Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟐𝟏| Truth

"I am not afraid to die; I am only afraid of saying goodbye to you forever."
— Shannon L. Alder

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SASUKE

No matter what he did, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to hate Dawn.

Even back at the Academy, when she was the new student that no one knew anything about, it didn't stop him from trying to befriend her as she was the only one who didn't smother him with attention. As a kid, he had difficulty in making friends mainly because they were forced to be friends with him as he was the son of the head of the Uchiha clan or because of his impertinent attitude towards everyone. He wanted to choose who to be friends with, he wanted to make his own decisions without his Father's judgement, he wanted to be his own person.

When he was blatantly ignored by the girl who didn't even bother to acknowledge him for who he truly was, that's when a new resolve began to sprout from within him. Sasuke wanted to prove that he didn't need to be friends with her, that he was better off without her friendship or without her judgement. When he was assigned to the same team as her, he used the opportunity to belittle her as well as acting upon the anger of being rejected. That was until he realised he learned more about the girl during these couple of weeks than the past five years and all of a sudden everything he had assumed about her seemed entirely wrong.

He thought she didn't care about anyone other than herself, he thought she was selfish, that she was better than everyone, that she had much better things to do than to be around people. The more he tried to pick on her and dig out her secrets, the more complicated everything seemed. She seemed frightened leaving the Village, she disliked talking about herself, she suffered internally rather than burden others with her issues, she was a cryptic code that was difficult to unravel. It was like she wanted to open up, but something keeps holding her back. And when he saw her break down for the first time, was when he made it his goal to find out who Dawn truly was and not just because of his petty grudge from the Academy.

Sasuke panted heavily, his body towering in front of Dawn awaiting the next assault. The more he focused, the more he discovered the complexed pattern that no longer was as complexed as it appeared to be. Sure, he was soon going to reach his limit, but his stubborn, Uchiha pride prevented him from giving in. Needles pierced through his skin and protruded to the other end, the scent of his own blood was thick in his nose, but the fact that he could see Haku's movements gave him the determination to continue. If Dawn could fight as though her wounds didn't effect her, so could he.

"You're moving a lot quicker than you did to begin with." He heard Dawn muse.

He shrugged, he felt different, more powerful and swift, the chakra flowing through his veins was foreign and gratifying. "I can see the pattern of his movements, everything seems clearer- easier to comprehend."

"Clearer?" She muttered under her breath.

"You're getting the hang of it." Sasuke clenched his teeth at Haku's voice. He irritated him to a great extent, not only was he wounded, Dawn and Naruto were suffering as well. "I'm afraid I have to put this to a wrap, my next attack will take you down."

He exhaled as he began to move, and from the corner of his eyes he could see Dawn skilfully deflecting the needles soaring her way, but winced as a few punctured her thighs and her arms. Naruto had been exhausted due to the fact he used up all of his chakra on his shadow clone Jutsu, so he wasn't able to move as quickly and neither could Dawn in time to prevent the Uzumaki from crying out in pain and collapsing to the ground. Sasuke stared at him with wide eyes, rage building up within him. Naruto's clones and Dawn's intellect guided him to see through Haku's teleportation illusion, discovering the truth behind his speed.