Sasuke leapt from roof to roof. He was heading towards the memorial stone, which was most likely where his sensei would be.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sasuke stopped and turned around.

It was Ino. She was carrying a bunch of yellow and pink flowers.

What does she want? Thought Sasuke, annoyed by the fact she still called him ‘Sasuke-kun’ in that irritating voice of hers since they had been academy students.

“Are you going to the memorial stone?” she asked.

“Yes” he replied.

“May I come with you?”

No, he thought, but he said yes anyway.

“I brought flowers, yellow for Naruto and pink for Forehead-Girl.”

Sasuke glared at her angrily.

“Uh…Sorry, I meant Sakura-chan” said Ino, terrified by the waves of killing intent she was receiving from him.

“Let’s go” he said and they leapt towards the memorial stone.

****

A few minutes later they arrived. Kakashi was already there as Sasuke predicted, standing in front the memorial stone staring at the two names that had recently been carved on it. Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Sasuke had never found out how Sakura had died exactly, all he knew was that it was at the hands of his brother.

Kakashi turned to face the newcomers and raised his hand in greeting. “Yo, how are you two?” he said.

“I’m fine, th-” Ino replied but Sasuke interrupted her.

“I need to speak to you,” he said, then threw a glance at Ino, “in private.”

“I’ll leave you two alone then,” Ino said. She placed the flowers down beside the memorial stone and left.

“See ya!” Kakashi called to her then looked at Sasuke. “You didn’t have to make her leave; we could have gone somewhere else. You can be harsh sometimes, Sasuke.”

“Whatever,” he replied, “I’m here to ask you what we should do about Itachi…”

“Sasuke, we’ve already asked permission from Tsunade-sama to go after Itachi, and she said no.”

“Who cares what she says! I made a promise to Naruto!”

“I’m sure Naruto would’ve preferred you to stay in Konoha than leave without permission.”

“Of course! That’s why he left Konoha without permission to save me from Akatsuki!”

Kakashi said nothing. Sasuke turned away. “I’m going to find Itachi, even if it means I can never come back.”

“You’re leaving again?”

“Yes, because this time I have no reason to stay.”

“Fine, do what you have to, but if you leave, you understand you’ll be classed as a missing nin, and this time I don’t think Konoha will take you back.”

Sasuke looked at his sensei, surprised. “You’re not going to try and stop me?”

“I failed to stop you last time, there’s no point trying to stop you a second time.”

Sasuke smiled. “So you think I’m doing the right thing?”

“No, I think you’re being a complete idiot. You’re letting vengeance rule your life. Killing Itachi won’t bring the Uchiha clan back, nor will it bring back your team mates.”

Sasuke glared at his sensei. “And what the hell would you know! You don’t what it’s like to lose everyone you love!” Sasuke shouted, then he instantly regretted his words. Kakashi remained silent.

Sasuke started to walk away then stopped, “How come you never avenged your old team mates?”

Kakashi looked at Sasuke and said, “Because I was weak, and even though I’m stronger now, it’s too late.”

****

Sasuke had managed to sneak out of Konoha with no problems. He’d been walking for a couple of days now totally clueless, he had no idea how he was meant to find Itachi by himself.

A couple of hours later, he was at a small village. He went into the nearest bar and sat down. While he was thinking of ways he could possibly track down Itachi and if there would be anyone willing to help him, he noticed a man with two very hot girls with him. They were obviously very drunk and Sasuke looked on in disgust. The man seemed quite old and vaguely reminded him of someone. A while later something dropped from the man’s pocket. It was a very familiar orange book. Sasuke suddenly jumped up and cried, “That’s it!” and ran out of the bar while gaining a few odd looks from people.