Sasuke was facing some real life crises, and Naruto was standing right smack in the middle of it. True to his words, Naruto stuck to Sasuke like glue, determined to win his friendship. The reason why Naruto was trying so hard was partly because he was bored. But a larger part of it was because he genuinely wanted to spend more time with him because he reminded Naruto so much of Itachi. Somehow by doing so, a small amount of guilt was lifted off the blonde's shoulders.
Naruto was following Sasuke around a lot, sure he's annoyed but that's not the issue. At the start, Sasuke would be filled with dread whenever he sees Naruto. But as time goes by, he got used to the blonde. To his horror, Sasuke realised that he is starting to like Naruto's company. Uchihas doesn't like anyone's company! Uchihas are independent, they don't need anyone.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
Shit. He said it aloud. Sasuke immediately turned his head to hide his blush, but it didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.
"Oho! Oho! Is the great and mighty Uchiha blushing?"
"I am not blushing."
"You are!"
"Am not."
"You are."
"Hn"
"So you admit to it? Ha! An Uchiha blushing is not something you see everyday. I'm blessed! You hear? BLESSED!" Naruto ran out of the class, proclaiming it to the world.
"BLESSED!"
sasuke could faintly hear the echos of his shouts. Burrowing his head into his hands, he shut his eyes.
"Fuck."
///
Sasuke stood alone in one of the many training grounds near the Uchiha compound. He visited this particular one regularly with Itachi when he was younger, and this was the reason why he avoids training there. But today was different for some reason, he found himself heading towards the very place he was avoiding like a plague. Frowning, the ravened haired boy observed the place filled with memories, unwanted memories of that man.
Sasuke hated his brother. He hated him so much that he wanted to kill him. To have him die slowly, regretting each and every single death he caused. Even though he hated Itachi so much, sometimes when sasuke feel lonely, he would yearned to have his brother back with him. To be carried when he was tired, to be able to show his many weaknesses when he was too tired of hiding them.
Since that night of the massacre, there was always voice whispering in Sasuke's head.
What if Itachi wasn't the one who murdered the uchiha?
No. He saw it with his own eyes. He was the one who murdered his parents, his family.
Maybe Itachi was forced to do that.
Itachi himself said that he wanted to test his strength.
Itachi loved the village so much, he won't just leave like that. He can't do that.
He Can. He did just that. Itachi's eyes were cold. He had the eyes of a killer.
Just like that, Sasuke tuned out the annoying, questioning voice. It was his weakness, it questioned his revolve in avenging his clan. It made him feel so vulnerable, so lonely.
Maybe it was because of the vast amount of times the Uchiha brothers spent in that training ground, but Sasuke heard that voice extremely loudly and clearly as he stood alone.
Itachi still loves you.
'Stop. He doesn't, if he does he wouldn't have killed my family.'
He didnt kill you when he could have.
'It was because I was to weak to be killed, he said so.'
He didn't want to kill you, he was crying.
'He didn't want to kill me. He wanted me to get stronger so that I can't become worthy of killing. '
He was crying.
'It was raining on that day, you can't be sure.'
He was crying.
'...'
He still loves you.
For the first time in years, Sasuke cried.
From a distance, a crow was observing quietly. If you watched closely, you would've seen a tear falling from its eyes.
///
Before Naruto even reached the training ground he was supposed to meet Genma at, he could hear the bickerings of the supposed Kotetsu and Izumo, often dubbed as the twins. The blonde's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He told only Genma to meet him, so why did the twins come as well?
"Everybody walks with their left foot first! Only idiots like you start with your right."
"Are you discriminating against left handers?" Izumo snapped back at Kotetsu with a huff.
"I'm not! I'm just stating facts. Don't you think so Genma?"
"Please don't get me involved in this, Naruto's gonna get annoyed at you two." Genma heaved a long-suffering sigh, cursing his decision to let the twins tag along with him. Really, the man has just finished a week long mission, hoping to take a relaxing break. But with an energetic jinchurikki in his life, he lost all hope of even having a semblance of quiet.
"Come on! The Shodaime once said, 'Left is the answer to the mysteries of the universe.' I read it in 'The Rise Of Konoha'. There's proof right there!"
"I'm pretty sure he said right."
"There were no such line in that book, I read it at least thrice."
The trio turned towards the new voice.
"Naruto! You're here at last. I was getting so bored talking to Izumo." Kotetsu grinned, shooting a served-you-right glare at the said chunin. Izumo immediately let out an indignant growl.
Holding up a hand to signal them to stop bickering, Naruto quickly explained why he needed them-or more specifically Genma-here.
"So let's get started! You guys are gonna teach me all about senbons and Bukijutsu!" The overly cheerful tone was enough to drive Genma nuts, and here he was trying to teach a Anbu captain how to use senbons. What a wonderful day it was turning out to be. With a dry chuckle, Genma resigned to his fate.
After many senbons, yelps of pain, destroyed trees and annoyed jinchurikkis, at last it was time to meet Guy and his genins. Naruto wiped out his mask from a scroll before shunshining together with Izumo and Kotetsu to where the genins were waiting. Seeing that all three of them, excluding Guy was here, Naruto decided to introduce himself and the twins he brought with him. Genma had left long ago, finally getting his well deserved rest. The blonde quickly introduced himself and the twins to the genin before getting started on their training.
"Alright. From what I know, Neji and Lee are martial artist, skill in close range combats. Ten-Ten is a mid-ranged fighter, mainly using Bukijutsu. Am I correct so far?" The Genin nodded at Naruto, "Good. Now, Lee and Neji comes with me. You guys will be learning about Senbons. Senbons are good tools to back you up, especially since both of you are close combat fighters. It'll provide you with a good distraction to retreat, if you are skilled enough you can even paralyse the enemy or fake a death. There are many ways to utilise Senbons, so ill get you started now."
Naruto sighed in relief when Kotetsu and Izumo took over the explanations, so that he could concentrate on Ten-Ten.
Once Naruto told Ten-Ten to attack him with everything she's got, the first thought that appeared in her mind was, "He's hot." Ten-Ten was a teenager with raging hormones, the boys on her team was either green, too green or girly. Not saying their ugly but, well not her type. But this young man standing in front of her is breathtaking, mysterious. But it might just be the mask.
"Well? Are you gonna begin?"
Snapping away from her shameless staring, Ten-Ten went back to her aspiring-shinobi-mood. Throwing around a rough calculation, she leapt back in preparation for her attack.
Ten-Ten knew that she was fucked when Naruto deflected all her attack without breaking a sweat. At the same time, her interest towards him grew. He was strong, he was cool. Basically, Ten-Ten was crushing on him, like really really crushing. The last time this happened was when her cousin visited her 7 years ago. But all this aside, Naruto was standing opposite of Ten-Ten, looking very unamused.
Shit shit shit. He's gonna hate me for being so weak. Shit shit shit-
Her line of self depressing thoughts was cut off when Naruto cleared his throat.
"Well, I wasn't expecting much but this is worse than I thought. You, are going to go through hell so that you can be ready by the time Chunin exams come. Prepare yourself."
Well that means that I can spend more time with him yay! But what if he hates me more and more? Shit. But, spending time with him should make him like me. No! He's gonna hate me. Shit shit shit shit-
///
Sasuke stayed in the training ground standing, till he grew tired and sat down right in the middle of it. His brain told him to leave, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. And that was how Naruto found Sasuke when he arrived at that training ground that he always went to when he remembered Itachi. Wordlessly, he walked towards Sasuke and sat down beside him. Sasuke lifted his eyes and stared surprised at the blonde. When Naruto didn't say anything, Sasuke turned his eyes back to the ground. But this time, a small smile painted his lips.
_______________________________________
I have a question. Should I do
Naruto and Ten-Ten pairing? But the idea of Ten-Ten with Lee entices me, plus there will be a male oc coming up around the chunin exams period.
Naruto x Ten-Ten?
Ten-Ten x Lee?
Naruto x oc?