6.

"Team 7 reporting for another completed mission of Capture Tora the cat!" Naruto announced despite this being their sensei's job. In his hands the demon cat whined and scratched its claws on the boy in a desperate attempt at escaping. 

Sitting in front of them on a desk was the Third Hokage, smoking from a large pipe with brown eyes that softened at the sight of the blond and a grandfatherly smile carefully plastered immaculately over his face. 

"Naruto, my child, Team 7, well done," he congratulated with a chuckle that made Sasuke's toes curl turn in dreaded anticipation. 

"Old man, when are we gonna do a real mission, huh? I'm sick of doing all these baby chores, 'ttebayo! Kakashi-sensei taught us a lot of cool stuff and I feel way stronger, believe it! I know I'm ready and if you're not careful I'll steal that hat from you as Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage." 

From annoyance or embarrassment, Sasuke catalogued how Sakura's hands spasmed miniaturely, possibly to refrain from pounding the boy in the head at his disregard of obedience and required respect in front of such an important figure. Sasuke was close to laughing. Here he was in a cold sweat from the presence of the man that intensely watched him the moment he woke up from being in a coma and gave him clipped details of the aftermath of the massacre before giving the shortest condolence and leaving—and Naruto spoke to him like he was his actual grandfather. 

Was Naruto so special he had to have such an unprofessional relationship with the military dictator of the strongest Hidden Village in the Elemental Nations? Son of the Fourth Hokage or not, this was absurd. No, there had to be more to this and he would find out. 

"Now, now, Naruto," Sarutobi said. "No need to get ahead of yourself. We give you missions based on skill and experience, in order to properly prepare our shinobi accordingly. It wouldn't be fun to be sent on a mission you are unqualified to handle, would it?"

In disbelief, Sasuke huffed at the audacity of the Hokage who, throughout his decades long reign, sent out many children who displayed a smidge of talent half his own age to fight pointless wars. Did he spout this bullshit about protecting the youth during wars as well? His brother, despite mostly growing up during peacetime, was sacrificed unfairly and placed in ANBU black ops to serve him and carry out assassinations. Granted, it was accepted through his own father's persistence but the fact that a child was even allowed spoke volumes. 

All of this war and bloodshed was in the name of preserving peace and securing a better future for the children of each village shinobi were from, so then why were children so readily available as cannon fodder? Was this the dream Hashirama and Madara envisioned? For all the boasting the history books made about the technological and moral advancements made from the warring clans era, not much in terms of child soldiers was truly changed. Maybe maintaining peace is impossible; there has yet to be a successful system that benefits more people than it harms. There is no recorded time period seen in the history of the Elemental Nations where violence is not the answer to all conflict and the more Sasuke thought about this, the more hopeless he felt.

What was the point of this all? Was conflict through brute force truly necessary for peace to be achieved, and if that was the case then wasn't the cost for something so short-lived far too high? 

 If the Hokage refused to throw children's lives away for the so-called greater good would he still have his shy, awkward brother? Or was everything they went through together truly fake? At times like this where the inconsistencies of that night mocked him, Sasuke couldn't help but fantasise about what life would be like if his brother didn't snap under the pressure. Was it wrong of him to reminisce fond memories of his clan's murderer? Probably. 

He completely froze up when Kakashi placed a firm hand on his shoulder in warning once the Hokage's attention momentarily shifted to him at the noise he let out. 

Unaware of the brewing tension in the office, Naruto continued complaining. "But I want a cooler mission! Isn't there anything harder than this?" 

At the Hokage's considering expression, Sasuke paled, eyes trained solely on the clock above him. "Well, there is one mission." 

That old man was definitely planning something nefarious. He just knew. 

"Really, really? Let's do it!" 

"Bring him in," Sarutobi ordered. 

As the door opened, a scent of strong alcohol wafted into the room, making Sasuke's nose twitch in disgust. Dressed in clothes that seemed worn out and with a poorly shaven face, stood a civilian. 

"These are the brats I get? Look at how tiny the blond one is," the drunk said, condescendingly. 

Ignoring Naruto's indignant squawk, Sarutobi gave a chilling smile. "How about a C-rank, no?" 

Whilst the rest of his team left the Tower to go to their houses and prepare for the mission scheduled for the next day, Sasuke suddenly realised how silent Kakashi was during the whole debacle. For a sensei who seemed to love the sound of his own voice, this was interestingly out of character. Now, was this blind, unfaltering loyalty or silence out of fear? Only time would tell.

Curiosity can be a dangerous sentiment and that was what caused Sasuke to knock on Naruto's door. 

"Huh? Sasuke?" he groggily muttered. There was still drool on his cheek and his eyes had yet to fully open. 

"Why do you know the Hokage personally?" Sasuke inquired without any reservations or tact. 

It was enough of a mystery that he felt like he just had to know. Like most nights in the Uchiha compound, sleep was restless and short. Getting up early today just happened to be convenient as they had a mission later anyway. 

"You show up at my door at six in the morning to ask me that? How do you even know where I live?" Seeing that he was not going to get a straight answer, Uzumaki opened the door in invitation, squinting at him in suspicion. "You can come in. Just don't touch the fridge." 

"Idiot, just answer the question," he demanded with growing urgency, tapping his foot, impatiently. 

"Huh? What quest—Oh, about ol' man Hokage? Eheh, well he used to always visit me when I was a kid!" the blond explained with a mesmerising smile. "He's the only one who thinks I can become Hokage like I say I will." Sasuke, now seated on his couch in the living room, scooted backwards as Naruto leaned in as if to tell a secret. "Don't tell anyone but… the villagers don't like me so much. They blame me for something bad that happened." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I don't wanna tell you. You'll hate me too and then that'll really suck," he said with his own flawed logic. "It doesn't matter anyway. I'll prove them all wrong and become Hokage and that way they'll have to like me." 

Sasuke sucked in a breath. Did Naruto really think that lowly of him? "I won't." 

Naruto, catching on to his frustration, frowned at him. "You probably will. Even if you don't… I don't think I wanna risk it at all. You're better off not knowing." 

"You really are an idiot," Sasuke whispered. He refused to continue thinking why it hurt so much to be lumped with those ignorant, foolish villagers. 

How he hated them and the shallow-minded callousness of their words and gossip. If Naruto could handle their ostracisation, he could handle them slandering his clan's name with stories of tragedies and betrayal.

All in all, it didn't matter if Naruto didn't want to tell him. He would soon find out somehow, just like everything else he unintentionally discovered. A part of him simply hoped he could hear the actual secret from the boy himself. Patience was not one of his strong suits but he could wait for when the time called for it.

It's not like he cared for his teammates' well-being or anything. The only reason he asked was to satiate his own quest for knowledge that could be useful in the future. 

Maybe his resolve of keeping a distance from his teammates was crumbling but Sasuke would stay in denial. He was good at that.