Sass-suke

Chapter 2

After a couple of hours, Naruto woke up as well. The young boy instantly began chiding Sasuke on the previous fight, seemingly confused when the raven didn't respond to him, no matter how he prodded.

Not wanting to spend too much time on the exam, Sasuke led his group to the tower, finishing up as quickly as he could. Thankfully, this time they didn't run into any extra trouble. Soon enough, the test was over, the trio passing easily.

While the hokage talked to the other genins about the new situation with the exams, Sasuke sat in an empty restaurant stall, ignoring the curious glances the owners kept throwing towards him.

Sasuke bowed his head, the edges of his lips curling downwards. His mind began to wander about his purpose here. 'Did Naruto know about the jutsu? He must have, it would explain why he suddenly brought up the war. Then, does he want me to fix everything?'

'But how would I do that? It's impossible to save everyone. I suppose I should at least try and save the ones closest to him, like Jiraya-sannin.' The raven tilted his head. Maybe he should begin a list on who should be saved and who should be left to die.

With that in mind, the raven began to check off names on a mental list. 'So saving Jiraiya is a must. And I'm assuming that Naruto would want me to prevent Neji from dying as well. However, those two come later. I should deal with Orochimaru first and deal with Itachi as well.'

A cold feeling curdled in his stomach at the mention of Itachi. Was he even prepared to face him? Sure he was stronger now, but mentally, he still viewed himself as the weak little boy who looks up to his older brother.

Speaking of meeting people, Sasuke pinched his brows. How the hell was he supposed to meet anyone if his mouth keeps blurting out sassy remarks? 'It has to be a side effect of the jutsu I performed. The only question is if it's permanent or not.'

"Sasuke-bastard!" A loud voice brought him out of his thoughts. Sasuke turned his head to find an angry Naruto running at him with full speed. Startled, the raven instantly moved out of the way, grabbing Naruto's arm and flipping him over with the stealth of a serpent.

"Ouf!" Naruto landed on his back with a thud. He glared up at the surprised face looking down at him and bolted upright, shaking his fist in his face. "Oi! What was that for, teme? All I wanted to do was tell you that Kakashi-sensei is looking for you. Seems Sakura told him about the strange mark on your shoulder."

Sasuke's face softened into it's normal void expression. "Hn." He slipped his hands into his pockets and turned away, walking in the direction the blonde had come from. Steam came out of the blonde's ears, and he growled at the bastard before running to catch up.

Sensing his sensei's chakra in a large stadium, the raven casually walked in. A lazy glance around told him that this was where the preliminaries were being held. Spotting Kakashi on the second floor, he quickly made his way to him.

As he approached, he studied his former teacher's face. It was really him. He was still wearing that god damned mask. Gulping, Sasuke resisted the urge to apologize for failing to save him during the war. He would just think Sasuke was insane anyways.

Gazing upon him with sad eyes, Sasuke shook off the thoughts of the future he put behind him. Smoothing over his face, he cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the silver haired man in front of him.

"Hey." Kakashi turned towards the source of the voice. Narrowing his eyes at Sasuke's casual stance, he spoke, "Where were you? You missed the Hokage's announcement."

The raven shrugged, turning towards the battle arena. "Aren't you going to explain to me what he said anyways?" Kakashi replied with a light 'hn'. "There's been a change of plans. The exams are having a preliminary to determine who gets to participate in the final test."