Yo!
Another week, another chapter of this story.
I'm going to go ahead and say that this is easily the most polarizing chapter I've written, at least to me. It does a lot of very weird things, but I hope you all like them!
Chapter 25: Hope for the Future
"You did what!?"
Naruto's grin was of shit-eating proportions, practically taking up half of his face as he leaned backwards, as if looking down upon Sasuke like a king would a meager peasant.
"I said I summoned a Giant Frog." The boy repeated once more, gripping his chin with one hand, and laughing haughtily under his breath. "That Frog Guy taught me how to a week ago, and just yesterday, I finally mastered it!"
Sasuke felt that Naruto referring to one of the three great Sannin as 'That Frog Guy' should probably have been seen as a massive disrespect, but he also felt that the boy wouldn't have truly been himself if he were ever respectful of anyone at all.
"You learned how to use the summoning jutsu in a week!?" The Uchiha sputtered, feeling just the smallest bit envious as he looked towards his friend. "Just what the hell kind of training is that man giving you!?" He reached over and took the boy's arm, inspecting it with a quiet vigor as he continued. "Did he use drugs? Stimulants? Steroids?"
"Actually, he threw me into a-" Naruto stopped midway through his sentence, cleared his throat, and continued. "Apparently I'm just a natural."
Sasuke could tell that particular sentence was about as truthful as Kakashi's excuses for general tardiness but chose to simply let it go.
"All Kakashi taught me was Chidori." Sasuke grumbled a bit under his breath. He hadn't told the boy, but he'd originally agreed to take a break from his training to come and brag to Naruto about how much cooler his Jutsu was than Naruto's own.
Apparently, his best friend had had a very similar idea.
Even still, the park they were sat in was too nice for anything to truly sour his mood. It was in the middle of the Leaf Village, only a few blocks from the small wooden pier where the two of them had first stumbled into one another's lives, and even now, this part of the town still held some significance to him.
"What's a Chidori?" Naruto asked him a bit later, eyes curious at they met with his own.
The Uchiha smirked.
Maybe, If I can pull this out right here, I can salvage this somehow…
"Hold on, I'll show you."
Sasuke held his hand out, letting chakra gather into the center of it, just how Kakashi had shown him. he closed his eyes, concentrating intensely as he let the chakra shift in nature. First, it flowed to the element he had the most experience using, that of fire, before shifting ever so slightly, becoming lightning in the palm of his hand.
"Chidori!" He shouted.
A small spark came into being in his palm, flickered briefly, and then dissipated.
His cheeks began to grow hot as Naruto continued to stare at him, evidently expecting something more than that.
"Is that it?" The boy asked, honestly perplexed.
"I'm tired, OK!" He shouted, trying to ignore the horrid embarrassment that fluttered throughout him as Naruto laughed at his suffering.
"No, no, please, keep going," Naruto exclaimed as he laughed himself into a fit, nearly falling forward as he did. "This truly looks to be a revolutionary new technique! Why-" Naruto briefly lost himself in his own joke, falling to the floor and lying prone on the ground. "Why haven't the Leaf's top ninja picked this up?"
"Yeah, uh huh." Sasuke deadpanned, looking down at his friend with an incredible disdain. "Hilarious. Never-before-made joke."
"Oh, I guess you're right, Kakashi taught it to you, so that makes it at least a second generation technique." The boy pretended to think about that for a moment, before a small giggle broke through his visage once more. "D-d'you what let him be one of the leaf's top ranking ninja's was...?"
The boy's cheeks grew wide as he stood up, getting right next to Sasuke, nearly losing his composure and falling into another fit as he did.
"Static electricity?" The boy barely got out, before exploding, falling backwards and cackling madly.
Sasuke was feeling a bit mad himself, looking down at the boy who was attracting more than his fair share of attention, and annoyed expressions, from the other park-goers around them.
"Nine-Tailed brat, causing a ruckus, as usual."
"Why does nice little Sasuke have to be stuck with a loudmouth like him?"
"He must hate the guy."
"Definitely, they've got polar opposite personalities from what I've seen."
"How terrible."
Sasuke gritted his teeth as he stood up, giving one of the older couples who'd been speaking a glare that would've sent a chill down many adult ninja's spines. They seemed to get the memo, standing up and quickly seeing themselves to another bench a decent way's away, though far enough that he couldn't pick up what they were saying anymore.
Probably some trash about how the 'Nine-Tailed brat' is corrupting me.
Sasuke felt he would've snorted at that if he wasn't so damn annoyed. First with Naruto's own joke, which had carried on just a bit longer than was fun for him, and then with these people, who judged based not off of character, but of history.
"Y'know, you don't always have to get so mad."
He turned back to look at Naruto, eyebrows raised slightly in surprise as he did.
"What?"
Naruto's knowing smile always managed to irk him somewhat, it was an expression that was so terribly unbecoming of him. The boy sat straight up, gesturing towards the bench that the couple had just vacated. They sat down upon it a few seconds later, and Naruto continued.
"I don't know, it just seems like… we've been doing this routine our whole lives, y'know?" Naruto rocked back and forth ever so slightly, seeming uncomfortable with what he was saying, even if he wasn't willing to back down on the words either. "I feel as if you're always chasing people like those guys away."
Sasuke's eyes widened minutely. He didn't think his friend saw him glare at those idiots.
"And I do appreciate it!" Naruto shot out quickly, as if fearing Sasuke would take his words personally. "Really, I do. But… Honestly, after all this time, I just don't think it's worth the effort anymore, y'know?"
Sasuke's expression must've given away how he felt about his friend's words, for a second later Naruto winced, hissing out a breath as he looked away from him and into the center of the park, avoiding eye contact.
"So… what?" The Uchiha asked calmly, eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to look the boy across from him in the eye. "You think I should just up and give up on trying to get these people to actually consider you as a human being?"
"T-that's not what I-"
"Just give up on my best friend, throw him to the wolves, and go on like everything's hunky dory?"
Naruto coughed awkwardly, trying, and failing to dispel some of the mood clouding around them like a thick fog.
"You know that's not what I meant." The boy muttered, glaring at him annoyedly as he did.
"I don't know, it sounded an awful lot like that to me." Sasuke responded, grinning slightly, before sighing, leaning back, and looking up at the sky. It was a relatively cloudless day, with a few small wisps the only interruptions to the endless blue expanse. "Don't go saying things like standing up for you isn't worth the effort, because that's exactly what those idiots want you to think about yourself."
Naruto's eyes widened as he looked down at him, before a tiny, almost invisible smile blossomed across his features.
"Honestly… Arguing with you always feels so pointless."
Sasuke snickered.
"That's kind of the point, actually."
They sat in near silence for the next few minutes, enjoying the light breeze that passed through the park and rustled into the trees around them.
"Hey… Sasuke?"
He turned his head to look up at his friend, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.
"About what you said the other day… about… how I should just ignore what everyone thinks, and become the Hokage anyways," Naruto trailed off briefly, looking elsewhere as he tried to gather his thoughts. "That really meant a lot."
Once more, Sasuke found himself reeling slightly, not having expected the boy to bring that up.
"Well… you're welcome I suppose?"
Naruto sighed in response, though there was still a smile on his face.
"You weren't supposed to take credit for that so quickly."
"I don't see why I shouldn't." Sasuke argued, a tiny smile playing across his face. "I did, after all, help you out."
"Wow, and so incredibly humble." Naruto muttered as he rolled his eyes.
"I am, obviously, the humblest man alive."
Naruto snorted, before he shook his head lightly, and continued from where he'd left off.
"I never really properly explained myself… back when I was dying on that bridge, and I told you all of that stuff… I still can't really gather all the thoughts that were running through my mind then."
"That makes sense." Sasuke reasoned, pushing himself back up into a sitting position. "You were dying, it's normal for people on the edge of death to get… well, a little loopy, from my experience. Hell, I can barely remember when Itachi-"
His voice cut out on instinct, but it was a bit too late. His mood instantly soured, and it felt like Naruto could see that too, for he didn't seem to know what to say. They'd been friends for nearly 4 years now, and even now, Naruto didn't quite know how to respond whenever his brother was brought up.
"Sorry, please continue." Sasuke murmured quietly, feeling bad that he'd steered Naruto's own conversation in his direction. "I didn't mean to derail you."
"No, it's fine, honestly." Naruto held his hands out, but they fell a second later. Clearly, neither of them was doing too well keeping the conversation on the rails. "But yeah, that actually ties into what I was going to bring up."
Sasuke's eyes widened as he turned to look towards Naruto, who had a sad smile in place of his usual jubilant one.
"I realized it back in the hospital room, when you so fervently rejected the thought that I would give up on being the Hokage… I think…" Naruto swallowed, taking a second or two to breath. "I think you've been using my dream as a sort of… proxy."
…What?
"What… what do you mean?"
"I think the day your brother killed your entire clan… the day your life was stolen from you, you chose to throw away searching for a normal life. You said to yourself, "I won't ever be able to catch up to my brother if I make friends, or play around, or enjoy myself, or have a dream". You isolated yourself, cut all ties to anyone else, stopped trying to enjoy your life, and you gave up on your dreams."
Sasuke's lips parted, as if he wanted to say something in response, but nothing came out as the boy continued onward.
"And then, somehow, your magical plan fell apart." Naruto looked over towards him, smiling sadly. "You went and made a friend. Several, in fact. Suddenly, the dark and cold life you'd chosen for yourself, that you'd resigned to being kept to, no longer looked so good. But, you were determined to keep your goal, at the very least."
"And yet, even still, there was a part of you that wanted to live, to truly enjoy your life and be with the people around you. And so, you did the only thing you could to satisfy both of those conditions; you chose to dream vicariously through me."
Sasuke didn't say anything as Naruto finished, though, to be fair, he didn't feel like he needed to. He was far to busy stuck in his own head, trying to figure out if what Naruto had said was the truth.
I didn't even realize, but… I don't think he's wrong.
"Don't get me wrong, I've got no problems with sharing my dream, not in the slightest." Naruto turned towards Sasuke, smiling despite the lingering sadness that seemed to hang around the both of them. "But… at the same time, there is something that I have to ask you."
"What's that?" Sasuke asked passively, only half listening.
"Once you train and train and train, ever day, without end, and you go and find your brother, once you face him and defeat him… what are you going to do then?"
"What?"
"What are you going to do after your duty is done?" Naruto asked, confidence filling his face as he got to the meat of his argument. "What is it you want, what are you trying to accomplish past that?"
"I-I-"
"You don't know, do you?"
Sasuke turned towards his friend, feeling stunned as he met the boy's gaze. Naruto wore a knowing look, as if he'd already known what his friend's reaction would be.
"If I had to guess, the reason you're choosing to live your dream through me… is that you don't have any desires outside of killing your brother, do you?" Naruto drew his hands onto his lap, though Sasuke didn't miss the way they crumpled into fists. "Once all of it's over, you're perfectly content to just… stop doing anything at all. You're just going to watch your friends go and live their lives, without ever once worrying about your own."
"That's-"
"You're going to say I'm wrong, aren't you?"
Sasuke stopped immediately, having been called out.
"Yeah, I'm probably wrong on that one. I'd guess what you actually plan on doing is different. Because when it comes to facing your brother, I don't think you even expect to survive."
The words might as well have been a punch to the chest, because Sasuke found it hard to breath as he looked his friend in the eye, the boy's expression was almost frightening.
"You don't have a dream, you don't try to enjoy your life, and you don't try and make any new friends. You train. And then you hang out with me and Sakura. And then you go back to training. You move in a cycle, never stopping, and it scares the hell out of me."
Sasuke breathed in and out, as did Naruto, both of them feeling an odd exhaustion as the conversation continued.
"I-I do have a goal!" Sasuke argued. "I'm going to revive the Uchiha clan!"
"I think you want that too, yeah." Naruto admitted, smiling over at him, before it, like every other happy thing in Sasuke's life, seemed to fade away. "But for some reason, it's always a footnote."
"What?"
"You always mention "Bringing back the Uchiha Clan" at the end." Naruto spoke quietly as a group of small children passed in front of them. They were, perhaps, 9 or 10 years old. They laughed and played around, poking, and prodding each other as their parents followed a few feet behind them, laughing as well. "But first is always your brother. He always takes precedence. Not just over your goal to revive the Uchiha, but over any attempts me and Sakura try to make to pull you out of the life you seem determined to have."
Sasuke felt a small bit of anger course through him at that.
"I need to kill Itachi, Naruto. You and Sakura should understand that, at least!"
"Do you?"
"What?"
"Do you need to kill him?"
Sasuke didn't quite understand the question. How could his friend not understand something so basic, so innately simple, as his revenge?
"Of course, I do!" He shouted as he stood up, turning to face Naruto directly. "Itachi slaughtered my entire clan, made me watch it all with that damned look on his face!" Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he realized that everyone around them had turned to look at the two of them, yelling now as he now was. "You think I could just forget about that!? Go on and live my life and pretend like everything's normal!?"
"It won't bring them back."
This time, the metaphorical punch actually did manage to knock him off his feet, though he just barely managed to grab ahold of the bench they'd been sharing, sliding down into the spot he'd occupied a few seconds ago.
"They can't come back, Sasuke. Even if you kill Itachi, avenge your clan, and come back to the leaf a hero… Your family… They'll still be gone."
"…You think I don't know that?" Sasuke muttered under his breath, feeling real rage course through him, directed for what felt like the first time at Naruto.
"I think you know. Of course, you know. What I'm trying to say is... what does anyone gain from Itachi's death? You get to feel better about your family... and then what? Even if you spend all this time to train, let's say… the next 3 years, and you become strong enough to kill your brother, and then you do survive… what then?"
"Then… Then I'll repopulate the Uchiha, like I said!"
"And is that what you want?"
Why does he keep saying this?
"Yeah, it is."
Naruto looked over at him, before sighing disappointedly.
"Can I be honest for a moment?"
"What have you been doing for the last few minutes if you're only now being honest?"
Naruto breathed out a laugh.
"That's fair."
"But… Yeah, go ahead."
"I think you're lying." Naruto spoke sadly. "I don't think you care whether or not you live or die. You think that Sasuke Uchiha, the quiet boy who used to sit in the back of our class those years ago, died when the rest of his clan did. I think that right now, The Sasuke Uchiha in front of me is living for the sole purpose of killing Itachi, of avenging his clan, of having the souls of the dead rest easy, and damn the consequences… and y'know what, that's terrifying for me." The boy beside him admitted sadly. "My best friend doesn't even care about his own life."
"You're making an awful lot of assumptions."
"Then tell me I'm wrong, Sasuke… Because honestly, I'd love it if I was."
There was a little piece of Sasuke that had been screaming out inside his head for some time now, even as he listened to his best friend go on and on. It shouted out it's own agreement with what Naruto was saying, but also, in a strange way, its words couldn't have been farther from what he was saying.
And so, it was with an odd confidence that he opened his mouth and replied.
"You are wrong."
Naruto looked shocked as he turned back towards him, a strange mix of hope and disbelief warring in his expression.
"I might not care about my own life, that's true… but I know that you guys, Sakura, Ino, and you, all care about me." Now Sasuke rocked back and forth, an uncomfortable redness coming to rest on his cheeks as he spilled out his soul. "And if there's one thing I want in the world other than my brother to face justice… it's that the three of you will always be happy."
He turned to look at his friend, an honest expression all that he could manage.
"You guys… for the past four years… it's you guys who've made this life worth living."
Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't stop Sasuke from speaking.
"So… I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it back from my battle with Itachi, but I will try with every fiber of my being to do so, even if it's only to keep the people I care about happy." Sasuke took a deep breath, and found his throat feeling a bit heavy. He realized a second later that there were tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "And I guess… I'm still trying to find my own reason to live my life… One that isn't just for you guys… Or for my family's legacy… but I promise," Sasuke swallowed, trying to keep his breathing in check. "I promise I'll try and find that, too."
Naruto's mouth fell open just a bit, and he turned away a moment later, lightly rubbing his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Neither of them spoke for quite a while, still a bit in shock from the conversation they'd just had, and when Naruto finally did, it was with an almost croaky voice.
"Dammit," Naruto murmured, a watery smile coming onto the boy's face despite his wishes. "Where do you get off sounding so cool?"
Sasuke smirked, trying to let his feelings wash off of him, with middling success.
"It's a favorite of mine."
Naruto smirked at his joke, before taking a deep breath and letting it out over the course of another few seconds.
"Sorry I grilled you so hard, I-"
"You were just worried about me." Sasuke interrupted, smiling over at the boy to show he was, in no way, offended. "I really do appreciate it."
"Well, that's good at least."
A second later, a low rumbling sound practically split the air apart, and for a moment, Sasuke thought they were under attack. That was, of course, until he turned towards his friend with a glare, looking down at his embarrassed expression, and muttered quietly.
"Naruto… was that your stomach?"
The boy went red in the face, coughed once, then again, and quietly uttered the words "I have no idea what you're talking about."
There was a brief moment of silence as the two stared at one another.
"You want to go get some ramen?"
"…Sure."
/-/
"Okay… do you have any Jutsu that aren't snake related?"
Her teacher shot her an almost exhausted glare, one that carried no real malice, but certainly a heaping helping of irritation.
"Not a big snake fan?" The woman asked, a small smirk adorning her face, even with a small bit of residual annoyance hanging in her eyes.
"I've fought way too many giant snakes to ever want the tiny one's coming out of my sleeves, so…"
Anko snorted, seemingly thinking back on her own experiences with the things.
"Yeah, that's fair."
"So, do you have anything…" Sakura struggled to find a good word to use. "Regular?"
"Wow, super nice of you to say it like that." The woman deadpanned, lightly flicking Sakura in the forehead before bringing out a small scroll from her trench coat. She laid it down on the dirt below them, unfurling it so that she could begin to write. "Alright, what is it you'd like to learn?"
That's… a surprisingly broad question.
"Huh?"
Anko laughed at her reaction, which led to Sakura pouting rather profusely, which, in turn, led to Anko laughing at her again. It was a vicious cycle, that only really ended once her mentor calmed down enough to keep speaking.
"Ok, so, I was thinking back to when I was being taught-"
"By Orochimaru, right?"
"By Orochimaru, yes, and what I can distinctly remember is thinking, like," Her mentor put her hands on her hips, imitating what Sakura could only guess was a younger Anko. "Why do I have to learn this? I'd way rather learn stuff that appeals to me, not some crap about snakes!", right?"
"I…" Sakura briefly considered the woman's words, before finding that she did, in fact, agree with them. "Yeah, I guess I do get that."
"So that's when I had this thought; 'Hey, I'll let Sakura choose what she wants to learn, that way, she'll come out as the ninja she wants to be'." Anko winked at her, smirking in the overconfident way she always did. "Sounds good, right?"
Sakura found herself smiling. The fact that Anko had actually thought about her, and decided to cater to what she wanted, was more than most of the teacher's she'd interacted with in her life had done for her, bar perhaps Kakashi.
"Yeah, that sounds great."
"So, I repeat, what is it you'd like to learn?"
"Wait… aren't you supposed to be teaching me about the curse mark?" She asked her mentor, feeling as if the woman had simply forgotten about it.
"To be honest," The woman spoke as she rubbed the back of her neck, seeming practically sheepish, which was an odd look on her mentor. "No one, except Orochimaru, I'd imagine, really knows all that much about them, other than that they enhance strength and grant the ability to gather nature chakra. So… I've kind of already taught you everything there is to know."
That's kind of lame. Inner Sakura lamented.
"So, back to my previous question, what is it you'd like to learn?"
Sakura thought about that for a while. What immediately came to mind was to become a ninja like Kakashi or Anko, one who worked from the shadows, stealthily assassinating targets, but she dismissed that a second later. It wasn't exactly her style, and she didn't really want to do it all that much either.
A second later, an old storybook her mother used to read to her popped into her head, and she said the first thing that came to mind.
"What about someone like Hashirama Senju?"
Anko's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, which Sakura thought was probably fair, given what she'd just said.
"I'm actually kind of shocked you know who that is." The woman said, smiling down at her as if she were a bit weird. "Where'd you hear about him?"
"Well, first of all, he's kind of on the village's stone monument… and they teach about all the Hokage's in the first year of classes." Sakura spoke as if it was kind of obvious. "And secondly, my mom used to read me a story about him before bed, like… every night til' I was 8."
"And are you basing your desire to be like him off of what is said in the book?" Anko asked, though Sakura could tell by the expression on the woman's face she thought her story was a bit ridiculous.
"Well, they say in the book that he was the strongest ninja to ever live, bar none, but… I'm pretty sure that's a part of history, too, right?"
Anko nodded.
"I suppose so, yeah. What else did they say about him in the story?"
"Well, the story said… and I assume these parts was a bit embellished… but it said that he once sprang up an entire forest in a single jutsu… Oh! and that he could heal wounds without even casting, and that he could create a golem the size of a small town, and that he once even fought the nine-tails all by himself!"
Anko laughed as Sakura's cheeks reddened, realizing her enthusiasm for one of her childhood heroes was leaking through a bit.
"S-sorry, anyways, is any of that realistic, or…?"
"If anything, I'd say they've undersold him a bit." Anko spoke with a serious expression.
Sakura practically gaped at the woman, who continued a second later.
"It's said that he fought Madara Uchiha, the only ninja who could've ever hoped to best him in combat, to the death, while the former was in possession of the Nine-Tails, and had it doing his bidding, and even still he defeated the man. Apparently, he could create a giant wooden avatar several times the size of a small village, though I think an entire forest is around accurate. The healing wounds thing is too, he could heal without any hand signs, he just did it passively."
Sakura felt an odd pride at her mentor's words, it was like hearing a close friend being complimented. She'd grown up on tall tales of Hashirama and his exploits, to hear them confirmed by someone of Anko's stature was… nice, in a way she couldn't quite describe.
"So, is that who you want to become?"
Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a reasonable doubt worm it's way into her heart.
"I… really don't think I can be quite that strong, but maybe just-"
"Why not?"
Her eyes widened as she looked up at her mentor, who looked down at her with a curious expression.
"W-what?"
"Why couldn't you be that strong?" The woman asked, taking a seat on the grassy dirt beneath her and drawing a small ink brush out of her trench coat, quickly jotting down a small symbol on the paper below her. "You think Hashirama Senju was a prodigy from birth?"
"Uhm… K-kinda?"
"Ok, you're most likely right there," Anko conceded with a nod of her head. "But that doesn't mean you can't work your ass off and try and become better!" The woman wrote something else on the paper before her, before turning it so that Sakura could see. "Let's see… your natures are earth and water, correct?"
"Well… Yeah, I suppose." Sakura spoke, not really seeing a point.
"Hashirama himself had the same natural types of chakra, earth and water. Now, he was proficient in all five, but It's theorized that his mastery of those two in particular is what allowed him to use the wood release, one of the most powerful Kekkei Genkai in all of existence."
There's two words I've never heard before.
"Kekkei Genkai?"
"In it's simplest terms, the mixing of two or more natures into one creates a Kekkei Genkai, though I suppose that more than two is technically called a Kekkei Tota, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms that I don't feel like ripping open, so for now, let's stick to the Genkai."
Sakura was already feeling a bit lost, but nodded to show she understood, at least for the most part.
"Anyways, whenever a user of the water and earth types shows up, extremely powerful ones, mind you, The Hokage usually likes to try and test if they can replicate the wood release." Anko gestured down towards the diagram below her. "It's never worked before, but, apparently, there's a wood release user in the Anbu, though from what I'm told, he's artificial."
Sakura couldn't quite see where her teacher was taking this entire conversation anymore but nodded anyways
"Wanna' see if you've got the aptitude for it?" Anko asked excitedly.
Sakura's expression seemed to give her away, though, because a second later, Anko once more reached over and flicked her in the forehead.
"Ow, hey!"
"You already think you can't do it, don't you?"
Sakura pouted.
Of course not! Her inner self seemed to scream out. How am I going to do something that's never been done before!? I'm not secretly some super special ninja, alright!
"I mean… I'm pretty sure they said that even his little brother, he himself a prodigy the world has never seen since, couldn't even manage it… so uhm… Yeah I don't really think I can do it."
"Bah, that's quitter talk!"
"It's realistic quitter talk."
"Just… give it a quick try. Here," The woman pushed the piece of paper forward, where two symbols indicated where she should place her palms upon it. "The idea is, you take a small seed…" The woman reached out her hand, and Sakura realized a second later that she was being asked for a seed to go along with this.
She reached into her trash bag from when the two of them had eaten lunch an hour or two ago and pulled out the rotting core of an apple. She reached inside of it and took one of it's seeds, handing it to Anko.
"And then, with your right hand, you pour water nature chakra from your right hand into the right side," Anko took Sakura's right hand and placed it correctly. "And then earth nature chakra from your left into the left side," She placed the left as well. "Or vice versa, And the idea is that if you possessed wood nature, the seed would sprout instantly."
Sakura sat in silence for a moment, before interrupting the impromptu exam with an argument of her own.
"Alright, well, I have a few problems with this test."
"Ok, sure," Anko nodded, smiling as if she'd expected this. "Hit me with them."
"First of all, what's to say that, even if I did hypothetically possess the ability to use the wood release, that this test just wouldn't work?" Sakura reasoned aloud, eyes narrowing as she did. "I mean, no one's ever learned wood release since Hashirama, and I doubt he created this exam, so what gives?"
"Actually, this comes from a test the Anbu did on their own artificial wood user." Anko fired back, smirking confidently. "They had him do this little examination, and the seed came to life after a few seconds."
"Alright, fine, that's all well and good." Sakura nodded, conceding that point. "Second problem."
"Yeah?"
"I can't split my chakra into two nature's at once like that." Sakura held her hands up, as if displaying her own inability. "So, I can't even begin to try this test."
Anko seemed to consider that for a moment, gently rubbing her chin with her right hand as she tried to figure out where it was she went wrong. After a few moments of contemplation, the woman let out a single word.
"Huh."
Sakura laughed at her teacher's expense, earning a small huff out of the woman, and another flick to her forehead, though that didn't do much to stop her giggling.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Nah," Anko spoke up a few seconds later, waving her hand as if dispelling Sakura's sentiment. "Honestly, I'm the one who should apologize. I've taught before, but I pretty much just coach Jonin on espionage techniques. Getting better with stealth, hiding their chakra, blending with the environment, that sort of thing."
The woman rubbed the back of her head, seeming a bit embarrassed as she continued.
"I guess I kind of forgot you wouldn't know all that much about chakra control and technique, even if you are a natural at it."
Now that had Sakura raising her eyebrows once more.
"A natural?" She asked, surprised at the notion. "Me?"
"Are you kidding?" Her mentor asked, disbelief evident on her face. "Kid, you're better with chakra control than most Chuunin I've seen, and hell, a few Jonin if I'm feeling a bit unkind towards them. You've honestly got a pretty good set-up for Genjutsu, if you felt like using that."
Sakura briefly considered that, before shaking her head.
"I've never really had that good of an imagination. Kakashi sensei tried to teach me some while we sat around in the Land of Waves, but I just had a really hard time grasping how to trap people inside something I make… It was weird."
Anko laughed a bit cruelly, holding up her hands in surrender a few seconds later as Sakura shot her another glare.
"Sorry, sorry. I just never pictured your downfall being 'imagination', of all things." The woman calmed down a bit, before asking again. "Anything else you'd like to learn about?"
"Well… what can I do with chakra control?"
"A lot, actually." Anko scooted over slightly so that she was sat just next to Sakura, bringing the scroll around so that they could both look at it and turning it until she got to a blank piece of the parchment. "If you'd like, I could go over a few things with you?"
Sakura felt warmth pass through her whole body at her mentors words. It was nice to have someone appreciating, complimenting, and paying attention to you. Even if she'd always had her parents, and knew that a lot of others didn't, she'd never really gotten on all that well with the other kid's her age, and Naruto and Sasuke had always been each other's best friends first. Ino was a special case of her own, usually helping out with her family's flower shop, which kept her busy a lot of the time.
Having Anko around was proving to be challenging in it's own ways. The woman could be a bit crass, for starters, but she couldn't deny that she truly valued having someone to give her advice who was actually similar to her, curse mark and all.
"Yeah, actually." Sakura recalled something from the start of their conversation, and felt like bringing it back up, since it had interested her at the time.
"You mentioned something called 'Nature Chakra' that comes from the curse seal, what is that exactly?"
"Ah," Anko smiled down at her. "Had your interest piqued, did you?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Sakura smiled back, preening a bit under the attention. "I'd just never heard the term before, what exactly is it?"
Anko smiled, before rising to her feet and offering a hand out to Sakura, which the girl took a second later.
"Unfortunately, I myself don't know all that much about it. It's not exactly a super well known art, the utilization of natural energy."
"Aw, that stinks." Sakura muttered, trying to think of something else she'd like to learn, before being interrupted by another flick to her forehead, which had her looking up into her master's face.
Anko was smiling widely.
"Luckily for you, though, there just so happens to be a… well, not expert, but a skilled user of natural chakra in the leaf right now."
"Really?" Sakura asked, turning her head slightly. "Who's that?"
"Hmm" Anko let out a second later, pondering something for a few seconds, before her eyes narrowed, and a devious grin bloomed upon her features.
"Why don't we go meet with him?"
End Chapter 25
Hello, hello!
Loooot's of set-up this chapter, but we've also got some Naruto and Sasuke bonding, which is kind of the raw essence of this story, so it was fun to write the two of them some more.
(Side note: I feel like I took a ton of risks with this chapter, and I wouldn't mind some feedback regarding content, so if you enjoyed some of the things brought up in this chapter, I wouldn't mind hearing about it. Alternatively, if you thought this entire chapter was stupid, I wouldn't mind hearing that as well!)
So, how much of what Anko and Sakura talked about will be realized? Will any of it be at all? And can Sasuke keep his promise to Naruto?
I don't know (That's a lie, I actually do). Keep reading I guess.
See you all next week!