Uchiha of Remnant

by Baconaddict

Sasuke was used to having obstacles in his path, but trying to find a way home after becoming stranded in the middle of another world was a bit much even by his standards. Similar to everything in his life, his situation is not as simple as it first appears.

8. Stripes with Stripes, Spots with Spots

AN: Sorry for the wait, took a bit longer than I thought to put this out. But I have compensation for you: an almost 19,000-word count chapter. Almost double the usual! Hope you all enjoy!

First, I do feel the need to recommend a story by LucianGrimoire titled, The Dark Avenger's Second Coming. I reviewed his/her story a few weeks ago and they were nice enough to recommend my story on their next post, so I feel I should return the favor. It's a Naruto-Bleach crossover featuring our favorite Uchiha, and it's been pretty good so far and taking a few interesting turns. With far more frequent updating than mine as well. If LucianGrimoire does read this, thanks for the praise! And I would be happy to hear a review from you!

The reason I put the Patch anomaly in here was not just a plot device for this story- I honestly think there had to be some reason on canon why it's considered 'safe', considering that during two of the trailers Ruby and Yang are assaulted by Grimm that just wander up with no problem at all. If that is considered relatively peaceful and safe, what exactly is the standard by which the rest of the RWBY world is measured?

As for those who didn't like the wall reference, well to be honest I didn't really want to put it in originally because I knew it would be a bit controversial. But try as I might, I could never come up with a good alternative. That damn wall just kept popping into my head, so eventually I just said "Fuck it", and put it in. Overall, however, I would still argue that it's not a big deal. This is a fictional wall in a fictional world that is itself based in two other fictional worlds- kind of like Inception. Chill out. The sun is still going to rise tomorrow regardless of what I put in here.

Speaking of disagreeing with points in the story, now might be a good time to point out that now is probably the time where many of you will find some detail or scene in this story that you don't like. I can assure you it's not by design, but statistically speaking as stories go on the number of people who think the writer should have gone down a different road at one point or another only grows. It can't be avoided.

At the beginning all of you were coming up with ideas and thoughts for where you thought it should go. Because it hadn't been written yet, all of you were hopeful that the unique version you had in mind would be the one I was going with. Now that the story has advanced a bit and a few roads have remained untaken, odds are that there are at least a few parts where you're thinking, "Why the hell did he write it like that, it would have been better if…". I can't please everyone, and all of you are going to at some point come across something you don't think I handled right. If half of you want Sasuke nerfed and the other half wants Sasuke at full power there's no way for everyone to win. All I can say is I hope you like the story as a whole and put whatever hopefully small disagreements you have behind you.

KnightofZaku- Thanks for the praise! Good to know you liked Shyla, and you just might see Salem a bit later.

alaude hibari- A bit longer than six months, I know. But I hope this makes it up to you.

Fortitude501- I have to remind you of shitty politicians because I'm an idiot who couldn't come up with a more original idea and because I'm a dick.

Crimson11116- He might have a few more eye-openers coming later on…

NightmareKnight1- Yeah, I know what you mean. Real life sucks sometimes. Glad you enjoyed this though!

Reasonable Man- Oh, the consequences are just beginning!

MikeJonesWho- My first reviewer! Haven't heard from you in a while, glad to hear you're still with me!

Suicide259- Sorry to hear you didn't like the previous chapter as much. Hate to break it to you, but not every chapter can be packed with progress; build-up needs to happen too. If you want more meaningful plot though, you might like the latter part of this chapter.

Ashborn2271- Oh, if you knew what I have coming…

LogicSoldier- It might be boring to you, but that doesn't make it irrelevant. If you really skipped that entire part you missed some important details.

Fanfictions4Ever- Thanks for the PM you shot me a few days ago, really got me geared up to finish this.

TimothyBurr- Happy to hear you enjoyed it! And Hawk's Plight was updated! Now only a year until the next chapter! (Dear God, I hope not)

The Baz- The back-and-forth we've been having will bear fruit below. I hope you enjoy.

EVA-Saiyajin- Nice to know you like what I've got so far! Can tell you don't like Trump though. Its understandable, guy has plenty of flaws. I have good news for you though- he won't be President forever. Elections every four years and term limits are wonderful things, aren't they?

Croniklerx- I do actually agree with you that Ruby's development was a bit rushed in hindsight, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about making it a bit deeper. And keep in mind that Ruby is still rather innocent and has that 'simple soul', even considering she lost her friend.

I guess it could be the same Ursa. It doesn't really matter, honestly. The point is that all the Grimm on Patch are stronger than usual.

Why would Sasuke not like massages? Where exactly is that mentioned anywhere in canon? No one has tried to breech the subject to him, sure, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to just assume he wouldn't like them (depending on the masseuse of course).

Nice to know you like Shyla. I wanted several OCs for this instead of just using the characters already created because I didn't want things to go as predictably as they would otherwise. And it's important to remember that for all the "This character is OC, kick them out, get an important main character" talk, people also bitch and moan when main characters get so much screen time that other side characters are overshadowed. It's also important to remember that the average joe citizens that are 'unimportant' to the RWBY storyline are the entire reason Huntsmen and Huntresses exist.

I am partially doing the story mostly in third-person to show Sasuke's perspective (which is not always right), but also just because that's just how I naturally write stories. Just kinda clicks more that way for me personally.

Danish78- It was so weird writing Yang as the responsible one! But when the chips are down even Yang knows when to get serious.

You're pretty spot-on with your analysis of why Sasuke is working a day job. Not sure why people think he can't tolerate unwanted social activity. He did it during his days with Team Seven. Hell, he spent three years in the constant company of a guy who was going to steal his body and was responsible for utterly despicable human rights violations even by shinobi standards. Dealing with Shyla's tongue or drunk customers is a walk in the park compared to that.

I like Sasuke x Ino pairing too. Don't see enough of it.

Machcia- Sasuke's perception may be really good, but I would hardly say it's abnormal for his universe even amongst characters without a Dojutsu to beef their vision. If you'll remember the final stage of the Chunin exams when Shikamaru fights Temari, she backs away and precisely measured the length that his shadow can reach (15 meters and 32 centimeters) with a single glance just by eyeballing it. It's episode 64.

I do agree that the Naruto timeskip was a bit of a let-down for all the rookies. The difference between post and pre time-skip was far more pronounced in the One Piece series.

The Jingo- Always feel good hearing from you. 699 Sasuke is certainly a good pick, but there are several reasons I went with the Hebi version for this one.

Lusec- Glad you've enjoyed it so far! By the way, any chance of seeing Godslayer or Dragonborn updated? I liked what I saw from them!

'thoughts'

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Uchiha of Remnant

Chapter 8: Stripes with Stripes, Spots with Spots

"Hey hot stuff, you look lonely here all by yourself. You wanna dance?"

"I'm a bouncer on duty. Find someone else."

Sasuke had been standing in his favorite balcony corner for about four hours now, and the woman talking to him was the twenty-fourth of the night to approach him. He had expected a smaller number with Shyla here, but he had made a miscalculation.

Shyla had told him when they made the deal that she would split from him and talk to her friends or people she knew if she saw them.

The problem was that she was one of the most talented social butterflies he had ever seen, because it seemed she knew everyone. She had walked up to no less than thirty patrons so far and had called them by their first name, and no fewer had approached her.

Had Shyla been a shinobi who could learn jutsu as quickly as she could make friends, she would have a ninjutsu collection larger than Kakashi's.

"Come on, you're waay too uptight. Nothing's going to happen, why not enjoy yourself for a few minutes?"

"You need help leaving bitch?"

The girl who approached him whirled around to confront the interruption, eyes narrowing in rage.

"Excuse me?"

"He's taken. And he's too busy to bother with you anyway. Get lost."

To her credit, Shyla did keep her word that even if she did stray away, she would be close enough to bail him out if he needed it. Twenty-four times tonight he had been approached, and twenty-four times she had come to his aid remarkably quickly.

Honestly he was impressed a civilian had the situational awareness to keep tabs on him from the corner of her eye while being in the middle of a large group.

"I knew you would be popular, but damn!" the blonde exclaimed, ignoring the venomous look the other woman was giving her as she retreated. "Would you have needed a stick to beat her off if I wasn't around?"

"I would have handled it."

Though he had to admit she could make unwanted female company leave far more quickly than he could. If he had been by himself the woman would have probably kept trying for a bit.

"But I did it for you. You can thank me anytime, you know."

"How are you enjoying your half-price drinks? How did you get those again?"

"Oh, I like the booze as much as anyone else. But an honest two or three words of gratitude straight from your mouth has a more personal touch."

A blank stare was all she got.

"Keep up the tough guy silent act all you want, but I know you're glad I'm here."

She wasn't wrong- the Uchiha was grateful for her presence. His evening so far had gone much smoother than it would have if he had flown solo. The only downside was that unlike the Malachite twins, she couldn't stay around him more than three minutes before seeing one of the uncountable people who were unfortunate enough to befriend her. At least Melanie and Miltia took their work here seriously.

He certainly respected Shyla's stubborn nature and annoying wit. It certainly kept him on his toes and made an otherwise boring evening more interesting even if it did grate his nerves on and off, but the twins were among the few number of people Sasuke could tolerate easily.

He had made a good enough impression on his first night to earn their respect, and they didn't try to boss him around like the other subordinates and didn't have to be told to respect his boundaries. The few nights they had worked together they had set up an unspoken agreement that the twins would play blocker for any women trying to talk to him, and Sasuke would do the same for the guys trying to hit on them.

It had worked very well, especially now that no one since his first day had bothered to physically challenge him. Some of the patrons also went to Slate's arena and easily recognized him, and added to that his bullet catching feat had gone through the rumor mill and he had a solid reputation as someone not to be messed with.

The twins, however, had been disappointed that he didn't need to throw punches. Melanie and Miltia had apparently decided to take his advice and try going out of a few double dates on their days off, and it was obvious none of them had gone well. Their dates had made such poor performances thus far that they had gone into the infamous female 'all men are assholes' mode.

Aside from Junior, he was the only guy as far as he knew that was spared from their unpleasant mood. Probably due to the fact that they had seen him in similar situations with women he did not want to associate with and could empathize with their frustration.

In the meantime he pulled out his scroll and began surfing through the recent news, narrowing his eyes at yet another article regarding the mysterious disappearance of the Patch Anomaly and the subsequent drop of Grimm attacks around the city of Vale. It had not escaped his notice that these two seemingly impossible events coincided perfectly with his arrival to Remnant as well as his journey from Patch to Vale.

He didn't have the slightest clue why his presence would cause the Grimm to behave this way, much less how he was apparently able to alter the behavior of thousands of Grimm ranging across hundreds of square miles in all directions from his location. Nevertheless, he could not refute the evidence.

He had thought it would be relatively easy to hide in Vale and that his immunity to being a target for Grimm only took effect when he was extremely close to them. Unfortunately, it would not be that easy.

'This makes no sense. I'm not even doing anything! I haven't used a shred of chakra since I got to Vale, so how can they sense my presence from so far away?'

Grimm could detect negative emotions, but they could only sense them from longer distances if they were particularly potent or if they were felt simultaneously by large numbers of people in the same place. He certainly had enough hate for Itachi to catch their notice, but even that hardly seemed enough to justify sensing him from dozens of miles away and ignoring the emotions of Remnant's native populace.

And even if they could sense him from so far away, why weren't they responding like they typically would and try to find and kill him? That was what Grimm of all kinds had done throughout history, so why would his alien nature change that?

He gave a mild huff of exasperation as he decided to let the matter drop. Sasuke didn't know how to explain this phenomenon nor could he stop it. He would just have to hurry home.

A quick flurry of movement from someone pushing someone brought the Uchiha out of his thoughts.

'Time to go to work.'

As he approached, his annoyance reached new heights when he saw the reason for the fight.

He was used to seeing guys getting aggressive with each other over girls, and even a bit of the reverse. Despite never having been in the situation himself, he was capable of understanding the reasons behind fights like that. There was no prize for second place, after all.

The fight about to break out however was based on nothing more than the fact that five of the human patrons did not want to share the same building with two others who were sporting a beaver tail and lizard hands.

He had certainly heard of the race called Faunus, it was one of the first subjects he had learned during his days reading in his cave on Patch. They were strikingly similar in nature and description to the prisoners he had freed from Orochimaru before he had arrived, though the Faunus had been around for far longer.

The Uchiha had thought nothing of them at the time and he still didn't. Having various animal features or lack thereof meant as much to him as the color of someone's hair- absolutely nothing. His brother had looks as flawless as his, and turned out to be a monster. Naruto was the most forgiving, warm-hearted person he knew, and had a demon fox inside of him that had destroyed half of Konoha. Sasuke Uchiha had long ago learned that outward appearances meant jack shit.

Even outside of his own experiences, shinobi in general did not fully judge on appearance. Those that did never lasted very long- deception was a powerful tool.

For some reason, many people of Remnant had not learned this lesson. For Sasuke, that meant that right now he had a fight to prevent that in his opinion shouldn't have been a possibility in the first place.

'Unbelievable. Creatures of pure destruction have been at that gates of every kingdom and settlement since before this world had written history, and these morons choose to waste their time picking fights with sentient beings who look a bit different.'

Granted, the friction between humanity and the Faunus wasn't quite that simple. Decades of back and forth conflict meant that there were some bitter grievances on both sides regardless of which side initiated it. Humanity was certainly the party guilty of starting the feud if ancient scrolls were to be believed.

They had been a part of the population in several ancient kingdoms, and a few nameless merchants or rulers had at some point thought 'huh, this group of beings can walk and talk like people and understand orders, and also have animal features like the oxen and horses we have help pull things. Why don't we force them to work for free and buy and sell them like we do other domesticated animals?'

In Sasuke's opinion, that logic would only make sense to someone who had either never met a Faunus in person and in their ignorance believed that Faunus had no soul or consciousness, or a greedy shitstain that knew such oppression and slavery was wrong but placed a higher value on a fat wallet.

In modern times there was even less of an excuse. Everyone had seen or met a Faunus at some point, and a five-year-old child would be able to tell that they were living, sentient beings who had every reason to have the same rights and respect as anyone else.

The Faunus were not helped in their plight by the fact that they were a minority compared to humans everywhere they lived together in both past and present- something that was almost guaranteed not to change due to a quirk of Faunus physiology that resulted in exceedingly low fertility rates.

In order for two organisms to sexually reproduce, the partners had to be genetically compatible with each other. It was a concept that was already proven by researchers on Remnant, and the Uchiha himself was also aware of it from simply being close to Orochimaru and Kabuto when they were doing related 'work' with their animal-human cross subjects before he had freed them. It was the reason why it was physically and genetically impossible to cross a cat and a dog if God forbid, they tried to breed. Every individual Faunus had the partial genes for hundreds if not thousands of respective animals, but their unique genetics meant that only one of their potential animal traits would ever be expressed with the unused DNA lying dormant.

Such genetic restriction was necessary for Faunus to reproduce to begin with- even two individuals with only one animal trait apiece would be almost guaranteed to have their respective traits' DNA so incompatible between their respective sex cells after cellular meiosis that the resulting egg would almost always miscarriage within the hour of being fertilized. A Faunus couple or a Human-Faunus pair were a hundred times less fertile on average than a pair of humans.

The only compensation Faunus had to this enormous demographic disadvantage was that for some unknown reason they were ten times more likely than humans to develop and wield Aura, Remnant's counterpart to chakra from what Sasuke could tell. Even so this was not enough to offset humanity's numbers and technology.

And so the Faunus were stuck as a minority in human societies, which was never a good situation if their numerically superior counterparts found any reason to dislike them.

As far as Sasuke was concerned there was no reason for humans to still look at Faunus as anything other than fellow humans with an extra appendage. He had long since learned the reason why the villagers of Konoha had treated Naruto with such visceral hatred, not to mention how easily the Hokage and every adult figure around had lied to him and his classmates about the truth of the Nine-tails attack. As misguided and baseless as the anger toward Naruto was, at least the people of Konoha had directly suffered to feel such emotions.

The Faunus had not been responsible for any massive attack remotely close to that scale even if the increasingly radical White Fang had taken a step or two in that direction.

And so the five idiots Sasuke was walking towards had no excuse for their behavior. He had to waste his time cleaning up this mess because their parents had probably not taken the time to really hammer in the 'if someone isn't screwing up your good time you have no reason to screw up theirs' lesson.

"All of you take a step back. Now."

All within earshot heard and heeded his words. It was amazing how people could suddenly listen to him when they knew he could catch bullets.

"You five, get out."

Five pairs of eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to be the ones kicked out.

"What! Why? For trying to keep the place clean from them?"

"It's my job to kick people out who don't deserve to be here. So get lost."

Everyone watching the tense exchange was anxious, but the two Faunus that had been a few seconds away from a brawl were surprised. They had been in this situation before, and usually the bouncers would side with the humans to avoid potentially upsetting a comparatively larger group of customers.

Vale was more tolerant in general of Faunus than anywhere else with the exception of Vacuo and Menagerie, but there were still a number of humans in the kingdom who would take action if they saw Faunus somewhere they didn't like. Most other humans were either sympathetic or neutral, but weren't willing to stick up for them if it meant getting involved with a conflict that they just wanted to stay out of.

The quintet shifted their eyes back and forth between themselves and the Uchiha, each one wanting someone else to present a suitable argument to get him to change his mind.

"The door is behind you" the Uchiha stated, in a tone that made it clear he would not be changing his mind.

"You traitorous litt-"

"Dude, shut up!" one of the argumentative man's friends interrupted before roughly grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to walk toward the door. "You saw that guy fucking professional fighters up at Slate's, don't fucking try it!"

As the offending group left and the remaining patrons went back to their business, the two Faunus looked at each other before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Damn, that was lucky. They were blocking our way to the door and everything."

"I know. Really dodged a bullet there. Hey bro, thanks for the help! I'll spot you a dri-"

The Faunus paused his statement upon realizing the one who had saved their night from turning into a beat down was already out of earshot, walking back toward one of the hottest blondes either of them had ever seen.

"Guess he's got better things to do."

"Don't worry about it. We're still here, and the night's still young. Who knows? Maybe even you can score a chick here!"

"I'll be happy going home in one piece, it's nice being the ones defended for once. You know we're coming back here, right?"

"Oh, hell yes!"

Ignoring the gratitude of the Faunus he had helped, the Uchiha made his way back to the corner. He was not going to form life-long bonds of friendship with those he helped like Naruto would.

"I'm surprised Twinkletoes" Shyla confessed, a single eyebrow raised in confusion. "Never pegged you as the type to stick up for the little guy."

"I'm not sticking up for them. I'm doing my job."

"Whatever you say, tough guy" the blonde retorted, a small smirk on her face that made it clear she didn't believe him and thought it was amusing he bothered to pretend otherwise. "Most people in your shoes would have kicked out the smaller group so the larger one with more money to spend would stay. I'm just sayin…"

Sasuke slowly turned his head to her, almost stupefied in disbelief.

"…You think this is about money?"

"At least some of it. You were fine with getting a cut of the gross for that sushi deal you made. Are you telling me I'm wrong?"

Sasuke's retort was put on hold as he saw a well-dressed middle-aged man approach him with two girls possessing hourglass figures following him that he could tell put too much makeup on for him to accurately judge how they looked.

"Hello, young man, I was wondering if I could have a minute of your time?"

"I'm on the clock and I'm not interested in any deal you have in mind. Leave."

"At least give me the courtesy of introducing myself- I'm Mike Russel, and I have an opportunity for you if you want to make a lot of cash. And I guarantee it will be more fun than standing around in the corner, even if you do have lovely company" the man stated, not ready to give up on whatever his quest was.

"I highly doubt you can offer me anything I want."

"I can give you a spot in my next movie. I'm a porno director, and I think you'd be quite the hit. You'll have to audition of course, but I have a hunch you'll be popular with your colleagues."

"What's a porno?"

Whatever response Russel was expecting, it wasn't that. A look of utter disbelief crossed his face, and the two women behind him that had been giving him sultry smirks switched gears to looks of utter shock. And though he couldn't see behind him, Shyla was staring at him as though he had been born on another planet.

"You- you're kidding, right?"

"I was born outside the kingdoms in a village that's been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries before it was destroyed. I only came to Vale recently and didn't know how to speak Valerian a few weeks ago, I'm still catching up on some of the culture and technology here."

He had forgotten to look up what porn was after his first night here when the first offender he knocked out mentioned it. It hadn't been important enough to bother looking up between crafting the seal, learning the advanced science of this world, and his jobs.

It didn't really matter what it was. He could tell from context it was an entertainment job of some kind, which meant his face and identity would be available to the public with the internet to spread it. He had already been approached with four modeling offers and a small part in an upcoming movie because of his looks and had rejected them all out of both principle and the inevitable compromise of his efforts to remain hidden.

He would just have to turn this proposal down t-

"He would love to accept your offer!"

Onyx eyes rounded on his 'faithful girlfriend', who had chosen at that moment to intervene on his behalf, if perhaps not his interest. That too-friendly smile on her face was an almost exact replica of the one Naruto had when he was about to pull a big prank on someone.

"Shyla, what t-"

His words were smothered before he could properly articulate his disagreement as she had the nerve to slap her hand over his mouth to prevent any interjection on his part.

"Don't be so hasty sweetie, this could be just what you need in your life. Something fun and exciting to spice up your boring work life!"

Something was wrong here. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but his instincts were telling him he was walking toward something he did not want to touch.

"You're his girlfriend, right? I'm kind of shocked you're cool with this, I thought I would have to talk you into sharing him. He's a lucky man!"

He did not like this.

"Oh I'm a bit jealous, but I would just hate to see such potential go to waste. Trust me, he'll bring more to the table than just his looks."

He did not like this.

"Oh, excellent! And if he was accepted as a bouncer here, I'm assuming he's in good physical shape?"

He did not like this.

"Absolutely. He's got a second job as a fighter at a boxing ring, and I can tell you he's got stamina to spare."

The Uchiha had had quite enough of others deciding his fate, and ripped Shyla's hand off his mouth before elbowing back into the conversation.

"What is a porno?" the Uchiha repeated, staring straight into the director's eyes in a manner that many would compare to a guided missile that had locked onto its target.

"Well," the director replied awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the Uchiha's gaze. "I suppose it's only fair I exp-"

"It's a special kind of movie," the blonde interrupted again, "It makes people who watch it feel warm, tingly, and excited insi-"

Sasuke had had enough of Shyla dodging the issue. Before she could so much as blink he had slapped his own hand over her mouth to prevent any more oral interruptions on her part.

It was horribly crude by his standards, but the alarm bells ringing in his head were enough to persuade him that desperate action was needed.

"What is a porno?"

"What's going on here?"

The Uchiha prevented himself from gritting his teeth in frustration as Junior saw fit to follow Shyla's example and prevent him from finding out a simple piece of information.

For his part the bear-like man was looking at the scene in utter confusion; not knowing what to make of Sasuke preventing his pretend-girlfriend from speaking her mind.

"Oh don't mind us, my good man. I was just offering your employee here a chance to take part in one of my films."

Junior had to prevent his jaw from dropping in shock. He knew Russel was an Adult Film director, but Sasuke was one of the last people he would have expected to take part.

"Really, kid? I… didn't figure you for the type…" he admitted almost awkwardly.

The Uchiha, however, was at the end of his tether.

'Hn. If you want something done right…'

If he either couldn't trust anyone to tell him or was going to be interrupted mid-question every damn time, he may as well look himself.

So without further delay the Uchiha took his scroll out with his remaining hand and began typing the words 'porno film' in the search engine while Russel began trying to negotiate with Junior about his potential schedule.

He finished typing the letters.

He hit enter.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sasuke Uchiha stared into the abyss. The abyss stared back.

He was familiar with adult literature. Kakashi had read that erotic series during every minute of free time the man had, so it was impossible for Sasuke to not pick up the concept of erotic/romantic writing and art. Even if he had never been desperate enough to partake in it himself.

This… was something else entirely. The Uchiha supposed with the technology here someone would make movies or video clips of similar nature. His homeland did have far more primitive motion picture technology that probably could be used for similar purposes. But he was fairly certain there were no adult writing or works in the Elemental Nations that remotely corresponded with the… nightmare he was lying his horrified eyes on.

'What. The. Fuck.Is in that cup those two girls are sharing!?'

Bananas and carrots were supposed to be eaten and nothing else. Biological waste was supposed to be flushed down a toilet and nowhere else. Sex was supposed to be a private and special act reserved only for the pair involved and not broadcast for the whole planet to see.

This was not sexy. This was not hot. These were acts that were so impossibly unnatural and heinous that if they were committed in Hell, the Devil himself would spit the partakers out of his domain in sheer disgust.

'Russel wanted to make me do this… Shyla was going to let him…'

The Uchiha suddenly became aware that all of his senses started feeling… fuzzy, for lack of a better word. A second later he realized he had lost enough motor control to unknowingly release his grip on Shyla's mouth.

He was going into mild shock.

The Uchiha shot out his now free hand directly behind him to stabilize himself on the metal railing behind him. The noise of the impact of his hand on the rail attracted the attention of the five people in front of him, who turned their heads toward the subject of their conversation.

They were unsure what to make of Sasuke's current position until they glanced at his scroll. He had not found porn agreeable.

Then they cringed as a shrill, piercing sound penetrated their skulls. Eyes widened in amazement and no small amount of fear as they realized the source.

The Uchiha's arm was tearing the railing in his grip from its foundations. The solid metal screeched in protest before the molecular bonds holding it together were overpowered by his muscles, snapping the metal apart like a piece of overstretched gum.

The painful noise of metal being twisted or moved in disagreeable fashion continued as the observers made further notice that the pieces in Sasuke's direct grip were becoming larger at either end of his fist. Faces went pale as they saw him crush the rail in a grip so hard it was squeezing out the metal in his ever-tightening clenched fist like toothpaste through a tube.

The Uchiha's head slowly lifted as he regained full function of his senses, and at least one of the five present had to consciously prevent themselves from losing control of their bladder at the look of unadulterated rage he was giving the director.

"Turn. Around. And. Walk. Away."

He didn't need to be told twice. Though the man and his two escorts did not walk so much as sprint out of the building in an attempt to put as much distance between them and the Uchiha as possible.

If he killed Shyla, Junior or one of his henchmen would call the police, he would get arrested, his fake ID and questionable origins would come to light, and he might be shipped off to a top-secret R&D facility that would double as his prison that he may or may not be able to escape.

That logic was keeping his anger under just enough control to resist the urge to drag the blonde outside and skin her alive with his bare hands.

As it was, he simply turned his glare her way and made it very clear that he was incredibly pissed.

For once Shyla did not bring out a witty retort or smart-ass remark; a nervous gulp and a small step back was her only response. She had seen him enough in the ring to know that he could seriously injure or even kill her easily if he was mad enough.

She had only intended playing along with signing him up for porn to be a practical joke. It was simply too good an opportunity to pass up to try and snap a quick picture of his face when he realized just what he was getting into before she shooed the director and his two whores away and enjoyed another laugh at his expense.

In hindsight she had vastly overestimated his ability to take a joke.

At least with Junior sticking around she had some support. He clearly wanted to give his employee some space after his performance and not risk rocking the boat any further, but he could tell that he might need to stay and prevent Sasuke from doing something extreme.

"You do realize it was just a joke, right?"

Onyx eyes bored into her skull. If looks could kill she would have died on the spot.

He didn't say anything. He didn't really need to.

"I'm sorry, alright?" It wasn't often the blonde apologized for anything, but it was clear she had gone a few steps too far with this incident.

"I know you were always annoyed with the fangirl attention, I just thought it would be funny to push that button again. I didn't know you would take it like that."

"I am not some sexual object to be exploited, woman. How would you feel if he had come up to you with that offer instead?"

"I would have kneed him. Still, it's not quite the same. I thought fucking pornstars was a dream job for guys?"

"You think I want to get laid by having women paid to have sex with me?" the Uchiha countered incredulously, "What kind of loser do you think I am?"

"I don't think you're a loser, but I know that guys your age try to fuck anything hot that moves. I know I was joking earlier, but I was serious when I said you needed some excitement in your life."

Blue eyes began to scan him deeply, in an almost contemplative manner. Almost like the blonde was trying to look for something. A breadcrumb, a footprint, any kind of mark or trail that would lead her to find what she was searching for.

"I must confess, you are the most confusing person I've ever met."

She received no reply. The Uchiha was in no mood to reply, wanting the evening to end with the lowest quantity of speech possible.

"If I hadn't seen you reject guys here as easily as the girls, I would have thought you were gay. You have more opportunities to hook up than most guys could dream of, and yet you toss away your chances without a second thought."

Junior was still in the background. He probably wasn't needed for damage control by this point, but he had a feeling where Shyla was going with this and was curious about what the kid's answer would be.

"What exactly are you looking for, Sasuke?"

She had used his real name.

"How did you turn into this loner that gives no shits about what others think of him, but still cares about his pride and dignity enough to be celibate as a priest?"

It was a question Junior had asked himself several times by now. It was honestly a bit sad. Even if Sasuke was an orphan with no friends or family in the city he should not have had any difficulty getting a woman to warm his bed. No kid his age with his looks should have rejected even simple one-night stands so easily and be wasting some of the best years of his life as a pariah.

It did not speak well for whatever his true backstory was.

The man had met enough people from rough backgrounds to recognize signs of trauma, and his newest employee had plenty of them. Anti-social, rejecting all basic companionship not based on work, sharp reflexes that had to have been either taught or learned far too early in his life to speak of a care-free childhood, and now a fiercely defensive posture on having what he considered his personal life being abused.

He had a traumatic past. And it had not been Grimm who had been responsible.

He wanted to help the kid. He really did. Junior could tell he was good at heart and didn't deserve to live his life in self-imposed misery. His refusal to take advantage of women because of his looks as well as his defense of the two Faunus earlier were proof enough of that.

The problem was that Junior was unsure how exactly to get the kid around his past if he would not reveal it to anyone. And the situation with Melanie and Miltia was not making matters easier.

It was obvious to him that the twins liked him well enough, certainly more than the other losers they dated that were in plentiful supply. He cared for Melanie and Miltia greatly, which was why he was nervous about a relationship between Sasuke and either of them.

A physical relationship between co-workers was playing with fire even under normal circumstances. Add to that the Uchiha's unknown scars and questionable mental health, and it led to a potential disaster. It was part of the reason he had agreed to have Shyla here as a buffer for him. If he trusted this woman enough to ask that kind of favor, maybe they would hit it off and eliminate the possibility of a workplace-relationship-gone-wrong scenario with the twins.

Unfortunately it appeared that would not be the case. Junior desperately hoped that shit wouldn't hit the fan in the near-future.

"You wouldn't understand."

The Uchiha's short and vague answer was all the information he was willing to give to the disappointment of his two listeners. Though if Junior and Shyla knew who Sasuke Uchiha truly was, they would become firm believers in the saying 'truth is stranger than fiction'.

His reluctance to emotionally open up and form bonds with his peers was entirely to blame on Itachi. It was understandable that trusting others was a bit difficult considering that his own flesh and blood that was supposed to show unconditional love so easily decided to betray him and their family in the worst possible way.

But Junior and Shyla would be mistaken if they thought Sasuke's behavior meant he was unfamiliar with sampling a woman's flesh.

It had certainly not happened overnight. The immaturity and childish nature of Sakura, Ino, and their ilk in his academy days had made a strong negative impression on him that had taken a while to change. Sex and romance had not really taken hold on the young Uchiha's mind when he had left Konoha. He had been too young at the time and his female peers were hardly better than they were before they had become Genin despite Sakura becoming slightly more bearable during their Team Seven days.

And his time with Orochimaru had begun in much the same way. He had not completely gotten out of his version of 'girls are annoying' phase, and was completely and totally focused on exploiting every second he could training with the Sannin and ignoring everything else.

But eventually, like all teenagers going through puberty, he found his mind wandering ever more frequently to the fairer sex. Despite his years of experience ignoring females, he found that his new instincts could not be suppressed without cost. Ignoring his body's carnal urges was like ignoring his stomach when it was hungry- it could be done, but ignoring it for long periods of time had consequences.

In Sasuke's case, it had come at a mental cost. He was more irritable, easily frustrated, and had trouble focusing. He probably could have eliminated some of these symptoms with the tried and true masturbation strategy that most of his male peers his age did, but the Uchiha's ego was strong enough to draw the line before he got to that point.

The result: increased stress meant he could not train or learn as effectively. This made him more upset, which caused more stress, and made a wonderful positive feedback loop that made him want to strangle someone out of sheer frustration.

It was inevitable at this point that Orochimaru noticed the change in mannerism of his apprentice. And being wise to the ways of the world, the Sannin had immediately identified the problem. And because Orochimaru liked to amuse himself and was a complete dick, he had waited to point Sasuke's problem out until Kabuto had arrived so both of them could enjoy a laugh at his expense.

At that point things had gotten weird. Orochimaru had told him that he would not be training him so long as he was in his current state of mind. And he had followed that declaration with the phrase, "I am not going to begin teaching you again until you grow up and start being an adult."

It essentially translated to: "I'm not going to train you until you fuck someone."

At the time Sasuke was utterly shocked that Orochimaru of all people would care enough about his sex life to make such a demand. It was the last thing he expected from someone who had no trouble with kidnapping, murder, and psychological torture.

He had asked the Snake Sannin as much, to which he had answered in his typical creepy fashion, "I'm going to be stealing your body in a few years. I think I at least owe you the courtesy of ensuring that you get to enjoy the basic pleasures of your carnal urges before that day comes."

Whether Orochimaru had meant what he said was something he did not know to this day. But in hindsight it hadn't really mattered. If he wanted the Sannin to help him get stronger, he had to get laid.

It was certainly an odd motivation to lose his virginity, but it had happened. It helped that the Kunoichi that were in the Land of Sound were older and more mature than what he had remembered from Sakura or Ino, and were hardened enough by growing up in decidedly less affluence that they didn't much care for spending excessive amounts of time worrying about their diet or hair.

And so Sasuke had managed to find a kunoichi, Rei Yukana, who had respectable abilities and work ethic, and a few days of awkward talking and light spars later she was in his bed.

It had certainly been awkward for him. Thanks to the massacre he had never had a proper 'talk' from his Father, so even though he knew the basics he was a novice when it came to the finer details.

If his peers from Konoha had learned of how he lost his virginity, they would have assumed that he had treated it as a simple means to an end. Something to be finished as quickly as possible and not bother trying to please his partner so he could go back to training all that much faster.

They were wrong. Sasuke had sworn to avenge his family, but he had also sworn to rebuild it. And that meant that he was well aware that he would eventually have to marry and have children. If Sasuke was forced to start his sex life with someone he knew he would not settle down with, then he would at least put as much practice in as he could to make sure that the woman he eventually did want to spend his life with was completely and utterly satisfied.

Sasuke Uchiha did not give his trust or friendship easily, much less love. He had hated cheap affection since the first fangirl had confessed her 'love' for him, and he fully intended to hold himself to the same standard.

Even for a friends-with-benefits situation, Sasuke was not going to half-ass his sex life.

And once he had seen the metaphorical light, he realized that he did indeed like sex. A lot.

It was exciting to move his hands around her body and feel her do the same; both trying to hold out removing their clothing longer and force the other to make the first move to reveal who wanted the other more. It was satisfying to hear the sharp intake of breath as he first entered and spread her walls. It felt good to thrust back and forth when he was sheathed inside and feel her throw her arms around his body in a tight grip as she tried to pull herself closer to him. It was satisfying beyond words when she looked at him as he was getting closer to release and feel her wrap her legs around him to make sure he would not cum anywhere but inside. There was a sense of pride when he heard her heavy breathing, her gasps, her small squeaks, and her shouts of pleasure as he gradually found, identified, and targeted the areas on her body she felt the most pleasure. The sense of excitement as he felt his load build up, and the sense of utter euphoria as he released were beyond words. It was fulfilling to see her legs tremble as she lost herself in her own pleasure and feel her vulva tighten around his length as her own orgasm ran through her. It was an unbelievable ego boost when after a few minutes of silent afterglow, she said she would take him back to her place next time. And last but not least, for the first time in years instead of feeling fear or anxiety at having his body and feelings (carnal though they were) exposed to someone, he felt a warm and pleasant sense of comfort instead.

And so, he had continued exploring this new aspect of life that until now had been unknown. Training with Orochimaru meant that he had to follow the Sannin as he switched bases regularly to hide his location from probing Hidden Villages or from the Akatsuki, so his fling with his first woman only lasted three days. He had continued this trend at the new location, though it took a while to find a kunoichi that fit his standards.

Just because he was a bit more receptive to women didn't mean the Uchiha was going to become man-whore trash. He knew first-hand the stupidity of judging one based on appearances alone, and it would be a cold day in hell before he slept with a woman just because she was hot. As horrible at conversations as he was, getting to know the other person was a checkbox that had to be filled by both participants before Sasuke would even begin to consider a tumble.

Commitment was important to him too. It had to be considering the cutthroat nature of shinobi in general (not to mention whores of both genders were cheap and disgusting). One-night stands were something he was never going to participate in, and pigs would fly before he slept with a woman he hadn't know and interacted with for less than 48 hours. He was certainly willing to have a roll in the sheets if he found someone he liked, but his standards were still high enough that he preferred sleeping by himself in over three-fourths of the hideouts they stayed at.

In this new world, there was no one he had yet met that he would share the night with. Not that it wasn't tempting sometimes- a dry spell lasting three weeks and counting was starting to wear on him. But the fact remained that he had not, and likely never would, meet someone in the protected Kingdom of Vale who could truly understand his background enough to have some small level of unconditional trust that he needed to have before physically opening himself to them.

Huntsmen and Huntresses in this world had a very simple black-and-white job: kill Grimm. That was pretty much it. There was nothing else to consider. Shinobi back home would turn green with envy if their job was that simple.

Sasuke was born to be a shinobi. Shinobi protected their village like the Huntsmen and Huntresses of this realm, but that was where the similarities ended. They were expected to spy on, steal, and kill members of rival villages or even seemingly innocent targets. Sometimes for nothing more than a large payment. The profession was not an easy one: you were expected to put yourself at risk to some of the worst human behavior imaginable or commit it yourself.

The people here had no concept of such moral ambiguity. The civilians he had seen walking around the city were so sheltered from the forces that wished for their destruction that most had no concept of burying a teammate or a spouse. They had no idea what it was like to have to draw straws and decide which comrade would remain behind and either be killed or captured. The notion that they had to be watching for suspicious behavior from 'allies' in case there were turncoats was an alien thought.

In practical terms it meant the Uchiha was a stranger here in more ways than just where he was born and what language he grew up speaking. The people of Remnant had grown up being told that the greatest threat to their survival was the Grimm. The people of his world had grown up being told that their greatest threat came from other people who happened to have been born on the other side of a border that had been drawn at the end of a previous war.

Even putting cultural differences aside, the Uchiha was reluctant to risk partaking in sex here. There was no telling if someone's ex might get mad at him and start digging a bit too much into his history for comfort. The only realistic way around that was to cheapen the encounter even more to where no possible exes would care; something called a 'fuck-buddy' in this world.

It was hardly a step up from the abhorrent one-night stands that were popular here for some reason; and the Uchiha would rather adorn a chastity belt than sacrifice his pride and principles on that.

Shyla, Melanie, and Miltia probably came the closest to meeting his standards, but there were several problems with them in addition to the issues of exes and trust.

Shyla had an attitude and a resolve that he could respect, but she knew so many people that there was a chance one of them would check his background too far to ensure he had a clean enough history. Even if it was annoying, he could handle her attitude no problem. He had endured far worse with Naruto. But if it came down to physical intimacy… well, civilians were a bit too fragile for him to handle in the bedroom. It was hard to control or restrain chakra-enhanced strength in the middle of an orgasm.

The twins were like him in that they held high standards for those they chose to associate with, something he had seen many times when they were approached by patrons daring enough to risk talking to them. He hadn't seen them in action in a fight, but the fact that they had aura meant that they had formal training of some kind despite the high-class impression they gave. It spoke well of their priorities. Unfortunately starting a relationship with either one ran the risk of alienating the other due to not being chosen or becoming a third wheel. Not to mention if something went wrong, Junior was well capable of exposing his fake ID to whoever he wanted. Better to stay as co-workers only.

With that in mind the Uchiha decided to indulge in a rare drink to at least taste something with more flavor than water in the hopes it would calm his still simmering temper. Shyla and Junior would no doubt be disappointed at his refusal to answer her question, but it wasn't like he cared. Working with them did not mean he owed either of them answers about his personal background.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Andy, what the hell is going on? This is the third time in five days! You and your colleagues are supposed to know about computers, so why are they still fucking up!?"

"I'm sorry, sir! We've ran every diagnostic we can on everything in the store, but we can't find anything wrong. I… I don't know what to tell you."

"Motherfucking goddamn it! Put the damn things in storage! Get with your teammates, I want a timeline of when this shit started, what was affected, and ideas for what the hell we're going to do about this! And I want it in ten minutes! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

Andy quickly drew a notepad from his pocket while several of his colleagues lifted the aforementioned computers to carry them to the stock room, desperately trying to think of what they were going to do about their situation.

Andy worked at a popular electronics store. In the middle of the afternoon three days ago, a swath of their TV's, of both 2D and 3D variety, suddenly started acting out. They would sometimes turn off or on, the volume would change, channels would go to static, brightness would vary, and for some of the 2D ones half of their screen would either shut off or show static while the other half would perform normally. And the TV's would do this all by themselves. No remote, no person messing with it, nothing.

It had been jokingly called a ghost or poltergeist, but the phenomenon continued with more of the items in the store being affected. Computers, Scrolls, Laptops, even the lights in the store developed the same habit of suddenly ignoring the settings and intended functions their creators intended for them. And it turned out it was hard to sell scrolls if the employees at the store couldn't figure out why they didn't work the way they should.

They had tried everything. Diagnostics of every kind, switching components, calling the supplier, none of it to any effect. The only effective way to stop this abnormality was to remove the power source. Not just turning it off; no, batteries had to be physically removed.

No one had any idea of what to do, but the silver lining was that several other competing stores had the exact same problem as well as some of the surrounding buildings. It was the only thing that was preventing his boss from firing some of the less experienced staff out of sheer frustration.

Unknown to Andy the cause of his woes was sitting quite comfortably across the street from the store at a small café, sipping slowly on a cup of tea.

Sasuke Uchiha appeared calm, almost apathetic to anyone who saw him right now. Just enjoying the newborn night while relaxing with a drink. Underneath his exterior, he was as focused as a snake before the strike.

His current activity was the result of a creative moment on his part. He had been sifting through a book on modern technology- the first inventions, the improvements over time, and the resulting tsunami of improvement and change that had been brought to the world of Remnant. He had scarcely gotten through the second paragraph of the Electronics section that gave the bare-bones basics of how such devices worked when he took note of a seemingly obvious fact: electronic devices of all kinds required electricity to work.

Electricity just like the kind he had learned to remotely manipulate with astounding scale and precision with his Kirin technique.

At that point he had put two and two together and asked the obvious question: would he be able to manually manipulate the minute electricity and the electric currents in electronics with his Kirin ability?

The answer was yes. Yes he could.

Sasuke could not stop an 'I just had something go my way' grin from forming when he realized this. Electronic devices such as primitive TVs and radios did exist in his home world, but they were rare enough on missions that such an ability would only be of marginal use there. But for the here and now, on Remnant, this was the best ability he could have asked for.

He had been incredibly worried about the superior technology of this world the moment it became apparent to him, and he had reason to be. Airborne craft that could attack or simply track him outside of his attack range, guns and other firearms, vehicles of all kinds, there were no shortage of things he had to be wary of if he was discovered.

An enormous part of that threat was rendered utterly useless with this ability. Communications such as radios, CCT receivers and transmitters, and scrolls were at his mercy. Electronic locks, computers of all kinds, the avionics that kept aircraft stable and flying, smart navigation devices, firearms that had electronic locks, all of them could be disabled in an instant.

That being said, the ability was not perfect. He could manipulate natural lightning from miles away with accuracy without any problem because the writhing mass was so large and obvious that 'linking' his Kirin ability to control it was as easy as hitting the broadside of a barn with a kunai. The targets here were different animals.

The electricity inside Scrolls and Computers were not flying about freely just ready to be directed somewhere like in a thunderstorm. They were inside tiny pieces of metal and machinery and were stable enough where they were, so it took more effort to get them to move around as he liked.

The fact that the quantity of electricity was orders of magnitude smaller than what he was used to didn't help. It was like trying to use a shovel to pick up a grain of sand.

With these limitations it was no surprise that his effective range of use was only two to three hundred yards if he wanted to affect only a single object. He was confident he could improve this with further practice, which was what he was doing now. Trying to see if he could improve his accuracy to affect one device and leave its neighbors several feet away unaffected.

He was having mixed results, but he had discovered that he could even turn on devices that were physically switched off. He could only do so if they were directly connected to their power source such as an outlet or batteries. Unfortunately he had been forced to stop trying to further test this once he realized using his ability to manually override the power switch meant he had to use a small amount of his chakra to do so.

The other limitation was that while he pretty much had free reign on the hardware of a device, it's programming and software was not something he could affect. He could manipulate the electricity in an electronic lock to force it to open or close, but he could not use it to find the actual combination for said lock, close an open window on a computer screen, or hack a website located on a distant server.

Even with these drawbacks it left him in a much better situation. No prison had a chance in hell of holding him now.

And he was getting better with practice. He was able to focus on the electronics in 'only' half of the store now, compared to blacking out half a block when he had first started.

This exercise was also helping his chakra control to boot. He did not need to 'burn' any chakra to use Kirin, but it did require manipulating it. And like learning to manipulate chakra to his feet for the tree-walking ability, learning to ever-more precisely conduct his chakra with this was improving his control even more.

A vibration from his scroll interrupted his session. Sasuke quickly opened it and scanned the new message he received from Junior.

'Get to the Club now. Need you.'

The Uchiha quickly finished his drink before getting up to leave, having already paid the tab. It was unfortunate that his practice was cut short, but it was probably serious circumstances. It was his day off, so Junior would not have called him in unless he really needed him. He just hoped there wasn't some idiot there picking a fight that was a bit too much for Melanie and Miltia to handle.

He arrived at his destination in minutes via rooftops, and there was clearly something up when he saw the rest of the henchmen. They were a bit too tense for a normal night. Sasuke decided to get to the bottom of why he had been called in and walked up to his nearest 'colleague'.

"Where is Junior?"

"He's on the top floor in a meeting. He wants you there for it."

"Hn."

The Uchiha had barely made it to the staircase when he saw one of Junior's regular henchmen being roughly pushed back by someone out of his line of sight. The man had not been shoved hard enough to fall over, but his body language was telling of a man who was nervously trying to back out of a conflict with an opponent he knew he couldn't defeat.

That wasn't good. If he didn't think he could win even surrounded by allies then he was likely facing a Hunter of some kind. Just the type of problem he was hired to deal with, since the twins were likely with Junior upstairs.

Meeting with his employer would have to wait until he had taken care of whatever moron had decided to pick a fight.

He walked up silently, and it was only when he was almost on top of them did he lay eyes on the aggressor.

It was a woman. A very short woman with a unique hairstyle that was brown on her left side and pink on her right. Her eyes were similarly mismatched with brown and pink irises adorning the corresponding sides of her face as her hair. She was sharply dressed in a white jacket with a brown corset and a pair of the highest-heeled boots he had ever seen. Her hand was notably gripping an umbrella despite the fact that there had been no rain recently nor had there been any prediction of it. And as he approached, he could sense that the woman possessed aura.

'A Huntress'

A split second of further observation, however, solidly disproved that theory. An honest Huntress would not be in the business of picking fights with civilians at bars. And she would most certainly not be sporting a smile that suggested she enjoyed picking on people who were weaker than her.

That meant she was either a rogue Huntress or a criminal of some kind who had practiced or been trained to use aura. And that did not bode well for him.

The logical part of his brain had been hoping that his stay in Remnant would be as eventless as possible, and he would work his jobs without having to face Remnant's equivalent to Shinobi. It looked like that would not be the case.

He wasn't going to back out. Hopefully he could just get her to walk away, but that grin on her face told him it probably wasn't going to be that easy. This was not someone who was starting a fight for some final objective such as money, revenge, or preserving their reputation. That smile was only worn by one of the rarest type of people- the kind that enjoyed to fight or bully because the act itself was enjoyable to them.

He was confident he would win a fight if it came down to it. Even if he didn't use his Ninjutsu or Sharingan he had already been contemplating how to best fight a Hunter if he happened to face one in battle. He had read up on aura, their basic training, mission profiles, and anything else that would give him a leg up. He had come up with several solid ideas for the best way to bring them down, and then backup plans for those in case they didn't work.

Luckily she seemed to be by herself. And if she was on the wrong side of the law he didn't have to worry about being reported to other Hunters.

Sasuke placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman's latest target before gently pushing him out of the way to directly face off with her.

"Get out, woman."

The female in question only slightly raised her brow in response, not expecting someone so young to try and demand anything from her. Her smile then began to grow a bit, obviously pleased that another 'weak' victim had delivered themselves to her.

She only leaned back a bit in her chair, not at all bothered by his statement. Still, though, she said no word in response.

"Boss, I think she's a mute. She's only pointed her hands and shit since she came in."

"She doesn't need to use her tongue to walk out."

The Uchiha's sharp retort only seemed to amuse the woman, who was now lightly chuckling at him. It was clear she thought he was some stupid kid in over his head.

Too bad for her, his show of intimidation was not a bluff.

'Going to be the hard way, then'

He didn't know if the woman was someone who only enjoyed bullying others and turning into a coward when the tables were turned or one of the psychotic battle freaks that enjoyed violence no matter which end of it they were at. He would find out soon enough.

He gave a slight nod to the henchman operating the door so he would be able to open it to allow him to throw her out without breaking anything before the man he had stepped in to help interrupted.

"Boss, you shouldn't start anything with her, she came in w-"

The woman chose that moment to swing her umbrella toward him in an attempt to catch the collar of his shirt in the handle. The henchman sounded like he was trying to defuse the fight, but the woman was clearly of the opinion that violence was more fun.

Too bad for her, the strike was going in slow motion compared to what he was used to. A quick step to the side avoided the surprise attack, and a split-second later his hand had shot forward to grip the umbrella's handle.

The woman's eyes didn't even had time to begin to widen in surprise before he pulled hard on the umbrella, lifting her over his head in an attempt to smash her into the ground.

Unlike his fight with BoneSaw, Sasuke was taking this fight seriously. This wasn't some muscle-bound civilian with no 'superhuman' abilities, this was a trained fighter that possessed aura. She was the strongest opponent he had faced in Remnant so far, and just because he had studied up on aura didn't mean he knew everything about it.

He was aware of its passive protection and minor healing abilities, but he had no idea about specifics such as how much he would have to damage it before it ran out. Hopefully he could end the fight quick and not risk too much.

Because he needed to at least land a blow that would damage her aura, it had to be a hard hit. He wasn't going to bother not using chakra-enhanced strength this time. Though he would have to hold back to not cause too much damage to the building.

As the woman neared the height of her arc however, she abruptly twisted her body 180 degrees with noteworthy flexibility and speed to land on her feet instead of her head.

It was an impressive maneuver to pull off when she had not been expecting him to counterattack at all. It spoke volumes of her reaction time, as well as her general fighting style.

'Even with aura, she's too small to be a brawler. Acrobatics, misdirection, and control of her and her opponent's momentum and leverage are going to be how she fights. That umbrella she's got probably has a concealed blade or gun that I need to watch out for, and she can probably use its open form to block or deflect attacks. So, her umbrella and her heeled boots and kicks are going to be her primary methods of delivering damage. She's going to be able to shift and maneuver extremely quickly to avoid hits or to grab me and throw me with any momentum she has from jumping around.'

It wasn't too different from his own Taijutsu preference, which also emphasized deflection and evasiveness as well as speed. It also meant he had a good idea of how to take her out.

Predictable attacks that were slow to launch would all be easily evaded, and she would no doubt counterattack when her opponent left themselves open after their failed assault. Unorthodox and quick strikes that were too quick to move herself around were going to be the way for him to go here. The acrobatics she was showing him also depended heavily on her ability to orient herself and to mind her surroundings. If she tried to re-position herself in mid-air without realizing she was going to land on stairs, she would hit the ground on her face. He was going to have to throw her with spin or something to make it more difficult for her to pull another feline-based landing on her feet or push her somewhere she didn't have room to maneuver.

This analysis and basic strategy went through the Uchiha's head before her feet had even reached the ground. She had landed upright, but the force he had used was enough to create a web of cracks around the woman's feet and an impact noise that was powerful enough to lightly slosh any drinks that were setting on their tables.

The woman's knees slightly buckled from the force involved, but she didn't seem to notice. Her wide eyes were fixed on him now, utterly shocked he had avoided her attack and almost landed one of his own. A smirk that showed pure white teeth chose that moment to make its way to her face. She was not deterred that she wouldn't have an easy fight; quite the contrary.

The Uchiha was proven right about her attack preference when she dashed forward underneath her weapon in an attempt to grab his arm while simultaneously throwing a sweeping kick to trip him. A clear attempt to either throw him or set up a heavier kick.

It was doomed to fail. Sasuke did not have the passive protection of aura, but chakra granted him several advantages over his opponent. One of the less obvious of these was the Chakra Adhesion ability that the tree and water walking abilities were based off.

It was a simple ability. Sticking a portion of your body to another object you were touching. It didn't sound impressive, but it changed the game in this situation.

Using Chakra Adhesion to grip the back of an enemies' head without actually using your fingers and throw them was quicker and easier than using fingers. However, the ability was so common amongst shinobi that using this ability on each other directly like that was a colossal waste of time. One shinobi could cancel out an enemy's Chakra Adhesion with their own with no effort at all. It was no surprise then that the ability was mostly restricted to keeping an extra grip on weapons as well as walking and fighting on various atypical surfaces.

And because it was used to provide extra grip for whatever surface the feet were on, it was far more difficult than it looked to make a shinobi loose their footing.

And so the Uchiha let the kick land on his extended leg knowing full well she was wasting her time. The kick was strong, enough to give him a flash of pain, but his leg did not budge an inch.

The woman let out an almost mute gasp in shock as her attack failed yet again, though this time she had no idea how. Before she could think of any way to continue her failed attack she felt a hand grip her ankle with more force than she had ever thought possible.

Like before, she was lifted into the air. But unlike last time, her victim (although that title was a bit questionable now) twisted his wrist to counteract her attempt to turn herself upright.

The floor was assaulted by another powerful impact that created another network of spiderweb cracks. But instead of feet being the points of contact, it was the woman's face that met the floor this time.

It hadn't penetrated her aura, but Sasuke could sense that her protective field had taken a bit of damage. And as he lifted her up to set up a front kick, he realized that she did not try to right herself to get out of his grip like he had expected. A glance at her face revealed that while she was certainly still conscious, she was slightly disoriented from the face-plant he had put her through.

He couldn't help but smirk a bit once he realized that this confirmed a theory he had about a potential weakness of aura. He had read that aura covered the body and protected it from injury, but based on its description it did not seem to provide any protection to the body's interior. He hadn't been able to test it until now, but it appeared he had been right.

The disorientation the woman was currently showing could only be the result of a sudden hit to the head that had forced her brain to hit the inside of her skull none-too gently. If aura had protected the entire body, inside and out, this would not have been the case. The aura would have shielded her brain from the impact and she would have kept fighting as though nothing had happened.

Aura was not a flawless shield it seemed. It meant that even if he couldn't physically penetrate the shield with standard attacks, he could still inflict internal damage. Ripping joints from their sockets, hits to the abdomen strong enough to displace the air in lungs, and breaking bones were all still going to work even with aura dampening the effects.

With that in mind, the Uchiha threw his foot forward to land a solid kick straight to her stomach, launching her into the wall a few feet behind her while twisting his hand to wrest the umbrella from her grasp.

Before she could recover Sasuke borrowed a page from her playbook and used the umbrella's handle to hook the back of her neck. He then pulled hard to jerk her head forward straight into a knee strike.

Her aura protected her from the worst of the hit, but it didn't stop her from spewing out spittle and the cartilage in her nose to painfully protest being subjected to the attack.

Realizing he should end this before he was responsible for more property damage, the Uchiha then lifted the woman completely off the ground with one hand locked on the back of her neck and the other supporting her on the lower love handle.

Positioning her almost like a javelin, Sasuke then threw her straight through the open door thirty feet away. He made sure to put enough spin on her body that she would be unable to adjust herself properly in mid-air to catch herself on the wall outside. The satisfying crack of broken masonry as she hit the wall head-first with almost enough force to go straight through was enough evidence that his efforts succeeded.

Sasuke then threw the umbrella in his hand like a kunai to embed itself in the brick inches above the woman's head.

'Well, that was a bit of a disappointment.'

He had hoped that aura-users would be a bit more capable. That hadn't been too hard.

The Uchiha turned around to once again try and make his way upstairs. The woman was not yet beaten, but he was confident she would not be coming back to fight what was clearly a losing battle.

He ignored the henchmen who were staring slack-jawed at his performance- he needed to see Junior and get whatever task he was needed for done quickly so he could go back to his apartment. With his electronics interference training done for the day, it was time to work on the seal again.

He had just reached the third floor when he heard a grunt of pain from below him. Looking down, he saw one of the henchmen lying on his back completely winded from a blow of some kind.

A glance toward the door revealed that the heterochromia woman had re-entered and had thrown down a guard trying to talk her out of coming back in. She didn't care about her latest victim nor the fact that her prim appearance was marred by torn cloth and bits of rubble. She only had eyes for the raven-haired teenager at the top of the stairs.

She wanted another round.

There was a bit of visible anger present at being bested by someone whom she had initially thought was inferior. But that was overshadowed by a conflicting emotion: excitement. The confident smirk had been replaced by an eager grin that showed she was not deterred in the slightest by her previous humiliation. She wanted to fight again.

The Uchiha was willing to oblige, and jumped down straight to the floor. The few patrons there had started rushing out the door upon sensing the impending fight. It was not a smart idea to stick around a fight that could kill them if they were caught up in it.

For the first time since he got to Remnant, Sasuke wanted to fight. There was no logical reason for him to be eager to battle the woman, but his heart had begun to step in. He had spent grueling months training under the most despicable people to be the best he could be. He had poured sweat and blood into his efforts just so he could obtain the strength he needed and be superior to those around him. This wasn't some worthless civilian brawler- this was Remnant's counterpart to shinobi like him. He had his pride as an Uchiha as well as his pride for his own achievements and progress that were both screaming at him to battle and prove his supremacy. If she wanted to cross swords with him this badly, he would beat her to the ground and enjoy every second of it.

At that moment, for both Sasuke and the woman, the rest of the world vanished. It was just the two of them standing a few paces from each other with the exact same motive: defeat your opponent to prove that you can.

Then they moved.

Both combatants shot forward, the Uchiha's Kusanagi sword drawn from its sheath before being blocked by the woman's umbrella. She shifted to the left to flank his blade and brought up her leg for a swift kick aimed for his head. Sasuke ducked his head to avoid the hit and grabbed the extended limb before completing a half-turn and once again throwing her with corkscrew spin to make it difficult for her to recover.

This time however, the woman opened her umbrella and slowed her velocity enough to almost float down to the ground in an almost graceful manner.

'So it's not just a weapon- she uses it as an air brake to slow herself down if she needs to.'

The umbrella was actually a very practical weapon for her then. Using an umbrella to slow themselves down would not work for most people due to their mass, but she was small and light enough for such a trick to work.

She turned on her feet as soon as they touched down and bent her knees to prepare herself to jump back at him.

At that moment, however, the Uchiha felt the area around the woman… shift, for lack of a better word. He could still see her and feel her aura there, but it felt almost fuzzy now. Like she had somehow spread some of it out around her. It was a similar feeling one had when they were placed in a Genjutsu that attempted to fool their senses.

Any shinobi worth their salt knew how to break a Genjutsu. But identifying the very fine differences in the perception of the world around them to figure out they were in a Genjutsu illusion to begin with was more difficult if said Genjutsu was meant to be subtle enough that the victim was not supposed to know they had been subjected to it. Small differences in perception of colors, objects whose outlines which were slightly bent or elongated, and sounds that were ever so slightly abnormal in volume or pitch were all signs that a shinobi's senses had been hijacked.

The Uchiha was seeing several such signs around the outline of the woman now springing forward. The pink lights behind her were a shade darker than they should have been and the floor tiles were almost imperceptibly twisted to the left.

She had not put him under Genjutsu- even without his Sharingan activated he was more than capable of identifying and breaking out of Jonin-level illusions. The only explanation left was that she had somehow used her aura to make a perceptible illusion in the real world in front of him instead of inside his mind. It was similar to making a standard clone that had no substance; creating a solid image that served as a diversion or deception.

It was likely her Semblance, the unique individual power that Hunters developed. And that meant that she effectively had no more tricks for him.

Determining that the woman advancing on him was a false image, it was not in his interest to attack or block it. The woman would not have the image charging him otherwise. So if this was a diversion, it followed that she would set up a real attack from his flank or above him- probably somewhere she was still close enough to her illusion to control it if she had to. There was nothing on his left but open floor; hardly the best position to launch an attack. On his right, though, was a set of stairs that were relatively close to him and had less lighting in the corner they were in.

'If I was setting up an attack to take advantage of a diversion, that's where I would be'

The Uchiha pivoted toward the stairs, holding Kusanagi in a reverse-grip to intercept the attack. His analysis was proven right as the visible woman charging him shattered as she made contact with his body; almost like breaking glass. The fuzzy perception of her aura was destroyed with her illusion, and the woman suddenly appeared in front of him.

Her umbrella contacted his sword, failing to make contact. However, the Uchiha noticed too late as she drove forward that she had used her other hand to take off the handle of her umbrella. His previous theory that her weapon housed a hidden blade was confirmed as he saw that the handle doubled as a small rapier.

Sasuke moved back enough to avoid a hit to his shoulder, but the woman managed to stab the blade into his lower triceps successfully.

Ignoring the stinging sensation and the blood starting to emerge from the wound, he landed a fast kick to his assailant's torso before she could capitalize on her hit. She was forced away, glancing off and breaking a glass column before once again opening her umbrella to stop her trajectory.

She was staring at him with an open mouth and eyes widened in unabashed shock. This kid was giving her a lot more trouble than she had thought, but what she had just seen was nothing short of astonishing. He had never seen her Semblance before, but he had instantly discerned the illusion was a decoy. She didn't have the slightest clue how he had figured it out so quickly, but the fact that he didn't even bother to dodge the illusion meant that he had never had any doubt whatsoever that it was fake.

He hadn't been able to avoid her hidden blade; she had been too close for him to avoid that since she had not shown her rapier yet. But that still raised more questions for her.

The metal had not penetrated as far as she would have guessed, only about halfway through his arm if she were to estimate it. If he had aura, it would have been deflected off after her hit had taken a bit of his protective armor with it. But since her blade had cut him and drawn his blood, it was obvious he did not have aura. It was therefore very strange that his flesh seemed far tougher to penetrate than it should have been.

And he didn't have aura. None. Never, in all her years of life had she ever heard of anyone who did not possess aura but could fight on par and possibly defeat someone who did. It was unheard of. And his hand-to-hand skills were the best she had ever seen. She had specialized in close combat for her entire life as a hired assassin, and she had not yet met anyone who could match her skills without resorting to a semblance or raw power to beat her.

But this guy was better than her in close-fighting. He was matching her blow for blow and then some. And he was doing it with a handicap.

This man was a monster.

The slack-jawed mouth turned into a grin large enough to fully reveal her teeth in her front and lower jaws. She was going to have more fun here than she had thought.

The Uchiha shot forward at speeds that shamed that of her illusion, swinging his sword at her arm that held her blade to force her to block with that instead of leaving her best weapon free to counter him with. She barely opened her umbrella once again, successfully deflecting his strike with a thin yet strong canopy that resisted his attempts to penetrate it and showcasing yet another practical function her umbrella served as a weapon.

The woman was forced to take a step back from the strike. She then turning her body to take advantage to the gifted momentum to flip over her advancing opponent. She landed on her feet, thrusting her rapier forward to try and land a hit from behind while closing her umbrella to give herself more speed. Still, Sasuke was fast enough to pivot in the blink of an eye to deflect it with his sword.

She continued her forward trajectory, using her foot to make a small jump over his body. She twisted herself in mid-air, swinging her leg down hard to strike him in the head. Sasuke leaned back just enough to avoid the hit, but felt the woman's following leg hook around his neck. She used the leverage to swing herself around behind him to set up a strong kick to the back of his head.

It would have connected if it weren't for the Uchiha instantly activating a little-used skill amongst shinobi: Chakra Repulsion. It was a fancy name for what was essentially just the tree-walking ability with the chakra focused to repel what the user was in contact with instead of stick to it. It wasn't of much use to any shinobi as it couldn't repel objects or surfaces with any real force; being only equivalent to making gripping a user feel like trying to hold on to a live fish covered in melted butter. It was easily countered by other shinobi the same way that Chakra Adhesion was. But like the former, the Uchiha had a monopoly on the ability here.

So, the woman found her foot sliding off her target by some phenomenon unknown to her. Only to have the Uchiha swing his leg straight up, bringing it down on her horizontally-positioned body in a flawless ax-kick. She was still in mid-air, and had no surface or leverage to push off of to change direction, and took the hit on the lower boundary of her ribs.

Rolling away to avoid the follow-up stomp from the other foot aimed at her head, she once again aimed her rapier and slashed across in a horizontal cut aimed straight at his throat. Sasuke leaned back inches to avoid the blade before reversing his motion to advance his shoulders and torso forward. Before she could so much as blink he had shot out his arm, and briefly saw the back of a hand before she felt a blunt force on the entire right side of her face and found herself flying across the room.

It was only after she had bounced off the floor and stopped by the wall that she realized she had just been bitch-slapped.

She had barely gotten off her knees before she was forced to block yet another blindingly quick assault.

Parry, block, block, punch to the arm. Parry, dodge, a slash to her hand. Turn, parry, twist, jump, a kick to her calf.

The Uchiha was greatly enjoying himself, but it was time to get this over with. He had shifted his basic attack strategy once he had realized a curious fact about aura during his fight: it did not protect vital areas any more than anywhere else.

It seemed like an advantage when he had first heard about it; and in a way it was. He had been trained to fight like a shinobi. And that meant that he did not have any aura or protection. So an attack to the heart, neck, or some other vulnerable area would be a one-hit kill if it was landed. As such shinobi such as himself always went out of their way to protect their own vital areas and target their enemy's. A kunai that was stabbed into a target's hand wouldn't do the attacker much good if their victim could use their other hand to place their own kunai across the aggressor's throat.

But aura changed the rules. He had landed several hits on the woman, but from what he could tell the blows she had taken to her more important areas had not dropped her aura levels any more or less that hits to her less important areas. It meant that with standard weapons and Taijutsu, he would not be landing any critical hits until he wore her aura off.

But upon closer inspection, this uniform protection aura provided could be used to his advantage. He couldn't get any one-hit kill shots in, that was true. But it also meant that there was now no reason to prioritize hits on one part of her body or the other. A slash to her pinkie toe would do just as much damage as a slash to her jugular. All the areas of the body that a shinobi such as himself would usually ignore: the ears, the shoulder blades, every square inch of arms and legs that did not have an artery or crucial tendon beneath them, the glutes, all of them were just as useful to hit as the heart or throat.

He wasn't going to be bringing any Huntsmen or Huntresses down in a single standard slash or stab, but he had a much greater target area.

And so he switched to quick strikes anywhere on her body that could hinder or interrupt her preferred flipping and turning movements: jabs to her elbows, small yet fast kicks to her knees and ankles to trip and throw her off, punches to her arms and shoulders to prevent her from swinging her weapons straight, and hits on her back while she foolishly turned her back to him while trying to twist around to shift her direction. This fighting style actually closely resembled the Gentle Fist the Hyuuga practiced in appearance.

He wasn't hitting particularly hard. He was mostly focused on making the hits fast enough and in rapid succession so she did not have enough time to deflect or avoid them and prevent her from swinging herself around to his flank or back to counterattack. A favorite tactic of hers, he noticed.

Hit after hit and blow after blow quickly started taking their toll. Within seconds the woman was hastily retreating in desperation to get enough distance to find some way to get around his flurry of assaults. She had no alternative- there was no way she could breach his defenses head-on.

But her aura was fading quickly, and right as she backed up against the wall the Uchiha decided to end their game.

He brought his sword high to prepare for a powerful overhead slash. With her back almost against the wall with little room to maneuver, she threw her umbrella forward to open it and block the attack.

Exactly what he wanted.

Faster that the eye could see Sasuke shot his hand forward to grip the umbrella in a vice-grip, preventing her from opening it to shield herself. Her eyes widened as she realized he had learned enough about her fighting style to predict when she would open her umbrella and had exploited it.

She was now defenseless as instead of swinging his sword down, he used the umbrella to pull her up off the ground. He then leapt into the air, spinning around to land a hard reverse roundhouse kick that was strong enough to rocket her straight into the ceiling. She was embedded deep enough in the cracked and splintered wood that it took a few seconds for her to detach and start to fall.

Right before she landed on the floor beneath her, Sasuke sheathed his Kusanagi and swung his body around to deliver a picture-perfect elbow strike to her stomach.

Spewing out spit and some of her lung capacity, the woman was shot to the wall behind her hard enough to leave an impression on the masonry. Before she could inhale a gulp of air, the Uchiha lunged forward and buried his fist in her gut hard enough to bypass the meager protection of her little remaining aura to both force the remaining air from her lungs and damage surrounding organs and tissues enough to cause local contusions and internal bleeding.

Choking from lack of air, the Uchiha mercilessly wrapped his hand around the woman's throat to end their fight for good despite the pitiful attempts on her part to pry his grip loose or kick him off now that her aura was drained completely. He wasn't going to kill her, but he was going to squeeze until she lost consciousness and throw her out in an alley somewhere where she would eventually wake up.

And still, she was smiling. That excited grin had never left her face during their entire fight.

There was a hint of fear and a bit of surprise that she had been beaten, but she still looked as excited as when they had first clashed. A bit of happiness as well, and some… extasy? It was hard to read her facial expression now that her brain had been deprived of oxygen for as long as it had as the muscles around her eyes and mouth were slowly forced to relax.

"What the hell is going on out here?"

Junior chose that moment to walk out to the third-floor balcony, eyes quickly widening in shock and horror at the damage to his club. Melanie and Miltia followed behind him and had their jaws drop when they saw just how much the place had been redecorated. His henchmen that were still present were huddled around the edge of the room, and Junior quickly locked his eyes on the only person in the middle who was clearly responsible for the mess.

"Sasuke, what the fuck did you do!?"

"This woman was assaulting one of your men when I got here. I threw her out, but she came back. So I subdued her."

Realizing that Sasuke was holding someone, Junior's eyes widened when he realized who he had been fighting.

"Sasuke, let her go! She's with-"

"Am I going to have to come out here and help you take care of this?"

Sasuke abruptly turned his head to the top floor upon hearing an unfamiliar voice. It was owned by a man in a white suit in a bowler hat, brandishing a cane that he surely didn't need to walk in one hand and a smoking cigar in the other. He was walking almost lazily, waving his cane back and forth.

The twins quickly got out of his way, clearly not wishing to antagonize the man.

"Holy shit! Did a tornado come through here? Whoa, whoa, what the hell?! Drop the girl, kid!"

'So that's who she was with'

Sasuke didn't know who this man was, but if he was talking with Junior in a private room and had wanted the twins and himself here for it, he was no doubt important. And he had just beaten up the woman he had brought with him. He was no doubt going to have some explaining to do.

The Uchiha relinquished his grip, letting the woman crumple to the floor and begin to unconsciously make small gasps for air.

The man as well as Junior and the Twins were quickly making their way down once they realized that the girl was not getting to her feet.

"Goddamn it, Neo get up!"

The man had just made it to the bottom of the stairs when the now-named Neo took in a sharp breath of air with a small gasp that had a bit of a gurgle to it.

Junior heaved a sigh of relief when he saw it. He had not wanted to be responsible for the death of Roman's help. He couldn't imagine he would have survived the fallout.

The twins were openly staring at him in shock, almost like his first night here after his drinking performance. They had both heard of Neo and how deceptively strong she was. Even from what they had seen from Sasuke, they never would have guessed he could take her in a fight. Much less give her a beatdown like this.

"You alright, Neo? You're shaking a bit…"

Neo was quietly groaning, slowly rising to her hands and knees with trembling limbs. Her skin was now clammy and an unhealthy pale hue. Gasping for air, she halted her slow rise as her abdomen gave a lurching sound loud enough for everyone present to hear.

"What the hell was th-?"

Neo abruptly vomited a small puddle of what appeared to be stomach bile mixed with an unhealthy amount of blood. The twins took a step back with a grimace expression while the man stared in what appeared to be a state of disbelief. The small woman continued to cough up small amounts of red fluid as the man rounded on the Uchiha with a look that conveyed that he was simultaneously very upset and very curious.

"Kid, just who the hell do you think you are?"

"My name is Sasuke. I was called in by Junior tonight for some reason. I assume now it was to meet you. I saw your subordinate physically assault one of Junior's men, so I did my job."

The man just stared at him as though he were from another planet. He turned around the room, surveying the damage in what was almost disbelief. Like Neo, it hadn't escaped his notice that Sasuke had sustained a stab wound on his arm. His accelerated healing (courtesy of the absorbed Snake Sannin) had already closed most of the wound, but could not hide the lines of dried and drying blood on his arm. The idea that Neo of all people had been beaten this soundly by someone with no aura was ludicrous.

"I apologize, Roman. I did call him in for the meeting but I didn't tell him why he was coming or what you or your associate looked like."

It was an attempt to negotiate this faux pas peacefully, but the bearded man was unsure if it would go anywhere. The Uchiha had likely blown whatever chance he had a coming to an agreement, or even the crime boss leaving him alone.

"Kid, do you know who I am?"

The man now identified as Roman ignored Junior completely. The question was asked almost rhetorically asked, and reeked of the tone that said the one asking it would somehow make the person he was asking feel stupid.

"Not a clue," Sasuke could leave his response at that, but it might be better to knock him off balance a bit and do more than just answer what was probably going to be a series of set-up questions. "Are you someone I can defeat as easily as her if you turn into an enemy?"

Junior, Miltia, and Melanie swung their heads in disbelief. Even if Sasuke didn't know who Roman was, there was no way he couldn't tell from Junior's tone that he was a powerful figure.

Roman only slightly tilted his head forward in response, locking eyes and dropping his mouth slightly open in surprise that the kid in front of him would be that audacious.

"My name is Roman Torchwick. I'm the biggest crime boss in Vale, and you just beat up my favorite help."

"Then you can tell her to not pick fights she can't win."

Roman quickly got the message that Sasuke was not going to be offering an apology.

"Are you going to do something about it or not?"

The Uchiha stared straight into Roman's eyes. Daring him to make a move. If the crime lord tried anything, he wouldn't get far. He had beaten his hired muscle and he had no other allies present. If he made any hostile moves things would not end well for him.

"He, he, he," Sasuke raised his brow in confusion as Roman began to lightly chuckle.

"I think I've heard of you. You're the bullet-catcher this big man hired a while back, right?"

Sasuke continued to stare, choosing not to reply.

"I didn't think you would be this young. Talent like that usually comes with age. But then again, I suppose prodigies are everywhere."

He took a drag on his cigar before continuing with a small smile, "You want to come upstairs with us, kid? I think I have a more mutually beneficial idea than shooting you."

"Fine."

It was probably not a good idea to hear out a crime boss he had just angered, but Sasuke decided that it would be better to see if he could smooth this over if he could. He had made it clear he would not quietly accept any hostile moves on Roman's part. But that didn't mean he wanted to be looking over his shoulder every second of every day for an assassination attempt.

He could kill Roman if he had to, but even the murder of a crime boss wouldn't be overlooked by either Junior or law enforcement.

"Sit down, Sasuke. Have a drink."

The Uchiha sat down on an easy chair, taking a small sip of wine from a glass Melanie offered him. The twins stood behind him in a silent show of support while Junior took his seat in another chair to his right after he placed Neo on a sofa to give her some recovery time.

"Don't get me wrong, I am still mad at you" The crime boss stated taking a small drink of his own. "But I can respect talent like yours."

"As fate would have it, I came here to ask your boss about hiring some of his men for a few jobs I have in mind. We were in the middle of negotiating when all of the sudden, you drop in."

"You want to hire me to help you?" That was unexpected, he had thought Roman wouldn't trust him with anything after what happened downstairs. And why did everyone want to hire him?

"You read my mind, kid! I come looking for capable help, and you waltz in and give the best working interview I've ever seen! It just feels like it was meant to be."

"I hope you're not planning to send him on a set-up," Junior interjected to not-so subtly warn Sasuke of the risks of accepting the offer.

"Oh, don't worry big man. I'm a practical guy, I don't throw away people who could be useful on a little grudge. Besides, Neo is already recovering, so no harm done."

That much was true. Neo was now sitting up on the couch, drinking a glass of water around her occasional cough. There was less blood coming up now, but a few drops were still present around her mouth that she hadn't yet reached.

The woman had started boring her eyes into him once she had gotten her bearings. It was more subdued, but she still had an anticipatory grin on her face as she fidgeted with her free hand as she watched the exchange.

As for Sasuke, Roman's offer had been processed by the logical portion of his brain. And once the analysis was complete, he came to a simple conclusion: say no.

There was no logical reason to take the deal. It would put him on the radar of the Police, exactly what he didn't want and had been anxious to avoid during his stay here. Not to mention Junior had a valid point that Roman might be setting him up.

There was no logical reason to accept.

"So what do you say, kid?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: This is going to be a long Author's note. Be warned.

Rant incoming, just a heads-up. I can already hear some of you furiously typing why I have Sasuke so OOC with his sex life. I feel I should explain myself somewhat right here and now and pre-counter some of the more common arguments that Sasuke is an Unsullied in disguise.

Let me guess: 'Sasuke doesn't have a sex life, what the hell are you doing?' Okay, stop for one second. I never said he was sleeping around with everything that moved. He's not fucking Jiraiya for God's sake. Sasuke is also human. And has human urges. Even if we never see him really manifest them in canon, that doesn't mean they aren't there. All of us have been guilty of thinking to ourselves: 'wow, that guy/girl is really hot. I would so bang them', and yet never show those thoughts to the outside world. Just because Sasuke doesn't usually show any emotions doesn't mean he doesn't have them. For Christ sake, his emotional turmoil and pain were the entire reason he defected from Konoha to begin with!

And as for the argument, "We've never seen him attracted to a woman before, so he's not into women", it's bullshit. Even discounting the fact that he marries Sakura at the end of the series, you know who else in Naruto never shows any attraction towards anyone? Iruka. Might Gai. Shino. The Raikage. Gaara. Neji. Shizune. Kankuro. And the list goes on. Are all of these characters celibate too? Or do you think maybe their personal lives aren't relevant enough to the plot for Kishimoto to put them in and they happen off-screen?

The typical counter-argument is that Sasuke has turned down women before and so he's not into them. Okay, look at Sakura and Ino in flashbacks or in the original Naruto series. Look closely. Now imagine having double-digit numbers of girls like that approaching you, begging for your time and attention, and having the nerve to say they 'love you' after your older brother who 'loved you' massacred your entire family. Now put up with them for five years. After five years, you begin to see a pattern: girls come up to you with fake notions of love and are all annoying and don't know anything about him. And people wonder why Sasuke's first instinct when women approach him is to tell them to fuck off? No shit, Sherlock!

Next obvious argument: Sasuke is from a traditional family, so he wouldn't have sex until he was married and only with his wife. Right... because every person in history who has ever sworn to do that has managed to keep that promise. Just look at Tiger Woods. And every unmarried college student. In case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm.

Even in the most conservative societies cheating, pre-marital sex, and break-ups happened. Humans do that. They have done it in every society and culture in history. I don't know what magical characteristic anyone sees in Sasuke that makes them think he would be an exception to this. And for the record, Sasuke has never made a vow of celibacy, nor is there any direct reference that the Uchiha had a culture like that. It is an assumption you made and nothing more. It may be correct, but the fact is no one knows because Kishimoto did not write it anywhere.

And even if the Uchiha were a 'wait until marriage before sex' clan, there is no guarantee Sasuke would know that. He was seven when the massacre happened. I find it hard to believe his parents would have told him about that part of the Clan's law before they were killed. And with his family gone, a lot of the pressure to put off sex would be gone. No punishment, no ashamed parents or cousins, no social pressure at all now.

Final point: considering the general culture of the shinobi world, Sasuke nor most shinobi are going to be too hung up on taking their time to start fucking. Remember, this is a world where shinobi are lucky to get to their thirties even in good times. Considering that these people are going out on missions that could be their last literally as a day job, no one is going to be waiting until their 18th birthday party to get laid, even the more 'traditional ones'.

Remember the Romeo and Juliet story? The original? I'll remind you that Juliet is thirteen in the play. Thirteen. She's ready to get married and start having kids at thirteen. And that was normal back then when life expectancy was absolute shit. If you're going to die when you're 40, have half of your kids die before they turn four, women have a one-in-ten chance of dying in every childbirth, you don't wait until you are in your twenties to settle down and start making babies. The shinobi culture is going to be similar in that they aren't going to spend years upon years courting. I'm honestly shocked that Hinata and/or Hanabi weren't in any kind of arranged marriage given the circumstances.

And given that Sasuke grew up in such die-young culture, I think it's very likely that he decided to lose his V-card somewhere along the road. It just wasn't shown because it wasn't important. And just because he has standards for women doesn't mean he's wearing a fucking chastity belt.

Rant over.

I included the genetics 101 lesson for the Faunus for several reasons. First, it gives a solid explanation why in canon, no Faunus has more than one animal feature. Second, it explains why Faunus are a minority and can be persecuted as such. One would think that with animal features and good night vision, they would have better odds of surviving the Grimm and eventually be more populous than humans. This is an explanation for why that didn't happen.

If you liked Sasuke's new ability, thank you! I came up with that idea all by my lonesome. I'm actually kind of shocked, I don't know of any other story where someone came up with the idea. In a modern setting like this, it's just begging to be written in! Also, I need a name for it and am open to suggestions. Like, "Sasuke used X to turn off the controls." If you use a Japanese name, I will require a translation. And if you leave a detailed review (good or critical, I don't care as long as it's not a flame), I might be more likely to pick yours. Don't worry- this will not be the last time I ask readers for ideas.

Also, please tell me about the fight scene. It's my first big one, so I'm open to any constructive criticism.