I apologize for taking so long. I've been maniacally busy as of late, and honestly the lack of reviews and stuff is kind of getting to me. I'll try to keep this up though, and I hope some of you still like this.

SASUKE, AT NIGHT

Itachi was far too passive.

Sasuke was certain of that. His brother was wasting time building the rebel community - they needed to attack Konoha immediately. They had already lost their best opportunity to strike back, which had been right after the coup. Back then the village had been in chaos and the Hyuuga's grip on it had been loose. Had Itachi so desired, Sasuke knew his brother could have killed the poorly guarded Hanabi Hyuuga.

But he hadn't. Itachi had chosen to waste his time gathering other victims and even going as far as rescuing Hinata Hyuuga, the older sister of the current Hokage, who claimed to have known nothing of the coup. Admittedly, the girl was a wimp - not the sort of a person you could rely on to keep a secret as big as a coup - but Sasuke still thought she should have been executed. She was a Hyuuga after all. If she was too stupid to notice that her own family was planning to kill the Hokage and take over the village, that was all her own fault, and she should have paid for it.

But back to Itachi...

Everything always came back to Itachi. Itachi was the one who held back his training. Itachi was the one who refused to declare a war on Konoha. Itachi was the one who had caught him when he had tried to take matters into his own hands. Itachi-

"Sasuke?"

-had an impeccable sense of timing. Sasuke visibly jumped at the sound of his brother's voice.

"Y-yes, nii-san?" Sasuke looked over to the door of their room to find the older Uchiha watching him expressionlessly.

"I hear you've been asking for extra training", Itachi said tonelessly. Yet it felt like an accusation. Damn Kakashi!

"I was just asking. Kakashi-sensei said he could teach me and Naruto on Saturday." Sasuke sat down on his bed, refusing to meet his brother's eyes.

"You've yet to master the techniques I showed you. I'll have to ask Kakashi-san to cancel."

"No!" Sasuke stood up. "I'm already better at the stupid kunai trick than anyone else besides you and Tenten! I can't take it anymore! And I need to learn new techniques!"

"Whatever for?" The older Uchiha stared hard into Sasuke's eyes, and the teen had to suppress a shiver.

"You know what for! Don't play dumb. To kill the Hokage."

"Why are you in such a rush, then? We might be years away from being able to pull off an assassination, considering how well she is guarded. Not to mention, just killing her would mean nothing. Another Hyuuga would step up to take her place. We have to arrange a wide-scale attack that targets the current village rule and the Hyuuga elders-"

"You're wasting time!"

Itachi was silent for a moment, looking almost like Sasuke had spat on him. "What do you propose we do then? What would you do if you were in my position?"

"Attack! And soon! Who knows how much better the security around Hanabi Hyuuga gets over the years! If we let them stay in control for any longer, they will be impossible to take on, because they are growing stronger!" Sasuke yelled.

"As are we. That argument of yours comes up in every other council meeting, and is always dismissed, because everyone there knows that attacking with the forces we have now would be a suicide mission. If we don't build our strength, we'll be crushed."

"How are we supposed to 'build our strength'? We don't get new recruits, unlike the Hyuuga."

"More and more villagers are coming to our side-"

"What use will civilians be in combat?!"

"Do not underestimate them. They have a lot of practical knowledge of the village - much more than we have now. And, of course, not all of them are civilians. We have guards, active shinobi, and genin who lost their ninja status because of the new law..."

"Oh yeah. Like Sakura. She'll definitely be useful when we attack." Sasuke's voice was oozing with sarcasm.

Itachi poked his forehead. "Do not be disrespectful. Many of us would have lost their lives were it not for the medication she has provided us with. But back to the point, it is very important to have the village's support. If they turn against the Hyuuga, and we wait for the right moment, we can take over the village relatively easily. We just need to wait."

"How long?! And what the hell is 'the right moment'!?"

"There are some ideas. Shikaku-san is suggesting we ally ourselves with another village, but that would be very dangerous. After all, they could kill us off after we defeat the Hyuuga and take over Konoha for themselves."

"So you're saying we're going to do nothing." Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at his brother angrily.

"Your ability to hear only what you want to hear is astounding, as always. If you had actually listened, you would know that I'm saying we need a very good plan before we can move." Itachi remained expressionless, but Sasuke knew his brother was getting annoyed.

"We have enough forces to-"

"We don't."

"FINE, then! I'll leave you alone to plan and go train!" Sasuke pushed past Itachi, ran into the hallway and slammed the door closed with a resounding BAM.

"Don't bother Kakashi-san. He's on desk duty", came Itachi's muffled voice through the door.

"I WON'T!"

-exile-

There were two training areas in the rebel hideout. One was located indoors, under the living quarters, and another had been set up outdoors after the poor ventilation in the underground training hall had become an issue. The mold-scented underground stone hall was still used as the main training grounds, though, because the outside one was subject to attacks from Konoha. It would usually get destroyed completely and consequently relocated at least twice a year.

Sasuke was, to his disgust, banned from visiting the outside training grounds without a guardian. He had had the right to train there on his own before his attempt to attack Konoha, but ever since that mishap the Uchiha had lost quite a few rights. Essentially, he had been lowered to the status of a genin or a small child - not trusted to behave himself outdoors without an older ninja present.

Because of his second-rate-citizen status, Sasuke was now wandering around the hallways, trying to think of who he could ask to go with him to the training grounds (he was far too pissed off to go to the training hall indoors and deal with all of those annoying people there). Sasuke's usual answer would have been Kakashi, but he didn't feel like facing the jerk after he'd gone and complained about him to Itachi.

The Uchiha wished he could have just taken Naruto with him, but the rules had it that the guardian needed to be of a higher rank than the person guarded. Sasuke and Naruto had both been promoted to chuunin by the rebel council three years ago, and neither had made jonin, so the moron in orange wasn't qualified to look after Sasuke.

After making a list of people in his head, Sasuke arrived to the main lobby of the hideout to take a look at the board that showed the names of the shinobi who were currently away on a mission. Sasuke read it through, pointedly ignoring Kakashi's presence all the while, and eliminated some people from his list because they were away, and some because he knew they wouldn't be awake. After some of thought, the Uchiha decided on asking Tsume-san first.

Tsume Inuzuka was the mother of Kiba Inuzuka, who was an ex-classmate of Sasuke's. She wasn't exactly Sasuke's first choice for an escort, but she was easy-going - although much less so now that she had been before the coup. Another good thing about her was that she didn't ask Sasuke stupid questions like if he were okay and how he was doing (his whole family except for his useless brother had been murdered, how did everyone think he was doing?!).

-exile-

Sasuke arrived at the Inuzuka family's door and knocked. Barking immediately sounded from the other side of the door. The Inuzuka's dogs were usually well-behaved, but not as quiet as Kakashi's ninken.

"Kiba! Open the door!"

"Why can't you do it yourself? I'm resting!"

BANG!

"Just OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

Then again, the Inuzukas weren't very quiet themselves. Kiba, clutching the back of his head, appeared at the door.

"What the fuck do you want?" he asked, polite as usual.

"I'm here to ask if Tsume-san could come train with me outside." Sasuke told him.

"Ooh, right, 'cause the poor widdle Uchiha can't go out without a babysitter. Poor little baby."

"Can I just speak to your mom, dog boy?" Sasuke growled.

"Fine... Mom! Sasuke wants to ask you out!" Kiba yelled. Sasuke was grinding his teeth at the joke. Also, what was it with the Inuzukas and their volume level? The hideout's rooms were not large at all. Tsume had probably already heard their entire conversation, so there was no need for Kiba to shout.

Perhaps the Inuzukas were all secretly deaf. It would explain a lot.

Tsume came to the door with her dog. "Good timing. Me an' Kuromaru have been getting ready to go train ourselves just now. Give us a minute and we'll join ya." She then closed the door without waiting for an answer.

"You weren't gettin' ready to go train", Kiba's voice came through the door. Another banging noise sounded.

Sasuke sighed heavily. He hated being pitied, and Tsume clearly felt sorry for him. I guess I can't afford to be picky right now. As long as she doesn't try to mother me. Many people from the rebel community had tried to play the role of a parent for him out of sheer pity when Sasuke had first lost his family. The boy had told them off pretty quickly. He had no need for adoptive parent figures, and he was much more than any of them could have handled.

Back then, he had still thought that all he needed was his brother. He had idolized Itachi for so long that he hadn't been able to see what the older Uchiha was. A useless pacifist. For all his power and genius, Itachi was laughably passive. Unwilling to act. A coward who cared more about preserving his own life than avenging the people he had supposedly loved.

Sasuke would do anything for the power to destroy the Hyuuga. Anything. Anything. ANYTHING!

That was the reason why when three weeks ago, he had started finding little whispering snakes on the grass by the training area, he had actually listened to them rather than immediately stamping them out.