The first thing Sasuke noticed upon returning to his place on the benches, without making even more of a scene by jumping all the way there, was how everyone was looking at him and the complicated mix of emotions in their eyes.
Somehow, it had gotten even worse.
It wasn't just desire from the girls and envy from the boys. Now, there was respect and admiration, raging all the way to resentment and fear.
So much for not attracting attention, but he supposed it couldn't be helped after what he just did.
As for Weiss and Yang, they were too busy staring daggers at each other, with a dangerous smile on their faces, to notice him. It was to the point that he could feel the tension in the air, and so could the others who were keeping their distance while waiting for a fight to break out.
This feels...too familiar for my liking. Sasuke could almost see himself and Naruto beating heads back when they were children. All that's missing here is Ruby acting like Sakura, trying and failing to make these two stop.
Well, it was also missing Kakashi, but Glynda seems to have that covered as she stared in this direction, disappointed with this lack of discipline.
In a way, Sasuke feels kind of guilty for causing this much trouble, even if it wasn't intentional.
"You two seem to be getting along just fine," he said with a hint of sarcasm, deciding to take some responsibility and get these girls to stop bickering before this got any worse. "That's good; otherwise, I don't think that this team would work."
Just like that, Weiss and Yang stopped acting up, both concerned about the possibility of being excluded, and not without reason. After all, a team was supposed to be exactly that: a team that works together.
Worse yet, Pyrrha was still stronger than them and an overall better choice, and she was unable to keep her eyes off Sasuke!
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Yang wrapped her arm around Weiss's shoulder and brought her closer. "We are getting along just fine!"
Like fire and ice, but hey, they could exist in the same world, so that had to count for something.
"R-right," Weiss agreed with a forced smile, doing her best to ignore Yang's lumps of fat pressed against her body. "We were just talking about your match."
Which wasn't a lie, even if it wasn't the whole truth.
"I'm sure you were." Sasuke wasn't buying it, but he also didn't care enough to press on and decided to focus on the sleeping girl. "How is Ruby doing?"
By the looks of it, not too well, as she was having a bad sleep and mumbling to herself.
"She is fine." Yang let go of Weiss and knelt next to her little sister to poke her cute little nose. "Probably dreaming about someone stealing her cookies or something."
That was Ruby's definition of a nightmare... when she wasn't dreaming about Mom and crying over it.
"Shouldn't we wake her up, then?" Weiss asked, not that she cared or anything. "Otherwise she is going to lose even more matches, not that the next one even matters."
And that's because it was Jaune Arc's turn.
"Damm, you really don't like the vomit boy, do you?" Yang could almost sense the animosity this princess had towards Jaune as he made his way to the arena. "Although, to be honest, I can't blame you for that."
As she said to Ruby a couple of days ago: some people don't know when to stop. In fact, if she were in Weiss's shoes, Yang would have sent him flying on the first day.
That was especially true if the target of his unwanted attention was Ruby.
"Yes, he should be able to take a hint." Weiss even took Sasuke's hand when Jaune had the nerve to look at her even now instead of focusing on his match. "But it doesn't matter, for this is as far as he goes."
This stupid boy could have the largest pool of Aura in the world, and that wouldn't make a difference; at the end of the day, he was still just a civilian who cheated his way to this academy and shouldn't be here.
"Normally, I would agree with you." Sasuke had his Sharingan active, trying to measure the level of the opponent Jaune would be facing and be amused by it. "But what if the one in front of him is the second weakest in this tournament?"
The professor wasn't kidding when he said that Ozpin had put a lot of thought into this and made the matches as fair as possible.
That and filtering the best from the worst to avoid losing talent.
"Wait, seriously?" Yang didn't expect that, and neither did Weiss, by the looks of it. "So this is like the weakest vs. the second weakest?"
Talk about an underwhelming matchup that would drag out!
It would be especially bad compared to the lightning-fast match they just had with Sasuke.
"Either way, that doesn't change anything." Weiss was sure of it, and that wasn't her negative feelings talking but her logic. "Because even if, by some miracle, he manages to defeat his opponent, he will be facing Sasuke in the second round."
That was a 100% game over for anyone who wasn't Pyrrha, and that was only debatable because no one knows what her Semblance was.
"Well, that's true." Yang couldn't argue with that, but she still had an optimistic bone in her body. "Even so, there are still the extra matches for those who lose in the second round."
So, who knows? Maybe the vomit boy would surprise them and become a student of Beacon.
Weiss didn't say anything; she just held Sasuke's hand tighter and made herself comfortable by his side as she watched someone futilely struggle to change his destiny overnight.
As for Sasuke, he didn't mind Weiss's pessimistic look on the matter, nor her touch, and just focused on the match to see what the Naruto of this world could do.
Let's say it didn't amount to much.
And it was to the point that this comparison was almost an offence to Naruto. After all, that loser was facing off against a Goddess right now, and he was doing it alone.
This Jaune, on the other hand...
I've seen civilian children do better than this. Sasuke went so far as to deactivate his Sharingan; that way he would have to remember this fiasco for the rest of his life. There's so much wrong with him that it can't be summed up with just his lack of skill.
The very gear he was wearing was a problem.
Say whatever you want about the giant rope tied around Sasuke's waist, but at least it wasn't a useless piece of metal weighing on his shoulders, nor did he wear pants made of an extremely restrictive fabric.
But truth be told, even if Jaune did dress properly, it wouldn't have changed much.
The biggest problem here was his mindset.
He is scared and desperate, and that makes him do much worse than he would have if his mind had been calm. Sasuke had been in that spot before more than once, but every time it was a life-and-death situation. And this is nowhere near that.
Losing here doesn't mean death.
At least, not that he knows about.
At the end of the day, Sasuke knew nothing about this boy, and to be honest, he didn't really care. The only reason he was even bothering with this so much was that Jaune resembled the Naruto he knew as a kid.
So he was expecting more, anything at all, and got nothing in return.
Talk about a disappointment.
"Damn, this is painful to watch!" Yang winced every time Jaune got hit and was glad Ruby was still asleep. That way, her little sister wouldn't have to see any of this one-sided beatdown. "I almost wish I was his opponent."
That way she would have ended this in less than 30 seconds and spared him from this humiliation.
"I told you." Weiss wasn't even happy that she was right, as she too wished this would end quickly. "Even if his opponent is indeed weak, he knows the basics."
And that was more than enough against someone who knew nothing.
"Even so, it's kind of a waste, don't you think?" Yang had to point it out and was sure that she wasn't the only one who thought so. "Yeah, he is weak and doesn't know how to fight, but he has a lot of Aura."
Hence the reason why this match was still going even after 3 minutes.
"Given enough time, he could be a good hunter." Yang still wanted to be optimistic about it, even if that wasn't going to change anything. "Four years in Beacon should be enough to put even a mess like the vomit boy in shape."
If not, he would be expelled in a year for failing to show any growth.
Even preparatory academies were like that, and for good reason: weak hunters would just put themselves and the people they were supposed to protect at risk.
Sasuke had thought the same before: that if given enough time, Jaune could become a good asset. At the same time, he came to the same conclusion on the matter that he reached in the library:
"It's just too late now," Sasuke said what had to be said, and what he knew to be the truth. "He should have started training years ago, and not days."
If he had ever trained at all.
And while Sasuke could do something and help Jaune win this match and even the extra one, why should he? All things considered, perhaps it was for the best if this boy wasn't around anymore.
Jaune's very existence bothers Sasuke for being a constant reminder of Naruto.
Besides, if he doesn't die fighting Kaguya, Sasuke intends to do something about the Grimm problem of this world. Therefore, the so-called hunters will become redundant or be restructured as some police force.
So, go home now, Sasuke thought to himself as he decided not to intervene and let fate take its course. And live a normal life that Naruto and I will never be able to.
And just like that, Jaune's Aura level reached the red mark without hitting his opponent even once, bringing his journey to an abrupt but expected end.
"Finally." Weiss let out a sigh of relief for more reasons than one before smiling at Sasuke. "I'm up next, so you better keep your eyes on me!"
In her match, she would prove her worth to the entire world and earn her place in her soon-to-be boyfriend's team!
"Do your best, but don't get carried away and reveal all your cards." Sasuke averted his gaze from the boy whose dream was crushed and focused on what really mattered going forward. "After all, I want you to surprise me during our fight in the third round."
He had high expectations for this girl, who shared so many similarities with him, and her hereditary Semblance.
Hopefully, unlike with Jaune, Weiss would deliver.
Ba-dum, ba-dum.
Even with the loud crowd around, Weiss could still hear her heartbeat and sense the warmth of Sasuke's hand as she got lost in the perfection of his good looks.
He... doesn't have a single doubt in his mind that I will make it to the third round. She loved that- this confidence in her capability that not even her sister had in her. It seems like I was naive, thinking that I could keep my heart from being taken.
How in the world was Weiss supposed to do that against someone this charming?
While she wanted to hold to her heart until she got Sasuke's in return or at least until she got to know him better, that was no longer possible, for Weiss had already fallen.
In fact, she doubted that there was a single woman out there, including her sister, who could resist him, and that made her feel much better about accepting her feelings.
"O-okay," Weiss said in a shy whisper, trying her best to keep her composure, even if it was impossible. "I won't let you down."
And that was a promise Weiss intended to keep!