More shinobi Syn (Hachi) sketches, this time with his new outfit canon to the Naruto!AU. I mainly ship Hachi and Kakashi the most because Kakashi is my number 1 but...Sasuke has grown on me a lot recently. >w>

I actually prefer his appearance at the end of part II (hair, high collar), but I also like his wrist armor from early on in part II, and I might experiment with just saying fuck it and mixing the best of the two to make my own canon-divergent version. Not that I ever strictly follow canon, anyway, since it's - as always - just a guide for me.

Copying from my other post:
Post-Akatsuki he gets taken in by Konoha and spends a few years as a citizen and a shinobi before he's finally allowed to take the jonin test and be able to go on missions with other jonin.

Since he was from the Akatsuki before Konoha, he's already very adept at two elements; wind and water release. I'm thinking maybe give him a third, but I dunno. Maybe not! He's well-known in the village for either wearing bandages or masks, but mostly for running around on all fours. Especially on missions. And also his creepy summons. Hachi likes to run on all fours on all the roofs in Konoha at night, if not retreating to the forest for a run. It's his idea of shaking off all that energy, if not that then he can probably spend hours training his taijutsu.
Hachi's 157 cm, quite small for a 27 year old in the Naruto universe... But he makes up for it with his voracity and his keen sense of smell and hearing. Him being so feral is half a result of his upbringing in the forest and half because it keeps people at arm's length - he's not a big fan of people in general - but it's mostly just second-instinct for him. Running on all fours, putting scrolls in his mouth if asked to deliver messages, bonding with animals and being far closer to them than people, that's all him and he won't change it. In fact, growing up alone in the forest with only Hibi and Kirin by his side (plus some other mercenaries and travellers who don't stay long) has made him insecure of his face (hence the mask) and his body, but when it comes down to who he truly is, he doesn't care for what others think when he's being his feral self. He's not used to stares and being looked at, so that's why on particularly bad days/breakdowns he might walk the streets with a blindfold or a mask - though ironically that just makes people stare more sometimes.

Anyway, I imagine in this canon-divergent version Sasuke and Hachi faced off before. Probably a tie, which enraged Sasuke so much that killing Hachi is one of his goals aside from the whole...y'know. Destroying a village plan. More like a procrastinatey side-quest really. Except every time Sasuke faces off against him Hachi is oblivious because he really doesn't remember who Sasuke is. Kinda weird to have a moody homicidal maniac wanna kill you every time he sees you. But also Sasuke has feelings for Hachi which he doesn't want to process (and also he's older in this canon don't ask how it works I don't care /lh).

Sasuke has his sword, Hachi uses different weapons depending on his mood for the day though. Sometimes it's a double kusarigama, maybe his pole (with hidden blades and flexibility), others it's a war fan. Hachi's composed nature and his smoking pipe pisses Sasuke off and the latter doesn't know why. Or won't admit it to himself. <3 Hachi's sharp wit and silver tongue really appeal to Sasuke even if it takes him forever to figure it out - though most his thought process is just "I have some kind of feeling for him that isn't hatred or respect. I'm going to fucking kill him."