Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Sasuke had arrived at an obnoxiously early time to the academy.  The sun was glaring in his face and his only savior from the long-lasting heat wave was an occasional cloud that would cast a shadow over his eyes.  His bag was placed next to his feet under the desk, holding most of his ninja tools.  Sasuke kept his foot on it to protect his coveted belongings from being snatched by grabby hands hoping to dig up some dirt on him.  

He closed his eyes to shield them from the blaring sun, linking his fingers together under his chin.  His forehead was itching with the new regulation headband even though the cloth was surely bought from high class merchants.  He wasn’t used to the feeling of something resting on his head.  A sheen of sweat gathered under the silky material, making him further uncomfortable.

He ran his tongue over the slick bone of his teeth, feeling as if something was filled at the back of his throat.  And was there something caught between his teeth? Sasuke fought the urge to brush his teeth again.  He had already done so three times just today.  Once before his diminutive breakfast, having not been able to force much down, once after, and then once when he went to the bathroom on his way to class.

His mouth was clean. 

His mouth was spotless and nothing was in his teeth.  (He couldn’t any taste blood,) 

He gladly let himself become distracted as Chouji Akimichi pranced into the room, proud to be wearing his brand new leaf headband.  His classmate waved shyly at him.  Sasuke blinked in response, giving a tilt of his head back in acknowledgment.  This was as far as their interaction ever went.  The kindred boy then sat down about three rows behind him, his giddy, yet gentle smile never wavering. 

Sasuke could feel how clean his teeth were.  Sasuke’s mouth, however, needed to be drowned in mouthwash and toothpaste and mints.  He swallowed, feeling a lump form in the back of his throat.  His pulse beat sporadically and hard enough Sasuke convinced himself Akimichi could hear it. 

He resisted the urge to bounce his leg as more students filed in, some chatting lazily and others exuberantly.  A more notable appearance was Hinata Hyuga, which showed that the girl managed to pass through the exams.  He had noticed that she always seemed to scrape by one way or another, never distinguished nor overlooked, just there as if her presence was naturally expected.  Across from him and up a few rows she was fidgeting and studying her fingers intently. 

The next kid that bounced in he wasn’t expecting, having assumed he had failed the exams due to his rather dramatic exit from before. Naruto Uzamaki had practically jumped out the window, looking close to tears after entering the examination room with Iruka.  Sasuke had left the celebration of passing the exams early since he had no one to cheer him on anymore, so he hadn’t seen any of the other graduates.  He guessed that Naruto did something for extra credit and weaseled his way through. 

The blonde boy startled him by plopping down on the bench he was perched on.  Naruto looked rather unperturbed by his choice of seating, in fact the kid looked downright relaxed.  He was grinning and laughing at something in a familiarly mischievous way.  He and Naruto went way back, but it kind of felt as if Naruto was crossing an invisible boundary between them by sitting next to him in class. They could be all sorts of civil outside of the academy, but in these walls, they were nothing but competitive classmates. That’s how it’d always been. Which, he was fine with. A part of him actually preferred the solitude. It was easy.

It soon became clear he wasn’t the only one who had thought Naruto failed, because Shikamaru, a boy so lazy it was a wonder he passed at all, faltered in his steps as he passed Sasuke’s chosen desk. 

The Nara raised a confused hand.  “Ngh?  What are you doing here Naruto?  This isn’t for dropouts.  You can’t be here unless you graduate.” The boy pointed out, looking at Naruto as if he had done something particularly stupid and foolish.  Sasuke winced, knowing Naruto to be quite the spitfire, especially in the morning. Sasuke, in comparison, liked calm mornings. And he never liked shouting.

Naruto jumped on the chance to prove the genius Nara wrong.  “Oh yeah?  Do you see this do you see this?” he repeated himself, jabbing a finger at his finely polished forehead protector.  “Open your eyes Shikamaru it’s a regulation headband.”

Sasuke actually did a double take at that one.  As far as he could tell, Naruto’s vocabulary was not quite up to par with most of the seven year olds Sasuke knew, let alone immense enough to use the word regulation in a sentence.  He even managed to use the word correctly. Sasuke couldn’t help but give his own influence the credit for Naruto’s speech improvement.

The excited blonde went on.  “We’re going to be training together.  How do you like that?” Naruto’s shiny smile never stopped reflecting the sun that was still beating down onto Sasuke through the classroom’s large window.  He grew bored of watching them and decided suffering through the blaring light wasn’t worth it.  He closed his eyes once more, resisting the urge to scoff as Naruto went on cockily. 

Sasuke twitched when he heard storming footsteps racing down the hall.  He assumed that some kids were just racing here or something, but you could never be too cautious. For all he was aware there could be some kind of emergency. His eyes flew open and he grew alert. Stiffening in his seat, he began watching the door attentively.  His lip curled however when Haruno and Yamanaka barged through the sliding door rambunctiously.  He had been right, other kids just running in the hall.  They were shrieking about having absolutely gotten here first. The two had probably raced then. Sasuke winced. He remembered a time when those two had actually been friends. His life had been simpler then.

“—My toe was at least a tenth of an inch ahead—“

Sasuke clenched his eyes shut now, wanting to smack his hands over his ears.  Why were they so loud?  Escaping to the bathroom to brush his teeth was sounding better and better each minute. 

Suddenly their fighting cut off as who he identified to be Haruno burst into a fit of giggles.  That meant trouble.  He hoped she didn’t bring him more chocolate, he was highly lactose intolerant.  The only problem was, when he tried to tell her this fact, she got really disheartened that he didn’t like her gift.  Sasuke learned to just accept the chocolate and give it Uzamaki afterwards.  Maybe that was why Uzamaki was sitting next to him? Sasuke gave him chocolate so he felt obligated to talk to him or something? He hoped that wasn’t the case; Sasuke wasn’t trying to force his friendship on anyone.

“Hi Sakura what’s up—“ Uzamaki began, sounding as if he were standing up because of the snapping footsteps. Sasuke twitched but didn’t open his sore eyes to face the sun, not deeming the situation alarming enough for his full attention. 

“Move it!” Haruno shrieked, cutting Uzamaki off.

The clatter that followed forced him to drag his eyes back open, despite every instinct in his body telling him that was exactly what he shouldn’t be doing. 

Uzamaki was curled on the floor, rubbing his head dolefully.  Haruno had a sweet, innocent smile on her face when she addressed him even though her heel was pressing into the ribs of the boy on the floor. Sasuke resisted the urge to forcefully remove her offending foot from Uzamaki’s body. The deadlast was by no means his favorite person, but Sasuke had principles involving unnecessary violence.

“Ah- Good morning Sasuke,” she greeted, clasping her hands together in between her cleavage.  Sasuke watched her warily, eyebrows knitting together.  “Mind if I sit next to you?” Sugar oozed from her voice, melting and bubbling in a way that made Sasuke resist the urge to flip the finger.  He kept his fingers laced under his chin, noting that where there once was a red ribbon on her head now lay her ninja headband.  Before he was going to be forced by social standards to answer her ‘polite inquiry’, the Yamanaka growled her way over joining the rest of the intruders of his personal bubble. 

“Back off forehead!  I’m sitting next to Sasuke!”

Sasuke thought both of those ideas sounded awful.  Did he not get a say so?  If he sat next to them, they would pet his hair and get way more flirtatious than he could handle.  Last time Yamanaka even got daring enough to roam her hand up his thigh, which resulted in a panic attack in the communal bathroom. 

How did his teeth get so dirty already so fast?  Mouth wash.  That’s what he needed. 

They began hissing at each other, which caused the rest of the female population to gather around as well.  Poor Uzamaki was still on the floor, dodging the girls’ frustrated feet.  Sasuke wanted to go back to the time when thinking girls were ‘icky’ was socially acceptable. 

“Actually I got here before either of you—“ Another girl Sasuke vaguely recognized countered.

“SO did I, I’m sitting next to Sasuke—“

“NO I AM—“ More and more girls gathered around, crowding the table until at least six or seven of them were all arguing back and forth. Sakura and Ino were the loudest of them all, shrieking at each other with everything they had.

Why did it even matter who got here first?  Sasuke stopped the growl that clawed its way to his throat and turned away from the scene they were causing.  Girls were clueless.  Couldn’t they catch the hint he wasn’t interested in a relationship?

Teeth.  His mouth was dirty.  His lips were chapped from how excessively he had been scrubbing and cleaning but it didn’t matter. 

“Hm?” Sasuke jumped when Uzamaki landed in front of him on the desk.  He was squatting, arms resting on his knees; his face was just mere inches from Sasuke’s.  He was sure panic danced in his eyes for a brief moment; he calmed his quickening breath.  Their forehead protectors clinked together. 

He couldn’t control his breathing as his pulse was quick to stop all together.  The only thing he could do was glower at his assailant whilst waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

The girls’ screams weren’t helping his current dilemma.  Hopelessly, he tried to take a breath, but only ended up releasing more of the oxygen he had left.  His mind fought with his body, blood surging to his mouth from how hard he was biting at his cheek.  Everything fogged up, sounds slurred together. 

He didn’t think about why he was like this.  That was triggering in a whole other sense.

“Naruto!!  Get away from Sasuke!!”

Their words were static in the background.  His eyes could only train fearfully at the idiot’s next move.  He was completely paralyzed in terror.

Useless.  Weak.  Defenseless.  Stupid.

He wasn’t sure how, but his own voice quickly morphed into Itachi’s jeering taunts.  His brothers cruel words echoes around as a low growl slipped out of (Naruto, it was just Uzamaki not his brother-) what his mind kept telling him was another’s mouth. 

He knew what happened next.  He told himself It wouldn’t happen.  Naruto didn’t even roll that way. 

He tried to tell himself just to knock him over, to move because goddammit he was stronger than this, but his mind was getting overwhelmed by Itachi and all the hell that came with him. 

Naruto inched closer, his eyes studying him.  Sasuke wished he would back away, but held his ground (And his breath, breathe you stupid piece of shit).  Itachi’s voice continued whispering criticism in his mind. 

A literal uproar erupted from the girls, kicking Sasuke’s brain into further panic.  Their screams were too much.  Everything was too much and there was his brain telling him to brush his teeth again—

Sasuke froze.  Time froze.  His eyes burned as he watched Naruto fall forward, shock on his face. 

Sasuke couldn’t handle this.  He had to get out.  He had to move.  He wasn’t defenseless. Why did it appear that Uzamaki was falling in slow motion? Why did it seem he was moving so deliberately when it was clear he was falling?

But of course he was immobile, too afraid to get his muscles to start obeying him once more. He couldn’t stop that and he couldn’t stop Naruto now. 

Something slid down his throat and it was enough to shock Sasuke’s body into moving and breathing again.  A distant voice informed him that it had been a tongue, but nothing in Sasuke was willing to admit it.   He was jerking away and coughing, body panicking for real now as it waited for the inevitable pain that followed. 

Sasuke shook himself off, he should be over this by now...it’d been years.  Ita- That man wasn’t here.  He wasn’t able to harm him.   His parents were long since buried underground. 

But Itachi wasn’t.  He was out there and Sasuke wouldn’t be safe until the lowly excuse for a human being took his last breath.

Sasuke gagged once his senses came back, wondering with sick shock what the hell Naruto had ate to taste that bad.  Fuck; he just wondered what Uzamaki Naruto ate to taste bad. 

His life would never be the same. 

Sasuke forced down every emotion, every panic driven instinct in his body and choked out a small and irate, “I’ll get you Naruto...”

Oh and he would.  When the fucker least expected it. 

“AHHHHHH!!!”

Haruno’s scream pierced the thick tension hanging over the classroom.

Sasuke nearly had forgotten they had an audience.  He would be lying though if he said this was the most humiliating thing he’d ever experienced. 

Itachi could be a sadist when he wanted to.

Sasuke shivered and reminded himself not to think that way because everything was wonderful and happy and most of all nothing bad was happening. 

What a bunch of therapeutic bullshit that was.  He couldn’t even think his own brothers name without—

He’s not your brother.  Never was, really.  Sasuke wished he could choke Naruto out.  While today hadn’t been spectacular, Naruto had unlocked a box of dark secrets in the back of his mind Sasuke knew had an absurd amount of keys that anyone had access to with simple words and actions. 

Even a kiss would make Sasuke need to—

Brush his teeth.  Mouth wash and floss. 

Sasuke’s quality of day (and respect for Haruno) skyrocketed when Naruto peeked over to look at Sasuke’s array of admirers with a mumble of, “Danger...”

For a group of fangirls, they could let out an impressive amount of killer intent when the situation arose.  Sasuke wasn’t too fond of killer intent himself, but that was beside the point. It wasn’t strong enough to have Sasuke trembling in fear, though, but in his more fragile state of mind it was enough to have him curling away from the group of girls.

All of the previous pity Sasuke had for Naruto getting picked on by the females had completely vanished.  Sasuke almost wanted to give them a salute and yell something like, “Leave no survivors!”

The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on Sasuke.  If that man hadn’t left him alive then...

Sasuke distracted himself by watching the group of annoying girls crowd around Naruto.  He looked over at Hyuga and saw her flushed with anger in her cheeks.  Then to Nara who looked about ready to actually get up for once and help.

Even Kiba looked sympathetic. 

Sasuke’s vindictive feelings wavered.  Naruto hadn’t even meant to.  Plus, Sasuke wouldn’t be mad if he hadn’t been triggered.  It was his own fault for not telling people more about his home life.  If they knew, then everyone would be more careful not to send him into a crazy spiral. 

Naruto hadn’t had much of a chance against so many girls he didn’t want to hurt in the first place.  He could see the exhaustion on their teachers face when he saw the large bruises covering Naruto’s cheeks once he had arrived in the room.  The man kept quiet about it though, beginning his speech wearing a stern and professional expression to guard his actual emotions. 

“As of today you are all ninjas.  To get here you faced difficult trials and hardships.” Iruka began, his arms coiled behind his back.  “That’s nothing.  What comes next will be far more difficult.”

Sasuke had never been more indirectly insulted in his life (mostly because people usually insulted him straight to his face).  Nothing?  He had faced nothing?  Ohohoho. 

The area of Konoha was around seventy-four kilometers.  The academy was at one end of Konoha, and the Uchiha Compound another.  Sasuke, just to get to school, had to walk more than most five year olds did in a month...unsupervised. 

That was just the tip of the mountain (fucking mountain, not iceberg) of ‘hardships’ he had gone through to graduate this academy.  It was not nothing. But now Sasuke’s feelings were warring against each other and he was wondering if it really hadn’t been that much work to graduate; he blamed Iruka for putting the idea in his mind.

“Now you are only genin, first level ninjas.  All the genin will be grouped into a three man squad.  Each squad will be led by a jonin, an elite ninja.”

Their sensei continued to review the inner workings of the hidden villages. 

Sakura, who somehow managed to earn the seat beside him, perked up at this ‘new found’ information.  Sasuke thought the whole three man squad fiasco was common knowledge.  But then again, Sakura was civilian born. 

Sasuke knew this system had much controversy.  Many ninja thought having teammates given to prodigies would only slow down their development as shinobi. 

Iruka explained how the squads were chosen as evenly as possible; that each of the children in this room were picked to create the most functional team they could, solely based on their abilities and potential.  He assured everyone the team choosing was not biased, hand-picked by the third hokage himself. 

Sasuke shifted in a bit of nervous excitement.  The team choosings would basically decide who he was going to be spending the rest of his years to come with. 

“I will now announce the squads!”

Drama king. 

He called out name after name, going with easy tells like completely civilian born teams.  Sasuke guaranteed they wouldn’t make it passed genin. 

“Squad seven!” Iruka announced this team name with far more vigor than the rest.  Sasuke watched him carefully, wondering why the man seemed excited about this team out of all of them he’d already droned on about. 

“Naruto Uzamaki!”

Sasuke got his answer quick.  His sensei always had favored the knucklehead. 

“Sakura Haruno!”

Beside him, Sakura wilted like a dehydrated flower.  Her shoulders sagged as Uzamaki cheered loudly in wonderment.  Sasuke once again question how the girl had managed to get the seat beside him out of all of the girls, and out of every boy in class why Uzamaki was sitting next to him.

What a team Uzamaki and Haruno would make.  He felt bad for the poor guy who was going to be chosen for their last member.  Let’s see, based on the way they were going they were choosing homogenous teams.  Naruto was dead last, Sakura a civilian, so most likely they would be getting their next failure member—

“And Sasuke Uchiha!”

Sakura cheered loudly as Naruto made a point to complain. 

Why was he on a team with a bunch of weak, hopeless, no-future losers?  Great, now Iruka proved to him once more he was never going to succeed as a ninja.  His father would’ve beaten him black and blue for this.  They probably got a shit teacher to.  Team left overs; team you-were-so-awful-and-annoying-we-didn’t-know-what-to-do-with-you. 

Sasuke couldn’t wait to meet their sensei.  He was going to suffer along with Sasuke no matter what.  Suffer.  Die in volcanic lava. 

He was still in a state of shock about the whole team choosings, the reality of this situation would kick in later when he wasn’t quelling the urge to murder his mouth with a toothbrush. 

“Next, squad eight, Hinata Hyuga!”

Sasuke wished that it was Hyuga on his team rather than Haruno.  She was too shy to make any...inappropriate advances on him.  The girl let out a quiet, “Yes, sir,” which made him want to demand the teams be switched.  She was also respectful too.  Sasuke cursed his luck, or lack thereof. 

“Kiba Inuzuka!”

The boy let out a low chuckle, clearly pleased with his team selection...lucky bastard.

“Shino Aburame!”

That was going to be a powerful team; trackers, most likely.  It would also boon clan alliances as well, having all of their heirs be put on the same genin team. 

Beside him (no seriously, how did Sakura get there?), the more disrespectful of students began chatting.  Haruno taunted Yamanaka about having made it onto his team, forcing a growl out of the blonde’s throat.  He heard Nara complain moodily, “I don’t get it, what do you see in a guy like that?  He’s not so special.”

Sasuke sunk further into his chair.  He wouldn’t want the Nara on his team.  Downright rude, didn’t he see that Sasuke was right here?

“You are so beyond clueless Shikamaru!  Don’t you get it?” Ino cawed, frustrated.

“No I don’t get it, ‘cause I’m not a girl.”

The two bickered back and forth.  Sasuke wondered what the Nara’s deal was.  Maybe he liked Yamanaka and was jealous or something.  Or perhaps, he was just genuinely curious what the girls all saw in him.  If that were the case, Sasuke shared his inquisitiveness on why most girls tripped over themselves to even talk to him.

“You are so full of yourself.  Jealousy is a terrible thing.  I’d hate to be on your squad.” Yamanaka shot back.  Sasuke nearly scoffed.  She had clearly gotten the jealously vibe as well. 

“Now squad ten; Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara,”

Yamanaka cried out indignantly, while the Nara smirked with a mirthful laugh.  “Did you say something about hating to be on my squad?”

“—And Chouji Akimichi!” Iruka declared with finality. 

He laughed as karma attacked Yamanaka and she clutched her head.  He couldn’t help but turn around in his seat to smirk at her.  Usually, Sasuke didn’t engage in social interaction on purpose, but right now, he couldn’t resist. 

“Hey, at least your teammates got passing grades.  I’m stuck on the loser squad.  It’ll be a miracle if we make it through a week without killing each other first.” He teased.

Yamanaka looked startled at having his attention on her, almost enough that Sasuke wished he would’ve just kept his mouth shut.  But she wiped the look off of her face and groaned, giving him a weak smile.  Sasuke didn’t really hate Yamanaka.  He passed by her every day on his way to school, where she would offer him a black rose for mourning.  He would take it without protest, and nod in appreciation at her.  He always kept the rose in his bag, a constant sign of that he was grieving for the loss of his family.  After school, he would tuck the flowers away to the small shrine he built in his apartment for his mother. 

“Those are all the squads.” Iruka rushed the words out, already beginning to pick up his books, clearly hoping to get the hell out of answering all of his students’ protests.  Sasuke turned back around in his seat and watched Haruno glare daggers at Yamanaka.  Something about it, however, was off.  She seemed less upset that she had earned Sasuke’s attention and more upset that...Sasuke had earned Ino’s attention. Sasuke frowned.  Not once had she made a move to get in his way, but the whole time had been turned around in her seat with her attention entirely on Yamanaka.  That was oddly...suspicious.  He would have to keep a closer eye on Haruno. 

“Iruka-sensei, why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group with a slug like Sasuke!” Naruto was quick to jump up and point at him accusingly before Iruka could make his hasty escape. 

Sasuke found it odd that Sakura didn’t even react to Naruto’s insult directed at him.  Sasuke wondered if he should maybe defend his honor or something for being called a slug. But, it’s not the worst thing you could call him...so...

Iruka hummed, looking like he really was biting out the next words he spoke.  “Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students.” He sighed, pinching his nose.  “Naruto...You had the worst scores.  To create a...balanced group, we put the best student, with the worst student.  “

Sasuke’s eye twitched as the loser growled.  He was surprised that Iruka called him the best student, if albeit a bit indignantly.  Iruka had never particularly liked Sasuke.  He thought this might be due to Sasuke’s abhorrence to Mizuki-sensei.  Come to think of it...where was the guy...usually he was right...

Sasuke shook himself off.  He should be glad the disgusting man wasn’t here.  He distracted himself by getting a small dose of revenge on Naruto for the kiss-thing. 

“Just don’t get in my way,” Sasuke’s mouth twitched upward, “Loser.”

”Hey what did you say?!” Uzamaki hissed. 

Honestly, he couldn’t take his own shit?  Naruto called him worst names than loser all of the time.  He also constantly slurred at him as well.  Seriously what was with the bastard jibes?  He was aware he was an illegitimate child, no need to rub it in!  Dear old dad had done that enough.  He wouldn’t deny that the losers insults stung. Both a mixture of hurt and anger he drawled, “Hard of hearing?”

Sakura glanced between them.  “Knock it off Naruto, sit down!” she hissed.

“Ahem!”

Iruka’s attempt at control did nothing for any of the giggling children.  Nor did it make Naruto sit himself down from standing on the bench. 

“After lunch,” the sensei continued as if anyone but the behaved students were listening to him anymore, “You’ll meet your new Jounin instructors.  Until then...” his voice grew tight with exhaustion, “Class dismissed.”

Sasuke waited patiently for the class to file out.  Despite most people’s belief, Sasuke was an extremely patient person.  He used to wait hours at the door for his family to return home, his only companion school work he couldn’t quite grasp and of course their puppy. 

Sasuke shuddered to think what happened to that poor dog.  Itachi was ruthless enough to beat puppies on top of the rest of his shitty traits...not exactly surprising, he supposed, considering. 

Sasuke got up with his bag, nodded at Akimichi who grinned back through a potato chip, and shuffled through the doors. 

He headed out of the academy quietly, hoping to avoid his peers for as long as possible. His destination was close, which made for an easy escape. Sasuke pushed the door open to the restaurant that was beside the Academy and carefully closed it back so it wouldn’t make any unnecessarily loud noises that could alert one of the other kids he was eating here. He stepped through the round wooden entryway and greeted the waitress.  He opened up his bag for the plain, dark blue wallet he owned, and got out six dollars.  He would be given two quarters and one dime back, like always. 

He told Sya, the woman at the counter, that he wished for a rice dumpling.  She efficiently got to work packing it together. 

This was the restaurant his mother used to work at for extra money when she was still dirt poor.  Before she got into another kind of business and then married Fugaku. 

The women here all spoke highly of Mikoto, telling him stories of her youth and grace.  His mother always had been graceful, more so than anyone he’d ever met so far, exceeding even Itachi’s elegance in his entirely unbiased opinion. 

He was guided up to the second floor, where the space was mostly emptied.  Along the way the waitress chatted with him about team selection, which they knew about because of his frequency here, and how now he would be on the road to becoming a true shinobi.  He only whined a little when talking about who he was stuck with as teammates. 

He was given a bag with three wrapped dumplings.  They weren’t the most expensive, but Sasuke still treasured them. 

He leaned against the window frame, looking outside at the academy for what might very well be the last time as a student.  He took a small bite of the rice ball and sighed.  He would get to brush his teeth after his meal.  Even if he liked the rice dumplings, he still didn’t have much of an appetite.  He forced the food down anyway. 

He heard a creak behind him a grunted in surprise. It happened quickly; the flapping window swung downward forcing him to jump back and narrowly dodge getting hit on the forehead. Something orange slunk through the open window that he identified as Uzamaki. 

“Naruto!” He growled in mild surprise, shoving the annoying blonde away from him.  His bag was across the room, where all of his ninja weapons were.  He only had the small pouch that was on him now to work with.   

What Sasuke wasn’t expecting, however, were the very solid and highly illegal shadow clones that came crashing down onto him from all sides.  In the blink of an eye, he was throwing what he had thought were just illusions off of him, but caught by surprise that it was no use to treat them as mind tricks. 

He ended up on the floor, hands tied securely behind his back and breathing ragged. 

He saw Naruto cast a hinge and jump out the window with a confident smirk.  Sasuke briefly caught sight of the Uchiha crest now on his back. 

Sasuke banged his head against the floorboards.  He was going to kill that stinking brat.  Well...maim or seriously injure.  Sasuke didn’t kill.  Well...he didn’t maim or seriously injure either...some ninja he would be...or is, now.  Sasuke got a bad taste in his mouth at the reminder he was officially a ninja.

Ducktape was loosely pinned crisscross style along his mouth, restricting him from calling for help.  He hissed.  Stupid, Sasuke chided himself. He had let his guard down.  In class, the damn idiot couldn’t even do a single replication so Sasuke hadn’t considered he had much to worry about; so much for not underestimating his enemy’s abilities. 

How could Uzamaki combine the replacement jutsu he was using with the shadow clone jutsu?  He had performed them both at the same time!  Where did all of that chakra come from?  And the focus! 

Sasuke growled under his breath, startled when the door swung open to reveal Miatsu, one of the waitresses from before. 

She shrieked and dropped the tea platter she was bringing in. 

“Sasuke!  How did—what?”

Her heeled footsteps clattered on the wooden floorboards towards him. Sasuke felt her long nails tear the ducktape off of his mouth, leaving a sticking sensation around his lips.  He tried not to shiver in disgust at having someone else’s hands on him. 

Could I brush my teeth now, please? He begged to no one in particular.

He let out a relieved breath at having the tape off though, despite that he had to have another person’s hand on his mouth to get it off.  He had felt completely suffocated from the ducktape.  Fear had rushed inside of him the moment Naruto jumped him, and Sasuke had already been incredibly close to an episode. 

She sat him up as he rubbed his sore lips together, untying his bound hands. 

“I was just bringing you some celebration tea—on the house!—and then, were you jumped?  I know there is a bunch of shady shinobi out there but isn’t this kind of excessive?” her dubious voice was light and airy, the kind of voice that you could tell laughed frequently and often changed tones for each expression she carried.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her ignorance to the shinobi lifestyle and smirked half-heartedly at her.  “It was just that annoying classmate I told you about playing another prank; nothing to be concerned over.” He assured her, doing his best to keep the frustration out of his voice. 

She let out a relieved, yet skeptical breath.  “Are you sure you’re doing alright?  Bullies like this are very serious.” Miatsu was bent over with her hands on her knees, looking down at him with pursed lips.  He felt slightly spiteful at hearing her call Uzamaki a bully.  He was a dweeb most of the time, not a bully. 

“I’m fine.” His tone was clipped. 

She bit her lip, sensing that he wasn’t compelled to discuss the subject, “If you say so...”

Sasuke curved his leg and stood, Miatsu following suit. 

“I should probably go find the loser.  This teammate of mine needs to know I’m not going to be a victim of his childish pranks.” Sasuke lightened the mood, not wanting to upset Miatsu with his irregularly snappish mood.

She gave him an encouraging smile.  “You go Sasuke!  Teammates are supposed to be on the same side!  Show ‘em who’s boss!” she gave him a light hearted punch in the shoulder, spinning around to pick up the tray on the floor.  Sasuke flinched only slightly.  Sometimes, even the waitresses forgot how much he hated to be touched. 

“And when you’re ready once more, I’ll have fresh celebration tea waiting right here for you!” she cheered, her arm flying up in a cheerleader pose.

“...Thanks.” Sasuke deigned her with a formal nod. 

She waved absently while she cleaned her dropped platter up off of the floor, getting back into the work headspace as he leisurely made his way back down the stairs. 

Sasuke walked along the areas pristine sidewalk, sniffing in annoyance.  Naruto could really be a pest sometimes.  Why did he always have to act so bratty?

Sasuke wheeled a corner, passing by a large shady tree and a bench, where his other teammate jumped up to greet him. Sasuke couldn’t believe he had run into the two people he was avoiding most. Although to be fair, Naruto had sought after him unexpectedly.

“Sasuke your back!” She beamed at him, “Don’t be so shy you bad boy!  Are you ready now?  You know mentally prepared?  Because I am, I mean I’m rearing to go!”

Sasuke winced, but remembered not to impulsively yell at her for not even doing anything.  He was having a bad day and shouldn’t let it out on the lonely girl.  She looked incredibly nervous standing there, like she would rather be anywhere else.  Her eyes kept glancing to him and back to her shoes, mouth parted. 

Something was going on with her. It wasn’t his business however, so he restricted himself from prying.

“H-hey wait a minute?” She questioned.

Sasuke turned his head slightly, remembering he hadn’t answered any of her peculiar questions and just kept walking.  Was she talking about being ready to meet their sensei?  He wasn’t shy, just wanted some lunch.  Maybe it wasn’t normal to eat lunch outside of the academy grounds?

Sasuke thought back to the restaurant and grew frustrated all over again.  He wondered if Sakura had any idea of his target’s whereabouts. 

“Where’s Naruto?” he interrogated her. 

“Oh, see, there you go, changing the subject again!” she stumbled, but decided to carry on the conversation, “Anyway Naruto just picks fights with you!” she stamped her foot.  “You know why he’s so annoying?  Cause he wasn’t raised right!”

Sasuke listened with only one ear, glancing around in search of his soon to be victim. Growing up with Uchiha had taught him plenty; you didn’t always have to fight with fists to largely impact your opponent. Sasuke was going to tear Uzamaki down without even having to raise a hand against him. That is, if he could find the little imp...

“He doesn’t have a mother or father, no one to teach him right from wrong!  Think about it, he just does whatever comes into his head!  If I did things like Naruto...forget it; I mean my parents would get mad and I’d get in trouble, so of course I don’t do it!  But if you don’t have parents to tell you how would you know?” she rambled on animatedly, rolling eyes and speaking like what she was saying was obvious. 

Sasuke’s eyes sharpened; little razing heathen.  How dare she try to pull something like that? It was plain rude. She was treating Naruto like he was some rogue ninja who actually caused harm to the village. All he did was pull some childish pranks!

“He’s selfish and bratty!  He’s all alone!” Sakura’s voice was growing more passionate with each statement.

Sasuke had taken enough.  With clenched fists he looked straight ahead, gritting his teeth.  “Alone.  Isolated.” He huffed.  Haruno needed to learn to respect and understand the feelings of those around her; she appeared to possess no empathy at all. Did she not think to put herself in Naruto’s shoes, imagine how it would feel to be insulted over and over and have your peers collectively think lowly of you? Sasuke couldn’t imagine how much pressure was building up inside of Uzamaki.

“Huh?” she paused in her rant, looking up at him through startled eyes.   

“It’s not about your parents scolding you.  You have no idea what it means to be alone.” He shook his head in astonishment.  How could she say those things when her life was so blessed? 

“W-why are you saying that?” she took a step away from him, sensing his foul mood. 

Sasuke had a great idea of what would hit the hardest.  He made a point to turn only his head and give her a glare that would send his father reeling should he have been here to see it.  “Because, you’re annoying,”

She inhaled sharply, looking pained.  Her face contorted in grief. 

Sasuke forced himself to turn away and continue at a much more controlled and forced slow pace.  He couldn’t apologize.  She wouldn’t learn if he apologized.  Sasuke walked in a blur, shoving his hands into his pockets.  A distinct pressure was pounding in his temples and eyes.  He thought it was only fiction that anger affected your health. 

He walked his back up into the academy building.  Today was supposed to be happy, a step towards his future as a ninja.  But, that was bullshit he supposed.  Nothing about being a ninja was happy.  It was walking a life of murder. 

Ninja’s were heartless.

The moment the sensei passed Sasuke the leaf headband they were simultaneously carving his heart out. 

Shinobi Rule 24: A ninja must never shed tears. 

Shinobi Rule 36: A ninja must not demonstrate mercy. 

Shinobi Rule 76: A ninja must never put themselves above the mission. 

Shinobi Rule 111: A ninja must never put loved ones above the mission. 

Shinobi Rule 300: A ninja must never put a comrade above mission success.  

The rules that spoke of a life of work and misery were all they were.  Has anyone ever met a happy seasoned shinobi?  No, he answered his silent question dishearteningly. 

Sasuke guessed the sensei weren’t the ones to cut out his heart.  No, the village didn’t get there first.  His family hadn’t let him live a day of joy, burning his heart to ash when he was merely an infant. 

His anger dwindled.  What did her thoughts matter anyway?  Soon, everyone in the academy would understand what losing someone felt like; the helplessness.  Soon, everyone in the academy would wish their hearts had been carved out so they didn’t have to feel the pain of the path they chose to walk on.  He would know.  He had seen it happen to so many other bright eyed youths.  Itachi hadn’t always been so ruthless... 

Sasuke’s head snapped up when his target could be seen rushing down the hallway, pausing in horror at seeing him here.  His feet stuttered to a halt, his eyes wide and panicked.

“Sasuke?!  How are you here—How did you get loose?!” he fired him with double questions, having not been able to process his thoughts over his own horror at  Sasuke ruining whatever weird thing the fiend was trying to get away with.

Sasuke scoffed.  He decided to mess with Uzamaki further than just his presence was doing.  He placed a cocky smirk onto his features.  “I used the escape jutsu.  No sweat it’s a very basic technique.” Sasuke withheld his laughter. He knew Uzamaki would take his explanation unquestionably. No such technique existed; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to effectively hold ninja in cells, they would just use some weird jutsu! Uzamaki didn’t need to know that, though.

Naruto grunted, indecisively looking for an escape route. 

Sasuke barreled on.  “Why’d you do that?” his eyebrows knitted together.  “Transform into me.” He clarified his question.  He felt as if he was missing something obvious. What did Sasuke have access to that Naruto didn’t? He understood ambushing Iruka and transforming into him, maybe to get a peek at some test results or who their sensei might meet, but he didn’t understand why Naruto would need to disguise himself as him.  

The boy squinted his eyes and began shouting at his normal volume.  “I thought it would be fun to try out some of my new moves on you SO I DID!” he exclaimed petulantly.

Without further enlightenment, Naruto leapt into action.  His hands formed a single seal and then solid clones were swarming him just like before in the restaurant.

“Agh!  The same technique again?” he complained, moving to defend himself.  He had forgotten his bag at the restaurant and would need to remember to pick it up when he came back for celebration tea.  He prayed that moment would come soon.  He couldn’t handle being around anymore bright eyed brats. 

Yea; tea sounded really nice right now. 

All the Naruto’s began shouting at him, yelling taunts and distractions. 

“Get ready Sasuke!”

He couldn’t quite tell what happened next, only that every single clone abruptly stopped in their high jumps and battle stances, leaning over to clutch at their stomachs.

“It’s back again!”

“It’s back again!”

“Hurry!”

“OOOH My stomach!”

“It’s back again!”

“Hurry!”

Sasuke felt his mouth drop open in amazement as the clones communicated with each other, talking on their own accord.  They all had clambered to the door Naruto had just come out of.  Sasuke noted that it was the communal bathroom.  Of course it was the place he had been wanting to go to brush his teeth and clean himself up. 

All of the clones began fighting over who got to go in first.  Sasuke wondered why the idiot didn’t just release the jutsu. 

He rubbed his forehead; he shoved his hands back into the safe confines of his pockets, still fingering a kunai knife.  Not that Sasuke was actually planning on using a knife on Uzamaki, but it comforted him to know the option was there if necessary. Naruto’s violent tendencies didn’t bother him as much as other peoples’ did, though, so he didn’t feel particularly threatened. Something about Naruto comforted him rather than terrified him. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint the reason but a part of Sasuke definitely enjoyed Uzamaki’s company.

“What a loser.” Right now though he wasn’t feeling too happy with Naruto; despite this Sasuke decided revenge wasn’t worth it.  At least right now it wasn’t.  He needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to get back at him properly.

Sasuke began heading back to class, his headache pounding more insistently against his eyes and temples.  He was upset with both of his teammates and their odd behaviors. They were acting like something else had happened that he was supposed to be aware about. Sasuke knew he exactly socially qualified to converse with his teammates without screwing something up, but he had imagined he would at least understand what he had done wrong. Sakura had apparently been waiting for him! How was he supposed to know that when he was trying his best to hide from her?

The walk was short and easy and soon Sasuke was back in the room with the rest of his classmates and Iruka-sensei.  Haruno came back in as well, looking subdued and sitting next to him stiffly.  The idiot followed and plopped down on the bench whilst holding his stomach protectively. 

Sasuke may have been harsh to Haruno, but he only spoke truth.  She needed to learn that she wasn’t all that special.  She was no better than Naruto in terms of personality or skill.  Just as annoying, just as innocent.  He was too smart to hope that she would suddenly have a huge moment of clarity, but he could hope that his words had sunk in a bit and she would keep that in mind the next time she wanted to scream at Naruto. 

Each team was warded off to an awaiting sensei that would walk into the room when called.  Squad seven was listed off but apparently their sensei was also a jerk face and turned out to be late, so he continued with the rest of the teams until everyone but the three of them were left in the classroom. 

Iruka gave out on waiting for the guy, giving a sheepish smile as he explained that he had a lot of other kids to take care of. 

By now, Naruto had busied himself with whining loudly about this mystery sensei of theirs’, pacing back and forth impatiently.  Sakura, even though she clearly didn’t want to admit it was ticked off as well.  Her lips were pursed in displeasure and she seemed to be restraining herself from screaming at the top of her lungs at Naruto’s insistent tapping and thumping on things. 

When the boy began to open the door every fifteen seconds, looking around as if their sensei would just magically appear out of thin air, Haruno was clearly done. 

“Naruto!  Just sit down!” she groaned, contrarily standing up from her own sitting position to scold him.

Uzamaki turned his head a little to glance her way before continuing to stare down the hall.  “I don’t want to!  How come our teacher’s the only one that’s late?  I’m ready to rule!  Believe it!”

Sasuke quelled the urge to roll his eyes, sitting indolently on the bench right of Sakura.  The ninja headband was really beginning to become irksome, as were the cuffs on his forearms; those were more familiar though, but just as necessary.

“The other groups already met their new teachers an’ took off on some adventure or something and Iruka-sensei’s gone to!” Uzamaki yelped, his loud volume nearly making Sasuke wince. Uzamaki turned round abruptly to give them a glare as if Team Seven getting the shitty teacher was their fault. 

Who knows, maybe it was.  Everything seemed to be Sasuke’s fault. 

He had to stop with the negativity. 

Sakura closed her eyes glumly, “We know, okay?” her shoulders sagged from the authoritative posture she had taken up whilst trying to mother Naruto.

Sasuke heard a thump, followed by a couple of clanks and pings.  “Hey!  W-what are you doing!?” Haruno hissed. 

His eyes shifted to the idiot.  He was cackling while placing an eraser in between the sliding door.  Sasuke imagined that would leave whoever was hit with it pretty disoriented, considering the weight.  But, of course, a Jounin wouldn’t be tricked by something as cheap as that. 

“Naruto...” Sakura began, but was cut off by an extremely proud Uzamaki.   

“That’s what he gets for coming late!  Surrr-prise!” he made an exploding motion with his hands to emphasize his point.

Sakura’s lip was quirking up as she examined the eraser.  She grinned with both of her hands clutched towards her chest.  “Okay, okay, I do think he totally deserves it!” she replied giddily.  She jumped up from her bench, swinging her legs. 

Naruto whooped in response. 

Sasuke glared at the desk, shaking his head.  How was he put on such an immature team? Hyuga Hinata wouldn’t have gotten their teacher mad at them. Maybe he could convince them to take it down before their sensei gets a bad impression of them. “Our teacher’s a Jounin, an elite ninja.  You think he’d fall for that?” Sasuke snapped, pursing his lips. Sakura’s eyes sharpened to him, but she turned away with her hands on her hips. She suddenly froze, as the door slid open by a gloved hand. 

Her eyes were eager as she waited for the eraser to drop, combined with a bit of hesitancy now that he pointed out that the person they were playing a prank on was Jounin. 

A silver head poked through the door, followed by a hollow and resounding smack. 

Sasuke’s head thumped against the desk in agitation.  There was no fucking way they were left with this guy. Anyone could have dodged that eraser.

Silence reigned as the Jounin instructor straightened up.  Sasuke peeked through his bangs with his head resting on the desk to examine him.  The clothes were standard, all but the fingerless gloves and long turtleneck he wore.  His ninja headband was in the most common position, resting on his forehead only it was slanted just enough to cover his right eye.  The most peculiar look about him, however, was the mask that was pulled snugly up and over the bridge of his nose. 

The tense silence was broken by Naruto pointing a shaking finger up to the guy.  Sakura glanced at him with a screwed up face, her own eyes filled with mischievousness.

Uzamaki broke into obnoxious laughter.  Haruno couldn’t hold it in either.  She leaned over onto Naruto’s shoulder giggling with him excitedly.  Her lips were trying to suppress the sounds but she quickly gave up and started laughing in earnest, throwing her head back and clutching her stomach.

He turned to the deadpan look on the guy’s oddly expressive masked face as he walked into the room, a smirk stretching over Sasuke’s own features. 

Sasuke pushed his face back into the desk and chuckled in hysteria along with them.  There was no way this was actually happening.  No competent Jounin would fall for that.  Hell, Sasuke wouldn’t have fallen for that! His shoulders began shaking with laughter.

“I got him!  He totally fell for it!!” Naruto cried, earning another loud snort from Sakura. 

Sasuke didn’t bother to look up, he could imagine the way their new instructors face was twisted behind the mask without seeing him. 

“I-I’m sorry, sensei!  I told him not to do it but he wouldn’t—“ Sakura couldn’t get the apology out from her own laughter and shaky hands raised halfheartedly in a calming motion. 

Sasuke groaned waving an exhausted hand at what he assumed was the direction of their sensei in greeting.  He grunted tiredly as he propped his chin up onto one hand, his head tilting curiously while he watched the silent man pick up the eraser that had bonked him in the head moments before. 

Masked guy rested a hand on his chin, letting out a thoughtful hum.  “How can I put this?  My first impression of this group...”

His voice turned uncaring and lazy.  “You’re a bunch of idiots.”

Sakura groaned loudly while slumping her torso in defeat.  Naruto however merely smacked himself in the head, not looking all too surprised. 

Sasuke just continued to stare at the intimidating figure attentively, feeling an odd sense of familiarity about him he couldn’t quite place. 

Without further explanation, the masked guy turned around, walking slowly and shifting his weight to each hip with every step.  Sasuke looked around awkwardly, unsure. 

Sasuke was struck with the need to brush his teeth again, realizing he hadn’t gotten to do it after his small meal. 

The guy walked a couple more steps before turning around, “Well? Are you coming?” he prompted.

Haruno’s lips parted in surprised before she rushed around to gather her things, dutifully following after him.  Naruto bounced over to him, a cocky swagger to his step, obviously still pleased with the eraser stunt. 

Sasuke got up and stiffly strode over to them. 

They were led down the hallway, Sakura hissing at Naruto to stop stepping on her shoes or dress every once in a while.  The previous laid back chatter they had was gone with the presence of an unfamiliar figure.  Sasuke still wasn’t entirely comfortable around his classmates and he had known them for years so it wasn’t a surprise he was awkward around a stranger but he still felt he would’ve been more relaxed if they had received a different, less menacing sensei. 

The man swung open a door, revealing a long stair case.  Raising an eyebrow at them he mumbled expectantly, “Go on.” Sasuke obediently walked up the steps first, going a bit faster than necessary feeling awkward about both not knowing where he was going and having a stranger address him directly. 

They were taken to the roof of the academy, where the wind was a bit chilly but the sun still blazed both on his skin and eyes.  He walked along the stone floors and under the large arches of the roof, pausing to turn around and stare expectantly at the opening he came through with squinted eyes. 

Sakura hopped out, her brow ticking from Naruto’s clumsy behavior.  Naruto followed suit and then they all walked over to where he had stopped. 

The new guy climbed out gracefully, giving them an assertive crinkle of his eye.  “Go on, sit,”

He strode passed them and all the way across the roof, leaned back against the railing that surrounded them expectantly. 

Sakura got down on her butt, maneuvering her dress around her and bringing her knees close to her chest.  Naruto plopped down and Sasuke crisscrossed his legs as he made himself comfortable.  His aching back was still straight though, his posture perfect from the lessons his family drilled into him. 

After a long moment of silence where each of them avoided each other’s eyes, their sensei spoke up.  “Alright, why don’t you introduce yourselves...one at a time,” The man’s voice was even frightening, holding a hard edge to it Sasuke couldn’t explain.  He sounded bored by the speed of his speech, but his tone of voice was carefully assessing.

“Introduce ourselves?” Sakura asked, taken aback by the suggestion.  “Well...” she glanced at them.  “What are we supposed to say?”

He spread his arms with a shrug.  “Things you like...things you hate...dreams for the future...hobbies?  Things like that.” He crossed his arms at the end of his spiel. 

“Why don’t you tell us stuff first?  I mean, before we talk tell us about you so we can see how its s’pposed to work.” Naruto responded excitedly. If Sasuke had said the same thing it might come off as passive aggressive, but when most things are from Naruto they gain this certain veil of innocence.

“Me?” The guy looked surprised, pointing a finger at himself.  All of them nodded.  Sasuke himself wanted to see how the introduction worked. He may know Sakura and Naruto already, but he didn’t know too much about their personal lives, he just knew how they behaved.

“I am Kakashi Hatake.  Things I like and things I hate...I don’t feel like telling you that.  My dreams for the future, never really thought about it.  As for my hobbies...” He looked his lone eye up to the sky, “I have lots of hobbies.”

Sakura turned to Naruto, acting as if their new sensei- Hatake Kakashi- wasn’t there.  “Well that was totally useless all he really told us was his name.”

Naruto nodded in annoyance back at her. Sasuke pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. Even Hatake Kakashi’s name wrung a bell somewhere in him. He just knew that he and Hatake had met before or, or something! He felt like he had seen everything Hatake was doing...

“Okay, your turn.” He addressed the group as a whole. Sasuke was more focused on the fact his tone of his voice still hadn’t changed from nonchalant and uncaring once. 

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. 

When none of them volunteered to step up, the guy stopped leaning against the rail and stood straight, more authoritative.  “You on the right; you first,” he declared, flipping is hand in Naruto’s direction. 

Naruto tilted his headband excitedly.  “Believe it.  I’m Naruto Uzamaki.  I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the ichiraku noodle shop.  But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you poor the water in the ramen cup.  My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them.  And my future dream is—“ Naruto’s face morphed from excitement to determination, his eyes sharpening and his chin raised. “—to be the greatest Hokage!  Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I’m somebody...somebody important!”

Hatake-sensei didn’t even bother acknowledging Naruto, much to the boys chagrin. Hatake-sensei just motioned for Sakura to go.  How rude and impatient, Sasuke was tempted to tell Naruto he had done a good job or something. How socially inept was this guy that Sasuke felt he was doing a better job than him? But of course, Sasuke was driven mostly by emotion, this guy appeared to rely more on logic. Having Sakura go next was the most organized and least time consuming why they could do this.

Haruno gave a big smile and sat up, both of her hands on her knees. He felt a wave  of misplaced huffiness directed towards her, still irked over what she said outside the academy.  “I’m Sakura Haruno!  What I like—uh, I mean the person I like—“ her smile faltered, shoulders slumping as she shook her head. 

Sasuke frowned.  Whenever she talked about him, it was with a large smile and confident air. 

Was she talking about him? It didn’t feel like she was trying to be flirtatious. 

She glanced helplessly at him, biting her lip.  “Uh—my hobby is...” her cheeks were bright red at this point as she floundered.  “My dream for the future—“

Her body slumped as her head tilted.  “Well I don’t know.” Her lips were parted helplessly as she spoke, eyes lost. 

Once again, Hatake-sensei barreled on.  “And?  What do you hate?”

Her face hardened.  “My—“

She wrapped her hands around herself.  “I hate—“ Haruno huffed, laughing it off. 

“Well, hates such a strong word I don’t think I can apply it to anything.”

Sasuke looked between his teammates, perplexed.  He hadn’t learned anything about either of them!  Had they done that on purpose?   Naruto had just said how much he loved ramen, his name, and a goal he spouts off literally every day.  Well, at least he’s determined to accomplish being Hokage.  But he would’ve liked to learn some things about them! Maybe one of them liked to take walks in parks, one of them hated swimming...he would even take something cruddy like what their favorite color was!

Sasuke kept still, waiting for the go ahead from Hatake-sensei. 

“Last one!” he called out disinterestedly. 

Both of his teammates gave him their full attention.  Sasuke stretched his neck before beginning, oddly uncomfortable with their stares on him. 

“My name is Sasuke Uchiha.” He began, nearly gagging on the word Uchiha. He shook himself off; he couldn’t think about that now and his teeth were starting to itch from the reminder already. Could teeth itch? Maybe his gums were tingling?

What would he start with for this introduction?  They didn’t really do introductions at the academy.  He wasn’t sure if he had anything to contribute.  He decided to start with dislikes first.  But then again...that was kind of dark. 

He would be vague.  “I hate a lot of things.”

What next?  Likes?  What did he like?  He didn’t like to train, he had to train.  Saying he liked keeping up his personal hygene would be a weird statement...no more strange than saying your hobby was to compare ramen flavors but still...what about people?  That was a bad idea.  It’s not like he had any real friends.  He shrugged, Sakura didn’t say anything, he doubted what he said would matter in the end. 

“I don’t particularly like anything.”

A dream.

Sasuke clenched his teeth.  He had nightmares, not dreams.  Sasuke didn’t want anything; had never wanted anything other than to be average.  What was he to say?  His dream was to...to restore his clan?  But no, he didn’t think he could live through the, er, process of that...

What did he want?  To advance in the ranks?  Hell no, he hated the ninja lifestyle.  He didn’t want to become Ita- that man. 

He wanted  Itachi to die, but Sasuke knew he couldn’t be the one to kill him. It wasn’t because he was too weak or didn’t have potential.  Sasuke would never be able to kill his older brother, even with the mission scroll in one hand a kunai to Itachi’s throat in the other. 

Sasuke sighed, thinking.   

“My dream is to find a purpose worth living for.” Sasuke was satisfied with that answer.  “As for my hobbies, I train more often than not.”

There was a pause, where he faced a long scrutiny under the eye of their sensei, but it ended so quick Sasuke had doubts it even actually occurred. 

“Good.  Your each unique and you have your own ideas.  You’ll have our first mission tomorrow.”

Naruto instantly reacted to this, saluting their sensei excitedly and questioning him on the details of their mission. 

Sasuke himself wasn’t sure how he felt.  With the way the man was acting, it all felt too easy.  His stomach was queasy with the idea that maybe this was all it took to become a genin.  He could have done this ages ago. 

This couldn’t be all there was.  Genin were...they were adults!  Fully trained ninja that ranked above even the highest of civilians!

It was impossible that it was all so...possible.  So reachable.  

Too easy. 

“It’s a task...that the four of us will do together.” Hatake-sensei’s voice tilted and swayed mysteriously, his explanation pointedly vague. 

A task, not a mission; Sasuke knew the guy was just dangling what they wanted from him right on a string, enjoying the way each of them squirmed and strained to reach it. 

Sasuke had to pass.  There was no other option.  If he had been forced to go to the academy, he was going to be forced to be genin. 

Right?

Maybe he really was just so hopeless that they stuck him on a squad that would never move forward. 

“A survival exercise,” Hatake-sensei finally clarified. 

“Huh?  Survival exercise?!”

“I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice!”

Both of his teammates screeched disrespectfully.  Their outbursts were not reprimanded, however, just earned them an unimpressed raised eyebrow from the Jounin. 

“We already did this stuff in the academy, that’s how we got here.” Sakura attempted to explain to the Jounin, talking to him as if he didn’t understand that yes, they had already passed a cruddy exam that nearly 75% of all twelve year olds could pass. 

“...This is not like your previous training.” Hatake-sensei avoided explanation. 

Naruto raised his hand.  “So uh- so uh- what kind of training is it then?”

Hatake-sensei had his arms crossed and back hunched as he burst into mirthful chuckles.  He tried to stop himself from laughing outright, his shoulders shaking hard.  He offered no explanation for his behavior. 

Sasuke was officially creeped out.  What kind of sadistic bastard laughed in the face of a student who just asked him a question?  Sasuke’s respect for the man was diminishing by the minute. 

Sakura’s cheeks were flushed bright red when she spoke up.  “Hey hold on, that’s a normal question, what’s so funny?’

Hatake’s laughter died out.  (Only people he respected would be titled sensei)

“Well, if I tell you the answer, you’re not going to like it...” Hatake teased.  Sasuke could see the joyful smirk he had on even through the mask. 

Sasuke couldn’t put his finger on what the behavior reminded him of.  He knew this guy.  He was familiar in so many ways, why had he...

A picture.  Sitting on his brother’s desk. 

Sasuke flinched. 

This man was...he was his brother’s captain. 

No way. 

Sasuke refused.  He would not be led by the same monster that led Itachi. 

Itachi was crazy enough before anbu, but after he went in...

He was reminded of Hatake’s laughter and dull, hateful eye that taunted him. 

He knew what the behavior patterns reminded him of!  It was his brother, in so many ways.  The casual statement of hating everyone in the room, apathy towards all kindness, pursed lips and hand motions; all of it was Itachi. 

He sat still, his face blanching in horrified realization.  A hazy red was filling his vision, forcing his headache to throb further.  The headache that rested in between his eyes never went away for good, only dulled and increased in pain. 

Right now, it was worse than ever. 

He forced himself to calm, tuning back in on the conversation around him taking in a silent shuddering breath. 

“Of the twenty-seven graduates who just came here only nine will actually be accepted as genin.  The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy.  In other words, this is a make it or break it pass fail test; and the chance that you’ll fail is at least sixty-six percent.”

Sasuke’s face hardened. 

He recognized instantly how Hatake’s words didn’t add up.  If they were actually taking a non-rigged test, then the sensei would all collectively have to know each other’s scores for the students.  Which meant that Hatake would have to come back to them once he...evaluated...their results with the other sensei’s. 

It was entirely unfair. 

If he was so bold to assume each of the teams administered the same test, each sensei would score the students differently. 

If it was whoever came back with the highest scores for the students, who’s to say the sensei will not falsely evaluate the children to either ensure they fail or pass?

It was...tricky to think the least. 

He could say that each sensei just decided solely by themselves if their group of students was prepared for the shinobi life, but that wrung him back around to the fact Hatake knew that only nine out of the twenty-graduates would past.  Hatake is basically saying a third of the students will make it and the rest will either become civilians or head back to the academy.

So then each year, a third of the students that completed the academy’s testing actually ended up becoming genin. 

If a third consecutively passed like Hatake had seemed to hint, did that mean that they were all going to be tested the same way? 

Or, dare he think it, were the students that were going to graduate already decided before they created the teams?

That was the most likely scenario.  They just, decided who would pass and made teams out of them, calling it ‘fair’ when the other teams ‘failed’ and were weeded out. 

That was awful.

The question was had Sasuke been in one of the teams that were chosen to win?

He looked at Hatake, a former Anbu captain, and hope blossomed.  It diminished when he realized that Sakura was a civilian, and the teams most probable to pass were most likely not going to contain someone whose family had no history of jutsu.  Perhaps Hatake had done something awful and his punishment was to handle the failure academy students that needed to be let down easy.

“That’s crazy!  We worked hard to get here!  Believe it!  What was that graduation test for anyway?”

To decide which students had the potential to one-day join the ranks, and which were never going to even see a battlefield, Sasuke answered internally.  

Sasuke turned his eyes to the sky, watching the clear blue endless expanse of space rather than his aggravating and triggering new sensei. 

“Oh that?  That was just to select candidates who might become genin.  Or not.”

“WHATT???” Naruto shouted in outrage. 

“That’s how it is.” The smug bastard sounded triumphant, “I decide whether you pass or fail.  Be at the designated training spot at five am....and bring your ninja gear.” He looked disdainfully at their clothing. 

His weren’t the worst, but Naruto was a human target and Sakura made herself immobile in that dress.

He heard Naruto growl low under his breath. 

Sakura had flinched, her eyes far away with teeth gritted and shaking hands. 

Sasuke’s own hands were shaking in frustration.  He had to pass.  Sasuke had no other life outside of the shinobi’s path. 

“That’s it, you’re dismissed!” Their sensei’s casual statement did nothing to quell the tension rising in the air. 

“Oh...” he turned his head around with a lazy loll, “Tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else, you’ll puke.”

Sasuke watched his sensei disappear in a waste of chakra with a hiss. 

Sasuke had nothing else but the option of hope. 

He hoped that he was good enough to be one of the teams that passed. 

The distant thought that Itachi would absolutely create an exam that would have them throwing up if they consumed food reverberated through his mind. 

Maybe he was being biased towards Hatake.  His mother had always hated him, and he respected his mother.  She had called him a creep on good days, a perv on others.  His father, who he still longed to impress, often spoke of him disdainfully, accusing him of stealing the Sharingan eye from Obito rather than receiving it at his teammate’s request.  His dad’s logic was, ‘if he murdered one teammate, who’s to say he didn’t kill the other?’

And Itachi...Itachi loved the guy.  Would tell him haunting stories at night about their missions to keep him up, talking about lightening and chirping, about how awesome his new captain was. 

He just needed to give the guy a chance.  He couldn’t like or dislike him based on the opinions of his family members.

“Sasuke, you don’t really think we’ll fail, right?” Sakura asked him nervously, effectively snapping him out of his inner contemplation.  She fiddled with her dress and then her hair. 

“Yea bastard, you seem to know a lot about this sort of stuff, you think we’ll pass, no doubt...” Naruto joined in. 

Both of them stared at him expectantly. 

The words slid out before he could contain his own insecurities. 

“There’s no way in hell we’re passing.  May as well enjoy the last day we’ll have wearing these uncomfortable headbands.”

Sakura wilted like a flower. 

Naruto fell to the ground, body moving in squiggles like the noodles he loved to eat. 

Sasuke had not meant for that reaction.  From on the ground, Naruto looked up at him with blazing eyes.  “We can totally do this!  Why do you have to be such a downer all the time, Sasuke?!”

Sakura for once didn’t glare at the blonde boy for his insults to Sasuke’s person.  Instead, she looked at him with hope filled eyes through some of the bangs that had slipped out of her headbands grasp. 

“Are you...are you sure we’ll fail?”

Sasuke’s mouth twisted.  He tried for a smile, but knew he was failing and probably grimacing.  “No I mean...Yea of course we-we-we can pass.” He stuttered, which was unusual for him after all of his mother’s lessons.  “Your staring at the best of the best right here...” he gestured lamely to himself eyebrows scrunched together as he hunched his shoulders.

Naruto snorted.  “Really inspirational,”

Sakura clapped a hand over her mouth in surprise when she let out a giggle.  She looked at him cautiously. 

“Hey, if we do fail does that mean we’ll get different teams?” Sakura looked honestly sad with this fact, frowning at both him and Naruto.  She had clearly hyped herself up for having them as teammates. 

“What?” Naruto groaned.  “Man this just keeps getting worse and worse...I didn’t even have milk with my breakfast this morning...believe it...”

Sasuke awkwardly began to walk away. 

“Wait—Hey!  Sasuke!  I was thinking...you know...maybe we could like...all catch a movie together or get something to eat?  Better to stock up today since we won’t be having breakfast for tomorrow’s test!”

That destroyed the whole point of not eating so you wouldn’t throw up, but cool. 

Sasuke paused, surprised by the invitation, and inclusion of Naruto.  He remembered his restaurant and tilted his head, “I have somewhere to be.”

“Oh.”

Sasuke began to walk away again, assuming the conversation was over. 

“Uh, hey uh!  Sasuke?  S-Sasuke?”

He turned around again. 

“Well, where do you have to be?”

He sent her a genuine smile. 

“If you two want to come, I’ll tell you all about it?” he asked hopefully. 

Naruto and Sakura were up on their feet before Sasuke could comprehend they had agreed.