Chapter 23

The Next Day, Hokage's Office.

"You summoned us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi greets the Hokage.

"You should wear the hat!" I chime in. I know I would totally wear the hat.

"Sorry squirt," Tsunade replies, "but it ruins my hair. I didn't call you all in here for a nice chat. I need to split you three up."

Silence follows that statement.

"Why?" Kakashi asks. "We're a team. We work together."

"Not anymore. At least not for the time being, I'm giving you a new assignment Kakashi. Your students won't be a part of it. I need you to go out to the field on high level missions and show the world that we are still strong. Believe it or not, you're one of my best jonin and people know your name. We need you to display your skills, we need you to become a pillar of strength. We don't need you to train these two further. From what I've heard around the village they are both at chunin level. In fact the only reason I am not promoting them is because they left the village without permission to attack S-rank missing nin!"

Sasuke and I wince.

"We're sorry?" I say weakly. Tsunade can be scary as hell.

"Not good enough. You both have the skill to be chunin, of that there is no doubt. It is your judgment that needs work." She pauses. "I have a mission here. One that no one else has taken yet. It is an escort mission. There is a race that is held between two families in the Land of Tea, our client is the Wasabi family. You'll have to protect their runner from other shinobi and anything else that could go wrong during the race. Since there's expected shinobi opposition this is a B-rank mission. Usually I would send a more experienced full gennin team with a jonin or a team of chunin for this, but you two are the best of my available shinobi that I can send on such short notice. Can you do it?"

Sasuke and I make eye contact. "I can do this alone if you aren't up for it Sasuke. You did just get out of a coma."

"Please, like a coma will keep me from anything." Sasuke arrogantly says.

"Do you realize how dumb that sounded? Never mind, of course you didn't. You sure? We don't have the best track record with escort missions. The last one we went on we had to deal with Zabuza. You remember that giant sword wielding maniac right?"

"I doubt we will run into any legendary swords on this mission." Sasuke blandly says.

"Oh great, now you jinxed it! If we run into another legendary sword you are buying me a new pair of sunglasses."

"Deal. If we don't you have to move out of my house."

"I was going to do that anyways." I turn to Tsunade, "We'll take the mission."

"Good. I was getting tired of watching you two banter. You two will leave in three days, that should be enough time for coma boy to get back on his feet. Now leave. I have to give Kakashi his mission." She shoos us out of her office.

I turn to Sasuke. "Well, want to go spar or something? Best way to get back into the groove of things is to jump in with both feet first."

"Maybe tomorrow. Let's just hang out for a day and you can fill me in on what I've missed out on." He and I start walking out of the Hokage Tower. "Like how the hell Tsunade of the Sannin and you are so friendly with each other? When did that happen?"

"That's a long story. A long and very annoying story. You're not going to believe the month I've had. We're definitely going to need some food. What's at your house?"

He stares at me with the most scandalized look on his face.

"Oh. Right. Month long coma, everything there is going to be way past the expiration date. We'll have to go grocery shopping."

"Kami I hate grocery shopping. Do you have any idea how many stares I get? How can people not understand that the 'famous Last Uchiha' goes grocery shopping too?"

At a Grocery Store

"We'll have to get new everything. I'm not going to risk it." Sasuke is idly browsing through an aisle. "Oi. What kind of bread do you like?"

"White." I answer.

"Wheat bread it is."

"Why would you ask me if you weren't going to get what I said?"

"If I buy food you don't like maybe, I don't know, you'll get out of my house and get your own damn food!" Oh boy, he actually sounds mad.

"I'll look into it after our next mission." I assure him.

"You better." He's definitely going to hold me to that.

"Is that Sasuke Uchiha?" Ah, good old Konoha. You wouldn't be the same without whispers from complete and total strangers.

"It is! I'm so glad he's out of that coma." Sasuke tenses. Honestly I'm surprised it took people this long to start talking about him, he's been gone for a month.

"Who's he with? He looks kinda familiar." Finally! Maybe the whispers about me will stop.

"Alvarcus Mar. The one who did all that stuff in the invasion. Wonder if that's when he got that scar on his neck?" Or not.

"I know right? How do you even get a scar like that? If I didn't know better I'd say he got his head cut off."

"You know you can hide that scar." Sasuke says to me. "It would cut back on the chatter about you. I know you're not a fan of all the attention. You hate it almost as much as I do."

"I could, but I won't." I want this scar to be shown to the world. It's a monument, it represent me surviving a run in with a S-ranked shinobi.

"Alvarcus Mar and Sasuke Uchiha you sons of bitches!" Huh, that's new. Usually the whispers are whispers and not yells. Also they're usually not that rude.

"How dare you! How dare you!" The same person yells. I glance over my shoulder. I know this person, I've seen her a few times. I've been to her house, I've exchanged pleasantries with her and her husband. I was a teammate with her daughter. This is Sakura's kaa-san, Mebuki Haruno.

"Haruno-sama." I politely bow to her.

"Haruno-sama." Sasuke does the same.

SLAP

My face stings. I could have dodged that, I could have blocked that. It wouldn't have accomplished anything. It would only have made her more mad.

SLAP

She got Sasuke too. We both let her hit us.

"You think you're heroes? You think you're special? No, you're not. If you were heroes then why didn't you save my daughter! She was on your team! She trusted you both! You were supposed to look out for each other, protect each other! I can't stand to hear these stories about either of you! Everyone is calling you two heroes or shinning examples of what shinobi should strive for! They're wrong! They're all wrong!"

"I know I'm no hero." I calmly say.

SLAP

"No you don't! Don't feed me lies to make me feel better! You're trash! Scum!" Her eyes are filling up with tears. "Why didn't you save my daughter?"

"When I think back on that day it isn't those I saved that comes to the forefront of my mind." I continue in my calm voice. "It isn't the faces of those I killed either. Do you know what I do remember? It's the faces of those I couldn't save." I take a shaky breath. My hands are trembling, this I one of the hardest things I've ever done. "It isn't those I saved that make an impact on me, it's those I didn't. People idolized me that day, they blew everything I did out of proportion. I could have road on that fame. I could have used it to further my shinobi career. I didn't, and I won't. Because everyone else might see success and impressive feats, all I see is my biggest failure. I'm tormented by the stories that people whisper about me. Every time someone brings up that day I'm forced to remember all that I couldn't do. I'm forced to remember everyone I couldn't save."

I take another shaky breath.

"If you want to blame someone for Sakura's death, blame me."

"Alvarcus that's too far." Sasuke speaks for the first time. "Everyone knows you had nothing to do with it. I know. She knows. You know. The person to blame is the one who killed her, whoever that Suna ANBU was."

I ignore him. "Just leave Sasuke alone, it wasn't his fault. He had no part in it. She was given to me, not him. It's all my fault." I know it is. I've known for a while now, I've just always ignored that fact.

For some scheme, some plan she was killed. There was a purpose behind it otherwise she wouldn't have been targeted at all. But the question I don't have the answer to is what is the plan? What is the scheme? What plan was furthered by Sakura's death? She was a nobody. She didn't have the time to achieve her true potential. Who stands to gain something from causing me and Sasuke such terrible heartache?

"I hate you." Mebuki says. "I hate you both." She storms towards the exit.

She hesitates at the door and calls out to us one last time over her shoulder. "Her favorite flowers are white lilies. If either of you two ever visit her. I may hate you, but you are her friends. I won't-" Her voice cracks. She's breaking down into tears. "I won't stop you two from talking to her. She wouldn't want that. You both meant the world to her."

"Thank you, Haruno-sama." Sasuke bows deeply to her.

"Thank you, Haruno-sama." I follow suit.

Three Days Later

"So, when do you want to leave?" I ask Sasuke.

"I'll need to pack a mission bag then we can leave." Sasuke replies as we head towards his home.

We're coming back from a quick sparring session. We limited ourselves to just taijutsu. The bastard still beat me even with my advantage of not being in a coma for a month, but I made him work for it. That being said, when we used just ninjutsu yesterday I demolished him. I just wish I had my fire heart, I would have had so much more fun!

"Works for me. I'll be in the guest room, call me when you are done."

Once we get to the Uchiha compound we split and go into our separate rooms. I'm packed and ready to go in five minutes. It helps that I always have a light mission bag ready, all I had to do was add more clothes and weapons to it. Sasuke has to pack from scratch.

I lay down for a quick nap, I know I have at least an hour. It takes that kid forever to pack.

"Alvarcus I'm good to go." Sasuke calls out to me.

I get off the bed, "And right when I finally got comfortable too." I grumble to myself. "Alright, let's go."

We make our way to the main gate. There are two gennin here this time, they're only a few years older than us. Tsunade must have pulled Kotetsu and Izumo for missions.

Sasuke steps forwards. "Sasuke Uchiha and Alvarcus Mar leaving on a B-rank Escort mission in the Land of Tea."

Both of the gennin's jaws drop.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha and Alvarcus Mar?" The one on the left says.

"Uh... yeah?" I smartly reply. "Do we know each other?"

"NO!" The right gennin says this time. "I mean no. We've heard about you both though. You two were awesome during the invasion. Stopping that giant sand thing! So cool! We got stuck in the shelter with the civilians."

Sasuke and I glance at each other. He tilts his head in a 'go on, you got it' gesture. Great.

"Look," I say. I need to let the gennin down softly. "we're due for a mission. It is time sensitive."

"Of course! Here just fill this out then you can leave!" The right gennin hands us paperwork.

I fill out my sheet. Name, date of departure, reason for departure, expected return date, general mission statement, who I left with. I finish it and give it back to the gennin.

Sasuke hands his back. "I put my name on it. Just copy what he put down." With that he walks out of the village.

"Sorry about him. He's... kinda a jerk. He grows on you though I promise! Like a fungus." I follow after Sasuke.

"Did you just compare me to fungus?" Sasuke asks once I catch up with him.

"No!"

"You did. I heard you. Just for that I'm setting the pace." He grins maliciously at me.

I smirk right back. "Works for me, my stamina is limitless. The Jiongu, remember? I can run all day."

"Just ruin my fun why don't you."

We take off down the road towards the Land of Tea.

Sasuke and I make it to the Land of Tea in under two days. The idiot ran all through the night to prove to me that my stamina is nothing special. He made his point, but we did have to slow our pace considerably for him to do it.

"Sasuke let's stop here."

"Why? I can keep going. Are you getting tired, oh great Jiongu wielder?"

"As if! We are in the Land of Tea, let's stop at a tea house. It's gotta be good if they named their country after it."

"Fine, I could use a drink."

Sasuke and I enter the tea house. We walk to the clerk and order tea. I get a nice earl gray tea, and Sasuke gets a cinnamon flavored tea. We take a table where we can both see all of the entry and exit points. We are shinobi after all, paranoia is part of the job.

"Well lookie here! Two leaf shinobi out and about!" An older teen boldly walks over to us.

Who the hell is this guy?

"What's a pair of scumbags like you doing in a respectable place like this?" He's insulting us. That's a bad move, you don't insult shinobi. Most really don't handle it well.

"Oh you know," I cut in before Sasuke can, "just the usual." I take a sip of my tea.

"The usual? What's that supposed to mean?" The teen demands, getting in my face.

"It could range anywhere from protecting townspeople from wildlife, to murder. Now get away from my teammate." Sasuke demands. Great, I didn't want him to escalate the situation.

I sigh, "We are not here to murder anyone. You know that. Now this poor civilian thinks we're killers. Well, we are but that is besides the point." I take another sip of my tea. "What's your count at now?" If Sasuke wants to intimidate the civilian away from us, I'll play along.

"I am at three." Sasuke imitates me and sips his tea while ignoring the fuming teen. "How many are you at?"

"Hold up, let me count. Demon Brother, Gato, Oto gennin 1, 2, and 3, the murderer, those nine shinobi I saved Shikamaru from, and I thinks that's it. Oh! Wait I melted a guy in the invasion. Can't believe I almost forgot that happened. So that puts me at... 16? Or 13 if you don't count the Oto gennin since that 'technically' wasn't me."

The unwanted teen pales, regarding us both in a new light.

"Really? I didn't know you were that high. I thought I had more." Sasuke sounds truly surprised. "Wait, you melted a guy? How'd you do that?"

"Fire strings. I told you they were a good idea." I turn to the now scared teen. "Oh, sorry we seem to have forgotten about you. You were saying?"

"N-nothing. I was just stopping by to say welcome to the Land of Tea." The civilian leaves us.

"Kami he was annoying. What kind of an idiot taunts shinobi like that?" I ask Sasuke.

He grunts in response, "A very unintelligent one."

We finish the rest of our tea in silence, we're weird like that. We don't have to talk to be comfortable around each other.

The waitress comes over to us. "Your bills."

"Thank you." I take my bill. "Uh miss? There seems to be a mistake. I only ordered tea, this bill is for food as well."

"Oh, your friend said you were paying for his meal. The one you two were talking to earlier."

"He isn't my friend. In fact I think I hate him now." What a complete dick. "Before it was just a strong dislike."

I give the waitress enough money to cover the cost of both my tea and the idiot teen's meal, it isn't her fault the teen is a jackass. She takes our bills and leaves.

"Sasuke, if we see him again, you might need to restrain me. Fair warning."

"Restrain you? I'm going to throw you at him. That promises to be entertaining!"

"Sasuke! That is a terrible thing to do! I like it! If we see him again you are going to throw me at him. Imagine his face when he sees me flying through the air!"

Sasuke laughs in amusement, "Missions are so much more fun when Kakashi-sensei isn't here."

I laugh with him, "I know right?"

"Well, this is the clients house." I say, "Shall we go knock?"

Sasuke and I go up to the front door of a small manor and I knock on the door.

An elderly man answers the door. "Can I help you?"

Sasuke clears his throat, "Yes, we are the Konoha shinobi that Jirocho Wasabi has hired to protect his runner. We are here to meet with him and get more information."

"Ah, so you two are who Tsunade sent me!"

He knows Tsunade? How interesting.

"I heard she became the Hokage and I needed shinobi to protect Idate. He's the runner of the the race you will be protecting. Where are my manners, come inside! Come, sit down there is no need to be formal."

"Thank you Jirocho. So, what can you tell us about this race and any expected opposition?" Sasuke asks.

He is being very professional. His clan upbringing is coming in handy here, I would be out of my element.

"The race has two main parts, one by sea done by boat and one by land done on foot. It starts in the harbor then goes to Nagi Island. It will end at a temple, Idate will know where to go so you two can just follow him."

"Simple enough, that is how most escort missions work. Follow the client. How about expected opposition? In your request there was mention of a possible shinobi team being hired to sabotage your runner?"

"Yes," Jirocho answers Sasuke's question, "it is very likely the Wagarashi Family has hired nin to stop Idate from finishing the race. They know that in a fair race Idate will win so they will not play fair. The Wagarashi are a cruel family, they use whatever means necessary to gain power. The winner of this race will rule the Land of Tea for the next four years."

Sasuke leans forwards, "Interesting. So there is a lot riding on the winner of the race." Sasuke turns to me, "Thoughts?"

"The most likely spots to be attacked will be on the open water where no one can see us or right when we land. We won't be used to the terrain and they could set up an ambush. We should be on high alert the entire time, or at least until we have caught a full team of shinobi. I think we will run into a gennin team with a jonin, or possible a team of chunin. We got this." I say confidently.

"Great! Now come in here Idate and meet the shinobi escorting you."

A door slides open and in walks "The teen from the tea shop! You owe me money!"

"AH! The murderers from the tea shop!" Idate screams while pointing at us.

"Sorry what? Murderers? Nah, we don't murder. We kill. There is a difference. Well... sorta? It's the principle behind the kunai that matters." I ramble on. "I mean I did murder a guy, but in my defense I had a valid reas-"

Thwack

Sasuke smacked me in the head. "You're not helping Alvarcus. Idate, was it? For the duration of our mission we will not harm you. We are hired to protect you, we will come to your aid. You don't need to fear us."

Idate sighs in relief.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "But you do owe my teammate money."

Idate cringes, "Yeah I'll get you the money."

"Idate." Jirocho stands up, raising himself to his full height. "Did you swindle these shinobi?"

"Uh... yes?" He meekly replies.

"What have I taught you Idate?"

"Stealing and cheating is wrong."

"Then why do you do it?"

"Ahem." I clear my throat, "As nice as this parenting lesson is, Sasuke and I need to know when you want us to start the mission and where the start of the race is. You mentioned a harbor?"

"Yes." Jirocho replies, "The mission starts at the start of the race. The harbor is just south of here, you can't miss it. The race starts at noon tomorrow."

Sasuke and I stand, "Thank you for the information, we will see you tomorrow at the race." Sasuke politely says. We leave the house.

"We need to find a hotel." I say to Sasuke.

"Agreed, I do not want to camp out."

The Next Morning, At the Harbor

Sasuke and I are standing on a nearby roof to observe the crowd and to find Idate.

"Sasuke, I see him." I call out. Idate is doing some very impressive warm up stretches at the starting line. "We've got to mess with him!"

"We're on a mission, save the antics for later." Sasuke reprimands me. "Besides, how are we even supposed to do that?"

"Hmm... we could pull a Kakashi and pop up out of nowhere?"

"Alright that does sound funny." Perfect! Sasuke is in! "I've always wanted to be on the other side of that."

"Let's go in 3, 2, 1, GO!"

Sasuke and I shunshin to his side. "Hey Idate. How's things?" I greet warmly.

"AH! Don't scare me like that! Where did you two come from?" Idate demands.

I smirk. I know why Kakashi scares us like this so much, it's funny!

"Oh you know, over yonder." I gesture aimlessly. "You ready for the race?"

It's Idate's turn to smirk. "Yes I am. Just make sure to stay out of my way."

"Whatever." I ignore him for now. "So, Sasuke, see any of our competition?"

"I see their runner." Is Sasuke's response.

That means he doesn't see any shinobi that we might have to face. That could be both good and bad. Good, because there might not be shinobi to oppose us, and bad because they might be that good at hiding or already have an ambush planned for us.

"Awesome." I sarcastically say.

"Runners ready?"

Oh dang, I missed the whole intro speech about the race. How terribly unfortunate.

"GO!"

The Wagarashi Family's runner leaps into his boat and sets sail.

Idate runs away from the harbor along the coast.

"Huh. Either he has a plan, or he's running away." I idly say to those around me. "I really hope it's a plan, otherwise this mission just got awkward."

"I have faith in Idate." Jirocho says from behind me. "He will not let me down."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Sasuke let's go!"

Sasuke and I take off after Idate. We catch up in under thirty seconds.

"So, Idate, you do have a plan right?" I ask him.

"Of course I do! The currents will be better from where I am going. He's going to have to deal with a head wind, I won't."

"Smart." Says Sasuke.

We run in silence from then on. After some time we come across a small pier with a boat docked to it.

"I got her ready just for you!" An elderly man calls out to Idate as all three of us jump on board. "Bring her back in one piece if you can!"

We cast off and start making good time. Say what you will about Idate, the kid knows what he's doing.

"Sasuke, high alert." I say.

This is prime ambush time. Nothing happens to us for hours, we are a meager 100 meters from our landing point when we are attacked.

"Is this rain?" Idate asks.

I wipe my hand across the floor of the boat. It comes away black.

"Oil! In the water now!" I grab Idate and throw him overboard, Sasuke dives off and I am quick to follow. Not a moment too soon.

WHOOSH

"Those assholes lit our boat on fire." I say when I break the surface again.

I see three Ame gennin standing on the water.

"Sasuke, take Idate to shore." I pull myself up to the surface of the water. "I'll clean up."

"You sure? Three on one is not good odds even for you." He asks me.

"Please, I don't need help with this. Go. I'll be fine."

Sasuke starts swimming alongside Idate, they both are going to shore. Too bad Idate can't water walk, that would make this much easier.

"Alright Ame gennin! This is your one chance! Surrender or die." I'll at least try to end this without a fight. Who knows, maybe one day it'll work.

"You sure are cocky." The lead gennin says. "You shouldn't have sent your teammate away. Now you have no chance."

"Really? Because I've already dealt with one of you."

As I say that, one of the gennin in the back is yanked underwater by my water monster. When I dived off the boat, I released it while I was submerged. I planned ahead.

"One down." I cheekily taunt them.

The other two gennin rush towards me, intending on ending the fight quickly to save their comrade. I spark up ten lightning whips and lash out at the approaching shinobi. One dodges, one doesn't. The caught one is electrocuted into unconsciousness. The water monster collects his limp body.

"Two down. I thought this would be harder. Come on, show me something cool!"

The remaining Ame shinobi draws an umbrella off of his back and hurls it into the air.

"Senbon Shower!" True to it's namesake, senbon shoot out of the umbrella at a ridiculous speed and volume.

"That's better!" I manically cackle.

I'm right in my element, I redirect every senbon straight at the last gennin using my chakra strings. He dodges most, okay I say he dodges most but the truth is I'm terrible at aiming senbon. It's not my fault I rarely use them! Thankfully, he is still pelted with a lot of senbon. That hurts, I know from experience. With his now limited movement, it is easy to catch him with a lightning bullet to the chest.

"Three down. This was too easy. Have I really improved that much? These guys seemed scary in the Chunin Exams. Whatever."

My water monster collects the third gennin and brings all of them to the shore. I don't need to kill them and I don't want the to drown. I know they won't challenge me again. Even if they do I can beat them down again, they barely saw any of my skills.

Once I get to the shore I am greeted by a very interesting sight. Sasuke is fighting against someone wielding a sword made of pure electricity.

"Sasuke, is that..."

"Yes Alvarcus." He emotionlessly says. "It is the legendary sword of the Second Hokage, the Sword of the Thunder God."

"I knew it. I knew you jinxed us! You owe me a pair of sunglasses."

"Fine. Can you help me now? The Chidori can't piece the sword. Maybe you have something that can?"

"Fools!" The swordsman says to us, "One more gennin won't change anything! With this sword I'm unstoppable!"

"Yeah, yeah good for you. Who are you again?" I ask nonchalantly.

"Aoi Rokusho, Jonin of Amegakure and missing nin of your precious Konohagakure."

I clap my hands together. "Sweet! Sasuke, we need to keep his head intact."

"What? Why?" Sasuke sounds baffled.

"He just admitted to being a missing nin, there's got to be a bounty on his head. We can cash in on it." I explain to Sasuke.

"There's only one problem with that! You can't do that once I've killed you!" Aoi starts running at me while holding the legendary sword in front of himself as a defense. It doesn't deter me in the slightest.

I extend a chakra string out of my finger and let it stretch perpendicular to his path. It's around twenty centimeters off the ground. He doesn't slow his charge, he must not be a sensor. The instant before he makes contact with my string, I turn it into a wind blade. He doesn't have time to dodge, his momentum carries him straight through my wind blade. He cut off both of his feet. He crumples to the ground and he loses his hold on the sword on the way down. It flies over towards Sasuke.

Aoi is screaming in pain and cursing my very being. "My legs! You cut off my legs! You'll pay for that! I'll skin you alive!"

"Hey Sasuke? You fought him longer. Do you want the kill?"

"No." Sasuke looks angry. Angry at me and angry at himself. That is not good. "You defeated him. I didn't, couldn't. He is yours to kill."

"Alright then." I wrap a wind blade around his neck and pull. Crude and barbaric, yet effective. "This seemed too easy. Is that really a jonin?"

Sasuke tenses. I should not have said that.

"Uh... Sasuke?"

"What?" He regards me coolly.

"I don't have a storage scroll to put the head."

"Then make one." He growls out.

This is awkward. "I don't know how."

"Well I don't either." Sasuke stomps off towards Idate. "Come on. We have a mission to finish. Alvarcus will catch up." They both leave the clearing.

"What the hell was that all about?" I say to myself.

I search through the rest of Aoi's belongings. Kunai, senbon, his mission papers. No storage scroll.

"Maybe the gennin would have one?"

With that thought in mind I go back to the three unconscious gennin. I frisk them down.

"Bingo! One storage scroll! Wow that is lucky."

I unseal the contents and camping supplies pop out.

"Practical. Seal the biggest stuff in a scroll to make it lighter. I should try that."

Humming to myself I go back to Aoi's corpse. I place the head on the scroll and seal it away.

"Black band, I need to add a black band. I don't have any. I don't even have any ink to brush it on. Well, there is blood on the ground. That should work."

I stick my finger in the still warm blood and paint a circle all the way around the scroll.

"There. Not quite right but it should get the message across."

I place the scroll in my kunai pouch.

"Hey Jiongu?"

~Yes, host?~

"What element is he?"

~Lightning. Shall I add it to the collection?~

"Yeah, it isn't doing him any good."

I remove my shirt, no need to ruin it. Black threads extend out of my back and dig into Aoi's body. With a wet sucking sound they pull out his heart.

Pain!

Squelch.

"I'm back at five now. Too bad I don't have a fire."

~One of the others has fire.~

"No. They don't need to die. I will not kill someone just for their heart. There needs to be a reason they die. Aoi here was a missing nin, I have no qualms about his death."

~As the host says.~

"Great. Now I have to catch up to those two jerks." I take off after Sasuke and Idate.

We finish the race without issue, in fact we finish the race without talking at all. Even for Sasuke that is abnormal. There was a huge reception for Idate at the finish line, he was hoisted up on the shoulders of the crowd and his big smile never left his face. Everyone was happy. Everyone except Sasuke and me.

"A job well done!" Jirocho tells Sasuke and me once he was done congratulating Idate. "Here is all of your payment, I'll have to request you two again in four years! Idate said you took out a whole team of shinobi to protect him. I'm impressed, how old are you kids anyways?"

"Old enough to kill. Thank you for the payment. If you could sign this scroll saying we upheld our end of the agreement?" Sasuke hands Jirocho our mission scroll and he happily signs it for us.

"Thank you." I give Jirocho a respectful nod. "Well, mission complete. We leave you to celebrate."

"Come now! You two are more than welcome to join us!" Jirocho insists, "You both are the only reason we have a celebration in the first place!"

I see Sasuke tense out of the corner of my eye. This could get bad, Sasuke has been touchy ever since the confrontation with Aoi. I step forward,

"Thank you Jirocho, but we really must be going. Konoha needs her shinobi. Tell ya what, if we are ever in town again we'll stop by and say hello. That work for you?"

"Please do! At the very least I can promise you a warm meal when we meet next." Jirocho finally leaves Sasuke and I alone.

We go back to our hotel room in silence, it is just the two of us now.

"Sasuke." I need to fix this. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He replies curtly.

"I know you, something is wrong. You aren't this quiet, this closed off. Not to me."

"Alvarcus, nothing is wrong."

"They why are you acting strange?" I ask him.

"I'm not."

"Sasuke. Don't lie to me."

He rounds on me with rage in his crimson eyes. He's so emotional that he accidentally turned on the Sharingan.

"You're stronger than I am! There I said it! You've passed me. You're stronger. That's what is wrong. The entire time I've known you I have been the stronger one, the one that would come out on top if we fought. But today? You handled an entire team by yourself. You didn't need me, I didn't have to be here at all. You made killing my opponent look like child's play! He took my strongest attack head on and came out unscathed and you just waltz in and kill him like it is just another day of the week. You didn't even use the Jiongu! You didn't even have to go all out!"

"That doesn't mean you are weak."

"Yes it does!" He insists.

"Sasuke, look at how far we have come. Look at how much we have grown. You've improved by leaps and bounds! You know an A-rank assassination jutsu, the Chidori. You saved the Land of Waves, you stopped Gaara, you stood up to two S-rank criminal and walked away! Who else can say those things?"

"You can." His posture slumps, almost as if he is ashamed. "You can say all those things and more."

"I don't have the Chidori."

"No, you don't. But you have the Jiongu. That's better than the Chidori. You have access to each element, you have B-ranked jutsu from all them! You don't tire, you don't die if your head gets cut off, you don't even die if your heart gets destroyed! Don't you see? You surpassed me a long time ago."

"That doesn't mean you are weak." I say again.

"No, it just means I fell behind." Sasuke storms out of the room.

Not good. This is very bad. Has the cursed seal been influencing him? He's never been this confrontational before. This has never been a problem. We have our own strengths, surely he knows that.

I stay awake the entire night, waiting for him to come back. He doesn't, not until sunrise. He didn't sleep either, I can tell from the dark circles under is eyes.

"We should head back to Konoha now." Sasuke says to me.

He has a fire in his eyes. Like he finally answered a question that has been nagging him for weeks. This could be it. He could have finally decided to go to Orochimaru, I may lose him.

"Alright. You lead, I'll follow."We exit the hotel and take off towards home.

We make it back in one go, like how we did on our way out here. We don't exchange one word the whole way.

The Hokage's Office

"Alvarcus Mar and Sasuke Uchiha reporting mission success, Hokage-sama." I say to Tsunade.

She quirks her eyebrow at me, "Since when have I been Hokage-sama to you squirt?"

"Since you took the hat and we are in a formal debrief?"

Tsunade sighs, "You had such spunk before. Alright kids, tell me about the mission."

Sasuke signals me to start talking. "So here's what happened..." I explain everything to Tsunade. From when we left the gates to when we got back. She's impressed with us, I can tell.

"You two took down Aoi Rokusho? I'm impressed. Do you have the sword still?"

I look at Sasuke. He reaches into his hip pouch and withdraws the hilt.

"Thank you. It's good this is back with Konoha. Sorry kiddos, but I can't credit you with his bounty unless you-"

"Have his head?" I interrupt and hold out the scroll with his head in it. "It's in here."

"I was going to say proof, but a head works just fine too. I'll hand it over to T&I, they will confirm it is him. I'm sure Ibiki will be glad to see this one."

"Ibiki? Why would he care?" I ask.

"That's how he got his scars." Tsunade informs me.

"Ah. That would do it."I have to admit, if I was given Orochimaru's head in a scroll I would feel infinitely better.

"Well done on your mission you two. You both went above my expectations. Take the next three days off, then come back for a mission. Usually you'd get a week, but the times are tough. Konoha can't afford to have capable shinobi take long breaks."Tsunade goes back to her massive stack of paperwork. That has to be annoying.

Sasuke gets up and leave the room.

"Well?" Tsunade glares at me. "That was a dismissal. Get out of here! Go on! Scram!"

"Tsunade I think Sasuke's a flight risk." I blurt out.I should have done that with more tact.

She stills. "You better have some damn good reasoning behind this. What you are implying is treason. Not only that, you are saying your teammate might commit treason. You do know the punishment for that, correct?"

"Death."

"Now explain very clearly, if I don't like your reasoning then I will give you D-ranks for the next month."

"It is simple really. He wants power, power to kill Itachi, power to avenge his clan. Power to surpass me again. He doesn't feel like he can get that in Konoha anymore."

"Where else would he go?" Tsunade laces her fingers together in a thinking pose. She is taking me seriously. Good, even if he does want to stay the chances he will be kidnapped is high. "Most countries would kill him on sight just because he is the last Uchiha. The Uchiha made many enemies and all of them would love to kill off the clan."

I take a deep breath, "To the person who gave him the cursed seal, Orochimaru. Sasuke knows that the seal grants him strength, and he knows that Orochimaru has an interest in him. Orochimaru is good enough to battle Kage, he even killed the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage. We've fought before and Orochimaru destroyed us, no contest at all. All Sasuke has to do is find Sound, Orochimaru's village. If he can do that, I think he will leave Konoha."

"What do you propose I do? I can't assign an ANBU watch over him from a hunch from gennin."

I honestly didn't think she would ask me what to do.

"There are a few options I considered. The first, we let Sasuke go."

Tsunade gives me an 'Are you stupid?' look.

"Not going to happen, we will fight to keep him I know. The second, Sasuke leaves the village in search of Sound. Unlikely, but possible. He could pull it off, most likely a tracker team could find him and bring him back. The third, Orochimaru sends someone to get Sasuke. It is possible he has spies in Konoha right now observing him, waiting to see if Sasuke is ready to join him. The fourth option, Sasuke and I both leave the village."

Tsunade start radiating killing intent.

"Did you just tell me you're going to go missing nin?"

"Don't be daft!" I roll my eyes. "I won't go missing nin, but I can't deny Orochimaru wants me to join him as well. I could play spy, the man on the inside. Er, the kid on the inside."

Tsunade thinks over my proposal for a minute, weighing the pros and cons.

"Orochimaru has too much of an interest in you, he wouldn't let you out of his sight. There would be no way to communicate. Unless you have a skill you've been hiding, maybe a minor summon? Jiraya uses his Toads to carry messages occasionally."

"Nope. I don't have a summon. How do I get one anyways?" I've always wondered that, where do the contracts come from?

"Two ways. One is safe, the other could end in your death. Either you are approved by a current contract holder and they let you sign their scroll or you do the summoning jutsu and you will be reversed summoned to a summon realm. Most people don't come back." Tsunade explains to me.

She is rather good at teaching, must be a side effect of training Shizune for so long.

"I forbid you from doing the second option. I need you alive, you could maybe give it a try after Konoha stabilizes again."

"Well then you're right. We would have no way to communicate."

"Fourth option is out." Tsunade nods her head in agreement.

"Great, because I really don't want to go to him either." I can't deny Orochimaru would train me spectacularly well, but he is someone I never want to see again. "I believe the third option is the most likely to happen."

"It still isn't a good enough reason for an ANBU deployment." Tsunade looks at me with regret, "My hands are tied. I can't do anything, I need those ANBU nin to run missions."

"Alright. I just thought you should know what I saw." I didn't expect much, but his is literally nothing.

"Think of a retrieval team. If it does happen, I want a plan ready." Tsunade assigns me a task.

Good, even if she can't get ANBU to watch Sasuke, she is at least letting me do something to try and help.

"I already have one in mind. Me, Naruto, Kiba, Neji, Choji and Shikamaru as team leader. We can't have a gennin lead the mission."

Basically the cannon team plus me. That should be plenty, the only threats to me would be Kimimaro and Kidomaru. Kimimaro because of his bloodline and pure skill, Kidomaru because I don't know if I can redirect his unique projectiles. After Gaara's Sand Shuriken I'm wary of things I'm not 100% certain I can throw back.

"Sounds like a solid team." Tsunade praises me. "Why them?"

"Me, to talk Sasuke into coming back. Let's face it I'm the only one he might listen to, even then I don't know if I can. Naruto because that kid can help with just about anything. Kiba and Akamaru to track him. Neji, our taijutsu specialist. Choji, our brute force. Shikamaru, our team leader and strategist. He will coordinate us and give us the best chance of success."

"All gennin and one fresh chunin? You don't want a jonin? Or even a chunin with more experience?" Tsunade is looking at me like I'm an idiot.

"Do you really think you'll have a jonin to spare when this goes down?"

Tsunade nods her head in agreement. She needs the jonin to always be on missions.

"As for a chunin with more experience? We wouldn't be able to coordinate properly. We wouldn't know what they are capable of and vice versa, with the team I want we all know how everyone fights. Shikamaru, the team leader, has seen all of us fight and has actually fought with all of us at least once. He'll use us exactly where and how we need to be used to have the best chance of success."

"Acceptable, you really thought this through." She admits to my brilliance. About damn time. "I can't promise the people you want will be available, but if they are that is what the team will be."

"Thank you. That is all I can ask."

"Now go home squirt. You've been in here long enough."

I make my way towards the Uchiha compound. I enter Sasuke's house and call out to him.

"Oi! Sasuke you here?" There's no answer. "Great. Idiot is probably training right now. He needs to learn how to relax."

I walk into my room. That's an odd thought, my room at the Uchiha compound. I really need to get my own place. It isn't like I can't afford one. Actually I might already have a place, my childhood house. I have no idea if it got destroyed in the invasion. I've just been living with Sasuke ever since.

"Might as well go check."

With a goal in mind I leave. It only takes me three minutes to get to my house. It is still standing, it is actually in great shape. This part of the village didn't see much action, it is far from the stadium the Chunin Exams took place in.

Part of me was hoping that the house was gone. I don't know if I can live here again. The place I grew up with my family at. It holds so many memories of my parents, and now those memories hurt.

I'll sell it. Whether or not Sasuke stays or leaves Konoha, I need to move out. I just can't live there. Anywhere but there.

With an unnecessary sigh, I make my way back to the Hokage tower. The Logistics division is based out of the basement. They'll be able to get my house sold, or point me towards someone who can.

I enter the Hokage tower and make my way downstairs. I walk up to the receptionist.

"Hello, my name is Alvarcus Mar. I'm looking to either trade my house for one of equal value or sell it. Do you guys do that, or is it someone else?"

With a lazy flourish, the receptionist replies, "Yeah we can do that. I'm Daichi Nara. What's the address of the house?"

Ah, a Nara. That explains the laziness. We talk details for awhile. Which house, proving that I actually own said house, estimated value and expected sell date.

"You said you were willing to trade?" Daichi asks me for clarification.

"Yep. Long story short I have bad memories associated with it now." I reply.

Daichi snorts at my response, the jerk. "Won't be the last time. Due to the invasion, Konoha owns some houses. No one is living in them anymore, some are even furnished already. If you don't care about using a dead man's stuff I can trade you one of them for yours. What do you say?"

It would be nice to not have to move stuff out of my old house. Besides, all the things I need are at the Uchiha compound.

"Where are the houses at?"

"North, east, south, west. Anywhere really." He lazily drawls out an answer.

"Eh, east. That is closer to the training ground I normally use. What kind of floor plans do you have over there?"

Daichi grabs a scroll from a shelf behind him. "For the the trade, you can have a two bedroom two bath. Nice kitchen and living room." He tosses me a key. "Go check it out. The address is on the key tag."

"You're not coming with?" This is unusual. Surely someone should accompany me?

He rolls his eyes, "I have your name and where you live. If you try any funny business I know where to find you. Go, I'll be here when you get back."

"Cool."

I leave the Logistics department. It doesn't take long to get to the house by using the shinobi highway, roofs. Only a couple of minutes, and I'm not moving at max speed. It is a social thing, in the village you don't move fast unless you have a reason to. A shinobi moving fast means something is wrong.

The house is simple enough. The furniture there screams bachelor, but that is fine by me. Everything is in working order and it has a surprising view of the Hokage Monument.

"I'll take it." I tell Daichi once I get back.

"Great." He shuffles around some papers on his desk. "Fill this out and it's yours."

One piece of paperwork later, I own a new house.

"That was surprisingly easy. Is it always this easy?" I mutter to myself more than Daichi but he responds anyways.

"Hell no. You were a dream client. Usually it takes weeks for a shinobi to find a new place." He yawns, "That and we have a surplus of empty houses. It's a buyers market right now."

"True." I agree, "An invasion will do that. Thanks for the help."

I'm now a new house owner, at twelve years old. This is a weird place.

Later that Night, Uchiha Compound

I figured I would stay one more night at Sasuke's house. That way I can tell him I'm finally getting out of his hair and where to look for me at. He doesn't come back until late, very late.

"Hey Sasuke. How was training?" I greet him.

"Alright."

Short replies. He's regressing, he was much more open before. He actually would talk in more than one word sentences.

"Well I have good news! I've got my own place now. I'll be moving in tomorrow."

"About damn time." There's the Sasuke I know. "I haven't had peace and quiet since you moved in."

I laugh, "Please! I'm quiet. I barely even bothered you!"

"Your mere presence bothers me!" He says with a playful grin.

This is how we should be. This is how team seven works, we playfully insult each other. I wish Sakura was still here for it.

"So, this is goodbye then."

"Goodbye? I'm only a few minutes away. Plus we are on a team, we will see a lot of each other."

This is not goodbye. I refuse to let this be goodbye. What if the Sound Four came tonight? What if tonight is the night he leaves?

Sasuke rolls his eyes at me. "I know that stupid. Unfortunately I'm stuck with you. You just don't go away."

"You're stuck with me?" I walk over to him and sternly poke him in the chest. "Do you have any idea how much crap I have to deal with for being your teammate?"

"Please I am the perfect teammate. You could have Naruto instead."

I shudder. "Nope, I couldn't deal with him for that long. He has way too much energy. And you are not the perfect teammate! Do you have any idea how often your fan-girls approach me to ask about you?"

Sasuke turns stark white. Which is quite impressive since he is already rather pale.

"No. They don't. Please say they don't."

"They do. All the time." Oh I have to mess with him! "Why do you think they stopped stalking you so much? I've thinned the herd for you."

"Really?" He sounds surprised. His next words are spoke very seriously. "What did you tell them? Alvarcus, what did you tell them!"

"Nothing major." I grin evilly, "Only that due to a horrible mission accident you have lost the ability to reproduce."

"Sorry, it sounded like you just said that you told my fan-girls I was castrated. I must have misheard you."

"Nope, you heard me right!" I merrily say.

"Alvarcus, you have five seconds to tell me you're kidding or I start stabbing you."

Dead serious, Sasuke draws a kunai and points it at me.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

He lunges at me, I lazily fall backwards out of his strike range and roll to my feet. He doesn't let up, he chases me all around his house while I'm cackling like a hyena. This was worth it. This was totally worth it.

"Alright! I give, I lied. Now quit trying to stab me!" I've had my fun, there isn't any reason for him to suffer more. "Ouch! What the hell I said I was kidding! You didn't have to stab me!"

It is Sasuke's turn to grin evilly. "That was for making me chase you around my house."

Fair enough, I shall not seek revenge.

"Now be quiet. I'm tired and want to sleep. This is the last day I have to put up with you. It isn't going fast enough."

"You know you'll miss me!" I call after him as he shuts the door to his room.