#sasuten

Can you tell I suck at drawing backgrounds? ANYWAY, I‘d say these three are my absolute faves in the entire series I think, so I needed to draw them interacting together in some way. You know Shino and Tenten are yappers while Sasuke just listens fondly. They take turns yapping about bugs and weapons respectively, I don‘t make the rules

I needed to draw them together ever since I dreamed of Tenten encountering Sasuke out on a mission and somehow bonding due to circumstances. Now I imagine Shino and Tenten having been paired up on a low-rank mission and then getting trapped in some sorta cave with Sasuke and they gotta work together to escape and somehow bond along the way. This could lead to other missions where they keep meeting him and starting to form a friendship. I just think Sasuke deserves some friends that understand him. Anywy, you can interpret the different colored undertones I gave them as me just wanting all of them to be distinct from each other in color palettes or Sasuke with the only undertone that fits the background imagining them to be there with him, up to you.

“Help me test them out!”

Sasuke crosses his arms. “You can assess them here.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” she huffs. “You don’t know your partner until you fight together. It’s the same for weapons as it is for teammates.”

He narrows his eyes. “And how did you want to test them?”

Tenten weighs a perfectly balanced dagger in the palm of her hand. “By fighting, of course!”

Sasuke wonders why everyone seems to be so keen to spar with him. He used to be like that, determined to show his strength, eager to come to blows just to show his superiority. He’s changed since then.

Naruto and Sakura still want to spar, but it’s a friendly thing. That was just how shinobi bonded. With Tenten, it clearly isn’t like that.

“Come on,” she wheedles. “I’m doing you a favour here, right? I’m cleaning out your ancient armoury!”

“I’m offering you your pick of my clan’s treasured weapons,” Sasuke says flatly. “You’re not the one who’s doing the favour here.”

She deflates slightly. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Her hand continues to glide over the various weaponry. A war fan. An axe.

It’s strange, how detached he feels from it all. There are uchiwas everywhere, unsurprising for a clan member’s trusty weapon. They’re imprinted on the metal of the blades, carved into the wood of the handles. Sasuke brushes his finger over the indent of the familiar shape and exhales slowly.

His goal for so long was to kill his brother and to rebuild his clan. One half is completed, as terrible as it had been. But as for the rest…

It’s still his goal, isn’t it? That’s why there’s Sakura. That’s why they’re back here, trying to make it theirs. He pictures a child with his eyes and Sakura’s blossom-pink hair. Tries to imagine handing them a sword, an uchiwa stamped on the fabric.

Against his will, a shiver runs through his body.

“Did you know I used to think you were cool?”

Tenten’s voice breaks the spell. He looks up, half-glad to be pulled out of his thoughts. She’s leaning against the rack, eyes half-lidded and attention seemingly focused on the garrotte wire in her hands.

“Really.”

“Really! Tsunade was my hero, of course, and lots of jounin were way cooler than you, but I still kind of admired you. You were collected, I guess. You had, like— a presence. That, plus you were super talented for a rookie.”

Sasuke isn't really sure what to say to this. Lots of people had admired him for those very same reasons. The majority of them were fangirls. He had a feeling this was going to be a very different sort of conversation.

“…I see.”

She peers at him. “You’re not a very good conversationalist, you know. Whatever. I guess I’m just trying to say— I used to think you were cool. But I think I really just wanted what you had. The reputation, I guess. And the aura to match it. You had a title and everything!”

Sasuke can’t avoid the scowl starting to creep onto his face.

“Genin never have titles. But everyone knew you. And wanted to fight you! You got to be Sasuke, the Last Uchiha!”

A jolt of something shoots through his spine. “I didn’t get to be anything,” he snaps. “I had no choice.”

“Neither did I,” Tenten says unsympathetically. “I’m not a clan kid or anyone famous. Not that I care! But it must be nice to get the reputation and not even have to do anything for it.”

Sasuke stares at her. His eyes are starting to burn but he forces it down. “It wasn’t nice.” His teeth are gritted now.

She blinks, then— her lips twitch.

“Wow, that really pissed you off, huh?”

He doesn’t deign to respond to that.

Slowly, a grin starts to form. She pushes herself off the wall, stepping forward. Again. Closer.

“I was kind of disappointed when you came back,” she confesses. She’s still smiling that damnable smile. “I was hoping you’d make a name for yourself. A new reputation, as Sasuke the terrorist, I guess. Then we’d actually get to fight for real.”

Sasuke stiffens. “You’re insane.”

“I’m not!” She protests. “I’m just in it for the fun of it! I know what I want, at least. Unlike you. Changed sides twice, then ended up back in Konoha anyway. You don’t even want to be here, do you?” It barely sounded like a question.

There’s blood rushing in his ears. His temples are pulsating. Flickers of red in his vision– he turns around with a sharp sweep of his cloak.

His voice sounds alien to his own ears. His words leave him in a hiss.

Title: I'm not strong enough to turn you into a memory Rate: Teen and Up Audiences Pair: Sasuke x Tenten Chapters: 3/? Summary: Almost fifteen years later, Sasuke Uchiha still doesn't remember the name of the beautiful girl who lived that night with him. His only clue is an old picture of hers he keeps in his wallet, and nothing more. That was the best day of his life. (Or: Sasuke fell in love with Tenten at his prom and never forgot about her. Now he has a chance to meet her again.)

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 Read here

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

funnily enough I had started to write a post about this so this gives me a good excuse to get it out into the world lol.

short answer, no, I don’t think so.

in my mind sasuten exists because neji is dead. if neji were alive tenten would probably be chilling with him instead of messing with sasuke constantly. my version of sasuten is also pretty toxic and fucked up compared to nejiten which i play as a strong and good bond for both of them, so it doesn’t work as a throuple.

also neji in my mind is demisexual so from his end I don’t think he would really be into sasuke like that. he doesn’t know him well enough. and from sasuke’s end he doesn’t really care about neji. they don’t gaf about each other…. lol

some more ramblings about sasuten vs nejiten under the cut if you’re interested: