Sand crunched beneath his feet; occasional grains being flicked out of the boy's dark hair. He hated the beach, and the sun that usually came with it. It always felt just a little bit too hot.

Suddenly, the sound of sand crunching under footsteps started to ring out. The boy turned his head and watched as another boy, a decent few years older than him stepped outwards with something in his hand. It was shiny and white, that much he could tell, only getting a closer look when the person in front of him dropped the shell down near him. The particles of sand crunched underneath it's landing, while drops of sunlight flicked through the older boy's hair.

The young one stared at the white object with no apparent intuition of how to use it. The older boy dropped down to a knee, holding it up to him.

"It's a seashell, put it near your ear."

The young boy shot his brother an unconvinced look.

"Just trust me."

It didn't take much more convincing for the child to follow, holding the shell up to his ear like it was a walkie-talkie. His eyes widened as he began to hear it. The thrashing, the calm and the overall balance of the sea, right in his ear.

It was enchanting.

Sasuke woke up in a sweat. It wasn't even warm outside, the streets filled out with cool, four o'clock air. It was because of this that his sweat almost immediately started to evaporate as it rolled down his body. It took a few seconds, maybe minutes even, to shake off the drowsiness that came with a sudden wake-up. Small shards of memories past were pieced together slowly, bit-by bit. There was something bothering him, that he knew as much. Not the night terrors, no, he hadn't had them tonight surprisingly. A few seconds of deliberation passed before Sasuke's now cleared-mind quickly remembered why he was unhappy.

Tomorrow was Family-Unity Day, a tired remnant of Senjuism that seemingly only served to laugh at him. Seriously, its existence was as a holiday was completely and utterly pointless. If families really appreciated each other, they wouldn't need a dumb holiday to convince themselves to spend time with each other. He tossed over in his covers, cocooning himself under its high-class silk. This used to be a room belonging to the clan elders, everything from the bed to the slick material of the floorboards being at a higher tier than those of the lower houses. While this was partly because of the classic Konoha mentality of "respect age before everything else", Uchiha culture also played a role. The philosophy of The Uchiha put massive emphasis on individual journey, self-discovery and the individuality of the sharingan. The elders, having reached the final section of their lives, would have already walked their own journey and as a result, were rewarded for their efforts.

A small part of Sasuke knew that sleeping in this room (that he had long since redecorated to serve his own interests) could be considered incredibly disrespectful, but he technically was the oldest-serving Uchiha at this point. It wasn't like he was going to go back to his old room either. He didn't sleep well as is, no way was he going to be able have a decent nap in the bedroom he woke up to find his whole clan cut down on the floor by his brother in. That reminded him that he still hadn't cleaned up Itachi's bedroll.

I'll do it tomorrow.

That's what he'd been telling himself for the last five and a half years, yet he always seemed to forget. Sasuke shifted again.

BRIIIIIIIING!

"Aah…damn it." Naruto groaned, hand flopping around his bedside table for a few seconds before he finally managed to shut off the alarm. He proceeded to flop back onto his side, hoping to get a little more sleep before he realized what day it was. Tuesday…no, wait, Family-Unity Day. He'd set the alarm so he could go do his laundry before the laundromat was flooded with stupid families, because today, most of them took it upon themselves to do everything together, even if it was as menial as the laundry. He ran a hand through his hair, unfurling the gold locks into a less cascading hairstyle before stretching his limbs outward in an attempt to shake those early morning bed jitters. As it was a much-desired day off, Naruto would've liked to sleep in for longer but a premature awakening sure beat having to watch a bunch of unhappy families stuffing their clothes in a dryer like it was the most magical bonding experience on earth.

It was early, a few minutes shy of six in the morning according to his bedside alarm clock. The opening of his blinds did nothing to upset his eyes, with Konohas usual blinding sun being replaced by a grey, clouded sky. It was one of those skies cloudy enough to mask the world in its dampness, even the smallest sliver of light not managing to break through the murky abyss. Naruto had never liked this weather, nor how lifeless it made the village look so he chose to pay it no mind. He'd quickly take a shower, run a quick trip to the laundromat and make it back into bed before seven. Unfortunately, a poorly-placed binder ruined his plans. It had a leather cover and gold symbols above Naruto's level of reading comprehension embroidered with a sleek shine running over their lettering. The Uzumaki boy distinctly remembered reading through it the night before. He also distinctly remembered becoming angry at the contents and throwing it at the wall, which is probably why it had ended up in the position it was.

Without even thinking, Naruto picked it up. He knew it's insides would get him angry, as they had the other dozen or so times he'd looked through it, but he did it anyway. It was essentially a scrapbook, that's what he'd found, but the pictures inside were usually blurred, or had spots of white where the camera hadn't been able to properly trace the frame. He suspected that cameras were a lot worse back when these were taken (which said a lot, because they weren't all that good now. It was one of the reasons that Hashirama flower-chain picture was so iconic, it was actually more than 60% clear after the photo was taken)

The first picture wasn't as blurred as the rest, though still hard to discern. It was of a red-haired woman wearing green, that much he could make out, but any of her facial features was indiscernible thanks to the color bleed. He turned the page, creasing the papers under his fingers. The red-haired woman was probably his mother, he thought. There were countless pictures of her scattered over the pages, her hair being unmistakable even with the photo's frequent distortion. He presumed he got his surname from her, seeing as he didn't receive the dumbass "Namikaze" name of his dad. He didn't really care (or at least that's what he told himself), she was either some bitch who dropped him as soon as she could or she'd ended up getting killed by the moron himself.

It was at this point that Naruto should've realized his heightening blood pressure and just quit while he was ahead ("ahead" referring to the fact that he hadn't thrown the binder into his wall yet) but he soldiered on, strangely fixated on reaching the one photo that always set him off. Page after page he flipped through, scouring picture by picture for the one until finally, he reached it. It was towards the end of the book, glued squarely into the middle of the page as if to punctuate its importance. Through the slips of white paper outlining sat a simplistic picture of Minato holding a baby as he sat in the Hokage chair. That's all it was, yet Naruto instinctively let out a growl when he saw it. Aside from the sheer existence of his father in it, his reasons for hating it so much were unclear to even himself. Maybe it was Minato's dumb stupid face, maybe it was the fact that even as a baby he was dressed in orange as if they knew that would be his favorite color which they didn't 'cause they sucked as parents. Maybe it was because Minato's dumb stupid face made it look like he cared, even though he didn't, because Naruto wouldn't have a fucking demon sealed inside of him if he did.

He'd lasted longer than normal, but Naruto finally gave out. He slammed the binder shut with a loud "thud" before tossing it at the wall hard enough to almost imbed it. Mumbling curse words under his breath, Naruto ducked into his bathroom and flicked on the water as hot as it could go.

It was going to be a long day…

Sasuke sighed, letting his weary grip of the book he was reading drop over his face. The pages scattered around his head like a lampshade, crinkling and cracking from the drop. It was a few seconds before he realized that he couldn't just sit around all day with a book over his face and brushed it off. The Uchiha library was expansive but it felt like he'd gone through it all hundreds of times, mainly because he most likely had. He knew everything about the Uchiha, from the family history to the culture to the Magenkyo Sharingan and Susanoo. The later at least got a slight giggle out of him, just for how ridiculous it was.

When a user unlocked his Magenkyo Sharingan, which was an ascended form of the sharingan, he was granted with two powers specific to him as well as the Susanoo, an armored embodiment of the user's chakra. No Susanoo avatar was the same, some were big, some were small, some wielded swords, some bows, some lances, but there was one common factor among them…no one could fucking use the thing. Sure, some could partly manifest it, maybe even to the point of summoning its upper body, but a "Perfect Susanoo" as it had been dubbed in the book was physically impossible to obtain. It used up too much chakra for anyone to handle it for more than a few seconds. Historically, anyone who attempted to do so ended up dead or rushed to the hospital from serve chakra fatigue.

Sasuke had long since given up on trying to decipher any more information about the Magenkyo. Its manifestation was incredibly rare from what Sasuke could tell, with him counting only four occurrences of it in history. From what he could tell, nearly every story related to its manifestation came with a severe case of emotional trauma, though if that really was its trigger, it was fucking picky, because he sat there watching his entire family die and god couldn't even spare him a basic sharingan. Meanwhile, his brother got both from nothing. Well, not nothing. As much as Sasuke loathed thinking about that night for too long, his mind automatically tended to stray over to Itachis motivation if he was left bored too long. The ANBU had never been able to flag down what it could've been, even after a thorough investigation. Any of his teammates said he'd shown no signs of mental instability prior to the massacre, even as early as a day before it happened.

Still, Sasuke swore up and down that it was Shisui's death that did it. Shisui had been his brothers' best friend and ANBU partner as well as one of the only known users of the Magenkyo. His story wasn't anything special, father was an alcoholic and beat on him constantly, with it only getting worse when he learnt Shisui was hanging out with a posh "main branch" kid like Itachi. Something had to give and eventually, Shisui couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed a hammer from his Dad's shed and went wild on the man. The ANBU report, which Sasuke had read through multiple times in an attempt to find some link to Itachi, said he had claimed "he didn't remember doing anything after grabbing it" and had passed out as soon as he realized the old man was dead. He and Itachi had partnered up when they reached the ANBU and had grown to become somewhat renowned as one of the most effective duos in Konoha. They were dubbed "The Birds of a Feather" due to the odd designs of their masks, and had struck-fear into the hearts of the other villages thanks to their lethal combination of stealth, speed and swordsmanship.

Then Shisui died. He'd read over the report for this too, but the details were generally vague outside of the core actions. Shisui Uchiha had died at the age of sixteen, from PTSD-induced suicide. A week later, Itachi Uchiha, aged sixteen, killed every single member of the Uchiha Clan in an act that's motivations remain unknown. There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that this had caused Itachi to do it. If Shisui had PTSD bad enough to force himself to take his own life, then maybe that's how Itachi's had manifested.

Sasuke's brain switched off. He was unraveling the case to a point where it would not allow him to go and so it just stopped thinking. It was not the first time he'd done this, in fact, he could sparsely remember a day since the massacre when he hadn't asked himself why Itachi had done it. Over the years, he seemed to paint a clearer painting but it was at the point where he started to really bite into it that his mind simply wouldn't let him go any further with it. Maybe it was because he'd gone out to the pond with Itachi just days before and if Shisuis death had really set him off, then Sasuke had been talking to an Itachi that knew full well what he was going to do just nights after. Sasuke stood up, harshly kicking the book to the side as he walked off. He'd begun to pick up another habit, perhaps you could say a coping mechanism, in the latter few weeks. Whenever he began to think too hard about Itachi, he'd get up and walk out of the house to somewhere he felt like he was understood. It wasn't far, just a few minutes from the compound and even though today was his least favorite day of the year, he knew there was someone who felt exactly the same way as him.

Prior to starting this habit a few weeks ago, Sasuke hadn't stepped out of the compound by his own free will since the massacre, yet know he was getting out almost every day. As he snuck through the back gate of the maze-like complex, he watched the clouds fly by. It was grey, a dark grey that made everything in the village look a little bit smaller. Sasuke liked the grey clouds.

"So how do I do it?"

"Well, you see the green button up there?"

"Yeah."

"Get your clothes in main compartment, scoop in the powder, then hit that button."

Naruto was positively fuming. A family of three had decided it would be a super cool bonding experience to wash their clothes together. What made it worse was that the kid was a little idiot and couldn't even do it right, despite the fact that he was ten, which was way too fucking old to not know how to do your own goddamn laundry in Narutos completely unbiased opinion. Then the father and the mother had the gall to do a little mini-celebration when the dumbass managed to hit the button. If Naruto got a medal every time, he did his own laundry, he'd outrank literal war heroes.

Ding!

There, see, he did it just now and yet there was no one giving him a standing ovation. Naruto yanked his jacket as well as a pair of pants out of the washing machine, roughly folding them as he marched up the counter. He knew how much it'd cost and handed over the payment silently, having to fully focus on not kicking the washing machine in rage. He was already on thin ice with the guy who owned this place after the bloody jacket incident and didn't want to get slapped with a ban lest he go out on his next mission smelling like shit. He just stuffed his hands in his pockets and went on his way, trying (and failing) not to overhear the family.

"You've got to be able to do these things by yourself, Tama."

"But you and mum- "

"Yeah, of course we'll always be there for you, but- "

Naruto slammed the door hard enough to make the owner look up from the counter. He sees the same types of kids all the time. Not the ones that were handed everything, just handed something. The ability to go to bed loved, a dinner table with more than one seat, someone to tell them where to go when they didn't know. All bare necessities that Naruto lived without. What'd he gotten from his parents? A monthly allowance that he'd taken years to learn how to use, a shitty binder filled with unrecognizable pictures and a demon sealed in his stomach. Speaking of gifts from his parents, Naruto couldn't help but realize how the people in the streets darted around him. He was like a messenger of god, parting through people like they were the sea. Since most of the people on the street were families, the whispers that usually surrounded him became less invasive then usual. He couldn't just leave well enough alone though, and his ears began to section in on the chatter he could still make out.

"Come to the side. Kei, come to the side." A young mother whispered to her son, dragging him over to her. The harshness and fear in her voice almost made Naruto feel queasy, though he'd cope easily. It was a lazy trick, but it always seemed to get a rise out of its target. As he passed by the whispering lady, his eyes darted up, blues matching her greens. He noticed her breath hitch in fear, facial features bulging outward as if she was face to face with the nine-tails itself. Naruto gritted his teeth roughly, glaring down at her…before his tongue popped out of his mouth in a smirk, one eye snapping shut. There was a certain flourish to their face in the afterglow of this prank that Naruto always found soothing. It was that pulsating surge of anger, followed by the realization that they could do nothing to aggravate Naruto in response. If they were stupid enough to think that his control of the nine-tails was so slim that it could burst at any moment, they damn sure weren't going to fuck around and light the fuse.

His dried clothes lay heavy over his shoulders as he walked back to his apartment. He'd slipped the jacket back on early, zipping it downwards across the white strip. He crudely folded his pants into a messy ball that could fit just barley fit in his pockets, before realizing he'd just clogged up the one that was currently holding his keys. His hands rustled through his pockets once more, attempting to untangle his keys from the sea of orange. He eventually managed to get a handle on them, but at the great cost of unfurling his pants to the point where they were messily hanging out onto his side. Luckily, he was almost home already, so very few people had witnessed an actual registered ninja dragging his pants leg along the ground. He reached the apartment complex a few minutes later, although complex was a generous turn of phrase in this instance. It was a line of five apartments that had been spaced out along a decent-section of land. Two were completely uninhabited, while the two populated by a poor-family and a deathly underweight man who had lived there longer than Naruto yet the boy had only ever seen him twice.

He burst into the halls, tossing his pants over his back in an attempt to restructure his load once more. It was then that his eyes settled on a peculiar sight, that being Sasuke Uchiha standing in his doorway, as well as in his door's way. The black-haired boy stood still as a statue, staring at Naruto's door with some kind of intent.

"Hey, asshole!" Naruto screamed, loud enough to disrupt the other apartment-owners for sure. Sasuke turned to him, initially taken off-guard by his sudden appearance, only for his face to quickly squash up into a glare. "You trying to rob me or something?"

"Nope. It's not like you have anything worth robbing the first place."

"Say that shit to my face."

"I'm saying it to your face right now."

"Nuh-uh. I'm still down the hall, it doesn't count."

"It does, I can see your face."

"Nope."

"Yes, Naruto, I can literally see your mouth moving right now. If I wanted, I could fucking lip read you."

In response to this, Naruto raised his non-pants carrying hand over his features. It was completely futile, as Sasuke had already "said that shit to his face" so making it so he couldn't continue did nothing to prove his own point. He quickly (and awkwardly) shuffled towards Sasuke, sandals brushing through the dirty carpet. As soon as he reached a decent vicinity to the Uchiha, he took the hand away and exposed his face once more.

"Say it now pussy!"

"You don't have anything worth robbing." Sasuke replied blankly, not providing any fuel to Naruto's antics. The Uzumaki quickly stiffened out as any real stake he had in the argument crumbled around him. It had been unnecessary anyway, Naruto had not thought Sasuke was going to rob him, because he knew exactly why Sasuke was here. For the last few weeks, they'd essentially been on an alternating schedule, one showing up at the others house with a single question in mind.

"You wanna' hang out?" Naruto asked him, shoving the key in the doors slit.

"Nope, I just walked over here to admire your apartment." Sasuke's response was obviously sarcastic, but Naruto took no offense to it. Instead, he just let out a loud laugh of appreciation at his friends joke. After a brief detour in which he straightened his cupboard, Naruto emerged back out the door.

"Ichiraku?"

"Sure."

With no more than two words exchanged between them, Naruto and Sasuke now had a definitive location.

The two boys shuffled through the crowded streets, careful to avoid the dust that was being kicked up due to the sheer amount of feet on the ground. Occasionally, one of them would brush past another citizen but most of the time, the citizen would be long gone before even a mumbled apology could be given. Family Unity Day certainly had turn out, that was for sure.

"You wanna split the bill?" Naruto asked him with a cheeky grin. That apparently displayed his true intentions, but Sasuke had realized pretty early on in their visits to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar that Naruto's "bill splitting farce" was all talk. At face value, it seemed like he would trick Sasuke into paying more than his fair share of the bill, as Naruto would eat significantly more and then only pay 50% of the sum total. However, while there was no doubt in Sasukes mind that Naruto thought he was going to do this, in actuality, Naruto would always get cold feet. Maybe it was because he was too nice of a person, but Naruto tended to end up only eating three or four bowls if they did split the bill, whereas normally he'd devour nine like it was nothing. From what Sasuke had gathered, Naruto had learned to be conservative with his money and would his management skills would subconsciously override his other tendencies.

"Yeah, sure, let's split the bill." Sasuke said, with a grin. It was a win-win situation, Sasuke got to look like a good friend while not actually having to pay the exorbitant amount splitting the bill entailed, and Naruto got the dopamine rush that came with it while not actually eating that much. This agreement quickly turned to a lose-lose nevertheless, as Naruto and Sasuke found themselves in front of a boarded-up ramen house.

"What the hell?!" Naruto shrieked at the top of his lungs, running closer to fully grasp the extent of the situation. The Ichiraku stall had large divides placed in front of it, blocking off any entrance to it's confines. Naruto circled around it no less than three times, in what looked like an attempt to try and find some sort of secret entry point. During his third-round trip, he found the note that had been messily tapped to the front of the stall. His wide eyes grazed over it, as if he was reading a note that signified his own oncoming death while Sasuke uneasily stood around kicking up dust.

Dear Customers,

The store is closed temporarily for Family Unity Day. Regularly scheduled service will resume tomorrow.

Naruto recognized the handwriting (the first few letters being Teuchis messy scrawl, before transitioning to Ayame's more neat script) so it couldn't have been a hooligan-lead prank. He had to resist every nerve in his body that told him to scrunch up the note and throw it onto the ground, and he succeed. Instead of tearing the note off, he just let out a guttural growl and began to stomp against the dirt ground.

"Naruto, it's not a big deal. He's going to be back tomorrow." Sasuke said, falling on deaf ears.

"It is a big deal! I've never seen Mr. Ramen take a day off, even when he had the flu!"

"You should not have been eating his food if he was making it with the flu." Sasuke couldn't help but emote a little as he thought about what other viruses Naruto had unknowingly congested in his years of going here.

"That's not the point! He works everyday for a million years, and now he takes a day off because "oh I love my daughter and wife so much and want to spend time with them"" Naruto sputtered in a mocking voice, not realizing that what he was saying was an incredibly reasonable request.

"Look, we'll just go to a different ramen place. There's one two blocks down from here."

"It won't be the same." Naruto grumbled like a toddler, though his actual point was sound. Sasuke and Naruto both knew that Ichiraku was easily the best ramen shop in the village, especially compared to those indoor building ones. It was the only restaurant where Sasuke could drink a meat-based broth and not want to gag from the artificial flavoring that coursed through it.

"Well, do you want shit ramen or no ramen?" Sasuke asked him, with a decent counterargument. For as much as Naruto would consider himself a "ramen connoisseur", he still shoveled the shitty grocery store ones down his mouth on the daily. There was more "shit ramen" running through his system than water at this point so to say he'd rather no ramen would be asinine. Luckily, he took the reasonable approach and cracked a small smile.

"Okay, let's go."

Sasuke flashed an even smaller smile back at him, Naruto beginning to walk over to him despite the heavy heart that came with departing from his beloved storefront. One that had treated him well over his entire life. One that had served up the most delicious food and as a result, created memories within its broth. One that had provided sanctuary to the-

"NARUTO UZUMAKI!" A childish voice suddenly boomed out with enough force to brake Naruto's overdramatic thoughts. Both Sasuke and Naruto's eyes began to scan the vicinity for the source, finally resting on a small boy with his finger stuck out dramatically. He had a long blue scarf, and sharp brown hair. His previous button-up shirt had been replaced in favor of a gold gi-like outfit with the overlapping half of it being pinned into the other one. Both genin immediately groaned upon seeing him. "two and a half weeks ago to this day, you dishonored me!"

Naruto didn't replicate the boy's vigor. "Listen Konogamaru- "

"Konohamaru."

"I don't give a shit. Just go away." The deadpan look of Naruto's response actually managed to make Konohamaru falter slightly. Still, he quickly recomposed himself from the insult and clutched onto his scarf while folding his hand over his face like a manga villain.

"No! You can't just insult the future Fifth Hokage and get away with it like you did! I challenge you to a taijutusu duel." Konohamaru barked, to no effect. Naruto just stared back at him blankly, while Sasuke had to bite his tongue for fear of treason. He'd wanted to point out that there was no way Hiruzen going to live long enough for Konohamaru to be of-age when he kicked the bucket, but settled on a different insult.

"Hey, I think the paint on that wall's looking thin. Maybe you should go ask your grandfather for a bucket." Sasuke said, earning a loud exhale of laughter from Naruto. This only served to further piss off Konohamaru, the young boy gritting his teeth at the other two's amusement. His eyes grew wide in anger, mustering up a glare as a fierce as he could considering how young he was.

"Shut up! Witness my all new technique Naruto Uzumaki. Shadow tracing taijutsu!" Konohamaru roared, beginning to run forwards. As it turned out, shadow tracing taijutsu just meant running in a straight-line while occasionally shuffling to the left or right. Naruto observed the display with a mix of amusement and befuddlement, while Sasuke just watched on in concern of Konohamaru's health considering it looked like he was having a fit. While it was not intentional, this bewilderment that had set over both of them actually worked in Konohamarus advantage. Naruto was locked in place from confusion, and Sasuke was fully convinced he'd topple over any second so when he actually did manage to get into striking range, the Uzumaki youth was completely unprepared…

"Hyah!"

Not that it mattered, since Konohamaru effectively hit with all the attack power of a mosquito while having none of the precision. He literally didn't even bother to open his eyes, simply striking an utterly puzzled Naruto with messy strikes. However, despite their ineffectiveness, Naruto still became annoyed at their existence, as any attempt to walk past the child was blocked.

"Hey- "

"Hyahdadada!" Konohamarus incoherent battle cry did nothing but increase the annoyance of his attacks.

"Stop- "

"DADADADA"

"What the- "

"BOOM! BOOM!"

"hell are you- "

"Dissdissdiss-

"Get the fuck off me dude." Naruto's frustration hit a peak and he feebly attempted to push Konohamaru back. Despite how wholly ineffectual shove he'd given was, Naruto had still underestimated how weak Konohamaru had been and even that shove had sent him tumbling to the ground. As he fell onto the ground, Konohamaru completely froze up, eyes wide with terror. Sasuke swiftly realized that this was probably the hardest Konohamaru had ever been hit outside of maybe parental discipline. He lay there like a statue, to the point where the other two were worried he might burst out crying, before he slowly picked himself up off the ground. Wiping the dust from his scarf, his glare shot back up at Naruto.

"You may have won this round Naruto, but I'll be back! And next time, I'm gonna kick your ass so bad, you'll trade your genin spot with me!"

"Okay, cool." Naruto replied with dead eyes. His lifeless gaze only furthered the younger boy's embarrassment, and before he knew it, Konohamaru was running away with his arms behind his back. It wasn't until he was far out of view that Sasuke finally turned to Naruto, who had been so bemused by the interaction that he hadn't said anything.

"You sure showed him."

In all honesty, the ramen place they were at now didn't seem all too bad. It smelt alright, and the menu was pretty good (as good as a menu could be). It did nothing to fill the Ichiraku-sized hole in Naruto's heart, with the large crowd that had been crammed into it taking away from the appeal, but it seemed to be a serviceable feed. Sasuke, in the meanwhile, appreciated the architecture of the restaurant. It had a large, glass entrance that served as a makeshift window as well as not having any proper flooring. Several tables were placed through it's interior, with the main kitchen being linked to what was almost a bar while sets of brightly lit candles ran over its walls. This, combined with the large, navy tarp that stretched along the ceiling made it feel closer to a big festival stall than a proper restaurant.

The only problem that he could pick up, was that they were apparently being refused service. Naruto hadn't noticed, or at least didn't want to, and was playing with a bottlecap he'd found on the ground, but Sasuke had. For the last ten minutes they'd sat at the bar, waiting for a server. At first, he'd thought that they were just busy (even though traffic really wasn't that high within the store) but after seeing a couple that had come in later than them get served quicker, Sasuke began to realize that the ignorance was intentional.

"Hey!" He motioned to the barkeep, causing Naruto to look up. They were again ignored by the man at the counter, who pretended not to hear Sasuke while he scribbled away literal gibberish on his notepad.

"Hey." He tried again, this time raising his arm up to get the man's attention. With no more plausible deniability left, the man turned around. It was strange, there was a look in his eye that was unbecoming of anyone, let alone a hospitality worker such as himself. Sasuke couldn't recognize it. Naruto did immediately. It was contempt. Someone obviously didn't want to serve the nine-tailed fox.

"Hello, welcome to Daini Ramen Station, can I take your order?" He practically grumbled at them, not even attempting to hide the fact that he had hoped they would just leave before he could serve them. Unfortunately for him, any displeasure he had for Naruto was now going to intensify. As Sasuke gave his order, Naruto stared through the man, gazing upon the specials board for anything that could be interesting. What he found was a large bit of writing that read:

Family Unity Day Special:

Relativities get one free bowl each.

"and what will you have?" Naruto's attention was brought back onto the posh-sounding man. He'd heard him call Sasuke "sir" earlier but apparently the same luxury was not being afforded to him. In spite of this though, Naruto grinned wide as can be.

"Four miso pork bowls please. Also, we're brothers so we get one free one each."

Sasuke had to bite down on his finger to prevent a spat of laughter while the barman froze. There was no doubt in his mind that the boy in front of him was the dreaded nine-tails jinchuriki and that he could snap at any moment More importantly, the jinchuriki didn't have any siblings, and if he did, it wouldn't have been that other boy. The two in front of him were very clearly not brothers, in fact, he didn't know if they could've looked any-less alike then they already did.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Naruto's smarmy tone snapped him out his daze. The thought of fully denying the two service for their lies briefly crossed the man's mind, only for the same logic that Naruto had long known how to manipulate to quickly come into play. If he was dumb enough to be scared of Naruto because of the nine-tails, he wouldn't want to fuck around with him instead of biting the bullet and giving him a free bowl of ramen.

"It'll be ready shortly."

Naruto and Sasuke didn't even wait for him to leave hearing range to start laughing to each other.

The southern leaf river was a large waterbody that ran through one of Konoha's many forests. Since Naruto and Sasuke had begun to hang out, it had quickly become one of their favorite places to loiter around. Naruto appreciated the crisp smells that came from the trees mixing with the fresh, pure lake water as well as the visual of the sunlight bouncing through the prickly treetops. There was none of that today, with the grey skies and all. There was still a certain beauty to those grey skies, however. It made the trees look so still and solitary, it was almost as if they were watching the two, silently.

Sasuke found it strange how little he and Naruto actually talked in correspondence to how much time they spent around each other. It was almost like the other's presence was conversation enough for one of them. Maybe because they were so used to a lack of companionship, but just having someone next to them as they watched the river run by made it easier to focus on its beauty. This is also what Sasuke liked about the river. It was so quiet, the only sounds audible being the soft, gentle running of the stream and the occasional chirping of frogs on the riverbank (the latter probably being one of Naruto's reasons for liking it as well). He swore, if someone was even as close as the forests border, they'd be able to hear the two of them should they start talking at room-level.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto said.

"Yeah?" Sasuke replied, not looking up from his back-down spot on the bank.

"Wanna play rafts?"

There it was. The silent serenity carried by the rivers current could always be disrupted by those three words, because Sasuke always said yes. He'd never thought he'd ever actually want to play a game, much less one of Naruto's own creation, yet here he was.

Rafts was a simple game. Using assorted river materials (Leaves, stick, weeds, stones and the like) Naruto and Sasuke would both set out to make a raft that could reach the other side of the river faster. At first it had started out as a time-killer, with Naruto's boats always sinking and Sasuke's basic designs slowly making their way over to the destination (Naruto would demand that they stay and watch until it reached, just to make sure it wouldn't sink). Over the countless hours the two had spent playing though, they'd had begun to innovate further and further. The meta-game had only continued to deepen as both found counters for the others tricks.

At this moment in time, Naruto had actually managed to start winning their games by creating light-weight designs that speed past Sasuke's before any of his traps could begin to work. Today was no different, with Naruto gathering up smaller sticks and tying them together with the hard but flexible reeves that lay on the cusp of the riverbank (the boy's devotion to this game had become so intense that they would constantly head down to the Yamanaka Flower Shop in order to buy seeds should they ever pick the river clean of their naturally occurring ones). Sasuke's raft, in the meanwhile, was…interesting. Naruto sniggered as he saw the other ninja lay the finishing touches upon it. It was long, but uneven in favor of the right side. At it's helm was an almost hook like mechanism that came as a result of this. A bundle of sticks had been stabbed through the middle, creating a podium for a well-sized rock to sit upon.

The pair shuffled downwards towards the edges of the river, placing their boats on the waters surface with steady hands.

"Ready?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded in response, eyes locked in a purgatory of calculative focus. With a slight push, both rafts went sailing forward, wooden basses brushing over the river's ripples and waves. At first, it looked like Naruto had synched another win. His raft sped forwards, gingerly maneuvering through the slight movements that ran along the stream. His grin was wide, until he realized just why Sasuke had made his boat so lopsided. With the complete imbalance of material, his boat forced itself towards Naruto's and due to its length, the other boy's was unable to out speed it. It hooked onto the lighter craft, tipping it self over in the process. For a brief second, Naruto thought Sasuke's boat had just self-destructed, only for the deliberately placed rock to smash through the lighter crafts center. With no way to sustain itself, Naruto's raft began to sink down to the ground, whereas Sasuke's continued to chug along to the finish, albeit sideways in the water.

"Damn it!" Naruto growled, clenching his fist as he watched Sasuke's monstrous creation sail towards the end goal. The Uchiha in question just smiled in victory…that was until his eyes spotted something sailing along the top of the riverbed. It was white, shiny, almost resembling porcelain in its shape. It must have been uprooted by his rock, since it definitely wasn't there before. It also probably wouldn't be there much longer, as it seemed to Sasuke as if it was sinking again at a rapid pace. Without even thinking, he shot forwards, water splashing up to his shorts.

"Huh?" Naruto said at first, an appropriate reaction considering Sasuke had just lunged forward at apparently nothing. "Hey, Sasuke, what the hell are you doing?!"

Sasuke didn't reply, acting like a man possessed as he weaved through the increasing pressure of the river. He'd gone down to around stomach level by the time he managed to clutch the object, snatching his hand through the bottom of the sea as it had disappeared from view. For a fleeting moment, he'd thought he'd been to late to catch the falling object but that thought soon faded away when his hand made contact with something smooth under the surface. He fished it upward almost immediately, with no concern for maybe moving out of the water. In his hands lay a shell, a bright white seashell.

How'd it get out here? Sasuke thought. His question was justified, the nearest beach was nearly two hours away from here, but quickly forgotten as the sound of a shouting voice whipped against the back of his head.

"Sasuke, you moron! You'll fall over and drown, get your ass back up here!" Naruto bellowed.

"Right." Sasuke said, not until this moment realizing how far out he'd strode. Heading the Uzumaki's advice, he began to walk back towards the riverbank.

"The hell were you chasing anyway?"

Sasuke held his hand up to expose the small object. "Seashell."

Naruto squinted in confusion. "What's it doing down here?"

"That's why I chased it down." Sasuke replied, beginning to hold the shell up to his ear. The heart of the sea bled back out through its crevasses. It was like he could feel every wave that had been crashed, every ripple of water that had bled through the surface. Even those from years past.

The thrashing, the calm and the overall balance of the sea, right in his ear.

As he felt his sandals dampen the leaves of the riverbed, Sasuke placed the shell back near his pocket, before realizing he shouldn't just hog it to himself. He gestured it back outwards Naruto.

"Have you ever heard it?"

Naruto's confused squint didn't widen by an inch.

"Hear it?"

Sasuke didn't even bother mocking Naruto for his lack of world knowledge. Instead, he simply passed him the shell.

"Hold it up to your ear."

Naruto did so without even thinking about it, clearly intrigued as to what "hearing" a shell entailed. A small part of Sasuke couldn't help but be excited for his reaction, but this small part of him was also left temporarily disappointed. For a few seconds, Naruto's expression remained blank and unimpressed. Then, before Sasuke knew it, his face broke out with its trademark grin, though it held more captivation than usual.

"Woah! That's so cool." Naruto smiled, as the rippling ocean stirred and roared through the shell. Sasuke nodded in agreement and that was the end of their conversation for the next few seconds. Naruto simply stood there, amazed by the reverberating echo of the waves between his ears. It was like he wasn't even near the lake anymore, instead he was far, far away, watching as beach flowed in front of him, crashing under itself. The sheer serenity in this moment was unmatched by anyt-

"Do you think there's little crabs walking through it, and that's what makes the sound?"

There it was. All the mystique embedded within the shell, destroyed by one sentence. Sasuke didn't even know how to react for the first few seconds, his face contorting in about seven different emotions as it tried to fully grasp what Naruto had just said.

"No, no, no. No, I don't think there's little crabs in the shell."

"Then how does it make that sound?"

"I don't know, I know it's not little crabs walking around inside it. You'd be able to see them."

"Maybe their just really small!"

Sasuke couldn't even muster up a response. It was like he wanted to be mad but couldn't, not in the face of such stupidity. It was such a stupid thing to say, made stupider by the fact that he knew Naruto wasn't completely joking, yet that was also what made it more endearing. He knew for a fact that even if Naruto was just fooling around, there was a small part of his brain that had now become legitimately convinced that the sound of seashells was down to micronized crabs scampering around through it. He couldn't help but smile at that.

"Naruto, do you want to keep the shell?"

"I mean, don't you want it?"

"No. Consider it my…Family Unity Day gift."

A few seconds passed. Sasuke had expected Naruto to smile but not as hard as he did. There was a split second after he said it, that Naruto legitimately looked like he was about to cry but those feelings were quickly squashed in favor of an outstretched fist. Sasuke looked over it for a second, before raising his to meet it.

When Naruto got back home, he didn't do much. He boiled the water for his ramen, got in his pajamas and broke out the current volume of manga he was on for easy reading purposes. It was only five in the afternoon, but he liked lounging around the flat, even if it was just early in the evening. He flicked open the manga book to the small fold he'd put in his current page, keeping one eye on the stovetop and one eye on the panels. Something unrelated caught his eye through this set-up, however, something he'd forgotten to pack away. At a far corner of the room, sat the brown binder book that he'd thrown earlier. His brain told him to ignore it, but he couldn't. He placed down his volume, and quickly walked over to it, picking the folder up off the ground. His brain told him not to flip open a page, he couldn't do that either. He flipped it open to the back of the book, breaking his usual cycle of repetition. There were no new pictures or anything like that. Instead, there was a large block of red text.

"家族"

Family

Naruto stared back at the page for a few seconds, silently reading over it. In what felt like a minute later he calmly folded it back up and opened a drawer that he knew he rarely used. With careful hands, he placed the binder into the space. It was a tight fit, with how wide the book was, but he eventually managed to nestle it into the drawer's gap. Seconds after, he daintily placed the seashell on top of the leather cover, residual drops of water splashing over it.

Then he shut the drawer. It wasn't the last time he would even that night