Chapter 9: A new life.
"I don't give up. That's my ninja way"
Uzumaki Naruto
"I don't give up. That's my ninja way"
Orochimaru
"I will never give up"
Uchiha Sasuke
Sakura watched Sasuke, which apparently was still considering the mysteries of life that one could see if you stared at a wall. Sakura thought that he appeared lonely.
"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, are you really going to marry?" whimpered Naruto.
"Listen Sakura, you can't marry him. Please listen to reason." yelled Tsunade.
Sakura wasn't listening to them. She was remembering the place where Sasuke had asked her to marry him. He had said that it was the place where they told each other their dreams. In Sasuke's case, it was his mission, more than his dream. Still, he had made a mistake. Not all of them had told each other their dreams.
She hadn't. She had meant to say that she wanted to marry Sasuke and be happy with him forever after. She had been too ashamed to say it, but that was her dream.
What had she done to made that dream reality? Nothing, except bothering continuously Sasuke when he obviously didn't want to be bothered. She had even said that Naruto was lucky for not having parents to yell at him, without knowing that Sasuke was an orphan too.
She was tired of watching their backs. She was tired of watching them to struggle so hard for their dreams when she wasn't doing anything. She was tired of being amazed by their determination.
This time, she was going to fight for her dreams.
Sakura picked the pen, and started signing her name, when a hand stopped her. Sasuke's
"Sakura, are you completely sure?"
"Hai" she said fearlessly.
"Sakura, you know I have a mission that I have to do. A duty I don't think I will survive. Even if we are married, I will not stop. Do you still want to marry me?"
"Hai"
"Do you promise not to stop me in that duty, even if we are married?"
"Hai. In exchange, there is something I have to ask you too"
"What is it?"
"You have to try to be happy"
Sasuke was taken aback
"I don't know if I can do that"
"You just have to try."
For a few seconds Sasuke didn't say anything. He finally nodded
"All right. I can try, I guess. I can't promise I'll succeed, but I promise I'll try."
Sakura smiled, and before Naruto or Tsunade could react she had signed the document.
Sasuke without a single expression in his face took the document and showed it to Naruto.
"Naruto, could you sign this?"
Naruto for a long minute stood there, watching first the document, then Sasuke and Sakura. He stepped and grabbed Sasuke by the collar.
"Sasuke, do you really love Sakura?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto. Then he looked up, and appeared to be in deep thought for a few seconds.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Baka. It means I don't know. I don't know if I'm capable of love anymore. I feel something for Sakura, but I don't know if it's just team-mate trust, love or just a feeling of friendship. I wish I knew. I know I would sacrifice my life for her, but I'd do the same for you. I also know that I would always choose my dream over the both of you."
Naruto stood silent for a long time. He looked up to him again.
"Can you promise that you will make her happy?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto with an expression of annoyance
"Are you an idiot? I can't promise that. Nobody can do that. Happiness is just a fleeting thing that can be destroyed anytime. No matter how safe the foundation of happiness seems, it may be destroyed by the storm without warning any second." For a second, just for a second, all his defences lifted, and both Sakura and Naruto saw what was inside the deepest parts of his heart, through all his facades they saw the bitterness, fear and specially all the deep loneliness that was there.
Naruto, which was still holding him, saw everything, and he, who was never one to hide his emotions, showed in his face his feelings of hurt for the pain of his friend
Sakura looked at them, and even if she didn't know it then, in the times to come, both good and bad, when thinking about times past, she would remember them like that: Naruto, loud-mouthed, hyperactive, sensitive, holding Sasuke by the collar and the expression of pain and friendship in his face. Sasuke, smart, brilliant, cold exterior and frozen interior, showing for a few moments all the pain that he stored inside afraid of letting it out.
"At least promise me you will try to make her happy."
"Hai, I promise you that I will try, although I don't think I'll succeed" Sasuke promised with all the sincerity he could muster.
Naruto dropped Sasuke, and quickly wrote down his name on the document. Then he stared at Sasuke while he put the document in front of him. Sasuke grabbed the document, but Naruto didn't let it go. Instead he looked at Sasuke straight to the face. For a few seconds, Naruto and Sasuke locked glances, then Sasuke nodded, and Naruto let the document.
"Hokage-sama" said Sasuke respectfully, giving her the document. He looked at Sakura.
He walked until he stood in front of her, then he kneeled down in front of Sakura.
"Sakura, I cried when my family died until there were no more tears. A year later I took almost all the personal objects that reminded me of my family, and I burned them down. I also promised that I would never return to my family mausoleum until their killer was eliminated." He paused "Today I broke that promise to get something from my parent's grave. I'll understand if you don't want it, but please accept this" He asked, gently taking her hand and putting put a ring in her finger.
She smiled and blushed.
As in cue, a small wind went through the window. It was like a painting: Sasuke like a knight in black, kneeling in front of Sakura with the wind blowing her hair. Indeed, it was like a painting, or that was what a worried Tsunade thought.
Tsunade watched the three young students of Kakashi walk to the exit. To order the first assassination mission had been hard. Sending shinobis to a suicide mission just for a decoy, so that the main mission would succeed had been hard. Still, that morning was going fast on becoming the first mayor crisis since she had been appointed Hokage
"Where do you think you are going?" She asked "I still haven't signed the document, and I'm not planning to."
Sasuke turned around
"So? Your signature is not needed, Hokage-sama."
"What? You said that two witnesses were necessary..."
"Hai, I said that" smiled Sasuke "I lied. I thought I could take one person to sign more easily if I said that two witnesses were required."
Tsunade stared for a few seconds to Sasuke, shrewd tactician, without a doubt worthy successor of the nickname "Uchiha genius". She thought of a way of solving the problem.
"Sasuke, can I talk to you for a second alone?"
"Aa" Sasuke agreed waiting for Naruto and Sakura to leave the room.
After they left, Tsunade looked carefully at Sasuke. She had to convince him to stop the madness, but he wasn't the type to back down.
"Sasuke, do you love Sakura?"
"I have already answered that question, Hokage-sama"
"If you marry her, you are binding your life to hers for good or bad. If she is your important person, you will even forsake your dream for her. Would you do it? What would you choose between your revenge and her?"
Sasuke just shrugged.
"I'll make the choice when the time comes" he said
Tsunade shuddered
"Your dream is too perilous Oro" they had stopped their training and were resting under a tree. Jiraiya was probably being a pervert somewhere.
"Come on, Tsunade. Give me a break. I want to change the world and make it a better place. What's wrong with that? When I become Hokage, I will try the hardest to make my dream reality."
Tsunade sighed. Would Orochimaru ever shut up about becoming Hokage and about his main dream?
"It is an immense dream, Oro, but I don't know..."
"I will never give up, Tsunade. That's my ninja way."
Tsunade smiled. That unbending determination was one of the things she admired about her team-mate.
"What would you do if you had to choose between everything you have, everything precious to you, and your dream?"
Orochimaru just shrugged
"I'll make the choice when the time comes" he said.
Just two good team-mates training and discussing about the future. None of them imagined that many years later they would fight to death.
"You are just like Orochimaru, Sasuke"
Sasuke made a grimace
"Please, don't compare me with that loser. He wasn't appointed Hokage, and he got so angry that he took revenge on the Third? My reasons are a little bit deeper."
Tsunade put her hands together.
"He wasn't like that. He had a dream, a dream so bright that it blinded him to everything but that vision. At the end, he made the choices he though that were right, and that drove him where he is now."
Sasuke stood silent for a second. He turned around
"If he is happy the way he is now, then I guess everything is fine. When he is killed, he will be killed in the pursuit of his dream. There are worse ways of dying" Sasuke said walking to the exit.
"There are also better ways of living."
Sasuke smiled.
"Save that for people that are still alive. I am already dead. I didn't start this fight, but I'll finish it somehow" He left the room, leaving a worried Hokage behind.
"Are you going to start the original Uchiha Tragedy again, Sasuke-kun?" She asked to herself.
Naruto and Sakura were waiting for Sasuke, and they both smiled at him.
Sasuke smiled, surprising even himself, and started to think about his next move: The Four Sound.
"Sakura? What happened?" asked suddenly a voice. Ino's
Sasuke was surprised with her sudden appearance. Then he thought it was probably Tsunade's doing. The old bitch had probably called her somehow to stop the wedding. It was probably too late, but maybe Sakura was going to change her mind. He should better explain things first.
"Hi..."
"Hi, Ino-pig" yelled Sakura grabbing Sasuke's ring finger, and almost ripping it off
"Hey!" He complained.
"Sakura! What are you doing with my Sasuke-kun?"
"You lost Ino-pig! Take a look at this!" she said showing their rings.
Ino stared surprised at the rings
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! What has she done to you? She seduced you! I'll rescue you Sasuke-kun!" She said running to them
Sakura intercepted Ino.
"Admit it, Ino! You lost!" Sakura yelled
"You big ugly forehead! You used gensutsu on Sasuke-kun! I am sure of that!"
Sakura laughed a pure evil laugh.
Naruto and Sasuke looked with a surprised expression at the sudden change of behaviour of Sakura.
"I guess some people take their rivalries a little too far." Naruto commented.
"She married me because she loved me, right? It wasn't because she wanted to beat Ino, right?" asked Sasuke
Their conversation was cut short by a green shadow that lunged at them. Still, Sasuke had trained like hell in speed for the chuunin exam, and he was able to block that kick
"Who?"
"The Leaf's proud Azure beast has reincarnated!" said Rock Lee adopting a battle pose.
Sasuke breathed a long sigh
"What do you want Lee?"
"I just heard that you tricked Sakura into marrying you!" An exalted Lee yelled. "I am here to save her from you, evil shinobi."
Sasuke closed his eyes, counted mentally until ten, and opened again.
"I didn't trick anybody Lee. She made her own choice."
"Uchiha Sasuke, are you strong enough to protect her? I don't think you can. Your battle records are not that impressive. So, I challenge you to a fight. If you want to marry her, you will have to defeat me."
Sasuke closed his eyes.
"So, you think the only thing that matters is strength? You are like Itachi," He opened the eyes, red eyes that were sizing up Lee "That pisses me off."
Lee ran to him and attempted a kick with the right from high up, followed by a double kick with the left to the lower abdomen. Sasuke blocked both Lee's legs and punched his opponent deep in the stomach before Lee could even blink
"You better drop your weights. They make you too slow, and I'm not the same slow-moving shinobi you fought before." warned Sasuke
"That's right! Gai-sensei told me I could only drop them when I was protecting a precious person!" Lee agreed dropping the very heavy weights he always carried around "Since it is like that, I'll use my most dangerous technique."
Sasuke smiled, while his normal eyes appeared again
"Bring it on."
Lee disappeared from sight, running at full speed around Sasuke that still didn't move.
"I'm waiting for that oh so powerful technique" Sasuke warned, crossing his arms.
Lee didn't answer with words, instead kicking Sasuke and throwing him to the air.
Fast, Sasuke thought, just before Lee used Shadow Leaf Dance on him, moving as if attached to his shadow.
"This is where we were interrupted" warned Sasuke.
"Initial Lotus!" yelled Lee
In that moment, the bandages around his body trapped Sasuke, and both their bodies fell at a very high speed to the ground with Lee jumping away at the very last second
"Sasuke!" Yelled Sakura running to him, but Sasuke got up with a groan of pain before she could reach him.
He was still smiling, even as he spat some blood.
"So that was the final part of the Initial Lotus. Impressive indeed, but I'll stick to my Lion Rendan, not the watered down Naruto Rendan."
"But... how... you should be..."
"Your initial Lotus is definitely deadly, but it has just a weak point. If you concentrate all the chakra in the exact point that is plunging down and make it explode at the very last second, you can reduce the amount of damage "Sasuke explained getting up "Since it puts a lot of strain on your fiver muscles in the user, it is too much a double edged sword." He added watching Lee's expression of pain
Everybody, the two combatants and all the other witnesses, stayed silent for a few seconds, while Sasuke and Lee panted
"Why? Why didn't you use the Sharingan? Why did you let me hit you? Are you underestimating me?"
"No, no really. I wanted to continue our last fight where it was interrupted. I also wanted to fight you in a fair fight. There is no way you can use extreme lotus after getting out of the hospital so soon. So in exchange I won't use my most powerful technique. Is that acceptable?"
Lee smiled.
"Let's go all out. Let's fight for Sakura's heart!"
"I don't want you fighting for my heart!" Screamed Sakura, but Lee and Sasuke were already running using advanced taijutsu, hitting and retreating, almost at the same time.
After a series of high-speed combos, both of them retreated for recuperating.
"You are fast, Sasuke-kun"
"You are too. Our speeds are basically the same, although I think you are a little faster than me. However, there is no way you can beat me."
"What you just said doesn't make any sense!"
"You want to see it? Attack me."
Lee exploded, attacking even faster than before. Sasuke barely blocked. Lee started a deadly combination of fast punches and kicks, and for a second he appeared to be in control, until Sasuke punched him just before the final high kick.
"How?"
"You are just trying to beat me thorough fast taijutsu, but our speed are basically the same, so the best way to beat me would be to read my movements and anticipating them. Sadly, your main strength is your worst weakness. You have never needed to do that because you concentrated so much on speed. Sadly for you, anticipating attacks is my specialty."
"No! My spirit will not be defeated!" Lee said running straight to him.
Sasuke barely blocked a complicated combination of combos, and only after a full minute, he managed to get a direct hit on Lee. However, after that, Sasuke was the one moving and attacking, and making direct hits in most of them.
Lee fell down, and Sasuke had to stop to recover some energy. Lee got up again.
"I will never give up. For love and justice I'll never give up."
Sasuke sighed again. He didn't have time for this bullshit. Fighting the king of freaks in the land of the freaks was a waste of time right now when he had to plan his next move. Lee still had more endurance that he had. He had to think of a plan to beat him. He had to think about all the info he had on Gai's favourite student.
"Lee, why don't we make a bet, a bet for the love of Sakura?"
"A bet?"
Sasuke grabbed five rocks from the ground
"I am throwing these rocks to the air. If you are fast enough you will catch them. If even one of them touches the ground, you fail and you will leave us alone for the day."
"So, if only one touches the ground I'll renounce to the love of Sakura for the day. Let's fight for my love!" He yelled
Sasuke smiled and threw the rocks. Lee watched them, and got ready to jump, but in that moment, with his guard lowered, Sasuke attacked with a quick kick to the leg, followed by a five strong punches to the stomach, and finished with a direct strike to the face.
Lee fell down, and Sasuke was in a second on top of him holding a kunai pointed straight to his neck.
The five rocks fell down to the floor.
"You... you cheater. "complained Lee
" Cheating means nothing in a real fight. You are on the ground with a knife pointed to your neck and the five rocks are in the ground. Most people would say you lost."
Lee was silent for a second. He stared at his adversary. Sasuke suddenly started feeling very uncomfortable. Lee was watching him with exactly the same eyes that Sakura or Ino. He quickly got up and backed away.
"Sasuke-kun, you..." Lee said getting up. His eyes still fixed on him
"Lee, stop looking at me like that" warned Sasuke feeling the need to escape.
"Sasuke-kun, you are my..."
Sasuke looked left and right, making sure he had an escape route.
"Sasuke-kun, you are my eternal rival." said Lee with a dreamy voice.
"EH!"
"You beat me, Sasuke-kun; your strategy surpassed mine this time. I understand: The same way my sensei and yours are eternal rivals, you are destined to be my eternal rival. We will fight again" said Lee running away. Sasuke was feeling kind of very scared. Then he thought for a second, and started to laugh
"Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura worried
"It's OK Sakura. I suddenly thought about a great idea. I find this weirdo really interesting. He always inspires me."
"What do you mean? I'm your rival" yelled Naruto
Sasuke was not paying attention to him. He was watching the top of a building, where somebody was emitting a powerful intent to kill directed to him. He recognized him immediately.
"Sakura, Naruto, please meet me in my house."
"I'm getting tired of you bossing us around!" yelled Naruto
"Sasuke, do you promise you will be there."
"Yeah, this time, at least, I promise."
Sasuke jumped to the roof, away from the worried Naruto and Sakura. He was feeling almost scared of the powerful intent to kill that the other person was emitting. It reminded him of Orochimaru: So violent and angry... Also, the sharingan that was staring at him was bringing bad memories
"How do you do, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked. He distractedly wondered if that intent to kill was genuine, if his sensei was planning to kill him.
It was being a long, long day.
Well, here is another chapter. I wanted to say thank you to all the reviewers that keep giving opinions chapter after chapter. They are truly the ones that make this story progress faster. Lee is a difficult character to write without any visual helps. I hope you like the part where Sasuke is scared because Lee is watching him in a weird way ;)
I was also interested in showing Orochimaru, in the time when he and Jiraiya and Tsunade where in good terms. Friends, even. Lucky for Sasuke, he has two team-mates that are too much of a fool to back down.
Attention to Tsunade's comment about the original Uchiha Tragedy (it's not Itachi's), because it's going to be an important part of the story.
Finally, I wanted to say thank you to all the reviewers that keep writing opinions chapter after chapter. They are truly the ones that make this story progress faster.