The Wanderers

by D4rKn3sS

Upon their return from the Chuunin Exams in Suna, the Konoha 12 find that their home has been destroyed, all it's people gone. How will they survive in the brutal shinobi world, without their families, with only each other for support?

39. Chapter 36 SASU Cascading Flow

The Wanderers

Chapter 36 – Sasuke – Cascading Flow

A/N: This chapter is long. Really long. Most of my chapters go around 10,000 words, but I had too much material for Sasuke's story, and I didn't want to make it a third chapter. But this was fun to write, once I figured out how to write Sasuke's character properly.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Sharingan would just copy techniques.

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***Previously-On***

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Sasuke found himself dropped in the middle of an arena, right in the middle of a battle. After being knocked out and recovering, Sasuke allied himself with a strange woman called Fiore, who demonstrated abilities beyond his comprehension. A brutal battle in the arena later, all of Fiore's companions were killed in the battle, with only the two of them escaping with their lives. Deciding not to immediately seek out his brother, Sasuke followed Fiore back to her organisation's village. He met the leader of the organisation, Elika, who is Fiore's mother. To his surprise he met another person he never even knew was still alive. Uchiha Mikoto, his mother.

***End Summary***

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***Three Days after Separation***

Sasuke took a double-take back and stared at the warm smile on his seemingly resurrected mother. Seeing her face brought back the horrible memories of watching his brother butcher his mother, reminding him that while he had forgiven his brother there were some things he could never forget.

"How…but…you're dead. I watched you die…"

Mikoto put down her arms and watched as her son went through a plethora of facial expressions. "I know this is hard to digest, Sasuke. But I you are not dreaming, this is real."

The young Uchiha flared his Sharingan at her, trying to see if she was using a Henge to disguise her true face, but he saw no chakra movements within her circulatory system. Not only that, but for all extent and purposes she looked like the mother he had known years ago, though noticeably older.

"I don't understand…"

Sasuke slowly sank to his knees and looked up at her, his eyes turning back to black as he fought the urge to cry. He was still proud enough to not cry, but the urge was immense.

Mikoto knelt down in front of him and lightly brushed at his hair. "We have a lot to catch up on."

He looked up at her and all doubt that she wasn't his mother vanished when he smelt the perfume she always wore, even the day she had been supposedly killed.

"Make it make sense…"

oOoOoOo

She indicated for him to join her at a table in the training yard. Sasuke was hesitant but nonetheless sat down opposite her. There were no hugs between mother and child, Sasuke wasn't the most affectionate person in the world so it didn't surprise Mikoto that he wasn't looking for a mother's embrace.

"It's…a difficult story to tell, Sasuke. It goes back to the night when our clan was…destroyed."

Sasuke put up a hand to cut her off, "I know about that, I was there."

"But you don't know why your brother did what he did."

"Yes, I do." Sasuke looked down at the table grimly. "Itachi found me after Konoha was destroyed. He showed me what Father had done…and why the clan wished to rebel."

Mikoto frowned and crossed her arms across her chest. "Do you agree with his actions?"

"No. But I understand why he did it." It was true, Sasuke did not approve of his brother's slaughter that night regardless of his motivations. "And I have forgiven him."

A smile came across his mother's face, "I'm glad the two of you were able to reconnect. When you were children you were so close."

"You haven't explained how you survived the massacre. I saw Itachi murder you."

"If you know about your brother, then you must know I did not agree with your Father's rebellion. Our marriage…was not an easy union."

Sasuke nodded slowly, Itachi had told him as much as he could about the work she had done with Kakashi during the War, including what he knew about their mother's time as a shinobi. "You are not answering my question."

Her smile grew as she admired how much her little boy had grown. "I guess I can't treat you as a child, can I? When I was a shinobi, when your brother had just been born, I worked with a very special group of shinobi. We encountered an enemy that threatened the village more than any other foe we had encountered before. I won't go into details, but one of my companions was particularly skilled in genjutsu."

From what Itachi told him, Sasuke could deduce who she was talking about. "And he made it appear like Itachi had killed you? Why would he do that?"

She slowly stood up from the table with a long drawn sigh. "I wanted to protect you…but sometimes shinobi must do things beyond what is normally expected of them. I was meant to die that night, but when Jito saved me we were confronted by the Hokage and given a very particular mission."

"To abandon your children?" asked Sasuke angrily. It sounded like the same excuses Itachi made when they were younger.

"You are not a child anymore, Sasuke. You understand how this world works, and some of the sacrifices people have to do to save the people they love."

Sasuke stood up from the table as well and glared at his mother angrily. "I spent years alone, plotting the murder of my older brother, with no knowledge that my mother was alive and well. You dare to make excuses?!"

Mikoto shook her head with a sad expression on her face. "I'm not trying…"

"All mothers make sacrifices for their children." Sasuke turned to see the organisation's leader walking towards the two of them, nodding a greeting to Mikoto before standing next to her.

Mikoto gave a slight bow in return, "Elika. Is something wrong?"

The leader indicated to the nearby building, "Food is on. I figured your son could use something to eat considering his journey."

Mikoto turned to her son, who still had a confused angry look on his face, but the growl from his stomach was enough to cause him to consider her proposal. "Come and eat, Sasuke. We'll have time to talk."

Her son wasn't sure what to make of his mother and the current situation. She didn't seem like the mother he had known as a child, but he felt like it was worth playing along.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke sat down at the long table in the middle of the hall, staring at the odd situation he found himself in. It seemed so implausible that he couldn't help but admit its reality. He was hungry, but felt little urge to actually eat anything.

Strewn across the large table was a grand feast of a variety of foods, and dozens of people sat around him and his mother.

Across from him Fiore pulled off a chunk of bread from a large plate and bit into it, turning to him with a grin. "Not hungry, Uchiha?"

He turned to her with a frown, "It's been a…tiring day."

"You need to lighten up, Uchiha. You look like someone trampled all over you. Eat some food, find a girl, do whatever you need to, but you are bound up way too tightly."

Sasuke frowned and leaned forward. "You have no sense of responsibility, do you?"

Fiore simply grinned and bit off another chunk of bread, leaning back on her chair. Seeing that he wasn't going to get a reasonable response from her, he sighed and reached across the table to take a slice of meat and put it on his plate.

Sitting next to her, Elika drank a long draught of ale before looking at Sasuke. "Don't let my daughter bother you. She's headstrong, but doesn't yet know her place."

"I've been meaning to ask about her. How is she able to manipulate that piece of wood like she does? Who are you people?"

Elika grinned slowly, suddenly reminding him of her daughter's usual expression. "You should show some respect, boy. You may be talented, but that doesn't give you the right to act that a spoilt brat."

"Mother, give him a break. It's not his fault he's got a metal rod stuck up his arse."

The leader turned to her daughter with a frown, while Sasuke looked to his own mother to the answer to his question.

Mikoto smiled warmly at her son, "It takes a little bit to get used to the two of them. But they grow on you, after a while."

"Aren't they civilians?"

"I suppose you should know about them. As you know, with many of the larger clans in Konoha, they tend to keep marriages within the clan to keep the bloodlines 'pure'. My marriage with your father was such a union. The other clans are no different, though they were less strict about the policy."

Sasuke frowned, "How does that relate to the two of them?"

"If a shinobi marries a civilian, and has a child with them, there is a chance that the child will have no abilities to become a shinobi. Even with the more powerful clans, this can occur. Usually such children are placed outside of the village, because of the shame it brings upon the clan."

"And that's what happened to them?"

The two of them were arguing on the other side of the table, in an odd way that he used to with Naruto before the destruction of their home.

Mikoto smiled and indicated to Elika. "Her clan exiled her because she was considered to be a genetic failure. Rather than stay in the village, she left to pursue her own life."

"That's a bit extreme, isn't it? She could have still been in the village, fought for her people."

Mikoto shrugged in response, "She doesn't talk about it, I don't ask. Suffice to say that she is as strong as me, even without any special ability."

"I find that hard to believe. What about her daughter then? She's not exactly normal."

"We have no idea. It might be a genetic mutation, or a latent ability from the clan's Kekkei Genkai, we aren't sure. But I can tell you that that piece of wood is…well let's just say she's very good at wielding it."

Sasuke felt at his cheek, remembering the sparring match they had had on the way to the village. It made more sense now on why Fiore was so strong, but that didn't mean he liked it.

"This is…a lot to take in. I'm not sure how to process all this."

Mikoto smiled again and placed a caring hand on his arm. "I know it's been difficult. But you should know that I'm here for you. Anything you want to know, feel free to ask."

"Thanks…mum."

She reached up and ruffled his hair slightly before sliding over a plate of green food. "Now eat your vegetables."

oOoOoOo

Later that night Sasuke sat down on a couch and watched the others talk amongst themselves. He felt very much the outsider in the organisation, even in the strange knowledge that his mother was a high level member of Cascading Flow.

"Still sulking?"

He looked up to see Fiore standing in front of him. She had changed out of her combat fatigues and was wearing a deceptively short skirt with a white singlet, which only seemed to accentuate her figure. It didn't seem like she was trying to appear seductive, it just appeared like it was a more comfortable outfit to wear.

"I'm not sulking. I'm just tired. It's been one of those days."

She thought about it for a second before shrugging and sitting down beside him, swinging her legs over so that they sat on top of his legs, scooting herself up to make herself more comfortable. "You concentrate too much on the past, Uchiha."

He frowned and looked down at her legs, wondering when he had given the impression that he was okay with her sitting like that. He couldn't quite place it, but there was an odd warmth trickling through his body at her touch, one that he wasn't particularly uncomfortable with.

"You're a very strange girl, you know that?"

"I do what I can. Now quiet down, so I can get some sleep."

He stared at her in confusion, but could only watch as she closed her eyes and began to breathe out slowly. He didn't need any special skills to recognise that she was asleep already, though it occurred to him that he was now trapped underneath her legs and unable to get up without waking her.

This day just gets stranger and stranger. Do these people just come out a box to frustrate me?

Looking up he saw both his mother and Fiore's standing a short distance away, chatting quietly to themselves. They looked over at their children and smiled, while Sasuke simply shook his head.

"You must be a special guy."

He turned his head to see a young girl standing beside him, a wide smile on her face. "She's not like that with most people."

Sasuke frowned and looked at Fiore's sleeping face. "How do you mean?"

The girl walked around so that she was standing in front of him, crossing her arms slowly. "It's a hard life, here in Cascading Flow. Unlike shinobi we can only fight with normal skills, meaning we lose people all the time."

Sasuke nodded slowly, he understood what that meant. "So you don't form bonds easily, because you might be dead the next day. What do you people actually do?"

"We take out raiders and bandits; we protect civilians, and generally do the work for people who can't afford to pay for shinobi assistance. But when Lady Mikoto came along, we realised we could do so much more."

"What does my mother do in your organisation?"

The girl smiled and shook her head slightly. "You'll have to ask her, or Leader. If you want to help us, I suggest you wise up and take a number."

"You people are very strange" said Sasuke, watching as the girl shrug in agreement and walk away from him.

He looked over at Fiore's sleeping face, wondering what he had gotten himself into. She seemed to mumble slightly in her sleep, and for some reason he found that quality endearing.

I wonder if this is how Naruto and Hinata started up. Not that I'm thinking about it, particularly with someone like her, but I could see why someone like him would do such a thing.

It took him a while but Sasuke found a position underneath Fiore's trapping legs that was comfortable enough, and before long he was fast asleep, the past few days fatigue hitting him hard.

Elika and Mikoto smiled together as they walked over and looked at their children asleep on the couch.

"They look good together" commented Mikoto.

"Maybe. Your son is particularly strange compared to most shinobi I've met."

The Uchiha kunoichi turned to her companion with a frown. "You want to take him with us, don't you?"

Elika crossed her arms and looked at the expression on the young shinobi's face, noticing that even while asleep he still seemed rigid. "Fiore didn't just bring him here for his looks. He's clearly made an impression on her, which is good enough for me."

"We should tell him about the plan."

"Tomorrow. They look too peaceful to disturb. Have you heard anything from your partner?"

Mikoto sighed sadly and shook her head. "It's been almost a year. He was captured by the enemy…I have to assume they have killed him."

"I'm sorry for your loss. He was a good man. Do you want to get a beer?"

"Definitely. I was never expecting to see my youngest son like this. I thought I had prepared myself…but it was still shocking."

---

Sasuke groaned as he slowly woke up from his slumber. The first thing he noticed was that Fiore was no longer lying on top of him, which invoked both happy and sad emotions in him.

He picked himself up from the couch and looked around the area.

So I really am in this place. It would have been too convenient to be a dream.

There was no-one in the hall that he could see, which was a refreshing change from the boisterous noise that was there from his initial entrance.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a young boy running along a nearby corridor towards the back end of the hall. Sasuke cracked his neck to get rid of the cramp from sleeping in such an awkward position and yelled at the boy to stop.

"Where is everyone?" he asked as the boy skidded to a halt.

"Don't you know? It's that time of the month! Come on, you've got to come out into the training yard!"

Sasuke found his curiosity piqued and followed the boy, entering the training yard to a peculiar situation. All the people that had been in the hall were gathered in a large crowd and were cheering loudly, yet Sasuke couldn't see what they were cheering about. He pushed his way through and saw Fiore and her mother fighting as if the world depended on it.

He immediately noticed that Fiore wasn't using her wood to attack Elika, but to his surprise he could see that she was quite adept at fighting in hand-to-hand combat. Since they weren't shinobi he could easily follow their movements as they traded punches and kicks at high speed, and he was impressed by their technique. They fought with a modified version of shinobi taijutsu, and Sasuke couldn't tell who was winning.

For each punch that broke through their defence, two more responded in kind, and while the blows weren't particularly deep he could see that Fiore was being beaten back.

"What is going on?" he asked to nobody in particular.

Walking up behind him, his mother smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "They do this every month. It'll be good for you to see how these people fight. They are no less committed than any shinobi."

Fiore ducked under a kick to her head and flipped onto her hands, sending both her legs crashing into her mother's chest. Elika was able to get her arms across her body in time, but was still sent flying back nonetheless.

The young girl grinned as she flipped back onto her feet, but her joy was only momentary as Elika came roaring up and drove a fist into her face. Fiore let out a cry of pain and dropped to her knees, clutching her face in pain.

Elika grinned while standing over her. "You've gotten better, daughter. But you still have a ways to go before you can defeat me."

Her daughter nodded slowly, and then leapt up and threw her legs around her mother's head, attempting to slam her down into the ground. Unfortunately for Fiore, Elika was able to drop to the ground and place her legs into a hold, immobilising her in place.

She tightened the grip and stared down at her daughter's face. "Say it."

"N…ev…er…" said Fiore through her teeth.

"Stubborn girl." Elika relaxed her grip and stood up from the ground, wary of another surprise assault. "Get up. We've got preparations to make."

Fiore swore under her breath and stood up from the ground, wiping herself down before bowing slightly to her mother and watching her smile before walking through the crowd back to the main building, the crowd dispersing in disappointment.

Mikoto nodded to her son before following the others back, leaving him and Fiore in the training yard.

Sasuke walked up to her with a smug look on his face. "Do you usually let your mum beat the snot out of you?"

Fiore snarled, but seemed to be in good humour nonetheless. "I'm getting faster. One day I'll be able to defeat her."

"Why didn't you use your wood against her? I've seen you fight with that thing, you could have overpowered her easily."

The spiky-haired girl shook her head then grimaced in pain. "It doesn't work on her. For some reason the wood doesn't listen to me when I'm fighting her."

"You do that regularly? Why?"

"Keeps me sharp. Mother was the one who taught me how to fight. She said that the day I defeat her in combat, is the day she tells me about where we came from."

Sasuke frowned at her, remembering the conversation he had had with his mother the previous day about Elika's past. "You don't even know your last name?"

"I don't have one. I'm just Fiore, I don't know my origins. I'm going back inside; she'll want me at the meeting." She cracked her neck with a loud sound before straightening out her shirt and turned to the main building. "Are you coming with?"

"Should I? I don't know if I want to get mixed in with your little organisation."

Fiore froze in step and turned around to glare at him. "You want to fight the people that destroyed your village, correct? Then we have a common enemy."

"What do you know of them?"

She gave him a familiar look, then turned around and walked back into the building. Sasuke watched her walk away with a sigh before placing his hands in his pockets and following her.

Nobody will give me a straight answer. It's like a whole group of Kakashi's and Itachi's.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke followed the group into a small room with what appeared to be the leaders of Cascading Flow. He was the youngest in the room by a fair margin, once he learnt that Fiore was in fact four years older than he was. She didn't look it, but there was something about her confidence that spoke to her own experience level.

Elika pulled out a large map over the top of the table in the middle of the room, indicating for everyone to take their seats. Sasuke didn't have a seat so he stood off to the sides, still with a reasonable view as everyone else sat down. He noticed with interest at how close his mother was next to the organisation's leader, impressed that his mother had achieved such a position.

"I'd like to thank everybody for their patience with this. I wanted to wait to initiate this plan until my daughter had returned from her mission." Elika held the immediate attention of the group, and reminded Sasuke of how the Hokage used to speak.

She's a real leader. I don't even know her, but I already respect her.

The leader of Cascading Flow indicated to the map on the table. Sasuke didn't recognise the building details or any of the outlying regions on the map. Considering his location in the Land of Earth it wasn't so surprising, but Sasuke was still wary of what he was getting himself into.

"For our guest over there, I'll go over what we know. For a long time now there have been food shortages in this land. It isn't just shinobi of Iwagakure that have been affected, but everyone here. New intelligence has given us the ringleader of the group that has been causing such chaos within this land."

She pointed to the name of the building at the top of the map, causing many of the group to let out quiet remarks of surprise. Sasuke could only frown; he didn't recognise what had put them on edge.

"Is this information accurate?" asked one older warrior.

"Surely that can't be right" commented another.

Elika put a hand to silence the group. "Enough. This information came to us at the gravest expense. Both Mikoto and I vouch for its authenticity."

"Even so…this is madness."

Sasuke leaned forward to whisper in Fiore's ear. "I don't understand. Who's the target?"

She looked back to him with an amused look. "Not very quick on the uptake, are you?"

"Would it kill you to give me a straight answer?"

"Maybe. Do you know who is in charge of each of the countries?"

It only took him a second before he realised who she was talking about. He whistled lowly as the plans on the table made a frightening kind of sense. "That's…bold."

"We hate to disappoint" she responded with a grin before turning back to concentrate on the meeting.

Elika continued her speech, but offered a quick glare to her daughter as a reminder for her to know her place.

"We've been looking for a reason to destroy this corrupt government, and now we have enough evidence to justify an attack. First we shall…"

"You can't seriously be thinking of assassinating a Daimyo" interrupted Sasuke. The whole room stared at him, but the young Uchiha didn't relent. "You wouldn't get anywhere near the Daimyo before the shinobi from the local village tear you apart."

Dozens of people began chatting at once, but Fiore slammed a foot into the table to shut them up. She nodded silently to Sasuke before looking over at her mother with a serious expression.

Elika thanked her daughter before regarding the Uchiha shinobi with a scowl. "The boy has a point. Iwagakure has an invested interest in keeping their Daimyo alive, but if all goes well we shouldn't encounter any shinobi resistance."

Beside her, Mikoto shook her head. "With respect Elika, it doesn't work like that. Every Daimyo has a different way of contacting their affiliated village, and regularly has ANBU-level shinobi guarding them. Sasuke has the right of it; there is a reason that Daimyo are rarely targeted."

Elika turned to her, "Are you saying this can't be done?"

"I don't know how you would go about…"

"I know how to do it."

Once again everyone turned to face Sasuke, and he stared them down through his dark eyes.

Elika frowned again and also stared at him through her darker purple eyes. "You are a guest here, Uchiha Sasuke. We have decades of experience fighting these kind of battles. What makes you think you know better than us?"

Walking up to the table so that he was standing beside Fiore's seated position; Sasuke stared down at the map. "Because I knew of someone who's done it before."

"Sasuke? Who are you talking about?" He could hear the concern in his mother's voice, but he was quick to reassure her.

"When Itachi was part of a country-wide criminal organisation, he worked with a man who once assassinated a Daimyo of a country. He told Nii-san, who told me of how he did it."

Elika continued to stare at him, her eyes not betraying a single emotion as she considered what he said. After almost a minute of silence, she glared down at the map before placing her hands down on the table.

"Everyone is dismissed. We shall reconvene later this afternoon."

The warriors of Cascading Flow murmured among themselves, but nonetheless left the room dissatisfied. After a minute the only ones left in the room was the leader of the organisation, her smirking daughter, and Sasuke and his mother.

Fiore turned her head to face the younger Uchiha, her grin widening. "You don't know much about people, do you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked honestly.

She didn't respond, but when he saw Elika nearly seething behind the table he understood what she was talking about.

"If you weren't my companion's son, I'd reach over this table and shove my fist down your throat for interrupting so."

Seeing as he was already in serious trouble, Sasuke felt there was no harm in speaking his mind further. "But there was no point going along with your plan, since it was so flawed."

"There are ways to convey your point while still being respectful. As I said before, you are a guest here."

Sasuke frowned and stood against her. "If you don't want my advice, fine. I'll re-join my companions and fight the fight we started."

"Perhaps you should. Clearly you don't work well with others."

His mother attempted to stand between the two of them to strike an accord, but Sasuke shook his head. "I have no real interest in your goals, though your target is of concern to me. I am not the one that has issues with authority; it is you that has an issue with someone challenging your decisions."

Down at the table, Fiore sighed loudly and placed a hand on her face. "Oh, that just wasn't smart at all."

Taking a step forward so that she was nearly nose to nose with the Uchiha shinobi, Elika stared down at him. "For a boy, you have a man's courage. Or an idiot's stupidity."

Trickling a small amount of chakra up through his chakra system, Sasuke's eyes flickered red as he stared her down. "If you have an issue, then perhaps you should back it up with more than just empty threats."

Her eyes flickered angrily for a moment before Elika snarled at him and took a step back. "Come to the training yard now. I'll beat some respect into you."

With that she turned around and walked out of the room.

His mother sighed and moved to follow her. "I'll try and calm her down."

"Don't bother" said Sasuke just as Mikoto left the room. He watched as Fiore picked herself up from her chair and stared at him in a different manner to her mother. "Do you have something to say to me?"

"Are you insane? Nobody provokes Mother like that. Do you have a death-wish?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you" spat back Sasuke, moving to follow the older warriors out to the training yard.

He felt himself pulled back as Fiore clutched at his shoulder with a tight grip. She glared straight into his angry Sharingan eyes with her own light purple orbs.

"This affects more than just you! For what little time I've spent with you I would not have considered you a rash person, yet you are demonstrating a lack of intelligence and insight! Why would you undermine our efforts to seek your support with our people?"

Sasuke gave her a final glare before pushing past her and exiting the room. Behind him she could only stare with a mixture of anger and surprise. His actions made no sense to her. Her mother's did, but that was because she was used to it.

It wasn't long before she realised that she needed to follow after him. Not to stop the fight. To make sure her mother didn't kill him.

oOoOoOo

When Sasuke entered the training yard he saw Elika standing in the middle as she adjusted the black gloves over her hands. He hadn't noticed it at first, but her brown hair was tied in a small ponytail and he guessed that it was actually quite long.

"This isn't a good idea, Elika. If you want to continue the plan then it wouldn't do for you to be injured."

The leader of Cascading Flow glared at Sasuke's mother, which was enough for the Uchiha matriarch to shake her head in disapproval and stand out of the way. Sasuke took position opposite Elika and saw that Fiore was now standing beside his mother.

"Lady Mikoto, do you understand what he is doing?"

"Not really. Sasuke never dealt well with authority, but this seems out of character even for him."

Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets and grinned at his opponent. "Are you ready?"

Flexing her hands within her gloves, Elika stared him down with a seemingly controlled fury. "Enough words, boy. Real warriors solve their differences with their fists."

He smirked slightly before adopting a traditional Uchiha taijutsu stance.

I could almost like her. Not that that's going to stop me from destroying her.

His hands flew through a set of handseals before placing a hand up to his lips.

"Katon: Housenka!"

A collection of small fireballs flew towards her, but Elika was already on the move. She dodged the fireballs by the minimum distance required; her movements were entirely unwasteful as she moved closer to Sasuke's position.

Sasuke ran through a new set of seals before extending a hand backwards and flaring up a large amount of chakra, letting his hand extend outwards in a large tendril of burning flame.

"Katon: Kamuchi!" (Fire Element: Fire Whip)

With a flick he sent the fire-covered whip straight at her position, watching as she easily evaded the blow and moved closer towards him. He circled the whip around himself to force her to jump back and analysed her movements with his Sharingan carefully. She wasn't using any chakra to move, and he didn't expect any particular special abilities from her, but her movements spoke volumes about her combat experience.

She moves like Lee does, almost as fast as him too, though with his weights on. For a civilian to reach this kind of physical ability and not have the training scars he does…What kind of talent does this woman possess?

He cracked his whip towards her position, and watched in frustration as she easily evaded the attack. Figuring he was only wasting chakra by trying to hit such an elusive target, Sasuke let his fire-whip fizzle out before he fuelled a small amount of chakra straight into his red eyes, ensuring that he was maintaining eye contact with her as he activated an advanced genjutsu his brother had taught him.

For a split second Elika's movements stopped and Sasuke thought he'd trapped her in the illusionary world that consisted of a completely white room that contained only a moose.

His victory was short lived however as a huge spike of pain shot into his eyes, causing him to grimace in pain and break off the eye contact. As he was attempting to rub the imaginary pain out of his eyes he was unable to notice her moving rapidly towards him with her fists raised.

His instincts allowed him to look up in time to see a gloved punch screaming towards his face. He put up his hands to block the attack, but Elika's strike easily bypassed through and slammed into his forehead.

Sasuke's head flung backwards, but before he could recover he felt her arms snake around his neck and bring it forward to meet a rising knee aimed directly at his nose. He was able to bring a hand up to mitigate the damage, but that only caused his hand to be driven into his face instead.

Her arms let go of the back of his neck and he felt a hail of blows aimed straight at his broken guard. Seeing no other option, Sasuke struggled to clasp his hands together in a tiger handseal.

"Ka…ton…Katouben!" (Fire Element: Defence)

A wall of fire expanded around him, forcing her to fall back as Sasuke used the defence to gather his wits before dropping the wall and glaring around the training yard. A part of him wanted to see the reaction from the two observers, but he was more concerned over the fact that he couldn't see Elika anywhere on the battlefield.

"Too slow!" came a voice from behind him.

He attempted to turn around to defend himself, but he felt a boot slam into his shoulder, causing him to drop down to the ground. Elika didn't hesitate, bringing her fists back to rapidly pound into his exposed back.

After a few seconds she stood back up from the dust cloud that had gathered from her rapid fire punches, allowing herself to smirk as she recognised that the battle was clearly over.

"This is what happens when you attempt to fight your betters."

Her whole body froze as she felt the lightest touch on the back of her spine.

"Raiton: Dageki" (Lightning Element: Shock)

A jolt of electricity shot up through her spine as she noticed a large rock has been placed where she had been attacking the Uchiha boy's body. She let out a quiet groan as she fell to her knees, watching as Sasuke walked around and knelt down in front of her, confident that his electrical attack had disabled her nervous system adequately.

"Want to call me boy now?"

Under a seemingly difficult struggle, Elika moved her head upwards slightly so that she was facing him directly. Even in the position she was currently in, Elika didn't seem intimidated at all by him.

"…boy…"

In a movement that even his Sharingan couldn't follow, her head came flying forward and slammed into his own, causing him to fall back with blood spurting out of his nose.

oOoOoOo

"Lady Mikoto, is it just me or are they fighting on even ground?"

Fiore wasn't sure how to take in what she was seeing. She still felt angry at how Sasuke was acting, but a part of her wanted to see him keep fighting.

Beside her Sasuke's mother wasn't able to keep a happy smile off her face, even as she watched her son and her friend fight each other with the intent to kill.

"He's come a long way…"

In the training yard Sasuke had recovered from Elika's headbutt and was currently on the offensive using his fire techniques to keep her at bay, since he knew he wasn't able to keep up with her close quarters speed.

Fiore couldn't believe her eyes as she watched them fight on equal ground, with neither having a clear advantage over the other. "I don't understand, he wasn't like this when we fought. And Mother seems different too. From those movements..."

"Fiore, I know your mother wouldn't want you to know this…but if your wood worked against her you would be able to defeat her."

"What? But her speed, strength…"

Mikoto shook her head, watching as her son deflected a punch to his face and retaliated with a kick to Elika's midsection. "Fiore, it's your generation that will overcome ours. As strong as we are…you kids are something else entirely."

"Do you think Sasuke will defeat her?"

"Not a chance."

oOoOoOo

Sasuke skidded backwards and wiped his mouth painfully. He'd been able to land several blows against her, but her physical abilities went beyond nearly any shinobi he had previously fought.

Wait…she has no mid to long-range abilities…

He clapped his hands together into a large fist before tapping his hands on his chest and summoning up a large portion of his remaining chakra. A crack of lightning came down from the open sky, striking him to transform into a coat of constantly moving lightning tendrils around his body.

"Raiton: Raigeki no Yoroi!" (Lightning Element: Lightning Strike Armour)

Sasuke grinned and whipped his arms out, letting Elika see that he was completely covered by the armour. "You can't beat me if you can't hit me."

Elika stopped her elusive movements and knelt down onto the ground. "You talk too much."

Even through his Sharingan, Sasuke was unable to track her movements as she vanished from sight, in a manner quite remise of a Konoha taijutsu technique.

Sasuke immediately strengthened the lightning surrounding him as he attempted to find where she had disappeared to. His eyes widened as he saw her appear in front of him, but even with all his chakra concentrated in that area her punch still connected with his stomach.

He coughed painfully and dropped to the ground, all his strength dissipating as he sensed her standing over him. He couldn't see, but Elika had been shocked quite heavily by his lightning armour, yet was clearly standing over him as the victor.

"I'm…not done…yet…"

She looked down at him with a stoic expression, ignoring the pain she felt through her sides.

"You've made your point, Uchiha. I still don't like your attitude though."

Cracking her neck loudly, Elika put her hands in her pockets and walked towards the two observers. As she passed her daughter she turned to Mikoto with tired eyes. "Tell your son to meet me in the meeting room once he is healed up."

"Are you sure you don't want to hit him a few more times?" asked Mikoto with an amused expression.

Elika stared at her friend's eyes for a moment, and a silent conversation occurred between the two of them that Fiore had no clue how to follow.

After a few seconds the leader of Cascading Flow nodded to Sasuke's mother before smiling slightly to her daughter and walking back to the complex. Mikoto grinned down at Fiore before following her friend into the main building.

Fiore watched them walk away with a shaking head, turning to look over to see Sasuke picking himself up from the ground with a groan. Seeing nothing else to do, she bounded over to him and grinned her usual grin, amused at the frustrated look on his face.

"Unsatisfied?"

Sasuke glared at her, his dark eyes locking on to her purple eyes. "I'll get her next time. I know how she fights now."

"What was this all about? I don't think I've ever seen my mother pressed like that, but I still can't work out why you wanted to fight her."

Sasuke grimaced again and clutched at him nose, wincing as he set the bone back into place. He knew enough rudimentary medical ninjutsu to heal a broken nose, though the rest of his injuries would have to heal on their own.

"You wouldn't understand."

"That just means you had no reason" she responded quietly. "Which is pretty stupid…"

Sasuke pushed past her without responding, hobbling back to the main building. He never took loss well, it wasn't something that happened often, but for some reason he didn't feel like he had been beaten too badly. Though his body begged to differ.

---

***Four Days after Separation***

Elika explained the 'revised' plan of attack while Mikoto pulled Sasuke to one side so that she could tell him what Elika wasn't going to mention to the others.

"First of all, I don't want to understate what an achievement it was to get her to listen to your ideas. Elika is a brilliant tactician, but you were right, this attack required a shinobi's touch."

Sasuke grinned proudly, but could see that his mother wasn't finished. He could still see the slight black mark on Elika's neck that held the seal which had blocked his genjutsu during their fight. Since she wasn't a shinobi she had elicited that level of protection, which was powerful enough that Sasuke wasn't able to break it even with his best genjutsu.

"You still haven't told me why you are here, mother. This is hardly the environment for someone with our kind of enemies."

Mikoto smiled in her usual warm manner and leaned against the wall beside him. "That's where you are wrong. I've spent a decade finding out what I can about our enemies, and I can tell you that it's people like Elika and Fiore that we need on our side."

"What do you know about them? The enemy, I mean."

She hesitated slightly and he noticed, but upon seeing his serious disposition Mikoto came to the realisation that she would need her son's help in the coming fight. It was a difficult moment for her, since she hadn't returned to the village so that she could keep him safe from their enemies.

"We don't know what they call themselves. They showed up in shinobi land approximately two decades ago, doing many minor things to disrupt our affairs. From what we can tell, they seem to have suffered some kind of grievance and despise everything about us."

"And they are the ones that destroyed Konoha?" asked Sasuke angrily. He didn't have as much attachment to the village as the others of their group, but it had still been his home.

Mikoto nodded grimly. "Yes. There are four leaders that we know of, which are supervised by another. One is a warrior; I believe you met him at the Hidden Sound. Another is a scientist and a singularly righteous bitch, and the most senior one we have no intelligence on."

Sasuke frowned as he worked it out in his head. "You only mentioned three. Who is the other one?"

"He is the reason I came to this land a while ago. Even before Konoha was destroyed there have been food shortages across the country. Small at first, but there was a pattern that we discovered. The reason we are going after the Daimyo of this land is that we believe he is being either controlled or actually is, the third leader."

"I'm not quite seeing the link, or why these people would be so gung-ho about killing someone as powerful as a Daimyo."

Mikoto indicated to the group around them, "They are all refugees of one sort or another, drawn to Elika out of desperation or fear of their oppressors. The Daimyo in the Land of Earth is tyrannical at the best of times, and uses Iwagakure as his own political warfare machine at the worst of times. If he is working with our enemy, then he is a priority target for us. It just so happens that it'll help them as well."

Sasuke appeared sceptical, but turned back to hear Elika wrapping up the plan details.

"If there are no other comments, I want everybody prepared to move out by tomorrow morning. This mission isn't time sensitive, but the more time it takes the more people are affected by this man's actions. So the usual drinks and shenanigans, but I want everyone in top shape for this mission."

The group slowly moved out of the room, several of the members nodding their acknowledgement of Sasuke's influence on the plan. It had quickly moved through the organisation on what had occurred between him and Elika, and while no-one quite knew why they appreciated the fact that he was still walking around as a sign of her approval of his presence.

Elika waited until the last person had left before closing the door behind them and turning to him with her usual stoic expression. "I expect your support on this, Uchiha. If you are correct, and there are high-level shinobi guards, I will not risk my people in a fight they may not win."

Sasuke smirked at her, ignoring the pain that shot through his face at the use of his facial muscles. "If I get to fight strong opponents, then you have my support."

The leader of Cascading Flow simply rolled her eyes and motioned for Mikoto to follow her as the two of them left the room. Sasuke sighed tiredly and looked at the plan strewn across the table. It was still risky, but they were far more likely to succeed than the initial plan.

What would…okay I've got to stop thinking about what my brother would do. It's my life.

"Regretting dropping into that arena now?"

He turned around to the familiar sounding voice, noticing the girl that had brought him to the group in the first place. Fiore still wore the ridiculous short skirt, and unlike the girls he had known before she reacted very strangely around him. There were times he thought she was just playing around with him, but others when she had impressed him with her abilities and personality.

"Considering the alternative, I'm fine where I am."

She grinned widely before indicating the main hall. "You gonna join us? We always have a bit of fun before missions, and since you are helping us I figure you might want to come with."

"I think I'll pass. I'm not a party person."

To his surprise she walked straight up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt, turning around to drag him towards the main hall. "That was a rhetorical question, Uchiha. These people will live and die by our actions tomorrow. The least you can do is let them see you at your most honest."

Sasuke struggled initially, but conceded the value of her argument, if nothing else for the fact that he was unable to break her grip.

oOoOoOo

Fiore slammed a mug of bubbling brown liquid in front of him before sitting down beside him and crossing her legs with a grin, sipping her own mug at the same time.

The Uchiha shinobi leaned forward and sniffed the drink suspiciously. "What is this?"

She rolled her eyes at his reaction, "You are way too stuck up, Uchiha. It's called beer. Surely you've heard of it before."

"Of course I've heard of beer before" he snapped. "I meant this…brew specifically."

"Uhuh, sure. Drink your beer, Uchiha, then we'll talk."

He gave her an apprehensive look, but nevertheless he took a cautious sip of the cold drink. It had a slightly bitter taste, but Sasuke decided he liked it, taking another deeper sip.

Beside him Fiore let out a short laugh and drained her own drink, before standing up and clapping him on the back cheerfully. "It's all about loosening up. I reckon your biggest problem is that you never switch off."

Sasuke took another drink and moved around on his chair so that he was facing her, looking at her curiously. "What are you talking about?"

She noticed a small red blush slowly developing under Sasuke's cheeks, which was cause for much amusement that she would later give him grief for. "Everyone has two faces, Uchiha. The one they wear in battle, and the one they wear among their friends. Your problem is that you are always wearing your combat mask. Have you ever relaxed? Ever?"

He went to make a snide retort, but her remark made a scary amount of sense. It was a similar comment to some that Itachi had made, and Naruto before him. It actually forced Sasuke to look back and consider some of the things he had done in his life.

I was so bound up in seeking revenge against my brother that I never really learnt to be a person. Is that the barrier that's been holding me back from getting stronger? Is that the only thing I should be focusing on?

He stared down into the beer in his hand, watching the cold froth bubble slowly. "What…what should I do then?"

"You aren't kidding, are you? Have a few more drinks, maybe dance a little, throw down with a homely girl, it's all up to you."

He gave her another glare, but took another drink and considered her points. He certainly wasn't going to be ridiculous, but he could see the value in letting himself loose.

In moderation of course.

---

***Five Days after Separation***

Mikoto frowned as she walked beside the leader of Cascading Flow in the middle of the group of warriors. Walking a distance in front of them was their children, and it wasn't difficult to notice that Sasuke was holding his head tendering as they made their way to the main city in the Land of Earth.

"What happened last night?" she asked, having chosen not to participate in the festivities.

Elika grinned and scratched at one of the scars along her face. "My daughter has a strange way of amusing herself. I assume your son will be ready when we arrive?"

"I have faith in Sasuke. He won't let us down, even if he has a hangover."

Elika lowered her voice significantly so that only Mikoto could hear her. "Do you think he'll ever forgive you?"

Her Uchiha companion sighed and stared at her son's back, watching as Fiore patted his head amusingly while Sasuke could only groan and mumble in retaliation.

"He's been through a lot. It might have been better for him had I not revealed myself. With what his father did…and his brother…I don't know. I don't think I deserve his forgiveness."

"You did what you had to do. If he is a warrior, then he can't fault you for doing your duty."

"He's a child, and shouldn't have that kind of responsibility."

Elika scoffed, "I've fought him, he's no child. If I were to face him on the battlefield, I might fear him."

"The great scythed terror is losing her edge?"

"Mikoto, I've been fighting for my life since I was eight years old. I'm training Fiore as hard as I can so that one day there won't be any more battles for us to fight."

"Where is the fun in that?" grinned Mikoto, taking note of the rising cityscape in the distance. "We're close now."

"Yes, I see that." Elika turned around and signalled to the rear guard of their group. Four warriors nodded and began moving to a small line of rocks away from the city. Elika's orders were to create a proper place for their force to fall back to, if the situation necessitated.

At the front of the group Fiore began to relay individual instructions to the group members. They were not invading the city, nor were they attacking it in force. Elika had thirty warriors under her command, and with the revised plan they all had their own individual missions to complete.

The closer they got to the city the more of the group split off into different sections. Mikoto and Elika caught up to their children, as the group dwindled in number.

"Are you up to this, Uchiha boy?" asked Elika bluntly.

Sasuke gave her a quick glare, "I'll be fine. I don't know why I have to work with her, but we'll get the job done."

"You have no sense of humour, Uchiha" laughed Fiore, taking a moment to nod to Mikoto before walking slightly away to share a word with her mother before they commenced the mission.

Sasuke watched the odd pair converse as his mother came up beside him. He still wasn't sure what to make of the woman, she seemed quite different and yet quite similar to the mother he once knew.

"Why did you go to such efforts to change the plan?" asked Mikoto quietly, not wanting the other two to hear.

Sasuke initially didn't respond, but once he saw his mother pressing him he knew his cover story wasn't going to fly with her. He looked over at Fiore talking beside her mother.

"It's…difficult to explain. I knew it wasn't going to work, and they were going to get killed. I guess…I didn't want to see that happen."

Mikoto smiled warmly and placed a hand around his shoulder. "You aren't your father, Sasuke. Beneath all your stubborn pride, you do care about other people just as much as anyone. I just wish you had a better way of showing it."

"Thanks…I think. Do you think this plan will work?"

"I believe in what we are doing. If we succeed, I'd like to think we'll have struck a significant blow against our enemy. But…I couldn't say for sure."

Sasuke looked up at his mother, and saw a mixture of pride and apprehension in her dark eyes. "We should get going. If the timing isn't right then it could all be for nothing."

His mother smiled proudly before nodding and moving to join Elika as Fiore made her way across to Sasuke. The two children gave their acknowledgements to their superiors and moved towards the city.

"Shall we go?" asked Mikoto with a slow grin.

Elika turned to her and mimicked her expression. "Let's go start a rebellion."

---

Fiore groaned as she applied the final piece of her makeup onto her face, making her appear like she had just had the fight of her life. "Do I really have to go like this?"

Her Uchiha companion couldn't help but grin slightly as he collected a small amount of rope in his hands. It had been her idea, and he had been quick to comment on how good an idea it was. Once she appeared as if she had been beaten heavily, Sasuke tied her wrists tightly and activated his Sharingan. It wasn't necessary to have the doujutsu active, but he found the intimidation factor to be significant.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She stared at him with a dark glare before nodding slowly and standing in front of him. "When you are ready, master."

Sasuke shoved her with a false anger towards the main building in the city. "I'm your captor, Fiore. Throw me some insults when we are inside, like I'm a villain."

"That shouldn't be too hard" she replied with a grin.

"And stop looking so happy. I've just killed your friends and have tortured you, remember?"

"Yes, yes."

Sasuke took his 'prisoner' up to the main building, keeping a scowl on his face as he presented her to two guards at the entrance. They seemed surprised by his approach, even more so as Sasuke shoved her down to her knees and placed a forceful hand on the back of her neck.

"I have a prisoner for Lord Kenji" stated Sasuke loudly.

One of the guards stepped forward with his sword still sheathed, staring at Fiore's 'beaten' face. "Our lord doesn't handle minor matters like that, boy. Take her to the bounty house if you want to collect your money."

Sasuke smirked and shook his head, making a show of forcing Fiore's head to face to the ground.

"Let go of me you bastard!"

"Shut up! Or should I start cutting you again?"

Sasuke attempted to sound as psychotic as possible, and was quietly impressed when Fiore let out a slight whimper and went limp underneath his grip.

The Uchiha shinobi looked back up at the guard and spat on the ground beside Fiore's face. "I am no bounty hunter. I am an ex-shinobi, and your lord should be very interested in my captive."

"And why is that?"

Sasuke reached down and pulled on her hair to show her beaten face to the guard. "This is the daughter of Elika, the leader of Cascading Flow."

That drew both the guard's attention, and upon seeing her odd purple eyes they recognised her. The first guard stared at his companion and nodded to the door behind them. The second guard bowed in acknowledgement and entered the building, closing the door behind him.

"We shall take the terrorist into custody. You can expect a reward for your service."

Sasuke pulled back Fiore as the guard reached out to grab her. "Not a chance. I have information that I will only tell to the Daimyo. It concerns a larger conspiracy from within his ranks."

"And how did you obtain this information?" asked the guard sceptically.

"I am a shinobi, guardsman. So I am well versed in torture and interrogation."

"I…I'm sure" stuttered the guard, clearly intimidated by his direct prolonged stare.

After a minute of agonising silence the second guard returned, giving the first guard a reason to sigh in relief. He turned to Sasuke while wondering why his companion was so unsettled.

"The Daimyo has agreed to see you. He is very interested in meeting the daughter of one who has caused so much trouble for our country. You can hand her over to our custody now."

Sasuke shook his head slightly with a snarl. "As I said to your companion, I will only take her to the Daimyo personally. I'm a patriot, and I trust only him with the information I obtained."

"Hmm. Admirable. Follow me then, if you will."

Sasuke simply grunted his approval and shoved Fiore through the door. He liked this bit of the plan.

oOoOoOo

They were led to a secure room near the armoury of the building, and told to wait for approval of their identities before they would be allowed to be presented to the Daimyo. Sasuke made the sure the room was secure and they were alone before reaching down and removing her restraints.

Fiore stood up and rubbed at the back of her neck where he had held her tightly. She groaned and turned around with a tired smile. "You were having fun with that, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you mean" he replied quietly, securing the room quickly.

She glared at him, but still produced a minute piece of wood from the collar of her shirt, extending it to her classic pole-like form. "So now we wait?"

Sasuke looked around the room, recognising it from the map they had analysed back at their village. He looked around the area with his Sharingan, seeing no immediate chakra senses. He could have extended the view up to the Daimyo's room, but that might alert any guards up there, and that would blow the whole operation.

He considered their position before placing his hands together in a basic handseal. "I just thought of an idea."

"We shouldn't deviate from the plan, Uchiha. We need to wait for Mother and the others."

"Put your hand on my shoulder" he instructed. She gave him a weary glare, but complied nonetheless as he activated a technique he had learnt at the Konoha Academy. "I can get us even closer."

He felt her hand leave his shoulder and stepped back to check his handiwork. He wasn't sure whether someone like her could be influenced by ninjutsu, but he saw that even someone without the ability could still be transformed.

Fiore had been changed to a taller version of herself, covered in the same armour as the guards that had accompanied them to the room, though she noticed that her transformed self has a larger bust than she normally did. She glared over at Sasuke, who had only transformed his clothes, but decided to seek her revenge after their mission was done.

"How does this help us?" she asked, tugging at her armoured front uncomfortably.

Sasuke opened the door to the room, noticing with relief that the armoury was temporarily empty. "Our job is to take out his shinobi guards. If we can get closer, I might be able to take them out without raising the alarm."

Fiore watched him walk out into the armoury, staring at his back through her transformed dark eyes. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but she still felt compelled to follow him for a reason she couldn't quite explain.

oOoOoOo

They walked up a staircase onto the next level without any guards challenging them; Sasuke's disguises were more than enough for the bored guards around the building. His skill with Henge was to the point that he still had his Sharingan active, yet anyone looking at him would only see a set of black eyes.

They passed a long corridor, with Fiore taking a glance out a window into the main city. She forced herself not to grin as she saw a large mob slowly making its way towards the main building.

That means that we are out of time. It mustn't have taken much for Mother to rile up the citizens. They must really hate this bastard, if they are so willing to attack his headquarters like that.

She turned back and tapped Sasuke on the shoulder, the disguised Uchiha getting the message immediately as he identified their target room. As they expected there were two guards standing in front of a large double door, with Sasuke's Sharingan unable to pierce through to the other side.

The two of them moved in front of the guards and gave them a quick salute. The guards nodded and saluted back.

"Captain Eri ordered a shift change" said Sasuke rigidly. The intelligence they had on the Daimyo's bodyguards was fairly reasonable, but it was still a risky bluff.

The two guards frowned and stared at each other for a few seconds before turning back to their apparent replacements.

"Did he now? I was not informed" said the male guard hesitantly.

Sasuke nodded and indicated to the nearby window. "There have been reports of unrest in the city, and he is ordering his best soldiers to assess the situation."

The female guard stepped back slightly, her hand slowly drifting to the sword sheathed at her belt as the male guard stepped up to Sasuke.

"I find that difficult to believe."

"It's the truth. Captain Eri was very specific in his instructions."

The male guard placed a hand on his sword's hilt and glared into Sasuke's eyes. "As I said, I find that difficult to believe, as I am Captain Eri and I believe I would remember giving such an order."

Sasuke swore and clapped his hands together to activate a lightning technique, but before he or the other two guards could react, Fiore flicked a hand and cracked both of them over the head with a long pole of wood.

The guards crumpled onto the ground as Sasuke turned to her with a frown, pulling his hands apart. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Fiore grinned and summoned the pole to her hand, shorting it to arm's length and holding it against her hip. "And miss you making an arse of yourself? Not on your life, Uchiha."

Sasuke let out a sigh and turned back to the doors, "I'm opening it. Be ready for anything."

He couldn't see her nod in acknowledgement as he pulled open the door and cancelled their transformation; he saw no more need to be disguised.

Inside the room sat an old man staring down at a scroll on a table in front of him. He had a long grey beard and moustache, with creases under his eyes that reminded Sasuke of his brother's. Unlike with the captain, there was no mistake. This was the Daimyo of the Land of Earth.

Fiore flipped her pole in hand and transformed it into a long sword, aiming it at the distracted Daimyo. "There he is. Let's kill him and be on our way."

She went to strike at him, but Sasuke reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back forcefully. He tapped himself with his other hand before touching her cheek softly.

Fiore glared at him with confusion, but understood what he had done when she saw the Daimyo shimmer twice before disappearing completely, having been replaced by two shinobi wearing ANBU animal masks. The taller of the two had the imprint of a hand across his mask, while the other one had a set of teeth marks along the sides of his mask.

"You are good, to dispel my genjutsu" said the hand-print ANBU. "But judging from your eyes, I'd say it isn't so surprising…Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked, "You sensed our approach. I'd have expected better from the Iwagakure's ANBU, but it makes sense coming from a lesser village."

As he expected neither of the ANBU reacted to his taunt, though he could sense them both gathering chakra within themselves.

The teeth-ANBU cocked his head slightly at the young shinobi, "At least we have a village. I hear Konoha's hole-in-the-ground is nice this time of year."

Next to Sasuke, Fiore looked around the room with frustration. "Where is the Daimyo?"

"Away from the two of you. If you thought we hadn't anticipated your infiltration, then you are a pair of fools."

Sasuke simply stared at him, giving nothing away to the ANBU shinobi even as a lightning-covered hand shot through the back of the hand-print ANBU. Sasuke's clone smirked as the other ANBU leapt back from his sneak attack, though his victory was short lived as the ANBU shinobi he had attacked melted into a mud clone that slowly fell away from his clone's Chidori onto the ground.

Seeing as the battle had begun, Fiore snapped up her weapon and began attacking the teeth-ANBU, forming her wood into a spear and thrusting rapidly at him. The ANBU shinobi easily avoided her strikes, snaking around her spear and delving a rapid kick into her stomach, sending her flying out of the room with a groan.

Sasuke watched as she disappeared out of a destroyed window, making a significant hole in the wall as she fell towards the city below, the ANBU who attacked her leapt after her quickly. For a second he entertained the idea of going after her, but figuring she could handle herself he turned to see his opponent appear from within the ground, standing against him imposingly with his hands in an elaborate handseal.

Using his Sharingan's innate ability, Sasuke's hands adopted the same handseal as they ran through the exact same set of handseals. Knowledge flooded Sasuke's mind as he understood the technique the ANBU shinobi was attempting to use against him. He couldn't help but smirk as they both activated the technique at the same time.

"Genkaku Sekai ni Hairu!"

"Genkaku Sekai ni Hairu!"

(Enter the Illusionary World)

oOoOoOo

Fiore stood on her hovering board of wood, watching as the ANBU warrior summoned a large collection of rocks around himself.

I'm at a disadvantage at range, particularly if I'm forced to stay in the air. He's an Earth shinobi, so he could trap me if I touch the ground.

One of the rocks came screaming up towards her, causing Fiore to drop quickly to avoid the strike. She leaned forward on her board of wood and dove straight at the ANBU warrior. He seemed to be surprised at her ability, but shot up several more large rocks in order to disrupt her approach.

Surely he's got more than this thought Fiore as she rapidly flew at him.

Another rock came at her, but instead of dodging it Fiore performed an acrobatics flip from her wooden platform, bouncing a boot off the rock projectile and transforming her wood into a large axe that she gripped in her hands and swung heavily at the ANBU's face.

The ANBU shinobi dropped to the ground and slammed both hands into the rocky city ground, causing a large circle of rock to appear around him like a shell.

Sensing that she wouldn't be able to penetrate that kind of defence, Fiore retracted her wood down to a pole and bounced off the rock shell, flipping in the air before landing on her newly transformed platform, hovering just above his shell.

Okay, this is a problem.

Fiore flew back as the shell retracted, watching as the ANBU began a new set of handseals. She saw the ground beneath him rumble ominously, confirming her suspicion that her being on the ground would not end well for her.

I need to attack him at range. Hmm…how would the Uchiha fight?

She considered adopting a stoic depressing expression to try and get in his mindset, but didn't have to as an idea sprang to her mind. She was only limited in that her wood had to stay in one single piece, which was why she hadn't been able to attack the ANBU shinobi before. But that could also work to her advantage.

Large columns of rock shot up from the ground, trying to dislodge her from her aerial position. Fiore flew higher into the air and attached her feet to her platform with restraints of wood. She placed her hands over the front portion of the platform, commanding the wood to extend upwards in an elaborate manner as she aimed herself at the ANBU shinobi who seemed frustrated that he couldn't catch her.

The wood formed around her arms and pointed forward with her hands, making Fiore wonder why she hadn't thought of it before. She angled the platform and aimed her new trick at the ANBU shinobi.

The ANBU's stance changed once he realised what she was going to do, but Fiore didn't give him a chance to react. The pole extended almost instantly, slamming its blunt edge into his face.

The ANBU's mask shattered as he fell down to the ground, letting out a cry of pain as he clutched at his face painfully. Fiore frowned and retracted the wooden projectile attached to her arms, transforming its edge razor-sharp before aiming her weapon again. Her opponent seemed to be struggling on the ground, scrambling to pick himself up.

Fiore's wooden spike drove itself straight into his neck, holding for a second before exploding outwards, shredding the ANBU into hundreds of pieces.

Above his body Fiore slowly floated down to the ground, transforming her wood down into a hair pin and placing it into her hair as her feet touched the ground. She felt a little sick to her stomach at the sight of the decimated body, but she took solace in the fact that it was the only way she could defeated the ANBU with such strong defence.

I'm surprised it worked so well, and so easily. I guess I never thought of using it like that.

She looked up at the main building, hearing the sounds of the rioting villagers behind her as she saw the hole in the building she had been kicked through.

I should get back up there. The Uchiha might be struggling.

oOoOoOo

Fiore stepped back into the room, surprised to see Sasuke standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. Huddling up in the furthest corner of the room was another man, who Fiore recognised as the other ANBU shinobi, though he was no longer wearing his mask.

He was sitting in a pool of his own urine, and was retching uncontrollably.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked, putting up a hand to block her nose from the smell.

Sasuke turned around and shrugged, "He wanted to have a genjutsu battle with me."

He pointed to the ANBU casually with a thumb, "He lost."

Fiore shook her head and looked back at the hole in the wall, hearing the clashing sounds of the rioters fighting against the guards. "What do we do now?"

"You should link up with Elika; she might need the support down there."

"And what are you going to do?"

Sasuke smirked at her and unsheathed the katana he had attached to his back. "I'm going to my mother's location. She's likely got the fleeing Daimyo in custody by now."

His companion nodded slowly and watched as Sasuke leapt out of the hole in the nearby wall, hearing him use chakra to soften his landing as he broke out into a sprint. She let out a short sigh before pulling out her hairpin and transforming it into a long pole in her hands. A sound to her left drew her attention as several guards appeared to confront her, their swords raised steadily.

If Mother is coming in from the ground up, I'll go from the top down.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke left the village rapidly, moving in a straight line towards the escape tunnel they had known the Daimyo would inevitably use when their attack had been discovered. Sasuke's infiltration had been a success, if only to remove those two guards from the Daimyo to give them a greater advantage.

He passed through a collection of large stones before noticing two figures standing shrouded underneath a collection of dead-looking trees.

He couldn't help but grin as he recognised his mother standing over the begging form of the Daimyo, though he was impressed at the eight ANBU bodies lying on the ground covered in what appeared to be black flames.

That's just like Nii-san's…I guess it isn't just male Uchiha who are strong.

"Tell me why you have been blocking food trading routes! Why have you brought so much death to your own people?"

The Daimyo shivered under her red gaze, "I…I can't say. You have no idea what he would do to me!"

Mikoto reached down and grabbed his collar, bringing him up to her face as Sasuke landed beside her.

"You have no idea what I will do to you, right now, if you don't tell me what I want to know!"

"But I can't…"
Sasuke coughed slightly to get his mother's attention, nodding as she acknowledged his presence. He turned his own Sharingan onto the whimpering Daimyo. "Mother, we don't need him to talk. I can just use genjutsu to get the information we need."

Mikoto considered it before nodding slowly, "That's a good point. Get what you can from him."

"Of course."

Sasuke reached down and grabbed at the Daimyo's hair, trying to force him to stare into his eyes.

"We cannot have you do that, boy."

Both the Uchiha were instantly on edge as they heard the voice all around them. Mikoto signalled silently to her son, asking him whether he recognised the voice, which he quickly replied that he didn't.

They looked around rapidly, but were drawn back when they heard an ear-piercing scream beside them. Looking back to the Daimyo, they saw an old man in a black cloak standing over the leader with a decrepit hand on top of the Daimyo's head.

To their horror, they both saw that the Daimyo seemed to have turned almost skeletal, his skin was barely hanging off his bones as he tried to scream but had no voice to convey his agony.

The old man's hand seemed to be rejuvenated momentarily as the Daimyo fell face down into the ground, a mere husk of a corpse.

The cloaked man looked up at the two Uchiha shinobi, and both of them felt a ping of fear as they saw his full black eyes with no irises at all. "I do not tolerate loose ends."

"You are part of the group that destroyed Konoha" observed Mikoto angrily.

"This situation has been resolved. You are the only loose ends."

He took a step towards the two of them, his hands raised as if to pat them on the head. Mikoto reacted first, turning back to place a hand on Sasuke's face to throw him a far distance away with her wind chakra.

She then attempted to jump away, but found herself unable to generate any chakra; even her red eyes had been deactivated in the old man's presence.

"You have been pestering us for too long."

Mikoto looked over at her son as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground, trying to summon a warm smile before turning around to stare at the old man.

"Who says I'm done?"

She reached down and opened up the front of her shirt, revealing a massive collection of explosion notes that covered the old man's cloaked form. He continued to move ponderously towards her, but she jumped back to a fair distance and placed up a hand to activate the tags.

Nothing happened.

Mikoto swore under her breath and turned around, seeing that Sasuke was running quickly towards her. She put up a hand to stop him, sending a column of wind to once again beat him back.

The second time fighting one of the four leaders, and I'm just as useless as I was over a decade ago. I need to hold him off until Elika arrives, as she can fight him more effectively than either of us can.

She glared at him, watching as he stopped walking towards her and placed his hands into his cloak.

"You fight against inevitability. All life needs to consume, and without that it is all meaningless."

Mikoto rolled her eyes and stood up defensively, "Spare me the evil madman speech."

The cloaked man didn't respond, but in front of her eyes a crack in the air appeared and the old man disappeared without a trace.

I can't have scared him off.

She shivered as she felt a touch on her shoulder, and knew that she had erred.

Sasuke…I'm sorry…I only wanted to…

Her thought was cut off as the life was rapidly drained from her body, causing her to feel an agony unlike nothing she had felt before, until she felt nothing at all and felt to the ground, her last thought of the last time she had seen both her sons together as children.

Sasuke froze mid-step as he saw his mother fall to the ground, as dry as the Daimyo had. He felt the urge to drop to his knees and scream out in grief, but the shinobi part of him caused him to understand that he needed to take the situation as it was.

His grief rapidly turned into anger, and before he even realised it his hands were together in a handseal and a massive fluctuation of chakra shot through him.

Gritting through his teeth, Sasuke aimed his hands at the old man, who seemed to have aged backwards by several years.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Element: Great Dragon Fire)

A large dragon of fire sped towards the old man, but just as it came within a few metres the fire fizzled out into nothingness. The old man cracked his head and went to take a step towards him, but something bothered him as a large crack in the air appeared beside him, which he quickly stepped through and disappeared completely.

Sasuke was on edge for the old man to reappear beside him, but he sensed two people running up beside him. He didn't need to look to know that it was Fiore and her mother, and it occurred to him after a few seconds that they were yelling at him but he couldn't hear them.

His eyes set on the crumpled body of his mother, and reality struck him harder than anything he had experienced since he was a small child. Sasuke did the only thing that made sense to him.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed face first into the rocky ground.

---

***Six Days after Separation***

Fiore sighed and stared at the back of her new companion, watching as he stood in front of a slab of granite. Their assassination had been successful, to a point, but Cascading Flow still retreated back to their village.

"How is he doing?" asked her mother, standing beside her.

Fiore was only able to shrug in response, "He hasn't said anything since waking up. I think he doesn't know what to say."

Elika placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Give him time. Mikoto was a good friend, and it's always difficult to lose a parent."

Her daughter looked at her mother sadly before looking back at Sasuke's back. "I'm going to go keep him company. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"We are leaving in a few hours. Your things are already packed, and the others understand about what's going on here."

Fiore nodded her thanks and walked towards her Uchiha companion, while her mother smiled sadly and nodded in the direction of the grave before turning back to organise the move.

He sensed her approach, but made no inclination to greet her as he read the writing on the grave for the hundredth time. They had burned her body so that nobody got any ideas about digging her up to steal her Sharingan, but Sasuke had insisted on placing a marker that indicated that his mother had died in service of the organisation.

"Hey" said Fiore quietly.

Sasuke didn't respond, still staring at his mother's grave.

"We're moving out in a few hours. Are you going to be okay?"

The Uchiha looked over at her face, showing her the dark rings under his eyes. He hadn't cried over his mother, he had spent a decade grieving her already.

"I…no. I'm not okay. But I will be."

Fiore smiled sadly, "We'll be here for you. If you ever want to talk, then I'm here."

"I'm not staying. I'm going after the man who killed my mother."

"Are…are you sure? I don't know if you can defeat him, particularly if your mother couldn't." The moment she said it, Fiore knew it wasn't a smart thing to say.

Despite what he wanted to say, Sasuke could only let out a sad sigh and stare back at his mother's grave. "Maybe. But I have to try. That's what she would have wanted. The Uchiha are not forgiving."

"I guess those eyes hold a lot of responsibility, don't they?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, flicking his eyes to their Sharingan state. His eyes widened immediately as he felt a high-level genjutsu cast on him through his eyes. He knew that she couldn't see what was going on, but regardless he watched as the world around him seemed to freeze in place.

His eyes scanned around quickly, and he was surprised to see that everything was indeed frozen in place, as a fly was frozen in the air just above Fiore's head. "What the…"

"I'm sorry it had to come to this."

He flipped around as he recognised the voice. His red eyes widened as he saw his mother standing opposite him with a smile across her face.

"How…"

Mikoto's smile widened. "If I'm here, that means I'm dead. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to spend any more time with you."

Her son took a cautionary step back, "How is this possible? I saw you die…again."

"When I pushed you back the first time, I was able to implant a genjutsu that would trigger the next time you activated your Sharingan, assuming I was gone. It would appear…that is the case."

"I…don't understand."

"I don't have much time; I wasn't able to give much chakra to the technique. You need to stay with Cascading Flow. I know that you'll want to seek revenge, and I understand that, I really do. Anger is good, but hatred is not."

Sasuke frowned, still unable to understand what was going on. He looked over at the frozen face of Fiore beside him. "I can't let that man get away with murdering you."

"By all means get him back, but don't be consumed by it. You'll need Elika's help, and particularly Fiore's. They are the best equipped to attack our enemies, and you should know that."

"I…yes mother. I'll do what you ask."

"Don't do it because I've told you to. Do it because you want to. I'm sorry that I can't be in the fight with you anymore; I never intended to bring you into it. If he is still alive, a man called Jito will come and find you. You need to help him; he knows more about the enemy than I ever did."

Sasuke nodded slowly, he understood that much. "I'll try to find Nii-san as well. He…will want to know about you…and what happened."

Mikoto smiled again, "That would be good. Tell your brother that I don't blame him for what happened to the clan."

She reached over and placed a motherly hand on his shoulder, Sasuke surprised that he could feel her touch within the strange genjutsu. "I was able to give you my eye techniques, for what they are worth, since I knew I wasn't going to be able to defeat that man. If you ever activate the Mangekyou, speak to your brother about the side effects, and how to put them at bay."

Sasuke nodded slowly, absorbing the last memories he would ever have of his deceased mother. Once she had finished talking, she pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

"I'll always love you, Sasuke. Remember that, and…"

The world around him unfroze as Mikoto vanished from his hands, Sasuke blinking rapidly as the transition was rather jarring.

He looked around for a few seconds before realising that Fiore was staring at him curiously, wondering why he was suddenly acting so strange. He took a long deep breath and deactivated his Sharingan, looking over to Fiore with a sad expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm…I'll be fine. What were you saying before?"

"I was talking about how the group was moving on…"

"Right. Tell your mother that I will be ready to move out within the hour." He took a glance at his mother's grave before turning around and walking towards the village.

"Yeah I will…wait…" She jogged to catch with him and walked beside him. "Does this mean you'll be coming with us?"

"Hn."

Fiore faltered slightly in step, unable to understand why he had had such a sudden reversal. In those few seconds she saw that he had pulled away from her and was nearly at the main village.

She couldn't help but smile a bit and ran to catch up with him again. "Wait up, Sasuke!"

---

Author's Note:

And so concludes Sasuke's story, for the time being. Unlike all the others, his only took five days within the story. What can I say, he gets things done quickly.

Sasuke is an interesting character to write, when he's not being a bastard like the normal story. Very easy to go OOC, but more satisfying when you feel you've gotten him right. And no, he hasn't suddenly gotten the Mangekyou. It's more that IF he gets it, then he'll have adopted his mother's abilities.

The next chapter is a NaruHina chapter, and is quite entertaining.

Anyone concerned about the bad guys being WAY too powerful, I tend to agree. I compare them to how obnoxiously powerful Itachi was until he was killed. But for this story, all I can do is ask for your patience.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.