Rotted Rowan

Tock

Wow. I'm smiling and talking to a handsome boy while people are literally dying below me.

Six months ago that would have been... impossible.

But six months ago Chouji was alive and Sakura had never crawled through the pit.

She had wondered in the beginning how her teachers could laugh and joke about death. Now she understood. Violence was simply part of her life, like how the sky was blue. She was accustomed to it, and now it didn't matter. She could rip out someone's spine with her bare hands while she flirted with the pretty boy and that would be perfectly fine. Naasica-sensei would likely give her extra praise if she did that.

I'd probably scare him off if I did that, Sakura thought ruefully to herself as she finished setting up.

"Tell me what kind of art you do," she said as she got back into position. Sasori had scooted closer to her, his side grazing her own. She was acutely aware of how close he was, a thrill of adrenaline shot through her. She instinctively almost pulled out a knife against him, or moved to pin him down, but she refrained.

He wasn't hampering her shots, nor did she view him as a threat she could handle.

And... yeah she liked having the handsome boy sit closer to her.

Oh boy, here we go again. Crush number...

Sakura lost count. She went through crushes like Naasica-sensei went through whips. Her last crush had been simultaneously Shisui and Hinata. But neither of them had the voice like Sasori and he was actually touching her.

Ah, that sounds bad.

Sasori quietly said, "I also do some sculpting and woodworking. I enjoy creating puppets and dolls, but on occasion, I'll paint."

"Puppets and dolls like toys?"

"In some cases."

"You must be very good with your hands," she murmured absently as she sniped another three Suna shinobi. Then her brain processed what she had said, and her cheeks went red.

Sasori hadn't picked up on the innuendo, thankfully. Or at least he didn't react. How old was he anyway? He looked close to her age.

"It comes with experience. My, that's your fifth headshot in a row. You're very accurate."

"Thanks," she mumbled, more focused on sniping the enemies.

Why haven't any of them looked up at us? I'm sure Naruto did a good job with the genjutsu seals, but surely not so superb that none of them will look for someone sniping them? What the fuck?

Her thoughts must have shown on her face because Sasori said next, "You seem perturbed."

"They're acting odd," she said.

"Odd how?"

"None of them are looking for a sniper."

"Would you like them to?" he asked, a touch amused.

"No, just find it weird."

"Maybe they don't view you as enough of a threat?" he proposed. "Your fellow Konoha shinobi and kunoichi are... certainly destructive."

She couldn't disagree. They were pulling out ninjutsu techniques out the ass and creating some bombastic explosions. If she were in their shoes, would she prioritize the group of enemies in front of her throwing ninjutsu techniques at her, or the lone sniper?

From that perspective it made sense whom they would prioritize. Still, something about their movements felt strange. They moved well, and Sakura had missed a few of her arrows because of it, but there was a strange fluidity to them. As if they weren't wholly in control of their bodies, but rather they were controlled by some outside force pulling the strings.