Chapter 21: Grit your teeth and bear it.

A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading! Gonna do some Guest responses really quick!

Nanami: Thanks for the recommendation! Love the lyrics! Hope you like this chapter!

Uhhhhhhhhh: I am putting disclaimers up so people don't get the wrong idea. I don't want anyone to have a bad experience. Thank you for your critique.

Disclaimer: Dark themes this chapter. Please support the official release.

Sasuke hated Itachi.

He hated everything that man stood for. Everything that man did. He wanted to eliminate it from the world.

It was his duty to.

Sasuke stood before his parent's graves. Well, the monument erected for the massacre… shinobi leave this world without a trace. His parents were cremated, eaten by certain insects, then the insects were given to birds which spread their waste all over the forest, which became trees and other nutrients for other bugs. Simple. Correct. A ninja is supposed to leave no trace of his existence behind but service and loyalty.

But he couldn't even say that about his clan.

They didn't die with honor. They were cut down, afraid, and murdered by one they called their own. Sasuke had been too young to understand until a year ago just how many people Itachi killed. What that meant and who they were. Sasuke memorized every name. He read their journals and mission reports in his spare time. Ultimately, he decided on one thing.

Every day that Itachi was alive was an insult to their memory and it was his duty to avenge them. But it was more than that as well. He would take pride in his clan's past. He would strive to uphold their legacy and rebuild the clan back to it's former glory. But he couldn't do that until Itachi was dead.

That man was still alive. He could feel it. No one that strong wouldn't be able to survive. But…

Sasuke held up the bottle of sake he had been drinking and took a swig. He… he couldn't… Itachi was strong enough to take on the entirety of his clan at thirteen. The age Sasuke would be approaching in less than two months. Itachi had been ANBU level and a Jonin since he was eleven… Sasuke couldn't compare. He had just past the Academy exam and he was the same age as his brother had been that fateful night.

Sasuke smashed the bottle on the ground and ignited it with a fire style jutsu. This was who Sasuke was. Even before It- That Man did this to him, to his family, Sasuke could never hope to keep up. He was never good enough, never strong enough, and Sasuke had to be strong enough. He refused to live in fear of That Man coming back, having finally gotten bored with this sadistic game of his, and finishing him! He refused to be his puppet either! He wasn't going to play his game! But he was going to avenge his clan… he… he had to…

Sasuke deflated and sank to his knees on the ground.

'Why didn't you stand up and fight son?'

'Did you not love me enough to even face him? Your mother's killer?'

'Why didn't you fight for the honor of the Uchiha?'

'Why didn't you go down fighting like the rest of us?'

'No son of mine would back down from avenging us.'

'I guess I was wrong… you didn't love me.'

'Live every day in fear like the coward you are.'

Sasuke wept, tears streaming from crimson eyes. He had them ever since that night… though it was exhausting he hadn't known how to turn them off until much later…

Sasuke, at the bottom of his despair, found other reasons to live. Justice. Duty. Love. Vengeance. Hate.

He would probably never be Itachi's level. But he would live every day of his life to make sure nothing like Itachi ever grew in him. He wouldn't sink to his brother's level for power. He would live every day of his life in spite of the man and when he came for him… Sasuke was going to fight and die like an Uchiha striving to do the right thing… just like his parents taught him.

His parents were police officers. It was his duty to protect and serve the people of Konoha while they were gone.

Sasuke bowed his head before the monument.

"I swear you will find justice one day. Itachi will pay for his crimes. This I swear." Sasuke said solemnly. He rose to his feet, eyes bleeding crimson before reciting the Uchiha Military Police oath. Words he had grown up on… and now he swore he would die on. "On blackest day, on brightest night, no evil will escape my sight, let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, an Uchiha's right."

Sakura added another explosive tag to the ever growing pile. She had used too many during the fight with Mizuki. Absentmindedly, she grabbed another piece of paper and began the process all over again.

Sakura had been terrified. She had been practicing her stealth and hiding her chakra signature when Mizuki had nearly killed Iruka. Sakura watched horrified as Mizuki revealed the truth to Naruto and Iruka's moment with him filled her with a determination to make sure the man's sacrifice wasn't in vain.

Sakura completing the explosive notes set them into the 'to be charged' pile. Explosive notes took a lot of energy to complete, but they were worth it… until that fight. Sakura's explosive notes were no joke either. A good shot would kill someone. A near miss would mortally wound them. They just seemed to irritate Mizuki… The man's regeneration and durability shot through the roof. Sakura didn't know what to do anymore. She had been desperate and terrified when she had used her most dangerous and most powerful technique.

Sakura absentmindedly grabbed some arrows and began to prepare them. She made them herself usually. For some reason Shinobi didn't seem to use bows all that often. Samurai on the other hand tended to use them to supplement their lack of ninjutsu and to attack at a longer range.

Sakura started at the head. The iron in the elemental nations was shit plain and simple. Usually supplied from the Land of Wind or Land of Earth, the expensive metal was rare enough that if it wasn't being used like crazy for weapons would be next to worthless unless someone spent way too much time getting the mix of iron and carbon just right. Shuriken, kunai, even swords had to use much weaker steel to even be cost effective and many were turning to softer metals like bronze though iron was the standard…

Sakura tended to use smaller arrowheads made of broken kunai. She usually found them doing odd jobs, scavenging in the forests, and behind the academy. Out of one kunai she could usually get about three to four arrowheads if they weren't too badly rusted. Backyard smithing and some diagrams on arrowheads helped to do the rest for the determined nine year old.

After fastening the heads on several arrows she turned the fletchings. Goose feathers, cut to shape, glued and bound with strong thread into premade notches. This was an art in of itself and it had taken Sakura many tries to get it right. Out of all the parts of her jutsu she was unsure of it was her fletching she worried about the most. To Sakura, it needed to be absolutely perfect or it wouldn't fly. Literally.

Working for three hours a day she could churn out about twenty arrows. Any time she had a free day she would either spend it making arrows or with Ino. Such was the life of the few archers in Konoha…

Ino was sitting next to her sharpening her kunai. They only had a few days until they met their sensei and their teams. As Kunoichi it was their duty to be ready.

"There has to be a better way to deliver an explosive tag! I tried using one with my kunai and literally nothing was left! I had to spend my allowance on new kunai when the new Ronin manga is out! Wah!" Ino complained as Sakura kept her industrial level assembly going.

"They make kunai out of iron sand. With enough force it breaks if it wasn't welded correctly." Sakura said with a shrug. "Perhaps origami?"

Ino pouted as she ground with her wet stone. "No… well maybe? I don't know much about seals, but I think if you fold it, it ruins the seal?"

Sakura shrugged again. "Depends on the seal."

"Yeah… well… I don't know any that work like that…" Ino said going back to her work. She just needed a nice angle and a little bit more oil…

Sakura looked up from her work for a moment. "What if you made a backing for it?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked perking up.

"Well, you know that new material they are using nowadays? Plastic? Maybe use some plastic on the back." Sakura said returning to her work. "Maybe some thick paper… I am not sure how well it would travel but I think you would be able to throw it. You can throw flowers after all."

Ino flopped down onto the workbench having finished her kunai set. "I only did that, so I could throw them like Yukata Mask in the Sailor Luna. It's not that hard once you get it down. It's like throwing bo shuriken… how much longer till you're done?"

"About an hour. Pass the box cutter?" Sakura asked. Handing it to her Ino peered over the other girl's shoulder.

"I still don't get why this takes so much work! You should just use Shuriken!" Ino complained seeing the level of skill necessary to make just a single well-made arrow.

"One arrow is enough to kill one foe. One shuriken can almost kill one. I am getting more kills for half the price." Sakura explained as she attached the fletching of another arrow. "Besides, it's not like I could use my drain powers with a shuriken either. This way is just more cost effective."

Sakura's drain powers were a secret known only to the Hokage, the head medic, Ino, and Ino's parents. That's it. Sakura felt comfortable using them alone with any of these people because she needed chakra every once in a while, but she was warned that people would hate her for her power if she revealed it. Not wanting the trouble Sakura kept it very well hidden despite going to the academy with Ino.

Ino rested her chin on Sakura's shoulder and continued to watch Sakura work. Her hands were covered in calluses from not only the training needed to hit a target with these fine arrows she made but also from the construction of the arrows themselves. Two marks in particular however were not calluses or scars. There was a small black diamond in the center of each of her palms burnt there by the Hokage himself. Apparently, he said he felt guided to the location of a scroll which had the Leaf Focusing technique on it. Inspired by this he created a seal which would focus Sakura's drain powers into her palms and give her a safe and controlled way to use her ability.

"Are you going to use your power around your teammates?" Ino asked. "Their gonna need to know ya know…"

Sakura frowned but kept working. "It's irrelevant. I am a distance fighter for a reason. I am not going to use that power in combat. I'm not going to become th- you know what nevermind."

Ino noticed that Sakura seemed distracted while she worked and wrapped her arms around her sister's waist. "You know… Dr. Ino is in the house if you want to talk…"

Sakura let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm fine Ino. I just have a lot on my mind…"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound-"

"Fine! I killed a man the other day and I don't feel bad about it!" Sakura shouted. Ino nearly jumped in surprise at Sakura's bold claim. "I killed him with no remorse! I am exactly the monster that everyone fears! I even thought about eating his chakra, so I could save my own life and I just- I don't know what to do! Am I a monster? If I kill people without remorse can I really call myself a hero?"

Ino stared. Sakura had refused to talk about her experience that happened three days ago by claiming top secret info. The only thing she knew was that Sakura had used the Ninja Art: Parting Shot at B-rank level. When Sakura had mentioned this Ino had a feeling. Sakura had been quiet the last couple days… well quieter than normal… Ino had chalked it up to chakra exhaustion but now she could see the toll this had been having on Sakura.

Ino's father had taken Sakura in at Ino's request but had been wary of her ever since he learned she could consume chakra. Sakura had been so excited that she had used a skill she had worked so hard on effectively that she had momentarily forgotten that she had killed. This seemed to confirm in Sakura's mind the worry her adoptive family had for her. It was scary to her to know she could kill without remorse. It was scary to her to that she would likely be seen as a monster among her own team. Sakura wanted to be a hero. Someone who saves the weak and innocent from the monsters of this world. But could she really be the hero when she was also the monster that she was trying to defend them from?

Ino's response to this was to reach down and take one of Sakura's hands and clasp it in her own.

"I'm not scared of you." Ino said softly. "You can have my energy any time you want because you are my sister, and my best friend. I trust you."

Sakura's hand trembled in Ino's. "I don't want to hurt you…"

Ino gave her hand a squeeze and sad smile. "Everyone hurts the people they love the most. That's just being human. Sakura I am going to be forcibly taking over people's bodies and making them hurt and kill their friends or betray their darkest secrets to the enemy in a few days. My whole clan does that. To say I trust you, when I don't read your mind, hide out in your subconscious or know absolutely everything says a lot. I don't think you were in the wrong to kill who ever you killed. You must have been really scared to have used parting shot and you have so many checks and balances in your head that you would probably hesitate even if you knew it was the right thing to do… And if your team doesn't love you every inch as much as I do then you will be-"

"Thanks, but you don't have to mom me to death Mrs. Uchiha." Sakura smirked. Ino flushed bright red making Sakura giggle. "Thanks Ino… but… I think I got this. I… I'm just worried is all… but… um… thanks…"

Ino smiled. "Any time. But seriously, are you hungry or-"

"No! I'm fine! I just…" Sakura made a frustrated noise. "Gimme some of that!"

Ino yelped as Sakura began to drain a bit of energy from her. It was like her arm suddenly went to sleep. Ino started getting sleepy. Sakura was being as gentle as possible, but she still 'ate' a lot. When Ino yawned loudly the feeling vanished in an instant and Sakura looked up with a worried look in her eyes.

Yawning Ino waved her off. "Between you and my jutsu I don't know how I have time to do anything but nap… I'm turning into Shikamaru…"

Sakura smiled at that and helped carry Ino to her special bean bag couch. Uncle Inoichi still let them play out here in the forest but the 'training ground' was not to be used. Laying down Ino was soon snoring softly.

Sakura felt Ino's warm bubbly energy inside her and smiled before going back to work.

Maybe being on a team wouldn't be so bad.

Being on a team was going to be the absolute worst.

Sasuke was nursing a hangover today and he was in no mood to talk to anyone. He sat quietly in the corner 'brooding'. In all actuality he was just hung over because he was a child alcoholic and hadn't gotten over the death of his family at the hand of his brother. Sasuke frowned deeper. When he put it like that, it didn't sound cool… just… sad…

Sasuke knew he had a drinking problem. He had been eight when he had his first drink out of his family's store trying to find anything to numb the pain, but it just ended up being his crutch for the last four years. Sasuke now needed a night cap to fall asleep without nightmares and had nearly finished off the store of his entire clan of police officers who had seen some serious shit.

Since that day the longest he had been without a drink was a month, but he soon found a reason to drink… he knew he had a problem…

The reason he decided he definitely didn't want teammates was because he was sure that they would either catch him or he would have to avoid them during his free time. What free time he had after training.

What was worse was that he wanted a drink right now so badly. He wanted to forget. He wanted to believe that he wasn't a worthless alcoholic letting his parents down in more ways than one. And he certainly wanted to forget the stupid amount of fan girls he had!

Honestly! He had no idea why a girl let alone a woman would be attracted to him. He was twelve for Spirit's sake! But there they were. The fidgety, hormonal teenagers that didn't know that he was hung over and squealing every time he so much as breathed. Did he mention he was hung over? He was hung over. And he wanted to forget this shit and just get to the freaking point already.

Sasuke wanted to smash his head into the desk when his number one fan girl followed by her sister entered the classroom. Ino… was a nice girl but had the wrong idea about him… and you could trust that Sasuke knew… he had only heard the things the girl gushed about him a billion times…

She thought he was a crazy strong, broody, handsome young man with a promising future.

What he was, was a decently strong, child alcoholic, with no future past getting shanked by Itachi in a dark alley and he knew it. He also was re-wearing the same clothes as the day before and only taken a shower this morning to remove the smell of vodka and shame off himself. He was not nice. He was not the dream boat everyone thought he was. But hey? Who was he to correct them? As long as they stayed far away from him and didn't get close that was fine…

The sister on the other hand was someone that Sasuke actually had a bit of respect for. She had chosen a weapon, wore her hair up in a tight bun and best of all didn't talk to him. She was a decent fight in his book but seemed to avoid physical contact like the plague which in his eyes was another plus for him. Also-

Suddenly there was someone in his face. A very stupid blonde someone… Spirits he hated this dumbass…

Naruto freaking Uzumaki was the only person Sasuke could think of that was a sadder piece of shit then he was. Not only was this bastard brain-dead but actually thought a dead last like himself would amount to anything besides shaming their military.

He dreamed of being Hokage. That's fine. But what irritated Sasuke was his never ending tirade of self-aggrandization and total shamelessness. It twisted some deep part of him when the dead last in his class of trained military assassins had more self-esteem than he did and for whatever reason that pissed Sasuke the hell off.

Yeah, he knew there were sadder back stories out there then even his. A lot of people died in the Fox attack and that event alone was enough to have just about everyone in class be a sad no name orphan trying to be Hokage while also being alcoholics like him or abuse victims or what have you. Sasuke knew he was a weak ass piece of shit for giving into his addiction. He just hated Naruto's guts for being just as pathetic as the rest of them and parading around like he had some kind of hope or some shit like that.

Yeah, Sasuke hated him but he also respected him something fierce for never giving up on his stupid dream and- why was the dumbass so clos- OH SHIT!

Sasuke's lips met Naruto's. The dumbass was kissing him?! What the hell?!

Both boys pulled away and tried spitting to get the flavor of the other boy's breakfast out of his mouth. For Sasuke it was a shot of vodka and a boiled egg and from the taste of Naruto's mouth spoiled milk and failure… Maybe yogurt? He didn't think he could respect a man who ate yogurt… Sasuke had thought to get retribution for being sexually assaulted but there was already a sudden spike in the bloodlust in the room from his fangirls.

Sasuke sent Naruto a look. Run you poor bastard…

Screaming and much clawing ensued.

Sakura watched as the horde of screaming fangirls descended upon Naruto and was doing her best to hold Ino back.

"Imma kill him! I'll kill that f-"

Sakura put a hand over her mouth. "Language."

"But Sakura! He violated Sasuke's chastity! We must avenge him! Not only that but look at Hina over there! See! She's traumatized! Nobody hurts my cinnamon bun! Must PROTECC!"

It was true that Hinata was doing her best to stop the fangirls, but her face was scarlet, and she couldn't put any strength into it as she seemed extremely embarrassed for some reason.

Finally Shino saved the day. A wave of bugs descended and then there were screams and much swatting, much to the great anger of the Aburame heir. Finally everything settled down and surprisingly Naruto was still alive. Sasuke for some reason was covering his head and moaning 'kill me now…'. Naruto seemed to bounce back pretty quick when Iruka got there and started handing out the team assignments.

"Chouji Akamichi, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka." Ino's face met her desk.

"Noooooooooo….." Ino moaned into the desk. She looked up at Sakura with desperate tearful eyes. "You'll swap with me if your team is cool right?"

"Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura's eyebrows raised at this team assignment. Ino was looking up at her with big piteous eyes. Sakura sighed. "I'm sorry. Though Sasuke is on the team you would murder Naruto within a week. Also Ino-Shika-Cho is a proven technique that will protect you just as well as Sasuke can. Shikamaru is smart and Chouji is pretty brave and he's super nice too. This is for the best."

"You just want Sasuke all to yourself I-" Ino started before being cut off by dark look in Sakura's eyes.

"Really?" Sakura asked with an almost sinister edge. "You think I am the kind of person who would do that after all you have done for me?"

Ino shrank back. "N-no! I… I um… just think that… I'm sorry!"

Sakura bopped her lightly on the head. "Good. Now let's go have lunch. Iruka's done…"

Naruto snarled into his meat bun. That bastard Sasuke planned this somehow! He… he…

Naruto frowned. Even he thought this was stupid… he was on a team with the bastard. So he was supposed to… play nice? Yeah right… It's not that Naruto hated the guy, far from it, he actually kind of looked up to him in some ways. It was just… Sasuke was everything Naruto wanted to be…

He had a clan that actually had a name in the village, he was a genius fighter, all the ladies loved him, he was respected by the teachers… respected in general…

Yeah… Mizuki had explained it all to him… he was the fox. He was the monster that orphaned more than half his class and killed Iruka's parents. Even if he was just the container didn't that just mean that people never saw the real him? That made Naruto depressed. All this time he was fighting to get recognition. Anything to make people at least look at him… he had wondered why it was so hard for him to do that… now he knew. He just reminded everyone of their families dying, of the night the fox attacked… Naruto had been to the memorial place once… It was in town but only really visible from the Hokage monument. A massive hand print. It was a scar on the earth itself from that night.

Naruto snapped himself out of the depressing thought process by planning a prank back at Sasuke. That he was good at… That he could do with his eyes closed.

An idea came to mind and he smiled sinisterly. This would do it…

Sakura and Ino were sitting on a park bench with the lunch they had brought.

"So what do you think of your team?" Ino asked. Sakura munched on her lunch of a can of fruit cocktail. Her true love. Her one delight.

"Mmmh… not much. Sasuke is a good addition to any team but I don't know what kind of team we are. It would be easier to pinpoint if Naruto had any skills but as far as I know he is just really good at the transformation jutsu. Sasuke is an all rounder but he seems to specialize most in ranged attacks and speed. I also specialize in ranged attacks so I'm not sure what we would even be…" Sakura said. Ino sighed.

"I meant what do you think of them on a personal level? Do you think you're gonna be friends?" Ino asked. Sakura looked up at the clouds as she thought munching on the cherry of her fruit cocktail.

"I don't know. People are pretty different when they are tired, hungry and sweaty. Sasuke is broody and doesn't talk much and Naruto is… well like you on steroids. No offense." Sakura added quickly.

Ino pouted. "Well, I got lazy and chubby…"

"Yeah, but Shika and Chouji are already friends. Naruto and Sasuke probably hate each other now after the incident." Sakura pointed out.

Ino winced. "They can both be pretty hot headed… Sasuke's sheer passion is his one flaw…"

Sasuke hated his life. He was munching on a tomato- his one solace besides alcohol, what if he added the two together? - wondering how they could have screwed up this team so badly. There was no way that he and Naruto were going to work together well… Sasuke sighed. Why did his life have to suck so mu-

The only warning Sasuke had was a rope suddenly around his waist.

His tomato fell to the floor with a wet squish.

"Time for some revenge…" 'Sasuke' said with an evil smirk. "Let's see how you like your biggest fangirl as your girlfriend. Oh! I know! I'll go after Sakura instead! That will make Ino even worse! Bwahahaha!"

'Sasuke' frowned. "Sasuke's voice sounds weird laughing…"

A/N: Hello everyone! Gonna keep it brief but if you have any questions let me know!

Sasuke in general:

When writing Sasuke's character he kind of stole the chapter… Originally, I thought he was a jerk with the heart of a jerk but… then I looked at it from his prospective and couldn't write him like that… I made him more down to earth. As the son of a cop I made him have a strong sense of right and wrong. He would see it not as his own revenge but a duty to kill Itachi because in his mind it would be the right thing to do even if he saw it as impossible. He is Batman and Itachi is his Joker.

His alcoholism came from a head cannon joke I came up with a while ago. That Sasuke is a jerk because he was perpetually hungover. I laughed for a bit but after a while I thought about it and realized it would make sense from his perspective to do that. He is not okay with his own drinking but hasn't found a way to stop. I found this character flaw made him, to me at least, more relatable so I kept it.

Sasuke has the Sharingan early. I mean… why didn't he in cannon knowing what happened to him? I will be exploring how Sasuke feels about it in a future chapter but for now hijinks!

Sakura in general:

I decided to not make her have just *BOOM* anime arrow powers but actually have her craft her arrows and be kind of a craftsman about it. I just felt Cannon Sakura would do this if she was into archery. Sakura kind of gravitates to nerdy topics.

Sakura wanting to prove she doesn't need the power she feels is wrong and dangerous, so she hyper focuses on a single skill sounds very much like Sakura to me.

As to why she feels the power is wrong… maybe it's an echo eh?

Naruto in general:

Naruto is kind of a jerk, but he is a cinnamon bun as well. He is a brat acting out for attention and to hide his loneliness. Acting out is his alcohol. He does it to forget and then gets drunk off it and does something stupid that normally he wouldn't do. He had a much smaller role in the last few chapters, but he will come back in full force soon.

References:

Uchiha Military Police Oath: Basically DC's Green Lantern's moto. It just fit with something the Uchiha would actually believe and even was a not so subtle reference to the Infinite Tsukyomi where the sky turns dark red and then the moon shines like the sun.

Ronin manga: Reference to Rurouni Kenshin. I figured he would probably be popular in the Naruto world.

Yukata Mask: Tuxedo Mask is a sometimes ally of Sailor Moon and he throws roses like ninja throw bo-shuriken. It is a very dramatic move and usually stops a fight in its tracks. I used it because Ino throws flowers into Sakura's former bully, Ame's, mouth in a suspiciously similar fashion.

Sorry for the short Author's note! I just felt like I explained enough in the story itself! See you guys next week! Thanks!