Note: About that fight scene, I don't think it was absolute sh*t, but honestly, I'm not good at this whole power scaling thing so idk if his victory should've been that easy or not. Sorry.
Sasuke panted. That fight was quite exhausting. Now, he just had one more thing to do before he collected the Chunin and left for Konoha, leaving this wretched place.
The Rinnegan. The best, safest thing to do would be to crush it with his knife, destroying it forever, and nobody could use it for their personal gain, the do-gooder's route. But why do that when he can steal it, and use it for himself? It could also be used as bait for Tobi/Madara.
He was careful when he plucked them out from Nagato's eyes, sealing them away in a storage seal in his wrist. Before he left the tower, he paused, wondering if he should bring proof of Nagato's death. Hiruzen would either commend him or scorn him forever. In the former case, he should bring a spoil of war. Konan was hopeless, Amaterasu didn't even leave ashes.
He went up to Nagato's actual corpse, and in one swift motion, lopped off his head, sealing that in a different storage seal. Finally, he got to leave that damned tower. Hopefully, Rin, Obito and Kakashi had recovered by now. He left for the inn at a much calmer pace.
By the time Sasuke got there, they were rubbing their dazed heads. Rin, despite her probable headache, rushed to Sasuke's aid and began fixing up his stab wound to the best of her ability. He watched with a tired sort of awe as his skin magically patched itself up.
"We're leaving in 5 minutes. Pack your things." At least on this, they agreed.
Of course, only Obito had the gall to question him about that fight. "You fought the leader of Ame. I thought that was Hanzo, but it wasn't. That was so cool!"
"Thanks, Obito." He inwardly sighed in relief. So Obito didn't see anything questionable. He was the only one who'd question the techniques he used, but Amaterasu was unknown enough within the Uchiha for Obito to not recognise it.
They all packed their things and left. Sasuke rushed ahead, forcing them to keep up despite their tiredness, leaping from building to building. Once they were at a comfortable distance outside of Ame, Sasuke allowed them to take a break, and not a moment too soon, for they all seemed to collapse. It was evening already, which meant the day's events, as quick as they seemed, took over seven hours.
"We keep going for another few hours, and then we can sleep," He smirked at the three's nearly inaudible groan, "Don't groan. I can go ten times faster. I only slowed down for you." They did a better job of covering up their groan this time. Once more, Sasuke sped, forcing the exerted Chunin to attempt to match his pace.
After a few hours of listless travelling, Sasuke decided he had tortured the Chunin enough, and that they could go to sleep. Tomorrow would be one hell of a day for him, since he had to tell Hiruzen that he murdered the leader of Ame. He had screwed up his first mission royally.
He wondered what to do with the Rinnegan. He could feel the metaphorical weight of it. He could tell Hiruzen, who would no doubt want to implant it into somebody to boost the village's strength. Of course, there were a list of requirements; that person needed to have large reserves and high vitality. An Uzumaki or Uchiha would be preferred. Hiruzen didn't know this.
Besides, Sasuke wanted the Rinnegan for himself. There was no denying that he'd be the ideal candidate. There were just two problems: he had no skilled medical ninja to transplant the Rinnegan into his eyes. Secondly, if he transplanted the Rinnegan, he might lose his Eternal Mangekyou, and if he couldn't deactivate it, he'd have to roam around with his eyes covered. Hiruzen would find that suspicious.
His verdict: tell Hiruzen about the Rinnegan. If he convinced him enough, Hiruzen would find no alternative and transplant the Rinnegan into Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke would not relinquish - he was getting that Rinnegan if it was the last thing he did.
Sasuke was in a very good mood, the three Chunin noted. It was never apparent with Uchiha, but it was this time, though they waved it off as it being due to their mission completion.
The first thing they had to do was file a mission report. But the three Chunin had spotted Minato, practically refusing to go to the Hokage Tower before they had a little chat.
"And it was so badass! I got my Sharingan! And then Sasuke was like," Obito gesticulated wildly, motioning this way and that and making aeroplane noises. Thankfully, his interpretative skills were quite lacking, or Minato would've killed Sasuke.
"How was the mission, Sasuke-san?" He inquired, trying to goad him into saying something incriminating. Sasuke decided to be honest.
"I screwed up." Minato chuckled, throwing his head back.
"How did you screw up a C-rank? Even my team did alright!" Sasuke sighed. Man, he hated this.
"I decapitated the leader of Ame, and burned the other leader to death. They started it though." Was that too blunt? Minato was staring at him in a mixture of awe and disgust.
"We'll get going now," He was almost surprised that Minato let him take his Chunin to the Hokage Tower.
Hiruzen was staring at the three, prodding one of them to speak first. Sasuke had remarked that it was best for the three to go, since they had an easy report.
"And then this drunk Jounin was about to kill us, but then Sasuke knocked him out, so it's fine-" Before Obito could continue, Sasuke cut in,
"Alright then, my turn."
Hiruzen wore a tight smile, "I trust your mission went well?" Sasuke nodded.
"I delivered the scroll, but then," he rubbed the back of his head, as sheepishly as it gets for an Uchiha. Sasuke glanced at the three Chunin, and then at the privacy seals in his desk, hoping the Hokage would get the memo. He did, waving them off and activating privacy seals. The ANBU vanished in an instant.
"Hanzo isn't the leader of Ame. He was defeated," he spoke as soon as he felt it was safe.
"Lord Pain and Lady Angel took over, ruling Ame in a dictatorship. I killed them both." Hiruzen's eyes almost imperceptibly widened.
"Do you think this could cause a potential conflict?" Sasuke shook his head.
"No. It was a dictatorship. In my view, Pain and Lady Angel ruled with an iron fist. The citizens were afraid of them, worshipping and fearing them as gods." It was faint, but Sasuke could sense a faint glimmer of respect in Hiruzen's eyes.
"Do you have proof?" Sasuke deadpanned. Of course he'd ask for proof. Without warning, he unsealed Nagato's head, letting it roll on Hiruzen's desk like a ball.
"What a lovely addition to my paperwork," the man sighed, flicking the head back to Sasuke, who sealed it again.
"Anything else?" Sasuke hesitated. He nodded, pulling out the second spoil of war. Two purple, orb-like eyes rolled onto Hiruzen's desk. The optic nerve stuck out, preventing them from rolling further. "It's the Rinnegan. Lord Pain had it."
If there was one moment where Hiruzen would've fainted from shock, it was this moment. He exhaled, exasperated. He thought he had seen everything, but getting to see the Rinnegan in his lifetime was something he hadn't thought of.
"Amazing. Sasuke, you've accomplished an S-rank mission." It was his turn to stare at Sasuke wonderingly. Sasuke's next question would ruin that, but it was worth asking.
"So, do I get paid an S-rank's worth?" Hiruzen sighed, and nodded reluctantly.
Back to more important matters.
"You can't give it to just anybody. Even Pain, whose reserves were massive, was drained by it. Simply protecting it isn't enough. These eyes are legendary. They're a game-changer in this war. The best protection you can offer them is in somebody's eye sockets."
They both knew what he was suggesting. Sasuke knew he was the ideal candidate.
"Very well. I've confirmed your capabilities, so I'll consider you. But I'll compile a list of capable ninja, such as Minato, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru-"
"No!" He couldn't stop himself. The thought of Orochimaru acquiring the Rinnegan, admittedly, it creeped him out.
"Not him," he stated again, calmer. Hiruzen raised a brow. At this point, Hiruzen's trust in Orochimaru was absolute. Even if Sasuke outright told him, he'd refuse the truth. Yet, Hiruzen was a master at lie-detecting. In that moment, Sasuke took a gamble.
"Orochimaru is a traitor. The man is crazy about mastering every jutsu in the world, so much so that he had forsaken morals. He has secret laboratories around the outskirts of Konoha where he experiments on the children he kidnapped from the orphanages." Hiruzen was aghast, clearly horrified. He opened his mouth to defend Orochimaru before Sasuke cut in.
"I forgot about him for a while," he lied, "but it's true. Don't let personal feelings affect your judgment."
"I-I'll look into it," Hiruzen agreed, obviously shaken, "You're dismissed." Sasuke took his leave, hiding a sigh of relief.
When Team Minato weren't around, Ichiraku was the cheapest, quietest place with good food that Sasuke could find in Konoha. He hungrily tore into his ramen, but still watching his manners. After days of eating gravelly ration bars and cooked fish, the ramen seemed like gourmet. His peace was short-lived, for the most annoying kunoichi of her time walked in.
Sayu yelped with glee and sat herself down next to Sasuke.
"Ooh, Sasuke! What are you doing here?" He grunted. He absolutely refused to deal with her. She started blabbing about something again. He tuned her out, focusing instead on the ramen. God, he was turning into Naruto. He even ordered a second bowl.
Sayu ate her serving, and declared that she was leaving. Sasuke almost dropped his chopsticks due to the shock, "What?" She blinked in confusion.
"What, what? I'm leaving. I have a mission." She was finally going to leave him alone.
"Aww, are you sad to see me go?" She spoke in a baby-voice, which was insulting.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon!" Sayu pecked him on the cheek so quickly he barely had time to react. She sauntered off, giving him one last flirty wave. Ew. He hated it when girls kissed him without warning like that. Sayu was still a suspicious character, but Sasuke weighed the odds of her being that dangerous, and found them disregardable. If anything, she suspected his sudden appearance, but that was okay as long as he had the Hokage on his side.
"Thank you for the meal," he said, dropping a few coins on the table. His legs ached from disuse, so he left the ramen stand and took a walk around Konoha, avoiding the Uchiha District. Sasuke figured he should get a sword soon, since he was decent with it. There was no beating Kusanagi, but a standard-issue sword should do the trick. Later, he'd obtain one from an enemy. Good swords were fought for and earned, not bought.
The weapons shop was nearly empty, except for him and the weaponsmith. He perused the items for a good sword, settling on a silver chokuto. He went to pay for it, picking it up and assessing the weight. The weaponsmith eyed the sword, and then him. Plopping the required money on the counter, Sasuke was about to turn around when he felt a cold breath down his neck.
"I've never seen you before," the voice hissed. Sasuke turned around, looking Orochimaru in the eye with a fierce gaze.