Chapter 7
Now, Sasuke liked Kakashi. He does! But when he acts like an idiot and gets poisoned and only realizes it hours later? Sasuke can’t help but wonder how the hell the grown adult, a jounin, Kakashi of the Sharingan, even made jounin.
Which brings him to the present, glaring at his teacher and caretaker as he stood, with the help of crutches, by a tree reading his Ichi Ichi book that Sasuke is tempted to burn. Or rip. Or take hostage so that what happened never happened again.
“You shouldn’t be standing,” he snapped after a long moment of glaring. Seriously, how could he stand under an Uchiha glare? Maybe it was that Uchiha teammate.
“But I am able to,” Kakashi hummed, turning the page.
“But you were poisoned.”
“As in the past tense.”
“As in you collapsed after Naoki left and made Sakura and I carry you as Sai protected Tazuna.”
“Sai could have made an ink beast.”
“Yeah, Sakura’s already yelled at him for that.” Sasuke kicked a rock at Kakashi. “You should be resting.”
“While a potential threat like Naoki looms over us?” Kakashi said, turning the page again as if they were talking about the weather. “I’m alright, Sasuke. I’ll have you know I built up an immunity.”
“Great. That doesn’t stop the fact that you passed out,” Sasuke bit out, “And that you’re using crutches.”
“Sakura! Sai! Come here!” Kakashi yelled, changing the topic.
Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, glared at the book and Kakashi, fuming silently. Why couldn’t he ever just take it easy? Sure, Sasuke overworks himself sometimes, but he takes breaks! Kakashi’s a depressed workaholic, which is worse because then comes the part where he doesn’t have any self-preservation skills. The worst part is that he wouldn’t deny it and then point out that Sasuke is the same in a better way and Sasuke wouldn’t be able to deny it.
“Kakashi-sensei! You should be resting!” Sakura scolded, dragging Sai behind her by his ear.
Sai didn’t even look bothered by it. Like he knew this was going to go nowhere.
“Mah, Sakura-chan. I’m alright. Besides, I need to train my genin!”
“Only if you rest,” Sakura bargained, glaring at him. She’d been doing that more since Zabuza, hovering and worrying and training. She’d tossed a bunch of stuff out, though Sasuke didn’t get a look at what it was.
“We’re on a mission,” Kakashi hummed, completely undeterred.
“That’s why usually, mission squads have multiple people,” Sasuke said as if he were talking to a child. Which, in a sense, he was talking to a man child.
“But you’re my cute little genin!”
“Kakashi-sensei, I think we’ll be able to handle a few gang members,” Sai said. He was being held down by his ear still.
“But Naoki-”
“Reinforcements are on their way, yes?”
“Yes,” Kakashi said, nodding.
“I doubt after the small skirmish, Naoki or Zabuza will come out soon. By then, you will be healed.” Sasuke never felt more grateful to have Sai on his team. Sakura even let go of his ear, which was red by how hard she was pulling it. “Thank you, Sakura-san, for letting go of my ear.”
“Don’t make me grab it again.”
“I will try not to.”
Sasuke spoke too soon.
Kakashi sighed, “Alright, alright. I’ll teach you, Sakura, a technique while I get Sai and Sasuke started on a similar but different technique.” When Kakashi saw Sakura frown and quickly added, “With your chakra control, at least from what I’ve seen, you’ll get it down 10 minutes tops. Sasuke took a whole day.” It was Sasuke’s turn to frown. “It’s tree walking!”
Sasuke tuned Kakashi out as he explained the exercise to Sakura. He waited for him to explain what Sai and him were gonna do and watched as Kakashi stayed to see Sakura start.
And finish.
“That wasn’t so hard, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said from her position from one of the taller branches.Sasuke frowned and slouched over, sulking as he watched Sakura climb up and down before landing next to Sai who seemed just as surprised. “What next?”
“Right,” Kakashi let out slowly before shaking off his surprise. “Follow me.”
They walked behind Kakashi as he led them through the woods. The birds chirped lightly and the flowers bloomed here and there. He could see many bugs and even thought he saw a rabbit. It was peaceful and quiet in a serene way. “Water walking?” Sai asked.
Kakashi only hummed in confirmation. They continued down the path, turning so that they were a little ways from Tazuna’s house, but still able to see the back of it. Just a little more down and they were in front of a river. “This isn’t an ideal spot to learn water walking, with the rushing water, but it’s the best that we can get at the moment. By the end of this trip, you guys should be water walking experts.”
“I doubt that,” Sasuke muttered.
“Sakura should be a water walking expert.”
“That’s more believable.” Sasuke nodded.
“Sa-Sasuke-kun!” Sakura stuttered, waving her hands around in a stop-it-you’re-embarrassing-me motion. “I-”
Sasuke just waved her away. He didn’t hate her, she just did annoying things like fangirl over him and doubted herself many times. She’s pretty good at chakra control and small ninjutsu’s, hitting them effectively in training. She could do a lot more if she stopped doubting herself and put more effort into training and less into worrying about how she looked.
“So, it’s the same principle of tree walking. Try it.” Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Kakashi when an evil glint entered his eye.
Sai went first, stepping onto the water. Second step in, he sunk down with a small panicked look. Oh, he does feel emotion, Sasuke thought.
“As you can see,” Kakashi said, “It’s not that simple.”
“Well no shit,” Sasuke huffed.
“Language.”
“Sure dad.”
Kakashi huffed, though it was tinged with something fond. Sasuke didn’t know what to think of that. “You two live together, right?” Sakura asked.
“Yeah,” Sasuke muttered.
“No wonder you two are alike!” Sakura laughed.
Sai crawled out of the river and nodded, “You do share many similarities.”
“Shut up, Sai.”
Kakashi tutted, “Be nice, Sasuke,” he chided.
Sasuke ignored him and took off his shirt. He’d be fine with wet shorts, but it would be uncomfortable to have his shirt sticking to him. He saw Sakura flush, eyes widening as she stammered to get something out. He ignored her.
He tested his foot on the water, frowning in concentration. “I’ll leave you to it!” Kakashi said before jumping away in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke placed one foot on the rapids feeling his chakra waver before his foot almost sunk under. “Stupid Kakashi-sensei,” he muttered, “How the hell are we supposed to do this?”
“I-” Sakura cleared her throat before walking up next to him. Sasuke found she kept a certain distance between them. “Let me try.” She stepped onto the water and frowned in concentration. She took off and replaced her foot multiple times before nodding. “You have to change the chakra levels constantly to match the surface,” she said, “At least, I think so.”
Sasuke nodded, storing the information as he replaced his foot. He held it there for a second, frowning in concentration as the river ate at his shoes. He put another foot next to his. Then another step, then another then…
“Fuck!”
*****
Naruto let out a sigh, sitting in the middle of a pond. He didn’t have his mask on, magenta eyes gleaming from the reflection of the moon. He was near Gato’s residence, the complete opposite side of Tazuna’s house. The meeting with Team 7 was…weird. He could get the image of Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura dying. Or drenched in blood as they stared at him repeating that he was incompetent. Or a combination of both.
Which is why he didn’t sleep the night after their encounter. He often meditated instead of sleeping, much to the dislike of Tetsuya. He would have been plagued by nightmares and he would have been even more tired than if he just meditated. It was the better option.
He learned after trying to fall asleep just an hour ago not to try and sleep.
“Kiki,” Tetsuya said, hopping over to him and settling in his lap, “You okay?”
“Nightmares,” Naruto whispered, cracking his eyes open and staring at the night sky. The Land of Waves could be really pretty if it weren’t for Gato. “I keep seeing them covered in blood.”
Tetsuya sighed, “I can’t say I get it. Cause I don’t. But you shouldn’t bottle up your emotions.”
Naruto sighed, sagging into himself. His chakra wavered. “They’ll just get in the way,” he muttered, “They’ll stop me from accomplishing my goal and I can’t let that happen. I won’t see everyone dead again.”
Tetsuya sighed, though he didn’t say anything else. Naruto inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly. He’d sent a clone out to scope the layout of Gato’s residence, but it was a bit harder than he thought it would be since the guards just shooed whatever animal he changed into away. He sighed, “Do you think it’s gonna get better?” Naruto whispered. He felt Tetsuya perk up, but Naruto ignored him. “The feeling-” he gripped his shirt over his heart, where it was tingling and itching, “-of dying is a constant. The worry, the fear.” He shook his head, pursing his lips. “I really don’t know how the futures gonna go. I-I don’t like that, Yaya.” Naruto inhaled sharply, blinking back tears. He wouldn’t cry now. He promised to not cry ever again after he left Mount Myoboku. “I don’t like the uncertainness anymore,” he whispered, clasping his hands together tightly.
“It will get better,” Tetsuya said firmly, turning around to look up at Naruto. “Not now, maybe not even in the next ten years. It won’t fully heal, either, with everything that happened.” Naruto let out a shaky breath. “But it will get better. With time and talking about it. You just have to let people help you and you-” Tetsuya said, “-have to let yourself heal.”
Naruto laughed slightly, a short, sad, laugh that sounded more self-deprecating than he liked. “Easier said than done, Yaya.”
“Isn’t everything?”
“True,” Naruto hummed. Let himself heal, he didn’t think he could. He had so many emotions from even before he made genin that he ignored. He didn’t know how to acknowledge them or show them properly because no one ever cared enough to worry about him and ask how he was feeling. No one actually found out that he was an expert actor, minus Shikamaru.
Shikamaru cared. He once said he always had, since pre academy days even. He asked and prodded lightly how he was doing. But he was the only person that asked. He didn’t know how to show his true emotions because they were always invalidated.
Some would say he was even more emotionally constipated than Sasuke, if you look at it from the right angle.
“How?” Naruto whispered, bringing his knees up to his chest. Tetsuya landed on his head, offering a comforting weight as he laid his forehead on his knees.
“I don’t know,” Tetsuya shrugged. Naruto sighed, resting his chin on his knees, “But Ankoku and I will be there for you. Through the whole thing.”
Naruto sniffled, “What did I do to deserve you two?” he asked.
“A lot!”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“But it’s true!” Tetsuya insisted, “It’s true. From what I understand, you did so much for that Uchiha-”
“Too much.”
“-yet he still tried to hurt you! Kill you! And yet you still chased after him,” Tetsuya sighed, “Everyone pushed you away yet you still tried to create bonds and you made a few! But you lost them with the Uchiha. Everything was caused by an Uchiha.”
“Uchiha’s are a problem,” Kurama agreed.
“But Sasuke had been through a lot,” Naruto tried weakly, though he knew it was worthless to try and convince Tetsuya and Kurama. He would know, they had this argument multiple times. “He saw his parents die by his brother and Obito saw Kakashi-sensei kill Rin and Madara-” He let out a breath, “Madara was used-was manipulated by Zetsu.”
“Don’t defend him,” Kurama snarled. Naruto winced.
“But you’re still trying to kill Obito to make sure-”
“Madara stays dead. Because Obito is too far gone at this point,” Naruto said, “Besides, Sasuke seemed better. It must’ve been Kakashi. They seemed to be closer. Maybe Kakashi took him in! That’s one less person to worry about!” He tried to smile but it must’ve fallen short since Tetsuya shot him a look.
“That doesn’t change your past life,” Tetsuya pointed out. “He still tried to kill you and people still pushed you away. It’s alright to feel hurt and betrayed. But that doesn’t mean what they did was right and you didn’t do anything. You did as much as you possibly could do and more, especially with a grumpy fox and everyone going against you.”
Naruto sighed, “When’d you become so smart?”
“I was always smart.
“I’m pretty sure you came to me when you needed advice on how to prank Ankoku,” Naruto snorted.
“That was because my plans were too awesome!” Tetsuya exclaimed.
“Sure, Yaya.” Naruto hauled himself up and walked towards the bank. The sun was rising and it made for a pretty view. The brightening sky reflected on the pond while the birds awakened. He didn’t like the sunrise as much as he could have. It reminded him too much of him and that day. He stretched his hands up in the air, relishing in the popping sounds from his shoulders. Meditating for hours on end made him stiff, though it did help with the not-able-to-sleep thing his body thought was a good idea. “Anyway, do you think I should meet up with Gaara before the chunin exams or during the chunin exams? I’ll be participating in it anyway, but it might do him some good to mellow out beforehand.”
“Before, so you can check up on Shukaku beforehand,” Kurama said.
Aw, is that worry I sense? Naruto teased.
“Shut up! That weakling needs to get control of himself before he drives his jinchuuriki insane.”
Gaara wouldn’t go insane, he’s stronger than that!
“Because of you.” Naruto frowned. What was with the theme that he did so much? First Tetsuya then Kurama. “Because you did do a lot more than you think, kit.”
Naruto huffed, putting his hands in his pockets and walking through the woods in an easy going stance, even if he had every sense open and waiting for anyone to attack. Of course, no one was even near him, but just in case. Jumping up the rocks, he paused at a ledge at the small hill, glaring at the village. Children were already out and looking for food. Adults were staggering around. And that damned house where the lights were on where Gato resided. Guards were stationed outside and people walked around with ease inside. They’d chosen this spot because it was just raised enough to spy on the house without being seen. There was a small hole made by collapsed trees and rocks he had carried to make a small shelter for them while they completed the mission.
They would have done so quicker if he didn’t want to interfere with Sasuke’s progress. He remembered clear as day that in about a few days, Sasuke would awaken his Sharingan for the second time. It would be because of Haku’s barrage of attacks. Or maybe he’d have to threaten Sakura a little…or get her involved. Yeah, the second option would work best but the first would be a backup. Sasuke had to awaken the Sharingan again, no matter what.
He’d just have to hope Haku would be enough.
“By the way, it’s okay to hate the Uchiha,” Tetsuya hummed, “He did a lot against you. He never even worked with you fully.”
“I know,” Naruto sighed, sagging down and sitting down on the edge. He didn’t hate Sasuke. Or Kakashi-sensei. Or Sakura. At least he didn’t think so. They were the first few people he actually made bonds with. He didn’t want to lose them, didn’t like losing that bond.
Huh. Maybe he’s starting to get why Sasuke, maybe even Itachi from the right angle, did what they did.