AFTER DARK | naruto

52 | brink of insanity

You weren't sure how long you stood like that, staring blankly at the landscape and trying to clear your head. But the only thing that snapped you out of it was the apprentice Madara mentioned.

"Someone like you was the last person I expected to get placed on this team."

It wasn't even a day later that you were put on the same team as Madaras little helper. Not a day later since he replaced your eyes with your sisters. Maybe that's why your vision felt so cloudy.

"I can't say the same for you, Sasuke." You answered him, the despondent look on your face didn't throw him off like it would have for anyone else. He'd said once before—if there was anyone that could understand his type of pain, it would be you. It seemed time proved him well, the tired look in your eyes nearly reminded him of his own. Wistful and repentant, the same look he had after his confrontation with his brother.

Sasuke scoffed at your comment, looking away, "We couldn't be any different. Why'd you of all people land yourself a spot with Madara?"

He wasn't exactly wrong. You and Sasuke were polar opposites. While he held grudges and found satisfaction in revenge. In vengeance against those who were responsible for his clan being brutally murdered.

While he wanted to make others pay dearly, you...well, you had immediately regretted what you done. That wasn't to say Sasuke shared the same feeling of remorse. He felt it just as strongly as you did, yet instead of dwelling on it, he jumped from one goal to another.

That was a far cry from how you were. You could hardly think straight anymore, your mind has always been a muddled mess of ideas, but never goals.

Only one thing kept you grounded through your life. The need and want of a family. There were small moments in your life that made you think you'd found it, like with Might Guy—filling the role of a father you never truly had. You even had Wendy, for a short period of time she was that sister you needed. But she was gone now, too.

That subconscious want for a family amounted to nothing in the end. Which was another reason behind your boggled mind—maybe you had nothing. Or maybe that was a selfish thought. There had to be people who cared for you.

Shisui had always cared. But he wasn't here, you didn't know where he was. Lee and Neji too—they cared, you knew they did, yet there was a part of your messed up mind that was beginning to believe it was all fake.

So much has happened in so little time, that you didn't know what to believe anymore. You were completely blind-sided. "I don't know." Was your absentminded answer. "I don't really care either. We'll just get the eight tails, and we won't have to deal with each other anymore..." Thats what you hoped. After retrieving the eight tails as Madara had said, you hoped you'd never have to play buddy-buddy with Sasuke. It was the least you could hope for, because you knew you couldn't get away from Madara himself.  As you spoke, he was after Naruto, another tailed beast you weren't aware was still alive, and the iron dragon.

You knew it because he said it himself. They were probably planning to mash all those tailed beasts together like they did with your dragons, all for more power in the war he planned to enact.

"We should get moving then." Sasuke commented. "We shouldn't waste any more time... And if you fall behind, none of us will wait for you." You watched as he went ahead of you, waiting for you to follow suit.

It took you a moment—a moment longer than you'd like to admit to gather yourself into following behind him. He had three different teammates. There was a brief introduction you had withtthem, and you already had an idea of what they were like.