desolate minds

iv. so darkness i became

Several months before Sasori was due to turn eight, his team finally became complete. Graduating from the Academy, along with a handful of other students, were the Ko twins. Maho and Mie joined Team Ichirou, much to Sasori's displeasure it seemed. According to my brother, both of the twins were twelve-year-old girls who had nothing better to do than gush over him and act like his "nee-chans" as they girlishly squealed.

Sasori probably could have tolerated them if they were more ambitious or career-focused. Instead, they were very vain and more interested in meeting "attractive shinobi" than actually training to become stronger kunoichi. Going by his (many) complaints about them, Maho and Mie sounded very similar to Sakura and Ino before they matured.

"I hope they die during our next mission."

I would have laughed at his disdain if Chiyo hadn't been there, fuming at my brother's blunt words. She was quick to scold and lecture him, going on about "teamwork" and how we were all "comrades in arms, here to serve our village and protect the people within". Sasori remained quiet through it, looking like he was trying his best not to roll his eyes.

As eccentric and carefree as Chiyo could be, she would always remain loyal to her village. Sasori and I shared indifference to the place, having the similar thought that we'd serve the village as long as we were a resident of it. Our grandmother didn't know that, and if she did then we would be nagged until we had a change of heart.

Months passed with Sasori getting used to his insufferable team and going on multiple missions (mostly C-ranks). While he was off doing that, Chiyo began to tutor me on the shinobi lifestyle. At first she just spoke to me about it, but after awhile she began to help me work with blunt weapons. First kunai, and then shuriken. I even got to work with senbon and ninja wire too.

Chiyo worked with me until I could get five bullseyes in a row, only to have me switch to a different tool directly afterward. The training was fun, but tiring all the same. It made me wonder if this was the exact same stuff that Sasori had to go through when she was helping him train as well.

I wish I could say that I picked up everything quickly, but it took me a bit before I could confidently say I was decent at one thing or another. There were certain skill sets I found myself excelling in, while others I was doing...okay with. Poisons and trap-making were definitely something I took an interest in, so it wasn't hard to motivate myself to learn and learn and learn. Things like learning about the three basic techniques (ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu) I didn't really care for... Actively practicing something was way different than studying or reading about it, and unfortunately for me, Chiyo would rather me read about it before she actually trained me in it (even then I would probably be learning a bunch of E-rank stuff).

I wasn't the only one training my ass off however— the Chūnin Exams were quickly approaching, and Sasori and his team were due to participate. My brother was looking forward to it, ready to advance his ranking as soon as possible. His current concern was his teammates; Sasori was afraid that they'd drag him down. Otherwise he was pretty confident that he'd pass the Exams without too much trouble. I had faith that he would too.

× × ×

Everyone knew that Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha were prodigies. Fans of the series (and especially of said two characters) always spoke highly of them because of it, boasting on and on as if they were their children. They had forgotten about another prodigy that existed in the Narutoverse, however: my brother. Sasori graduated from the Academy at age seven, only to become a chūnin a year later at age eight. It was impressive when I had only thought of him as a character in a manga, and it's still impressive now when I see him as so much more than that.