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edited 12/23/19

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Neji and Tenten would have two kids by now

Chapter 6: You Look Like You'd Understand

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." ― Helen Keller

Sasuke glanced past his shoulder behind him to where his teammates were setting up their respective tents. Deciding to set up camp after the fight not too long ago, Sasuke volunteered himself to do the first watch.

Settling himself on a rock, he sighed as he thought about the next two days. It was obvious to him that they would pass based on their earlier battle and become ANBU. A small satisfied exhale escaped his lips as he thought of how his plan was being put in motion.

"Uchiha-kun?" Hinata's timid voice rang out to him through the darkness, momentarily surprising him. The expression she gave him earlier had him thinking that she would most likely avoid him the whole time.

She was a strange woman.

"Hyūga." He drawled, testing the way the name rolled off his tongue. He knew that she could see him perfectly fine, those trustworthy eyes of hers never seemed to fail.

Walking towards him, she stopped short in her stride, a face of contemplation infecting her features. When it seemed that she had settled for an answer, she continued as if nothing at all had happened, beaming at him through a strained smile.

"We have some food over there if you'd like."

So, she had come over here to tell him? He glanced over to where Shikamaru sat eating and not sparing him a glance. He didn't look like he cared if Sasuke ate or not.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke turned away from her and focused on the landscape ahead. "I'm fine."

Nodding her head, she opened her mouth to address him with a timid 'okay' probably remembering that he couldn't see her, though he was admittedly looking at her through the corner of his eye.

Empty silence rang through them, though this one was less painful than most. Wondering why she hadn't left yet, Sasuke was about to address his curiosity aloud when she had gracefully sat herself down beside him. A surprising and bold move on her part.

"I said that I'd take the first watch." He reminded her, confused as to why she would sit beside him, a person who only regarded him with fear.

"I know."

Another surprise. She it seemed she was just full of them today.

Feeling increasing annoyance boil inside of him rapidly, Sasuke furrowed his brows. Did she find him incapable of doing such a simple task on his own? Or maybe it was Shikamaru who sent her. "Then why are you here?"

Turning her face to smile at him as if there were nothing wrong in the world, she answered with such familiarity he found it hard to speak. "Because I don't like to sleep."

Nodding his head once, he decided to keep to himself rather than to ask her why. He could already fathom a few plausible reasons: It was either post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmare induced insomnia or worse; a mixture of the two. Many people suffered from it after the Fourth Shinobi War. Sakura never failed to tell him of her sporadic shifts at the hospital, regardless of whether he wanted to hear it or not.

"Do you…?" Sasuke looked towards the woman beside him. For once she looked human. Her smile was gone as well as her cheery façade. She looked... normal.

Sighing heavily Sasuke remained in place. His eyes fixated on the opaque maze of trees and rocks and bushes. He didn't know why he entertained her pointless one-sided conversations, but found his voice speaking back to her, much to his surprise.

"I don't particularly enjoy it."

"I could only imagine why. My complaints probably seem so small compared to yours."

"Trust me, I've heard worse." He scoffed as his stiff muscles relaxed into a more comfortable stance. His shoulders slumped upon remembering some shinobi who would flood to him with all their problems assuming he would automatically understand as if he were a monk or something. It wasn't till after he publicly made known he didn't like to socialize did they leave him alone.

Feebly pushing her fingers together in a childish manner, Hinata's eyelids fluttered innocently, unaware of how suggestive she looked. Sasuke wondered quietly to himself if she did those things purposely or if she really was as naïve as she seemed to be.

"If you don't mind me asking…" her voice trailed off as she looked away from his gaze uncomfortably, "Why did you decide to join ANBU? You don't seem like someone who particularly likes working in groups…"

Frowning, Sasuke turned his attention away from her and back onto the forest in front of him.

He only decided to join ANBU to better his chances at becoming Hokage, merely using its platform as a stepping stool to get where he wanted to be, his final destination. Surely he wasn't going to try and explain to her that she was only a tool he was going to use to pave the path of succession. Though she seemed rather unspectacular, he wasn't sure what she would do if she found out his true reasons. That her dreams of forming bonds and becoming friends were all fabricated and nothing but an allusion.

Realizing that she had taken his silence as him trying to formulate his words Sasuke simply answered impassively, "I do mind you asking."

"Sorry…" she mumbled ashamed, looking down at her shoes as she distractingly shuffled them through the dirt. It was another annoying habit Sasuke presumed. She seemed to have a lot of those.

Sighing as his interest wavered Sasuke wondered why the Hyūga woman hadn't left yet, their conversation had ended and yet she still chose to keep him company. A pregnant pause filled the space between them, but for some unfathomable reason, it wasn't as empty as the other ones.

"At first I had thought you to be scary and what Shikamaru-kun would call troublesome… but now I can see that you are much more than that."

Cocking an eyebrow Sasuke looked at the unusual kunoichi has she gingerly smiled at him, a notion that unknowingly made his stomach clench. Her smile wasn't forced or disguising a grimace.

This smile was… genuine.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked abruptly, confused by her actions, he could've swore that this very same woman was afraid of him.

"It's just that I realized something."

"What?"

"We're very alike, you and I."

Sasuke looked at her incredulously and found himself unable to form a proper response. Simply scoffing at the idea, he turned away and began to get up.

"Where are you going, Uchiha-kun?" He heard her call over his shoulder.

"Since you're so adamant on not going to sleep, you can have the first watch instead while I'll head on for a walk. Alone." He added the last part as more of an afterthought than a statement. He didn't know why but the Hyūga… she gave him a weird feeling and if he actually allowed himself to stay any longer with her, he didn't know what would happen.

He didn't have time for friends, but something about her made it hard for him to just simply turn her away like he had done to countless others. She interested him as much as he seemed to interest her and he had no clue why.

It was frustrating.

This walk was what he needed to both clear his head and find a place away from her.

Walking no place in particular, Sasuke felt a familiar chakra signature coming towards him. There was only one person he knew of that had a mixture of two chakras flowing through their veins.

Plus, the obnoxious shade of blond hair was a dead giveaway.

In what seemed like no time at all, Uzumaki Naruto had appeared before him, famous grin and all.

Sasuke glowered at him, annoyed. "What?"

"I've been looking all over for you!" the blond exclaimed a little too loudly for his taste, nearly shattering the Uchiha's eardrum in the process.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Sasuke's patience ran thin as he regarded the Uzumaki with little to no sympathy. What reason could he possibly have?

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sasuke sighed, raising a palm to his forehead. He wasn't even around him for one minute and Sasuke already had a headache.

"There were these people looking for you in the woods," Lifting his face from his palm, Sasuke stared at Naruto. His silence was the invitation for the blond to continue blabbering. "At first I thought that they were just some competitors in the exam, ya know? But then they started to spout off nonsense about how they're not from here and how they're going to find you and make you pay or something like that. I had to take them down because nobody's messing with my best friend, dattebayo!"

Rolling his eyes at Naruto's rather loud resolve, the Uchiha man tried to get the blond to calm down. "Naruto, can you tell me what they looked like?"

Sheepishly scratching his head the Uzumaki humorlessly laughed. "I- uh- I kind of forgot…But don't worry! While on my way looking for you, Sakura-chan said she had the same problem so she could tell you all about it!"

At this Sasuke was surprised. Sakura had the same problem? Who exactly were these people? And why were they targeting his old team if their goal was him? Why send just one person to confront him instead of sticking together? Greater numbers increase the chance of survival. It didn't make any sense.

Looking behind Naruto, he could spot Sakura's familiar pink hair and both of her and Naruto's respective teammates coming closer in his direction.

It wasn't long before he had both of his overbearing teammates trying to explain what happened to them at the same time.

Rubbing his temple, he rolled his eyes at the duo. It seemed that whenever the three of them were together they turned into a comedy troupe.

"You're both giving me a headache."

Clenching her fists Sakura glared at the blond still talking a mile a minute, "Naruto shut up and let me speak. Haven't you heard of ladies first?"

Raising a hand to stop them both from initiating another argument he heaved a heavy sigh. "Stop, Naruto already told me everything I need to know."

Glancing curiously at him Sakura put one hand on her hip and raised a brow. "So, what are we going to do?"

Stopping his heated glare towards Naruto, Sasuke turned his attention in Sakura's direction.

'We?'

There was absolutely no way he wanted to get these two involved, that was surely a spell for disaster.

"You two are not getting involved." He retorted sharply.

Ignoring his former teammate, Naruto turned towards Sakura, "I think that we should stick together for the remainder of the exams in case anything happens again."

Nervously glancing from Sasuke to Naruto and back again, Sakura bit the bottom of her lip. "I'm not sure…"

"Come 'on Sakura-chan it'll be just like old times, dattebeyo! No forget that, even better than old times because well, ya know…"

Rolling his eyes at Naruto's speech, Sasuke crossed his arms, a way to restrain himself from hitting the idiot before him.

"No. We all already have our own teams." Emphasizing his point, he glanced behind the duo towards their equally confused teammates.

There was no way he was going with Naruto's plan, the whole point of him even taking this exam was to prove he was much better fit for Hokage than the Uzumaki by getting the best score out of the three. But if he worked together with them they would just be marked the same. He couldn't allow that.

Sasuke realized that whatever he had to say was useless, whenever Naruto had his mind set on something, it was made up for good. The only one who would be able to even remotely stop him was Sakura and he had a feeling that she too would soon agree.

"Come on Sakura-chan, forget what Mr. Grumpy says. He has no sense of fun whatsoever. What do you say?"

Watching Sakura look in his direction with a sheepish smile, Sasuke could already guess her answer before she said it.

"Sure, why not?"

Pumping his fist in the air triumphantly Naruto excitedly jumped up and down only to abruptly stop. Raising a brow at the idiot's antics, Sasuke followed Naruto's gaze behind him to find both of his teammates standing there, though he was sure the blond's gaze was fixated on only one of them.

Evaluating the situation before him Shikamaru opened his mouth to explain their sudden presence. "Hinata thought that you had been gone for a while, so we went to look for you to make sure you were alright and none of those people showed up again. I'm guessing the appearance of Naruto and Sakura means that they two experienced the same problem?"

Nodding her head Sakura confirmed Shikamaru's suspicions. "Yeah, we were just discussing a plan of action to prevent any more of those situations and we decided to stick together as a sort of 'strength in numbers' plan. That is, if you guys are comfortable with the idea, of course."

Leisurely shrugging his shoulders Shikamaru agreed. "Sure, I don't see why not, we might be able to get out of here faster if we work together."

Glaring at the Nara, Sasuke felt a sense of betrayal. Of course, he would agree even after going through all of the trouble of formulating a plan. Sticking together increased their chances of passing and shortened the amount of time it would take to get all the things they needed in order to complete the assigned tasks.

"What about you Hinata?" Naruto questioned- Sasuke noticed his voice cracking near the end of the sentence. Whatever the Hyūga's answer turned out to be would either make him or break him.

Briefly looking at Naruto and then focusing her attention solely on Sakura, Hinata faked a smile, the genuine one she had showed him earlier had long since disappeared.

"I have no problems with this arrangement."

Noticing a thick tension in the air Sasuke wondered how the Hyūga could be so cold by dismissing Naruto so publicly. Something about her didn't sit right with him, he just wasn't sure what and wasn't exactly willing to find out.

Awkwardly clearing her throat Sakura shifted her weight uncomfortably. The one to speak up and break the silence was Shikamaru, but only to tell them what the new plan was. Utilizing everyone's skill they would be able to complete the task within a maximum of two days and a half. The former Team 10 would be gathering the intel, Team 8 would be in charge of searching for any leads and being lookouts and finally Team 7 would be the brawn of the group, coming in when things began to escalate.

Sasuke didn't remember much from those two and a half days, aside from the fact that one: Shikamaru had been precisely exact in regard to them completing their tasks, and two: his interest in the Hyūga kunoichi was becoming increasingly prominent, making it extremely uncomfortable for him to be around her for more than five minutes. It was an embarrassment to his Uchiha name. Needless to say, he felt a sense of relief when they had completed the given tasks and were free to go.

Walking through the gates Sasuke wasn't surprised to see Kakashi waiting patiently for them adorning his trademark one eyed smile.

"You guys made it here way faster than I predicted. Cost me a loss to Gai. Now the score is 999 – 998 obviously in my favour."

Rolling his eyes at his former sensei's aloofness, he spotted the others slowly making their way to where he stood, fatigue written all over their tired bodies. Their last encounter had been anything but simple when a few teams had decided to work together in order to take what they had dubbed 'the Super group' down. It had taken them half an hour before the shinobi had finally decided to give up and leave them be. Sasuke was certain that if he hadn't been wearing the chakra bracelets he would've singlehandedly been able to effortlessly take them out.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" The silver-haired Hokage teased, a stupid grin still on his face. "In my day you wouldn't have been able to escape a test like that for at least another week!"

"Well that was then, old man, times have changed!" Naruto entertained, his loud voice knowing no boundaries when it came to the perseverance of eardrums.

Raising his twitching hand to hit him Sasuke was beaten to the punch by Sakura who had gained a satisfying 'smack'!

"Shut it idiot, have some respect for the Hokage!"

Not sure if he could withstand any more of the trio his attention was drawn away when Hinata had timidly cleared her throat.

"I'll be leaving first. Nice to see you Hokage-sama." She bowed, quickly straightening and turning to leave when Sakura's voice called out asking her to stop.

"Hinata wait!" the kunoichi beckoned, "Let me heal that wound of yours before you go!"

The Uchiha had known what wound Sakura was referring to for he had seen her get it himself. She was pointing out an enemy to her team, but one had gotten past her blind spot and throw a kunai her way. She dodged it but not before it managed to scrape the side of her face.

It was a small line that ran across her right cheek and wouldn't have been so strikingly noticeable if it wasn't for the clear ivory of her skin, which seemed well taken care of too.

Shaking her head and raising her palms in a polite form of dismissal she gave one of her fake smiles. "No thank you Sakura-san, I have some things I must urgently attend to, perhaps another time." And with that she was quickly gone doing who knows what.

Shaking her head Sakura heaved a heavy sigh, as everyone looked at where Hinata had just disappeared with solemn expressions.

Raising a brow Sasuke looked to the group inquisitively, "What?"

Sakura's childhood best friend was the first to speak up. "You mean you don't know?"

Getting rather irritated Sasuke shot the blonde an unimpressed look, being an intelligence gathering prodigy, Yamanaka Ino had knowledge on just about everyone in the village.

Smiling sadly, the kunoichi kept her gaze where the Hyūga had last been seen. "Ever since her cousin Neji died in the war, Hinata's changed."

"War changes a person." He confidently stated, it was a known fact that the horrors of warfare transformed anyone and everyone.

"But out of everyone she changed the most. Lost her once unwavering hope."

Shaking her head sadly Ino continued, "She didn't refuse Sakura because she had something important attend to. It's well known fact that she began to refuse medical chakra because she doesn't believe in the healing ability of medical ninjutsu."

Looking back towards the path Hinata had wandered down Sasuke felt something frighteningly spark inside him. The emotion he had wanted to suppress so desperately had finally come out.

Curiosity.

Hyūga Hinata had undoubtedly captured his attention.