Author's Notice:

Yo!

Thank you for joining me for the third chapter of this fic. Yes, there will be quite a few OCs to push the plot along, but hopefully that's not a bother. It's just a necessary evil in this story of mine, and I have a bag full of OCs I like setting up in Suna, which you may notice from other one-shots of mine(that I will eventually post). For example, Lee's assistant is always going to be Satsu.

Anyway! Not much to prep you for before reading. I want to build up Naruto x Sasuke's relationship, but they're not the main couple, so it may or may not happen on screen, but I do plan to have one-shots(actually might post a one-shot regarding this chapter, haha). Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review.

'Pressure Point'

'Chapter 3 – Scouting Party'

"Bushy brows!" Naruto exclaimed right before he clapped his hands on Lee's shoulders, grinning at him with the usual enthusiasm, the scars on his cheeks stretching with the effort.

Lee grinned back, gently easing Naruto away from him so they could properly look each other over. Naruto looked much the same, but it had only been a few months since he had last seen him. He was wearing typical jounin attire; a black body suit with the olive green tactical vest on top(Sasuke mimicked his look). His bright blond hair seemed longer, more wild, or maybe Lee just hadn't paid attention before, or it could be that he wasn't wearing his forehead protector as usual, instead it was tied to a loop at his waist. "Been a while." He amended, "How's things in Konoha?"

The blond shrugged his shoulders, his blue eyes sliding from Lee to his companion. The Suna shinobi that had accompanied his friend was medium in both height and build, and had a very forgettable face. He didn't have any distinct markings or scars, his eyes and hair were a chocolate brown and his skin had a bronze tint. Naruto figured the guy was probably a top notch nin, but probably an asshole. "Same old, really. Aside from all the uproar about this attack, you know? But, it's probably not anything, right? Just some bandits or something equally boring."

"This isn't a social trip, Naruto." Sasuke chided, he was in the background, trying to set up camp on his own, his back was to them but Lee could see the tension in his body. But, the Uchiha was always tense, so it was hardly alarming.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved Sasuke off, "So you are?" He said, his eyes still on Lee's companion.

"Yuto." The sand shinobi said simply, his dark eyes fixed on Naruto beneath the sheer veil that draped under his helmet for just a moment before they looked beyond him at the half made camp. "Lee-san, I'm going to assist Uchiha-san." He brushed past Naruto without another glance once he got the affirmation from Lee to go ahead(Lee still wasn't entirely used to his newfound authority).

"Cheery isn't he?" Naruto snorted at his back, folding his arms and offering a frown at the retreating nin. Sasuke had abandoned the tent to let Yuto 'help' and moved onto something else, their voices low and at this distance difficult to hear.

Sasuke was hardly a team player on his best days, but he understood the benefit of a group, and at the least could manage to play well with others when it suited him.

Lee offered Naruto a bright placating smile, "It's not personal. Sand nin typically seem to be a no nonsense bunch. It takes getting used to."

Naruto 'humphed' as if it physically pained him when someone was overly professional. "Don't they smile over there? Or laugh?"

"Well," Lee hesitated, scratching at his cheek. He could count on one hand how many smiles he had seen from Gaara, and just as many laughs. Temari tended to grin or sneer, and Kankuro usually smirked. His assistant Satsu was a little softer, but her expression was always composed, he didn't think he saw her lips do anything but draw into tight lines when she spoke. As for the general population, well, he didn't roam the village so often, but when he did he was met with serious faces. "Uh, not really." He finished lamely.

Naruto snorted, glancing over at Sasuke and Yuto before he turned his attention back on Lee. "So," He said, a grin starting to break over his face again, "How's Gaara?" The amount of suggestiveness in his expression was punctuated by a comical waggle of his eyebrows.

Lee immediately turned bright red; even though their relationship wasn't a secret, he still wasn't used to people openly asking about it. Other than the stern expressions he endured from Temari and the commending grin from Kankuro, no one said much about them. It was also sort of a tense subject, as the Suna council had not been accepting of the match initially, not that Gaara seemed to care about that. Lee wasn't proud that his lover had used intimidation to get the paperwork to go through; the whispers in the streets were one thing, but he wasn't a fool to think their union didn't have some political fallout.

Lee's friends had all been supportive(if a bit shocked at first), but their biggest fan still had to be Naruto, though Gai-sensei was a close second. He was aware however of the stern stare he'd get from Tsunade when he'd visit the tower; she probably didn't approve, but couldn't say much about it. At the least it did cement their status with Suna as allies, but it was also a dangerous thing to have one of their own in such a high position in another village. Lee didn't want to think he wasn't trusted, but their relationship had definitely added a blanket of unease between both villages.

Normally when an active duty shinobi entered a serious relationship with another they were from the same village. If they were not, it was expected one would move to the other village and apply for residency and citizenship. Lee was currently living in Suna as his new job had dictated, but had been moved out of the guest barracks and moved to Gaara's personal estate(a relatively new development); but his citizenship was with Konoha, which was completely uncommon in this sort of situation. It held a lot of implications, and none of them good, which was a reason Tsunade had hesitated before she had ultimately signed the papers that conceded to the union(under duress he was sure, as Gaara was still not used to being denied much of anything).

Temari and Shikamaru's relationship came to mind; the two of them only passing each other during missions in their respective villages. Their relationship from all angles that Lee had ever seen must be private, because he never saw them be affectionate, and often only witnessed them seeing each other briefly in public. Lee supposed that might've been what would have been expected of him, had he a mind to be discreet(nothing about him was discreet). But, unfortunately, Lee was the sort to tell the world about his feelings, and wouldn't have wanted to live in the shadows(even if their profession sort of required it at times), which was probably a main reason why Gaara went public(he was never certain exactly if the Kazekage would have preferred to keep it under wraps).

But, Naruto probably wasn't interested in all those details.

Lee would definitely gush about the good feelings, and their good memories, but he wasn't the sort to divulge what happened behind closed doors and Naruto's leering look suggested he wasn't just interested in the hand holding and the innocent dates. Lee really didn't want to start thinking about his lover in bed but damn the thoughts started to infiltrate his mind and he felt extremely overheated all of a sudden. "H-he's good, if a little stressed." He managed to stammer, though he and Naruto were the same height, he felt like he wanted to duck away from his stare.

Naruto pouted, "You know that isn't what I meant. I meant like," He held his hand against his cheek to hide his mouth from view so only Lee could see him in a universal secretive gesture, "You know, your relationship, how is that going? I mean, I've never seen Gaara be affectionate with like, anyone, it's still sort of a shock you know?" He finished with a grin.

"It isn't a secret, we, well..." Lee gestured vaguely, trying to find words, not usually one to get so flustered, but this relationship of his was new, and Gaara was a soft subject. He was missing the Kazekage already and it had only been three days; he should be enjoying his time with Naruto, and focusing on his mission, but his heart felt torn. "He's a very admirable person. We're doing very well together. It's still a little bit of a shock to me as well." Lee finished with a smile despite the burst of longing that bloomed in his chest. He knew it was selfish to be thinking of Gaara when he should be focused on the mission.

But, young love was nothing to be ashamed of! Gai-sensei told him to embrace all aspects of his new relationship, the good and the bad, so he would endure through his crippling longing.

"I know it's not a secret," Naruto said, "But, the bastard is keen on having this whole mission be professional. He's had a stick up his ass the whole way here and I know he's been glaring at me even if I'm not looking at him now. He says I don't take things seriously enough." He said with an exaggerated eye roll. "He needs to learn to have a little fun and to actually visit with friends, you know? Well, not that he has any, I guess, aside from...well, you know how it is." He finished with a shrug.

Lee wasn't aware of all the history between Naruto and Sasuke; but he was privy to enough of it. He knew the lengths that Naruto had went to bring the Uchiha back 'home', and had managed to persuade Tsunade to be lenient regarding his crimes. He knew that Naruto was technically the leader of the squad, and that Sasuke was on probation still, but an outside eye might not realize that at first glance. Lee also felt a little guilty he couldn't even lump himself in as 'friends of Sasuke' because Naruto was right, the Uchiha isolated himself pretty damn well, and his rehabilitation back into the village was not met with fanfare. He had tried to be friendly, of course, but Sasuke was a man of few words and seemed bodily opposed to Lee's polite conversation and enthusiastic challenges.

Though, it seemed the Uchiha was settling back into Konoha well, if he had already made it to the jounin level with Naruto, and had been allowed to go on a mission outside of the village(the ban must have recently lifted, or perhaps it was why Sasuke was so tense, maybe it was his first one since being on probation). He was making strides, and he supposed he could be proud of him for it, even if his praise would not have been appreciated. Mostly, he was glad that Naruto had gotten his best friend back, those had definitely been some dark times.

Lee also knew that Naruto was just needling at information about Gaara because he saw him even less; he was just concerned over his distant friend, and the unrest between the villages was something to worry over. He was sure Naruto just wanted to know what was going on, and the idea of politics was still something foreign and displeasing to him. Lee knew that the blond wanted to be Hokage one day, and would need to learn all the tricks of the trade, but it obviously wasn't going to happen right now. "We're really good." He said with more conviction this time, because despite their differences and difficulties, they were becoming a strong pair together. Lee had never felt this strongly about anyone else before, and he was positive Gaara hadn't either. They had their ups and downs, but that was merely another facet of life.

"I still can't really imagine it." Naruto said cheekily, "I mean, you two are so different. But, I guess opposites attract or something like that? Well, I'm really glad you know! You both deserve to be happy, couldn't have happened to better people."

"Naruto." Sasuke intoned before Lee could say anything further to the blond.

Naruto shot a sour look over his shoulder at the Uchiha who was sitting nearby the recently created firepit, "You know, you need to address me as 'Captain' when we're on missions."

Sasuke smoothly ignored Naruto's gripe, "If you're done socializing maybe you can come over here and we can discuss the mission at hand."

Before Naruto could bristle, Lee had set a placating hand on his shoulder and offered a sturdy smile. "We do need to debrief each other before we continue forward, and you know this reprieve will be a short one."

Naruto shrugged off Lee's hand and huffed, "Yeah, yeah." He took a step towards their small make-shift camp, "Back to business then."

Lee approached the fire pit the group of them now sitting in a loose circle. Two tents had been erected on opposite sides of the perimeter, just big enough to fit two people but hardly luxurious. Their gear lay in satchels nearby, all of them had traveled light so they could make better time, even though the mission would span about two weeks, sacrifices always needed to be made, and nothing about the mission was supposed to be comfortable.

It was dusk, he could see the dark wash of purples and pinks that made up the sky just through the canopy of trees above them. It was almost strange being in such a lush landscape, after looking at sand for days(almost a year really if you wanted to count Lee's time in Suna), it felt like he was on a foreign planet. Not that he could ever forget what his 'home' felt or smelled like, but it just felt different now, and he couldn't explain why.

"Well," Naruto broke the quiet, his body highlighted with the orange glow of the fire, the shadows all around them growing darker, shying away from their light source. "Our trek here didn't yield anything. We tracked a while at each checkpoint, but came up with a lot of nothing. We didn't feel anyone following us, or anything like that. Nothing really to report." He finished with a shrug, Sasuke didn't offer anything further from where he sat off to Naruto's right; his shadowed face a controlled mask.

Lee rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sigh as he focused on the group around him, "Same with us. Nothing to report either. But, we still have days of scouting ahead of us, there's bound to be something."

"Our plan going forward is to keep off the trails," Finally Sasuke spoke, his deeper voice cutting over the hisses and 'pops' of the fresh fire. "We'll make a wide arc around each area and come back to the center to reconvene. That's the only way we can cover the most ground and really utilize our time."

"Also sleeping in shifts, yada yada, I don't think we need to go over everything, we've all been scouting before, right?" Naruto said, impatient as usual, ignoring Sasuke's chiding glare.

"Yuto doesn't know these woods, but I can brief him separately before our trek tomorrow. I also brought maps!" Lee said enthusiastically, "Though, I guess it's a little hard to read a map while running?"

Yuto didn't seem bothered by his lack of knowledge, or that he was so obscenely out of his element and in the company of three foreign ninja. His face was composed as usual, his posture straight backed and ready, "I take direction well Lee-san, I'm also an excellent tracker, I can adapt to the landscape easily, you don't need to be concerned about me."

Lee balked, feeling as though he might've offended Yuto with his statement, "N-no, that wasn't what-I'm positive you're an amazing shinobi, I was just, trying to…" He faltered, gesturing vaguely, his face red. "I'll trust your instincts." He finished stronger, though Yuto only looked at him with his usual impassive expression that was impossible for Lee to interpret. He really wasn't good at being an objective leader yet, he mentally lamented.

"It's ideal that we don't have deadweight." Sasuke said pointedly, his dark eyes fixed on Yuto who didn't seem bothered by Sasuke's focused stare.

Naruto yawned loudly as if oblivious to the tension developing, "So, who takes first shift?" He asked, rubbing at his eyes before leaning back into a more casual posture.

"I will." Yuto immediately offered, "It'll give me time to look over the landscape and become familiar with it. I do not want to be a liability." He said sincerely, causing Lee to wince over his folly of words earlier.

"Fine. Just a few hours between rotations. It's best if we get as much sleep as we can now since we know it's 'safe'." Sasuke said the word 'safe' as if it was a bitter thing.

Yuto didn't request the maps and Lee didn't offer them; the sand nin had retrieved his short sword from his pack before he launched off into the dark woodland, not saying another thing to any of them. Lee was used to it, the brunette had been quiet almost the entire run there, he didn't complain, and he didn't make small talk. He knew he could trust him, he was a Suna shinobi after all, but beyond that, he didn't have much of an opinion of him; Lee hadn't known him prior to this mission.

Sasuke was the first to get up from where he had been seated, absently he pushed at Naruto's shoulder which resulted in the blond half-heartedly swatting him away(none of his attempts landed). "So, you staying up a bit?" Naruto asked, listening to Sasuke's retreating steps as the Uchiha walked towards their tent.

Lee looked to Sasuke's retreating back before his eyes landed on Naruto, he offered him a sheepish smile, "I'm still a little energized from my run here. I think I'll stay up a while. I'll put out the fire, don't worry." He said with a nervous thumbs up.

Naruto shrugged, offering another yawn, "Alright, but not too late. You can't miss your shift."

"Now you're sounding like a captain." Lee said good-naturedly.

"Tch." Naruto snorted but offered a grin before he got up from his seat, dusting off his pants and looking over his shoulder at his tent which wasn't illuminated from the inside out, causing it to appear uninhabited. Sasuke was a quiet bastard; for a second Naruto wondered if he had really went to bed at all, or if he was off somewhere in the trees. "If anything exciting happens, wake me up."

"Of course." Lee said, and Naruto finally turned away with a lazy wave, tugging the flap of the tent open and disappearing inside. Lee could faintly hear Naruto and Sasuke speaking; their voices low, the sound of rustling fabric as they got situated.

It was going to be a long night, and an even longer few weeks away from 'home'.