Words as Strings

I blinked a couple of times at the rushed, if still hesitant, explanation that Shikamaru just gave me. Apparently, even when I didn't try to get involved, the world changed unpredictably from the truth of Canon, leaving me with fewer and fewer turning points upon which I could base my future plans.

Plans that went to shit because I actually consider Neji my friend. I grimaced a bit as I was reminded of that tidbit of information. I could have left behind Lee and Tenten, only with a little wistfulness involved, my relationship with them was more on the lines of being a mentor than an actual friend, there just wasn't enough in them for me to try and build an actual friendship out of.

Sure, I was fond of them both, they had gifted me some memories worthy of the time I didn't dedicate to mindless training. I had laughed with them, and that had helped me remain sane more than many other things I had done since my first appearance in Sasuke's body.

There can't be friends if they're not my equals. I thought bitterly, realizing that whatever tentative trust I had with Neji was balanced on the edge of a blade. For all of his genius, that allowed him to match my unique perspective when it came to shinobi-related skills, he was still ten, and even if he was undeniably mature for his age, his self-control was admirable, putting in his head the idea of taking over the Hyuga clan had the potential of backfiring rather spectacularly.

"Sasuke-san?" Shikamaru's voice recalled me to the present, and I focused on what he had just told me, my eyes studying his worried expression.

Entering the Uchiha Compound wasn't all that difficult, it wasn't like it was equipped with magic barriers or an actual guard, but it still took sheer balls. The ANBU keeping an eye on me doubled as bouncers for those few inebriated shinobi that had dared each other to walk where the infamous Massacre had taken place.

I had never witnessed such an event happening, but there had been a scuffle during one night that awoke me one night not long after I had become a genin.

The mere fact that Shikamaru had crossed Konoha on his own only to talk with me was telling. How quickly we rear against the machine when we notice that our choices aren't our own. I mused as I started to talk: "Your reasons to seek strength are your own, and I won't comment on them, since I'm a chunin and the Head of the Nara Clan, who is also the Jonin Commander, made his opinions clear."

"But you aren't saying to listen to him." Shikamaru spoke quickly, guessing that I was going to not mention to outright disobey his father, making me smirk as an answer.

"Ultimately, we can only be responsible for our own choices." I tilted my head, "You won't be allowed to graduate outrageously early like I did, even if you had the ability to do so, but it seems to me that the Jonin Commander simply wished for you to start applying your prodigious brain to networking... and it is a rather good way to train, and to build bridges that will help you later in your career."

A frown appeared and quickly deepened on Shikamaru's face, even if at his age, it looked more like a pout: "I'd rather..."

I raised a hand to stall his objections: "Compromise is something that doesn't quite satisfy both parties, but that at the same time is an acceptable middle-point. Do the networking your father wants you to, but don't stall your growth."

"So... will you help me?"

At the naive question, or rather, at the obvious implication that if I accepted I was to somehow 'train' the Nara Heir, I burst out laughing: "I'm sorry, no." I crossed my arms, showing the side of the chunin jacket vest I had been given after our return from Suna, "Making an enemy out of your father isn't something I'd do for free, and you've nothing to pay me with." But... what if...

From a second to the next, I had an idea, an outrageously hilarious one from my perspective.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth and brought his hands in his hair, gripping it tightly while his face turned blank, his eyes looking into nothingness as if hoping for a magical solution of some sort.

A solution that had just appeared in my mind, and had rooted itself with impressive strength, stopping me from immediately discarding it. This Shikamaru seemed motivated, and I knew how an intelligent mind could become dangerous even with the smallest advantage. Not only he seemed motivated, he seemed to wish to make his own way through the world, which at his age was... admirable.

And exploitable. I added in my most private thoughts. He wants to be useful out of his own merits, doesn't he? And as I asked myself that rhetorical question, I knew that I had already decided. I knew, that my decision, aware of it as I was, was important. I knew, that it would be another action that I couldn't take back.

"Have you considered a compromise?" I asked, my eyes briefly flickering to our surroundings, aware that our conversation was most likely being observed by ANBU, before I returned my focus on the Nara heir.

"Compromise." he repeated, a light frown appearing on his features.

"Compromise." I echoed, "You don't need to graduate right now... To me, it sounds like you simply wish to work for something you earned through effort, instead of your natural gifts. Graduating a single year ahead of your peers would prove to yourself that your wishes have some sort of impact on your life, which is kind of the point of your little tantrum. As you've said, you'd likely grow into a jonin simply by existing, your bloodline and brain all but guarantee it."

"Tantrum?" he spluttered, his hands leaving his hair as he looked at me, "What do y..." He stopped mid-word, blinking quickly as if he was seeing me for the first time: "Lee-san and Tenten-san."

Ah, has he realized that I believe him capable of becoming stronger than your average jonin simply by applying himself? I wondered.

I smiled at his intuition, nodding slightly to show my approval: "You don't need to graduate early, only to manage to skip a year ahead, so that you won't end up being a copy of your father with the Yamanaka and Chouji, and my old classmates are as far removed from Konoha's politics as they come. A single year isn't all that much when it comes to what you've told me of your father's plans and concerns... as long as you keep up networking with your current peers."

You need to jump a single year ahead just before Lee and Tenten graduate, they're the ones with most potential in their class, it is likely that you'll be put together with them. I thought furiously even as my half-assed suggestion left my mouth. Lee will by force of things be a taijutsu specialist, Tenten has already a startlingly good grasp of bukijutsu and shurikenjutsu, as well as a talent for picking up the basis of weapon-wielding styles. Your presence would turn a frontal assault squad into one quickly capable of capture, you'd take Neji's place.

I was talking out of my ass, to be frank, I had no idea how I should be reacting, of all the things I had planned for, being the spiritual guru of Shikamaru Nara wasn't among them. But his problem had more to do with the fact that he apparently had no influence upon his own life, and with that, I could relate easily. The fact that he had tried to bring up the subject of early graduation as his only solution to prove to himself his worth was due to the fact that for all of his smarts, he wasn't even 10 years old yet.

And if he ends up with Tenten and Lee he can keep them safe through tactics if nothing else. I blinked as another thought wormed its way into my mind: in canon, Gai had been the one to intercede for Lee, did it mean that he actually knew the trick of breathing-chakra reinforcement? I could ask him for confirmation as well as to put into his head the idea of taking Shikamaru and Tenten on his team when the time came.

Gai was the one who first talked to me about a nindō, was he not? I could frame Shikamaru's situation in a way that would naturally appeal to the slightly crazy jonin.

Besides, given how Sarutobi allowed me and Neji to graduate early and to remain on the same team... It isn't out of the realm of possibilities that he'd wish to use Shikamaru to tie Lee and Tenten, with whom I have an ongoing friendship of sorts, to the Clans. And by proxy of those two, myself. I didn't often think about the politics that unavoidably were circling my every action, to be entirely truthful, I hadn't needed to since I called Kakashi's bluff.

Besides, all my attempts to manipulate the politics that were so high above me were all based on guesswork and luck.

"I'll speak to someone..." I have to chat with Gai about Lee in any case. Then I straightened out my back, staring imperiously at Shikamaru: "I'll ask only once: are you sure about this? I'd hate to give a hand, however indirectly, now, only for you to go back on your ambition of being yourself."

The steely gaze that Shikamaru answered with to my active Sharingan was enough for me, and it made me genuinely smile: "I won't train you, for a number of reasons, but while I have made use of my bloodline since the first time it awoke, it wasn't needed for me to advance, it merely made it faster. You'll simply have to train yourself, take a basic skill taught at the Academy, and push it to its logical extreme: chakra control exercises still use a leaf to be stuck on your forehead, do they not? Stick it to the tip of your toes, make it move across your body. Throw shuriken until you cannot miss even once, throw kunai standing upside down, run on your hands... I'm sure that you can figure it out."

Shikamaru swallowed nervously, but the almost unnatural tension of his shoulders melted away, if just a bit: he now had a direction. There was a way out of the prison that he perceived his father's plans as: "So you think that I could do it."

His words almost didn't reach me, since he spoke them so quietly, but when he noticed that I had actually heard him, I saw how he straightened out. He didn't need me to believe in him, even if he was understandably uncertain about taking this path: for him, it would be the first action taken deliberately, the first choice made with a clear purpose in mind, a purpose different from 'it's easiest this way'.

I wonder if I've created a monster. I thought to myself: "Whatever change you want in your life, it must first come from within you." I sprouted some fortune-cookies bullshit before my eyes turned towards the moon, which had raised while we were talking.

And I'll need to fuck up the idiots willing to bring the Apocalypse around. I grimaced at the reminder. Well, I still have years to become capable enough.

"Thank you." Shikamaru tried to adopt once more his traditional drawl, but I could see in the way he had just sighed that he was genuine in his words, "I'm sorry for bothering you, but..."

"You needed a bouncing board for your thoughts more than anything else." I nodded, "This chat merely made your thought process faster... now you should really return to your compound before the nice ANBU decide that I'm being subversive by encouraging you to say 'fuck off' to your own father."

Shikamaru's back straightened and he eyed me seriously, catching my drift. I have taken a risk simply by talking to you. I confessed to myself, But I can't ignore the irony of your refusing your father's plans only to stumble to me and basically ask me to take his place.

While the Nara heir turned his back and started the relatively long walk that would lead him back to his home, I shook my head with a sigh. You should have stuck to playing Shogi, it is clearly too early for you to play ninja.

I distractedly wondered if he'd ever pick up on the fact that I had casually directed the conversation to have him jump a single year ahead. I wondered, with a shiver running down my spine, if the tunnel vision borne out of being this young and desperate would ever peel away enough to make him realize that I merely wished for his genius to be at the service of Lee and Tenten' safety.

Maybe they weren't my friends in the same way of Neji, for I couldn't trust them with having my back, they were simply too weak for that, but that didn't mean that I was above directing a piece on the board to provide to their safety, even if in such an indirect manner and with the trickery that had Shikamaru jump at the chance of doing my will.

It wasn't like I forced him to decide to actually apply himself. I tried to reassure myself as my eyes got momentarily stuck on the moon's reflection of the small lake within the Uchiha Compound. I haven't even tried to hide that I'd like him to be with Lee and Tenten, he caught up on that pretty soon.

I breathed slowly, my eyes never leaving the quiet movements of the water under the moonlight. I had simply taken Shikamaru and his wishes, and pointed them in a direction that would satisfy the Nara Heir while being somewhat useful to me and my hope to have Lee and Tenten as safe as possible.

Finally, I shook myself away from my thinking and my eyes abandoned the reflection of the moon on the lake. After another second in which I almost darted after Shikamaru to confess that I had manipulated him, I started to pick up the few tools I had used for my training.

As I worked, I couldn't help but notice the resemblance to my first C-rank mission: there I had suddenly realized that I hadn't even cared about the lives I took as long as the action kept myself and Neji safe.

After my chat with Shikamaru, I realized that I didn't care about my manipulating a distressed 9 years old into becoming the best he could, basically leading him to years of extreme physical and mental strain, as long as it served the purpose of helping Lee and Tenten.

Truly, I am a shinobi.

For some reason, I didn't manage to find solace in that thought.

Far away from Konoha, between one of the main roads used by most merchant Clans from Iwa and the rather large river that every single small, meaningless village called in a different manner, it was raining.

A shinobi walked slowly outside a small outcropping of trees, the black hair glued to his scalp because of the water, and his eyes expressionless because of years of conditioning that allowed him a skill with compartmentalization that would have put a robot to shame.

The rain had started as a drizzle in the first half of the afternoon, only to keep building up and finally receiving the thunderous company of harsh winds and forks of lightning that seemed to hate the earth with a determination that the shinobi wished was matched by the kin he hadn't slaughtered during the night that decided his fate, merely a couple of years before.

Itachi Uchiha blinked owlishly as his eyes scanned the dark curtain that hid the stars, hoping to witness the clear sky if only for an instant. With his breathing controlled and his muscles perfectly still despite the discomfort of the cold water sapping the warmth from his body, the Uchiha prodigy waited for a minute or two, before deeming the winds so far above the earth too weak to allow him to glimpse either the moon or the stars.

With a breath that was barely heavier than his usual ones, he took his eyes away from the sky, his irises flashing red as he squeezed every detail from his surroundings despite the pitch-black darkness that covered that section of the Elemental Nations.

And then, from a step to the next, experience and training took over his immediate needs while his mind casually dispersed the first genjutsu that was thrown at him. Sloppy.

The group of headhunters had started trailing him the day before, and Itachi had merely waited for them to pass through an Iwa-sanctioned bounty-house before allowing them to catch up. After all, even if he didn't want for money, stealing cash from their bodies would be quicker than actually hunting another missing-nin on his own, before going through the hassle of disguising himself and reclaim said bounty in any of the countries that wanted nothing more than to kill him for his eyes.

Itachi ducked under the first hail of kunai, his own weapon cutting through the practically invisible string that was tied to those projectiles before he stepped aside, letting the downward swing of a katana miss him, and in the same movement that he had cut the ninja-wire with, he pierced the jugular of the shinobi next to him, dragging down his weapon for a split second before moving away.

The wound didn't even sprout with blood, the man with the sword simply felt his life splutter away along with the red liquid flowing outside his body.

It wasn't a big surprise, Itachi had known the feeling of being hunted constantly for more than two years now, and besides a few interesting applications of chakra, the dull continuation of his existence rarely managed to rip him from his inner thoughts, which followed each other in an endless and meaningless chase.

His step transitioned into a straight kick that impacted the hip of a kunoichi who tried to blitz him, stopping her cold between a step and the next. Once more, his kunai moved, faster than any of the headhunters could react to, and buried itself in the kunoichi's eye, killing her on the spot.

In the years that he spent outside of Konoha, away from the place that he had given up everything for, had come to realize very quickly that no matter your actual mettle or reputation, once you surpassed a certain level, you'd be hunted either by the very dangerous, or by the very stupid. Generally, as a missing-nin, you belonged to one group or the other.

Itachi jumped back a couple of meters, broke through another genjutsu, and finally brought his hands together, flame blossoming into his mouth faster than his attackers could blink, and an instant later, a red wall of hungry fire hissed through the torrential rain, setting the night alight along with the two shinobi that had hoped to attack him at the same time on his sides.

Of all the things he had been accused of in his accursed life, some true and many simply desperate, stupid was not one.

In the end, the remaining attackers tried to flee, the hunting party was composed of seven members, a couple of which were working together to bury him under third-grade illusions.

The keyword being tried.

Without a sound accompanying his movement, only the brief interruption of the waterdrops rushing towards the ground, his right arm closed from behind around a kunoichi's neck, and while he spun on his right, the leverage provided against his shoulder was enough to snap her neck, his following kick crumpling a shinobi's trachea.

Itachi moved one last time, the remaining shinobi pleading just as countless others before cold steel took his life, slipping between his ribs to silence the frantic beating of his heart.

With the rain washing away the little blood that the Kinslayer got on himself, he expertly started to loot the bodies: pouches of money, scrolls that contained the actually respectable amount of cash that this little group made at the last bounty station, and finally, a brand new Bingo Book issued by Iwagakure.

An almost literal waterfall of lightning illuminated the dreary surroundings even under the unforgiving rain, blood seeping into the dirt and turning it into the mud while the charred corpses of his fireball's victims had the smoke leaving their bodies stolen by the harsh wind that was turning the heavy rain into a punishing whip, focused on torturing the earth.

In the five seconds of lightning-provided light, the Sharingan spun as Itachi let the pages of the Bingo Book slip one after another, taking notice of the changes of the few bounties that held an optimal risk/benefit balance, until, for the first time since he left the village, the Uchiha stilled, his body betraying his thoughts for a single instant.

His shoulders tensed, his fingers tightened their grip on the Bingo Book that was readily drinking the rain, and his chakra... his chakra, that he had spent countless hours and days and weeks and months mastering, turning it from the raging chaos typical of the Uchiha that so readily felt their emotions as fire under their skin into the focused edge of a merciless blade, that chakra... surged.

It whipped across the pathways of the Kinslayer, escaping his tenketsu as if vapor breaking through a pressure valve, and the rain that had attempted to smother him until that moment sizzled, turning into scorching hot vapor as the rage that Itachi had always discarded as meaningless weakness broke free for the first time.

For the first time since Itachi had witnessed war, his confusion at the painful spectacle turned into quickly hidden outrage, his control wavered.

The flare of chakra had been so tinged with loathing, directed to himself and the rest of the world, that it would have tasted like burnt corpses on the tongue, a flash of killing intent so encompassing and uncaring that a civilian would have gotten a stroke, and a split second later, it was gone.

Vanished, as fast as one could snuff out a candle.

The thumb of Itachi stilled under the serious expression of his little brother, whose picture depicted him in a red lacquered steel armor that had been forged tailored for his size.

"Skilled in genjutsu, kenjutsu, C-rank Katon manipulation with half hand seal, beginning Raiton." the Kinslayer listed the skills portrayed on the page with something akin to satisfaction, "C-rank shinobi, to be treated as a B-rank in presence of his Hyuga teammate."

Itachi blinked, and turned the page, observing the news about Neji Hyuga with detached appreciation.

Under the rain, accompanied by the thunder and the hollow ache that never dulled, the shinobi tucked away the Bingo Book, mentally moving the date of Sasuke's vengeance closer than what he had planned in the aftermath of the Massacre.

Then, along with the lapse in self-control, the spark of forgotten humanity faded faster than one could blow out a candle, snuffed under steely self-control and sheer habit, and after a flash of lightning, Itachi Uchiha disappeared, the last version of Iwa's Bingo Book safely tucked in a pocket.

And if the angle of a page had been folded, to allow him to quickly find it again, it wasn't like anyone would ever find out, was it?

The village hidden in the leaves was a spectacular thing to witness. Among the other villages, it had a strong, lively quality to it that set him apart. The clear blue sky and the bright sun of the morning surely helped, accompanied as they were from winds that came from the north, bringing with them an echo of the cold snow almost ever-present in Tetsu no Kuni, the home of the Samurai.

The roads had been made through a careful application of in the immediate surroundings of Hokage Tower, which was perhaps the second more iconic feature of the village. A village that since its founding had grown impossibly large, to the point that the walls had to be rebuilt in a much larger perimeter that was once virginal forest.

The rocky plateau hosted some of the shinobi-only facilities, like the T&I building and the barracks for the Genin Corps and the career chunin that decided to bury themselves in mission for a certain length of time and didn't want to have the hassle to look after an apartment, and other such things. The rocky plateau that ended with a flat cliff upon which had been carved the faces of the Hokage who had served, and still did, the village hidden in the leaves.

Their visages, made stern by the lack of expression given to the rock, looked over the village even in death, and it was a touristic attraction that casually reminded everyone of the power of Konohagakure no Sato.

After a few hundred meters in any direction from the Hokage Towers, many trees had been kept as an important part of the veritable city that was now a mixture of concrete and wood. Besides the numerous parks where children were free to play and where anyone could walk, enjoying the ever-present rustle of the leaves, the trees appeared between a building and the next, from time to time rising even above the surrounding roofs.

Konoha hadn't changed during his absence.

Jiraya walked leisurely on the dirt road that crossed the market: stalls that had been set up in the morning and would disappear with the sunset offered a great variety of perishable goods, which reached Konoha before the dawn.

Oh, some shops were less improvised, for sure: from bookstores, which sold the incomparable work of the Toad Summoner, who enjoyed a bit of money on the side by showcasing his status as a 'Super Pervert', to places where even shinobi bought simple yet sturdy furniture for reasonable prices.

For some reason, civilians managed to make their chairs, couches, and whatnot last longer.

And with the rustle of wind, it came the happy clamoring and stern haggling of those that would squeeze every ounce of profit from whoever they could.

In fact, the way the people haggled over a few Ryo made Jiraya think of Suna, where the women tending their stalls would entice you with a secret smile while their men stared at you like you weren't worth the sand you were stepping on.

Now that Jiraya let himself look around, wistfulness about being once more in Konoha fading momentarily, he could honestly say that the casual way in which some shinobi walked the streets reminded him of Kumo, where the military forces were quiet, calm, smiling, but always present.

The Toad Summoner walked, disguised with a mastery that made a mockery of the countless layers of defense that kept the village safe, and breathed. The sweat, dust, wood, and countless others odors bringing him back to his clandestine visits to Iwa, where a faint presence of smoke could always be perceived, as if lingering over every surface.

Truly, we're all the same. Then why cannot we live in peace? That thought echoed within Jiraya's awareness of the world with a ringing sound so crystal clear and pure that he felt the need to drop his geta sandals and disappear into the wilderness, where the senseless slaughter that bloodied every shinobi' hands was muted, and more easily forgotten.

The Toad Sage slipped by a couple of jonin that were clearly involved with a suddenly tired sigh, his disguise as an elderly, hunched over man stopping to cough briefly before he resumed his stroll across his home. That he had managed to walk so easily into Konoha, unseen and unheard, was more a testament to his knowledge of his home than to the incompetence of the regular rank and file.

Even if infiltration and wide-scale battle were two of his specializations, right next to Fuinjutsu and Extremely Well Written Erotica, it was true that stopping a determined S-rank from walking into a village was a difficult task. The sensors that could spot an S-rank unwilling to be seen could be counted on one hand, and still leave some fingers free to scratch your balls.

Jiraya sighed as he shifted his thoughts to the impending change in his future plans, a faint grimace appearing on his face as he considered his future steps. A stuck-up Uchiha and, maybe, a super-stuck-up Hyuga trailing after him would make everything unnecessarily difficult.

Oh, well, it is useless to bandage my head before I slam it on the wall. With that thought, the decision was made: he would snoop on the onsen to relax for an hour or two, and then he would snoop around his prospective charges, even while his mind was balancing the good and bad things of taking only one or both of the prodigies.

On one hand, he thought as he slipped into a deserted alley before chakra flooded his body, taking them both would allow me to throw them one against the other, and I wouldn't need to be the one to constantly sharpen their more mundane skills.

He frowned as his geta sandals clacked on the roofs, the tiles apparently ringing joyfully at his presence as if they were buxom, beautiful, bountiful babes... his eyes had trailed across the roofs only to land un the infamous Uchiha Compound, clearly set apart from the center of the village, where the all the more important bloodlines of Konoha had their residence.

I'd better spy on the kids now and relax after, wouldn't I? He sighed as he changed direction, his undetectable presence moving across the village until he sneaked his way into the Uchiha Compound.

Making himself a clear idea of the kids was important after all, and what he observed as he moved in the deserted compound confirmed some of his expectations, while rising a few questions that he couldn't wait to find an answer to.

While all the houses were clearly closed, the outside was well kept, the grass cut and the roads kept clean. The fences were painted and the tiles saw regular fixing. It was clear that there was an ongoing streak of D-ranks for the upkeep of the compound.

The only building that rang out of tune against his counterparts was the home of Sasuke Uchiha himself. It was a traditional, two floors house set in the middle of an extremely large if otherwise empty lot, and as Jiraya landed on the rood, he observed with a raised eyebrow the inner courtyard, in which a single, short oak tree had managed to grow.

There were clear signs of a habit-forged path that led to a clean spot among its roots, and Jiraya noted with interest the flat, fluvial stones that led to it. A 9 years-old who meditates?

However, hidden by the angle at which the Sannin had started to look at the house of the youngest Uchiha prodigy, there was something else interesting besides the vegetable garden that was set in front of the kitchen's window.

The curiosity of the Sannin was piqued by the relatively new forge that had been built on one side of the outer yard: looking directly on the street, the forge was a simple circle of bricks that contained the cold ashes of old works, while a respectable anvil sat to the side, and sealed barrels of water and oil waited patiently the quenching of yet another tool.

Under a waxed cover, raised off the ground by wooden panels, Jiraya found ingots of high-quality iron, and a tight bundle containing tools that would have fit the hands of a child. Strange hobby for a child.

"Then again," the white-haired Sannin wanted to scoff, "this explains the perfect size of the jian for the brat back in Suna. I wonder, did he forge the Butterfly swords for the Hyuga too?"

His check of the outside of the house led him to the nearby park, the only one that saw signs of use: there were parts of the grass cover that had been torn apart, and a fire pit over which a lavic stone waited patiently. Not a complete loner then.

Finally, Jiraya slipped into the house properly, and he was left stumped. The kitchen clearly saw regular use, as well as one of the rooms where the young Uchiha clearly slept. And a single other room, which had changes of clothes in the drawers: "Awww, he has slumber parties with his Hyuga friend.

Then, casually, the white-haired Sannin laughed out loud: "Mmmh... is he old enough to be teased about being gay? At nine I already watched girls, but I'm the Super Pervert Jiraya!"

"Jiraya-sama?"

The Toad-Summoner turned towards the ANBU he had felt approaching when he started laughing at the idea of the Uchiha and the Hyuga growing up to be lovers: "Hello there! Where is the pesky baby-chunin who resides here?"

Technically, Jiraya was listed as yet another jonin in the service of Konohagakure, and so he had, in theory, no right to demand anything out of an ANBU in active service, and most certainly he had not the right to wander freely into the private property of others.

In practice, however, power had a way of bending the rules around you. Given Jiraya's more or less spotless record, his unquestionable loyalty, and the fact that if he wanted to, he most certainly wouldn't have been spotted, able as he was at infiltration and the subtler arts of espionage, the regular rank and file were encouraged to listen to him.

Besides his skills, that he had cultivated for all of his life and which had saved the bacon more than once, being the student of the current Hokage brought with it an implied level of trust that wasn't easily attainable otherwise.

"Uchiha Sasuke is at one of the outer fields within the Uchiha Compounds, 500 meters west of here, next to the river." the answer was given with the blank tone that in the Toad Summoner's opinion was chief among the things that turned the people wearing the masks into mindless puppets.

"So, the flutter in chakra..." he goaded the ANBU without an open question, which nevertheless obtained an answer.

"For the preparation of the Suna Chunin Exams, Uchiha Sasuke was briefly instructed into Taijutsu by Maito Gai," the man wearing the white masks bearing the casual etchings that symbolized a monkey answered, "at dawn, the subject started running after the jonin during the latter's warm-ups..."

"Round up your companions and leave the compound," Jiraya ordered casually, "I have a few things to talk with the brat about."

After he shooed off the couple of ANBU watching over the Uchiha, Jiraya appeared silently on a branch, observing with curiosity the park turned into training ground.

Sadly, he arrived to late to see the training regime of the kid, or the beatdown that he had clearly had just endured, but he watched with interest as the green-clad jonin vanished from the premises after having shot a thumbs up to the prodigious chunin. Well, it's not like I would have trusted another's report on his skills.

The object of his interest wore long cargo pants tucked into classical shinobi sandals, and a black, long sleeved shirt with the Uchiha fan sewed on its back over a mesh shirt. His forehead protector rested on a bandana that he wore around his neck.

Besides the casual outfit that was clearly different from the ones that he had worn at the Chunin Exams in Suna, the kid was completely different from what he expected. A couple of seconds after the green-clad jonin had left in fact, the prodigious chunin crumpled to the ground, his chest heaving as if he had waited until then to grant to his body the air it needed.

Jiraya looked for a few seconds as the brat, because a 9 and half years old kid could be nothing but a brat, despite his skill, as he forced himself to get started on a set of stretches while still on the ground, uncaring about the dirt that clung to his sweaty form. Whatever composure the Uchiha had hidden under at the Chunin Exams was gone, leaving a determined shinobi pursuing his training.

So he can work hard. The Toad Summoner ticked off another box in the growing list of things he knew about the kid that the Sandaime Hokage wanted to throw at him. And I could work with that.

Metallurgy is a useful hobby, gardening and cooking... the white-haired Sannin frowned as he was unable to pull conclusions about the young Uchiha out of nowhere.

Well, when in doubt, unbalance the target.

With a widening grin appearing on his features, he called forth his chakra, hand seals shaping it while he bit his thumb.

With the crack of thunder, followed by a drumroll that made his bone quiver, a wave of white smoke hid him as he unsealed the small wooden stage from one of the many storage scrolls he had on his person, Gamataiko giving him the opportune soundtrack as his true and tried words spewed from his mouth along with a boisterous bout of laughter.

"From the Dark West to the Bright East!"

The green and orange toad he had summoned, which was the size of a horse, was hidden behind the wooden panels that made the back wall of his easily moving stage, and as the white smoke thickened for a single second, his drumroll increased even while it remained light, the occasional powerful beating of the drum making Jiraya's heart thump with joy.

"From the Burned South to the Frozen North!"

Another set of hand seals was brought into the Elemental Plane Gamarira, a she-Toad who specialized in genjutsu caused by the playing of a Lyra.

As she started to play, complementing her brother, busy as he was with his drums, Jiraya clapped loudly, the white smoke finally starting to disperse: "Here he rises! The Man that all men want to be! The Man that all women want to have!"

The smoke completely parted, revealing that the Uchiha had bolted to the edge of the park, his eyes gleaming blood-red under the morning sun as he readied himself for a fight that wouldn't come.

"Here he is!" Jiraya clapped again, bringing himself in a classical kabuki pose after a jump during which he clicked his geta sandals together: "Jiraya of the Sannin, the Great Toad Summoner himself!"

Gamarira dispelled herself before she could be spotted, while her brother completed his performance with a last, thunderous blow.

Jiraya remained in his pose, a blinding smile on his face and his left hand extended forward, his open palm almost hiding the Uchiha from his eyes.

The same Uchiha was somewhat frozen, unsure as to what he should do now that he had a target but no good reason to attack him.

"What..."

Resealing his portable stage faster than the Uchiha could see, Jiraya appeared a meter in front of the object of his interest: "Since you're a promising chunin, you've been offered the extraordinary opportunity to travel with me and become the minion of the GREAT WRITER...!"

"Some training trip thing, then." the Uchiha breathed deeply, his control over his chakra slipping momentarily as he adjusted to the news.

Jiraya's smile became smaller as an annoyed glint appeared in his eyes. How dares the brat interrupt me?

"And you're supposed to be shouting about it for everyone to hear?" Sasuke sighed openly, his hand twitching as if he wanted to palm his face.

"Oh, don't worry about those pesky and boring ANBU, I sent them away, this is a very hush-hush thing, you know?" the Toad Summoner's irritation disappeared instantly as he mentally took notice of the black-haired prodigy's chinks in the armor he wore around his genuine reactions.

With his breath forcefully evened out, the Uchiha stared unimpressed at the white-haired Sannin: "Then why did you go on with your... flamboyant... presentation?"

Jiraya felt his lips tug upwards at the grimace that briefly flickered on the prodigious chunin's features: "Some things are more important than petty concerns!" he answered as it was obvious, "So, why did a jonin who's not your sensei agree to spar with you?"

"No," the Uchiha shook his head, visibly pushing aside the memory of the unforgettable spectacle that the Toad Summoner had set up,"a training trip... okay... that's... strange? What about my team?"

"I bet you're more curious about your little Hyuga boyfriend than your med-nin, aren't you?" Jiraya teased, a smile widely blossoming on his features as the Uchiha's expression went from controlled to irritated for a brief second.

The Uchiha, likely fed up with his introduction and his questions, didn't answer, choosing instead to clarify his own position in relation to the new element he was now facing: "Who the hell are you?"

"You didn't hear? I am..."

"No!" Sasuke raised a hand, as if to implore mercy, "I got it, thank you..."

"You're welcome!" Jiraya smiled widely, "So! Why did you ask that jonin to trash you? You must have known that you couldn't hope to even clean the underside of his sandals with that weak body of yours."

"Reasons."

"No, no, no," Jiraya shook his head patronizingly, "you're too young to pull off that deadpan thing you're going for. You should go with over-the-top accusations and snotty cries of unfairness! If you must run ahead of the curve, you might want to get started on your teen angst!"

The prodigious chunin sighed as he finally abandoned his defensive stance. But Jiraya noticed that his breath didn't hitch, and that his eyes remained wary. This will be extremely problematic, if he wasn't this sassy, I'd peg him for a ROOT trainee.

Let's see how you react to intimidation. "Kid," Jiraya spoke, letting his chakra leak a bit outside of his own body, feeling it settle around him like a warm mantle, with the rush of energy, the white-haired Sannin witnessed the Uchiha widen his eyes and lose his composure for a couple of seconds, during which he took a deep breath, the control he had been extensively training being set aside, "why did you seek out a trashing from a jonin?"

"I asked a favor, he wanted to test my resolve." Sasuke answered cagey, his eyes narrowing while his hands twitched, likely restraining the impulse of pulling a weapon on the S-rank Toad Summoner.

So there is a semblance of a spine, good. "Which favor?"

"Nunya." dazed by the blows and the tiredness, the Uchiha simply wished to sleep off the beating that Maito Gai had disguised as training, Jiraya could see it.

Still, that wasn't a reason to mumble incoherently: "What?"

"Nunya Business."

"Oh!" Jiraya feigned surprise, "I get why they call you a prodigy, with a wit like that."

"You didn't answer," Sasuke replied sharply, once more barely restraining himself from assuming a defensive stance, "what about Neji?"

"I cannot look after two bumbling kids," Jiraya had decided halfway through the conversation that he truly didn't have the patience to deal with another kid like Sasuke, besides, having them both would probably enable their stuck-up ways, and that he couldn't allow, "and I don't intend to deal with whatever budding romance you two have going on."

This time the young Uchiha didn't react to the Sannin's attempts to rile him up, instead, he finally succumbed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation: "How long will this take?"

"The time necessary." Ha! I can be cagey too with my answers, see if you like it!

"Since this is meant to be... a training trip." the youngest Uchiha left in the Elemental Nations summed up the Legendary Sannin's words, "Can I have the time to say goodbye to my friends and pack my stuff, or is this some Hokage-issued kidnapping?"

"A little of column A, a little of column B..." the white-haired S-rank shinobi shrugged with a barely restrained bout of laughter at the clearly flabbergasted chunin. If the Toad Summoner had his planned route cut short because he had to pick up the brat, a little discomfort was the bare minimum he should be thrown under, "But don't take too long! We leave in an hour!"

"Cool." the Uchiha threw his hands in his pockets and turned left, walking quickly... In the wrong direction?

"Kid... where are you..."

"I'll confirm with the Hokage if I'm actually supposed to go with you." the chunin replied without stopping, halting Jiraya's deadpan voice before he could poke fun at the black-haired prodigy, "Only because I cannot see through it, it doesn't mean that you're not some foreign kunoichi in disguise."

The white-haired shinobi openly spluttered at being called, albeit indirectly, 'a kunoichi in disguise'. Quickly and thoughtlessly insisting and swearing that he was a manly man, the one that all men wished to be, in fact, he almost missed the way in which the brat was already cursing under his breath.

"And if you're not lying, we're leaving tomorrow!" the chunin prodigy shouted once he reached the walls that cordoned off the Uchiha compound, disappearing in a Shunshin before Jiraya could directly order him to pack his shit.

I might even grow to not dislike this boring brat. The white-haired shinobi wanted to hit the head of whoever wrote the reports about the young Uchiha. He might not be boring after all.

AN

The original version of this chapter was completely focused on Konoha, but I realized that after the Sasuke-Shikamaru chat remaining in the same setting would have been underwhelming. Besides, I would have simply had the MC talk with Gai as he states in the first part of this chapter, so you as readers would have been subjected to the same topics twice, and the slightly different perspective wasn't enough to justify the 2k words that I spent on that particular exchange.

We've seen the localized butterfly effect of our new MC in Sasuke's body, but I wanted to pop outside the immediate surroundings briefly before completing the promise of having Jiraya take the Uchiha away. In this way, we even get a glance to Sasuke's Bingo Book page.

So with the next chapter, we start a very dynamic arc, now that we've finished with the first, which set the stage, so to speak, and added the first details needed to have the MC start doing shit.

We know actually very little of how Itachi would have reacted to the news of his brother becoming chunin at 9, as long as the MC doesn't disappear from the public eye, the older Uchiha shouldn't feel the need to raze to the ground Danzo and Sarutobi. A pity that Sasuke now will disappear with Jiraya, isn't it? BEHOLD MY PLOTTING SKILLS.

As for Jiraya, well... I hope I managed to slip in his forma mentis in this chapter.

I want to remind to everyone that the Author Notes are not necessary, I mean that you needn't to read them to be able to follow the story: in them, I merely try to make you see how I think about the fic, and I ask specific things that I'm trying to figure out about the writing itself. Obviously, feel free to skip any of them!

I'm focusing a lot on this fic, I'm not going to lie.

About the portrait of characters that are already well defined, I appear to have little problems, but this is sort of the first time in which I actually try to build organically not only a change in perspective but to weave that process within the story itself instead of having it set apart, influencing the story only through my 'say so' as the author.

The MC is was somewhat of an everyday Joe before being dumped in Sasuke, and my guess as a starting point was that anyone in his place would have wanted nothing to do with the shinobi life, all the while refusing the risk of being simply written aside by someone casually taking over the control of his life.

That meant seeking power, and that meant trying to find a way to leave the militaristic village that would require him to be a part of the machine, so to speak.

From there came the first somewhat snide observations about the nature of shinobi, and from those reasons came the burning need to hightail the fuck away from Konoha before Orochimaru comes knocking. That set the tone of the first chapters, in which we have someone training himself happily (discovering chakra magic for yourself isn't something that would leave a normal person sad), and the detachment from the MC's peers.

But peer pressure comes in many ways, and besides the snowballing of his conscious choice of having Lee as company and Neji as an excuse to skip ahead (becoming better as fast as possible is the best choice when the MC is aware of the shitstorm incoming), the MC is taught how to use his skills to fight, and by extension, kill.

What does the MC care about strangers? When he's put under pressure on the first C-rank, we've seen him react, unaware at first and uncaring after the deaths of the unknown shinobi.

In Suna, the MC realized by chance that he cares somewhat for the 'fated' Neji, even if he doesn't feel the need to confess anything of the sort to him. And at the beginning of the chapter, we see that while he doesn't consider Lee or Tenten to be his equals, the MC directs a part of his time to look after them (the moments of normalcy that he experienced through his BBQs are something that he genuinely cherishes).

In the same way, he fought to keep himself and Neji alive in the first C-rank, he manipulated Shikamaru, but while the MC's first kills were a reaction, the words he gifts to the Nara (in this chapter) are deliberate. Those aren't words that deliberately cause harm, but they're still manipulation of distressed 9 years old.

I hope that the transition of the SI from the standard pack of [seek power-be free] to [seek power-be free-give a hand to the three people he somewhat cares about] has been smooth.

For now, the story itself has for the most part revolved around the events and choices that served to shape that exact change in the MC's perspective and personality.

My question is: does it make sense? does it seem railroaded by the author's will?

In Revolution (my first Naruto fic and second written work ever), the MC more or less ignores his own thoughts about the shinobi world until the death of a teammate, which actually spurs him to take action. (to be honest, I'll one day rewrite the first part of Revolution, dropping in some characterization and make the forging of bonds more genuine and less rushed).

So in that older fic, basically I have the events running on their own, only with the death of a certain character acting as a pivotal moment, influencing a character which influences the rest of the story, given direction to the other events.

Sure, Sasuke, Itachi, Ino, and Shikamaru do different things, but I've simply stated that they do those things differently without building up to it through the small changes in their characters' development.

Re-reading Revolution now, I feel like there are two fics in one: one part are the events (fights, training, plans for the future), and the other part is made by the few happenings that are coupled with a deep introspection (the story of the two brothers, Shikamaru realizing that his sensei is alive after the crush, Itachi trusting Daiki). Those two parts do not feel like they're necessary for each other.

In With the Eyes of God I want the events to influence the characterization and the characterization to be influenced by the events, but without it being noticed. I'd like it to be streamlined without simplifying too much.

I'd like to hear your opinion about the issue.

How do the story and the change in the MC's mentality look from your perspective? Do they feel like distinct parts? If so, I'm doing something wrong, and I don't know what.