Sasuke woke in the darkness trembling with sweat.

His brother's voice echoing in his ears.

He could have sworn he had felt hands on him before he passed out that night. The faint memory of hot rain on his face.

Six years later and he still lived in the compound full of ghosts. He didn't know why he stayed. He should have moved in with some of the older ninja who had offered to help him. Of course giving him pity because he was blind. But he knew this place better than any other corner of Konoha.

And sometimes his ears would play tricks on him like now. There was no one here. Especially not his lying weasel of a brother. He pressed his palms to his eyes wearily trying to activate his sad excuse for a Sharingan.

Something he could only describe as a color and a sense of movement flooded his field of would-be vision, the shadows in the room took shape and solidified. He would be ready for his brother one day.

There was something wet on his cheek and he brushed it aside.

There was no time for silly tears.

The Chuunin Games were beginning.

…

"Can we take a break?" Naruto complained.

Go figure Sasuke would get paired with this idiot on his team. The kid only graduated by a fluke. He had no idea what Sasuke had put himself through just to replicate himself. Iruka had caught him practicing more than once and had only briefly mentioned that many times his clones were missing their eyes.

Sasuke shivered. He couldn't even imagine what they must have looked like.

There was the slightest rustle above them.

"Dobe." Sasuke's sharp ears were attuned to even the softest sounds around them. "Look we already have one scroll. That means we have to be extra careful now since there are only so many of each and there will be other teams looking to steal our scroll."

"Sasuke's right!" Sakura squeaked. "We can't just be playing around, Naruto." Her stomach growled. "…Although, I am hungry."

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto yelled with a sudden burst of air toward Sasuke indicating the idiot had jumped into the air in triumph. "It's decided! Sasuke make a fire. Sakura get some water! And I…" He waited for dramatic effect. "I will supply the rice balls."

"Can you keep your voice down?" Sasuke hissed. "We don't want the world to know we're here! There may be others watching us looking to take our scroll."

"Right." Naruto laughed quietly and snuck up beside Sasuke. He would have jumped if he had not attuned himself to Naruto's bizarre changes in chakra. The boy took Sasuke's hand and pressed it against a pile of sticks and twigs. "Here, sweetie. This is what you need to light on fire."

Sasuke punched him.

Naruto fell back laughing manically.

Sakura was at Sasuke's side in an instant. "Sasuke! Are you okay!?"

This girl was worst than his mother was—

There was a pang of pain in his heart.

He couldn't think about that right now. They had a task to do and he, of all people, couldn't let his guard down. His…brother had taught him that much.

Don't rely or trust anyone.

He could take care of himself.

He had already proven that to Naruto and the others. He took a deep breath, centering the hot chakra in his core, manipulating it like dragon fire. He double-checked the location of the pile of twigs and branches.

He wouldn't want to burn anyone.

At least not unintentionally.

FLASHBACK

Naruto fell hard against the metal clanging floor, needles echoing off the walls providing Sasuke with makeshift echolocation of Haku's movements.

He was nearly paralyzed by pain both by the needles already stuck in his body but also by a massive burst of chakra by his useless eyes. The shadows were swimming in his so-called field of vision. Haku was laughing defiantly and mocking him.

He needed to control his chakra.

He needed to get an idea of Haku's movements.

He pressed the shinobi hand sign to his forehead trying to center himself, closing his eyes tightly.

"Sasuke! He's in front of you!" Naruto was struggling. "I-I can't—"

There was something Sasuke could only describe as color behind his eyes

"You don't need to."

Sasuke opened his blind eyes.

He couldn't 'see'—he would never 'see'—but that rush of 'color' flooded his broken eyes, solidifying shadows and pinpointing Haku's movements.

The true power of the Sharingan.

The masked monster was heading right for Naruto.

There was no way Sasuke was going to lose someone else because he couldn't see.

He moved faster than the needles.

END FLASHBACK

He popped another burnt rice ball in his mouth.

"We need a password. Something that only we three know so that if someone tries to put us under a genjutsu or impersonate one of us, they won't know it but we will."

"Great idea!" Sakura. Always the first to agree with him. "What do you think we should do?"

"Ramen," came Naruto's too obvious suggestion.

"That's stupid," Sakura snapped. "It should be something more stealthy like…like…"

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "The password is—"

They felt it before they heard it. The impact hitting their bodies like a tornado blowing them apart. Sasuke hit a tree somewhere in the forest. He felt the smoke dusting his skin and tried to find some sense of orientation but there was a ringing in his ears.

He reached out, leaning hard against the tree calling out for his comrades. Fuck, he thought as the ringing in his ears increased in volume.

His voice sounded muffled.

Fuck.

He felt the chakra surge in his eyes and he nearly screamed in pain as his broken vision tried to function on this heightened level.

He shivered when he perceived the snake in the shadows that made up his universe.

Someone grabbed his shoulder.

Instinctively he pulled out a kunai and pressed against the stranger's throat only to be greeted by muffled laughter.

"Sasuke?"

"Sakura." He pulled her against him taking comfort in her warm pulse. "Are you alright?"

"The blind Uchiha…interesting," the snake hissed. "Too bad I need to kill you."

Sasuke clenched his fists. Who was this guy? How did he know who he was?

He squinted though he knew it was futile.

"And yet even blind you managed to activate the Sharingan."

"Why is Naruto acting so weird?" Sakura asked shivering.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He wasn't affected by genjutsu like others were because of his blindness. "It's not Naruto."

"What's the password?" Sakura called and then immediately fell to her knees beside him, shuddering and whimpering in pain.

What happened!?

Sasuke grabbed her shoulders trying to snap her out of whatever was affecting her. "What happened, Sakura? Did he hurt you?" He felt for a wound but there was no blood.

Genjutsu.

"I am showing your friend her imminent death."

Sasuke glared at the shadow as it advanced toward them. Where was Naruto? He wasn't sure if he could take this dark chakra by himself. Something was wrong with his voice. It wasn't male or female and it hissed.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the one who is going to take your life." There was wild laughter erupting from the black core of this snake person. "And then perhaps…I will take your eyes even if they are supposedly useless."

He heard the sound of a kunai being thrown.