A/N: Ayyye! I'm back! Just a fun little tid bit for you guys, I turned 23 on the 15th and I'm pretty sure I'm going through some sort of quarter-life crisis. WHY AM I STILL AGING? THIS NEEDS TO STOP. Like, what in the actual fuck is going on, I swear to Kami I was like 19 just last week, like, I can't be 23...TWENTY FUCKING THREE? Ugh, I'm elderly and I'm withering away into the night. Goodbye to you all, it won't be long now. It's the end for me. It's all downhill from here. My best days are behind me now.
DISCLAIMER: Kishi got the rights, yo. I'm just a thristy fangirl.
WARNING: Oh ya know, violence and stuff.
~0~o~0~
"You can't be serious." An elderly woman with gray hair pulled up into a bun said, disbelievingly. "This is ridiculous. It will never work."
Kakashi sighed. "This is a new era, things have changed since the old days. Naruto has proven what the power of words can do to change people."
"I agree with Koharu, this plan of yours...do you honestly believe this will solve everything? Perhaps, this will work in Naruto's case. But, regarding Sasuke Uchiha, I doubt people will change their minds so easily." An older man said in his deep, demanding voice. His impatience was growing noticible in his downcast eyebrows.
"I am the Hokage." Kakashi said firmly. "It's time I took things into my own hands and dealt with this head on. They will listen to me. I will make them understand."
"And, what if they don't? Homura is right to assume that people will not change their minds about Sasuke. His presence will threaten the peace of the village." Koharu spoke again, condescendingly.
"We'll deal with that when we get to it. For now, I'm confident that I can fix things. I was appointed Hokage for a reason, I'd like to think that people will respect what I have to say."
"If this is how you want to handle it, go right ahead. I don't see the harm in trying. Although, I'm skeptical of how well this will work." Homura said, adjusting his glasses.
"Well, first things first. Let's take care of the criminals." Kakashi grinned beneath his mask.
"Right." Koharu and Homura spoke in unison.
"Send for Sasuke and Sai." Said Homura, authority ringing in his voice.
~0~o~0~
Sasuke sighed as he walked through the village. His glare murderous as he endured countless insults. Although, today's insults were a little different from the usual.
"Disgusting."
"Faggot."
"Pervert."
Well, by the looks of it, word must have gotten out. He stalked through the crowd, not bothering to dodge the shoulder checks but careful to avoid the people who spat at him. How unsanitary.
"Sasuke!" The raven whipped around to find Chouji approaching him.
"Yeah?" He asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"I swear none of us said anything!" Chouji said, seeming a little panicked.
"I know. Word got out through someone else." He said dispassionately.
"It wasn't Sakura either. She punched some dude earlier for talking about you, so-"
"I know." Sasuke repeated. "I already know exactly who it was. Have you seen Naruto?"
"Oh." Chouji said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, okay then. Uhh, I haven't seen Naruto yet actually. He's sure in for a surprise though."
"Yeah. Thanks anyway." He turned away. "Later."
"Later."
Sasuke frowned as he walked down the street. He was hoping he could speak to the blond before his appointment with his therapist. But, he supposed he could talk to him afterwards instead.
Before he could reach his destination, he happened to bump into a certain pink-haired kunoichi. She looked upset and immediately grabbed his arm before he could brush past her. He met her eyes and sighed, deciding to hear what she had to say. After all, if he was being fair, she was a good friend and he had been unnecesarily rude to her the day before.
"Sasuke, I swear I would never spread this around. You have to believe me. No matter how I feel about it, I wouldn't betray you or Naruto like that. I-"
Sasuke raised an index finger, prompting her to pause her little rant. "I know, Sakura. I never suspected you. There's more going on than you think. Naruto and I will explain later. For now, just let us take care of things."
She bit her lip, fixing her gaze on the road. "I'm sorry for how I reacted yesterday. I feel so embarrased by how I handled it. I've honestly come to terms with how things are between us. I just want you to know that even though we'll never be anything more than friends, I'm okay with that. Your friendship is too important to me for it to be ruined over jealousy. And I'm okay with you and Naruto being together. You two have always been on a whole other level, I should have seen this coming." She smiled a little and pushed her hair behind her ear.
Sasuke returned her smile. "Thank you, Sakura. But, perhaps, I should be the one to apologize. I was very rude to you, and you had every right to snap at me."
"Can we just agree to put it behind us?" She asked, eye's softening.
"Yes. I think that would be nice." He agreed, and began to turn away. "I've got to get going now, but, as promised, we'll all talk about what's happening later. Although, by then you may already know." She nodded to him as he continued on his way.
When Sasuke finally reached the clinic, he took a seat in the waiting room. Not a minute had passed before he was summoned and he entered his therapist's offiice with confidence, sitting with his legs crossed, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Good morning, Sasuke." She said, smiling. "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine, thank you." He said, dispassionately. He flicked away some fuzz from his pants and glanced out the window.
"I heard some interesting gossip on my way to work this morning." She said, adjusting her glasses. "I felt I should mention it, considering you were the focal point of the rumors."
"Oh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "What did you hear?"
"Well," She cleared her throat. "It seems you've entered a relationship with someone."
"Have I?"
"With a man."
"Well, that certainly is interesting. I can see why people would be talking about that." He smirked, crossing his arms.
"Do you deny these accusations, Sasuke?"
"I don't actually. They're quite true. I'm involved with a man. Is this an issue?"
His therapist sighed, clicking her pen and scribbling something down in her folder. "Sasuke, homosexuality is a perversion. It's quite likely a result of your trauma. I'm afraid your mental state is even worse that I had originally thought it to be."
"What about my partner? Does this make him mentally unstable as well?"
"Well, manipulation is also a trait you may have acquired from your trauma."
"So, you think I've manipulated him into being with me?"
"I believe it's possible that you may have not given him a choice. He may be a victim of your perversion."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't your job to help me? I fail to see how insulting me and pointing out all of my flaws is supposed to help me. And, on top of that, it certainly doesn't seem right for you to accuse me of manipulating people because of my mental state. You can't blame everything on my trauma." His voice was calm, but his eyes were dark and threatening.
She shifted in her seat and narrowed her eyes. "Are you really in any position to critisize my methods? I'm only trying to help you understand the severity of your condition."
"Well, you've haven't done anything to help me." He said flatly. "But, the man I'm involved with helps me quite a bit. He makes me want to be a better person. As my therapist, you should encourage a relationship like that, shouldn't you? But, because two men being together is 'weird' you can't just let me be happy with him?"
"I do encourage the relationship. As long as it's platonic. But, a sexual relationship...between two men, well, that's just wrong. And, it certainly isn't healthy either."
"Is that so?" He asked calmly. "Well what does this mean, then? How do we fix this and make me 'normal'?"
"I'll have to up your dosage and perhaps increase your therapy sessions." She said, returning to the folder, gliding her pen across.
"Up my dosage?" He raised an eyebrow. "That could kill me, couldn't it?"
"What do you mean?" She paused, her grip tightening around the pen.
"It was suppressing so much of my chakra already, to up the dosage would weaken me to the point I could die. I have a feeling it wasn't only suppressing it, but eating away at it as well." He smirked, eyes narrowed.
"It's only a mood stabalizer, Sasuke. It doesn't affect your chakra." She said, struggling to remain calm. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead as she tapped her nails against the desk.
"Can I get a second opinon?" He asked, voice raised. "Tsunade?"
The door creaked open, the fifth Hokage entering with a wicked grin on her fair face. She shut the door behind her and leaned against Sasuke's seat, a scroll in her hand. The therapist's eyes widened as her lips parted slightly in surprise.
"I was curious about the medication you prescribed to Sasuke." Tsunade said, examining her nails. "So, I decided to take a look at the formula used to make it." She tossed the scroll into the air, catching it with her other hand. "A strong chakra supressant which eats away at the chakra the more active the user becomes. Very interesting. Although, I can't seem to understand why you would give this to a comrade of the Hidden Leaf Village. Something like this would be given to an enemy, don't you think?"
"I had no idea this was happening." She said defensively, fidgeting with her pen. "Someone else must be behind this. I'm his therapist, my job is to help Sasuke, not hurt him."
"You keep saying that." Sasuke sighed. "But we all know you're a fucking liar."
She bit her lip and tried to refrain from breaking her pen in half. "Maybe." She said, scowling at Sasuke's calmness. "But at least I never betrayed my own village."
"Oh, but you have." Tsunade interjected. "By going behind the Hokage and the council's backs to harm a citizen of the Leaf." Her eyes darkened as she glared at the woman. "Sai!"
Loose papers flew from the desk as Sai flickered into sight from behind it. He smiled at Sasuke's therapist before cuffing her.
"Good morning." He said, still smiling. "You sure have caused a lot of trouble for my friend, here."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but kept his smirk in place. Since when were they friends? Oh well. At that moment, Sai didn't seem all that bad.
"You're really going to take his side?!" She shouted, face turning red.
"Don't worry." Sai said cheerfully. "You'll have a chance to defend yourself at the trial."
He grabbed her arm, rather forcefully, and pushed her forward. As he led her out the door she glared daggers at Sasuke who remained seated, arms crossed, and smiling wickedly. "This'll teach you to fuck with an Uchiha."
Tsunade laughed and placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Good job, Kid." She said, smiling down at him. "You outsmarted the old bitch."
~0~o~0~
What the Hell?
Naruto frowned as he walked down the street. He was on his way to speak with Kakashi, hoping to catch Sasuke there since he said he'd be visiting him. But, people were acting weird today. Everyone was staring at him, most looking sad or confused. A few people were glaring angrily and one person even fake gagged as he passed him.
Those eyes...
They're the same as before...
Oh no!
His chest tightened as realization hit him. They knew. Somehow, between last night and now, word had gotten out. But, that fast? He began to panic when he thought about Sasuke. Had Sasuke found out about this yet? It was pretty early in the day still, so maybe Sasuke hadn't gone into town yet.
Would they have chased him out? Would Sasuke have gotten angry enough to leave?
Without even saying goodbye?
Would Naruto have to search for him and knock some sense into the stubborn bastard?
Fuck!
He tried to calm himself down and focused on his feet as he walked. First, he'd talk to Kakashi to find out what was going on and then he'd worry about Sasuke. He was probably overthinking things anyway. Kakashi promised he'd fix things and Naruto was holding him to it.
"Naruto!" The blond whipped around to find Konohamaru running towards him. He skidded to a halt in front of him and grabbed the front of Naruto's jacket. There was a pained look in his eyes, and Naruto felt his heart drop into his stomach.
"Hey, Konohamaru. What's-"
"Is it true?!" He blurted out. "Are you really with...Sasuke?"
"Uh..." Naruto lowered his head, scratching the bridge of his nose.
"You are, aren't you?"
"Yeah..."
Konohamaru released Naruto's jacket and took a step back, looking him directly in the eyes. "But, I don't understand, big brother."
"It's hard to explain, ya know." Naruto tried to smile.
"But, the sexy jutsu! I thought you liked curvy woman!"
"Well, I still think woman are beautiful, but, it's not about that. It's...he's...well, it goes deeper than just what's on the outside."
"But two men can't be together can they?" He asked, brows furrowed. "Big brother, I don't understand! This is so weird! And, Sasuke? I thought he was just your friend! None of this makes any sense."
Naruto fought to keep his composure. Konohamaru had always looked up to him. Would that change now? It broke his heart to think of the boy being dissappointed in him or worst, disgusted. How was he supposed to explain something like this to a kid? Would he understand when he got older?
"Hey, I'm still the same old Naruto, ya know." He said, ruffling Konohamaru's hair. "I'm still going to help you with jutsu just like before and I'm definitely still your rival. This won't change anything, kay? I know it's weird and confusing, trust me, I know. But, maybe someday you'll understand it."
The younger boy bit his lip. He was really confused. He'd never imagined Naruto, or anyone he knew for that matter, to be with another man. People made jokes about homosexuality and it wasn't like it was unheard of, but it definitely wasn't common. And, this was Naruto. His older brother figure and life-long rival.
"Okay." He said quietly. "Just promise me you'll always be the same Naruto, kay?"
"I promise, Konohamaru." He flashed a bright grin. "And I never go back on my word!"
Naruto almost jumped about a foot in the air when a hand fell onto his shoulder. "What the fuck?!" He exclaimed, turning to find a smirking Uchiha.
"Finally found you." He said cooly.
Konohamaru blushed furiously and swallowed, looking back and forth between the two.
"Don't scare me like that, bastard!" Naruto said, clutching his heart.
"Some shinobi you are." Sasuke snorted. "Getting worked up over the smallest surprises. You should be ready for anything and always remain calm in the face of danger. Usuratonkachi."
"Whatever, jerk. Where the hell were you?"
"Taking care of some business after speaking with Kakashi. One down." Sasuke smirked triumphantly and placed a hand on his hip. "Just four more to go."
"No fucking way! You serious?" Naruto's eyes sparkled as he laughed. "That's awesome! You gotta fill me in!"
"Later. We shouldn't discuss such matters in front of the kid." He nodded towards Konohamaru. "Besides, I promised Sakura we'd explain everything later so I might as well just kill two birds with one stone."
"Oh, right." Naruto blushed, scratching the back of his head as he glanced at his little rival.
"The kid knows doesn't he?" Sasuke asked, examining the awkward way Konohamaru was looking at them.
"Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" He pouted. "And, yeah I know."
"Hm. Gossip sure spreads fast around here." The raven mused.
"And just so ya know, if you're mean to my big bro, I'll test out my jutsu on your jerk face!" He crossed him arms and narrowed his eyes.
This actually got a small chuckle out of the Uchiha. Heat spread through Naruto's cheeks, loving the sound of Sasuke's laugh and happy at the fact that Konohamaru had just defended him. He was beginning to feel like maybe things really were going to turn out just fine in the end, after all.
"Hn." Said Sasuke. "I'll make you a deal, kid. If I hurt Naruto, you can come at me full force and I'll accept my fate."
"You sure ya wanna make that kinda bet?" Konohamaru asked, eyes darkening. "Naruto taught me a high-level jutsu and we've been practicing with other ones too. I'm getting really strong, so you better watch out!"
"Oh yeah? What high-level jutsu has he taught you?"
"The Rasengan! And I've already mastered it, too!" He bragged, sharing a look with the blond.
Sasuke looked impressed, he turned to Naruto. "He's mastered the Rasengan?"
"He even beat one of the Peins with it." Naruto said proudly, ruffling the boy's hair.
"That's right!" Konohamaru said, nodding with pride. "I took on one of the Peins and beat him so I could totally take you, too!"
"Well then I suppose it's a good thing that Naruto has someone as strong as you to look out for him. You should train with us sometime. I'm sure I can teach you plenty of things that Naruto could never dream of doing." He smirked at the offended blond and caught Konohamaru's eyes widening.
"You'd really let me train with you guys?" He asked excitedly.
"Sure." Said Sasuke. "But, for now, we should really be on our way." He placed a hand on Naruto's back and led him away.
"Bye, Konohamaru!"
"Bye! Don't forget to train with me!" Konohamaru waved excitedly as he watched them walk away.
Naruto smiled to himself as he walked alongside Sasuke. His boyfriend was in a particularily good mood and he could sense his calmness just by being near him. Things must be going smoothly, he thought.
"So that one person...was it your therapist?" He asked, watching Sasuke's eyes gleam.
"Yes." He said, smirking.
"Wow! That's so cool! What happened?" Naruto threw a fist in the air, grinning.
"Tsunade helped me call her out on her shit. She even brought the scroll that contained the ingrediants used to make my prescription, and Sai arrested her."
"Awesome! But, how come Sai's the one who arrested her?"
"He made a request to Kakashi to be allowed to do it. Since he's an ANBU, they let him." He shrugged and smiled politely at a passerby who scowled at him.
"So he wanted to be the one to do it? See, I told you that Sai was a good guy!"
"Doesn't make him any less weird. But, yes, I can see now what you were talking about before. He's not so bad after all."
"So...," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Does this mean you'll stay?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Sasuke sighed, turning onto a path that led into a patch of woods. "I need you to be mature about this, though."
"That doesn't sound good." Naruto frowned, feeling his heartbeat quicken.
"Naruto. I was offered a position with Orochimaru in his lab. My old team is working with him and-"
"What?! No!" Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, turning towards Sasuke, eyes wide. "You can't seriously be considerin' somethin' like that! No way am I gonna let you-"
"Shut up, dobe. Let me finish." He narrowed his eyes at the blond. Naruto bit his lip and dropped his head. "I won't let him use me. And, I refuse to be a part of anything that will harm others. In fact, if he is up to anything he shouldn't be, I'll report it to the Leaf. With me there with him, the Leaf can keep track of both of us easily, and more importantly, I can keep an eye on Orochimaru."
"Did you tell Kakashi about this plan?" Naruto asked, his voice cracking.
"Both him and the council. It was approved."
"But, Sasuke! You can't leave me! Please, just-"
"Calm down. This is only a last resort option." He placed a finger underneath Naruto's chin, tilting his head upwards to meet his eyes. "I won't leave you unless I need to. For your sake, and for the peace of the village."
"We'll make them accept you!" Naruto said desperately, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.
"I'm counting on that." Sasuke sighed, placing a soft kiss to the blond's forehead. "I believe in you. I do. But, I also need to consider every outcome. You understand that, right?"
"Well, there's only one outcome." He said, confidence ringing his voice. "You're staying here, with me."
"I hope so." Sasuke whispered, pulling Naruto into a hug.
The blond's eyes widened, warmth spreading through his cheeks. The sudden affection threw him off gaurd, although it was certainly welcome. He wrapped his arms around him and squeezed as tight as he could, taking full advantage of the tender moment. He never wanted to let him go, not ever.
Sasuke placed a hand on the back of Naruto's head, gently stroking his blond hair as he listened to him breathe. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the others. Time seemed to stand still and he intended to stay this way as long as he could. The future was unclear, but at least, for the moment, they were together.
Shing!
Without warning, Sasuke shoved Naruto to the ground and pulled out a kunai, countering the shuriken that were flying toward them. Leaves rustled above them and he looked up to find four men jumping down from the trees. They were wearing standard Chunin uniforms, their faces covered with cloth masks.
When Naruto spotted them as well, he got to his feet immediately. He instinctively rose his gaurd and pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, ready to fight. His eyes intense as he glared at the enemy...enemy that were wearing the uniforms provided by his own village.
"Don't let your gaurd down." Sasuke was standing in front of him, covering part of Naruto's body with his own.
"Yeah, I know." Naruto bit out. Maybe now wasn't the time act like a rival. If there was one thing he'd learned over the years of being a shinobi, it was that team-work would always prevail. He pushed away the thought of Sasuke making him feel inferior, and made a sign with his hands. "Shadow-clone jutsu!" Two more Naruto's appeared, both in a battle-ready fighting stance.
The four chunin raced towards them, weaving around each other as they ran. Sasuke's Sharingan let him follow their movements easily, although they were a little too fast for Naruto to keep track of. As if on cue, all four men threw multiple shuriken at the same time, two of them flickering and vanishing as the other two continued foward.
Naruto sensed the other two behind him and quickly got out of the way seconds before they could attack. Sasuke battled the other two, dipping down and spinning around them as he fought with tai-jutsu. As skilled as their enemy was, the situation didn't seem to call for anything more than that. They weren't considerably threatening, however, the fact that members of their own village had attacked them was infuriating.
Naruto's shadow clones were quickly beaten and the real Naruto jumped into the fight. He managed to cut one of the men's cheeks with his kunai and stab the other in the side. The stab wound was deep enough that the man doubled over in pain and backed out of the fight to heal it. He glanced over at Sasuke to catch him knocking one of his opponents out with a brutal, yet somehow graceful, kick to the temple. Naruto spun back around just in time to block an attack from the man with the injured cheek and cursed under his breath for lowering his gaurd.
From behind him, Naruto heard a sharp cry and then abrupt silence. Since the cry hadn't come from Sasuke, he focused on his opponent. He dodged attack after attack until he gained the upper hand and grabbed the enemy's arm, twisting him around and pinning him to the ground, a kunai pressed to the back of his neck.
He looked up to see Sasuke in a similar position with his own opponent. The other man wincing as Sasuke shoved his face into the dirt, blood was soaking through the man's flack jacket and the handle to a kunai-knife was protruding from between his shoulder-blades. Naruto cringed at the sight. Man, that had to hurt like a bitch.
"Tell me," Sasuke said, an icy chill in his calm voice. "What prompted you to attack members of your own village?"
The man beneath him spat blood into the dirt and glared at him through the corner of his eye, a scowl tugging at his features. "We'll never accept you. Fucking scum-bag."
Sasuke turned his head, sharing a look with Naruto. "You'll never stop, will you?" He asked, continuing to watch Naruto's face. "No matter what Naruto says or what Kakashi says, I will never be welcome here. Isn't that right?"
"It doesn't matter what Naruto says anymore. I respected his opinion of you at first-" The man began coughing voilently, blood spilling from his lips and dripping onto the ground. "But now you've got him corrupted. You're both perverted freaks and..." He trailed off, coughing and breathing laborously.
The man being held down by Naruto had taken notice of his distraction and attempted to make a move. However, Naruto caught it in time and shoved his face into the ground, tightening his grip on the man's wrists.
"Oh, no you don't." He growled. "Sasuke, what do we do with these guys?"
Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his back, warmth trickling down from the wound. Several more shuriken flew towards him, and thinking quickly, he used a replacement jutsu, leaving a log sitting utop the enemy he had held down.
"Naruto! How could you be so careless?" Sasuke snapped at him. He shoved his elbow into the back of his opponent's head, causing the man to pass out.
"I forgot about that one! Fuck!" Naruto felt so stupid and the flush in his cheeks was proof of that. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him and charged towards the freshly healed enemy.
It didn't take much for Sasuke to get the upper hand and land a blow to the man's gut that had him down on his knees instantly. He took hold of the man's head and forced his knee into the enemy's forehead. The man let out a strangled cry before he dropped to the ground. Sasuke placed a foot on the man's back as he turned to find Naruto pinning his opponent to a tree, his arm firmly pressed against his throat.
"We'll take them back to Kakashi." Sasuke answered Naruto's earlier question. "He can deal with them."
~0~o~0~
Four bodies dropped to the floor with loud thuds and Kakashi shook his head. He stared down at the bodies with tired eyes and hunched shoulders. This was getting to be a real pain in the ass.
"They attacked you, huh?"
"No. We just like knocking people out and dropping their unconscious bodies in your office." Replied Sasuke, sounding bored.
"An odd hobby. Could cause some issues." Kakashi sighed, rubbing his face.
Naruto bit his lip, his gaze fixed on the pile of bodies. He had come so far and had worked so hard to gain the respect of the village. Slowly, everyone had come to accept him, and, after he defeated Pein, people even reffered to him as a hero. After the war, the admiration had grown even bigger, reaching out to other countries as well. Things had really begun to look up for him, he really was on his way to becoming Hokage. He knew it, everyone knew it.
But, now, he was starting to face the reality that Sasuke had been right. Would something like this really affect his future so greatly? Would he not become Hokage simply because he was with another man? It seemed petty, and definitely didn't seem fair at all.
"Hey. Earth to Naruto. You listening?" Kakashi waved a hand in front of Naruto's spaced out face.
"Huh?"
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow as Kakashi sighed. "Figures. The fact that you haven't thrown a tantrum yet is proof enough that you haven't been listening."
"Throw a tantrum? Why would I do that? What were you guys talkin' about?" He scratched the back of his head, observing Sasuke's stoic expression. He felt his heart sink, whatever this was about, it probably wasn't good.
"Naruto," Sasuke started, sharing a quick look with Kakashi. "I'm going to Orochimaru."
"W-what?" Yeah, definitely not good. "But why? I thought you said you would wait to see if Kakashi's plan works and-"
"Naruto, there's no point. That attack was proof that I cannot co-exist with the Hidden Leaf. It doesn't matter what anyone says, these people have their own views and they won't be easily swayed. It's just better this way."
Naruto's fists clenched, his eyes darkening, as he locked eyes with Sasuke. "No." He said firmly. "That's not what's happening."
The raven sighed and shook his head. "Naruto-"
"Shut up and listen to me." He growled. "I'm not letting you give up that easily. No way in Hell. So, this is what we're gonna do. If you really insist on leavin' if the village can't be persuaded or whatever, then I'll go with you to Orochimaru's and-"
"You're not coming with me." Sasuke snapped, his eyes narrowed.
"Shut up! I'll go with you to check things out. We'll figure out what he wants with you and what he's up to. I want to make sure I can trust him, I just need to know that if it comes to that, I'll feel okay about you bein' there. Then, we'll come back here and check with Kakashi to see how things went. And, if it didn't work out, and I can't do anything about it either, then you can leave. I know I can't control you if that's truly what you want. But, you have to at least let Kakashi give it a shot first."
Sasuke looked thoughtful and was about to say something when Kakashi spoke up. "I like that idea, actually. It's about time we sent someone to check on him anyway. And if it'll make Naruto feel better about the situation, and confirm that you'll be safe there, then I approve."
Naruto perked up and turned his attention back to Sasuke. "So? What do you think? Is this fair?"
The raven hesitated, chewing the inside of his lip as he gave the plan some thought. He could sense Naruto's impatience and anxiety growing bigger and when he finally made up his mind, he smirked and placed a hand on the blond's shoulder.
"We better get packing."
A/N: I know this chapter's kinda short, but there's a lot happening in the next one so just bare with me here.