Chapter Two: Some Things Never Change
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"Goodbye… Sasuke."
Eyes flying open, Sasuke bolted up, chest heaving rapidly. Looking around Sasuke drank in his surroundings; a simple room with a desk to his right, overlooking Konoha. A T.V, a comfortable chair with a round table next to it, and directly in front of him was his balcony. Even from his bed, Sasuke could see his tomato plant, which was oddly comforting to him.
I'm home, Sasuke thought in relief, pounding chest slowly calming down. I'm home which means…
Clutching his blankets, he drew his knees up and rested his head over the fabric. She was alive, then. If Sasuke had believed in any deity, he might have thanked them in that moment. Instead, Sasuke found himself grateful for the seemingly twisted time-travel jutsu he was trapped in.
Sasuke gradually sat upright, taking in deep, slow breaths. Why had she done that? That foolish, foolish girl; didn't she know it was pointless? Pushing the thought away, Sasuke swung his legs over to the side of his bed and got to his feet. His alarm would be going off soon anyway, and Sasuke needed a plan. A new plan, since his last one had ended in death – yet again. He really had to stop doing that; though, he supposed, it did work in my benefit this time. The last four times had ended in disaster, and the last time confirmed his growing suspicions. He needed to do things differently.
Sasuke considered this as he made his bed; differently, but how? Sasuke was definitely not where he wanted to be last round, but he had made more progress than ever before. It wasn't enough, in the end, but it wassomething. What did he do last time that he needed to replicate, and what else needed improvement? Making his way to the bathroom, Sasuke thought about his team in the fourth timeline. It had been the first time he didn't actively ignore them; he didn't actively engage with them, either, but… Frowning at his toothbrush, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that this fact was important.
Was Kakashi onto something after all?
Sasuke raised his eyes, and scowled further at the unpleasant sight that stared back at him. Brushing his teeth, Sasuke couldn't help but glare at the kid in the mirror. Unlike the first couple of times back, at least he had the self-restraint to not break the mirror. Although he had grown used to staring at his childish form over the past… however long the last four lives totaled up, he still didn't like it. He was smaller, weaker. Glaring one last time, Sasuke willed his favorite weapons to appear. They didn't.
Spitting out his toothpaste in irritation, he actively ignored the mirror the best he could. In the last four timelines, Sasuke couldn't activate his prized sharingan even once. Well, maybe for a minute last time, but it was too little too late by that point. So, what did his original life and his fourth life have in common? The first time, he watched Haku nearly kill Naruto; last time…
Foolish girl, Sasuke thought in irritation as he made his way to his closet. She was not allowed to do something so stupid again. What could she ever do anyway, weak as she is? Sasuke ended up dying anyway, so what did it matter? Somehow, he got the feeling that she would have done it even if she knew the outcome.
Throwing on the first things he saw, Sasuke refocused on his plan. Though he loathed to admit it, Sasuke was beginning to realize he might actually need Team Seven to get his revenge. In order to succeed, Sasuke needed to grow stronger and if the previous times revealed anything, it was that having weak teammates was decidedly not helpful to his goal. The idea of working with Team Seven was tolerable, although making nice with the village again made his skin crawl. He would use them, hurt them, and then abandon them. The betrayal would be sweet; an unsuspecting village, convinced of his loyalty only to be hurt because of their misconception was too tempting to resist. He wanted them to hurt as much as possible, and dig the knife as deep as he could; the Hokage and the elders deserve nothing less. Not after what they did to him and his family.
But, as Sasuke painfully discovered the last several lifetimes, in order to succeed he needed to get stronger. Get stronger, and be patient. Sasuke forced himself to take a deep breath at that unpleasant thought.
Last time, he was still too weak. All three of them were too weak, and Sasuke knew that had to change. If Sasuke wanted to live long enough to get his revenge and find his brother, then he needed to make sure he was strong enough to do so – which would never happen if Naruto and Sakura acted as dead weight. Especially Sakura; he didn't know where the ferocious warrior he met in the original timeline was hiding during their youth, but he needed Sakura to find her sooner rather than later. Truthfully Sasuke wasn't as worried about Naruto; the dobe grew faster than even himself – which was infuriating. Infuriating, but at least he wouldn't die so easily or get Sasuke killed.
Sakura, on the other hand… Sasuke could no longer afford to take that chance. He needed to get her stronger, and since she wasn't super inclined to take it upon herself, Sasuke feared he was going to have to help her.
With that, the alarm clock went off, indicating Sasuke had two hours before he had to leave. Turning on his desk lamp and taking a seat, Sasuke pulled out some scrolls; it was time to make use of what he knew, and formulate a plan.
Already dreading facing his former classmates, Sasuke walked into the room with as much leisure as possible. Only a few students occupied seats; Naruto, surprisingly, being one of them.
Well, he supposed seeing his teammate out of a snake's belly was an unexpectedly pleasant sight. Ignoring the boy, Sasuke sat down in an open spot by the window. Sasuke had spent his last two hours well and at some point, he had ventured into a box that contained a few of his parent's belongings. One of the things he uncovered was a book that belonged to his father, which contained useful strategic theories. Of course, it was really his father's notes that captured his attention. He was able to be so immersed in the words that Sasuke could almost ignore screeching and girlish arguing in the background.
"Hi Sasuke-kun!" a bright voice cut through his concentration. "Can I – wait, no way. Is that the first edition of Modern Strategy?"
Sasuke looked up to see a very bright eyed, innocent girl. Her pink hair fell in long locks over her shoulder, clean of blood and grime. Sasuke's heart quickened in surprise – just yesterday this girl had sacrificed herself for him.
I'm sorry, the words almost tumbled out of his mouth.
"You know this book?" Sasuke found himself asking instead.
Sakura blushed, but took a seat next to him.
"Well, several of the books I have read have referenced it so many times that it would be hard not to. I really like the fifth edition, but I have yet to come across the first one, until now. It's pretty legendary, you know."
Sasuke blinked, not entirely sure how to respond. Thankfully he didn't have to, with an unlikely source coming to his rescue.
"Hey, forehead girl! What do you think you're doing, flirting with my Sasuke?"
Not wanting to get pulled into useless drama, Sasuke returned his attention to the book. Wait. If Sakura's read the fifth edition of this book, why didn't she ever use it in battle? Then Sasuke remembered that he and Naruto always took the lead in missions, so it's not like she would have had much opportunity to exercise her strategic skills.
"Get out of my way, Naruto!" Sasuke heard Sakura hiss.
"Yeah, no one asked you to get involved!"
"Hey, hey! All I'm saying is that we are ninja already, you know!" Naruto protested.
"Ha! Like you're one to talk; you didn't even pass like us." Some guy from the row ahead scoffed.
"Yeah!" Ino exclaimed. "How'd you even get in here, huh? A good-for-nothing orphan like you—"
Sasuke slammed his book shut, causing the girl to falter. A moment later, Iruka walked in, took one look at his students, and Sasuke could see a vein bulging from his forehead.
"What do you think this is? A circus? Get back to your seats, now!"
Students scrambled to empty chairs, Naruto sitting next to Sakura, he noted. Some things really never change, do they? Sasuke didn't bother to listen as Iruka called out assignments; it's not like he would be assigned to another team, so what was the point? Like Sasuke finding himself at the same desk as Sakura and Naruto, their assignment to Team Seven seemed to be a fixed variable.
"Remember," Sasuke vaguely registered as Iruka's voice. "Come back here and wait for your sensei to pick you up. I won't be returning, so behave. You don't want to make a bad first impression!"
"Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke blinked, glancing over to the owner of the voice – Sakura. Was it lunch already?
"W-would you like to eat lunch with me? Since we're teammates and all." She blushed.
Naruto leaned over, annoyance crossing his features. "Hey, hey! What about me, Sakura-chan? I'm on your team, too, you know."
"No way, Naruto!" she snapped.
Sasuke suppressed a deep sigh. He desperately did not want to have to deal with their childish antics. Impatience flared up, but he shoved it down, knowing exactly what could happen if he got carried away. Standing up, he wondered: what was the most efficient way to get them to stop? He was even willing to act like a real teammate in addition to helping them get stronger, if it would help.
"Sasuke-kun?"
He glanced down at them. Sakura looked up with wide, hopeful eyes, and Naruto sported a look of open curiosity. Completely ignoring them caused trouble before, and if he was going to do things differently, then he needed to actually do things differently. Here we go, Sasuke internally sighed.
"Are you two coming?" He asked at last.
Without waiting to see if they would follow, Sasuke left the classroom to find a quiet spot. In the original timeline, he had eaten in his apartment – and experienced his first humiliating defeat at the hands of Naruto. This time, Sasuke settled for a spot under a large tree some distance away from the academy.
Sasuke rested his back against the tree and observed his teammates as they sat down, bickering as they pulled out their bento boxes. Sasuke did the same, and began to eat his simple lunch.
Looking over at Naruto's bento box, Sakura scoffed. "Naruto, how is that a real meal?"
"W-what do you mean?" Naruto asked, looking down at his food and then back at Sakura with confusion.
"It's ramen!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, and?" Naruto asked, still perplexed.
"Where are the veggies? Or the rice? Honestly, Naruto." Sakura furrowed her brows in frustration, before throwing her hands up. "Oh, here."
Rolling her eyes, Sakura grabbed some of her veggies with her chopsticks, and plopped them in Naruto's bento box.
"Well, thanks Sakura-chan, but I don't really –" Sakura gave him a look that said she was going to hit him if he said another word. "I mean, thanks! So good!" Naruto shoved the greens into his mouth, before grimacing.
But he swallowed, and Sakura nodded in satisfaction before turning to her own food. Sasuke almost smiled; just yesterday they were bloodied and half-dead, so it was nice to see them act so lively. Sasuke frowned at the thought; was he… happy? Why?
"Don't you think, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was saying.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, I don't think he was listening, you know." Naruto said, shoving more noodles into his mouth at an alarming rate.
"Shut up Naruto, of course he is." Sakura glared at Naruto, and then turned to Sasuke with a pleasant expression. "I was saying that it's exciting we get to work together, don't you think?"
"That's one word for it." Sasuke muttered, taking a bite of rice.
Was Sasuke excited to work with his annoying teammates again? No, not exactly. He was, however, relieved to get another chance. Minus the fluke in the original timeline, Sasuke died each time because he was too weak. This time was going to be different, and he'd make sure of it.
"What are you thinking of, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, slightly concerned.
Was he making a face?
"That lunch is about over," Sasuke lied.
Putting away his bento box, Sasuke stood up. The trio made their way back to the classroom, Naruto and Sakura chatting about something inconsequential along the way.
Sasuke once again revisited his plan as they walked. He would get Kakashi's recommendation to allow them to participate in the chunin exams, and then join forces with Orochimaru, destroy Konoha, Kill Danzo and the other elders. Once his revenge was complete, Sasuke would continue gaining power so that when he found his older brother, he'd get Itachi to talk. Sasuke knew the only way he could get Itachi to talk to him was by becoming stronger, otherwise he'd likely get trapped in Itachi's Tsukuyomi again. Although Sasuke had chosen to stop hating Itachi, he honestly didn't know if he could handle going through that hell again.
"What are you looking so intense for?" Naruto asked as they reached the classroom doors. "You gotta poop, don't you?"
"Naruto!" Sakura groaned, scandalized.
Rather than dignifying Naruto's ridiculous question, he chose to ignore it and slid the door open. Most of the other students had already returned from lunch, and like the excited children they were, chatted away without a care in the world. It didn't take long for their presence to be noticed, though.
"Too bad you got stuck with a couple of losers, eh Sasuke-kun?" Ino called out. "Hey, since I also got stuck with losers, maybe we should talk to Iruka-sensei about making our own team."
"Listen here, Ino-pig," Sakura started.
Choosing to ignore all of this, Sasuke took his seat.
"Not this crap again!" Someone groaned. "Why can't you idiot girls stop fighting over him? He's not even that cool."
Sasuke pulled out his book.
"Who are you calling stupid? Sakura-chan was always in the top three, wasn't she?" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke briefly looked up to glimpse Sakura's shock at the blonde coming to her defense. Naruto really was like a knight in offensive orange armor.
"It's true she has bad taste in men, but she's not stupid and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise!"
"Who, you? Dead last-san?" the boy snorted, rising from his seat. "Yeah right! I'd like to see you try."
The girl, Ayaka, next to him chuckled. "Hey lover-boy is right, though. Sakura is pretty smart. Ino's the bimbo who usually starts the drama."
Turning bright red, Ino stood up in her seat a few rows back, while Shikamaru buried his head in his arms. Ino opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, Sakura had already stomped over to Ayaka.
"Excuse me? Bimbo? Of all the girls, you had the worst grades, did the worst in ninjutsu, and got rejected by Sasuke-kun the hardest! She might be a big fat pig, but you have no right to insult her like that! If anything, you're the bimbo."
"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" Ayaka grinned. "Smarts won't save you in a fight, ugly!"
Later, no one would be able to recall exactly what transpired, but when Asuma and Kurenai came to pick up their kids, the only way to describe the scene was complete chaos.
Two girls were pulling hair, several boys were throwing punches, while some threw chairs.
"Not my chips!" a voice was heard among the chaos, before someone got rammed in the gut.
"That's right! You better run! No one messes with Akamaru and I and – augh!" a second voice grunted, before the boy threw another punch. He was already sporting a nasty black eye and a split lip, but his grin was feral and he didn't seem to notice his injuries.
Suddenly, kids started screaming. "Get it off me! Get it off me!"
"Where did these stupid bugs come from?" someone yelled, swatting at himself so hard, he fell backwards.
The two jōnin looked at each other, speaking without their voices of their lack of faith in this particular group of genin.
"What is the meaning of this?" a male voice boomed over the commotion, a sudden chill filling the room.
Everyone froze mid-punch, grab, and bite. They looked up at two furious jōnin: a woman with sharp red eyes, and an intimidating man with spiky hair. To children never having seen battle, nothing else had ever been so terrifying.
"Have you no respect for yourselves as ninja?" The woman demanded. "Right now, I only see children unfit for the title of shinobi."
No one breathed. No one dared to move.
The man sighed. "My name is Sarutobi Asuma. Who is Team Ten?"
No one made a move for a moment, but then a hand raised from a hidden spot behind a desk in the back. Then, letting go of Ayaka's hair, Ino raised her hand too. Finally, Choji snatched a bag of chips from the boy next to him, before raising his hand.
Pinching his nose, Asuma sighed. "Come here. Now."
Ino and Choji made no hesitations to untangle themselves and obey the intimidating man, nearly tripping in the process. Shikamaru, however, took his time, hands in pockets and yawning on his way down.
"And who is Team Eight?" the woman asked. "I am Yuhi Kurenai, your new sensei."
Kiba popped his head up, Akamaru on his head with blood smeared over his furry face. Hinata, who had been hiding with Shikamaru in the back, shakily stood to her feet. Shino, the only other student still sitting at his desk, stood up. The trio made their way down to their new teacher, Hinata with her head down, Kiba looking like a pup who got in trouble, and Shino with cool indifference.
"If this is the future to defend Konohagakure, then I am deeply ashamed." Asuma growled. "All of you: shape up or give up. Kids like you won't last a second in a real battle."
Kurenai took Kiba's chin in her slender fingers, inspecting the damage, who shivered under her cool gaze. When she glanced back up, the class collectively flinched.
"Clean this mess up, and then go back to your seats." Kurenai said softly.
In seconds everyone began to upright chairs and desks before returning to their seats, trembling, sweating, and eyes wider than a baby owl. Seemingly satisfied, the two jōnin disappeared with their charges, leaving the room in frozen silence.
No one dared to relax until other jōnin came to collect their new students; in fact, several of the jōnin remarked how well behaved this generation was. As the jōnin came and went, Sasuke couldn't help but notice the way some of them glared and sneered at Naruto, and decided that such jōnin would have been unworthy to teach Team Seven. Despite the man's many flaws, Sasuke was grateful they got stuck with Kakashi. Kakashi never looked at any of them with undeserved disdain, pity, or haughtiness.
It wasn't long before Team Seven were the last ones in the classroom, or for Naruto to start complaining. Doing his best to ignore the idiot, Sasuke buried himself in his book.
"All I'm saying is that it's stupid the man makes us wait like this!"
"Wait, Naruto! What do you think you are doing?" Sakura was saying. "First of all, there is no way he's going to fall for it. Second of all, is it really wise to be angering our sensei, especially after what happened this morning?"
"Yeah, well," Naruto was saying with slight exertion. "He wasn't here this morning! Besides, he should be punished for being so late!"
Naruto got down, and grinned up at his work, fists on hips.
"Oh whatever; I am not involved." Sakura huffed, before sitting back at a random seat in the front, eagerly watching the door.
It was funny; Sakura obviously enjoyed these kinds of things, and yet always pretended not to. Shaking his head, Sasuke put away his book, and watched as Kakashi walked in, once again falling for the childish trick. It was another thing Sasuke couldn't understand; he was a jōnin and surely saw it a mile away and yet, Kakashi still chose to let the prank succeed. Naruto, for his part, howled with laughter.
"Ooh, it never gets old!"
"I'm so sorry, sensei!" Sakura started, rising from her seat. "I tried to stop him, but…"
Sasuke briefly wondered how to break her out of her incessant need to please people. Or better yet, how to manipulate her need to please him to get her to train harder.
Kakashi put his hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner.
"Hmm… how can I say this? My first impression is that I don't like you guys."
Sasuke almost chuckled; how nostalgic. Sakura, however, visibly deflated, and Naruto gave the older man a cheeky grin.
"Hey, it's not our fault you fell for my trap, sensei."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Let me see. Uzumaki Naruto, the dead-last idiot who can only be described as a knuckle-headed prankster. I was curious to see what kind of idiocy waited for me, and truthfully, I'm a little disappointed."
Naruto stepped forward.
"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei! There are loads m- ow! Sakura-chan, what was that for?"
"Please excuse this idiot here," Sakura said, hand on Naruto's neck to force him to bend over in a bow. "He really has no idea what he is talking about, and you should pay him no heed!"
"Hmm." Was Kakashi's only response. "I need some fresh air. Meet me up on the roof."
Kakashi disappeared, and Sakura let go of Naruto. "You can't just say whatever you want, Naruto. He's a jōnin!"
"Uh, yeah. A jōnin who fell for my trap!" Naruto crossed his arms.
"On purpose." Sasuke said, getting up from his spot.
Naruto glared at Sasuke. "So? It's still funny."
Sakura rolled her eyes, and strode out of the classroom while the boys followed shortly after. Once again, Sasuke couldn't help but note how nostalgic the scene was.
It wasn't long before they sat in front of Kakashi, who ordered the trio to introduce themselves. Sasuke sincerely hoped it would be the last time he had to do this; although he had skipped team assignment day last round, Kakashi still made them do the exercise right before the bell test. As a result, they had less time to complete the test as punishment. Apparently, Kakashi being hours late was a nonissue, but when Sasuke refused to show up to team assignments it was worthy of punishment. Go figure.
Sasuke only half paid attention as Naruto rambled on about how he loved ramen, how his dream was to be Hokage, and that he'd "never leave behind any precious person! You better believe no one is going to protect any comrade, or this village better than me, dattebayo!" or something ridiculous like that. Sakura started to mumble about who she liked, rather than what she liked, when Naruto interrupted.
"But Sakura-chan, don't you enjoy, er, reading and stuff?" Naruto asked. "Or fighting Ino? You do that a lot, too, you know."
"Naruto, you can't just interrupt like that." Sakura complained, although after a moment said, "But yes, I do like reading. I like being able to know the answers so I don't get lost; I really dislike idiots." She said, shooting Naruto a mild glare. "And… my dream is to marry the one I like."
Once again, Naruto spoke up. "But what about your ninja dream? C'mon Sakura-chan, you're the greatest kunoichi of our year!"
"What is up with you today?" Sakura asked, her face a cross between annoyance and bewilderment. "But, if you must know, then it… it's… It's to be the best ninja I can be."
Kakashi nodded, and wordlessly turned to Sasuke to indicate it was his turn. Repressing a groan, Sasuke opened his mouth.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything, I dislike many things, and my ambition is to get revenge."
Kakashi nodded, as though he expected such a response. Oh, if only you knew, Sasuke thought. Although Kakashi likely assumed he was referring to Itachi, Sasuke only had thoughts of burning the leaf to the ground. After all, any village that demands one of its ninjas to murder their entire clan, doesn't deserve to exist. And after destroying the leaf, Sasuke would find peace at last…
"Are you certain?" Kakashi's voice from his previous round echoed in Sasuke's head. "From my experience, obsessions like revenge prevents people from reaching the goals they really want."
Sasuke chose to ignore how unsettled the thought made him. Despite his claims, Sasuke didn't believe Kakashi actually knew what he was talking about. Probably. Definitely. Oh, whatever. Stop thinking about it.
Standing up with a clap, Kakashi gave them a smile faker than Tsunade's young appearance.
"Looks like you each have your own dreams and personalities! Good, very good. Now, here on this sheet of paper is all the information for our first training session. I would love to stay and chat, really, I do… But I have places to be. Remember, kiddos, don't eat breakfast and don't be late!"
"But why?" Naruto asked, though he didn't sound very curious. "Isn't breakfast important?"
Kakashi sighed; he wanted nothing more than to desert his new charges. It hadn't been an hour, and he already felt that they were a handful.
"Because, Naruto, the kind of training I'm gonna have you do is so intense you might throw up."
Tch. Yeah, right.
"What kind of training?" Sakura asked, tilting her head.
"Survival training." Kakashi said in a false sort of pleasant voice. "Oh, before I go, I should warn you: the failure rate is over 60%. And if you fail… you'll get sent back to the academy!"
Sakura drew back in surprise, but Naruto drew himself to full height – which wasn't anything impressive – undaunted.
"Ha! No way are we going to fail here, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing a finger at the man. "Just you wait; we'll show you what the three greatest students of our class is capable of."
Sasuke's eyes flickered over to the blonde for a moment; did Naruto say something like this before? The original timeline was so long ago that he couldn't remember, and he never paid attention during the other timelines. Oh well. Naruto wasn't Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja for nothing; of course, he wouldn't act the same, even in the same scenario.
"Um, Naruto?" Kakashi said, leaning forward. "Your grades were by far the worst in your class. Does 'dead-last' mean anything to you?"
"Meh; semantics." Naruto shrugged.
"Wow, Naruto. I didn't even know you knew that word." Sakura commented, surprised.
"Hey, Sakura." Naruto whined, looking a little hurt.
"Right. Well." Kakashi said, taking a step back. "See you bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow morning! Be ready to show your skills as shinobi, so bring all of your tools. You three are dismissed!"
The man disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and Sasuke barely glanced at the paper. He considered showing up hours late just to spite the man, but decided against it. He could make good use of the time.
There was a moment of blissful silence before Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sakura with gusto. "Well, as if I'm going to skip breakfast. There's no way I'm gonna throw up over a little bit of training! C'mon guys, the man is obviously trolling us."
"For once…" Sasuke said, slowly getting up. "I actually agree with you."
"Huh?" Sakura whipped her head back and forth between the two boys. "Um, yeah. I totally agree with you guys. Make sure you eat a good breakfast, both of you! And don't skimp on those veggies, Naruto!"
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved her away.
The trio went their separate ways – or at least, Sasuke tried to. Sakura, however, had different plans.
"Sasuke-kun, wait up!"
Sasuke didn't.
"So, I was thinking," Sakura started when she caught up to him. "That maybe we could… well…"
"No." he said, avoiding her pleading eyes.
Sasuke considered ignoring her outright and leaving it at his refusal, not looking away from the path in front of him. It's what he's always done before, after all.
"Oh. Uh… maybe next time?"
But then, didn't he say he was going to do things differently? Sighing, Sasuke stopped walking and turned to the girl. Sasuke studied her face for a moment; she was so young. So… naïve. Her round eyes knew no loss, and her soft appearance made him wonder how she made it as far as she did in the original timeline. Then he remembered the fierce kunoichi he would later encounter at seventeen. Sakura blushed, making him realize he'd been staring.
"Sakura, there will be no dates. There is no hope for us in the future. I will never feel for you the way you want me to. Sakura, I have an ambition that I cannot afford to be distracted from. Not from you, not from anything."
Sakura blinked, and forced a smile. "Oh… Uh… Yeah. I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. I never… I don't want to be a distraction to you."
"Good." Sasuke replied with a curt nod, ignoring the way tears were nearly spilling from her eyes. He turned to go when suddenly an unpleasant picture of Sakura with her chest torn open, light fading from her green eyes flashed before his eyes. At least when Sasuke had killed her, he'd had the decency to do it quickly, but that man…
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke did his best to dismiss the thought. The foolish girl had sacrificed herself for him, though he did not deserve it. Perhaps… Perhaps he owed her something. Owed her better than just leaving her, at any rate.
Turning back to face her, he was taken aback by the honest vulnerability he found. A ninja should do better to conceal their emotions, but it was also so very Sakura that he felt a sense of… Something. Something that Sasuke couldn't quite put his finger on, but decided that it was neither the time nor the place for him to figure it out. She looked at him in surprise; evidentially she had expected him to go without another word, too.
"Sakura, I won't date you but… we are… teammates. Get stronger. Don't let yourself get distracted by me, or anything else for that matter. You're a ninja now. Don't forget that. You said you wanted to be the best ninja you can be? I'll hold you to it."
Her eyes widened, and she nodded. "Th-thank you, Sasuke-kun. I'll keep that in mind."
Not sure how to respond, Sasuke nodded and headed home. Dismissing thoughts of pink-haired girls sacrificing themselves for him, Sasuke focused his mental energy toward a training plan. Once again, Sasuke would work to regain the jutsu and skills he learned under Orochimaru. He would build up muscle, and grow his chakra reserves – a daunting task that he has done before, and knew could do again. Sasuke can do this; he had to.
But, first thing's first: Sasuke was going to buy the best sword money can buy.
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