"You're not gonna win you know?" A sniffly voice called out to him.
They were seated at the table he, Tazuna, Tsunami, and...
Sasuke rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time as he saw the child seated across from him look at him with empty eyes, the barest trace of moisture shining in the corners of his lashes.
Inari.
"Gato, is going to kill you! Just like-" The black-haired boy paused his breath hitching in his throat. He turned away and blinked rapidly before looking back at Sasuke with a scowl.
Sasuke blinked down at him owlishly he knew where Inari was coming from he really did, he knew what hopelessness felt like and he knew what it was like to be faced against someone so far above you.
But... he also knew it was better to face the truth than to pretend it would go away. He had learned that himself, giving up had never solved anything, he had to keep fighting, it was far better than the alternative.
Putting down his now empty bowl he narrowed his eyes at the boy.
He would not allow him to stay in his delusions.
"Tazuna tells me your father was a hero, how do you think he would feel to see you like this?" Sasuke asked instead of saying any of that.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tazuna cast him a weary look, Sasuke ignored him, he was going to crush this child's weakness.
Inari reacted as if struck, a foul expression forming on his young face. "He's dead! He's dead because of Gato, you don't understand I don't want to lose anyone else; you don't get it do you? You don't understand because you're not one of us, you never lost anything to him!" The boy accused.
Sasuke knew sympathy was not quite his nature, not anymore, but seeing the boy glaring up at him so defiantly made him want to do it anyway. He almost saw himself.
"You're right I don't understand." He agreed with a nod.
"You're right I never lost anything to Gato." Inari gained a satisfied expression his mouth curling up slightly... vindictively.
It reminded him of his own expression when he questioned Kakashi all those years ago.
(They're already dead...) The words came back to him clear as when he had been bound to that tree.
He continued "But I have lost everyone, you at least still have a mother who loves you, and a grandfather who protects you. I have no one, everyone I've ever loved is dead. So, you're wrong I do understand, because I lost everything, I ever cared for... to the person I admired most." He said quietly his voice soft.
He knew his face was showing a lot more emotion than he would have liked but he didn't care. He could relate, on some level to what Inari had lost.
Inari's expression melted into something he couldn't read, he felt Tazuna's eyes boring into the side of his head and he knew there was something in his words that had touched the boy. Even Tsunami had stopped glaring at him. He did not need their pity, it never helped. He quieted the small part of him that acknowledged it.
He pressed on seeing as he had Inari's attention.
"You're still breathing though." He stated before he continued looking down at the boy who had shrank into his seat. "And if you let fear stop you from taking that first step, you will stay that way, still breathing but all but dead." He said in his sternest voice.
Inari blinked slowly before looking away.
Sasuke pushed back from the table and stood "Living in fear is no way to live at all, let alone to honor your father." He said to the boy as he made to leave.
He would know… for years following the massacre he had been fearful, paranoid that Itachi would come back at any time and finish what he started.
"What should I do then!" Inari yelled after him.
Sasuke paused but did not turn around. He tried to think what advice could he have desperately used so soon after his family's death? What could he offer?
"I can't tell you what to do Inari, I did not have any family left... but you do, as you are now you are hurting them, and yourself."
The boy looked down at his feet, no one was looking at him now, Tazuna seemed to find the wall very interesting while tsunami was making a show of collecting the dishes.
He shook his head Inari still had people it was not quite the same. He still had a home with people he loved.
"Do something that makes you happy, it doesn't have to be big or brave. Live, for them, and for yourself." He said as he finally turned to look at the boy.
Inari's eyes were wet, he nodded slowly before his lip quivered and he whispered.
"What did you do?"
Sasuke let his lips curl up into a small mirthless smile as he answered, "I had no one left, so I made those responsible pay, any way I could."
He saw the boy swallow thickly before he spoke. Looking up at him his eyes taking on a gleam Sasuke knew too well.
No...
"So how do I do that?" The boy asked with an anxious voice.
Sasuke looked at him it was almost like looking into a mirror, dread tore at his insides, but he kept his expression flat.
He would never allow another child to become what he had become, if he could help it.
He was not going to make another child soldier either, what Itachi had endured he would never inflict onto another.
He wanted to prove the elemental nations wrong so he would not sink to their level. He would deal with them on his own terms. If he acted as they did he would be no better.
"You don't, I will take care of Gato, you should be focusing on being a kid, not planning out how you'll kill Gato. Trust me on that." He answered as he turned away and left the kitchen.
He didn't turn back as he heard Inari whisper "I hope you win."
Sasuke nodded. He would take on the burden of vengeance in his stead, Inari did not need to live the life he did, if he had his way no child ever would, not again. In this way he would fulfill Madara's goal for him.
A land where children lived long enough to taste sake before going to war.
It was a beautiful dream, but he would not have to create a world illusion to achieve a shadow of it. He would surpass his ancestor's ambition and make it real.
He made his way to his room. He needed to clear his head. Those eyes had been the same eyes he had after the massacre.
He needed to be left alone, dwelling on the boy would do him no good.
Sadly, it was not to be, he heard footsteps gently following after him.
"Sasuke." Tsunami said from the doorway.
"Yes?" He said, he didn't look at her as he kept his gaze locked on the ceiling.
"You're not as bad as you think you are." She said softly.
He didn't know how to respond to that, he hadn't expected anything so... kind. He could count on one hand the amount of times someone had offered him such a thing, it was an uncomfortable feeling. He felt something stir inside of him he hadn't felt in a long time, he ignored it.
"I'm going to sleep." He said gruffly before turning his head to look at her. "In silence, so don't disturb me."
She scowled at him before he saw something soften in her eyes.
"Whatever you say Sasuke-san." She said as she rolled her eyes.
He grunted at her before rolling over and shutting his eyes.
She left the room and closed the door.
He waited for the footsteps to go away before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
He needed to get this over with, he needed to do what he had to do, he couldn't afford to have these things distract him, not now. Not when he was so close, the next few days he needed to be completely focused and he needed to make sure that the people around him were not going to get in his way.
He had no right to feel this way but he couldn't help it. He didn't like the way he felt when he was around this family.
It had made him uncomfortable then too, all those years ago. He would have killed to have had what Inari had left.
Luckily Naruto had in one of his few good moments smacked some sense into that kid. Before he had done it himself.
He huffed at the thought.
Naruto.
He was another issue entirely, he had grown intolerable after he left for Orochimaru, he had swept his issues under the rug in the naive hope that he could just come back and be 'normal' again, he had been a fool to think that was ever going to happen. Konoha, had betrayed him long before he ever turned his back on that place, it had just been so much easier for Naruto to believe it was all about him wanting power than to acknowledge what he now knew was true.
Konoha was the most hypocritical of all the villages, preaching the value of the next generation all the while they allowed orphans and other children to be kidnapped and shaped into tools, to be turned into weapons of war by Danzo. They preached comradery and compassion towards their own but had allowed the Uchiha to be treated with mistrust and fear and cordoned off in a corner of the village. They were founded by the first hokage and Madara who had both dreamed of creating a land where children could grow up in peace until they were old enough to enjoy sake. Yet they had sent Obito, Kakashi, Kabuto, and... even Itachi to the front lines as children robbing them of their innocence and countless more like them of their lives... They had even used Itachi himself against his own people...
Konoha was rotten, as rotten as any other village in this land. Naruto was blind, he could not see it, not entirely. Some things could not be forgiven, some things deserved to be undone. Some people deserved death.
But still, he could not blame Naruto for this. He was naive, desperate for friendship. Naruto was alone, as he was but where he had treated others with suspicion, Naruto had been far too open, far too quick to forgive and forget the things Konoha had allowed to happen to him. When one showed him even the barest hint of affection Naruto clung to it, he was far too desperate for any kind of compassion. It was disgusting. But what sickened him more was that he understood it. He was no better than Naruto in that way. He understood what it was like to have been discarded and left alone.
Perhaps he could convince him? Failing that he would do what he must. He would take the boy out of the way. If it came down to it.
A small part of him felt sick at the thought of it. But he could not waiver not even for one he had once thought of as a friend.
And... one life was not worth jeopardizing the future over, it was that simple.
He would not allow himself to think of this anymore, he had a goal to achieve, and he had to get to work.
He would be busy tomorrow. With that in mind he rested in the silence of his temporary room until sleep took him.
It was fitting that he had been sent here, this is where his journey as a Shinobi had truly begun, where he awakened his sharingan for the first time, and where the bonds he wanted severed were formed. The land of waves was a fitting place for him to begin his quest to cleanse the shinobi world of its evils...
The most fitting place, just as it had been then, so would it be now, the beginning of everything...
As Sasuke drew his blade as he walked down the streets of wave cutting down any thugs or scum, he passed by in a bloody haze of violence and death, his mind was focused on only one thing... The future. The future of this place, this land that would be reborn wave was just the beginning. The foundation for something greater, something more powerful than anything this world had ever seen before.
As he walked through the streets with his katana slung over his shoulder his expression was unreadable his face a stone mask that hid all emotion his eyes like mirrors reflecting only what they chose. A cold indifference that made him seem almost inhuman to the few civilians who caught sight of him as they ran away in terror as they hid to find safety in their homes or businesses.
A group of thugs stepped out from behind the corner of a building as they saw him approaching their eyes widening as they saw the blood coating his clothes and sword as they looked around desperately for an escape route but finding none as he came ever closer to them, they raised their own weapons in an attempt to defend themselves.
Before they could even get close enough to confront him Sasuke lazily raised his right-hand electricity sparking in his open palm, before sending it at them. A burst of blue lightning arced over his extended fingers before a stream of electric needles tore into their bodies, as it hit them, they cried out in pain as it arced over them before burning through their clothing and eating at their flesh as it slew them in an instant leaving them charred pincushions of burnt flesh and smoldering bone.
It was over in seconds leaving only a cloud of dust and smoke behind him as he walked past them towards another of Gato's building as he neared it he found it crawling with men all armed and on edge their eyes focused on him as they drew their weapons and surrounded him in a circle of steel as they pointed their swords at him.
"F-Freeze! You are under arrest by order of Gato!" The closest thug stammered out.
Sasuke stopped and regarded them all with a dispassionate expression as he looked over them all one by one as if they were all nothing but insects that could not be bothered with. He let out a soft laugh at their bravado before he put his hands at his sides. "Chidori Nagashi..." He whispered before his hands blurred with motion and his fingers lashed out into the air leaving a spray of sparks as they carved through the air leaving trails of light in their wake before lightning flashed in an expanding circle around him and arced through the air like a whip before striking the men around him in a wave of blue electricity that fried their flesh from the inside out as it exploded from within leaving charred husks behind as they collapsed to the ground dead in an instant.
Sasuke looked down at them for a moment more before a slight smirk spread across his lips as he stepped over the dead bodies towards Gato's building with a gleam in his eyes as he looked for someone else to kill.
This was easy, trivial even, if one shinobi could bring about such change how did men like Gato even exist? He mused to himself.
The answer was all too apparent, Money.
Despite their power and years of training shinobi were nothing more than hired killers, those with money were all but untouchable by the hidden villages since they could always be bought off, or hire another village to protect them.
Cruelty and apathy were embedded into their very economic system. No even more than that the system benefited off of the strife it created. Allowing more blood money to flow between the villages.
He knew why no one ever tried to change the system, they all benefited from it, his actions were an outlier.
He could not be bought.
He came face to face with two Samurai leading a small group if brigands behind them that were armed with bows, a rudimentary anti shinobi force, too bad most archers even in masse could only reliably deal with genin. Or ninja close to exhaustion as was Gato's usual tactic.
The two Samurai were a little more interesting than the ranks of common bandits at their side, a large, scarred man with tattoos and an eye patch and a slimmer shorter man with blue hair and a knit cap. The two men looked at each other before looking back at him with narrowed eyes as they slowly approached him their blades held loosely at their sides as they approached him cautiously as if they expected him to attack them at any moment. They stopped in front of their formation about 20 meters away from him.
"You there, why are you doing this? Gato wants to know." The smaller man shouted his eyes filled with uncertainty as he stared at Sasuke's blood-stained clothes and weapon.
He resisted the urge to laugh, he could feel their fear radiating off of them, the uncertainty and terror that came from not knowing what would happen next. From being in the presence of something they could not hope to face. He had known that feeling well in his youth.
Sasuke felt nothing as he regarded the two men his voice cold and indifferent as he spoke. "What I want is simple, I want you all dead." He said simply.
The Samurai looked at each other in shock their eyes widening 'you heard him men fire!" the shorter one called out dragging his taller comrade behind the first rank of archers.
Sasuke decided to humor them as the archers pulled back their bowstrings and unleashed their arrows. He slowly almost lazily activated his sharingan and began parrying the incoming arrows with his blade as he walked towards them, a predatory look on his face as he met each arrow with a stroke of his sword sending it flying towards another of their own ranks with a brief burst of chakra as he struck the projectile, he moved as if he had been doing this all his life as he drew ever closer to them with every stroke of his blade deflecting an arrow and sending it into another of their comrades.
Sasuke saw the remaining archers drop their bows as the first line of their number were taken down by their own arrows with barely a cry of surprise. In less than a breath he was standing before the remaining men he had faced his blade held low as he eyed them all as if they were nothing. Before they even had time to draw their sidearms he cut them all down with a flourish, his borrowed blade tearing through their flesh like paper with an easy efficiency and fluidity that was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, the sheer speed with which he moved was enough to give most of his enemies little time to do more than stare as all they beheld were streaks of crimson from his glowing eyes, and the shine of steel in his right hand as he lashed out in a bloody blur.
In under a second, he and the two samurai were the only men still standing. He wiped his blade on his sleeve uncaring of the blood that now flowed above his sandals beneath him, before turning and giving the two samurai a challenging look, a smirk slowly spreading across his face.
The taller of the two gulped before shaking his head a look of anger blooming in his one remaining eye as he surveyed the scene of carnage before him, "You bastard! You won't get away with this." He roared before leaping at him, his sword held low at his side, a look of furious determination on his face as he ran at Sasuke swinging his blade at him in an attempt to cut him down.
Sasuke easily sidestepped the wild swing before bringing his katana around in an arc and severing the man's hand at the wrist sending it flying as his sword tumbled uselessly to the ground.
The large man screamed clutching at his severed arm desperately. Sasuke allowed him a moment to regret challenging him before he looked back up at the larger man with an unimpressed expression on his face as if he had been bored before he lashed out with his Chidori catching him in the neck and burning through it as it left a spray of blood behind it before his corpse hit the ground with a wet thud.
Sasuke turned back towards the other man who stared at him with wide eyes before he began to back away slowly. "W-Wait! I don't want to fight you! I give up!"
Sasuke looked down at him with a dispassionate expression his voice calm and cold as he spoke. "Then you are already dead." He said before sending a burst of chakra through his hand and releasing a beam of lightning that cut through the air like a whip as it struck the man piercing his chest. After piercing him he made eye contact and delved into his mind finding where Gato was holed up. Getting what he needed he flexed his hand into a fist the chidori Eiso broke into seven points tearing through his body before exploding out of his back, he fell to the ground dead without a sound.
Sasuke stared at the remains of his latest kill for a moment before he continued on his way to Gato's home. A massive structure in the woods of Wave. A fortified building that housed all of Gato's business assets and most likely the majority of his thugs as well.
He took off cutting down the few pockets of thugs remaining in the city as he made his way there.
It was a large wooden structure, suspended among various trees, an extravagant building that had no purpose other than to demonstrate its owner's wealth.
He could feel his anger rising as he neared it, it was time to make an entrance... Flashing through the seals of his first jutsu he breathed in deeply saturating the air in his lungs with chakra before letting it out in a single massive fireball that put even Itachi's to shame as it blasted through the air and crashed into the building and into the ground behind it incinerating everything in its path before it blasted through the outer wall of the building and into the interior destroying everything in its path before exploding with a boom that shook the ground and sent plumes of black smoke into the air.
Out of the flames two figures rushed out heavily covered in chains and cloaks their faces obscured by gasmasks massive claws mounted on their right arms.
Sasuke felt a grin spread across his face, he remembered these clowns, the so-called Demon brothers of the mist, So Gato was already in contact with Zabuza then?
Good, that made things easier.
As the two men approached him Sasuke looked them over unimpressed before he sighed and let his arms hang loose at his sides.
"The Demon brothers I take it? Is Zabuza here as well?" He asked.
The brothers paused clearly surprised at the question before one spoke "Who wants to know?" He growled out his voice rough and gravelly.
Sasuke looked down at him "I do obviously, I would not have asked otherwise." He said with a raised eyebrow.
The two men regarded him silently for a moment before the larger of the two spoke.
"That's none of your business!" He said with a glare.
Sasuke felt his lip curl up in a smirk "So he is not here then? Pity. I was looking for something a bit more challenging than you weaklings."
The men narrowed their eyes and lunged at him with their massive claws, Sasuke lazily side stepped the blows before sending a burst of lightning chakra into the ground beneath him stunning the two chunin before slamming his fist into the face of the larger man knocking him out before turning and backhanding the other brother and sending him sprawling onto the ground.
They were weak, just as he remembered paper dolls pretending to be ninja. He found he could not hide his disdain. His face morphing into a sneer as he approached the so called demons.
Walking up to the still conscious "demon" he quickly pierced his clawed hand into the earth before he stepped on his rebreather.
The man looked up at him in horror as Sasuke leaned over him and pressed his foot down into his head forcing the man to stay down as he looked down at him with a cruel smile.
This brought back memories...
He had not had the pleasure of beating them himself the last time around, and with the near godly beings he had been fighting before he was sent back in time he was beginning to forget just how far above the average chunin he was now. People like this were ants to him, not anymore of a challenge than the thugs he cut down on the street.
They did not even register on his mind, is this how Madara had felt?
If so, he could understand his arrogance, to be worlds apart was to be different, to be in a word better.
It was intoxicating.
"If you had thought for a moment, you would have been able to tell that I was much more than just a shinobi, you would have noticed I was stronger, faster, and far more skilled than you... It would have made it far less humiliating for you... now though, you will die a fool."
"Why? Why are you doing this?" The man gasped out the words from under his foot as he looked up at him with fear in his eyes.
Not so brave now, was he?
Good, that was what he wanted to see, a small taste of things to come. He had many, so many people he wanted to see begging for mercy.
"I don't need a reason." He said simply before he began to press down the mask on the shinobi's face with his sandalled foot crushing his mask inward from the force he was exerting "But if you want one it is simple, you are scum, beneath my feet, and you deserve to be stepped on." He said his voice cold.
The man tried to cry out but nary a sound came from his mouth. as Sasuke crushed his rebreather into his face. Blood thick and reeking of copper beginning to pour from the edges of the mask.
A little more pressure and he would pop.
He was forced to fall back when the other brother regained his senses and took a wild swing at him as he fell back however, he ran his sword through the downed shinobi's other arm pinning him to the ground as he stepped away.
"Yohu Bastherd!" The man cried out in pain. His voice coming out broken and choppy his mask dented inward and dripping blood.
"Call me Sasuke." He said his voice bored as he regarded the man who glared up at him in defiance as he struggled against the sword pinning him.
The other demon brother whose name escaped him took another wild shot at him the chain from his gauntlet shooting out like a whip but Sasuke simply ducked out of the way with ease before covering his hand with electricity and sending it up the chain back at the man.
The missing-nin cried out in pain as the electricity arced through him his muscles spasming before he fall back with a pained expression on what was visible of his face as he tumbled to the earth.
Sasuke sighed before looking back down at the one still pinned. He had not even needed his sharingan, how disappointing.
"You are boring me, lucky for you I need to get in touch with Zabuza, and you are going to help me with that." He said as he looked at him expectantly.
The man glared up at him in silence, refusing to say a word.
Sasuke felt that simply would not do.
So, he ripped his blade from his arm eliciting a scream from the man before with a flash he appeared over the twitching body of his brother angling the blade of his katana at his throat.
"I have no patience nor desire to continue letting you play ninja. You will go get Zabuza and bring him to me or I will kill your brother." He said simply running a small amount of chakra down the blade making it crackle with sparks.
The man glared at him with hatred in his eyes before he struggled for a moment to rip the mask off of his face a few teeth coming with it. Looking down at his rebreather and his broken teeth in disgust he growled out "F-Fine! But Zabuza is not here he is sill offshore we were sent here to watch Gato." He said through gritted broken teeth.
Sasuke frowned that complicated things still though he could be patient. He had plans for this place.
"I see... you better hurry then, your brother is staying here with me, you have a week to find Zabuza and bring him back here." He said before pressing the tip of his katana into his brother's neck. "Or he dies." He said with a smile.
The man let out a low growl before standing and hobbling off into the night.
Sasuke watched him go before he turned back to his brother who was glaring at him.
"You will never get away with this!" The man yelled his voice warbling as his muscles twitched.
Sasuke's lip curled up in a sneer at that.
What a fool this petty demon was, Sasuke nearly laughed in his face. Ofcourse he would get away with this, he was strong and willing to use that strength.
The sad truth was that the powerful got away with anything they wished until someone more powerful came along and stopped them. That occurrence was also sadly far too rare.
He knew that all too well, he had put many of the so-called untouchables of his world in their place and he knew that if he did not dirty his hands no one else would do it. Orochimaru and Danzo had both proven his ideal to be true.
He was the only one who would dare to put them where they belonged, in hell or whatever it was that passed for it in the death gods realm.
He was the only one strong enough, with resolve enough to ignore the consequences and face the world itself turning against him without balking.
No one else had stepped up not a single one of those long-winded idealists who had condemned him had actually practiced what they so ardently preached, they all wanted peace, but they were not willing to spill the blood necessary to maintain it. Their ideals bound them to propriety and cowardice.
Sentimentality and weakness.
To burn away the weeds and vermin that infested the world, action was needed and from their ashes he would bring about new growth.
Others like the third dealt in half measures and turned a blind eye to the sins of those close to them, or those outside of their jurisdiction. He would not make that same mistake.
This world was his, by right of strength, the only truth the shinobi nations actually ran on. Might was all that mattered and no one alive could challenge him. So why should he respect their laws? His principles and actions were all that mattered. They would bend or they would break, he would not grant them any compromise. He was well beyond that.
There was only one being here who could possibly stop him now, Obito.
And he would ensure he would fail as well. That was what he was sent back here for.
Looking down at the ragged dog at his feet Sasuke could not help the smirk that spread across his face.
"You cannot stop me, no one here can." He said before he leaned down and picked the man up by the collar of his shirt before throwing him into a nearby tree.
The man let out a groan as he hit the trunk before collapsing to the ground in a heap.
"You all are nothing but gnats to me, it would be best if you accepted that now."
The filthy thing that called itself a demon desperately tried to struggle to its feet, the tremors running through its form making the process of rising slow and agonizing.
It barked something foul through its mask he did not bother to listen. Only quirking a brow as the missing-nin got back into a combat stance.
He decided to humor him and show him just how outclassed he was.
Focusing for a moment he brought the full brunt of his killing intent to bare against him. His smirk growing wider as the man shook in a way that had nothing to do with the electricity flowing through his body.
The so-called shinobi slumped against the tree his body shaking. His eyes wide as saucers.
It did his heart good to see someone who preyed on the weak quake in their sandals, how many more so-called monsters would be reduced to this state before him?
That Sasuke did not know but the elation he felt was all too real.
Sasuke looked at him, his sharingan spinning to life as he drank in his shaking opponent his fear becoming even more obvious before his eyes.
Still though he supposed he had wasted enough time on this. He had bigger fish to fry.
"Sleep now and don't wake up." He said before sending a genjutsu into the chunin's mind and rendering him unconscious.
He had no more time to waste on him. He had a long way to go before he could get in contact with Zabuza.
There was still work to be done here as well.
Sasuke walked towards the building with his katana over his shoulder the sound of screams filling his ears as he walked through the destruction and into the building. As he entered what once must have been a foyer he was greeted by a wave of heat from the raging flames that licked at everything in sight including the charred corpses that littered the ground around him.
Making his way up the tower killing everyone he came across he finally reached the top of the building a room with massive mahogany door that took up most of the room and stood taller than him. It was locked not that it would matter… coating the blade on his shoulder in lightning he slashed through it in one swift motion before opening it with ease as it fell away in splinters revealing an opulent office he spotted Gato immediately sitting on a chair surrounded by bodyguards that held their weapons at the ready as they stared at Sasuke with looks of terror on their faces their weapons shaking.
There were no more shinobi apparently, it seems Zabuza and his apprentice were really not here.
"Wh-who are you?!" Gato demanded fearfully his eyes wide with terror behind his shades as he stared at Sasuke's blood-soaked attire and weapon.
Sasuke felt no pity for Gato as he strode forward through the doorway and with a flash of movement and a glimmer of steel he slaughtered his guards with ease painting the hardwood floor of the office in a crimson varnish, before walking up to Gato who was now shaking in his chair with his hands raised in front of him in surrender as he stared at Sasuke's bloody katana with a look of terror on his face.
As he walked towards him Gato screamed in terror and in his attempt to back away he tripped over his chair his small fat body tumbling to the polished floor with a thud before he looked up at Sasuke with fear filled eyes as he desperately tried to back away from him on his backside as he stared at him with a look of utter terror on his face.
"W-we can talk about this, come to some kinda deal! I have money, I can give you anything you want!" Gato screamed as he continued to crawl backwards away from Sasuke who watched him with cold eyes before his expression broke into a massive grin.
"Money cannot save you... or anyone else from me, I want to change this world first step of that is your death." He said as he pointed his blade at the tycoon.
"D-Don't kill me! Please!" Gato begged tears streaming down his face as he stared up at Sasuke with wide eyes as he got up to his knees.
Sasuke then got a nasty horrible idea, "I am not going to kill you..." At this Gato's expression brightened. It almost made him sick, so he was quick to correct the tycoon's assumption.
"Not now anyway... I am going to let the people of this nation you tormented have the pleasure of doing that. I want to watch as they tear you apart..." Sasuke said darkly before he brought his katana up above his head flipping it to hit him with the blunt side and prepared to strike down with all of his might.
"No! Please don't let them do this to me! Please I beg you! Have mercy!" Gato begged desperately holding his hands up in front of him in an attempt to defend himself from the blow that was sure to come.
Sasuke tsked and kicked him across the room feeling the crunch of his ribs against his sandalled feet as he sent the short man careening against the wall. "Your begging only angers me... How many begged you for mercy I wonder?" Sasuke mused. As he stood over the petty tyrant groveling at his feet.
The first of many tyrants who would find themselves in this position. He thought elatedly.
Gato stared up at him from where he lay on the floor in a daze blood dribbling down his lips before he spat out a mouthful of foul, crimson-stained bile onto his polished wooden floors.
"You have no right to speak of mercy, I see through you..." Sasuke said before he lifted him into the air by his hair.
"I know you for what you are, you disgusting little rat…"
"I still have some use for you before I turn you over to them though..." The last thing gato saw before he was taken by unconsciousness were a pair of blood red eyes.
Sasuke chucked him down onto his desk as he began to raid the compound when he awoke, he would force him to sign everything over but for now he had a safe to bust open luckily he still had some of his storage scrolls. He would need money and assets another tool to turn against his opponents could not be overlooked.
Gato awoke with a groan as he sat up and looked around in confusion not sure how he had gotten here before his memories returned and he shot up in surprise. "What happened?! Where am I?!" He yelled desperately looking around for someone who would answer him but seeing no one he looked down at himself to find himself tied to a chair his hands tied behind his back and his feet... what happened to his feet! He realized that they had been nailed to the ground with spikes!
"Ah! What did you do to me?! Who are you?!" He demanded as he began to struggle against his bonds but finding them too tight, he could not get himself loose.
The shinobi Gato knew him for what he was walked into the room with a large leatherbound book in hand that he dropped on the desk in front of Gato who eyed him with growing fear as he realized what must have happened.
"You know... I have been thinking about getting into the shipping business..." the man who slaughtered his men said casually as if they were talking over drinks as he sat down on a chair in front of Gato's desk and opened the book flipping through it casually as he did so.
"You cannot get away with this!" Gato yelled as he struggled against his bonds "I have powerful friends! they will have your head!" He yelled desperately as he tried to break free but found himself unable to escape as he tried to pull himself free the rope digging into his skin and biting into him as he struggled against them.
"I am not concerned about them... The Daimyo here or in Water country have nothing on me. You should be worrying about yourself. Your business associates cannot save you, they won't be able to save themselves either..."
Gato stopped struggling for a moment "What?" he asked nervously, his voice cracking with fear as he looked at the shinobi in front of him who looked back at him with hard flinty eyes.
The man did not answer him but simply flipped the page and then Gato knew what the book was it was his business ledger, how had he found it? Who was this man?! Gato knew that shinobi were known to be resourceful but how had he found it? How did he know about it?!
The shinobi who sat in front of him grinned... a vicious mocking thing all teeth and satisfaction. He knew that smile well he had worn it far too often himself. It was a smile he wore when he won... when he knew he was about to crush someone.
"How?" He asked fearfully as he stared at the man infront of him who just grinned wider and wider his teeth showing through the widening crack in his lips as he did so.
"A man like you always has some secret back door into your accounts. You're so paranoid that you even keep records and photos for blackmail material, you could not have made it any easier if you tried." he said darkly.
"Even if this won't get them to fall in line, I will simply kill them."
Gato looked at the man who spoke with growing horror as he realized just how wrong he was about this man; this man was no shinobi! No mere mercenary. He was something much worse... he was a monster.
"What are you?" He asked fearfully.
"I am Sasuke Uchiha..." He said looking Gato straight in the eye before his smile faded and was replaced by a look of cold murderous intent that Gato felt would haunt him for the rest of his life as he looked down at him his voice slick and deadly serious as he spoke. "The man who will remake this world..." He said as he stared into Gato's eyes with a searing intensity that was so strong Gato felt like it would burn through him.
Uchiha... he had heard of them. A clan that had possessed unparalleled ocular prowess he had thought them all but dead.
Gato gulped before he spoke, he was dealing with a madman an extremist... He was no mere local hero, nor was he just another common killer… No, he was something far worse, something far more unreasonable, he was a zealot, a fanatic who would follow through with whatever he had planned no matter what it was. He was insane... he had to be, only an insane man could speak of such things.
"What do you want? Really?" He asked in a panic as he began to struggle against his bonds again trying to get free even if only to get some distance between him and this madman. The ropes burned against his wrists as he struggled, his chair shaking.
The man laughed down at him before he answered.
"I want your ships, your company, everything you have." He said simply as he leaned back in his chair opposite to him his face still like stone, as he looked down at Gato who continued to struggle against his bonds in a panic.
"You can't take everything from me!" He said as he continued to struggle "I have people who will protect me!" He crowed desperately.
The man across from him shook his head. "They are all dead, every thug and two bit criminal you had on this island is dead I slaughtered them myself, I killed them all..."
Gato felt his panic increase he could hear his heart pounding in his chest. "T-that can't be..."
"The only people left alive on this island are people that hate your guts..." He said with a malicious grin that chilled Gato to the bone as he stared at him with a look that told him he would not stop until he got what he wanted... he had worn it himself he knew it for what it was.
"You can't take it all! I will be ruined! I will lose everything!" He said desperately trying to get through to this man who was clearly insane.
"You lost everything the moment you got in my way... I have no use for weaklings like you..." He said simply before he got up out of his chair and walked over to Gato before grabbing his hair and forcing him to look him in the eyes.
"I do not need your cooperation; I can force you to sign everything I need." He said darkly as he leaned in closer and spoke directly into his ear in a low whisper that made Gato feel as if ice were spreading up his back as his words like poison dripped into his ear.
"I can force you to do anything I want..." He whispered "Everything my eyes hold within their gaze is mine..." He said darkly.
Gato felt his blood freeze in his veins before he was then shoved back roughly into his chair.
Gato paled as he thought on those words, more ninja magic, this man was like no one he had ever met, his skills were beyond anything Gato had ever seen before, even the shinobi he had hired in the past would have been no match for him. Even Zabuza did not possess a tenth of whatever it was this man exuded.
He had no choice.
"You want me to sign everything over to you? Fine, but first I need you to untie me." He said hopefully.
Sasuke gave him a smile "of course." Then faster than he could even see the binding on his right arm vanished looking down, however he found he now had a sword jammed through his left arm!
He let out a scream of pain as the sword bound him to the chair.
"You bastard!" Gato screamed in pain as he struggled against his bonds as Sasuke looked at him with a sneer on his face before he twisted the sword inside of him causing Gato to scream out in agony.
"You only need one hand to sign your name." He said coldly before he began to twist the sword inside of him once again causing Gato to let out another cry of pain before he released the blade leaving him impaled to his chair.
Gato tried to hold back tears as he felt blood dripping down his arm where the sword was lodged inside of him he tried to move it and found himself unable to get free. "You can't just leave it like that! I am bleeding out!" He begged desperately as he tried to break free again but found himself too weak to break his bonds.
"You're right... can't have you dying yet." He said before he put his hand on the swords handle and the blade to the tycoon's horror caught fire his flesh melting under his grip before to his terror his arm was consumed in flame until it fell to the ground with a thud leaving a cauterized stump behind where his left arm should have been. The smell of burnt flesh almost made him gag even as he clenched his teeth in an effort to keep himself from sobbing.
Gato let out a scream of agony as his nerves were burned away by the flame. He could not believe what had happened! His arm! He had lost his arm! "You monster! You animal! You're going to pay for this!" He screamed spittle streaming from his mouth.
"I stopped your bleeding so quit crying before I start on your legs." Sasuke said darkly as he looked down at him with a cold gaze that seemed to cut right through him.
He shivered despite the burning agony in his body he felt a foul chill, that surpassed any cold he had ever known in life.
Gato looked at him in fear as he shook in his bonds.
There was no winning here.
"I... I'll sign... everything I have, I promise." He said quickly before Sasuke could make good on his threat.
The monster wearing a man's flesh just grinned... His flinty black eyes gleaming in a way that made him sick.
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
– Voltaire
So yeah, as earlier stated this is terrorist Sasuke he did not have his revelation he got later while fighting Madara and awakening the Rinnegan through the old alien who thought giving humans nukes was a good idea. He is still very much on the fanatical war path similar to how he was at the five Kage summit.