AN: Ookay, reading Naruto fanfictions for weeks straight can have unexpected side effects... such as thinking about Sasuke, of all things, in a 'let's make it all better' scenario...
If anyone is wondering about choppy conversations, the first few scenes mostly play out as canon. The further I get away from canon, the more detail you can expect.
Oh, and just to be thorough: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, italicized segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.
And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.
oOo
During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.
But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to undermine the sannin's influence? And knows things?
oOo
Raven Chatter
The Raven is ancient and wise, but is his advice what you really want to hear?
Part 1: Forest Flight
oOo
Pain...
What... happened?
"Get up!"
It burns... but I feel... strong!
Get up! Do something!
What... A scream... Pink- Sakura?
Go!
Sakura? Fighting? Who is that beside her? He's attacking her, but why doesn't he move? No... nothing moves - No, everything moves, but so... slowly...
Good. You can move. You can... stop him.
I can kill him. Them.
Stop them. That's enough for now.
... Besides, do you really need to be crude? Disabling them without killing shows more control, more skill.
Also, what's better, inanimate corpses or fear... and respect?
Hrn.
Heh.
"Sakura... who did hurt you?"
oOo
Enough. The sound girl has given up already. Don't hurt your teammates. Stop.
But the power...
What about the pain? (Do you like pain?)
Oh well...
Heh.
(Oops, he's out again... Damn, this seal is really, really freaky. Especially from here...)
oOo
Finally they had found a place to rest. In spite of the stress and shocks from earlier, they caught a bit of sleep, trying to alternate keeping watch.
Sasuke looked out into the darkness, while Sakura slept like a log, apparently for the first time in two or three days by what she had told, and the slacker – Naruto - snoring in his annoying way.
Calm. Stay calm. Order your thoughts. Think in whole sentences.
Ordered thoughts, whole sentences... (Why am I telling myself...) WHAT THE...?
"Ah, I see you finally noticed." Suddenly, the subliminal line of thought turned into a literal voice, apparently male, but he had no idea where it came from. It seemed to be all around, like Zabuza's in the mist – no, like from inside him!
"What?" Sasuke jerked and looked around – both Sakura and Naruto looked still asleep.
"Shh, try not to speak aloud, or they'll wake and think you've gone insane."
Sasuke focused and tried to follow the unknown voice's hint. If he himself hadn't been so tired and wired simultaneously, he might have reacted with more suspicion, but he literally was too burnt out to care. Paranoia takes energy.
And I haven't?
"I don't think so, but on the other hand I'm a voice in your head, aren't I?" The humorously voiced comment was accompanied by the distinct sensation of amusement. Practically a tactile grin, however that could be possible. Disturbing.
Very funny.
"Ah, you do have a sense of humor, do you?" Sasuke got a sinking feeling from the teasing tone.
Don't tell me you think what the slacker does is funny.
"Actually..."
Oh no.
"... sometimes."
Phew.
"Okay, seriously. I see you noticed correctly these impulses didn't come from yourself. Good. I see there is some truth in calling you a genius."
Hrn.
"Sentences, please. I can't comprehend you very well if you just grunt even in your own thoughts. All I get is an... impression."
I just didn't feel like it. Okay, who are you and how do you talk to me... inside my head? Genjutsu? Or an air technique? Who cares, just get out!
"No, not an air technique. I am just a voice in your head, seriously. I can't get out, so for now you're stuck with me. But no, as far as I can tell you are not yet insane – at least in regard to me."
Stuck with you? No way! Then who are you? This... Orochimaru? (Your voice doesn't sound like his... Not yet insane? A twinge of paranoia – but not enough to follow up – yet.)
"Blech! No, I'm not the reptilian creep (with the pedophiliac subtext)! Unlike him, I will aid you. And a name... I dunno. Call me whatever you like, if I like it too I'll accept it."
No name?
"None you could work with. I'm just a whisper, an echo, someone fluttering around in your mind and picking a bit at it. And I know I'm not an insanity of yours because I know things I know you don't know, can't know."
Sasuke felt some irritation at that. "Know what?" he whispered.
"Well, to start with I know a few things about the snake and what he put on your neck, how about that?"
A shiver went up Sasuke's spine. The power he had felt... even if it was painful, wasn't that a bearable price? And Orochimaru had hinted at, promised, more power... A piercing burn bit in his neck, as the seal flared up at the thought, driving a hiss through his teeth.
"Whoa! Down, down, stop that!" the voice practically yelled. "Hey – cool, it works." Suddenly, the pain flickered and lessened.
"Phew. Okay, lesson one. The seal – oh yes, what Orochimaru put on your neck is called a curse seal – reacts to certain of your emotions, the darker ones primarily. Anger, hate, fear, greed, these are the easiest to ignite it. It is supposed to be a shortcut to quick power, or at least a hint of power. But the creep gave you an incomplete one. It flares up too easily and generally has most of the disadvantages and only a part of the so-called advantages it might give. Fortunately I seem to dwell practically in your chakra, so I actually can see it working from here, managed to literally beat it down a bit just now, kind of, and it even looks disgusting from here. I don't think you want to know what this thing is made of and tries to do to you," the voice gave a retching sound, "at least not right now. Try to keep yourself under control."
Just that thought took quite a bit of fire out of the thoughts of power. Just the voice's tone implied this 'curse seal' – where had Sasuke heard the label before? Had he at all? – was something nauseating, like a leech or a tapeworm, inside his body, polluting his chakra and its coils, practically his soul! – as much as he believed in a soul, at least. Sasuke had felt the disgust, just like the amusement earlier.
No, I want to know right now what this thing does. Tell me.
"Very well. It gives you an enormous temporary burst of foreign raw chakra and brute physical power, while at the same time it screws with mind and emotions, debiliates your fine control and finally cannibalizes your own body, chakra and mind to power itself. The dark chakra burns, the damage to your body hurts you.
It turns you into an insane berserker who won't live long enough to accomplish anything worthwile, and after each burst of power your normal self will be depleted and in pain."
Sasuke shuddered. Even if the voice seemed to somewhat - overstate this seal's workings, its disgust, scorn and contempt for it felt genuine – and infectious. No, that thing didn't seem an acceptable way to get power.
Can you keep it down? ... help me control it?
He forced himself to actually request help, something he rarely – if ever – asked for or even admitted the need for to himself.
Going by the surprise in the voice's reply, it hadn't expected him to do so either.
"I'll try. But I don't think I can stop it if it fully activates. If you get to the tower in time you should look for someone able to suppress it as soon as you can. Your teacher might know someone, if he can't do it by himself.
Blech, I guess the snake creep just tried to get his hooks into you for later."
What do you mean?
"He worked like a drug dealer. You know about that concept? Offer the 'customer' a free sample to get them hooked, then, when they come to you for more, profit and squeeze everything you can get out of them and once they have nothing left to offer, drop them like a hot potato and let them rot in the gutter. You understand?"
Y... yes.
Sasuke felt as if dumped in cold water. That was the true purpose of the seal?
He never would have thought about it in that way. While he wasn't really familiar with the concept, it was easy enough to understand.
Using and manipulating someone to be a resource, a tool, that was no new concept to him. Naruto had cried a few rivers about what the younger missing-nin in wave had said about himself – Haku, yes, that was the name – not that he would admit to listening to the slacker.
Sasuke, in a way, had thought it fitting for those who held no goal of their own, no will for themselves, to be used that way, as a tool, a resource, not a person. He was an Uchiha. He could easily imagine using others that way. In a way he had done it before – or tried to.
He never had thought it could be himself. Never.
He had the goal. To take revenge. He had the desire. He wasn't a tool. Not him.
The seal flared, the spike of pain driving the lesson home.
"But that's not quite true, either, is it? You are supposed to be a tool, a weapon. Just for your village, not a single person."
Gaah. Sasuke flinched. He had focused too strongly, and forgotten that damn voice in his head could apparently listen in. Embarrassing.
"Heh. Don't worry. It's not as if I could tell anyone else the Uchiha genius has a few buttons to push, could I now? Actually, I don't think I would need to. That boy there, and your teacher, I think they understand you better than you think – or than you want them to. But that is a part of it anyway," the voice slowly pondered.
"The difference is the underlying purpose. To be shinobi, ninja, means to be a soldier, that is true. But there are differences between Konoha and Orochimaru – or Zabuza, for that matter. No one in Konoha who matters expects you to just be a weapon without question – well, except maybe Danzo, but he doesn't matter now."
Who's Danzo? I think I heard the name before, but I can't remember right now...
"One of the Hokage's advisors. An old man, a warhawk, stubborn and controlling, aggressive in his goals and methods. I could tell you about him later, but for now you don't need to know more.
The point is Konoha – or at least the Sandaime - expects you to be loyal because you should believe in the ideals, goals and methods of the community as a whole, as far as that goes. Not blind loyalty because that's all you know or are allowed to, but belief in and the will to protect what it stands for. As far as I can tell, Konoha doesn't want or need fanatics, slaves or unthinking machines, but living, breathing, thinking people with heart and will to care about what is precious to them. People, land, ideals. Orochimaru expects personal loyalty. Zabuza did so too, but I think there was more to it than just that... pity they died. Gah, and now I've become a political preacher. Sorry. I guess that sounded pretty heavy-handed, didn't it?"
Bah, no worse than some of the academy teachers. Though, I have to admit, to have a voice in my own head repeating it has a bit more impact.
Sasuke smirked.
"Heh." The voice sounded a bit sheepish. "And I'm not even from your Konoha." (Literally...)
Where do you come from, anyway? And who or what are you? I thought you were a part of this... curse seal, but you don't seem to even like this Orochimaru.
And that name sounds somewhat familiar, as if I heard it before...
"I think you did, in the academy history lessons. If you point it out to her, I think Sakura would know more. She is quite good with academic knowledge, isn't she?"
Hrn. And not much else. Though, when I woke...
"Yeah. She tried her best and got quite the wake-up call I'd say. Okay, she is an annoying fangirl, but if you could wean her from it she could become so much more. She reminds me a bit of others I have seen – she just wants to be acknowledged. If you start taking her seriously, you could get her to take herself serious and grow. It's a risk but you could do much, much worse."
Relationship advice now? No thanks.
"Bah, you are a kid still. Hey, you lot are what, twelve? Thirteen at most? Much too young for anything serious. The girls dream about half-baked ideas of romance, and you not even that.
I can tell all she wants and needs is someone to confirm her existence. Someone to be with, to talk to regularly... and maybe kiss and cuddle a bit, not much more. Oh, and someone to brag about, right. Heh, that's all your own mistake, being such a fangirl bait," the voice snickered.
Sasuke felt somewhat pissed off. Hey!
"Doesn't make it less true. One of the great mysteries about girls – the less you want them, the more they throw themselves at you and in reverse. Just look at Naruto. Or Kiba maybe."
At that, both Sasuke and the inner voice had to grin.
"But seriously, once he gets over his crush on her and matures a bit I can predict some serious changes."
Naruto? Mature? Yeah right.
"Don't dismiss the idea. You have more in common than you want to admit, but where you dwell on your pains he masks his. You hide in your pain. He fights his by lighting fires around it, even if he doesn't consciously know it. But at the moment you all are still kids. I know you all have some tough issues to work through, but if you do it right you all have a lot to look forward to. On that matter, I know you would rather bust your knuckles on a tree than think about that but - do you like Sakura at all?"
No!
"Why, or rather, why not? Think about it, I want to hear valid arguments."
A storm of unordered thoughts burst through Sasuke's mind, incomprehensible to his inner guest. It took several minutes to order his thoughts again, and afterwards the voice prompted him to list pros and cons and dissected his points thoroughly.
"So, in short, she is familiar because she is your teammate, shows occasionally if rarely a bit of promise but generally annoys the hell out of you more than Naruto. She looks good, but most of your other fangirls do so too."
Hrn.
"You know, if you put a bit of effort in it, you could try to change both of them to be more palatable."
And why should I make that effort? I don't care either way.
"Because if you don't you'll have to deal with years of annoyance? You are a team. You'll have to work together for some time."
Bah, they'll get themselves killed soon enough.
"And if one of them dies, your mission probably has failed also. And even if you survive, if anyone can pin any responsibility on you, your reputation is dead and your career is practically over. No one would want to have anything to do with a disloyal loser who killed his own team off, would he? Or with a creep who would associate with one, either..."
All right, I get it.
"I hope so, but I doubt it. Hey, remember, you are 'the last Uchiha', ne? You are the only one who is left to stand for your clan. If you think about 'your pride as an Uchiha', remember that. What do you think your clan stands for?"
Somewhat shocked and unfortunately unable to ignore the voice or dismiss it as irrelevant, Sasuke tried to shape a statement.
Pride/Power/Superiority... was all he could come up with.
"Oh yeah? And that is supposed to be something to be proud of? Really? In that case, good riddance."
DON'T YOU DARE... Sasuke exploded mentally, almost priming the seal again.
"I DARE!" the voice thundered, loud enough to make Sasuke flinch and hold his head in imagined pain.
"Yes, the Uchiha were powerful. The public saw them using their power to protect them. Yes, they were proud and thought themselves superior, because they were an influential power in the village they co-founded! Without the village, without the people, the simple, common people, of Konoha the Uchiha would have nothing to be proud of, no one to acknowledge them at all! – Notice a theme, by the way? – The Uchiha were expected to protect, to guard, to defend. They practically were the freaking military police! They earned respect by their deeds. All you have is respect by association. Except for –maybe- the wave mission you by yourself have done nothing yet to deserve the respect of the village above your peers, to be rightfully proud of. If you want to be proud to be an Uchiha, then earn the right to be proud! Earn the respect you believe you deserve! And be proud of the things that deserve pride! As you are now, the only ones who give you respect are those who don't know you, and that is an empty respect. Grah! As you are now, I respect your teammates more than you, yes, even Sakura! At least she wants something positive." The voice broke off, panting angrily.
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
Sasuke held his head, trying to block out the accusing sermon, but the voice wasn't done, not by a long way.
"Damn, someone should have hammered this into your head already years ago! Instead they just fed you that crap about Uchiha being better, nobler, superior, deserving all they were given just because it should be your gods-given right. Get a grip, boy, there are no rights. You have to deserve what you are given, otherwise you are just a dead weight hanging on the good will of others. Which is nothing to be proud of. Get that, boy? You are not innately superior to everyone else. You have to work for it. Yes, you have the heritage of the Uchiha, the Sharingan and probably good genetics, but that is only a starting point. Yes, your clan was wiped out. Boo hoo. And all you can think about is taking revenge, pushing everyone away because that's your only thought. And everyone who knows feels so sorry about it and treats you like a raw egg. You know what happens to a raw egg that just sits there? It goes bad, useful for nothing than raising a stink or poisoning someone. Do you want to be a stupid stink bomb, Sasuke? A bad egg hatches no chick, you know. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND STOP TRYING TO BLOCK ME OUT!"
NO NO NO NO...
"(Gods damn it)," cursed the voice in a rather low volume. "(Stupid, stupid, stupid... he's not ready for that yet. I shouldn't have exploded so easily... But I never expected him to be that sensitive. I guess I broke him, now how to fix that... Only one thing to do, I hope it works... Damn, got to keep the seal tamed too...)"
While Sasuke wallowed in denial and forced doubt, the voice waited and thought. He couldn't do much, but maybe...
Sasuke began to calm down, as his chakra ebbed and flowed slightly, in rhythm with his heartbeat, subtly slowing down and calming him. A few minutes passed by.
"Sasuke? Are you okay?" the voice calmly inquired.
What... Why... No... Don't talk to me like that...
Sasuke tried to collect his thoughts, but succeeded only half-heartedly. He remembered vaguely the outrage and shock, but it felt like an old dream, only half remembered.
"Sorry I exploded on you like that."
What happened...? Why is it all so fuzzy...?
"Sorry again. I tried to calm your chakra a bit to help you stay calm. Don't force the memory please, it will come back when you can deal with it. We can talk about that another time. Damn. Almost forgot about that. Now we have gotten off track badly. I wanted to tell you some things you need to know now. Boy, do you have a lot of crap to deal with. Sasuke, the exams..."
What?
Sasuke switched gears, banishing the hurtful half-memory for now and easily forcing himself to focus on a single track again.
"I know there will be trouble. Keep your eyes open for Kabuto."
That guy with the cards? The one who failed seven times?
"Heelloo? Obvious versus hidden? What does Kakashi always say: look underneath the underneath? That guy is a plant, a ringer, a fake."
Crap.
"Excactly. All I say for now is practice acting as if everything were normal. You can be suspicious of him – he would not believe it if you suddenly trusted him anyway – but try to keep secret what I told you about Orochimaru, unless you can believably declare it your own deductions."
He works for the snake?
"Heh. I didn't say that yet but good thinking, he is. Just don't let him know that you know. He's more dangerous than he lets on. A lot more. Fortunately he has to hide it completely to maintain his cover."
Heh. Okay.
"On the other hand, if you really wanted to screw with both of them you could just fail the exam."
WHAT? NO WAY! Sasuke jerked up.
"Just an idea. They want to see you in action, see what you can do. If you robbed them of that you would frustrate them to no end."
And throw all the crap we had to deal with away? No! I need to show... to know... where I stand!
"Ah yes, pride. Sorry to be so blunt, but your pride is one of the best handles they could have on you, to use you, to play you like a fiddle."
I don't care.
"Do care! Grab your own pride by the tail and use it for you, not let them use it against you, to control you!"
I'll think about it. Later. I'm tired.
"... Later. Okay, poke Naruto awake and get some rest."
Sasuke did so, the voice finally, thankfully, shutting up.
His dreams were stormy, painful and confusing, gnawing at his convictions and resolve, but leaving an undeniable impression, starting a long-needed change.
oOo
(Heh, I guess it couldn't be that easy. A single heart-to-heart won't be enough. But I'm not going anywhere and if I don't want to he can't just shut me out... I'm in his head. Let's see if I can't get him to wake up and change things. I just have to take care I don't get him killed. I wonder, will this be already cause changes in the preliminaries' matchups? How random are they really?)
oOo
Good, Naruto was away to catch some dinner. If he had to do it, better without the loudmouth close enough to... interfere. Read 'embarrass them'.
Sakura was busy catalogueing their remaining ressources.
"Sakura?"
"Y-yes, Sasuke-kun?" Surprised by her 'one true love' (yeah, right) actually adressing her by his own will, she flinched a little before immediately paying him all her attention, slightly embarrassed hearing herself sounding almost like the Hyuuga girl.
"That snake nin... he called himself 'Orochimaru'. I believe I heard that name before, but can't remember exactly. Do you?"
"Umm..." surprised again by his request, she pulled herself together and mused.
"Orochimaru... O-ro-chi-ma-ru... OH HELL NO!" she exclaimed in shock as she remembered.
"What?"
Sakura muttered a chain of decidedly unladylike if still understated curses.
"Orochimaru. The Snake Sennin. The Traitor Sannin. Formerly in a team with Jiraiya and Tsunade, all three together known as the Densetsu no Sannin, 'The Legendary Three Ninja' or just 'The Three (Ninja)'. Sarutobi Hiruzen, our current Hokage, was their teacher before he became the Sandaime (for the first time). They were – hell, as far as we know, are – the strongest ninja of their generation. They got their title during the second shinobi world war, where their team often single-handedly turned the tide of war. According to the histories, they got their title from an enemy Kage himself, Hanzo of... Rain... um, some years ago there was something... the books were a bit frugal with the details, but he turned traitor to the Leaf and fled. Following that event, the other two sannin split up and effectively disbanded. He is registered as a Class S nukenin or something like that. I really should get a current one of these bingo books for us..." Sakura listed, rattling down whatever she could remember and deemed relevant.
"He is considered to have been generally the strongest of the three, a master of countless ninjutsu, and he is called the snake hermit because he has the snake summoning contract as one of his signature abilities – damn, why do I have to remember that now instead of when it would have been really useful? – and has several techniques designed to emulate their abilities, but I guess we have seen that, haven't we? Well, Jiraiya was the toad hermit – brr, why does no one ever have some pleasant creatures as summons? Okay, Kakashi-senseis nin-dogs are somewhat tolerable – who actually was the teacher of the Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage. Tsunade, who left Konoha too, but is not listed as a nukenin either, is known as the strongest kunoichi ever and the greatest medical specialist alive – and as the Slug Princess, yuck. Who the hell wants slugs as their summons?" Sakura shuddered.
"Gah, recalling that stuff makes me really remember why I have given up on looking for info about summoning contracts. Um, sorry, does that help us?"
Sasuke (and his inner voice) looked at Sakura, thunderstruck. Hot damn!
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked timidly.
Sasuke shook himself.
Tell her. Plainly and simply. Just tell her.
The voice had used the last few hours to coach him and persuade him to try.
Shut. Up.
"Sakura... hell, when did you learn all that stuff? That was actually..." he felt as if he had bitten into a lemon. "Amazing."
"Wheee!" Sakura instantly slipped into fangirl mode again. Sasuke had actually praised her! But before she could yell out her 'success', his next remark instantly deflated her again – hard.
"Now if you could be that useful more often..."
"Now that was just mean. True, but mean."
You told me to wean her off her fangirl behavior. I'm trying to.
"Good Luck."
Thanks, Sasuke thought drily and looked at the pink-haired girl, who stared downward in depression.
"Sakura."
"Snif – yes, Sasuke-kun?" she answered tentatively.
"Sakura, do me a favor and stay serious for a while. I'm trying to tell you something important, but if you just start fawning again you can forget it."
The girl looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Sakura... you and all these other girls continually hound me and try to get my attention. That has to change."
Sakura gulped, perhaps already guessing what was about to come.
"What none of you seem to notice I don't ignore you to play hard to get, I ignore you because I – am – not – interested! And frankly, your squealing and babbling disgusts me."
"B-but... Sasuke-kun..." Sakura's eyes teared up and her lip quivered.
"Sakura, I tried to ignore your behavior but you don't seem to understand, so I'll tell you plainly. Every time you start pushing you push me away. I can't stand the way you, Ino and all these other girls behave. I. Do. Not. Want. A. Girlfriend. Yet. Not you, not Ino, not anyone. Especially not a girl who just fawns over imaginary affections and tries to force herself on me. Especially not a girl who is practically a liability whenever we are in danger."
"Stop, you're overdoing it. Give her some hope now and tell her what you like about a girl, if anything."
I'll try. How did you say I could put it... ah right. Good, she seems to be still listening. Dumbstruck, but still listening.
"If I would want a girlfriend," he tried to capture her eyes and keep her focus on his words, "she should be able to stand beside me, not have to hide behind me or hang like a limpet at my arm. She should be able to be a partner, especially if she is – or wants to be – shinobi. Being a female ninja, a kunoichi, doesn't mean depending on ikebana flower-arranging, tea ceremonies, make-up and all that other pretty-girl stuff. That helps if you want to portray – or be - a civilian homemaker, or a useless play-princess. But a partner, a teammate, needs to be someone you can respect. And don't take that the wrong way, but as you are now I can't respect you in that way... yet."
"Careful now. Push her, but not too hard," the voice coached him. "The 'yet' was a nice touch, let's hope she noticed but doesn't overreact."
Quickly, Sasuke continued, following the promptings of his inner voice as well as he could, even if it mostly went against every habit he had built up before. The voice had promised it would have a good chance of having her change – he just hoped it was right.
"Look, Sakura, you just now showed competence. Academic competence, not combat, but it's a start. I think when you fought for us against these sound nins yesterday you started to comprehend, and that was battle. That's why I'm telling you this now instead of trying to ignore your antics. I do not care much for looks. I could care less for 'cute'. I start to see what is important in being a team. I care for power and ability. I want someone who can do something in a crisis. Naruto may be an annoying loudmouth, but he fights like a beast when cornered, and it is almost impossible to keep him down. I can respect that about him. Even if I would never admit it to his face." Sasuke smirked and watched Sakura, while staying alert for the menace in orange. A half-sob half-laugh escaped the devastated girl.
A weird mix of facial expressions wandered over her face.
"The crisis is now. Either she gets it or she snaps and blocks out reality. Let's hope for the first option, otherwise this could get painful."
What? You didn't say anything about that!
"Oh, didn't I? My bad," the voice teased smugly. "Worst case, just be ready to dodge. Kawarimi might be a good idea, too."
I hate you so much right now.
"Oooh, don' be a hater." Sasuke blinked at the incomprehensible reference.
He was quite surprised when Sakura, eyes still lowered, suddenly started to chuckle darkly. He tensed, ready to leap for his life – he had seen what Sakura had done to Naruto on occasion – when she suddenly looked up at him, formed a seal and her chakra spiked. "Kai!"
Both blinked, for nothing at all happened.
Naruto's distant yell as he caught something made them shudder simultaneously.
Then Sasuke got it. Admittedly with a little prompting from his inner voice.
He raised an eyebrow and caught her eyes. "Sakura, just because I spent half the night preparing this speech and just talked about twice as much to you as I have for the whole last month doesn't mean I'm an imitation or a genjutsu. Don't expect me to repeat all that, especially since the slacker will be back soon. Either you get it or you don't. Do you?"
Sakura's embarrassed face became a faked happy mask bearing a forced smile.
"I... I'm not sure. I... I'm... conflicted right now. I... I have to... think, yes, that's it, think about it..."
"Hrn. Do that. I think you can do that, at least," Sasuke grunted, relaxing back into his usual behavior, prompting a half-bitter, dry laugh from Sakura.
"Che, at least that's familiar again," she blurted under her breath. "Please... keep Naruto busy for a while, I don't think I could deal with his... energy... right now," she half-whispered, before she rose and fled behind a few bigger rocks.
Oh Kami, please tell me I'll never have to do something like that again, Sasuke thought, completely spent.
"Whoa, I didn't expect that. I guess she is already more able to grow up than I expected. Or it's still the Sound nin attack. That made her grow the first step, and she has not yet had time to fully deal with it. We could have hit exactly the right time for your therapy speech to work as intended."
Therapy speech?
"Private joke. You'll see what I mean in the future if you keep your eye on Naruto. Or think about Wave. Hush now, Naruto is coming back and I sense someone else is near. I think we'll meet Kabuto again now. Remember, keep your cool."
Hrn. I'll do my best.
"Okay, just be your normal belligerent self then, that should suffice."
Hey!
The voice just chuckled.
oOo
I hate to be manipulated like a child. Who the hell does this guy think he is?
"Pff, as if you're one to talk."
Hey! What's that supposed to mean?
"Heh, we'll talk about that later, after the preliminaries would be best I think. For now, play along so he doesn't suspect."
Preliminaries? I thought...
"This year may be too many participants for the final Exam. If it is so they'll have to quickly eliminate a few more contestants. You'll see. Don't worry too much, just conserve your energy. You are rather close to the deadline."
Hrn. Great. First we get schooled like small children by this snake bastard and lose days recovering, then we have to hunt for the last scroll while having to deal with this annoying plant, get shown up by Naruto of all things and now a preliminary test fresh from this ordeal. I would rather kick some asses, like Kabuto's...
"Well, he actually led you towards this Rain group with the scroll you need. He and his boss really want to see you fully in action, don't they? Hehe, and did I mention the final exam, and thus probably the preliminaries, are usually more or less a single-elimination tournament? You'll get to kick at least one butt, unless I'm very mistaken," the – still unnamed – voice mirthfully explained. "That's why I recommend you focus and don't exhaust yourself too early."
Understood. But it will be close. Too close. We may not have much choice.
... Thanks for helping with this damn seal, I did notice how close I came a few times to... 'prime' it.
Sasuke felt compelled to admit as much.
"Yeah. No problem. I can't do much as a voice, but managing your and the seal's chakra a bit is within my power. I guess without me you would be by now rather burned out, in chakra and emotionally, but now you'll be just a bit tired, no worse than the others. Still, as soon as you have the time you'd better talk to Kakashi about that seal. You also should mention a few certain details about the snake... it might become very important."
I still want to know who and what you are and where you came from, you know.
The voice didn't answer.
oOo
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AN: If Sasuke seems too much OOC, sorry.
Still, consider this: one, he suddenly has a talkative voice in his head who apparently can read/hear any coherent thought he has, so he practically 'speaks' his thoughts, and even if he's usually taciturn, he doesn't think any less than, say, Naruto talks. So he's involuntarily more verbose since he can't help himself to think answers and counterquestions. Two, regarding the loooong talk to Sakura, he got first traumatized and then badgered by the same voice to try that. Who probably prompted most of his words, even if I didn't explicitly and fully describe that (Still, you are welcome to imagine his sore throat afterwards ^^). Three, the voice may understate its ability to influence him.
(08. Aug. 2013: Minor Edits)
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Next: Raven Chatter Part Two: Tower Fight, Part One
The Raven is large and powerful, but still mostly a carrion eater. He symbolizes death on the battlefield.
"First Match: Uchiha Sasuke... versus Yamanaka Ino!"
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