Disclaimer: As is typical

A/N: Okay. Several comments – not only is this as late as all hell, but it’s also kind of crap. I’m sorry about this, but I decided at this point it was better just to put something up than make you wait another year or so. There is a lot of talking, but there are also a couple of important plot points that will come back later; I assure you that although it may all just look like filler, not all of it is. Secondly, this story is AU. Please don’t tell me that Naruto was the son of Yondaime in canon; I am aware of that. Don’t tell me that Itachi killed the clan on orders. I am also aware of that. I am just ignoring it for the sake of my own plot. For the sake of your own sanity, just consider this fic effectively AU after the Chuunin Exams. Thirdly, Sasuke's surname has, after some consideration, been changed to Hideyoshi (I picked a name at random; it's a completely valid way of creating character names).The next chapter should come in under a month to conclude part one; it’s more interesting than this chapter, so should be a lot easier to write. Review responses are coming to all signed reviews; thank you all for your continued support and my apologies for my slack updating schedule.

Two Steps Back

Chapter Four

“Expel your chakra from your feet slower – slower,” Sasuke said in a calm voice as he did another press-up.

He and Naruto were outside in Shizuka's garden, trying to master the art of water-walking – well, Naruto was trying to master it and Sasuke was monitoring the chakra levels and going through a basic fitness routine to try and keep himself in shape.

“I am doing it slowly!” Naruto complained, and Sasuke snorted.

“You need to use less chakra or the levels will fluctuate too much for you to be able to stand on the water. The lower the level of chakra is, the easier it is for you to maintain. Now use less chakra,” he said, and there was silence on Naruto's part.

“Uh, Kenshin-sensei?” he finally piped up. Sasuke grunted. “What does fluctuate mean?”

“Change back and forth,” he explained shortly. He extended his senses, and there-

“That's a better level of chakra,” he said. “Try to keep that up, and then step onto the water.”

A few seconds later there was a splash, and Sasuke sighed.“Try it again,” he said.

There was a rustle from behind him – Shizuka, he decided, feeling the chakra held in rough control under the person's skin. His guess was confirmed when Naruto shouted a greeting to 'Shizuka-nee-chan!”

The lack of reply, though, made him frown slightly. That wasn't like her – now, to put the effort into actually enquiring, or just to let her sort it out on her own...

“Naruto's gettin' bullied,” she said without preamble, he voice low enough that Naruto wouldn't be able to hear, and Sasuke held himself still in surprise. Shizuka seemed to take that as permission to continue. “He's keeping his mouth shut 'cause he knows you can't see the bruises and they're healin' up pretty fast, but someone seems to be takin' the time to redo 'em every other day.”

“Do you have any idea who?” Sasuke asked, pushing himself to his feet, and he was proud of how calm his voice was – even if it bordered on the edge of being too calm; dangerous in its mildness.

“D'you think I'd be sittin' here if I did?” Shizuka said. “I'd be kickin' the shit outta those bastards, or at least havin' a good go at it.” She sighed through her nose. “I don't – I like the kid, y'know, and I don't let anyone fuck with my lot.”

Sasuke could feel a trite comment about Konoha's Will of Fire rising to his lips, before he pushed it down. “Do you have any idea why?” he asked. “Has he been pulling pranks-?”

“Er,” Shizuka said, clearly thinking it over. “Nah – nah, he hasn't. Which is weird, 'cause you'd think they'd need some sorta trigger. Ain't like they'd go 'round beating the shit out of him for no reason, even if he is- well, you know.”

“Hm,” Sasuke said in reply.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Shizuka snarled. “I mean, it damn well ain’t goin’ to be any of the kids ‘cause they just don’t have the strength to do somethin’ like this – an’ anyone older’n that has got t’know how Sandaime feels about stuff like this.

“The Hyuuga clan might be a little upset over the defeat of one of their members,” Sasuke said reluctantly. “Especially since I am blind. It… cannot be the most respectable of defeats for those who pride themselves on being all-seeing.”

“Y’mean over Hyuuga Akihiro?” Shizuka asked, continuing without waiting for an answer. “The man’s a dick. Everyone knows that. Seriously, if I was good enough, I’d’a kicked his fuckin’ head in long ago, an’ that’d just be ‘cause it’d feel good.”

“Nevertheless,” Sasuke shrugged. “They are incapable of acting directly against either myself or Naruto, yet I would imagine they are unwilling to allow the humiliation to escape. If a few adults happen to mention around a couple of teenagers how Naruto seems to be flaunting their clan’s disgrace…”

“But he’s hangin’ ‘round with that Neji kid now!” Shizuka protested.

“Mm,” Sasuke agreed. “I do not believe they would be too happy over that, either. Perhaps that has upset them even more than this Akihiro’s defeat. Hiashi, perhaps, would allow a lot to happen for the alleviation of his nephew’s bitterness – the clan elders on the other hand…” He sighed. “Naturally, this is all supposition.”

“So we need somethin’ that’ll get the Hyuuga to back off,” Shizuka said thoughtfully.

Sasuke laughed softly. “We don’t have the force to make them back off,” he said, almost bitterly. “A genin and a blind man. I wouldn’t have expected them to be so petty about what revenge they took, but what can we do about it?”

“Rumours,” Shizuka said abruptly. “I’ll say somethin’ about you wantin’ to… I dunno, adopt the kid, an’ how I overheard Sandaime shoutin’ something about Namikaze, an’ then,” she adopted a tone of mock revelation, “Hey, the kid kinda looks like Yondaime did. D’you think…?”

“You’ll make them think he’s Yondaime’s son,” Sasuke said. Maybe-

“Nah, not goin’ to say anything straight out. Everyone knows that Yondaime couldn’t have kids – some sorta family curse t’do with firstborn or somethin’. But we let rumour say it, an’ by tomorrow he’ll be Yondaime’s little brother, or nephew, or, hell, Yondaime himself reborn. Maybe they’ll come up with some explanation sayin’ Yondaime broke the curse an’ just didn’t tell anyone ‘cause he wanted his son to be safe.”

“And then nothing can be verified – or disproved, but they still would be wary about testing it,” Sasuke said. “Not bad.” He managed not to let his confusion show in his voice – because Naruto wasn’t the Yondaime’s son? He’d always assumed…

Shizuka snorted inelegantly. “People reckon I’m stupid,” she said. “I am, kinda – I don’t know books or anything, but I’m still half Nara when it comes to it. S’just… I can’t make things go from A to B, if y’get me. I’m there at D, an’ I’ve not got a clue how, or how t’explain it but-” She sighed.

“It’s like seals. There’s all this maths and stuff behind explosive tags, but I c’n just draw ‘em an’ they’ll work just fine even if they aren’t like everyone else’s.”

“You make your own explosive tags?” Sasuke asked, momentarily derailed.

“Well, yeah,” Shizuka said, sounding confused. “Doesn’t everyone? It’s way cheaper.”

“Cheaper, perhaps but hardly time-efficient,” Sasuke said. “It takes a while-“

“Kenshin-sensei, I did it, I did it!” Naruto shouted, and Sasuke turned his head to where Naruto’s voice was coming from.

“How long?” he asked, and paused, slightly bewildered at the tolerant amusement in his own voice. It was only a tinge, but since when had his emotions been on show like this?

“Two minutes, just like you said! I counted it – six lots of twenty seconds.” Naruto said, running up to him, his wet clothes slapping against the ground.

“Good,” Sasuke said, inclining his head slightly. “Remember to do this at the start of every day, increasing the length slightly – your chakra control will be significantly improved by it.”

“Hey, hey!” Shizuka said indignantly. “I didn’t get a ‘good’ when I mastered the water-walkin’ thingy.”

“Shizuka,” Sasuke said blandly, “You’re over twice his age.”

“Yeah, but-“ she spluttered. “I completed it faster than him too!”

“As I said,” Sasuke said, “Twice his age.”

“It’s ‘cos I’m cooler than you,” Naruto said, and Sasuke could guess that he was sticking his tongue out. Shizuka howled.

“That’s it, you little brat! You’re going down!”

Sasuke leant back slightly as Shizuka went lunging past him, and managed not to sigh as the two descended into an all-out war in the back yard. At least, he thought philosophically, feeling Naruto’s chakra flare as he presumably ran across the pond – at least they were still practicing their control.

Sasuke sighed as he stretched out slightly – another early-morning training session done, and he’d managed to hold off strangling Ryuu yet again. If it weren’t for Chouji keeping control over the brat, he admitted to himself ruefully, then he’d have come close to snapping. Inoichi had taken Ino and Naruto (it was strange how those two were starting to slur together; InoandNaruto, like they were one person) to the Academy for classes and Sasuke was taking advantage of the momentary quiet.

Naturally, he should have been surprised when the faint – polite – flare of chakra came from off to one side; an ANBU signaling their presence. The residents of Konoha had an uncanny talent for interfering with his peaceful reveries (brooding, he could almost hear Naruto – old Naruto – saying mockingly. Call it what it is, bastard.)

He turned his head to acknowledge the ANBU’s signal, not showing his exasperation.

“Sandaime-sama would like to see you at your convenience, Hideyoshi-san,” the ANBU said, voice muffled by the mask to come out as monotonous.

“Hm,” Sasuke acknowledged. “Thank you for delivering the message, ANBU-san.” There was another brief flare of chakra – the ANBU teleporting away, he assumed, but he knew better than to take it for certain.

Now, he thought, what precisely was meant by ‘at your convenience’? Had it been a message from Orochimaru, then he would have assumed it was sarcastic – and that he was probably late for a meeting with the Otokage. Sandaime, however, he imagined said precisely what he meant. Nevertheless, it was probably best not to keep him waiting.

Sasuke began to head further into Konoha, the route so ingrained in his mind by now that he barely had to pay attention to obstacles. If he stuck to the more abandoned outer roads on his way to the Hokage’s tower he might be able to make the journey without bumping into someone; while he could sense the bare limits of civilians’ chakra, it was like comparing a candle to a bonfire when put next to shinobi – tended to throw his perception completely out. Shinobi were far easier to predict when it came to movement, something he had no doubt would distress a great number of ninja should they find out. And speaking of ninja-

“A word, Hideyoshi-san,” a familiar voice snapped from somewhere to the left, and Sasuke frowned trying to remember where he recognised it from. Ah- Uchiha Shisui. He turned his head to where the sound had come from, tilting his head in slight inquiry.

“In private,” Shisui said, and it was close to a snarl. Sasuke felt his muscles tense, not liking the hostility that was clearly present, but pretty sure it wasn't worth getting into a pissing match over. He extended his senses to try and gage how many people were around them – two civilians, slightly north-west, he guessed.

“Where would you suggest, Uchiha-san?” he asked, and his voice was pleasant enough to be a blatant mockery.

There was a pause, before Shisui’s hand was on Sasuke’s shoulder; the blur of a teleport and Sasuke had to stop himself from reacting as they slid through air, solid force pressing in- and then out; a rush of release as they were back in the original plane. Sasuke wasn’t sure when he’d drawn the kunai, but he knew just how close it passed to Shisui.

“Perhaps,” he said carefully, “It would be wise to warn someone before you tried that next time, Shunshin no Shisui.”

“What did you tell Sandaime-sama?” Shisui demanded, ignoring the warning in his voice, close enough that Sasuke could feel his muscles tensing in reaction.

“What are you talking about?” he asked in a carefully calm voice, sheathing his kunai and keeping his face poker-blank.

“Don't look at me like that!” Shisui snapped. “You admitted to having the sharingan, you talked to him alone – you're the only one who could have brought this along.”

“Uchiha-san,” Sasuke said with forced patience. “Your... interrogation would work better if I knew what you were trying to accuse me of.”

Shisui breathed in, sharply, as if trying to control his temper. It took another few breaths before he finally spoke. “Sandaime-sama has restricted use of sharingan to seven hours a week, regardless of missions. The sharingan is not to be activated within the village walls unless in one of several regulated training grounds. He has ordered that all Uchihas on active service are to have regular-” And there was distaste in Shisui's voice as he continued, “-psychological examinations. Once every two months to be precise. What did you say to him?”

Sasuke knew he should back down, offer some placatory response that would calm the other down – taunting ANBU wasn't a great idea at the best of times and taunting them when blind was just stupid. Even so- He could feel his mouth widening into a cold smirk almost against his will, his shoulders dropping into insolent relaxation. This, a little voice in the back of his voice said, in tones uncannily reminiscent of Kakashi, was what always got him into trouble. Control yourself, let people think you're harmless.

“The truth,” he said – at least his voice was the same dispassionate tones as he normally used. He would have been forced to bash his head against the nearest wall if he had descended into childish taunting. “The sharingan causes psychological instability, especially when advanced to higher levels. Constant activation leads to a deterioration in memory, emotional control and eyesight.”

“That’s a lie!” Shisui snarled.

“You're hardly the best one to judge, Uchiha-san,” Sasuke said, secretly quite enjoying just how riled up Shisui was getting. “In fact-” He paused, cocking his head – had he heard...? For a second, he'd thought he'd heard a trigger explosion, like the ones Konoha had used against Oto at the beginning of the war – but there was no follow-

The explosion that came next rocked the ground beneath their feet, followed by the thumps of people stumbling against walls, the startled screams. Kabuto almost blurring in his speed; the absolute shock that Konoha would dareattack them in their own home- was it Naruto who’d set off the explosion, he wondered as he ran towards the noise – Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, anyone he knew? Sasuke shifted to keep his balance, shifted his mind into the present and felt the rush of chakra as Shisui leapt to the nearest roof – going to see what had happened?

There was the faint shift of displaced air as Shisui landed back on the street. “It's over in sector five-seven,” he said, sounding distracted and Sasuke frowned. Shisui kept on talking, as if to himself “The only place of significance there is the police station – there's no point in attacking that.”

“Must be the first level holding cells,” Sasuke said after a moment's thought. “Maybe someone's trying to break out-”

“The first level holding cells?” Shisui repeated blankly. “But-” Sasuke could almost hear the speed of Shisui's thoughts from where he stood, flickering over different pathways hurriedly. “I was just heading over there,” Shisui said after a moment. “I just – saw you and stopped to-”

“Shout irrationally at me?” Sasuke enquired dryly. “Shouldn't you be going to secure the facilities?”

“Hm? Oh - no,” Shisui said slowly. “I'm not on duty – I was going to see if Sayu needed me to pick up some lunch for her. If I go now, I'll just be getting in the way of the emergency procedures. You know protocol.” He sounded worried though, as if he were trying to convince himself.

Sasuke nodded, unable to see the calculating look that spread over Shisui's face.

“So you were part of a Village,” he said triumphantly. “Probably this one too, if you know our protocol – and you knew where the holding cells were.”

Sasuke stilled, thinking quickly. “What happened to worrying about the police station?” he drawled out, buying himself time. What to say, what to say... “And no, I've never been part of a Village. That doesn't mean I can't recognise the logic of your protocol when I hear it, or I can't guess that the lower security cells would be near your police station.”

There was silence, and Sasuke wondered briefly what Shisui was doing – waited for him to speak up.

“You know,” Shisui said after a moment, and there was an undeniably smug note in his voice. “You talk more when you're lying.”

Sasuke said nothing, but arranged his face into a polite mask of incredulity. In the distance, there was the sound of shouting; chakra signs flaring up as more and more ninja took to the roofs in fast patrol formation. Alarms were beginning to flare up – as if anyone hadn’t been alerted in the breach of security by the explosion, Sasuke thought with brief amusement, fading to be replaced with concentration.

Explosion in the police cells; did he remember it? Shisui was saying something else, pulsing his chakra out in flares in response to some sort of ANBU signal that had been sent out. There’d been that time, not long before the massacre; he’d been noisy, talking about how he’d felt the shocks over in the library, his mother had been saying something to his father over the evening meal – “it was a good thing Shisui-san was visiting Sayu. Who knows how out of hand it could have got otherwise?”

Ripples, Sasuke thought, sudden panic assaulting him. Ripples on ripples on ripples, affecting things – how was he changing the future? He was making guesses, based on what he knew, but he’d already starting changing things, even without Sandaime doing his best to meddle. If all these small things were changing then how was he going to control the larger ones? How was he going to make sure Naruto stayed safe?

Another chakra flare; someone dropping down in front of them. Sasuke found a kunai in his hand – he must be more off-balance than he’d thought, already resorted to weapons and as twitchy as anything.

“Is there a reason you’re not moving to patrol the streets Shisui?” a young voice said, prepubescent but trying – and nearly succeeding - to make up for it in stern monotony.

“Is there a reason you’re breaking Sandaime’s new law already, Itachi?” Shisui said mockingly, and Sasuke froze- Itachi? His fingers twitched, almost desperate to form a jutsu, but no- Sandaime knew, Sandaime would deal with it, Itachi had to live so the timeline wouldn’t decide to nosedive into Orochimaru’s welcoming arms – any further than it might have. Damn, but it was harder than he’d thought to keep himself from just reaching out and-

No. He tuned back in to find Shisui speaking again. “-your sharingan? It’s active kid. That’s against the law.”

Sasuke tried not to smirk at the patronising tone Shisui had taken on. There was something deeply satisfying about hearing his perfect older brother being talked down to that appealed to the eight-year-old hidden inside of him.

“I am an ANBU captain,” Itachi said, his voice carefully calm. “Referring to me as ‘kid’ borders on insubordination.”

Shisui snickered. “Tell you what. When your voice breaks, I’ll stop calling you kid.”

“Shisui-”

Sasuke’s head snapped around as he felt three chakra signals approaching at speed. There was a sound – one of the two near him taking to the roof, ready to herd them. The other – Shisui, definitely Shisui – was trying to push him out of the way as they came closer.

Sasuke twitched, contemplated being reasonable and then decided against it with calm certainty. His hands flashed through a series of seals, and he was proud to note that his dexterity hadn’t faded in the slightest – ten seals reeled off as fast as any could.

Slamming his hands out, he didn’t bother to shout the name of his technique – instead feeling the wind wrap around his forearms and then blast out at speed, a tornado lashing out. The approaching chakra signals faltered – and then were caught up in the winds and tossed against the nearest walls. Sasuke grinned viciously as he heard sickening thuds, then wished briefly that he’d been able to unleash a nastier jutsu. Wind jutsus weren’t his strength, but after seeing Naruto toss them around like confetti, he’d picked up a couple out of sheer self-preservation.

“That was an interesting jutsu,” Itachi said, suddenly behind Sasuke. Sasuke tried not to twitch, and simply grunted an acknowledgement.

“From Suna?” Itachi prompted after a few seconds of silence.

“Yes,” Sasuke replied, and didn’t elaborate.

“They’re both still alive,” Shisui called – he’d presumably been checking their state, Sasuke thought detachedly. That was good – wait-

“Both?” he said. “Where’s the third?”

“Third?” Shisui asked. “I didn’t see a third.”

“There were three chakra signatures,” Sasuke said curtly. “One was fainter than the others, but still-“

There was silence, in which Sasuke imagined a conversation taking place between Itachi and Shisui – ANBU signs, most likely. “If there was a third, I’m sure they’ll be picked up by village security,” Shisui said at long last, his voice slightly placatory. Sasuke could imagine the thought – if my sharingan didn’t see them, they didn’t exist.

“…Probably,” he conceded, not altogether sure of it. Someone, or two someones, were approaching from the right – a familiar trigger. Inoichi?

“We’ll take them off your hands, Uchiha-san,” Inoichi called. “No need for you both to hang around.”

“…My thanks,” Itachi said, his voice implying that he wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or not. “I’ll take my leave of you then.”

“Ah- just a moment,” Inoichi said mildly. “You appear to be breaking the law, Uchiha-san.”

There was a pause, before Itachi spoke. “My apologies. It would appear to be an involuntary reaction to the altercation that took place shortly previous.”

“Perhaps you should be more careful about your- involuntary reactions then,” Inoichi said, still mild. Sasuke wasn’t sure, but he imagined there was a faint note of glee underlying the careful words. “Some might be less conscientious about questioning you when it comes to fulfilling Sandaime’s will.”

“Naturally,” Itachi said. “Shisui?”

There was no confirmatory sound, but the two vanished with the flares that indicated a precise teleport, much to Sasuke’s relief.

“There is,” Inoichi remarked thoughtfully, “A certain amount of pleasure available in enforcing Sandaime’s new decrees – don’t you think Genma?”

Genma snickered. “I’m just waiting for Uchiha Fugaku-sama to activate his sharingan in the Village. It’s going to happen sooner or later.”

Inoichi’s grin was obvious in his voice as he replied. “I’m betting there’ll be a couple of Hyuuga following him around for precisely that eventuality.”

Genma laughed. “If the Aburame don’t beat them to it. They were… a little upset at some of the Uchiha clan proposals at the last council meeting.” There was the click of something – senbon against teeth? and then a grin. “You look like you want to ask some questions you don’t particularly want me hearing, so I’m going to go stand over by that wall and examine the graffiti so carefully that I’m not going to hear anything you say. That cool?”

Inoichi snorted. “Thanks Genma.” He waited a few moments, before speaking again. “So why were you talking to Shisui-san, Kenshin?”

“He thought I had something to do with the new laws,” Kenshin deadpanned.

“Did you?”

“Perhaps,” he admitted, not sure why he was bothering to give an answer.

“Huh,” Inoichi said. And then again. “Huh. I hadn’t really noticed that you looked like an Uchiha.”

“Is this what you wanted to ask me?” Sasuke said, not particularly interested in going over that topic.

“Hm? Oh, yes – I was going to ask you- you said you were a combat specialist? Ninjutsu in particular?”

Sasuke grunted in agreement.

“What would you require in return for you sharing some of the jutsus you know? Nothing that could be considered family jutsus, naturally,” he clarified hurriedly, “But anything you might have picked up that you don’t mind passing on.”

“Is this the appropriate time?”

“No better,” Inoichi grinned. “And c’mon – it’s a bunch of low-level ninja on the run. Worst it’ll do is cause the Uchiha some embarrassment because they weren’t policing as well as they claimed to be.”

Sasuke hummed. “I believe Sandaime is planning on hiring me as a teacher for higher-level ninjas to pass on jutsus,” he said. “As a friend, I should tell you that private lessons come at the cost of getting me really hammered.”

“That unhappy?” Inoichi asked, amused.

“I’d really like to be drunk right now,” Sasuke confessed, and Inoichi laughed.

“I know the feeling. I think the Academy is planning on taking the kids out on weekend survival training – I’ll bring over some sake and we can see about negotiating.”

Sasuke sighed – it was absolutely impossible to get anywhere with the village in panicked lockdown from the earlier explosion. He’d given up on approaching the Hokage any time soon, and instead had made his way to the nearest park he could – not that he’d been too certain where that was, given that Shisui’s transportation jutsu had completely thrown off his internal direction sensor.

“Kenshin!” Shisui called, and Sasuke groaned desperately.

“Don’t you have better things to do with your time?” he asked. “Ensure village security, like a good little ninja?”

“I think that’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen you show,” Shisui said with some surprise. “And no, I’ve been kicked off active duty again. I didn’t tell you that I’d been injured, did I?”

“Would I have cared?” Sasuke asked, his mouth set in a straight line. Orochimaru would have killed him for the lack of discipline he was showing.

“Probably not,” Shisui said. “Anyway, we were discussing how you were lying, before we were so rudely interrupted.”

Sasuke gave up. Shisui had somehow managed to exceed that little brat Ryuu in sheer annoyance levels.

“See, way I reckon it,” Shisui continued, emboldened by the lack of rebuttal, “Sandaime would never have let you stay in the Village if he wasn't sure of your loyalties – let alone let you near Yon- the Uzumaki kid. And there's no way you can be sure of the loyalties of a wandering-nin, because they're a bunch of treacherous bastards at the best of times, so he must've known you in some other way. And that whole confrontation thing with Sandaime?” Sasuke listened to him with a faint air of bewilderment, as Shisui got rapidly more excited, gesticulating as conclusions came to him. “That was faked. Completely faked. I mean, obviously so. Seriously, what are the chances of having an Uchiha ANBU on duty in Sandaime's office at the same time as some apparently random unknown shinobi who apparently used to have the sharingan comes in for an interview?” Shisui kept on talking, a note of dawning realisation in his voice. “And all the restrictions on the sharingan. He's probably been waiting for ages to put those in place. There's no way he could have come up with all of the specifics, made all of the personnel available for some random decree he came up with overnight. He just needed an excuse to initiate it – and then you come along, conveniently blinded so no one can actually tell whether you had the sharingan or not but appearance-wise close enough to an Uchiha that you might be one of the clan, pulling out the spiel of bullshit on how the sharingan messes people up-”

“Yes,” Sasuke deadpanned. “That's it. This is all a huge conspiracy against the Uchiha clan. You found us out.”

There was a searching pause, and Sasuke heard Shisui take a half-step forward, heard the faint scrape of flesh against – teeth? Was he biting his lip?

“A- deterioration of emotional control, you said,” Shisui muttered, the words sounding like they had been dragged out of him. “You said you killed- Haru, was it? A lover?”

Sasuke swallowed, not expecting the sudden change of topic. Haru he'd told them, but suddenly he wanted to confess – not some unknown Haru, but Naruto. Not a lover, he wanted to say. Closer than a lover, more than a lover. Every time I tried to push him away, he'd always come back; bullheaded, determined to believe in me when no one else did. He'd forgive me anything, even when I didn't deserve to be forgiven, but the sharingan – it made everything seem so clear, so logical in my mind. It- fixates your mind on what you want, and suddenly everything else is irrelevant, and Naruto- fuck it, I just want him back. This Naruto; he's fine, he helps me repent, he makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile with my life, like I've got something to live for, but he's not my Naruto. The words hovered on his tongue, and-

“Not a lover,” he said, pretending to himself that his voice was steady – and it was; no one but a well-trained shinobi would hear the faint quiver. “A friend.”

“Was he related to the Uzumaki kid?” Shisui said, a tinge of sympathy in his voice that had Sasuke wanting to bristle indignantly.

“Why would you think that?” he asked after a few moments, making sure he was as composed as possible. He knew it wouldn’t work too well – Shisui had seen too much in the bits of emotion he had displayed – but maybe he could let Shisui come up with a convincing story that wouldn’t require Sasuke’s confirmation one way or another.

“A lot of people felt they owed Yondaime. Some of them even let it carry on over to his legacy – you know, making sure rumours don’t get out of control, and the like. My parents- they might not have been the most successful of shinobi and they never activated their sharingan, but that just meant they were more loyal to Yondaime than to the clan, and they wouldn’t let anything happen to the kid after Yondaime gave his life for Konoha.”

“Is there a reason you’re spilling your life story out to me?” Sasuke inquired blandly, not sure whether to feel intrigued or disapproving. Shisui could be trying to weave some intricate lie, but there was something in his voice – in the slightly agitated flickers of chakra – that told Sasuke this was true. What kind of idiot started talking about these sort of secrets to someone he barely knew?

Shisui huffed a brief laugh. “You really can be a bastard, can’t you? Maybe I’m hoping for some reciprocation eventually. What I was trying to get at though is that even though they felt they owed Yondaime everything, and even though they’d stop people from outright harming the kid, they’d never have taken him in. They’d never have done half of what you’re doing for him. And if this Haru felt half as strongly as you do, then-“ Shisui paused, as if trying to seek out the right words, the right phrases for what he was trying to say. “Look, if he was a wandering-nin, either he was Yondaime’s bastard brother and he was trying to live up to his brother or relative or whatever the hell Yondaime was to him which isn’t possible because then he would’ve belonged in Konoha, or it’s not Yondaime he’s related to and he doesn’t feel he owes Yondaime anything, because it’s the Uzumaki kid he’s related to and he was just using Yondaime as an excuse. Because there’s no way that a wandering-nin could ever feel that indebted to the kage of a shinobi nation. He’d’ve been signed up for Konoha or something-“

Sasuke tried not to frown as he slowly sorted through the convoluted reasoning. “Why couldn’t he have belonged to Konoha?”

“What?” Shisui asked, startled.

“You said if he was a wandering-nin that felt that kind of debt to Konoha, he would have been adopted into the ranks. What makes you think he wasn’t?”

“Well, he would have taken the kid in, wouldn’t he?” Shisui said, and Sasuke sighed.

“Haven’t you already accused me of being some sort of deep undercover agent? What makes you think Haru wasn’t?”

“So you’re admitting it,” Shisui said, sounding satisfied.

“What?” Sasuke was almost completely lost.

“You’re admitting you belong to the village. “

“Was this all some convoluted way of getting me to say I belonged to Root or something?” Sasuke demanded incredulously.

“And how would you know about Root if you didn’t have the classification?” Shisui continued smugly.

“Uchiha-san-“

“Shisui,” he corrected. “I’m not accusing you of belonging to Root, naturally – although the knowledge you have of its existence is interesting and further confirmation of my suspicions – because Root doesn’t quite deal in the same missions as you seem to be carrying out. I do think I know which operation you’ve been working on, but I won’t ask you to confirm it. I understand that you’ll have to keep classified information quiet. “

Sasuke decided not to say anything.

“Returning to my original question though – was Haru related to Uzumaki Naruto?”

Sasuke was thoroughly frustrated by this point – if all the Uchiha clan had been like Shisui, he could suddenly empathise with Itachi’s desire to kill them. “I don’t know,” he said curtly. “We didn’t talk about our relatives.”

“But they looked alike.”

Sasuke stilled. “I’m not sure if it’s occurred to you Uchiha-san-“

“Shisui,” he was corrected again. “You seem intelligent enough to remember my name, even if you do insist on not using it-”

“I’m blind,” he said, cutting Shisui off.

“I had noticed,” Shisui said.

“How would I then know what Naruto looks like?” Sasuke said with forced patience.

“The way he acts then,” Shisui dismissed. “You get a peculiar look on your face when the Uzumaki boy acts in a certain fashion – reminding you of him?”

Sasuke opened his mouth, and then closed it again. “Have you been stalking me?” he asked.

“Hardly relevant,” Shisui said. “If you’d please stop avoiding the question-“

“Kenshin-sensei!”

There was barely a moment’s notice before a fast-moving babble hit him, Ino clinging to one of his legs.

“There was this guy, and he, liked, touched Naruto, and he was really weird, and ‘tou-san said he was a civilian and an escaped criminal but he moved like a ninja and he used this totally awesome jutsu, and do you know what it was?”

Sasuke felt his finger twitch in involuntary response as he deciphered the childish babble. “Ino-chan?” he questioned after a moment.

“Yes sensei?” she chirped.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the Academy?”

“Me an’ Naruto bunked way earlier – that’s how the guy found Naruto, which was way weird, but it woulda been weirder if he had to break into the Academy to do his weirdo ‘you are the blessy save-yer’ thing-“

“Blessed savior?”

“I totally said that sensei! Anyway, it was so weird, right Naruto?”

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed. “He made my chakra feel strange. And then he just disappeared!”

“Yeah, and then there were two others and they ran away – prob’ly ‘cause they knew me ‘n Naruto would’ve owned them ‘cause we’re awesome like that.”

“I’m sure,” Sasuke said, his palms itching with the need to make sure that Naruto was okay – that whatever had been done to his chakra did him no harm. “Come on. If you come home and let me check you over to make sure there was no harm done I’ll ignore the fact that you were bunking off.”

“C’n we have ramen?” Naruto asked solemnly.

“If there’s any in the house – and if you then escort me to the Hokage’s Tower.”

There was a long moment of consideration, then a quick whispered conversation (“then we have a real excuse to give to Iruka-sensei!”). “Deal,” Ino said confidently. “Can we go now?”

“Kenshin-“ Shisui said, and Sasuke turned his head.

“Later.”

There was a soft grumble of discontent, but no further complaint, so Sasuke assumed he agreed. Turning back to the children, he managed a small smile. “Lead the way,” he said, and Naruto grabbed his hand, dragging him along.

END CHAPTER