Chapter four
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear
~ ҉ ~
Naruto's dream was interrupted by a highly irritating voice. His dream was awesome. Ramen was everywhere! But of course, before he could touch any of the delicious food, the awesomeness was sucked away from him as he woke.
"Damn you Sasuke… that dream was good…" Naruto hissed, wiggling in his annoyance. But of course, this led to a deal of pain sweeping through his chest, which ended with him freezing in his spot and a string of curses clamped behind his teeth.
"Yeah well, we have to get moving. Sunrise is about an hour away." Sasuke said as he pulled the blanket off of Naruto's stomach and stuffed it into the backpack.
"Why… are we… moving so early?" Naruto grumbled sleepily, as he grabed Sasuke's hand and Sasuke gently pulled him onto his feet. Sasuke helped Naruto into his shirt and jacket, and then he stamped out the fire. Naruto wobbled slightly where he stood, not being fully awake. Sasuke looked Naruto up and down, sighed and said,
"I think… I'm going to have to carry you." Naruto snorted and hesitantly crossed his arms. He winced from pain, but kept his arms still.
"Hey! I don't like this either… you're just… you're in no condition to walk." Sasuke managed to say, keeping his voice from showing all the annoyance he was feeling. Naruto snorted but held his hands out. Sasuke knelt down in front of Naruto, and Naruto crawled onto his back. Once he was sure that Naruto wouldn't get damaged, he held the backpack under his arm and began a brisk jog.
Every now and again, Naruto would give Sasuke directions to where he was staying. After about an hour, Sasuke could see what looked like an arch way made of 2 bending trees.
"What's that there for?" Sasuke asked, as he somewhat came to a stop. Naruto peered over his shoulder, his arms dangling off in front of the Uchiha.
"Mm… that's where the village is." Naruto commented, before tapping Sasuke on the shoulder. "Can I get down now?" Sasuke sighed and gently put Naruto on his feet. Naruto cocked his head to the side and grinned.
"Ahh, it's good to be back!" He said, and then turned to see Sasuke watching him with a raised eyebrow.
"This is … this is it? Seriously? Are you sure you didn't knock your head?" Sasuke put his hands in his pocket, and looked at Naruto through half closed eyes. That look was very annoying. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"No, not exactly. You have to do a special sign to get into the village. It's hidden... because it contains hidden nin." Naruto said, and instantly clasped a hand over his mouth. That was not information he was meant to be spreading. Sasuke cocked his head to the side, his raven-coloured bangs hanging loose beside his face.
"Really? You've been staying in a village full of hidden ninjas?" Sasuke asked and Naruto looked at the ground.
"Yeah well, I'm one of them too. And plus, they would probably kill you... and me… if you went in there." Naruto shook his head.
"No worries…" Sasuke said before making a few hand signs, "Henge!" now there stood a 6ft 3" brown headed ninja where Sasuke stood. His disguise's eyes were a pale green colour, and had a scar over his left eye.
"Mm… I think that will do." Naruto murmured, before looking towards the archway. It was a bit strange, that Sasuke had shrunk a few good inches, maybe about three. Naruto couldn't be sure.
Naruto took a deep breath and was about to perform his own transformation jutsu, when Sasuke stopped him.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself. Again. Really, if I have to do much more medical stuff, I might accidently kill you. So, after we fought, I went back to where we first started our fight, and grabbed your cloak." Sasuke held out a black piece of material and Naruto grinned.
"That's awesome."
After a few seconds, the cloak was tightened around Naruto's shoulders and neck. A black mask, similar to what Kakashi had, covered the lower half of his face, while a large black hood covered his hair and forehead. It was very long and fell to the ground, and folded around to cover his front.
"Now, slight warning. Everyone who lives there knows when a person uses henge. They may or may not know who is underneath, so if you get attacked… hmm… try not to die." Naruto said, then had a sudden thought, "You didn't become a hunter nin, or an ANBU did you? Cause if you are… you really would die. And not by accident."
"Nah, just a normal chuunin. I was thinking about it, but couldn't be bothered." Sasuke shook his head, pulling out a black jacket to put on, to cover the Uchiha symbol on his back.
Naruto nodded his head thoughtfully, and as he slowly (stumbling while at it) walked forward, he made several hand signs. Thankfully, this special jutsu required little energy and chakra. Although, why it was a little energy and chakra for such a big thing… he didn't know. Or care.
Serpent, boar, tiger, ox, dragon, hare, ram, horse.
A large, low transparency, purple bubble surrounded Naruto and Sasuke, then shrunk to make what seemed like a second skin around the two. As they passed through the arch, everything seemed to go negative. Naruto muttered something under his breath, and making one last hand signal, rooster, the world seemed to flip, then go upside down, and then they found themselves standing in what seemed like a village centre, in front of an arch that looked similar to the one they had just gone through. Except, the tree's used in this arch looked more ancient, then the others.
Sasuke held a hand over his stomach and promptly threw up all over the ground. Sasuke grimanced as he stared at was once the contents of his stomach. A few people, who were dressed in robes and cloaks, snickered towards Sasuke and then went back to their own thing. Were they also hidden nin?
"It takes some getting used to…"Naruto said, an apology running through his words. Sasuke grumbled and wiped a hand over his mouth. That whole negative, upside down thing really twisted his stomach up.
"Anyway, my house is this way." Naruto pointed, and Sasuke walked behind Naruto, making sure that the blonde wouldn't fall over, as Naruto led the way to his home.
~ ҉ ~
"This… is where you've been living… for the past 5 years?" Sasuke asked, staring into what Naruto deemed 'home'.
"Well more like 4 and a half, I spent the first half year in a-"
"My god… here? Really?" disgust laced Sasuke's voice, as his mouth practically hit the floor. Only standing in the doorway, and much preferring it that way, he could see all the junk littering the blonde's home. Obviously, the Uchiha was used to living in a fancy styled home, not in poverty.
It was about the size of a normal two room home, one room being a bathroom, the other being a kitchen, living and bedroom. A simple brown couch lay in the corner nearby a broken table and a shabby pile of books. The kitchen looked grubby and take-out bowls of ramen littered the tiled floor. A double bed was hidden around a separation wall, so it would give you a bit of privacy. He could tell it would be unmade without looking at it. Rubbish and used chopsticks were lying all over the floor, and Sasuke felt something creep down his spine when he thought he saw numeral mutated looking cockroaches scatter over the floor.
"Yeah, pretty much. There's not much, obviously, since I don't really have the money." Naruto muttered. Sasuke gently lowered him onto the couch, after passing through the mound of trash. Naruto smiled sheepishly. "When I'm better, I'll clean up."
"Don't get comfortable. We might as well get up and go so we can buy some stuff. You know, food and crap." Sasuke said, walking over to the 'kitchen'. He frowned, staring at all the dirty dishes piled in the sink.
~ ҉ ~
A few curses, pained growls and a punch to Sasuke's gut later, Sasuke had managed to get Naruto off the cough and into the village. Sasuke still wore his henge, and Naruto was still wearing his cloak. Naruto moved awkwardly, stumbling every now and again which resulted in a different curse each time.
"You know, sooner or later you'll have to switch language. You're running out of swears." Sasuke grunted, and Naruto snorted. The shopping area in the village was half filled, with people in cloaks, and some without. Although Sasuke knew that they were henge's, thanks to Naruto's advice. Sasuke could see many different store lined up. There were grocery stores, book stores, weaponry stores, armory and so many more. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, frowned and looked ahead again.
"You know what? Stuff shopping." Sasuke said, and then attempted to turn around, but the blond resisted.
"You're kidding, right?" Naruto huffed, "we just got out here! You're seriously trying to kill me, aren't you?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, and glared. People standing nearby glanced at them, and then returned to their own thing.
"Of course not, you dobe. I just… I think there may be someone following us." Sasuke replied dryly, again trying to turn them around.
"Sure, sure. You know this place is filled with people. A lot of people are going in the same direction as us." Naruto huffed again, taking a step away from the Uchiha, barely preventing himself from falling over backwards.
"I don't care. You aren't really in a position to stop me." Sasuke hissed, glared, and then dragged Naruto onto his back and carried him back to his house.
"God dammit, teme! That hurt!" Naruto whined, using one hand to repeatedly knock Sasuke in the back of his head.
"I'm beginning to regret even helping you. You're so damned annoying!" Sasuke grimaced and they finally got back to Naruto's home. Sasuke put Naruto on the couch and glared towards the door.
"I really think that there was someone-"
"SASUKE!" Naruto's screech forced Sasuke to act quickly. Sasuke pulled a kunai from his pocket as a masked figure appeared behind him, a kunai flying straight towards Sasuke's heart. Sasuke ducked quickly, kicking out at the same time and knocked his opponent off the ground.
Naruto attempted to get up and help, but his chest decided to be inconvenient and send burst after burst of pain through him. Naruto could only watch as Sasuke sparred with the masked person.
Sasuke moved out of the way of yet another kunai swing, and he retaliated with several shuriken flying from his hands. The shuriken managed to hit the person before they moved out the way. One shuriken missed, and was sent flying. It was impaled into the wall, one centimetre from Naruto's head.
"Crap aim!" Naruto mumbled, but cringed when he saw the opponent lunge and stab Sasuke in the side. Sasuke gritted his teeth and jumped back when the opponent began to do some hand signs. Sasuke recognized the jutsu the opponent was attempting, and managed to stop it with a quick kick to the chin. The opponent sailed back and hit the wall opposite to Naruto and Sasuke, and Sasuke pulled a kunai out, set it on fire with one of his jutsu's, and then sent it straight into the opponent's heart. His opponent gurgled, and fell limp against the wall. Sasuke huffed, holding a hand to his side. He'd have to fix that.
"Are you all right?" Naruto asked, his body feeling tense. Sasuke nodded. "Damn it, I'm annoyed!" Sasuke smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Gee, Naruto. I didn't realize you cared so much." Sasuke told him.
"I don't. I'm just peeved that I couldn't join in."
~ ҉ ~
Written by Urufu-chan
(Ochibi and Urufu)