If you're dissatisfied with this, deal with it, because I am not rewriting it again.
Chapter 7
They make it back to Konoha without another incident.
Sasuke spends the entire trip walking whilst simultaneously reading and ignoring the odd looks from his teammates. Ever since seeing evidence that he does in fact have a reason for never training with them, they've been staring at him with a focus that would get them arrested in another world.
Sasuke, in return, ignores their very existence.
It's not very difficult.
Konoha is exactly like they left it, a pair of bored shinobi's guarding the gates, the Hokage stays in his tower and never leaves and people look at him as if they expect him to be something he's very much not. Sasuke doesn't bother to even glance at them, he's learned that the best way to deal with people's expectations is to just not meet them, whatever they may be. As soon as they're through the gate, their sensei drags them off to the Hokage Tower while Sasuke continues his reading in peace.
Now, Sasuke doesn't actually know what the Mission Office looks like, because he's never bothered to look up from his reading whilst there, but that's probably where they end up. Maki pulls out a very crinkled piece of paper, Haruhi a very non-crinkled paper and Sasuke pulls out nothing at all because he doesn't know what they're supposed to be doing.
Sensei takes Sasuke's manga from him and the only reason he succeeds is because Sasuke doesn't want it to break in the struggle. He'll get it back one way or another. "Sasuke-kun," their sensei begins, "your mission report."
Sasuke pulls out a piece of paper, folded over so many times it's almost a ball, and gives it to Kirai-sensei while holding out his other hand for his book. When he gets it back, he goes back to his reading immediately.
His sensei clears his throat needlessly loudly.
"This is a review of Magical Mirai."
This might be the point to mention that he didn't write a mission report. But Sasuke just knows that that just means a lot of lectures on responsibility and other useless things, so he's not going to. Instead, he tries to make his voice sound as serious as possible when he says:
"It accurately describes the mission."
Sasuke has no idea if that's true or not, but then he's not going to stop midway.
Sensei growls. "Couldn't you have at least triedto write a proper report?"
Sasuke blinks in complete innocence. "I did. You're holding it."
Fake it 'til you make it.
"You know what?" sensei asks harshly. "I'll turn this in, and you will get the full brunt of anger that you deserve, you absolute brat."
Sasuke shrugs. It's not like it actually matters to him. And sensei's vicious anger is completely non-understandable to him. Saitama has no idea what he's so pissed about. "Do as you like."
Sensei growls at him and drops the report off at the desk. Presumably, because Sasuke has gone back to reading the book he superstitiously stole back from sensei.
After that, they have a short discussion with the Hokage about the change in mission rank and the people they ran into. Again, Sasuke spends it reading at the back of the room and misses every single word. He hopes they don't mention Haku, because he still feels kind of bad about that. It's probably because Haku is both pretty and deadly, the best combination, really.
Even Genos would agree, and he doesn't have any urge to procreate.
When everything is over and dealt with, and everybody has said everything to be said, Sasuke finds himself back at the Uchiha Compound, alone once more.
The compound is exactly like he left it, not a leaf out of place. It brings to mind the images of ghosts and bitter endings and Sasuke can't quite decide how he feels about it. It's where his family (hundreds of them) lived once, but now it's just a standing monument of bad choices and even worse results.
They spend the next few months doing some kind of parody of training. The pink one has decided that Sasuke is apparently not worth fighting for and no longer bothers him by asking him out. She has also started training seriously and stopped with her diet. In short, she has made remarkable progress. It seems like the meeting of such skilled opponents has matured her.
Maki, on the other hand, is always off practicing chakra control by walking on water and trees and walls and really, any surface he can find. He once tried to walk on top of the grass.
It failed genuinely spectacularly.
Their sensei regards Sasuke with more suspicion than ever, always staring at him when he thinks Saitama isn't paying attention and trying to figure out where all the strength comes from.
Well, Sasuke can't help him there. He has no idea.
Their missions after the Wave Incident (as Sasuke likes to call it) are all simple things that aren't worth mentioning. Nothing of interest happens and life goes on the way it always has. He reads along with the adventures of Ace and his pirate crew roaming the seas and get emotional at the tragic flashback scenes. He does the laundry when he no longer has any clean clothes. He buys things in bulk on sale.
Life goes on the way it always has and Sasuke is fine. Maki keeps trying to drag him out to ramen and on the days when he actually craves it, he follows along. The pink one is mostly lost on the sidelines, but she follows with them sometimes too.
It's simple and it's easy and things are almost good.
It's eight months after they've graduated from the ninja academy and become shinobi that the Chuunin Exams in Konoha starts.
Their sensei tries some bullshit about how they don't all have to apply, but the only one to fall for that is Maki. All Konoha teams are three people and it's the same during the Chuunin Exams. Maybe not when they're held in another village, one that doesn't emphasize teamwork so much, but that's not the case with them.
Sasuke, at this point, has a standard scroll that he brings along on all of his missions. It contains simple food that can be used to make easy to digest soup and spices so the food can be swallowed. He has books and a deck of card for entertainment, as well as some basic first-aid supplies. There are also some changes in clothing, because sweat it disgusting.
It has everything he needs, and there are no weapons, because that is just superfluous.
On the morning of the Chuunin Exams, they meet outside of the academy, where the first phase of it will take place.
Sasuke arrives late because he overslept, and it says something that nobody mentions it.
Still, Sasuke fully expects his teammates to die during the exam. It's only common sense to always expect the worst, otherwise you'll never be pleasantly surprised.
For some reason, his teammates try to enter the guarded door on the second floor, when it's clear as they are supposed to go to the third. Instead of saying anything, he just grabs them by the neck of their shirts and drags them off before they embarrass themselves.
When they finally enter the right room, it is already full of shady looking people.
Sasuke hums and releases his grip on his teammates. Maki is red in the face, a look of indecision in his eyes, and the pink one starts stuttering immediately. Thankfully, she's interrupted by the arrival of strangers and Shikamaru. For some reason, when he turns away from them, they call him mean and arrogant.
Is he supposed to know these people?
Whatever.
The reunion is sabotaged by the appearance of another Konoha genin, one with grey hair, black eyes and glasses.
Sasuke stays out of the resulting scuffle with Oto ninja, by way of disappearing into the background and reading his manga. It's from the same author who wrote Magical Mirai and Sasuke is already entranced. It sucks that there is only one volume so far. There are loud noises and blinding lights in the background, but Sasuke doesn't notice anything at all.
He does, however, notice when Ibiki appears and terrifies the room at large.
Now, Sasuke fully planned on taking the exam somewhat seriously, because he does want to become a chuunin. As a chuunin, he can take missions further from Konoha, leading to a bigger chance of him finding his brother. But the manga is really good and the chair he was afforded is really comfortable, so he sort of just forgets. The paper on his desk is left untouched and he doesn't even turn it around or wright his name on it.
He is so absorbed in his reading that he misses when people start putting their hands in the air and leaving. It's not until Maki's outburst about something or other, that he refocuses on the occasion and realizes he missed everything.
He hopes it wasn't anything important.
Just as he's about to turn the paper around in full stealth-mode and try to dot down some answers so it at least lookslike he paid attention, the window breaks and a scantily clad purple-haired kunoichi hurdles right through it.
Sasuke blinks in surprise and puts the manga way, as this at least promises to be interesting. The woman grins bloodthirstily at them and announces in a loud booming voice, "Mitarashi Anko has arrived! Follow me to the second exam's location, brats!"
Naturally, Sasuke follows.
The second exam's location turns out to be the forest that Sasuke often goes too when he needs to get away from illogical and hormonal teenagers. It's a lovely place with colorful plants, adorable animals and amusing deceptions. Saitama adores it.
For some reason, both Maki and the pink one looks on at the entrance to the forest with looks of trepidation and something like fear.
Nonetheless, after signing the waver that says Konoha isn't responsible for any injuries and/or deaths in the forest, they each get a scroll and enters it. Sasuke is the one with his team's scroll, and he seals it away absentmindedly.
The path they take is one that Sasuke is familiar with and because his teammates are scaredy-cats, they run from the very beginning. Sasuke would like to slow down to take in the view, but his teammates start whining as soon as he voices this thought. They make good time and they manage to find another team easily enough. Unfortunately, the scroll they obtain is the same kind as theirs, so they just drop it in the river they're following and keep going.
This is when they run into a team from Taki.
Suddenly, there is an eerie kunoichi after them and they are attacked viciously. Sasuke does his best to avoid the long neck that keeps trying to bite him, but he doesn't fight back.
There's not really a reason to. They're not trying to kill him, and his teammates aren't a target, so why would he?
Somehow, in the middle of all this fighting and running away, the pink one gets in the way of the enemy and gets bitten on the neck in his stead. She drops to the ground immediately and starts convulsing. Sasuke swears and follows after her uncaringly. The enemy finally stops the hunt and stays still next to where they are on the forest floor.
The foreign kunoichi hums and comments, "I didn't expect her to come in the way. Still, you're the one I want. Won't you let me bite you? It will make you much, much stronger."
"I don't need any more strength."
The woman raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? Not even to fight your darling brother?"
There is a meaning in her words that he can't help but latch onto. Sasuke looks up at her from where he's staring at the pink one, who is now just unconscious, and asks a little breathlessly, "You know where my brother is?"
The woman smiles seductively and it's not an image that fits her face. "Yes. If you come with me, I can lead you right to him and you can do whatever you want with him."
Sasuke's eyes light up. This is a golden opportunity, one he knows won't come a second time. It's the only clue he's ever found and there's no way he can afford to let it go.
"Yes." Sasuke says, and it's light and joyfulin a way that his voice has never sounded before. "I'll go with you as long as I can find my brother."
"Then it's a deal."
Before any more can be said, the woman leaves in a rush and in the distance, he can hear people fighting, undoubtedly hunting after her. She was very clearly after the last Uchiha, and there's no way that they can stand for that, if only on a matter of principle.
In the aftermath of the fight, Sasuke is left with a feeling in the pit of his stomach and he thinks it might be elation. It's the first proper feeling he has felt inyearsand it leaves him breathless in a rush of wonder and longing. He wants to find his brother. He wants to find him and reassure himself that Itachi is fine and healthy and strong.
It'll be the first time in years that Sasuke meets his brother, and he can't wait.
Maki reappears in time to carry the pink one to a cave they found. She's still completely unconscious, but at least she's breathing. The mark on the back of her neck is a peculiar thing, dark and foreboding in color, but the energy he can feel from it is almost inviting. It has a taste of power to it that he's never found in this world before. The woman who left it on her must be one of the most powerful people alive, without a doubt far more powerful than their sensei.
They keep the girl hydrated and she lasts through the night. Sasuke's not sure if that's a blessing or a curse, because despite how nice the chakra in the mark is to him, it's also visibly wreaking havoc on her systems.
Regardless, they make it to the tower without any more mishaps and even manage to find the scroll that they require abandoned on the forest floor.
At the tower, there's a riddle and though Sasuke could spend time trying to solve it, he wants to go back to his reading, and he has no more patience to deal with an at turns worried and excited Maki. So he opens both the scrolls right then and there and doesn't bother to care for the consequences.
It's the sensei from the academy that appears before them, the only one whose name he remembers. Maki cheers loudly next to him and runs up to hug dolphin-sensei while their pink-haired teammate is left lying on the floor, forgotten by almost everyone. Dolphin-sensei is too good of a person to ignore anyone that's hurt.
"I was so worried about you!" Sensei says as he hugs Maki tightly. "I heard that Orochimaru was here and then everybody left in such a hurry. You're not hurt, are you?"
Maki laughs sheepishly and says, "Ah, that's okay! And Sakura-chan's the only one that got hurt badly. She hasn't woken up once since that snake-person bit her!"
"What?! Orochimaru bit Sakura-chan?!"
Dolphin quickly abandons Maki in favor of checking up on the girl that, for all appearances, is dead. This is the second time Sasuke has seen her like this and really, he doesn't have the energy to muster up any worry for her. All his thoughts are centered on his brother, on finding him, on making sure he's okay.
It's coldhearted and cruel of him, but he can't change it. All he has the energy for is his brother and he miss him the way one misses a lost limb.
The pink one is dragged off to the infirmary in the tower, which is really only a small room with a few rough beds and a bunch of medicine and gauze. There's not actually anyone there to care for the patients or administer the drugs. Their former sensei sets up an IV-line and pumps antibiotics into her, but apparently that's all he's allowed to do. They'll have to do the rest of it themselves. In short, it's their fault if she dies.
Maki is absolutely devastated by the news, but it also turns out that he's really good at patching up injuries, because he has no problem setting her broken bones and sewing shut a truly nasty gash on her leg. It looks like it was almost cut straight off. Sasuke very much doubts she'll be able to go on in participating in the rest of the Chuunin Exams.
During the next few days, they sat at the tower with the other teams that made it. The rooms are all split up with three beds in each, and they're uncomfortably close together, or so says Shikamaru.
Sasuke isn't bothered by all the fights that inevitably breaks out, or the resulting injuries. He reads and he still has that feeling of hopein his chest and it's a new feeling altogether. He doesn't think he's happy, nor is he enthused about the exams and he doesn't care for the rest of the people there. He's still as empty as before.
But there's a beat in his chest that he hasn't listened to in what feels like decades, a sensation in his bones that point towards changeand he almost wants to smile.
It's odd and he doesn't know if he likes it, but he thinks this is the best he's ever felt.
Eventually, the pink one wakes up and Maki is loud again and the rest of the Konoha genin intrude to corner her about what happened. An actual ANBU even appears to question her in private. But she's not shipped off to some other place and nobody is hurt, so Sasuke doesn't pay it any attention.
It feels like things are finally beginning to matter and Saitama is left with a feeling of anticipation burning in his gut. This is it, he thinks, this is when things change.