Sasuke kicked a rock that rested in the middle of the road on his way home. So far today, three different clan members had passive-aggressively put him down for not being as good as Itachi. It always followed the same pattern, them mentioning the age at which Itachi had graduated the Academy, and then asking how old he was. Being the Clan Head's son, they should already know how old he was right down to the minute, there was a party they were invited to every year on his birthday after all.

He'd show them! He'd prove he was a worthy ninja. In fact, he would sneak into one of those meetings he wasn't supposed to know about, and none of them would catch him!

That afternoon, after telling his mother he was going to go and train, he made his way to the secret meeting place that his family hadn't known he knew about, the one where all the meetings he and the other kids hadn't been let in on took place. When he arrived, he hid under a piece of furniture and waited.

He'd almost fallen asleep by the time the adults and some of the older kids who'd already graduated the Academy started trickling in in ones and twos and then lots. Eventually, the meeting hall was full and his father stood up and began to speak.

Two hours later as everyone departed, Sasuke sat there in shock. His clan, his clan who had founded and run the police force in order to keep the village safe had been talking about overthrowing the Hokage and taking control of the village by force. Even a toddler knew that such talk was treason. Doubly so for the clan that had co-founded the village.

Eventually, he picked himself up and made his way home, wondering how he could hide that he knew what his father and the clan were planning. When he reached his house, he found Itachi standing on the porch looking pale and shaken. There were tears in his older brother's eyes.

"What's wrong Aniki?" he asked.

"The deal I made..." Itachi started before swallowing and starting again. "The deal I made was on the condition that you were completely ignorant and innocent in the matter of the clan's...activities."

"Tomorrow, it was going to be everyone but you." Itachi said quietly.

"If I promise to never tell..." he started, hoping that that would be enough.

Sasuke did his best to look like he wasn't up to something as he made his way to the corner of the compound. He used to think it was silly that his clan had a separate water supply from the village. Now, he was taking advantage of that fact. There were only a few hours left, and he was going to give Itachi as much of an edge as he could.

Stealing the drugs that his father had been planning on having put in the village water supply had been easy, but then again, nobody would expect the Clan Head's son to commit such a theft, and certainly not in broad daylight.

Nobody had expected the Clan Head's son to contaminate the water supply in broad daylight either.

He had sworn to protect the village from all enemies foreign and domestic when he had joined the Academy, as had the rest of his clan who had sworn so again upon graduation. Unlike them however, he would not be breaking his oath.

Itachi certainly hadn't.

Four Years Later:

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What I like is none of your business. I dislike traitors. My hobbies are personal, and as for my dreams for the future..."

A bloodthirsty expression crossed the boy's face as he fingered a special Bingo Book he carried with him in his pocket. None of the bastards amongst its pages would escape justice, and he hoped that he would be the one administering it.

He'd sacrificed his clan for the village, and he wasn't ever going to let anyone else get away with betraying it either.