❈—16:: The Truth Sucks

What if he wasn't lying? I wonder. What if Kakashi wasn't lying about what he said of the village wanting us as candidates for a new Sannin team?

He'd said he was lying, true, but Kakashi is exactly the sort of troll who would get off on making someone believe that the truth is a lie, only so that he can turn around later and say 'ha, got ya!' Or some other such childish line.

Also, while what he'd said about how the village wouldn't want a team of fresh genin for such a role seemed to make sense at the time, in hindsight, it actually makes less sense than them eyeing a new team.

The Sannin were a team straight out of The Academy; they started together and grew together. Trying to recreate that with already established ninja—from different teams no less—simply won't work.

It won't be the same.

I think Kakashi was lying. I think the village does want a new team that can replace The Sannin, and I think that the candidates for that team are the four teams he mentioned.

I will be honest with myself and admit that, a not inconsiderable part of why I think this way is because of my—I hope—unique position as the bearer of extra-dimensional knowledge.

In the story, my team had become exactly what Kakashi said the village wants us to be, The Sannin's successors.

More than that, we'd been their direct successors, having been trained by them and inheriting their techniques.

Of course, I have no desire to see my teammates and I become knockoffs of The Sannin, and it should go without saying that, regardless of the actions of my counterpart in the story, I have no intention of ever becoming Orochimaru's student.

The man is a deranged psychopath and his track record with protégés so far is downright horrendous.

All of that aside though, now that I know that it's an option, I very much intend to have my team assume the mantle that was once The Sannin's.

The authority of that position would aid my plans nicely, amorphous as they yet are.

"There," I say, shutting off the Mystical Palm Technique and pulling back from Naruto.

Naruto stands and stretches, testing out his body.

"Thanks," he says, when he finds no reason to complain.

Since Sakura just suffered chakra exhaustion and Naruto couldn't use The Mystical Palm Technique to save his life, the responsibility of patching everyone up from the brutality visited on us by Kakashi fell to me.

And after the stress of that morning, now coupled with fixing a slew of injuries across three people (even if one of them is myself), I'm getting uncomfortably close to running on fumes.

I need to go home. I need rest.

Keeping my breathing steady, I rise to my feet and begin to walk away.

"Um, Sasuke, where are you going?" Sakura asks, rushing to keep up beside me.

"Home," I say, not stopping or slowing.

Naruto catches up too, going to walk next to Sakura on her other side.

"Home?" the boy asks, sounding like the thought of me wanting some peace and quiet in my own house makes no sense to him. "Why would you want to go home?"

"Because we're tired, Naruto," Sakura says, then eyes the blonde, envy evident in her expression. "Not that you'll know anything about that," she adds.

Naruto chuckles good-naturedly.

"Haha, yeah. I'm pretty awesome, aren't I?" he says with complete honesty.

Sakura sighs, shaking her head.

"Must you brag about everything?" she asks.

"It's not bragging if it's true," Naruto argues. "I am pretty awesome."

Sakura rolls her eyes.

"Naruto, the only thing that's awesome about you is your cluelessness."

"Hey! I'm not clueless. I'm very… clueful."

"Clueful isn't a word, dummy."

"Is too."

"It's not."

"Is too."

"It isn't."

"Is too till infinity."

"That's childish, Naruto."

Okay, this has gone on long enough.

"Why are you following me?" I ask.

Sakura blinks. Naruto makes a face.

"I'm not following you," the boy says. "I'm following Sakura."

"Why would you be following me?" Sakura asks.

"Good question," I cut in. "Why are you following me?"

The girl stares at me with a deer in headlights expression.

"Um… well, I was…" An idea sparks in her eyes. "To give you this." She points at the small pouch strapped to her right thigh.

That pouch is mine, including the storage seal within it, and all the weapons within that; she'd taken it from my family's armoury for the fight against Kakashi.

Naruto too has a similar pouch strapped to his right thigh; also mine.

I hold out a hand.

With a face Naruto unstraps his and flings it at me, I snatch it out of the air.

Sakura hesitates.

I make a 'gimme' gesture with my hand.

"Sakura, just give him his stupid gear so we can go," Naruto says.

Sakura sighs. She looks tired. Emotionally. And when she speaks, she sounds it too.

"Sasuke, why don't you want to hang out with me?" she asks.

I blink. What?

"You know how I feel about you," Sakura continues, "and I keep trying, hoping that you'll at least see that I'm not giving up, but you just keep treating me like… like…"

"Like you treat Naruto?" I ask.

My voice is calm as I speak, but both Sakura and Naruto rear back like I'd yelled.

"That's… that's different," Sakura immediately tries to deny.

"How?" I ask. "He likes you, and he keeps trying, but you keep brushing him off. What's the difference?"

Sakura makes several abortive attempts to speak. Finally, she avoids my gaze, only to end up meeting Naruto's.

She looks away from him too.

I almost sigh.

I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have. I need to be building bridges with these two, not airing out an obvious issue plaguing this team.

I hold back a groan.

Who's bright idea was it to even make us a team?

Although, maybe this is good, saying this openly. After all, the first step to solving a problem is always admitting that it exists.

I let out a breath.

"I'm sorry," Sakura says, before I can speak.

She meets my gaze.

"I'm sorry," she says again. "I know I was being… difficult. I just thought…"

That maybe if she annoyed me enough I would eventually say yes.

She might not be wrong.

If my circumstances hadn't changed with Caleb's memories, I might have. One day, long from now, when I had burned through my rage and desire for vengeance, like my counterpart from the story, I might have said yes.

I don't think it would have made her happy though. I don't think I would have made her happy.

Not that version of me at least.

Sakura's eyes glimmer with tears that threaten to fall.

"I'm sorry," Sakura repeats. "To both of you."

She unstraps the pouch and hands it to me.

I take it numbly, and Sakura walks away with her head hung low.

Naruto watches her go, looking like he really wants to go to her but unsure if he should.

Finally, he looks at me, his blue eyes angry and heavy with unshed tears.

I expect him to say something, maybe even hit me, or at least try to.

Naruto storms away instead, and surprisingly, he goes in a direction away from Sakura.

Alone now, I sigh.

Great.