Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟑𝟑| Nomination

"It is easy to tell the toiler
How best he can carry his pack
But no one can rate a burden's weight
Until it has been on his back"
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

───※ ·❆· ※───

SASUKE

As much as he didn't want to admit it, he missed the times when he was younger and unaware of the things happening around him.

Growing up, Sasuke had always been close with Itachi. According to his mother, he was quite the cranky baby and would always wake her up in the middle of the night with his wailing and the only one able to calm him down was his older brother. He absolutely adored him, what younger brother wouldn't? Itachi graduated the Academy at age seven whereas Sasuke graduated at thirteen, he mastered the Sharingan at eight whereas Sasuke had only managed to learn the basics of his Kekkei Genkai, he became Chunin at ten whereas Sasuke was still a Genin.

The more he pointed out these differences, the more it became noticeable that his older brother wasn't only the prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, but the light that casted a shadow over him. It was only time before people started to notice this and began placing unrealistic expectations on Sasuke's shoulders, provided that if Itachi was gifted then he should live up to his glory as well.

And with power came harsh responsibilities. Itachi hardly spent time with him and due to their already, rocky relationship Sasuke had harboured immense dislike towards him for not only abandoning Sasuke when he needed him the most but for also placing him in the hands of his father who was assertive in ensuring that Sasuke was a mirror image of his eldest son. The older he grew the more he noticed the change in his father's behaviour, he was no longer the loving father who let him sit on his shoulders on the way back from work but someone who Sasuke barely recognised. He became a shell of his former self, someone who lacked compassion or even a hint of love towards him.

Sasuke became accustomed to keeping to himself and not showing how he truly felt, his father taught him that to show emotions was a sign of weakness. That very weakness could be used against you. He had also taught him disobedience towards higher authority figures, referring to himself, was to not be tolerated and was also punishable. He knew that after the stunt he pulled at dinner, he wasn't going to be left off the hook. Sasuke was right when his father made him train with him, hitching in more power behind his punches and his fire-styled Jutsu, deliberately burning him in places that were difficult to disguise. There was only little his mother could do to heal him as his father ensured that his wounds were to be left unattended in order to teach him a lesson.

The only lesson that had been taught was that no matter what his father said or did, there was no way Sasuke was going to conform to his need to assert his dominance through being the biggest dickhead in the world. If anything it made him more motivated to prove to everyone that he was his own person and there was no way he'd submit himself.

"I'll..." his ears perked at the sound of Dawn's voice. "keep that in mind, Naruto."

Glancing between the two, he suppressed a scoff. They looked awfully close and for some reason it bothered him. Sasuke also noticed how she seemed a little distracted and dare he say; frightened. He noticed many things about her, like the dark circles beneath her eyes from the deprivation of sleep, the way she randomly collapsed during the Land of Waves, the look of pure terror on her face when she had a panic attack, the way she froze when Kei announced her pregnancy, the way her eyes clouded and appeared distracted when she was lost in deep thought. Sasuke was no longer suspicious of her, in fact the way he acted around her made him grimace in the inside, because- believe it or not- he wasn't an asshole, and he cared much more than he let on. Right now, he was concerned.