A/N: Thank you everyone for your amazing feedback! I returned to the last chapter to tinker up some confusions with Sasuke's lineage in the last paragraph, so be sure to check that out, because I'm sure that might leave some unanswered questions which I'm not sure I'll dive into in the future.

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/An•guis/

Noun – Latin

1. a long limbless reptile that has no eyelids, a short tail, and jaws that are capable of considerable extension. Some snakes have a venomous bite.

2. a treacherous or deceitful person.

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Chapter II

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A single pale finger rose from the shadows of his cloak to touch the slightly damp brick wall. A light sunshower had rained down during the earlier hours of the morning, causing several stray puddles to form here and there. Even though the small courtyard was shielded from the sun at this hour, Sasuke still didn't feel the cold that came with the transition from one season to the other. Adding a henge over his eyes that were colored brilliant scarlet to make them appear dark obsidian to any passenger, he tapped the required bricks for the gateway before him to open.

He had quite a bit of trouble the first time he came around. He could see the chakra flow of which of the stones he needed to tap, but the order was a puzzle to him for a few good minutes before the pesky entrance had opened. Now, however, the bricks moved away on their own accord from his first try, giving him a generous view of the colorful alley full of wizards and witches alike.

He had waited till noon to come down from his rented room at the Leakey Cauldron, gathering the pouch of coins into his loose pockets. It was easier to go around more freely when the tiny shop-filled alley was more crowded, considering he could blend in without receiving so much as a second glance. His dark eyes traced the outlines of all the different establishments, his free hand stuffing itself in his other pocket to retrieve the list of things he has yet to possess.

Scanning the written words that had not yet received a brutal slash across them, he raised his head up to survey his surroundings, turning a corner while unconsciously avoiding any unnecessary stops due to the almost suffocating amount of magic folks around him. From the corner of his dark eyes he saw a flash of the quite extraordinary looking bank that he had visited a handful of days ago. His eyebrow raised in a gesture reminiscent of the previous time he had laid his gaze upon the building.

An elaborate looking key had sat in the old wooden portkey box that his grandmother had left behind. He traced the pattern of it, examining the piece of metal with his blood red eyes, yet he did not understand the purpose of the lock turner lying on his desk. Well, that was until the old coot had indulged him of one of the many customs they had in this odd society. Yes, odd. When his artificial fingers brushed across the pattern for one last final time, he decided that this was just another oddity that he won't dive deeply into.

Another key – almost identical to the other – weighted in his pocket besides the other as he turned another corner, his cloak swishing in the wind. He still had to make sure just how much his upbringing has left him with and he recalled that he was mildly surprised when a generous pile of galleons stared back at him from the place he stood by the entrance to the Gaunt vault. He guessed that by ancient pureblood family standards, this little amount of fortune was a laughing stock in comparison, but the handful of coins in between his fingers would get him through fairly well. In his defense, it was the ever intact instinct whispering enticingly into his ear that compelled him to request a vault all to himself, as if the jab of intuition had depicted the possibility that he wasn't the last of his kin to have opened the safe in more than fifty years.

Walking past Gringotts, Sasuke glanced up at the rather tall shop standing in front of him, the damp wooden sign gleaming in the rare occurrence of sunlight. Even with the help of the natural lighting, the Uchiha had to squint to make out the peeling golden letters embarked into the wood. Popping another pill into his awaiting mouth, the words started to make much more sense to him.

Ollivanders

Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

Traversing the rest of the stone path in six quick strides, he found his fingers encircling the polished knob of the wand shop. His anticlimactic entrance was accommodated with the faint shimmering of the bell located above the door. Lowering the black hood from his equally dark hair with his prosthetic hand, he glanced around the narrow shop with disdain. Steely eyes caught sight of movement somewhere from the back of the store behind piles on piles of small long boxes, before an elderly man emerged, making his presence officially known.

His pale silvery eyes met the youth's judging hard gaze which scanned his face for any and every nuance and reaction from the aged shop keeper. Ollivander sized the teenager up, letting a disarming smile to dance like a moth around the corners of his mouth.

''You're an odd one, aren't you?'' The man mused to himself more than speaking directly to the dark haired male, making Sasuke's fingers twitch in annoyance as the words that he himself would've spoken to the man was shot at him. Dark lashes protected his irises from the floating dust as the young man blinked when the shop owner scurried off somewhere to the back once more. He emerged from one of the shabby corners of his store moments later, whipping out a measure tape as he strode to the Uchiha.

''Now, which is your wand hand, Mr. Uchiha?'' Said male sucked in a breath of surprised at the grinning man hovering above him, a puzzle of wonder solving in his mind as of how he had known him, before even the henge placed upon his cursed eyes couldn't suppress the furious glint of crimson from coloring his eyes momentarily.

Of course, the babbling fool of a Headmaster was at fault, once again.

''My right one.'' The hardened clipped tone which resounded in the small shop did nothing to handicap the older wizard's excitement. A few months back, he would've said his left hand, but due to some unorthodox complication and a lost limb, he was led to believe that it was far safer to use his own flesh hand to push chakra out through a seemingly unnecessary wooden stick.

The loud snap of Ollivander's measuring tape brought him out of his slight daze, silver markings only a blur as the long tape returned to its default state. He was staring at the floating magical object with a burning expression as the elderly wizard reached his wrinkled hand to grasp a random dusty box from the shelf on his left. Predictably, the object he wished to purchase rested inside the pillows of the box.

''Ah, this one, this one I'm sure! Very fitting for a young lad of your calibre.'' Sasuke gingery grasped the length of the fairly long black wand, looking down at the unique carvings of the dark wood. He wondered from what the older wizard judged which wand was who's, but shrugged it off. He looked back up at Ollivander with an unwavering gaze which would unnerve quite a few people, but the elderly man frowned down at him from his spot several feet away.

''So? What are you waiting for? Give it a flick, boy!'' With a sharp turn of his right wrist that connected with the fingers that encircled the delicate wood, a jet of dust shot out from one of his sides. He didn't know if the flying boxes from his left was a good sign, but judging by the determined glint in those ancient looking pale eyes, the young man knew this might be more time consuming than he originally thought.

''No, no. Phoenix feathers aren't the way to go, I suppose.'' The wandmaker took the oak wood out of his loosened grip, cradling the wand into the previously discarded box almost lovingly. Sasuke suspected that the old man had a deep infatuation with wandlore, but chose not comment on it as another – more lighter in color, almost white – wand was thrust into the awaiting flesh of his palm.

''Try this one! 8.75 inches should do the trick, even if it's a bit short. Unicorn hair is a great core to have if you seek consistent magic.''

Which apparently, he did not, judging by the shattering windows raining down onto the shop's floorboards.

With a flick of his own, Ollivander muttered an incantation, before the shards of glass reassembled to their original state. He shook his head disapprovingly. Taking the wood from Sasuke's hold, he placed it back into the velvety pillow of its container.

''I was so sure that Yew wood would do you justice, considering your background.'' The wizard drawled on as he closed the lid shut, oblivious to the heterochromic eyes glaring at his turned back under dark messy bangs of hair. His fingers itched to form the needed hand signs for a decent size Chidori if the old man proved to know too much. Taking a deep, yet rather quiet breath of mostly dusty air, Sasuke tried to calm his nerves.

''Ah, how curious..'' The Uchiha looked up at the man who held up yet another wand from the countless stacks of boxes from one of the shelves, this time a wood that he recognized without the wizard uttering a single word.

''Cherry wood, highly prized in your home country as you may know. Yet this particular combination of this certain wood and dragon heartstring is a very hard one to team up with. Now, boy, let's test the strength of your mind.'' Sasuke trailed his eyes over the deep red wood as flashes of his pink haired teammate who never received the words she so desperately desired passed by his mind.

With the already familiar motion of his wrist, white – almost yellow – flares shot from the tip, illuminating the shabby store for a fleeting number of seconds. The quick flash of blonde hair and cerulean eyes disappeared from his clouded vision, rather being replaced with a wrinkle filled face that was lit up by a brandish grin. Ollivander's pale eyes twinkled as he spoke.

''My, you really are an odd one, aren't you?''

The only answer the old, chuckling man received was the required amount of galleons for the payment of the wand, before his front door's bells resounded through his once again empty store.

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Small first year children yet to come to Hogwarts squeaked as he looked down at them, before stepping out of his way urgently. The adults of different blood purity alike glared at the black cloak trailing behind the male who rudely trudged past them into the pet store without waiting in line. Hidden eyes under the ever present hood scurried the interior, before one side of his lips turned down from the sheer volume of screeching that the animals and children emitted. He glanced at the low quality cages, appraising each allowed pet with a hard, meticulous glint.

A frown pinched itself between his eyebrows when he realized that most of the available animals were none other than tailless amphibians. A small sneer appeared on his pale face as he surveyed the rest of his pet options, which were lacking greatly in his opinion. He was not, under any circumstances, buying a slimy grit toad that the loud annoyance named Naruto would have. Even the slugs that the Sannin women used were much more enticing than the croaking creatures in their cages.

Or maybe that was long time rivalry speaking instead of his consciousness.

Either way, he rose from his crouching position to his full height with all the intent to leave the stuffed store empty handed. He already had enough pets – or summonings – as it is, and the toads and cats were nothing special compared to the ones back in the Elemental Nations. The only animals that seemed remotely useful to him were the owls, but even with their grace, messages could be easily intercepted with the right trick.

The sun had already hid when he exited the pet store, leaving a breezing cold wind in its wake. Crumbling the list of necessities that he needed for his Fifth – technically First – year at Hogwarts, he strode back to his rented room at the pub. Withdrawing several books from his cloak's confines while walking in a leisurely pace, he turned several newly printed pages of the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook before pausing in his steps.

Theory. Theory, theory, theory.

Was he going to sit several hours a week listening to some old sycophant gushing about defensive theory without a single ounce of practical work?

Growling quietly under his breath, he shoved the book back under his artificial arm before flipping through a transfiguration textbook. Transfiguration was quite fascinating in his opinion, due to the shrewd observation that he had not known of such art before joining – or falling – into this community. You could turn one thing to another with just the correct incantation, wand motion and the visualizing of said other thing. It was impressive, but the completely time consuming joke of Polyjuice potion kept nagging at his throat, forcing him to release a quiet chuckle from the absurd of it.

Wizard could transform living creatures into inanimate objects, yet the concept of turning oneself into someone else required so much effort it was laughable.

His henged eyes scanned the written words with a heavy frown when he noticed the increased amount of theory inside the bound pages. At least, with transfiguration, there was still spell casting unlike the other subject that was infamous for it. He tried to guess a valid reason for this, recalling the lower year textbooks he had read during his visits to the bookstore, yet the only conclusion he could reach was because it was O.W.L. year.

Which didn't bode with him well at all.

He'll need to practice his spell casting as soon as he got past the border of the school grounds, due to the completely unnecessary age restriction for magic usage. He should've been a Sixth Year, exams be damned at that time, yet he landed himself with stacks and stacks of learning he needed to do at an unholy rate that no normal person or wizard could manage.

It was a good thing that he wasn't exactly either of them.

''To determine your skill level, Mr. Uchiha.'' Dumbledore had said.

Yeah, right. He knew that with him being busy with studies and practices, the old Headmaster could keep Sasuke tied down. Unfortunately, Albus wasn't aware of the Uchiha's other…'abilities', aside from the ones he had inherited with his Gaunt upbringing. The gleaming red eyes that were scanning the pages, the fingers that were flipping through book after book at an alarming rate, draining the knowledge right out of the pages – was one of them. What a lovely surprise it would be for the old coot when Sasuke will arrive at his pristine boarding school polished with all the information he needed to know for the school year, and all of the others he had 'skipped'.

The heat around his body rose when he pushed open the peeling wooden door to move to the side. Entering his not so fancy room, he glided to his bed, folding at the knees halfway. Reaching out his prosthetic hand to grasp the handle of the recently bought trunk, he pulled it out from under the spiral-full bed. Tossing the transfiguration textbook not too gently onto the already half full bottom, he pulled out more tomes he had bought and placed them inside the trunk's confinement. His fingers brushed his newly acquired wand, making him freeze up. He contemplated trying to use the simple levitation charm he had read about, but chose against it. Still, he withdrew the wooden stick pocking his rib from the inner pocket of his jacket, raising it up to his eye-level. The wand never staggered to the side, the polished straight wood reaching about twelve or so inches in length. He admired his wand for another fleeting moment, before placing it on his nightstand.

Shoving in the scrolls from the room's desk drawers he had put the night before, he placed several robes he had got from Madam Malkin's atop of the stack of books and parchments. Slamming the lid of the trunk with more power than necessary, Sasuke checked if the hinges didn't burst from the force. He had to restrain himself – here and at Hogwarts alike – or else he'll raise more unnecessary attention than needed, which was sure to come, considering he was starting Hogwarts in his Fifth Year.

Sasuke shrugged out of his cloak, revealing the Uchiha symbol encrusted into his jacket's back while kicking the discarded piece of material aside before stepping up to the abandoned wax candle on the aged desk. Raising his right hand to cup the side of his mouth, a bright little ball of flame generated from his lungs. He breathed in the oxygen of the room, making the fire lick the back of his throat, before spitting the fireball onto the string of the wax, lightening up the room considerably.

Sasuke reclined upon his uncomfortable chair, placing the book he held in his prosthetic fingers on his lap. He turned the tome to the front, narrowing his eyes when the letters he already knew were written blurred from the side effects of the pills he was pulling out of his pants' pocket. Placing the tablet on the tip of his tongue, the title of the book – 'MAGICK MOSTE EVILE' – came into focus. Even with the pill sliding down his throat, he didn't fully translate the words, yet he didn't mind.

A few minutes later, the wax started to drip due to the scorning heat of the licking flames, lighting up the small piece of paper by his feet which were placed on the desks surface. Sasuke propped his artificial elbow onto the armrest of the wooden chair, resting his cheek on the leathery skin of the prosthetic palm. Observing the train ticket leaving tomorrow morning to Hogwarts, he closed the heavily aged tome shut with an elaborate snap which resounded through the silent room.

Looking down at the book he had almost memorized, he raised it just above the fire, watching as the flames wormed a hole in the middle of the leather bond pages. The tome burnt lazily in his grasp, yet he did not pull away his fingers until the book was unrecognizable.

Dumbledore was better off being unaware of his little visits to Knockturn Alley, so were his little Order spies roaming around, keeping their watchful eyes on him constantly.

It took him three simple clones to evade their pathetic excuse of spying. If the blond twerp could sneak past a squad of experienced ANBU at academy level, did they really think they had a candle chance of keeping track of him with their level of subtlety? He knew why they were there, trying to pinpoint his next course of action, as if they expected him to blow up the entire alley if he got shoved by another child who was whining to their parents about a new broom.

There was no way in hell he'll allow them to receive such a satisfaction, however. He'll move subtly, right under their noses, and when they'll least expect it, strike if they proved to be a threat to him.

Blowing the candle out of it's misery, he picked the ticket from his desk as to not forget the small piece of paper with 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' printed onto it, before placing it next to his newly obtained wand. Plopping down onto the low quality mattress, he closed his eyes tiredly, letting sleep evade him as dreams filled his unconscious mind.

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A/N:

Ndasuunye: Yes, actually, he does possess the powers fit for a God. But it isn't really in his nature since Shippuden to flaunt his battle prowess out of fights or before them, especially when nobody has ever witness something of his calibre in their lives. He's in a whole new world where he has to learn every turn and trick from scratch. It wouldn't be beneficial to strike down highly appraised authority if he doesn't want to be shipped to Azkaban and carry off being a wanted criminal all over again. But, I can assure you, Sasuke Uchiha is no pushover and there is a lot of ass kicking to come in the future, especially with the war brewing and closing in with each passing day. Hope that clears some things up!