74 Chapter 74

Well that took everyone by surprise. Who would have ever thought we would hear Sasuke say the words 'please.'? The most shocked was Naruto, who had his jaw almost touching the floor. After spending time with Sasuke, not just in the team, but together as they were both trained by Guy and Kakashi, they had ended up becoming somewhat more of brothers than rivals.

'The gloom king saying 'please'. That confirms it; I am definitely in an AU or a very skewed version of Naruto.'

"What for?" Although surprised, my face remained the same. Technically I was not supposed to know him like that since we not in a team.

"So that I can punch you in the face. So I can get the answers I seek." He looked at me with a serious expression before answering. I understood what it was. It was around the time where he was beginning to waver in his conviction as an avenger. 'Waver' was probably too strong. More like somewhat ignore. In the original, he had made a 'brother' in Naruto, and his strength over him, as well as the brotherly bond they shared had made him relax somewhat, in his motivation as an avenger. It was not till Naruto showed such sudden progress, and with Itachi showing up did his conviction strengthen once more.

This time however, there was me, who suddenly came in to say something about revealing the truth about his brother. Maybe if I were the weak Sakura, most definitely my words would account for shit. But, seeing my strength plus my words that day on the roof may have made him realize there would be more to Itachi than on the surface.

"Train you to punch me in the face, huh? Feels like a Mihawk, Zoro situation." Thinking about it that way made me smirk.

"Who?" He looked confused

"Never mind" I replied, to which he turned to Naruto who shook his head to indicate he did not know either.

"What if I told you it did not matter? What if I told you I would tell you everything you wanted to know right here, right now?" With droopy eyes while yawning, I asked Sasuke. He looked ecstatic but quickly frowned and fell deep in thought. Every eye in the room was on him; well, every eye except mine. My concentration was on the female member of Team 7, Akari. She had a worried look on her face.

Seemed there could be more to the young lady than met the eye. I had watched Sakura, well, original Sakura in the animes and manga, completely infatuated with Sasuke. She had a look she gave that spoke more than having a crush. Akari, however, her look felt different. Almost possessive, or was it obsessive? Maybe both? At the same time, I have this feeling she is connected to 'Liberation' somehow. Maybe I was being paranoid.

"No." Finally, Sasuke spoke. Honestly, my thoughts made me forget he was in front of me. I turned to look at him with a questioning and droopy look. "I feel, whatever the 'truth' may be, it does not change that I still need to get stronger. Whether it is to kill him or save him, I need to get stronger first." I had to admit, he had changed from the Wuxia and Xianxia novel young master that looked down his nose with a cold face like the world owed him a favor; In his case, it was understandable, with his whole clan being killed by his blood brother. Maybe I say it like that because I knew the truth about the whole thing, but still.

A small smile appeared on my lazy face. Regardless, he was right. No matter what, might made right. I unzipped the bottom part of my sleeping bag and lazily wormed myself into a standing position. But no matter what he was still a Little shit for making me work.

"There should be somewhere we can practice. Naruto, you coming as well. Akari, you stay here and protect Tazuna and his family. Tomorrow we will rotate and have one of the boys stay home while you come along." Akari nodded while the boys and I moved to a forest somewhere to practice. I wondered if they were not feeling odd, asking their same age and former class mate to train them.

We finally found a place large enough for them to practice. "Let me say this first. Sasuske, I think you are an absolute little shit for making me work in my lazy mode." This surprised him as Naruto burst into laughter. Say it twice if it really annoyed you.

"Moving on." I spoke before he could get out a single word. I had no intention of letting him speak. I lay on the ground, zipped up the bottom part of my sleeping bag and made myself comfortable. "We will be playing a simple game." Sasuke was about to protest but I gave him a death glare which shut him up.

"We will play a game because we can't be too serious all the time. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy after all." Sasuke gave Naruto a confusing look to which he shook his head.

"Who is Jack?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto replied, "I don't know either, but apparently he works a lot"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Naruto shrugged. To which Sasuke turned to me for answers.

"Forget about Jack. It's just a…never mind. I'm sure you already know how the game 'Tag' works; One of you will be it, and the other will hide and run and not get caught. If you get caught, then you become it. Simple enough right?" Naruto was psyched and ready to go. Sasuke on the other hand, not so much. He wondered how any of this was training. Although he wondered, he did not really object to it.

"Any questions? Good. Now rules; One, no chakra and two, survive." They grew confused and was about to ask questions when I clasped my hands together, 'Swamp release: Night swamp' Suddenly, muddy waters appeared and the whole place darkened somewhat with mist covering the place. The trees around made the swamp even more perfect, which made me regretful once again at the fact that I could not use Hashirama's wood style.

The two boys had their mouths open as they stared at the emerged swamp. They turned to look at me with different thoughts. Sasuke, thinking about the distance and difference in strength, and Naruto, impressed and resolving himself to train harder.

"Ok, you decide who be it and off you go." I yawned and closed my eyes. I heard them settle it with rock-paper-scissors with Naruto winning. Meaning Sasuke had become 'it'. They both picked a path and walked in.

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[SASUKE POV]

After Sasuke had walked into the swamp, he felt even more impressed. The darkness covering the space as well as the fog made visibility extremely low. Not to mention, the eerie silence made the whole place creepy. A place like this, he thought was perfect for killing without being seen.

"And we are not to use chakra. This will be difficult." He looked down at his feet in the swampy waters and tried moving about, which proved difficult. Walking in the eerie silence was like a loud bell to announce his location, let alone running.

He looked up the trees as well. In order to climb, he would have to do that without chakra. It seemed he had underestimated Sakura. He smirked and began to formulate plans in his head. Just then he heard a very light whistling sound and then, Bang!