52 The Devil inside part one

New chapter is out and this one has even more fuckery by Konoha's Brother of the Year recipient and the rest of the S-rank lunatics that are clamouring to claim the title of the true Avatar of Murphy's law.

And a random thought, Madara got the Rinnegan from Hashirama's cells, Danzo regained some of the prowess he lost from age and injuries, and Obito was able to recover from crippling wounds because of Hashirama cells.

The Shodai Hokage was really powerful. Just imagine if he had Hashirama cells.

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"No one ever complained about the heat on that day. We never felt it. Even though we were blinded by dust storms, we could see the final end of the Hidden Leaf in our sights. Was it only a mirage? Perhaps. But on that day, on that battlefield, our blood ran hot with dreams of victory, shielding us from the exhausted forces that stood in our way."

Excerpt from Journal of Ozawa Daisuke, Jonin of Iwagakure, 3rd Regiment, closing stage of Third Shinobi War.

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Kakashi fell to his knees as his exhausted body rebelled against him and gave up, his left eye feeling like a red hot poker had been driven into it repeatedly.

"Kakashi," Asuma grabbed ahold of him, preventing him from falling face first into the dirt, "You need to call it a day. That's the second time you did it."

Kakashi looked up and saw the chunk of earth that was missing from the ground, his aim being off by several feet.

'Of course this was an excellent idea.' He thought mockingly, tilting his head away from Asuma to lower his mask and spit the blood out that dripped from his left eye socket. He'd need a new mask from his apartment because of the blood making this one stick to his face.

The two Jonin were several miles to the south of Konoha in a rocky area that offered good cover from prying eyes to train his Mangekyo.

The silver haired Jonin pulled his mask back up and jerked his arm away from Asuma's grip, wanting to stand up on his own power.

Kakashi's vision started swimming when he straightened up, but he clenched his fist and managed to keep steady through force of will.

"I'm fine." He said, cursing himself for not being able to keep the fatigue evident in his voice absent.

Asuma gave him an unimpressed look and snorted. "Gai warned me you might rush training whatever the hell jutsu that is. I'm not wanting to tell Sandaime-sama," He referred to his own father as the Hokage, even when it was just the two of them, "That you accidentally killed yourself from being an idiot about it."

Kakashi didn't argue at all. He was done for today. The physical training and other exercises, topped off with training his Mangekyo ability was what he'd been doing throughout the lead up to the exams.

If he thought the drain from Obito's eye was bad when in its normal state, the ability born from Rin's death was even worse. The ability was indeed a space/time ability, just as a certain mysterious individual theorized, and it was extremely dangerous, given that it teleported one of Asuma's bunshin, which was acting as a test subject, to somewhere that there was no feedback from the bunshin, meaning the chakra couldn't come back.

Asuma stayed close to him and looked ready to step forward in case he fell, which wasn't likely. "I still don't get why you couldn't have had an ANBU to babysit you doing this instead of me or Gai."

"The Hokage wants to keep this," Kakashi gestured towards his eye, the lid shut to try and stop the chakra drain and because the light was making it ache, "Under wraps. Sasuke is already a prime target to be captured and finding out you can kill someone with just a look would make the Sharingan a lot more enticing of a target."

This eye ability of his was known by only himself, the Hokage, Jiraiya, Asuma, and Gai. Gai was the one he chose to initially watch him during this little training expedition, but Rock Lee ended up being the wildcard choice of Genin that got knocked out in the preliminaries but was allowed to compete against the Kumo genin after beating the other ones that wanted to try.

Lee was the best taijutsu fighter outside of Naruto, but that wasn't a fair comparison because of how stupidly strong Naruto was from being a Jinchuriki and a member of a clan known for physical durability.

Since Gai was now preparing Lee, Kakashi asked Asuma to help him out.

Asuma gave a grunt of acknowledgement and inspected the 'artwork' left by Kakashi's jutsu.

"That is scary to think about." The Sarutobi muttered, fishing out his box of cigarettes and pulling one out, "I didn't think that the Sharingan could do crap like this." He then lit the cigarette, taking a long drag.

Kakashi kept to where he was standing, trying not to waver in his posture from fatigue.

"It was as much a surprise to me as you." Kakashi said, not elaborating on how he learned it.

The Hokage kept the details of Konoha's mysterious benefactor to just three people; himself, Kakashi, and Jiraiya. It was still a sensitive issue and it was made worse because of the last event that occurred. But the Yamanaka, Nara, and Hyuga clan heads might be brought into the discussion, he didn't know.

"So," Asuma said, drawing Kakashi from his thoughts, "What do you think about two days from now?"

Kakashi couldn't help but dread what was going to happen. The Sandaime was certain that Orochimaru would attack during the finals, the fact that many foreigners and influential people had arrived over the last few weeks pointed towards them being valuable targets. An inability to stop an invasion and several people that were guests being killed would look badly on Konoha.

But Orochimaru didn't expect them to have been forewarned about him.

"I hope my students are prepared." Kakashi replied, thinking of each of them.

He'd planned on preparing Sasuke while Anko helped Rin, but Inoichi had already asked Anko to help Ino and she accepted. Hinata was receiving help from Kurenai and that left Rin out in the open. Kakashi hated the thought of not helping Rin, not wanting to think of his forced lack of care for the twin children of his Sensei when he was still trying to pull himself together.

Asuma was the next option to help Rin out. Kakashi was sure he could call in a favour, but the fact that somebody needed to 'babysit' him when training his Mangekyo was complicated when Gai needed to help out Lee. So Asuma ended up having to watch him instead of possibly helping Rin.

"I'm sure they're all much better than before," Asuma said, chuckling like he thought of something, "Shikamaru looks like he'll surpass his father eventually, even if he's dead on his feet."

At Kakashi's raised brow, Asuma explained how Shikamaru was being trained by his father and how the training was the wartime type of training done to prepare youths for conflict against older adversaries and coming out alive.

Shikamaru likely was emboldened by Naruto to actually put his mind to physical training and chakra exercises so he didn't have to rely solely on his intellect.

With one last glance at the crater, Kakashi began to walk towards Konoha, albeit at a sedate pace.

"You going to crash at your apartment?" Asuma asked, following right beside him.

Kakashi nodded, hating how close he'd gotten to full blown chakra exhaustion. His chakra reserves were improved from what they were and he'd focused more on his physical fitness, but he still didn't have the reserves to indiscriminately use powerful jutsu to the same level as the likes of Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

The two men walked in silence, the two more than happy to be done with the training started just a month prior.

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

"Hi, Hinata!" Rin shouted, seeing her best friend with Anko at, unsurprisingly, the Dango shop.

She frowned when she saw Ino, but kept rushing towards them, plopping down right next to the quiet Hyuga.

"Hello, Rin." Hinata smiled, shifting some to give Rin some more room to sit.

"Sooo," Rin grinned, practically bouncing in curiosity, "How did the seals go?"

Hinata had asked for some storage scrolls a couple weeks back for her to seal poison gas in them to use against Neji, including a type of irritant for his eyes. Rin was pretty curious on how the seals performed.

"They worked perfectly," Hinata smiled softly, looking rather pleased with herself, "Ino helped me with the choice of poison and Anko helped with the potency needed."

Rin, in an effort to truly be nice to Ino because she was Naruto's friend and seemed friendly with Hinata, gave the other blonde a nod of gratitude, before turning to Anko.

"Where's Kurenai?" She asked the purple haired woman, who was munching on a stick of dango.

"Having some fun with Asuma right about now." She smirked, taking another bite of the sugary treat.

Rin gave a puzzled look at the statement, tilting her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

Rin regretted asking when she saw the predatory grin on Anko's face.

"Well," She flicked the now stripped clean stick at some random civilian, not dissimilar to how a senbon was thrown, and struck the side of his head, making him jump in alarm, "When a guy and a girl like each other very much..."

Rin's eyes widened in realization at what Anko was going to say, putting up her hands and shaking her head furiously.

"No. Stop," Her hair flicked side to side from the momentum, "I don't need you to explain further."

"Sure you don't need a few pointers for Sasuke-kun?" Anko snickered, causing Rin's eyes to narrow.

"I like her," The Kyuubi laughed, causing Rin to twitch, "No wonder Hatake has her as a mate."

'Shut up and sit in the corner.' She growled at the overgrown fleabag.

"I heard that, vixen." He stressed the last word with a voice that dripped contempt, "Your mate will appreciate the input from a more experienced one."

'Stop calling Sasuke that!' Rin said hotly, hating the nickname and Sasuke constantly being called that throughout the month of training.

"In that case, I'll let your brother know that you desire the Nara."

Rin opted to ignore that last part, vexed by the irritating Bijuu sealed in her.

"Rin," Anko said loudly, poking Rin's forehead with a finger, "You listening?"

Rin winced and grabbed at her forehead, scowling at the action. "Will you not do that?" She demanded, annoyed by that.

"Not my fault you were daydreaming about Sasuke." Anko kept going on, smirking at the attempt to rile her up.

And it was working.

"Shut up." The blonde scowled, putting her face in her hands, "That stupid ANBU thought he was being funny like what you're doing right now."

Weasel was a type of annoyance that she'd never come across. Each person that made comments to irritate her had different ways to do it. Kakashi acted lazy and bored about things, Shikamaru did the same thing, and Naruto said whatever struck his fancy, no matter how socially awkward it was.

Weasel made little comments about her taijutsu skill and her Ninjutsu similar to how Sasuke did when they had their little arguments at times, except Weasel was more clinical about it, almost detached sounding.

"Thanks for reminding me," Anko said, "I was wanting to ask about that. Kakashi went straight to sleep and he didn't say anything about who helped prepare you."

Sighing, Rin gave Anko the stinkeye and explained some of the stuff she'd worked on, but keeping some details to herself.

Hinata did the same and gave some detail about what she was working on, and how she and Ino had helped each other out on a few things.

"I think I understand why you are the way you are," Ino grumbled, glaring at Anko, "I thought she was going to kill me."

Rin was displeased by the comparison, but Anko simply laughed.

"Not my fault you're such a delicate flower who couldn't handle some agility training and some light poisoning."

"Light?" Ino looked scandalized, her turquoise eyes narrowed, "You paralyzed me and kept flinging senbon at me."

"Senbon don't scar and Suna nin like to use poison," Anko countered, grabbing another dango stick, "I did what your dad wanted me to." She then took a bite. "You're gonna catch that little blonde bitch off guard and kick her ass."

"Hey!" Rin and Ino both shouted at the same time, both give twin looks of anger at the tokubetsu Jonin, "We're blonde."

"I know." Anko shrugged, continuing to eat her dango in silence.

Rin, in a rare display of common ground, looked at Ino expectantly. Her fellow blonde nodded and they both lunged at Anko, grabbing at the stick of dango.

Anko leaned back, but wasn't able to pull her hand away and got her dango snatched.

Rin got ahold of it and tipped her hand in warning to prevent Anko from attacking her for it.

The oldest female present looked at her in shock, before shifting to an angry expression.

"Gaki," Anko growled, her voice coming out in a near animal snarl, "Give. Me. My. Dango."

Rin shook her head, a toothy grin on her face that revealed her canines.

"Stop tormenting me about Sasuke and my hair." She moved the dango towards her mouth, threatening to take a bite.

"I will hurt you worse than I hurt Naruto if you do that." Anko threatened, her hand clenching the table.

"No, you won't." Rin giggled, tossing the stick to Ino, who caught it and giggled meliciously as well.

"Ino." Anko said, turning to the Yamanaka girl.

"What can you offer me?" Ino asked with a smile, her eyes shining with a poisonous mirth, "Leverage is an amazing thing, isn't it?"

"Please," Hinata implored them, looking out of her depth, "Can you return Anko's dango? She has done plenty to help you, Ino." The Hyuga gave Ino a slight scolding.

Ino rolled her eyes and flicked her gaze towards Rin, looking contemplative.

"Your call." She said.

Rin thought for a moment, trying to decide on what she could leverage out of Anko without too much bite back.

Deciding, Rin gestured for Ino to toss the dango back to her.

Her fellow blonde threw it to her and Rin extended her arm out as a teasing tactic aimed at Anko, which seemed to work judging by the angry expression.

"What do you want?" Anko demanded, practically enraged.

Rin glanced around and saw that a few other customers were leaning away, looking concerned by what was going down.

"Stop making jokes about Sasuke being my boyfriend," Rin held up a finger, counting off, "And two, no more blonde jokes."

"Ok," Anko nodded, reaching to grab the dango, "Deal. Now give me my damn dango."

Rin smiled and willingly gave it back, the stick being wrenched from her grip by the debatably sane kunoichi.

Anko then started eating the dango, a kunai flashing into her off hand in a defensive manner.

"Mfff," Anko closed her eyes and moaned softly as she ate the sweet delicacy, making the three girls slightly uncomfortable.

After Anko finished, she opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly, looking confused.

"Why the long faces?"

"You know why." Rin grumbled, knowing Anko did it on purpose to make her specifically uncomfortable.

"No, I don't." Anko deadpanned.

Rin glanced around, feeling rather self conscious now. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "You looked like you were enjoying that dango a little too much." Her eyes were narrowed.

Anko shrugged and rolled her eyes. "You're like those old ladies that clutch their pearls the moment they see a girl younger than 50 wearing shorts. You sure you're not like them, baa-chan?" Anko finished by sticking her tongue out at her, extending it several inches.

Rin visibly recoiled away, not wanting to get licked.

"Gross." She said, assuming that was what Anko was going to do.

Anko laughed as she wagged her tongue at her, before she retracted it and closed her mouth.

"Sasuke-kun wouldn't describe it like that." Anko pointed out, looking rather pleased with herself.

It took Rin a moment to realize what Anko meant, but when she did, she felt blood rush to her face in mortification.

"You're sick." Rin groaned, feeling nauseous at the visuals, "Don't joke about that. I'm never learning a jutsu for that."

Rin knew more about that type of perverted stuff from growing up with Naruto and having a Jonin Sensei like Hatake Kakashi than she otherwise would have, the knowledge being unwelcome.

"I'm sure Sasuke might want to learn it then." Anko grinned, winking at Rin.

Rin growled under her breath and pressed her forehead against the table with a loud thud. "I hate you."

Her head then shot up when she heard Ino giggling and, to her horror, Hinata was also amused by her predicament, albeit with a slight blush.

"Traitor." Rin muttered towards Hinata, her friend having the audacity to roll her eyes.

"Don't be dramatic, Rin," Hinata said, scooting a little bit away for good measure, "You teased me about Naruto, so you can handle this."

Rin wanted to retort, but she stopped herself and backed down, knowing her friend was right. Lightly tormenting Hinata about her obvious crush on her twin was hilarious, but now Hinata wasn't going to try stop her being teased about Sasuke. At least Hinata actually liked Naruto, while she didn't like Sasuke in that way, or at least she was pretty sure she didn't. Girls were supposed to blush and get nervous around a crush, not punch them.

"Do you give up?" Anko asked with a deceptively kind smile, "You won't have help here. I've corrupted your friend."

Rin truly hoped she was only joking and Hinata didn't turn out even remotely like Anko. That was frightening to think about.

Rin didn't say anything, just continuing to groan into the table.

"Can we talk about something else? I want to know what you've all been up to."

Anko dropped the act and actually began explaining what Hinata and Ino had learned once she and Kurenai decided to teach the other's students a couple things, like Kurenai showing Ino a few low level Genjutsu that could be useful.

Rin sat back and listened up until Anko gave her a speculative look.

"What did you say the ANBU training you's codename was?"

Rin shrugged and answered.

"Weasel."

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"Keep your guard up!" Weasel shouted, a fist striking Sasuke's chin after he let his guard slip for a moment.

Rin had left to go relax and find Hinata while he opted to squeeze out just a little more training for tomorrow's exams.

Sasuke twitched his mouth to work out the numbness, before charging at the ANBU.

Several of his punches were blocked, with a spinning kick of his being caught by the masked man and getting him flung to the side.

Sasuke landed on his feet and flung a kunai, lacing it with some lightning chakra. The ANBU flung a shuriken at it to veer it off course and Shunshined at Sasuke, a kunai of his own in his right hand.

Sasuke pulled out another from his pouch and the two clashed, the younger of the two struggling to keep up.

"You are distracted." Weasel said coldly, slipping a kick into Sasuke's ribs, winding him slightly. Sasuke backed up, but he wasn't offered any room to try and make hand seals to use a jutsu.

"Do you rely on the girl's presence to be competent?" Weasel demanded, shoving him away when their kunai clashed in a shower of sparks, "You pine after her like a kicked dog."

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled, his Sharingan boring into the older of the two.

Sasuke did feel distracted, but not by Rin deciding to relax for the day. He was distracted by something else.

"An Uchiha cannot afford to be distracted," Weasel said, repeating what he had said before, when he and Rin were sparring against each other, "You have a higher calling than to try and have her."

Sasuke felt his chakra react to his anger at the way the last word was said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He spat, realizing this ANBU was just like most of the villagers.

"Konoha will never permit the Last Uchiha to be with her," Weasel said simply, putting up his kunai, "It's considered a hazard. It's a fool's errand to love her."

"Stop being evasive and just tell me why you're a biased bastard like the rest of the village." Sasuke said harshly, tired of nobody voicing their justification for hating his two friends, "Just because they look a little fox like doesn't mean they're the Kyuubi. I thought an ANBU would be able to see through something so obviously stupid."

For the first time, Sasuke saw Weasel tense, his right hand twitching slightly.

"Do you really not know?" Weasel tilted his head, sounding genuinely baffled, "You were rookie of the year, but you haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured out what?" Sasuke asked irritably, tired of all the hinting at crap.

"Itachi would have figured it out by now." Weasel mused, his tone lifting slightly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, but managed to not lash out at the bait.

"Tell me, or I'm leaving." Sasuke threatened, "I can tell Rin that you were impeding my training and she'll back me up when I say you were holding back on training us. What would the Hokage think when he finds out an ANBU tried to sabotage the Last Uchiha's," He said the last part mockingly, "training, and the training of a girl he sees as a granddaughter?"

Weasel actually laughed at the threat, before his posture straightened and he leaned his head a little closer to Sasuke's.

"You really do care about her," Sasuke could hear the smirk in his voice, despite not being able to see his face, just his raven black hair, "But would you feel the same way when you learn what she hid from you?"

'I will not let him divert.'

"Answer. The. Question." Sasuke demanded quietly, not backing down.

The response he got caught him by surprise, not expecting it.

"Do you know what a Jinchuriki is?"

Sasuke blinked, feeling a little caught off guard by the abrupt question.

"Yes."

"How did you learn about that?"

"Naruto and Rin explained what Jinchuriki are to me." Sasuke shrugged.

Weasel was unimpressed, based on his flat tone.

"Isn't it rather odd that two 13 year old genin would know about that?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "Not when their clan had several seal masters."

"The Uchiha had multiple S-ranks, but only a handful knew about details concerning Bijuu. Do your friends fit that criteria?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that, his glare meeting Weasel's dark eyes.

"Why do you sound like you knew my clansmen?"

"Because I did." Was Weasel's reply, his hands making a quick blur of hand seals faster than Sasuke could track.

Sasuke felt Weasel's chakra invade his chakra network and he started panicking, the chakra feeling familiar.

"I knew Itachi and Shisui very well," Weasel said, his voice now different. It was ITACHI'S.

Sasuke knew it had to be a Genjutsu, a rather horrible one at that.

'Kai.' He growled in his mind, trying to break it.

"I served in the ANBU when Itachi did." Weasel continued, lifting up his mask.

The image Sasuke saw had his blood freezing in his veins.

It looked exactly like Itachi, down to the tear tracks on his face.

It had to be a Henge. Itachi wasn't here. It was just a mental test. It had to be.

"It's your fault. It's your fault." Itachi's voice echoed in his head.

"Stop it." He said weakly, trying to keep the memories at bay.

Weasel seemed merciful and his features shifted to what was likely his actual face, before donning the mask again.

"I thought I knew Itachi fairly well," Weasel said wistfully, "but I guess he was a good liar."

Sasuke was getting truly angry. Weasel was being evasive, jerking him around until he was starting to get angry at Rin and Naruto by extension. Sasuke hated when Naruto tried to manipulate him, and this bastard in front of him wasn't a friend.

"I'm leaving." Sasuke turned and started to leave, but paused when the bastard ANBU finally spoke.

"Your two friends are Jinchuriki."

Sasuke froze mid-step and his thoughts stopped completely, attempting to process what he'd just heard.

"What did you just say?" He said slowly, his breath hitching.

Weasel stood completely straight, looking rather at ease.

"Your two friends have the Kyuubi sealed in them."

Sasuke shook his head, refusing to believe it. "Do you get off on being a liar, or does being a prick come naturally to ANBU?" He didn't care about how caustic his language was right now, only caring about how angry he was, "I'm not surprised Itachi joined the ANBU if trash like you is the standard."

Weasel didn't lash out, much to Sasuke's disappointment.

"The first Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi was Uzumaki Mito, who was the wife of the Shodai." Weasel answered smoothly, ignoring the insults, "The second was Uzumaki Kushina, who I think you might recognize as your friend's mother. Do you see a pattern? Only Uzumaki have been Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi."

Sasuke felt his Sharingan activate in anger, his mouth curling into a sneer at the ANBU trying to turn him against his friends.

"Even if they were Jinchuriki," The raven haired boy gritted out, "I'm not going to turn my back on them. They are my friends."

He didn't care. He truly didn't. It actually made sense why Rin was so terrified of the subject around Jinchuriki. It even explained why Naruto actually was a little snappy at Hinata when he said Jinchuriki weren't insane.

Naruto also evaded the question about the red chakra cloak by asking if he himself had a secret, one that would have friends turn against you.

"Your clan is dead because of them." Weasel stated, almost matter of factly.

"Quit lying!" Sasuke demanded, his eyes almost burning from his hatred, "I don't care if they are Jinchuriki. I don't tell them things about my clan, so I can't exactly act offended if they kept that as a secret."

Looking back, Sasuke didn't doubt what the ANBU said. Naruto was fanatically secretive about certain things and his explanation for how he knew about Jinchuriki almost seemed rehearsed when he thought back to the conversation.

But the ANBU could go to hell if he thought he could make him stop being friends with the two. Sasuke considered the Mangekyo Sharingan, specifically the way to get it, worse than having a Bijuu sealed inside of your chakra network. Sasuke would have to choose maturing his eyes like that.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his breathing under control, but his hand was still itching to grab a kunai, "Are you so deprived of friends that you want me to be like you?"

Again, Weasel looked unsettled by the comment.

"You were too young to understand what was going on in the village, and your father likely hid it from you to protect you," Weasel said quietly, sounding almost certain, "Itachi was rather forthcoming with me when the civilians were manipulated into thinking the Kyuubi was unleashed by an Uchiha."

'Itachi must have said something.' He thought, something that was a massive secret that even he didn't know.

"Tell me everything," Sasuke requested, "I deserve to know."

Weasel went on to explain so many different things that Kakashi never mentioned about the ANBU, about the climate of that time frame.

Sasuke felt progressively colder as he kept learning more things, things that had him feeling nauseous.

Naruto couldn't be right. Sasuke refused to believe that Itachi may have been driven over the edge by something, but it started to look like that. ANBU life was definitely stressful, but it couldn't be that simple. Sasuke refused to believe that.

"I don't care." Sasuke said softly, thinking of Rin and Naruto, "I don't care that they're Jinchuriki. They didn't choose it."

"They lied to you." Weasel reminded him, "They misled and lied to you. They will abandon you if it suits them, just like Itachi."

Sasuke growled and threw a punch at the ANBU, which was predicably blocked.

"I will never betray my friends!" Sasuke shouted, throwing several more punches and kicks at Weasel.

So caught up in Weasel trying to manipulate him into hating his friends, Sasuke was shouting things that had haunted him since that night and the bell test from hell.

"Itachi can die by someone else's hand!"

Another punch blocked.

"I'll find another way to kill Itachi!"

A punch almost slipped through.

"I won't get his fucking eyes!"

A punch slipped through and struck Itachi in the face.

"I will not be him!"

Sasuke threw a punch with all his might and Weasel didn't seem to want to try and block it, taking the hit willingly.

Weasel's head jerked back and he staggered away, tilting his head and spitting out some blood.

After he put his mask back in place, Weasel laughed softly.

"Your hatred made you stronger. You were focused, quick, and decisive."

"I'll die before I end up like my brother." Sasuke said acidly, "And I'll kill you before I let you turn me against my friends."

With that, Sasuke was done. This ANBU was a biased bastard and had dropped a massive pile of BS in his lap. Most of what was said was likely lies or misleading. The only thing he trusted was that Rin and Naruto were Jinchuriki, but that was only because it made sense.

As Sasuke left, Weasel stated one last thing.

"You're conviction is much stronger than Itachi's. You are a better Uchiha than he ever was."

Sasuke didn't respond, still walking back home to work through the things he learned today.

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

I was looking at Jiraiya with a look of exasperation, the older man obviously not caring in the slightest.

"Care to repeat that?" I asked, unimpressed by the grin on his face.

"I'm just wanting to know if you have any girls you like," He said innocently, "You're so focused on training that I'm wondering whether you've got a girl lined up to be the new Uzumaki matriarch, or if you're just not interested."

We were both on our way back to Konoha, having been camping outside the village for almost the entire session of preparing me for Gaara. The training Jiraiya subjected me to was some of the most torturous I've ever experienced, but I could physically feel the difference.

Physically, I was much quicker in my base speed and my strength had an improvement, especially from all the dodge training and taijutsu sparring that left my body bruised and bones cracked.

My Ninjutsu was improved and I'd managed to make a water dragon with less than ten seals after I'd nearly made my brain bleed from intensely training it with over 200 clones that Jiraiya called me an idiot about, but he still congratulated me on pulling it off.

For my speed jutsu, I was faster in chaining together close range Shunshins, my chakra control got a little better when doing it, and above all else...

I'd managed to speed up my body for a few seconds with the lightning Cloak.

The speed difference between the Shunshin and the lightning Cloak was noticable, and I ended up ripping several trees in half when I first managed it do it and couldn't slow down, which wasn't pleasant.

The explanation by Jiraiya on how Tsunade moved chakra through her muscles and joints had me rethinking how to do it and the shift in how I did it showed better improvement.

But there was only so much that could be done in a month, no matter the trainer or trainee.

"I'm not letting you harass any of my friends, ero-sennin," I said, grinning at his narrowed eyes from the name, "Don't give me that look. You'll harass all my female friends about whether they like me or not and it'll make things uncomfortable."

"But I'm your godfather," Jiraiya maintained his innocent tone, "It's my job to make you uncomfortable."

"Like how I'm supposed to remind all the ladies how old you are?" I asked rhetorically.

Jiraiya scoffed at me reminding him of that. "You're a little shit for doing that, you know that, right?"

Jiraiya looked like he was going to score with a pretty little thing with black hair that went down to her waist in a beautiful curtain, legs that went on for miles, and an ass sculpted by the divine.

'Shut up.' I scolded myself. 'Don't be like Jiraiya.'

Suffice to say, he didn't get laid because I referred to him as 'grandfather' and demanded that I wanted to go visit baa-chan in the retirement home. The look of disgust on her face was hilarious and when she flung her drink in Jiraiya's face was even better.

Moral of the story: Don't piss me off by trying to regale me with how you got Icha Icha inspiration from spying on my parents fucking.

"Yes," I replied, looking up at him as we got closer to Konoha after walking for some time, "And I'm not a little shit. I weighed more than Rin. I'm a big shit."

"You're a twin," Jiraiya fired back, chuckling to himself, "You were half what other pipsqueaks weighed."

Jiraiya was always fun to trade barbs with. He responded in kind and it was fun to have a smartass other than Kakashi to fool with.

"So you're Little Shit," Jiraiya said suddenly, looking pleased with himself, "And Rin would be Littler Shit."

I threw my head back and laughed, Kurama's laugh also echoing in my head.

'You got another name to torment her with other than 'Vixen' now.'

"I think she'll be fine with being called vixen by the Uchiha."

'If Sasuke calls her by that pet name, he's going to lose his balls.'

Kurama snickered in response. "He already has, and it's amusing."

Sasuke is an idiot. For all his smarts, he's like an adrenaline junky that pokes a snake with a stick and wonders why he got bit.

"How did it happen?" A uniquely accented voice rang through my head in nostalgia, "Were you fucking with it? How did it get so angry, that it almost killed you?"

'Did she break anything?' I asked, not looking forward to either of them acting like moody teenagers.

"Surprisingly, no. She got angry then rolled with it. It's a 'fascinating phenomena' as you would put it."

'Please don't word it like that.'

Rin was my little sister, I'd always be protective of her. But the last month with Jiraiya had me reflecting on several things over the years that had me feeling ashamed.

I'd been harsh about certain things, specifically concerning our father. If I'd simply told her before Kumo showed up, she would have taken it better. Instead, she was already angry with me from being an impulsive idiot who shouted at her because I was being extremely vague on why she needed to be covert.

If I'd stopped trying to carry everything, assuming Rin wasn't ready to know about our father, then I could have seen how much I'd hurt her by not telling her. I was terrified of losing everything and that made me almost drive a wedge between us.

If Rin was less emotionally dependent on me, what would happen if this happened again? Would there be a point where she doesn't forgive me? Would Rin decide that tolerating my unexplained fears wasn't worth it?

I didn't realize I was that deep in thought until Jiraiya pulled me from my thoughts.

"You're doing it again." He said firmly, looking down at me, "You're overthinking things."

"That's not what I'm thinking about," I said, wincing at how pathetic of an excuse it sounded at first, "I'll explain." I put my hands up placatingly.

Jiraiya was extremely detailed on the issues I had on being secretive and seemingly paranoid. He said it was textbook issues on how prodigious Shinobi suffered trauma and coped by doing everything solo, including disregarding other people.

Thank god I'd realized that now instead of years down the road.

Jiraiya stopped and turned, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I know it's hard, Naruto. Believe me, I know how hard it is," He smiled softly, his voice a soothing kind, "The world can be cruel, but that's what makes us good." He then cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "When I heard you'd been almost killed, I wanted to come back here, my duties as a Shinobi be damned. The stronger we are, the heavier the burden we carry."

I needed to hear this. I was scared of the future and I couldn't let go of my fear, no matter how much I tried. But if I had kept being the way I was, it would destroy everyone's relationship with me. Jiraiya helped wake me up to that.

At his insistence, I'd told him about how badly I'd handled almost dying and the Genjutsu from Orochimaru making me feel like I was still sometimes trapped in that forest still, jumping at the shadows that tried to devour me.

"We've talked several times, but you don't seem to believe what I've said." Jiraiya pointed out, looking resigned to something.

"The world is better off, but every generation has seen a war," He said, blinking slowly, "I keep thinking of how each generation had their greats and I realized that I'm one of the strongest of my own. Talking about this stuff is hard," I stepped away from him, looking at the clouds for a moment, "You joke about stuff and play up your perversions because you cling to that. It helps keep you sane and to have something that reminds you of better times." Jiraiya undoubtedly saw a lot of himself in me, the good and the bad.

I didn't answer yes or no, but he started talking again.

"What has you worried right now?" He asked simply, not playing the diversion game.

Sighing, I turned to face him.

"Rin lashes out viciously because she's seen me do it," I said, feeling ashamed, "Kids mimic what older siblings and parents do. I don't want her acting like I did."

It still scared me that I might alienate Rin and all my friends, leaving me completely secluded and alone.

"I know what you're going to say, and I'm much better now than I was before," I cut him off before he could speak, "I was constantly in the mindset of taking all the burdens onto myself, my friends be damned on what they thought about it."

Jiraiya remained silent, his expression betraying nothing.

"This last month made me realize I don't have to be secretive about things to protect them. You didn't become Kage level by doing that. The wars you fought didn't take that perverted streak you have." I took another breath and finished it off.

"So, what I want to say is that you're a good godfather and you should be proud of that. I'm not going to be someone that ignores everyone."

Jiraiya had a beaming smile on his face as I finished, pulling me into a one armed hug.

"Prodigies have a habit of doing that, but I'm an expert on helping people get through that."

"Thanks, Jiraiya-sensei." I said, honestly grateful for the man helping me.

Jiraiya grunted his acknowledgement and the two of us kept walking towards Konoha, the both of us content with the silence.

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

"Naruto, can we talk?" Sasuke asked, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Sasuke had just knocked on mine and Rin's door and was standing outside, his whole body tense.

"Rin's not here right now," I said, beckoning for him to come in, "You can wait til she gets back if you want."

"I don't want to talk with Rin," He replied quietly, "It's something you can answer better."

Based on how truly uncomfortable he looked, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

I really hope it's not what I think it is.

Sighing, I opened the door further.

"Come on in. Rin will be an hour or two."

After Jiraiya and I got back in the village, I found Rin and talked with her some, mostly about our training and a few other things. The biggest thing that wasn't related to training was that I told her I was sorry about keeping so many secrets from her and that I wouldn't blow off people's concerns anymore. She seemed extremely happy about that and decided to turn the tables and gave me a noogie, before messing with my hair.

After the reunion, I swung by Kakashi's, said hi, and then decided to crash at home. Tomorrow was going to be bad, but I was going to take it in stride. Raging at the world and being distant towards my friends because of that wasn't something I was going to do any longer. They were the reason I bothered to actually try and save the world, and it would be stupid to potentially hurt them the way I have.

Sasuke entered the apartment and glanced at the replacement couch, his expression sheepish.

"Sorry about that."

"Eh," I waved it off, "It needed replaced anyway." I then gestured for him to sit, which he did. "What do you want to talk about?"

Sighing, Sasuke looked directly into my eyes.

"I just want a yes or know. Are you and Rin Jinchuriki?"

I froze at the question, my breath pausing.

"Care to repeat that?" I managed to say clearly, but my mind was racing.

'Did he figure it out himself?'

"You two are Jinchuriki." Sasuke rephrased his sentence into a statement, "That's why the civilians hate you."

"Yes." I replied flatly, my hand was starting to wiggle around like how I did when I was thinking about stressful things.

I then sat down on the other side of the couch, giving him a questioning look. "How'd you figure it out?"

"The ANBU training Rin and me." He replied.

'Oh really?' I thought icily, wondering whether he realized how dead he was.

"Did he hint at it or did he tell you?"

"He flat out said 'Your two friends are Jinchuriki'," Sasuke answered with a frosty tone, "He then clarified it was the Kyuubi sealed in the both of you."

I surprised Sasuke by actually laughing.

"That guy is fucked," I kept snickering, pausing when Sasuke had an expectant look on his face, "That tidbit of knowledge is an S-rank secret. It's a capital offense for either civilian or Shinobi to tell anybody our generation about us. What was his codename?"

"Weasel." Sasuke replied.

'Weasel?'

I almost gasped in shock at the revealing of that.

"Do you know him?" Sasuke asked, his eyes bearing a coldness that had me returning the look, "He tried to make me hate the two of you and blamed you two for why my clan was killed."

"Don't jump to conclusions," I eventually said, hoping Sasuke didn't react too negatively, "But Weasel was Itachi's ANBU call sign."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet, scowling under his breath.

I decided to let Sasuke vent for a moment, letting me work through the new information.

'Itachi can't possibly be here, so it means an ANBU with a chip on his shoulder wanted to get a one up by hopefully taking a friend away from me and Rin. I might need to request seeing the jackass get executed.'

I was pulled from my thoughts when Sasuke walked up to me, stopping just a foot or two in front.

"So some ANBU asshole that hates you two decides to screw with me by wearing my brother's," He spat the last word out, "mask and then Henged to look like him, tells me you two are Jinchuriki, and blames Itachi's choice to kill my family on you two."

Sasuke's fists were clenched and he was visibly shaking, looking furious.

"Are you mad that we didn't tell you?" I had to ask, hoping the anger was directed at the ANBU and not me or more importantly Rin.

Sasuke scowled and looked insulted by the question. "What the hell do you think? No, I'm not. I was at first, but I spent an hour after thinking about it and I remembered what you said about whether I had a secret that would make me feel unworthy of friendship or love."

Sasuke's expression shifted to concern. "You were thinking about the two of you, weren't you?"

Sucking in some air lightly, I nodded my head.

"I was worried you would take it badly, while Rin's terrified of anybody finding out."

Sasuke looked uncomfortable all of a sudden. "No wonder she gets pissed when I called her vixen."

I snorted in spite of me knowing better. Sasuke turned to me and rolled his eyes.

"You've never mentioned whether that bothers you, so does that mean you think it's funny?"

"Anything that can torment my sister is funny to me." I said casually, being honest about a lot of sibling dynamics.

The two of us sat there in a companionable silence for a little bit, neither of us thinking of anything to say.

After an unknown amount of time, Sasuke broke the silence.

"When do I tell Rin I know?"

"After the exams," I said, "So she doesn't get thrown off by it."

I then focused on his coal coloured eyes, the same as his brother's.

These were the moments I questioned what the hell went through my mind when I even humoured killing Sasuke to protect us. I could've prevented the seed of hatred taking root if I kept trying to be his friend early on, but at least Rin didn't pay for my mistake.

"You're a good friend, Sasuke." I said gratefully, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Others may have turned away."

"I'm not others," He remarked firmly, returning the look, "I'm an Uchiha, not some idiot that doesn't know the difference between a person and a monster. You're insane, but you're not a monster. And Rin is crazy, loud, rude, and my teammate and friend. Fuck anybody who tries to tell me otherwise." He finished with conviction, not caring about how harsh it sounded.

I gripped his shoulder a little harder and I laughed to myself.

"You're definitely not most. And that's why I trust you, Sasuke. We fought Orochimaru and we made the traitor run. And we're going to tell Kakashi about the ANBU trash, and years from now, we're going to escort your bastard brother right to the Gates of hell."

Sasuke clapped his hand on my shoulder as well, a steely look in his eyes.

"You guys are what matters," He smiled, genuinely smiled at me, not a sarcastic or mocking kind, "And nobody is going to convince me that you all don't come first."

The two of us let go and I relaxed, feeling so much lighter, now that one secret had come to light.

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

Part two will be out later, probably in a few hours. I need to do something, unfortunately.