The Nightmare before the calm...

[Uchiha Sasuke]

It was early morning, when Sasuke woke up from a dream. He was sweating and panting for breathe as he looked around. He saw his room, dirty, but he was there laying in his bed for now. His onyx eyes pierced the wall between where he knew his brother’s room was. Sasuke slowly pull the covers off him and slide out of bed. His left foot stepped onto one of his shurikens and he pushed it out of his way before he tripped down it. Right now he was wearing his clothing that he fell asleep in, but that was not the thing that was on his mind at the moment.

He slowly made his way out of his room and looked around the empty hallway. The hallway was once decorated with flowers from the Yamanaka shop, but now held only vases half filled with water on the tables. Sasuke moved towards Itachi’s bedroom and paused in front of it. His dream consisted of his brother being there in the room while he was sleeping. He needed to make sure he was not there. He reached up to open to the room. His other hand went towards his kunai hoister only to find that he had taken it off his side before falling asleep. Sasuke grinned, but he was not going to let this stop him from proving Itachi was not in the house with him.

Without anymore hesitation, Sasuke flung open the door to the Itachi’s room and his eyes moved fast around every bit of the room only to see nothing there. Nothing had been moved since the last time Itachi was in the room. Sasuke had not gotten to the point where he was able to move inside the room, he was not sure if he ever would be able to get pass that point in his life. He had looked up to his brother to only find him hovering over their parents dead bodies.

Sasuke relaxed some and looked down to the floor. To him he saw a invisible line between the room and him. He looked back up and picked up his left foot and stepped closer to the line. He was not sure why he was going to step into the room now after all these years, but it seemed like his body was moving on its own. Sasuke stopped himself and turned away from the door after closing it shut. He was not even sure what he was thinking when he moved his foot closer. ”I need to get out of here!” Sasuke was angry with himself and he felt a good day of training would take his mind of the nightmare he had.

[]Note: Solo thread.[]

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke walked back to his room and looked around. He could not believe that he had not packed away his weapons last night. He had just thrown them down on the floor of his room telling himself that he would get to it tomorrow. He ran a hand through his hair out of frustration of everything today. He bent down and started to pick up his shurikens and kunai and grabbed his pouch from under the bed and placed them in there. He stood up and placed the pouch onto the side of his hip for later.

He looked around the room for a second before changing his shirt at least. He threw the dirty shirt over onto his bed and walked out of the room. He walked down the hallway away and paused near the door of Itachi’s room and glared at it. He never went in there, just like he did with his parents’ room. He felt if he touched the room that it would destroy what was left of them. He slowly allowed his eyes to trail down the hallway towards the kitchen. He moved across the hard floor after a moment more.

Sasuke walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to see what he could eat for something quick. He barely could cook a meal, so mostly it was take out or pre-cooked meals. He scanned it and reached and pulled out some rice balls he had picked up about three days before. He knew they were still good for now. He unwrapped one and took a bite of it and moved towards the door. He slipped his sandals and grabbed his headband that he threw on the couch last night and stuffed it in his pocket. He did not feel like wearing it for now and no one really questioned him.

After he gathered up everything he moved to the door and walked outside. He looked it and looked up only to be met with another reminder of Itachi. From the distance from the porch and the wall he saw the cracks that were made by Itachi’s kunai. He turned his head and slowly walked onto the streets. He looked around slowly and saw nothing but empty houses and old stores. This was his home and yet there was no life too it at all. No one from the village decided to move into the Uchiha compound fearing it was curse or something. Sasuke knew they thought of him has a prodigy just like Itachi, but that was something that he did not want to be compared too. He felt that Itachi ruined everything for the clan, but he also knew that he did not have the training to go off on his own and hunt down his brother.

Sasuke ate the last rice ball in his hands and dusted off his hands has he walked closer to the small training grounds in the middle of the compound. It was the only place he could train without watchful eyes on him from the village or something. He also knew that no one like Naruto could find him. He did not want to put up with that loser.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke walked to the center of the training ground and looks around. Nearly everything in the area had an Uchiha symbol on it and it was just another reminder what he had to do in the years to come. For now, he had to place the thoughts out of his head and focus on his training and getting the nightmare out of his head. His plan to do that was to work until he could barely stand. It had always worked in the past and it was his method. He also hoped by working until he was exhausted would activate his Sharingan. He didn’t want to go on his first mission without it, but he also knew that it would most likely awaken on him during a life or death situation.

Sasuke closed his eyes and pushed the thought about the Sharingan out of his head. He knew that it would not do him any good to dwell on something that he could not control. He knew in time they would activate and he would gain more power, but until that day the only way he knew how to gain power was to train until he could not do it anymore.

Sasuke opened his eyes and started to form some hang signs. His speed was slightly above that of a normal genin of his age, but he always wanted to get fast so no one could read what he was planning on doing, however, he knew that his speed was not his strong point. His strongest area was his fire ball jutsu that his father had taught him and somewhat of his taijutsu. He took a deep breath and let the jutsu finish. Out of his mouth came a thin red and orange line until it was about five feet from him then it exploded into a giant fireball. Sasuke was also trying to hold the fireball until he couldn’t anymore. He wanted to maintain it for a longer period of time.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke after about two minute release the jutsu. He was able to hold it at least thirty seconds longer than before when he looked at the stopwatch in his hands. He looked at it and grinned. He still didn’t think that it was good enough and it annoyed him that he was not improving as much as he would have liked to already. He knew he was just a Genin and didn’t have the power of the Sharingan to get the hang of things faster like his brother had. He made a fist and punched the post next to him.

After the pain shot through his fingers, wrist, and arm he slowly leaned his head against the post and closed his eyes. There was no reason for him to take it out on the post, but he felt like there should have been some kind of improvement other than thirty seconds added onto the jutsu. It was not even had its full strength, because he could not hold that one longer than forty-five seconds. ”That move is annoying, but it’s the sign of the Clan…it was the reason why Father told me I could call myself an Uchiha…”

Sasuke brought his hand up to the side of the post and his fingers looked like he was searching for something on the side without actually looking at it. He sighed slightly when the tips of his fingers seemed to find what he was looking for. His index finger started to move around a dent in the wood. It was not just a dent, but the fan of the Uchiha craved into it. It was something Sasuke had found himself doing just days after losing everyone. It reminded him what he needed to do and made him push on with his training. He knew one day, Uchiha Itachi would be killed by his hands and it was only a matter of time before that happened.

After a moment more, Sasuke pushed himself off the post and walked over to the small box that he kept here now and dug something out of his pockets. It was a key to unlock the box in front of him. He bent down and unlocked it and took out five to seven small targets. He started to hand them all around the small training ground. He might as well start with something that he was good at doing instead of waiting for nothing to happen. He was going to try once again to pull off the trick that Itachi did just before he actually entered the academy. He wanted to be able to do it without the use of the Sharingan and now was the best time to practice it. He knew he would get it sooner than later. It was just a matter of time now.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

He grinned slightly when he looked around and noticed that it was nearly like the time watching Itachi train before he entered the academy. He had sprained his ankle that day and Itachi carried him home. It was one of the best memories that he had with his brother, but that all faded when he found out what he had done a few years later. Sasuke reached into his pouch and pulled out his kunai and threw it at one of the targets. He didn’t place that much strength behind the throw for the most part.

He took out another one and started to twirl it around his finger for now. He was not sure what he was going to start with during this bit of his practice, there were too many things he wanted to try out that he was not sure what to do first. He sighed slightly and closed his eyes for a brief second. ”Damn it…if I try everything I will be too tired for practice with the pathetic idiots later on, things are just a drag right now…” He reached up and ran a hand through his hand for a moment before reaching into his pocket and grabbing his wire. He started to tie the end to the hole in the kunai.

Sasuke looked up to the blue sky above him as he finished tying. He grinned some and watched a hawk fly above. He knew the village use them has messengers from village to village, but he did not know how they trained them to do that. Perhaps he would have to look into it one of these days. He grinned and looked back down to the targets for a moment or so.

[naruto]

Naruto sighed and shifted on his bed, looking out the window at the inky night sky. He knew he had to sleep at some point, but at the same time, he was too restless. He exhaled sharply and then stood up, putting on his clothes and sandals. He put on his hitai-ate as well. He never went anywhere without it anymore, just like the goggles that were now stuffed in a dresser drawer.

He opened his balcony window and jumped to the street below. Maybe a walk would help him cool his nerves. Anything to get rid of some of the pent up energy he had. Once his feet hit the ground, Naruto turned and picked a random direction.

He'd just keep walking until he finally got tired, then he'd go back home and get the sleep he would need for the test Kakashi-sensei was giving them the next day.

He walked past the Ichiraku Ramen stand and noticed how dark the village was at night when nobody was awake. It was a very lonely feeling. Naruto sympathized.

Eventually his wanderings took him to a gate. As he looked around, he realized that he was now at the entrace to the Uchiha's estate and grounds. Naruto crossed his arms and wondered what it was like. To him, it seemed more like a graveyard, but when the gate blew open in a stiff breeze, Naruto could not deny his curiosity.

I wonder what it's like, in here? Naruto stepped into the grounds. No doubt they'd looked better a couple of years ago, but what Naruto could see in the night wasn't looking very impressive. A bunch of buildings almost seemed to be falling apart because there was nobody to take care of them.

Thoroghly creeped out by the houses, Naruto stepped off the path and entered a patch of forrest, walking deeper and deeper into the maze of trees. He let out a low whistle. "Man...this place's seen some better days," he muttered.

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[Uchiha Sasuke]

Sasuke was about to actually try and perform a taijutsu trick that he seen Itachi go and do before, but he heard something in the distance. He looked around some and could not pinpoint it just yet. It had been a while since anyone other than him had step foot into the area because of what happened. There use to be a street full of merchants that would sell their goods along the main street and everyone would from the village would come and buy something, but now there was nothing but empty stores and street tables.

Sasuke quickly gathered his things up and placed them up in a tree. He didn’t want whoever there to take his stuff. The faint whistling that he was hearing was rather annoying, but he knew he could follow it and give a scare to whoever decided to come into the compound. He was slightly annoyed that someone even thought about coming in here without permission from him.

He slowly started to follow the whistle until he saw exactly who it was. There was Naruto standing about a good fifty feet in front of him. He moved quickly and hid behind the building. He closed his eyes wondering why the idiot would ever think about coming here. He grinned slightly and took out a kunai and moved from behind the tree and threw the kunai at Naruto’s feet. He wanted to get a point across that he was not welcome here EVER.

”Idiot! What are you doing here?!”

He pulled another kunai out and held it in his right hand in case Naruto acted from the throw. He was not going to take it easy on Naruto. Naruto crossed the lines by coming here and he was going to make the worse ninja in the village pay for ever thinking he was could set foot in here.