Rating: T

Warnings: Some bad language/name-calling, Gaara being introspective, Tsunade being devious, etc.

Word Count: ~4700

Pairings: Sasuke/Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't hold the copyrights, I didn't create them, and I make no profit from this.

Notes: Practically-a-cowriter props need to go to EmeraldBenu, whose ideas and questions and general interest has given this story an actual, solid direction and a way to get there, and I am incredibly grateful.

Also, all of my current SasuNaru feels can be encompassed by this video: (If the link gets eaten, searching Just Love Him Sasunaru on YouTube should get you to it. And give the vidder many, many kudos, because it's shivery-gorgeous.)


Stormborn

Chapter Seven, First Movement: Blue Ocean Overture

[Overture: Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.]

Sasuke and Ino are out the door before the chuunin even finishes his sentence, bounding up across the guardhouse roof and down the other side to halt right in front of the gate. Kotetsu and Izumo are both on their feet, solidly planted, and as the jounin approach Izumo waves a quick hand in front of him, gesturing towards one of the larger trees by the road.

"Two visitors," he murmurs to Sasuke, leaning in to keep from being overheard. "They claim they're from Uzushiogakure, and they want to meet with the Hokage."

"Uzushiogakure?" Ino asks in confusion. "I haven't heard of it."

"Probably because it was only recently rebuilt," a bright voice puts in from above, and Sasuke narrows his eyes, studying the tree and wondering if he should call out his Sharingan. Before he can decide, though, there's a soft rustle and with a faint, bright chime of bells, a figure drops down to land in an easy crouch.

There's no jounin or chuunin vest, is the first thing Sasuke notices, not that that means much. A lot of shinobi simply choose not to wear them. Instead, the man—on the shorter side of average height, with a leanly muscled build and darkly tanned skin—is clad in a short, sky-blue kimono that reaches mid-thigh, worn over a pair of dove-grey leggings and a fishnet shirt. There's a kunai holster strapped to his right thigh and a weapons pouch attached to the wave-pattered obi, the edge of a sealing scroll just barely visible within it. A mask like Kakashi's, only pale grey, covers the bottom half of his face, but the eyes that Sasuke can see are new-leaf-green, and his hair is a pale and sun-streaked blond. It's pulled up in a messy knot at the back of his head, what shoulder-length locks that manage to fall free neatly braided and left loose.

Sasuke's eyes linger on the golden tan and blond hair—a combination that's never failed to make his heart clench just a little—but almost immediately they're drawn to the man's hitai-ate, tied around his bicep. It's a symbol that's familiar, strangely so—a tight spiral contained within a circle. Every flak jacket in Konoha bears the same mark, and to see it on a foreign shinobi's hitai-ate is very close to eerie.

"Good morning," the blond says cheerfully, ignoring Sasuke's silent survey. "We're here on behalf of Yondaime Uzukage Uzumaki Arashi of Uzushiogakure, to petition for Uzushio's right to enter the Chuunin Exams next month. If we could speak to the Hokage as soon as possible, we'd be grateful."

Above the mask, his eyes are very, very green, and he doesn't look away. Sasuke finds he can't quite bring himself to do so, either.

"We?" Ino asks, eyes narrowing as she scans their surroundings again.

The blond half-turns and waves up into the tree, and a moment later another man drops into sight. Dark-haired this time, wearing a more regular shinobi uniform in shades of grey and blue, with a dark visor over his eyes and his hair pulled up in a neat tail. "We," the blond agrees, apparently unconcerned with the tenseness of the Konoha shinobi. Sasuke pegs him as either an idiot or a very good actor. "He's Yuki, and you can call me Youko."

Ino glances between them, and then raises a brow. "Youko?" she asks in faint disbelief, because she's never, ever been one to hold her tongue and be polite when she's not forced to. Were he not the same—if slightly more taciturn—and were ANBU not rarely required to speak, it likely would have driven Sasuke to drink by now. "Isn't that a girl's name?"

Youko grins, the sly-sharp twist of it just visible beneath his mask. "Among other things," he agrees easily.

Before Ino can ask anything else, Sasuke steps forward and inclines his head, shooting her a look as he moves. She nods immediately, steps back, and disappears in a whirl of leaves, gone to inform the Hokage of their visitors. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he says, finally allowing his hand to shift off his sword's hilt. "If the Hokage is free, we will take you right to her."

"How luxurious—door to door service," the blond says, clearly grinning again. He drops gracefully to the ground, crossing his legs as he goes, and settles comfortably in the grass on the side of the road. "Come on, Uchiha-san, I'm sure your chuunin friends can watch the gate until your partner returns. Care to join me?"

Idiot, Sasuke decides with pained resignation, pushing down thoughts of another blond moron. Yet another idiot, why is this my life? But he settles a careful distance from the man, because he seems willing enough to give out answers, and Sasuke is the type to take complete advantage of that.

(Besides, if the man is a Kage's emissary, he can't be that much of an idiot. No village leader, especially from a newly formed—or reformed, as the case may be—hidden village, would take the chance of a foolish messenger saying something inappropriate and damaging relations before they can even form.)

"You said your Kage is named Uzumaki Arashi?" Sasuke asks, because he'd caught the name, and while he won't allow himself to hope—

"Yes," Youko affirms, raising an eyebrow at him, as though it's something he should already know. "The Uzumaki originally founded Uzushio, and they're still our largest clan. Your Shodaime married the daughter of our Shodaime, actually. Uzumaki Mito was from Uzushio."

It's not…disappointment that he's feeling. Just resignation, at the fact that his search isn't over yet. And Sasuke knows, knows that Naruto isn't the only one to bear that family name, but just for a second he had wanted.

But he wants quite often, these days, so that's nothing new there.

Youko looks away from Sasuke, towards what little of Konoha can be seen through the gate, and Sasuke can see the turn of his smile. But he says nothing, only hums softly to himself, and Yuki remains completely still and entirely silent.

Sasuke looks at the blond, thinks of blue eyes the shade of a summer sky and golden hair several shades darker than this man's, and resists the urge to close his eyes and look away. He's on duty and this is no time for weakness. There are thousands of people across the Elemental Countries with that particular combination of coloring. He has no reason at all to feel so…thwarted.

But, as ever, he wishes it were Naruto sitting across from him, and by this point, he doesn't even try to fight it anymore.


Gaara stands on the warm stone of the docks, arms crossed over his chest as he watches two redheaded children and a blond boy running on the surface of the water. They laugh and leap and twist, showing off unnecessarily as they guide a merchant ship through the reefs off the coastline, and Gaara can't quite swallow down the faint smile pulling at his lips. Aki and Natsu, both Uzumaki, and Kin Makoto, from one of the new clans to come with all the rest—and somehow, through madness or brilliance (and with Naruto it's always rather hard to tell), they're his.

He wonders, sometimes, what would have happened had he returned to Suna, had he stayed with his brother and sister and the village that hated him. No genin, certainly. He can't imagine them trusting him with so much as a houseplant, let alone three impressionable children. No position as jounin commander, either, earned not through his demands and their fearfulness but effort and time and dedication.

No Naruto, with his bright smiles and frequent, offhand touches, the darkness in his eyes that matches Gaara's but is nevertheless always overwhelmed by so much sheer joy at life. And really, that's what truly matters in the end. Because Gaara is certain down to his bones that he would follow Naruto anywhere, into anything regardless of the odds. Follow him in and then right back out the other side, because for Naruto there is no such thing as losing.

"Sensei, sensei!" Aki stumbles onto the dock, the boys a step behind her, and staggers over to where he's standing. They're all drenched from the spray, hair drying stiff with saltwater under the morning sun, and their tans are several shades darker than when they went out. The girl gives him a grin, Uzumaki-bright, and says, "The Harbormaster says our shift is done. He's got another team coming in time to meet the next ship."

Gaara glances across the harbor to where the man is standing on a lookout, and gets a nod and wave. He nods in return before focusing on his team again. "How many missions is that now?"

Makoto, easily the quietest and most dignified of the three, hesitates a moment before answering softly, "Nineteen D-ranks and four C-ranks, Gaara-sensei."

"Does that mean you'll let us enter the Exams now?" Natsu asks, sharing an eager look with his twin and all but dancing with restrained excitement.

Gaara doesn't tell them that he put their names down the minute Naruto offhandedly suggested using the Chuunin Exams to reveal Uzushio's comeback to the world at large. Instead, he arches a brow at the three hopeful faces he's presented with and keeps his expression perfectly straight. "Perhaps," he allows after a moment, then checks the position of the sun. "You have two hours to change and eat, and then you will meet at Training Ground 9 for your daily exercises before finishing the day's last mission."

"Yes, Gaara-sensei," they chorus, and Aki immediately grabs the boys' hands and drags them off at a run, ignoring their complaints as they vanish into the twisting streets.

Gaara watches them go with faint amusement. When Naruto had first told him that he had put Gaara's name down as a potential jounin sensei, he had been…horrified. Adjustments to Shukaku's seal or no, he was still…damaged. Different. And surely, surely no one in their right mind would inflict such a thing on one innocent child, let alone three.

But Naruto had insisted, the way he so seldom did. He'd ignored Gaara's (completely justified) objections and entered his name into the lottery anyway, told him where to meet his new Team One when it was drawn. And because it was Naruto, because if Gaara has ever owed anything to anyone it is everything to Naruto, he had gone and met the three bright-faced and optimistic genin he'd been saddled with.

He is…satisfied with how it has turned out.

Normally, at this point in the morning he either goes to join Naruto for lunch or, if he fails to appear in a timely manner, Naruto will hunt him down, Haku usually in tow. Sometimes, Gaara will even go to lunch alone with Haku, if the Uzukage's duties are too much for Naruto to leave. There are others as well who don't mind his companionship—Fū and Utakata, Roushi and Kabuto, several tokubetsu jounin and a handful of jounin who respect him but don't fear him and think of him as a friend.

It is…astonishing, to have this. To be a part of a place where no one shudders as he walks by, or turns their face away. Naruto makes it very clear to anyone wanting to live in Uzushio that those within are to be treated equally, whether civilian or shinobi or jinchuuriki.

The past doesn't matter here, he always says. If you're looking for a home in this village, what you are doesn't matter at all compared to who you are.

Gaara had been…skeptical, at first. When the first ship full of people, shinobi and farmers and craftsmen and families, had set foot on the shore, he had expected an outcry at the presence of two jinchuuriki and a handful of missing-nin, but—

It had never come. It still hasn't, for that matter, and Gaara wonders at it even now. Haku has said that those who come are always so desperate for a home that they don't care, that they are all displaced, outcasts in their own right, and can sympathize with those in the same situation. And after six years with very few disturbances of any sort, Gaara is almost convinced.

The sun is warm on his shoulders, and he lifts his face to the clear sky, raising a hand to shield his eyes. As ever, the smell of salt is sharp in his nose, but familiar after over half a decade in this village, and he allows himself a small smile. Here he never has to question his purpose. Here he never doubts what he was born for. He is the jounin commander and leads a genin team, stands second in authority to the Uzukage himself, and is a valued member of the shinobi forces. People smile at him, and laugh freely when he's around, greet him and touch him and never flinch away. Perhaps a large part of that is because they never saw him before, trapped in Shukaku's bloodlust, but it's still something he doubts he would have ever had in Suna.

Gaara breathes out, centered and calm, and turns on his heel to head back into the village. Naruto is two days gone already, Haku with him to keep him out of trouble, and Gaara has enough duties as interim leader that this handful of hours with his genin team is an indulgence. And, indeed, a young woman in an unzipped jounin vest is striding down the street towards him, crimson hair bristling and glasses ever so slightly askew.

"Karin," he greets over the faint stream of obscenities she's hissing. The hem of her shirt and one of her sleeves is soaking wet, and Gaara is willing to bet a month's pay that she's fresh from yet another screaming match with Suigetsu.

"Gaara-san," she returns, eyes flashing. "Do you know what that bitch Fū said? She told me Suigetsu and I fight like a married couple! A married couple! Argh! She should have been drowned at birth, that little…"

She subsides into muttered cursing again, and Gaara very carefully doesn't let any of his amusement show on his face. Karin is very good at being passive-aggressive, underneath all of her bluster, and Gaara would rather not find himself trapped in the Uzukage's office until midnight signing documents. Sleep is a luxury he enjoys indulging in, now that Naruto's modifications to his seal make it impossible for Shukaku to overwhelm him.

"If we're a married couple, it's one on the verge of divorce!" Karin snarls, throwing her hands up in aggravation. "I hate him, Gaara-san! Ugh, that bastard!"

"I take it there are matters that need overseeing?" Gaara asks mildly, heading back up the street. Several passing shinobi give him sympathetic or amused smiles when they see the ranting redhead beside him, and he tips his head slightly in amused acknowledgment.

Karin narrows her eyes at him behind her glasses, but allows the change of subject with a sniff. "Yes, there's a disagreement between two clans in the West District over a piece of unclaimed land they both swear is theirs by right. Ine-san from the library found the records, but we think it's best if you deliver the verdict—less chance of bloodshed. Then there are three groups requesting entrance to the village—one is a merchant party from Wave Country, the second is a handful of shinobi wanting to join, and the third is a delegation from Hot Springs Country hoping to rework their trade agreement. I've set up a schedule, so follow it. No more running off to play with your genin!"

Gaara doesn't roll his eyes, but it's tempting. Karin is the Uzukage's assistant, and very good at her job, but she's…loud. And used to dealing with Naruto, who tends to get distracted by his people all too often for her tastes.

Of course, Gaara knows, it's one of the reasons Naruto is so well-loved. People are used to thinking of the Kages as remote, untouchable figures in their heavy ceremonial robes and high towers, distant and almost god-like in their power. But Naruto is different. He walks through the streets like anyone else, laughs and smiles and greets an extraordinary number of people by name and like old friends, picks up children and teases genin and remarks on craftsmen's wares. Often, when Gaara looks at him, he feels as though he's looking at Uzushio given form, an entire village distilled down to its essence in one bright and brilliant man.

He pauses on the crest of a small rise, turning to look back at the ocean as it stretches away, at the city spread out around them in golden-brown and red and white, and can't help but smile once again at the sight of it all.

Six years now, almost seven, and never once has he regretted his decision. Not even for a moment.


"From Uzushio, you said?" Tsunade sighs and rests her elbows on the desk, rubbing the bridge of her nose wearily.

In front of her, Ino nods respectfully. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Two of them, and I'd guess they're both jounin from their chakra levels. Sasuke-kun is staying with them at the moment, but they requested they see you as soon as possible."

Tsunade wonders if it's a trap, a trick of some sort, though she can't imagine the purpose. "Bring them here," she orders after a long moment. "Treat them as guests unless they prove otherwise."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." With a quick salute and a blurring leap, the young woman is out the window and headed back towards the gate as quickly as she can go. Tsunade stares after her for a moment, then drags her attention back to the matter at hand.

She remembers Uzushio, though she only visited it a handful of times. Most memorable, perhaps, was attending the Uzushio Jounin Exams at the Nidaime Uzukage's invitation. Tsunade closes her eyes and thinks of walking through brightly-paved streets with her granduncle beside her and her grandmother in front of them, not even an Academy student yet and easily awed. Remembers men and women in bright robes and groups of shinobi laughing together as they laid bets. The tests had been hard, and the Uzushio shinobi had cheered loudest for one of their chuunin in particular, a young man with golden hair and a fondness for seals and powerful ninjutsu. The blond boy had won the Exam, placed first and advanced to jounin with ease and not an ounce of surprise from anyone around them, and Tsunade recalls that Mito had smiled then, small and slow and satisfied.

"That boy," she had told Tobirama, voice low but strong, "he's the newest hope of the Uzumaki clan, a genius with Wind and Water affinities. My niece Saehara Jin was his teacher, and she says he has an instinctive grasp of chakra techniques like she's never seen before. Uzukage-sama is eyeing him as a possible successor."

Tobirama's eyes had narrowed, thoughtful and faintly unhappy, and he had murmured, "A child?"

"A brilliant one," Mito had countered. "And he's already fifteen. There was even talk of taking him as the next host for the Kyuubi, but for all that he's an Uzumaki he isn't directly related to the Uzukage's family, or to mine." Her eyes had darkened, but she had raised her chin. "Also, he will be too old by the time I am ready to pass this burden on. I have a few good years in me yet."

It was then that the young man had turned, almost as if he had heard Mito's words, and looked up into the stands where they sat. Blue eyes, Tsunade remembers. As blue as the ocean, or as blue as the sky, and so very, very determined.

The newest hope of the Uzumaki clan, she had thought then. Hope.

It had suited him.

There had been other meetings afterwards, if only a few. The blond—Uzumaki Arashi, she had later learned—had been Uzukage four months when Sarutobi became Sandaime Hokage, and both men had been friends, as much as their positions allowed. As Sarutobi's student, she had encountered the man twice on his visits to Konoha, and he had always seemed kind and gentle with a terrifying fierceness buried inside him, like a storm just waiting to be unleashed.

The God of Shinobi and the Storm God. Both third to lead their villages, both chosen young but very, very strong. Sarutobi had raged, when they received news of Uzushio's fall, far too late to do anything. He had raged and ranted and wept when he had thought they could not see, because Uzushio was very nearly a twin of Konoha, they were so close. An unwavering ally, a village of friends when most shinobi were set at odds by politics, and it had all been lost in the space of a few days, brought to ruin because Kiri feared Uzushio's power.

And now it's been rebuilt, if this news is anything to go by. Rebuilt and repopulated, a shinobi village once more. One with strength, as well, to be able to send two jounin on a mission deep into another country, with no guarantee of a swift return. Jounin are, for the most part, the main source of income for their villages—B- and C-ranks might be more plentiful, but it's the A- and S-rank missions that bring the most money.

Two jounin spared means this is either a very important mission—possible, given that it is more less an announcement of Uzushio's return—or considered dangerous—also possible, as whatever treaties Konoha and Uzushio held ended when the village fell—or both.

A knock on the door draws her attention, and she calls a sharp, "Come in," even as she rises to her feet.

Her first glimpse of them is almost a shock, because she remembers another blond jounin, dressed almost identically to this one. But that was more than fifty years ago, all but another world, and she has to remind herself sharply that this is not the man she saw that day. No matter how much he looks like him, right down to the goddamn bells in his hair. All but the eyes, which are a sharp and startling green, very far from what she half-expects to see.

Those warm, fine-boned features are all but the same, though, regardless of her inner denials, as is the steadiness and certainty with which this young man meets her gaze. "Hokage-sama," he says politely, but warmly, dipping into a respectful bow. "Greetings on behalf of Yondaime Uzukage Uzumaki Arashi. I am Youko, and this is my partner Yuki."

Tsunade wonders how it can possibly be coincidence, this new Uzukage bearing the same name as his predecessor. But at the same time, how can it be anything else? She steels herself and inclines her head in return. "Youko-san, Yuki-san, we are honored to have Uzushio shinobi visit after so long. May I ask what the occasion is?"

That gets her a smile, the blond's eyes crinkling over the top of his mask. "We finished reconstruction two years ago," he answers readily. "Our first genin teams started training then, and a majority of them have been declared ready to take the Chuunin Exams. Uzukage-sama thought to petition to enter them now, as Konoha is host this time and your village has long been a valuable ally to ours."

The Chuunin Exams are a traditionally neutral event, and it's hardly up to Tsunade to deny a country that wishes to enter. She nods, resettling into her seat and pulling a blank scroll closer. "I'll make arrangements and notify the proctors," she agrees. "How many teams?"

"Four," Youko answers, still smiling, but there's relief in the lines of his face, and Tsunade wonders at it. Did they really think she would deny them? Rebuilt or not, Uzushio has always been an ally, and they haven't done anything to disprove that yet. Moreover, this is the first Tsunade has heard of their return, and that they haven't come begging for help from Konoha in their reconstruction almost makes her more inclined to trust that this isn't some trick. Shinobi are proud to a fault, after all, especially where their villages are concerned.

She makes a note off to the side, then nods. "Very well. Will you be returning to Uzushio with the news?"

"I will send a message," Yuki says unexpectedly, taking a half-step forward and inclining his head. "Uzukage-sama will need us here for the transportation seals to work, and it would be simpler for us to remain until the Exams begin."

Transportation seals? Tsunade knows that Uzushio shinobi have a habit of treating such things as commonplace, given their sealing abilities, so she tucks the question away for later. "You're more than welcome, of course. Ino, please take them to one of the inns and get them settled. Uchiha, I need a word."

"Hokage-sama," her jounin answer, one significantly more enthusiastic than the other. Ino shoots Sasuke a smug, if well-hidden, smile, then steps forward with a murmured, "This way, please," and escorts the Uzushio nin out of the room.

Tsunade lets the silence linger for a moment, watching as her favorite jounin (for torturing) starts getting tense and twitchy. Then, with her sweetest smile, she leans forward on her elbows, folds her hands under her chin, and orders, "Bring me Jiraiya."

Sasuke flinches like she slapped him, jerking his head up to meet her gaze. He's trying for puppy-dog eyes, likely learned from his partner who's absolutely devastating with them, but improvements in temperament aside, he's still a bit too much of a bastard to actually pull them off. "But—!" he protests.

Tsunade knows very well why he's so reluctant. Jiraiya still hasn't broken his habit of perving on the women's bathhouses, and whenever Sasuke is around the Toad Sage has a tendency to use his eternally reluctant student as bait.

(It is, quite honestly, one of the funniest things Tsunade has seen in her long life, and after a childhood spent with Orochimaru and Jiraiya and their prank wars that's saying something.)

"No buts," she counters mercilessly. "That's an order, Uchiha. I want Jiraiya in front of my desk—in one piece—within the hour. Go."

The glare he shoots her isn't so much murderous, as was likely his intention, as it is horrified, reluctantly resigned, and deeply wounded, but he goes. Tsunade snickers and leans back in her chair, wondering if it would be petty to assign a genin team to get pictures of the scuffle that's sure to take place. She has absolute authority for a reason, though, right?