Chapter 8: A Small Break
67 2 4
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

'What a test,' Sasuke thought, now alone, walking down a street, supposedly to Kenji's weapons shop, 'Now there should be a few missions we will do until the Wave arc,'

A grin formed on his face, 'Now that is something I am looking forward to,'

While strolling, Sasuke's whole body suddenly deactivated as he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, making him fall backwards onto his back.

Once looking up, Sasuke saw a face that immediately made him sigh in relief.

"Ino, you scared me," He said to her, standing up and patting himself off.

"Yes," She yelled, raising her fists in the air, "I said I would do it if you ignored me,"

"Okay, well what do you want from me? Another face full of fear?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I came here to speak to my friend," Ino replied, getting angry, "but it appears you forgot,"

Sasuke felt a tear run down his head watching her steam up like a kettle and decided to try and save himself.

"What do you think of your team?" He asked.

"Oh, my team?" She said, getting out of her kettle phase, "Well our Sensei is pretty nice, but my teammates are really lazy buggers,"

'Heh, Shikamaru and Choji,' Sasuke thought, "Who are your teammates?"

"Did you not listen when they called up our names?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope," Sasuke replied shaking his head. 

"Well, they are Shikamaru, who pretty much owns the word lazy, despite being very smart, and then there is Choji, who is always eating," Ino explained as if she is listing off a few things,

"But, they are best friends," Ino said, letting out a laugh, "They remind me so much of you and Naruto,"

"That is nice," Sasuke said, nodding.

"Speaking of which, how are they?" Ino asked.

"Naruto is pretty much okay, and Sakura is fine as well," Sasuke said, hearing a sigh from Ino, "our Sensei is okay as well, even though he made us go through a test,"

"What type of test?" She asked.

"We had to get a pair of bells from him, which he protected, and we pretty much could not get it," Sasuke explained, "but in the end, the whole test was about teamwork, and we impressed him enough that he passed us,"

"I can't imagine even trying to fight my Sensei, even with the mind control, I can't do anything else," Ino said, "but I could scratch him if Shikamaru, Choji and I worked together."

"You sure would," Sasuke said, "why were you around here by the way?"

"I am waiting for Shikamaru and Choji of course," Ino said, "then I saw you, and decided to scare you,"

"Huh," Sasuke nodded.

"They are taking their sweet time," Ino muttered, looking around, "wonder where they are, I did tell them to meet up here,"

"I am sure they will be here soon," Sasuke said, expecting his 'Convenient no Jutsu' to take hold.

However, it did not seem to work.

'Damn,' Sasuke thought, 'They better get here, I am running out of things to talk about,'

As Sasuke thought, he saw Ino also thinking of something to say.

'Wait, I know what to say,' Sasuke thought, 'and I am sure Ino would love to talk about it,'

With that, he took a breath in.

"Do you happen to know anything about flowers?" Sasuke asked.

The ends of Ino's mouth rose with her now excited demeanour, "Yes, I do, I know a lot. Any reason?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, "I am pretty interested in flowers, so I was just asking,"

"Wait really?" Ino asked, getting up close to Sasuke, "I like flowers too, maybe one day I can take you to my family's shop, where I can teach you much about flowers,"

Before Sasuke could respond, a voice answered for him.

"Ino," Sasuke looked to where the sound came from and saw none other than Shikamaru and Choji, "We found you, finally,"

"What do you mean finally?" Ino asked, having her eyes turn white and round, "I told you two to meet up on this spot..."

"Though you never told us which street," Shikamaru said.

"We walked through so many," Choji said, eating a chip from a packet he was holding, "that I ate all of my snacks for tonight,"

"Huh," Ino replied, "Then that explains why you guys are late,"

"Yeah," Shikamaru sighed, "It was a... oh hey Sasuke,"

Sasuke shook his head back into focus, "Hey Shikamaru, Choji,"

"Hey," Choji replied.

"How long was Ino speaking with you?" Shikamaru asked.

"Not for long really," Sasuke answered, "Why?"

"I give you my thanks for keeping her at bay," He muttered.

"You're welcome," Sasuke said, "but I have to go now, see you guys,"

"Oh," Ino said, looking a little sad, "bye, Sasuke,"

"Hope we can meet again," Choji spoke.

"I may need you here for next time," Shikamaru said, "puts less stress on me,"

Sasuke nodded at the three of them and began to walk away, 'Maybe next time I will spend more time with them,'

As he walked away, he could still hear them speaking.

"So, you guys must have been walking at a quick pace if you were everywhere," Ino said, folding her arms.

"Well... Not quite," Shikamaru said, "Right, Choji?"

"Yeah," Choji answered, "We walked pretty slowly, but at least I could eat,"

"What?!..." Was the last thing Sasuke heard before walking out of range.

'Okay, so if I remember correctly,' Sasuke thought, 'I must buy new weights from Kenji, what else... oh yeah, and talk to him about the sword if I can,'

Much to his expectations, Sasuke's 'Convenient no Jutsu' worked once again, leading him to the entrance of the shop a few minutes later.

Walking in, Sasuke noticed another person walk past him, out of the shop, but paid no attention to them as Kenji's voice instead caught it.

"Welcome, Mr Uchiha," Kenji greeted, "What can I do for you today?"

"Morning," Sasuke said back, "I would like to purchase some weights again, please,"

Kenji chuckled, "It seems the sword is giving you strength already,"

"Wait, how did you know?" Sasuke asked.

"It happened already," Kenji replied, walking away, "I'll pick up some for you."

So Sasuke waited, looking around, almost feeling at peace. Though, when he saw Kenji walking back, Sasuke immediately took out a few notes of money.

"Here they are," Kenji said, returning, placing the weights on the table, "These should take a while to feel light, so you won't need to return to me every single day."

With a nod, Sasuke placed the notes next to the weights, "Uh... Is it okay if I call you Kenji?"

"Sure," Kenji said, taking half of the notes and pushing the rest back, "It is my name, after all,"

"Well, Kenji," Sasuke began, taking the remaining notes and putting them in the tool pouch, "why do you call me Mr Uchiha instead of Sasuke?"

"I think it is more respectful of I refer to your surname," Kenji said, placing a hand on his waist, "as I do with everyone,  even if one is from a family that is a clan, or from a civilian household, every one of my customers is the same to me,"

"I see," Sasuke said, nodding.

"How is the sword?" Kenji asked.

"Oh, the sword? It's going well, with the training and all," Sasuke answered, getting a nod from Kenji, "I even used it in a spar,"

To this, Kenji shook his head, not believing what he heard, "Wait what?"

"I used it to spar with my Sensei," Sasuke replied, "Is that wrong?"

"Phew," Kenji sighed, rubbing his eye, "At least you did it to someone who can avoid it,"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"If you spared with someone your age," Kenji said, his voice becoming serious, "they would have been killed,"

"Huh?" Sasuke asked.

"Listen," Kenji began, "There is another... tink regarding the sword,"

"Uh huh," Sasuke said.

"That thing...is the fact that it can cut through most things," Kenji answered.

"Like clothing and skin?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, but more than that," He replied, "I am talking about weapons, like swords or kunai,"

Then, Sasuke remembered something, and opened his mouth to speak,  "While I was training with a clone, it tried to block one of my swings by using a kunai, but it instead got cut through by the sword, is this what you are talking about?"

Kenji nodded, "That is correct. If you put in the effort with the swing, you could probably cut through any structure, unless the weight causes it to crumble."

"I don't know if it is the seal or just the sword itself," He continued, "but that is why I made up a policy for that sword, that I should have told you before, and I apologise for it,"

"What's the policy?" Sasuke asked.

"It is," Kenji began, "You can only use the sword in battle if you come to terms that your opponent will die."

"Okay," Sasuke said, "So it could cut through any weapon?"

"Yes," Kenji answered, "Like what happened to your clone, if your enemy tries to block your attack with another weapon, that weapon will meet its owner in the afterlife."

"God damn," Sasuke said, awed upon hearing what Kenji said, "That weapon is powerful,"

"Unless you can dodge the attacks," Kenji added, "then it really is not that powerful,"

"So, I cannot use the weapon against an enemy that I don't want to kill?"

"You can," Kenji replied, "but with how heavy and cumbersome it is, it's just better to use a kunai or shurikens," 

"Oh, okay," Sasuke said, "I won't use it against my Sensei then,'

"Are you a Shinobi now?" Kenji asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, I suppose," He replied.

"Oh, good," Kenji said, grinning, "I can ask you to do some jobs for me then,"

"That sounds okay," Sasuke said, feeling surprised, "I hope I can pick the jobs you will send out."

"I don't mean that," Kenji said, waving his hand, "that is just time-consuming, and sometimes I wait for days, but because you are a customer, I can ask you directly."

"Alright," Sasuke said.

"Don't worry," Kenji said, "I will reward you with money if you do those tasks,"

Sasuke nodded, and Kenji took out a bag to place the weights in.

"Anything else?" He asked, handing the bag to Sasuke.

"Nope," Sasuke answered, holding the bag, "That should be all, I'll get going now,"

"Thank you for your business," Kenji said, watching Sasuke walk out of the shop.

'Phew, these weights are heavy,' Sasuke thought, switching hands and placing the other into his pocket, 'that is good though, this will be a good challenge for my body,'

Every few minutes, Sasuke would switch hands constantly as he walked home, even lifting the bag up and down like a weight.

Getting past the gate into the estate, he arrived at the training grounds, placing the bag on the ground.

Sasuke reached his hand into the bag, pulling out the weights one at a time, and placing one on each of his limbs.

Wanting to test it out, Sasuke walked to a tree, lifted a leg, and felt a nearly burning feeling thrive within his leg.

'Now that is a weight,' Sasuke thought, kicking the tree he was aiming for, even though it did not have that much force, 'Now the other,'

Sasuke kicked the other leg, getting the same feeling.

'I will see if I can do fifteen of these,' He thought.

Sasuke did not expect to actually reach that number but was impressed that his arms and legs could all do that, despite pushing around the fourteenth or fifteenth number.

After that, Sasuke stood still, his arms swinging.

"Ow...Ow," He let out breathing in deeply, "maybe I overdid it,"

Sasuke was correct, as he began to lean forward, and inevitably fall.

What surprised Sasuke, however, was the roll he did to get back up.

'Weird,' He thought, managing to take off the weights, despite the pain, "I could never do that back on earth,"

Sasuke took a step forward, and lunged, causing the same forward roll to happen.

"What the?" He stood, mouth open, "I wonder..."

This time he jumped, and did a front flip, landing on his feet after completing it.

"I am not surprised," He said, looking at himself, "Sasuke's body is made to be like this,"

After that statement, a smile appeared on his face.

That smile brought out the scroll from his pouch and with the scroll, came the sword that he now held.

Sasuke thought it would be difficult since he trained with weights prior, but the soreness was nowhere to be found.

"Okay, let's do this," Sasuke said, lowering the sword, "After I do this, Kakashi won't be the only copy ninja in Konoha,"

A moment later, Sasuke jumped, doing the front flip. This, in turn, caused the blade to follow his hands, moving around, until it smashed into the dirt once again, ending the spin.

"The ground did not crack," Sasuke said, huffing from the flip,  "That means more training ahead,"

However, Sasuke placed the sword back onto the scroll after laying it out and formed his hands into a hand sign.

'Sealing Jutsu: Seal,' Sasuke thought, feeling the chakra flow within and watching the sword disappear into the scroll.

After rolling up the scroll and placing it into his pouch, Sasuke placed his hands together.

'Horse, Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger,' Sasuke thought, watching his hands move fluidly with every sign.

On cue, Sasuke felt a river of heat flow through his mouth and throat. It did not bother him, though, as Sasuke took a breath in, and breathed out, sending the fireball into the sky.

"Not bad," He said, watching the flame dispel into the air, doing more hand signs.

'Serpent, Dragon, Hare, Tiger,' Again Sasuke felt the heat in his mouth, and spat it out, sending a now fast projectile to the sky.

'Doing these jutsus will never get old,' Sasuke thought, 'With the Sharingan, I could copy many of them,'

He thought of the Wave arc, 'There are two Ninjutsu from this encounter that I want to learn,'

'Speaking of which, could I... or should I change anything when I get there?'

'Things may change, since I have a sword and the Sharingan, but I must make sure that Naruto awakens a bit of the Nine tails within him, he has to be strong after all,'

Sasuke took out two kunai from the tool bag and threw them to a nearby tree.

"Though, I need my, or Sasuke's, Sharingan to get to three tomoe," He said, activating it while pulling the kunai back with the threads, and catching them, "and in the canon timeline, I believe Sasuke awakened the Sharingan during this time, and that was through the situation with Haku, but also with Naruto,"

Putting the kunai away and taking out a few shurikens, Sasuke began to throw them into the tree.

"What if I awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan as well?" Sasuke asked, walking over to pick out the shurikens that lodged themselves into the bark.

"Sasuke could handle it, but could I, someone who has never been in a truly life-threatening situation, handle the stress from that? Or even from the Demon brothers?" He continued, pulling out the shurikens and placing them back into his tool bag, "I would have to rely on what is left of Sasuke's mind and feelings that are still in this body if there are any."

He felt an itch in his eye and rubbed it with his hand.

'I guess this is enough for today," Sasuke thought, turning around, and walking to his house, 'I can't cook that well, and I don't want to have cereal again...so time for some noodles,'

Shooting a fist into the air, Sasuke opened the fridge and showed a face of gratitude upon seeing a packet of what he could call noodles.

Getting a bowl and throwing the noodles into it, Sasuke carefully poured hot water from a kettle that he used the first time when he prepared this dish.

After he was sure the noodles were ready, Sasuke looked around for some chopsticks and was surprised when he came across a fork.

"I guess these things exist," He said, picking up the fork, "Or they are probably frowned upon when using it to eat,"

Placing the fork into the bowl, Sasuke took a kitchen cloth and wrapped it around the bowl, allowing him to pick it up.

Despite the resonating heat that still slipped out of the few spaces that were not covered, Sasuke still held it and walked to the sink, where he, with caution, turned the bowl.

This allowed the hot water to flow into the sink, yet when the noodles tried to, they were stopped by a fork, a fork that was held by Sasuke.

"Just a bit more," He said, turning the bowl a little more.

While doing this, a bit of water splashed onto his hand, so Sasuke had to hold his breath once he felt the boiling water eat at his skin.

Getting the water out, and surviving the scorched attack, Sasuke placed the noodles onto the kitchen counter, and sat in front of it, ready to dig in.

He looked down, feeling the steam press against his face, and he let out a sigh.

"No matter if I was back home or in the world of Naruto," Sasuke said, "nothing can beat a good bowl of noodles."

There was someone else who agreed with a rumble, and this caused Sasuke to grab the fork and place the first filling into his mouth.

Although, upon swallowing the batch of noodles, a flurry of coughs erupted from Sasuke.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" He said in between each one, "Way too hot,"

Calming down and blowing on the noodles, Sasuke ate from it again and did not burn himself, so he continued.

Finishing the meal, he let out a sigh.

"That was fulfilling," Sasuke said, placing the bowl and fork into the sink, "though, I will need to go shop for more at some point,"

Thinking of that, Sasuke yawned, "To add to that, I must buy the ones with any flavouring."

With that, He grinned.

"Now that is a good bowl of noodles."

4