IC: CONTACT

[findpeace]

Yo, you've reached Uzumaki Naruto,
Sorry ya missed me but I had to go!
Leave a message at the beep,
To let me know where to meet.
Your concerns are extremely precious,
So let Naruto handle your stresses.
I'm here to save the day.
Then you will want to say
That I'm the best around,
Will never let you down
Because that is my ninja way.
And now that I am here to stay,
Just look for the orange glow!
Hell yeah, dattebayo!

Comments

[vindicavi]

[ In a way, he does understand what Naruto is saying. After he'd lost everything, he'd actually been rather glad to know there was someone else just like him - someone else who had nothing, who went home to nobody, who was just as trapped as he was. But then Naruto started forming bonds with others and began to have something... where he didn't. Naruto had never had anything to lose, so he didn't understand what it was to have those bonds torn away. Suddenly, Naruto wasn't like him anymore. He became like everyone else and even though a part of Sasuke had wanted to try again, he was still afraid of it all going away again. He'd been left to stare at Naruto's back, just like he'd always trailed behind Itachi.

And he hated it.

They'd become as close to best friends as Sasuke would allow himself to have, but all the while, he'd been incredibly jealous of him.

To him, this fight is meaningless, because as far as Sasuke is concerned, there's nothing to be fighting for. ]

Maybe you need to start getting used to disappointment!

[ At home -and the last time Naruto had been there- he'd wanted him dead. A final sacrifice and the beginning of a new world order. But then Naruto had disappeared, and suddenly everything he'd been wanting so badly seemed so out of reach. He'd questioned whether or not Lee's memories were real. He'd put together every possible theory he could think of for how things worked and why Lee would remember something beyond his own memories -which had clearly meant he'd died, or else why wouldn't he remember any of that?-, he'd questioned Sakura, he'd come so close to making Sarada cry, he'd even ripped down everything Boruto had suggested about the man the kid called 'sensei'.

...but Naruto was different too. His story about the missing arm thing fell more in line with Sarada and Sakura. And he hates it.

Even as the blond rushes at him, Sasuke can see him move, can follow and predict with practiced ease.

Naruto, Sakura, Sarada, Boruto, even Lee... Every single one of them remembered things he didn't.

Blocking is second-nature. Counterattacking, as well.

They'd all passed him up, leaving him to watch their backs as they went on ahead.

...but he's not in the right emotional state to focus on this fight. He's angry, he's hurt, he's frustrated. This fight doesn't matter... and that knowledge is slowly bleeding into his actions. He's never lost his cool like this before -except for when he fought alongside Itachi, and when he was a child- and it's making things a bit sloppy, taking swings that are just shy of their mark (getting to punch him had felt really good, though) and taking hits he should've been able to guard against easily. ]

Friends? You expect me to believe that?! You left me behind!

[ ...Not that it was actually Naruto's fault he'd left, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. ]