The sun filtered softly through the trees surrounding the training grounds, dappling the dirt with golden light. Most Academy students were still in class, but Sasuke had already requested an early dismissal from Iruka-sensei—citing "Uchiha clan training."
The truth? He wanted to test something.
Behind a thick line of trees and old training dummies, Sasuke stood shirtless, letting the air flow over his sweat-dampened skin. His Sharingan spun lightly, observing the chakra around him, but his attention was inward—toward a technique forming in the back of his mind.
Corp: Activated.
He recalled Fugaku's fireball, Kiba's instinct, and from the civilians earlier—the adrenaline rush of protecting someone. All merged into a new flame.
He shaped the chakra in his lungs. Compressed it. Spiraled it.
His hands blurred through unfamiliar seals.
"Katon: Rekka Senko!"
The flame burst from his mouth in a thin, high-velocity lance that shot across the clearing, piercing through one training dummy and slicing the next clean in half before dissipating.
His chest heaved. It worked.
But behind him—he heard slow, deliberate clapping.
"Damn… didn't think a little clan brat could pull off something like that."
Sasuke turned quickly, Sharingan still active.
From the shadows stepped a tall, curvy woman with violet hair and a playful smirk—Anko Mitarashi, special jōnin of Konoha.
---
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked calmly, deactivating his Sharingan.
Anko tilted her head. "Is that any way to greet someone watching your sexy little fire show?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You were spying?"
She shrugged. "Observing. Big difference. I saw your fire jutsu from the next sector over. It wasn't exactly subtle."
Sasuke stayed silent.
Anko narrowed her eyes slightly. "You know… Uchiha kids don't usually train like that on their own. Especially not with such control. Who taught you that move?"
"No one."
She smiled more genuinely now. "So, self-taught? Impressive."
She started walking in a slow circle around him, eyeing his lean form with a mixture of curiosity and mischief. "How old are you? Five? Six?"
"Five," he replied. "Mentally older."
That made her pause. "Huh… mysterious little badass."
---
Anko leaned against a tree nearby, pulling a small bag of dango from her pocket. "Want one?"
Sasuke hesitated. Then nodded.
She tossed him a stick. "So. You hiding something, Sasuke Uchiha?"
He froze mid-bite. "Aren't we all?"
That answer made her genuinely laugh—short, sharp, but not unkind. "Heh. Fair. But most five-year-olds don't speak like that unless they've seen real hell."
Sasuke stared into the woods. "Maybe I have. Maybe I just remember it better than others."
Anko studied him carefully now. Her grin had faded a bit.
"You remind me of someone," she said finally. "Someone who pretended the world didn't scare them while carrying too much alone."
There was a quiet, mutual understanding in her gaze now.
She's experienced pain… real pain. And she sees it in me, Sasuke thought.
---
After a few minutes of silence, she stood and stretched. "You ever want real training, not just fancy fire tricks? Come find me."
Sasuke looked at her. "Why offer that?"
She stopped walking, glanced back, her voice softer than expected. "Because… sometimes kids with darkness need someone who doesn't treat them like ticking bombs."
He said nothing, but her words carved their way into his mind.
Then, just before she disappeared through the trees, she added, "You've got good eyes, kid. Not just your Sharingan—your real eyes. The ones that haven't given up."
---
That night, Sasuke stared up at the ceiling of his room. His mind wandered—not just to jutsu or battles—but to Anko.
She was wild. Sarcastic. Oddly kind. She didn't look at him like a child. She didn't flinch at his fire.
She saw something… and didn't run from it.
His hand brushed his chest, over his heart.
He'd copied chakra types, muscle control, even elemental structure. But emotional energy—that was harder.
And yet, Anko's had left an imprint.
One he hadn't tried to Corp, but now lived within him—something warm, yet edged in pain.
---
The next morning, Sasuke trained early again—but this time, he wasn't alone.
Anko leaned lazily against a tree with a smug smile.
"I figured you'd show up," Sasuke muttered.
She winked. "Told you. Hidden kindness, kid. I don't just bite for fun."
He looked at her. "You're staying?"
"For a bit." She paused, then tossed a kunai at a log behind him. "We've got time before your precious clan finds out their prodigy's sneaking off with a woman like me."
Sasuke smirked faintly. "You talk too much."
Anko grinned wide. "And you think too much. We'll fix both."
And for the first time in years—perhaps ever—Sasuke felt… seen.