Sasuke sat there, red-eyed and sniffly, feeling like the ground should just swallow him whole. He couldn't believe he had cried like a little kid in front of Sukuna of all people.
'That bastard's never gonna let this down, is he…' he gritted his teeth, embarrassment growing.
He kept his head turned slightly, trying to avoid eye contact, but Sukuna wasn't letting him off so easily.
"Alright, stop sulking," Sukuna finally said, standing up and brushing off his pants. "Come with me. I'll show you how to get stronger."
Sasuke blinked, startled. "…You will?"
"Yeah." Sukuna smirked.
Sasuke groaned inwardly but stood up anyway, dragging his feet after him.
For him, Sukuna was strong—not at the level of Itachi, but strong nonetheless. And if Sukuna was telling him how to get stronger, then there must be a way.
He was expecting some grand speech or maybe a secret technique—but instead, Sukuna just pointed at a tree a short distance away.
"Run there, touch the trunk, and come back. Do it as fast as you can. I'll time you."
Sasuke stared at him. "…What?"
"You deaf now? Go on. Run, duck."
"Duck?!" Sasuke nearly tripped over his own feet from shock. "I'm not a duck!"
"Then prove it," Sukuna grinned.
Fuming and grumbling internally, Sasuke dashed off. He touched the tree, ran back, and stood there panting while Sukuna tapped his chin dramatically.
"Hmm. 21 seconds. Not bad. For a duck."
"21?" Sasuke wasn't a stopwatch, but even he knew he should've taken at least half a minute to reach the tree and return.
'Am I really that fast?' Sasuke couldn't believe it.
"That's the time it took you to run up to the tree and touch it."
"What about the time I took to come back?" Sasuke asked incredulously.
"Oh, it doesn't matter. I only needed your top speed when running up to the tree."
Sasuke's face turned red. "Then why did you ask me to touch the tree and come back?" he demanded, irritated.
"Tsk, isn't it normal for you to come back? What's the big deal?"
"You!" Sasuke felt like he was about to pop a vein.
"I'm not running back next time!" he declared.
"Glad you asked." Sukuna pointed to a tree even farther away in the same direction. "That one. Don't fall on your face."
Sasuke muttered under his breath but ran again. By the time he got back, sweat dripping down his forehead, Sukuna was grinning ear to ear.
"…What?" Sasuke demanded, breathing heavily.
Sukuna held up his hand, showing the times he had counted. "17 seconds."
Sasuke blinked, surprised.
"What? You're joking with me. I should've taken more than half a minute to reach that tree." Sasuke was losing it. This bastard was making fun of him.
"No, no…" Sukuna shook his head.
"This isn't the time it took you to reach that tree. It's the time you took to reach the first one," he grinned, pointing at the tree Sasuke had run to before.
Silence…
Sasuke was completely silent. He hadn't noticed it himself, but he really had been faster?
"This…?" Sasuke didn't know what to ask. If Sukuna wasn't lying—which at least didn't seem like it—then he had been faster the second time.
How?
Sukuna crossed his arms. "This is how you get stronger."
Sasuke didn't get it, but the result was right in front of him. He found it difficult to ask what happened to the pink-haired boy, already seeing the teasing tone coming from miles away. However, he had to know.
Fortunately for him, Sukuna spared him this time.
"Power doesn't come to those who have a reason to get strong, Sasuke. Power comes to those who overcome the limitations of those reasons."
Sasuke just stood there, still not understanding what that meant. He felt like Naruto right now—the answer was right in front of him but he couldn't grasp it. For the first time, he thought he really was as much of an idiot as Itachi used to call him.
Seeing the boy didn't get it, Sukuna sighed.
"What's your goal?" he asked.
Sasuke found the topic change a little sudden but immediately announced his reason. "To kill that man, my brother who killed my parents."
"Cool, nothing motivates like old-fashioned cold-blooded revenge." Sukuna gave a thumbs-up, making Sasuke irritated.
"However, to kill this brother of yours, do you really think just aiming for him is enough?" Sukuna asked calmly, bringing clarity to Sasuke's mind.
His eyes opened slightly wider than usual, a sign that he was starting to understand.
"The reason you surpassed your first run is because you had a bigger goal to chase after." Sukuna pointed at the closer tree, then at the farther one.
Sasuke's eyes trembled for a second.
'Is that what I was doing wrong? Am I aiming too low?' Sasuke felt his entire world shatter. For him, reaching Itachi had been a Herculean task. His brother was the strongest he knew, even stronger than his father. So now being told he was aiming low…
That was a blow.
"Look at this." Sukuna walked up to the closest tree and punched it—without any CE or reinforcement. It was a solid, strong punch.
Anyone taking that punch wouldn't have had a good day.
"This is when I target the tree."
Then he moved a few inches closer and punched again. This time, his punch was far more powerful, leaving a dent in the trunk—again, without using CE or reinforcement.
Sasuke's eyes widened. The entire tree shook under that punch.
"That's when I target beyond the tree. Like someone is standing behind it, and you're punching that guy, not the tree itself."
Sasuke was in a trance, like he had found something he'd been missing all this time.
"Your brother is your reason, and he's also your limitation. Forget him…" Sukuna said sternly.
Before Sasuke could retort, he continued:
"You want revenge? Fine, have it. But if your pursuit of power remains solely for your brother, you'll never surpass him.
See beyond that man, and you'll find that no matter how brilliant he was, he was still just a single man. Many existed before him who were greater, and many will exist after him.
If you wish to be among those men, then aim higher. Don't think your journey ends at that tree. If you stop there, you'll only slow down the closer you get.
Look past that.
Only when you pursue strength for the sake of strength—and strength alone—will you truly get strong."
Sasuke's mind was buzzing. He first looked at Sukuna, then at the tree with the dent, and finally at the trees he had run to.
His hands clenched.
"It's fine to be angry—I feel like that too. Not as intense as you, but I've felt it. When we feel powerless, when nothing goes our way…
It's fine to be angry and broken.
But it's useless to direct that anger at others. You can't change the world. Many have tried and failed.
At least not before changing yourself.
All your anger, desperation, and hatred—you're directing them at the wrong person. It's not Itachi you need to hate…" Sukuna said, breaking Sasuke out of his daze. The boy was completely numb now.
"The person you need to direct all those emotions at… is yourself. The weaker version of you.
Hate being weak.
Get angry at not being stronger than you were yesterday.
Accept that you need strength.
Accept the grind.
Forsake that meaningless revenge—it's temporary…
Grind is eternal.
Embrace it, and you'll find all your goals aligning to your liking. Now your goal isn't Itachi, or the next strongest person.
Now you compete with yourself.
You're Sasuke fucking Uchiha.
And from this point onwards, you'll never be so weak that you have to cry in front of others," Sukuna finished, smirking.
Sasuke groaned, covering his face again. "You had to remind me of the crying part…"
Sukuna smirked. "Relax. I won't tell anyone. But if you cry again, I'm calling you Duck-Boy forever."
Sasuke glared at him but said nothing.
He looked back at the tree, emotions stirring.
His hands, which had been trembling earlier, now felt steady as blood rushed through them.
Looking into his palm like the anime protagonist he was, his Sharingan activated.
Sukuna saw the boy deep in thought and knew his words had finally reached him. So he went for the last blow.
Walking closer, he put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, startling him.
Sukuna made a fist and slowly pressed it against the boy's chest, just like he had once done with Naruto.
"Next time, make sure you're strong enough to save your sister. That none of your loved ones have to die in front of you."
Something stirred inside Sasuke. His crimson eyes, still shaky under the weight of how far he had to go, finally calmed.
Now there was only resolve in them. Anger and desperation had turned into fire.
"Yeah…" Sasuke nodded.
"I won't let that happen again," he muttered to himself. A promise, not just words.
xxx
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