Unwelcome suprises

If certain words smear together, it's because a word was in italics. It seems to get all stupid when I paste the chapter.

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The week leading up to me going to the hospital for some hands on instruction and experience was me memorizing the entire book Tsunade wrote, then reading it again multiple times with my Sharingan to burn it in.

That was the most noted thing I did, although I did other things like go to the academy like usual and trained my Fire release some more so I could start doing some Ninjutsu.

But the medical stuff was more important right now. It was the key to a massive boon to my survival chances.

I'd noticed that, although I remembered the details of the book with perfect clarity from my Sharingan, there was sometimes a type of disconnect between my mind processing the memories of the words into actually meaning what they were supposed to.

Rereading it fixed it.

On a more cynical note, Naruko was in a rather irritable mood. Her plumbing stopped working because the pipe supposedly burst early today, making her apartment smell like sewage water.

The ANBU, probably because nobody else could be trusted to not put an exploding tag somewhere, were busy cleaning it up, but that left her in a bad situation. So, despite me valuing the illusion of my fortress of solitude, the ANBU making that a false sense of aloneness, I let her spend the day here under the condition she not touch anything.

She was currently busy, in my backyard, making rocks explode with her chakra.

Mildly disconcerting that a Jinchuriki was immensely fascinated with making things explode, but I didn't have much room to say anything because I enjoyed burning things.

Wrapping the book in a flame retardant cloth, just for good measure, I put it in the drawer of my father's desk, the room still holding the faint scent of the brand of sake he enjoyed.

'It's already been several months.' I thought to myself, walking out of the room to go talk with Naruko real quick.

The nightmares persisted, the smell of my own blood when I trained until my knuckles bled sending me into a fight or flight mindset from that being a trigger.

Fucking Itachi.

I hated having that weakness. I hated that my dreams were stained by Itachi's poison. I hated that I couldn't look at happy families in public without fighting the urge to sneer because they reaped the reward of my family being exterminated!

'Calm down.' I scolded myself, relaxing my fingers that I just realized were digging into my palms. 'No use in being angry at them. Focus on Obito and Itachi.'

Forcing my breathing under control, I stood still and counted to ten, focusing on my heartbeat and the chaotic thrum of my chakra under my skin.

After a few moments, my emotions settled back to the dull, persistent ache it normally was, instead of the blaze it was just a short while ago.

With a clean set of clothes and my hair looking as presentable as I could make the spiky black locks, I opened the back door and whistled to get Naruko's attention, the blonde's bright eyes shooting towards mine as she dropped the rock she almost murdered.

My... friend? came running towards me, skidding to halt and almost stumbling.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, almost sounding apprehensive, "I didn't mean to do anything, 'ttebayo. Are you mad I broke the rocks?"

The way her eyes looked when she was afraid made me bite the inside of my cheek, fighting the urge to sneer.

"Naruko," I put my hand up, still vexed by how she'd immediately assume I was upset with her, "I'm just saying that I'm heading to the hospital for some training so you don't wonder where I'm at."

The last week had my anger at the village and Sarutobi escalate to an even higher level. This little girl was so terrified of rejection that she was hanging on to every bit of affection and was perpetually worried I would suddenly tell her to stay away from me.

"Eh," The blonde that was the subject of my thoughts rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Sorry."

"Hn," I waved it off, shrugging my shoulders, "Food's in the refrigerator. Don't eat what's in the grey bowl."

It was leftovers from last night, and I was saving it for supper. I'd just get Naruko some takeout from Ichiraku's when I came back.

Naruko nodded happily, my statement about only going to go train putting her at ease.

"Okay."

I turned and left her, silently wondering whether it was smart of me to leave a hyperactive eight year old Jinchuriki unsupervised in my house.

'Maybe I could give her coffee and lock her in Itachi's room.' I wondered, making my way across the rooftops to reach the hospital quicker.

A smile crept up on my face as I utilized the chakra flow exercise I'd been doing to fortify my muscles, focusing on the pattern of my breathing and heartbeat to maximize efficiency.

My sandals scrapped against a shingle, my foot digging in a bit and propelling me to the next rooftop.

I was undoubtedly a novice to any of the ANBU following me, but I knew this was a decent skill, even at the basic level I currently was, and at nine years old, it was rarely seen.

The environment blurred some as I sped up, so I activated my Sharingan, the visuals perfectly fine now. The faint ripples of chakra emanating from the people created an extremely faint distortion in the air, making me drink in the sight.

I reached the hospital and hopped off the roof of the adjacent building, dropping to the ground outside.

Shutting off my eyes for now, I entered the hospital and went to the desk, scowling when I realized I was too short to look over the desk.

The nurse let out a snort and got up from her chair, standing up to peer down at me.

"Can I help you, young man?" She asked politely, looking at me differently, probably to gauge whether I was injured or not.

I knew my way around hospitals from the other memories, but Shinobi village hospitals were somewhat different, catering to both soldiers and civilians.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," I said politely, eliciting a flash of realization in her eyes, "The Hokage gave me permission to learn Iryo-ninjutsu." I showed the pass that was dropped off at my house by the ANBU the day after the meeting with Sarutobi.

The lady took the note and read it, reaching for another sheet of paper on her desk.

"I see," She muttered, putting the note in a lockbox that hummed for a moment, before stopping, "Room 17. And I hope you do wonderfully." She added softly.

"Thank you." I mumbled, walking through the door to get to the hospital rooms.

The smell of antiseptic and the faint chakra glow reminded me of when I was last in the hospital, making me uncomfortable as my sandals clacked against the marble floor.

Rounding the corner, I caught a faint whiff of blood and bit the inside of my cheek, enough to bleed.

"Why, 'Tachi! How could you do this!"

I got to room 17 and pushed the door open, spotting a grey haired person with his back turned to me while he was washing his hands.

The junior Iryo-nin turned around and I felt my blood freeze at the sight of his face.

Grey hair, dark eyes, and a pair of glasses on his face.

"Hello, Uchiha Sasuke," Yakushi Kabuto greeted me, giving me a smile I knew was fake, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto."

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I gazed at Kabuto for a few seconds, trying to recover from the shock.

At the expression on my face, Kabuto tilted his head. "Is something wrong?"

Blinking, I thought of a lie to cover up my recognition of the bastard.

"I," I swallowed, looking down a bit like I was uncomfortable, "The antiseptic... It... reminds me of the... the."

Kabuto seemed to buy it because he grimaced, or at least put on a show of it.

"I see." He said, glancing at the doorway. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I shook my head stiffly.

"I deal with it." I muttered, looking at what was on the table.

A few diagrams of the human anatomy and some other knowledge on Iryo-ninjutsu.

'I can't just get out of this.' I growled internally, my anger at the situation being almost indescribable.

I could very easily be on Orochimaru's radar earlier because of this four eyed fuck in front of me. This bastard was dangerous on his own, but it was his masters that scared me.

The two greatest threats to me right now were both tied to Kabuto, those two being Danzo and Orochimaru.

'Be careful what you wish for.' I thought to myself, regretting the immediate accepting of Sarutobi's offer. He either knew Kabuto was a ROOT agent, or he was incompetent.

And I wasn't hedging my bet on incompetence.

"Were you told about what I already know on Iryo-ninjutsu?" I asked, deciding I couldn't do anything about avoiding Kabuto without raising suspicion for now.

Kabuto gave a reassuring grin and nodded. "Yes, and it's fairly impressive. Book smarts and already able to run a diagnostic scan at nine years old. You're pretty good, probably better than me within a couple years."

'I'm ripping your throat out when I get the chance.' I gave a fragile smile like I was trying to be like what I was before Itachi tortured me. "Thank you."

"Now that we've finished the introduction." Kabuto turned towards the table that had the notes and a few other things I didn't recognize. "Let's get started on practical work."

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The four hours I spent studying Chunin level Iryo-ninjutsu with Kabuto finally came to an end and I went straight to my house, ready to relax for a bit and ask Naruko if she wanted supper.

But once I got there, I noticed something wasn't right.

Naruko was gone.

'Damnit.' I groaned, looking throughout my house and my backyard that I'd turned into a small training ground. 'Why'd she leave?'

Walking quickly to the fridge, I opened it and saw none of the food was missing.

Not having anything better to do, I made a clone with a little difficulty and told it to look for Naruko while I set up my food, taking it out of the fridge to heat it up.

Whistling to break the silence, I was heating it up about 15 minutes later when my clone popped.

The pan in my hand fell from my grip with a clatter when I got the feedback, the experience painting a horrifying picture.

Naruko had been attacked.

Ripping off the apron and rushing from the kitchen, I shoved the door open and took off running to reach the blonde.

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Naruko was shivering as she sobbed uncontrollably, Sasuke, or what was a bunshin of Sasuke, having disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She was now alone again.

Nobody had hurt her this time, but somebody had tripped her and called her a word she didn't understand, but had been called constantly.

Whore.

She had gotten impatient with Sasuke being gone and was a bit uncomfortable when she realized people had died in the Uchiha clan compound, so she went with her trusty toad wallet to get some ramen.

The wallet was now empty.

After an amount of time she couldn't determine, Sasuke showed up, and the sight of him both made her feel safe and terrified her.

His eyes were red.

"Naruko." He said her name gently, his eyes darting across the alleyway she had stumbled into to get away from the angry civilians that called her names and hated her. "Are you alright?"

She shivered and looked away from his blood red eyes, the colour making her unnaturally afraid for some reason.

With supreme force of will, she looked up at the raven haired boy, his eyes now back to normal.

"They took my money." She mumbled, wiping at her eyes as she clutched the wallet in her other hand.

Sasuke, who looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden, knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder, giving her an uncertain smile.

"Everything will be alright." He promised, but it didn't reassure her.

"No it's not alright!" She cried, gripping one of her few possessions like her life depended on it, "I'm going to starve. I don't have any money!"

Rent couldn't be paid for her apartment. She was going to be on the street again, like that month of torture she went through when she was thrown out of the orphanage.

As Naruko's breathing started to get more and more laboured as she started having a panic attack, Sasuke held her steady and forced her to look into his eyes.

"I have plenty of money." The boy promised, running his fingers over the back of her hand gently. "Please, don't cry."

Naruko hiccuped slightly and stopped shaking, her only friend's presence helping her not fall apart.

After some time, Sasuke helped her up and walked her out of the alley and to his home again, opening up the door as he held her close to him.

He practically carried her to the kitchen, sitting her down in a chair as he went towards his stove.

She heard him mutter something under his breath as he adjusted the heat, ignoring the pan on the ground that had some type of meat in it.

"Do you mind pork?" Sasuke asked, picking up the pan and putting it back on the stove, his other hand grabbing at the bag that she now saw had a few leftovers.

Naruko shook her head, not trusting her voice to be normal sounding.

Sasuke shrugged and put the remaining food in the pan, spreading it around with a wood spoon.

Aside from the light sizzle, there wasn't any sound for several minutes. Once the meat was heated up, Sasuke flicked the stove off and put the food on a plate, carrying it over to her and setting it in front of her.

"Eat." He said, not adding anything as he sat down on the other side of the table.

Naruko rubbed her nose, sniffing a bit.

"What about you?" She asked quietly, knowing there wasn't any other food.

Sasuke simply leaned forward and fixed her with a serious look.

"Naruko, eat." He commanded her this time, his face flat and cold like a statue.

Naruko looked away and started eating, letting out a moan of contentment at the taste.

At this point, she would have found anything edible delicious. But that didn't matter.

As she finished, she saw Sasuke start to shift in his chair, tapping his fingers against the table.

"If you don't want to talk, I won't ever bring it up again." He said neutrally, his gaze fixed on her chin. "But I want to know what happened."

Swallowing nervously, Naruko started fidgeting at the request and tried to crush down the constant memories of every event that happened to her over the last several months.

Constant whispers of being a demon, rejection or ignoring of her like she didn't exist, and the occasional beating or two.

"I don't want to talk about it." She mumbled, her throat dry.

Sasuke nodded emotionlessly and took the empty plate, walking towards the kitchen and putting it in the sink.

"Then I won't ask again," He said quietly, turning and gesturing towards her to follow him, "Follow me."

Naruko hopped off the chair and followed the raven haired boy, flinching when her foot caused a board to creak.

Sasuke paused his steps and turned sharply towards the board, his eyes narrowed.

After a moment that seemed to stretch on, Sasuke kept walking and opened a door into a room, not walking into it though.

"There is my parents' room," He said shortly, "And Itachi's." His voice caught as he pointed his right hand at another room, his fingers gripping the doorway lightly.

Naruko's jaw almost fell in shock at what Sasuke offered. He didn't outright say it, but she could guess what he was hinting at.

"I can stay the night?" She asked weakly, her hopes raised.

Sasuke nodded, not making eye contact.

"Until you apartment gets fixed. It can be a couple days."

Naruko rushed forward and pulled Sasuke into a hug, gripping him tightly.

Sasuke froze in her grip and let put a gasp, but she didn't know why.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She shouted, almost pulling him to the ground accidentally.

Sasuke managed to force her off him, his face pale.

"It's f-fine." He murmured, his jaw clenching and unclenching lightly, "My parents' room doesn't have dust in it, so I recommend that."

Naruko was about to ask why Itachi's room would have dust in it, but she stopped herself before she could ask.

"Blankets and pillows are in the closet." Sasuke said neutrally, then he walked away.

"Where are you going?" Naruko asked apprehensively, not wanting him to leave just yet.

"Backyard to train some more." He said, turning to give her a reassuring look. "I'll be just outside."

With that, Sasuke exited out the backdoor and left her in the house alone.

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Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu

.

I blasted a ball of fire out of my mouth and up to the sky, grinning widely as it slowly dissipated into nothing after I completed it.

My father had taught me it before the massacre and I managed to pass his test of proficiency, but I felt I could do better.

Judging by the fire going from red to having streaks of white at the center and the sweat on my face from the ambient heat, the several weeks of training my Fire Release were paying off.

Grabbing a wet cloth rag on a small table next to me, I wiped my face off and grabbed a water bottle, gulping down the contents.

Setting it back down, I hopped on the balls of my feet in preparation for something I was wanting to try ever since I finished reading the book Sarutobi let me borrow.

Pinpoint chakra control was good not just for for conserving chakra, but also something Tsunade was known for.

'Punching hard enough to make a building come crashing down sounds fun.'

Walking up to the log I was toughening my hands against for taijutsu training, I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing, holding a tight grip on my chakra as I snaked it across the tenketsu in my arm and fingers.

Similar to how I used the Mystical Palms jutsu, I pulsed chakra into my fingers, focusing on the wood.

Visualizing the faceless visage of whatever bastard hurt Naruko today, I lunged forward and punched the wood, a crack echoing from the point of impact.

The problem was that it wasn't the wood.

"Fuuuuckk!" I snarled, pain radiating from my hand from punching it.

A constant stream of profanity came from my mouth that would have resulted in my mother and father arguing over who was going to discipline me, my Sharingan activating from the pain.

Growling audibly, I lifted my hand up to my face and inspected it.

I probably fractured the knuckle on my middle finger, because it was aching in rhythm with my pulse.

Hissing in pain, I went through the needed hand seals, gritting my teeth at the pain coming from my one hand.

A soft, green glow emanated from my hand and I pressed my fingers against the fracture, letting out a groan of relief as the pain faded.

Shutting off the chakra feed to my hand, I glared at the wood distastefully and went back to more chakra control exercises, needing to be better at it.

I might be a recently turned 9 year old, but I needed to progress faster. Unless I was chunin level at everything within a year, I'll consider myself a failure.

And I hate failure.

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

Staggering into my house, I opened the door with a shaky hand as I struggled to lift my legs up to get in, all my limbs feeling like jelly.

I had been doing exercises that Tsunade's book recommended to help enlarge your tenketsu points and make strengthening extremities easier.

I regretted ever getting that book.

Pins and needles all over my body and my chakra was dangerously low from constantly swirling it through my chakra network to 'stretch' my chakra coils to jumpstart more growth.

Leaning against the wall in the hallway to steady myself, I forced my legs to respond to my commands and dragged myself to my bedroom.

Moaning weakly, I got the door open and got to the bed right as my legs gave out.

I didn't even get under the blankets, I just laid down, put my hands under the pillow and relished in the cold feeling.

Right as I started to let exhaustion send me into the realms of sleep, my fingers brushed against paper, right under my pillow.

Exploding tag.

'Fuck.' I jumped up and rolled out of bed, bolting for the door. Unfortunately for me, my legs refused to cooperate and I fell face first on my bedroom floor.

Here I was, Uchiha Sasuke, reincarnated son of the Sage of Six Paths, an absolute god in the making, and I was about to die from something as trivial as a piece of paper with a bomb sealed in it.

I let out a cry of terror at dying again, whimpering in fear at my fate as I covered my face and curled in a ball.

But the explosion never came.

Shivering in fear, I forced myself up and glanced at the bed, the piece of paper on the ground from when I jumped out of the bed.

With my blood thundering in my ears and my heart hammering my chest, I crawled across the floor and grabbed the paper with trembling fingers.

It was a storage seal.

"Don't be a bomb." I prayed, pulsing a bit of my noticeably lower reserves through my index and into the seal.

The seal popped open and revealed two items, a note and a small, handmade journal that looked decades old, but well cared for.

Picking up the note shakily, I saw that it had writing on it that I didn't recognize.

Uchiha Sasuke,

There is a mole in the ANBU that is assisting the villagers in harming the girl. Trust none, save for Inu.

The book is a manual on Wind Release for the Uzumaki girl. Make sure she does not damage it beyond use.

Burn this note, you are being watched.

Good luck in you endeavors,

Signed, Konoha's humble servant.

I set down the note slowly and wrapped my hands around the book, cracking it open.

It contained detailed explanations on the inner workings of Wind Release that were frightening in their application. The first portion literally said that wind has no weakness, and even its perceived weakness can be used to your advantage.

Whoever wrote this was intelligent and experienced in war, no other possibility.

And it was gifted to Naruko, with me as the middleman.

Closing the book up, I looked at the note and activated my Sharingan, burning the image in my mind. I then gribbed the note in my hand and pulsed fire chakra into it, burning it to ash.

A lance of pain suddenly went through me and my Sharingan deactivated, a sudden wave of nausea hitting me.

I almost just gave myself chakra exhaustion with that small act because of my previous training.

Panting for a moment until my vision stopped swimming, I forced myself up and fell on the bed, shutting my eyes and passing out.

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

"Can any student tell me about the Sannin?" Iruka asked, looking across the room of students.

Thanks to my jumbled memories on a couple of things, I hadn't realized this was Iruka's first year teaching. So far, he was being acclimated into the classroom to replace the old one, who was set to retire.

But that didn't matter all that much to me.

The weekend came and went, with Naruko's plumbing being fixed and her going back. To say she was clingy would be an understatement. I had to promise to send a clone with her to her apartment each day, which she told me since then that she hadn't been harassed or bothered.

So, it seemed like what the letter said was correct, a mole was in the ANBU that was running interference to get her attacked, and my presence made it too risky because my own ANBU guard assigned to me was also watching.

"No one?" Iruka asked, sighing softly. "You were taught about them just a few weeks ago. I know you have it in you to answer." He smiled reassuringly.

When everyone looked about as interested as Shikamaru, including Naruko, nothing was going to happen.

Shaking my head irritably, I raised my hand.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Iruka asked hopefully.

"The Sannin are three of the most capable Shinobi Konoha has ever produced," I said emotionlessly, tapping my bandaged fingers against the table lightly, "They were trained by the Sandaime Hokage and fought in the Second Shinobi War extensively, with Senju Tsunade taking a more passive role compared to her teammates in the Third."

I didn't just read the material for my age, I read ahead on pretty much everything. In fact, the only reason I was here in person was because my reserves hadn't recovered enough to make a shadow clone and have enough to do control and flow exercises.

"Anything else?" Iruka asked slowly, appraising me noticeably.

"All three have different summoning contracts." I said, but before I could continue, Iruka held up his hand.

"Would you care to explain what a summoning contract is to the civilian born students?" He asked politely. "Not everyone is as quick to understanding as you, Sasuke."

'You mean I'm not an ill educated child.' I frowned at being interrupted, but I settled for a shrug of indifference as my reaction.

"Summoning contracts," I turned and looked at the no name kids that looked at my apprehensively at times, "Are deals or alliances made between sapient, which means like humans in intelligence; they can speak and read, animals so that the Shinobi who has signed an agreement with them can call upon them for aid. The three contracts the Sannin have are the Toads, Snakes, and Slugs." I took a deep inhale and continued. "The snake known as  Manda  and the toad  Gamabunta  are nearly the size of the Kyuubi and were used to crush enemy Shinobi throughout Konoha's conflicts."

"That sounds awesome!" One of the civilian students exclaimed, looking excited at what he probably thought was the cool and glorious delusion of the world. "How cool would it be to get a contract or learn from the Sannin?"

Despite knowing better, I wanted to scare a bunch of people. I wasn't in the best of moods, or more like I was irritated by my privacy being violated by some spook. The heads-up and the book for Naruko only lightened it.

"It's even more... awesome," I lowered my voice at the word, staring at him coldly, "When you realize that Tsunade is the last of her clan and has not been in the village since before we were born, Jiraiya is practically a nomad that does totally not secretive things... And Orochimaru was... up until recently," My fingers clenched against the desk tightly, a faint creak reaching my ears, "The worst traitor to Konoha since Uchiha Madara. I'll take my chances by refusing to be near any of them." I then turned around and let go of my desk, setting my chin on my hand to look at Iruka.

Said teacher cleared his throat awkwardly and went to the next subject, slipping the history lesson entirely.

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

Naruko's right fist sailed towards my face as I readjusted from previously launching my own attack, the blonde much better ever since she had been gifted a taijutsu manual by me.

I raised my left hand up and, with the assistance of my Sharingan, flicked my wrist and hand to catch and divert her attack from my face. Quick as a flash, my right leg kicked out at her gut as a counter and sent her sprawling, a faint gasp escaping her.

'Please, just stay down.' I scowled internally, wanting to get her to learn a jutsu instead of constant taijutsu training.

My backyard wasn't the best area to train, but I didn't want your average Shinobi seeing anything.

"How do you know what I'm going to do, every time?" She asked irritably, massaging her stomach from where I hit her.

I took my sunglasses off and pointed at my eyes, Sharingan still active.

"I can read your movements and I see things in better details and slower speed." I explained once more, walking towards her and offering my hand to help her up.

Naruko took the offered limb and I hoisted her up, grabbing her shoulder to help steady her.

"Stupid eyes." She muttered, crossing her arms.

"You heal from my hardest punch in about a minute, tops." I deadpanned in response, "Your own clan has their own stupid things. You, for example."

Naruko gave me an icy glare, blue eyes narrowed.

"Not funny." She said petulantly, practically pouting.

"Prove me wrong and figure out this jutsu I know," I challenged her, not caring about manipulating her for her own good, "I did it in an hour. You might get it done within a couple days with my help." I finished arrogantly, almost concerned by how little I embellished it.

Naruko puffed her cheeks out and planted her hands on her hips.

"Bring it!"

Grinning, I made a cross sign and formed a shadow clone next me, a twin look of bemusement on its face.

Naruko's expression went from excitement to anger almost immediately, her eyes flicking between me and the clone.

"A bunshin?!" Naruko practically shouted, breathing heavily. "I'm not an idiot, Sasuke." She growled my name, her teeth bared.

'Her canines are slightly longer.' I noticed, silently wondering if it was from her being exposed to Kurama's chakra when Kushina was pregnant or because she had Kurama sealed in her.

"This isn't an illusion," I rolled my eyes, signaling my clone to listen, "An illusion can't touch you."

Right as I finished the sentence, the clone sent a punch at Naruko, who yelped and instinctively threw her hand up to stop it.

To her noticeable surprise, the clone's punch actually impacted against her palm and it then backed away.

"W-what is that?" She stammered out, staring at it wide-eyed.

"It's a solid clone technique called Kage Bunshin," I explained, signaling for the clone to pop, which it did a moment later, returning the memories to me, "The Nidaime Hokage created the Jutsu. It's a solid clone that can be used to help you fight and it can do Jutsu itself because it's made of your chakra."

Naruko furrowed her brow and looked like she was thinking hard, probably trying to imagine how creative she could be with it.

"How did you learn it?" She asked, tilting her head in way that was reminiscent of a curious dog.

"My clan copied it and I read some scrolls from them." I lied, not telling her the honest truth.

I don't think she'd appreciate the thought of me being a questionably manipulative and bad person.

"But there's another useful thing Kage Bunshin are for," I smiled happily, at least I hoped it didn't make me look as manic as my thoughts usually were, "You know how I told you how to make your chakra cut like wind?"

Naruko nodded, looking down as her cheeks reddened.

She had been struggling with it, which was the reason she was pesturing me for taijutsu training instead. It was a little scary how much she jumped in skill after I gave her just a little bit of guidance, but it was her technique that was atrocious in the first place. The book that I was certain came from Sarutobi was difficult for her to understand, but it made her interested in being able to cut through rocks and created tornadoes.

"Well, Kage bunshin are special because the chakra that they are made of will return to you when it pops." I made another one as an example and I walked out of earshot, letting the clone say something to Naruko.

I came back after the clone spoke to her and it dispelled, giving me the memories of what it said. A faint smirk broke out on my face at what it said, and why Naruko's eyes were narrowed.

"It said that you are shorter than me." I recited what it said, standing on my toes slightly to make myself taller.

Naruko grumbled something under her breath, but I cut her off from saying something.

"You don't just get the memories back, Naruko," I stepped closer to her, sparking some fire from my fingertips and holding it in front of her, "You can train nature release with them."

My blonde companion looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Huh?" Naruko looked completely lost, causing me to almost growl in irritation.

'Don't take it out on her.' I thought, scolding myself for getting annoyed at her. 'She's like 8 and doesn't have anybody to teach her anything. Just take it slowly.'

"You," I took a deep breath, reining in my already short mood from earlier today, chakra exercises making me constantly ache like I was an arthritic old man in a thunderstorm, "You remember how I said training your chakra is like training your muscles?"

Naruko nodded quickly at that, her blue eyes focused on me.

"Having a Kage bunshin train nature release, and then popping it so the remaining chakra returns, will cause your chakra to more easily shape itself to your elemental affinity."

Not completely contrary to what was mentioned in the series, but the fanon idea of mass training with clones was not possible.

I would have questioned why and who the source for that was, but it was explicitly stated in multiple journals and training manuals written by my clan that were edited by some type of technique that meant I could only read it with my Sharingan active.

Similar to the Naka Shrine, come to think of it.

That little detail had me shivering at the thought of me not knowing how to use my Sharingan. It would have driven me nearly insane if I was unable to read some of these manuals without it all looking like gibberish. Canon Sasuke may have been subjected to something I never thought imaginable, which is being unable to use the abilities that his clan collected over the decades to avenge them.

But the training manuals that warned of Kage bunshin training, more than likely from one of many prodigious Uchiha finding out through trial and error, laid out multiple rules behind doing it safely without wasting time or killing yourself from an aneurysm.

First, it didn't work for physical training, obviously. They were chakra constructs that did not affect your body itself.

Second, chakra control exercises with them only were effective to a certain point. A clone's experience doing control exercises with only 1/10 of the normal chakra won't help hardly for when you're at full capacity. One or two clones at most would be the extent on genuine progress in that field of training.

Third, Ninjutsu could be made easier to do if you repeatedly did it. Chakra acted similar to how your muscles act when doing a constant action. Muscle memory, or at least the chakra equivalent, existed with your chakra. It was the very reason the number of hand seals for Ninjutsu you were skilled at could be lowered in conjunction with immaculate chakra control.

Fourth, Nature release was arguably the only other portion where large scale use of clones wouldn't have reducing gains. Same rules apply for Ninjutsu. Chakra muscle memory means the constant returning of experience and your chakra doing an action would make it second nature for your chakra to adopt the behavior of the elemental release you trained.

Naruko would obviously be unable to follow along with something that took me more than one reading to understand fully.

So, I gave an abridged version of it so she could understand how good Kage bunshin were and for her to not think she could rely on them alone.

"Why are you helping me?" Naruko asked quietly, swallowing audibly, "Why are you doing all this?" Her eyes darted away from mine, her expression apprehensive.

Another thing that made me hate Sarutobi and several villagers. This girl didn't deserve any of this.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to bring up a subject I hated to think about, but Naruko needed to hear it.

"Try and guess who I'm talking about." I said, running my hand through my hair to push it off my forehead. "Orphan. Part of a dying clan. Looked at differently by the villagers. And nobody is helping you when you need it."

Naruko's jaw was tight as I rattled off our similarities, her eyes practically shining with understanding.

"I didn't... I," She sniffed, at loss for words, "Okay." She finally settled on that as a response.

"You aren't just something I'm going to throw to the side afterwards." I promised, uncomfortable from the vulnerability she was showing. "But, do you think you can learn this jutsu?"

Naruko wiped at her eyes and nodded, smiling wetly.

"You bet, 'ttebayo!"

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

A combined two hours of time was how long it took Naruko to figure it out, requiring some guidance from me.

I'd been initially surprised at how fast she accomplished it, especially at 8 years old, but I realized something.

She had me helping her.

The thought of how far she could get with my assistance, and help me with my plans, was mouthwatering.

Perhaps I could even get a blood or tissue sample when I got good enough at Iryo-ninjutsu. That could be useful.

Shrugging at the thoughts going through my head, I made my way to a training ground that was occupied, what I was about to do making me feel strange about it.

Using my chakra to stick to a tree, I walked up it and perched myself up in the tree, blinking and activating my Sharingan to watch a genin team train with their Jonin Sensei.

One of the genin was a Branch member of the Hyuga clan, judging by the eyes and her headband being fitted more snuggly to her head, and the Juken was definitely an interesting taijutsu style to watch in slow motion.

It wasn't like any other type of fighting I'd known, the positioning and movements foreign. Regular punches and jabs needed to have weight put into them to deal kinetic damage, but the Juken only required a deft touch to deal internal injury.

'Maybe I can utilize a bastardized version of it with chakra scalpels.' I wondered, paying close attention to the movements as she took apart the form her two teammates were using as the three sparred.

It would definitely be a curveball to use a modified Juken form with Tsunade's strength technique offsetting the lack of putting force into attacks, and chakra scalpels might be useable as a substitute for whatever technique the Hyuga used to inject their chakra into someone's tenketsu to block it off.

With the Shunshin, it looked like a mouthwatering prospect for me, and a smirk creeped up on my face as I thought of that.

A couple of low level Jutsu were used by them after the taijutsu spar, which I made sure to memorize and copy.

The Jonin undoubtedly knew I was up here, but he didn't tell me to scram yet. So, it was possible that he was helping me out like the other one had by dropping the signed pass for me to study some stuff about Iryo-ninjutsu at the library.

By the time they finished training, my eyes were aching lightly from my Sharingan being active the whole time, the throb my me squint.

I hopped down from the tree and walked home, pleased with the catch for today. Tomorrow would be more Iryo-ninjutsu training and growing my reserves, so a busy schedule of becoming a nightmare to the world awaited me.

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

Hiruzen tapped his fingers against his desk, lounging back in his chair as he looked between Inu and Neko.

"The two of you are here for a simple reason." Hiruzen said tiredly, his dark eyes just as sharp as usual, in spite of his fatigue from a long day. "The two of you have been running most of the shifts guarding Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruko."

The two nodded an affirmative, both standing straight and having their arms behind their backs.

"It has come to my attention from the both of and other ANBU that Sasuke has been attempting techniques that are not the... safest, shall we say."

Hiruzen stopped moving his fingers, leaning forward with a soft creak of the wooden chair he was sitting in.

"The boy is, quite frankly, bored with the academy. He is much like his brother in that regard."

The slight twitch from both ANBU, Inu suppressing it more so, clued him in to their first thoughts.

Hiruzen felt more positivity than negativity about it though. It meant that something could be salvaged from the loss of the Uchiha and the three active S-ranks of the clan; Shisui, Fugaku, and Itachi technically.

A sad state of affairs, but it was at least something that broke through the bleak canvass of innocent life being lost so cruelly.

"Something is needed to both foster his budding talent and keep him from doing so blindly. This is not an order, merely a request. Both on the job and in your free time, would you be able to offer training to Uchiha Sasuke?"

Hiruzen focused in on Kakashi, the man definitely being the one with the most free time.

"No," He replied, "I won't be able to."

Hiruzen concealed his irritation at the predictable response, not enthused by it.

'I will speak with him afterwards.'

"Neko?" Hiruzen eyed the purple haired woman, noting her shift in posture.

"Could," She paused and cleared her throat, "Could I have a friend assist him in kenjutsu, Hokage-sama?"

'Hayate.' Hiruzen thought, knowing that the Tokubetsu-Jonin was taking his recent forced restrictions hard.

An aerosol poison had nearly killed him while on mission, but a speedy use of amateurish Iryo-ninjutsu saved his life at the cost of making him short of breath from lung damage and a bad cough.

It didn't take away from him being arguably the best kenjutsu fighter in Konoha, but he definitely couldn't do missions like he could.

Giving a young boy pointers could do him well.

"If you consider him to be trustworthy, I will defer to your judgement, Neko." Hiruzen felt a smirk try and make its way to his face as Neko shifted uncomfortably, looking a bit embarrassed.

He had known of her relationship with Hayate, and it was amusing to see her reaction to what she thought was an old man accidentally stumbling across an unknown, but sensitive, topic.

"He is trustworthy, sir." She said quietly.

Hiruzen nodded his approval.

"Then you may. You are dismissed, bit not you, Inu." Hiruzen gazed at Kakashi sharply, waving for Neko to leave.

The female ANBU bowed slightly and left the room.

"ANBU," Hiruzen called out, signaling the hidden guards in the room, "Noisy Neighbor."

The code term meant for the ANBU to leave the room, presumably to shut up a particularly annoying neighbor that didn't know the meaning of or appreciate the virtues of staying quiet.

An amusing joke that Kagami thought to share and make it an actual term.

The four hidden exited through different means, leaving Hiruzen and Kakashi alone.

"Mask off." Hiruzen instructed, wanted to speak with Kakashi and not Inu.

Kakashi reached under the dog mask and removed a face mask.

"Willfully bend what my orders are and I will have you cleaning the sewers with a toothbrush." Hiruzen said coldly, in no mood for one of his most capable subordinate's less than desirable coping mechanisms of trauma. "Mask. Off."

Kakashi sighed and pulled off the ANBU mask, revealing his normally obscured face, his backup face mask still concealing his lower face.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked tiredly, his right eye drooping and bloodshot.

"First," Hiruzen frowned, "Get more sleep. You look like death warmed over. Second, we are both aware that you have no hobbies outside of nearly killing yourself on ANBU missions and reading, you ensured that you are rated as the worst Jonin to train Genin, so you cannot plead that you need to train others either."

Kakashi went to speak, but Hiruzen raised his hand in a gesture for silence.

"You are currently the only person that could train Sasuke to use his Sharingan, which he currently has," Hiruzen added, "You cannot use his supposed lack of having them as an excuse. Tell me why you do not wish to teach him a few things to distract him from being another statistic of prodigies making mistakes."

"I am not suited for teaching," Kakashi replied, nearly hanging his head down from the verbal dressing down, "I can't relate to kids, even intelligent ones. Itachi was different."

Hiruzen scowled at that.

"Is that why?" He asked irritably, raising a brow, "You think too highly of yourself to think your influence made Itachi into what he is. Sasuke is not like Itachi, at least from his personality."

It was the truth, but it was inverted. Itachi was the quintessential Shinobi, following orders to the letter and thriving. Sasuke had a disturbing lack of decorum in multiple ways, including spying on both civilians and genin to copy things.

It was likely from apprehension at having to interact with people. He already only spoke when necessary, except for Naruko. His reasoning for that likely spawned from her being like him in many ways, which at least had the benefit of giving both of them a friend.

"I have already provided him with assistance, Kakashi," Hiruzen stated, "Including reading material and... other things. But he needs actual guidance. Do you realize that his affinity is lightning, but he is training in Katon Jutsu because he has plenty of material for it from his clan?"

Hiruzen was aware of the Uchiha utilizing a technique to encode their manuals and other sensitive information. Tobirama had been making attempts at deciphering it without a Sharingan before the two made peace, but he had only marginal success.

Sasuke had been reading such journals, ignoring others that were almost certainly more encrypted than others.

Kakashi shook his head. "I did not know that."

"Neko will give him things to work on so he doesn't grow impatient and injure himself," Hiruzen continued, "Tsunade became impatient and nearly shattered the bones in her arm when she worked on her strength technique as a young girl. Mito had to teach her the basics of the Byakugo seal to draw her attention. Sasuke will do something similar, his behavior matches my student's."

Hiruzen did not share that it was two of his students that he saw in Sasuke.

His desire to heal people and stop people from dying was a mix of what Tsunade and Orochimaru desired. The introverted and oftentimes arrogant dismissal of civilian born students was almost identical to Orochimaru's after his parents died, but it was balanced out by Sasuke's pursuit of healing.

"Do you wish to train Naruko when she graduates?" Hiruzen pointed out, drawing a suppressed glare from Kakashi.

"You promised." Kakashi showed the most emotion he had so far, his voice may as well be a shout despite it only being a colder and more clipped tone.

Kakashi had mentioned his interest in being the Jonin Sensei for Naruko once she graduated and he was no longer in the ANBU.

"I hold overall control over every Shinobi under my command," Hiruzen reminded him, "Not even that faux council of merchants can do anything aside from complain about alleged heavy-handedness and cruelty."

The supposed Council of Civilians had no power other than certain internal revenue services that had them hated by both Shinobi and civilian alike.

The most they could threaten a Shinobi with that got on their bad side was an audit, and good luck enforcing it when the Shinobi that would be needed to enforce it in the first place would watch each other's backs. And the actual Konoha police force were currently deceased and their ashes scattered to the wind.

"I am not asking you to be his surrogate father," Hiruzen said flatly, "Set him on the right track for certain techniques. Genjutsu and Raiton will keep him properly sated until he improves enough to perhaps do more."

Kakashi shook his head.

"Rushing him through will be detrimental. Look what it did to Itachi an-" Kakashi stopped abruptly, his hand clenching.

He had nearly mentioned himself, which Hiruzen was aware of.

"It is an option, not a preferred one. He needs a safety net and a modicum of stability. The last thing Konoha needs is to lose him like we did Itachi."

Months had passed, and no information had reached him yet from Itachi. He had said he would when he had an opportunity, but that could be months still. The choice Itachi made still had Hiruzen fuming. What kind of fool thinks putting an eight year old child through 48 hours of constant emotional torture was a good idea? He was lucky that he didn't shatter hus brother's mind, or worse yet, turn him into an incurably sadistic animal that would have put Uchiha Madara to shame.

"I," Kakashi sighed, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he lowered his gaze and shook his head, "I will think about it. I should repay Fugaku for what he did."

Fugaku had given Kakashi a barebones journal to help him with the basics in casting Genjutsu from his Sharingan a few months after Nohara Rin died, helping the teen along in his progress.

"Thank you, Kakashi. You are dismissed."

Kakashi silently turned and left, his shlulders slumped as he exited the room.

Hiruzen stood up from his chair and started pacing around the room, stuffing some tobacco in his pipe and lighting it with a sealless flicker of fire from his fingers.

Taking a long drag, he exhaled audibly and shook his head sadly.

He was far too old for this. Naruko and Sasuke could very easily end up being on the same team, with Kakashi as their Sensei.

The chance for Sasuke to warm up to Kakashi could be set earlier, which would be good.

His progress was excellent, even if he was taking risks with the strength technique. Hiruzen kept abreast of Sasuke's continued improvement in Iryo-ninjutsu, Danzo's little spy being permitted because he was the least likely to be a foreign agent out of any Iryo-nin of middling level.

Danzo knew not to try any type of manipulation, so Hiruzen felt assured that he wouldn't have to hover over Danzo. He would follow orders to the letter after his collosal fuck up.

But the security issue made apparent by Naruko being attacked was dangerous. If such a thing were possible for her, it could happen with Sasuke.

Having ANBU actively training Sasuke served more than one purpose. Flushing out a potential mole was one of them.

Taking another drag, Hiruzen went to the balcony and gazed up at the stars, noting the brightness of the full moon as it illuminated Konoha in a beautiful and pale light.

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

End Chapter:

Kabuto gets introduced to the story much earlier, and Sasuke realizes how well and truly fucked he is in being caught between a rock and a hard place.

He's also saddled with Naruko becoming more reliant on him after she got attacked and his training is causing him trouble, but he's definitely progressing.

Sasuke also gets informed of a potential mole in the ANBU, making him more guarded around our band of masked spooks.

The Kage bunshin explanation is my take on how they can be used to train. It makes it where they're useful, bit not absolutely beoken to the point that everybody would work on building up their reserves to train with them.

I also went with the Uchiha having a bunch of Jutsu knowledge built up trope, but I gave a reason for why Canon Sasuke didn't train with all that knowledge. A version of what Hagoromo did with the shrine. Imagine how much it would have mentally tortured Canon Sasuke to try and read these different things to help him avenge his clan, but all the world's knowledge at hus fingertips means nothing when it looks like gibberish to him.

Talk about grim and horrific. It definitely reinforces a despairing mindset and feeds feelings of inadequacy.

A few hints about a potential fighting style Sasuke can pursue get dropped. I'm pretty sure it's quite unique for a SI, so I'm excited to try it out.

ANBU training an MC, whether an SI or Naruto, isn't uncommon. but I'm going to have fun writing my own twist to it. Having multiple people that are experts in different facts of combat would definitely be a type of thing Hiruzen or any Kage would have helping out a socially stunted prodigy to both improve him at a better and more consistent rate, as well as try and forge connections to the village so he doesn't go rogue for a weak reason.

I'm also going with the civilian council being a toothless organization that does nothing but handle certain tax things and complain. Basically a typical bureaucratic organization of pencil pushers. They won't be a thing at all, just a throwaway comment that I can mention later.

But, that's about it, I finished proofreading this and adding the author's note at midnight. Time for me to go to sleep. Comments are very much welcome and I hope you enjoy. Have a wonderful day.

Raging.