Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Love ❯ Lessons ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: All original Naruto characters, settings, plot etc. are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no profit from this story. … Lessons

Naruto was sulking. Though I suppose I was as well. I can't believe he hit me back! The nerve! Well…it would have been strange for him not to, since it is Naruto, and he probably hadn't been expecting it. But still! I had good reason! He didn't! And now we would both look stupid on our first day of school Black eyes and split lips. We hadn't taken things too far. I didn't want to damage the flat so soon after I'd repaired it. Hn, idiot dobe.

So now we were receiving quite a few awkward glances from the villagers as we passed them on our way. It was the first day of school; well, for us at least. After the fight I'd managed to pry Naruto into telling me what he had found out from that nutty headmaster. According to Naruto the three buildings are three different levels of school. Or Education Establishment as people here liked to call it.

The first was for those younger than us and seemed to teach the same sorts of things as we'd seen vaguely in the Ninja academy. The basics. It was just common knowledge and, of course, it would be strange of us not to have at least some knowledge had we been from a simple civilian village like this. That one was not an option and thankfully Naruto had not chosen it. Said it seemed like too much work. I had chosen not to mention that it most likely had the least work.

The second specialised in certain topics, obviously stemming from the general knowledge we were supposed to already have. You could select a few different ones and would learn in depth about each of them. You could choose from three up to seven of them. To me it sounded kind of boring; learning about only three things. And each topic can't consist of that much.

The third building seemed worse in our situation than either of the other two. It was for training. You learned of only one thing and it was to lead you into a job position. Since we didn't plan on spending our entire lives here that was useless to us and thankfully Naruto had noticed that.

He'd chosen the second building. Not only that but he'd also taken it upon himself to choose our topics. Not even thinking that perhaps I'd like to choose my own. That had made us fight a little more, but I had seen reason and stopped things from going to far. It didn't mean I wasn't pissed off at him. In the three days that had passed since then almost all of his bruises had faded. I wish I could say the same for myself. Because I had beaten him, and now it looked like he had beaten me. Not that Naruto would admit to defeat but I had clearly won…I'd taken it upon myself to renovate downstairs as well. Now it looked a lot cleaner. I'd forced Naruto to help me, but it hadn't lasted long.

That Kippomaru guy – I suppose I should have been a little more respectful since he was my boss – Kippomaru-san had showed up and disrupted everything. He'd stolen Naruto completely. As soon as he entered Naruto's attention snapped to him and stayed there the entire time. But it turned out that those belongings I'd found in the bedroom were his wife's, I didn't bother to remember her name. I probably should have since she was also my boss. He had thanked us on the work we'd done. Or to be more specific he had thanked Naruto. The blond didn't even do half of the work, but I said nothing and neither did Naruto. I don't know if he even noticed, he was too busy being nice.

They had turned to discussing work times, but I hadn't listened. Now that we were settled down I knew that we'd start working as well. Kippomaru had kept the bar closed for a few days while we settled in but as soon as we started school we were to start work as well.

So now we were on our way to school. Being Naruto he'd chosen only three, obviously, which I was slightly annoyed at. Not that I really cared for these things, it was just slightly awkward for work. The school – educational establishment - was open from six in the morning to eight in the evening. The way things worked out was that you only went to the building for your chosen subjects and then left until you had the next one. Or you could stay in the building and wonder around. I supposed most people did that, but we had only three and they quite were spread out.

We had physical studies at seven until half past ten with a half hour break in between. Then we had domestic studies from eleven until one and then we had to wait until three for technological studies. I'm not even sure what some of these things are. Physical studies sounded simple enough, probably just exercises and other such things. Domestic studies? I wasn't quite sure but maybe something to do with cooking? Though I couldn't figure out why Naruto would choose a topic like that…technological studies…I had no idea what it could be. I would just have to wait and find out. I was pretty sure that I'd be changing from this anyway.

I had wondered how we would find our way to the classes, but it was harder than I'd imagined. This was the second largest of the buildings and when I say large I really mean it. For such a small village it seemed a lot of people came here. I later learned that a small distance from this village was an apartment complex which held purely students; those who came and went from this place only to learn. I would never have guessed. But supposedly they didn't really go into the village all that much. They had their own shops and diners.

It wouldn't be a problem to us though, they were also only civilians. The school was split up into two sections; the creative and the businesses. Ours were all in the creative. Even once in that section of the building though, it wasn't as a school should be. The room we entered into was the artistic studies section and was completely open plan, there were few students here though, only about five or six so I presumed there was no class on. In that room there were many doors stemming off of it; though some were not even doors, only sheets that covered a hole in the wall, the others were glass and plastic, all see through, doors so I could see they did not lead to rooms, only corridors.

Such a strange school. Then again, they didn't claim to be a school, but an educational establishment. I was sure most were not like this. Fortunately the doors – or whatever else – were labelled. Unfortunately they didn't lead to individual classes, but sections of classes. They were labelled things like 'creative – home' or 'creative – style' but nothing that we understood. Thankfully, or not so thankfully, one of the art students approached us.

She was a female and immediately told us her name. She was friendly, and Naruto was friendly back. I didn't pay her much attention and instead focused on learning my way around as she slowed us to our first class. I paid attention well and felt I could find my way back to this room. She had taken us down one of the corridors – I'd taken noticed of the names on the rooms – until we got to our room. When I say 'room' that is only what I first expected. Turned out physical studies had three rooms. Yes. This is a big building.

We weren't even introduced to the other students as we entered, the girl disappearing back where she came from, but they all welcomed us with smiles and encouraging words. Naruto seemed to really appreciate it. I didn't. The class was purely fitness. We were in the room with the exercise equipment. I tried to pretend that they tired me out. Naruto didn't. The almost completely male class surrounded him in astonishment at how 'strong' he was. He quickly grew in popularity, but even then he stuck with me instead of going off with them for the short break we had.

The classmates had pointed us in the direction of one of the many places around here where you could 'hang out' between classes or on breaks. They were all outside the building. In the centre of the three. They curved round to give a large expanse of park in the middle where there was always people - from all of the 'educational establishments'. There was also a number of café's and little shops littered around the area. But what I liked best were the trees. There were paths and seating areas but the rest was grass, trimmed to perfection, and trees and shrubbery. It was nice, very fitting for this tropical village. I lay in the centre of one of the larger bench-table things, one that was placed randomly on the grass while Naruto went to fetch us a snack.

Even the sky here looked different. Fluffier clouds and more colour. I heard raised voices and couldn't help but look in the direction. Behind a thinning of the trees in this area I could see that girl who had showed us to class arguing with someone. A boy. There was a third person but I took my time to study them; they seemed more normal than the people I'd come into contact with so far. They weren't smiling. Taking a longer look at the girl I could see she was quite tall; for a girl. Me and Naruto were about the same height; five foot eight - I liked to think I was about five foot nine, though it probably wasn't true. This girl, on estimate, might have been only slightly shorter…about five foot seven. She had very short hair, ginger and spiky; well above her neck. I don't know if I've see a girl with such short hair. I couldn't see very well through the threes but her eyes looked dark, her skin pale and freckly. She wore dark clothes, loose and baggy over her slim body. The expression on her face and the attitude in her voice told me she was cheeky, but the boy opposite her seemed to be having none of her apparent attitude.

He looked kind of alike to her. In their facial structure; perhaps they were family. He looked very angry and spoke harshly to her, but it did nothing to deter her feisty behaviour, it was sort of entertaining, even without knowing what they were discussing. The boy had floppy brown hair, but it was dark enough to pass off as black, with a freckly face and dark eyes like the girl. He was quite well built too, for a civilian, though those muscles were more for show than for fight, I could tell. He looked very short, but in truth must have been about the same size as the girl, but standing next to him was a boy who was very tall, and lanky. I didn't care to pay him any attention; he was doing nothing interesting. Just when their voices got more frantic Naruto appeared.

"Hey, Sasuke! They have some awesome food here! Check this," he held up a bowl of what could only be ramen, "for a moment I wondered if they wouldn't have it." He looked like the idea might cause him to cry, idiot. I felt something land on my chest and when I looked I realised it was a packet; on further inspection I realised it was a packet of baby tomatoes. Tomatoes are my favourite food but it had been so long since I'd actually had any. The way I'd been living you ate what you got, you didn't think about things like that. I had missed them.

When I looked back at Naruto he was looking over at the people who I'd been inspecting before. But it didn't matter about that, I felt weird. It wasn't the feeling but it was close to it. Gratitude might have been what it was. I was thankful. But I said nothing. Instead I decided to be more accepting of his choosing my topics for me. I would change them anyway. Probably. I'd keep Physical, because it would help us keep in shape since we couldn't train. But I doubted I would enjoy the other two. Naruto had probably picked them thinking they meant less work.

"Hey, that's Mai*." He said, as if I would care. Turning my attention to more pressing matters…as I opened the bag of tomatoes my mouth watered and my lips twitched. But Naruto seemed to have other ideas now. He dragged me – again with the contact – up and around the trees until we were stood next to the girl and the boy. The ones who had paused arguing to see what we wanted. Naruto had no sense of privacy.

The girl smiled pleasantly, but the boy did nothing, just looking to the tall one behind him, as if we were exasperating. We probably were to him. At least he seemed slightly normal. But I didn't really care anyway, I started with my tomatoes.

"Oh, you're the boys I met earlier, aren't you." I saw her in the corner of my eye as she turned to grab the other boy's attention. He looked over to us. "These are the brothers I was telling you about. Guys," she turned to us, "this is my very own brother, Mika*! Oh, he's sweet enough once you get to know him, a grouchy asshole when you don't…even so…!" She laughed out loud like she'd told the best joke in the world but her brother, the 'Mika' boy, frowned and rolled his eyes before turning and walking away, a muttered 'I'm telling mother' his parting words.

I hated the way she'd called us brothers; me and Naruto. Like it was so simple. I had sort of hoped people wouldn't believe it, but obviously that was not the case. It was almost enough to make me wish I had argued with Naruto more about it. I could have told the Kippomaru boss guy that Naruto just wished we were – since that was the case. But instead I'd kept my mouth shut and I had no idea why such a thing was so hard for me to handle. I bit into my baby tomatoes with more force.

"Hmph!" For a moment the girl…Mai…looked really annoyed, but it was fleeting as she began talking again to us. I wondered how long we had before class as she questioned our next lesson. When Naruto explained that we were only on a break between classes she started explaining her own hours and I heard Naruto go over our classes too. And for some reason I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"I'm probably going to have my classes changed." At this the eyes snapped to me. I'd left them to their own conversation and the idea that they had forgotten I was here was irritating.

Naruto looked aghast, "B-but! Why? If you're just doing it to get out of my classes then you're really…! A teme!" It was really quite embarrassing, Naruto's lame replies. In honesty I would simply rather have a choice in my own topics; it had nothing to do with him. But, as always, he jumped on the chance to argue with me. For a change I decided to play back.

"Why…Naruto? I didn't realise you wanted me around so much." I smirked and Mai laughed - that loud boisterous laugh again that boasted how the most amusing thing had occurred.

The blond spluttered for a moment, caught himself, and glared. His glare was weak, of course, and I didn't feel like stooping to his level by returning one of my own. Instead I snorted and turned my head away. A heavy silence settled as Naruto copied my notions.

The girl cleared her throat obviously and I found it very rude of her. But not in a necessarily bad way. It was strange. "So what classes do you think you might take?" God, had I really started this conversation…now I would have to participate. It had been a while since I'd been in a civil conversation.

"I don't know. I'll see when I go to change them." Best to keep things short, but not too short. Not snappy. It wasn't as likely I would offend someone and the last thing I needed was to do that.

"Hmm…you should try to get breaks at the same time as us. On the regime you're on now you have break from one till three. That's two hours and we only have one and a half…me and the rest of my friends that is. My brother also happens to come with us but he's a dick and easy to ignore. But we're always off around those times as well…except Jose*, but he doesn't count." She laughed that haughty laugh of hers. I could tell she was only joking, the way she spoke said that much, even when she had insulted her brother it had been teasingly. The way siblings should be.

I averted my eyes…"yeah…"

"Hey, hey, Mai! If you're break is at the same time as ours then how come you're out now?" Naruto questioned and I kept my attention elsewhere. I'd rather not get dragged into yet another incompetent conversation. Besides, all the dobe's questions were idiotic. She obviously had more than three topics, therefore more breaks between each. Idiot dobe.

I looked around, trying to see somebody else whom I recognised. Not out of curiosity and certainly not because I cared. Simply because I wanted to. There was nothing better to do and risking dragging myself into Naruto and Mai's conversation was not something I wanted to do. I couldn't help noticing that none of the people from the basic schooling building were out at the moment. At least that was my presumption, assuming they were significantly younger than myself, that is.

I really don't know why Naruto insisted on being so nice to people. Especially when he's so genuine with it; the niceness. Honestly, it must be so tiring…people will only hurt you. Making friends is a useless notion which causes you more weakness in the long run. Seriously.

All friends were good for was holding you back or dying. When they are around you they distract you, even when fighting together they are only a nuisance. They take up time better spent training. And when you are a Ninja death is a constant part of life; if a friend dies there is pain; useless pain that does nothing but hold you back.

Having friends here was even more dysfunctional. Seriously…we wouldn't even be there that long. Well…perhaps we would be staying for a long while - however, it was not forever. That much was guaranteed. We'd leave eventually and friends would be simply an interference. Expecting contact to be kept from wherever we lied about going to. Knowing Naruto he'd probably try to as well; keep up the contact. Not that it would be my concern; I would not be with him on his return 'home' because I would not be returning to the same place as he.

"Hey Saaaasuke!" how was it that one voice could be so irritating? Hang on…were we walking? When had we started walking?

"What dobe?" I snapped, still trying to figure out why I had no recollection of beginning our travel. We were most definitely on our way back to our building. It must have been the end of our break. Mai was no where in sight.

"You were totally out of it and ignoring me! I didn't like it, are you feeling okay?" Of course he wouldn't like that; attention seeking idiot that he was. And there his niceness is showing up again. I know he can't possibly care about me…because…I don't think he's that much of an idiot. Even though he is obsessive it's purely selfish on his part; something about becoming Hokage I presume. So I just ignored him. That should get him annoyed. It did. I could tell from his enraged huffs and the way he ignored me right back, not that I was complaining – the silence was a blessing - while it lasted.

Our second half of physical was a lot more pathetic than our first. We were in a hall this time, one that stank of old sweat. It was disgusting. But what we had to do was even worse. They wanted us to play something called aeroball. It was some kind of ball game, and supposedly we were to take part in a tournament at the end of this year. I didn't really care about the game, but anything that would help keep me in shape I was willing to partake in.

Naruto was very enthusiastic about it, along with most of the others in our class; the idiot seemed to mix well with these people. The second lesson seemed to pass much slower than the first; I had a feeling that it was due to the increase in talking. Honestly, the class was called 'physical' so should we not have been more active? But no. Apparently explaining the rules of this stupid game were far more important than our fitness.

And it turned out domestic studies was to do with chemicals. But not so much in a scientific fashion; only things surrounding the home environment and bacterial chemistry were covered. It was quite practical as well, in the lesson we were shown film strips and pictures of horrendously dirty worktops and were asked to guess – with only knowledge read from our text books – which patches of grim contained which chemicals. I was bored. Naruto slept. And I certainly wouldn't be choosing this class as one of my topics.

Our second break was invariably just like the first had been. Only longer. We had to wait about fifteen minutes before Mai arrived, a larger group in tow. Well…I say large but really there were only about five or maybe six of them. I don't know. I wasn't looking. I didn't care. I stayed silent for the entire time anyway. I lay out atop one of the bench-tables and dozed off a little. I had nothing to eat, but I wasn't hungry. Those baby tomatoes had satisfied me for the mean time.

I barely heard the nonessential gossip around me but I let myself relax in the warm air. It really was quite comfortable. I had notice Naruto ask about the weather. This time of year was one of their cooler periods. I dreaded to think the damage my skin would go through when the heat reached its peak. Maybe they would have some sort of cream I could use…civilians bothered with things like that. And since I was living as a civilian…

The rest of school went by with little interruption, every now and again Naruto would drag me off to see someone, though with time I stopped registering them all together. Sometimes it felt as though I was the only one here. Just myself and Naruto. Like the corridors were empty and the park deserted. It didn't feel lonely; it felt the complete opposite, only after I came back to reality that was filled with so many others, Naruto's attention straying to all these other people. I felt strangely neglected.

Another topic I would be dropping was technological studies. Or 'techy' as I'd heard everyone else refer to it as. No matter…it was useless. Naruto seemed to enjoy it though and I was surprised to see just how skilled he happened to be. Not that I would ever admit that. And I was better, of course. Not that he would ever admit that. Basically we had to make things. Our equipment was mostly metal contraptions like screwdrivers and such, only more…inventive. And using these tools we had to build things like sheds or shelves, either out of wood, plastic or metal. Today we had only built a box, to introduce us to the topic.

I hated it! It was worse than domestic. I'm not sure what exactly was so off-putting but I just knew I couldn't stand another day with those greasy things! Never mind though, I had arranged after physical, this morning, to see the headmaster tomorrow and sort out my own subjects. For now it was time to work.

For a moment as we reached our bar - which, I might add, I was still disgusted at, no matter how clean it happened to be - Naruto seemed ecstatic, rushing up the stairs and planting the two folders we'd been given from domestic studies onto the couch. I followed him, just to see the look of horror on his face when he realized that now we had to return downstairs. To work. At a bar, no less. I only had a vague idea of how to run a bar but I was guessing Naruto had even less clue than I.

I couldn't help eyeing the two purple folders we'd received today with a slight frown. I had never asked Naruto to carry mine for me; he'd done it right away. I'm not sure why…

"Aww, damn!" Naruto exclaimed just as he threw himself down next to the folders. "We've got work" I couldn't help the twitch of my lips as he slumped down on the couch, his words slurred in a groan that seemed to stretch forever. Until he hit the floor.

"Ouch!" I snorted before starting back down the stairs; I'd seen all I needed to. Kippomaru had told us that we could just open the bar whenever we were here, and when we weren't they would likely drop by for a few hours. They paid us by clock times; we had to clock every minute the bar was open. Not that I really cared when the stupid bar opened and closed – I just wanted the money. I threw a glance backwards as I reached the actual bar. I took pride in the shiny tabletops and sparkling bar top that I had cleaned, no matter that it was Naruto who got most thanks.

Naruto took a few minutes to get down before we opened the doors. I wasn't sure how many people this place usually had to serve but I was not expecting what we got. It seemed Naruto had made himself more popular than I'd noticed. People were swarming the place to see where he worked. I, of course, was the one to serve them since Naruto was too busy being a good host. It was even more irritating than when he took so long in the shower that first day. He didn't take any orders…out of all the people who came in it was entirely me who was left to serve people.

Damn him.

And then every now and again he would yell over to me 'Hay, Sasuke! Guess what so-and-so did!' then he would tell the whole bar the story, completely ignorant to the fact that I wanted to kill him. I have to admit though, there were a few times when the conversation turned intriguing. At one point they even spoke of ninja's, to which both Naruto and I stayed relatively silent.

I couldn't recall the name of the certain boy from our technological class who began the discussion. But I do remember what he'd said. "Naruto! I heard you're one hell of a player in physical! What are you, like, a ninja?" He had been joking, and I was thankful Naruto had picked up on that, but it only took a moment of laughter before the entire room sobered up.

"Don't say that," a girl I'd never noticed said from the other side of the room, "Ninja's are terrible people." When everyone nodded in agreement I felt myself stare at Naruto, hoping that he would not blow our cover. He had never been good with his emotions. He didn't say anything that I expected though, thankfully, he only asked why. To be honest I don't know why he bothered. Even I knew that the life ninja lead is, in that girl's words, terrible.

"Well…just look at all those things they do!" she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and, in a morbid way, it was. Naruto looked a mix between offended and confused, perhaps he'd never realized that Ninja killed for pay. Or maybe…he just didn't see the problem. Now it was I who was frowning in curiosity, surely Naruto wasn't the type of person to trivialise death.

"Yeah, she's right, dog," another boy piped in from the table Naruto was at and I had to wonder…dog? "They make children kill."

"And wage wars over money." I heard someone else say.

"They vandalise their bodies just for power to murder!" I almost flinched at that, but knew better of it, instead I simple put up my mask, and continued serving. Naruto looked petrified; he'd obviously never been faced with reality. This would be like a slap in the face for him.

It seemed the whole bar had decided to join the conversation, spouting their little facts and statistics from every corner of the room. I didn't care who was saying it, but it stung in such a strange way to hear some of these things. "They pay each other to kill innocent people, not caring who they are or what they've done to deserve it."

"Yeah, you're right. They get paid by bad guys to kill good guys and they still try to act like they protect people!"

"And, not to mention, the amount of other Ninja they kill!"

"Even their families! They kill anything to get more power and money! I just don't get it!"

"They manipulate each other and lie to each other and kill each other and destroy people's homes and, and, and! They are just pigs!"

I have to say, I felt kind of bad myself, so I didn't want to think of how much that had hurt Naruto. I can still remember the harsh feeling that had left me in peace for quite a while. I had no desire for it to return. I didn't look at his face when he started up a new conversation, even tried to block out his voice. They might not have heard it but I could certainly pick up on the quiver in his voice, the thickness of it and how it said so blatantly what he was feeling. Pain. I knew a fair few things about that.

Not that I could even remember too clearly…only in my dreams…only in my nightmares. I closed the bar shortly after, we had been working for five hours already and it was getting later, we would need food and such yet. I didn't dare talk to Naruto, who'd been much more silent than usual whilst cleaning up the tables – the only real work he had done all night. I wanted to make him do the dishes, but thought better of it and did them myself.

It wasn't like I wanted him to have time alone. I'm not considerate like that. I just didn't want him to be any more of a hassle than he already was. If I forced him to do dishes in this state then he'd mope around for an even longer period of time. Anyway, he was on the couch tonight since he got the bed yesterday. We had actually managed to arrange suitable living arrangements to fit around each other. Showers were the worst, not only did he often spend much longer in the shower than I deemed necessary, he also took an extra ten minutes to shave.

Now, you would think that, being a man myself, I could work with that. But it simply made me angry because, and though it shamed my pride greatly, I could not yet grow a beard. I doubted if I ever would. It was another Uchiha trait; we were moustache people. There I go again, using the word 'we'. I clearly meant 'me' since I'm alone now.

Back to the living arrangements; he took way too long in the bathroom in the mornings, never mind the fact that I usually woke up hours before him, I still liked to lay in peace until he got up – rest was rest and although sleep might not have been one of my favourite pastimes I still enjoyed rest when I got it. Naruto liked to disturb my rest quite often though. He would sometimes be up in the middle of the night, rushing to the toilet, getting food, taking a shower. Yes, a shower. In the middle of the night. Staying in the bedroom meant I heard a lot less of his behaviour, not that I got any more or less sleep, but I did get more rest. Which is always a good thing.

We didn't have much food in the apartment yet, so eating was limited, that night we had half a sandwich each, Naruto insisted I took the larger half, though I didn't see much difference in size. I think he was just trying to fill the silence, even his voice sounded strained though. The conversation from earlier had not left his mind. I hadn't expected it to, but it might have been nice.

"Hey, Sasuke?" He said to me later, white foam spraying over the sink. We were preparing for bed. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth while he did the same. We hadn't bought the necessary equipment to live here but Kippomaru's wife had been generous enough to buy us the basics. I certainly hadn't asked but she had assured us that it was coming out of our wage. Such a nice woman. I should have probably tried harder to remember her name next time we met. Sadly I'm a bastard and don't much care.

I spit and rinsed my mouth; I wasn't gross like him. "What?" I had been dreading this conversation, because I knew I'd have to crush him even more. I know how that makes me sound, but I don't actually care…it would just be so inconvenient for him to be distracted by the horrors of real life.

"Wh-what those guys said in the bar…you know…about Ninja…" his muttering gradually got lower and lower and I was glad I had good hearing. "It…it wasn't really true? Right? 'Cause they just don't know any better, right?" I could feel his eyes on me, trailing me as I left the bathroom on my way to bed. I didn't want to answer him, but I had no valid reason not to.

"Naruto. I know you're a naïve dobe, but…those things were almost an understatement to how bad Ninja life is. None of our life was good was it? We only lived it because we didn't know any better. We're just as bad as the Ninja who kill the ones we protect. It's a twisted politics and it's time you realised that."

He stared at me. I couldn't tell if it was what I'd said that bothered him or how much I'd actually spoke. It was very seldom that I had a meaningful thing to say. Unfortunately I now had nothing more to say, so I shut the bedroom door behind me and went to bed, regardless of what Naruto would do or feel. …

To answer the questions from last time:

ZeeBee: it bothered me too, but I wanted it to be realistic and so I couldn’t have them staying really strong when they have no way to train. But they won’t loose all their ninja skills - not at all. And in a world filled with civilians they’ll still be pretty good. Plus when they return to Konoha they’ll be able to train up again.

KaitouRyuki: This story will actually be written soley in Sasuke’s pov however I’m going to be making a sequel (not really sine it’s the same story) in Naruto’s pov.

Hope you guys liked this chapter too. More soon.

Mai* pronounced 'May'.

Mika* pronounced 'Mee-kah'.

Jose* pronounce 'joe-zay'.

Xx..xX