The Backside of the Rose- Sasuke's Super Duper Headache!

Chapter 6

Goldenstrike

Heyyyyyy peeps. Sorry for the long absence. With summer here, though, you can bet I'll be cranking out these chapters! So, here's the next piece of the story, The Beginnings of Sasuke's training.

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Kakashi faced Sasuke, looked him in the eye, and created a clone of Sakura and Naruto. Then Kakashi sat down and began to tell Sasuke his first task. Engaging in a 3-hour conversation with his teammates would be it.

"Sasuke, a great shinobi knows his team inside and out. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, which you'd have figured out without this training. But, you're giving Sakura and Naruto wrong messages about yourself. And social skills are needed to correct that." Kakashi explained.

'…Nooooooooooo…' Sasuke thought to himself, and grimaced. Poor Sasuke.

Kakashi began again, "At your current level, Sakura's out of your league, and Naruto falls somewhere in between. I can predict Sakura's growth early, from her precise control over charka, she'd make an excellent medical nin. I can't say I know about Naruto yet…"

'With Naruto, he's so much like none other than the Fourth, who was undoubtedly the strongest ninja ever born into Konohagakure. He should be the most interesting out here.' Kakashi pondered.

So Sasuke did as told, and concluded by the end of it, it wasn't so bad. Maybe being the outcast-lone-wolf wasn't worth it.

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Sakura, though, wanted to think it wasn't so bad. But for her, that would've been impossible. 6 days like this was taking a toll on her mentally.

'2,000 fucking punches with each arm, not to mention with weights. I mean what the Hell?!'

By now, she'd increased the maximum weights' weight to 75. How'd she'd survived this long, she wouldn't know. She just hoped tomorrow she could rest, as she could feel many overstretched muscles and cramps with every punch. There was no progress for her, she thought.

Kakashi watched all this, pondering about when he should teach her an attack jutsu. He decided that later that night, he'd tell her that her first phase of training was completed, and give her a resting day. Or 5.

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Sasuke and Kakashi noticed that Sasuke's disposition was much better after his 1st phase completion. He cracked a smile once, in three hours. But that wasn't a smirk, he knew. He hadn't genuinely smiled in a long time. Now, Kakashi had a jutsu for him.

"It's called the Chidori. My technique, that I invented when I was around your age. Curious?" Kakashi teased.

"Hell yeah." Sasuke's only two words, which were followed by not a smile, but by his trademark smirk.

"Alright, you need to focus on the target I've placed over on that tree. It's about 500 feet away, but someone with your eyes should be able to see it. You need to focus with all your might. And this may give you some headaches, but that can't hold you back. I don't usually tell subordinates the goal of an exercise, but I feel you should know in advance. For this jutsu, which is incredibly powerful, you need the Sharingan. The way you move at your opponent requires precise vision, due to your thrust speed, otherwise, you'd nearly be blind if you attacked like right now." Kakashi told him.

"…What did you say? Are you saying…" Sasuke paused, then it dawned on him. "It's the way you fashion your forehead protector. That left eye of yours, it's a surgically implanted Sharingan, isn't it?!" Sasuke roared, not knowing why he hadn't been informed of this.

"Indeed, it is. You're pretty clever, Iruka tells me. I believe him on that, though." Kakashi paused. "That's a secret between us, about my Sharingan, and your soon-to-be Sharingan. Clear?" He waited for an affirmative answer.

"…Fine."

"So begin, and look as hard as you can at the target. Can you see it? Good! Now you must throw 4 kunai knives straight into the bulls-eye, like a darts game." Kakashi demonstrated, only he didn't use his Sharingan or visible eye.

'He… did it blindfolded. This man is really something!' Sasuke pondered.

Sasuke focused as hard as he could, and hurled 1 knife at the target, which landed on the outer rim. It surprised him that it was so close.

Then something happened Kakashi hadn't foreseen; Sasuke's eyes flashed red, but only for a split second.

Sasuke continued to throw them, yet never hitting that target completely. He knew it'd come soon, though.

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By the end of the day, Sasuke had a large headache, and he couldn't see too well either. Kakashi lay him down in his tent, and summoned a cold compress, then placed it onto his forehead. Sasuke looked up at his teacher, and his eyes flickered again. This time, it hurt. Sasuke flinched, and let out a soft cry. Stupid Itachi, not telling him about this…

"Ah, yes. Obito-san had told me about this. It may continue for a little while. Your blood enters your eyes when Sharingan is activated, thus making your pupils red. All that blood rush to your head will take time to adjust to, so I advise you to drink lots of water, and plenty of sleep until it's activated. Now's a good time to take a nap." Kakashi finished.

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Later that night, Sasuke woke up, and removed the compress from his head. He began to reflect upon his training, which were some very weird exercises, he had to admit.

'I think that conversation training is rubbing off. I feel like I need more conversing, just with those two. But they weren't even real! It's sick I'm so obsessed with them. It's not like they're my friends, they don't even like me. Naruto, he sees me as a rival, never looking past that, his only worry is how strong I am so he can get better. And Sakura's just got a huge girly-crush on me. It'll end soon, and then she'll just be like anyone else in the world. Or… maybe it's my fault those two are so distant from me-

Sasuke's eyes began to burn, like he'd opened his eyes in a sea. They stung like no other. He felt the blood rush to his eyes. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He quickly slid the cold compress over his eyes to cool them down, which seemed to work. He'd had enough of his eye troubles, and wished the Sharingan would just show itself. Hopefully learning the third iris wasn't this painful, he'd thought. He made a mental note to ask Itachi about that when he arrived home.

Sasuke, still with the compress over his eyes, got up out of his tent and walked around outside, careful of where he stepped, for he couldn't see when with a compress on his head. With a deep sigh, he went back in the tent and fell asleep.

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Sakura awoke the next morning, but she actually felt a little better. She'd noted her weights were getting more manageable to walk around in. She ate quickly, brushed her hair, and teeth, and tied her hair into a ponytail. Then she walked to her sensei, who was already up and running, to ask for instructions.

"Alright. I want to see how for you've come Sakura. With the weights on at 75 right now, I want you to come at me with a killer intent. Pretend as if I was a ninja from, oh, say, the Hidden Village of the Sound, and I'd just taken Sasuke from you.

That was enough to motivate the girl; She came at full pace to Kakashi, with two kunai, one in each hand. Fast as she could, she made hand signs for a Bushin no jutsu, with the kunai in her hands. Two Sakura's appeared on either side of her, and they began to close in on Kakashi, when one of the clones, or perhaps Sakura, leapt straight up, which Kakashi had just done to avoid the attack. In midair, Sakura launched a fierce punch to her sensei's abdomen. What Sakura hadn't known, was that this was also a clone, and it exploded with a puff of white smoke. The real Kakashi ran out from his hiding space, and leapt up in the air to meet Sakura. Sakura, as she fell to earth, tossed her kunai at Kakashi, who blocked it with his own. He arrived at where she was, and delivered a powerful two-handed dunk to shoot Sakura back to Earth.

As Sakura hit the ground, she cried out in pain; She'd landed on her back. But she wasn't out yet. All that training had improved her stamina.

"Good work, Sakura." Kakashi complemented. "you weren't supposed to do any damage, but you did bust my clone. It's a sign of progress, no matter how little of it you think." He smiled.

"Now, remove the weights."

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Yeah, this seemed a little small. You know, start small, then big? That's what's gonna happen. It took me a little time to think of what to right for this chapter. The next one's gonna be out soon, so keep checking back.

Peace Golden Warrior