The masked man watched coldly from the roof of a nearby building as Sakura and Sasuke walked arm in arm below, her head resting against his shoulder. After spying on them celebrating the New Year with Fake-Kakashi for what had felt like an eternity, they were at last returning home in the early hours of the morning.
Obito, for it was him, had to take a deep breath to steady himself.
Even watching them walk together was enough to give him conniptions; they reminded him far too much of the way Fake-Rin and Fake-Kakashi used to flirt to his face, and though he longed to gut them, he still needed their help, or at least one of them kept alive.
Even though this world was fake, unlike the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, its inhabitants still posed a real danger to the foundation of the true world that was yet to come. Achieving his goals would be impossible without outside help.
The problem was that Obito was running out of allies; the Akatsuki were dropping like flies, and that fool Itachi had caught his death in the cold of winter. The man was on his last legs, and according to Zetsu's observational reports, his increased frequency of communication with Danzō's Root was a sign that he intended to end his life on his own terms in the near future.
"Pain… the Kage… the Jinchūriki… and the last of the Uchiha…" Obito chuckled to himself as he twisted the fabric of space and time, before vanishing into the darkness. "You possess such power, yet you are powerless to change your fate as pawns on my board…"
…
Meanwhile, in the street below…
"Ugh, my head is still spinning," Sakura said dizzily. "I only had one sip. Just how much alcohol was in that stuff?"
"Do you need me to walk you to your doorstep?" Sasuke grunted. "Can you walk on your own?"
Indeed, Sakura and Sasuke were not walking arm in arm because they were lovey-dovey, but rather because Sakura could not walk in a straight line. At her level of intoxication, Sasuke had little choice but to lend her his shoulder, since she would undoubtedly have fallen asleep in a pile of snow on the way to her parents' home and subsequently frozen to death without his help.
"Hmm, maybe," Sakura said, pouting. "But I don't want my parents to see me like this… and what would the neighbours say? I don't want to go home just yet…"
At this hour, Sasuke doubted that any neighbours were still peeking out of their windows in search of gossip about the Haruno family's delinquent daughter, but he decided to indulge her.
Sasuke sighed. "I can't leave you alone outside in your state, so I suppose I can wait with you for a while until the rice wine leaves your system…"
He vaguely remembered that there was a small park nearby, close to the Uchiha District's training grounds. He had been there once or twice as a child, but it was mostly used by the children of civilian clan members, those incapable of moulding chakra or awakening their signature Dōjutsu.
"Come on, I know a place," Sasuke said, pulling Sakura closer to him. "…did you put on weight?"
"…hmph."
After a short walk, they reached the abandoned children's park, the playground half illuminated by a cone of light from an electric lamppost. Sakura immediately went for the swing sets, taking a running jump and landing with both feet on a snow-covered seat before beginning to swing. Shaking his head, Sasuke dusted the snow from the neighbouring swing and sat down, watching Sakura's breasts sway wildly from the corner of his eye.
"Wheee!" Sakura cried giddily as she rocked back and forth.
Her cheeks suddenly bulged.
"Urp…" she groaned. "I think I'm going to be sick…"
Sakura's gloved hands slid along the chains as she sank onto the swing, settling her butt properly onto the seat. Having failed to catch Sasuke's attention, she stole a discreet glance at him. He seemed lost in brooding.
"What are you thinking about?" Sakura asked gently.
Sasuke looked up, startled.
"Nothing that concerns you," he said, after the briefest of pauses.
"You're thinking about Itachi," Sakura said. "Aren't you?"
Sasuke opened his mouth as if to refute her words, but after a moment's thought, he nodded curtly. Although Sakura was a Manyū half-breed, she was still Uchiha; she was his only family, as far as he was concerned, so she deserved the courtesy of honesty.
"I'm just… disappointed in myself," he said with difficulty. "He's still out there, and here I am, wasting time…"
"So, in other words, you feel like you're letting down the clan," Sakura said, nodding in understanding. "But having fun with your friends is nothing to be ashamed about, Sasuke."
Sakura's words cut him deep, but not in the way she had intended.
After avenging the Uchiha, Sasuke's next greatest goal was rebuilding the clan, and for that, another member of the Uchiha bloodline seemed the best choice. He was not yet certain of the depth of his own feelings for Sakura, but for now, she was undeniably one of his closest friends and companions… and yet, he was already treating her in his mind as a seedbed, and it filled him with deep shame to exploit her pure feelings in such an impure way.
"Did you know, Sasuke…?" Sakura said hesitantly, the outline of an idea forming in her mind. "I've already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"I've heard," Sasuke said quietly. "I was meaning to ask you about that."
Itachi had told Sasuke twice that the only way to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan was to kill one's closest friend in cold blood, and, thanks to reverse psychology, he had managed to convince him that following in his footsteps was not the way to go. And so, Sasuke had decided that he would obtain power the old-fashioned way: through doping and hard work.
However, without killing anyone close to her, a half-breed like Sakura had still managed to obtain the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan of the Uchiha clan as if it were nothing. If killing friends was not a requirement, then Sasuke wasn't opposed to obtaining these eyes…