See? I was much quicker this time! I'll keep doing my best to post updates quicker from now on. I can't promise a chapter per week but I'll try my best. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Going Too Far
The next year in the Academy saw Naruto learning the arts of a ninja for his first time, while Sasuke merely polished his. The Uchiha noticed Naruto sometimes learned the wrong things, but every time he pointed it out the blond would be confused and state that's exactly how he had been taught. Naruto in turn would point out how Sasuke always came to class with bandages and bruises, to which the raven-haired boy would grunt at and stop talking at once.
"Alright class, remember to rest well today and prepare for tomorrow's test! Points were given to you all year, but unless you pass this final test you will NOT graduate!" said Iruka to the class, looking at Naruto most of the time. The blond had abysmal grades, just barely good enough to pass for now, but his Bunshin jutsu simply did not work. The chuunin was worried he would fail again, but at this point he couldn't do more about it.
As the class was dismissed, both Naruto and Sasuke vanished from their teammates' sights and soon found each other sparring in the Uchiha's dojo. Naruto's taijutsu was becoming better and better, as he ignored the Academy's teachings and focused on Sasuke's pointers. The raven-haired boy still won, but he had to really work for it now.
The outcome hadn't changed during the whole year, however. Soon Naruto had more bruises than what he could fight with, something he had learned to grudgingly admit. Sasuke smiled and tossed him a water pouch while keeping one for himself, and they both sat silently at the entrance of the dojo while drinking down the heavenly cold liquid.
"Ne, Sasuke, we'll both be ninjas after tomorrow!" Naruto said with a foxy grin, to which the Uchiha could only smile and nod. Sasuke didn't share his enthusiasm, that was obvious, but he looked forward to passing the Academy and coming one step closer to his brother's legacy.
The two boys stayed in silence after that, neither one knowing what to say. It was obvious both their minds were storms, and they both knew that. They both felt close to each other, closer than to anyone else in the village. It was only Sasuke's self loathing that made him flip out at Naruto calling him Sasuke-nii one day.
The blond knew from that day forward, Sasuke felt great pain when anything related to siblings was mentioned. The Uchiha had apologized, but Naruto felt a pang of hurt every time he remembered it. Still, he didn't feel Sasuke hurt him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt another kind of pain. It made the blond hush up what happened, and not to force his nicknames as he does with everyone else.
In the solitude of the night the blond dreamed of a grown Sasuke becoming his older brother and endless ramen, while the Uchiha himself stood at front of a calm pond somewhere in the complex. His eyes were blinded by his usual cloth and he formed handsigns as fast as he could. Soon a fireball lit the pond, and their collision created a cloud of mist that would had blinded him anyways.
Sasuke grit his teeth as he concentrated. The Katon: Housenka no Jutsu he fired up once he finished again lit the pond and formed several mist clouds, although very small ones. The Uchiha growled under his breath, knowing the jutsu should have fired multiple fireballs and not mere embers.
As he fired jutsu after jutsu at the pond, Itachi's memory flickered in his mind. It fueled his rage and determination to improve, driving him far past even his limits. Sunrise found him out of chakra and sleeping in the grass, not a rare sight for someone like Mitarashi Anko who watched over 'her brat' when he trained or when she sensed him train.
'He went too far, tonight of all nights. Even when I told him to take it easy… Damnit brat! Not even I play as much with fire as you do!" growled the snake mistress in her head as she bit her lip. 'There's nothing I can do here... Kami have mercy on you now, Sasuke.' Anko thought to herself before disappearing in a silent burst of speed.
Sasuke woke up minutes later to agonizing pain all over his body. Slight burns could be seen here and there on his skin, proof of his failures in mastering his fire jutsus of choice. His mind ran on overdrive to lead him into breakfast, and then into the Academy as he shook the tiredness away.
"You don't look so good Sasuke." Naruto commented as the Uchiha came into the classroom. A grunt was the answer, after which the blond muttered a "whatever" and looked up. Iruka gave a speech on how important the test was, wished the students good luck and handed out a sheet of paper to everyone. Naruto groaned, and Sasuke did his best not to do the same as well.
Once the written exam was finished everyone was called to the yard where a small arena had been set. Naruto's scowl was a big teller on how it went for him, but taijutsu was his forte. Soon he was itching to fight, if only to have some fun already and get the exam over with. He won, though he received far too many hits to have a perfect score. That was good enough for the blond who whistled his way back to as close as he could get from Sasuke.
Iruka had predictably left the Uchiha for last, against Neji Hyuuga once again. The two had barely ever met again after the first day's match, and both had grown greatly in skill. Their scores rivaled each other's, though Sasuke's had suffered from constantly arriving tired and hurt to class.
Neji's eyes narrowed as Sasuke put the blindfold on. He had been hoping the Uchiha would fight him without them, as even respect didn't stop him from feeling underestimated. 'He plans of depriving himself of his doujutsu. I will not commit the same mistake' the Hyuuga sentenced in his mind as his veins around his eyes bulged out and Iruka gave the order to start.
The last thing Neji expected was to see Sasuke being nearly empty of chakra. Neither made a move, but it was obvious to the stoic Hyuuga that his opponent was extremely weakened. Neji frowned, and when Sasuke's kick could be easily blocked by a single arm swipe he knew something was wrong.
Minutes later Sasuke fell to the ground coughing blood, his chakra used up or sealed by Neji's Gentle Fist style. No one could believe the outcome had been decided so quickly, and Iruka quickly rushed to attend to the injured boy.
"Stay back! I'll handle this!" exclaimed Iruka while holding Sasuke in his arms, scanning him over to check for the injuries of most importance. He could sense what was wrong however, even with his limited sensory skill. His chakra was nearly gone, and he knew Neji alone couldn't have done so much damage to his body.
"How did you get so many burns?" demanded the chuunin, looking at the boy harshly.
"T-training… I'm fine, Iruka-sensei." Sasuke claimed, trying to stand up but being stopped by Iruka who outright glared at him and held the boy bridal style.
"The exam is over for you Sasuke, you're in no condition to continue. The next phase requires chakra and your amount is too low to attempt even a Bunshin. I'm sorry Sasuke, Mizuki-sensei will take you to the hospital, and I won't hear complaints." declared the chuunin teacher, and Sasuke could do nothing but stare helplessly in horror as it dawned on him. He had failed.
"I'm coming too!" exclaimed Naruto as he ran next to Iruka, worry etched all over his face.
"You still have an exam to take Naruto." was the answer by Sasuke, who managed to get his head over the chuunin's shoulder and glare at the blond. Naruto, unperturbed, flipped him off and pointed at Iruka.
"I don't care, I'll be there with ya and screw the exam, dattebayo!" the blond declared, shocking the Uchiha into silence and then a chuckle as he shook his head in disbelief.
"You baka… Well, I guess you'd fail the exam without a Bunshin anyway..." Sasuke said while letting himself rest his shoulder on Iruka who let him stand on his own, but not without support.
"I totally would have passed. My scores without it are too awesome, dattebayo!" shouted Naruto who was red-faced and waving a fist at the Uchiha. Iruka sweatdropped, but decided not to tell Naruto he had already failed the written part and thus failed the exam already.
The two boys plus Mizuki found themselves at the hospital, where the nurses didn't seem surprised at all by seeing either boy. Naruto never left Sasuke's side, and the Uchiha never asked him to do otherwise. Sasuke remained silent as the doctor healed what he could and lectured him on the consequences of taking his training too far.
The doctor hadn't seen such physical strain in quite a long time. Sasuke's chakra network had been overworked to the point where it hurt just to keep chakra running through it. He knew this couldn't had been done in a single training session. That very same doctor had warned Anko that the boy drove himself too hard, so it was with little reluctance that he gave Sasuke a grave warning. He could lose the ability to use ninjutsu if he kept it up. The Uchiha had dropped his gaze to the ground and nodded quietly, obviously ashamed and a little bit afraid.
There was nothing else the doctor could do for him. A certain purple-haired kunoichi signed for the boy, and just like that Sasuke had been released. Naruto reluctantly left after the doctor shooed him away, and Anko then entered the room. She hadn't wanted the Kyuubi brat to be there to see what came next.
"I'm sor-" Sasuke started trying to say, only to be cut off by Anko angrily yanking him by his clothes and holding him in the air, keeping him face to face so he could see the angriest glare he had ever stared at.
"What the fuck was that, you stupid dumbass!" she barked and Sasuke flinched. She didn't care. "I gave you the day free, I told you not to do something stupid! If you wanna die on me I'll kill you myself but I trained you better than this brat! Did I waste my time with you? Is this all there is to you stuck-up Uchihas?" she shouted at the raven-haired boy that could only stare at her in horror and resignation. There was no answer he could give, and they both knew it.
Sasuke couldn't keep gazing into those eyes that threatened to burn him alive. He looked away, up, down, anywhere but at them as he shook his head. His failure hadn't resounded so loudly in his ears until then, but now it did. He felt like he failed his father, failed Itachi, failed Anko. He felt like a failure. He almost wanted Anko to kill him.
The kunoichi read his emotions on his eyes like a book however, and slowly let go of his clothes. She was shaking of anger. That was when a slap brought Sasuke's incredulous eyes back to Anko, who stood with his hand open and a look mixed with rage and concern in her eyes. The shock of being hit, the shock of seeing concern paralyzed him, but the kunoichi wasn't done talking.
"Wake up already! Nobody here's gonna baby you, especially not me, but you better not believe for a second that I don't care! You've made me care for the first thing in this fucking village so don't you go and waste that! But you've got more to waste than just my care, don't you?" she said, slowly calming down but with cold fury in her eyes that Sasuke wished he could stop looking at but stared into anyways. A cold fury that wasn't at him, but for him. He understood that she knew of what happened with Itachi, and the thought made him gulp.
Anko didn't say anymore after that. She didn't need to. The kunoichi restrained what was left of her anger and walked Sasuke home, the boy being as silent as her. His mind was still reeling from her words, and the fact that he failed the Academy. He felt worthless, but every time he thought too deep into it he caught a glimpse of Anko and stopped himself.
"Don't bother coming into the Forest for a week brat. And if I catch you training here, I'll skin your chakra network off ya, get me?" the kunoichi declared with a warning glare, to which Sasuke nodded. Satisfied, she left with her hands in her pockets, not taking so much as a glimpse back to the brooding Uchiha. The boy gingerly walked to his room, stumbling but refusing to fall, until he collapsed on his bed with the unshed tears finally flowing out of his red eyes.
Yes, Sasuke failed this year and thus has to repeat it! Along with Naruto, of course. They'll be part of the Konoha 12 again no worries, but Sasuke's struggle is different this time. We're starting to see how different he's treating things as to how he did in cannon. Don't expect a God Mode Sasuke just because he stayed another year in the Academy though! And who sweated a bit when Mizuki was left alone with the two kids? I sure as hell did! Anyways, I feel very excited for the next chapter. This has been a great start, but filler-ish for me. I want to get to the good stuff, to Wave and the Exams and the Fourth-! Okay, can't get TOO excited now. Tehee! Let's see where this goes, and if I get to at least 15 reviews I'll do an omake for the next chapter, or the one after that. It depends. I don't really expect to get the reviews, but hope comes for free right? Well then, see y'all in the next chapter!