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ftcoye · 4 years ago

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Oh. What if "U. Coming home" with Sasuke/Chouji?

[Ao3 Link.]

Konoha is different.

Or rather - Konoha is exactly the same, and Sasuke is different.

He was never… the typical Konohan shinobi, never the one who was deeply loyal (obviously), but he did not suspect Konoha of what it was, not then. Not even when he left, limping in the rain, did he suspect the truth of his home.

Now he is here, returned, seeing this village with its veneer of kindness and waiting to rip it off and rip it to shreds. He sits in Ichiraku - he had tired of hearing Naruto and Tsunade yell at each other in the Hokage office, tired of hearing Sakura join in. Sai had stood at the closed doorway and smiled, ostensibly to keep an eye on him as if he could not sense the countless ANBU that lurked.

It’s for show, more than anything else - everyone knows that his whole team is on his side, that they will help him rip this apart even if it is in a different way than his initial approach, and that she could never declare him an enemy or risk every single one of them leaving with him. Even Kakashi stands at his side, though Sasuke is reluctant to call him sensei now, standing in on the arguments and likely offering up his own statements. Nothing will happen here.

So he leaves. He lets himself wander down the familiar and unfamiliar paths, both at the same time, and ends up in a place that is familiar.

He sits down in Ichiraku, and he watches Teuchi and Ayame and they look up and smile like he never left. “Sasuke!” Ayame greets him, older now, changed and different. “Do you want your usual?”

Sasuke blinks at her. “My… usual?”

Teuchi smiles. “You think we’d forget?”

Sure enough, they set down a bowl of dashi ramen in him but minutes later - the same thing he had preferred to order as a child, so many years ago. “...Thank you,” he says, and he eats.

The issue with Ichiraku is: it’s popular. When he had been younger, people knew that Team 7 could often be found there - Naruto is friends with the rest of their agemates, with the rest of Konoha, far more than he ever used to be… It makes sense that he would frequently populate here with his friends, that others would become used to this place as well.

Nor is it as if there weren’t others here back then, too - Ichiraku did thrive.

So he shouldn’t be that surprised when Akimichi Chouji draws back the curtain, and yet he is. They stare at each other, both clearly caught off guard, and then Akimichi relaxes.

He had called him Chouji, once upon a time, but he’s not sure if he’s able to now - an idea which is quickly clarified. “Sasuke,” Chouji says, and he gives a small smile. “Didn’t expect you.”

Sasuke has no idea what to say to him. “Mm,” he hums, picking up another batch of noodles. “Got tired of the yelling.”

Chouji looks like he’s unsure if he can laugh at that or not, and he awkwardly chuckles before sliding into a seat right next to him. “Do you mind if I join you?” he asks. “Food’s best with other people.”

For a moment, Sasuke doesn’t reply. Then, letting his noodles drop back into the bowl because he needs to focus on this conversation, he frowns at him, very slightly. “You’re being very friendly,” he says.

Chouji is a friendly person - but very few know of the truth of Konoha, know why Sasuke did what he did and still does what he does, very few have truly woken up to the realities of the shinobi world, and if Chouji is one of them, Sasuke was not made aware.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Chouji asks, though - and when Sasuke creases his forehead just slightly because he can think of quite a few reasons, the other ninja flushes, just a touch. “Well… I don’t know you well, Sasuke,” he says, because it’s true. “But I know Naruto and Sakura and Sai. They trust you.”

Sasuke doesn’t quite know how to reply to that, and Teuchi sets a bowl of ramen in front of the other. “I know you wanted to destroy Konoha,” he says, as if everyone doesn’t know and if everyone doesn’t shy away in the streets, doesn’t look away like he’s a madman. “But… you don’t now, right?”

Chouji isn’t the only one waiting on an answer. Teuchi and Ayame hover, as well, and Sasuke lets his chopsticks fall, clatter into his bowl, his hand dropping to rest on the counter instead. He curls it into a fist. “I do,” he says, because he does. It burns within him, every piece of these falsehoods, every scrap of the lies that people have swallowed about Konoha and about the rest of the shinobi world.

He wants to tear down the false promises made, the ideals that were never true by those such as Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, wants to rend this place of lies and death and torture and good little child soldiers, marching in time for those that will send them off to their deaths for nothing but money.

Sasuke meets Chouji’s eyes, and refuses to look away.

He’s surprised - it’s clear. It wasn’t the answer that he expected. Teuchi and Ayame are quiet, and Sasuke doesn’t want to turn and see what their expressions are, see what has fallen upon their faces in such a way.

But after a moment, Chouji’s face firms into determination. “Well,” he says. “Then you’ve got a reason, right?” He pauses for a moment, considers, and then puts his hand on Sasuke’s, big and warm. Sasuke twitches, but doesn’t pull away. “Tell me why.”

Sasuke looks at Chouji, at the determination set in his face, the warmth resting on his hand. He glances over and sees Ayame and Teuchi, faces open and warm and ready to listen.

“Alright,” he says, and he tells them everything.

#sasuke uchiha #chouji akimichi #sasuchou #chousasu #naruto #teuchi #ayame #Anonymous #asks

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