Much Too Early; Much Too Late.

He watched her.

It had been a while since he had been sent to spy on his old village, the one he despised yet missed so much. Of course she would be the first person he would see. It had been... how long since they had seen each other? That night that she had caught up to him, that night that she had yelled for him to stop. She was annoying. He didn't like her, and he never had. In fact, he had never really liked anyone, except perhaps Naruto, but that was only because he was a good rival, even better now, he had heard from someone. It wasn't direct; he had been eavesdropping and heard about the training that the kid had gone through. Well, it would make for more interest when he finally killed him. His best friend... well, what he had thought of as his best friend. He wasn't sure that he could have a best friend, not now; he felt too empty for the idea to make any sense to him.

Pure power, that's what he was, but it certainly didn't have anything alongside it, short of anger and hatred. He only planned on killing Naruto because he wanted to; there was no way he was going to follow his brother's advice and kill his best friend just to become stronger... who said he had to gain power that way? Who said that it would work, anyways?

Where do you think you're going? He thought, watching her light red hair gleam gray in the moonlight. She seemed to be aimless, walking and looking this way and that. If the town had been awake and lively, she wouldn't have stood out from a regular shopper, but at 3 in the morning, he was suspicious of her actions and decided against his better judgment to follow her.

He wasn't here to follow her, and he certainly would have been punished if his Master found out that he wasn't directly obeying orders. The punishments were unusual and cruel, normally leaving him silent and fearful for several weeks at a time.

Jumping down from the roof and sticking to the shadows, he followed her silently, activating his eyes to watch her as carefully as possible.