This is a shorter chapter than usual, mainly it's purpose serves to get the wave mission out of the way, while being entertaining and to the point. The next chapter will be the start of the chunnin exams and some other stuff.

For all intents and purposes, enjoy.

"'To say what's the point of risking and trying?' is really uncool!"- KT(Ferry.)

"Because you've been complaining- and almost every client who got your team for a D-rank refuses to allow you to take theirs again(Which is the majority of Konoha, and the D-ranks available), you're going to be participating on a C-rank escort mission- please, please, don't mess this up."

The Hokage begged, Iruka looking stern next to him at the missions desk. We had just brought in a singed and traumatized Tora- good thing Sakura knows medical stuff cause I think it might have broken a leg at some point.

I waved a hand dismissively, dutifully ignoring the glare my former sensei leveled in my direction, "don't worry, team 7's got this- plus since we're so destructive when we're doing non-combat oriented tasks, any resistance we encounter will wish they never crossed our path."

Naruto did a little dance, "I'm doing a real mission! Who re' we gonna be escorting Jiji? A princess? A super important merchant? The daimyo-"

Sakura cut him off, punching his head, making the blonde faceplant. "Show some more tact Naruto! Do you want Hokage-sama to take our first important mission back?"

In the background, Iruka could be heard saying, "But all missions are important…"

He was ignored.

Once we straightened ourselves out- Kakashi threatening us with Youthful Training Course 15, the old man Hiruzen made a gesture to let the client in. Once the older man who smelled of booze took a few steps into the room and opened his mouth to make some offensive remark, I smirked. 'I know where this is going…'

"These are the 'great ninja' that are supposed to guard me? They're just a bunch of brats, and the short one doesn't look that bright." The man remarked, taking a swig of the cheap beer, making me scrunch my nose in disgust. "Well, brats, you'll be guarding me, Tazuna the Great bridge builder while I finish my bridge in the land of waves."

Kakashi held back an irate Naruto, sighing and half-heartedly chastising the blonde. "Now now Naruto, you can't attack the client- no matter how disrespectful they are."

"Can't we just push him out the window and say he tripped dattebayo?"

Running a hand through his gravity-defying hair, the Jōnin muttered something about needing another drink after this, then leveled a stern, one-eyed look Naruto's way. "Calm yourself."

Naruto pouted but relented, Kakashi letting go of the blonde slowly, as if expecting him to leap at the man the second he was let go. I pat Naruto on the shoulder in sympathy, "It's alright Naru-chan, we'll get retribution, be patient."

Tazuna paled when my lips curled into a malicious smile, Naruto mirroring mine a second later.

Sakura shook her head in exasperation, "Boys."

Kakashi looked back at our client, creasing his eye in a mimicry of a smile, however, his tone was sharp. "I assure you Tazuna-san, they are more than capable of guarding you against the run of the mill bandit or thug. It'd be wise to have more faith in the shinobi you hired."

Tazuna looked increasingly nervous and suspicious, especially when Kakashi mentioned how we're only likely to run into a stray bandit or two. The drunk sniffed indignantly, however, he was more… well, not pleasant, more like resigned. "Besides, I'm a Jōnin, an elite shinobi, anything we run into out there will be taken out easily enough."

I glanced between my teammates, all of us sharing a look, silently agreeing that the bridge builder was hiding something, and vowing to figure out what it was. I already knew of course, but mentioning anything would probably lead to all sorts of questions, ones that I really didn't feel like answering. So, with an airy voice and an overly cheerful demeanor, I planted my hands on my hips, and gave the man a too-wide smile that showed far too many teeth.

"I'm going to enjoy guarding you, Tazuna-san."

He inched away from me and my teammates, who mimicked me a moment later.

Kakashi shook his head fondly, "I'm really going to need a drink after this."

We were all told to go pack and meet Kakashi and our client at the village gates in an hour; fortunately, I had already packed beforehand since ya know, future stuff. So I had an hour to kill before we set out on our epic journey.

Humming the tune to some random depressing song from my first life, I flitted about the street, heading for nowhere in particular. When I looked up, I was mildly surprised.

Blinking slowly, I tilted my head, curious as to why my feet led me here.

The memorial stone was devoid of its usual visitor, Kakashi.

Taking a few more steps, I stood in front of the marble memorial and crouched down, running a finger down the names engraved there- pausing a moment longer on the name 'Uchiha Obito.'

"Hmm, Obito." I murmured, feeling my face subconsciously slip into a careful blank mask to hide my irritation.

Shaking my head, I sighed and stood, turning to leave and head to the Uchiha compound to pick up my pack. A thought gave me pause, making me glance back at the stone once last time.

"Are you satisfied now, Obito?"

Though whispered, it sounded loud in the silent clearing, nothing but the breeze and birdsong to fill the void.

My lips twitched minutely, too bad no one was around to hear it.

"Aw yeah! This is so cool dattebayo!" Naruto laughed, making Sakura sigh. "We're only just outside the village gates Naruto."

He didn't seem to hear her, instead doing a little dance, "It's our first time outside the village Sasuke, isn't this awesome?"

I looked up from my book, giving him a blank look, "Hn?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Don't be a Kakashi sensei Teme."

"But these Icha Icha books aren't that bad."

Kakashi body-flickered next to me, plucking the orange novel from my fingers. "There it is- bad student, don't steal from your sensei '' he reprimanded, and I made a show of pouting with an exaggerated downcast expression.

Tazuna grumbled something about a bunch of brats' under his breath, making me narrow my eyes.

"What'd you say old fart?!" Naruto yelled, making Sakura rub her temples in irritation and Kakashi sigh.

I simply smiled, discreetly throwing a senbon to hit a cicada in a tree, Kakashi sparing me a glance for a moment, then stepped in to stop Sakura from joining Naruto in the murdering of our client.

When we came across the fabled puddle smack dab in the middle of our route. I was unable to prevent a grin from creeping onto my face, and pretended to ignore my teammates questioning looks. "Ohmygosh! I love jumping in pools of water- though it hasn't rained in weeks so that's pretty strange- but whatever!" I exclaimed excitedly and made a show of jumping dramatically into the fake water. It was only but a moment later that the so-called demon brothers called off their facade and attacked.

They were pathetically easy, though when Kakashi decided to be a dick and pretend to die was pretty annoying. After all was said and done Kakashi tied the pair to a tree and left them for a patrol to pick them up. Of course, Naruto somehow still got cut, though it was very minor.

The blonde shouted an inspiring speech that I couldn't be bothered to remember and stabbed his hand- right over where Sakura bandaged him. "You idiot!" she growled, raising a fist to pummel the cowering boy. "P-please Sakura-chan- Sasuke! Help me!"

I simply revealed in his suffering like the good best friend I am.

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi commanded, the three genins pressing themselves flat to the ground- and just in time, as a giant sword cleaved through the air where they had been a moment ago and dug into a tree on the other side of the clearing.

The Jonin narrowed his eye when the famed 'Demon of the mist', Momoichi Zabuza made a show of shunshining onto the handle of the sword, watching as Sakura and Naruto tensed when the nuke-nin started leaking killing intent like it was in fashion. "Momoch- '' Kakashi started but was cut off by his eccentric Uchiha student.

"Wow, what an honor meeting such an infamous nin," Sasuke began, his lips curling up in a grin, "But what brings The great demon of the Mist to this shithole, attacking a poor genin team?"

"So you've heard of me? Maybe leaf genin have some-" Sasuke cut him off with a wave of his hand and a dramatic, "BORING! I mean come on! Generic villain dialogue yadda-yadda. I don't think any of us have the time for that, sooo…" Sasuke tilted his head to the side, and held up a finger, "3, 2, 1."

Kakashi wondered what the hell his student was planning, when suddenly another Sasuke emerged from the bushes, a smug smirk on his lips and a scroll in his right hand. "Aw, thanks for getting here in time me 2.0." Sasuke thanked the clone with a smile, while it nodded his head and tossed him the scroll, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Teme… you know how to make shadow clones?!" Naruto pointed at the Uchiha dramatically, "Why didn't you tell me dattebayo-"

He was ignored and the raven-haired boy waved around the scroll, gaining the missing-nin's attention. "I see the question in your eyes, ok, I'll tell you of my amazing plans and stuff." he announced, before smiling wickedly. "Inside this scroll is Gato's head, and evidence that the old geezer planned on betraying you in the end. So doesn't that make us allies at best and neutral at worst?" he tossed the scroll Zabuza's way, "We can end this confrontation on friendly terms, there's no need for needless bloodshed."

Zabuza laughed, palming the scroll, "You're not half bad, it's true I planned on killing him once the job was done but it seems you took the liberty before me."

"Welp~" Sasuke chirped, cheerily turning to the rest of his team, "That went smoothly hn?"

They were all back at the bridge builder's house having dinner, Zabuza and his apprentice having stuck around after all was said and done. The feminine boy showed up after the truce, and introduced himself as Haku. We hung out for another week until the bridge was finished with no delays, and promptly named 'The great team seven bridge.' I tried to push for it to be named 'The Great Uchiha bridge' but that idea was shot down like lighting by Kakashi.(I'm still kinda ticked off about that.)

Overall, the mission was a success, and everyone lived this time around. While Kakashi wasn't looking I slipped the pair of nuke-nins secret invitations to my organization before we left, not leaving them alone until I was promised to get their answer within the next month via letter.

Yep, for once in my second life, everything was going alright.

"Ah, what a successful first C-rank mission, that went better than what I expected to be honest."

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I never saw that shadow clone coming," she paused and backtracked, a bit flustered, "I mean, you're awesome Sasuke, of course you'd think of something like that."

"I still don't get it…" Naruto pouted, "when did you even summon the clone teme?" I grinned, cupping a hand around my mouth and stage whispered, "When I killed that cicada at the beginning of the mission- all a part of my evil plan." he scrunched his nose in confusion before I elaborated. "The needle was the clone, just henged. I made a handful of them that I store in a special scroll- took a hell of a long time considering my reserves and all, but it was worth it."

"Oh, I get it." Sakura commented, "You decided to send a shadow clone ahead because we all agreed the bridge builder was sketchy, and you wanted to investigate before we arrived?"

"Yep! My exact line of thought, you're so smart Sakura!" Well, not exactly since I know the future and all but still, I'm amazing. The rosette blushes, "T-thanks Sasuke-kun."

"I already knew how to make shadow clones…" Naruto said dejectedly, making Kakashi pat him on the shoulder. "It's-" he took a swig of something(Water?) from a canteen, "-Alright Naruto, you can spam them, Sasuke can't." The silver-haired Jonin patted him once more for good measure, and set off, claiming he was going to hang out with the other Jonin teachers at a bar.

Once our lazy sensei turned the corner I latched onto my two teammates, dragging them along with me as I made my way through the leaf village streets. "I think we deserve some nice Ichiraku ramen," was my response to their protests. Naruto began salivating and nodded rapidly, "Hell yeah! Come on guys." soon it was him dragging us to his favorite stand, all three of us in high spirits, cracking jokes, and chatting about anything and everything.

It was a pretty good afternoon.

Omake; If Sasuke joined the Akatsuki, part 3

It was one of those days that everyone was present at the base, Sasuke and Shikamaru being the last ones to come back from a mission.

Deidara walked into the living room with a yawn, taking a seat next to his partner, Sasori; Everyone was in the room(Excluding Pein and Konan) and were all doing something or another, Sasuke in his usual spot on his brother and Shikamaru fast asleep on an armchair. Deidara frowned when he noticed an icepack on the youngest member's eyes, secretly concerned about the other artist.

Despite what the other Akatsuki members besides Itachi and Kisame said- since Both mentioned were honest about their fondness for the boy, Konan as well to a certain degree- had gotten rather attached to their newest members rather quickly, the Nara being a fresh of breath air, and the Uchiha brightening the dreary base without trying that hard.

Shikamaru was a sane shoulder to lean on, and excellent for mature and intelligent conversation, despite his age- though it was expected.

Sasuke was a strange person-, especially for an Uchiha.

When he first saw the boy, Itachi's kid brother, Deidara didn't really know what to expect- well, maybe someone like the stoic, quiet Uchiha if he thought about it.

The boy was off the handle of normality, certainly insane, but had a special eye for art. When Deidara was reprimanded by Sasori the first morning the Nara and Uchiha joined- for blowing Hidan up- as usual, the younger boy was immediately fascinated by his art. He had this almost goofy grin on his face as he watched the blonde creating bombs and molding clay.

When questioned, the Uchiha shrugged, and adopted a crazed glint in his dark eyes, and answered, "I'm a pyromaniac, watching you blow up that immortal guy provides great entertainment, especially in the morning."

When the two took a mission together for the first time, they found they were kindred souls, both of the younger members connecting and forming a bond over blowing random shit(and people) to smithereens.

Sasuke had also formed a bond with the only female Akatsuki member, the blue-haired woman adopting a big sister/motherly disposition towards the boy. They often hung out in Itachi's room, sometimes with the Uchiha himself, staying in there for hours with snacks they confiscated from the kitchen.

No one knew what they did or talked about- and no one cared or were brave enough to ask either. Even Pein was at a loss, amusing the blonde bomber when a flicker of disappointment crossed the ginger's face when Konan abandoned him for Sasuke.

Drawing his attention away from his musings and back to the present, Deidara cleared his throat. "What happened Sasuke un?"

The Uchiha turned his head in the blonde's direction, setting his unseeing gaze on the terrorist, "I overused my eyes- they throb and I want to punch something." was his even reply, but the other members could tell he was irritated.

Sasori looked up from the puppet arm he was tinkering with, offering, "You could punch Hidan."

Said Jashinist glared-though Sasuke couldn't see it- "Like the pansy could fucking hit me, his damn eyes aren't working." his voice turned smug at the end.

Everyone watched as Sasuke abruptly sat up, a wicked smile blooming on his lips(Hidan was glad the Uchiha's unsettling stare couldn't penetrate through the cloth.)

"Oh really, is that a challenge?"

Hidan scoffed, "You can't fucking see," he replied, tensing when Sasuke's smile curled into a grin full of teeth, "That doesn't matter- Tobi-chan? Can you get my kunai pouch on the floor?" he pointed to it next to the Nara, and the masked man nodded enthusiastically. "Of course Sasuke-kun!"

Once he had said pouch in his grasp, faster than Hidan could detect, senbon appeared in Sasuke's hand and they were thrown- three piercing his… unmentionables.

"Fuck- SHIT!" Hidan cursed, reaching to yank the needles out- only for his entire arm to be immediately peppered with more of them. He lost feeling in his arm, the limb dangling uselessly at his side.

The Akatsuki watched as Hidan quickly turned into a human porcupine, a needle hitting his throat making him unable to yell decipherable words.

The Jashinist lay immobile on the floor, hundreds of senbon stuck everywhere on his body- and not a single one missed its mark.

They looked at the Uchiha with a newfound weird kind of respect, the boy proving he was just as dangerous with his favored weapon without his fancy eyes.

"That was awesome un," Deidara grinned, high fiving Sasuke with a laugh. The youngest Uchiha adopted a smug smirk, "I just wish I could see- wait, quickly get the camera from my room Deidara."

The blonde exchanged a mischievous smirk with him, immediately shunshining to his room and back in record time.

"Oh this is gold un," Deidara cackled, making Sasuke nod sagely.

Itachi sighed, patting his Otouto on the head in fond exasperation.

Sasuke simply basked in his own ego.

"There's no other way- cause some things are simply meant to be contained, and one of them is me." -KT(Ferry)

"Don't bother lying to me, I can see right through you. Liars know liars after all." -?

*Holds up fist in a maniacal and threatening manner* Reality can be whatever I desire!