Don't Stare at the Sun or You'll Go Blind

Chapter 2

Kakashi hadn't nominated them for the Chuunin Exams.

He'd said that he didn't think that they were ready yet, but Sasuke had his doubts. Maybe Sakura and Naruko weren't ready yet. But he definitely was.

"The Chunin Exams are meant to be taken as a team. Kakashi-san probably wants you to take more time to develop your teamwork," Itachi explained gently. Sasuke pouted and threw another shuriken at the target he was training with.

"Our teamwork is fine. If anything, it's probably Sakura holding us back," Sasuke huffed. The pink haired girl had been spending less time hounding him lately (which he'd always be grateful for), but she was now acting more vicious than ever towards Naruko. Sasuke couldn't understand her. But maybe he wasn't meant to understand girls? Most of them were annoying anyways...

"Us?" Itachi parroted. Sasuke froze when he realized his mistake. Itachi's tone had been mild, but Sasuke had heard the curious undertones. Although his back was to his older brother, Sasuke was sure that Itachi was giving him that ever-patient smile that he got whenever Naruko was mentioned.

Sasuke shrugged casually. "Hn. I meant me," Sasuke corrected. Itachi hummed once. "Naruko isn't ready yet I guess. She's not as bad as Sakura, but she's still not Chunin level yet."

"Naruko-chan has improved a great deal recently," Itachi remarked almost casually.

"She's been training with some pervert," Sasuke practically hissed. When Sasuke had met the man Naruko had gone on and on about, he'd been less than impressed. Of course, he'd met the tall, white-haired man while he had been peeping at the hot springs. It hadn't painted a good first impression. And now Naruko was spending all her time with that-

"Jiraiya-sama is a very respected and experienced shinobi. He was the Yondaime's sensei," Itachi said as he approached. Sasuke make a noncommittal grunt as he threw another shuriken. Pausing in his throwing, Sasuke allowed Itachi to readjust his form as he spoke, "It is wise for Naruko-chan to learn as much as she can from him while he's still in the village. I'm sure she will have more time for you in the future."

Sasuke froze as the tips of his ears burned. "I don't care about spending time with her! We're just teammates!" Sasuke objected.

"Of course, otouto," Itachi agreed and poked at leaf insignia on Sasuke's headband. Sasuke would have continued to argue, but it was pointless. And judging from the small smile on Itachi's face, his elder brother knew it too.

They were just teammates. Maybe an argument could made for the title of "friends", but nothing more. It had taken forever for Sasuke to be able to call Naruko his friend without cringing. He didn't have many friends, virtually none outside his family. But, he supposed, Naruko was a bit more tolerable than most. Besides, she had called him her friend first.

"Ne, Teme, let's go get some ramen!" Naruko had practically shouted at him after training. He had been laying on the grass and catching his breath when her face had appeared above his and completely blocked out the sun. Sasuke had frowned at her before sitting up slowly. Idly, he noticed that Sakura had already left but Kakashi was still hanging around with his orange book in hand.

"Why?" Sasuke asked. He normally wouldn't have bothered, but this was the first time that she'd bothered to ask him to have ramen with her. She'd normally ask Sakura or even Kakashi to accompany her. She'd only bother to invite him to get Sakura to agree.

She frowned at him in confusion. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked and grabbed him by the arm. He tried to object but she was already tugging him to his feet. "Kakashi-nii, do you-" she started but Kakashi was quick to cut her off.