Disclaimer: I do not own this.

Ch. 3:

Sasuke frowned as he walked slowly towards the Hokage tower. He was missing class at the academy, but right then he couldn't bring himself to care. It was time to tell the Hokage that he would not be a ninja. Sasuke sighed before setting his shoulders and barging right into the Hokage's office.

The Hokage looked surprised to see him and with a frown asked, "What are you doing here, Sasuke? Shouldn't you be in class?"

Sasuke set his shoulders narrowed his eyes and gathered his courage.

"I don't want to be a ninja! Their dumb and stupid and only an idiot would be a ninja," Sasuke answered. The Hokage's eyebrows rose and he looked over Sasuke with an air of great surprise.

"You don't want to be a ninja? But I thought your goal in life was to be the greatest ninja ever," Sarutobi questioned. Sasuke scowled at him, but didn't respond.

The old man slowly continued, "Why the sudden change of heart, Sasuke?" Sasuke frowned and felt tears rising to his eyes. He would not cry. He wouldn't show weakness, but then he could no longer contain his emotions. A slight sob escaped him and before he knew it he was explaining his awful day.

"And then it started raining, and it was just awful jiji," Sasuke cried. He hadn't meant to let it slip, the Jiji. Now the Sandaime was practically grinning. Sasuke hadn't after all called him jiji in two years and to know that he still held a special spot in the boy's heart was heartwarming. Sasuke on the other hand was now frowning. He had promised himself two years ago he would never call the man by that stupid nickname ever again. The man didn't deserve a special spot in his heart. Sasuke scowled. Naruto was his favorite. Whenever Naruto was around the man always favored him just because he was the son of the Yondaime and Sasuke got ignored.

It had come to a head two years ago on Sasuke's birthday. Every year the old man spent it with him, but that year he had forgotten. He'd been too busy with that stupid blonde and hadn't even gotten Sasuke a birthday present. For weeks Sasuke had fumed trying to figure out why everyone loved the blonde more than him. He had come to the solution that it was because of the blonde's pranks.

So, Sasuke had set up an elaborate prank believing that once he did it everyone would like him just like the blond. The prank had gone off without a hitch, but instead of being beloved the villager's had sent scathing glares in his direction. Sasuke hadn't understood. What had he done wrong? Sasuke had eventually decided that his prank just hadn't been funny. So, he sat planning the next one for months to make sure it was absolutely perfect. But right before he was about to set it off Naruto did a prank almost identical to his first one. But no one had scolded him! The Sandaime who had been absolutely furious over Sasuke's prank had laughed at the blonde's prank. And in a second Sasuke realized that no matter how many pranks he pulled he'd never be as well liked as Naruto was. Sasuke's pranking career had ended right there. Really, it hadn't been difficult to realize that Naruto, as the son of the Yondaime, would always be loved while Sasuke, the orphan, would forever be hated. Right then and their Sasuke had stopped calling the Sandaime Jiji. Even he liked Naruto more than Sasuke.

For weeks he had moped before he realized that if he was the strongest ninja ever everyone would have to like him! He had declared it his goal and just recently the Sandaime had enrolled him in the academy. So, it was no wonder that the Sandaime was surprised by his wish to quit.

He now stood staring down at Sasuke before finally saying, "Don't worry Sasuke. I'll get you a new sensei and class. I'm sure you'll like it a whole lot better!"

Sasuke slowly smiled and then nodded. The Sandaime smiled at the boy as he left. Now what class to put him in?

XXX XXX XXX

The next day Sasuke dragged himself to the academy. He wasn't looking forward to it. A horrible part of him whispered that it'd be just like the first day and that the Hokage had lied to him. Sasuke groaned and trudged his way to the academy his feeling of nervousness growing every second. But, surprisingly when he walked in a nice looking lady guided him immediately to his new classroom. A feeling of elation rose through Sasuke as he walked into the classroom. He hadn't been late!

Slowly looking around he groaned. Of course the Sandaime had put him in the same class as it. The blonde idiot Namikaze was in his class. The blonde glanced at him smiled and waved. Then the boy with a flourish waved Sasuke to come sit by him. All the other kids looked jealous as if this was some great honor. But Sasuke merely glared at the boy and chose a seat as far away from him as possible. He didn't need the Namikaze's help! Sasuke sat bored waiting for their sensei to enter and slowly the nervousness came back. What if their sensei hated him?

When a man walked in a grin split Sasuke's face. He was so, so lucky. He wondered for a moment if the Sandaime had arranged this just for him, but quickly stifled such a thought. The man had black hair and tired eyes and walked up to the board with a frown on his face. The children all around Sasuke burst into whispers. This man was an Uchiha! Everyone knew who the Uchiha were. They had a clan compound right in the middle of Konoha, but at least half of them just lived in random areas of Konoha. They were everywhere and you could constantly see them on the streets. But that's not why the children were whispering. It was just really strange to see one teaching at the academy. The Uchiha were awesome ninja. They were one of the reasons Konoha was so largely feared. They were also by far the largest clan in Konoha and by far Sasuke's favorite. The Uchiha were always nice to him. They said hi to him in the street and constantly pointed him in the right direction. They didn't even ignore his existence. That didn't mean though that they let Sasuke play with their kids or anything, but they were still pretty nice to him.

Their sensei had by this point written his name on the board with the white chalk, which he now twirled absentmindedly in his hand. He turned to look at them and said, "My name is Uchiha Yakumi," he frowned and then said, "Call me Yakumi- sensei. Got it?"

He looked around the classroom before nodding and continuing, "You are here to learn to be ninja. There will be no lollygagging, fangirling, fanboying, or whatever it is you do. Being a ninja is serious business. I expect you to treat it as such."

He slowly looked around the room catching everyone's eye as he said this. His eyes stayed particularly long on two girls, one blonde haired and one pink haired girl before moving on.

He then looked down at the book in his hand before saying, "According to your entry level test Naruto Namikaze is the number one in your class right now," he ran his hand through his dark hair before saying, "I expect you all to challenge him for that spot. Now, let's begin." Sasuke frowned at the Namikaze. He would always be number one wouldn't he? Then a brilliant though occurred to Sasuke. If he beat Naruto for the rookie of the year spot everyone would have to realize he was better! A grin split Sasuke's face. He was going to beat the dumb blonde!

It was a lot harder to do than to think Sasuke realized quickly. This sensei treated him fairly and answered all his questions, but the Namikaze was still light years ahead of him. He'd already had training and knew how to properly throw a kunai. Sasuke was just a beginner. Their sensei told him he was doing phenomenally well for a first timer, but it still wasn't enough. When it came time for taijutsu the blonde already knew a family style which easily trumped the basic academy taijutsu that Sasuke was just slowly mastering with the help of Yakumi- sensei. In the jutsu section, well, Sasuke didn't even want to think about it. Yakumi- sensei's help was awesome, but Sasuke could hardly control his chakra, much less perform a jutsu. It seemed no matter what he did he was still five steps behind the blonde. The only area he had an edge in was book smarts, which Sasuke found surprisingly easy. He reflected that it was probably due to his photographic memory and the fact that Namikaze thought that learning numbers and dates was useless and so didn't really try. Still, Sasuke was only barely climbing from his place in the middle of the class. He wondered how badly he would be doing if he had kept his old sensei. He had a funny feeling he would have been at the bottom of the class.

And then there was the fact that the blonde was still trying to be friends with him. Sasuke wondered if someone had put him up to it. Of course the blonde wanting to be friends with him wasn't all bad. Other kids following Naruto's example tried to be friends with him as well. At the very least Sasuke didn't always sit alone during lunch and sometimes was asked to join their games. Sasuke always gladly accepted and joined in. He was having the time of his life. Was this what it was like to have friends? But then he'd remember that they were only doing it because of the Namikaze and he'd excuse himself from the game and go train. He had to beat the stupid blonde, he just had to!

One day Yakumi- sensei walked right up to him and asked, "Why don't you play with them Sasuke?"

He had a slight frown on his face. Sasuke slowly glanced at him. Didn't he understand? Slowly scowling he said, "They only ask me to join them because of Naruto. They don't actually want to be my friend! I have to be number one, so they can all see I'm better than that Namikaze. So they'll be friends with me because of me!"

Yakumi smiled a sad smile before asking, "So that's why you train so hard?"

Sasuke merely grunted and returned to throwing his kunai at the target. Yakumi frowned while looking at the boy. If only he had a clan to teach him the boy could be incredible.

XXX XXX XXX

Month's later, right before the school year was to end, Yakumi found himself at dinner with Fugaku and Mikoto. Itachi was noticeably absent. He was probably on one of his jounin missions' right about now. Yakumi sighed. He was almost jealous of Itachi for his skill, him and Shisui. The best of the Uchiha they said. Well, whatever. He'd been pretty great in his prime, too. Not that he was really past his prime, but that was another thought for another day.

Yakumi had always been fiercely loyal to the clan but it still didn't explain why Fugaku had invited him over for dinner. It was a little fishy for the clan head to just invite him over for dinner, so he calmly waited for Fugaku to explain himself. He had a funny feeling he'd be waiting a while. Finally, finally, Fugaku spoke.

"How is the academy class your teaching?" he asked with almost idle curiosity while looking into his tea. Yakumi found his eyebrows rising in surprise. Why would Fugaku care about how his class was, unless he wanted to know about the container? Yakumi frowned. It was probably Fugaku himself who had gotten Yakumi stuck working for the academy, just so he could learn about the container. Yakumi glanced up at Fugaku and decided he wasn't going to play dumb.

"You want to know about the container, right?" he asked. Fugaku's eyes narrowed before he nodded his head. He remained staring at Yakumi waiting for him to continue.

So Yakumi obliged him, "He could be a prodigy. He get's everything right away and he's second in his class only to Namikaze Naruto. If he was from a clan he might be able to beat the Namikaze. Unfortunately he's pretty much stuck at second because without a clan he can only learn the basic jutsu and taijutsu. It's quite possible that in a year or so the clan kids will surpass him due to their clan techniques. What a waste of potential, you know? I suppose it'll get better when he joins a genin team. Maybe his sensei will be able to teach him a taijutsu style and stuff."

Yakumi ended his little speech with a shrug.

Hours later Fugaku sat thinking sadly. He'd robbed his son of his birthright, of his clan. He could still make it right, though. A small smirk crossed Fugaku's face. Uchiha Sasuke would beat out Naruto Namikaze for the number one spot in the class, no problem! He'd make sure of it.