𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

Inspection

"Well, well, well. It's been a while, Sasuke."

Upon arriving at the compound alongside his team mates, Sasuke had promptly made his way up to his father's office, still dressed in the bright orange jumpsuit that served as evidence of his time in imprisonment.

Sitting behind his desk looking thoroughly indifferent at the arrival of his second son, Fugaku waved at Itachi behind him to sit with his brother. As the pair took their seats, Fugaku clasped his hands together and leaned forward over his desk, staring intently at his sons.

"Issues upon issues I've had with you, Sasuke," said Fugaku in a low voice, tapping on the tabletop. "I don't even know where to start."

As the Uchiha brothers sat in silence, Fugaku began to speak.

"First. The retrieval mission I sent you on. Never in a million years did I think you, of all people, would not return. Why was that, Sasuke? What went wrong?"

Sasuke sat as impassive and composed as usual, not once wavering under his father's strict gaze.

"I was the only one who stuck to the mission," he replied coldly. "I went after the girl and the baby. Itachi got caught up in fighting Shisui. Someone had to do something."

Raising an eyebrow, Fugaku looked at his oldest son in curiosity. He knew that Itachi had taken time to kill Shisui, but he never knew to what extent.

"Is that so, Itachi?"

"It was because Sasuke went after them that I remained focused on Shisui," he replied softly, slowly meeting his father's eye. "If I remember correctly, the mission was to apprehend both of them, not just one without the other. I had faith that Sasuke would be able to capture the girl and the child, as long as I had Shisui under control. Compared to Shisui, those two would've been easy to sweep up."

"And yet, the only one who actually succeeded in their half of the mission was you, Itachi," said Fugaku. "So what was it, Sasuke? Did the Senju overwhelm you?"

Sasuke rolled his hands up into fists as he was grilled by his father, hating being called out on his failure.

"At this point in time, I didn't realise that Itachi had called for everyone to retreat," he said boredly, completely masking his feelings of contempt within. "The Senju who had been fighting Itachi and the others returned to where I was with Kakashi. They overpowered me eventually."

"Now, Itachi. Why did you decide to draw back without waiting for Sasuke?"

"It was a spur of the moment decision, father. I'm sorry. I was thinking more about Shisui's death than I was about Sasuke's return. It's my fault."

As Itachi bowed in remorse, the patriarch turned his attention back to his second son with an austere look in his eyes. He no longer had any interest in what happened back then; what he was more concerned about was how it had affected the clan since then.

"Sasuke. I hope you realise that in the duration of your absence, major changes have happened concerning our borders."

"Oh, really?" There was no mistaking Sasuke's blasé tone of voice, dripping with unconcern for his father's words.

"The Lands of Rivers, Grass and Rain. The Suna shinobi have gotten the upper hand in all three of them."

"Oh, how sad. That must be disappointing for you, then."

Fugaku scowled at his son's callousness, slamming his hand down on the desk in a fit of rage.

"I don't know what happened to you these last few months, Sasuke, but you are not going to walk back into my territory with an attitude like that," he snapped angrily, glaring intensely at Sasuke. "The Land of Rivers was our way into Suna! It was our most strategic point to getting into the Land of Wind!"