Originally posted on aff 2008-12-07 - 2009-04-19

I.

Power always comes with a price. There is no exception. Sometimes, the price that has to be paid for that power is greater than one can pay. In the case of Uchiha Sasuke, his price for power had been everything; his home, the few friends he'd had, his body, his soul, and – for a few years – his sanity. But Sasuke had been okay with the price and had paid it in full – all so he could kill his brother, Itachi. He'd succeeded, barely. It was a very close call – had Itachi not keeled over after his final jutsu, Sasuke surely would have died. After that victory, he had to retreat, drained of chakra as he was. When he was at full power again, he sought out his seeker for the final decisive battle – and was defeated.

Somehow, Naruto had gotten more powerful than Sasuke. It wasn't just Kyuubi – Kyuubi's chakra was always significantly different from Naruto's – but there was some underlying thing that refused to give up and die inside Naruto. There was something that drove Naruto to his very limits, that drove him until he passed out, that made him refuse to leave a man behind. At first, Sasuke believed this was a weakness. To be strong meant needing only yourself. You could rely only on your own power and if you were defeated it was because you were weak.

This was Sasuke's mantra.

Then he had been defeated by Naruto and instead of killing him like he should have, Naruto only extended his hand and said, "Let's go home, Sasuke."

That had been almost three years ago. Sasuke had – once again – run away from Naruto and fought to become stronger. He'd defeated every single enemy he'd come across, proving again and again his newly acquired strength. When he was certain he would be able to defeat Naruto in open combat, one on one, he'd made the trip back to Konoha. Sasuke had no idea how he would be received – he'd been a nukenin since he was thirteen and every time an offer was made to get him back, he refused it. He could be executed, placed under arrest, jailed for the rest of his natural life or even exiled again, broken off from his chakra. But something called Sasuke back to Konoha. It was instinct now to return to the nest since his quest was over.

Besides, Naruto was here.

So Sasuke scoped out Konoha from a distance, noting that very little had changed. Many of the genin he'd grown up with were jounin, and a few had families now. But Sasuke didn't care about them. As far as he was concerned, they were just fodder. He never saw his old teammates in his scouting, wondering if maybe they knew he was here and were waiting for him to cross some invisible line. Sasuke kept his distance, subsisting on what the forest offered until he was satisfied he could enter Konoha without being brought down. He moved through the lowest branches of the trees simply because his movement would not be seen, and it was easier to mask his chakra signature by blending it with the tree's own.

The closer he got to Konoha, the uneasier he became.

When he heard the voices, he knew why.

Everything in him screamed to destroy this threat because there was the possibility of defeat.

But Sasuke had promised himself long ago he would not kill children – not even Konoha pre-genin.

It was a group – a class. Sasuke watched from above as the children scattered in a semi-circle in groups of twos and threes. A training exercise? No, the kids were chattering too much. A field trip then, but they weren't going very far. And why in the hell were they collecting pinecones? A voice joined the children's, older and achingly familiar.

Iruka.

Sasuke leaned lower on his branch until he was practically upside down, watching the class with a detached sort of interest. The children were young, maybe only seven or eight. Kindergarten or first-grade age, too young to be out of the village with only a chuunin-sensei as sole protector.

Perhaps they were bait, Sasuke's subconscious whispered, bait to lure out the predator.

Perhaps they were. Iruka certainly knew better than to let his kids become bait. Hadn't he refused Team Seven's entry into the chuunin exams? So, going by that logic, they couldn't be bait. But they could be his ticket into the village. Sasuke slowly let enough of his cloaking chakra dissipate to alert Iruka that there was something dangerous lurking nearby. When Iruka froze to try and pinpoint that danger, Sasuke dropped from his branch to land soundlessly beside a little girl.

Her scream made him grit his teeth in agitation, but she scampered over to Iruka before Sasuke lost enough control and silenced her forever. He met Iruka's wary gaze with as much of a mild look as he could manage.

"Sasuke-kun," Iruka said softly, swallowing as he bowed his head in deference. Sasuke almost visibly relaxed then, knowing Iruka wouldn't try anything stupid.

"Iruka-sensei," Sasuke replied, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. Iruka began to relax – mostly by keeping his hands where Sasuke could see them.

"What brings you by?" Iruka asked as though Sasuke was a friend from another village. It was all code, though, and mostly meant to ease the children's fear of the strange shinobi.

"Thought I'd visit some old friends." I wanted to come home.

"I'm not sure if they're here." They may not accept you back.

"I'm willing to wait." I'll do what it takes.

Iruka let a little helpless smile appear. "I suppose I could see about having a get-together." I can get you in, but it won't be easy.

"All of our friends will be there?" That's fine. I just want to be left alone.

"Every single one. I doubt you'll get much sleep." Iruka said. He looked to the children gathered around him and smiled a little helplessly. "Okay, everyone, let's escort my friend inside. Just remember your-"

Sasuke exploded into movement before the first ANBU even reached him from underground. He felt a flash of surprise turned anger from Iruka and curbed the urge to change direction and murder the chuunin. Iruka hadn't set him up. Someone must have heard the girl's scream or probed the area to find a stranger close to what belonged to Konoha.

Or perhaps, Sasuke noted dryly as he tore a kunai through a second ANBU's throat, they'd been watching from the get go. He would have felt their approach – and he cursed himself for not noticing them sooner.

Sasuke ducked under a chop that would've snapped his spine and brought his kunai up, severing fingers before the sharp metal pierced the porcelain mask and drove into the ANBU's brain. He flashed through several jutsus and flung a distracting fireball at two ANBU, scattering them. He took a moment to pinpoint exactly how many there were – and separate them from Iruka and the children.

Six ANBU – not counting the dead ANBU and the dying ANBU – still lived out there, and wouldn't stop until Sasuke – or they – was dead. So Sasuke had two choices: lead the ANBU away from Iruka and the kids or fight them around the children. His choice was made for him as an ANBU lunged for him, materializing out of a tree trunk.

Sasuke revered his grip on his kunai and swung his fist backwards as a feint. The ANBU dodged it and a moment too late did he realize his mistake. Sasuke's other hand swept across, the short sword in that hand crashing into the ANBU's skull. The Uchiha cursed as his sword proved to be stuck in bone and abandoned the weapon to dodge a downward strike from a second ANBU.

He rolled left, flashing through several jutsu as he went. He fetched up against a trunk and slammed his open palms against it, dodging straight up into the tree as the ANBU came forward. Suddenly, the tree's branches came to life, roiling like mating snakes, lashing out at the ANBU with their leaves. It forced the ANBU back, and Sasuke leapt from the tree before the hunter got confident.

Moving on the defensive, Sasuke circled around, feeling Iruka's chakra flare in hot anger again. He ignored it, hoping the chuunin was taking the kids back to the village.

Four ANBU left.

Sasuke snapped his wrist out, relinquishing his only weapon in favour of a long-range attack. His kunai struck the female ANBU square between her breasts, the sheer force of it sending it straight back into her spine. The Uchiha rolled off the branch, plummeting down through the air. An ANBU followed, getting within inches of the nukenin's face. Sasuke grinned madly, Sharingan whirling as he lashed out at the ANBU, hands wrapping around his throat. He felt a sharp prick at his chest, but he ignored it in favour of snapping his attacker's neck, using the body to soften his landing on the ground below.

The dead ANBU's kunai was taken, Sasuke's knuckles turning whiter around the hilt. Two ANBU were left, but he couldn't sense them. Where had they gone? Slowly he rose, scanning high and low for the remaining two Black Ops ninjas. Without warning he whirled, kunai opening up a fatal wound in the ANBU's stomach from hip to shoulder. Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched intestines and other organs by to push out of the wound.

Iruka crumbled to the ground, and the child he'd saved began to scream.