Six months before present day
Sasuke hated this new world. He walked down the street easily, hardly anyone paid any close attention to him. Because they were weak, even worse than civilians. They depended so deeply on these heroes they couldn't protect themselves. A man covered from head to toe in glitter and tassels passed right by him. Heroes were the biggest disgrace of them all.
The civilians of the shinobi world weren't any better to be fair. But the civilians all had at least a small amount of training, most everyone went to the academy or joined the Genin corps at some point in their lives. Distractedly he glanced back at a new man who smirked at him, this one was obviously a hero dressed in a tight fitting outfit that did so much for his body much to Sasukes distress.
Sasuke's lip curled in disgust as the hero tipped his hat to him, the man winked and practically flew past him. Maybe if he was in a better mood Sasuke would have played along for enough time to get something out of him, as it was though Sasuke was closer to killing the man before he slept with him.
Another thing this world has done to him. Reevaluating his sexuality was something he was never prepared to do. Unfortunately being surrounded by very attractive boys his own age all of the time, Sasuke didn't have much choice but to confront what he was unwilling to before.
Stuffing his hands into his pockets, and these pockets were horrendous really, he kept walking, keeping the same look of general distaste. Hopefully it would be enough to save him from-
"HELP!" A man screamed from his right. Sasuke refused to look, his conditioning from the time he spent in the hands of the good doctor kicking in.
Keep your eyes ahead.
"Please! Anyone!"
Do not look.
"Stop! Please stop!" The man begged.
Look around, are the heroes coming?
A woman's piercing scream shattered his eardrums.
Finally, release your quirk and destabilize the targets.
"Thank you! I-"
Address the police.
"That was very brave of you young man. But you must leave this to the police or heroes next time." A cop, not much older than Sasuke himself, lectured.
And finally…
"I am a registered weapon, number 479063. Please, rest your arms and speak to me calmly."
Say the phrase. Just as we practiced number 479063 , just as we practiced.
"There is no such thing as a registered weapon." The man said firmly.
"That's enough Teki." An older woman stepped forward, obviously having eavesdropped. "This is above your clearance. Respond number 44345, we thank you for your help. We will include your number and address this with our superiors."
"Wrong number," Sasuke mumbled, swallowing a lump in his throat. "479063."
"Ah, thank you." The women smiled in a pitying manner, rushing the policeman away.
Keep walking Sasuke. Just keep walking. Itchai's voice continued. At rest little brother.
"What was that?" Tsukauchi said angrily. "Why did you let him go?"
"Not our problem," Keiko shrugged. "Do you want to answer them," she said to them as if it was a curse, "or would you rather let the good numbers do their job."
"What job! He wasn't a hero, you didn't get his name, and you stopped us from apprehending him.
"When a number does something, don't question it. Write it into your report and move on." The much older woman lit up a cigarette and waved it around. "Don't poke your nose in either. You don't know what they would do to you."
"Who's they?"
She looked at him as if he was an idiot. "The government of course. Some of those freaks are working hard at something. Don't question it, move on."
Tsukauchi couldn't let it go.
Rather it wasn't that he couldn't, it was that he knew it was better to investigate and figure out what just happened in front of his face.
That kid walked away calmly from them, easily slipping into the crowd and disappearing from his sight. Something in his heart twisted as he remembered the way the boy had looked at them. As if the very world was just a figment of his imagination and he was waiting for the moment in which he opened his eyes and everything was back to normal.
Normally it wouldn't be so easy to get a read on someone to such an extent, but that boy's eyes proves the old saying, 'eyes are the window to the soul'.
Later that night when he should be asleep and very much not still thinking about a boy that had nothing to do with him. A boy he was explicitly told to stop asking questions about from multiple of his superiors. He turned sideways and thought harder on it, he could tell the boy hadn't been lying when he spoke earlier. He was a weapon, or at least that's what he believed he was. But no, he must have been something of the sort if everyone was telling him to leave it. Something important.
"It's up to the government. You won't see many of them so don't think about it." He could still remember his boss offhandedly commenting after he turned in his report. "It's not something we deal with often. They come and go and we leave them be."
But why? We have heroes, there was no need for children like him to be working like this.
He tossed again trying his hardest to find somewhere comfortable to think properly. His silk bed cap kept falling off and it was irritating his skin. He sighed, and reached up to run his face when his phone rang.
Across the room he could see the little screen light up. Standing quickly he walked over. Probably something at the station.
He blinked and looked down at the screen, at first not believing what he saw wrong but no. Toshinori Yagi.
Now what could All might want?
Before He Met Him
Two days before Sasuke met him. He had run into his old roommate from when he was a child. It was the same child he was partnered with all those years ago, he hadn't missed him and he was sure that the boy across from him hardly missed him either.
Yet Hanaki still went out of his way to find him, he was much taller, almost reaching Sasuke's full height himself but not yet there. A little leaner but still fast. Sasuke couldn't help but check him out if only a little.
Being roommates had been nice, a good stress relief even if they had only gotten past the clothed petting and making out. They had been hormonal teens at the time, he reasoned, it was normal for them to do it. Putting them in opposite gender rooms hardly solved the problem either.
"Sasuke." Hanaki said simply. He gave him a peering look as he said his name, they both knew it wasn't his to claim anymore. "You've decided to leave?"
He swallowed roughly. "It's nice to walk among the common folk."
"Is it?" Hanaki replied somewhat cold. "I never thought so."
No, he wouldn't have. Hanaki had taken to training like a fish to water. He was second only to Sasuke, a fact that should have enraged the boy but instead had only made him smile. Being second best was good enough for him, but not Sasuke.
"It's calming." Hanaki hummed at his statement. Sasuke was well aware of the students around him, watching and whispering. UA students it would seem from the uniform. Rare moment when mommy left them off the school grounds? Even he had heard that the school was being attacked left and right.
A few girls giggled as they eyed the two of them sitting across from each other. He supposed they didn't make a bad looking pair, Sasuke looked more and more like Itachi by the year. And no one had ever accused him of being bad looking.
And Hanaki looked like a perfect German boy, one they would have glorified back then. He tried to cast his mind to which world war it was but he couldn't remember. This new history was just too vast for him sometimes.
Hanaki leaned forward putting his elbows on the table. He grinned at Sasuke's reproachful look. "Oh? Is Mr. Manners going to come and bite me?" A fun call back to their childhood spent watching videos of how to behave as good guys and girls.
"You're still being watched aren't you?" Sasuke couldn't help but bite out.
Hanaki grinned wickedly. "Oh yeah, but they don't care. I'm not the one who ran." He raised an eyebrow. "But that's okay. You can't really leave. But I think you knew that."
Sasuke clenched his fist under the table. Yes he was very aware of that thank you.
"I'm not doing it." Sasuke said finally after a long stretch of silence, filled only by the sounds of Hanakis breathing and the soft giggles from across the room.
"You don't have a choice." He slid a piece of paper across from him. "There's your target, they don't care what you do to take him down. But they want results, the hero commission can't know it's you."
Sasuke bit back a curse. Because of course the hero commission was involved. "I don't-"
Hanaki cut him off. "Do what you do best. They already know your preferences-" he waved vaguely to himself as he said this "- and they want you to utilize that. He has something that they want. Didn't go into much detail but you know what you have to do."
He stared at the boy across from him a little longer. "And if I don't?"
He didn't need to be told the answer.
Hanaki must have agreed as he raised an eyebrow and gestured to the paper. "Your target. Do it. I'll find you when it's time for an update, you'll be tagged but it's not as bad as before." He grimaced.
Right, before it was very bad. Especially when they were avoiding the hero commission. They were a bunch of nosy assholes Sasuke simply didn't like dealing with.
Sasuke resisted the urge to punch the table. Instead he stood pocketing the paper into his pocket. Hanaki watched him but made no move to stop him from leaving.
"Oh Sasuke?" Hanaki said before he could take a step away. "I'm always free if you want a hand." He said it so innocently but Sasuke knew what he was really implying.
It wasn't horrible having Hanaki around, he was a good way to pass the time. "Phone is in the pocket of your coat, don't forget to call me." He smiled slyly standing up to meet Sasuke across the table. "I've got a few places now, come with moving up in line."
They had taken different career paths as they grew older. Sasukes quirk was more adept for the fast killings and assassinations the government preferred. While Hanaki worked for and sometimes as the Handlers of the new impressionable children. He truly was moving up while Sasuke stagnated.
If he hadn't run he would have become a trainer. He would be working over heroes and deciding who needed to be trimmed to keep the whole of the tree clean from society's filth.
He didn't enjoy being taken though; not by the government and not by the chains they bound him with.
"I'll keep it in mind." He said shortly, though he knew Hanaki saw right through him and smiled before disappearing in a swirl of mist. Sasuke had not missed his dramatic exits.
Walking slowly out of the suddenly crowded cafe he passed by the group of students, conscious of the way their eyes trailed after him.
When he finally made it home he collapsed onto his well worn couch. It made an odd squelching sound but he ignored it in favor of taking the paper from his pocket.
"Overhaul." Sasuke whispered to himself. Well that sounded just the right amount of intimidating and catchy. Of course that was all the information he would be given, unless he lowered himself and went to them to give him everything they knew.
He could do that. He could lower himself and beg and ask and say how wrong he was for leaving and how he promised to come back and be a good little number.
Or he could do what he was used to. Take the information and find what he needs by himself. He was used to it anyway, even when he was under them he did most of the work without any information but a name and a little bit of a description. If anything the name itself was more than he was ever given.
He didn't need directions for this one. Assasantion was all it was, fairly simple or he would have been given more direction. A simple infiltration, can't be so good that the hero commission would have reason to check him out, but good enough to make it into Overhauls rooms to take him out.
They wanted something from him, he was to make sure they got it. Just wonderful, he did all the dirty work and they received the benefits from his hard work and effort.
Best of all if he got caught he would be the one to do all the jail time without being bailed out.
It truly was Konoha all over again. Know the higher ups and you can get away with anything and be rescued. But be a little rebellious and what do you get? This!
Sasuke hated them. He wanted to watch them burn to the ground and rot there for all of eternity while he sipped a margarita on their graves. Sasuke threw his head back while fumbling through his pocket for that phone he was promised.
A nice one he found, one with a good internet connection and a few contacts. He smiled unwillingly. He didn't mind the new world much. The internet made it so much easier to track down people. Everything was on the internet forever, nothing was secret as long as you knew where to look. Most people didn't. But Sasuke wasn't just anyone, he found that people didn't change much and finding information was just so simple.
It was startling how hard it was to find information on this Overhaul. Not impossible but it did make him work a little harder than what he was used to.
He had found everything he needed to know which is why Sasuke had done what he did best and decided to take over a crime syndicate that bordered on Overhauls territory. Much easier said than done, but he had done similar things before in Konoha and once or twice here as a member of the secret numbers.
The good old days.
He was in a bit of a time crunch though. He liked being left alone for the most part so if this mission could only take a week tops? That would be great. He was still trying to figure out how exactly he was gonna make a run for it without being hunted down. He could avoid them and kill whoever was sent after him but it was just so troublesome.
The mafia family wasn't that strong nor that intimidating, at least to him, but the name seemed to send a jolt down others backs when it was whispered around them.
Not bad.
And if it got him an audience with this Overhaul guy? Not bad at all if he said so himself.
He had to change up his appearance slightly, taking inspiration from his former teacher and wearing a cloth over his eyes, both of them rather than just one, and he kept his hair styled in a way that made him nostalgic for his former run as a missing nin.
He had to cut his hair, it had been long and nice while it lasted but all good things came to an end.
Now he looked more like himself, and he hated it. Sacrifices must be made even if it made him sick.
"Master." One of his underlings hissed fearfully. Sasuke sat behind a nice wooden desk on a nice plush chair. He toyed with the idea of forcing them to refer to him as their Hokage but scrapped it after a moment. Fanciful thinking was not needed here.
"What?" He said harshly. Under multiple stacks of paper he was swamped with work he didn't even really want to do. But he needed this place running long enough to even get to the stupid target.
"The Hassaikai want to have a meeting." The strange fusion of a lizard hissed and trembled.
"Ah." He said calmly. Good, it took them long enough. "Tell them. One on one meeting, alone. Matsuri house, I expect all personnel to remain outside. No fighting this time, but I want to come to an agreement." The lizard thing trembled but nodded quickly. "Go."
Present Day
Sasuke hadn't liked the way he walked into the house. Just as they agreed all their sidekicks remained outside. He couldn't see him, not through the cloth, but he could feel his movements as they trailed around in circles.
"I heard you have something." He said first.
"Did you?" Overhaul, he could practically hear the smile, purred. "You have something I want."
Territory and power. Wonderful.
He hadn't really meant to join the villains. He still didn't really believe in the idea of heroes and villains but that didn't mean anything. Not here, not now when he knew what must be done.
Sasuke had no intention of being tied down. He told himself that. Yet when he met the man's eyes he listened almost unwillingly.
"I won't join you." He had said. "But I will do what I can to help."
Though he couldn't see it, he was sure. Overhaul smiled. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk right back.
"So it's a deal?"
"Of course." Sasuke reached up to take cloth off, letting it fall into his hands and taking his first real look at his target.
Attractive, though he had seen better in training. And done a great many things with said men but that was a story for another time.
"I think this could be a good partnership." Sasuke didn't miss the way the man's eyes followed him as he moved back slowly. Assessing, greedy, lustful.
Oh they didn't care for his methods did they? Hanaki practically insisted on it now that he thought about it. "There's a great many things we can offer each other. I hear your in a business of-" he leaned in not close but certainly close enough to hear Overhauls slow breathing, careful just the right amount of measured to sound as if he wasn't controlling the way it came out. "-smuggling."
That was the only thing that had come out of his research.
Overhaul eyed him lightly, his eyes trailing up and down his form. "In a way." He stepped forward. "I'm sure we can come to an agreement in an exchange for a favor."
A favor? A good one judging from the way Overhaul was looking at him.
"It's a trade then."
Infiltration by any means, don't let the hero commission find out, and you're being tracked. Why did Sasuke always get the worst missions?
Overhaul pushed him back against the wall, there would be no kissing, not with that stupid mask in the way, but they didn't need it.
It was subject to change, and he would have to report back to them. Avoiding the commission wasn't the hardest thing he had ever done and it wasn't such a terrible task in the first place. They never gave him much information on why he did what he did, but maybe if he pleasures Hanaki the way he was Overhaul at the moment, he could get more information and get off at the same time.
A win win.
Overhaul moaned and clutched roughly at his hair.
A light genjutsu to make him just a little more susceptible, to give into urges that we're already there. Not his best work, but Overhaul hadn't needed much convincing to let Sasuke do what he must to get him off.
He already wanted it, Sasuke had just given him the reason to go for it.
It worked out in the end. Overhaul panting against him and begging him, he liked the begging more and more as he did it, and promising him the world if he just-
Yes, Sasuke was good at what he did. He was trained by the best to take down the best by any means possible.