Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Truths ❯ This is the Life You Lead ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: This is the Life You Lead

It was nice to finally be able to relax for a day or two, the raid had gone horribly and they weren’t able to accomplish either of their objectives. Jair had gone renegade and had all the information they needed burned and committed suicide.

They had found a clearing and set up camp there, setting traps all around to catch intruders. But so far they had only caught Naruto six or seven times; surprisingly enough, most of them he set up himself.

The sun was high in the sky when they finished setting up the tents and getting all the necessary firewood.

Kakashi called over everyone into the center of the campsite and began talking. “As you can all see, we haven’t been fairing as well as we should be. Last night, had it not been for Naruto, we could have all been killed. Don’t let it go to your head, Naruto,” he said, noticing the smile on Naruto’s face.

“As such, we need to do some training. Now, I’m sure that Kay and Alek have already mastered this, but it is still important. I will admit, this won’t be easy and I can’t even guarantee that any of you will succeed in this training before we must move on. This is a lot like tree climbing but it is a lot harder. It focuses on both technique and timing. Now if you will follow me, we will begin.”

He led them into the woods and eventually out to the foundation of the ridge that farther down had supported them during their rest.

It was fabled that this ridge that divided the country in half had been the result of a battle between the two greatest shinobi in history but this had never been proved.

At the base of this ridge, Kakashi began talking again. “Your task is simple, get to the top of this ridge and back down. The catch is you can only jump once to get up and once to get down.”

“Impossible,” Sakura replied hastily.

“That’s not all. You can’t leave an indent wider than your foot.”

“You’re a fool,” Sasuke replied.

Kakashi looked at him. “I may be, but I wasn’t stupid enough to attack the Konoha.”

“That’s because you’re too weak.”

“Then that would mean that you could do this without my help. Surely someone of your caliber should know exactly what to do from here. So let’s see what you’re capable of,” he said tauntingly.

Sasuke frowned before turning to face the ridge. He looked up to judge the distance, about forty meters high. He crouched down and focused his chakra into his feet and took a deep breath. He jumped while simultaneously releasing the chakra from his feet and was propelled upward.

He rose higher and higher into the air but could sense he was losing momentum. He wasn’t going to reach the top in one shot. He grabbed at the rocks and flung himself over the top.

Looking down at Kakashi, he smiled. But his smile faded when a voice behind him said, “That was pathetic.”

He spun around to see Kay standing behind him with her arms crossed. “You not only didn’t make it up, but you left a crater about a meter and a half wide at the base of the ridge. And here I thought you were going to make it, silly me.”

“How did you get up here so fast?”

“The same way I did,” Alek’s voice answered from the edge of the cliff. “We jumped like you, only our bodies move at a much faster rate than yours. But so you don’t screw up your descent, we‘ll go slower. Kay, would you do the honors?”

“It would be my pleasure,” she replied. She walked around Sasuke and towards the edge of the cliff. “Keep your eyes on me and not my ass, perv. I’m not catching you if you don’t do this right.” She jumped, doing some curled-up flips before disappearing beneath the jagged cliff.

Sasuke rushed to the edge to see what was happening but all he could see was her continuing her flips before landing softly on the ground. He looked over at Alek who was just smiling and shaking his head.

“She’s such a showoff, isn’t she?” Alek finally said as he looked at Sasuke’s stunned expression. “You did get all that didn’t you?”

“What was there to get? She jumped. Perhaps you’d like--”

“Okay good, see you at the bottom,” he said hurriedly before jumping off the cliff himself.

Great, Sasuke thought to himself. Very informal. He sighed and prepared himself for the jump. If he failed, he’d be dead, things were definitely becoming harder: the missions, the training, everything. Every aspect of his life had become more complicated after he was forced back. Most of the grocers wouldn’t even let him buy food so he had to disguise himself or have someone else do it for him.

But as he had learned, that wasn’t easy either. Sometimes they only got a few of the items on the list and other times they hadn’t even come back with his money.

This was what Sasuke chose to be his possible last memory before he plummeted forty meters to the hard ground below.

He took another deep breath and jumped. The wind whistled loudly in his ears as he plummeted rapidly to the ground. Thirty-five meters, thirty, twenty-five, twenty, fifteen. But he could now feel something around his waist, a string possibly but it was hard to tell.

It was slowing his descent and instead spinning him around very fast. Everything was a blur as he spun around, bodies but he could only see Sakura because of her pink hair.

He felt the object unravel itself from around his waist and he continued falling to the ground. He fell hard on his back against the dirt floor. He sat up and looked around, everything was still spinning and he felt dizzy but the feeling eventually passed.
His eyes came to focus and he looked at Alek who was shaking his head disappointedly and wrapping a thin string against the skin of his left arm.

When he finally finished, he pulled his sleeve down over the string and said, “That was another pathetic attempt. What was that supposed to be? Thank your luck I was down here already.”

“Well maybe I might have gotten it right if you hadn’t jumped before I got to ask you what to do.”

“He was too busy looking at your ass,” Alek said, looking at Kay.

“I know, but he should have paid attention. I told you he was a perv.”

“Why don’t you explain to the rest of them what their supposed to be doing?” Kakashi suggested.

“Ok, fine. Listen up because I will not repeat this twice. I am sure you know how to jump, otherwise leave now. Once you have made your way up the cliff, it will be your job to get back down. Me, Alek and Kakashi will be catching anyone who fails to do this correctly, we can’t afford to lose a teammate in this place.

“When you make it to the top and jump, as well as when you are getting up to a point in which you would not be able to land without hurting yourself, you will need to learn to basis of this exercise.

“I am sure that all of you no how to control your chakra to allow you to float on water, no? Good. This is a lot harder. The air around us is constantly moving and in more ways than one. You must learn to control your chakra to conform to these movement patterns. I can’t really explain it, it’s more of a trial and don’t break your legs with an error thing.”

“That’s comforting,” Tenten remarked.

“Your welcome. You may begin when you’re ready.”

They each went to a different section of the wall and began making attempts to get as high as they could without breaking the ground beneath them.

It was difficult at first, most of them were stuck at fifteen meters and weren’t going anywhere fast. But Sakura and Tenten seemed to be moving along at a moderate pace.

Alek and Kay were consoling each other on how to help them and finally agreed to help each of them individually.

One by one the two of them went to each of the others and gave them an in-depth explanation as how to accomplish this which seemed to help but just made them get stuck at a higher level.

But Naruto was a different story. Once he had been told what he needed to do, he was surpassing everyone else, going higher each time. He was reaching the thirty-five meter mark while everyone else was struggling to get thirty. He was getting closer to the top with each try and had to apply the proper falling technique.

Sasuke seemed to be frustrated from his embarrassing first attempt in front of everyone and couldn’t focus at all. Time and time again he tried but got nowhere. If anything, he was getting worse. Everyone had surpassed him and it was adding to his frustration. And Alek’s comments weren’t exactly working miracles either. “What happened to your power now, curse boy?” and “It’s a shame that you are getting beaten by Naruto, I wonder how it feels.” All these thought swimming through his brain as he tried to focus.

He looked over at Naruto but instead found himself face-to-face with Alek. “What do you want?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering why you aren’t doing anything. Progress is made by those who work for it. You can’t always use the Sharingan and then what’ll happen? You’ll be just another third-rate ninja.”

“I’m getting tired of your smug little comments.”

“Oh really?” he asked, leaning against the cliff. “Then stop talking about it and do something. Because quite frankly, I don’t have time for complaints. I’ve had enemies that have complained less about torture than you do. So stop being a little girl and hit me already; if you can that is.”

“You two, stop this childish behavior,” Kakashi said.

“Stay out of this Kakashi. This is the only way he’ll learn to respect me for who I am. He hates me because he knows I am powerful enough to beat Itachi and thinks that by beating me, he will be endowed with such power. That, and my being a Jinchuuriki just makes him hate me more. So why don’t I show him what a nice guy I am?”

Sasuke pulled back his fist and threw it at Alek, but in an instant, the boy had dodged the blow and grabbed Sasuke’s other arm and spun him around, lifting it against his back. He was forced to his knees and then to his stomach after Alek grabbed his other arm and twisted it behind his back. He was now squatting over Sasuke, applying pressure to his arms.

“I told you anything you try would be futile. You’re just wasting my time. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind killing you right now,” he said calmly. His facial expression was unreadable. “You are nothing to me and I would kill you sooner than Itachi if I felt like it. Let me give you a hint about what lies in your future if you continue this way. You’ll grow older, doing nothing but training for your big fight with Itachi, but you’ll feel lonely beyond anything you’ve ever felt. You’ll think back on each day that has passed and wished you hadn’t made the choices you did.

“But that’ll be the least of your worries. Because you aren’t the only one after Itachi, and everyone who gets in your way or goes after the same target as you, you will kill. You will lie awake at night, unable to sleep but too tired from your training to move. And you will have rejected all your friends and those who care about you in search of a power that you will one day realize you cannot reach. And then you will sit in your house and reject the company of all, eventually you’ll stop eating and taking care of yourself.

“You will rot away in that place and even as you are on your deathbed, you will refuse the help of anyone who offers. And you will still be haunted by Itachi, even after he is long gone, for you did not defeat him. This is the life you have chosen. And let me tell you something. If you think that won’t happen, don’t take my word for it. But while you lie in your deathbed, you will think back to this day and remember me and what I have told you. It’s your choice. This is the life you lead, it isn’t my job to choose what you do with it, but learn from the mistakes of the past.”

He let go of Sasuke’s arms, stood up and walked away.

Sasuke didn’t move though. He stayed where he was with his cheek resting softly against the cold dirt and his arms at his sides. “I did it,” he heard Naruto yell from on top of the cliff, but he didn’t even look up.

Was he right? he asked himself. Is that really what’s going to happen to me? Or is this all just a mind game? One of his little games to get people to do what he wanted? He didn’t know.

After a few long minutes, he finally stood up and returned to the campsite, leaving the rest of them to continue their training.

Sooo, this is about as far as I’ve gotten. I felt that this chapter was a bit weaker than my others but I’m not sure how to fix it.