Sasuke: Interpretation

Uchiha Sasuke had done a great deal of thinking since Amemai-san had freed his mind from the clinging fog of subconscious terror that had smothered him since the massacre. His early observations had revolved around how much easier it was to think and reason clearly. This egocentric rambling had been derailed by his first kill, but training in Nami no kuni had given him time to reconstruct his world-view from the ground up.

His first decision was that he would leave the puzzle that was Uchiha Itachi to Amemai-san and Konoha's oinin: they were better placed to deal with the confusingly contradictory enigma than he was.

His second decision hinged on his -rather enlightened- awareness of being somewhat lacking in moral decency, which when he thought about it had been a shortcoming of the Uchiha clan in general. Rather than ignore this mental void he was determined to take cues from Naruto -who was ridiculously hung-up on doing the right thing for a shinobi- or just follow the blond's lead.

Eyeing Inoichi-san cautiously as he sat down opposite the interrogation specialist, Sasuke recalled on offhand comment Naruto had made during an Academy lecture on obeying superior officers:

"Never lie to the people further up the food chain than you are," the blond had muttered, "they're better at it than you are and have been doing it for longer." Good advice, Sasuke knew: Kakashi's ridiculous yet apparently truthful excuses had hammered the lesson home. The Uchiha stared at the father of one of his more obnoxious fangirls:

"Ask your questions, Yamanaka-san."

The blond jounin gave him an uncomfortably assessing stare. "Tell me about your mission, Uchiha-san."

"Where would you like me to start, Yamanaka-san?"

"When you received the mission statement, if you please Uchiha-san."

The meticulous formality was starting to make Sasuke twitchy. He couldn't believe he'd never noticed how much the Yamanaka patriarch disliked him until now. Is this because of Ino's obsession with me? That's hardly fair; it's not like I encourage it or take advantage of her idiocy. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and began: "Sakura wanted to hear more about Amemai-san, whom Naruto addressed as 'kaa-san' -and admitted to being engaged to Kakashi-sensei- so all three of us went down to the bridge in training ground seven so we could talk in private. Naruto told us..."

Inoichi interrupted at intervals to ask questions or demand clarification; he was interested in Amemai-san's breaking of Tsukiyomi, the symbols both his sensei and the dobe had on their clothing the next day and how the Demon Brothers had been dispatched. That last one still made him slightly queasy to remember. I don't think I'll ever be able to really appreciate barbecue properly again.

"Was that your first kill?"

"Hai. Naruto talked me through it." Admitting that was embarrassing, but at least he didn't have to confess to throwing up. And the dobe had helped him, which was more than he could say for some people.

"Do you believe Naruto had killed before?"

Sasuke was acutely aware that the answer to this question could be used against his jinchuuriki team-mate. "His behaviour was appropriately professional for a shinobi and the talk he gave me on the unfortunate inevitability of death and killing while in the service of Konoha was both logical and helpful. I do know he lives in a bad part of town."

That potentially sticky situation evaded to the best of his eleven-year-old ability, the conversation moved on. He had to describe the fight with Zabuza three times and give his reasons for following Naruto's lead twice.

"His ideas were concise, practical and easily achieved, Inoichi-san. Naruto excels at working on the fly; Sakura is prone to over-thinking things, which is dangerous in the field, and Kakashi-sensei tells me I am too single-minded for efficient strategy. Naruto was the best choice as he is the only one with tactical field experience."

"Tactical field experience?"

"Pranks," Sasuke said flatly. "You've seen them; he escapes ANBU more often than not nowadays. Tactical field experience."

The seal perimeter also caught the Yamanaka's interest, as did Naruto's abysmal chakra control and the whisker-marked genin's explanation for it. His description of the blond's brief temper tantrum also elicited further inquiry.

Sasuke paused for a drink to wet his abused throat -he couldn't remember ever talking this much before- after describing his first encounter with Haku and what little he had seen of Momochi Zabuza and watched Inoichi-san shuffle through his notes and annotate here and there.

"Yamanaka-san?"

"Hai, Sasuke?"

"Will we be punished for our part in this? It was mentioned that we should have returned to Konoha after encountering the Demon Brothers."

"Probably not, since by all accounts you were not truly endangered beyond that initial incident and your actions have garnered Konoha a new ally and many more potential customers," Inoichi conceded. "Why do you ask?"

"I was concerned that someone might use this incident against my team-mate; Naruto is a brilliant ninja and I don't see why he should be so horribly discriminated against when all he really wants is to serve the village to the best of his ability," Sasuke responded evenly, wanting his position in the matter to be completely beyond doubt.

"Do you have evidence to back up your accusation?"

"I have eyes, Yamanaka-san,as well as ears," Sasuke stated calmly. "Shall I continue my debriefing?"

"Please do."

The interrogation continues smoothly until Naruto's short exposé on bijuu, which he had to go over several times so Inoichi could be sure he had it all down correctly. Sasuke got the impression that Naruto knew more than even the hokage in that particular area, which made him wonder where the blond had learned it. The carnage he had witnessed in the village at the hands of berserk-Naruto also had to be dissected and repeated, but it was his description of the twelve-foot chakra fox that made the jounin blanch in horror.

"How big?"

Sasuke pulled a loose sheet of paper across the table, fumbled in his kunai pouch for a pen and roughly sketched what he had seen, Naruto curled up in the creature's ribcage for scale. "That big," he said, pushing the picture back across the table. "It wasn't randomly flailing around like Naruto did when he went berserk, though. It dispatched all the surviving bandits in minutes then just stopped."

"Stopped?"

"Curled up in the village square and ignored everyone except me and Kakashi-sensei."

"When did Hatake-san arrive on the scene?"

Inoichi also looked troubled at the idea of Naruto having made some kind of bargain with the Kyuubi, but Sasuke wasn't too concerned. Naruto was to moral to do evil just to access the bijuu's power, especially since the blond seemed to have power to burn even without it. It was Naruto's comment on Madara having used Kyuubi to attack Konoha that was upsetting to the young Uchiha; Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow significant. It was also rather nasty and told him more about the sharingan's shady past than he wanted to know. Naruto's offhand comment of how Sasuke felt to his chakra-sense did not set any of that unease to rest, either. 'Feels like something malevolent on the edge of my range, watching me,' is not exactly a comforting description of a kekkai genkai.

"Naruto's... condition doesn't bother you?"

Sasuke frowned blackly at the question. "That the Yondaime condemned my team-mate to a lifetime of fear, hatred and discrimination? Of course it does. But that's hardly Naruto's fault. It's the idiots who think it's a good idea to antagonise the person with the all-powerful chakra construct sealed behind his navel gate that I have issues with. That's just as dumb as my father was when he accused Itachi of all that stupid stuff back when he was an ANBU captain."

"What 'stupid stuff', exactly?" Inoichi asked, his demeanour shifting like a shark smelling blood.

Sasuke hadn't meant to say that out loud. He'd never been properly debriefed after the massacre, mainly because everyone thought they knew what had happened already and he couldn't start talking about it without being dragged back into Tsukiyomi. He'd only really started processing what had happened in the past few weeks since Amemai-san's intervention.

"Uchiha Fugaku accused Uchiha Itachi of 'being less than suitably loyal to your clan, disobeying orders and attracting unnecessary attention to yourself'," Sasuke quoted carefully, his tone unconsciously mimicking his father's biting fury. "The Military Police had been trying to bring Itachi in for questioning concerning cousin Shisui's suicide, but he went all to pieces and accused the police officers of treason and dereliction of duty. His eyes slipped into mangekyou then, but I think I was the only one to see that."

Inoichi looked intrigued. "so his snapping was not as unanticipated as was made out at the time?"

"He'd been a bit off for at least a month and working all hours for longer than that," Sasuke admitted. "I was worried about him: He looked sick."

Inoichi shook his head. "Too much stress will push even the most balanced shinobi into insanity. Anyway, that seems to be everything. I will escort you back to ground level so you can leave. Make sure you get some rest after your ordeal."

"Could you get your daughter to stop harassing me before I'm forced to take legal action?"

Inoichi looked indignant. Sasuke cringed. He really, really hadn't meant to say that out loud either.

"Sorry Yamanaka-san, but she does try to jump me every single time she sees me. After the past few weeks I've had I might harm her by accident, which wouldn't go down well at all. And I really am not interested in anything except training at the moment. Girls are just... annoying. I really hate how unprofessional their behaviour is."

The jounin relaxed slightly. "I understand; I do remember being eleven and thinking girls were an unwelcome irritant."

Sasuke smiled faintly. "Naruto's mature enough to notice girls, but he's almost two years older than I am."

"Oh?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He does that quick once-over thing every time he sees someone new, but it's slightly slower on women and ninja than civilian men, elders and children." The Uchiha paused. "He also mentioned kabuki training when I asked him about his female disguise. How did I forget that?"

"Kabuki? Onna-gata?" Inoichi murmured as they made their way up to ground level. "What an interesting idea..."

A/N: A bit of insight into the new and improved Sasuke and some more hints about the massacre. I have a short glimpse into what really happened with Shisui in the works, as he is actually quite important to my AU; his impact on Itachi is signficant. It isn't really connected to anything, though, so I'd have to make it a one-shot. Anyone interested?