"I am Uchiha Sasuke, 17. My parents are Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha." He settled on leaving out the nuke-nin and 'trying to destroy Konoha' part. Hiruzen, to his credit, didn't seem as shocked as Sasuke thought he'd be. Instead, he regarded Sasuke with a patient, but amused look, as if Sasuke was a clown. Ironically, it took everything within him to not return the look.
"Prove it." Sasuke sighed, making an effort to seem more emotional than he actually was.
"You plan on making Namikaze Minato Hokage. In a week, you plan to assassinate Fuguki Suikazan from Kiri. Also, the Third Raikage will die in less than a month." Hiruzen gawked and started sputtering.
"You really are..." he trailed off, "How?" It took all of Sasuke's willpower to not reach out and b*tch-slap the old coot. With Oscar-worthy acting, Sasuke neatly shrugged and proceeded to launch into a heartfelt sob story detailing (false) events of the future. Hiruzen absorbed every word. Sasuke was shitting lies the whole time.
"Is it okay if I have Inoichi look through your mind?" Shit.
"There are things in my head that nobody should see." This was the first thing he said that was one-hundred-percent true. Hiruzen just raised a brow."
"A genjutsu subjected me to 72 hours of mental and physical torture." He said this indifferently and emotionlessly.
Hiruzen flinched, regarding Sasuke in a new light. If that was true, he pitied the boy immensely.
"I hope that a visit to TI will suffice," Sasuke made up. He had confidence in himself that he would not break so easily.
"No need, I will ask all my questions." Sasuke didn't know if that was a good thing. Hiruzen implicitly said he'd personally interrogate him.
"Why did you choose to come to Konoha upon realising you were in the past?" Hah.
"Duh, it's my village," he lied shamelessly. Hiruzen overlooked his rudeness.
"We'll see. Now, I have just one problem." Hiruzen's eyes went stern, boring into Sasuke's.
"My advisors and the Uchiha. You've no records in this time." Of course, Sasuke touched upon this during his thinking time.
"Just make some up. Konoha spies don't have records anyway. I'm a spy if anybody asks. And my clan will never know." Hiruzen sighed, knowing it was stupid to even think a teenager had an answer to that problem. After all, Danzo liked to know everything.
"Alright, I'll lead you to an apartment."
Sasuke was not fooled: Hiruzen was not this impressionable. He only lived because Hiruzen believed in keeping your enemies close. But Sasuke expected this. The more Hiruzen distrusted him, the more of an advantage he gained.
A transformed Kage Bunshin of Hiruzen led Sasuke to a cheap apartment building. The apartments were crammed together, and seemed to be no more than three dingy rooms: a bathroom, a kitchen, and a bedroom. Lights flickered on and off. The whole thing was gaudy.
The interior's walls were peeling and discoloured, the smell was pungent and it was habitable to every species of fungi. Sasuke distinctly heard the chattering of mice
"I'm sorry, but these apartments are incognito. You will pose as a civilian in public, but please stay hidden." He could not bring himself to care, despite nursing a hidden rage and knowing that, as ninja nobility, he should be treated like a king.
Hiruzen examined Sasuke's indifferent reaction. Looking at him, it was impossible that this boy would pass for a dirt-poor civilian. Sasuke - if that was the name, and it was a clever choice of name - was too arrogant, too smart, too prideful and too damn handsome to pass for a classless pauper. His blood was clearly noble, and it reflected in his regal features. He would look immaculate even in a beggar's clothing. This was a test of his acting ability.
The clone dispersed, leaving Sasuke with a quieter atmosphere, along with a bag of money. It was almost disconcerting that no ANBU trailed him, as if Hiruzen knew that he wouldn't do anything provocative in the slightest. Skilled ninja such as ANBU also couldn't be spared on an unknown factor like him.
With nothing to do, Sasuke resorted to cleaning his new apartment that was hopefully temporary. Even the broom was dusty, but a simple Suiton jutsu fixed that. He hummed a quiet tune to himself while he swept the floors.
Only when he finished his sweep of the apartment did his stomach growl stubbornly. Up until now, Sasuke pushed his hunger away to the bottom of his priorities, but now his concentration dimmed, thinking of only food. He grabbed the bag of money and fled the apartment building, much like how he had ran from Deidara, albeit this time he was extremely hungry.
Subconsciously, he was looking for a specific food stand. Conveniently, it was close to his new apartment. Ichiraku Teuchi greeted him with an exuberant smile. Sasuke nodded back politely, throwing the appropriate coins on the table and skimming through the menu.
"Tomato ramen," he mumbled. Teuchi barely heard, but started preparing it anyway.
"Any toppings, kiddo?" The chef himself looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties.
"Narutomaki," Sasuke muttered aimlessly. His mind was too preoccupied to register what he just said.
Sasuke planned to brood quietly, hoping that Teuchi would get a hint and shut up, but Teuchi was a minor annoyance compared to the Chunin team that stepped through the flaps. Obito had his hands behind his head and a content expression on his face. He kept repeating 'ramen' in a sing-song tone (this kid couldn't be related to him). Sasuke tried to ignore the resemblance to Naruto.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-san!" The girl, Rin, yelped excitedly. She alerted her team. He grumbled. Obito laughed, and took a seat on the stool adjacent to his. Sasuke grumbled louder. The boy's stubborn stare irritated him immensely.
"Two miso ramen, one with negi and the other with narutomaki, one char siu ramen with moyashi and one tsukemen with eggplant. Arigato, Teuchi-san." Sasuke noted that this was a place frequented by Minato and his team. Minato sat next to him, so he was sandwiched in between Obito and Minato. Wonderful.
Sasuke surreptitiously glanced back and forth at the younger Kakashi. He was startlingly unlike the sensei of his time. The kid was quiet, gloomy and brooding, much like he used to be. Kakashi's attitude suggested that he too lost somebody. Of course, he did tell him when Sasuke was twelve, but he didn't think it would be so apparent.
Minato was strong, Kakashi would be strong, and the other two didn't look completely incompetent. Befriending them would prove advantageous.
"So, Sasuke-san, what kind of ramen did you order?" Teuchi set a bowl of tomato ramen in front of him. Sasuke, despite his hunger, took care to eat graciously and politely. It was drilled into his head from a young age.
Rin, Obito and Minato stared at him as he ate tactlessly. Minato was more subtle, but the two former were seemingly awed with every detail on his face. He finished chewing.
"Do I have something on my face?" He was baffled at how rude a fellow clansman could be. Minato furtively tilted his head away from Sasuke, engaging in pointless conversation with Kakashi.
"I-I was just wondering why I haven't seen you before," Rin stammered. She was lying. "A face like yours is very memorable." Flattery was clever, but it didn't work on him. There was another reason.
He refused to answer her unasked question. Sasuke regarded Obito with a prodding gaze. The boy squirmed, "You look like you could be Mikoto-san's younger brother." Sasuke ignored the statement. He expected it.
"I'm a spy for Konoha," He had revised his fake backstory in his head a thousand times. He needed to make sure that no member of Minato's team would tattle to the Uchiha. Even Kakashi was listening.
"My clan doesn't know about me."
All four of them were suspicious of him.
"A tall tale, I know. I'd rather you not trust me. But this, and my skill, is what made me eligible to be a spy." The Chunin accepted this, but Minato kept prying.
"Why are you telling us this? We didn't distrust you." Minato didn't trust him yet. That was okay. He wasn't a naturally trustworthy person.
"So you wouldn't tell my clan that there's a bastard roaming around." Obito snorted and glanced at Kakashi. Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"How old are you, Sasuke-san?" Minato reverted to being his usual, polite self. Sasuke was not fooled. This was Minato's unofficial interrogation.
"Seventeen." This apparently raised eyebrows from all four. Sasuke looked older for his age. Trauma does that to people.
Sasuke didn't bother wasting his time anymore. He stood, nodding his goodbyes to Minato and his team. After all, he was not obligated to stay and entertain Minato just to satiate his curiosity. He ignored Obito's audible disdain for his actions.
"Gloomy and mysterious. Great. He's that type," Obito remarked, glancing dully at Kakashi.
Sasuke-san is intelligent and skilled, I can tell, Rin thought. Whether she was wary or awed was yet to be determined. She glanced at Kakashi, who ignored the two to re-read the shinobi rulebook. Minato just kept silent, his lips pursed.
Sasuke exited, and this time, with food not the only thing occupying his thoughts, he noticed that Konoha was abuzz with chatter. Children bounced naively, civilians were smiling, even the civilians who walked with a ninja's gait. Little to no shinobi, those quickly blurring past to report to the Hokage.
He was aware that the Sandaime was the type of man to shelter the minors and civilians from the cruelty of war. It was a merciful, wishful way of thinking with both pros and cons. Having such a naive population was never good. He had successfully fooled some civilians into thinking this didn't affect them at all.
He considered the economic repercussions, like the hospital. In this time, where the future Yondaime was slaughtering Iwa ninja left and right, doctors weren't needed more than usual, not in Iwa and Kumo, because they were all dead. And you can't heal dead people.
Some shinobi, if they got injured fatally, would kill themselves, seeing it as a way to prevent pain, alleviate pressure on the medics, and free up hospitals for people deemed worthier. A no-name Chunin, even with a more fatal injury that could be healed if dealt with in time, would be put on the waiting list to accommodate a higher-level ninja, and they would be okay with it.
Similarly, most shinobi always went for an attack that didn't kill, but injured just enough to warrant a visit to the hospital. It was a command. Not killing the shinobi but rendering them useless in a fight with their allies in tow would crowd the hospitals, thus slowly destroying the opponent's economy from within.
Thinking about the dark, twisted logic drove Sasuke slightly over the edge again. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Konoha was detestable to him. He was filled with the overwhelming urge to change the world somehow and prevent all this. He had to prevent the future bloodshed.
Sasuke didn't delude himself, not anymore. If it weren't for his constant shifting goals, he'd have killed himself. Clinging onto goals so stubbornly were what made life worth living to him. Changing this world, even with foreknowledge, wouldn't be an easy task. He would've hated it if it was any easier.
He was wrenched from his train of thought when a civilian girl bumped into him, giggling quietly in what she must've assumed was a cute manner. Sasuke just stared. "Gomenasai, shinobi-san!" She chirped, smiling at him flirtatiously. Sasuke huffed in reply, about to walk past her, but she latched onto his arm annoyingly.
"Oh, you must let me make it up to you." The girl draped herself over him, much to his chagrin. She batted her eyelashes. He tried to shove her off, but she persisted.
"You must be hungry. Let's go to this cute little cafe, my treat!" Sasuke paused. He was a little hungry, due to Team Minato's interference, he hadn't ate to his heart's content. Sasuke wasn't one to turn down free food. His fangirls had benefits, he supposed.
He let her drag him to god-knows-where, she did so slowly, as if she wanted to keep clinging to him. "Ne, what's your name? I'm Sayu Mitarashi!" He feared she wouldn't buy him food if he didn't tell her, though he knew deep down his fears were unfounded.
"Sasuke," he replied. She beamed at him once more.
As she lead him, her movements were becoming increasingly more flirty. Sasuke found it almost odd how her clothes were so revealing, as if she just knew she'd need it, or maybe all her clothing was like that. Sayu was wearing a low cut, sleeveless red top, it could've passed for a bra. Her mini-skirt matched. The wind was just strong enough to flash glimpses, but nothing too obscene. She resembled a dolled up housefly.
She would dangle her cleavage in his face, making it seem accidental, but Sasuke knew better. He let himself peek a little. After all, one could only ignore the pretty girls who vied for his attention so much. Though, he still would've whacked her into a wall.
Finally, Sayu had brought him to a quaint cafe. It was exactly as crowded as he expected. She sat down next to him, too close for comfort but again, Sasuke only protested weakly against the idea. He scanned the menu, deciding on something.
A waitress appeared, smiling at them brightly. Sasuke read her body language and was almost surprised at the tiredness in her movements. Normally, waiters were either teenagers trying to be independent, or people with a lot of free time who liked the idea of extra cash. If he had to assume, she, in her 40s, had a troubled life.
"I'll have sushi and onigiri." "Hanami dango and dorayaki, arigato!" The waitress nodded and smiled politely. Sayu immediately turned to him, blabbing off about insignificant matters. Unable to focus on anything else other than her annoying, squeaky voice, he listened to her rant about why nattÅ was horrible.
Food had arrived ten minutes later, to which Sasuke quietly dug in. Sayu watched him eat creepily. What was it with people and watching him eat? After staring at her blankly for a few seconds, she stopped, turning to her own food, but still continued talking, "You don't-" The sound of glass shattering cut her off.
A man had a small brown cola stain on the front of his white shirt, so he had grabbed his glass and violently hurtled it at the waitress. She couldn't dodge like a ninja, so shards of glass were embedded in her skin. Her white uniform was slowly staining with red. Most were too shocked to react.
The man's mouth was open, but a split second before he could get any words out, Sasuke, blurring to the ordinary, untrained eye, hit a pressure point on his neck, rendering him unconscious. The woman, barely conscious, gasped in pain. He scooped her up, mindful of the glass. No fatal points were hit.
Sasuke wasted no time. Using shunshin on an injured woman was idiotic at best and deadly at worst. He hurried out, barely catching Sayu following him worriedly from the corner of his eye. She slapped a wad of cash on the table before pursuing him. That small gesture was enough to earn Sasuke's grudging respect.
The nearest civilian hospital was a kilometre away, that would take maybe 5 minutes. Sayu shared the woman's weight with him, somehow keeping up with him. Sasuke found it suspicious, beginning to suspect that she was either a kunoichi or worked out a lot. Neither of them spoke.
Other civilians spotted them, beginning to panic. They were at least smart enough to know they couldn't help, so instead began clearing a path. It was convenient, but Sasuke was worried that he was drawing too much attention to himself. A single Uchiha member seeing him could ruin everything.
Sasuke internally cursed. He should've gotten out of there the second things looked bad. Why did he have to be the hero? Things would have been fine without him. Now, the Military Police would possibly be questioning him.
They were at the hospital, met with wary, unassuming gazes. A nurse took hold of the injured woman, obviously too tired to comment or question. Instead, she shooed them off.
With his hands free, Sasuke turned to bid Sayu goodbye, hopefully forever. He paused before he spoke. Both of them were covered in blood, he only cared slightly about the expense of clothing. Sayu, on the other hand, looked like a crime scene. Her clothing, presumably quite expensive, despite how little of them she wore, was also stained with blood, making the red resemble an unattractive brown.
Even her skin was crusted with blood that wasn't hers. Sayu didn't flinch, not even a little bit. Her face was completely calm as she looked on at the nurses yelling at each other to fetch various medical equipment, in a crazed panic because their patients were dying. Corpses were quietly disposed of, whereas injured shinobi - even the civilian hospitals had shinobi coming in and out, it was that desperate of a time- were chaotically rushed from room to room.
Sasuke began revising everything he knew about Sayu. The clue was in her name: Sayu Mitarashi. Of course, Mitarashi. Sayu was possibly related to Mitarashi Anko. As Sasuke knew Anko, she was a borderline-insane kunoichi that used to be Orochimaru's student. If she was anything like the Anko he had briefly met...
Sayu was a kunoichi. And a damn crazy one.
Note: Sorry, I don't usually incorporate OCs. I just really, really, really like Anko, but it doesn't make any sense if she was in this with her original personality, due to timeline stuff and all.