Considering that the Hokage himself comes to this place with his tail between his legs to ensure that he is not upset, his lawyer did a wonderful job—in fact, a terrific job—of fulfilling his tasks flawlessly, whether or not he was aware of Sasuke's true intentions, from both the political to the private aspects
He scanned through the records left on his desk from the previous week, looking at everything from the old -now paid- debts to the new hiring details. Satisfied. His kitchen was perfectly clean; instead of the decaying food he had expected to see in his fridge, fresh meals were ready and waiting to be heated up. It reminds him of his childhood when things were easier, when his mother had to stay up at night with her sister to take care of her.
Outside, the garden of his beloved late mother was restored to its former beauty. Sasuke recalled how she picked and planted every flower and shrub in the garden overlooking the window on her own and wouldn't allow anyone else to take care of it. She used to do everything on her own, even watering and tending the garden. Whoever was the new gardener, he did a spectacular job by keeping the garden's original layout.
He walks out of the exquisite Wisteria-shrouded garden and makes his way to the steep uphill path leading to the library. Turning on his Sharingan, he recognizes that someone might have been attempting to get in while he was absent, but they don't seem to have been successful. Releasing the seals from both the first layer of traps inside the gates and the hidden layer within the bookshelves.
He opened the stroking scroll the Hokage had given him, and a blast of smoke sent the Uchiha scrolls to be once again scattered around the floor, where they had always belonged. He meticulously sets every scroll and book on the nearly empty shelves, taking his time and doing it almost religiously, enjoying his little success.
After an hour and a half, the Uchiha library was once more brimming with material that was always intended to belong only to the clan. He sets the seals in the same point on the library's walls again, and when the moment is right, he will lay lethal traps, too. But today, he must pray.
His final stop to the shrine, where he prayed and meditated. He seats himself in front of the prayer altar. Light's Ballad blade was placed next to him, and the cool scabbard contrasted with the warmth of the entire hall filled with swirling flames. This sword gives him some kind of unexplainable comfort, it's the way the sword fit in his hand like it was meant – specifically for him, in contrast to the Gunbai, which was massive and far larger than his undeveloped frame, that it upholds his family's tradition, a burden in itself pressing hard and harder until he crack under the weight of it. Yet charming as ever, as he somehow finds himself restored again just to fall once more under the weight he put on himself.
In the heated hall, he started polishing the flat blade. The constant-burning torches flicker evenly. Under his fingertips, he had the feel of extremely cold steel, like it had been in the highlands of the summon worlds.
His sword was a dark slime blade, with no inscriptions that distinguished it and had no pledge written on it. Sasuke studied religious materials in his free time after training and the academy in pursuit of a suitable phrase, one sentence for the very least, to inscribe on the blade and proclaim it as his.
He has a very short list of desires, justice— it's his life's purpose, after all, more important than anything—, and now, after the night of epiphany as he likes to call it, repaying his good spirits' grace. But what is a greater repayment than to bring justice to their children, even if it's by killing one of the remaining living children? After all, the reason they have no more children is because of the kin-slayer, the traitor.
Under certain aspects, justice and worship are the very same thing, ignoring Hokage's opinion on the matter. Because he doesn't matter, their opinions don't matter, none of them in truth matter. How dare he speak to him about it like it's nothing? Like seeking justice doesn't matter because the crime itself is so little, so insignificant.
A scrawny gray-and-black kitten emerged from the shrine's doors, he didn't put down the whetstone and continued to sharpen the blade in a steady rhythmic pattern. The feisty tireless sound of steel on whetstone is the only sound heard within the empty hall.
"Anything interesting?" He murmurs, keeping his gaze fixed on the brilliantly black blade. The cat regards his words as an invitation to approach. It leans its head against Sasuke's free hand, as if to console him.
Silence.
He didn't sob or wail, his hand froze in its motion. As if he couldn't understand what had been spoken, the grief and anger in his Chakra were brutally hushed. First came the quiet, during which his brain momentarily still failed to comprehend what had been heard. Due to how hard he was gripping the blade against his flesh, all he could feel was the cold steel under his bleeding palm burning him.
Then, the few candles melted away immediately because the temperature in the hall was intolerable even for the cat, who fled outside meekly. Yet, even outside, the felines felt tense due to the surge of killing lust and rage that pierced them to the core. Away, to the end of the Uchiha's land. If the closest house hadn't been so far away, its occupants would have felt it as well.
Sasuke didn't feel the pain for too long, there was no time for grieving yet. He must reduce someone to ashes first.
"Be careful now," the pyromancer tiger warned him as he approached through the sweltering air and came face to face with crimson eyes that were near to pouring blood, angry and ravenous for its own sort of justice.
The Uchiha's position, surprisingly, hasn't shifted much, still kneeling on the floor with a mad look in his eyes, he whispered accusingly "He took an eye, my cousin's eye. —" his breath hitched in his throat, "that's against the laws of men and .. g..gods. That's unforgivable, it's they — they who took my cousin's eye, they who started it"
Very fast, the Uchiha turned his gaze from the black tiger toward the altar, whose flames were more wild and ferocious than ever. He seemingly maintained his composure and serenity — eyes still wild and tempestuous. He possessed an unflustered personality, many may say, but the quick change in attitude was somewhat unsettling.
Then something, a sudden realization, abruptly crossed his mind. He acknowledged that it was clever, a terrifically cunning master plan in and of itself.
The raven-haired smiles, in the shrine's hall, his unpleasant hysterical laughter echoed and became louder with each passing second, sharply, shrilly, and with such passion that at least his bitter laugh fills the hole he feels forming within him. He laughs as if he had seen the biggest and funniest never-ending parody. His eyes burnt with unshed tears as he realized that it was right. This is exactly what it was. A moment of truth at its finest.
When the dead may still be useful, why would they honor them?
When they were able to benefit from his crime, why would they bother looking for the murderer? — The reason the Hokage confessed he had failed him was because he apparently had to put the village before what was right. He begged for forgiveness because he knew what he had done to his family. He stole his family's eyes because the Sharingan was too valuable to let the dirt get to decomposing them.
Kurai warned him, he knew. The black-haired boy whispers something again under his breath, nearly heard by him and his gods.
"You knew?" He managed to say loudly, his voice cracking. (Days after they signed the contract, the tiger said to him, looming over him like a sourly ghastly shinigami "It doesn't matter what you are, you are still trapped here. A non-sacrificial pawn in their games.")
"I've had my doubts, I will admit, I only expected it." The tiger takes a great pause, "From what I gather... something happened. Apparently, they are no more about the downfall of your clan, they were isolated in this area where they can always be observed by the ANBUs, a tale the village tells to their children, that your clan was cursed. The truth is, Sasuke, they already have no love or respect for your clan, that they wouldn't mind plucking your kins' eyes."
Sasuke's face twists into a mix of rage and pain, narrowing his eyes. His clan, each and every one of them, are his dearest people. They aren't theirs to play with. It is dishonorable and disgraceful to steal the corpses of the dead and to mutilate and remove parts of them, their eyes most of all. Their eyes are what makes them, them. His breath stutters, his shoulders twitch rapidly and his chest heaves.
After all, if the deceased do not lose their organs in battle, then no one has the right to remove any of these organs after death. But this despicable, repulsive, cunt took the eye of one of his relatives; perhaps it wasn't just one eye; perhaps more than one body had suffered humiliation and disgrace after dying. And that, that was Sasuke's fault for being too weak, too naïve, too stupid, to not check on the bodies himself. He felt as though everything he had ever believed in had failed him, and Mizuki was right — he confirmed what everyone had been secretly hoping to say. ("It seems The Uchihas arrogance is still unabated even after your wretched clan was obliterated by your brother like rats")
For a brief moment, a pink stream veiled his eyes. Then, a trail of blood marked his face, yet he wasn't crying. The blood stained his fingers, it wasn't from gripping the blade tightly. His eyes were bleeding, and the fire inside of him was raging and angry like any fire would be. "Don't blame yourself, little one"
"Does he know? Or did he do it himself?— if not, he will do something, he must do something.. he promised, it's his duty, and that cursed man must pay"
"Oh, Naive Sasuke, you never learn. Who do you think is considered to be the most powerful man in the village, in this side of the world, at least— the one to whom you all bend to. Do you believe the grave robber can do anything without some sort of assurance from him? This level of confidence came from him. Even if he didn't know, they'd rather strangle you in your sleep then let this out, you won't ever be allowed to talk, so this won't ever be acknowledged and won't ever be answered. Who do you think you are, Sasuke Uchiha, compared to the honorable reputation of the almighty Konoha?"
Mad with Sadness, he grew eerily quiet. When he finally looks up at the looming tiger above him. The new pair of pinwheel-shaped irises stopped its bleeding, which are also the same shape as the tiger's own set that flashes back at him comforting, swallowing his grief and rage with a blanket of Genjutsu. They're crimson, just like that night— just like death.
"Don't," he says, "let me be angry, let me burn in peace"
With that, the tiger breaks the flood of the smoothing Genjutsu, dismissing the threads that were warping his senses.
Sasuke feels the inhuman, unholy pain bury its claws in his heart.
He gulped for air. The pain had risen inside him to the level of screaming.
And he screams,— it happens (very slowly) that his anger burns him alive, with his flames, sparkling madly, howling mournfully, sending sparks upward into the roof, eating the shrine's walls out of pure spite. While the tiger watches the fire weep too, and the gods watch their last —the very last— sinless child burn.
A deathless death, as they once promised him, according to the little cub— maybe that is indeed his deathless death, so he grew past his enemies' hollow, ill-intended promises to become what he was always meant to be.
Sasuke lay on the floor like a willow tree; motionless, while Kurai controls the flames before they burn down the whole temple with a solemn burst of his Chakra. The torches lit up, so the now soot-covered walls are all seen. The heat under the boy's skin was much hotter than before as he sat quietly next to him for a little while. Good, it must be, he mused.
The tiger gazes up at the images of the gods staring down at them, soot obscuring their supposedly ethereal and majestic features.
"Explain to me" Sasuke suddenly begins, now laying on his back and staring into him first, then into the soot-tainted depictions, "why can't I reduce everything to ashes" he says, uncaring if he seems vulnerable or mad with anger.
"Oh, you can. Now that we have The Mangekyō Sharingan, two of them, we can do all of that and more." He turns on the Mangekyō deep-sets that burn ferociously, a ruthless grin on his whiskered-face, "theoretically, we could burn civilian areas first at night and push back the forces that would try to stop us, but releasing the tailed fox would have distracted them while we fan the flames higher. The village would be completely wrecked, something it hasn't seen since the fourth Hokage. And if the fox decides to side with us, your current Hokage most definitely may call upon the monkey king to battle him or me. Ah imagine that — Next, what? The fire country would be in flames after the other nation smells the blood and sees the smoke; oh, they will conquer them and win, and they will fall just like their sister village did. A sight would be lovely to see. After that, we flee of course, we leave the fallen village that your ancestors helped to build; we would be followed by Konoha allies if there are any; we would be followed by bloodline hunters, endlessly, we would kill them all of course."
There is certain persistence in his words, coated with sarcasm.
The tiger gets to his feet and cages the boy with his forelimbs while pressing his head on Sasuke's "The population of the capital will perish by half a million. There will be thousands of deaths, they are all doomed, but you will have your pyrrhic victory and become what everyone always says you will be, you will become what your enemies truly are. Little Sasuke, is that what you are?"
The child smirks, his lips trembling, and his unshed tear-filled eye wholly glowing.
In all honesty, Sasuke cannot sit still for too long and allow that to slide. He just can't. If he doesn't stab the councilman in the heart with Light's Ballad blade and then cut the Hokage's tongue for making false promises, for trying to fool him, what sort of son is he? They are mocking him. How could it be wrong to confront those who had been pointing their blades at him from the beginning with the same vigor that they had used against him?
His Chakra roars under his skin, and the tiger is aware that as he puts one of his forelimbs on his shoulder solemnly keeping him in his place, sharp long claws strike the fine kimono without ruining it. The tiger whispers "Facing them is a treason"
Instead of struggling, he lay still, thinking. Who was it? His thoughts wander, and he's surprised to realize that there are more people in his memories—all of them possible victims must have been watching him in the gods' hall waiting for him to return their eyes, to give them justice. How is that treason?
He's overwhelmed by the bitterness of injustice, his bitterness warming the already warm air.
He's thinking about Naori, his beloved cousin, the last one of them who awakens the Sharingan at the age of fourteen, annoyingly ever-smiling, with a honey-like nature that soothes wrecked nerves. Whose only ambition was to work in their aunt's flower shop despite her father's disapproval.
They must repent. He feels himself slipping into the inescapable mire of rage.
He's thinking about Inabi, older than him by three years, who is slack-jawed and lazy as a Nara while also dim-witted unlike them. He never liked him, but he was a family. He was kind enough to allow him to sneak out of the compound to practice his fireball jutsu secretly, offering him some useless tips kindly.
His heart ashes, and bleeds with his eyes.
He's thinking about Shisui, the stupid Shisui. They are brothers in more than name and blood. Shisui's body was found on the Naka river, inflated like a balloon, eyeless. Sasuke abruptly flinched under this assumption, his throat tightening intolerably. A memory life-like flash into his mind. They blamed Itachi for killing him despite the fact that at the time there were no valid grounds for doing so. There must be a reason, the same reason is the answer to why his brother was avoiding the clan meeting, the meeting that was once upon a time held inside this shrine and its secret passages.
("I've had enough, there's no hope left for this pathetic clan." Itachi spat, three-tomoe Sharingan span furiously — their father was silent, it was the day clan members openly accused him of killing Shisui. His father stared down at his brother with a bitter disappointment that was not usual for him towards him, but he stayed silent in his rage. It seems to him now when he thinks about it that his father doesn't see a middle ground between being a parent and the leader of the clan, it's obvious to him now that his father is unsure of how to react to such a treacherous statement. — Perhaps he knew, perhaps he saw it coming at that very time.
The beginning of Sasuke's proper education in the uchiha tradition began with the realization that Itachi isn't supposed to lead the clan and never has; for something Sasuke is aware of but cannot yet place his finger on, which infuriates him.) As shameful as it may sound, the sheer thought that Shisui's eye is in the adviser's eye socket causes him more suffering than any other.
He glares with a lurid stare at a particular nothing. The timeframe between the massacre and Shisui's death was only two weeks, and following the massacre, there were many eyes too. Eyes that are ready to be seized. His father's, mother's, his family's. Sasuke refused to think about it.
There is also the suicide message they gave to Itachi. Supposedly Shisui's suicide message — they said he copied his handwriting and wrote it himself. Itachi still has the message, which he is clutching tightly in his sickly, skeletal fingers. He remembers him folding the paper and slipping it in his pocket. Where is the paper now?
The silence was deafening that made him feel uneasy, all Sasuke could hear was his own heart pounding in his ears, his eyes were reddening and his orbs restlessly swirling, they shared the same sharp pain. He could feel a pressure building up behind them, burning and he felt the weight of it all bearing down on him.
"The violators plucked out one of my cousins' eyes." He keeps his voice down. However, it still has a sharp steely tone that exudes fierce persistence. "The violators feasted on my family's corpses. What kind of a son am I if I don't defend the honor of my family?"
"A smart one"
"I am not."
"You have to be and you will be"
"Itachi used to call me his foolish little brother, it's obvious even for my own mother that I'm not as bright as him, apparently they were right all this time, I will not rest until I burn them all" within the torches, his growing uneasiness was reflected in the blue flames' rippled rhythm;
"dōjutsu-thievery is indeed a heinous crime" the tiger agrees easily, "but it's your anger that will be your undoing"
"You're the Uchihas' ally. You are several centuries older than I am, you saw the punishment my clan meted out to dōjutsu-thieves, you witnessed it and helped to pass the sentence to some, how could you deny me my birthright now?— how could you?" he speaks in a raw, hoarse voice, with an expression of fiercest woe. Between them, a wildfire erupted, furious in a bluish glow wobbling, wild as a tsunami, melting all the candles. The tiger only arched an eyebrow, unfazed. His Chakra was a stream of howling wind in its nature, but after signing the contract, there was a hint of Sasuke in him. A wildfire that is so ravenous it would devour them all, and the dreadfully disastrous violent lightning, old as time itself.
The black dread wasn't burnt, and his fur remained like fine silk. Kurai responds with the exact same pressure and intensity, enhancing it a bit out of spite. He brushed his head against Sasuke's, a rough affectionate gesture, Kurai's eyes gleaned crimson from two different pinwheels. "When did I deny you your birthright?— I promised you I would be by your side, now and always, and I stand by what I said, too. You're still a cub, Sasuke, too young to face injustice without a real vision. Wait till your claws are longer and sharper, is all I have to say. When you will be able to bring the oath breakers to justice, you'll do it in front of gods and people, ensuring that no innocent people suffer as a result of your vengeance. I can assure you that you'll see each of their faces as they burn, but until then, Sasuke, until then—"
Sasuke despises it; he despises the Hokage for being a two-faced fool; he despises the councilor for disparaging and humiliating his family; and he despises the fact that he is incapable of answering to them for their slight, whether it be true or imagined. He detests not knowing which of his cousins' eyeballs were stolen from their graves, or whether it was someone else, like his mother or father. He loathes himself for being vulnerable, ignorant, and a pawn in their schemes, a plaything to insult and humiliate.
"Uphold your honour and dignity," his golden eyes narrowing and his voice dripping with coldness, "you will have your revenge, but you'll have it while playing by their rules in the same way they did to you—You will outsmart them in whatever you do, you will repeatedly prove yourself to be honorable and good, because you are honorable and good, if you are not— you wouldn't be the gods' favourite in the first place. Before everything, you must be equally feared and loved, you must show them how good you are, and how wrong the village is about breaking their oath of betraying the clan, do you understand?"
Crimson eyes gaze upwards behind the tiger's head, with the same sets of the pinwheel-shaped eyes that were glowing ferociously, after swallowing thickly, he shakes his head, and closes his eyes that bleeds tears again. Sasuke feels his heart empty and numb, right now, he feels an uncanny tiredness overtake his entire body. Kurai murmurs something about Chakra exhaustion, as he gently lifts him up onto his back and takes him outside, where all feline eyes are fixed on him. The boy buried his face deep in the thick black fur, while the tiger took them to the thick copse near the river.
His dark eyelids flutter over his almost glowing red eyes, and he feels very drowsy. He drops from the tiger's back and makes his way over to the river, where he finds his brother's reflection in the identical eyes that his brother claims he is waiting for him to possess. He thinks it morbidly amusing that he doesn't kill a friend to get it as Itachi said he had to. But when was Itachi ever honest? He merely grunts softly as he washes off the dried blood.
Sasuke returns to the tawny copse where he usually takes a nap in the sun. Kurai was on top of the tree on the branch, swinging a leg.
The Uchiha sits as he usually sat, one leg ahead of the other, while leaning his back against a trunk. He can hear the wild cockerels' loud, clear crows on the trees from kilometers away over the copse, drowning out other animals' fainter calls.
As the crow flies, about seven miles over them, he feels a faint sense of Chakra. Sasuke recognizes this feeling, it must be a summon. And the only person who possesses the crows' contact, is the same traitor who fled that massacre in thousands of crows cawing and their feathers swirling in the wind under the red moon, was Itachi.
"Did you sense it?"
His heart stops, and his face strengthens and opens, he clutches his hand in his lap, and analyzes the gravity of the possibility with his newly acquired eyes, If Itachi now knows. Surprisingly, he feels nothing, but deep exhaustion. Perhaps later he would actually process the events when he rested properly.
"A summon" Kurai confirmed his suspicions lazily.
Sasuke lets out a deep grunt of disgust and anger, staring into the crow's eyes, mouthing the word "cunt", his tiger lets out a faint noise of amusement.
Sasuke explains "Just in case it belong to him"
The tiger snorts. For a moment, his fangs gleam brightly.
"They claim that this councillor requested information from the attorney concerning my possible personal affairs in the holy city. He wants to add more assets to my account, so they may invest them under my name." He tilts his head up and slightly towards the right, his dark eyes conveying anger as well as mild discomfort, "I won't let that happen"
Naturally, he cannot help but feel ill-prepared. Hell, he only recently learned to weigh his words, as Taichi likes to remind him, even though that lesson was almost pointless since he was so easily distracted by the Hokage's obvious ploy, but he is still learning and developing, to the point where he nearly does not recognize the person he has become. However, the new developments are a scenario concocted by a councilor. That doesn't alter the fact that everything has changed. It's not only Itachi, and this Orochimaru, now the whole Konoha is considered to be against him. He swears, whispering an oath against the village's higher-ups.
"Are you afraid?" Sensing the boy's chakra howling loudly under his skin, the tiger asks, mildly curious
"I don't know," the boy says, carefully running his fingers through his tangled hair that looks like a nest. He used only the length of his hair to predict the time when his vision, the only vision he could see through the flames, would take place. He looks down at the dark purple silk of his Kimono. Then, he grows characteristically silent, as if he's mulling about the possibility of him feeling afraid. The last Uchiha lowered his gaze, lips pressed into a thin line "I don't want to be afraid" A heaviness overtakes him. The black tiger leaps off the tree to him. He turned his gaze away from Sasuke for a moment, to take a better look at the village's light which was the only thing that could be seen for where they were sitting.
"Doesn't matter," the tiger sits next to the boy, too close to him where he can lay his head against him, both gazing up at the moon "that means you're not stupid"
Sasuke snorts. Absent-mindedly, he leans forward to rest his forehead against the tiger, breathing in the scent of the familiar ashes, blood, and wood. "Do you remember when you told me that each warrior's blade should be inscribed?"
"I do"
"No usurpers may not remain standing against you, is mine, it's fitting, don't you think? A god's promise"
Itachi, this little-known thing that named Orochimaru, the Hokage and his thief councilor, they all usurpers, they all his foes, and they all may not remain standing against him.
"Indeed." A chilly breeze barrels through the trees, "No usurpers may not remain standing against you, I can see that"
When Sasuke shuts his eyes, his drowsiness leads him to dream of faceless foes. This time there are eyes on their faces, Sharingan spanning.
At dawn, he didn't flee, and didn't sneer.
He finds himself swimming in Kurenai's genjutsu, overwhelmed in his senses like a ceaseless ebb, along with the smokable herbs added to his household's center; calming his anger and pain.
He wrapped his eyes in a bandage, per the lynx's advice, and waited for the burn feeling to fade away. This morning in the Dojo hall that was incense-filled, he swung his sword with composure, went for a stroll in the forest to think about his options, asking the mountain leopard for his opinion and knowledge, after all the leopard was a servant of the heavens temple in the holy city, for that he knows the northern people.
After making a decision they returned to the study to write a letter and send it to one of the most prestigious families of the holy city, offering them an alliance without hesitation, he offered himself.
If the patriarch declines, there are those who are willing to take a gamble regardless. "They will agree, I'm sure of it," the white leopard says with a cutting tone, "Nothing is stronger than ancient blood, after all."
Sasuke hums faintly, either way, he would be exposing himself to potential danger as he's already involved with the intricacies of politics, and he intends to extract every last bit of worth from the last accident.
He will keep his word, and a story of his brilliance will be spread.
Everywhere he went, the villagers fawned over him, and he did all in his power to fuel their newly acquired adoration. He was constantly offering donations to beggars, purchasing from civilian shops, straightening himself up to talk to regular merchants about his business.
He personally went to the gardener to express his gratitude for caring for his mother's garden and made sure he was witnessed while doing so. He also told the gardener how much his beloved mother cherished that garden. People enjoy tragic tales, it seems. Nothing more tragic than a boy cherishing the last memory of his murdered mother.
The gardener's wife, who had been looking at him uneasily at first, began to sob and mumble forcefully, as she tried to hug him "sweet dear child, your mother would be so proud, dear angel"
He finds it humorous how quickly she changes her opinion of him from worry to admiration. Sasuke had been notified that he very often had that certain impact on others, this was the first time he had experienced it for himself.
After being thanked for the job and being assured hotly that his mother's garden will be well taken care of by the gardener, he returns to the main streets with the lynx following him. "At least they were truly honest ones."
"Hnn"
As soon as he left the gardener's complex, he sensed that he was being followed. His chakra is well recognized; lightning strikes ferociously. Since lightning is rare in the land of fire and is only held by a limited few people in this village, including him and the Hokage, this individual's Chakra stands out among the others.
"Hmph" he ignores them, disliking the sense of familiarity he feels towards him. He regarded the curious Shinobi with interest, before dismissing him once he caught him staring at him from his hidden spot.
He snorts to the lynx, who merely delicately smiles, "No wonder there was a spy among them."
The shinobi's chakra shifted like a wounded animal, as if he was being personally insulted. It seems his stalker is a nationalist, and must have a strong hearing to hear what he said from the distance of the nearby roof building, or he must be really skilled at lip reading. Ah, his luck.
He headed to the weapon store, which was just as he had left it, although there was a Shinobi there waiting for his supplier with a steely senbon in his mouth this time, silently observing him before dismissing him in favor of studying the same sword that Sasuke admired before.
Tenten, the girl, did not appear from the counter as she had the last time. This time it's her father, who recognizes him immediately and nods at him.
"Shiranui-san, here's your senbons." The blacksmith slides a leathery piece to the seemingly harmless shinobi way, he was standing casually enough to give the two the illusion of security, chewing on the senbon between his lips. "Eight-inch exactly"
"Sweet—" he opens the leathery piece where there were a bunch of sharp, steely senbons tied up against the leather. He takes one of them, in an automatic way, moving it between his skilled fingers to test it. Then, he nods at the blacksmith. Satisfied. Sasuke thought the length of the senbons was excessive, but who is he to judge the personal weaponry preferences of others?
"Uchiha-san, your Gunbai is ready, give me a moment to bring it to you." The blacksmith stated, and instead of waiting for a response, he completely vanished deeper into the back of the store.
"That's how he is on days on which he is particularly busy.." the shinobi declared, sliding the cash after shaking on his package, he gave him a friendly salute of two fingers above his eyebrows and walked off.
The boy arched his eyebrow dismissively "hn"
The man reemerges with the newly well-oiled weapon. "I didn't get your other's. That dagger you spoke of"
"I forgot about it: something occurred, but here it is." Sasuke strips off his sword, sliding it with the dagger "I have another request, just a inscription in this blade— as quick as possible"
The blacksmith picks up the dagger first, inspecting it to see if it is made of stainless steel. He then hummus and takes out the same notebook, scribbling something down. He could see his name being written according to the pencil's strict movement. Finally, he takes the blade of Light's Ballad and lifts it to weigh it "Inscription, you say?"
"Hn"
The sword unsheathed soundlessly, he pauses, eyeing the dark bluish steel. Swing it left, then right, as though he's forgotten about his surroundings. "Magnificent—you never cease to amaze me, Uchiha-san, you find it in your clan armoury, too, I assume?"
"Kind of"
He swung the sword once more, expertly, and Sasuke's trained eyes didn't miss the way he did it, as if he were a seasoned Samurai.
"If I didn't know any better, I may have mistaken this for a Kiba's blade." He says, more to himself, before snapping back to reality,
"Excuse me, I got carried away. What was it that you wanted me to engrave on the blade?" He nearly glared at him accusingly for even considering damaging the blade, but he was thoughtful enough to refrain.
"A religious passage," he takes the notebook the man was holding loosely, and the pin on the table, writing it
He grabs the notebook that the guy was holding slackly and writes it
"It's a religious verse, so it must be written this way," saying the word religious softens his sour expression in understanding "No usurpers may not remain standing against you"
"Praise the lords"
"Praise the lords" Sasuke repeated after him.
"Want your name there too?" The blacksmith asks, appreciating the sword once again, and he is certain saw the name Light's Ballad engraved on it, as he pauses for a fleeting moment "That is a poetic name for a sword."
"Divinity most certainly poetic, in its way."
He can't help but grasp that Susanoo had given him that particular blade - to assist him through the dark night Itachi had made him through, in case he tried to force him again to see the images of his fallen clansmen being slaughtered like pigs under the red moon. His weapon is known as Light's Ballad. He assumed that since light is always greater than darkness, it cannot stand against it. But, since the deity also gave the blade the name ballad, then he must definitely enjoy watching the dance between the two kinslayers. Something he himself finds morbidly enjoyable too.
The blacksmith, who didn't understand a word, nods his head "that's will cost you about 400 ryō, since you already paid for the dagger"
Wrapping up everything, Sasuke eyes the wall full of weapons and training objects "I do also like to buy a body weight, preferably if it's a seal-made so i can control it as I like, as well as a restoring scroll for battle where you seal me the Gunbai."
"Taste the weight yourself, Uchiha-san" He handed him three leathery strap-like hands and ankle weights as he passed past the aisles. "I recommend starting with 20 kilograms, the one you hold can increase up to roughly 60 kilogram."
At first, it was difficult to adjust to the weight in his ankles, so he decreased it to 15 kilograms. Unsurprisingly, the hands were simpler and more adaptable because he already trained them, now more than ever, especially, as a swordmaster, he isn't permitted to employ hands' weights that weigh less than 20 kilograms. "Those are good." He points at fingerless samurai-like white tekkō, "I want those too," since he can't hide the weight under his sleeves, and wishes to maintain his workout regimen as a private matter, the tekkō seems like a practical solution.
The tekkō covers his forearms perfectly, hiding the whole weights underneath them. If the blacksmith notices the intent, he stays silent since he is presumably used to shinobi quirks.
Sasuke left after paying the charges and arranging the date for the receipt of his blades. He sensed the stalker and the person who collects his senbons from the store looking down at him on the roof where the stalker was hidden before. Ignoring them, he walks back to his compound with his lynx tailing after him.
Kakashi had left the ANBU department a week ago, ostensibly to take a semi-retired position—not from duty itself, but from that particular position. Even while he still had his mask, it was now kept beneath his closet, as though the Hokage would decide to end his retirement at any moment. Nobody in the department's organizational resources has ventured to ask him to return it, yet.
Many people believe that the decision was made too late. But, he has a reputation for being late, along with other unpleasant things too, especially when it is considered a certain semi-extinct clan, whom their last loyal heir is after a few months will end up his apprentice.
He hasn't stopped fuming about it since the Hokage first informed him. It's not because he holds grudges for anything the Uchiha clan did to him, rather, he can understand, appreciates, and even somewhat admires them for seeking the truth for the sake of his comrade and their kin. Fugaku Uchiha stood by him when some of them shouted for his head, even his sensei couldn't interfere in clan affairs. The clan head respected his kin's wishes, and gave him a chance to prove his case with the Yamanaka clan's help. And he did. In addition to being recognized as the Kakashi of the Sharingan, many people also believe him to be a friend-killer and a Dōjutsu-thief— even with permission from the clan that possessed the bloodline.
He stands for a long time and stares at the name of his sensei that is directly beneath Rin's name. Above her is Obito's, since he was the first to die. He gazes at his longer, beneath his headband, his Sharingan pounding. He doesn't want to teach Sasuke Uchiha because he doesn't want to fail once again. He is aware that, in the case of the Uchiha, their paths will undoubtedly intersect because of the sharingan.— but it's too soon, he's too tired, he can't stop thinking of himself as an ANBU, an ANBU who only used to treat other stubborn, cold-blooded men like him for the past years, not a fragile, traumatized, self-appointed avenger.
In the center of an isolated third training ground, the memorial stone stands peacefully, solemnly— and bleakly. Unless something unusual occurs, like it did in the months following the nine tailed attack, no one often comes to pay respect to the dead.
People, if they're fortunate enough, eventually forget. If they allow themselves to forget in order to carry on, it fades over time, which he cannot afford to do.
He puts his hands in his pocket and starts strolling to the Hokage Tower. The main street is packed at this time of day, but he purposefully avoided using the rooftop as a way to get there faster since the Hokage was already used to his habit. He glimpses the recognizable green spandex out of the corner of his eye, so he leaps out of the path before Gai catches him. He takes his book out and leans over the roof to watch Gai look for him. "That was close."
Since Asuma accidentally — purposefully— told him, Gai has continued to celebrate by challenging him every day. Today, Kakashi only wants to keep an eye on his prospective student, who surprisingly skipped the Academy today. He was about to head to the tower before making his way to the compound, but he catches another familiar color, dark purple, of the very recognizable black-hired Uchiha, who, although remaining gloomy as always, nodded courteously to anyone who greeted him and had a lynx trailing him. The boy's eyes unexpectedly flickered in his direction, as if sensing him.
He glares at his direction without really seemingly seeing him, the boy then arches an eyebrow, before slinking inside a renowned weaponry shop. After less than a minute, Genma walks out of the same shop, with his hand in his pocket. He eyes him as Kakashi waves his hand in his way, so he shunshins just beside him "Hatake. Stalking your pupil, I see."
"Maa. not my pupil yet, perhaps never, hopefully hopefully—never."
Out of nowhere, Gai pops out "It's a most youthful thing checking on your too youthful student, as expected from my rival"
"Not my pupil, yet, and hopefully never."
"He kind of reminds me of you when you were his age, don't you think that Gai?"
Gai Agrees "Uchiha-kun certainly acts hip and cool like Kakashi."
"There's only one Kakashi in this world."
"As you like to remind us."
"That is a youthful but very dangerous thing to do at his age." Suddenly Gai says, observing the Uchiha with a serious expression on his face.
Kakashi followed his gaze and watched the kid walk away for a while before noticing that he was moving more slowly as if it were difficult for him to walk properly.
"From the look of it, it must be his first time." Gai says, and he doesn't doubt him.
Genma murmurs, "Yikes."
"I told you I don't want a kid." Kakashi wails as he dramatically shuts his book. "How the heck am I supposed to handle that?"
"The way The Fourth dealt with you, I suppose."
"I'm not Minato-sensie"
"Like hell you are" Genma snorts, "you are Kakashi Hatake, that should mean something, whatever it is. You'd best come to terms with the fact that fucked up in the head kid is yours now, now rather that later"
Gai assured him, throwing a shiny smile his way "You will do so well, my friend"
"It this point I'm not sure how fucked up this kid is, I smell blood and ashed and— herbs? Is that fucking kid is addicted?"
"At his slightest whim, you obeyed him, and knowing you, you will continue doing so" Koharu leans forward. Hiruzen brings together his hands on the table, weaving his fingers together as he stares at the his friend and adviser "That was necessary"
"It is illogical to pull the patrols from his compound, especially when Orochimaru is involved. The boy has no say over this decision."
An unpleasant and rigid scrawl creeps across Danzō's face. "Explains to me how so this is necessary, when he could be observed and protected"
"He doesn't want to be observed, that's what it is"
"It's not about what he wants, it's about what we need to do"
"After the spy's accident, Sasuke-kun felt threatened within the village's wall, do you know why?— he think the spy's opinion is necessary ours"
"So, you obliged when he wiped — he certainly wrapped you around his little fingers."
Hiruzen scoffs "It's hardly a problem to just provide him privacy and trust so that he may develop and learn peacefully. And I didn't pull the patrols from his compound, they will stay, but out his property, like the days when his clan were alive, like the way any clan protected"
"He's not a Clan," Danzō speaks in a cold, scornful voice "A clan of one isn't a clan at all"
"The thing that frustrated me the most about this situation was that you pulled Hatake from the ANBU just for him. So that is your loyal teacher's choice for the last Uchiha?— I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed since for a while I believed you might toss him at Jiraiya." Homura says, taking a sip of his tea, slurping.
Danzō snorts. He was ignored, nevertheless.
"My judgment in this matter is final and will be unquestionable."
"That's a mistake, but do whatever you want" says Koharu. She seemed to be done with him at this point.
Danzō suddenly raises his lone visible eyebrow "Why do you seem so confident that he will pass the examination?"
"Because he will, you will know what I mean know when you see it yourself"
Heyy, so I updated it a little bit late compared to the ao3's because i was too lazy, anyway— here in this account my updates won't be regular like in ao3's (Azyan) honestly this app is suck in wow I don't have words to describe it. So, here is what's gonna happen, i will continue writing the fic in ao3 where it's easier to update and easier to rewrite as i like. Latter, after finishing about 5 or 7 chapters there, i will update everything here at once later. I don't know yet.
Uchiha Kishim : yes, sasuke still has lightning as his main chakra, along with fire since the night of the temple (first chapter) wind is his secondary Chakra thanks to Kurai's contract.