Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
This chapter is a slightly retrospective one following a certain Dojutsu-user since several readers have asked just what has been happening with him…
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Memories Of Others
Chapter 50
Training Of A Sharingan User
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Sasuke looked at the mask that he had been given.
"Welcome to ANBU, trainee." Okami said and Sasuke stiffened to attention as the white-coated ANBU Commander stepped back, hands vanishing into his sleeves. "For the next two months, you will undergo training in the ways of ANBU. You will learn to fight like the ninja of old, with blade and poison, stealth and silence. You hold your new face in your hands, your new name. Uchiha Sasuke is now no longer within Konoha. He has vanished. You will prove yourself worthy of your new name… Okojo."
Sasuke slowly lifted his mask up to his face, feeling the seals around the edge react to his chakra, fixing the mask in place. Although the eye-holes in the mask should have restricted his vision, the mask was oddly transparent, not impeding his field of view apart from a slight dulling of colors. Experimentally, Sasuke activated his sharingan and realized that the transparent mask blocked his dojutsu, but he could still use it through the eye-holes.
Okami waited for Sasuke to deactivate his bloodlimit before speaking again.
"For the next two months, there is no Uchiha Sasuke, only Okojo."
"I understand, Okami-sama." Sasuke said stiffly and Okami nodded once.
"Then I shall leave you. Wait here for the one who will train you in the ways of the ANBU."
Okami vanished without even the swirl of chakra-leaves that marked a normal shunshin and Sasuke gaped at the casual display of skill before collecting himself.
His new teacher would be here soon and he would devote himself to learning everything that he could.
His brother had been in ANBU, now he would learn the same lessons that had made Him so strong…
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Less than five minutes had passed before a new figure appeared, this time with the characteristic swirling leaves of a Konoha Shunshin.
"Trainee Okojo?"
"Hai!" Sasuke responded, stiffening to attention even as he looked at the new person. The man stood taller than him and was wearing a cat-based mask with red lines surrounding the eye-holes and green lines above and below them. A sword rose from behind his right shoulder and Sasuke mentally nodded at the implication that he would learn kenjutsu as well.
"My name for now is Tenzo." The man stated. "You have been assigned to learn from me. I will do my best to hone you into one of Konoha's Blades. You will suffer, you will learn that the true face of Konoha is different from how you think, you may even curse my name as you fall into your bunk. Just be aware that while I like being nice and friendly, I have no problems with ruling with fear if that is what is needed to make you into what Konoha needs. Do you understand?"
"Hai, Sensei." Sasuke replied, only for Tenzo to give a sharp shake of his head.
"I am Tenzo. You are Okojo. Understand?"
"…hai, Tenzo."
"Good." Tenzo said. "Now, follow me."
Sasuke followed Tenzo into the darkness.
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Sasuke blinked in surprise.
"I do not understand." He admitted. "Surely, since I have my sharingan, it would be more efficient to use it?"
"Yes and no." Tenzo replied. "The sharingan is a powerful tool, but even a simple chakra-flash can disable it for several seconds. In addition, the moves that you learn that way can be perfectly repeated only while your sharingan is active. You would need to practice them without your blood-limit active if you were to have a chance of performing them should someone be able to counter your eyes."
"How many ways do you know to counter my eyes?" Sasuke asked.
"Eight that I can think of immediately." Tenzo stated."Now, try to follow my lead… without using your sharingan."
Sasuke drew his Tanto and dropped into the first stance, copying Tenzo's moves. His blade seemed to dance through the air and he felt a rightness about the moves.
"Excellent." Tenzo said as he sheathed his blade and Sasuke stared at him. "A few more repetitions and you will have mastered the first Kata. You seem to be naturally gifted with the sword."
Sasuke felt his chest swell with pride at the compliment, a compliment that was delivered based purely on his own actions and not because of his lineage or fame.
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Sasuke collapsed onto his bunk. Although it had seemed to be less comfortable than the bed in his flat, right now it was the most comfortable surface ever as his exhausted body seemed to mold itself against the firmness of the mattress.
A slow-moving hand removed the mask from Sasuke's face and he carefully placed it on the shelf beside the bed before allowing his eyes to close.
Even at his most driven, he had never been this tired, but he would succeed.
For he was Uchiha Sasuke, the avenger of his clan, and he would prove his worth to the world.
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"Again!" Tenzo barked and Sasuke turned to face the course once more.
The ANBU course was deceptively simple, but every inch of it was trapped or set up to cause whoever was trying to use it to fail.
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke leapt to the first platform, landing on the edge rather than the middle since the last time he had done so, the apparently-solid surface had split and dumped him into a pit filled with icy water.
"Report." Okami said as he materialized beside Tenzo.
"He's learning fast." Tenzo said. "He isn't as naturally skilled as his brother, but he makes up for it with determination and study."
"Good." Okami noted. "And his loyalty rating?"
"Middle to High." Tenzo stated.
"It will have to do." Okami finally said as, on the far side of the course Sasuke managed to do a spinning leap that let him deflect the incoming shuriken. "Before he can take the final oath, he needs to learn the truth about that night."
"He will react badly." Tenzo stated. "He used Tsukiyomi on Okojo. Yamanaka is still working on undoing it, but…"
"It will take as long as it takes." Okami said philosophically. "Do what you can to aid him. I feel that Okojo will be a great asset to Konoha once he finishes his training."
Tenzo nodded as Okami vanished once more.
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Sasuke opened his eyes and Yamanaka Inoichi gasped at the sight.
The past few weeks of dawn-to-dusk training in ANBU had caused Sasuke's eyes to evolve to the full trio of tomoe each, but now, they were different. The formerly red eyes now looked like red flowers unfolding against a black background.
"…Itachi…" Sasuke whispered. "…you were crying…"
"Your eyes…" Inoichi managed, but Sasuke ignored his comment, still caught up in the memory that had been blocked by the genjutsu that Itachi had used to over-write it.
"Who was that masked man?" Sasuke mused. "And why did Itachi… why?"
"I think you need to see the Hokage." Inoichi decided.
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Hiruzen looked up as three figures entered his office. Inoichi led the way, followed by Okojo with Okami bringing up the rear. The ANBU commander peeled off and moved to one corner where he seemed to fade into the background.
"Okojo, you may unmask." Hiruzen said and Sasuke removed the Stoat mask.
"Lord Hokage…" He began. "I have… activated my Mangekyo."
Hiruze inhaled sharply. "How?"
"May I answer that?" Inoichi asked. "We finally broke the genjutsu that Itachi had used on Sasuke during… the event. The memory it had been blocking indicated the situation back then was rather different from what we had been told…"
Horuzen nodded and motioned for the duo to sit, allowing Okami to remain inconspicuous.
"Sasuke." Hiruzen began. "I was unaware of this… genjutsu, but I knew that the events of that night were not as clear as you believed. How much do you know of the events leading up to it?"
"I… I knew that my father was rather tense about something, as were some of the others, but I didn't know what." Sasuke admitted and Hiruzen sighed.
"There is no easy way to say this, Sasuke, but your father and the Uchiha Elders were planning a coup. They were unsatisfied with the clan's position in Konoha and sought to take control."
Sasuke glanced at Okami, who nodded in confirmation of Hiruzen's statement. When he turned back, his face was pale with shock.
"But… we… the other villages…"
"Had the coup gone ahead, Konoha would undoubtedly have followed Uzushiogakure." Hiruzen stated. "Kumo and Iwa had heard that the tensions in Konoha were rising and had prepared their forces, massing them ready to invade as soon as we turned upon ourselves. Kiri would have followed them, as would the smaller villages of Amegakure, Tanigakure, Takigakure and Kusagakure. Suna… we had no way of knowing which way Suna would go with the odds stacked against us like that. At best, they would have remained neutral."
"What was father thinking?!" Sasuke hissed.
"I had decided to defuse the situation by declaring that I was going to train your brother as my apprentice and the future Godaime when the Massacre happened." Hiruzen continued. "I have very strong suspicions as to who forged the orders that set your brother against his clan, but even now, I have not been able to find a single shred of hard evidence to support those suspicions. If I had, that person would now be dead by my hand… or by yours. As it is, he is currently politically untouchable and is skilled enough that you would stand no chance at all against him."
Sasuke gave a jerky nod, his eyes almost glowing with suppressed rage.
"When Itachi discovered the orders hadn't been from my hand, he suggested that he should take the blame. He left that night carrying the stigma of being the killer of the Uchiha Clan, but his loyalty to Konoha never wavered. He still reports regularly via Jiraiya's network, using his Pocky addiction as a cover to hand his reports to the shopkeepers who work as agents of the Toad Sage.
"Even though he knows that most of the Shinobi of Konoha would kill him because of his actions, he remains loyal.
"Itachi has succesfully infiltrated a group known as the Akatsuki, an organisation based in Amegakure. He has sent us descriptions of all the members and their skill sets. While he is one of the stronger members, he is not the strongest. That would be their leader, a man known only as Lord Pein, a man with six bodies that act as one."
"He… still serves Konoha?" Sasuke managed and Hiruzen nodded gently.
"He does. All he has ever asked was that you be kept as safe as possible without endangering your growth as a Shinobi of Konoha. It is my belief that he plans to have you kill him in battle so that you will emerge as the Last Uchiha and, in the eyes of the public, a true hero who will re-establish the Uchiha clan and raise it to prominence, this time as a true and integral part of Konoha."
Sasuke looked down at his clenched fists for a long moment, every line of his body showing the tense anger he was keeping restrained by only his pure willpower, then he looked up.
"Can he… return?"
Hiruzen blinked at the unexpected question. "What?"
"He… he was trying to protect me… from the man in the spiral mask…" Sasuke explained. "He called him… Madara…"
"Uchiha Madara!" Hiruzen gasped. "But how? He died at the Valley of the End!"
"His body was never recovered." Okami stated from his corner. "He could have faked his death… things like that have been known to happen…"
"This changes things." Hiruzen mused. "Why did Itachi not report that to me?"
"Perhaps he thought you knew?" Sasuke offered and Hiruzen slumped in his chair.
"I have more to atone for than I thought." He sighed, then his gaze sharpened as he rose from behind the desk.
"Sasuke, I heard that your primary element is lightning. I don't think Kakashi will have taught you much beyond ensuring you have a good grounding in the basics, but there are several techniques that I can give you. I believe that you have enough chakra at least to learn the Raiton Bunshin…"
