Chapter 5: Interbellum.
Age 18
When he's eighteen years old, Sakumo faces the Tsuchikage on the battle field and almost wins. They'd run into each other by accident, and Onoki of the Scales hadn't expected much of the slender young man- that is, until Sakumo called upon lightning and almost beheaded him.
The Tsuchikage laughs throughout their fight and compliments Sakumo on his bravery afterwards, when they are both panting and bleeding. Onoki is about a decade older than the Hokage, doesn't reach beyond 4'3 and can disintegrate people with a touch. Sakumo is eighteen, almost 6 foot tall and the best swordsman Konoha has had in generations.
The fight almost ends in a draw. Sakumo assumes it's because of this that Onoki laughs, afterwards, and then does not kill him.
"You're quite something," The small man rasps. "Quite something. I can respect your courage,"
Sakumo does not understand why the Tsuchikage would let someone like him go until a week later, when a shaky alliance is signed between Iwa and Konoha.
Sakumo is still being treated for his wounds when his friend Michiyo tells him they're going home for the first time in years.
xXx
They return to the village as heroes. The war is still raging but the front in Kusagakure, in between the land of Fire and Earth, has dissipated. Michiyo disappears in the crowds with a handsome, wildly blushing Uchiha man and Sakumo grins as he watches them go.
Karasu puts a hand on Sakumo's shoulder, squeezes softly, and leaves. The lines in his face have deepened and there are grey hairs threaded through the black. Sakumo doesn't see him at all in the following weeks, but concern pushes him to search for the man.
He finds Karasu in a dingy bar, drunk off his face. He reeks of alcohol and old sweat. Sakumo lifts him up- when did Karasu get so light?- and brings him to his small bachelor's apartment. In the apartment he sees bottles strewn all over the floor. He doesn't mention it.
Karasu wakes up briefly when Sakumo places him on the bed, opening hazy dark eyes. "Y're a good kid, y'know," He mumbles. "Don't turn out like me."
Sakumo doesn't quite understand it but there's an ache in his chest that won't go away.
xXx
He's given leave for a few weeks before he goes back to the front. The Third Hokage invites him over for tea. Deeply honoured he goes visit only to find the man surrounded by children.
They are perhaps thirteen years old; an obstinate blonde girl who is apparently Shodaime's granddaughter (Her temper makes it hard to believe), a loud white-haired boy with a voice like thunder (particularly in its volume), and a sleek-haired boy with golden eyes and paper white skin (he is eerily reminiscent of a snake).
They study him critically and the white-haired one says there's no way this beanstalk almost beat the Tsuchikage. Sakumo smiles at him and says he doesn't quite believe it himself either. This earns him a pout and a jeer, and there's really no way to predict that the white-haired boy will one day be one of his closest friends.
The dark haired one is called Orochimaru, and like Sakumo he is a prodigy. The boy asks him for a spar, but Sakumo refuses. The boy is a chunin with some experience, but Sakumo is a jounin with his most recent battle scars still itching. It would not be good to unleash that on a child.
Tsunade, at least, is a little bit awed by his looks- or so he assumes- but when he refuses her offer to spar as well, she tries (and almost succeeds!) to punch him in the face. He offers to watch her train instead, which she gladly accepts, and he spends an afternoon watching her and the boys tear down an entire training field. They're frighteningly talented, and it is Sakumo who is in awe of them by the end of the day.
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiles at him and says they're quite a lot like Sakumo when he was that age. Sakumo watches Jiraiya attempt to kiss Tsunade mid-battle, and emphatically disagrees.
xXx
Sakumo encounters Danzou shortly before he is sent back to the front. The man is accompanied by a short ANBU operative, and asks Sakumo to join something called ROOT. Sakumo considers the proposition briefly, but then the ANBU opens his mouth and reveals his voice hasn't even broken yet.
Sakumo levels his former teacher with a disappointed look, and returns to the frontlines a week later.
19 Years Ago
Sayuri almost chokes on laughter, later that day. When she finally stops her cheeks hurt. A stupefied silence falls over them.
"That's the first time you've laughed in a long while, isn't it?" He asks gently. He is kind enough not to ask why.
She nods. He deserves a bit of information.
That pun had been the worst and yet most hilarious thing she'd heard in years.
A week in, they run into a group of hunter nin from Kumogakure.
Her ninjutsu is unparalleled, lightning, wind and water howling through the air as she rips them apart.
He is a blur of steel and blood; the best swordsman she's ever seen.
He kisses her afterwards. He tastes of blood and sweat, but she finds she doesn't really mind.
Author's Notes: Still hanging in there? I think I'll be able to wrap this story up in roughly 9 chapters total. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed it!