Naruto: A New Perspective

Chapter 19

"Orochimaru is obviously after the Sharingan."

"Should we really be surprised about that? We know his ambition."

"We cannot let him have it; Kakashi has reported that he only marked Sasuke."

"I know, I saw the mark, and Kakashi's seal around it."

"Will it hold?"

"It depends on the boy."

"You don't sound sure."

"I'm not sure. The boy is stubborn, but malleable. Sasuke chases power, he demands it. Orochimaru will happily give it to him, if only to make his body stronger before the snake takes it for himself."

"Surely Sasuke would never leave his sister."

"Orochimaru's mark is a poison, sensei. It invades the mind and can twist it until it is unrecognizable."

"Then you must make a stronger seal for Sasuke."

"It will take time... the biggest problem is if Sasuke wants the power, then no seal will be able to block Orochimaru's parasitic influence."

"Then you better get to work, Jiraiya."

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"She dumped you?" Aiko asked in disbelief, after Naruto mentioned that he and Ino weren't dating anymore.

"Hn," Sasuke smirked, "Looks like you're too annoying even for Ino."

"It's not like that," Naruto insisted, "We just decided we weren't right for each other."

"Sure." Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Just admit it, she dumped you."

Naruto scowled, Sasuke obviously didn't understand, and glancing at Aiko he realized that she didn't understand either. His female teammate looked murderous.

"Aiko, seriously its okay." Naruto assured, "We had fun, but that's it. I'm perfectly happy with it."

Aiko stared it him, eyes narrowed, "You don't look all that happy, Naruto."

Naruto was truly content, but he supposed after seeing him grin like an idiot all these years his contented face wasn't an accurate display of how truly happy he was... right now Naruto had the warmest feeling spread throughout his body, it made him tingle. It was the feeling of acceptance.

"He just got dumped," Sasuke snorted, "Of course he's not happy."

"Me and Ino are friends again." Naruto insisted, grinning as widely as he could, "We're happy, but we're not right for each other."

His teammates seemed to accept that... for now. A stab of sorrow shot through Naruto's heart, uncharacteristic with the joy he was feeling. But that sorrow was an undeniable truth that no level of acceptance would defeat or take away.

'I am a demon's prison... and that means no one is right for me.'

_________________

"Again, Shino!" Kurenai ordered, "You're not going to lose to Sasuke, are you?"

"If I do sensei it will be because Sasuke has surpassed me." Shino replied, pushing up his glasses, ignoring the trail of sweat that ran down his brow.

"That's loser talk!" Kiba panted from his spot under the tree. He and Hinata were resting after sparring for what felt like the millionth time that day. Kiba didn't have the control for genjutsu, and Hinata had the control... but her Jyuuken training had made it difficult to learn any other projection technique with chakra, it made genjutsu extremely hard and elemental training all but impossible.