"Hey," Yugito greeted him, scribbling something down on a clipboard. The Uchiha had gotten pissy, since another clan heir died for like the twentieth time, so Sasuke figured it'd be best to get out of there before their anger was directed at him. He wanted to see how things were going with Yugito.
He whistled appreciatively when he spotted the sign 'Sasuke's land'.
"You threatened Gato? Nice. How come you signed it on my name?" He was pretty sure there was a Sarutobi Sasuke mulling about somewhere, so it should've been more convenient on Yugito's name.
She huffed.
"Legally, a woman cannot own land, unless she's a widowed aristocrat. We could co-own, but then we'd have to get married." Right. Somebody had done her research.
Sasuke cleared his throat.
"So...you built something." He overlooked the cliff, glancing at a giant, incomplete building made of bricks. It wasn't there last time.
"Did you build that?" That was really quick, so chakra was presumably involved.
"Well, I was the architect. I didn't physically build it. But where else were we gonna sleep? Although, let's call it a stronghold."
Sasuke squinted. "How'd you get the money?"
"Sold a kidney." Yugito whistled, scrutinising the sunset. Sasuke's eyes widened. He examined her.
"Hey, relax. Not my kidney." Sasuke rolled his eyes. What a morally wayward companion.
"Alright then. I'm going out for a bit," With that, Sasuke coolly dived off the cliff.
Sasuke was venturing through nearby towns, glancing to admire wanted posters of himself. His assassinating a prodigal clan heir earned him a spot on the list of the most wanted men. Yugito's fiery stunt with the Senju-Uchiha and her killing several Senju generated quite a sum, but people barely took her seriously since she was a girl. It'd take a few decades until everyone got desperate enough to stop being sexist so they could draft women for war too.
Halfway through ripping up a wanted poster of him (they got his nose wrong!), Sasuke paused for a thought. Being highly reputable and wanted would be absolutely brilliant and advantageous if he built up some sort of powerful hero image. They would rake in so much cash.
Perhaps he was rather impulsive in his thinking. But his aim changed from 'stay low-key' to 'stand out'. Sasuke hatched a plan in mind. They were a bit short on money anyway. His own head was worth so much money, and Yugito's was worth a decent bit, and yet they were both flat broke. He smirked.
He barged in (the half-built building was way nicer than he expected) announcing that he had a plan.
"Oi, I have a plan." Sasuke waved the two wanted posters, setting them down on the table. Yugito eyed them for a moment before seeming to catch on without any explanation.
"You're a genius," she muttered, starting to smile.
"Bounty hunting?" Yugito was so happy that one would've thought he bought her a diamond necklace or something. He nodded.
"I figured I'd give you a break from the boring economic stuff. I'll take over for a bit." He smirked, digging into his pockets.
They high-fived before Yugito skipped off to get ready for her new bounty hunting job. That left Sasuke with a mountain of papers to sift through. He never considered all the paperwork that would come with just owning a plot of land and building something. Imagine the village. He kept telling himself to trust the process. Sasuke inhaled, not yet regretting everything before steeling his nerves and working through the papers.
By the end of it, he was enlightened enough to know that, while grueling, it must be done. Still, he had a long ass day, full of killing his ancestors, and he deserved a quick power nap. His jacket made for a good makeshift pillow.
When he woke, the sun beat down on his face, so naturally, he expected an hour to have passed. Sasuke gracefully rose from his chair, stretching gleefully. He hadn't slept that well since his chakra went AWOL.
Checking his watch was the first cause of panic: seventeen hours. Sasuke's spirits dropped substantially. How the fuck did he fall asleep for seventeen hours? The worst thing was that, in thirteen minutes, some tax guy was scheduled to arrive. He picked the worst possible time to graciously give Yugito a break.
Sasuke cursed himself. There was nobody more meticulously impulsive than him. He barely had time to curse himself, however, since he was too busy organising whatever shit he had to. Fifteen minutes into his organised panic, there was a knock on the front door.
Peeping through the peephole, it was a portly middle-aged man carrying a briefcase.
"Ahem, I've come to discuss tax," Sasuke could instantly tell, just judging by the man's demeanour that they would not get along.
"Take a seat," Sasuke tried his best to soften his resting bitch face, ushering the man in. The man straightened his tie, plopping himself down on the couch. Sasuke refrained from telling the man to be careful, since he seemed likely to break the couch with his overwhelming weight.
"Why is it that a woman paid the upfront fees?" The man, introducing himself as Mr Kimura, readied his clipboard and pen.
"Is that illegal?"
"No, but-"
"Then why are you asking?" Sasuke impatiently drummed his fingers on the table. Kimura pouted.
"It is imperative that you answer my questions in order to pass the rudimentary stage of the financial process," With that, he scribbled notes onto his clipboard.
"Who was this woman? The fetching, flaxen-haired one," Kimura clarified. Sasuke had to fumble for an answer before settling on the truth.
"She's my friend. That's it." Kimura was disbelieving, and Sasuke had enough of the man already.
"Look," he compiled the stack of paperwork that he finished, "take this," he reached for a wad of cash, "and this." He handed both to Kimura. "And get out."
The man happily skipped off, eyeing the pretty bundle of cash.
Sasuke decided to retire back to his comfy armchair all the way in the other wing of the building. He got barely a millisecond of relaxation before detecting an irritatingly large set of chakra signatures that were disturbingly close. They weren't Senju or Uchiha, but the next largest clan nearby would be the Sarutobi.
Stalking towards them, he needed to find out if they were simply passing by or if this had anything to do with his name and their clan leader's name. He was pretty sure there were some periodic qualms against naming a child the same as a notable clan leader.
Veiling his chakra and sneaking around in the treetops, Sasuke overlooked them, straining his ears to make out the words.
"This is ludicrous. Why fight because of a shared name with Sasuke-sama?" The man kicked the dirt in frustration. Sasuke was inclined to agree. This was the stupidest possible task imaginable. There were only five men anyhow.
"It's disrespectful, you blithering fool," one of them rudely commented. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He jumped down, revealing himself.
"What the hell do you want me to do? Change my name?" All five reached for weapons, but didn't strike yet. It seemed like they actually had diplomatic sense.
Sasuke dug his hands into his pockets, seeming unthreatening and implying that he didn't want a fight.
"Is that the only reason you're here?" One of them nodded reluctantly.
"His bounty is substantial, as the vanquisher of Uchiha Madara. He's strong."
Sasuke smirked. To quote some dead warlord, 'The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting'.
"That's right. Tell your leader that it's pointless to pick a fight with someone for having the same first name. That's how things get gnarly."
The men made it seem like they were leaving in good sense. Sasuke turned around, glad to have avoided a skirmish. A split-second later, he caught a kunai in between his fingers, inches from his nose. The man that threw it seemed shocked that he caught it. Now Sasuke was pissed.
"That was the last thing you'll ever do," he threatened, gritting his teeth and tossing the kunai to the floor. A measly weapon would only hinder him. The men were in the middle of a sequence of signs before Sasuke disrupted four of them with a bolt of lightning. He zoomed towards the fifth one, grabbed his throat and spoke.
"I'm letting you live so you can tell your leader that the more men he sends, the more I'll kill. He'd be wise to leave me alone rather than risk making another enemy." They weren't dead, but the fifth guy didn't need to know that. If Sarutobi decided to pursue the matter further, then he'd kill every man sent and send back the dead bodies. If he was wise enough to stay out of Sasuke's business, then he'd personally mail back the breathing hostages.
Luckily, the man didn't attack him out of rage. He clenched his teeth, recognising that his anger would've gotten him nowhere and fled. Sasuke rolled his eyes, tying the men up. If only he had a proper holding cell. The only available place was the basement, which, to his surprise, Yugito had built to double as a prison.
Sasuke sighed. This was a really stupid day. He envied whatever kind of fun Yugito was probably having right about now.