The sun's light felt barbed against his skin as it dawned. Konoha sprawled lazily in it, unfurled like a blanket from the foot of the mountain. Sasuke regarded it thoughtfully from his vantage point atop the First Hokage's head, wondering if Yurei was hiding within the village walls at this very moment, catching up on hours of lost sleep he had spent watching over him instead. Because he had felt the fading tingle of his chakra when he opened his eyes. His scent was still imprinted on warm sheets.

Yurei had stayed.

But now that he was gone again, it begged the question of where he was hiding when he faded from existence. Though certainly poetic, it seemed unlikely that he would haunt the decrepit Uchiha district to such an extent. Unless he was masochistic.

Sasuke sighed. He was wasting time obsessing over such questions when Yurei had already handed him the key to all his secrets. Perhaps they were both masochistic.

"Look, Lee! The dawn of a new day! What better moment for a youthful display?"

The boisterous voice interrupted Sasuke's train of thought as it bounced off the face of the monument. Another, equally enthusiastic voice responded.

"Yes, Gai-sensei! How many laps shall we do before noon? A hundred?"

"Ah, my youthful student! Let's make it two hundred today! The last one on our arms!"

Sasuke nearly fell off Hashirama's head. These two were certainly not in their right minds, he thought. But then he remembered something which gave him pause. Lee had gone up against Gaara in the preliminary matches of their first chuunin exam. While he hadn't been there to witness it after Yoroi drained him of chakra, Sasuke had heard about that particular showdown. How Lee's speed had taken everyone aback, including Gaara.

Still, he hesitated. How badly did he want this?

Sasuke walked up to the strange duo a mere moments later, hands stuffed in his pockets, trying to look cool, though probably coming across as morose.

"Hey, Lee. Do you have any spare weights I could borrow?"

Not that Lee and Gai seemed to mind, in light of that request. They exchanged a brief look and teared up theatrically before Gai started rummaging furiously through his backpack, muttering something about 'another student in the springtime of his youth'. Lee lowered his leg warmers and unclasped a set of weights, which he held out for Sasuke.

"I'd advise you to start with these, Sasuke-kun. Just… maybe remove a couple of them or more, to begin with."

"Yes, good eye, Lee!" Gai interjected. "Those seem fitting for his height and youthful constitution! Now if only I could find that-"

"Thanks," Sasuke said, itching to disappear before Gai found it. Whatever it was. He took the weights and nearly keeled over when Lee let go. What the hell.

"-AHA!"

That was his cue. "See you around," Sasuke said, pulling off a teleportation jutsu in the nick of time as Gai held up a green leotard.

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he was safely out of earshot, concealed in a thicket not far down the path. Then Sasuke slumped at the base of a tree, pondering the weights he had obtained. Would this pay off, preferably soon? Probably not soon enough, but it was still bound to be a quicker way to reach his objective. It wouldn't be cheating either, not technically. There was no reason for Yurei to disapprove of his tactics.

Sasuke decided to follow Lee's advice half-way and removed only the first piece from each set of weights before securing them to his legs. He got up without a hitch, took a breath, did a few rushed warm-up stretches and walked. Only to stumble at the first step. It felt like being chained to the ground. Gravity was merciless. But he could do this, he told himself, he only needed some time to adjust.

So Sasuke grit his teeth and put one foot in front of the other. Then he took another step. And another one. Step. Step. Step. Better now. He used the downward slope to break into a light jog, probably the slowest he'd ever run, but it didn't matter. Tomorrow he would run faster. Today, even, Sasuke figured as he grew more comfortable with the mill stones attached to his legs.

By the end of the road down the mountain, though already breaking into a sweat, Sasuke decided to take the rooftop route instead of the streets, if only to avoid bumping into Lee and Gai again. He landed the first two jumps. His momentum was still good, in spite of his muscles protesting at having to launch extra weight off the edge of one roof to another. Invigorated by this success, Sasuke leapt over a main street for his third jump.

His feet landed on the very edge of the other roof. Sasuke's wildly pumping heart skipped a beat. His center of gravity was off. He flailed his arms in an attempt to regain his balance, but the weights dragged him back. He could already feel himself falling backwards. In a bout of sheer desperation, Sasuke pushed chakra into his feet and they stuck to the wall. He breathed a small sigh of relief, but it was too soon.

Sasuke's chakra control faltered, unable to adapt to the added weight. His feet slipped off the wall. The ground rose to meet him and he landed on his back in a heap of aching limbs and injured pride. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs, leaving him to flail and sputter in the midst of a gathering crowd of curious onlookers.

And that's how Kakashi found him.