In one world, when Mitarashi Anko heard crying from the cemetery she was walking by, she ignored it.

But in another, she decided she would go and see who it was, just to make it wasn't anyone she knew.

Our story begins here in this second world.

Anko looked around the burial ground, with its crooked headstones and winding paths. She had been in here before, to mourn the loss of friends and teammates…those who had had bodies to be buried, at any rate. Hopefully whomever it was she heard crying was not one of the few people she had left. She hated seeing tears.

It probably wasn't anyone she knew, but it didn't hurt to look. As she rounded the corner of the dusty lane, she saw a boy. A very small boy, with dark hair and dark clothes. Peering at the headstone, she could make out:

Uchiha Fugaku Uchiha Mikoto

968-1008 973-1008

Age 40 Age 35

Loving parents

Devoted to each other

Ohhh dear. That meant this child must be Uchiha Sasuke. The remnant of a once great clan. Anko was an orphan herself, but her parents had died when she was just a baby, in the Second Shinobi World War. Somehow it seemed like Sasuke was worse off, having his taken from him when he was already somewhat grown.

As she well knew, traumatised children do not usually grow up to be productive members of society. Especially in a village like Konoha, who's support system for such children was something along the lines of "Buck it up, kid." And considering the way Uchiha tended to be, Anko would not be terribly surprised if Sasuke wound up dead in some foolish quest to kill his brother. She herself had spent long hours thinking up elaborate plans for revenge-oh, who was she kidding? She still did that. Although she had managed to get herself together before she did anything too drastic, there was still fear in quite a lot of the other tokubetsu jounin's eyes when they saw her.

Anko felt like she should do something to help the boy. Betrayed by someone he loved most…but what could she do? She was nineteen and not terribly beloved by the administration.

"Are you watching me?," asked Sasuke suddenly, glaring at her.

"No."

"Really," said Sasuke, disbelief evident in his tone.

"Really. I barely even know who you are, kid."

Sasuke got up, dusted off his shorts, and walked to right in front of Anko. He stared up at her and tried to look angry.

"You've been standing there for ten minutes," he pointed out. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm…Mitarashi Anko." He looked so cute with his hands on his hips like that! The fact that she was about a foot taller than him didn't help.

"Then what are you doing?"

She wanted to retort that it was none of his business-, but couldn't help but saying,

"I heard someone crying. I..uh..wanted to make sure none of my friends were in here."

Sasuke didn't look like he believed that but didn't comment on it, merely sighing.

"Then do you, like, want something, dango-san?"

"Do….you?"

Anko figured he'd start crying again or something, but he replied.

"Yes. Power."

"Ookay then." Then she had an epiphany. She could teach Sasuke, and hopefully avert another crazed Uchiha killing people madly in the future, plus maybe get a loyal minion to help her destroy Orochimaru! What did she have to lose?

"I could teach you, Sasuke-san."

"Why would you? You're a chuunin, a jounin? Surely you have better things to do?"

"I…uh…want to pass on my mad skillz to the next generation?"

Sasuke wasn't sure whether or not this was a good idea. On the one hand, she seemed kind of strange and Mother had always said not to talk to strangers. On the other, he couldn't learn the skills necessary to kill nii-Itachi by himself, right?

"Okay."

"Great! I'll make you into…something, all right."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the cemetery. Its gloomy atmosphere was starting to get to her brain. Sasuke looked like he wanted to protest but said nothing. After twisting, turning, and almost running into a brick wall, they were in Anko's favourite place in Konoha, a small park that was nearly always empty. It had gnarled trees and tall unkempt grass, ensuring it was harder to find someone within it.

"So, I guess I should introduce myself, eh? I'm Mitarashi Anko, tokubtetsu jounin. I like dango, ninja udon, and dramatic entrances and I can't stand…people who take advantage of others"

Sasuke, his hair still somewhat out of place, sighed and said quietly. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes. And I don't like…failing."

"Sometimes one must fail to succeed," said Anko. Where had she heard that, again? Oh. From…sensei.. "So, why don't you tell me what you already know how to do?"

"Why?" Sasuke was kind of annoying, Anko decided. But also adorable.

"So I won't try to teach you anything you already know," she replied, exasperatedly.

"Well…uh…I can do Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu, I guess…and the Cloak of Invisibility Technique…and uh…that's it."

Anko was kind of surprised he already knew how to shoot a giant fireball out of his mouth at eight. Which also meant he probably knew all the hand seals. She knew the Uchiha liked to start early but didn't they realise that forcing children to learn to be killers at such a young age was a bad idea? Granted Sasuke wasn't that much beyond early-Academy-student level, but he wasn't the heir: Itachi could probably do that much at four.

"You've got a long way to go. Hmm…let's start with…Henge." It was one of her favourites. So simple, but people often forgot to check for it. It was one of the more difficult e-ranks, but it was still an e-rank. Ahh, the fun she'd had pretending to be her classmates!

"Henge?" asked Sasuke curiously.

Anko grinned, and a blur of hand seals later, she looked just like the boy in front of her. He blinked, startled.

"Is-is that a genjutsu?" he questioned, looking faintly confused.

"Nope! It's a ninjutsu. I really am a 4'4 brat right now-or at least I appear to be."

Sasuke swiped at the air above her head, as if to prove her wrong. But there was nothing. Then she was back to herself .

"I presume you already know the hand seals, yeah? The ones for this are Dog-Boar-Ram. Go on, try it."

Try as he might, Sasuke could not become an image of someone else. Repeating it over and over again, until finally, he glowered at Anko and said, "Is there something you're leaving out, here?"

"Well, uh, you need to constantly emit chakra while maintaining a clear picture of the person you're trying to become in your mind…" she said, remembering her own Academy teacher saying much the same.

"Why didn't you say so?" he said, looking sort of angry.

But even with this, he still couldn't perform a Henge, even a bad one. He grew more and more frustrated.

"Sasuke-kun, you just can't get everything right on the first try." Perhaps she should have started with something other than Henge. "It took me months.".

"I will be able to Henge by tomorrow. I know I will." And before Anko could say anything, he had run off. She sighed. Maybe she just wasn't fit to be a teacher. Or maybe Sasuke just wasn't fit to be taught.

A/N: Everybody makes up their own date system for Naruto, so here's mine: It's based off the number of years since the Rikudou Sennin was born. Sasuke, Naruto, et al, were born in 1000. Right now it's 1008.