Sorry that my chapters jump around a bit- I promise longer scenes in the future!

Also, I've resolved to write more than 3k word chapters now. Expect 5k and up :D

(P.s, changed cover picture.)

Enjoy the chapter~

"Sasuke, I always knew you were alone. In the beginning, I was glad because I thought you were like me – I wanted to talk to you! But you… didn't speak. You always had everyone watching you. You could do everything and we were too different. So I decided that you would become my rival. I didn't want to lose because I was called a loser all the time. Even when we became Team 7, I still thought this way. I always tried to lie but… but the truth is… I always wanted to be like you. I aspired to be like you. Because of that… I was glad that you wanted to fight me." – Naruto Uzumaki

"Alright, you're pretty good at dodging normal senbon now, so it's time to amp up the difficulty." I delivered with a feral grin, making my teammates eye me warily, muscles tense and ready to dodge should I begin without warning. I produced senbon between my fingers, bells jingling softly from my left hand. I had decided to rip that sound girl off- Kin and use bells on some of the needles to distract my opponents. This was still a fairly new thing I had implemented into my arsenal- something completely foreign to my dear teammates. "Ready?" I chirped, while they nodded resolutely, "ready." Naruto confirmed; I began my assault. I threw both sets of the senbon at the same time, Naruto and Sakura were barely able to dodge any in confusion. "Wha-" the blonde yelped as a row hit him in the arm. I never hit any vital spots, but that didn't mean the tiny things hurt any less. He hissed in pain, before dropping in a crouch to evade the ones heading towards his chest.

"The bells are to distract us naruto!" Sakura shouted, moving nimbly to the side, dodging rows of the needles. He made a sound to let her know he heard before straining his eyes to see them coming, cursing when the ringing distracted him again. "I've got an idea!" he called, ducking and rolling closer to the pinkette. He waited until the spray of needles let up for a few seconds, before ripping off some fabric from his t-shirt and stuffing two pieces in his ears, blocking the ringing from the bells and relying solely on sight and instinct. Senbon normally made little to no sound, meaning you usually strain your ears to hear them to dodge more effectively. Throwing bells into the mix will throw someone off- if only for a moment if they're a seasoned Jōnin. I kept this up for ten more minutes, watching as they slowly improved at evading my needles again- Sakura having stuck her fingers in her ears and swiveling around like a dancer without the use of her arms. Fashion everything else; something I agree with wholeheartedly.

When I finally stopped they both took their DIY sound blockers out of their ears and planted their hands on their thighs, panting slightly with exertion, Sakura more so than Naruto- but that's no surprise. I took this time to stretch, flexing my fingers and toes, settling into a relaxed stance. Covering my mouth when I felt a yawn bubbling up in my throat, I started towards the needle covered area, Sakura and Naruto joining me in retrieving them all after a moment. Doing a once over of the area, and nodding in satisfaction when we had picked up most of the needles, I motioned for them to follow me out of the training ground and back to the bridge. As I took my spot on the railing an idea struck me, turning to the pinkette and blonde to voice it before I forgot. "We should make a team symbol."

They both sent me thoughtful looks, "That sounds like a cool idea…" Naruto trailed off, lips stretching into a grin, "Oh boy! what's it gonna look like dattebayo?" I returned his optimism with my own, replying, "maybe a combination of all our clan symbols? The Uzumaki spiral, the Haruno circle, and the Uchiha fan?" Sakura nodded with a smile; Naruto briefly paused, confused. "I have a clan?" Sakura adopted a curious look as well, a question in her eyes. Rolling my eyes, I replied. "The Uzumaki clan. Sealing masters. None of this rings a bell?" Sakura scrunched her nose, "I may have heard of them…" The blonde perked up, "I have a clan? I have a clan!" I felt awful about dashing his hopes when I voiced, "The Uzumaki clan from the land of whirlpools? Sounds right. Anyways, they were attacked, the clan scattered to the winds. You probably won't meet many other members, they also don't share your hair color. Uzumaki's are known for their vast reserves of chakra, sealing, and bright red hair. So one of your parents most likely had yellow hair."

He looked disappointed, a shadowed look in his eyes, before he brightened and announced with determination, "But that means that there might be... Family out there. All the more reason to become strong enough to find them." he clenched his fist, "I won't give up on that chance, I'm willing to risk it dattebayo."

A small smile formed on my face, offering an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "I don't doubt that." he was silent for another moment, before mirroring my smile and replying, "there could be more Uchiha out there too." the statement caused me to stiffen, before shaking my head, smile turning rueful. "I doubt any other Uchiha besides my brother-"-Shisui, and Obito-" exist." It was right then that I was struck by a terrible thought, the smile dropping completely and a blank, calculative look taking its place on my face. Danzo had collected dead clan member's eyes- what would have stopped him from taking small, forgettable children for root, or future Sharingan breeding? Their deaths covered up or faked easily enough- malleable new tools… it was unlikely but…

I felt a surge of hot rage wash over me, my eyes activating into the recognizable Sharingan pattern out of anger. 'Tch, hasn't he already done enough to the Uchiha? Though it was their ego and pride that tipped the scale and led to their destruction, the root cause for all that anguish boils down to the old war hawk- maybe Zetsu- probably. However, it's undeniable that the man's actions are his own- selfish. I felt bile rise in my throat, it's disgusting really, him and his actions. He's going to die. Painfully. I doubt I could kill him now- scratch that, I couldn't. It's not the time, and I'm still just 13, a baby Uchiha. I know he wants me dead as well- I stand between him and Itachi, a perfect tool should Danzo manage any semblance of control of him. Chuckling at that thought, I forced myself to calm down, letting my eyes fade to black. Like the old man could ever order Itachi around now- not like a mindless tool. It's laughable, the man's power pales in comparison to my brother's.

Focusing back on the here and now, I noticed a very concerned Sakura and Naruto. "It's nothing, just slipped into another train of thought. It's fine, honestly." I waved off their concerns, though I suspect it won't be that easy to evade the slew of questions bound to follow this incident. "Anyway, team symbol. We're getting off track here." Sakura was the first to break the awkwardness, "Right, that sounds like a good idea- mixing the three clan symbols I mean." Naruto followed, nodding along, "Yeah, but how are we gonna get them made?" Luckily, I already had a plan. "I can draw it, then commission a tailor to make them- then sew them onto our clothing." Naruto struck a thinking pose, squinting, "we could put them on our weapon pouches." my lips curled into a grin, "sounds like a plan guys. Now, we still have some time to kill before Kakashi-sensei gets here. Wanna go get ramen or something?" the blonde member of our trio lit up and started bouncing in place, "Hell yes dattebayo! We haven't had ramen in forever!"

Sakura clocked him on the head, shouting, "We had Ichiraku's two days ago!" he whined, clutching the bump on his head. "That's still too long!" the boy protested, making me snicker.

And with that, I enjoyed some nice food with my team, putting all thoughts of Danzo out of my mind.

Another day, another D-rank mission. This time we were picking weeds; I suggested for Naruto to use shadow clones and we finished in record time- much to Kakashi's disappointment. "Well, it seems like you're being more productive than useful today my cute little genins. I suppose we ought to take extra missions to burn off all that energy!" Kakashi chirped, much to the disappointment of my teammates.

"Sasuke! Why aren't you helping us?!" Naruto yelled, falling flat on his face when he slipped, the chicken he was trying to grab escaping into the bushes. "Huh?" I looked up from my nails, pausing in my meticulous brushstrokes. He heaved himself onto his knees and sent a fierce scowl my way, gesturing to where I was sitting on one of the hay bales stacked against the barn. It really was a lovely farm, and naturally, we were doing another D-rank mission- this time rounding up chickens that escaped from their pen- about twenty in total. With the three of us, it should have been no problem… but were team 7. Nothing about us or our missions are normal or go as planned. I had volunteered to catch eight of them, leaving the other twelve to my teammates- them having to catch at least six each.

"You're just sitting there painting your nails- why are you painting your nails on our D-rank mission? Do them when we get to the bridge!" Blowing lightly on my nails, I capped the black nail polish and examined my work, satisfied with the matte finish. Sparing Naruto a glance, I replied, "Cause' I'm bored, plus I already did my share, the chickens aren't that hard to catch." his scowl deepened, "We're a team." quirking a brow, I tilted my head to the side and asked him to elaborate with a "Hn." he sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose, "and as a team, we should work together teme." smiling at the nickname, I simply slid the bottle of nail polish into my pocket and stood, stretching. "Fine fine… I'll show you a trick to getting them to stay still." Naruto and I hunted around for the chicken that escaped, activating my Sharingan to find it in the underbrush.

Okay, the chickens were very elusive- it's not cheating!

….

I can imagine every Uchiha who ever lived rolling around in their graves right now because I'm using the legendary Dojutsu- the thing that everyone and their mother wants a piece of- eyes that hold the power to cause massive collateral damage, summon giant chakra constructs that can destroy fucking mountains, master almost unbreakable genjutsu, see-through all deceptions- to find little chickens for a D-rank mission.

'Shisui would be proud', I thought with a sniffle.

Pushing aside that thought, I finally found it, grinning and sprinting towards it. I held it down while it struggled, then drew a line in the dirt from its eyes, Naruto staring in awe as the chicken went limp. See dad? All those hours watching youtube wasn't in vain! "Is it dead?" he questioned dumbly, crouching down to join me on the ground and staring at the hypnotized bird. I gave him a flat look, "Would I kill the chickens we were supposed to capture alive?" he squinted at me, silent for a moment before I sighed. "It's just... Hypnotized. Like it's under a genjutsu- but it's natural." he poked it with his finger, flinching back prematurely.

The chicken just laid there.

"Wow! How does it work Sasuke?" he asked, carefully tying the chicken's legs together with some twine before picking it up cautiously. I shrugged, "Have no clue, just saw someone do it once and it worked." Naruto accepted the answer and ran back to the chicken coup, eager to try it with the rest of them judging by the cackling.

Cracking my knuckles I started back towards my previous spot, wondering if I could get a summoning contract for chickens- as a gift for the jinchuriki. That'd be funny, though Jiraiya might beat me for not letting him contract the toads first.

I had a variety of paint, ranging from gold to black and countless other colors. The Naka shrine was a dreary place, and kinda creepy. It was also where the special tablet was and where the Uchiha coup de' at plans were made. All in all, pretty creepy. The own place was almost entirely away from the world- it had seals that made it so no sensory nor byakugan user could even catch a glimpse in this place.

And it's all mine(excluding Obito, Shisui, and Itachi. Though none of them are here to stop me.)

I think it needs a dash of life- maybe bucketfuls of life.

Time to get started on my passion project.

...

I started on the left wall, sketching out some designs with a pencil before painting over them. This was all about Uchiha ego so I created a massive portrait of Madara with his base Sharingan active, along with the smuggest smirk on his lips. The painting was on one of the walls near the tablet itself, and let me tell you, Madara looked pretty damn good.

When I had completely finished the wall I felt like I could eat like an Akimichi. It also didn't help that you couldn't tell what time of day it was in here. I cleaned the paint off my brushes with a rag, then went about stacking the paint cans neatly in the corner for further use. The finishing touches on the piece were my signature at the bottom, and a few random messages referencing things about Maddie- like how he cant pee when someones' standing behind him. "That's about it for today," I said to myself, stretching and making my way out of the underground room.

Setting the tatami mat back in place snugly, I left the shrine completely, whistling when I noticed it was already nighttime. "Time flies when you're having fun, huh?" I chuckled, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my sweatpants and heading off to bed.

"Anko!" I greeted the woman, walking into the training field we met up at occasionally during the last few weeks. "Ah, there's my little minion." she grinned, "Ready for some epic training? I was thinking about taking you down to TAI to show you the works and maybe test your skills on one of our prisoners." Ignoring the pang in my heart at the nickname, I echoed her grin and bounced in place. "Sounds awesome! Can we go now?" she returned my enthusiasm, "Hell yeah, you're actually not that bad kid." I sent her a wink, "Of course not. No one can resist my charms for long." she rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh. You're never gonna be on my level kid." I smirked, "You're right, since I've already passed it quite a while ago."

The banter and jokes passed between us casually as Anko led me to the TIA building. It was quite ominous, though that's probably the point. "Hmm, hey Anko-neechan?" she hummed, leading me into the building and down seemingly endless hallways. "Do you use poisons? You use snakes, do they provide that? Could I sign the snack contract?"

"Woah Woah, slow down kid. As for your questions, yes, naturally. It's fun to watch your enemy literally puke up their intestines. Yes, most snakes are generally poisonous- well, the ones that matter." she chuckled, "Hmm, the last one? Maybe in the future, once you've proven yourself to me." she mused, stopping abruptly in front of a door. "Ah, here we are!"

It was a solid metal door with a small window that you couldn't really see anything out of. She opened it and entered with me right behind her. This seemed to be an observation room, with a wide one-sided window looking out into a cell; I noted what seemed like a missing-nin tied to a chair in the middle of the room. It was also pretty cold- though it didn't really bother me much. I suspect it was my fire affinity(Uchiha's are pretty warm, so they're great huggers. If only more Uchiha realized this…)

The guy was pretty ugly and kept shouting challenges that echoed off the concrete walls. Anko cracked her knuckles, lips curling into a feral grin, "I'm gonna make a go at him then you'll demonstrate what you can do." with that, she opened the door and closed it while I watched her saunter up to the man. "Good morning!" she chirped, while the man sneered. "They sent in some paid whore to get me to talk?" I snickered when a dangerous glint appeared in her eyes, while she gently placed her geta on his crotch. "Oh, you might really wanna talk now~" she cooed, slowly increasing the weight on her foot. He flinched, "Tch, as if-" she stomped down on his little friend, twisting her foot to maximize the pain. As his screams echoed off the walls I instinctively cringed, twitching with second-hand pain. "Damn, she's single isn't she,'' I muttered, watching in morbid fascination as she ran a finger down his chest, grinding her foot once more for emphasis. "Hmm, did you like that honey?" she purred, meanwhile the man was whimpering- but still looked defiant. "You bitch!" was his reply while her face fell into a pout. "Aw, well." she shrugged and lifted her foot and walked out of the room, sending me a smirk at the doorway. "Your turn Sasu-chan." my own lips turned up to mimic hers, "Cool."

I yawned and stepped into the room, the door closing behind me. I knew Anko was watching me intensely through the glass, which made me want to impress her all the more.

Hey, I just really want that snake contract.

The man barked a laugh, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Really? A brat? Kid, just quit while you're ahead, you're getting nothing from me." I approached him slowly, coming to a stop and leaned down so our noses were almost touching. "Oh, I think I will."

Reaching into my pocket, I withdrew a couple of senbon, taking the first one and expertly stabbing it into his knee as far as possible, eliciting a cry of pain. "D-dammit" he hissed, thrashing around in his bonds. I took the tip and twisted, then stuck the other needle into the underside of his arm, slipping it past the bones and watching in fascination at it broke the skin on the other side. I giggled at the pained look on his face, "Sorry, this is my first time, so I might accidentally permanently damage you if you don't talk- ah, well."

Turns out getting stuck with needles in places you'd never wish needles to be stuck in will make a guy talk- too bad the information he had we already knew.

"Babysitting?" we all asked, all looking at the Hokage with varying levels of incredulity. "It's just another D-rank." the old man responded, while Naruto gestured to our team. "Do you really think any of us should be around children- Sasuke? Dattebayo?" I made an offended noise, placing a hand over my heart dramatically, "I'll have you know I'm an amazing influence on impressionable young sla- children." even Kakashi looked a bit skeptical, "Hokage-sama, do you really think… my team should take this one? Why not the others?" Hiruzen laced his fingers together and leveled a flat look on our group, "The only available missions other than that one are painting a fence, walking dogs, dog washing, and dusting an old woman's home."

"But what's wrong with us taking any of those?" Sakura asked, crossing her arms. The old man sighed and seemed to age ten years in a matter of seconds. "The last time you painted a fence, Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun ended up accidentally covering the client and his wife in paint. Naruto walked his dog into a minefield, and the other two members of team 7 followed after him, returning to the owner with traumatized and singed canines. Your dog washing mission last week ended in disaster, you ended up dying all the dogs in the neighborhood neon pink. Finally, yesterday you attempted to dust the same old woman's home- only to break most of her precious family heirlooms and spread the dust around rather than getting rid of it. To put it frankly, almost every D-rank you have taken has displeased the client. I'm putting my faith in you with this babysitting one- as long as you keep the child entertained and unharmed, you should be fine."

Throughout his explanation, the three genins had the decency to look guilty, while Kakashi pretended he wasn't there by burying his face into his book.

I scratched the back of my head, then gave him a thumbs-up, "Don't worry Hokage-sama, we got this." he sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. "I can only hope," Hiruzen muttered.

I don't think our encouraging smiles helped…

I looked down at the small child, squinting, "Huh, you're pretty short." the brown-haired boy huffed, crossing his arms and exclaimed hotly. "I'm six now, I'm not short."

Smirking, I nodded, "Uh huh, of course, Chibi-kun."

He glared.

My smirk grew wider. 'I think this mission's gonna be fun.'

Kakashi looked up from his book, blanching when he saw the scene before him that made him do a double-take. He was pretty sure the room wasn't covered in flour ten seconds ago.

In the middle of the destruction stood none other than Sasuke, grinning deviously with their client on his back cackling. "That was awesome Nii-san!"

Sasuke preened, completely fine with letting a six-year-old feed his ego, "I know right? Wanna go cover Naru-chan with glitter next?"

The child was practically vibrating with excitement.

"YES!"

The woman at the counter scrunched her nose, looking down at the two drawings I presented. "Are you sure you want to commission a hair tie with… that print?" I cocked my head, "You didn't question my last commission- the one with the symbols last week." she looked at me incredulously, "Those were badges with a team symbol on them, this is... " she shook her head, "I'll have it made by tomorrow afternoon- still don't understand why a kid would want something like this."

"Thanks." I dipped my head and skipped out of the shop, eager for my new hair tie to be finished.

…

"Like my new accessory?" I asked my two teammates, showing off the immaculate black and white drawings of ahegao faces dotting the ribbon. Naruto squinted, "Whyr' there a bunch of girls on it?"

Sakura was a lovely shade of red and brought her first up to punch my head. It hit me like a ton of bricks and sent me sprawling on the floor. "What the hell Sasuke!" she screeched, looming over me. I curled in on myself, "It's just a hair tie-"

I refuse to admit that I got myself beat up by a girl with pink hair.

If Sasuke joined the Akatsuki; part 2

It was a normal morning in the Akatsuki base- Deidara soundly asleep in his bed. Snuggling into the warm sheets, he let out a content sigh. It never stayed quiet for long, so the blonde was enjoying the bliss while it lasted in his half-asleep state.

It might have been barely ten minutes later that he heard a loud yell, and a strew of curses echoing along the walls of the base. Eye twitching, Deidara tried to Blockout Hidan's annoying voice in vain. "Damn you greedy bastard! We just got back- I'm not counting your fucking money!" there was a yelp and the angry reply of; "you will do as I say, and quietly. You'll wake the whole base at this rate." Deidara groaned into his pillow, 'not like he hasn't already.' he snarked in his mind, throwing his legs over the side of his bed and stomping over to the dresser. Retrieving a shirt and his pouches of clay, he swung his door open, letting it hit the wall with a 'bang'.

"Will you shut the hell up un!" he yelled, already preparing to blow the Jashinist up. "You can't make me do fucking anything transy!" Hidan yelled back, fueling the blonde's anger. He stuffed his hands into his clay pouch, letting his mouth-hands eat up the substance and filling the clay with his chakra. "Who you calling transy, asshole un!"

Itachi sighed, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup, handing another to his Otouto. "Mhmm, thanks Nii-san." Sasuke yawned, grabbing the cup and retreating to the kitchen table. Another explosion rocked the base and he sighed again, taking a seat across from the long-haired Uchiha. Sasuke's normally spiky hair was even more wild with sleep, free from its usual low ponytail. The cowlicks spiked up randomly, though the other Uchiha didn't seem to care in the slightest. His Otouto lifted his cup and gulp down the hot coffee, blinking blearily up a newly arrived Kisame, who was grumbling to himself and shuffling over to the coffeemaker. "Yo." Sasuke greeted, downing the last of the coffee and running a hand through his wild locks. Kisame grunted in acknowledgment, ruffling his already messy hair as he took a seat. Itachi dipped his head with a soft, "Morning Kisame-san."

"No need for the formalities Itachi," Kisame reminded, an amused look in his eye. The older Uchiha blinked slowly, "Very well, Kisame."

A series of loud yelps, curses, and explosions racked the base again, making Sasuke snort. "Is it always like this in the morning?" Deidara stomped into the kitchen, hair slightly singed and looking smugly satisfied. He grabbed the coffee and went to drink it straight from the pot but stopped when he felt three sets of eyes on him. The blonde sheepishly put it down, grabbing a spare cup and pouring himself the coffee like a normal person. "So, how's it going Dei-kun?" Sasuke asked with an innocent smile, his head propped up on his hand. Deidara scrunched his nose in disdain, "Dei-kun un?" he looked to be about to say something but Itachi's Otouto cut him off. "Would you prefer… 'Deidara-senpai?'' he mimicked Tobi's voice- it was kind of scary- while his lips curled into a malicious smirk, eyes glinting sadistically. His chakra hummed with amusement, while Deidara glared fiercely at the youngest in their organization. "I don't like either, you should watch what you say Uchiha un," he grumbled, sitting as far away as possible from the boy. "Ok, un."

Deidara froze and leveled another heavy glare his way, hands twitching for his clay pouch by his side. "It's a verbal tic un." Sasuke simply licked his lips and replied in the smuggest voice ever, "I know, it's pretty obvious… un."

"You little-"

Sasuke jumped up from his seat and weaved around Deidara's attempt to tackle him gracefully, sprinting from the kitchen while cackling. "UN!" he choked out between laughs. Deidara already standing and going after him, his pride insulted, shouted back, "I'm going to make you into beautiful art un!"

Itachi furrowed his brows, slightly concerned for his brother's safety, as he knew the blonde's temper could reduce the whole base to rubble if left unchecked. Perhaps it was a bad idea letting his barely fifteen-year-old Otouto join a criminal organization.

Sasuke sprinted through the halls as fast as possible, narrowly slamming into Konan as they both rounded the corner. He came to a halt, falling forward and almost face-planted if not for Konan steadying the youngest member. "Sorry, Konan-neechan." was his breathless apology, smiling sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. The boy tensed when a shout of, "Get back here un!" echoed throughout the hallway, an irate Deidara quickly advancing. Sasuke squeaked and hid behind Konan, her eyes narrowing on the blonde when he stopped in front of her. "He's trying to hurt me nee-chan." the dark-haired boy informed her, clutching the edge of her robe.

Deidara left- with more than a few paper cuts.

"What a drag," Shikamaru said blandly from his spot on the couch- only leaving his room once everything had settled down; most of the members were in the living room now. "You can sleep through anything," Sasuke replied and rolled his eyes. The youngest Uchiha yawned and laid his head down on his brother's lap, staring up at the ceiling blankly. Itachi just raised a brow and continued reading. Hidan was grumbling quietly while sharpening his scythe, Kakuzu and Sasori were reading, Kisame was rewrapping that strange sword, and Tobi was humming to himself while scribbling pictures in the sketchbook Sasuke lent him.

For a few minutes, it was silent- which was quite the oddity, considering Hidan was in the room. It was broken however when Sasuke asked; "Hey, random question. If I were to say... Leave this organization because somebody stabbed me in the back and created a rival organization because I'm petty, what should I name it? Completely rhetorical." Sasori leveled a skeptical look on the dark-haired boy and decided to humor him. "Well what ideas have you come up with so far?" he asked in a disinterested voice. Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I have one thing, but it's a ripoff of another organization from a fantasy book I read. I mean, I could go with that, but I wanted something more-" he gestured vaguely towards the ceiling, "Original? I wouldn't name it dusk because that's too much a blatant nod to Akatsuki... " he trailed off, squinting his eyes in thought.

"The Jashinists," Hidan said wisely, nodding his head. "Nobody will mess with you- but you need all your members to worship Jashin."

Sasuke turned and stared at Hidan through half-lidded eyes, "That's just a cult- there's already a Jashinist cult, or there was. I'm not really sure." he scrunched his nose, glancing at Shikamaru. "Any more ideas?"

"Oh oh- pick Tobi!" the orange masked individual jumped up and frantically waved his arms. "Yessssssss… Tobi?"

"Ninja-peace-helper-friends! Ninjas because you are a ninja and peace helpers cause you strive for peace and friends because you are all friends!" he said all in one breath, bouncing excitedly in place. Sasuke blinked, staring at Tobi blankly for a moment, before he sat up and plastered an overly excited grin on his face. "Wow that sounds great Tobi!" he said cheerfully, jumping up and grabbing the secret Uchiha by the waist and lifting him, spinning around. Itachi stared in perfectly concealed shock, and something akin to horror as he watched his Otouto getting touchy-feely with who he believed to be Madara.

"WEEEEE!" Tobi laughed, eyes narrowing at Sasuke behind his mask, cringing when his ribs felt like they were breaking from the force of the hug.

"You know Tobi, I think we'll be the best of friends," Sasuke concluded, lips stretching into a smile that made shivers run down Obito's spine.

Itachi looked on exasperatedly as Sasuke dragged 'Tobi' off to help in his art, sighing once they disappeared out of the room.

Hidan scowled, "Fucker didn't even choose a damn name." he grumbled, making Kakuzu roll his eyes.

"It's human nature not to realize the true value of something, unless they lose it." – Orochimaru

"No one cared who I was until I put on a mask." – Obito Uchiha

FIN