At the basin between River and Fire there is a cliffside castle, Teraoka, that watches over the outflow into the ocean but also the winding merchantway below it.
"We'll stop here, it's getting to be daylight," said Sakura. She saw Naruto, picking his nose, and Sai, already laying traps in the area to protect them as they slept through the short winter day.
"Hey, Sakura, I've got first watch," said Naruto, already yawning. Sakura lay in the brush camouflaged by by dirt, mud, and leaves, but still managed to scowl at Naruto.
"I'm watching you, don't fall asleep," she said.
"Go to sleep already," complained Naruto, "What's the point of taking turns if you're going to watch me?"
Naruto shifted to his feet and hid in the upper branches of a large tree, watching over his team.
With Naruto out of range, Sai spoke to Sakura, "I was told the enemy are veterans of the 4th War. They were our allies, but now their strength clashes with ours. There's no guarantee I can capture the missing-nin alive."
"That's what I'm here for," replied Sakura. "Good night."
***
Past nightfall the next day, in the early hours before sunrise, the swordsmen finally arrived.
They were ten minutes away from Teraoka-jo now by foot. A small band of samurai, reportedly fifteen in total, were supposed to cross under the watch of the abandoned castle this evening, and it was Team Kakashi's (minus Kakashi himself) task to infiltrate the castle in darkness and identify two missing-nin suspected of hiding amongst the group as they traveled.
Team Kakashi had entered the castle and taken up position in an open loft space that gave a good view of the outside approach as well as the central dining hall. Naruto and Sai stood watch on the ramparts. Naruto was shivering and put his hands in his pockets after blowing on them. He looked at Sai, who seemed perfectly fine in this weather.
"What a strange guy," thought Naruto, even after all this time.
"There they are, on schedule," said Sai, pointing into the distance.
No lanterns, no sashimono, and no armor. No markings, but each wore a straw hat and a winter cloak. Naruto counted fifteen swords at their waists, but no spears. Each carried a large backpack, and they appeared purposely to be walking in a ragged formation as not to appear like the soldiers they were.
"There have been reports of bandits along this road. Probably them," said Sakura.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sai carefully picked their hiding spots and dissolved into the shadows of the rafters as the samurai approached and entered Teraoka-jo. As they lit the dormant lanterns and braziers the dining hall came to unexpected life, revealing a luxurious but dignified crimson. The hearth was lit and food began to cook. The swordsmen appeared to be settling in for some time.
"There are only thirteen of them in here," signed Sakura with her hands.
"Were we spotted?" signed Sai in return.
"I don't understand sign language," whispered Naruto loudly.
Sakura sighed silently in exasperation as Sai leaned over to whisper what they had said into Naruto's ear.
"There were supposed to be two missing-nin traveling with them. I counted them on the approach but they seem not to have entered the castle," said Sai.
"It could just be that they were posted as watch," said Sakura. "People who didn't study their sign language properly can go out in the cold and look for them."
Making a face indicating he didn't enjoy the idea, Naruto nevertheless took the suggestion and snuck onto the ramparts to make a circle of the outer walls. The moon was at a quarter and allowed only a meager light onto the rooftops. He countoured his body along the shapes of the battlements as not to silhouette himself and began his observation.
***
After an extremely long meal, half of the samurai had fallen asleep in various bedrooms, and three had simply dozed off at the dinner table. The fire burned low now, but a few remained awake on watch, some reading books they had found in the study.
Sakura calculated that it was almost sunrise.
Sai disguised himself as one of them with a cloak and covered his face, and walked quietly amongst the enemy, memorizing each of their faces, as well as arming explosive traps along all the doorways to prevent their movement inside the castle if needed.
He returned to Sakura's position in the loft, and said, "All the doorways to the dining hall are trapped. If anyone walks through a door or gate, it will explode. If we're going to have to kill them, this will cause a panic as they attempt to regroup."
"The door to the roof locked when Naruto left," said Sakura.
Sai, concerned he had perhaps done something wrong, offered only a "So...?"
"So we're trapped in here unless you want to blow through the door and wake everyone up," stated Sakura.
"I have faith that Naruto will return," said Sai.
***
Naruto quickened as he saw the two swordsmen standing on the other end of the castle courtyard, looking in his direction, but not moving. Had they not noticed him?
They had.
One vanished, dashing in a wide circle. Naruto knew he was about to be surrounded. The other simply walked toward him slowly. He coiled his body and drew two daggers in his right hand. As he threw the first one, the attacker dodged, losing some momentum. But Naruto was already upon him, parrying his sword aside with only a dagger, and landed rapid blows to his ribs, throwing him to the ground. Before he could react, Naruto crushed the attacker's right arm on the ground.
Just as he seemed to open his mouth to cry in pain, the body disintegrated and a pack of rats scurried away in its place.
The courtyard was silent again.
The other figure was now before him, holding out a jug of wine. "I didn't know you could be so brutal, Naruto."
Naruto took the wine and drank, because he knew he was about to be in a fight for his life. It was sweet. I could get used to this, he thought to himself, before handing it back to the swordsman, who took a drink of his own out of the jug.
"You look rather relaxed, Sasuke," said Naruto, wiping his mouth.
"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" asked Sasuke.
"The same tired game we play every time?" countered Naruto.
"Naruto," warned Sasuke, looking around for those that might be watching. He drew his sword halfway, before sheathing it again, as if deciding against it, and raised his hand to his mouth, drawing in a sharp breath.
Daylight broke in the corner of Naruto's eye, but he was soon blinded by the air in front of him igniting into flame. Naruto reached a hand toward the fire and batted it away, then patted down his jacket which had caught on fire.
"Damn it, Sasuke." Naruto was annoyed.
Sasuke paused, unsure. "Why don't you fight?"
"It took me a lot of effort to get Sai and Sakura trapped in the castle."
"They're not watching us now?"
"No."
"..."
"This is my good jacket. You got me this jacket."
"Oh," said Sasuke, dropping all pretense of combat, and walked up to Naruto. He looked away as he brushed some ash off Naruto. "Looks good."
Naruto laughed. "It's been a year, hasn't it. I'm glad we could find each other here."
"It's hard to get away from..."
"Let's not talk about work."
"Mm. Let's go," said Sasuke in agreement.
They walked side by side to one of the outer walls of the castle. There was a guard tower built atop the corner of the wall that overlooked the ocean and cliffs below.
They climbed to the top. Naruto sat on the wall with his feet hanging over the side, looking at the long drop and the scenery.
Sasuke unwrapped some food he had stored there and Naruto offered him a cup of the tea he had been carrying in his canteen.
"What is this?" asked Naruto.
"Salted goat."
"Ah," said Naruto, raising his eyebrows and biting into the piece he was given. Several minutes of chewing later his jaw was sore and he had done little more than drool on the food. "How do you even eat this, Sasuke?"
"You eat what you can in the field. We don't go home between missions. There is no between, really."
"You'll always have a home with us. If you don't want to deal with the village you can stay with me."
"Not yet."
And with that Naruto knew the topic was closed to discussion. He was never one for taking a hint but he had brought this up enough times to know. Naruto stared into the sea mirthlessly.
"Look," said Sasuke, waving a hand as the trees and grass around them turned into a soft green color.
"How did you do that?" asked Naruto.
"Don't be dumb, I didn't do it- this is just what Teraoka's plants look like right before sunrise. This place is kind of famous for its hidden colors, you know."
"So that's why the inside of the castle was so red."
"Exactly."
"It's beautiful. But who are the samurai you've been traveling with?"
"I don't know them, they just happened to be traveling this way. A missing-nin by the name of Hidaka was traveling with them. You broke his arm, and I don't think he'll be back."
An explosion rang out behind them, from the castle. It appeared that the samurai or Sai were making their move.
"Looks like breakfast is over. Sorry this time was so short," said Naruto. "Where do you want to meet next time?"
"I don't know. I suppose I'll find you when I do."
Sasuke put his right arm around Naruto and Naruto turned to face him. But then he let go and stood up. Naruto stood as well.
"All right, they'll be out here any minute now and we're going to have to be fighting when they do," said Sasuke.
"Yeah," replied Naruto.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, facing each other in their fighting stances, waiting for the fighting in the castle to boil and take itself outside.
Getting antsy, he decided to just go for it. Naruto leaned into Sasuke, still in his fighting stance, and kissed him. Sasuke didn't look very surprised, but smiled after a moment.
Naruto settled back into his fighting stance just as several figures dashed out from the castle.
Sai appeared beside him. "Naruto! Have you located the missing-nin? We've been made. -wait, who is this?"
Sasuke covered his head with the hood of his cloak and lunged at Sai with his blade. Sai parried, forcing his attacking to pass by on his right, and countered, burying his dagger in the swordsman's side.
"Get back!" yelled Naruto, running up to grab Sai, practically throwing him off the wall into the courtyard. Where Sasuke had stood remained only a lifeless dummy. He was gone, and the dummy was almost certainly booby-trapped.
Before he could react, the dummy exploded and a cloud of dust engulfed Naruto. He could hear nothing, and realized the shockwave has deafened him. He staggered to the edge of the wall and with his balance impaired, tumbled downward, to be caught by Sakura.
Sai and Sakura's lips moved, but Naruto could not understand them. They hoisted him by the arms to give him balance and retreated. As they left the castle in the distance behind them, Naruto lost consciousness.
***
He awoke later that night to find his team watching over him, encamped deep in the forest.
"Did you encounter the other missing-nin?" asked Sakura.
"I met one and planted a blade in him. His death-trap went off and knocked out Naruto," said Sai.
"I'm glad you're okay," said Sakura.
Naruto realized him teammates did not think they were dealing with very high level shinobi, and added, "I met the other one and broke his arm, but he escaped. -so the mission was a failure?"
"We were to capture them, but killing one and injuring another still qualifies as a partial success," said Sakura.
"That's good. Now that I'm awake, how about some food?" asked Naruto.
"I'm afraid I've only got two packed meals left. We're past our field time for this mission and we haven't foraged since we were taking care of you."
"Oh, well, thanks. You guys go ahead," said Naruto, taking a piece of salted goat out of his pocket.
He stared apprehensively at it for a minute before biting in.