A/N This is one of those stories I had in my 'writer's archive' for a long time. I never did anything with it because I thought it was stupid after I wrote it, but then I read it again a while ago and thought it was kind of funny. Maybe someone else will find this amusing too.

This will most likely be a one-shot, since I have a ton of other fics to finish writing first. Enjoy ~

Sasuke looked up from his school desk at the new girl, and immediately regretted his decision.

He was too busy for this. He had hopes and dreams, mostly having to do with killing his brother, but also to protect the pack, and to figure out more information on a new threat, and to keep fighting off their old rivals. Currently, life couldn't be more complicated for Sasuke, and then this had to happen.

He heard stories of imprinting. It sounded like a fairy tale, something that wasn't true, until Pain had imprinted on Konan, and then Tobi on Rin. But he had still thought there might be hope for him. He had never really noticed girls very much. Sure, some were prettier than others, but he never had time for them. Like his friend Shikamaru would say - they're too troublesome. Out of all the rest of the guys in their pack, he thought at least he would be safe from imprinting. But then, don't all people think that the worst would never happen to them?

But it looked like the fates had a different plan. Curse them.

"Mr. Uchiha, why are you standing? Do you wish to be Ms. Stanley's lab partner?"

Sasuke was confused until he realized that he was indeed standing and staring hard at the new girl who had just come through the door.

No, he thought. He never needed a lab partner before.

"Yes… Sure," he ended up saying clumsily. What was going on? he thought. It seemed like he was unable to control his desires. His brain didn't want anything to do with this girl, and yet, every fiber of his being wanted to be next to her. He managed to rip his eyes away from her for a few seconds to get back to his seat, but then they stuck right back to her as she took her seat beside him.

The girl was pretty he supposed. She had a long and wavy dirty-blonde ponytail with dark blue eyes. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a tan hoodie with fur on the outside rim.

"Hi, I'm Jessica," she whispered nervously to him, glancing at him quickly before looking back, conscious of the fact that he was still staring at her, although to her it seemed like he was glaring.

All Sasuke could do was nod, because the only thing he wanted to say to her were a confusing mixture of professions of love and profanities at what she was doing to him. Ever since his parents died at the hands of his older brother, Sasuke had never really let himself feel emotions. Until now. They seemed to all be coming up at once, and he didn't' know how to handle it. He slammed his fist down on the desk they were sharing, and then grabbed his coat off the back of his chair and stormed out of the room, muttering something about going to the bathroom to the teacher on the way out.

He had to go home to clear his thoughts. There was no way he could manage to sit at school one more second. All he could think about was her. The way she talked, the way she smiled, the way she looked nervously down at her lap because he was acting like a freak. But most importantly, the way all he wanted to do was make her happy. It sickened him.

Since he couldn't be at school anymore that day for fear of what he might do or say to her, he decided the best option was just to go home and try and solve the mystery of the newest clan that had entered their neighborhood. Unfortunately for him though, no matter where he went, the thoughts of her still haunted over his mind like a sickening storm cloud.

It was like he was stuck in some sick mind genjutsu, but he couldn't break free. He pulled out a utility knife from his back pocket and quickly slit his hand open. Nothing. He was still standing in the same creepy spot in the alleyway with some homeless man staring at him nervously as blood dripped from his clenched fist, thoughts of her still stirring in his mind.

Angrily, ignoring the homeless man, he stormed off towards his house. If he wasn't going to school that day, it was no use for him to just spend the day wandering aimlessly.

Finally, after struggling for many hours with his thoughts, along with more research, Naruto came running through his bedroom door. Him and some others from the pack that were orphans, rented an apartment together.

"Sasuke, I was wondering where you went!" he stated enthusiastically, glad to see his best friend, who only rolled his eyes. "Lunch wasn't the same without you."

"Where's Pain? I need to talk with him," he growled back, ignoring his blonde friend who was already beginning to tell him about the day of school he missed.

"I think him and Konan went to the park or something."

"Wanna go to the park with me?"

Naruto smiled. "Sure!"

Once there, one glance at Pain was enough to alert him that something wasn't right.

"What's going on?" he asked Sasuke. "Did you find out any more information?"

Sasuke felt guilty for a moment, for as much as he tried he couldn't find any new information about the new clan. He brushed it off quickly. "No. But something… abnormal happened."

Immediately all eyes were on him. He hesitated for a moment, but realized that they - and their whole clan - would all find out eventually, so he might as well tell these four now. "I... imprinted on someone today."

Konan and Naruto burst out laughing. Sasuke could only scowl at them.

"You're kidding," said Pain, narrowing his eyes at him, attempting to stop the tears of joy.

"No. It was the new girl today." Sasuke didn't know why, but he had a hard time trying to keep from going on and on about her. He cursed himself and the gods responsible for this humiliation.

"Jessica?" asked Konan, pausing from her own giggling. This sparked an unhealthy interest in Sasuke that he couldn't help but hate to love. "I know her, she's in my art class."

"Who's Jessica?" asked Pain, furrowing his brow and thinking deeply.

"I don't know anything about her either," sighed Sasuke uselessly. How could he feel such strong emotions and ties to some girl he didn't even know? This whole situation couldn't have come at a worse time.

"Her and her dad just moved here from Forks," responded Konan, smirking at Sasuke, who cursed himself more as he all but devoured this information.

"Hmm…" Pain responded, still thinking. "Well. You should get to know her then."

This was not the response Sasuke was waiting for.

"I just…" he said, desperately running a hand through his dark hair, "don't know how to act anymore. I can't think clearly - all I can think about is her," he said angrily. "I can't do my job properly! Give me some advice here!"

Pain nodded. Out of all of them, Pain would know how he felt. He could give some real advice. "I'll help you," he said.

The next day at school, Sasuke felt more prepared. Although, word spread quickly in his clan that he had imprinted on the "new girl", and they had all at least teased him about it once. Sasuke, the cold-hearted, killing-minded, stoic-faced 2nd in command imprinted on someone.

He showed up a little early to his first hour so he could apologize for his rude behavior to this woman that sent shivers down his spine. There was a small script that he had written the night before and had memorized, but as soon as she walked through the doors and sat down next to him, his mind turned to jelly.

Jessica looked uncomfortably back down at her lap, wishing this strange man would just stop staring at her.

For some reason, Sasuke instantly knew what to do. He saw a need that she had and instantly wanted to meet it. With this need to fulfil her every wish being greater than the need he felt to stare at her, he finally was able to tear his eyes away.

"I'm sorry about my behavior the other day," he said, slowly remembering his lines he had so carefully crafted. "I wasn't feeling well and had to go home." It wasn't necessarily a lie. He had felt terrible.

He let out a silent sigh of relief as she smiled and looked up at him.

"Oh it's fine. You're Sasuke, right?"

"Right, Sasuke," he said stupidly. At least he was getting the hang of this.

"It's nice to meet you," she said happily.

"It's nice to meet you, too," he responded. He wasn't good at small talk. In fact he hated it and thought it was stupid. But his desire to please her with conversation was greater than his mind screaming at him to stop.

"Are you ok, you... seem like you're in a bad mood?" she asked as she opened up her notebook to take notes.

"Oh, sorry, that's just normally the way I look," he said awkwardly. Somehow, he was unable to stop just there. "I first realized I had an angry-looking demeanor when I was little," he went on. "When I met this kid named Naruto. He told me to get the stick out of my ass, and for some reason we ended up best friends ever since," he said, immediately regretting it. Why was he divulging so much information? All he wanted to do was bang his head on his desk over and over again.

She giggled though, much to Sasuke's surprise, and so he rolled with it and lifted a corner of his mouth - the closest he had ever gotten to a smile in years.

The rest of the class period was an intense lecture on something about chemistry, but Sasuke kept getting distracted whenever Jessica would lean over to him and whisper something.

He honestly hated talking during class and wanted to scold Jessica and tell her to stop bothering him so he could take proper notes, but his desire for her to pay attention to him was greater than anything else in any moment.

As a plus, he gathered a few things about her life. Firstly, that she was his age - 17, and also that she really didn't know anything about chemistry, or anything else mildly intellectual. She wasn't stupid by any means, just not very interested in higher learning. He was honestly curious as to why she was even in chemistry, as it was an elective at their school, but decided not to ask yet.

When the bell rang signaling class was over, Sasuke was both glad to get away from her, but also sad to be leaving her. He couldn't handle all the mixed emotions that were constantly flooding him. It was as if every emotion he had ever suppressed since elementary school was coming out of him in the form of wrongly placed love in this random girl named Jessica. After slamming his locker shut he was, eventually, overcome with the desire to follow her, if only to find out where her locker was as well. This isn't stalking, he decided.

In the hallway over, he saw her gathering her books for her next class, and saw that she had music next. Yeah, she seemed like a music person. Suddenly, she glanced over at him across the hall and he silently cursed himself. Yeah, he must seem like a stalker.

He nodded to her and proceeded down the hallway, making it seem like his next class was somewhere on the other side. When he reached her locker, he said hi.

"What class do you have next?" she asked.

"Astronomy," he responded. Luckily she was new and so didn't know that the classroom wasn't even on that floor.

"Awesome. My class is this way, so... I guess I'll see you later," she said.

Sasuke watched her leave before he realized he had less than a minute to get to class. What is it about this girl? It was like she was a drug and he was addicted. What was the oddest thing, is that this girl would have never even made his head turn before. But could any girl?

After third hour biology, Sasuke made his way down to the cafeteria to eat lunch with his pack. There were ten of them in all, including himself.

Pain was the leader and Konan, his girlfriend, almost inseparable since he first locked eyes with her in middle school, were sitting together on the end of the table. Shikamaru was lying flat on his back on a bench he had pulled over, staring at the ceiling, and Choji was sitting on the end of his bench eating a bag of chips. Kiba was in some sort of argument with Naruto, and so he sat down at the end by Shino, across from Sakura and Hinata.

Sasuke barely had the chance to sit down before he noticed Jessica walking out of the kitchen area, lunch tray in hand, and timidly looking for a place to sit.

Sasuke sighed as he realized what his body was telling him to do. And to think all Sasuke wanted to do was relax and eat his lunch. Grudgingly, he got up and made his way over to her.

"Hey," he said getting her attention. "Wanna come sit with me?"

Jessica noticed the angry looks some girls gave her that were sitting at the neighboring tables. They obviously thought Sasuke was cute, and was angry that he, who had never paid any attention to them before, was suddenly so interested in the "new girl".

Jessica was in a rough situation, because although Sasuke was the hottest guy she had ever seen, she also wanted to make friends, and it wouldn't help if all the girls at her new school hated her on her second day. Being popular was a fine line to walk.

Luckily, Sasuke pointed at his table where she noticed some other people, including some friendly girls, and so she decided to take him up on his offer.

But maybe that wasn't such a good idea either. As soon as Jessica put her tray down, all the people at the table were staring at her, grinning ear to ear.

"Stop looking at her like that, you're all freaking her out," growled Sasuke to the table and took a bite of his food aggressively. Even Shikamaru got up to see what all the commotion was about.

Sasuke never defended anybody. He must really have imprinted for him to be acting this way about some random girl.

Luckily Sakura stepped up to break the silence.

"You're Jessica right? Nice to meet you!" Sasuke silently thanked the girls for engaging Jessica in conversation so he could eat in peace.

His ears perked up when he heard Sakura mentioning the beach.

"This weekend, we were all going swimming and having a bonfire. Do you wanna come?" she asked, sending a smirk Sasuke's way.

"I love swimming! That sounds awesome! Thank you for inviting me."

Sasuke hated swimming. He hated the beach, and the sand and the sun. But now that Jessica expressed interest in going, Sasuke not only wanted to go swimming, but he wanted to be the best swimmer in the world, just for her.

By the time the weekend arrived, Sasuke was an absolute wreck from all the never ending emotions that imprinting brought for him. It seemed as though the more he tried to fight his feelings for Jessica, the more he couldn't think about anything else, and he hated that. He felt as though his free will was gone. His thoughts were no longer on ways to find and kill his brother, ways to protect the clan and stay alert to new threats, but instead, to how Jessica's eyes were enrapturing, and scent intoxicating. As stoic as he had been trying to be his entire life, it seemed as though all his walls were tumbling down whenever she spoke as little as one word to him.

And it wasn't as if she was incredibly special. In fact, as Sasuke got to know her better, he realized that Jessica was probably one of the most average people he had ever met. She didn't have any extra powers (he had looked her over enough times with his sharingan to be able to tell that). She was a straight C student, except for the B's and occasional A's in music and art. She was part of a small, middle class suburban home. She was of average height and weight, with medium length hair. She loved indie rock, shopping and gossiping. Everything about her was just average.

Sasuke was in a bind, and he aimed to do something about it.

"This is the worse thing that's ever happened to me," he complained to Pain on Friday night. And it was mostly true. Itachi killing their parents was definitely up there, but at least in that horrible situation Sasuke had some control over himself. In this current situation he had none, and it felt as though he was a slave to his emotions.

"Maybe you should talk to the Fates about it," Pain sighed back, throwing his hands up in the air at the angsty teen. This got Sasuke's attention.

"Are they real?" he asked, somewhat naively. Ever since he was little, he heard stories of the Fates, and how they kept the balance between good and evil in the world - pulling the strings of human existence along - but he always thought they were just stories.

"How do I know," Pain replied, rubbing his face, trying to concentrate on something on the computer before him, but instead having to deal with this silly teen romance. "But Jiraiya seems to think so. Go ask him."

"I can't go visit him anytime soon. I'm swamped with exams coming up." Jiraiya was an old wandering sage that usually lived up in the mountains. It was at least a three days journey to get there, if you knew where you were going.

"Lucky for you, he'll be at tomorrow night's bonfire."

Sasuke frowned. "How are you able to concentrate on anything?" he asked him, changing the subject slightly, trying not to be snoopy. "I can't do anything but think of her all day," he stated with detest. "But you've imprinted on Konan and you seem to be doing just fine.

"I dunno, I guess I just stopped fighting the feelings and everything got better? Now, I'm a little busy…" he said, but Sasuke took the hint and left the room.

Useless Pain.

On Saturday, the day of the big event, where the main clans would be coming as well, Sasuke looked everywhere for the elder Jiraiya, but to no avail. Sakura told him that he wouldn't arrive till late.

"I just shouldn't have to deal with this!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you're complaining so much! You're acting like being in love with a girl is a fate worse than death. Just get in the car, you can't tell me that you don't want to go," she said, bored. She was supposed to be driving the group down to the beach and wasn't leaving without Sasuke, no matter how much he protested.

Something in Sasuke finally snapped, and he couldn't fight the feelings anymore, so he stormed upstairs to get his swimming trunks. "Fine I'm going! But the only reason I am is to see Jiraiya!" he lied. Every part of him wanted to see Jessica again. But he would never admit to that.

Sakura shook her head and sighed at her friend. She had known him since they were in diapers, and he never changed. It was difficult to see her friend struggle so hard, but at the same time it brought her a kind of joy.

You see, Sakura had a crush on him a long time ago, but that quickly stopped at the end of middle school. He was a great guy and everything, but he was just never interested in a romantic relationship with anyone - he was way too busy with his own life. If he never imprinted on anyone, he would have ended up dying alone.

"I'm ready," he grumbled, climbing down the staircase.

"Alright, get in the car, everyone else is waiting for us."

They pulled up to the beach in their van and parked in the sand. Immediately, Sasuke spotted Jessica, already in her swimsuit, and she waved at him and started walking over.

"Come on, it's a beautiful day, let's go swimming!" she said to him as the rest of the posse already started stripping off and running towards the water. "You can swim right?"

Sasuke's intentions were to just come, say hi, chat for a bit with Jiraiya, then walk home, but her asking him was too much for him to pass up. Instantly he pulled off his shirt and threw it back in the car and then started walking across the sand to her.

For some reason she looked shocked and pointed a finger at his stomach. He looked down to see where she was pointing but couldn't see anything unusual.

"Sasuke, steroids are bad for you!" she exclaimed.

He had to fight every urge to smirk when he realized she was talking about his abs. He instantly felt very strong and elated.

"I just work out," he shrugged, not wanting to explain anymore. "Come on, let's go swimming.

The rest of the day passed by wonderfully, and Sasuke was in an unusually cheerful mood. Naruto told him it was because it was the first time he had relaxed in years. The Uchiha only rolled his eyes and splashed him.

He didn't really know when he would end up telling Jessica about the clan secret, or if he even would, but he certainly wasn't expecting her to stay for the bonfire.

"It's ok, I asked my grandmother and she said it's alright for Jessica to stay," said Sakura to him quietly before he could protest. Everyone knew if her grandmother Tsunade, one of the clan elders, gave any orders, they would be carried out. Just so, if she said Jessica was to go to the bonfire, it would be done.

But Sasuke still didn't like it. At these bonfires, certain clan secrets and stories would be told. He looked over the crowds of people at the beach trying to soak in the last bits of sun for the day, when he felt a small, gentle hand on his back, and instantly cursed himself.

"Sasuke, you're really warm!"

He turned around to look at Jessica who just got out of the water, and was now shivering as the droplets fell off of her. The sun was setting so it was significantly colder out. Sasuke looked at her shivering, pathetic self. She wasn't athletic at all, but she was thin enough to look like she could be snapped in two with little effort. It only made Sasuke want to protect her even more.

As a knee-jerk reaction, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her comparatively small frame, hugging her to his bare chest.

"Maybe it's just that you're cold," he said softly to her. If anything was awkward between them, it was drowned out by the happiness at being able to touch her bare skin.

Luckily, she relaxed in his arms, and accepted his warmth.

"Is this ok?" she asked.

No. But at least she wasn't asking about why he was so warm anymore.

Sasuke looked down at her, keenly aware of her skimpy bathing suit, and their direct contact.

He immediately let go and turned around.

"I heard you were invited to the bonfire," he said quickly, changing the subject while still keeping his back turned. Luckily, Jessica didn't think anything of it. He bit down hard on his thumb, drawing blood, trying to snap out of it. It was just a bathing suit. He had seen her in it all day. No big deal.

Still, he reached behind him and found her hand, and began leading her towards the parking lot across the sand.

They all started walking towards the van, ready to leave the beach and go back to their clan cul de sac for a bonfire. Jessica seemed to have gotten a ride from Hinata.

"If you don't want to though, you don't have to," he said to her, hoping against hope that she would not be able to make it. "It's a little further from here, and it's getting late." Even if he had to pay for her cab, it would have been better.

"A bonfire sounds cool!" she said animatedly. Crap.

Once everyone was ready to leave, they all packed in cars and drove towards the clan estate.

Pulling up past the main gates, one could immediately see the large flames coming from the center of the drive, and all the people standing around with lawn chairs scattered about. Jessica seemed to be a little overwhelmed by all the people - it was a family gathering after all - and so Sasuke stood by her side introducing her to the different families present. Luckily - or perhaps unluckily - someone had already made all of them aware of the imprinting situation.

And then the Uchiha finally spotted the man he had been searching for all evening.

"Jiraiya, I need to talk to you," he said, walking up to him with Jessica in tow, interrupting his conversation with Tsunade and Sakura that seemed less important.

"Oh! Good to see you too… Hmm, who's this little sugar plum?" asked the old man, eyeing up Jessica, who instantly blushed, playing with her still damp hair.

Sasuke felt slightly defensive, but brushed off the old pervert. "I need to talk to you in private, now," he said, but Jiraiya shook his head.

"I'm afraid it'll have to be after the stories."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I've heard them a thousand times. Let's go talk someplace private." But Jiraiya still shook his head.

"I'm sorry lad. This year, I'm telling them."

This made Sasuke pause. "But Hiruzen always gives them. He's the chief elder."

"Well this year he asked me to give them. Between me and you, I think he's getting a little too old for all this, ya know." And with that, he turned to face the crowd and raised his voice, stepping on a little podium. "Alright everyone, gather 'round and quiet down, it's time you heard a thing or two about how we came to be," he said, reciting the famous words that begin any clan story. Even Sasuke knew them by heart by now.

He nodded over to Jessica and together they took a seat by the fire, soaking in the heat and preparing for the story.

"Long long ago in Ancient Japan, there lived many people who roamed about the earth…"

Sasuke, bored at hearing the same stories over and over again, no matter who was telling them, looked over at Jessica and was surprised to see that she was deeply entranced by the story and was smiling to herself. At least, he thought, a story about a great ninja war with shinobi that had chakra powers sounded so fantastical that she would never guess it to be true. At least not yet.

So in the meantime Sasuke listened to the ancient story, rolled his eyes at Jiraiya's stupid pervert jokes that were never in the versions Hiruzen told, and kept silent.

Jessica, bless her soul, was eating up this story like a kid in a candy store. Sasuke could hardly tell what she was thinking, and had to refrain himself from interrupting her, just like all those times he so desperately wanted to concentrate on Chemistry.

Restraint was difficult, but at the same time, he didn't want to ruin the air of deep involvement she was investing in Jiraiya's story.

At least she was wearing proper clothes now, supposedly having changed in Hinata's car. If a hoodie with a small pair of shorts could be counted as such.

"The three sisters called the Fates were not as powerful as the gods, but they were just as clever and cunning.

To get back at the gods for their humiliation, the Fates decided to place two curses on the remaining shinobi families.

The first was this: that shinobi families would only be able to have two children - just enough to replace the parents when they died. Even if they married outside of the two families, only the female children of these unions would be given the power to wield chakra.

The second curse is this: That the shinobi men would be made to fall in love with a woman, and be made to obey and respect her every wish, protecting and honoring her even till death, when, with his life tied inextricably to her own, he would die as well. This was to teach the gods to respect the three sisters, and to honor the power that was given to them over the fate of each human being."

Sasuke always hated this story. Even more so now that the second curse applied to him. Imprinting. And it was indeed a curse.

He couldn't help looking at Jessica during the entire story, the plain girl that the Fates (if they even existed) decided he needed to honor and obey. What was so special about her anyway? Surely, the Fates must have made a mistake. At least Pain and Obito were able to imprint on women within the clan.

Women much less unintelligent and boring.

"Centuries and centuries passed and so did the generations of the shinobi families.

As the world along with Japan began to develop, the shinobi's skills became less and less useful, and even hated by the people who used to worship them as gods. And so, with nowhere else to go, they went into hiding until the people forgot about them.

A couple hundred years ago from present day, one large family descendent of the shinobi decided to emigrate from Japan and seek their fortune elsewhere, amongst a people who did not know them - to America."

*Sasuke braced himself for the cheesy ending that was inevitable.*

"And so the family of shinobi lived hiding their powers and living as though they had none, although still under the punishment of the curses.

We, my family and yours, are the descendants of these shinobi. So grow up my children, eat your fruits and vegetables and grow strong, in case the Fates ever call on us again, to defend the world and keep the balance between yin and yang."

With that, the whole block erupted in clapping and cheering as Jiraiya took a theatrical low bow.

Fruits and vegetables? That definitely wasn't apart of the story he was used to hearing from Hiruzen. Stupid pervert sage.

"Sasuke?" asked Jessica, tugging on his sleeve. Sasuke was instantly captivated by her presence, but was off put by something strange in her eyes.

"It's just a silly family story about our heritage," he explained. "We did emigrate from Japan. Shinobi is actually japanese for 'ninja'. It's just a silly story for kids."

While there was some truth to what Sasuke was saying, it wasn't just a silly story. It was the life they were living.

"There's one thing Jiraiya didn't say in his story…"

"Hmm?"

"The godly powers these 'shinobi' have… Chakra. What does that mean?" The look was still there, that Sasuke couldn't place.

"You know, typical ninja stuff," he said, trying to brush the question off. "Walking on water. Stealth. Speed. That kind of story-book feel."

Jessica seemed lost in thought, obviously thinking too much about the story that was told. It was a lot to take in.

"What about you?" he asked, leaning back against his chair and placing his hands behind his head to rest there. "Where is your family from?"

"Oh, I was actually born in Texas," she said, seeming to snap back to reality now that they were talking about her favorite subject. "I moved here to Washington with my family when I was really little though, so I don't remember it. I transferred schools from Forks recently because my dad got a new job making more money here."

Before Sasuke could explore her mundane life any further however, none other than Jiraiya came over to their little niche and sat himself down noisily.

"You wanted to see me Sasuke?"

Children were running around the elder noisily, begging to be told the story over again, and Jessica was sitting with the contemplative expression back on her face.

"I had a question," he said, turning his voice to a low whisper, so only the pervy sage could hear. "About the Fates."

Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow. The troubled teen hardly ever wanted to talk to him unless it had to do with jutsu, let alone about the stories.

"I was wondering… How do we know if Fates are real?" he asked, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening in to his seemingly childish question. "These are just oral stories passed down right? Who knows if they are even real or accurate?"

Sasuke didn't know what he was expecting as a response from Jiraiya. Maybe a dissertation on faith or philosophy? Hidden wisdom that only the elders could possess? Instead…

"I dunno," said Jiraiya, laughing heartily. "Hell, I don't even know if I believe in 'em."

Sasuke deadpanned. Was the pervy sage not just moments before, telling his whole clan about them with passion and zeal? Maybe Sasuke should have asked Hiruzen.

"But I heard that sometimes," he continued, sparking the young Uchiha's attention once more. "The Fates come to the shinobi during special circumstances. When war is near. When the balance is close to collapsing."

Sasuke rubbed his temples. No good. Something like that was way far off. He needed another way.

"Is there any history," Sasuke began to ask. "Of a shinobi breaking the curses?"

A dumb expression came across the sage's face. "Nope. But I imagine if anybody ever tried, the Fates would definitely want to show up for that."

And in those stupid words uttered, Sasuke found hope.

If he tried to fight his curse hard enough, would the Fates show up? It wasn't guaranteed, but it was worth a shot, he supposed.