The Collection: Short Stories, Misfits, and One-shots

The Power of the Uchiha

He crept slowly along the branch, peering carefully down at the group below his hiding spot. They hadn't even tried to conceal their chakra, its power radiating throughout the forest around them. There were six shinobi present, five obviously being the source of the chakra, the odd one out imprisoned in a dark man's grasp. She was young, most likely in her late teens, her clothing revealing her to be a cloud ninja. The man who held her had no such markings, wearing entirely black, no hitae-ate present, his allies bearing the same lack of ornament. He felt a swift whisper in his head as his squad leader tried to contact him.

'Akio, what's your status?' He flinched at the frustration in his leader's voice.

'I've found a group of unknown ninja to the east of the village.'

'Rogue?' Akio assessed them one more time, taking in every detail he could.

'Can't tell. They don't have hitae-ates on them, and are in all black.'

'Are they a threat?' In other words, did they need to alert the hokage? He had no clue at this point, besides the threat they posed to the girl, who still struggled in the man's clutch.

'They have a cloud ninja hostage. That's all I've seen so far.' It was up to his leader now to make the hard decision.

'Stay there and keep watch. I'll alert the Anbu and Hokage.'

'Hai.' The other end fell silent, Akio turning his attention back to the group, which still remained silent, no one making demands or threats. Or were they really silent?

He had just spoken to his squad leader without having actually uttered a word, who's to say they weren't doing the exact same thing? With that idea in mind he examined their expressions, especially that of the girl, and the man who held her. Sure enough, the hard stares of both showed something of a war of inner strength that he hadn't even considered before.

'The Hokage was us to back down Akio.'

'Why?' He couldn't just leave her to be interrogated, it seemed wrong.

'He's sending the Uchiha. He wants us out of the area.' The Uchiha. He always felt a surge of anger when he heard that name. It wasn't that the man had betrayed him as an individual, but he had betrayed the village, and had hurt countless others in that time span when he was rogue. How the Seventh could trust him now was beyond him. That the man in question had a family to boot, confused him even more.

'Akio. Where are you? We need to leave!' Akio snapped to attention at his squad leader's words, but it was too late. A sharp sound, akin to birds chirping filled his ears, the dark landscape around him being lit in a vibrant blue.

"Shit." Akio leaped backwards off the tree, nearly losing his footing as he met the ground. The tree he had been in only a few seconds before was a smoldering mess of broken wood.

Smoke rose up from where he had just seen the group, though now he just barely make out the lone silhouette of a man as he stood merely a foot out of the debris. Even having never met the sole Uchiha survivor, Akio knew who the man was; Sasuke Uchiha.