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

Chapter 7

Sasuke couldn't say that he was particularly close to Sarutobi Asuma. He knew Asuma as the sensei to Team 10 and the son of the Sandaime Hokage. Of course, it was always sad when a comrade died. But Sasuke couldn't say that he felt much more than slight grief for those Asuma had left behind (and a much more intense frustration and simmering anger at finding who was responsible for his death).

The Akatsuki had claimed another life. And if what he'd heard from Naruko was correct, the one who had killed him was immortal. "You're sure ?" Sasuke questioned dubiously.

Naruko nodded seriously. "I heard it with my own ears, 'ttebayo. He lived through being stabbed through the chest three times and getting his head cut off!"

After the chunin had delivered the Hokage's message to Itachi, his elder brother had offered a succinct farewell before leaving with a shushin. Sasuke had been on his way back into the village when Naruko and Sakura had landed in front of him and immediately started trading information. Naruko had managed to listen in from outside the window of the Hokage office while Sakura had spotted Asuma's body being delivered to the coroner for an autopsy.

"I've never heard of something like this before. I knew that the Akatsuki had some powerful missing nins. But...immortals?" Sakura said with a hand to her chin. "What kind of jutsu gives you immortality?"

Sasuke frowned. He'd never heard of a jutsu like that before. 'Every jutsu has a weakness,' Itachi's words rang through Sasuke's head. If there was a way to gain immortality, there had to be a cost to it. Or a way to exploit it at the very least...

"Do you know when the funeral is?" Sakura asked Naruko in a somber voice.

Naruko frowned. "Tomorrow, 'ttebayo. I wonder how team ten is doing."

Sasuke didn't respond, but he could imagine the feeling of uselessness he'd harbor if Kakashi had died in action and he'd have to hear it through the grapevine... But would that be worse than being on the same mission and failing to save your sensei? In that moment, Sasuke pitied Shikamaru.

"Poor Kurenai-sensei. She must be devastated," Sakura said.

"Kurenai-sensei? What about her?" Naruko asked, completely puzzled.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sasuke didn't make it his business to get involved in the private affairs of others, but even he knew about Kurenai and Asuma. "They were married, Usuratonkachi. They didn't make a big deal of it."

Sakura sighed and shook her head at Naruko's stunned expression. "I'm going to go check on Ino and see how she's doing," Sakura said and started walking back towards the village.

Sasuke turned back to Naruko when he heard her curse softly. "Asuma-sensei helped me with my wind chakra whenever Tou-chan was too busy. Those Akatsuki bastards can't get away with this," she said with her fists clenched tightly.

"They won't," Sasuke promised. Naruko met his gaze for several seconds, seemingly searching for something in his gaze. When she found whatever it was that she had been searching for, she nodded once. While Sasuke was pleased that she had such faith in him, truthfully, he still held some minor reservations. Itachi had just praised his strength, Sasuke wasn't ignorant to his own weaknesses.

~:~

It was abnormally gloomy in the village- a rare cloudy day during the Land of Fire's summer. Asuma's funeral was a relatively small affair full of familiar faces. Sasuke had stood at his mother's side and silently paid his respects, while watching the reactions in the crowd. Naruko was comforting a younger, crying boy. Sakura stood strong at Ino's side, wordlessly offering a handkerchief. Kakashi was standing with a man with a bowl cut hairstyle, the both of them staring mournfully at Asuma's grave marker. Even Itachi had come, but he was noticeably standing with Shisui and Izumi (and away from their father).