"Bastard," was the general muttering that always followed me when I walked through the Uchiha compound to the home I shared with my father. It didn't matter how well I did. It was always the same.

I ignored it though. It didn't matter. No matter what, I was still an Uchiha. My mother, whoever she was, only mattered because she had given me life.

I arrived home, dropped my mostly empty backpack by the door, then went out back to the small fenced in training area my father had set up for me. A schedule was important, and I always trained as soon as I got home from school. I would train until the sunset, then I would eat. My father would get home just before I had to go to bed, and he would tell me a story about one of the Hokages or Sannin or a famous Uchiha (typically, although there were also other stories occasionally). Then I would go to sleep and wake the next morning at dawn to train for an hour before getting ready for school.

A rat ran into the training grounds. I caught it easily, cradling it in my hands long enough to put it back on the other side of the fence around the training grounds, offering it a small piece of bread before retreating again. I did this with all animals that wandered into the training grounds, which inevitably endeared me to several of the weaker ninken and acquainted me with a very small number of the stronger ones. I even saw a Hatake dog at one point, though he had been on a mission to find an Uchiha. He'd still lingered long enough for me to give him a small treat.

Then it was back to training, working to make sure my skills surpassed those of everyone in the Academy. The sooner I could become a jonin, the sooner I could move out of the compound and finally stop being judged for my Uchiha heritage, unless I gained sharingan. If that happened, I wouldn't be allowed to leave and join the ANBU, as I had dreamed of since I could remember. Of course, drawing attention to myself for being skilled would be dangerous as well, so I didn't let anyone at the school see my level of skill if I could help it.

Angry at the thoughts roaming through my head, I started training harder, hoping to reach the state of exhaustion that would make such thoughts much harder to maintain. I had never managed to push myself hard enough to block them entirely, and I suspected that such a thing would require me to pass out.

My fists started to ache, so I paused long enough to wrap them, knowing that bloodied fists would only get me grounded from after school training, no matter the fact that they could easily be healed.

The rage boiled higher though, and it felt like I couldn't even contain it anymore. I opened my mouth, planning on letting out an angry shout, not realizing the signs that my hands had instinctively formed seconds before. The fire spilled out, burning the training dummies to the ground and setting the fence on fire. I rushed to put it out, hoping that my sudden high output of chakra and relative murderous intent hadn't drawn anyone's attention. Of course, I was never that lucky.

Fugaku-sama appeared in the small training grounds. He had done this twice before, each marking a time when I had mastered one of the things the Uchiha were known for. The first had been when I'd mastered throwing shuriken, and the second had been when I'd managed my first genjutsu.

I bowed deeply automatically, knowing that I had to display the utmost respect for the man, no matter the close familial relationship between the two of us. I was a bastard child after all, so I had to show everyone deeper respect than would have otherwise been normal. That was why, unlike what would happen normally, my father had moved out of the home of his parents.

Fugaku-sama remarked, looking at the destruction I had caused in my frustration, "It seems the flame of the Uchiha burns hot in you, Okami."

"Thank you, sir," I agreed, careful to keep my head bowed even as I straightened from the deeper bow I had given the man. I'd gotten in trouble with some of the heads of the branch families for showing them the disrespect of daring to look them in the eyes. The only way I would earn that right would be if I proved to be a true Uchiha, which would require the sharingan. I knew better than that though. I would never be accepted, so I would do whatever it took to avoid the sharingan, and if I did have it, I would hide it with everything I had.

"I imagine Itachi has already taught you what our clan's symbol means," Fugaku-sama stated, although his tone made it a question. Still, I wasn't supposed to speak unless asked a question, and I couldn't trust that had been his intention, so I nodded as best I could with my head bowed.

Fugaku-sama remarked, "You are better than most children at remembering to give honor to your elders. Did Itachi teach you that as well?"

"No, sir," I replied, "It was a lesson taught to me by those I failed to properly respect." I touched the burn marks on both forearms. Most parents assumed incorrectly that there had been a mishap with boiling water. They were wrong. The scars were from a high ranking Uchiha that hadn't liked when I'd looked at his face and forgotten to bow, no matter my young age.

"You are still considered an heir to the clan. I'm surprised that anyone would dare," Fugaku-sama said.

I made no response.

He continued, "and I can't imagine Itachi would stand for such treatment of his son. What did you tell him?"

"That I spilled boiling water on them," I replied, "He has too many enemies as it is. He does not need one among the Heads of the Branch Families"

"I'm sure that person will come to regret his decision one day," Fugaku-sama mused.

I didn't tell him that I doubted it would happen. He was the head of the most powerful of the branch families, and I didn't want to ever be in a position where I could be more powerful than he was.

Fugaku-sama disappeared, and I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. Then I reached up to feel my face to make sure that I hadn't accidentally burned myself in my first attempt at breathing fire. Happy to find even my eyebrows intact, I went about taking down the destroyed training dummies and replacing them with fresh ones from the small shed attached to the house. Once I was done, I continued my angry training, wondering why I had to master all the Uchiha jutsus so easily. If I could have been a failure, people would have felt less threatened by me, and then I could have just faded into the background.

I was surprised to hear the front door jingle open a little more than an hour before dark. In seconds, I was inside, fully prepared to defend myself if necessary, as I'd had issues with drunken men attacking me, convinced that eliminating a bastard heir was in the best interest of the clan, even if Fugaku-sama hadn't renounced me. Even if there was no law that I couldn't one day lead the clan.

My father smiled at me and said, "Hello, Okami."

"Welcome home, father," I replied, bowing to him, and then walking forward to hug him. He said it wasn't necessary that I bow to him, but it was bad to get out of the habit, when failing to do so in public would only have me targeted by certain elements in the Uchiha clan that believed every rule had to be vigorously maintained.

"Fugaku-sama asked that I be allowed to go home early," he told me, "The way he did when you performed that genjutsu for the first time."

I informed him, "I breathed fire today."

The smile turned a little sad then. He knew about my desire not to become heir to the Uchiha clan, so each step I took in that direction earned me comfort. He swept me into another hug, not caring that I often insisted that I was too old for such treatment. For once, I didn't mind so much. The anger, fear, and sadness drained from me as I was enveloped by his familiar feel, smell, and chakra. Nothing could hurt me there, and it didn't matter that I was a bastard son. It didn't hurt that I had to be so careful at school not to show an ounce of promise if only so that I didn't earn any more attention from the clan. No one cared if my best friend was a stray cat I saw only a couple of times a week. (It's the demon cat because that cat will never die.)

Of course, showing no promise in school was hard. The sensei all had sharp eyes that could pick up on the potential of the laziest Nara. My homework being perfect didn't help, and even purposefully failing at taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu hadn't helped anything because somehow they could tell. If I wasn't careful, they'd let me take the graduation exam before I'd finished my first year. (Yes, at six years old, he thinks he's too old for hugs and is adept at lying. He was forced to grow up quickly by his father's frequent absences to support them and the hate his clan members felt for him.)

We went out of the Uchiha compound to my favorite restaurant, a BBQ place that let you cook your own meat, for dinner. After all, news would spread all to quickly that I'd managed to breath fire (Fugaku-sama liked to brag about my accomplishments a little too much), and people would think something was up if we didn't celebrate, even when I didn't feel like it. The food lifted my mood though, and the story my father told when we got home was about the Fourth Hokage, who was by far my favorite of all the heroes of Konoha.

That night, I dreamed of the red and black of the sharingan, and I woke the next morning in a cold sweat, terrified by the creepy dream.

Class that day was unusual.

Kie-sensei told us, "Today, we're going to be doing an assessment to see if any of you are ready for the final examination. Don't worry if you don't pass, this assessment is just to see how far along you are and whether or not you're already prepared to be a genin." She looked from person to person, but her eyes passed over me. I knew that this test was all for me.

She had us line up and asked us all to create a clone. Mine was missing a left arm, its eyes were two different colors, and I'd managed to put its boots on the wrong feet. Many other examples looked intensely similar to mine.

"Okami, I can't even see through it," she said happily. That was when I realized my mistake. Even with my purposeful goofs, the chakra behind it was too trained not to make it fully corporeal, while everyone else's were strangely translucent. She continued down the line, offering a compliment or critique to each clone she saw. I glared up at mine and realized in horror that I'd given it a sharingan along with the black eye I had left the same.

"Now, class, you're going to pair off to spar with taijutsu," she told us.

She paired me with one of the strongest kids in the class, Hyuuga Tsuki, who had already figured out how to display the eyes that were the marker of her clan. I actually had hope that I could lose badly enough to convince her I wasn't ready to be a genin.

We headed outside, and Kai-sensei called, "Uchiha and Hyuuga will go first."

Tsuki and I entered the training circle, and I made sure my defensive stance was a little bit wrong, although it was difficult. The second Tsuki attacked, I corrected automatically and blocked her first few punches, then dodged out of the way of a kick. I threw a hard punch when Tsuki left a big enough gap in her defenses that even the stupidest ninja couldn't help but attack. Unfortunately, it seemed that Tsuki had a bit of a glass jaw. That or I forgot not to infuse my hit with chakra. The hit probably fractured her jaw, and it sent her flying.

Tsuki sprang back up, rubbing her jaw a little, but determined to continue fighting. I still held back, only punching as hard as I dared whenever there was a super clear opening, while allowing Tsuki to land several hits.

The girl demanded, obviously frustrated, "Stop holding back!" I backed off, a little shocked that she had noticed at all.

She attacked me with a vengeance, forcing me to actually fight better or risk getting injured badly enough that I wouldn't be able to train when I got home. Another accidentally chakra infused punch landed, this time on her rib cage, knocking her back and breaking one or two ribs in the process. She didn't get up, and she seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

I panicked, rushing over to quickly perform first aid, as everyone else seemed to be frozen in shock.

"Nara, go get the nurse," I ordered sharply, my eyes alighting on the boy that I knew was the fastest kid in class when he bothered to try. He was in the school in seconds, while I put my head over her right lung where I had hit her. I didn't hear any sounds of air passage, but thankfully I heard them loud and clear on the left side. She was having a hard time breathing through her mouth, but with medical attention so close at hand, I figured it would be better if I waited it out.

The nurse appeared next to me and asked, "What happened?"

"Her right lung collapsed," I told her, "We were sparring."

The nurse double checked my assessment, then quickly treated Tsuki. She then ordered, "Don't do anything strenuous for at least a week, Hyuuga. I don't want to hear you ended up in the hospital because of this."

"Yes, ma'am," Tsuki agreed quickly.

The nurse remained outside to watch the rest of the bouts and keep an eye on Tsuki.

Kie-sensei told me, "That was an impressive showing, Okami."

I felt the same anger from the day before start to boil inside of me, so I disappeared into the forest before the third test, just running hard and fast to get away from the school for a while. They couldn't hold the test again the next day or needlessly stall just because I disappeared or it would be a clear sign of favoritism.

Finally, I reached a large clearing with a stump in the center of it. Still feeling angry, I started practicing taijutsu on the stump, just trying to drain away the anger. Everyone always said Uchiha were hot tempered, but I did my best to restrain my anger most of the time, but it was harder when people really were out to get me.

"Okami!" Someone shouted, and maybe Kie-sensei had found an excuse to send someone out looking for me, but I didn't care! I turned away from the voice and ran deeper into the woods, which seemed to get thicker and thicker as I traveled. I slowed down a little, knowing that I was very close to a dangerous training ground. Still, I didn't hear the voice anymore.

I turned so that I could skirt around the training ground and enter the village near the Uchiha compound. Before I could get very far though, I was confronted with a huge wolf that was taller than two of my father stacked on top of each other. It was easy to recognize him from the book on summon contracts, so I quickly did what the book had said if I were to ever meet the somewhat dangerous wolf boss. I bowed as deeply at the waist as I could, nearly touching my nose to my knees, but not wanting to put myself too far off balance in case I needed to start running.

The wolf boss greeted, his voice very low and somewhat gruff, "Hello, pup. Where is your pack?"

"They do not want me," I told him honestly, since lying to any boss was very dangerous.

"I am sad to hear that, little pup," the wolf boss replied, "Perhaps one day they will."

I replied, "If they do, then they would not let me leave."

"What is your name, pup?" the wolf boss inquired.

"I am Uchiha Okami," I informed him, "My father named me hoping I would find a pack to call my own one day."

The wolf boss told me, "When you have become no more than a whisper in the night, meet me in the caves to the north, and you can be part of my pack, little pup."

"Thank you," I replied.

In a whisper of wind, the wolf boss vanished, and I could again hear my fellow students shouting my name.

I found all of them, one by one so that they wouldn't accidentally enter the dangerous training ground or insult the wolf boss, then brought the whole troop of them back to the school with me. It didn't make sense that my teacher had even let them leave, although Shikadai Nara had laid down on the ground just inside the tree line to nap.

Kie-sensei asked, "Okami, are you alright? There's a strange chakra signature on you."

I focused on my chakra and found that I had indeed had my reserves filled by the wolf boss without even noticing.

"I'm fine, Kie-sensei," I replied, "I just saw something in the woods is all." I didn't plan on telling anyone what I'd seen. The moment felt too private. Maybe I'd tell my father eventually, but that wouldn't be for a while if I had any say in it.

"Now that we're all back here, we should finish our little exam," Kie-sensei invited after a moment.

I shifted back suddenly, sensing someone with killing intent nearby. I looked around for them hard, wondering if it was one of my father's enemies, an Uchiha angry at some small misstep I had made, or an enemy of Konoha. Finally, my eyes found an ANBU nearby, and my blood ran cold. This had been the final test. There was no way that the ANBU would have been that easy to find if it wasn't.

The ANBU in the weasel mask met my eyes, then held a finger to his lips.

Rin asked impatiently, "What's the final test?"

"I'm sorry, but that was a secret round, and it was pass-fail," Kie-sensei told us with a sigh, "It seems only two of you will be taking the test to see if you'll become genin.

I looked at Nara Shikadai, and he met my eyes and tilted his head down.

The ANBU and the killing intent vanished simultaneously.

Kie-sensei said, "We'll be taking a short break from school before we start training again, just a week and a half long, so be back here Wednesday after next bright and early. Will the two that passed please hang around?"

The rest of the class was willing enough to admit that they hadn't been among that number, especially since they were excited for the short break. Shikadai and I stayed.

"I know neither of you want to graduate early," Kie-sensei offered, "but staying here at the academy will only keep you from reaching your full potential. If either of you try to sabotage your performance in the genin exam, I will do everything in my power to make you take it every three weeks until you fail to sabotage yourselves."

"Yes sensei," Shikadai and I agreed. There was no choice. I was going to have to pass.

We left the school yard together then went our separate ways. If Shikadai wasn't so lazy and I wasn't so insistent about keeping a schedule, we might have been friends in school, but as it was, neither of us had the will to begin or maintain a friendship. At best, I'd say we were acquaintances that recognized each other's potential.

People paid even more attention to me on that particular trip home, and I was a little shocked to see Uncle Sasuke waiting for me in front of the door to my house. He remarked, "Your teacher called and said you ran into the woods during school today."

I bowed, then let him into the house without looking him in the eyes. Once we were inside, I felt it was safe to respond to the statement.

"I was upset, and I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I went into the woods to relieve some anger," I informed him.

"Oh?" he asked, "What about the weird chakra signature you have right now?"

It seemed I had no choice. I told him, my voice going soft just in case anyone was trying to listen in, "I got relatively close to that dangerous training ground father told me not to go to unless I was with someone, planning on going around it to sneak home. Before I could though, I met a wolf at least twice as tall as father. I bowed to him, and after a short conversation, he told me that, when I was no more than a whisper in the night, I should meet him in the caves to the north to become part of his pack. Not wanting my classmates to meet the wolf and forget how to react, I rounded them up, as Kie-sensei had sent them to look for me. I didn't notice until I got back to the school and Kie-sensei pointed it out, but he refilled my chakra, and there seems to be more of it than there was before. Perhaps I was a blessing from the boss?"

"That's quite impressive. No one has gotten a contract with the wolves since the last man to hold the scroll died, and that was only just after I was born," Uncle Sasuke told me.

"Please don't tell Fugaku-sama," I begged, "He brags of all my accomplishments, and it makes everyone here hate me more. Besides, when the wolf boss told me, it felt private, and even revealing it to you might have made him rescind his offer."

Uncle Sasuke promised, ruffling my hair, "I won't tell him. Although I'm sure he'll broadcast it to the whole village when you do form the contract."

"I hope I'm a jonin without a sharingan by then," I replied, "Then it wouldn't matter to him as much."

"Fugaku loves you, no matter your heritage, even if he has a strange way of showing it," Uncle Sasuke told me.

I nodded reluctantly.

Uncle Sasuke added, "I heard that you managed to breath fire yesterday."

"It was an accident," I told him, "Father taught me the hand signs for it a while ago and told me to try using them when it felt right. I accidentally set the fence on fire, but there's always a bucket of water out there for when Father trains with fire jutsu."

"That's good. It would have been bad if you'd accidentally lit the house on fire, although then the news would have traveled all the faster," he offered.

I added, "Fugaku-sama let father get off work early enough yesterday so that we could go out to dinner."

"I guess neither of you will want to go out to eat tonight then," Uncle Sasuke said with a sigh, "and here I heard that you'll get to take the genin test tomorrow."

"You already heard about that?" I asked, feeling a little depressed.

He asked conspiratorially, "Who do you think was in the ANBU mask?"

"I should have noticed that," I complained with a frown, "Your chakra signature if familiar to me. Even with the killing intent, I should have recognized it."

"That was your first time feeling killing intent that strongly, and I was also partly masking my chakra, or the test would have been too easy," Uncle Sasuke offered comfortingly.

I still wasn't happy, but I shrugged it off and said, "We can probably go out to dinner, but most places are closed by the time Father gets home, and I have to be at the school for the genin test tomorrow anyway. Maybe we should celebrate if I pass it, since Father doesn't work on Fridays."

"Alright," Uncle Sasuke relented, "At least let me make you dinner."

I nodded eagerly, glad that I wouldn't have to worry about that, although remised that I wouldn't get to see how exactly the wolf boss's chakra had affected me until the next morning.

Later that Night

Sasuke

Itachi helped Okami get settled for bed, and then we went into the kitchen to have some tea.

Itachi asked, knowing I would have found out, "What's with his chakra?"

"He met the wolf boss in the woods today and gained his favor. He'll probably get that contract a little before he's a chuunin, if I had to guess. It would be a good advantage in the last stage of the exam," I offered.

"He's going to become a genin tomorrow," Itachi remarked with a shake of his head, "and before long, whether he wants it or not, he'll get that sharingan."

I nodded and added, "I haven't told Fugaku yet that he'll be taking the exam tomorrow, but that's just because I'm hoping to keep him from meddling in what jonin Okami gets assigned. There are several good ones up this year, and I can't imagine Okami failing to succeed no matter who he gets."

"Kakashi signed up for another team didn't he?" Itachi pointed out, "They usually try to offload prodigies and Uchiha on him."

"Okami would hate him. The man can never be on time for anything. Anyway, do you have any idea who the third on his team is going to be? I figure Shikadai is going on his team, since Okami will push him to improve, and Shikadai should be able to keep up with him," I offered.

Itachi shook his head and said, "I've got no idea. No one in the graduating class seems like they'll be a good fit for those two. Most of the skilled students in that class graduated a year early when they started the pretest in the lower grades to see if anyone was ready to take the genin exam early. Okami probably thought his teacher was out to get him, since they keep the exam a secret from first year students, so that they don't push themselves too hard."

"She was kind of sabotaging him," I remarked, "He kept trying his hardest to fail, but no one would let him. He made the sloppiest clone he could, but the details were too perfect and it was completely corporeal. Then he tried to use the young Hyuuga, but of course she managed to force him to slip up a couple of times and fight her properly, which made the girl end up with a collapsed lung. She'll probably graduate next year, and it seems she doesn't mind Okami's heritage too much as long as he doesn't hold back when he fights her. She definitely blushed when he was performing first aid."

"Fugaku will be happy," Itachi remarked.

I told him, "He's going to be ecstatic when he finds out about the wolf boss in a few years… Maybe… Okami said the wolf boss's requirement was that he be a whisper in the night before he gets a contract with the boss. I know that three chuunin exams from now, Konoha is going to host. Naruto might be willing to follow a suggestion that could prove if Okami is ready for that contract."

"That's a good idea," Itachi agreed, "Of course, it all depends on his jonin sensei. Okami probably already has the skill to be a chuunin, but he needs more experience before he faces the exam."

"Maybe Kakashi would be good for him. Not that it matters. It's up to Naruto, his advisers, and the clan council who he gets," I concluded.

Itachi remarked, "We should get to sleep. I'd like to walk Okami to the exam tomorrow."