"Why weren't you all talking?" he asked, his voice cutting through the stillness like a knife.
The question landed with the force of a punch. Naruto, who had been in the middle of bringing a piece of roasted fish to his mouth, froze.
His hand hung in the air, his eyes wide as he looked at Sasuke. Sakura, who had been staring into the fire, remained unbothered, as if she hadn't heard anything.
Mini Sasuke, however, was blissfully unaware, his eyes glued to his food as he ate with quiet focus.
Karin looked up for a moment, then quickly looked away, a feeling of inadequacy settling in her chest. 'It's no use,' she thought. 'I'm just an outsider here. Nothing I say matters to them.'
The silence returned, even more awkward now. Ino, fed up with the quiet, subtly nudged Sakura with her elbow. Sakura didn't flinch. Her eyes, however, shot over to Ino, a silent glare warning her to stop.
But Ino wasn't giving up. She smiled awkwardly, trying to fill the gap. "Well... particularly it's just that-that the..."
Naruto, recovering from his shock, cut her off, his voice a little too loud. "The food is delicious!" he said, shoving the fish in his mouth.
His eyes, however, weren't on his food. They were on Sasuke, a silent message passing between them.
Sasuke looked back, his gaze steady, searching Naruto's eyes. They were sitting directly in front of each other, the fire a flickering barrier between them.
Naruto swallowed, then continued, his voice a little softer now. "It's been a long time since I, and everyone else, have eaten such a delicious meal. Even if it is just a mere fish," he said, taking another bite.
Ino let out a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, Naruto's right," she added, grateful for the distraction.
But the moment was short-lived. Mini Sasuke put down his fish, his small belly full. "Well," he said, his voice a little sleepy. "I don't know, but I don't feel like talking. I'm tired. After this, I'll go to sleep."
The silence returned with a new weight. Ino, seeing her chance, nudged Sakura again, a little harder this time. Sakura's entire body tensed. She slowly raised her head and, with a silent plea in her eyes, made contact with Sasuke.
His expression was unreadable, and her breath hitched. Her stomach twisted with anxiety, and she quickly looked down at her fish.
Ino nudged her again, and Sakura whispered, "Stop, Ino."
As she whispered, Sasuke slowly rose to his feet. Without a word, he turned and began to walk away, towards the dark line of trees behind them.
"Hey, Sasuke, where are you going?" Naruto's voice was filled with a familiar concern.
Ino turned to Sakura, her voice urgent. "Go! Go after him! Now's your chance!"
Sakura looked at the trees, a cold lump forming in her throat. She wanted to, more than anything. But the guilt and the fear of his rejection were too great. "No," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Leave it. He seems to be angry."
At her words, Sasuke stopped. He didn't turn around immediately. He was a statue, his back to them, for a single, terrifying moment. Then, slowly, he turned his head.
His eyes, usually filled with a cool, sharp intelligence, were now filled with a cold, piercing anger. He stared at her for a moment, a silent accusation in his gaze, before turning and walking back into the darkness.
As Sasuke walked away, a silent figure disappearing into the darkness of the trees, Naruto quickly sprang to his feet. He didn't hesitate. His feet pounded on the grass as he hurried to catch up.
Sakura watched him go, a cold dread settling in her stomach. She knew she should have gone. Her eyes filled with a dawning terror as she realized the true meaning of his anger.
'He's angry. He's angry at what I said. He's angry because I hesitated. He's angry because of my words.' The regret was a bitter taste in her mouth, her hands clenching into fists as she stared into the darkness where he had gone.
Just then, Mini Sasuke began to stir. He pushed himself to his feet, a small, resolute figure.
"Where are you going?" Ino asked, her voice laced with surprise.
Mini Sasuke turned and looked at her. His gaze, usually so quiet and introspective, was cold and sharp. His dark eyes fixed on Sakura, and he spoke with a voice that held a chilling, mature certainty.
"Well, you see, if I was at his place then I wouldn't have let you or any girl who says like that live!"
Sakura's breath hitched. She recoiled as if struck, her eyes wide with shock. His words, delivered with a calm, venomous precision, were far more painful than any physical blow.
They were a confirmation of her worst fears.
Without another word, Mini Sasuke turned and ran, his small legs pumping as he hurried towards the trees where his older self and Naruto had just vanished.
As he stood there, his fist still pressed against the tree, he felt a hand gently land on his shoulder.
"SASUKEEE!!!"
A voice called out, a voice that was both a whisper and a shout.
He whirled around, his body coiled with tension, his Sharingan blazing to life in the darkness. "WHAT!?" he roared, the word tearing from his throat, filled with all the fury and despair that had been building inside him.
The hand on his shoulder was Naruto's. Naruto stood there, his own eyes wide with shock and concern, but he didn't flinch. He just held his ground, his hand remaining on Sasuke's shoulder.
But Sasuke wasn't seeing Naruto. In his mind there were gazes of people as if they were in front him. He was seeing everyone. He was seeing Sakura's face as she said those words.
He was seeing his own reflection in the water, a face contorted in a cold mask of rage.
'He seems to be angry,' her voice echoed in his mind. The words hit him with a fresh, sickening wave of shame and rage.
He had tried so hard. He had tried to be calm, to be normal, to be what they expected.
Then, a new voice, a distant memory, replaced the others.
'I'm saying… when gentleness isn't in someone's nature, forcing it only makes their cruelty that much clearer.' Neji's words, spoken so long ago, rang with a chilling truth.
'Was he right?' a terrified voice inside him asked. 'Am I just pretending? Is all of this... this calm, this patience, just a mask for the anger inside me?'
The thought was an agonizing poison, and his body trembled with the effort of an internal war. His fist, still pressed against the tree, felt a sharp, cutting pain as his nails dug into his palm.
He wanted to tear down the entire forest, to scream until his throat was raw, to prove that his gentle side was real and valid and not a performance.
His glare returned to Naruto, not just with fury, but with a deep, crushing despair that saw no way out.
Sasuke's rage was a physical force. The pain in his hand, the echo of Neji's words, and the sight of Naruto's calmface all came together in a storm of fury.
He took a step forward, his hand shooting out and grabbing the front of Naruto's jacket, yanking him forward. His face was a mask of cold fury, but his eyes, blazing with the Sharingan, held a desperate, tormented sadness.
"What is wrong with you people?!" he snarled, his voice a low, furious growl. "You just... you just look at me and you see what you want to see! You say I'm angry! Why don't you ever say that about yourself, huh?!"
Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't fight back. He simply let Sasuke pull him closer.
"I tried....." Sasuke seethed, shaking him.
"Sasuke..." Naruto began, his voice low and calm. "It's not fair. It's not fair that you have to prove yourself over and over again."
"I tried to be better. I tried to be calm. I tried to be gentle. And what do I get?! A look of pity from Sakura and a lecture from you, telling me it's not fair! Of course it's not fair! But it's always like this! You get it so easily! Why?!"
The last word was a shout, filled with a raw, painful jealousy that had festered in him for years.
"Why is it that everyone listens to you?" Sasuke demanded, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Why is it that no one says that you are angry? Is it your brightness? Is it in your blood? What is so special about you that you get to be understood while I'm an angry boy no matter what I do?!"
His grip on Naruto's collar tightened, the force of his anger almost causing him to tear the fabric.
Naruto's expression was unreadable. He could feel the shaking in Sasuke's hands, the sheer, raw emotion behind the words. He slowly, carefully, placed his hands on Sasuke's arms, not to push him away, but to hold him steady.
"Sasuke..." Naruto began, his voice low and calm.
"Don't you dare start!" Sasuke roared, his face contorting in a mixture of rage and pain. "Don't you dare lecture me about how you understand me! You don't! You can't!"
"I'm not trying to be you!" Naruto insisted, his voice rising, but still controlled. "And you're not trying to be me! We are who we are! You're Uchiha Sasuke! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! We have our own paths! You can't compare us!"
"Why not?!" Sasuke screamed. "You think you're so different?! Tell me! What's the difference between you and me? Why do you get to be the good guy when I have to be the bad one?!"
The accusation hung in the air between them, a final, painful plea for an answer.
"Why do you get to be the good guy when I have to be the bad one?!"
Naruto didn't answer right away. He could see the raw, exposed nerves in Sasuke's eyes. He didn't see an enemy, or a rival, or a broken friend. He just saw SASUKE, hurting.
He slowly, carefully, placed his hands on Sasuke's arms, not to push him away, but to hold him steady.
"It's not about being the 'good guy' or tthe'bad guy', Sasuke," Naruto said, his voice low and calm. "It's about being you. I used to think the same thing... that everyone had it easier than me."
Sasuke's grip on Naruto's collar tightened. 'Here it comes,' he thought, his mind racing with cynical defiance. 'The lecture. He's going to tell me how much better he had it and how I have to be strong like him. He wants to prove he's better than me.'
His face contorted in a sneer. "I dare you to start. I don't need your pity, and I don't need you to tell me how to feel."
But Naruto didn't back down. "I'm not pitying you! And I'm not trying to be a better person than you!" he insisted, his own voice rising.
"I'm just telling you... that I know this feeling! My whole life, everyone looked at me like I was a monster. They called me names. I was alone, all the time, because they saw something in me that wasn't me. They saw the Nine-Tails! And I couldn't do anything about it!"
Sasuke's face was a mask of cold fury, but his eyes, blazing with the Sharingan, held a desperate, tormented sadness. "What does that have to do with this?! Don't compare me to you!"
"I'm not comparing us, you idiot!" Naruto roared, his own frustration finally spilling over.
"I'm telling you! It's the same thing! You're trying to be a good protector. You're trying to keep the people you're with safe, and they're just seeing your anger! Because that's what they expect from you! It's not fair that you have to prove yourself over and over again!"
Sasuke's grip on Naruto's collar loosened slightly. He was still angry, but now a new, confusing emotion was swirling in his stomach. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to accept that Naruto could possibly understand his pain.
Naruto continued, his voice softening, his gaze unwavering. "I knew what it was like to walk into a room and feel like an outsider. To feel like no matter what I did, I would never be accepted. You're not the only one, Sasuke. You have a past, but you're not defined by it. It's not about being the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy'. It's about being you."
Sasuke's eyes, still locked on Naruto's, started to waver. His body, which had been coiled with tension, slowly began to relax. He wasn't yelling anymore. He was just listening. Naruto's words were sinking in, a slow, painful truth cutting through the layers of his anger and pride.
The words hung in the air between them, the raw emotion of Naruto's revelation slowly settling into Sasuke's turbulent mind.
His grip on Naruto's jacket had loosened entirely, his arms now hanging limply at his sides. The anger, though not entirely gone, was momentarily overshadowed by a deep, unsettling confusion. He was still processing, still fighting the uncomfortable truth in Naruto's words.
Just as a fragile silence began to form, a new sound pierced the night. A frantic, desperate cry.
"SASUKE-KUN...!"
The scream ripped through the forest, sharp and high-pitched. Both Sasuke and Naruto instantly tensed, their heads snapping around in unison towards the direction of the voice.
There, just breaking through the sparse line of trees, was Sakura. Her hair was disheveled, her usually composed features twisted with anguish.
Her eyes, wide and red, were glistening with unshed tears that streamed freely down her face, catching the faint starlight.
She was running, stumbling over roots and rocks, her arms outstretched as if reaching for salvation. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths, and her entire body seemed to radiate pure, unadulterated panic.
As Sakura's cry echoed through the trees, a raw, desperate sound, a cold fury hardened in Sasuke's eyes.
He didn't look at her. His gaze remained locked on Naruto, who still stood before him. Sasuke's hand shot out, no longer in anger, but with a chilling, purposeful intent. He grabbed Naruto's wrist, his grip firm and unyielding.
"I have to talk to you about something," he said, his voice low and dangerous, filled with an authority that left no room for argument.
He didn't wait for a response. Instead, he turned his head slowly, a chilling gaze that was meant for only one person.
Sakura stopped in her tracks, her chest heaving, her tear-filled eyes finally locking on his. His gaze was a a cold, sharp blade. It held no anger, no visible emotion, just a deep, piercing emptiness that froze her heart.
His dark eyes narrowed, not with hatred, but with a chilling indifference that was far more terrifying.
A stray lock of hair fell across his face, but it did nothing to hide the iciness of his gaze, a gaze that made her feel smaller than she ever had before.
A shiver ran down Sakura's spine. Her stomach twisted into a knot, and a long-buried memory surfaced, raw and painful. 'It's the same look...' her mind screamed.
The forest around her melted away, replaced by the white, sterile walls of a hospital room. She was standing there, in the doorway, a tray of apples in her hands.
Her Shishou, Tsunade, had just healed him. He was sitting up in the bed, his face pale but a flash of something in his eyes. She had offered him the fruit, a simple gesture of kindness.
But he didn't take it. He had stared at her with that exact same look—a cold, dismissive stare that seemed to look right through her.
Then, he had slapped the tray from her hands, sending the apples scattering across the floor.
Her eyes snapped back to the present, but the look was still there. The same look of complete, utter indifference.
In that silence, Sakura slowly pushed herself to her feet. Her face was streaked with tears, but her eyes were filled with a fierce, unwavering conviction. She took a single step forward, standing right in front of Sasuke.
"I never meant to hurt your feelings," she said, her voice now a low, steady whisper. "I know everything about you, Sasuke-kun. I know what makes you smile, what makes you sad... what you won't talk about because it annoys you. I know when to be there and when to leave you alone. I know that because of your own trauma you don't show your feelings... even if I say something to you... I know that a girl like me who doesn't even have her own image, still knows all of this about you... and you know why, don't you? It's because..."
Sasuke's eyes, still wide with shock, began to narrow. A flicker of realization passed through them.
Naruto, too, took a sharp intake of breath, a look of dread in his eyes. He exchanged a panicked glance with Mini Sasuke, who was staring at the scene with a cold, almost detached expression.
They both knew what was coming.
"It's because I LO..."
---
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Chapter 26 - "A Showdown in the Dark" 💥
This chapter was an absolute explosion of raw emotion! 🤯 We've been building to this moment, and the confrontation between Naruto and Sasuke was a battle fought with words, not fists. It's a showdown with his own inner demons and the people he's come to rely on.
Sasuke's fury wasn't just anger—it was a deep-seated jealousy and frustration that he's been holding in for years. He's tired of being seen as the "bad guy" and yearned for the easy acceptance he believes Naruto has. 😔
But Naruto fought back with empathy, using his own painful past to try to reach Sasuke. It was an incredible moment of vulnerability from both of them, proving that their bond is far deeper than mere rivalry. 🤝
The chapter ends with a shocking interruption, leaving a crucial word unsaid and adding a new, explosive layer to this war. Now that the silence has been broken, what's the next move? 🤔
TALK TO ME! 😎
Alright, shinobi, let's break down this chapter. We finally got the raw, unfiltered honesty we've been waiting for!
First, let's talk about Sasuke's outburst. Was his anger justified? Did he finally say what needed to be said? 🗣️
And what about Naruto's response? Do you think he was right to compare their situations, or should he have handled it differently? 🫂
Finally, the end of the chapter! 😱
What do you think Sakura was about to say, and how do you think it will change the dynamic between them?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 👇
📜 TEASER FOR NEXT CHAPTER:
A desperate cry to halt a whispered love, 💔
A silent grip in a hug that was enough. 🫂
One heart bleeds beneath the silent moon, 💧
As two find their truth that came too soon. 🤫
But morning breaks with a mortifying sight, ☀️
A chaotic scream shatters the pale light. 💥
A little shadow finds a secret spot, 🙈
And learns a lesson that he had not sought! 🤣
SNEAK PEAK LINES 💬
" If Sasuke's younger self also said about what she was about to say...then that means I also heard it right... This is not a MISUNDERSTANDING!!"
"PERVERTTTTT! ! ! "
—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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