10

The Aftermath

"Hey, kid," I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Anko standing there, staring at me with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

I decided to humour her. "What's up, Anko?"

She looked surprised. "You know my name?" she asked.

To be honest, I was way too tired, and in way too much pain to give a shit about my slip up. "Nah, I just guessed. You look like an Anko," I said, rolling my eyes. "No shit, I know your name. Anyway, what's up? What do you want?" I asked quickly while trying to sound irritated before she could ask what I meant by 'guessed'.

She looked at me in disbelief before shaking her head slightly. "You looked like you could use some help. Y'know, with two weapons embedded into you and whatnot," she said.

Huh…

"Well, damn. Now I feel like a dickhead for snapping at you," I said, scratching the back of my head. I probably shouldn't let my emotions dictate how I talk to innocent people from now on. Quickly making a note of that, I said, "Thanks for offering, but I'm good, I think."

Anko raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, no. That's two lethal weapons you've got in you. You definitely need to get that looked at, kid."

"And I will," I replied. "Just not at the hospital."

"Then where?"

"Dunno yet," I said, and turned around to continue home. "Oh, and the name's Sasuke. Not 'kid'."

I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder, making me wince as a few bruises around the area hurt. "You'll be dead before you get home, Sasuke. If not because of blood loss, then because of secondary infections, probably. You need a doctor," Anko said from behind me.

Hah!? Who the hell does she think she is? Does she think I can't take this much— My thoughts cut off there as another huge wave of pain washed over me. Shit, maybe she's right. But I really don't want to go to the hospital. I don't know why, but I feel like if I go there, they'll never let me out. My only option was to go to Naruto's place which was only a block from here. Sakura's home was farther, but still not as far as the Uchiha clan compound.

"Let me go," I said, shrugging her off. "I'm not going home. Don't worry."

"Then where are you going?"

"Don't worry about it," I said and kept walking, with legs that got heavier with each step. I gritted my teeth and fought through the exhaustion of reliving the Tsukuyomi, the ANBU beating, and the foreign objects in my torso.

It was only when I came to a stop at the base of the stairs that led to Naruto's apartment that I realized I was hearing two sets of footsteps this whole time. I glanced back tiredly and saw Anko standing there, gazing at me with worried eyes.

"Why are you still following me?" I asked, slightly thankful that she was there. Not that I'd let her know I was.

"To get you professional medical attention when you keel over," she said, sounding angry.

"Anko," I said, drawing her full attention. "Thank you, but you really don't need to. Did the Hokage order you to follow me or something?" I asked with a small amount of suspicion. I mean, it makes sense that he would.

"No, the Hokage didn't send me," she said. "And I'll be the one to decide whether I need to follow you or not."

I chuckled at her bullheadedness and started climbing the stairs, each breath and groan sending waves of excruciating pain all through my body. Nearly stumbling outside his apartment, I knocked loudly on Naruto's door. "Naruto!" I called out and waited. Hearing nothing from inside, I knocked again but realized that I barely had any energy left and my knocks were too weak. "Shit," I muttered. Just as I was about to lift my leg to kick the door, Anko reached over from behind me and knocked hard.

"If he doesn't answer, I'm taking you to the hospital," she said, sounding like she meant every word.

I smiled. The thought of someone caring for me – even if it was by order of the Hokage – warmed me.

I heard footsteps from beyond the door, and a second later, the door was thrown open. A sleepy Naruto stood there, rubbing his eyes.

I immediately reached over and flicked him in the forehead as hard as I could.

"Oww!" Naruto yelled, becoming fully awake. "What the hell, teme!?"

"Why did you open the door right away!?" I said, trying to sound angry. "What would you have done if I was a burglar or someone who wanted to kill you, huh!?"

Naruto went quiet, his mouth forming an 'o'.

"Anyway," I said quickly before he could reply. "I need a couple of favours. Can I crash here for tonight?" I asked, gesturing to myself.

His eyes panned down, over my naked upper body and any lingering sleep instantly disappeared from them. "Wha- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!?" he screamed and I winced as the loud volume hit me like a truck.

"Long story," I said, waving him off. "Listen, can you please just go get Sakura for now? And let me rest on your sofa? I would've gone to her house directly, but yours was closer and honestly, I barely have the energy to stand right now."

"Uh… Y-Yeah, hold on, let me just put on some sandals right now!" Naruto said urgently. He ushered me in and only just now noticed Anko. "Who are you?" he asked her.

"Anko Mitarashi. Tokubetsu jounin. Serial number 011226," she said absently and followed me into Naruto's apartment.

"Uhh…" Naruto said, confused at the situation right now – I mean, who wouldn't be – but I cut him off before he could say anything.

"Naruto, I need Sakura! NOW!" I yelled out.

"Got it, got it!" he yelled back and disappeared into the hallway.

...

"You know, I could patch you up myself if you really didn't want to go to the hospital. You didn't have to send him to get her," Anko said to me once we were alone.

I was laid down on the sofa and Anko had pulled up a chair and was sitting beside me. She kept two of her fingers on my wrist, constantly monitoring my pulse.

"That would defeat the entire purpose of me taking these shurikens," I said. It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a complete lie either.

"And what was the purpose, exactly?" she asked.

"This way, I could let my teammate get some experience as a medic. By treating my wounds in a relatively safe environment, she can not only get used to the sight of wounds and blood but also start getting experience of working under pressure," I explained.

Anko looked at me with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. I smirked at her reaction.

"You alive in there?" I asked as the silence stretched on.

"You really care a lot for your team, huh?" she asked with a small smile.

"They're the closest thing to a family I've got," I said as I shrugged, looking away from her and towards the ceiling of Naruto's apartment.

"Then why do you hate Kakashi?" she asked.

"I don't hate him," I answered.

Anko snorted. "Well, you sure have me fooled, then."

I sighed, not wanting to go through this again. "I swear on my life, I don't hate him. Dislike him? Yes."

"Then why do you treat him with such blatant disrespect?"

"Because of his incompetence."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Anko staring at me as if I was an idiot. "You're calling Kakashi Hatake, the A-rank shinobi feared by almost half the ninja in this world… incompetent…"

Whether the Hokage sent Anko or not, whatever I say to her now will be reported to him. Now was my time to convey any messages I had for him. There was only one thing I wanted the Hokage to know. 'Don't fuck with me'. And so, I began.

"I'm not calling him incompetent as a shinobi, but as a sensei," I explained to her just how I had explained to Naruto and Sakura. "I understand that he lost his entire team and his sensei, but that was more than twelve years ago, dammit. How self-centred and arrogant do you have to be to think that you could protect your genin team from any and all dangers that they'll face in the future? Like, he literally didn't teach us anything! Not only that, but he also expected three genin, fresh out of the academy, to work together as a team while pitted against one another." I took a deep breath. "And it's not only his fault either. Yes, he should get some help – counselling or therapy or whatever – and move on, but it's the Hokage's fault too for assigning a broken jounin as a sensei to us. Hell, even a chunin would be a better teacher than he is." I sighed and shook my head. "It's even worse that I know the real reason the Hokage assigned him to us."

"And what's this real reason?" Anko asked quietly.

"To keep us in check. Well, not Sakura, but Naruto and me. Naruto is a jinchuuriki so that means Konoha can't possibly afford to lose him. And going by how he's been treated by the people here, it's a goddamn miracle he's still loyal. And me… Well… When I was in the Academy, all I cared about was power. All I wanted was to kill Itachi. The Hokage probably thought of me as a flight risk and assigned Kakashi to me so that he can stop me or kill me in case I go missing-nin, and/or to train me in the techniques of the Sharingan to 'satiate' my thirst of power."

"What makes you so sure that this is the 'real' reason?"

I thought for a second before shrugging once again. "Call it a hunch."

Anko hummed. "You said that in the Academy, all you cared for was power and all you wanted was to kill Itachi. Is it different now?"

"On the night of the massacre, I asked my brother why he did it. He said, 'to test the limits of my ability'." I shook my head. "He was lying. I know why he really did it… and I can't even blame him for it. Like, yeah, he went WAY overboard by killing all the children too, but his heart was in the right place," I said.

I looked at Anko and her eyes were wide as saucers. "WHAT!?" she yelled. "What the hell do you mean, 'his heart was in the right place'!?" Composing herself a little bit, she looked at me worriedly. "He massacred your family. How can you possibly agree with what he did?"

"I'm not agreeing with what he did. All I'm saying is that he had the right reason in his mind."

"What reason?"

I shook my head. "I can't say. But eventually, this village will find out and hail him as a hero," I said.

Anko looked flabbergasted. "You do realize that if I tell the Hokage this, he'll ask you for the real reason."

"Don't tell him then," I said, looking at her with a smile.

Anko chuckled. "It doesn't work like that, Sasuke," she said.

Just as I was about to ask how it did work, Naruto burst through the door with Sakura hot on his heels.

"Sasuke/Sasuke-kun!" The two of them shouted at the same time.

"Calm down, I'm still alive!" I said to them before noticing that Sakura looked like she had been dragged here half-asleep, and still in her nightclothes. "Hey Sakura. Cute pyjamas!" I said with a smile.

"Sasuke-kun! What happened!?" Sakura asked as she was by my side in an instant.

"Ah, nothing much. Just a little altercation," I answered with a placating smile, hoping to calm her down.

"Nothing much!? You have two shurikens in you!" she said, actually sounding angry and I smiled. Seeing her care that much about me – and actually care, not just fangirling over me – made me proud to call her a teammate.

"Ah, well, it's a long story, to be honest. But for now, I didn't go to the hospital because I wanted you to get some experience treating wounds and injuries in a relatively safe environment first, instead of being thrown into the field and having to treat injuries while all hell broke loose around us," I explained and that seemed to calm her down a little.

Sakura still looked like she had something to say but she held her tongue and nodded resolutely.

"Naruto, do you have a first aid kit?" I asked. I knew he did. All of us had to carry the basic medic kit that was sealed in a scroll.

"Uh, yeah! Lemme just go get it!" he said and ran to his bedroom to find it.

...

Sakura was on her knees beside me, slowly cleaning up around the first shuriken wound and applying first aid while Naruto and Anko sat a couple of metres away, watching over me worriedly.

"Naruto, come here," I said. My voice came out weaker and raspier than I intended.

Naruto hopped out of his chair and ran to be by my side. "Yeah, what's up, Sasuke?" he asked. I cleared my throat.

"Sometimes, on a mission, there'll be a situation where one person is wounded, one is applying first aid, and the third person will have to be on the lookout for, or defend from attackers. You'll be getting that experience right now too," I said to him.

"What? How?" he asked, confused by my words as Anko looked at us suspiciously, no doubt having heard what I was saying.

"I have something I need to tell you about your family, but Anko might try to stop me," I told him. "You need to make sure she doesn't interfere."

"Huh? W-Why?" Naruto asked.

"Have some shadow clones stand guard around us while I'm speaking," I said, ignoring his question.

Naruto looked from me to Anko who was still seated and watching us with an inquisitive look. "I… I don't think—"

"Naruto! Now!" I said forcefully, interrupting him. He paused for a split second before instantly making three shadow clones and sending them to surround us.

"Listen to me, Naruto. Your last name is Uzumaki, right?" I said.

"Yeah, so?" he asked me.

"Did you know that they're a clan. The Uzumaki clan," I told him.

"What…"

"Not only that— Ow!" I said as Sakura pulled out the first shuriken. I continued, hearing a small 'sorry' from her. "Not only that, but they are actually a cousin clan of the Senju – one of Konoha's founding clans. I heard that they specialize in sealing jutsu and were wiped out during the second war by a coalition of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri forces. They requested assistance from Konoha, but we were too late and the entire clan was destroyed while the survivors fled to different places."

"W-Wait, Sasuke…" the clone tried to say but I continued.

"If you look at the memorial stone, you'll see another Uzumaki named 'Kushina Uzumaki'. I thought she was your mother. I was going to tell you when I saw it, but Kakashi told me not to. I know that their defining trait is their bright red hair. That's all I've got for now, but I think you can find more info in the library and archives building," I finished and bit back another yell as Sakura pulled out the second shuriken.

"How… how do you know this!?" the clone asked, his eyes watering.

"I told you: the library," I lied skillfully.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" he asked, sounding angry.

"Because I couldn't be sure and I didn't want to give you false hope."

"And you are sure now?"

"No."

"Then what changed?"

"I just don't give a shit anymore. I was just interrogated by the Hokage, Kakashi, two interrogators from T&I – one of which your clones are talking to right now – and was used as a punching bag by the ANBU. That's how I was injured," I said, and his eyes went wide. "I don't give a shit if it's legal to tell you this or not. I just needed to tell you before they deem me unnecessary and kill me."

"What!? Why would they kill you!?" the clone said, bewildered.

"Because I know more than I'm supposed to."

Naruto sat there wide-eyed for a second before dispelling his clones.

"What the hell?" he whispered with a traumatized look on his face.

"You okay, kid?" Anko asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto stayed silent, looking as if he was contemplating his whole life. Anko didn't question any further and merely watched us curiously.

"Okay, done," Sakura said as she finished bandaging me.

"Thanks, Sakura," I replied with a small smile.

"Now do you want to tell me how this happened?" she asked with a stern expression. I can't lie, I was impressed that she was unperturbed by my… Sasuke's smile.

"Eh?" I asked as I averted my eyes. "Well…" I brought my hand up to scratch my cheek.

"I, uh…" I trailed off as I realized what I was doing. Lying to her now will only break the trust between us. To build a stronger relationship, I have to tell her the truth. "I'll tell you after Anko leaves," I said, gesturing to the special jounin sitting on the chair.

Anko looked taken aback. "What? Why?" she asked.

"Because it's awkward that you were also there, saw the whole thing go down, and still didn't do anything to stop it from happening," I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

"It was the Hokage's orders! I can't go against that!" she said, trying to justify her actions– or rather, inaction.

"I don't care. You did nothing to stop them and merely stood by and watched as a person abused their authority and brutally assaulted an innocent person," I replied.

"Innocent!? You were under suspicion of high treason, espionage, sabotage, and attempted terrorism!" she said with a 'are you serious?' expression.

"HUH!?" All of team seven said at once.

"The Hokage said only treason and espionage!" I replied, bewildered.

"Hah…" Anko sighed. "Yes, but you were under suspicion of much more. High treason because we thought you were selling Uchiha clan secrets to outsiders, espionage because we thought you were giving information about your team to enemies, and sabotage because we suspected you were trying to encourage your teammates to rebel against your sensei and Konoha. I wasn't allowed access to information about why you were suspected of terrorism."

A moment of heavy silence passed as I tried to make sense of what just came out of Anko's mouth.

"Okay," I said and took a deep breath. "What happened to the 'innocent until proven guilty' law?" I asked. I am 99.9 percent sure that that law didn't exist. Do I care? Hell to the fucking NO! Fake it till you make it!

"Huh? Was there a law like that?" Anko asked.

"Yes. There was and still is," I answered quickly before she could try to remember anymore. "You know what, Anko? I really appreciate that you watched over me till I got here, and I thank you very much for that, but can you please just leave and let me talk to my friends in private?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

Anko merely shook her head in disbelief and stood up. "Yeah, okay. Get well soon, kid," she said as she walked to the door.

"Thanks," I replied just as she stepped out and left.

...

"So? Where do you want me to start?" I asked my two dumbstruck friends.

I hope you guys liked this one better than the last. Even though not much happened.