"Get down!"

His first mission with Naruto's team was a complete disaster. He had honestly not been expecting it.

"I am down!" He hadn't felt comfortable testing team three's newfound trust, and considering how horribly they'd failed the test it was a good choice. So the first C mission went to Naruto's group.

"Both of you, into the trees." Hokage-sama had actually meant that she would spare Kakashi for missions when she could, the old hag, so it was just Sasuke.

"Damnit, move Megumi." It was all very frustrating, actually. They'd been finished with the fucking mission. The trouble had started after.

"I'm trying!" They'd been jumped, and he had no idea why. The attackers were ninja's, Sasuke could tell, but they bore no village identification.

"Sensei!" He even wore his old headband. He had been offered a new one just before the mission, but Sasuke had turned it down. The mark Naruto had made on his was symbolic, and he wouldn't part with it.

"Training, Sano, remember." Funny the way he saw things these days. Sasuke was pulling Megumi out of harms way, some shurinken having pinned her to the ground. Makoto was in the trees like he'd told him to and Sanosuke was finally remembering the Taijutsu he'd been taught. His opponent went down hard.

"I did it Sensei!" The battle had been rough. It was obvious they had run into trouble on missions before, but never with so many attackers, and always with Naruto.

"Now don't let down your guard." Sasuke said, bringing down the ninja that had been sneaking up on the boy with a well placed kunai. He'd been doing that all night, and it was hard being in four places at once.

"To me!" Sasuke called out, and it felt strange to work with them like this. They were Naruto's team, and Naruto would be back to take them. He had to come back. The last few went down, and the three Genin sat down in relief. "What are you doing? Our position has been compromised. We have to get back to the village now!" They just groaned and stood up again.

Leaning over to check for sure that Itachi was out, a flash of warning shot threw him. Too late, though, because the elder was up and had a hand around his neck and the other pinning his arms above his head. Sasuke struggled, but the other was bigger, stronger physically, and he'd been beaten again! Air was stuck in his chest, and he couldn't exhale to inhale, the edges of his vision becoming fuzzy with lack of oxygen. Sasuke felt the Sharingan slip from his eyes, unable to hold it there in his weakened state. He tried struggling, and eventually his vision whited out completely.

Just before he lost consciousness the pressure lifted, and Sasuke let air out and then heaved in a much needed breath. He was far too preoccupied getting oxygen into his lungs to notice his arms were free, that Itachi was making some series of complicated signals. Belatedly realizing his Sharingan was down again, he snapped it back on in time to catch the second half of the Jutsu. When he had enough energy to move Sasuke made to get up and out of the way of whatever attack, but his brother was done. Pale hands reached out and grabbed a hold of each of Sasuke's forearms.

The pain was immense, like something burning into his skin, and then into the muscle, and then deeper to shred his Chakra. It hurt like nothing had ever hurt for him before, and Sasuke screamed. Screamed even as he wished he wasn't, because he could hear Itachi laughing above him.

"Come and find me again when you've broken this seal, and you will be worthy enough to fight me. Before then, and you die without avenging their deaths."

The world vanished in a haze of pain.

When Sasuke got home that night he was struck by how barren his house was. All of his plants had died, and the flowers in vases were shriveled and browning. Dust settled everywhere, and he was in dire need of a trip to the market. It hit him then, really hit him. Sakura and Naruto were gone. There was no Sakura to stop by and water his plants and replace his flowers. No Sakura to complain that he wasn't eating enough and make him a huge dinner, or to dust his living areas ceiling to floor just to have the excuse to spend time with him. Naruto wasn't here to spar with at all hours of the night, to trade insults with or to get him laughing. His team was gone, out there somewhere and he should be looking for them! They had been kidnapped by someone and- god! They were probably already dead!

Sasuke cut that thought off quickly. As much as he said he didn't care, as much as he wanted not to care, they had pushed their way in. And he didn't want them to die. He'd avoided thinking about it until now, and that had worked. So he would keep avoiding it. With determination Sasuke set out to clean his house, and when he was done it looked absolutely normal.

He could pretend nothing had changed.

Naruto smelled the blood before anything. He stiffened in his tree, instantly alert from when he'd been dozing. Dropping to the ground he tried to make out which way it came from, but the smell was overwhelming. It worried him more that the smell was familiar. Picking his way cautiously through the forest Naruto tried to follow it.

It was then he felt it. Faint, flickering, hardly there at all, but he felt it. Alarmed he took of towards it, and found what he'd feared. Sasuke, covered in blood and staggering through the forest. Sasuke didn't notice him at first, and only looked up when he heard Naruto's footfalls.

"Sasuke? What happened?" He should have expected the response he got, but he hadn't thought Sasuke was that stupid. The punch was slow, horribly slow, and had no Chakra behind it. Naruto stood there and let it hit him, wondering who the hell Sasuke had fought to leave him like this.

The nightmares didn't go away.

They got worse.

Bad to the point that he dreaded sleep at night and it made him angry. It reminded him of when he was little and afraid of the dark, and his father's voice. You are an Uchiha! Uchiha's are not afraid, especially of the dark! He remembered Itachi letting him sleep in his room at night, and it hurt. Hurt to know that he had cared and it was why he'd been left to this hell of a life. This struggle to get stronger that had consumed everything, still consumed everything.

He stopped sleeping eventually; couldn't stand it anymore when he woke up and realized he'd been crying. It was weak, and he wouldn't stand for it. So he spent nights researching, making up for the time he'd missed teaching the Genin. Memorizing the Uchiha library, perfecting the Forbidden Jutsu's he'd been taught at the Sound, and finding a way to undo Itachi's seal. The third had been his focus for the last three years, but it was hard when he knew only the second half of the hand signals.

Honestly, Uchiha, I don't think I should remove it. You are a dangerous Shinobi, and your allegiances are still in question. If you give me everything you know of the Sound I'll see what I can do.

There was a reason he didn't care for Tsunade. He was still convinced that she knew how to undo the seal, no matter what Naruto said. The woman had taken his information and then told him the seal wasn't one she was familiar with, and she couldn't undo it. It had only been the knowledge that he couldn't beat her without his Chakra that had kept him from attacking her then. He wouldn't be so kind when he got it back.

"What?"

"Are you crazy?" Sasuke just grunted. He been called crazy by Naruto enough times it didn't bother him. Not that it had bothered him in the first place. "But…but…he's-"

"The best one for it."

"I'm stronger than he is!" Atsuko burst out.

"He's the better leader."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ryou mumbled. Both his teammates shot him mean looks.

"Who won the strategy test?"

"Ryou but-"

"Who directed the attack when you worked with team ten?"

"Ryou but-"

"Who understood the bell test?"

"Ryou but-"

"Then I don't see the problem."

"He's so-shy!" Sasuke just looked at her. "I hate it when you're so logical!" Sasuke smiled in his head. So does Naruto. You remind me of him. Shin stomped at the ground angrily, not having said anything besides the initial outburst of surprise. He's planning something.

And Sasuke was right. Atsuko defied Ryou at every turn, and Shin kept trying to show him up, make him get flustered and make mistakes. It didn't really work, only made them fail at every thing they tried. That reflected as badly on Shin and Atsuko as on Ryou. Eventually Sasuke stopped them and told them that he had been told by the Hokage that he was to start bringing his teams on C ranked missions. That really got them excited. He then told him that team ten had already been on one with him.

"Why did they get the first one?" Shin complained. A small smile pulled at Sasuke's lips.

"Because they work as a team and know when to take orders, unlike you three. And I will keep giving them the C ranked missions, Hokage's orders or not, until I feel that you can do the same." That shut them up. It also got them trying to work together. Progress was made by the time training was over, and Sasuke had to wonder again when he'd become so good with children.

Megumi was getting talented. Really talented. She would make a powerful Shinobi with the proper attention, and that's what Sasuke was giving her. Eventually he decided to try and teach her some fire Jutsu's, because while Makoto's power was more suited for it, it took more than power to control fire. Megumi was perfect to begin teaching such a thing to.

Naruto wouldn't like that, Sasuke realized, him teaching her the Uchiha Jutsu's. It was too much like he was taking her as his apprentice, and that was stepping on Naruto's toes. Foxes are territorial, after all.

He'd already started showing her the hand signs for it though, so he couldn't back out. If he taught her other things too Naruto might not take it so personal. That wasn't for sure though, Naruto took everything personal.

Megumi got a spark on the seventh try, and while he had been younger and done it faster, she wasn't an Uchiha. This didn't come naturally to her. He stopped her after that, knowing if he pushed harder she'd pushed herself and burn down the forest practicing without him. He didn't want her to get in trouble, so he left it there. Next he taught her the beginning stage of an obscure Taijutsu from beyond the Rock, and she took to that as well.

Sasuke only taught her a little of each thing, never going extensively into any form or Jutsu. She was still young, and sometimes it was bad to stand out too much. They say that the nail that sticks up is the first to get hammered down. Kakashi's words have so much more meaning eight years later.

He also made sure to give tips. When she was learning he'd say or do something that would help her in the future, even if they didn't seem special at the time. Near the end of his session with her Sasuke found himself considering teaching her animal summoning. She didn't have enough Chakra now for it to be viable in battle, but he considered it anyway.

Megumi was talented, after all.

Sanosuke was different, very much so. He'd taken to the Taijutsu well enough, and had started doing morning exercises to make up for his lack of strength. After a while Sasuke noticed that this wasn't really making Sano stronger physically. He didn't tell him to stop, but instead started to teach him a different Taijutsu style, one that used his opponent's strength against him. That worked much better. Sasuke then focused more on Sano's strengths.

Sanosuke, it seemed, was very good at Genjutsu.

It was made even more powerful by the fact Sano had excellent Chakra control. He caught on fast too, and he could prefect a Genjutsu in two sessions. Once Sasuke was sure he'd learned a fair amount, he directed Sano in manipulating various Genjutsu's and how to combine them. He didn't have a head for adapting Jutsu's like Megumi, but Sano understood well enough.

Makoto was taking longer.

He was getting it, sure, but too slowly for Sasuke's tastes. He noted that Naruto had started teaching Mako some of the more advanced Taijutsu's, and expanded on that, but it wasn't enough. This wasn't Atsuko, who he could convince with logic. Makoto was just…dumb.

Sasuke didn't know what to do with that. Sure, Naruto was dumb sometimes, but he'd gotten the hang of it. And Naruto had this ability of getting smart when it counted. Mako just didn't have that. Sasuke watched as he was charged headlong again, and thought (not for the first time) that dumb people should be forbidden from joining the Academy.

As he stopped the large Genin, Sasuke tried to think of what had snapped Naruto out of it. He wasn't willing to teach Makoto any powerful Jutsu's until he smartened up, and it was a waste. Naruto's rivalry with him had been part of it, Sasuke was sure. Also his goal to become Hokage had pushed him.

"Makoto, why did you join the Academy?" The boy looked up at him with a surprised look on his face.

"My dad wanted me to."

"What do you want out of being a ninja?" Mako puffed his chest out and put a grin on his face.

"To be the strongest!" That had about as much thought put into it as Naruto's Hokage quest. At least when he'd strove for something it had been planned. Somewhat. As Sasuke stood and mulled the thoughts over in his head something hit him. Taijutsu. Advanced Taijutsu forms require control and intellect. Naruto had started teaching him advanced Taijutsu. So teaching Mako advanced forms would push him into thinking.

"Alright Makoto, show me the first stance for Karate Taijutsu."

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or setting. No copyright infringement intended.

How did I do? Thanks to: Son of Darkness, Ashley, sodesne, XxLilyNGxX, Kamitra, Pale Rider, and princessmoi for reviewing. You encouraged me greatly.