this took a while for me to write, sorry


PART SIX

Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor often regarded as the smartest, most talented witch her age. The shinobi had seen her a few times in the library, and a couple times more in the halls. Although her skill in a combat situation was most likely genin-level at best, she still struck him as a force to be reckoned with; the mix of intelligence and tenacity could prove to be dangerous.

Which was why, when she had found a lead to investigating a little more about him, he had decided to tail her personally. Truth be told, he didn't particularly care about keeping his identity a secret, as shown by his choice to not use any sort of code name. The decision to keep track of the witch's progress was mostly spurred on by boredom, as nothing really interesting had happened as of November, just the looming specter of war and Umbridge's Black Quills

(Sasuke found himself at an impasse. On one hand, it would mean lessened assistance from the Ministry, but the punishment also set his blood boiling).

Pushing away the thought of bleeding hands and politics, he instead focused on the task at hand. Granger had claimed a spot to herself in a rarely visited part of the library, somewhere among dusty texts about a war among the goblins and the wizarding part of Europe. A clever move, he commended, idly observing the Gryffindor place translation charms on the scrolls and thin books scattered in small piles around her.

The scrolls themselves seemed to be about the Uchiha and Senju conflicts and how they played into the formation and growth of Konoha. Common knowledge, if one actually bothered to do the research. The books, on the other hand… Sasuke raised an eyebrow, torn between interest and irritation. Bingo Books. Damn.

How Granger had managed to get ahold of those, he had no idea, but after closer inspection, they appeared to be recent editions from various villages, with the newest update from Konoha sitting on top.

Sasuke sighed, looking over the witch's shoulder from his hiding place atop one of the shelves, and waited as she began to read.

By the time she left the library to go to classes, Hermione Granger had discarded the scrolls and instead stuffed the now bookmarked Bingo Books into a bag, face flushed with an epiphany she was obviously itching to tell her friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.

The Uchiha paused. Whatever was about to happen, he could deal with. His employer definitely knew, the Ministry probably wouldn't care, and the student population was already flooded with near-constant gossip.

With that, he dropped down from the ceiling, discarding the camouflage jutsu as he fell.


"I figured it out!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling in triumph. "I found this book," the witch said as she pulled out a black book from her bag. "It's like a list of bounties. Enemies of this village called Konoha, dangerous rogues, criminals, things like that," she explained as she flipped open the text to a bookmarked page. The trio leaned in closer.

Inside the pages was a photo of a light skinned male with black eyes and hair that framed his face and stuck out a little in the back. Written on the top of the page was "Sasuke Uchiha", followed by a list of basic information.

Harry and Ron exchanged a half surprised, half excited look.

"Here. A missing-nin, also called a rogue ninja. He left to join someone called Orochimaru -" she turned to another page, this time picturing a pallid man with purple markings around cold amber eyes, "- who's an awful lot like You-Know-Who, to kill his brother. He was around thirteen at the time, I think." She returned to the page on the ninja hired to protect Hogwarts.

Harry pulled the book towards him and read through the entry. "S-ranked. Katon, Raiton. Sharingan. I don't recognize any of these terms," he admitted.

"S-ranked means the highest danger level a Bingo Book can register," Hermione explained. "Katon and Raiton are both something called chakra elements, it basically tells you that he can use both fire and lightning based techniques." The witch paused, pursing her lips. "I'm actually not sure about Sharingan and what it does, but I do know it's something called a kekkei genkai, which translates into bloodline limit."

"Blimey," Ron shook his head, peering over his friend's shoulder. "He's seventeen. And he's killed at least three people," he said, gesturing to a part of the entry labeled Notable Kills. "Orochimaru - he offed his own teacher? - Deidara, and Itachi Uchiha. So he did end up killing his brother? Why?"

"I read this in an older Bingo Book. The Uchiha Clan Downfall. A massacre caused by his brother. He was the only survivor and wanted revenge."

A sober silence stretched on between the three.

Hermione tucked a wisp of curly hair behind her ear and coughed pointedly, jolting the other two away from their thoughts. "So what are we going to do?" she asked. "There's a newer version of this that doesn't have Sasuke in it. I think he returned to the Konoha village, and somehow made up for… whatever he did."

"Well," Harry said, "I suppose we could ask?"


He was in the library when he saw them coming. The three looked somewhat apprehensive, and Granger was holding a Bingo Book he recognized to be the one that came out almost immediately after Team Seven's "reunion" in Orochimaru's Kusagakure base.

The Uchiha stifled a sigh and pulled off his mask, gesturing for the trio to hurry up. Granger was the first to reach him. The girl sat down, a determined set to her mouth. "My status as a missing-nin was revoked," he started as soon as the other two arrived, "I was on probation for a while - I'm still supposed to be, actually - but the Hokage let me come here, probably to get me off her hands." Which wasn't quite true, but whatever.

"Okay," the witch said, apparently shocking her companions with the ready acceptance of his story, something that had admittedly caught him off-guard as well. "I knew that already. I really came here because I had some questions."

He nodded. That's not too surprising.

"What's a Sharingan? I already know it's a bloodline limit of some sort, but none of the things I've read had any real info on it."

"I can respect the need for knowledge," Sasuke started, "but there's this saying that comes to mind… Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought it back," Granger replied evenly. "While we're at it, what exactly is a Curse Mark?"

Uchiha Sasuke suppressed a smug smirk. "Fine, but I'm going to have to ask for a favor in return..."


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