Chapter 26

The Next Morning, Alvarcus's House

"Oi! Alvarcus you in there?" Konohamaru asks as he pounds on my door.

"No, I'm not." I call to him as I idly sip on my morning milk and toast. "Pretty sure I'm at Training Ground Seven."

"Okay thanks!" I hear footsteps fade into the distance.

"Holy crap did he actually fall for that?" I turn back to my half eaten toast. "Well, he'll figure it out eventually."

Five minutes pass before I hear the sound of stomping feet approach my door.

"Alvarcus that was mean!"

"Yeah I know." I briskly walk to my front door and open it. "What do you need?"

"Hokage wants to talk." His tone is biting. He still feels hurt from when we didn't let him go on the mission with me.

"Did... did she seem mad?" Please don't be about yesterday! I thought that was behind us!

"Only at the paperwork." He shares.

"Oh thank Kami. Alright, let's go."

Hokage's Office

I poke my head through the doors and into Tsunade's office. "You called?"

She sighs in reluctant defeat. "Squirt I need your help."

"This seems familiar." I stride into her office and plop down on a chair. "Did you make another bet with a client? I don't know if we can escape Shizune's wrath a second time."

She waves off my guess. "No, nothing like that. This is much more important."

I lean forward in anticipation. "Do go on."

"The students at the Academy were told that there would be a shinobi coming in today that they could ask questions and so on." She lazily leans back in her chair. "Basically this is to give them an idea of what transitioning from the Academy to being a gennin is like. We're trying to have the speaker be just a little older than the kids that way they can relate more."

"That's nice. Still not really sure why I'm here, do you want me to track the person down or something?" She should have picked Kiba or Hinata or Shino for that.

"He's dead." She bluntly informs me. "Killed in the invasion."

"That's a problem. But what does this have to do with me?" I think I know where she's going with this.

"In the chaos after the invasion no one was picked to replace the speaker." She smirks to herself. "That's where you come in. You're going to be the replacement."

"... Do I have to?" I don't want a bunch of kids asking me random questions. Besides, they should get someone who has been out of the Academy for longer, I've been out for less than a year!

"Yes you do. Don't think I don't remember how Konohamaru said you were good at explaining things, I believe his exact words were 'you're better than the teachers at the Academy.'" She grins evilly to herself. She picked me because she wanted to, not because she had to. I feel like this is a form of revenge. "Besides, the kids would love to see one of the heroes of the invasion. How can we deny them that?"

"Now you're trying to guilt trip me into doing this." I never thought I would be doing this today. Actually it doesn't sound half bad, it's been a while since I stopped by the Academy. I could say hi to Iruka while I'm there. "Fine, I'll do it. When do you want me there?"

"Let's see, you should be there in about... ten minutes." A full blown grin forms on her face. "Better get going!"

This is totally revenge for my stunt yesterday. "You really suck sometimes. I hope you know that." I dive out the window.

"I have a door for a reason Squirt! Use it next time!" She thunders as I fall through the air.

The Academy

I tentatively walk through the front doors to my old school. It feels like ages since I've been here. So much has happened since I left these doors as a shinobi and not as a student.

"Oh hello!" A cheerful receptionist asks. "Did you need something young man?"

I won't be fooled by her cheerful exterior, she's the first line of defense for Konoha's future shinobi. She has to be ridiculously skilled otherwise she wouldn't be here. No one would be stupid enough to leave the kids unguarded.

"Yes, I'm supposed to be a guest speaker for a group of kids? Still can't believe Tsunade roped me into this, I should be on a mission or something. Anyways, do you know where I'm supposed to go? I kinda left before she told me all that."

"You're... not what I expected." She replies after giving me a once over. "You sure you shouldn't be in a class?"

"Please, like you didn't see the headband." I roll my eyes. There's no way she missed that. "I didn't expect to do this today either. She told me about this five minutes ago. I didn't even have time to prepare note cards or something." Great, I'll have to play everything by ear. This promises to be a very unique day.

"Tsunade wouldn't send someone unqualified." The receptionist says. I'm not so sure she's right. "You'll be in classroom 2D. Good luck, you'll need it. Those kids are quite a handful."

"Wonderful. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction." Today is really going to suck. I have to let rambunctious kids ask me a crap ton of questions? I hope their teacher has a good handle on them.

I calmly stroll up to the correct classroom. I can hear the kids all chatting to themselves through the door, I must be the first thing on the itinerary. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

I reach out and knock on the door. Instantly the voices inside go silent. Well at least they're excited to see what I'm going to look like.

"Come on in." That's a very familiar voice.

I walk inside. "Iruka-sensei?"

"That's the guy? He's like our age!" One of the kids says.

"Alvarcus?" Iruka exclaims. "They're giving me you? And I'm not your sensei anymore, you can call me Iruka."

I give him a warm smile and stride over to give him a friendly handshake. "Sorry, but after four years of calling you Iruka-sensei I'm not going to stop that anytime soon. How have you been? Got a girlfriend yet? I swear you need to get out more, you always seem so stressed out."

"That's the life of a teacher." He happily shakes my hand back. "Actually yes, I do have a girlfriend. I think. I kinda got... well she force me to date her. Not really sure how that happened, but I'm okay with it."

"You're okay with it?" I smirk at him. "Why? Is the sex-"

"Alvarcus!" He cuts me off with a scarlet face. "There are children here! Besides you're still a kid yourself! You shouldn't know about those things!"

I turn to the gobsmacked class. Their jaws are hanging open.

"Oops? Would you believe I forgot where I was?" I sheepishly ask.

"I liked it better when you were quiet." He shakes his head in resignation. "What happened to that kid?"

"Kakashi-sensei corrupted me?"

Iruka rolls his eyes. "Class, as you've probably already figured out, this is our guest speaker for the day. His name is Alvarcus Mar and he's one of my former students."

Whispers echo throughout the room. "Alvarcus Mar?"

"Do you think he's that Alvarcus Mar?"

"I hope so! I bet he has amazing stories to tell!"

"Hey, he's kinda cute." What the hell? Who said that? I am not cute! Cool, handsome, badass, majestic! Those are fine, but not cute!

"What's sex?" Oh my Kami the parents are going to hate me so much.

"AHEM!" A flushed Iruka silences the whispers. "So, let's get this started." He turns to me. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

I truly look at the students for the first time. They're on the younger side, I'm guessing they're in their first or second year.

"Well, let's start with the basics." I straighten up. "Iruka-sensei said my name so there's no need to repeat that. I've been out of the Academy for... eight ish months? That sounds right. I was a member of gennin team Seven, under the jonin Kakashi Hatake. I took part in the last Chunin Exams and made it to the finals so some of you might recognize me from there."

As I am speaking I'm looking at multiple kids. I'm trying to involve everyone as much as I can. If I'm stuck doing this I might as well do a good job.

"Let's see, what else? Oh, my favorite color is a piercing yellow, I like sunglasses a lot, I enjoy thinking of new and unique ways to improve skills I've already learned and I'm currently a teammate with Sasuke Uchiha."

There are a few hushed whispers at Sasuke's name. Even in the Academy he still has fame.

"I dislike a handful of things." I frown in distaste. "Heights for one, really not a fan of those. Also not the biggest fan of snakes. Oh, and I hate when strawberry seeds get stuck between my teeth."

"I have a couple of dreams for the future, but I'm only going to share one. Really it's more of a goal than a dream, I want to become a S-rank shinobi. And... that's all. There's some basic information about me." I turn to Iruka. "Anything else I should cover? Pretty sure I got most of it."

He turns to the class. "Any questions for Alvarcus?"

Immediately the class bursts into chatter, they're shouting questions at me all at the same time.

"OI!" Iruka shouts and all of the kids instantly fall silent.

"You still got it!" I cheekily chime in. "I remember when I was on the other side of that!"

"Alright kids, raise your hands and he'll call on you." Iruka has a fond look on his face, no doubt he's remembering my class and all the times he's had to quiet us down. It was a lot.

Almost all of the kids hands shoot up into the air.

"At least there's interest." I mutter to myself. "Uh... You in the back with the funky green hair."

"Hi!" He cheerfully says. "So is it true? Are you really Alvarcus?"

"Yep! That's me!" I give a little wave. "Next question?" The student I chose sits down in a huff. He wanted to know if I'm that Alvarcus, he should have been more specific. "The smart looking one with the glasses."

"Are all of the stories about you true?" She asks in a very serious tone as she delicately pushes her glasses up with a finger.

"Well... there's some truth to them. Most of them at least." I sheepishly scratch the back of my head. "I don't really hear the stories about me since everyone assumes I know what they're talking about. After all, I was there. How could I not know?"

"How about the one about the Suna nin?" Miss glasses asks.

"Sorry, we'll have to come back to you. One question per call for now, we want to make sure everyone who wants to gets a turn." I don't want to talk about that. "Let's see... the Inuzuka in the front."

"Did you really beat cousin Kiba in a fight?" He eagerly asks. "I bet you didn't! Kiba's so cool and strong and there's no way he could be beat!"

"Good times." I force a fond smile on my face. That was not a good time at all. "Yeah, I beat him. He really made me work for it though."

"Wow, you must be crazy strong then!" The Inuzuka has stars in his eyes.

"Not really. There's people out there who are loads stronger than me." For now, I'm working on making that list smaller. "Next! You with the blue scarf."

This child is different from the rest, he's not as happy and carefree. Also there's something that sets him apart from the rest of his classmates, there's a fresh scar in running down the left side of his face. It's still an angry red, he must have gotten it in the chaos of the invasion.

"How'd you get that scar?" He asks. "Doesn't it bother you?" His tone is bitter, I bet he's been teased a lot about his new scar.

Iruka tenses. He's ready for something to go wrong. "Alvarcus we haven't covered scars yet. He didn't know better."

"Pfft, kid you'll have to be way more specific." My nonchalant tone causes Iruka to relax. I'm not going to let kids get to me. "Which scar are you talking about? I've got too many to count."

"Really?" He asks in curiosity instead of bitterness. "You have more than one?"

All of the kids are attentively listening now. It isn't just him who I have curious, hell it isn't just the students either. Iruka looks very intrigued too.

"Oh yeah. Loads." I confidently reply. This question is about more than just how I got my scar, it's about how I live with them. That's what he really wants to know. "I wear them as a badge of honor. Each one is a symbol of something I've lived through. They're a testament to my strength. Besides, all of the really good shinobi have their own scars. Between Iruka and I you have some strong shinobi before you!"

Surprise crosses his face. "Oh." He sits down with a very cute thinking face. I hope I could make a difference for him.

"You never answered his question." Miss glasses says in annoyance.

"My, aren't you the observant one." I sass back to her. "A sword. That's how I got it." That's the understatement of the century. "Next question! Hmm... You! The stoic Hyuuga." I swear that clan needs to lighten up, they're all business all the time. Even their kids are!

"My tou-san says that the life of a shinobi is a difficult path." I nod my head at the Hyuuga's words. His tou-san is definitely right. "He says that there are many hardships and losses. But what he stressed to me the most was that shinobi are expected to kill. My question is this, how many people have you killed?"

"Only those that I've had to." That's a lie. I know it is, I could have spared many of the people I've killed by simply knocking them out or removing them from the fight somehow. Yet I didn't, not because I couldn't but simply because it was easier at the time.

I'm not the only one who knows it's a lie, Iruka is looking at me with a mask of indifference but beneath that is a great deal of pity.

The mood turned sour with the last question. I'll have to fix that with the next one. "So! Who want to go next?"

"Iruka-kun!" I faintly hear someone shouting from a good distance away from the Academy.

"Ignore that." Iruka has a mad blush on his face. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Well that's not weird at all." I mutter. "Anyways, how about you with the black shirt?"

"Iruka-kun!" The person shouting is much louder this time.

I turn to Iruka and give him a stink eye.

"Just keep going. She'll go away." He doesn't sound confident at all.

"She?" I grin. "Iruka is this who I think it is?"

"No!" Red tinges his cheeks. "Go back to the questions! Daiko I believe he called on you next? What's your question?"

Daiko, the one in the black shirt, clears her throat. "You're on a team with Sasuke Uchiha? Is he... is he dating anyone?" Oh hell no! He's got fangirls in the Academy? What is the world coming to?

"Iruka-kun!" The voice is very close now, I'd wager she's just turning down the hallway. Hold on a moment, I know that voice.

I turn to my old teacher. "Iruka-sensei is that-"

BAM

The door to the classroom slams open. "Iruka-kun!"

"Anko-chan what are you doing here! I'm working!" Iruka rushes to her before she can enter the classroom fully.

"Holy crap you're dating Anko?" I couldn't help but saying. "Dude, good for you!"

Iruka ignores me. "Anko-chan you can't be here!"

"You said we'd have lunch together, and I want lunch now." She huffs. "Who was that anyways? Sounds familiar."

"It's no one." Iruka dismisses quickly. "My lunch break isn't for another hour, come back then. OI! Get back here!"

She slithered her way around him to get completely into the classroom. "Nah, I'm hungry now so we'll eat now. Hey kiddos, I'm going to borrow your sensei. That cool? Thanks."

"Oh man Tsunade thank you so much for giving me this mission. This turned out way better than I expected!" I say more to myself than anyone else.

My voice startles Anko and she stares at me. "Sorry, do I know you?"

"No! No you don't just leave and I'll tell you about him later!" Iruka lightly grabs her by the wrist and halfheartedly tugs her towards the door. She doesn't move from her spot, actually she does the opposite. She drags Iruka behind her to closes the distance between us.

"I swear I know you. I just can't figure out how." She's staring me right in the eyes. Or in this case the sunglasses.

"Oh, maybe this will jog your memory. I called you hot in the second task of the Chunin Exams." I merrily tell her. "I still stand by that. Well done Iruka-sensei! I'm proud of you!"

"No shit?" Anko says in surprise. "I thought you died. How's things?"

"Language! There are children present!" Iruka pleas.

"Same old same old. Nothing noteworthy." I happily reply.

"Well you suck." That's not the response I expected. "Why can't you be more like that Alvarcus kid? He's your age and look at how much he's done!"

"Anko-chan that is Alvarcus." Iruka provides.

"Really?" She gives me a once over. "Huh, not what I expected. Anyways can I borrow this one" she wiggles her arm that Iruka is hanging off of, "for lunch? You can watch the kids right?"

"Heaven forbid no! He's not qualified, there's so much things he doesn't know about and he has no teaching experience and -"

"Only if you bring me back some food." I barter.

"Alvarcus no!" Iruka let's go of his grip on Anko to grasp me by the shoulders. He stares deep into my eyes with a pleading expression. "Don't encourage her!"

"Deal!" Anko grabs Iruka by the back of his collar and proceeds to drag him out of the classroom. "See ya in a few hours!"

"Alvarcus there's a schedule on my desk!" The retreating Iruka shouts. "Make sure to follow it to the letter! I'll be back as soon as I can escape!"

"Hold up a second!" I call after Anko and her hostage. I look at Iruka. "I was right, wasn't I?"

With his head held in defeat he replies, "Yes. It's amazing. Plus she's a great person when she isn't trying to kidnap me, really I've never met anyone like her."

"Carry on!" I wave goodbye to them. "You have a lunch date to go on!"

"Thanks kid!" Anko drags my former sensei out of the room.

"Ah good for him! I'm glad they're working out." I turn to the stunned class. "I take it that doesn't usually happen?"

No one answers me.

"Cool. So how about that schedule?" I walk over to Iruka's desk and plop down in his chair. "It's around here somewhere. Ah! Here we go. Next is supposed to be history. Boring, we're going to skip that."

"Really?" Someone hopefully asks.

"Then there's math." I suppress a shudder. There is no way I'm subjecting myself to more math. "Not doing that either, I never liked it that much."

"Is he serious?" Miss glasses says. "Math is very important."

"Hmm... Physical conditioning could be interesting. But I don't know what level you all are at."

"I think he's completely serious."

"Oh I know! Let's play a game of capture the flag!" That's a great idea! We're totally going to do that!

"What's capture the flag?" The child with the scar asks.

"That settles it!" I get out of Iruka's chair. "Everyone outside now!"

The Hokage's Office, Later that Day

"-and then he took them outside to play capture the flag!" Iruka shouts. I'm surprised he hasn't passed out from lack of air, I'm pretty sure he told Tsunade everything in one breath. "Then he bought them all ice cream!"

"Still don't see what's wrong with that." I mumble. "Those kids had a great time!"

"They were practically demanding that he come back tomorrow!" Iruka throws his hands up in anger. "How am I supposed to control them now?"

"Alvarcus." Tsunade growls out. "I thought you learned your lesson yesterday to not do stuff like this."

"This is nothing like yesterday and you know it. There was no ANBU at all." I defend myself.

Tsunade shakes her head in disbelief. "What am I going to do with you?"

I shrug. "Use me for actual missions and not these ridiculous spur of the moment ones? This is the second one in a row! First the bet with the client and now this?"

She rubs her forehead in a vain attempt to relieve some stress. "Fine. Come back here tomorrow. Bring your teammate too, I'll have something for you both then."

"About damn time." I grumble and leave. "Honestly you shouldn't have given me any leave days. It's not like you let me take them to begin with."

That Night, Alvarcus's House, Around 3am

Knock knock knock. "Alvarcus. Get up, we need to talk." That's Sasuke's voice. He's yelling through my door.

I groggily lift my head up from my pillows and glance at my clock. "Did someone die?"

"No? Why would you ask that?" Sasuke is confused.

"Is your brother back in town and you have some ridiculous plan to chase after him again? Because if you do there's no way I am going against Kisame. He called me Muffins. Honestly I'm not sure I didn't hallucinated that, I did get beheaded moments before."

"What? No! Why would Itachi even be here?"

"Then fuck off, I'm sleeping. It can wait till tomorrow." I plop my head back down on my pillow.

"Alvarcus Mar! Either open this door or I will!" He's not kidding, there's not a hint of playfulness in his tone.

"Yeah, yeah, don't break the door down I just moved here. Hold on a moment, I'm not wearing pants." I rummage around in my dresser and pull on an generic pair of black shinobi pants and a blue t-shirt. With a big yawn I open the front door and gesture him inside without looking. "Whadda want? Get in here, I'm not talking outside when there is a perfectly good couch five meters away. And make it snappy, I want to go back to sleep. I don't get enough of it already."

"We want you to come with us." That voice is not Sasuke's.

All of my drowsiness is gone in an instant. I whirl around and take a battle ready stance, I'm prepared to either attack or defend. The Jiongu is ready to leap into action and the drop of a hat.

Sasuke is standing with four others outside my house. Why is he not alone?

The first unknown person steps forwards. "Come with us to Sound, come with us to Orochimaru." He has pale skin and long gray hair that covers the right half of his face. He is wearing a dark brown tunic with a Yin-Yang symbol on the lower front and black shorts. There is another head growing out of the back of his neck. Sakon and Ukon, the current leaders of the Sound Four.

The second unknown person speaks. "Orochimaru will give you power. He will make you strong." This person has dark brown skin, black hair pulled up in a ponytail and a tunic to match Sakon's with the Sound Four Yin-Yang symbol. He also has Sound's headband around his forehead and six arms. Kidomaru, the intelligent and creepy member of the Sound Four.

The third unknown speaks. "You wish to become S-rank. Orochimaru will make you better than S-rank." This man is huge, he towers over everyone else present. He has three tufts of orange hair and a unique shade of eye color to match. His tunic matches his team's with the symbol of the Sound Four. Jirobo, the muscle of the Sound Four.

The only female of the group speaks last. "He is the best and only hope to achieve your dream." She has shockingly pink hair and a black hat with bandages around the sides. Her attire is similar to the rest, but tailored to her feminine body. Tayuya, the genjutsu specialist of the Sound Four.

Silence falls. The Sound Four are waiting for my response.

"Uh..." I break the quiet after it became clear no one else would, "are you all really wearing giant purple rope belts? Because they look really stupid."

The Sound Four collectively twitch in annoyance.

I walk into my house and wave for them to follow me. "Get in here, it's cold outside. We can talk like civilized people in where it is warm. Also, I have a really comfortable couch."

Sasuke sighs and walks inside. "Just come in, he is always weird like this. I swear he rarely takes anything seriously." He plops down on the couch. "Wow, this is a nice couch."

The Sound Four look at each other, collectively shrug and come in. They don't sit down, rather they stand across from Sasuke and I who are on the couch.

Sakon opens his mouth to speak but I cut him off. "Convince me. Why should I go with you?"

"For power. Orochimaru will personally train you, he will mold you into your greatest potential." Sakon replies.

"Please, that isn't a good enough reason. I can get that here." The Sound Four bristle at my easy dismissal of Orochimaru. "Oh calm down it isn't an insult to your boss. Konoha trained Orochimaru, I would be getting the same training as him and look at how strong he is. Plus I'm on good terms with the other two Sannin, I could just ask them for help."

"Knowledge. Orochimaru knows things that no one else does." This time it is Kidomaru that attempts to sway me.

I nod in agreement. "I'm sure he does, but I care little for it. The things he knows and the things I want to know do not align. I doubt anyone has the answers to my questions, I have to answer them myself."

"To achieve your dream. He will make your dream come true, he offers to train you himself. He made sure that we explicitly knew he would." It is Jirobo's turn to try and convince me.

"I am sure he would. Orochimaru is a great shinobi, there is no denying that. My dream isn't something that he can do for me, I must earn it myself. I want every village to know my name, whisper it among their legends. I can't do that if I am stuck in his shadow." They're doing a terrible job trying to convince me. I don't even have to lie to them, everything I've said is true.

Tayuya sighs, and blandly speaks. "Do it because it'll be fun."

I raise an eyebrow at her unique reasoning. "Because it will be fun." She nods. "Care to elaborate?"

Tayuya starts to explain, "Sound is based off of strength. You earn your placement by beating the opposition. Us four were sent to get you two because we beat everyone who wanted to go. We are the strongest, we do as we please. That is how the whole village works, those stronger than you can order you around. You can order those weaker than you around. Strength is everything to us, if you have it you rise in power. If you don't, you're lost in the masses. And Orochimaru personally wants to train you, he wants to make you S-rank. You'll be rising through the ranks like crazy, you'd be an instant player on the board."

I think over how that must work. It has to be total anarchy. It does sound kind of fun, I'll give her that.

"That's the best reason yet, but I'm still not convinced. I know what Orochimaru wants from me in return, and it isn't worth it." I sigh. "Any other arguments? Otherwise I'm going to have to ask you to leave." And somehow get to the Hokage tower and tell Tsunade what just happened. I really doubt they will just leave me here unrestrained. Maybe I'll finally get to test if the Jiongu can remove chakra suppression seals for me. Kami I need to start testing this stuff before I have to use it.

"Come to Sound because I am going." My friend's voice says.

I look at Sasuke with disbelief. He's going to Sound, to Orochimaru. Like hell I'm going to let that happen.

"Come with me Alvarcus. Orochimaru will train us both, we will become legends. Think of how strong he can make us, killing Itachi will be child's play! You want to be S-rank? He'll make you so good you'll be SS-rank like the Fourth Hokage. You'll have a flee on sight order from all the villages. No one will doubt your strength, your power."

"Sasuke, if I go to Sound there is a very good chance Orochimaru will kill me." Sasuke blanches and the Sound Four look intrigued. "He wants something from me, something he thinks I have. I don't have what he expects, I have something else."

"Alvarcus, he already knows about the Jiongu. He gave it to you." Sasuke reasons.

"I'm not talking about the Jiongu. It is something else, he wants me for information I might have." I calmly explain to Sasuke.

He goes deathly pale. "You mean... in the Forest of Death he wasn't lying? You really know about the past? You were pulled from the Underworld?" Sasuke leans in close and quietly says the one thing I've always tried to ignore. "Alvarcus, you've died before?"

"I... well." This is not how I expected this conversation to go. It's supposed to be him on the hot seat, not me. "Have you ever wondered where my fear of heights comes from?"

"Don't avoid this. Answer me, I have to know." Sasuke demands. "Please, I have to know."

"I'm not avoiding it. My fear of heights comes from my... death. I think." I shakily inhale. "Most of my memories are blurry, especially the last moments. All I have is a sense of falling forever then pure terror. Then... splat."

"That is why he wants you so badly." Sasuke stands up and starts pacing. "He knows you have knowledge of the past."

"I do. Most of it has faded, been lost to time." I admit.

I'm dangerously close to breaking my vow to the Third Hokage. He expressly forbid me from talking about my past memories, but not that I have memories. I'm playing a dangerous game telling Sasuke about this with the Sound Four present. I can probably kill most of them if I need to. Especially if they have orders to not kill me, that would make things much easier.

"It isn't what Orochimaru thinks it is. He thinks I have forgotten jutsu, maybe know about an ancient civilization or two. I don't. Nothing I remember is remotely close to anything in this world. The languages aren't event the same, the one from before doesn't exist here."

"He won't kill you." Sakon cuts into our conversation. "Orochimaru wants knowledge, he wants to know things that no one else does. You claim to know a language that no one else does. That alone would guarantee your safety."

"See?" Sasuke turns to face me again. He's taking that news surprisingly well, I thought for sure he'd freak out and ask if our friendship has all been a lie. "There is no reason not to go. Why would you stay here?"

"Sound shinobi, outside. Now." I demand. "Sasuke and I need to have words, in private."

Surprisingly the Sound Four listen and walk outside of my house. Most of them.

"Oi. I said out. When you came inside you had two heads, now you have one. Go get it then out with you!"

Ukon materializes himself from my wall and walks back to Sakon with a displeased expression on his face.

"I'll know if you come back, I'm a sensor." Once I am sure they are all gone I turn back to Sasuke.

"Why would I stay?" I stand and get in Sasuke's face. "Kakashi. Tsunade. Shizune. Kiba. Hinata. Shino. Shikamaru. Ino. Choji. Neji. Tenten. Lee. Asuma. Kurenai. Yamato. Konohamaru. Naruto." Sasuke winces with every name I say. I can see his resolve weakening. "Sasuke, Sakura is buried here. My parents are buried here. You're asking me to leave all of them behind? For power? For strength?"

"No. I'm not asking you to leave them, I'm asking you to come with me." Sasuke gets a desperate look in his eyes. "I don't know if I can do this alone. I need you. They all have each other, you're all I have. You're more a brother to me than Itachi ever was."

Don't guilt trip me. Not like that. Itachi loves you, he always has and he always will. "Sasuke-"

"What has Konoha ever done for us?" He gets up from the couch and get's right in my face. "They gave us the world's laziest sensei-"

"Kakashi is a good sensei and you know it."

"No he's not!" There's real anger in his eyes right now. "Alvarcus he chose me over you! How do you not see that? He could have taken us both on that training trip! He could have put us both through that training and you would have been faster and maybe you could have saved-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

His eyes narrow. "That's another thing, they shouldn't have even died. Where were the ANBU at? Where were the jonin at? Why didn't they protect the civilians? Alvarcus, Konoha killed your parents!"

I'm at a loss for words. He can't possibly think that's true, can he? I was there, I watched it all. I even have a trophy from their murderer. Konoha had no hand in it, of that I'm certain.

"And while we're on the topic of Konoha killing people, let's not forget about our teammate!" Sasuke starts shoving me backwards. "Sakura is dead. Why did she die? I know why, it was because Konoha didn't care about a talentless civilian gennin who didn't even make it to the finals."

He shoves me back again.

"Don't you see how biased this place is? I've been given everything I've ever asked for just because I have fancy eyes. If Sakura had half the training and resources I did she would still be alive! Hell even you didn't get as much training until you got the Jiongu, until something made you special. Until you became useful."

He shoves me once more.

"Alvarcus the only thing you were taught before you got the Jiongu was how to make a chakra string. Don't you see how ridiculous that is? Chakra strings! That's all! No offense, you've done some amazing things with them, but I knew elemental jutsu when I was still in the Academy! But once you got the Jiongu everyone decided it was a good idea to teach you jutsu! You've had what, 3 different people teach you jutsu? Four if you count Kakashi! It wasn't because they like you, it wasn't because they saw the Will of Fire in you, it was because they saw that you were useful."

"So what?" I meekly reply. I hate to admit this, but he does have a good point there. Konoha favors the talented and strong and is willing to let mediocre shinobi fade into obscurity. "So what if all that's true, we still have friends here. You want me to leave them all? You want me to abandon them?"

He shoves me back and I hit the wall. "Alvarcus, we don't have friends!"

No. I refuse. I have friends. All of the Rookie Nine for starters, then there's-

"When was the last time someone besides me invited you to go over to their house to hang out? Or sparing? Or to get food?"

"I... uh..." When was the last time? "Naruto did. When we took those missions with him. We got ramen together."

"When Naruto and us went on those missions." His eyes narrow again. "Alvarcus that was months ago."

He's... not wrong. No one really talks to me unless I go to them. No one invites me to do things. I'm always the one to start something, to reach out to someone. No one reaches back.

"Alvarcus come with me." He takes a step back to give me space. "Konoha doesn't deserve you."

"And Orochimaru does?" I sharply reply.

"Dude, he's asked you to go to him like three times! He may not deserve you but he will value you."

"How's that any different from here?"

"Konoha values your skills, he values you. You impressed him so much with something as simple as chakra strings that he decided to give you a legendary kinjutsu! He even asked you to join him before he gave you the Jiongu!"

"I.. uh... never looked at it like that." I've only ever seen the agony he cause me.

"Come with me." He extends out a hand. "Alvarcus I need you. You're my only friend. The only person I can truly rely on. And we both know it's the same way for you."

He's right, everyone I listed earlier has someone else they can turn to, someone to lean on. Everyone but Sasuke and I. Sasuke and I always turn to each other. For protection, for help, for strength, for guidance. If he leaves, he and I will both be alone.

I don't want to be alone.

Could I go to Orochimaru? Yes, I could easily. He'd accept me with open arms. Every point the Sound Four tried to use earlier would happen. Sure they might not have convinced me to go, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen if I do go.

Do I want to? No, I'd leave behind so much. I'd have to see Orochimaru all the time. I'd have to deal with the person who caused me so much suffering and agony. I'd also basically be abandoning all of my future knowledge by being out of Konoha, that's one of the best things I have going for me.

But Sasuke is going. He's going to one of Konoha's sworn enemies, Orochimaru. Who will make sure Orochimaru doesn't experiment on him? Who will protect him, be there when his world shatters to pieces? Who will be there for him when he faces Itachi? Who will save him from Obito? No one, unless I go with him.

"What's your answer Alvarcus? Are you coming or are you staying?"