A soft breeze glided across Sasuke's skin as he lay on the dock overlooking a large, pristine lake. The weathered and eroded wood scratched his back, but he focused on the warmth of the early morning sun and the birdsong filtering through the air.
After all, days like this were most likely numbered.
A grand estate perched next to the lake, almost falling apart at the seams. Vines and undergrowth crept across its exterior, already half-reclaimed by leaves. A pang of nostalgia hit him as he remembered the day when his father and Itachi had first brought him here on his seventh birthday. According to them, this was their clan's ancestral home before the formation of the Games forced them to move into the heart of the village. Despite the hundred years since then, the clan had passed down its secret location as they did with their fire-style jutsu.
This place was his refuge. On the days when loneliness and anger threatened to choke him, he would duck beneath the old barbed wire fence and run through the dense evergreen forests. He only stopped when he caught sight of the red and white symbol of his clan emblazoned on the crumbling gates on the estate's outer walls. He would sit here for hours on end, reliving memories of precious moments when none of the horrors had touched him yet.
He wasn't too worried about getting caught. With his family gone, he was the only one who knew of its existence; well, he and the one person he had shared it with.
Speaking of the devil.
He turned his head as the tree branches snapped loudly and Naruto ran towards him, his tanned skin slicked with sweat.
"You're late."
"I know," he said with a cheeky grin.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, already predicting where their conversation was headed.
"I took Hinata to old man Teuchi's for ramen. Nothing like breakfast ramen to celebrate a six-month anniversary," he explained, patting his stomach, before proceeding to give Sasuke a play-by-play of their date.
Since last winter, his best friend had been dating Hinata, the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi, the Hokage of their village. It was a scandal at first. Even though all children born in the village were eligible for reaping, class prejudice still existed. Families descended from or with ties to former shinobi clans from the warring days enjoyed a modicum of respect and privilege not afforded to civilians. Naruto, an orphan whose parents' identities were unknown, was not deemed a suitable match for the Hyuuga clan, and Hinata's younger sister overtook her as clan heir a few months later.
Hinata was shy and Sasuke couldn't recall her uttering over ten words to him in all the years he had known her. But she was kind and had been besotted with his best friend since they were children—if the bashful, love-struck glances and the occasional fainting spells were any indications. And it didn't take a genius to see how happy she made Naruto.
Even though he knew better than anyone how fleeting happiness could be, Sasuke doesn't begrudge him for that. If there was anyone who deserved happiness, however short-lived, it was Naruto—his brother in all ways but blood.
He turned to the blond with a wry smile, interrupting the loudmouth's stories about the new ramen flavours that Teuchi's daughter Ayame has been experimenting with. "Happy Hunger Games, idiot."
A moment later, when Naruto's bright, cheerful smile faded into a morose expression, he kicked himself.
"I almost forgot for a moment. It's stupid to celebrate, I didn't even stop to think that this might have been our last date," Naruto muttered glumly as he leaned back on the dock beside Sasuke.
"It's fine, you won't get reaped," Sasuke replied, with feigned nonchalance, observing a flock of mockingjays as they took flight from their perch.
"How do you know? I've taken out so many extra rations this year. My name is in there as many times as yours!" Each year children of reaping age could submit their names in the bowl additional times for extra rations. In a village rife with poverty and families torn apart by the Games, this option was unsurprisingly common.
"Hn," Sasuke conceded, and he closed his eyes and tried to muster his earlier feelings of calm. Just a few more hours until the ceremony was over and done with.
"Do you ever wish things were different?" Naruto said after a pause, his voice uncharacteristically sombre.
"Hn."
"One day I'm going to be Hokage and change things."
"Don't be stupid," Sasuke replied curtly as anger seeped into his voice. As much as he secretly appreciated Naruto's optimism and cheery outlook on just about everything, he couldn't stand to hear about this particular dream.
Even if Naruto became Hokage, nothing would change—just like none of the previous Hokages had ever changed anything.
Sometimes in the black markets behind their orphanage, he would hear hushed whispers about the Fourth Hokage, who had tried to incite a rebellion in his six months on the job, only to be caught and executed. He knew the truth deep down and one day Naruto would have to accept it too.
Nothing would ever change.
Reaping Day was hot and uncomfortable—weather in Fire Country was sweltering at this time of year. Sweat pooled under Sasuke's neck and armpits, and the coarse material of his high collar top irritated his skin. As he entered the square, ANBU agents in their standard animal masks quickly shepherded him into a section of other sixteen-year-old boys. Glancing around the makeshift enclosures, he saw familiar faces from the Academy, though by now he had forgotten most of their names. Truth be told, he never saw the point of making friends when all of them were destined to be potential lambs to the slaughter.
Naruto was the only one who had bulldozed past Sasuke's defences, with his never-ending speeches about bonds and friendship.
At one point there was the possibility of another, he remembered as he spotted a beacon of pink hair in the girls' section, but his pride had gotten in the way. It was just as well. Having too many bonds only increased the possibility of suffering.
The sharp screech of the microphone sent a grimace down the audience as the flamboyant announcer from the Capitol stepped up.
"Happy Hunger Games!" cheered the shrill announcer before starting her customary speech of the history of the Great Shinobi War and the formation of the Games that followed it, and Sasuke zoned out, already familiar with the lies being spouted.
He instead looked up as Hatake Kakashi, the only remaining male victor from their village, ambled over to the grand stage, late as always, his nose buried in a familiar orange book. The man took no notice of the dirty glances shot his way by both the Capitol representative and villagers alike and casually took a seat next to a blonde woman. And from the way she swayed in her chair, Sasuke guessed the Senju Tsunade, former victor and village drunk, had already started on her annual tradition of getting completely shit-faced before the ceremony.
With mentors like these, it was no wonder that their village hadn't had a victor since Kakashi himself.
"Ladies first!" the announcer exclaimed when the speech ended, before fishing around the bowl holding the names of the potential female tributes and drawing a slip of paper with a flourish.
A preternatural hush befell the crowd, and a sense of doom permeated the surrounding air, making it hard to breathe. Sasuke didn't need the Yamanaka mind jutsu to know that everyone was praying to whatever gods existed for their lives to be spared.
Sasuke didn't bother to do the same. He schooled his face into a detached expression as he prepared himself for the worst-case scenario.
"Haruno Sakura," the announcer's voice rang out across the square, sending a jolt of shock through his body.
No, not her.
It was inevitable, he told himself as he tried to push down the unfamiliar emotions that swirled inside him. The Capitol always reaped those close to former victors. The clock had been ticking for Sakura ever since Tsunade had taken in the girl as her apprentice. He glanced at the woman sitting on the stage, acting as if nothing of note had happened, and a deep surge of bitterness and anger welled up in him.
Across the square, Sakura staggered her way up the steps to the stage in a daze, her green eyes wide and fear etched across her face. Sasuke breathed out heavily and pushed the foreign feelings down—there was no point in it anymore. Haruno Sakura was an intelligent girl with a talent for healing, but she was no fighter. She was as good as dead.
Lost in his thoughts about Sakura, he almost missed the announcer taking out the slip of paper with the name of the male tribute.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
And before he even realised what was happening, Sasuke pushed through the crowds in shaky legs, heart thundering in his ears. He reached the stage moments before Naruto and roughly swept him aside.
"I volunteer," he called out. "I volunteer as tribute."
A/N: Inspired by The Hunger Games trilogy and Everlark. This won't be an exact retelling as I will be incorporating Naruto lore within the story (they are still ninjas!) so there will be deviations from THG's plot and characters.
The first chapter is just the prologue so the next chapters will be longer. Updates will be slow since this is my first time writing a multi-chaptered story so please bear with me.
Thank you so much to CatFlorist for beta-reading! Your feedback has been invaluable!