Naruko scrambled out of the way, as a big piece of granite from the statue above her created a geyser where she'd just been standing. Wait, the statue above her, she'd seen that face on Hokage Mountain. Cracked just a little from the fight. Then that meant, that meant that the other statue must have been of…
Madara.
Even someone as dumb as her knew about the legendary rivalry. But he'd been killed right? He'd been an evil man, a traitor to Konoha, a traitor to his own clan, so who had built his statue? Who had chosen to honor him? They… They must've had a lot of chakra. A lot of regrets.
What was she going to do? She'd tried to talk to Sasuke, she'd tried to fight him, and she… She still didn't understand him, but she did know one thing. Sasuke Uchiha, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to leave Konoha.
Fine.
She didn't need him to like her. She could be the bad guy, she could be the villain, because if he left Konoha then… Then… Orochimaru would kill him! She wouldn't be able to protect him! And that was her responsibility, she was the strongest, she had to save him! Even from himself, it was her duty! That's right! She'd made a promise to that strange kunoichi, to Sakura, and even if it made her miserable, it was her duty as a shinobi to keep her promises.
Sasuke writhed on the shore, screaming in misery.
Naruko forced herself to take a step. Then another. And another. She'd bring him back to Konoha. She'd protect him. She was doing the right thing.
She noticed her reflection in the calm water. The rising sun had tinged her hair red.
And she heard Sasuke for the first time.
"I understand, I understand, I understand!"
She touched her forehead protector and let herself smile. It was slashed, almost in half, but he'd had a chance to kill her and he hadn't been able to do it either. He could try to justify it behind all the symbolism he wanted, but apparently he wasn't going to even try. It wasn't so easy was it Sasuke? To fight all out, to hurt somebody you loved… You loved?
Naruko may have been stupid, but when it came to understanding other people she'd never had any trouble. She took off her forehead protector. It was why she loved Konoha. The politics, the systems, the philosophy she didn't care about any of that. She understood the people in it, she understood that Kakashi was scarred, that Kurenai was naive, that Sakura was oblivious, that Jiraiya was busy and that everyone was doing their best. And Sasuke, she understood that… That…
Why?
...Why?
"Sasuke?" Naruko asked, holding her broken forehead protector to her heart. "What did I do wrong? Why are you leaving me?" She couldn't… She... He would finally listen to what she had to say. And that… That terrified her.
"I thought we were friends. Or... at least... rivals. What… What's wrong with me?"
Sasuke laughed, but she could hear the pain in his voice. He was bruised, he was bleeding, his arm was broken. She'd done that. She'd hurt him. "You're my best friend Naruko. This has nothing to do with you."
Then why?
She looked at the metallic symbol of Konoha. She heard the waves beating on the rocky shore. This wasn't the first time she'd been to a lake with Sasuke. The Uchiha Clan Compound. They'd been sent to the sewers. And Danzou, he'd tried to get Naruko to take Sasuke's eyes. Orochimaru had claimed Sasuke would be safer with him than in Konoha. Tsunade had talked about the Uchiha like Konoha had been responsible for their massacre, and Jiraiya hadn't said a word against either of them.
When Sasuke saw evil, he destroyed it. That was his nindo, his ninja way.
He'd destroyed her forehead protector. Sasuke could have killed her. But just like her, he couldn't bring himself to do it. They had their differences. They weren't going to kill each other over it. Because killing each other over ideas, over disrespect and power, that would be stupid.
She thought about how Konoha had been founded by two men. One became the hokage. The other, Uchiha Madara, had left. Naruko knew why. Not from the history books, but from seeing the beaten down Uchiha Compound. From seeing how the elders treated Sasuke. From looking at the bingo books, and finding that Itachi Uchiha's bounty was less than Orochimaru's. Konoha wasn't a good place to be an Uchiha, just like Konoha wasn't a good place to be an orphan.
But the First Hokage hadn't let Madara leave. Instead he'd… He'd… Killed him. But Naruko knew what he must've thought: it will get better. He must have thought he was doing the right thing.
And now, years later, there weren't any Uchiha left in Konoha at all. All of them were dead. Which meant… Which meant that after all these years, Madara had been right.
Naruko thought about Jiraiya and Tsunade. How Jiraiya had allowed Tsunade to accept Orochimaru's offer. Naruko thought about the kind of shinobi, no, the kind of person she wanted to be.
And as her reflection stared back at her, her hair as red as Gaara's, she thought about the kind of person she would never be.
She made up her mind.
"Promise me you won't hurt anybody from Konoha," Naruko said.
"You're really just going to let me leave?" Sasuke asked.
"Promise!"
"I destroy evil," Sasuke said simply, his beautiful black eyes gazing up at her. "I can't make that promise."
Naruko wiped her eyes. "Promise you'll come back after you defeat Itachi! Promise that you won't let Orochimaru take your body!"
"I will do whatever it takes to destroy evil," Sasuke said woodenly. " I saw a man with an arm full of sharingans… Konoha… I will never ever go back there. Not willingly." He glared up at her. Daring her. Challenging her. "Didn't you make a promise to Sakura?"
She had, but…
But?
There were no buts, Naruko would keep her promise.
And in a perfect moment of clarity her destiny, her purpose, her love, it all aligned.
"I'll become hokage. And I'll make Konoha a country you'll want to be a part of. And someday you'll return," Naruko said. And now came the hard part. "And when you return I'll name you my replacement."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"You'd better be worthy. You'd better be ready. You'd better still be the Sasuke who lets orphans into your house, who risks his life to save his friends, who makes connections with even the stupidest losers around him. I need you to be the Uchiha who proves to Konoha, to the world, that you're not monsters. That we're not monsters. An Uchiha will finally be Hokage." Naruko cut her palm, and dripped blood on Sasuke's forehead protector. "It's The Promise of a Lifetime."
Naruko left without turning back.
Which was why she didn't see Sasuke reach out after her. Why she almost didn't hear his plea, so quiet, it could be mistaken for silence.
Don't go.
"I love you."
XOXOXOX
A masked figure appeared in the darkness as the love of his life disappeared into the light.
"Chase after her," the figure said. "Tell her you love her. Do whatever it takes to stay with her. Otherwise you'll be miserable."
She said it as if his feelings mattered. His purpose wasn't so insignificant as to chase happiness like a child. Although of course, if Naruko had left Konoha with him he wouldn't have- he would have liked that. Loved it.
What was he doing? The woman was right, he had to-
"You don't understand a thing about me!" Sasuke said gruffly. He was an avenger. It was his fate to live in darkness. He actually liked Naruko. He wasn't so selfish, stupid, or cruel to actually want her to be with him.
"So," the figure said brightly. "Misery it is! Well, you know what they say 'bout misery donchya?"
"Hnn," Sasuke grunted. This woman was really… Really annoying.
"It sucks." The woman nodded, like she'd said something profound. Sasuke almost jumped when he saw that red orb glow through her spiral mask.
The world was a cruel, uncaring place, and things like second chances only happened in fairy tales. There couldn't be another Uchiha. There had to be a catch. She couldn't be what she appeared.
"Your sharingan," Sasuke said quietly. "Does it belong to you?"
The woman looked down at him, twirling her strange three-pronged kunai. Its blade was sharp. He reached for his kunai instinctively, but he couldn't even move a finger. She could kill him easily. He was at her mercy.
"I am an Uchiha, if that's what you're asking. But no. This sharingan isn't mine. It belonged to someone I truly cherished. I'm not from your line of the clan. I'm not a shinobi. My mother was a civilian. Everyone was… Surprised when my ability to channel chakra emerged. I was the first to do so from the civilian side of the clan in a hundred years. But I was never going to awaken a sharingan."
The woman helped Sasuke to his feet but let him fall back onto the jagged rocks when his legs gave out on him. They tore into his back and, after all he'd been through, it still fucking hurt. Pain didn't feel good. It never would.
"Itachi killed everyone," the woman said, her sharingan twirling clockwise, then counterclockwise, giving off a sense of vertigo. "His girlfriend, his parents, the civilians, but for some reason… He forgot about… Me… But then, it isn't exactly surprising, I was always the black sheep of the Uchiha Clan. An embarrassment they tried to forget." The woman laughed humorlessly. "Have you ever wondered if maybe you survived because you weren't even worth killing? Because you clung to life like a coward?"
Sasuke looked away from her sharingan. Ever since that day he'd been alone. He never thought he'd meet another who'd been through his experience. He should have been comforted by the presence of someone who could understand him. Instead he felt like she was staring at him naked. Maybe it was because her words felt… Scripted. Maybe it was because everything about this woman felt empty.
Still, he couldn't even stand. This woman may not have been strong, but even a civilian could slit his throat the way he was now. He couldn't afford a direct confrontation.
"Why did you help me?" Sasuke asked carefully.
"Can't it just be enough that you're a fellow Uchiha?" The woman asked. She sighed. "Of course not. You wouldn't be a proper Uchiha if you weren't paranoid, if you didn't feel that nagging sensation that you were missing something. The truth is that I was investigating Danzou Shimura. I thought he was suspicious. But I didn't know he had an arm full of sharingans, you know? I need to investigate further. Perhaps the massacre of our clan runs deeper than Cousin Itachi going mad."
There was nothing wrong with her answer, it all made sense, but the woman felt hollow. Like looking at a reflection in the mirror. She was just a trick of the light. "Who are you?"
"You already know," the woman said, her expression hidden by her mask. "The way you look right through me, the way my words go in one ear and out the other. The world doesn't see me, the world doesn't hear me. I come from nowhere. I have no father. I have no mother. I'm faceless. I'm voiceless. I do not exist. I am Nobody."
Sasuke dug down deep. It had been minutes since his fight, he'd only recovered a few drops of chakra, and with it he managed to activate his sharingan. With it, he'd be able to see the truth. "Who are you?"
"Nobody," the masked woman said again.
Sasuke couldn't tell whether or not she was lying. He couldn't see a thing about her. And he needed to know whether or not he could trust her. Her… Kakashi. Her!
What if?
But she wasn't someone strong! What was he doing? She was an Uchiha, the last of his clan, that should have been enough! But Kakashi's words poisoned his trust. And he realized that a question he'd thought had been directed at him had been directed at someone else.
"How does an Uchiha say, 'I love you.'?"
The woman tilted her head. "Sasuke… Who told you to ask me that?"
And for the first time, Sasuke heard something with weight. An echo of an emotion under her false charm. Fear? Anger? Frustration? It was all too murky, but Sasuke could see the blur of a person just starting to come into focus.
"Itachi?" The woman muttered quietly. "No, no, don't be silly, he hasn't realized… Kakashi, but how did he get around…" She shook her head. "Let me answer your first question."
"Orochimaru is going to teach you something, and I want you to teach it to me. Sage Mode." The woman picked him up. "I'm not powerful. I'm not strong. And I never want to feel helpless again. I've been investigating the fall of the Uchiha Clan for a long, long time. I want to avenge our clan, but more than that I want to bring about a permanent end to The Curse of Hatred. I need your help to ensure another era of peace. You have the potential to become the hero who saves the world. That, Sasuke Uchiha, is why I risked my life to save you."
She let him fall to the ground. "Follow." She said coldly. "I will not carry you. I'm not my mother. I'm not the main branch's lackey, agreeing with all their idiotic ideas, nipping at their heels for any morsel of approval. I'm your equal, you know?"
Sasuke smiled despite himself, and stood on his own. He couldn't help but like her, despite all her lies. Afterall, Nobody reminded him of a certain somebody.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I've gotta admit, I had some fun in this arc with Sasuke saying nobody was more _ than X. Now you know why I kept going back to that phrase. I think there may be a small hiatus before the next chapter. And now, onto the reviews!
Najex - Sasuke isn't a good communicator. Luckily for him, Naruko is, and most of his feelings got through to her. Thanks for the review!
Amaterasu53 - I couldn't clarify too much because I wanted the 'I love you' line to be stated aloud rather than mentioned in prose. But Sasuke realizes that the reason Naruko can't finish him off is the same reason he can't finish her off, they care about each other. Thanks for the review!
Raving burito - I see this as a problem too. I've got something planned for the next chapter to bandaid this. The permanent fix has already been implemented, but it may be hard to see right now. Thanks for the review!
TheBeauty - Hopefully that was answered in this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Mimiyuh - Thanks!
Danni-Fathom - Itachi will probably not be sick in this story. And yes, I do believe you're correct about Obi. Thanks for the encouragement!