IMPORTANT NOTE!

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Welcome, new and old readers alike!

This is the third and final debut of Modus Operandi. For those of you who know it, you know it's dark. It will be getting progressively darker in this rewrite, although it shouldn't be unbearable. Even so, this is NOT for the faint-hearted. If you're looking for fluff, you're in the wrong place. If you're looking for romance, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE. This is NOT a romance. This is a darkfic, and if you don't know what that means, look it up. It's important.

I have about seven chapters re-written. Right now, I plan to update at least every two weeks. The chapters vary in length, but that is important for the pacing of the story. Anyways, on to the trigger warnings:

Rape. Violence. Kidnapping. Stalking. Emotional, mental, and verbal abuse. Other various dark themes.

If you have a problem with any of these things, turn back now. This is, and always has been, a darkfic.

Otherwise, please enjoy!

1.

"We're just too different, Ino," Sakura stated simply. "There's nothing that would attract him more to me than to you. We're just different."

Ino glared vehemently at her best friend. "Oh, really, Forehead? Then why does Sasuke-kun hang out more with you than with me?"

Sakura looked at Ino with innocent eyes, trying to pretend that she really had anything on the beautiful blonde. Ino's glare intensified and Sakura wanted to laugh, but the truth behind the situation caused her to frown instead. "If you must know," she said glumly, no longer relishing her success at having spent more time with Uchiha Sasuke than Ino recently, "We've been assigned together as partners for tomorrow's mock trial in Law & Economics. The only reason he agreed to be my partner is because I have the best grades in the class and his relative, some great-great uncle or something like that is coming to grade the class efforts. Whoever wins this contest gets an internship at the Senju & Uchiha law firm."

Ino just about glowed with glee at her friend's admission, but then quickly stopped herself in suspicion. "Who gets the job? Both of you?"

Sakura sighed wearily. "I don't know, Ino. I don't really care. You know my field is science, not law. I'm just helping a friend." It's too bad that's all he is and all he ever will be. She couldn't hide the look of disappointment on her face.

Ino, temporarily losing her triumphant expression, patted Sakura on the shoulder. "Hey. It just makes the playing field a bit more even, now that Sasuke-kun's spending more time with you. If he wasn't, he'd be spending all his time staring at me and you wouldn't get any attention at all."

Sakura bristled at the playful comment and Ino, seeing that her friend had risen to the bait, took off running with Sakura hot on her heels.

"I'm gonna kill you, Ino!"

They ran from the wooden bench placed in the front of Konoha College. Somehow Yamanaka Ino managed to run obscenely fast in her 5-inch heels and Haruno Sakura couldn't catch up with her even though she was wearing flats.

"Get back here, Pig!" she growled, loudly enough for Ino to hear her.

"Fat chance, Forehead!"

After a long, dogged run, Ino slowed and Sakura nearly collided into her. At Ino's sudden stop, Sakura looked at her questioningly.

The blonde shrugged and flipped a strand of loose hair over her shoulder. "I have class with Sasuke-kun next. Wouldn't want to mess up my makeup with all that sweat."

Sakura frowned at her. "Since when do you have class with him?" she demanded.

Ino all but preened. "Since I was too smart for English IV and got transferred to Honors."

"Since when were you too smart for anything?" Sakura grumbled.

"Hey! Just 'cause I'm good at Foreign Language doesn't mean you have to knock me!"

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

"So, you wanna get some lunch?"

Sakura nodded her consent. "Sure."

They fell into step and walked in companionable silence. Sakura mused back on her friendship/rivalry with Ino. They had been friends since early on, when Ino had decided to befriend her in elementary school, to the shock and horror of her popular friends. Sakura had been bullied because of her large forehead—which, miraculously, she'd grown into during puberty—and had had no friends at the time. For whatever reason that still eluded her to this day, Ino had one day sat down next to her at lunch. From then on they'd been fast friends and soon after, best friends. Ino maintained her popularity and although the social status wasn't contagious, Sakura wasn't picked on anymore with Ino at her side. However, much to Sakura's chagrin, Ino had given her the nickname 'Forehead' after they'd grown close enough. It was a term of endearment, but Sakura wasn't to be bested and had soon started calling her Ino-pig, after her namesake.

They were close, and Sakura was grateful to her. They never talked about it, but without Ino's friendship and consequent protection, Sakura wasn't sure if she would have made it through middle school. High school hadn't been that bad, comparatively.

"Hey, let's go to that great café across the street! I wanna know more about your project with Sasuke-kun, anyways."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but she understood Ino's interest. If Ino had a project with Sasuke, Sakura would want to know, too.

They soon arrived and ordered their food, and then went to find a seat on the outside patio. It was warm for a day in early February, but no one was complaining.

"So, what's it about?" Ino asked, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"We have to solve this criminal case and provide questions we'd ask the criminal, which Umino-sensei will respond to. We then get graded on by our answers and whether we can solve the case and provide sufficient evidence to win, which I guess Sasuke's relative is there for."

"He's there because he works at Senju & Uchiha, right?"

"Yeah, and he's a lawyer, so he'd know if it's in the ballpark of convincing a judge or a jury."

"Ah. And so…if you do well enough, you get to work at his company? You know, I think I heard my tou-san talking about them the other day. Apparently, the son of Sabaku Rasa—you know, the Prime Minister's cousin or whatever—he murdered his uncle, and Uchiha Madara is going to be his defense lawyer. Can you imagine how much money that guy must make?"

Sakura frowned, but nodded. "Wow. I heard about that happening…but do you think this Uchiha Madara is going to be the one who comes to my class? I mean, he must be so busy, if he's working with high-profile people like that…"

Ino's brow furrowed. "And someone in your class is getting a chance to work at Senju & Uchiha? Damn, that's lucky."

"It's only an internship, but yeah. I don't want it, but I know Sasuke-kun does. He really admires his great-uncle or whatever—and who knows? That might be Madara. Sasuke-kun's great-uncle is like one of the top lawyers in Tokyo."

Ino's eyebrows raised. "I wonder if he's got those amazing Uchiha genes…I mean, have you seen Sasuke's parents?" Her baby blue eyes glittered with interest. "Chances are, Uchiha-san's going to be super-hot."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Stop being a perv. He's probably like sixty."

The blonde shrugged, completely blasé. "Oh, whatever…Just eat your food, Forehead."

"Wait…you didn't order anything!" Sakura couldn't believe she hadn't noticed and she hated to be the only one eating—it made her feel fat.

Ino smirked triumphantly. "I'm on a diet."

Uchiha Madara sat in his office at Senju & Uchiha, Attorneys at Law. In front of him sat two men: on the left, the crassest, rudest, most violent man he had ever met, and on the right, a quiet, stoic man with a penchant for piercings and a taste for world peace. This man's ideas for world peace were not, however, what the grand majority of the public would find palatable. Atomic weaponry, a culling of the inferior and unworthy, and a singular world government with him playing God was the general gist of the plan.

Needless to say, he had not forgotten the United States' display of raw power in the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nor did he appreciate the numerous American army bases scattered throughout Japan, despite the fact that the former was much before his time.

Madara sympathized, as there had been a large Uchiha clan faction living in Hiroshima when the bomb struck. The clan had almost been wiped out before the head's family—Madara's grandfather, grandmother, and their son Tajima, who was his father—had relocated to Tokyo in order to escape radiation poisoning. Madara had been unaffected, but his younger brother, Izuna, had been born with defective eyes. Medication and numerous surgeries had slowed the loss of his eyesight, but eventually he would go blind. His father had died relatively young—forty-eight years old—due to cancer, and they had been raised by their mother, who had died five years ago. Madara had been groomed and bred for clan leadership, and had become clan head as soon as he turned of age. Some wondered how he had come out totally unscathed with his father born shortly after Hiroshima—after all, Izuna certainly had been affected—but Madara considered his 'blessing' a factor of simple genetics.

That was not to say he looked down on his brother. He loved Izuna immensely.

"We came to you because we knew you felt as we did," the man to his right, Nagato, was saying. It interrupted his private thoughts, but Madara wasn't complaining. This was business.

Pein was Nagato's moniker and how he was known to most, especially in the underworld where his plans for world domination thrived, but Madara would only accept legal names. After all, he worked with the law extensively, and if he would be bringing this to a court room, he certainly wouldn't be addressing the man as "Pein".

"If you are attempting to make me reduce the fee for my services, I'm afraid you'll find yourself disappointed," Madara interjected calmly.

"What the fuck?" demanded Hidan, the man to his left, who was seeking his services because he was suspected of being involved with a string of murders—specifically, human sacrifices. Nagato was acting as a liaison—there was no official connection, but it was no secret in the underworld that Hidan worked for him—and there was an official escort waiting just outside the room. He wasn't convicted yet, and there was a chance that the evidence could be turned on its head, which was why Madara was even bothering with this in the first place. "Kakuzu's going to fucking maim me for this! Fuck, you bastard, just lower your price by a fucking zero and we'll call it cool!"

Madara sat coolly in his office chair and did not pay attention to the lowly miscreant, barely glancing at him as he went on his tirade. However, Nagato was perceptive and quickly shut Hidan up—he knew that Madara's patience was limited.

Hidan reluctantly quieted and Nagato went on. "We would be indebted to you," Nagato said. "All I ask is a ten percent reduction."

Madara contemplated this. Nagato was a powerful man in the underworld and certainly an ally he could benefit from having. With the younger man's firepower and the connections that he himself had, Madara would certainly be in an advantageous position.

"You're aware that I do not have the same goals as you," he told Nagato. "I benefit greatly from the status quo, in fact."

"And you would benefit just as greatly when our plans come to fruition," Nagato replied confidently.

Madara's facial expression remained neutral, but he did think that Nagato's confidence was more arrogance than anything. To truly believe one could take over the world…with a collective one hundred and ninety-six countries against him and not a single one on his side, it was highly unlikely, especially with world superpower and hallway monitor America right on their doorstep.

Either way, he could see a use for Nagato's indebtedness, even though it had nothing to do with his success in taking over the world. After a long moment, he counteroffered.

"Five percent for a partnership, and five percent for one unnamed favor." Madara had no idea what this favor would entail, but there was never a downside to having that kind of power over someone.

Nagato's brow furrowed. He understood the implications just as well as Madara did—it was not actually worth only ten percent, as Nagato had been aiming for a partnership in the first place. Ten percent would mean absolutely nothing if Madara was going to ask him to assassinate the Prime Minister.

…Although technically, that would be in line with Nagato's goals. That was beside the point.

"Come on, man," Hidan whined. Nagato shot a hard glare in the silver-haired man's direction and Hidan immediately shut up. Hidan was more brawn than brain and obviously didn't see the possibilities behind Madara's request.

After a long moment, Nagato said, "The unnamed favor will be negotiable."

Madara nodded. He had expected as much. If Nagato had agreed without such terms being established, he would be a fool. "Agreed. You will pay ninety percent, then."

Hidan whooped most unprofessionally and Nagato's left eye twitched, the only sign of his irritation.

Madara continued. "Now, then, let's proceed…"

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