Wrong Again
Chapter 14
I realize that for the past oh I don't know how many chapters I have forgotten to place a disclaimer in the separate chapters. Then I asked myself, do I need a disclaimer every freaking chapter? I couldn't bother to check out the rules so here's one anyway in case someone forgot that Naruto is owned by Kishimoto and whoever else that does the anime on TV.
I don't own Naruto or anything except my two new little goldfishes!
Oh, and I know I have a problem with long winding sentences, so if anyone would be so kind as to point them out and maybe rephrase them for me, that would be awesome!! Thanks a bunch!
Please enjoy!
"Damn it," Naruto muttered under his breath as he was shoved back by the force of Sasuke's kick. The bastard was always just a little bit faster with that damn sharingan of his. He'd show him though. With Obito's help and unknowingly, Itachi's, behind Sasuke's back he had been learning how to fight against those stupid eyes. He'd show his dad that he was ready for the chuunin exams.
Of course Obito had greatly stressed the idea that to become a chuunin it wasn't just about beating someone but actually using some strategy. The way Sasuke smirked at him though boiled his blood and made Obito's words fade and all he was left with was the desire to pound that cocky face into the ground.
"Ahhhh!" with a roar he pushed off the ground in a flurry of dust and chakra. "Kage Bunshin!" Twenty clones appeared amid the chaos of smoke and with the distraction Naruto prepared his ultimate move that he had named the Kick Sasuke's Ass Technique. Poof! Poof! The agile Uchiha easily blew through the onslaught of clones. The last of the clones kicked up as much dust as they could for more cover. The smoke of the dispersed clones added to the thick cloud.
The last of the clones were destroyed, Naruto knew he had to move fast and time it perfectly. He couldn't see anything around him but Sasuke's chakra pulsed so loudly he had no problem pinpointing the other boy. Movement stopped and he could tell Sasuke had momentarily paused to gauge his next attack.
The dust cloud ensured that his dad wouldn't see what he was planning; he waited another heart beat. Now!
He rushed forward with a cry of 'Kage Bunshin,' several clones surrounded Sasuke and himself.
Sasuke glared at the ensuing dust; if he didn't know better he'd have thought that with the skill level of Naruto's clones they were just that clumsy creating this storm cloud of smoke and debris. When he heard the cry though of more clones he braced himself; as easy as they were to defeat Naruto could keep this up for hours while he sure as hell couldn't.
The solution, defeat the idiot quickly.
A clone to the right was met with a left hook which led him into swinging his right elbow around and shattering the jaw of the unfortunate clone that had tried to sneak up behind him. To his unexpected surprise the first clone hadn't dispersed.
Naruto grabbed his left arm and with a practiced twist like Itachi had showed him yanked Sasuke's arm up and high behind his back. A rough hand snaked into the soft hair at the back of his neck and pulled hard arching Sasuke's back painfully.
He was pissed at having been caught off guard but the flash of anger turned into stunned immobility when his head was yanked back and blue eyes caught his just a nano-second before chapped lips were pressed almost gently against his.
He just-did he just? His brain took too long to function but the instant lasted only long enough for his body to remember that they were fighting and he ripped away uncaring if he broke his arm in the process. He just had to get away.
He turned around faster than a cornered cat and snarled only to be met by the most infuriating sneer he'd ever seen on Naruto's face. Literally, much later, he could have sworn that he saw red. Much like how he had seen red back in the day when he was first after Itachi he rushed toward that smirking face wanting nothing more than to smash it into a bloody pulp.
"Oomph!" The wind was knocked out of him by the uppercut of a clone shooting straight out of the ground. Sasuke fell to his knees hugging his midsection completely breathless. A wind jutsu blew the remaining dust away to reveal Naruto standing over Sasuke with a kunai to his neck.
The Fourth stood off to the side quite stunned since Naruto hardly ever won a fight against Sasuke; it usually ended in a draw or with Sasuke as the winner. So it stood to reason that that was why his son had the biggest victory grin on his face.
The two boys were staring at each other and while Minato couldn't see Sasuke's face he was sure the boy was trying to burn him alive with his eyes.
The staring contest was broken when Naruto shifted his gaze to the Fourth and shouted, "I win!" The boy lowered his kunai and did a victory dance singing 'I win, I win,' over and over again. What completely baffled Minato was that as soon as Naruto turned his back Sasuke lunged and a brawl took place.
He heard snatches of 'you cheated,' 'I beat you,' and 'I'm gonna kill you' between the scuffling. Now more curious than ever about what move Naruto had used on Sasuke he decided to intervene.
"Now now boys, stop it, this is an evaluation and right now you two are not impressing me at all," he said sternly in his best Hokage voice; the one that he used when he sentenced them back to a term in the academy. Almost like magic Naruto shoved Sasuke off of him and huffed under his breath 'sore loser.'
"Sasuke," Yondaime warned when it looked like the pale boy was going to jump Naruto again. The Uchiha was positively livid; Naruto's grin now that they were no longer fighting had Minato itching to find out what happened. He had no doubt that his son had caused the debris to hide his move.
"Based on what I have seen today there's no doubt in both your skills. The two of you have improved; you are both hard working and you work well together-when you're not fighting each other at least," he added sardonically.
"That flaw can be overlooked if in future times you can prove that with a third member you two can dampen your tendencies to beat each other at everything. You'll both do well as chuunins," he finished his sentence just in time before Naruto interrupted in a flurry of 'hell yeah'. His enthusiasm was cut short by a loud cough and a frown.
"However," he gave them both stern looks, "Don't think that the childish behavior at the end of the fight will be overlooked. That has got to stop," he scowled at both of them, most especially at Naruto when a muttered 'sore loser' reached his ears again. Naruto sobered up and looked away from the sulking Sasuke.
"This was a spectacular spar, worthy of the chuunin exams but with this behavior, instead of granting you two the promotion right away like I was planning if on the slimmest chance that you two behaved yourselves, I'll have a third teammate selected for you and you will participate in the upcoming exam next month," he finished to the looks of disbelief on the boys' faces.
"Wha-" Naruto's outburst was cut off by an elbow to the side by Sasuke. The blond boy pouted but he remained silent.
"Good, you two are learning quite well, it only took five years," Minato said with a beaming smile meant to mock the two.
The way the Fourth smiled down at them like little pets that had successfully completed training made Sasuke want to punch something, preferably the mini blond version of the smiling man. But he kept his mouth shut and his hands to himself or risk starting everything all over again.
He used to wish that Kakashi would actually train them but if this was how Kakashi was trained as a student under the Fourth then he was glad Kakashi never took to his sensei's methods. They would never have gotten anywhere with the way Naruto and Sakura were.
Frustration was building inside of him the longer that he had to wait to confront Naruto on that- that stunt that he pulled. He didn't like the way the Fourth's expression went from smiling to inquisitive. He knew the question would be asked but he'd die a thousand painful deaths before he admitted to anything. And Naruto would keep his mouth shut too if he knew what was good for him.
"Say, Naruto, what exactly did you do that made you win?" Yondaime asked, the question rang loudly to his ears and his glare focused to pinpoint beams that he turned onto the fidgeting blond.
Smarter than he looked sometimes Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously having caught sight of the dangerous glare aimed straight between his eyes; he chuckled and said hesitantly, "I just got lucky, that's all."
You bet your ass you got lucky.
"Really now?" the Fourth didn't seem too convinced at all as lucky as Naruto was known to be. The man appeared to ponder the response for a moment before he pressed again.
"Don't make me make you say it Naruto…" he warned. At the threat Naruto burst into a pleading speech complete with the thrown up hands and puppy eyes.
"Please don't Dad! If I tell you Sasuke'll kill me!"
"Damn right I will dobe!" he growled at the nervous blond. The sight was quite comical to Minato and he burst out laughing.
"Alright, alright, keep your secrets, which ninja doesn't?" the Fourth backed off, for the time being but Sasuke knew that the moment he could corner Naruto he just might get the idiot to spill. He'd just have to see to it that he made sure Naruto completely understood what would happen to him if he said anything even remotely close to what happened.
"Off you two go. When I get a hold of your teammate I'll introduce you. Then you guys can work on being a team," he said in farewell and teleported but not before adding to Sasuke, "I'd like to see Naruto alive and in one piece Sasuke."
The Hokage didn't miss the glint or the audible gulp. Oh what I wouldn't give to see what happens; sometimes being the Hokage sucks.
In the second it took for the Hokage to leave Sasuke had formulated a plan.
He was livid. Absolutely fucking furious.
Stupid Naruto.
Alive and in one piece my ass. The plan that he had come up with involved breathing and that was the most complex thing his mind could come up with. When he was through with the idiot there won't be a speck or drop of blood left to find of that blond moron.
To think that he'd actually done that! He knew Naruto had been plotting some inconceivable technique to defeat him but the move had taken him completely by surprise. With his back to Naruto he hadn't been able to predict the trajectory of his lip-actions.
The worse part was that when it happened, his entire body and mind had froze!
"Heh, Sasuke?" the imbecile dared to provoke him. A nervous chuckle escaped from the wary blond at his lack of movement. In truth it had been forty-seven seconds since the Yondaime had left them and he hadn't done more than breath and twitch with fury.
This show of restraint had to account for something later, like a sign of goodwill later when he was being tried for murdering the idiot. Surely the Fourth would see it that way and so would Obito. His brother would only stare at him and come up with something or another that would make him squirm with guilt.
"One…" he muttered, still furiously glaring at Naruto. His mind was made up. The blond however didn't get it and echoed his word in confusion.
"Two…" this came out lower than the first. Sharingan red eyes flashed and counted point six seconds before the light seemed to click on in Naruto's brain that this was his only chance to run.
At two point nine seconds the blond finally took that first step to escape certain death.
"Three."
Too late.
"Ah!!" the scream rang throughout the training grounds scaring off a flock of sparrows.
Three long days had gone by before Sasuke even so much as looked in his direction. The bastard was being overly prissy about this in his opinion. As much as it rankled him that he was being ignored he would never ever apologize for kissing him.
He considered it fate since they had done so on the last day of the academy back in the other life. Of course that was an accident but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't think of any situation in their current state in which it could happen.
So, as a believer that fate was what one made to be, and since that kiss really was fate-he'd have to figure a way to get Sasuke to believe that- then it stood to reason that he'd have to do something about it. One day after a week of unsuccessful pondering he brought his issue to Obito.
He had weaved and lied and made up stories trying to appease Obito's curiosity without giving away his plan. In the end Obito refused to help him unless he spilled all.
Not without resources and determination he turned to none other than Itachi. Like the genius that he was, Itachi explained that if the chances of an event occurring were slim then events and actions could be staged to lead to the occurrence of said desired event. He had stared at Sasuke's older brother blankly, completely devoid of any plans or ideas to get his desired event to take place.
Then Itachi had so nicely applied his words of wisdom to a battle strategy.
"Say that you are in the woods but you have a greater affinity with water chakra. You know that there is a river not too far from where you are but the chances of your enemy going to that river are slim. So therefore you plot and scheme, maneuvering him until you reach the river and then bam!"
Of course Itachi hadn't sounded quite like that, but the idea was all that mattered. Hence the birth of his plan; the Kick Sasuke's Ass Technique was born! Inwardly he had wanted to name it the Kiss Sasuke Technique but that would ruin his surprise and he was still the Number One Most Surprising Ninja!
And boy did he surprise Sasuke!
Just thinking about Sasuke's reaction made him grin so wide that his face hurt. He stomped down on his grin pretty quickly though as he remembered that he was trying to get Sasuke to stop ignoring him. The bastard had charged him right on three and proceeded to strangle him blue. Then he punched him in the eye!
And that was all.
Sasuke disappeared for a whole day after that and now he wasn't talking to him. In truth he had been expecting an ass whooping only to be left alone in the field. He still couldn't decide which would've been worse, the beating of a second lifetime or the abandonment of a second lifetime.
The pale boy stalked past him without as much as a glance.
Okay, this is much worse, he admitted to himself. The ass kicking would have been easier to handle; the bruises would have faded and the bones would have healed. This however reminded him way too much of how things used to be in their other life.
"Sasuke!" and like he knew how to do only too well, he chased after the elusive Uchiha.
"Ah, there you are," Itachi said as he looked up into the higher branches of a tree to where Sasuke had made his temporary hideout. He ignored his older brother and continued his brooding. When he didn't respond his brother pressed on.
"So how did the evaluation go?" he asked as if the attempts to start a conversation wasn't futile. Sasuke didn't deign to answer his brother; he knew Itachi would have already spoken to the Fourth about what happened.
The silence stretched on but somehow Itachi had that uncanny knack of making his presence known even without making a sound. It irritated him that he wouldn't take the hint and leave him alone, much like Naruto. Finally though in annoyance he broke against the silent war.
"You already know," he stated as a matter of fact without opening his eyes.
"I want to hear it from you too," Itachi responded to the accusation. That pissed him off. So his brother wanted to know how he lost did he?
"You wanna know how I lost? That stupid idiot pulled a prank! He cheated! I bet Obito was in on it too," he ranted the words just flowing out of him like a dam released. His brother remained unmoved by his words and asked, "What did he do?"
At that question he became silent. He knew he could tell his brother anything, except maybe this. It wasn't that Itachi would think anything of it; even if he did he wouldn't say anything that he himself hadn't already thought of. But if he couldn't vent to his brother, then who the hell could he tell? He sure as hell wasn't going to talk to Naruto about it.
Was it worth the potential embarrassment?
Down below Itachi waited patiently for him to make up his mind and organize his scattered thoughts and feelings. He debated and debated. Most of him screamed and threatened him to keep his mouth shut, that this was something that he was going to remain silent on and take to the grave with him.
Another part though, unbidden by him, aka his traitorous mouth, whispered out in a fast rush.
"He kissed me." The words came out right after each other and were barely audible. Had it been anyone else they wouldn't have heard him at all which was good because he sure as hell wasn't going to repeat himself. But this was Itachi and he heard everything; he sure as hell heard what he just said.
Oh god! Someone just kill me now! He waited in tense silence for the condemning, scathing remark that would drive the shame even further into his soul.
The light chuckle shook him out of his fear but in return he turned pink. He could feel the heat creep up his neck and flood his cheeks; they burned as if he'd been laying under the sun too long. Mortification filled him and he regretted that he hadn't kept a tighter leash on his suddenly loose mouth.
"Aniki!" his protest came out more as a whine and it only made Itachi laugh harder and louder. Embarrassed he got mad and the urge to leave made him stand up. Ready to leap away Itachi stopped him with a sentence.
"Sasuke, it seems like we need to talk about a few things," he said with the complete seriousness befitting a mission briefing but his eyes were full of mirth. He glared at his brother and snapped, "Keep your talk."
Fed up with his brother's teasing he turned to leave. For a second he had thought that his aniki would make him feel better. Turns out he really should have just kept quiet.
"The Hokage wants to see you right now," Itachi called after him. He grunted, no wonder Itachi had sought him out. No doubt now the Fourth had sent Itachi to discover Naruto's technique. As soon as the thought hit him he groaned. Itachi was going to tell the Fourth!
How the hell was he going to face the father of the boy who kissed him?!
A/N:
Haha, I enjoyed writing this chapter. It's just a little bit of silliness between the two boys and I wanted to throw Itachi in there a little bit since some readers were wondering what happened to him. This story is narusasunaru, and to those who know what the means, then you know Naruto's not going to be the only one making the moves. But they're still too young for anything, this really was just a bit of fun on Naruto's part, nothing beyond twelve year old thoughts. The kiss has really scrambled Sasuke's brain hence his crazy extreme thoughts.
Next chapter they meet their teammate! And the chuunin exam! Thanks for reading everyone! XD