edited: 05/03/2022

Chapter 5: A pattern

The crying fit before going to bed had exhausted me to the point where I had no dreams. I woke up refreshed and ready to face the day at 4:28. I could have decided to remain in bed for another few hours, just lying in the warmth and comfort of my blankets. But lying around and doing nothing wasn't something that either Sasuke or Jane did.

Once Jane had been discharged from the army, she would get up at 5:30 every morning so that she could complete her exercise routine and still have time to shower and eat breakfast while catching up on the news before heading to work for 8:00. Sasuke normally rose at around 6:30, which gave him enough time to run through a couple of early morning stretches and help his mum with the chores before heading to the academy for 8:30.

Since I was now the only one of the Clan left, there was an awful lot of paperwork I needed to familiarise myself with so that the Clan's holdings didn't fall into ruin or get taken advantage of by some enterprising fool. Then there was my personal training, as well as the other self-assigned tasks I wanted to complete. This meant I was going to be extremely busy, and yet I also had to factor in the Academy hours into my schedule. Because of this, I decided to make 4:30 my normal wake up time. Perhaps I could change it to 5:30, if there was a reduction in my workload, but for now 4:30 would give me plenty of time to get everything done.

I put on some trousers and a loose shirt, splashing my face to get rid of the residue of tears, before leaving the house and setting off at a slow jog. I would both increase my pace and distance with time, but for now my body could only cope with a slow jog, and I wouldn't be able to do more than one loop of the compound (discounting the training grounds).

While I was jogging, I began planning what I needed to do. I needed to go through all the houses and put everything into storage; I needed to get the paperwork from my father's study, the accountants, the elders and other important people and begin going through it; I needed to continue with chakra control exercises; I needed to plan my work out schedule and begin it; I needed to put time aside each night for either grieving or meditating; I needed to find out who was now in control of the village police and give them any important documents I found, which shouldn't be many since it was procedure to secure them in the headquarters which were the only Uchiha buildings not within the compound; and I needed to make sure I made time for myself each day so I didn't end up burnt out.

Once I had finished the jog around the compound, I was sweating lightly and breathing heavily. Using the grassed area out the front of the house, I went through twenty minutes of Yoga exercises which were designed to increase strength, stability, flexibility and core muscles, while also having a meditative effect due to the breathing exercises that was involved in moving to and holding the positions. By the time I had finished this, it was 5:24 so I headed inside to get a shower.

Before the attack my daily wear had consisted of a blue shirt, which had sleeves that came down to my elbows, and a wide high collar. I'd paired this with blue shorts that came to my knees, the typical shinobi sandals and white sleeve things on my forearms. My outfit used to be very stereotypical for a Uchiha, although the older Shinobi typically lent towards dark greens ad blacks over the dark blue that I'd favoured. This was not a design I was comfortable with now, and decided to change it around a bit.

After a little bit of hunting through all the cloths that I had in my wardrobe, I settled on a long-sleeved black mesh shirt, over which I put a navy-blue cap sleeved shirt. I found some navy-blue three-quarter length trousers which clung to my upper calf and hip, although the most promising thing about these trousers was that they had many pockets. Using the bandages that Itachi gifted me with for this purpose, I wrapped my legs from heel to the two-inch band of trouser, and my arms from palm to elbow.

Both Itachi and Shisui had only started wrapping their limbs when they became Genin, but I decided to start early considering the nature of training I had decided on. The wrappings act to ensure that overextension of muscles would cause minimal damage and it was also an effective way of hiding weights or senbon if I decided to use them. Both Itachi and Shisui had made genin before they were nine, so I was wrapping my limbs at about the same age – the fact that I was planning on increasing my physical activity to around the same level of the genin also helped.

Finally, I used a wide black headband to keep my hair from my face until I could grow it out slightly, and a pair of ninja sandals on my feet. The sandals I had chosen covered the top of my feet and went three inches above my ankle, and was very form fitting to ensure the foot doesn't move around in the sandal. They were very similar to the work boots Jane used to ware, except the toes were exposed and the material was thin leather which bent with the ankle.

By 5:30 I was ready to face the day, so I headed to the kitchen. I set the brown rice to steam, while I slow grilled the portion of fish I had found in the fridge. While that was cooking, I put the kettle to boil and grabbed some fruit from the fridge. I had just finished washing and cutting up the apples, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries when the kettle finished boiling. I quickly made a cup of green tea, before placing the fruit into the first section of a bento box and flipping the fish so the other side could cook.

I put the miso soup that I found in the cupboards in a source pan to heat up; while I was waiting for everything to finish cooking, I made some Zaru soba and a soy sauce-based broth. I had just finished this, and placed it into the second section of bento (leaving a space for the rice) when my breakfast was finished cooking. A portion of rice was added to the bento, while the rest of the rice, miso soup and fish were dished up for my breakfast.

While eating breakfast I realised that I was going to have to find or buy some cook books. Jane knew how to cook, but all the recipes were unknown to the world I was in, so I would have to experiment and see if it's possible to recreate those dishes here. The meals that I had learnt (as Sasuke) were very simple and basic, and I only knew four dishes well enough to cook them on my own. I didn't want to have to rely on pre-made things such as the Miso soup I was eating or the premade Soba I had used for the lunch, because they weren't as nutritious, healthy or tasty as they were when homemade.

Once I had finished eating, I washed up everything I had used, stacked the bento boxes and placed them in the fridge for later. With the kitchen clean I headed to the study to see if the ANBU had added anything to that room. I discovered they had added a desk which had a stack of clean parchment and new 'pens' in the draws.

Grabbing the parchment, I decided to get the seals I would need drawn. I started with storage tags since I had mastered these so it wouldn't take as much time to draw the seal despite how careful I had to be to ensure that nothing went wrong. I drew twenty scrolls of the basic seals (ten seals fit onto one scroll) which could hold up to 5kg each; ten scrolls with an adapted seal which could hold up to 30kg; ten which could hold up to 50kg and ten with the maximum weight I could add to a scroll which was 100kg. These larger weight seals would be for the furniture, while the basic seal would hold everything else.

Once these seals were finished, I moved onto the standard house seals. Since they had to be transferred to the four corners (top and bottom) of each house I had to cut out each individual seal matrix. Each matrix ensured that the wood wouldn't rot, dust wouldn't settle, pests couldn't enter and it would offer basic protection from severe weather. I would have to make sure to check the seals every couple of years or after a particularly bad storm, but once I had them fixed on the houses there was very little maintenance required since they drew on the natural chakra after the initial activation. Unfortunately, these seals couldn't be placed on a house with residence due to the natural chakra discharge and build up which caused the seals to burn out.

There were seals which I could place on homes that were being lived in, like the seals on the windows of the house I was in, but I didn't know those seals. I would have to study them all, work out how they linked and worked together, as well as how they were powered and their intent before even attempting to renew or activate the ones on this house, before even attempting them on another house. if I could find the original notes for their creation it would be much easier since my current Fuinjutsu knowledge was extremely basic, but whether I found those notes or not it would likely take me years before I was at the level to attempt something so intricate.

In the Uchiha compound there were fifty-two buildings which meant I needed a total of 204 seal matrixs (four for each building). I didn't need to draw the protective seals for the various storage units that the Uchiha kept around the compound, the library, or my own home. 4 of the buildings that I was drawing seals for was the flats, but I didn't know if I could seal such a large building with my present chakra stores and knowledge. I would leave those ones to last, and if I was unable to seal them, ask one of the ANUB guards to do so.

I only finished drawing 20 of the seals (enough for five houses) before deciding I had spent long enough in the study, and I could draw a minimum of 20 more seals each day until I had enough for all the houses. I placed the storage scrolls into a bag and left the house after discovering I had spent three hours in the study and it was now 9:00.

Deciding it was best to get the hardest house out of the way first, I headed for my old home. I hesitated for a moment before opening the door and heading straight to the kitchen. Someone had clearly been through and removed everything perishable from the house, for which I was thankful.

It took just under an hour to sort everything from the kitchen cupboards into boxes (grabbed from storage on the way over), labelled and stored. I then sealed away the table and chairs as well. Making sure to write the kanji for what was in the seals in the designated 'label' section. Realising that I couldn't seal the house without cleaning it, I ran back to my new home and grabbed a bag full of cleaning supplies before returning.

The next room I tackled was the living room, which was much easier since the majority of the room was just furniture. I started a new scroll, which I decided to put items I was bringing back to my new home in, including the portrait which showed Madara Uchiha with his clan behind him and Hashirama Senju with his brother and clan behind him, shaking hands on the mountain which would later have the Hokages' heads curved on and the beginning of the village in the background.

Deciding to leave the study for last, I headed to the second floor. My own bedroom had already been stripped by the ANUB so I ensured that it was clean before moving onto my parent's rooms. I separated my parent's cloths into different boxes (labelling them for later references), began a box for the various weapons I had found (mum had enforced a rule so that there were no hidden weapon storages in the living room until I reached genin, and the cooking knifes and other cooking equipment were deemed deadly enough). Once the wardrobe was empty, I moved onto my mother's dressers where I discovered her diaries which had been hidden so only the Sharingan could find it.

I was hesitant about revealing that I had unlocked the Sharingan, so I made sure that I wasn't within line of sight of any of the windows, before I used it to unlock the secret compartment in mum's draw. There were many things hidden across the clan compound using Sharingan based locks and genjitsu's, which I would have to be very careful in unlocking. I wanted to become a genin off my skill and not because I had unlocked my family's doujitsu, and even once I became genin and figured it was the right time to reveal the Sharingan, I wouldn't be using it often. The Sharingan was a tool, nothing more and I didn't want to be dependent on its superior sight and copy ability to win fights.

Once everything was sealed away, I cleaned the room before moving onto Itachi's. While packing away his things I noticed that he had taken the majority of his weapons with him, as well as his long-term mission pack. As much as I wished to not mention this, I knew that the Hokage needed to be made aware despite the likelihood that he may label Itachi a missing-nin. At the minute the village believed that Itachi had died loyal but if word spread that Itachi's weapons and mission pack were missing, then the Hokage would have no choice but to label Itachi a missing-nin as opposed to Missing in Action.

"ANUB-san?" I called, rising from the pile of boxes. I knew that they hadn't left calling distance at any point to ensure that I remained protected until they could figure out what was going on.

"Yes, Sasuke-san?" the ANUB that I'm sure was Kakashi appeared crouched in the window.

"Um… what should I call you?" I questioned first realising how awkward it was too simple address him by his role and not his code name.

"I am Hound. You are being guarded by my team: Cat, Panther, Tiger, Grasshopper and Panda." He explained.

"Right, thank you." I committed the names to memory. Hopefully I would learn who was on guard when over the coming weeks, but for now just knowing the names of those who were assigned my protection was enough. "I was going through my brother's things. The majority of his weapons are with him, except his spare senbon and Kunai. I believe he also has his long-term mission pack with him since it isn't here. I think he was given a mission for the morning after the attack, so he would have had everything already packed." I told Hound. "It should have been at the bottom of his bed, which is where he keeps his mission packs."

"Do you know what Itachi packs in a long-term mission pack?" Hound questioned.

"Enough food for two months if he eats twice a day without hunting. Ten days' worth of cloths, including civilian ware. Ninja wire. Healing kit. Four chakra pills. Ten explosive seals. Ten flash-bang seals. Four body scrolls. Two prisoner scrolls. Money. A weapon scroll. Tent. Rope. And a chakra scroll with spare parchment and ink encase he needs to make more explosive tags or similar seals." I listed off thoughtfully.

"If he was on the way to mission debrief when the attack happened, where would he have left the pack?" Hound asked next.

"Um… that depends on if the mission was for ANUB or standard." I answered hesitantly, aware that I shouldn't really know that Itachi was ANUB.

"Assume ANUB." Hound requested.

"Then he would have left it in the hallow of a tree on the west side of the compound. They'll be a basic genjutsu on it but it should be easily broken." If he left it there in a hurry because he felt or saw the disturbance on the compound, then he would have only used the precaution of a basic genjutsu. If he had more time, he would have used a stronger Sharingan based genjutsu which they would have to get Kakashi to break for them since only the Sharingan could break something cast by the Sharingan.

"Thank you for letting us know. If you find anything else you think might be useful, don't hesitate to alert us." And with that Hound disappeared.

By the time I had finished packing and cleaning the rest of the house, it was twelve thirty. I sealed the house before dropping the three storage scrolls in the appropriate storage vault before heading back home in order to eat lunch.

Once I had finished – and cleaned up – I hung the painting on the living room wall, before leaving the storage scroll on my new desk and heading out to train.

I started with basic stretches before moving onto the Academy basics. Mastering the academy katas was important since it was what allowed Konoha to fight beside each other even if it was the first time that they had been in combat together. Although all Clan shinobi had their own taijutsu, they were taught the Academy basics as well, and even the taijutsu specialists of the villages had forms that were derived from the base form of the academy. This similarity in forms, and the base knowledge on how each other fought, made Konoha Shinobi very dangerous opponents in mele or pitched battle because they could jump in or exchange battle partners easily.

The Academy fighting style was based on low stances, core strength and being able to hold one's ground or move easily. There were nine levels of Kata's which came together to form one cohesive fighting style once the reactions and actions were pounded into the students and made instinctive. Sasuke had practised up to level four of the Academy kata, her brother had shown her a further three levels, but she hadn't practised any of those yet, so she was going to have to wait until she was physically stronger before adding on those new levels to her training.

Once I had repeated the first four levels of the Academy kata's twice, I moved onto the level one and level two Uchiha forms.

The Uchiha fighting style was designed around fast strong strikes and a strong stance which allows them to take a blow without losing ground. The first three levels of the style became increasingly difficult and more intense in order to train the body, and develop strength and stamina. Levels four through six begin to incorporate fire techniques into the style. There is also a deviation of the style which incorporates sword use. In theory, I knew all the forms and techniques for all levels of the Uchiha style, but practically I was still working on getting level three, having only recently got level two down adequately enough to move up.

Once I reached level four, I had decided to practise with a sword and with fire. Most of the clan learnt only the fire levels, very rarely picking up the sword. Since the forming of the village, Uchiha's typically didn't fight with anything other than ninja wire and kunai. Those who learnt to use the sword, generally only used level five of the fire technique without trying to incorporate anything else because of the need for hand-seals. I was hopeful that by starting so early, I would be able to do the fire techniques with one hand and eventually no hand signs at all, so I could fight in close combat with the sword and surprise my opponent with the fire.

Once I had completed levels one and two, I began level three. I ran through the entire sequence before pausing in thought, mentally reviewing everything I did and what I had done wrong, before going again. Three times I did this, ensuring I was running through the katas at the same speed I would the ones I had mastered. The fourth time I went through the kata's I did so very slowly, making sure that every stance, every kick and every punch was perfect. I repeated this several more times, slowly getting faster until I was at half normal speed and I noticed a mistake. I made a note of this, before stopping and moving onto the next thing I wanted to work on.

Jane had mastered Taekwondo, Karate, Krav Maga, Capoeira, Aikido and Tai Chi. Since the stretches Sasuke had done before were extraordinarily similar to the yoga Jane knew, I had decided to incorporate it into the stretches I did after running and before practise. Over several months, I could also add Tai Chi forms into these stretches, and other aspects that were more aggressive into my final fighting technique. Which means I could use the afternoon training to focus on the other styles. Mondays would be for Taekwondo, Tuesdays for Karate, Wednesday for Krav Maga, Thursdays for Aikido and Fridays and Saturdays for working on incorporating all the styles together.

By the time I took a break I had spent four hours training on my fighting styles. My body was drenched in perspiration, and my breathing was laboured. My body hurt all over from the strain, but my body needed to get used to the physical activity again. Despite working for four hours, I didn't push my body as hard as I wanted since I didn't want to cause myself injury. I stretched out in a cool down, before taking a ten-minute break to eat a snack of some vegetables that I had brought with me, and some water. Once I was rested, I moved over to the throwing targets which were in the training field.

I started off with the kunai, trying to draw them from the bags on either hip (alternating between left hand with right hip, right hand with left hip, left hand with left hip and right hand with right hip) in a smooth continuous motion. Each bag held ten kunai, and I would stop and write on a piece of paper my observations on my draw and aim for each round, before collecting the kunai and starting again. I did this ten times before moving onto senbon and shuriken using the same principle accept I had thirty senbon hidden in each of my leg wrappings, and ten shuriken in each arm wrapping. This had the second effect of training me in efficiently reloading the hidden holsters as quickly as possible.

By the time I had finished the throwing exercise I had spent five and a half hours training. And it was 6 o'clock. Returning home, I showered quickly before heading to the study to spend until 7:30 working through the paperwork I had taken from my father's study. As I was the last Uchiha, I needed to make sure to stay on top of the family finances, go through the paperwork from the farms they still owned outside the walls of the village, and various other accumulated paperwork I hadn't even known existed until after I started digging through father's study.

Maintaining the family records and archives was now solely my job as well, instead of being spread across several elders and the head of the family as it had been for the last eight hundred years. All the family records from before the formation of Konoha was housed in one of the Uchiha holdings outside of the village, in a location known only to the head of the family (so therefore only I knew it having found the scroll with the coded name and location among father's paperwork). The holding in question was where the majority of the Uchiha clan had lived during the waring states period for nearly nine hundred years (which predated the Fire Dynamo), which meant the entrance to those archives were under ground and hidden far more skilfully than their clan storage in Konoha. In order to keep the current family archives up to date (hidden under the clan library), I had to record every death – including cause – as well as the personal belongings that had been recovered from each family, what had been placed into storage, the fact that the Police Force had been temporarily seeded back under the Hokage's control until I was old enough to set it back up again (which I would have no choice but to do, since it had been written into the Charter by the Nidaime that the Uchiha were responsible for the police force and internal defence of the village) and several other things that made the task nearly a full time job in itself. Once I'd caught up on the family deaths and property reports, it wouldn't be as hard, since it would just be filing the Houses Property and finances paperwork and keeping records on myself and my education.

At 7:30 I went and made dinner before curling up in the living room with a book to read. I had settled on a history book, which had information on the laws and policies introduced by the Shodaime Hokage and the impact of these on village life and the Shinobi forces.

At 9:30 I called it a night and headed to bed.

******Prov Change*******

Once Sasuke had gone to bed, Panther gave his report to Hound about what Sasuke had done that afternoon, and Tiger took over from Panda. They were on a two-man guard shift with a four-hour one-person rotation. The team would be on full alert for guarding Sasuke for the next four months, and if no threat would be presented, then they would full to half shift. This meant that half of the team could be sent out to deal with missions and threats outside of village while the other half remained to protect Sasuke. They would then swop out.

This system would continue until they felt it was safe enough to leave Sasuke with only one guard and then no guard. However, since they were also monitoring his psychological and physical state it was likely that they (or more likely Hound) would have to observe and guard Sasuke for a few days every few months once they had been removed as his guard. But that was likely to be at least a year away.

Hound took the report he was given by Panther. He had a quick glance through, familiarising himself with what Panther had observed since he would need to verbally report the information to the Hokage. Once he was sure he could do a complete report on Sasuke's day, even the details he didn't observe himself, Hound headed to the Hokage's office. He would see Inoichi after reporting to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," he bowed, before the man but rose when he was motioned to stand. Since this was a long-standing mission and report the Hokage preferred that he not report in the traditional ANUB stance, especially since his guards were asked to leave the room the moment Hound entered.

"Report." The Hokage ordered in short order once he was sure the office was secured.

"Sasuke rose at 4:30 after having a peaceful sleep. He began his day with a run around the compound, although he appeared to be taking it easy. He then completed a series of stretches before showering and getting ready for the day. His mother must have taught him some cooking skills since he was able to make a basic but nutrient rich breakfast and lunch. Sasuke then spent three hours in his study drawing various seals before returning to his family home.

He has decided to put everything into storage, clean the houses and seal them with tags that appear to protect the house from dust, pest, mould and basic weather damage. This will allow them to stand vacant for long periods of time. I found the same tags on the three houses that were vacant before the attack, although Sasuke removed the ones around his own home today.

When he was packing up Itachi's room he called for us. He noticed that the majority of Itachi's weapons were missing as was his long-term mission pack. Sasuke believes his brother had been given a mission which was due to start the day after the attack. I checked the records and discovered he had a month-long infiltration mission in a village on the outskirts of Iwa. After asking where Itachi would have left his pack if he was on his way to a mission debrief when the attack happened, Sasuke revealed that he would have left it in a tree on the west side of the property under a genjutsu."

Hound pulled a storage scroll from his pocket and placed it on the desk. "This scroll contains Itachi's mission pack with everything Sasuke informed me would be there. I've included the list of items within.

Once Sasuke had finished packing away his family home, he sealed it and went to eat his lunch. Sasuke's afternoon was spent in the training fields, practising his academy kata's, the Uchiha fighting style and a style Panther didn't recognise, as well as his throwing skill.

He spent five and a half hours training, although he made sure to take a short break to eat and drink something. He then spent just over an hour working on paper work in his study before eating dinner and spending the rest of his night reading."

"Did he show any signs of distress during the day?" the Hokage questioned thoughtfully.

"Twice. He hesitated briefly before entering his family home, and it took him nearly five minutes to move from the doorway of his father's study. Even while cleaning out the study, his eyes kept drifting to the spot where his parents had been murdered despite all the blood residue having been removed."

"Thank you, Hound."

He bowed before heading to Inoichi, who was waiting for him at his flower shop where he was doing the last walk through to ensure he had everything stocked ready for the next day. Technically Inoichi had retired, but he was still occasionally called in to do psychological evaluations. Considering the high profile of the case, it didn't surprise Hound that Inoichi had been half pulled out of retirement.

******Prov Change*****

My days went by very similarly to the first that I spent in the clan compound. I got up at 4:30 and went for a jog around the compound slowly getting faster. As I increased speed, I would also change the circuit I took so I was running through the compound and not just around it. I had decided to forgo the weight training until I was older and I could decide whether the extra strength would be worth the decrease in speed unless I could learn to compensate for the denser muscles. Instead, I decided to use the resistance seals which targeted the whole body and could be warn at all times, and the level of resistance slowly increased over time. This meant I could increase my speed and overall strength without being weighed down by excess muscle or stunting my growth.

Between 5 and 5:30 I would finish my run and work through the Yoga and Tai Chi exercises until 6:00.

After a shower I would make and eat breakfast, while making lunch at the same time. I tried to ensure that both meals consisted of either two fruits or vegetables, protein and carbohydrates, with around a thousand to a thousand five hundred calories in each meal. Since I was exercising so much, and the use of chakra, meant that I was burning of more calories than I had as Jane, and I needed to account for the increase despite the fact that I was still only a child. The calorie intake would be greater as I both got older and moved up the ranks.

After cleaning the kitchen, I would retreat to the study for 7:00.

From 7:00 till 9:00 I would work on drawing more seals, writing out the different chakra control exercises and E and D rank techniques I knew or could do (I put a tick next to it if I could do it) or the paperwork I had gotten for the clan.

9:00 till 12:30 was spent working through a house (one per day) and I also snuck in wall walking practise when appropriate.

12:30 till 1:00 was lunch.

Having realised I needed to work on chakra control and the technique base, I would spend from 1:00 till 2:00 working on control, twenty minutes of which was dedicated to learning or practising a technique. Since I was so young, I had determined that the only techniques I would learn which weren't E or D rank, were fire techniques which were needed for the Uchiha fighting style, but I would learn those starting with the very basic (discounting the Great Fireball technique which I already knew and depending on the power and control used could be classed up to B). I didn't consider a technique 'mastered' until I could do it with either no hand seals or just the one hand.

I had discovered that circulating lightning chakra through my body or along the surface of my skin, acted as a control exercise and a way to build up the amount of chakra I had but wasn't any more wearing then the Fire Bullet which was a basic D rank technique. It also gave me practise with manipulating my chakra into a form which was more conductive to lightning elemental techniques as opposed to fire elemental techniques.

2:00 till 5:00 was spent working on fighting styles. 5:00 till 6:00 was spent on throwing.

I would then return to the house for a quick shower, before spending another hour in the study.

Dinner was at 7:00, and I would spend the rest of the night in the living room relaxing. Relaxing could consist of reading a book, meditating, writing some of the stories I could remember from Jane's life or drawing.

Saturday had a different routine. I would still rise at 4:30, go for my run and yoga/Tai Chi practise before showering and having breakfast. Instead of retreating to the study, I would then spend from 7:00 till 9:00 researching in the clan library. From 9:00 till 12:30 I would work in the garden I had decided to set up in the grounds behind my house.

After lunch, I would head to the shrine and spend an hour talking to it about my week and how I was doing. I knew that the ANUB could hear what I was saying, but I trusted them just enough that my personal information and problems wouldn't get further then the team, and possible Inoichi and the Hokage. Since I hadn't been approached about psychological help, I assumed that the ANUB were reporting back to Inoichi about my mental and emotional health and they would only interfere if they felt they needed to. Which I was grateful for since talking to a psychologist wouldn't have helped in the slightest.

From 2:00 till 4:00 I had dedicated it to reintegration and house hold chores.

4:00 till 6:00 was spent in the training grounds working on my new fighting style.

Dinner was 7:30, and the afternoon was spent relaxing.

Sundays, again were different. I would rise a little bit late at 5:30 for my morning exercises. Breakfast was at 7:00, but I wouldn't make lunch at the same time. The morning was spent in the garden, cloud watching or otherwise doing something non-training related while outside. Lunch was at 12:30 and was dedicated to experimenting in making a dish that Jane remembered.

Sunday afternoons were purely dedicated to doing things that were relaxing. No chakra control, no paperwork, no training. Just relaxing in the living room before going to bed for an early night.

On Saturdays, during the reintegration period, I would head into the village for one reason or another. The first time was so I could make a very quick run to the grocery store to pick up some food and a cook book, while the second time was to go and see Inoichi at the flower shop his family owned.

"Sasuke-san, what can I do for you?" Inoichi greeted me with a smile, putting the watering can he was holding down so that I could have his full attention.

"I'm looking to start a garden," I admitted, eyes drifting around the shop. There were no other customers, and it seemed that Itachi was working without his wife today.

"Ah, what sort of things would you like?" Inoichi questioned.

"Well, tomato plants definitely. And maybe, a couple of other fruit baring plants? I would also like some plants that will be able to survive the winter if I plant them outside." I answered thoughtfully.

"Well, the vegetables are kept at the back, if you'd like to follow me." Inoichi led me through the back of the shop, grabbing a wheel barrow to place the plants in.

The first thing they added was the two tomato plants, followed by strawberry and raspberries, Goji berries and honeyberries. Inoichi explained the best way to care for each of the plants, and since they required such low maintenance, they were more likely to survive when I became a genin and would have to start taking missions. Although, if I went on a mission that lasted more than a month, I would have to send in a mission request to make sure my garden wasn't killed by weeds while I was away. Most shinobi who had plants did the same, generally coming to Inouchi to make sure their watering and weeding schedule was right when they left.

After a little bit of thought and discussion with Inoichi, I decided to add Raddish seeds, Peas, spring onions, two types of beans and garlic to the collection. I also brought several herbs to put into a window sill garden.

With the fruit and veg decided, they returned to the main shop which had the flowered plants which could be grown in the current season. Since I didn't care about the meaning, I settled on sweat pea, columbine, marigold, geranium and aquilegia.

"Will you need to buy any equipment?" Inoichi queried.

"No, Inoichi-san" the man had manged to convince me to call him by his first name at some point during my time in his store. "But I'll have to return when the peas start growing for support sticks."

"Alright, if you need any help with your plants don't hesitate to ask." Inoichi reminded me as everything was sealed away. Since I wouldn't have been able to carry everything back on my own, I had decided to bring one of the storage scrolls I had started stock piling which would be able to carry living things without killing them. Although I had little need for such storage scrolls, I made sure to draw some every week so I didn't lose the skill.

"I will. Thank you for your help." I offered the man a slight bow before leaving the shop.

Just as walking there had been done quickly, so was walking back. The speed I used meant the civilians were discouraged from approaching me, and those that tried were dodged and avoided. Making it back to the compound, I collapsed against the closest building breathing deeply and bringing the panic under control. Despite spending the majority of that visit in Inoichi's shop, just the walk there and back had been a test of my nerves.

The next time I left it was for a large food shop. This took less time, but involved the interaction with more people. The week after that was spent walking the less busy streets. Slowly, I built up my tolerance around the civilians until I could spend three hours among them without having a panic attack when I returned. Although I still wouldn't allow touch – no matter how innocent.