Uchiha Sasuke woke up to the familiar sound of birds chipping. Through long years of experience he knew that the sun had just started rising, signifying the beginning of a new day. Even as a child he was not one to leisurely sleep in – he had too much to strive for and every minute spent sleeping was a minute not spent training. As the second son of a distinguished shinobi family, he had many expectations placed on him, as was traditional. The expectations only became greater because he was the brother of none other than Uchiha Itachi, genius, elite ANBU captain and pride of the clan.

As always the thoughts of his brother came with a strange mix of emotions – burning anger, sadness, confusion. He still did not understand why Itachi had turned his back on everything and everyone. Why he had done what he had done. 'To test my limitations' he had said, but was that reason enough to murder, in cold blood, everyone he had known since being a small boy? To become a traitor to the village, hunted and feared through the land?

Some days, Sasuke could almost understand his brother, to his horror. Some days he felt like an animal in a zoo, a pet to the village. The last of the Uchiha, one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Carrier of the Sharingan, talented prodigy of the shinobi arts, Uchiha Sasuke. He was praised for things he considered trivial and he was expected to be the best at everything. In short he felt like a clever child that parents couldn't help but parade around, while at the same time looking down on him. Because in the end he was still a child, a genin, miles away from the strength of his brother.

In time the burning, all-consuming anger that had been the only thing keeping him going after the night of the massacre had faded away, slightly, to be replaced by something similar to curiosity. He wanted to understand his brother, his motives. Did he have a true reason? Or had he simply gone insane with the power and expectations placed upon his back?

Sasuke had to know, so that he could be spared a similar fate.

He felt it, sometimes, on the ridge of his understanding, just beyond his consciousness. Resentment for the village, for his clan, for his brother, for everything the shinobi world did wrong. It was faint, it did not control him and probably never would, but it was there. And it scared him.

Madness comes with battle and a shinobi's life is battle.

Sasuke sat up in his bed, blinking and stretching to get rid of any lingering drowsiness and stiffness. His room, the same room he had lived all of his life, was as bare as always. The simple bed he slept on, the simple table and chair he worked and ate at. A small corner kitchen that was installed sometime after he had started living alone and realized that he had to feed himself or face a lifetime of takeout food.

The only non-practical part of the room was a shrine with a picture of his mother and father. It had once been a picture of them and Itachi, but he was carefully burned from it. He kept an extra copy of the picture, tucked safely in one of the many warehouses of the Uchiha district, protected from decay by seals beyond his basic understanding. It would replace the current picture in the shrine, once he and Naruto… and Sakura he supposed, if she so wished, had dealt with his brother. Someday.

Even if Uchiha Itachi was a monster, he was family. And there had been love between the two brothers, once.

Sasuke got up and quickly dressed in his everyday attire of standard black shinobi pants, sandals and a high neck blue shirt with wide sleeves. Asuma had advised on the change of clothing – the long sleeves could help him hide the hand seals he was using, as well as any tools he might need at a moment's notice. They were quite convenient really, if somewhat hard to get accustomed to. He noticed that there wasn't any more lingering pain in his forearm.

Today was the last day of his forced retirement from active duty. He was still somewhat sore over the time he had missed due to the overzealous hospital staff. His arm had been badly broken and while it knitted quickly, there was a persistent lingering pain that was too concerning for the hospital staff to pass, it seemed. Personally, Sasuke though it was too much. A little pain wouldn't stop him.

That was why he had trained in secret, while he should have been resting.

If he was lucky, no one would know about it and he wouldn't have to deal with shouting, scary med nins.

Aside from his return to active duty the next morning, Sasuke had another reason to be shouting from the rooftops. Despite how disastrously wrong the mission had gone (although it could have been much, much worse – none of his teammates were dead or had any crippling physical injuries) there was at least one boon as long as he was concerned – he had unlocked the Sharingan.

The Sharingan, his family's bloodline, his legacy, one of the reasons many hailed him as a prodigy. The eyes were one of the most useful tools a shinobi of any kind could wish for. They could predict an opponent's movement to an extent, part of the reason why the standard Uchiha taijutsu consisted of mostly set ups and counters. They could see chakra, in less detail than their rival clan the Hyuuga, but still to a respectable degree. They could unravel and cast genjutsu with a simple glance, should they so desire and train for. But most importantly, for him, was the ability to instantly copy a jutsu when seen. Not the simple hand seals, but how the chakra was formed and used. In this, the eyes gave him a perfect memory. No doubt they would serve him well in widening his range of jutsu beyond what he was capable right now. Of course there were drawbacks – knowing how to use a jutsu and actually using it in a battle situation were two very different things. The distinction had led many a young Uchiha, overconfident in the power of their eyes to an early death in a battlefield. Yes the eyes were a powerful tool, but in the end the tool was as useful as the one wielding it could make it. If he lacked the proficiency with the library of jutsu he would eventually have, his efficiency would significantly drop. If he did not condition his body properly many of the techniques that could save his life eventually would be out of reach.

In short, the Sharingan was a boon, but one that required a solid understanding of the basics of the shinobi arts to be utilized.

What concerned him about his newly awakened Sharingan was the drastic difference of how people viewed him because of it. First of all there were the civilians, who bended backwards to be in his good graces, not that it helped them any. He had no respect for such power mongers that had only their words and money at hand. In the shinobi world power, true power, was won through blood, tears and death. Anything beyond that was inconsequential. But the civilians, blinded by his clan's reputation as the strongest, thought that possessing the red eye automatically made him the strongest. This of course was a stupid and childish way of thinking. His clan had been powerful, yes, but there was a reason why they had bowed to the Hokage through the years.

After all not even the Uchiha with their fabled eyes could hold a candle to the Professor, the God of Shinobi.

But in the end the civilians were mostly an annoyance and nothing more. Only patience and polite words were needed when dealing with them.

No, the problem came from the shinobi of the village.

Some of them, of course, had very similar thoughts to the civilian portion of the village. They were more often than not first generation in the art, with no history or understanding of the truths of the world. Underachieving, with no real aspirations, people who automatically assumed that a bloodline made someone their better, when in reality it was their own weak will that made it so.

Stupid, not deserving of attention.

The other part of the shinobi population was much more interesting and much more ominous. They watched him, carefully, every step, every move, every achievement. Some of them seeing his Sharingan as a mockery of their hard work – jutsu that they had spent time and effort to even learn, being stolen at a glance. He understood them, to a point, but there was never any point of being jealous of other shinobi's specific talents. He could never reach Naruto's raw chakra reserves and his pure dedication and talent with a blade. He could never have Sakura's natural chakra control and her obvious medical ninjutsu talent. And he was okay with that. Everyone had their strengths, just as everyone had their weaknesses. It was why the team system had been implemented in the first place.

But the others that watched his every move were people who were weary of him. They were afraid that he could simply snap, just as Itachi had, and betray the village. In many eyes the Uchiha name was forever marred, lased with the promise of betrayal and mental instability. Sasuke understood that his behavior before Naruto did not help his disposition in the eyes of many of the village's shinobi.

But that was fine. He had time, hopefully, to wash away the doubt from his name. He hoped his actions spoke would enough.

It was a beautiful day, as usual, in Konoha. The sun's rays were pleasantly hot on Sasuke's face and there was a soft breeze that made a walk along the village very appealing.

Sasuke stretched, enjoying his relaxed state for once, looking around his clan's compound. It was so… empty. There was no sign of the horrors that this place had seen – a fairly large sum of money had made sure of that. But there was no sound or movement, nothing close to the busy and lively place this part of the village once was.

Sasuke had thought many, many times of simply moving to a new location, hoping that it would spare him the crushing loneliness, the sheer guilt that he had survived while none other had. Some place where he could escape the ghosts of the past and live normally with no remorse.

But he was twisted. He could not do that.

It would be disrespectful.

But he could go for a walk and the day was too good to spoil. And tomorrow he would be back to his normal life of training and preparing for the day he would need all his skills.

However long that wait was.

XXXXX

Sasuke made his way through the village streets, careful not to attract too much attention to himself. While going completely incognito was unlikely, there was a good chance that he wasn't going to be stopped and gawked at too much if he kept his head down and his pace fast.

It was sad to note that the Uchiha didn't really have an idea HOW to spend a free day. Training, which composed most of his time, was forbidden to him right now. He couldn't hang out with Naruto, or even Sakura for that matter, however horrifying that thought would have once been. Naruto wasn't what you would call the heart of a party, but as a fellow introvert, Sasuke appreciated the quiet comradeship that the boy had. Sakura… Sakura was weird. One moment she was considerate and fun to be around and the next she got a crazy look in her eye and started looking at him as if he were a piece of meat. It made him wonder if the girl had the most problems out of everyone in the village…

Well, it was a foreign point since he had absolutely no idea where either of them were and probably wouldn't be able to find them if he tried. The village was quite big after all.

Besides he could rarely find Naruto when he was really trying. Stupid lucky blond.

So instead of dying of boredom, Sasuke decided to do something productive and go shopping. He needed some of his kunai sharpened and he preferred to have a blacksmith working on them, unlike his blue eyed teammate. His shinobi tools all came from the various storages that the Uchiha had. He had picked the ones with the highest quality and he intended to use them for as long as possible.

He had considered, at one point, giving some supplies to his teammates – he had way too much for himself and they weren't doing anyone any good just sitting in a warehouse, but decided to hold off for a while. Naruto didn't use that many kunai and shuriken anyway, and when he did they were mostly for distraction. He'd wait for his birthday to give him a set.

He had decided for a similar course of action with Sakura, but for vastly different reasons. Sakura did in fact often use the standard shinobi tools, and quite proficiently if he had to be honest, but there was the slight problem of her… for a lack of better word crush on him. While she was getting significantly better about it and in time would probably get over it, a present could potentially rekindle the problem all over again. It was a possibility that he did not want to entertain.

Yes, it was better to simply wait for her birthday too, besides that eliminated any birthday shopping.

While walking, he let his attention wonder. He had no urgent business and he knew well enough that the weapons store could have his tools in good shape before tomorrow no matter when he brought them. It was quite early in the day and the sun was quite pleasant.

He stopped before various stores, looking at armor and different tags. He considered actually buying a set of bracers that seemed exceptional, but figured that if he really needed a set at some point, he could easily find a pair in his clan's storages.

Sasuke did buy some sealing scrolls. After a small consideration he figured that he would buy one for Naruto and Sakura too, as a gift for surviving the mission-gone-wrong. He would just have to be very clear on the reason for the present.

He was in no way scared of Sakura. But to be cautious was the life of a shinobi.

As he walked through the village, many people stopped and bowed to him. He returned these bows with the barest of nods, simply continuing his trek, not really giving his attention to anyone in particular. None of the people seemed put off by his attitude. In fact many of them seemed to feel honored to be even acknowledged. Had he really been so bad that even such a minor signs of attention caused such a reaction in people?

Damn, Naruto was right. He had been a complete ass.

Not that he would ever say so in the presence of the blond.

And then it happened. A wave of chakra passed him making him jump and shocking a good portion of the village as well as all the animals on the street. After taking a second to calm himself and thinking about the feeling of the chakra, the Uchiha just shook his head and sighed. He could not stop the small smile that crossed his face.

Of course Naruto was doing something outrageous again. What else was new?

He considered trying to track down the source of the chakra but gave it up as a bad job. He wasn't the best sensor, even with his Sharingan, and if he knew the blond at all he would be long gone from wherever he was right now. Besides he still needed to have his tools sharpened.

He continued his trek, not at all surprised by a loud explosion that rung from nearby, followed by shouts and more explosions.

It was just another day in a shinobi village.

An especially pleasant day.

He made his way to the weapons store he frequented. It had arguably the best wares in the city and the man who ran it was an ex-shinobi as well as a blacksmith. His daughter, who was a year older than Sasuke himself, had obviously followed in her father's footsteps, because she was currently a genin, and quite a talented one at that, if what her father said about her was even partially true. He had seen the girl around the store from time to time, and she seemed somewhat plain to him, but that was probably to her advantage in the field – there was no bigger blessing than being underestimated in a life and death situation.

Sasuke entered the store only to see what had become a familiar sight – a somewhat dusky and sketchy looking room, filled to the brim with various weapons. He had a fairly extensive understanding of weaponry himself, but he had to admit that he could not even name a good third of the tools here, let alone even begin thinking of how they were used most effectively. It raised his respect for the shop owner's daughter, seeing how he bragged that she knew how to use every single one of them. Sasuke considered actually introducing himself to her, if only to have someone to push Naruto to when he started talking about swords too much.

The blond had a very weird feeling around himself when he was like that. It was similar to being cut, over and over again.

It was one of the times that the Uchiha really feared his teammate.

The boy shook his head and made his way to the counter. The man behind it was quite large; no doubt a sign of his profession. Easily 6' 2, the man towered over the boy who had yet to hit his growth spurt. His frame was bulging with muscles and Sasuke had no doubt that the man's strength was something to behold. In contrast he wore a fairly simple looking black eastern G.I. under a leather apron. Despite his rather intimidating appearance, the man's face was open and cheerful, a large smile always present. It was an interesting contrast.

"Ah, the young Uchiha is back in my store. I am pleased to see you!" the man said sincerely, his smile never dropping from his face.

The Uchiha gave a small smile of his own in return and bowed slightly.

"Me as well. I hope all has been fine?"

"Yeah, yeah. I made a killing not 10 minutes ago, had a huge order. Something about a warehouse getting blown up…" the man said, trailing off.

"Yes, I think I heard that. It was quite… loud." Sasuke nodded sagely.

There was silence for a couple of seconds. With the pleasantries complete, the Uchiha reached to the sachet he was carrying and placed it on the counter. The large man simply opened it up, seeing what is inside and nodded.

"I assume you want the standard procedure Uchiha-san?"

"Yes, and I would appreciate it if it could be done before 9 tomorrow. If I had known that you would have such an order I would have tried to come earlier but…" Sasuke said, feeling somewhat guilty.

"Ha-ha, not to worry, not to worry. I'll just give them to Tenten, she is good enough to deal with work like this" the man said while tapping the boy on the shoulder.

"Thank you; I will come pick them up first thing tomorrow. And as for your daughter," Sasuke said, but seeing the somewhat waning smile of the man before him blurted out his next words extremely fast " I was wondering if I could introduce her to one of my teammates, who is extremely interested in blades, I'm sure he would make for good conversation."

"And wouldn't scare me to death each time he talks about that thing…" he muttered more to himself than to the man before him.

The smile came back to full force and another heavy tap came down on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Oh, is that so. Someone your age is actually dedicated to the blade, I'm impressed. They are few and far between, and even fewer make something of themselves in that path," the man said, but noted the look that the boy before him had. "But it seems your teammate is quite talented with it. It would be good for Tenten to have someone to talk about weapons, no doubt…"

The man was silent for a second before turning "You know what, bring that friend of yours sometime and we'll figure something out. I'm curious what blade he uses. Professional habit, ha-ha."

Sasuke simply nodded and made for the exit, followed by the heart laugh of possibly his favorite shop owner.

Making his way to the streets, Sasuke looked around thinking what to do. He didn't want to go home yet…

As his eyes lazily scanned the street for anything of potential interest, he caught the eye of someone that he really didn't want to. When the man started making his way to him, Sasuke couldn't do anything besides grunt in desperation and annoyance.

The man was visibly in his mid-thirties, wearing an elaborate formal blue kimono with a yellow flower design. He had relatively short brown hair that was slicked back. His whole posture screamed arrogance and money and his greasy smile was not something you would like to see every day.

In short, this man was a merchant, one that had had extremely close ties to his clan before the massacre. The problem was that he still wanted to use their name in his dealings, even though they had lost much. And seeing how Sasuke was the last loyal Uchiha, he made sure to shower him with compliments and presents at every opportunity.

Needless to say, Sasuke found it extremely annoying.

"Why if it isn't Sasuke-kun," the man said, ignoring that the boy had never given him permission to call him by his first name. No doubt the man wanted to imply familiarity, to everyone who was potentially listening "I am glad to see you in such good spirits. I trust your arm is better?"

Sasuke sighed, discreetly. He really hated dealing with this person.

"Yes Mishima-san. I am to return to full service tomorrow."

"Excellent, excellent! But of course I have to congratulate you on the success of your mission. Not many genin on their first field assignment could have done half as well against an enemy such as you faced," said the man with the same sickening smile.

It was no surprise that he knew of the mission and what had transpired. The Mishima family was an old one in Konoha, and while they had never been shinobi themselves, they made some of the finest armor and uniforms in the Fire nation. Both the quality of their wares and their shrewd business minds through the generations had done much for their financial well-being, culminating in the current head Mishima Kimitake. The man had nearly doubled the clan's fortune in the 8 years he had been clan head and managed to easily buy his way in the Konoha council, no doubt aiming to further enlarge his assets.

The clan was a powerful ally to have, and his ancestors had known it, but Sasuke himself simply could not bring himself to like the man.

Being treated as a girl to be courted, with expensive clothes and gear was not earning the man many points, much to his subtle surprise.

Nonetheless, the Mishima was relentless in having the Uchiha name. He wanted Sasuke to buy only from him, therefore spreading his clan's name further. Despite its state, many would still follow what the Uchiha say.

"Thank you, but I cannot take all the credit. My team was crucial in both my survival as well as the success of the mission," Sasuke said stiffly.

"You are far too modest, Sasuke-kun! And I heard you unlocked the Sharingan, at such a young age too. Remarkable. You are indeed a prodigy beyond compare."

Sasuke simply grunted, not finding a polite way to answer the man.

"Nonetheless, I would feel honored to have you for dinner tonight and hear the trilling tale of the mission. I am sure my children will enjoy your company also," the man said, his false smile widening ever so slightly. Mishima knew full well that Sasuke, as an unofficial clan head, could not deny him without proper reason.

Sasuke frowned very slightly, outwardly considering the proposition, while inwardly trying to come up with a believable reason to not attend. He was not sure that he could stand to be in the presence of this man for the entire night, not to mention his children, who were typical entitled civilian spoiled brats.

While he was thinking he spotted a woman standing a few meters to the side, not even pretending not to listen to the discussion. She was obviously a shinobi, judging by her strange clothing – a denser than normal mesh shirt, dark brown skirt with two belts, some sort of necklace and a tan overcoat. Her purple hair was done up in a short, spiky pony tail. Sasuke secretly wondered if it was a prerequisite for kunoichi to have weirdly colored hair. The woman was grinning in a somewhat mad manner and seemed to take enjoyment in watching the boy discreetly squirm.

Sasuke looked at her pleadingly. The woman just looked at him for a second or two and sighed. Using some of the basic hand signals taught in the academy she spelled out "you owe me" to the desperate boy.

The Uchiha nodded without hesitation.

The woman made her presence known and came closer to Mishima and Sasuke. She nodded stiffly to the council member, whose smile immediately dropped.

"Mishima-sama."

"Mitarashi."

"I'm sorry to take you're young friend away, but he still has to answer some answers for clarification purposes in I&T."

"I… see. Of course, I wouldn't want to cause problems for young Sasuke-kun," the man said, clearly disappointed that his ploy failed. "It seems we will leave the dinner for another time Sasuke-kun. I look forward to it…" the man said as he slowly walked away glaring at the woman… Mitarashi, with cold eyes.

"Thank you for helping me, Mitarashi-san." Sasuke said, turning towards the woman and bowing quickly.

"No problem brat. But as I said, you owe me, and I intend to collect," the woman said, her slightly crazy smile back in full force. "You'll buy me dango, lots and lots of dango. And booze too, yeah. And you'll tell me about that mission, I missed the briefings, because I was out of the village."

Sasuke sighed. Seemed that he would have to tell that story again. Annoying… but not as annoying as dinner with Mishima would have been.

"You do know I'm 13 right? I can't buy alcohol." Sasuke said in resignation as he followed the already walking woman.

"So? You're not buying the booze; you're only paying for it. Now spill, I heard it was good fun on that one."

Sasuke really didn't want to live in the mind of the person who found almost getting killed by people way out of your skill range even remotely fun.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys. Next arc – another mission and after that the all new all exciting, and possibly logical chūnin exams. Now, do you a) want me to post whenever I finish a chapter as I have, or b) just work out the entire arc and post it in one big go? Either works for me, so it's up to you. Other than that, a big thanks to my beta IncludeYourBanana, as always.

Oh and you can probably expect a small something in the next few days. We'll see how it goes.

Cheers,

Simon