My New Life is Harder Than Expected(Naruto SI-Waifu Catalog) (Patreon)

Chapter 32

(Sasuke POV)

Itachi was dead.

Even with his eyes for confirmation of his demise, Sasuke still couldn’t believe that his brother was really dead.

Itachi always seemed almost invincible to him, far ahead of everyone that he ever knew.

To learn that he had been killed by someone only a year older than him came as a shock to him. Even if that someone was also an Uchiha and was hailed as the greatest prodigy to ever be born in Konoha.

Compared to Akari, what had Sasuke accomplished so far?

Nothing.

The answer came quickly and only served to make Sasuke despair more. Even after spending all his free time training and trying to hone his abilities, Sasuke felt as if he wasn’t getting any stronger.

Both Akari and Itachi were already leagues ahead of him at his age with Akari even managing to reach the rank of Jonin at the age of 11.

Even Naruto was starting to catch up to him now. Heck, Akari’s students had shown a tremendous amount of growth in the small amount of time that they had been under him that Sasuke was unsure if he could defeat them now.

‘Damn it!’ Thought Sasuke in anger as he punched the stump he was training on. ‘Am I really that weak?’

What was Sasuke supposed to do with all the anger that he had been holding on for years now that the subject of his hate was dead? He had no goal anymore other than restoring the Uchiha Clan but even that somewhat felt hollow now to him.

“Still at it? You should really take a break Sasuke and enjoy life a little.”

A voice came from his back slightly startling Sasuke for a second before he relaxed already knowing the culprit.

“What are you doing here Kakashi?” Sasuke asked without turning around.

 “Checking in on you of course. You haven’t showed up for team practice for a week now.” Kakashi said coming to stand by his side still reading that book of his.

“Hn.” Sasuke just grunted not really having anything to say to the man.

“Let it go.” Kakashi suddenly said catching his attention but still refused to look at him.

“Let go of all that hatred you have inside your heart. Your brother is dead. You have nothing holding you back from focusing on your other goal of rebuilding the Uchiha now.” Kakashi said seriously even putting his book away.

Hearing Kakashi’s words, speaking to him as if he knew what Sasuke was feeling snapped something inside Sasuke and he turned the man’s direction with a snarl on his face.

“Shut up! What would you know about what I’m going through!? It’s easy for you to talk, you have no idea!”

“Easy. Just try to calm down.” Kakashi said with a patient look on his eye.

“Maybe if I was to kill the most important people in your life. Everyone who’s ever meant anything to you, maybe then I’d listen to you. Because maybe then you’d have some idea what I feel!” Sasuke spit out in a snarl giving Kakashi a smirk when he mentioned killing his lived ones.

“Hmm, that’s an interesting theory but I’m afraid you’re a little late to put it to the test.” Kakashi responded calmly slightly taking Sasuke by surprise.

Kakashi then gave him an eye smile and continued. “Everyone you’re talking about has already been killed.”

“Huh!?” Sasuke let out not knowing how to respond to that.

“I’ve been around longer than you have kid and I’ve seen my share of troubles. You’re not the only one who knows what it’s like to lose somebody.” Kakashi said in a serious but calm tone.

Anger forgotten, Sasuke could only look down in slight shame for saying what he did.

“So, it looks like neither of us has led a charmed life exactly, have we? Still, we’re not all that bad off. At least you and I have been lucky enough to find new comrades to help fill the void.” Kakashi finished with a smile.

Images of Sakura and Naruto sprung to mind at those words reminding him that he was no longer alone anymore. Not truly. Sasuke even had fellow Uchiha that were still alive and he had gotten to know a bit. Well, Akari at least.

“Anyway, I do know how you feel. You decide whether what I’m saying hits the mark or not. Okay, end of lecture. I hope to see you in our next team meet up. Sakura and Naruto are worried about you.” With those final words Kakashi teleported away with a swirl of leaves.

Left alone with his thoughts, Sasuke sat down in the ground and thought about Kakashi’s words.

Could he really just let go of all of his hatred and move on with his life? Sasuke truly didn’t know the answer to that question.

‘Maybe focusing on another goal would help?’ Sasuke thought silently when an idea suddenly popped into his head. “Should I ask Akari for training?”

Sasuke suddenly tensed and got back on his feet as he felt four presences surround him. “What do you want? Just so you know, I’m not in a very good mood right now so it better be good.”

“This is Sasuke Uchiha huh? Can’t say that I’m impressed.” One of them, the weird one with two heads, said with a sneer.

Knowing this confrontation would end in a fight, especially as he spotted the symbol of Otogakure in the one with multiple arms, Sasuke cracked his knuckles. ‘Hopefully, they prove to be useful distractions.’

=====

(Third POV, Demiplane)

In a big clearing, the sounds of training could be heard as two streaks of cyan clashed against each other all over the arena floor and even the sky.

The two streaks suddenly met in the middle causing an explosion to happen due to the force of their impact.

A moment later the two figures stopped glowing revealing the forms of almost identical looking girls except for their hair. One had brown hair and the other indigo.

“Whew, that was a nice workout. You’re getting better and better Nee-san.” Hanabi said wiping the small amount of sweat that accumulated on her forehead.

“Thank you but I’m still nowhere near close to matching you. I have to work hard to catch up.” Hinata said with a shake of her head being a bit envious of her sister’s prodigious talent when it came to using their new eyes.

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it Nee-san~ Thanks to Akari’s talents that Ciel-san explained to us, it won’t be long before we both master our new power.” Hanabi said encouragingly with a huge smile on her face.

“Yes, you’re right.” Hinata said with a nod remembering their talk with the beautiful cyan-haired girl.

Ciel had explained to them how Akari had shared his power with them and that was how they had grown so quickly over the time they had been training under him.

It finally made sense to the twins how they always picked up everything so quickly and how they never seemed to run out of chakra or become tired.

Akari’s power, other than helping them grow stronger in all fields, also provided them with endless stamina and chakra. They were also now immune to all poisons, extreme temperature conditions, all forms of mind control, possession, and practically invisible to sensors among other things.

So many questions that always confounded the twins were finally answered by Ciel only making them appreciate and love Akari even more.

He had done so much already for them, from teaching them, protecting them, caring for them, being there for them and even reviving Hanabi from the dead without asking for anything in return.

What else could they do but give their hearts to him?

Thankfully their father was in full support of them, especially after bringing Hanabi back to life.

“We have to get stronger.” Hanabi suddenly declared with a serious look on her face. “Strong enough where we won’t be a burden to Akari and he won’t have to constantly worry about us.”

“So that we might be of use to Akari-kun.” Hinata continued with a similar look on her face. “So, he won’t have to shoulder everything by himself and share some of his troubles with us.”

The serious mood was suddenly ruined when Hinata’s stomach let out a growl followed by Hanabi’s.

“Hihihi, how about we take a break for lunch and continue?” Hanabi asked sheepishly while scratching the back of her head, something that Hinata noticed she had picked up from Akari.

“Fufufu, sounds like a plan.” Hinata said bringing up her hand to her mouth to cover the small laugh that escaped her lips.

Together they walked back towards the beautiful mansion in the distance. Though calling it a mansion felt somewhat lacking when one described the beautiful piece of architecture that Akari had managed to build.

“It’s going to feel weird not seeing Akari every day.” Hanabi muttered with a sigh as they walked.

“Yeah…” Hinata agreed, feeling a small stab of pain in her heart at being reminded that she won’t be seeing Akari for at least a few months.

“When he comes back, I’m going to tell him that I love him! And that I want to be part of his life even if I have to share him!” Hanabi suddenly declared with a passionate look on her face.

Turning her head towards her sister, Hinata once again felt envious of the way Hanabi could be so forward and open about her feelings towards Akari. In comparison to that, Hinata still felt nervous and somewhat fearful about openly displaying her feelings towards the man she loved.

‘I hope that by the time he returns; I too will have the courage to tell Akari-kun just how much I love him.’ Hinata thought silently.

=====

(Karin POV)

Waking up in the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in her whole life, Karin debated with herself whether to get up or go back to sleep for a few more hours.

Ultimately Karin chose something in the middle. While she didn’t go back to sleep, Karin chose to remain cuddled in her bed as she thought about the new changes her life had gone through in such a short time.

A few months ago, Karin would have never believed that she would be free from her former village and would now be living in the most beautiful, biggest and incredible place her mind could imagine.

That’s not even mentioning that such a place was located in a whole other dimension/world with its own ecosystem wholly different from what she was used to. In this world, the weather was always perfect and Karin had not seen it change unless someone requested it which was mind boggling on its own.

As a matter of fact, Karin learned something new every day that shattered everything she thought she ever knew.

Chief among them was the true identity of the owner of this world/dimension and her savior.

A Dragon.

Her savior was a freaking Dragon of all things.

Now that Karin thought about it, she, a maiden, had been technically ‘kidnapped’ by a Dragon, brought to his den and then lavished with riches, power and knowledge, wasn’t she? It was actually kind of funny when Karin thought about it like that.

Not that she had any thought at all about escaping from her ‘prison.’

In fact, Karin hoped that the Dragon would keep her for the rest of her life, which as she just recently learned would be a very long one. And if in the process the Dragon ever lost control of his urges and ravished her young and pure body?

Well, as one of the last members of the Uzumaki Clan, it was her duty to help in the process of repopulating it and what better than her children inheriting the genes of the most beaut-ahem-strong man she ever knew?

Shaking her perverse thoughts out of her mind for now, Karin finally got up and got ready for another day feeling excited at the job she was recently assigned.

A few days ago, Akari had approached her with a proposal. Since she still didn’t know what to do with her life and the Shinobi life didn’t interest her much, Akari had suggested if she wanted to become a Researcher/Scientist.

Wanting to know more about the subjects, she had asked Akari for a more in-depth explanation. In typical Akari fashion though, he had done it in a way that left her feeling exasperated at the casual way he would go about shaking her worldviews.

Instead of explaining the process to her like a normal person would have, Akari had transmitted the knowledge into her mind in in less than a second. The knowledge included personal experiences, knowledge that he had somehow acquired from a myriad of worlds and theories that he had come up with.

Being left in shock at the overload of information that somehow had not turned her brain into mush, Karin took several minutes processing everything she had learned.

The more information she processed, the giddier Karin became in the subject and at the end she had readily jumped at the idea.

Not done surprising her for the day, Akari had only smiled knowingly at her and nonchalantly proclaimed that he would be gifting her with a ‘Template’ of Vesta, someone with the abilities needed to complete a project he had in mind.

Apparently ‘Template’ meant new power as moments later knowledge about a great many things and even magic became available to Karin causing her to blink in astonishment.

Just what?

The idea itself seemed absurd but here she was with abilities and knowledge that she didn’t have not even a minute ago.

That was the day that Karin decided that she would stop being surprised at anything Akari did anymore, it would be better for her sanity that way.

After finishing her morning ritual, Karin headed to the lab that Akari had built for her eager to study the new plants that had started growing in a cave that Veldora-san had claimed as his own. With the knowledge she had now, Karin knew the plant was actually Hipokute grass, a rare herb that was used as an ingredient for potions and only grew in places with a high magicule concentration.

About two months after being saved by Akari and being introduced to a world where the impossible became possible, Karin could say that she had finally found her place in this crazy group.

‘I can’t wait to see what else is out there.’ Karin thought with an excited smile on her face. ‘Fufufu, I wonder if I could make a potion that would make me seem more attractive in Akari-kun’s eyes? Or even better yet, a potion that will drive him wild?’

=====

(Naruto POV)

The sounds of clones popping could be heard on a small clearing as a small army of blondes duked it out with each other.

Pained shouts, angry exclamations and just pure chaos really ensued for the next few minutes until only one blonde remained, bruised all over and with a black eye.

“Haah haah this is getting me nowhere. At this rate, I’ll never be able to catch up to Sasuke much less Akari.” The blonde muttered looking less exhausted the longer he talked and not noticing as his wounds slowly regenerated.

Now more than ever Naruto cursed himself for not taking his training more seriously before as he had been met with what he perceived as failure after failure. Barely beating Kiba in the Preliminaries, taking almost a month learning how to properly summon more than a tadpole when that angry redhead had done it on her first try.

Being knocked out of the Chunin Exam Finals in almost record time by Akari’s now dead student and finally taking more than a month to master his now signature jutsu, the Rasengan, when Akari had recreated it himself without any help according to what Ero-Sennin had told him.

Even during the battle against Suna and Sound Naruto had not been able to participate at all, being under a Genjutsu the whole time and only waking up when the battle had ended. Learning upon doing so that Akari had once again played a major role in the battle and was one of the main reasons Konoha had only sustained minimal casualties.

Naruto had felt so useless then and was more than a little jealous of Akari for being able to do seemingly anything he wanted with almost no effort from what he could see. Of course, his jealousy of the teen had all but died out when he saw his face during the funeral service remembering that one of his students had died.

The aloof, slightly arrogant teen was nowhere to be seen that day and in its place was just a boy only a year older than him that was grieving having just lost a loved one.

Naruto finally understood that day that underneath all his talent, skill, pretty boy looks and charisma, was just a boy the same as him that was just living the best life he could with his loved ones.

Ero-Sennin had told him once during one of their talks that the stronger you are, the more blood you had on your hands. The old pervert had a melancholic look on his face when he said that and just said that it was the sad reality of this world when he questioned him on the reason why.

Naruto had ignored him then not wanting to believe it and not wholly understanding what he meant.

Now though, Naruto thought he understood a little bit of what the old pervert had meant when he fully learned the details of the attack on Konoha.

Akari had apparently killed thousands of enemy shinobi, was forced to fight against his ancestors and even fought the Kazekage all in order to protect the village. However, even with all his strength Akari had hadn’t been able to prevent the death of the old man and that of his student.

That’s why Naruto had thrown himself to training since then. Naruto didn’t want to lose anybody. He would become so strong that he would be able to protect all his precious people and even the village when he became Hokage without losing anyone.

When the pervert had offered to take him on a training trip around the world, Naruto had readily accepted and was just waiting for the old pervert to return before they set off.

The only thing worrying him now was how distant Sasuke had been lately due to the death of his brother.

Hopefully Kakashi-sensei was able to talk some sense into the idiot and they could go back to how they used to before he left on his journey.