12

Team 7? More like Fam 7!

"Hah…" I heard the Hokage sigh as his eyes fell upon my tied-up self again, dropped on the chair in his office. "Sasuke-kun," he greeted me exasperatedly.

'Lord dickhead,' is what I wanted to say, but all that came out was, "Woh Viikheav!" because of the gag stuffed in my mouth.

The Hokage's lips curled upwards slightly in a small smile, but the rest of his visage looked far from amused. "Somehow, I feel like what you said right now wasn't exactly respectful," he said.

"Muh Uaaii," I said, trying to say, 'you're right' but the cloth in my mouth made it much more difficult to say anything properly.

"Did he resist again?" he asked the ANBU.

"Yes, sir. It took my entire team, plus Kakashi to restrain him without injury," Yugao replied.

The Hokage and this time Kakashi, who was standing beside him, also sighed again before the old man said, "Un-gag him, please," to Yugao who was standing diagonally behind me.

She followed the order and pulled the cloth out of my mouth with extra force. "Ugh," I said as I exercised my jaw, moving it up and down.

"Do you know the reason I called you here, Sasuke?" the Hokage asked as he got serious.

"Hmm," I hummed as I adopted a thinking look on my face for a second before acting like I had an epiphany. "Oh, because you're a spiteful, sadistic asshat that loves to torture innocent genin?" I asked, looking like an excited schoolboy.

He inhaled, looking like he wanted to say something before he probably decided to ignore my remarks and merely shook his head in exasperation again. "No, not exactly," he answered. "I called you here because I needed to talk to you about what you conveyed to tokubetsu jonin Anko Mitarashi, last night. Specifically, your remarks regarding your brother."

From my peripheral vision, I could see Kakashi subtly perking up to listen closely as well.

"Ah, I see," I said. "And what if I don't want to talk about it?" I asked.

"I thought you might say that," the Hokage said as he leaned back in his chair. "So you have two options here." He raised his index finger. "First, you can cooperate and answer all our questions, and be let go free once we determine your mental state," he offered and raised his middle finger next. "Or second, you can be uncooperative and be deemed guilty of high treason and spend the rest of your life in prison, or worse, being experimented on in the research facility," he said.

I had absolutely no doubts that he'd go through with the 'life in prison' option, but I also knew for sure that he wouldn't experiment on me. From what I had seen of Hiruzen, I knew there was no way he could bring himself to do this. He had grown mentally weak in his old age. Even I could tell.

But even so, I said, "Seems like the student got his morals and values from his teacher, huh?"

A thick silence enveloped the office as everyone realized I was referring to Orochimaru.

"What will you choose, Sasuke?" the Hokage asked, ignoring my snide remark.

I sighed. I guess there's no escaping this one. I didn't want to go to prison for life so I have to cooperate here. But that didn't mean that I'd give them all the answers easily.

"I choose the first option," I answered.

"Good," the Hokage said with a smile. "Now, what did you mean by what you said to Anko?" he began.

"I said a lot to Anko. What specifically are you talking about?" I questioned back.

"You said to her, 'his heart was in the right place,' when talking about your brother. What did you mean by that?"

I shrugged. "Itachi did what he had to to keep the village safe," I answered.

"Can you elaborate?" the Hokage asked.

I closed my eyes tiredly. This wasn't going to go anywhere at this rate. Honestly, I just wanted this to be over. I guess Yugao and Kakashi are two of the most trusted ninjas in the village, so it wouldn't matter if I just told them the truth here.

"As you know, that fateful night, the Uchiha clan was planning a coup on the vill—," I was suddenly interrupted by the Hokage's fist slamming on the table and cracking it.

"That's enough," he said with authority.

"What happened, you shrivelled mushroom?" I asked, my voice dripping with hatred. "Didn't you want the truth?"

"Shut your mouth," he said. This was the first time I had seen the Hokage truly angry.

"What? Afraid of hearing about your own incompetence again?" I continued, not caring about the massive amount of killing intent he was directing my way. "Or was this genocide part of all of your plans anyway!?" I nearly yelled.

Honestly, I didn't care nearly as much about the Uchiha massacre as I showed right now. Yes, the village was at fault for ostracising the Uchihas, but that still didn't give them the right to try to orchestrate a coup that would've killed hundreds of thousands. But for now, I had to show that I cared a lot. I wanted this steaming pile of shit that was sitting in front of me to right his wrongs. For me, and for Naruto as well.

"That's enough," the Hokage said calmly.

I got a sense of deja vu, remembering how the last interrogation had ended the same way: with me getting angry at the Hokage and him dismissing me. So this time, I spoke to the two jonin that stood in the room.

"Look at this, you two," I said, looking at Yugao and Kakashi. I gestured at the Hokage with my chin. "This is what a man unfit for leadership looks like."

Once more, a heavy silence descended upon us as the Hokage rested his head on his hands. After a long moment of silence, he finally spoke. "Where did you get this information from?" he asked me.

"I put it together myself," I replied without missing a beat. "There were many obvious clues. Especially with how Itachi was behaving the day of the massacre and the circumstances surrounding Shisui's death."

"I see," Hiruzen replied as he nodded. "You're forbidden from revealing any and all details that even remotely relate to the Uchiha massacre to anyone. If you do, the punishment will be death," he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Dismissed."

I stared at him with emotionless eyes as Yugao unbound me. As I regained my freedom, I pointed directly at the Hokage face as I glared at him. "Choose a successor. You're not fit for this position anymore," I asserted in my most serious voice. With that said, I turned around without waiting for a reply and tried to make my way out, but his voice stopped me.

"Would you like to have the position, Sasuke-kun?" I heard from behind me and stopped in my tracks.

I had no doubt that he was testing me somehow. After all, he wouldn't just give over the leadership of an entire military state to an inexperienced kid.

"No," I said, partially turning around to look at him. "No, I don't. I'm not ready for it. But I'm sure there are at least a few shinobi in your ranks that could be trained to be ready for the job within only a few months."

"Really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Anyone specific that you have in mind?"

I gestured to Kakashi. "My sensei, I think, would be a great choice," I said, surprising the man in question.

The Hokage chuckled, despite my blatant show of disrespect. "It seems your student has quite the high opinion of you, Kakashi," Hiruzen said as he glanced at the copy ninja.

"I'm... Uh... I'm glad, I guess?" Kakashi said, not quite sure how to respond in this scenario.

"What do you think? Are you ready for the job, Kakashi?" the Hokage asked him.

"No, Hokage-sama. I do not think I'm ready at all," he replied instantly.

"But he would be if you let him train with the jonin commander for a month," I interjected and was immediately glared at by Kakashi.

"Hmm... Is that so?" the Hokage asked as he rubbed his chin.

"No, I don't think that is a good idea, Hokage-sama. I believe it would only be a waste of time for everyone involved," Kakashi said, desperately trying to get out of this situation.

"Well, why don't we just experiment and try it out?" I proposed. "If it works out, then awesome! If it doesn't, you not only get a strong shinobi trained with high level management skills, but you can also do a better experiment with improved results," I finished my explanation and Hiruzen nodded with a 'hmm'.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was trying to brutally murder me with his glare.

'That's what you get for helping her tie me up,' I mouthed to him as the Hokage contemplated my proposal.

"Very well. Bear, please fetch Shikaku for me," Hiruzen ordered and an ANBU appeared and promptly disappeared with an affirmative.

As we waited for them to return, the Hokage went back to writing something on a paper and Yugao stood there, unmoving like a rock. Kakashi subtly pointed at me and then dragged his finger across his neck, mouthing, 'you're dead.'

I blinked in surprise. Oh really?

As a reply, I pointed at my crotch and jabbed my thumb towards the door, followed by a jerking-off hand motion as I mouthed, 'Oh piss off, you wanker, you'll never find me.'

Kakashi replied by pointing to himself, then making a strangling motion, then pointing to me, followed by a sleeping action. 'I'll strangle you in your sleep,' he mouthed.

My eyes narrowed at him.

I didn't even need to mouth anything this time. I merely pulled out a kunai from my kunai pouch, pointed at it, pointed at Kakashi, pointed at my ass, and then thrust my kunai up in the air. I smirked as I saw Kakashi grimace slightly.

This time, Kakashi pulled out his own kunai, then pointed at it, pointed at me, pointed at his dick, and made a swift slicing motion with it. Oh, god! What a monster! I couldn't help but clench my thighs as I imagined my dick being cut off.

Okay then, I thought. If that's how he wants to play it, I'll show him. I pulled out an explosive tag from my other pouch and wrapped it around my kunai. But before I could do anything, a knock came from the door.

"What a shame," the Hokage said. "It was just getting good."

"I agree," Yugao replied to him as they both shook their heads in disappointment while I could only look away in embarrassment.

"Come in," he said to the entity outside his office and Shikaku walked in.

"Hokage-sama?" Shikaku said as he bowed a little bit and took in the surroundings.

"Shikaku, thank you for coming," Hiruzen said with his deceptively warm smile.

"Of course. I'm at your beck and call," Shikaku replied smoothly.

With the smile still plastered on his face, the Hokage asked the jonin commander, "Shikaku, would you be averse to the idea of having and training someone for a month in the skills of people and village management?"

Shikaku looked surprised for a split second before his expression changed to that of understanding. "Not at all, Hokage-sama. It'd be my pleasure," he said.

"Very well, then," Hiruzen said. "I want you to train Kakashi," he gestured to the copy ninja, "for a month. I want to see if he could pick up the skills to become the next Hokage within such a short period of time."

The jonin commander nodded. "I believe I can do that," he said as he played with his stubble.

"Alright. Kakashi, Shikaku," he addressed the two jonin. "Please schedule the training according to your own time."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," they both replied with a bow and we were all finally dismissed.

...

With not even a single step out of the Hokage tower, I instantly found myself in a tight chokehold.

"You little shit!" Kakashi yelled from behind as I kicked and punched as much as I could to get free.

"Piss off, ya dickhead! That's what you get!" I yelled back, turning my body to elbow Kakashi in the groin, but before I could, he turned away.

"Sasuke! Sensei!" I heard and saw Naruto and Sakura running towards us.

"Guys, help!" I shouted out. It was obvious that Kakashi wasn't really trying to hurt me. We were both just playing with each other but I had to find a way to get out of his chokehold. And so, I executed my perfect plan. "Sensei's finally lost it! HE SAID HE LIKES LITTLE BOYS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, getting not only my teammates' attention but also the attention of everyone else around us.

"EH!?" Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and five other random people from all around shouted at the sudden proclamation.

"What!? Bullshit! I never said that," Kakashi yelled instantly.

"Ah! Sensei! Your thing! It's touching me!" I yelled out again, pushing myself back into him. He had no choice but to let go of me now.

And just as I expected, Kakashi let go and pushed me away.

"HAH!" I yelled out as I got free. "You fell for my trap, dickhead!" Since we were just playing, I had to make sure Kakashi's reputation wasn't actually damaged. Everyone already knew he read R-rated books in public so it wouldn't be unbelievable if rumours of him being a pedo spread through the village. As such, I had to yell out and make sure the people around us knew it was a trap.

"You little shit!" Kakashi growled out again as he approached me.

"Naruto! Save me!" I said as I reached him and hid behind him.

"Huh?" Naruto said, confused. He was stuck between me and an angry Kakashi.

Thankfully though, Sakura quickly came to my rescue and stood in front of both of us with her arms spread out.

"Excuse me, Sakura, can you please let me pass?" Kakashi asked with a threateningly sweet voice.

"Sorry, sensei. It's my job to protect my teammates," Sakura asserted and my respect for her just jumped a few levels. Sakura's progress from when she started was phenomenal. She was definitely more than worthy of being called a kunoichi now.

"I just wanna talk to him," Kakashi said.

"You gave a break for a week, sensei," Sakura countered, checkmating Kakashi.

The copy ninja stilled for a while before he pointed at me and said, "next week, you're going to find out why ANBU training is so difficult," and body-flickered away without waiting for a response.

"Phoo," I let out a breath I was subconsciously holding. "Sakura," I said to my genius teammate as she turned around. "I owe you my life."

Sakura grinned with a thumbs up as she said, "Don't worry! It's what a team is for!"

And once more, our bond grew slightly stronger.

...

As the free time week finally came to an end, I finished up my training with the Rasengan. "Haaah!" I screamed as I pushed the ball of chakra into a tree.

My hand vibrated with ferocity as the dense mass of chakra drilled into the tree and my hand came out of the other side.

I huffed and tried to catch my breath as the Rasengan in my hand dissipated. At the moment, my limit was about twenty-five Rasengans per day before I passed out from chakra exhaustion.

Training the final stage of Rasengan wasn't too difficult, mainly because of my chakra control, but trying to increase my speed of making the Rasengan enough so that it could be used in a battle proved to be one hell of a challenge.

I looked at the sky, and judging from the position of the sun, I reckon it's about six in the evening. Tomorrow we were going to seriously begin our training. If I'm being honest, I actually looking forward to Kakashi's hardcore training regimen.

In my previous life on Earth, I had always idolized and looked up to soldiers for the gruelling training that they went through so that when the time came, they'd be ready to protect their country. Especially those cream of the crop, Tier-1 operatives.

In order to be like them, ever since I 'transmigrated' into the Narutoverse, every day after missions, I tried to train myself using the same training methods that I remembered seeing in documentaries and stuff.

That still wasn't enough though. My goal was to become strong enough that I wouldn't need to live my life looking over my shoulder all the time. And for that, I needed the strength equivalent of a literal God of this world.

"Sasuke?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and waved to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto. What's up?" I said as I walked towards him.

The path to becoming stronger was a rough one and I would need as much help as possible. That's why I had called Naruto and Sakura here – though the latter wasn't here yet. It was time to put my plan into motion.

"Nothing much. What're you doing here?" he asked curiously. "And why are you shirtless?" he added, looking confused.

"I was just training. Don't worry about it," I said to him. "More importantly, Naruto, I want to trade," I declared and observed his reaction.

"Trade?" he asked.

"Yep. I want you to teach me the shadow clone jutsu," I said. "And in return, I'll teach you a powerful jutsu too."

"Huh?" he looked at me with a confused expression before scratching his cheek embarrassedly. "Well, thank you for... Y'know, wanting to teach me a powerful jutsu too, but you could've just asked me to teach you the shadow clone, Sasuke. We're teammates!" he exclaimed.

I just barely held back a tear as I felt so moved by his generosity. This guy really was such a pure soul. As expected from the protagonist. But that also meant that he needed to learn the true colours of this world. During the wave mission, he had already learned how ruthless and dangerous outsiders can be. Now it was time for him to learn about the darkness within the hearts of the people closest to him.

"Thank you, Naruto," I said to him as I held his shoulder. "But there's a reason why the phrase 'give and take relationship' exists. I thank you for your generosity, but you've got to understand that you can't always be nice to everyone. A relationship – any relationship – is only healthy if all the people involved are benefitting somehow. Do you understand?" I asked him.

"But... But we're teammates!" he said, cocking his head to the side.

Ugh... How do I explain it to him? I contemplated the answer for a few seconds and just as I was about to speak, I heard my second favourite voice in the world.

"Sasuke-kun? Eh!? Naruto?" Sakura said as she also found us in the forest.

"Perfect timing, Sakura," I said as I waved for her to join us. This was the perfect way I could explain to Naruto what a healthy relationship looks like. "Sakura," I said, gaining her attention. "If we were in a dangerous battle, would you put your life on the line for me?" I asked without hesitation.

"Eh? Of course, I would, Sasuke-kun," Sakura also replied instantly without hesitation.

I nodded. As I expected. "Why?" I asked next. I didn't think she'd know that answer to this one.

"Uh... Well," she said as she thought about it. "I guess because we're teammates?"

I shook my head. "Wrong." I turned to look at Naruto. "What about you, Naruto? Would you put your life on the line for me?" I asked.

"Hell yeah!" he also said instantly with no hesitation.

"Why?"

"Uhm..." he also said, not knowing the answer.

"Now let me help you find the answer," I said to them. "Would you both still risk your lives for me if I were to say that I wouldn't risk my life for you?" I asked and smirked as I saw them both freeze with their jaws open. I chuckled a little before explaining it. "You put your lives on the line for me because you know that I would do the same for both of you.'Give and take'. That is what all relationships are built on," I said to my teammates that were watching me with jaws agape now.

"But... What about a mother who loves her child?" Sakura asked.

"Even then. A mother expects her child to become a decent human being. Because I'm sure even a mother would regret birthing a psychopathic serial killer," I replied somberly. "BUT!" I followed it up with a clap. "That's not the reason I called you both here. I called you here to do a trade. You teach me one of your jutsus and I teach you one that I learned," I offered to which both my teammates nodded in agreement.

...

As Naruto and Sakura sat on the ground, leaning against a tree with a water balloon in their hands, I stood off to the side, practicing the new shadow clone jutsu Naruto had taught me.

I breathed heavily as three clones poofed into existence. I had already expended over eighty percent of my chakra just trying to learn the jutsu and making sure that the copies that I made were perfect.

Now, it was finally time to battle-test these clones.

"Not bad," one of them said as he looked at his hands and patted himself all over his body.

"Ugh," I cringed as I heard my own voice. Is that what I sound like to others? Goddamn!

"Yeah, this is pretty cool. Productivity over 9000, eh?" another one said as he chuckled.

"But will our body and brain be able to handle such a great influx of new memories?" the last one said, prompting all of them to look at me.

"You have my memories, don't you? You should know my plan already," I said, kind of feeling weird that I was talking to myself.

"Yes, but we still haven't tested it out fully," the first one said.

"Then let's test it out now," I said. "You three go to different places and go mingle with people for five minutes. Then end the conversation and poof away where no one can see you," I commanded.

"Roger that," the three said at once as they took off while I turned around to get the generic medical jutsu that Sakura had taught me just now, ready.

...

"AHHH!" I screamed as the memories came in. It felt as if someone had attached a straw to the inside of my brain and was trying to blow a part of it up like a balloon. "SHIIIT," I swore, bringing my hands that were now glowing green with healing chakra up to my head.

A breath of relief escaped me as the pain lessened.

"Sasuke-kun!" Naruto and Sakura had both come running by my side as soon as they had seen me collapse with a scream.

"M-my head. Sakura, help," I choked out as I realized how slow the rate of my healing was.

"Yes! Just lay down!" she said with urgency as she rolled me over and ran through some hand seals. Immediately, her hands glowed green and the effect when the healing chakra touched my head was instant.

My pain lessened considerably and I guess my face must've shown it as Sakura also breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot!?" she asked angrily as she continued healing me.

"Just enjoying the feeling of your hands on my forehead," I said with a snicker... Which Sakura made me regret instantly by pinching my cheek hard. "AH! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I repeated until she let go.

"Idiot," she murmured, but the blush on her face couldn't escape my eyes.

"Thank you, Sakura. I think I'm good now," I said, as I tried to sit up with Naruto helping me.

"What were you doing?" Naruto asked from beside me.

"I wanted to see how much it hurt when the memories of the clones came back," I answered and was immediately flicked in the forehead by Sakura who was on the other side of me.

"Why would you do that without telling us first?" she asked, looking worried.

"Sorry," I apologized as I rubbed the back of my head. "I thought I could've managed using the healing jutsu you taught me."

"It took me months of continuous practise to get this good! Did you really think you could just do it within a few hours?" Sakura asked me.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," I said to her. "I'll make sure to ask for both of your help next time."

Sakura nodded in satisfaction as Naruto asked, "So? How did it go?"

"Well enough, I think," I said as the memories came to me clearly. I was like I did the things that the clones did myself... Okay, maybe that's why they're called 'clones' in the first place. "I remember everything that my clones did," I told them.

I went through my memories again and recalled everything that my clones did. The first one met Ino and had a short chat with her. The second clone played for a little while with some kids playing ninja in the forests. And the third clone... "Oh, goddammit," I thought as I recalled the memories. The third clone spotted the ANBU, Yugao on one of the rooftops and stuck his tongue out at her, which led to him being chased and poofing away when he was out of her sight. "What kind of a dumbass..." I said and trailed off realizing that it was basically me who did that.

"What's up? What happened?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm? Oh, just some dumb stuff I did. Nothing too serious," I replied, waving off his concerns and quickly changed the subject. "How close are you guys with the Rasengan training?"

"Oh! I got the balloon to burst by using two hands!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Awesome! How about you, Sakura?" I asked.

"Eh... Well... I ran out of chakra before I could," she replied, looking downcast.

"Hey," I said immediately as I put my arm around her shoulders. "We're here for you. We'll all be training our asses off every day. So don't get discouraged, yeah?" I said with Naruto nodding along aggressively.

I smiled and tousled Sakura's smooth pink hair as I saw her expression lighten from my words and Naruto's encouragement. And so I made a goal. That by the beginning of the chunin exams, we'd become at least as strong as high-level chunins.

And just like that, with a short training session, our week-long break came to an end.

Still not dead. But don't get used to these quick updates or longer chapters.