33 Weasel Hunt

"Exit dungeon." I declared, and the illusion barrier around me shattered in the same fashion as when I had first entered the dungeon. The previously dark area was once again bathed in light. I quickly blinked away the spots in my vision as a result of the sudden illumination from the sun's rays. I had spent roughly 15 hours in the dungeon, which meant only 5 hours had passed since I entered, so it was still evening in the real world.

I found myself at the exact spot where I had exited the dungeon – the entrance of the Uchiha Clan cemetery. I had wondered what it would look like to a third party when I entered or exited a dungeon.

Would it appear as though I simply vanished and reappeared into thin air, or something else entirely? It wasn't something I could test out without another person's aid, unless I learned the Shadow Clone technique and let it observe me entering into a dungeon before dismissing it and gaining the memories.

I first checked my immediate surroundings, just to make sure there was nobody around that had witnessed me appearing out of nowhere. From the looks of it, at least as far as I could tell, I was the only person in the area. However, just as I was about to walk away and leave the Uchiha clan compound before someone came across me, I heard a quiet but discernible of a child's weeping.

I turned my head towards the source of the cry, which I located to be within the Uchiha clan cemetery. I tilted my head. There shouldn't be anyone in the Uchiha Clan compound, and especially not the cemetery, except for the sole remaining Uchiha Clan member aside from me.

Curious, I looked in to the cemetery and spotted a young child sitting and sobbing softly in front of two tombstones that rested side by side. The child's hairstyle, even from just looking at the back of his head, was instantly recognizable. It was Sasuke, sitting and crying in front of what I assumed to be his parents' grave. Sighing at the pitiful sight, I took a step forward, hesitating slightly, before I continued to make my way towards the boy.

I walked forwards, as quietly as I could, trying not to be intrusive. The Uchiha still hadn't noticed me by the time I was nearly next to him. I paused for a moment, waiting for him to notice my presence but he still has his attention on his parent's headstones.

Silently, I sat down next to him, which finally got his attention.

Sasuke flinched at my sudden appearance and almost jumped away, but upon recognizing me, quickly wiped away the tears and snot from his face.

"Why are you here?" He asked, with some hostility and what I surmised to be surprise and displeasure at my intrusion into his clan's compound, and more importantly my intrusion into what was a private moment between him and his parents.

I glanced at him for a moment before turning back to his parent's headstones. "Forgive me, I was looking for you to have a talk, but I couldn't find you. So I tried looking in the clan compound. Honestly though, I also wanted to see for myself the place where one or both of my parents lived, the place where I might have grown up in had I not been… I don't know, I thought maybe I would find some… closure or something. Then I saw you and heard you crying and, well… I just thought, I don't know, I just thought maybe you shouldn't be alone, or you needed a friend."

Sasuke's scowl softened, before he turned away and wiped away the last of the tear stains on his cheeks.

"I- I wasn't crying. And I definitely don't need a friend!" He declared stubbornly. What a tsundere. One that was zero percent cute though.

I looked back at him briefly but turned back to the headstones, "It's okay to cry. And it's okay to need a friend."

At my words, the Uchiha stood up and glared down at me, "I don't need a friend! What I need is strength! Enough to kill Itachi! Enough to make him pay for what he has done! And until that day… it will never be okay to cry. Only then can I… only then can I have the right to feel anything but anger!"

I looked up at him, my expression impassive. He was loud, but his tone did not reflect the rage he clearly held against his brother. His tone revealed the scars etched in his heart; the pain, the loneliness, the sorrow and the excruciating agony he was living through day after day. To the point where he was torturing himself every moment with his self-imposed duty to kill his brother and exact vengeance.

A psychologist would classify his self-destructive behavior to be survivor's guilt – blaming oneself for being alive while everyone else around them was dead. He faulted himself for not doing more to save his clan, and condemned himself for being alive, thus taking on the responsibility to avenge his clan as a form of making amends or atonement.

"Alright, alright, you weren't crying." I responded, as though placating a child, which I suppose I technically was. "Let's just sit here in silence then, not crying and not as friends. How about that?"

"You-! Hmph, I don't feel like it anymore. How long are you planning on staying here?"

"I'm not sure. Why don't you sit down with me and find out, hmm?" I asked teasingly, but he didn't seem particularly keen on trading jokes.

Sasuke started walking away, "Tsk, I don't have time to waste on you. I have to train. You show yourself out once you're done with your foolishness."

"Do you think your parents would want you to live like that? Never being happy again, and wallowing in your hatred?" I called out after him, still seated on the ground and looking at Fugaku and Mikoto's tombstone.

Sasuke looked taken aback, but quickly gritted his teeth. He turned back, reached down and grabbed my collar, "You know nothing! How could you, an orphan, know anything about what any parent would want!" He screamed out but winced right after, and to his credit looked slightly guilty for bringing up what he thought was my tragic backstory.

"Yeah, you're right. An orphan like me wouldn't know what your parents would want." I blandly responded, making Sasuke flinch, but his grip on the front of my shirt nonetheless did not loosen. "But what I do know about is living with the hand fate has dealt you, making the best of a shit situation and not giving in to despair."

Sasuke's glare returned and opened his mouth to refute but I gripped his wrist and continued, "I may not have had parents before, but I still have people I care about. People like Kaori. And I know that if anything happened to me, I wouldn't want her to wallow about in her self-pity. No, I would want her to be happy, to continue on living even if that meant forgetting about me."

The Uchiha clenched his fist and his grip on my shirt tightened and he twisted it further. "You… you want me to forget my parents!? Forget about Itachi!? Impossible! I… I'm the last Uchiha. It is my responsibility to never forget about the clan, it is my duty to hunt down the traitor, and it is my purpose to kill him."

"I'm not saying you should forget about your parents or forgive what your brother has done to your clan. And I told you before, no matter what you say I will be right with you the day we cut him down. What I am trying to say is, if you keep going on like this, you will never be able to do it."

"What are you even talking about? Don't underestimate my resolve, you bastard!"

Sighing, I pulled his hand away from my shirt, using my other hand to smooth out the creases, "I'm not underestimating your resolve. But really think about it – how strong was Itachi when he was your age? Your brother, Itachi, I heard some things about him. When he was six, he graduated the Shinobi Academy and became a genin. When he was ten, he passed the Chunin exams. A year after that he joined the ANBU, and it took him only another year to be promoted to ANBU captain. Which meant that he was at the very least Jounin-level by then."

Sasuke bared his teeth, "I know! I know all that! What is your point!"

"How old are you, eight, nine? When Itachi was your age, he was probably already doing life or death missions and had his skills tempered and refined through battles. You're still in the Shinobi Academy, playing ninja with children."

His eyes trembled at the comparison, "I… I said I know already! Why else do you think I am working towards? That's why I need hatred, I need power, to catch up that bastard and kill him! Then I will bring his head back here and present it my tou-san and kaa-san. Then… then…" Tears slipped out of his eyes, but he was too focused on his parents' headstones to notice.

"And what do you think he's doing out there? Sleeping away his days, waiting for you to become stronger and come kill him? No, he is getting stronger too, in preparation for the day you eventually show up to take his head. So then the question comes down to whether you can catch up his growth and even surpass the genius of the Uchiha Clan who became an ANBU captain at 12 years of age."

Sasuke stared into the distance for a few silent moments before whipping his head up and screamed, "GRAAAHHHHH!!!" He collapsed to his knees and punched the ground repeatedly.

"Kuso!! I know! I know he is stronger than me, I know that! Then what else am I supposed to do? All I can do right now is become stronger as fast as I can, no matter what I have to do! I… I have to do it. Tou-san, Kaa-san, I swear, I will definitely kill him! I will kill Itachi and bring his head to you! Until that day, I will never rest! GRAAAHHH!!!"

Still seated next to the sobbing and raging boy, I sighed deeply. Sasuke wasn't even talking to me anymore, he was addressing his parents. And from the looks of it, Itachi really did a number on the kid.

"Sasuke. Oi Sasuke! Look at yourself now, do you think being like this now is going to solve anything?" I called out.

"Shut up! I, I am the last Uchiha! I am an avenger! I only have one purpose, and that is to exact vengeance!" Sasuke responded, still facing down with his fist clenched and digging into the dirt of his parents' grave.

"This crazy bastard… You keep saying that you're the last Uchiha, but don't forget, I am an Uchiha too am I not?"

Sasuke froze and slowly turned towards me but remained silent, tears furiously streaming down his face.

"Listen, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Similarly, when you're an avenger, all you can think about is revenge. But have you thought about it this way? Who you are right now, and what you are doing, aren't you just dancing to your brother's tune?"

"What, what are you saying?"

"You said the reason why he spared you was just to toy with you, and as a result you have delved into training and obsessing over revenge. He wants you to train, he wants you to train – because he knows full well that your obsession will only hinder your growth. Hatred doesn't breed strength; it is only a weakness to be exploited. When you are driven by rage, blind to everything and everyone else around you, then wouldn't you make an easy target?" I explained, folding my arms together.

Sasuke was shocked into silence and thought through my words.

I continued, "I admit that there's no way I can relate to what you've went through, probably no one in the world could. So I know I have no right to say to you one of those bullshit, 'living well is the best revenge' lines that means nothing to someone like you. But as an Uchiha, albeit unofficial, I also feel it my place to give you some advice. They say revenge is a dish best served cold. If you want to succeed… no, if we want to succeed in our vengeance, then we have to be patient."

"…Patient?"

"Yes, patient. Slowly and methodically build our strength, gather reliable comrades, conduct reconnaissance, plan an ambush, wait for an opportunity. And one day, when the stars are aligned and all factors point to our success, we strike. In one brutally quick, efficient and deadly stroke, we cut him down before he even has a chance to react."

"No, wait, that… that would be too easy. I want to, no I have to know why he did it… I want to hear it from his own mouth, why he killed our clan. Otherwise, I will never be able to let it go." Sasuke refuted.

"Huh? What is your goal here, to kill your brother or to have a grand little tea time over cakes and biscuits? Listen, a thousand things could go wrong in an operation and that's after careful planning and strategizing. Going in half-cocked, demanding answers, that's just being complacent and arrogant."

"It's not just his death I want. I need to know why. And I want him to beg for his life!" The Uchiha declared before narrowing his eyes at me, "It doesn't matter what you think, that's the plan, and if I have to do it alone, so be it."

I rolled my eyes at his naivete, even canon Sasuke gathered allies to form his Team hawk. He was too young and too ignorant to realize that now, but that was something he would eventually figure out once he was older. However, it was something I could remedy now. "Uh huh, and how much do you want to bet that Itachi won't be alone when you do find him? Missing-nin like him tend to stick together. Makes sense if you think about it – safety in numbers and all that."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, clearly he had never considered the possibility before.

I continued, "And say hypothetically you are as strong as Itachi. Fine. Then what if you had to fight two enemies at the same time? Three? Or Four? All of them on the same level as your brother. What then? What if in a moment of distraction he escapes, and is now wary of his little brother so he never resurfaces again? Going in alone without proper planning leaves too much unaccounted for and that's just a recipe for disaster."

I paused, letting Sasuke absorb what I've said so far.

"Do you understand now?" I prompted.

"I… I think so. Gather allies, make a plan, wait for an opportunity and ambush, right? But instead of killing him from the get-go, we could just… trap him. Tie him up or something. Make him talk."

I groaned internally. Again, that left way too much up to chance. What if Itachi used Susanoo? Or even Izanagi? I mean, he wouldn't since the man actually wanted Sasuke to kill him as penance for his deeds. But the more pertinent matter was that I didn't want Sasuke to learn the truth of the Uchiha clan's downfall.

Sasuke was unpredictable, emotionally unstable and mentally damaged – he wanted to destroy Konoha once he learned the truth. Shit like that was just counter-productive in dealing with the true enemy.

"If… that's your final compromise, then I won't say much else. But more importantly, do you now understand when I say you need to have patience and not drown yourself in hatred and vengeance?"

Sasuke frowned slightly, but at least it was a far cry from the look of anguish and despair that had been on his face a minute ago. "We're in agreement then. And I understand where you're coming from, but… it's not something I can just give up overnight."

"I understand… cousin." Our eyes met and I could tell he was shocked at how I addressed him. He froze for a moment but relaxed his expression and there was even a hint of a smile.

"Cousin… heh, sounds foreign to me after so long."

"You'll get used to it, cousin."

We shared a moment of comfortable silence as he shifted and sat down next to me, both of us just basking in the shared familial comfort. Sasuke slowly turned towards me, "Well then… what now?"

I returned the look, "What now? Step one of the Weasel Hunt: train. We will help each other become stronger, we will share our knowledge and our expertise. But first, I will help you unlock your Sharingan."

It shouldn't be difficult. In truth, Sasuke already awakened his Sharingan on the night of the massacre, just that the trauma of the experience repressed the memory. He only re-discovered it years later when fighting Haku in the Land of Waves. If put in a similarly stressful situation, he would be able to re-awaken it years earlier.

Sasuke was taken aback by my declaration but nodded with determination, "Yeah… only a Sharingan can deal with another Sharingan. I will need those eyes to face him."

Once again we settled into comfortable silence with Sasuke gazing affectionately but with sombre undertones at his parent's gravestones. But I had one more bomb to drop. Or rather, one more seed to plant. It was appearing more likely that no matter what I did or how I intervened, Sasuke would one day find out the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.

And if that was the case, it would be better for me to start easing him into that realization, slowly and with me to help him process the information in the right manner – one that would not lead him to hate Konoha and seek her destruction.

"Hey Sasuke… just out of curiosity, but how did Itachi kill your clan?"

Sasuke seemed to have been shaken from his stupor by my question, "What do you mean?"

"Well, pardon me if I'm wrong but wasn't it kind of weird that for some reason the entire Uchiha clan was present that night? I mean, was no Uchiha shinobi sent on missions or no Military Police patrolling the village? Was there some sort of an event or festival going on?"

Sasuke looked confused at the question, never really considering something like that before, "I… I'm not sure. Maybe there was a clan meeting but… hmm, well it doesn't matter I suppose."

I shrugged away his nonchalance, the seed of doubt was planted and over the years I would just need to water it with similar questions and cultivate it with 'discoveries' to slowly ease him into the eventual discovery of the clan's plot to overthrow Konoha.