2 Discoveries

Chapter two is here and not much else to say.

But know this, just so there isn't any confusion, Sasuke does not realize 'Naruto' is a girl. His inner monologue will refer to 'Naruto' as he until he finds out. It'll be explained why he doesn't remember that detail.

Anyway, here's another chapter.

///////////////

Looking back, it might have been wise to sleep some more instead of reading up on chakra theory and doing the leaf sticking exercise, but sue me, chakra was amazing. There was no other reason that I could think quick, had more energy, and was overall in better physical condition as an eight year old.

The weekend leading up to me rejoining the other genin at the academy was spent by me testing out my chakra and slowly trying to increase my control. I was planning on being a perfectionist in my control while also having immense reserves, and the leaf sticking was the first step. I'd already made some progress, thanks to Itachi having the time to actually show it to me about two weeks before Shisui died.

'I'll thank him after he tries to eye fuck me again.' I thought darkly, making my way to the academy.

The walk towards there was as annoying as it was long. The civilians recognized me and were giving me looks of pity, whispers seeming to slither in my ears as I walked by.

'Dear God, could they stop looking at me like a china doll?' The civilians were insufferable enough because of someone else they talked about. I couldn't imagine the bullshit I was walking into with all the fangirls at the academy.

Who knows. If it gets to be too much, maybe I could turn missing nin and go to Kumo. I could think of worse ways to live than to get dozens of women thrown at me.

'Eh, but then Obito will destroy everything when my less evolved self gets reanimated.'

Shaking my head at the thoughts, I started formulating how I was going to deal with everyone, especially since I was either an intelligent eight year old with another couple decades of lived knowledge, or I was some type of weird mix between the two. Either way, it was going to be like a freaking daycare center.

Who knows, maybe this is an AU 'verse to canon and this Naruto won't be as insufferable.

/////////////

I barely stifled a groan as Naruto shouted again, sitting up from his chair right next to me.

The space everyone gave me was welcome, especially since the bags under my eyes from lack of sleep and my pale complexion made me look like a corpse fished out of the river.

But of course, the near blinding ball of sunshine decides that social decorum isn't a thing and sits right next to me when my eyes are already itching from using the Sharingan constantly to get use to the processing speed of images and a wish to perfectly recall the notes I read so I wouldn't have to re-read chakra theory papers so I could just simply do the control exercises.

Thankfully, I had decided to wear shaded glasses to hide how bloodshot my eyes were. My eyes were almost as red as my Sharingan as of now.

"I don't know that stuff! It's boring!" The Jinchuriki shouted, hitting the desk with his fist.

'I'm going to stab myself.' I clenched my fist, annoyed by the loud noise. I'll be understanding and not say anything, because no way in hell did having the yang half of a chakra beast sealed inside you make the hyperactive trait in your clan any better. Naruto acted like a chipmunk that snorted Bolivian marching dust, and it would have been comical if I was in a talkative mood. But the previous weeks put a dampener on things.

"Uzumaki!" The teacher who I didn't recognize from the series scolded. I couldn't even bring myself to care about remembering his name. He was that forgettable. "You will quiet down and be understanding to your classmates."

Naruto glared at the teacher and sat back down, pouting and crossing his arms.

"Now," The teacher began again, "Can anyone tell me the importance of learning about past events? I'm not sure your classmate understands."

Most people turned to look at Naruto, causing the kid to look downright uncomfortable.

Kami, the teacher was a biased asshole just like the civilians.

Isolating a kid because of perceived guilt. Oh, how I missed the education system and the bastardry of teachers.

'How much you wanna bet he'll bend over backwards for me.' I thought to myself, before raising my hand.

Almost like a switch was flipped, the teacher seemed to do a 180 on his mood, going from straight up bias to being polite.

"Yes, Uchiha-san?" The teacher said with a kindly tone, disgusting me like no one would believe.

"History tells us every clan, no matter how strong, and every Shinobi," My voice was as flat as the plains, "Will die. Arrogance is just as able to kill as a stronger opponent. Arrogance got Uchiha Madara killed, and it killed Iwa's forces when the Yondaime wiped out their armies."

The teacher was surprised by what I said, while the students were now focusing on me instead of Naruto.

"That is a very good explanation, Sasuke." The teacher praised me, before going on to explain a few more things we'd be covering on the history portion.

"Wake me up when lunch break is here," I bumped Naruto on the shoulder, before laying my head down on the desk like Shikamaru was five seats over and two back, "And please don't shout like a hyperactive monkey." I then shut my eyes to nap through the boring history lesson.

/////////////////

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" I heard Naruto speak from below me, the blonde standing at the base of the tree I was trying to stick to.

Deciding to be productive during our lunch hour, I was putting in some more work at chakra control, which had mixed results.

The first week back was uneventful and boring, involving almost exclusively throwbacks to history lessons from the beginning of the year and aggravating things I had no time for. The moment I have enough chakra, I'm sending a Kage bunshin so I can actually train.

"I'm trying to make this tree explode." I said sarcastically, and right on time, the bark shattered and propelled me back several feet when I used too much chakra because I had kept slipping off before.

I landed without much issue, but I clicked my tongue in annoyance at my inconsistent chakra control.

Sure, sticking a leaf to each finger was pretty simple when my chakra was so damned noticeable when it flowed through me like a warm stream in my veins, but the tree walking part was hellish.

But hey, I was bored and I enjoyed killing trees for no reason than to be a destructive jerk.

Naruto tilted his head and seemed to think for a moment, which should have had me worried.

"How are you doing that?"

"Oh, it's simple," I said, planting my left foot against the base of the tree, pulsing chakra into my foot as I did so, "Push some chakra into your foot," I rushed up the tree and got to four steps before a nearly slipped and grabbed ahold of a branch to steady myself, "You try."

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't get the memo and pushed chakra into the tree I was in, instead of doing the sensible thing and picking another damned tree.

What happened next was one of the most frightening experiences I was subjected to that wasn't intended to hurt me.

A flash of blue emanated from Naruto's foot and the entire base of the tree exploded, launching me and the remnants of the tree skyward.

I was screaming bloody murder as I flew at least thirty feet in the air, before I started falling and ended up landing on top of Naruto, who was petrified in shock at what he accidentally did.

The blonde's bony forehead smashed into my lower back, causing my legs to almost go numb as I smacked my face against the ground when the impact with the imbecile's head caused me to twist midair.

Everyone outside rushed towards us to check on us.

I groaned and spat out some blood, the inside of my cheek sore from where I accidentally bit it, and I shifted onto my back, only to groan louder when my back protested the movement.

'Prophecy or not, I'm strangling the idiot.' I growled to myself, turning to see the aforementioned blonde clutching at the sizable knot on his head where my back hit him.

"That hurt, teme!" Naruto shouted, glaring at me with intense blue eyes.

"You blew up a tree that I was in!" I returned the glare, getting in his face, "You're an idiot!"

"You said you were blowing up trees, 'ttebayo!" The blonde's verbal tick appeared and his face turned red from frustration after I called him an idiot.

"I was being sarcastic, you moron." I bit out, groaning as I massaged my lower back.

"You landed on me with your butt, teme." Naruto actually growled at me.

"Jealous that I've got more brains there than you have here, loser?" I jabbed him in the forehead.

Naruto then shoved me, causing me to take a step back.

Try and kill me from being an idiot, I'll let it slide once. I will not let slide someone pushing me after they are stupid and get called out for it.

I flared my Sharingan and clenched my fists.

'Oh, it's on.'

////////////////

"Would you care to justify you remaining in the academy instead of taking a short break like it was recommended to you?" Sarutobi asked me, peering over a pair of reading glasses as he read over a report by the teacher.

Naruto and I were sitting beside each other in the Hokage's office and neither of us were comfortable with the situation. The Hokage was definitely disappointed in me after I said I was fine, only to get into a fight my first week back.

"What does the teacher's note say?" I asked with a bored tone, unimpressed with the teacher.

Of course Naruto thought I was probably being disrespectful to the Hokage, because he was giving me a death glare that looked absolutely adorable on his little chibi face.

A blonde pipsqueak with whisker marks. He was practically a chihuahua with how temperamental he was.

"Well, Uchiha-san," The Hokage said clinically, causing me to flinch, "It says that you were almost killed by the malicious actions taken by your classmate. Is this true?"

Naruto was about to start shouting his argument about the obviously biased report, but a sharp look from the old man had the blonde shrinking in his seat.

Sighing, I explained what actually happened and added on how the teacher seemed biased in class.

"Why did you say that you were trying to blow up a tree?" The old man asked, a touch of exasperation in his voice.

"I didn't expect him to not understand sarcasm." I shrugged, being honest.

Naruto was again annoyed by what I said. Did he get angry this easily?

"Quit it." Naruto said quietly, giving me a slight glare.

The Hokage once again gave the blonde underfoot a warning look, much like how a grandparent would give a disciplining look to a misbehaving grandchild.

"I would like to know one final thing," Sarutobi looked at me, the complete void of emotion in his eyes had me fidgeting in my seat, "Why were you doing advanced chakra control exercises and why did you try and fight?"

I frowned at the last part, specifically the fight. I was pissed, sore, and my pride wounded when I got ragdolled into the air. I was the one that jabbed Naruto in the forehead and I threw the first punch after I was shoved. We ended up wrestling on the ground like a couple of toddlers and the Hokage was treating us as such.

Again, my pride was wounded.

Sighing, I forced myself to look at who was supposed to be my eventual rival and best friend.

"I shouldn't have punched you," I turned to Naruto, trying to inject genuine regret in my voice, "You," I sighed and decided to be blunt, "You scared me when you blew up the tree and I was mad. You wouldn't have known that putting too much chakra in the exercise will make the tree explode. So, I'm sorry." The last sentence practically burned me when I said it.

I then turned to the Hokage.

I may have been as honest as I could be with Naruto, but the old man in front of me owed a massive debt to me because it was his Shinobi that saw fit to torture me and kill my family. Konoha, and by extension the Hokage and every Shinobi and civilian, owed me something.

If it required emotional manipulation on my part by playing up the terrified young child role, I will do it without hesitation.

"I don't want to say why I'm learning ahead."

"Sasuke," The old man reprimanded me, "It is not safe to learn such techniques without being careful. You went through a trying experience not long ago. You must be careful."

"I have to have good chakra control," I said coldly, looking away from him, "I have to." I murmured.

At the expectant look, I sank in my chair and looked to the ground.

"I want to learn Iryo-ninjutsu." I mumbled, still looking at the ground.

'Oh, how displeased tousan would be with my behavior and posture.'

Brooding in the Uchiha clan was tolerated, but slouching and being a little bastard about things was an easy way to get 'disciplinary training' done, which involved all the old ladies forcing you to balance books on your head to have a 'gentlemanly' posture. I remember Itachi saying something about how Shisui tried to use chakra to stick the books to his head and the tongue lashing he got when he was caught was something to behold evidently.

"Please speak up, Sasuke, I cannot hear you." The Hokage said, causing me to scowl.

"I want to learn Iryo-ninjutsu." I said clearly, sitting up, "I need good control to do it."

"And where did you get the idea of learning that at such a young age? Most prospective medical ninja begin when they become genin."

"I don't want anyone else to die," I answered him quietly, "I want my teammates to live."

For once, I think I actually shocked the man. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a young and intelligent boy would seek out ways to heal injuries after seeing his family murdered.

"I see." He eventually said, sighing as he tapped his fingers against his desk, "Did you find notes about Iryo-ninjutsu that led you to deciding that?"

I was certain I was being monitored. I was the last of my clan after all. ANBU were definitely reporting back everything I did. Thankfully, I wasn't doing anything out of place except searching around the empty houses to search for personal scrolls or other things. Not like anyone needed them.

"I wanted to know how to heal people," I replied quietly, "And a scroll said I needed good chakra control."

And I wasn't lying. As the last Uchiha in Konoha, I technically had the best legal claim to the personal scrolls and properties of all the Uchiha. One of the scrolls I found was a basic rundown of Iryo-ninjutsu.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"I understand, Sasuke. But do try to be more understanding. Not everyone grasps concepts as well as you do."

Honestly, I should have expected something as stupid as an exploding tree to happen, especially since Naruto had no context for the chakra reserves he had.

Ironic that the reincarnation of Madara almost got killed by a tree, courtesy of Hashirama's reincarnation.

"Can I please go now?" I asked, starting to actually feel uncomfortable, "I just want to go home." My mind flashed an image of my parents on their knees, Itachi standing above them.

'Stop it.' I tried to hide the twitching in my hand, but I was worried that Hiruzen spotted it.

"You may go, Sasuke." Hiruzen said, his tone unreadable.

I didn't say anything and walked out of his office, wanting to train more.

///////////////

I whooped in triumph as I twirled around on the tree, kicking off of it and making the bark shatter under my feet by pushing chakra into it.

Another day, and another exploded trunk of tree.

It had been two weeks since the incident with Naruto blowing up the tree and I'd been constantly working on the tree walking exercise, and I can't say I'm angry with my progress.

Without anybody helping me, figuring it out all on my own, I could stand and walk up and down the tree with only the assistance of my chakra.

Part of me wanted to be irritated by how long it took me compared to what it took me a day when I was 12, but I would accept this. My chakra had taken a little bit of time to get reacquainted with, which was the likely reason for why it took longer.

All I needed was to get water walking done and I could start on some more sophisticated Jutsu to start trying.

Satisfied with my handiwork as I looked at the scarred tree I'd been working on, I left the Uchiha compound and did a normal ritual of mine that I was sure the Hokage and ANBU knew about.

Spying.

///////////

'Spying on the genin again, I see.' Inu thought to himself, this day being a thankfully boring one.

Most of the ANBU preferred playing Saturday guard duty on Uchiha Sasuke for two reasons. One: He didn't do anything particularly stupid that required intervention. This also included the lack of vengeful civilians that only refrained from attacking a certain someone because of the disappearances that occurred not long after it happened twice.

The second: The kid that resembled Itachi would make cookies on those Saturdays and place them out on the steps of his home with a note on the plate, saying: Thank you for your service, ANBU. The cookies were of different animal faces that were the normal facemasks of different ANBU, much to the group's amusement.

Never was there one shaped like a weasel.

Inu kept on zipping across the rooftops to keep him in sight, mindful of the setting sun in front of him, not wanting to lose sight of the boy.

Once Sasuke reached one of the booked training grounds, or at least an area near it, he closed his eyes and activated his Sharingan, watching the training going on as he opened up a bento box and began eating.

Inu could tell the Jonin Sensei for the Genin had spotted Sasuke, but kept his mouth shut for reasons unknown. It might have been because he saw it was Uchiha Sasuke, the kid who saw his family get murdered, that was watching the young genin training.

It also wasn't missed by Inu that a crumpled piece of paper was dropped to the ground when the Genin were busy doing laps and the Jonin was retrieving kunai from the ground.

After some time, the training ended and the Genin team left the grounds. Waiting another minute or two, Sasuke got up and walked towards where the piece of paper was dropped and picked it up.

The boy of eight years smoothed it out and pulled, two small sheets coming apart.

'Curious.' Inu thought to himself, 'What are they?'

Sasuke read one of them, before dropping it to the ground. He then kept the one sheet and walked west, eventually turning into a brisk jog.

Inu made a shadow clone to grab the other sheet while he continued to follow Sasuke.

The boy crossed different streets and got to one of the libraries generally reserved for Shinobi. That was around the time his clone popped and gave him the memory of reading the crumpled note.

'My girlfriend was part of your clan. The other paper is a permission form to read some books reserved for Chunin. Good luck, kid.'

A signed note from a Jonin, likely with Sasuke's name on it, would let an Academy student read some of the books normally reserved for Chunin.

'I'm inclined to think the Hokage suspected members of the Shinobi corps would help if some of them had friends or lovers that were Uchiha.'

In a way, Inu felt he was helping to honour Obito's memory by protecting the last remaining Uchiha, aside from the traitor.

The last remaining member of his Team 7 almost thought it was better that Obito died before he could see his clan murdered, but he shook that thought away as he saw Sasuke enter the Shinobi library.

//////////

The Jonin obviously had me tagged the first time I watched his genin train. He wouldn't have been a good Jonin otherwise.

As I made my way to the library, I smirked as I held the permission slip for me to grab practically any basic thing I needed. Iryo-ninjutsu was a path I chose to be a proficient fighter at close range.

Once I got to the library, suspecting that I had an ANBU tail, I entered and went up to the matron, the lady's age not hiding that she was a Shinobi.

"Hello," She greeted me skeptically, "Aren't you a little young to be here?"

I didn't speak at all, only handing the note to her.

She accepted it and eyed me with a softer tone when she saw my name on the slip.

"Everything seems to be in order, Uchiha-san." She stamped the paper and put it in a lockbox. "Is there a particular thing you wished to study?"

"Iryo-ninjutsu, ma'am." I answered politely, wanting to give the perception of a dedicated, but quiet and kind boy.

Her features softened further, a sympathetic look on her face.

"They'll be two rows down and on the right." She pointed to my left to clarify.

"Thank you." I said as I dipped my head politely, walking towards the aforementioned section.

Once I got there, I traced a finger across the different labeled scrolls, finding one of the ones I wanted.

Basic anatomy of the body, including the tenketsu.

I popped it open and unfurled it, activating my Sharingan to burn it all into my mind.

The words swam in my mind as I read, and read, and read. I even went back to reread everything so it sunk in properly for me to recall it properly.

The image of the body, on the other hand, wasn't difficult at all. I now knew where every tenketsu point and nerve cluster was for the average Shinobi. There was only minor variations between individuals, so it meant a chakra infused strike to a nerve cluster would send an opponent sprawling, no matter who it was.

'If those pale eyed stiffs think they're the only ones that can strike tenketsu, they can think again.'

If I could manage to use chakra scalpels like Kabuto, I could be extremely dangerous in taijutsu, even more so than almost everybody out there because of my Sharingan.

The Shunshin coupled with chakra scalpels and a Sharingan was an exhilarating prospect.

'Don't get ahead of yourself.' I scolded myself, irked by my continued childish excitement.

I identified more so with the personality of Sasuke and those memories, making me decide to consider myself as such. I just got an influx of memories that matured my mindset and goals...

But I was still an 8 year old boy that loved cool Jutsu and remembered how cool and epic the Rasengan and Chidori looked when I was a kid.

'Ooohhh, Chidori.'

I wasn't going to get anything else done this evening. I'd made good enough progress on confirming that my eyes could burn information into my mind the way I wanted, meaning I had significantly higher amounts of free time to train my chakra control and expand my reserves.

It eventually got late at night and I decided to call it quits, my head starting to note its displeasure at the high dosage of potent information.

I put my shades back on as I walked through the well lit walkway, giving the librarian my thanks and a polite farewell.

The door was pushed open and I left, preparing for another round of training tomorrow.

//////////////

"You're a monster. A thing."

She heard the voices again, barely hushed whispers haunting her as she tried to get home.

Uzumaki Naruko was shaking like a leave as she felt like she was being followed, the voices and hatred constantly making her doubt whether they were right or not.

She'd wanted to be more like Sasuke, the boy undeterred by what happened to him. He still was at the top of their class despite losing everybody he cared about.

And Naruko wanted to be liked and respected like he was.

So, she had decided to get up early and start studying at the academy more so, no matter how boring it was.

But this right now made that unlikely.

'Why do they hate me? I never did anything to them.'

A villager had already 'accidentally' dropped freshly made glue on her last month, forcing one of the nice men that protected her, the one in a dog mask, to cut over half her hair.

She looked ugly now... like a boy.

Another person bumped into her as she tried to squeeze through a gap.

Her butt hit the ground and she whimpered, looking up at the person she accidentally walked into.

"I'm sorry, sir." She tried to say, but she was grabbed forcefully by her arm and yanked up painfully.

"You little bitch!" The man snarled, his fingers clenching harder around her arm. "Think you can get away with hitting me?"

"I'm sorry," She started sobbing in terror and pain, the man's horrible voice making her shake, "I didn't mean to."

The vice grip around her arm was hurting so much, but not as much as the other injuries she'd received at the hands of the villagers.

She was suddenly dropped and felt an open palm strike her in the face, her cheek flaring in pain.

The man then spat on her, another slap striking her.

Naruko was openly sobbing now, curled up in a ball as she prayed for somebody to save her.

But nobody came.

The masked men that protected her a few times were absent, leaving her alone.

Other villagers joined in and dragged her into an alleyway, holding her in place as she screamed for them to stop, but none responded. They bodily threw her in a nearly full dumpster, putting something heavy over top it so she couldn't get out.

Nearly retching from the smell, she kept pounding on the lid and screamed for somebody to help her.

But nobody came.

She eventually passed out from exhaustion and woke up hours later, sitting face down in the alley, covered in filth.

Naruko slowly crawled away, sniffling at how humiliated she felt from what they did.

She was covered in rotted and old food, her arm still aching from the man gripping it.

The giant purple bruise on it had already shrunk after a couple hours, but it still hurt horribly.

Jiji probably wouldn't do anything about, just like he always did. Those masked men probably answered to him, but they weren't there to stop it again.

Reaching into her pocket, she realized her toad wallet she got when she was six wasn't there.

"No," She cried, looking around for it, "No."

She jumped up and dove back into the dumpster, digging for it.

After close to 15 minutes, she found her precious wallet, clutching it tightly.

Naruko gently cleaned it off as best as she could, grimacing as she smelled the rancid odor coming from her.

With as much stealth as she could, she got back into her apartment and jumped into the bath, keeping her clothes on as she washed herself.

The blonde didn't know how long she took, but she finally finished and took the soaked clothing off, putting on the only other pair of clothing she had at the moment.

Checking the time when she got to her tiny little kitchen, Uzumaki Naruko started freaking out, realizing how late she was.

'No. No. No!' She took off running, trying to turn a new leaf in her life.

The Academy was where she was going to learn to be the strongest ninja of all time, to become the first female Hokage.

And the second blonde one.

///////////////

"I'm here!" The absent blond shouted, causing all of us to turn.

'What does he even do to be this late?' I honestly wondered, still keeping on my sunglasses.

I didn't want any of the bootlickers, especially Mizuki, to know I'd awakened my Sharingan. Pretty much everybody assumed I did it to give the perception that I was making eye contact during a conversation, while avoiding it constantly.

At least it sounded in character for someone who got tortured via ooga booga eye fuckery.

"You are late again, Uzumaki," Mizuki stated, trying to sound neutral, "Iruka is out sick so just as I said before you finally got here, we'll be doing taijutsu sparring."

I groaned under my breath at the reminder. Contrary to what some people might think, beating up children wasn't fun. With my Sharingan, even with only one Tomoe, it was child's play to beat my classmates into the ground, there movements almost looking telegraphed.

"Try sounding a little less arrogant." Shikamaru drawled next to me, his head resting on the desk.

Shikamaru was pretty much the only kid who bothered trying to talk to me, other than Naruto, after I showed no interest in interacting with anyone after Itachi tortured me.

"Try sounding like you even care." I mumbled back, "Not my fault y'all are boring."

My eyes traced the form of Konoha's Jinchuriki as he walked towards me, looking embarrassed by being late.

Naruto plopped his ass down next to me, my urge to scowl being viciously crushed when I smelled something bad.

Either he suddenly forgot basic hygiene, or something happened today that made him late.

I'll ask later.

Mizuki, after going outside to ensure that the normal sparring area was clear, called for us to come outside, all of us filing out as orderly as a group of children could.

Once we were all outside, Mizuki started calling random names of kids to spar against each other.

Shikamaru predictably put minimal effort against Choji, letting the larger boy win.

Hinata looked afraid of her own shadow when she faced off against a civilian boy, her timidness not being enough to give him an advantage.

The girls were halfway distracted by my presence and I scowled at them, which seemed to be the wrong choice when a few of them squealed happily.

Eventually, after several others sparred, my name was called.

A bit of dust blew into my face and I sneezed right as Naruto's name was called, my eyes watering a bit.

The previous embarrassment at being late was completely gone now, the blond looking eager to try and beat me.

I still remembered how easy it was to trip him up from the previous couple months before Itachi did what he did.

I walked towards the center of the ring and adopted a standard taijutsu stance, my knees bent slightly and my hands up.

Naruto looked almost identical to those mock MMA LARPers that got their bells rung when they tried to square up with the scariest dude on the block.

"Whenever you two are ready." Mizuki's voice cut through the air.

To nobody's surprise, Naruto charged straight at me, his balance obviously off.

Without an ounce of difficulty, I checked his punch and diverted his momentum into the ground, pushing him out of the ring.

"Point. Sasuke." Mizuki announced, the girls cheering like a bunch of seals on helium.

Naruto stomped back into the ring, his face red from being laughed at.

"Don't lead too much." I advised, but he didn't seem to care.

"Again." Mizuki said, Naruto practically chomping at the bit as he raced towards me.

Deciding to be merciful, I didn't use my Sharingan as I diverted the first punch, lashing out with a quick jab with my right to his face.

My hit made contact and Naruto staggered back, giving me an opening to start attacking.

But I didn't.

"Your balance is off," I said shortly, standing where I was, "And your first attack was telegraphed."

"Shut up." Naruto managed to growl out, holding his bleeding nose. "I don't need your advice, teme."

If I didn't have the influx of knowledge and context to why Naruto might be so caustic to me, I might've been tempted to respond in kind and not try to be friendly.

But I considered the risk of having a clingy friend better than the risk of having a vicious and cold Jinchuriki like Gaara.

"Then let's try something else, hmm?" I asked sarcastically, putting both hands behind my back. "Go on, hit me."

I definitely felt arrogant, especially since I was smarter than everybody here, including the bastard Chunin teacher.

Naruto's intense blue eyes narrowed, the blood dripping from his nose having stopped.

With a shout of anger, Naruto shot towards me again and started swinging at my face.

I ducked under the first, tilted my body to avoid the second, and felt the other three or four barely brush against the sides of my hair.

A sloppy kick to my groin was avoided by me twisting on my left leg and jumping over his foot. I then blew some air out of my mouth into his face to taunt him.

He predictably growled and swung, missing just as predictably as his reaction.

The hyperactive blond was getting angrier and angrier, his teeth bared as he failed to hit me.

Finally deciding the lesson was over, I ducked under the final haymaker and threw my legs up, catching his arm between my feet at the elbow and pulling him down.

With a squawk, Naruto fell to the ground and I jumped on top of him, wrapping my legs around his head and squeezing.

"Submit." I grunted, trying to stop him from wriggling out of my grip.

An idiot, an irritant, and an overall pain in the ass were all accurate things you could call Uzumaki Naruto... But he didn't know the meaning of the word 'quit'. His arm blindly reached out and his chubby little sausage fingers gripped tightly around my hair and yanked.

Letting out one of the most obscene words I knew, I grabbed ahold of his arm and squeezed as hard as I could, trying to make him let go of my hair.

My whole body froze when I heard the howl of pain torn from Naruto's throat as I did that.

The scream made me let go completely, my mind blanking as a memory tore through my head.

"Why, 'Tachi! Why did you do this?!"

I crawled away from Naruto, who was cradling his arm.

He'd been wearing a long sleeve shirt, and my eyes told me why he did once I saw the sleeve had rolled up some.

Right where I'd gripped him, was a purple bruise that I knew for a fact meant his arm had been fractured.

It wasn't possible that I did that. It was already there.

My fears and worries about why Naruto was late were now validated. The villagers had been abusing him.

'What did they do to you?'

"Hey." I said quietly, reaching for him gently.

He scooted away from me, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I don't give up, 'ttebayo!" He shouted, pulling himself up and kicking at me.

I didn't bother humouring him. I stuck my hand to his foot with chakra, grimacing from how difficult it was to force my chakra to override his, and dragged him out of the circle, all the while the blond was shouting at me.

"Stop it, Sasuke!" A sandaled foot tried to hit me, but I yanked harder and made him slide onto his stomach.

"Mizuki-sensei." I said politely, pulling Naruto up and holding him in place, gently grabbing his arm, "Is this a fracture?" I pulled the sleeve down to reveal the god-awful bruise marring Naruto's flesh.

Mizuki and everybody else got a nice long look at the injury, my spirit brother squirming in discomfort.

"That looks bad." Mizuki acknowledged, "I didn't realize you had that strong of a grip." He looked at me skeptically.

I shrugged, not clarifying what I believed was the origin of the injury.

"I'll take Miss Uzumaki to the hospital to have it patched up." Mizuki said, causing me to pause.

'Miss?'

I shook it off as me mishearing, but I needed to be the one to do it.

The hospital had something I wanted.

"I'm the one who caused the injury." I said, ducking my head slightly to look a little upset. "I'll go."

"Now, Sasuke," Mizuki chided me, glancing at the rest of the students, "There's no need to do that."

Deciding to be a little petulant, I narrowed my eyes and took off my shades.

"I've already missed over a week of studies," I played the guilt trip card, "Another hour is nothing."

Mizuki grimaced at me bringing that up, seeming to mull over the statement.

"Fine, but be back soon." He said firmly, looking over my head. "Haruno and Inuzuka. You're up next."

I took that as my signal to leave with Naruto, who would've been squirming more if I didn't have my hand on his broken arm.

////////////////

After we left the Academy, I traced our way back to the hospital, the route burned into my head from walking back home to there.

Deciding to break the awkward silence, I glanced at Naruto.

"You mind telling me why you smell awful and have a broken arm?" I asked, walking along the border of the Uchiha compound.

Aside from the D-ranks to keep the homes from deteriorating that were subsidized by the village, hardly anybody went there. It was a dead spot in the village.

Which suited me just fine to get the little gaki to an Iryo-nin.

Naruto puffed his cheeks out at the comment about his odor, his eyes burning a hole in my head.

"Teme." He muttered.

Scowling openly, I stopped and turned to face him squarely.

"Look, I don't enjoy having to escort some impolite little shit to a hospital because you lack the brains to know when you broke your damned arm."

Naruto's face flushed red in anger, but I stopped him from lashing out with a comment.

"You do realize you could die, right?" I asked flatly, keeping a level gaze.

"Liar," Naruto didn't break eye contact, "It'll heal like the othe-" He abruptly stopped, wide eyed at realizing what he let slip.

"And this is why you're a terrible Shinobi." I scoffed, tracing my fingers across his arm. "The funny thing about bones is that they have this squishy stuff in them called marrow." I said pleasantly, still running my fingers up the slightly smaller bruise.

Naruto shivered at my tone, looking fearful.

"Marrow is what makes new blood for us," I kept smiling, but my tone was fairly frosty, "But it can leak out if a bone breaks and doesn't heal properly." I gripped his arm barely harder to make him jump.

"Marrow in your blood can kill you." I said tightly, gazing into the prophecized kid's eyes, "It would reach your heart, brain, or lungs, and you will suffocate, and nobody will save you."

I didn't want to scare him, but he needed to know how dangerous it could be if he didn't seek help.

Naruto slumped and started shaking, a choked sob escaping him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked quietly, trying to sound soothing.

He shook his head, so I nodded my understanding.

"Let's get you to the hospital," I said gently, wrapping my arm around his shoulder, "I'll make sure they treat you right."

That seemed to calm him down as we walked towards our destination. But one thought went through my head.

'Why didn't the Hokage stop this? Kakashi is in the ANBU right now. Why didn't he?'

/////////////////

Sasuke was peering at the Iryo-nin that was healing her injured arm, the soft green glow looking pretty.

The Uchiha's eyes were still obscured by his sunglasses, but Naruko could tell he was staring at the medic intently, his focus on nothing else.

'At least he's nicer than before.' She thought, the constant burning feeling in her arm fading.

The nurses had been rather cold with her, up until Sasuke politely said that he accidentally broke her arm in a spar and felt terrible about hurting a classmate.

But what confused her, and the nurses as well, was that Sasuke called her a boy. Not once, but twice in the course of a few minutes.

The muttering coming from a few nurses were heard by her and she hardly understood any of it, but the parts she did had her questioning Sasuke's mental state.

His big brother hurting him after killing all of the Uchiha was horrifying to think about, but she didn't know what they meant by 'Genjutsu' possibly mentally affecting Sasuke.

"And done." The nurse said, pulling Naruko from her thoughts as she deactivated her cool jutsu. "Good as new."

The tingling in her arm had faded after the lady finished, the bruise and pain completely gone.

"Thank you." Naruko mumbled quietly, her body tense in worry.

This particular nurse seemed nice, at least nicer than most of the adults.

"Now," The nurse twitched her fingers lightly, "Uchiha-san seems to have something going on with him. Could you wait outside for a moment?"

Naruko glanced at Sasuke, who showed very little emotion, but she could tell he was surprised at being brought up.

Naruko hopped off the table, giving Sasuke a grateful look.

He didn't have to do this. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she feared. Maybe she could have a friend.

The door closed and she lost sight of the raven haired boy temporarily.

////////////////

"What do you mean something's wrong with me?" I asked coldly, looking up at the same nurse that I first saw when I woke up after Itachi.

The nurse looked unimpressed by my near accusation, but she shrugged it off.

"You seem to be confused, Uchiha-san." She told me politely, "Concerning your classmate."

I blinked in confusion, not understanding.

"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.

"Can you tell me about your classmate?" She asked, sitting down in the swivel chair.

I quirked a brow in question, but decided to play along.

"Blond, hyperactive, and everything antithetical to what an Uchiha should be."

"Hmmm," The nurse kept her hazel eyes on me, "Anything else?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know much else about him. Naruto never interested me." I replied in a bored tone.

The nurse looked at me strangely, almost bordering on worry.

"Can you tell me about your other classmates? Your family, perhaps?"

My eyes shot to hers at that, my annoyance jumping up a notch.

"Don't expect me to come back." I got up to leave, "The Sandaime can talk to me if he wants to poke in my head."

I ignored everything else said and pushed the door open, storming away.

"Come on." I told Naruto, barely giving him a glance. "I need food."

Naruto scampered and caught up to me, antsy about my irritation at my privacy being touched on.

I didn't care. I don't want to talk about my family. It hurt too much to think about them when I know Itachi still loved me with all his heart, even sentencing himself to hell on earth for me.

That's real love right there.

But I didn't ask for it.

Being totally silent, we left the hospital and I walked straight to a food stall, ordering some weird looking kebob thing.

"There." I handed one to Naruto, who looked distinctly uncomfortable. "The food of champions." I muttered, taking a bite of the leathery meat.

Naruto took a small bite, glancing at me while not saying anything.

Once I wolfed down the food, I decided I was going to skip the rest of the day and start more chakra control exercises.

At this point, Mizuki could go touch grass for all I care. My little eyeballs were a godsend to copy whatever I so pleased. I now knew the hand seals for Kage bunshin, a diagnostic medical jutsu, and the Mystical palms jutsu from looking at them with my Sharingan, as well as how the techniques looked when the chakra shifted.

I just needed to improve my reserves and control.

Anybody who thinks the Sharingan is broken and op would be right. But screw nerfing it.

At this rate, I'm going to be a monster from having a bit of imagination and a couple brain cells to rub together. Why didn't my clansmen diversify their abilities and skills instead of focusing on Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu? Sure, we were damned good at them, but so much else could've been done.

'What do I know?' I thought irritably, 'I'm only 8. They probably did do that.'

Pulling myself from my thoughts, I looked at Naruto sympathetically as he started receiving a few looks from the villagers.

"Don't worry about those idiots, Naruto," I said, my eyes flicking towards the aforementioned imbeciles, "They're stupid."

Again, Naruto seemed annoyed by me for some weird reason.

"Stop calling me that." He said, his eyes narrowed.

I gave him a confused look.

"Then what am I supposed to call you?" I asked, genuinely befuddled by his statement.

"My name." Naruto grounded out, his fists clenched as we kept walking.

My eyes rolled almost involuntarily as I assumed he was messing with me.

"Uzumaki Naruto." I deadpanned, poking the side of his head. "A strong name. A man's name." I deepened my voice at the last part to be funny. "You are a manly man, Naruto."

"No I'm not, 'ttebayo!" Naruto said petulantly, scowling openly.

"Boy. Man. Semantics." I did roll my eyes this time, tossing the used food stick into a trash can. "And it's not like I'm going to call you whatever the villagers call you. What are they? Demon? Monster?"

Naruto got in my face and glared straight at me, his nostrils flaring.

"Quit calling me Naruto!" He practically shouted. "I'm not a boy!"

'What?'

I didn't understand what he was getting at, the sentence not making sense at all.

"Come again?" I said slowly, still looking at the blond confusedly.

"My name is Naruko," The blonde's arms crossed, "Stop calling me a boy's name."

Of course, being the totally rational person I was and possessing future knowledge, I reacted as such.

I started laughing.

For the first time since Itachi killed our family, I laughed.

"That's funny," I admitted, coughing a bit from how much it got me, "But come on. Why are you really upset at me?"

Naruto, or whatever the hell he wanted to be called, shoved me hard. I ended up staggering back, throwing out my arm to steady myself when I almost fell into the alleyway.

"What was that for?" I demanded angrily.

"You keep making fun of me, 'ttebayo." Naruto growled, "I'm not a boy just because my hair's shorter."

He was still keeping up the act. Why?

'Unles- no.'

"This isn't funny anymore," I started to say, not letting that thought take root, "It was funny at first."

"It's not a joke, teme." The blonde looked genuinely pissed, "Did you only help me to make fun of me? Is that why?"

My breath hitched when my mind started to connect the dots.

The irritation after the tree incident in Hiruzen's office. The odd looks from the nurse.

'Where the fuck am I?'

What cursed hellscape did I wake up in?

I slowly backed away from Naruko, trying to not have a panic attack.

'A girl. Naruto's a girl! What universe am I in?!'

This couldn't be happening. I'd only started to come to grips with everything, and now this. Why didn't I remember? Why did none of my memories have the name Naruko in them?

Did Itachi damage my mind permanently?

But another thought struck me, one that almost had me completely breaking down again.

If this was a different universe to what the memories showed me, could Itachi be truly evil?

" Why, 'Tachi?" I screamed, "Why did you do this?!"

'No,' I clenched my fists, staring directly at Uzumaki Naruko, 'I refuse to believe that.'

I couldn't acknowledge that. I wouldn't.

"I'm...sorry." I mumbled, trying to convey how apologetic I genuinely was for annoying a rather headstrong girl, "My memory is still settling after..." I didn't mean to trail off, but I couldn't keep the memories out of my head, the bodies of my parents on the floor.

Naruko, to her credit, looked a bit sheepish from being a bit rude.

"I'm sorry too." She replied, "I shouldn't have yelled. And... thank you, for helping me." She lifted up her healed arm.

At that, I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose, knowing she wouldn't tell me what happened.

Just as I was about to make an excuse to leave, I thought of something. What went through my head may very well save my life.

"So," I tried to apply what social skills I had, falling short, "You wanna skip school and get some ramen?"

I didn't want to go back to the academy today either, and this was a perfect excuse.

Naruko's head perked up at the word 'ramen' and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!" She pumped her fist, seeming to forget the uncomfortable situation moments prior.

I remained quiet as she dragged me towards Ichiraku's, silently pleased with my success.

Assuming Hiruzen ordered my clan to be killed, even reluctantly, like in the manga, he was dying to either me or Orochimaru. Preferably the snake, because I don't fancy having an entire village after me.

If he didn't order it, I still couldn't bring myself to care about the old bastard, and it revolved around the energetic blonde that was trying to pull my arm out of socket in excitement at having a possible friend.

The ANBU didn't protect her, and that she was antsy about details meant it happened before. Kakashi was currently in the ANBU, yet he didn't protect her.

Fuck Hiruzen. Fuck Kakashi. Fuck everyone who stood in my way.

My goals were all over the place, practically changing every hour, but they all led to one path. And that path was something that all people wanted.

Freedom.

I wouldn't serve a village that killed my family, that turned Itachi into a tool. Sure, I'll wear the headband and give lip service when needed, but I'll be like Jiraiya, traveling the nations, before I become a bootlicker.

And what I just did, manipulate a little girl deprived of affection into taking me to her favourite place in Konoha, got rid of one more obstacle to my goals.

By the time I'm grown, few people will be able to match me. And I've probably created the foundation of the most loyal friendship possible with one of those people.

And I felt no guilt at all.

/////////////

Naruko curled up into her worn and old mattress, whimpering as her ribs constantly ached.

Sasuke had gone with her to Ichiraku's and patiently listened to her talk about anything and everything, the ramen being just as good as it usually was.

But the day ended badly.

The moment the two of them parted ways and she left to go home, the same civilian that broke her arm brought some friends and through her into a ditch, but not before he kicked her several times in the chest.

Why did he do this? Why did he hate her so much? Jiji never told her why, and she felt a rift between her and the old man start to develop because of that.

'If I was strong enough to fight them off, I'd be safe.'

Sasuke was good at fighting. Maybe he could help her.

She wanted a friend, even just one. Friends were supposed to help each other, right?

Naruko kept her breathing shallow until the ache faded into nothing after enough time, her dreams filled with whispers and memories of rejection and scorn.

//////////////

End chapter

For those wondering, I am doing the villager trope thing concerning Naruko for a reason. It's not a cheap attempt to stoke drama. It has far reaching reasons that I haven't seen in any fic the way I've set it up. So be patient until all is revealed.

Sasuke basically has a near panic attack from finding out that not only is Naruto a girl, but that he has no memories of it. He'll hypothesize why next chapter, so there's that.

Another Hiruzen POV is up next chapter and the ripples of Sasuke's discovery are seen.

So here's the other chapter I wrote. No idea when the next one comes out. Take care everyone.

Raging.