Hunted or Busted: A Side Story
Dusted 18: Sasuke Character Short
Welcome back friends! I've missed you!
When we last left our dear young Uchiha, he had been feeling pretty miserable. Haha, can't fight that emo streak, can you Sasuke?
Get over it man! You might have lost your friends, failed to protect your city, feeling an overwhelming sense of loneliness and failure in the aftermath, gruesomely killed a man in self-defense, and had to have your hand cut off out of sheer necessity - but you don't have to be an emo!
...
You know, all these years later, looking back on the series I can really sympathize with Sasuke's pain. Like, not so much his constantly shifting goals, but if you killed my whole family and made my brother do it too...even if it was for a righteous cause...yeah, I'd be fucking pissed too. We gave this kid way too much flak for feeling bad and sad.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
"You want Sasuke to do what exactly?"
"Hold back! Fight a little slower! Don't show off so much with your skills! And don't use your Semblance if you can spare not using it!" Naruto eagerly said, his trademark bandanna now sported as a headband around his head after their return to Beacon, "And I'm just saying to do this during spars or little competitions. Nothing important!"
"And how long will this be?"
"Probably until we reach the tournament."
Sasuke looked around at his teammates, Kiba stroking Akamaru's fur while Tenten washed the last of the food out of her hair. The Uchiha shrugged, "So are we all just tying a hand behind our backs?"
"Well I can't." Naruto focused and summoned his Aura over his hand, showing off the new way of using his Semblance he had told them about, "I need as much practice getting my Semblance under control as possible."
"And I like to make knives and weapons when I can." Tenten said while forming a weapon in her hand.
"Mine makes me tougher and more tuned in to what's around me so I ain't giving that up." Kiba plainly stated while Akamaru barked in solidarity.
"So then it seems like I'm the only one drawing the short straw." Sasuke sighed and rubbed the point between his eyes before shaking his head, "Is there actually a reason we should be making this play?"
"Of course there is! Showing your full skills and Semblance will be your ace in the hole!" Naruto smirked, "It might be just the card you need to win an upstart when you make it to the finals."
"Sure, if we even make it that..." Sasuke paused and blinked a few times before looking up. Naruto was still beaming with pride about his idea while Tenten finished cleaning her hair and Kiba talked to Akamaru. All of them blissfully ignorant of the words Naruto just casually let out, "Did...did you say I'm going to the finals?"
"Well duh of course it would be you. Who else on the team would be better?"
"But isn't that something we should all discuss?" Sasuke looked between his teammates for their input.
"It was pretty much unanimous between us." Naruto shrugged.
"You're the best choice." Tenten casually stated.
"If we wanna win - and we do - we gotta throw you in." Kiba agreed.
"But what happens if we don't even make it to the finals? And if we do, I might not be enough to ensure us..."
They looked skeptical and confused - like it was him making the least amount of sense in the room!
Sasuke shook his head and sighed, "Alright, you understand what's going to happen if you send me to the finals, right? What happens when you send an Uchiha to a stage like that?"
"Yeah man, we can take a guess." Kiba snickered, "Ask again and we'll tell you we don't give a shit."
"Sasuke, we trust you with this." Naruto smirked and held out his fist, "You got this, okay?"
No. He had absolutely no belief that he could claim victory for their team or that even if he did it would cause anything but consternation.
With a reluctant sigh Sasuke tapped his bandaged fist against his former partner-in-crime's, "Fine but I bet you'll come to regret it."
((((((((Hunted))))))))
"Way to go Uchiha!"
"Hell of a show man!"
"What's your number?! Seriously, I wanna give you a call!"
Sasuke was startled by the the cheers and calls he was getting while making his way back through the tunnel out from the colosseum stage. Sure they won the match and it was close but he didn't see why so many people were calling out to him.
"Hey!" Sasuke was knocked out of his thoughts when Naruto came running over and got him in a headlock. His Faunus leader had the biggest, most joyous grin on his face he had ever seen and laughed, "Flustered by our big win, right? Better not follow up and give that girl your number, or someone might get angry with you~."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto slyly grinned and Sasuke frowned before shaking his head, slipping out of Naruto's grasp. As he did he looked back towards the stage, "I guess I just wasn't expecting a response like that."
"Well what were you expecting exactly?" Naruto looked at him and Sasuke was sure he was wearing an expression enough to explain his thoughts. It worked because Naruto's smile thinned and he sighed, "You thought they'd make a fuss about you being an Uchiha, right?"
"I'm certainly more at peace with it," After a very eventful year at Beacon he had learned to accept all facets of what his name carried and how it didn't define him. All his teammates. All his friends. The encounters with their enemies. And the time spent with Weiss…it all helped him come to a type of peace with what his name carried. Still he looked stoic, "But I was sure people weren't going to be happy with seeing me advance."
"They're not." Naruto immediately answered, a sad smile on his face, "No matter what happens, there are still gonna be some people that judge you by what you can't help being. Trust me." His ears twitched on his head and Sasuke knew his friend was speaking from a lifetime of experience. Even then his smile became more honest and true, "But this isn't about them. You don't need to do anything to prove yourself to them. Only for yourself."
"I need to prove myself…to myself?"
"N-No, I mean-" His blond best friend scowled and glared at Sasuke as he wore an amused smile. Naruto punched his shoulder, "Dick, stop screwing around. I'm trying to be serious."
"I'm just trying to follow your train of thought."
The two old friends shared a hearty, loud laugh at their joking. After a moment they caught their breath and looked at each other. Naruto pointed back towards the stage they had just come from, "The next time you're out there, you can show everyone in the world who you want to be. The kind of person you wanna be. The kind of Huntsman you want to be. Whether you fight Pyrrha, Yang, Sun, Gaara, or anybody else won't matter. They won't get to decide anything about you anymore…just you."
…
Sasuke looked back at the stage as a faint smile came to his face. He let out a small chuckle, "Who I want to be? Okay…I look forward to that."
((((((((Hunted))))))))
"Are you eating anything they give you?"
If Sasuke knew that a week earlier he'd be sitting next to his estranged, missing brother after all this time while he was employed by the Atlas military, he wouldn't believe it. But now that Itachi was right here next to him he should have been overjoyed and celebrating their reunion.
However the world had crumbled around them, taken the lives of his dear friends, destroyed the peace they had struggled so hard for, and robbed him of his hand.
Despite his wishes he couldn't feel very happy even when he saw Itachi again.
Looking to his other side he saw Kiba still bedridden and breathing with a machine. Still no sign of waking up from his injuries and discovering just what had happened while he was unconscious. Sasuke turned back and looked down at the tray in his lap – the bland, unappetizing meal doing nothing to encourage him to dig in for his own sake, "I'm not hungry. But when I can stuff something down I eat as much as I can."
"I guess that's the most anyone could ask of in this situation." Itachi shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It was actually quite the novel sight – seeing his collected, almost unflappable big brother nervous and struggling with the situation at hand was a surprise. It definitely made him feel a little better. Knowing that even Itachi was struggling with how to process everything that happened made his sense of moroseness and confusion a little more understandable. He spoke, "Promise me you'll be eating more even if you have to force it down. I won't be staying in Vale for long."
"I will." Sasuke solemnly nodded before they simply sat in silence. He looked over at his brother, "You'll be seeing Guren again soon, right?"
"She went back to Atlas. Raiga is there to meet her. After we lost Deidara...she's taking it the hardest. Why?"
"I just thought you should tell her she was right. It wasn't easy but...it was much less difficult than I expected." He looked down at his hand and remembered the blood-stained blade that had been so tightly gripped in it during his fight, "Just one swing and he was done."
"Sasuke," Itachi spoke lowly and squeezed his little brother's shoulder, "There isn't a person alive who wouldn't have done the same thing as you in your place. In moments of panic, desperation, and pain like you felt there are very few options."
"But not everyone in my position abandoned their brother and their family because they thought they didn't have to kill anyone." Sasuke countered, "All these years I thought there was a better way to go about things. Not having to succumb to our family's cursed name. Choosing a better way to make an impact in the world. And in an instant I made myself a hypocrite that threw away everything I had."
"Sasuke-"
"And I won't blame this on being an Uchiha. This isn't about how people perceived me or how I had to respond. What they wanted me to be. Who they thought I could be. What I wanted to make myself. None of that matters now."
The words of encouragement his deceased best friend gave him just seemed to fade away uselessly now as he closed his hand.
"Now...I just am what I am."
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Sasuke remembered something about Vacuo only after returning to the Kingdom after so many years.
It was so damn difficult to run through the sand.
"Get him!"
With his boots digging into the unstable footing beneath him, he dashed aside as bullets started to riddle the sand behind him. Running in a zig-zag formation, the Uchiha continued to run further into the desert and avoid the gunfire.
Sparing a look over his shoulder, he spotted half a dozen White Fang grunts following him out of the settlement and into the sandy alcove. Damn, that was less than half of the total group he had spotted earlier. Which meant the rest of them were after-
A bullet whizzed by his head and brought his attention back to the matter at hand. Sasuke stood silently across from the armed White Fang members, a fierce wind blowing the sands up and into their eyes. Sasuke struggled to keep his eyes open and on his foes. Some of them weathered the breeze of sand easily while others were surprised by its force.
That was enough to tell him that not all of the White Fang here originated from the sands.
They must have really been desperate to recruit their new trump card if they were sending outsiders in to help.
Sasuke's eyes panned to the side as he spotted a dip in the topography with equipment sticking out of the ground. As he noted its location he came up with an idea.
He dashed again and the White Fang retaliated by firing as quickly as they could. The young Uchiha continued his mad sprint forward before diving into the abandoned mining zone.
"Damn!" One of the White Fang cursed as they ran up to the side and looked in. Once they failed to spot him the sound of footsteps above started to shuffle the sand out of the way, "Spread out! Find the Noble Slayer!"
Noble Slayer. That was their name for him. He was no longer one of the contemptible Uchiha that carried the blood of the people that prosecuted their kind generations ago. No, now his personal sin was far worse than just what his name carried. Because he had killed one of their cherished heroes and saviors from myth.
In hindsight it made sense why they came here today to stop him from interacting with their target. They expected the worse.
The White Fang members diligently surveyed the old, abandoned mining system that had robbed Vacuo of its Dust and left it a dried out husk of a Kingdom. Unlike some of the other mining sites this one wasn't as deep and there were much fewer places for them to look.
Which meant the fact they still hadn't found him yet must have been infuriating.
Their anticipation and anger would soon be reaching a fever pitch and they would probably abandon their chase for him soon. Once they did he could escape back to the settlement and reconvene with Kiba and-
One masked member walked underneath him and kept his gun close. He searched all the spots he believed someone could hide in and clicked his teeth when he found nothing. Just a few more steps-
The withered scaffolding he was holding on to cracked under the pressure and made a sound that echoed through the entire site. The masked man looked up and found Sasuke overhead, using his feet and hand to prop himself up where no one could see him.
Until now.
"Here!" The masked man yelled as he pointed his gun up, "He's over-"
Sasuke released his hold on the scaffolding, dropping down and spinning as he fell. He landed in a crouch in front of the startled White Fang member who tried to train his gun on him. But Sasuke twisted around and knocked him over with a sweeping kick, pulling his legs out beneath him as he dropped to the ground.
Knocking out the first guy with a quick mule kick to the head, Sasuke looked up as the remaining five members all trained their guns on him. Stuck on the lowest level of the mine and at a complete disadvantage.
They really should have sprung for a third cloak to hide themselves under.
Sasuke's hand blurred down to his side and cocked his sheath. He drew it off his hip and fired, sending a kinetic blast of energy flying towards the shooter with the clearest line of sight. As they were forced to dodge, Sasuke took that chance to charge towards the wall.
Bullets sprinkled the area around him and bounced off his Aura before he reached the wall. He jumped and started running up the wall towards the next level. The two White Fang members standing atop it reeled back in surprise when he approached them so quickly.
He tossed his sword and sheath aside, spiking it into the chest of one Faunus and knocking them down as the other one aimed for his head. Sasuke's hand reached out and grabbed the firearm before it could shoot. His other elbow came in and struck the hand gripping the trigger hard enough that the Faunus reeled back in pain.
His foot swung out and struck their chin hard enough to drop them in an instant. Not wasting a moment, Sasuke tossed the confiscated gun at the other White Fang member that had finally recovered from the sheath thrown at his chest. He ducked aside and avoided the gun before immediately firing at the Uchiha.
Sasuke's boot slammed into the side of the weapon, disarming him and sending it falling into the mine. The older Faunus immediately raised his fists and threw jabs at the young Huntsman.
Sasuke dodged and ducked under everything before grabbing the older man's wrist. With some quick footwork and pulling the man off balance, Sasuke dragged him around before grabbing his head and slamming it into the dirt and rock beneath them.
With half their group down the other members decided to start firing on him again before he could catch his breath. Staying low and grabbing his weapon along the way, Sasuke ran along the walkway of the mine towards his next opponent. With a single hand he cocked his weapon and fired it across the dig site. The shot blew up by the foot on another grunt and knocked them over hard enough to render them unconscious.
The White Fang in front of him let out a loud, desperate roar as he started firing recklessly. Young. Inexperienced. He must have been new. Sasuke deflected the shots with the side of his sheath and avoided all the wild bullets until the gun clicked empty. The young Faunus looked at his weapon in shock and Sasuke took that opportunity to jump, slamming both feet into the young man's chest and knocking him unconscious as his mask flew off his face.
"NO!"
The final member, a young girl by the sound of her voice, cried out and started firing from the top of the dig site - still in the sand before it was reduced to sediment. Sasuke ran along the walkway once again before running up the wall and jumping up into the sand. The young girl panicked as he approached quickly in a rapid dash before he immediately slid in front of her.
With a silver flash he drew his katana and sliced the firearm to pieces. The frightened Faunus dropped back into the sand as her weapon fell to pieces and Sasuke stood over her. With the sun overhead his expression must have been darkened in her eyes as she crawled away.
"P-Please," She muttered, her teeth chattering uncontrollably as the fear took her, "Please don't kill me. I-I just want to help my family and make things a little better. I-I don't - I don't want to die."
As Sasuke looked down at her, looking into her mask reminded him of that fateful night at Beacon. Where Vale was wreathed in flames, Grimm overtook the streets, and people wearing the same attire as her attacked the city without regard for what happened to its citizens.
All the people whose lives were ruined. All the friends he'd never see again. All the deaths that could never be avenged...and this girl was begging?
Just one strike. Sasuke was reminded once more that everything could end with just one strike.
And with that dark thought in his mind, his sword stabbed forward into the mask.
The mask broke into pieces, revealing the frightened, shocked young Faunus underneath just millimeters from being touched with the sword. Looking up at him, Sasuke finally noticed the tears of overwhelming fear in her eyes. That, and the fact she looked just like the boy he had knocked out a minute earlier.
And with that the dark thoughts that had been pervading his mind faded away.
Sheathing his sword, he jerked his head aside, "Leave. Grab your brother and your friends and don't come for us again."
She nodded and complied without a word, scrambling in the sand and running down into the dig site to collect her people. Sasuke watched her run and drop down by her brother's side first as she shook him awake.
Sasuke pulled out his Scroll and looked down, "Damn, barely a bar." He dialed the number and listened until the tone ended, "Kiba, are you there?"
"Sasu...we...took car-"
The signal kept cutting in and out as Sasuke started running back to the settlement, "Kiba what happened?"
"You...see for yourself...quite the-"
Dammit. Was Tenten going to be the only partner in his life that didn't cause him to worry all the time?
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Done
So as you can see the events at Beacon have stuck with our young taciturn swordsman. Now that he's felt what it was like to take a life he has to remember every time he fights that, 'Wow, just a little bit more and I could kill them.' And he has to decide whether that voice is something dark luring him in or just something rational keeping him aware.
Also he has to learn what it takes to fight without a hand. I really appreciated them sticking with that choice after the series ended. Instead of copping out and giving him a new arm made of NANOMACHINES SON - I mean Hashirama cells - he stuck with the missing limb and went about his day. There was just something about watching this badass character continue to be a total badass even while one of his sleeves was flapping around in the wind! And it made him an even better swordsman and fighter! That's what I'm trying to aim for here to some extent.
God I really hope I do him justice this volume. I hope you like where we go from here!
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Thank You and Bye
