A man whose only freedom was death at the very hands I was training, unless I did something.

"-ke, Sasuke!" Kakashi blurred into view and the picture disappeared. "Get a hold of yourself!"

It hurts, something hurts but I don't know what, I don't know where. Quick as a flash I take out a kunai and stab it into my thigh, giving the pain a location, giving it a reason in an attempt to regain control.

Kakashi solved the problem in a way the emotionally stunted ex-ANBU captain. Waiting for me to gain a semblance of sanity and then launch into a spar so I can work on instincts. The less I think the better it seems to be at the moment.

And knowing the jounin, it would be while if he brought up this incident again. If he ever would. For now, the fifteenth day was upon us.

"Everything I've put you through, is for you to learn this; my only original technique, the Chidori." Kakashi intoned after a thorough warm up and a soldier pill for me. I wiped a bit of blood from my mouth and nodded for him to continue.

"I'll be blunt. It's an assassination jutsu and I hope you never have to use it. This is an order," And the aloof teacher who called his students cute and little was gone, his voice steely, "Do not use this unless the lives of you or your comrades are under threat."

I straightened, painful as it was. "Yes sir."

"Watch." Kakashi went through Ox, Rabbit, and Monkey with immediacy and held his hand out. I watched closely, seeing the chakra rush down his arm and begin to exit, transforming in nature only, not shape, appearing like tiny threads of chakra attracting each other, then repelling, then changing direction, some escaping the surface of his hand before being recaptured.

It was like Rasengan in the way that chakra needed to be manipulated in arbitrary directions, then changed into Lightning nature. Once the transformation was done it began to produce its signatory sound. But there was more to it. Further control was needed to increase the area of the jutsu outside the hand and keep it grounded, lest the lightning decide to travel to ground through the body.

Those stray bolts flickering between the ground and hand faster than the eye could see, if it saw at all, weren't for a fancy effect or unintended. I focused on those as Kakashi leaning close to the ground, ripping the rock without even touching as he sprinted across it and slammed his hand into a small boulder without caring about his bones.

In fact, his hand seemed to slide through the rock like a knife through butter, and Kakashi dragged it in and up with a jump. Cutting off the technique, he turned to me and began walking, looking like a total badass when rock split, cleaved into two.

"Your turn."

I hid a smirk as I performed the seals slowly, deliberately. While I was concerned with efficient mastery of chakra and control, even musing with the idea of medical techniques, I had not, so to say, skipped on the cool techniques. Like, for example, the Rasengan.

Of course, I had to use copy the shadow clone technique first (and wasn't that a novel experience to use it), which cost me a good three months before I could have an alibi while buying water balloons, and even played with the idea of learning it when I could do so openly, to see if I could do it within a week.

If only I had known how stupid I was. 'Dead-last' was just a cute nickname now I had walked in the shoes for learning the Fourth's technique. Naruto was a member of the genius club too.

I was unable to do it without a shadow clone, which itself cost me more than I could afford in actual combat, at which point increasing my chakra reserves seemed like a very good idea. So learning the Kaiten was more of a compromise between depleting my chakra continuously, while not losing my hard-earned control. Control which was crucial to some plans.

Ox. Rabbit. Monkey. Already I could feel the flow of my chakra jittery and move back forth in my arm like current, waiting to become lightning.

I held my hand down, letting my chakra coat it and spread, small sparks and untransformed wisps flickering between the ground and around my hand. Tomoe in my eyes spinning, I increased the chakra being expelled and began to convert its nature.

One moment it was silent. The next, the area exploded with a sound akin to several thousand birds chirping. For sake of propriety, we can assume it was ten thousand words.

But I wasn't done.

My chakra was flowing freely, there was another step that could be added to the procedure; shape manipulation.

I pumped even more chakra into the technique with a yell, the ground cracking from a few stray bolts and the ionized air began to smell of ozone. My hand itself began to burn slightly, but I didn't back down.

First I straightened the fingers of my clawed hand which was perpendicular to my wrist, and then I pulled back with my elbow, breaking more land as I held my hand flat and in line with my forearm, before supplying more chakra at the ends of my finger tips.

I couldn't help but grin when even in a transformed nature, chakra obeyed the rule of going from higher potential to lower, that is, rushing from my fingers towards my hands, sweeping back to form half a hexagon of lightning at the end of my arm.

Clutching my elbow, I shouted with pained effort and rushed forward to sink my hand into a nondescript rock wall. It slid in with so little effort that had the Sharingan not covered me, I would have skidded into the wall with my head and knocked myself out.

And wouldn't that be a story of how I got my arm stuck in a rock. Placing my hand on the rock wall victim to my attack, I just as easily slid my arm out from the small crater I had caused, before cutting off the technique.

"Hn." I smirked to see Kakashi had been watching with his Sharingan. I tapped the poor formation with my knuckles, about to retort wittily when cracks appeared on the rock in the form of an asymmetrical honey comb.

"Wow." I uttered, not expecting that. It wasn't as impressive as splitting the rock into two, but definitely interesting.

Kakashi found his voice somehow and walked over to inspect the cracks. "You know, I'm beginning to think that I like you. Maa, want a biscuit?"

"I am not a dog!" Why did I look up to this man again?