Chapter – 4 The Uchiha Compound

Early Morning, Uchiha Compound, Konohagakure

After walking for a while, Sasuke and Yūgao reached the edge of the village. Uchiha Compound was located here. 

Although no one in particular was guarding the place, the entrance of the Uchiha Compound was sealed off with several 'Keep Out' tapes, which was natural considering that just about a week ago, almost all the members of the Clan had been massacred.

Sasuke stopped at the sealed entrance and looked at the Clan ahead of him with a hint of sadness, and hesitation in his eyes.

At this time, Yūgao spoke, "I will be waiting here, take your time… but don't take too long either."

Sasuke turned to Yūgao, and said, "You don't have to wait… you can go for your mission, I will be fine on my own…"

Yūgao shook her head and said, "We never know if Uchiha Itachi might have left behind something to target your life since he did not have the opportunity to take your life the last time…" then she took out a small whistle from her Anbu gear, and handed it to Sasuke, "Blow this whistle if you feel that your life is in danger, or if you spot anything suspicious…"

'It's not that Itachi did not have the opportunity to take my life, rather, he chose not to take it, if he really wanted, nothing could have stopped him…' thought Sasuke as he wanted to deny the need for the whistle, but ultimately, he decided to take it, "Alright."

Sasuke knew that there was no need for concern because if Itachi really wanted to kill him, then Yūgao's presence wouldn't really make any difference since she would be far too weak to be able to do anything against him, but these things seemed to be connected to her 'mission' of 'protecting Uchiha Sasuke' and he did not want to argue with her needlessly, moreover, being unnecessarily repulsive and distrustful toward a Shinobi of 'your' village would send a wrong message, Sasuke does not want to stun the snake before he is ready to kill it.

With that Sasuke took a deep breath, ducked down to bypass the keep-out tapes, and stepped into the Uchiha Clan District.

Yūgao watched as Sasuke's back disappeared into the Uchiha Clan District, she took out her Anbu mask from her Shinobi Bag and wore it on her face to cover it, then she weaved the 'tiger' hand sign and followed Uchiha Sasuke from a distance using a Body Flicker Jutsu. 

Obviously, she couldn't let Sasuke out of her sight, but she also understood that the young boy would probably get very emotional now that he was visiting this place a week following the genocide of his clansmen, he might not feel comfortable in the presence of a 'stranger' whom he had barely known for a day, therefore, she was going to follow him from the shadows and 'allow' the boy have his time.

…

As soon as Sasuke stepped into the Uchiha Compound, he spotted the destroyed Senbei shop on the left corner of the main street, and memories flooded his brain.

"Good morning, Sasuke, heading off to the Academy now, are you?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I saw your brother earlier, he has grown into such a man, he is an excellent Shinobi, isn't he? Graduating the academy at the age of seven, and first in his class, and he was a Chunin at 10, wasn't he?!"

"Yeah, and he could use Sharingan by the time he was eight."

"That's right, how can I forget? That boy is the pride of the Uchiha Clan, no doubt about it… What about you Sasuke, how old are you now?"

'…...' the young Sasuke looked down thinking something to himself.

"What's the matter, child?"

Before Sasuke could answer, another voice interrupted her, "Honey, stop talking nonsense with the boy, will you?"

"What do you mean, dear?"

"Sasuke, both you and Itachi are the pride of the Uchiha Clan, and the brightest gem of Konohagakure, have faith in yourself, someday, you will become an outstanding shinobi, just like Itachi!"

"Hmm," nodded Sasuke, as he turned around and dashed in the direction of the academy, "See you later."

"Just do your best!"

"Study hard now, and you will do fine!"

Drops of tears flowed down his eyes, 'Ojisan, Obasan,' he used to stop by at this place after his day at the academy. Every time he stopped by this place, the old man and his wife would encourage him and give him the confidence to perform better. 

'Neither of the two was a shinobi, they had no children either… they were clueless to anything remotely related to the Coup, yet…'

If not for the fact that he was trying his hardest to not let his emotions get the best of him, perhaps his chakra would have riled up and his Sharingan would have activated on its own. With the same mood, Sasuke walked through the streets of the Uchiha compound step by step. Crossing every other house, or shop would bring back memories. 

The mischievous Onee-san from the Dango Shop would occasionally join him in beetle-catching adventures in the forest. The stinky elderly man from the weapon shop, who always kind-heartedly gave him a few extra shurikens for his training. The Obasan figure from the tea stall, who offered him tea with a floating upright tea stalk as a good luck charm to boost his confidence before the exam. 

'Each and every one of them was innocent and had no clue about anything remotely close to the ongoing politics between the Hokage Faction and the Uchiha Clan, yet all of them were mercilessly…!' Anger surged in Sasuke's heart as he recalled the streets that were filled with corpses of Uchiha Clansmen on that night.

Since there was no outlet for this boiling anger and hatred, it continued to surge in Sasuke's heart growing deeper and deeper, consuming his mind more and more, and he allowed his hatred to continue to grow, 'More the hatred, more the motivation…!'

With such thoughts revolving in his mind, Sasuke finally reached in front of the Uchiha Patriarch's Mansion, which was his parent's house.

From a distance, Yūgao could see Sasuke silently standing in front of the gate of his parent's house as he prepared himself to enter the place, she thought to herself, 'The boy has lived the past seven years of his life in that house, that's also the place he lost his family at, it's bound to be difficult…'

After taking a few deep breaths, Sasuke opened the gate and walked inside.

…

Uchiha Patriarch's Mansion

Sasuke came to his parents' room; this is the same room where his father and mother were murdered by Itachi. Although their dead bodies had been buried at the Konoha Graveyard and were no longer present in this room, body outlines made from chalk were marked on the floor, just looking at that outline, he could recall the scene of his parents' limp bodies lying on top of each other.

The past seven years of his life with his father and mother continue to flash before Sasuke's eyes. 

He recalled the scene when his father first taught him the fireball Jutsu, but he failed to do learn it on his first try. 

"Sigh, why did I think you'd be like Itachi? It's too soon, you are not ready yet."

He recalled the scene when he practiced that Jutsu for many days and later displayed it to his father and earned his praise for his hard work. 

"Now then… that's my boy! You've done well, work hard, and you are bound to soar high, and bring honor to that crest you bear on your back."

He recalled that morning when his father told him about the Mangekyō Sharingan.

He recalled the same morning when his mother prepared breakfast for him and promised to teach him Shurikenjutsu. He recalled the scene where she applied medicine and bandage on his cheek to heal the burns caused due to training, and kindly encouraged him to work harder.

"Tou-san, Kaa-san…" Sasuke choked on his own words and collapsed on his knees. No matter how much he tried to control his tears, they did not stop… It didn't matter whether they sometimes praised him, and sometimes were disappointed, they were his parents… they were their parents!

Smash!

"Why did it have to be like this, Itachi? Why?! Why!? Why?!" screamed Sasuke as he punched the wooden floor in anger, frustration, and sadness not at all caring about the bruise, blood, or torn flesh on his knuckles.

While he was venting out, Sasuke did not notice as his black eyes turned scarlet with three tomoe whirling within them, their speed continued to increase as they tried to merge together into a single point, and change into a more powerful form, but couldn't change and regressed back into the three tomoe state, failed yet again… he still did not have enough hate or maybe Chakra for the Mangekyō Sharingan!

…

A couple of minutes later, Sasuke finally stopped crying and started to complete the purpose he came here for in the first place, to collect Jutsu scrolls for his training!

It didn't take him very long to find the scrolls that he was looking for, all of them were in his father's study. There were dozens of scrolls of different Ninja Art, Ninjutsu Scrolls detailing Ninjutsu of different Chakra Natures, primarily of the Fire Chakra Nature, Taijutsu Scrolls detailing multiple Uchiha style Taijutsu techniques, Genjutsu scrolls detailing various types of Genjutsu starting from Rank D to all the way Rank B and Rank A, Kenjutsu techniques, some Uchiha Fuinjutsu as well.

Sasuke could tirelessly spend the next four to five years learning and mastering all these Jutsus, and there would still be more than enough Jutsus left for him to master. Of course, he didn't just collect the Jutsu scrolls, there were other scrolls and documents as well that he didn't have the time to read at the moment, however, he decided to collect them anyway since they might come in handy in the future.

Once that was done, he went to his room and picked up a few sets of clothes that he would need for his daily life for the next few months.

After he gathered all the stuff in one place, Sasuke had a troubled expression on his face, 'How am I supposed to carry all this stuff?' There were too many things for him to be able to carry to that new apartment on his own. He did not know how to store stuff in a sealing scroll; therefore, he would have to either make multiple rounds or use a vehicle or something.

"There should be a cart or something within the compound that I might be able to use," muttered Sasuke as he ran out of the mansion and searched for a cart or something somewhere lying around. Eventually, he was able to find a wooden cart at the Uchiha Grocery Store. The owners of the Grocery Store were normal Uchiha civilians, so they used to use the cart for delivering the groceries to the residents.

The cart was a little big compared to his small stature, therefore, it was a little difficult to pull, and took a lot of effort for Sasuke to bring the cart from the Uchiha Grocery Store to the mansion, however, he managed to do so. After parking the cart outside the mansion, Sasuke quickly transferred all the stuff he had gathered earlier to the cart, covered it using a bedsheet, then gave one last look at the Patriarch's mansion and left the Uchiha compound.

While hiding in a tree, Yūgao watched as Sasuke made his way toward the entrance/exit of the Uchiha compound with the wooden cart, she sighed, then weaved the tiger hand sign and disappeared using the body Flicker Jutsu.

…

Uchiha Compound Entrance

Pulling the cart all the way as Sasuke arrived at the entrance of the compound, he noticed Yūgao silently sitting under the shade of a tree.

Once he stepped out of that compound, Yūgao raised her head and looked at Sasuke and asked, "Is that everything?"

Sasuke nodded lightly, "Hn."

"Come here," Yūgao beckoned Sasuke to come to her.

The young Uchiha was confused, nonetheless, he went toward the older woman, and asked, "What is it?"

"Watch this," said Yūgao as she spread the scroll on the ground. Some complex characters in black were written on the scroll. Sasuke watched as Yūgao took out a Kunai from her shinobi bag and put it at the center of the complex symbols. 

"Pay close attention to the hand signs I am weaving," she said as she slowly weaved the hand signs, one by one, allowing Sasuke to remember the correct order, and then pressed her dominant hand on the scroll. Immediately, the symbols glowed in a blue light, and then the Kunai placed on top of the scroll turned into white smoke and went inside the scroll as a symbol appeared in the empty space on the scroll.

"Sealing Jutsu?" muttered Sasuke.

"Yes," nodded Yūgao, then said, "Now pay close attention to this," once again she slowly weaved the hand signs allowing Sasuke to remember the correct order, then pressed her dominant hand on the scroll. Immediately, the symbols glowed in a blue light, then white smoke appeared out of the scroll and transformed into the Kunai that was sealed inside the scroll a few moments ago.

"This one is unsealing Jutsu," spoke Yūgao and added, "Do remember the hand signs correctly?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yes."

"Alright then," said Yūgao as she rolled back the scroll, and passed it to Sasuke, "Here you go, keep this with you… practice the Sealing and Unsealing Jutsu in your free time… this will come in handy…" she pointed at the wooden cart that he had brought with him, and said, "At least, you won't have to carry out useless manual work."

Sasuke hesitated but took the sealing scroll handed over to him by Yūgao, and muttered lightly, "Thank you." He hadn't expected that Yūgao would teach the Sealing and Unsealing Jutsu upon seeing him pull all that load. 

The girl smiled lightly, and spoke, "Well, enough wasting time, it's getting late, and I have to report at the Hokage Office for the mission… so let's quickly return to your apartment with all this stuff, so that I can leave."

The boy nodded, "Alright," and the two returned to his apartment with his stuff.

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