Sarutobi looked at the rather angry young man who had clearly been in a nasty fight. He had been carrying something on him that had gotten the attention of the ANBU unit when they captured him.

He had deep raven black hair, odd scarring and had a strange feather attached to his hair. He wore unfamiliar clothing and had odd metal weapons of unfamiliar make.

He also had an active chakra network, which was why he was being treated as an enemy ninja.

"Report," said Sarutobi.

"I don't think he's local," said Ibiki. "While he did partially recognize the Leaf headband, he claims ignorance on the significance. He definitely recognized ANBU code sign, but his interpretation is highly out of date with current codes."

The Hokage frowned.

"Has he said where he came from?"

"He refuses to talk, and is unimpressed with Anko's usual methods," said Ibiki.

There was also the obvious fact the young man had blood on his hands. This man was a killer, and a trained one at that. He felt like an angry dragon, if Ibiki was honest with himself.

Sarutobi frowned. Something told him this young man was important.

With that in mind, he entered the room.

The young man's eyes were full of anger...but no hate. At least, none for the people in the room anyway. There was also visible confusion and annoyance.

An angry dragon indeed.

Sarutobi observed the young man as he quietly interrogated him. Something about him was familiar, and he couldn't place why.

Then, Anko got annoyed and threw a senbon at him for shits and giggles.

Everyone felt the young man gather chakra out of instinct. Every ninja in that room prepared for trouble.

None of them expected the young man's eyes to suddenly shift into a familiar crimson with black tomoe. It wasn't a full Sharingan, as he only had two tomoe in each eye, but the fact he had it was shocking enough.

The entire tone of the interrogation shifted after that.

A few days later...

Xanxus was in a foul mood. To be fair, the second he activated the special eyes he had inherited from his mother the entire tone had changed.

Apparently his mother's clan was some big deal in this place, and very well known.

He still didn't know who the 'thieving scarecrow' was, but the old man and the people around him had clearly recognized the description his mother had shared, repeatedly, of someone who had basically accepted an organ donation after losing their own eye. It had been a last request gift from a close friend and teammate, and Xanxus honestly did not understand what the big deal was.

While he was allowed out into the village, he was not oblivious to the fact that the local shinobi had him under watch. It was only common sense really.

At least the Hokage had given him back his mother's headband. They were waiting for the results of the blood test he had done, but for now he was under observation. After all, he didn't even know what the hell a Kage was, much less any relevant local details like the names of the five biggest shinobi villages.

It had taken him an hour to realize that the local language and writing was similar enough to Japanese to be understood, though he wasn't as fluent in it as he would have liked.

Without any money, Xanxus found a good spot to crash as he was utterly exhausted. The local fauna, which were the biggest tigers he had ever seen in his life, took one look at him and ignored his existence. One of the cubs even sniffed at him curiously before it's mother growled at him in warning.

Something told him this was going to be a long week.

Fugaku was not particularly happy about a bastard Uchiha coming out of the woodworks.

Especially when he finally had the chance to meet Xanxus. The boy was rude, foul-mouthed and had absolutely no respect for him as the head of the clan. Worse, while he had an active chakra system and even had an active Sharingan, he had no loyalty to the clan as a whole.

The two knew within seconds of meeting one another they would likely never get along. By mutual agreement, while he was permitted to carry the Uchiha name, he was considered an outcast in the clan as a whole.

Since he was still under observation for the next three months, Xanxus decided to take the half-joking offer by the 'thieving scarecrow' his mother always ranted about when drunk.

The 'scarecrow' was one Hatake Kakashi, a former teammate of his mother's younger sibling Obito. Since he was a jounin and former ANBU, he met the basic criteria of a minder enough to get rid of most of his watchers.

Sure, there were still a few on patrol that would keep an eye on him, but he had a bit more freedom now than before since Kakashi was now expected to take on that role.

Xanxus took a few moments to familiarize himself with the local currency, before heading to a cheap restaurant. While ramen wasn't his preferred food, the prices were fairly decent and the food smelled good.

He ordered one of the cheaper bowls and was pleasantly surprised at how big they were.

As he began to eat, he noticed a kid about the same age as his youngest Guardian Belphegor walk up.

He continued to eat and observed how everyone interacted with one another...and noticed an odd amount of hate directed towards the loudmouthed brat.

Say what you would about him, but like recognized like...this kid was a survivor, same as Xanxus. However the kid was hiding it behind a fake smile that hid the pain within.

You could imagine his surprise seeing the old man show up soon after, with the open intent to treat the kid to a good meal.

Xanxus said nothing, enjoying his meal in relative peace while paying half attention to the old man and the kid.

As he ordered another bowl, the old man turned to Xanxus while the kid went to the bathroom.

"So. How are you liking Konoha?" he asked.

"It's different," said Xanxus. "Should have guessed my ma's family would be just as insufferable as the old bastard who took me in."

The old man had a shrewd look. Xanxus wasn't fooled for a second. Seeing the kid return, the two tabled any discussion for later. However Xanxus wasn't surprised to be called in by the Hokage the next morning regarding his continued residency in the village.

Besides, he hated living off charity.

Xanxus knew what the old man wanted.

"I'll be blunt. I'm not interested in acting as one of your shinobi or whatever you call the military here," said Xanxus. While it was interesting to meet his ma's family, he still had people to take care of back in his home. They might be crazy and a pain in the ass, but they were still his.

"I figured as much. To be honest, you're a bit too old to instill the sort of...loyalty...we'd expect from one of our shinobi," said Hiruzen dryly. "Not to mention you're too much of a wild card."

Xanxus was more or less amicable to the village, but that was about it. His loyalty clearly lay somewhere outside the Leaf, and even if he did want to join their ranks he'd never make it past Special Jounin, if that.

However, there were alternatives to joining the ranks that would allow him the same privileges as a shinobi without the restrictions. Something the Hokage suspected the young man would find far more agreeable overall.

Xanxus had a smirk on his face, as he obviously knew where this was going and was more than willing to cut the bullshit and get straight to the point.

"So. What can you offer us in exchange for the same privileges as our shinobi?" asked Hiruzen.

"Back home I'm the head of a group of specialized elite assassins. If you have someone you want dead, but can't have your own do it for legal or political reasons, then you hire someone like me," said Xanxus bluntly.

Hiruzen could already see the benefits of this for him long term. Having an assassin of the books was a very useful thing.

"A trial run then, to see how good you really are," said Hiruzen.

Unspoken was the fact he'd have someone observing (but NOT helping) during the trial run.

Xanxus was given a basic run down of the area he would be heading into. There was some sort of civil war going on in the Land of Water, something to do with special abilities from what he could surmise. It didn't really matter to him why they were fighting.

The mission was entirely off the books, and the trio of fools the Hokage was stuck with as advisers wanted him to 'poach' as many as he could. They were sending him to an area with a rather valuable bloodline limit involving bones.

Xanxus didn't have to be a genius to guess the trio (particularly Danzo) were deliberately setting him up to fail.

He could honestly care less. He still needed a Cloud anyway, and his current Lightning was so shitty he barely tolerated Levi's existence.

To that end, Xanxus stocked up with the limited supplies he was permitted to buy. He was just glad to have his guns back, even if he had to fix them after the Leaf researchers had attempted to find out their secrets.

He was rather curious to see how the chakra metal he had seen in Kakashi's apartment would react to his Wrath flames. One thing at a time though.

Xanxus didn't look back as he set off to the Land of Water. He had a lot of distance to cover and wanted to get this over with.

Two months later...

Kakashi knew his temporary roommate had been given an 'off the books' mission, but hadn't cared enough to ask what it was beyond that. Off the books meant that only those who needed to know were allowed to be in the know. And if he hadn't been given details, then it wasn't his problem.

So you could imagine the surprise he got finding Xanxus nursing a strong bottle of booze and glowering at anyone who dared even look like they might confiscate it from him.

"You're back?"

"And I got a three day reprieve," he said annoyed. "At least you lot don't have ridiculous restrictions on drinking ages."

"Old shinobi rule. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink, old enough to fuck," said Kakashi bluntly. "No one is going to be stupid enough to deny alcohol to someone who knows how to hold a kunai to your throat and actually use it."

Xanxus stared at him, before a broad grin filled his face.

"Really now..."

Kakashi had the distinct impression Xanxus was a bit of a drunk. Meh, not his problem.

"So how was your mission?"

Xanxus mood soured a bit.

"When I find the fucker who managed to mess up the trigger on my guns..." he growled.

"So you failed then?" said Kakashi.

"Oh I still killed the fuckers but it's going to take weeks to remake the parts they fucked up," said Xanxus annoyed.

Kakashi didn't know how to respond to that, so he ordered his own beer and started drinking.

He was a bit taken aback when the next morning (despite them both being hungover), an ANBU was waiting for Xanxus. He had a meeting with the Hokage.

In the Hokage's office

"When I sent you out there, I wasn't expecting you to actually bring someone back," said Hiruzen flatly.

"Well I wasn't expecting to deal with fuckers who could shot actual bones out of their bodies like fucking bullets, so we're even," Xanxus snarked back. "Not my fault the fuckers had apparently planned some coup or another, and that the kid was the only one with enough sense to turn around and walk a different direction."

Xanxus then smirked at him.

"Coincidentally how much did those heads I collected bring in?"

Hiruzen had a flat look on his face. When Xanxus had told him he was an elite assassin, he had mostly dismissed the young man's claims to his skill level.

He would not make that mistake again, even if the teen was unlikely to join the shinobi ranks.

"Three of them were A-rank bounties and the other five were B-rank," he said flatly. "I'm rather curious as to how you managed to find them."

Xanxus rolled his eyes. Kakashi had told him about what the slashed headbands had meant and how most shinobi with any skill level usually got an entry into the BINGO books, which were akin to wanted posters between villages.

Xanxus wasn't cleared to buy one (yet), but he did understand that slashed headband meant fair game and if they managed to survive five minutes against him when he was pissed off, then they likely had a decent bounty.

"They were stupid enough to attack the caravans I was using to get to the Land of Water, and I reminded them there's always a bigger fish," he said dryly.

At the very least Xanxus had passed the initial trial run with flying colors. Enough that Hiruzen could legitimately hand the teen a probationary license that allowed him to shop in the shinobi run stores for weapons and the like.

He was very curious as to what Xanxus would do with that license.