"What do you mean, we passed?" Sasuke asked, propping himself up on his elbows. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him.
"The point of the test wasn't to actually get a bell, was it?" Sakura said. "You just wanted us to work together."
"Excellent, Sakura. Yes. I didn't expect you to actually take the bells, although you did get close. But a team that can't work together ends up dead."
"What are we doing now, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as gingerly got up, feeling his jaw.
"I think this was enough for today. Let me make sure you're not too badly hurt, and then we'll meet again at the bridge tomorrow morning. Same time."
Kakashi checked the genin over for injuries. Naruto was bruised and battered, but he was fine. He sent him home. Sakura had a mild burn on her leg, and he sent her to the hospital. Training-related injuries were nothing new for a ninja, and she strode off steadily enough.
That left Sasuke. The boy stared at him, his mouth red and swollen.
"You're quite proficient with fire jutsu, Sasuke," Kakashi said. The boy shrugged. "But I can't help noticing that you didn't use your Sharingan at all."
Sasuke tensed.
Sasuke's heart was pounding as he sat up and tried to answer calmly.
"I-I haven't awakened my Sharingan yet, Kakashi-sensei," he said, crossing his arms. Kakashi's one visible eye frowned.
"Are you sure about that, Sasuke? You realize that as your jounin-sensei, I've read your personnel file, right?" he said gently. "What's wrong?" Sasuke felt a lump growing in his throat, and swallowed nervously.
"I haven't used my Sharingan since the night I awoke it," he whispered. Kakashi's frown softened with sympathy as he took Sasuke's meaning. He crouched in front of Sasuke, pulling his forehead protector up and exposing the other side of his face. A scar stretched from chin to brow, over his cheekbones and over a closed eye. Then Kakashi opened his other eye, and Sasuke gasped.
There, staring out from Kakashi's face, was a Sharingan. Three tomoe circled over a scarlet pupil. Three tomoe, just like Itachi's. Just like-
Itachi slammed a fist into his stomach, and Sasuke nearly threw up. He crumpled to the wooden floorboards, hands splashing in his parent's blood, retching and coughing. His arm burned where Itachi had slashed it open with a shuriken. He looked up at his older brother.
The silver moonlight painted Itachi's body light gray, the only spot of color being his eyes. Those eyes... They glowed bloodthirsty red, tomoe spinning as he sneered at Sasuke. Then Sasuke felt true fear, a chill settling in his limbs and spreading to his heart.
"I'm-I'm scared," he whimpered. Itachi's eyes locked onto his, until the red was all he could see-
"Sasuke. Sasuke!" Kakashi shook the boy gently, and the glazed-over eyes slowly focused on him. "Hey! Breathe."
Sasuke was sweating, trembling under Kakashi's hands. He brushed off Kakashi's hand and glared at him.
"Where did you get that eye?" he demanded.
"My best friend gave it to me just before he died." Kakashi replied evenly. Sasuke was just staring at it, his expression somewhere between horror and fascination.
"Sasuke," he said, covering the Sharingan with his forehead protector. "If you hold back like that in an actual fight, you are going to get yourself or your teammates killed. You need to use all the tools available to you, and that includes the Sharingan."
Sasuke got up slowly, not meeting his gaze. Without a word, he turned and marched off the field in the direction of the village. Kakashi sighed.
Perhaps Minato-sensei would have been able to get the boy to relax, to open up. But he wasn't Minato. Silently cursing the Hokage for saddling him with three kids, he checked the time. It was a bit early to start drinking, but Kakashi felt that he'd earned it today.
He couldn't help but think that Sasuke reminded him of himself when he was younger.