Sticks and Stones

Sasuke merely stood his ground, the faintest shadow of a disdainful sneer the only sign that he even acknowledged Naruto's presence.

"I'm going to kick that teme's butt! Let me at him!" shouted Naruto.

Jiraiya, holding Naruto by the scruff of his collar, scoffed.

"Hold on, hold on: he calls you 'Dead-Last' - which, considering you failed the Academy three times and you were treated pretty much like a leper your whole life, I should think would be pretty galling - and you call him 'Teme'?" Jiraiya just shook his head mournfully.

"Why don't you just call him 'Doody-Head'? Or better yet, 'Snookums'? Gah, that's pathetic."

Naruto (never the sharpest spoon in the drawer, it's true) considered this as he continued glaring at Sasuke.

"Brother Fucker," he finally slurred.

And then it was on.

A.N.

'Dobe' and 'Teme' sound more like pet names than insults; they just don't have the same impact in English.

A.N. II

Two-chia Fer.

108. When You Have the Same Eyes I Have - Perspective II

The 'Uchiha Compound' was something of a misnomer. It was, in fact, a sizable district of the village unto itself: a large neighborhood on the outskirts of Konohagakure, with scores of families, shops and restaurants; the whole area securely enclosed by stout walls "to ensure the clan's privacy" (or so, at least, the Nidaime had claimed).

Yet over the years (and whether or not it was by simple coincidence, who can truly say), the two things that those walls had most successfully contained were the simmering resentment of the Uchiha Clan at being excluded from village politics… and the screams of the Uchiha when that same resentment came to a head, and one of their own was compelled to slaughter them all like pigs "for the good of the village."

It was upon this grisly scene that young Uchiha Sasuke stumbled, exhausted from a long day's training in hopes of finally winning some small measure of attention from his remote and taciturn father, Fugaku.

Sasuke had always been a bright and eager-to-please lad; he was above average, really, easily outstripping his peers at the Ninja Academy. But when your vaunted elder brother is the kind of prodigy that comes along once in a century, 'above average' loses a bit of its luster. That's not to say that Sasuke resented his big brother Itachi; far from it, in fact. He idolized the older boy, and dreamed of being just like him one day.

Until, that is, he found the young man standing over the steaming, dismembered corpses of their parents, casually slinging their blood from his wakizashi.

"A-Aniki," Sasuke gasped, tumbling to his knees as his mind reeled from the horrific scene before him. "Otousan... Kaasan..."

"So, you have finally come," Itachi replied, his strangely corrupted Sharingan glinting madly. "And you will be the last one."

"B-but why?" Sasuke cried, struggling to wake from this hellish nightmare; the foul stench of blood and death burning in his throat like ash.

Itachi explained that he had killed the other members of their clan to "test his abilities;" reasoning which the 10-year old Sasuke found incomprehensible.

"I'm not going to kill you, though," Itachi continued quietly, his red eyes glittering as if he were reminiscing about some favorite childhood Christmas. "Looking at you now... It just doesn't seem worth it. What a weak, pathetic worm."

Now turning to face Sasuke directly, it seemed as though Itachi were waking from a dream as he shook off the pervasive self-doubt and recriminations that had plagued him since joining ANBU when he was 11.

Steeling his resolve once more, his voice became harsh and commanding as he addressed the younger boy yet again.

"Run away, orokanaru otouto. Cling to life; in the most loathsome way... turn your hate toward me. And when you have the same eyes that I have, let us see if you can be man enough to avenge the Uchiha."

"Tsukuyomi," he whispered; and Sasuke's whole world shattered around him.

xxxxxxx

Everyone he knew. Everyone he had grown up with. All the children he had played with. The elderly couple across the way. The nice young lady who ran the grocery store on the corner. His aunt, who had a small bakery two streets over. Hundreds of people, some whose names he didn't even know; all brutally murdered in cold blood, right there in front of him. And he was forced to watch, over and over, for 72 hours straight, as Itachi carved them up again and again. He couldn't do anything to help them, and he couldn't even look away. He could only watch, helplessly, as they cried out; as Itachi stabbed, and slit, and cut his way through them. He begged God to make it stop, make it stop, make it stop.

But God never answered; and it went on and on and on.

xxxxxxx

When ANBU finally arrived on scene (long after Itachi had fled, and certainly long past the point where any of the Uchiha might have been treated and saved), they found Sasuke still unconscious, quivering in a puddle of vomit and other bodily wastes. After sharing a chuckle and a few jokes at the small boy's expense, they shot a quick match of jan-ken-pon to decide who would carry him to the hospital.

xxxxxxx

Half-way there, the squirrel-masked Yamato stumbled as he realized that rock does not, in fact, punch through paper. "Inu-u-u!" he cried.

xxxxxxx

Sasuke was released from the hospital in short order: there was nothing physically wrong with him, after all; and in a ninja village, 'trauma counseling' pretty much boils down to the phrase, "Everybody loses somebody sometime; get over it."

Of course, there was no shortage of people willing to take the unfortunate young boy in (together with the vast fortune he had inherited as the sole surviving member of the Uchiha Clan remaining in Konoha). While everyone had hated and feared the Uchiha when the clan was still extant, Sasuke was now seen more as a favorite pet than anything else. They offered him treats, asked him to perform tricks, cajoled him with simpering praise… but beneath it all, and always unspoken (because the ghosts of dead Uchiha had to be damn near everywhere these days), was that barely hidden contempt: "Not so high-and-mighty now, are you, you stuck-up son of a bitch?"

Regardless, Sasuke shunned all human contact. His fractured mind was still in turmoil, and there was only one overriding imperative that gave him the focus and will to make it through each day.

He was an Uchiha, the best of the best; that thought was drilled into him by his father since birth. Yet at the same time, he was nothing; not worth his father's second glance, and not even worth Itachi's time to kill. And until he became strong enough to protect them from his monstrous older brother -who was still out there somewhere, waiting and watching- he didn't dare let anyone get too close to him again.

"I will get stronger," Sasuke vowed, wrapping the bandages over his arms to cover the numerous shallow cuts he had made. "Whatever it takes. And I will stop That Man from doing this again, to somebody else's family."

A.N. III

Wakizashi = a traditional Japanese sword similar to a katana with a shōtō blade between 30-60cm
Orokanaru otouto = Foolish Little Brother
Jan-ken-pon = Rock-Paper-Scissors

I wanted to tweak Itachi's 'Foolish Little Brother' speech so that it would be ambiguous to Sasuke; he is supposed to be beating himself up over the massacre in the first part, then encouraging Sasuke to be safe and grow strong (while in the hands of his enemies) so that he may eventually do what Itachi could not and stand up to those responsible in the second part. Sasuke -of course- takes the whole thing the wrong way.

I've read a lot of stories where the author tries to make the equation, "Everybody loses someone; it's a ninja village, for Pete's sake. Sasuke needs to stop being such a whiny little bitch and just get over it already." Which clearly shows a complete lack of understanding for the sheer magnitude of what Sasuke went through.

Itachi killed hundreds of people (everyone that Sasuke knew growing up: his immediate family, his whole clan, his whole neighborhood) in just a few hours. And Sasuke relived each of those murders over and over for 72 hours. So figure witnessing thousands of brutal (personally significant) deaths, added to the personal loss that those deaths represent, coupled with his idol Itachi's betrayal, (supposed) scorn and 'challenge', heaped on top of his already deeply entrenched inferiority/superiority complex issues, liberally spiced with the patronizing attitude of the villagers (and the wheedling of the fan-girls, who apparently go out of their way to be the exact opposite of what a ninja would find desirable)...

Now throw in a Cursed Seal that just 'might' affect his judgment.

Yeah. Get over it. I mean, it's been months already. Sheesh.

Sasuke talks about wanting to "get stronger and kill That Man," but if you take a close look at what is really going on, you will see that he actually has a death wish: he keeps searching out stronger and stronger opponents, impossible enemies -all of whom should be way out of his league- subconsciously hoping that, eventually, one of them will finally put him out of his misery.

(You don't seriously think that 12-year old Sasuke attacked Itachi because he thought he could win, do you?)

I also hear a lot of people say, "So-and-so had a cold and demanding father, who never showed any affection or gave any praise. So-and-so also had a very traumatic event in their childhood, and a lot of pressure as the child of the clan head." The same of which could be said of Sasuke - though you won't be hearing any of those people saying it.

I'm not really a big Sasuke fan; I haven't seen many stories where the author bothers to make him a likable character.

I do see a lot of stories where he's an Evil Bastard, and bashed unrelentingly. And most people seem to think that's A-okay. Even in time-travel fics, where Naruto goes back to when Sasuke is still just a kid.

"Because," the thinking seems to go, "Sasuke (and Sakura, and possibly Ino) is irredeemable, and cannot change."

(Contrariwise, it is not acceptable to say that so-and-so did not change - and change dramatically, at that.)

It just makes me wonder, that's all.