Note: This chapter is a little different, I tried taking a more introspective approach – beware of implied mental instability and some cursing.
(Also, at this point in the story both Naruto and Sasuke are thirteen)
"Hey bastard, you're late!" Naruto exclaims looking at Sasuke "Is this how you're gonna start your first mission as a Konoha shinobi?!" he asks jokingly and raises a brow.
"Hn," Sasuke grunts nonchalantly at Naruto and walks over. Minato told them about the mission last night, their meeting point was the Konoha gate – the place where the two boys were having this conversation.
"How can I be late when you godfather is not even here yet?" he retorts lightly.
"Yes he is! He's over there, we were both waiting for you," Naruto says and points a finger behind Sasuke.
A tall white haired man was talking with the shinobis on duty at the border, he was making wide gestures and talked loudly, the other two men were laughing at every joke he made, their eyes were glazed over with admiration 'He's a sannin, I heard about them in Kumo too – he must be obscenely powerful' Sasuke tells himself.
The man turns around and starts walking toward the two. Despite himself, Sasuke can feel his heart clench. The white hair, the wide shoulders, the extreme height – he looked very similar to most man in Kumo. Even his kimono, Sasuke notes, is a simpler version of a traditional one – a design he would often see in Kumo.
The resemblance is a stretch, he knows it logically, but his mind has been in disarray ever since he arrived in Konoha. Every minute thing that held some semblance to Kumo made him uneasy, and the tall man approaching them only amplified the feeling – not a straight out copy but a dupe nonetheless, he made him think of home. 'But it's not my home, not anymore,' he thinks.
"You must be Sasuke! This one over here couldn't shut up about you," Jiraiya says ruffling Naruto's hair, the blonde boy only shakes his head as to assure his friend that the older man was only messing around "I'm Jiraiya," he finishes and extends a friendly arm for Sasuke to shake.
Sasuke walks closer and shakes his hand – his palm feels rough but pleasant, he looks Sasuke in the eyes as if he is searching for something. He smiles at him before freeing his hand and swiftly turns to Naruto. They start going through the list of things that they had to bring on the mission to make sure they didn't forget anything.
Sasuke can feel the stares of the shinobis on duty. He wasn't as offended by it as he was in the beginning, but being constantly stared at was still tiresome – they were talking amongst themselves 'Talking about me,' he thinks emptily.
They looked at him with bored expressions not even bothering to pretend to talk about something else. This type of casual disdain, Sasuke found extremely grating, it made him feel not only despised but somehow subhuman, like he was some kind of revolting animal at the zoo – everyone pointing and judging him.
"Damn it, I forgot my toothpaste," Naruto exclaims, bringing Sasuke back to reality.
"We can share mine," he says in a low voice, his eyes look a little lost but Naruto decides not to comment. He seemed a little out of it those last few days.
He turns his gaze back towards the two shinobi, they were back on their post now, not paying him any attention. This action too, Sasuke finds irritating - like talking about him and shooting him cold stares became too boring, like he wasn't even worth being disliked.
"Let's go," Jiraiya says in a stern tone, making it clear that, despite his closeness with Naruto, he was still their captain. Naruto and Sasuke follow him soundlessly, the road to the Land of Iron wasn't a long one – they could get there today.
Naruto and Jiraiya start talking – they are both loud, opinionated and seemingly never out of something to say. Sasuke tries following their conversation for a while but soon gets lost in thought – the sound of their exited voices becomes background noise, accompanying the welcoming sounds of the forest.
His mind is still fixed on the two shinobi at the border, the way they looked at him – the way everyone in Konoha looked at him. The stares, the sneers, the flippant contempt he felt whenever he was out in the city. He tried to shake them all off, pretend it didn't bother him, but the constant stress from the last few months amounted to so much more than just a general feeling of unwelcomed-ness – he felt on edge and perpetually anxious.
They all looked at him like he didn't belong, like he was some kind of sick joke with no punch-line 'Are they wrong though?' he thinks impassively.
He tried to play along, hanging out with Naruto and Shisui, getting into less fight, even taking their genin exam. But was any of it real? Were his intentions genuine or was he only filling up his free time? What was the measure that suddenly proved that he belonged in Konoha more than he belonged in Kumo?
'The headband', he thinks darkly, 'That goddamn headband.' Jiraiya and Naruto were wearing theirs, the silver metal shined brightly whenever light fell onto it between the branches – they wore it proudly he thinks, the headband was more than just an object to them, it is almost part of who they are.
'Did I ever feel that way?' he asks himself. He seldom wore the Kumo headband. He never felt any deeper connection to it, it was only an article of clothing to him, one that he didn't even like that much – he found it silly. He would only wear it when Darui made a fuss about it. 'Did I even care about Kumo?' he thinks, becoming tenser.
He never had any roots in Kumo he realizes. He didn't have a family, never bothered to make friends, never tried to involve himself past the bare minimum. He thinks about Darui and Aoi and a knot starts forming in his stomach.
Did they miss him? Did they know that he was an Uchiha? Darui probably knew. Did he really think about him as a student or was he only a weapon to them? What about Aoi, did he think that he left the village on his own accord? Did he hate him as well, the way all Konoha did?
'I did run away, maybe I didn't mean to, but I still did it,' he tells himself 'But was I ever a Kumo shinobi to begin with?' He searches in his mind for any indication to prove it, something to make him feel like he really belonged there – but he can't find anything. He can feel an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, a headache pulsing against his skull.
'Can I really say that I'm a Konoha shinobi?' he thinks. The Konoha headband was stuffed in his backpack – his Konoha headband.
The object made him unreasonably uncomfortable. Despite coming to terms with the fact that he didn't harbor many patriotic feelings for Kumo, the idea of wearing another village's headband felt sacrilegious – It made him feel like he really was the monster they all assumed he is, a belligerent kid, a fake.
'But I am a fake,' he thinks grimly 'Being born there doesn't mean anything, they just need to make sure that their precious sharingan remains contained in Konoha,' he tells himself 'I'll never really be a Konoha shinobi, maybe they are right to hate me.'
"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto says but is totally ignored "Earth to Sasuke," he says louder and starts waving his arms. Sasuke blinks rapidly, as if he just woke up, for no more than a second Naruto can see a weird look in his eyes.
"We're almost there," Naruto says "Damn, try to pay some attention will you?" he adds shaking his head, his tone is light and friendly.
"Let him be Naruto, he was probably thinking about a girl," Jiraiya says, looking quizzically into the distance "Oh, to be young and in love," he adds and pulls a notebook out of his pocket, he searches for a pen and starts writing something down.
"Gross, don't tell me you just got inspired right now," Naruto says, visibly disgusted "He writes porn, you know," he adds looking at Sasuke.
"That's repulsive," Sasuke says and irks his nose, his previous anguish momentarily forgotten "If you write anything down I'll tell the first samurai I see that you kidnapped us, you creep," he adds while making a face at Jiraiya.
"Everyone's a critic, I see," Jiraiya mutters but decides to play along, he puts his notebook back in his pocket.
They continue their run through the forest until they reach the village. The border was framed by a massive iron gate that was covered in intricate detailing – the light reflected beautifully off of it, making it look like an art installation. 'It looks corny and tasteless' Sasuke thinks.
A bunch of carriages were making their way through the iron gates as they entered the village. The carriages looked impressive. Most of them were filled with flowers, resembling oversized bouquets, some had fat luxurious stacks of materials peeking out from inside the carriage and some others were filled with rows of candy.
"This place looks magical," Naruto says looking at the scene "The carriages look like a festival by themselves." Sasuke nods, he agrees with Naruto.
One of the carriages carried four gigantic metal vats, one man was standing next to them to make sure that they wouldn't tumble over.
Out of nowhere, a little girl starts running after a ball, not paying attention to her surroundings she runs straight in front of the carriage. The horse stops abruptly, and gets on its hind legs, the whole carriage shaking under the commotion – the metal vats clink loudly against one another, threatening to spill their contents.
Naruto runs to the girl and takes her in his arms, he jumps back landing on the grass, a little further away from the road.
"It's all right, no need to be scared," he tells her reassuringly. The little girl was gripping his jacket so tightly that her small knuckles turned white, obviously not feeling ready to let go just yet. He feels a little awkward in the position, but decides to let her hold on for a little longer.
"Huh?" Naruto looks down at his sandals – a light blue creamy substance made its way towards him, the dirt road surrounding them was almost completely covered in the liquid. He turns around to look at the carriage and is shocked by what he sees.
Sasuke managed to get to the man from the carriage in time. However, he didn't manage to dodge the contents of the vat that tumbled over during the struggle. Sasuke's shirt and pants were covered in blue cream.
"You look like you just went to a baby shower party that went really wrong," Naruto offers through chuckles.
"Well, it's a boy," Sasuke responds and Naruto starts laughing, it felt good to know that his friend wasn't offended by the mishap and they could both joke about it.
The cream is cold and thin making his clothes feel damp and sticky against his skin.
The people that witnessed what happened were staring at him now – but to his surprise he didn't feel bothered by this. Those curious stares felt like a nice change from the ones he got in Konoha. Those people harbored no ill feelings for him – they simply wanted to check out the funny scene that he happened to be a part of. Their noisiness feels strangely refreshing.
Sasuke runs a finger across his shirt and proceeds to sticks it in his mouth.
"Blueberry," he offers, Naruto walks closer and does the same thing.
"It's pretty good," Naruto decides. Sasuke scoffs at him and the two start bickering lightly.
Jiraiya watches them with mild amusement – he expected the brunette to throw a fit, Minato warned him that Sasuke had a tendency to be vapid when things didn't go his way, but the boy in front of him was thoroughly unbothered. He can see his younger companions even making light joke of the situation. 'Good kid,' Jiraiya concludes.
They leave the scene and head to their motel. The centralist was hesitant to let Sasuke in, considering he was still dripping with blue cream, but after some arguing she finally gave in. They set their things in the rooms – Jirayia had his own while Sasuke and Naruto decided to share.
"We'll wait for you at the restaurant we passed on our way to the motel," Naruto says "You got some blue stuff in your hair too," he adds and leaves the room.
Sasuke takes off his dirty clothes and gets in the shower – it takes a long time to get the blue cream out of his hair, but he eventually succeeds. He dries himself off and goes back to the room to change – when he grabs a shirt from his backpack the Konoha headband falls on the carpet.
Sasuke sighs as he dresses himself, he shoves the headband back in his bag. He can feel the unpleasant thoughts from earlier flooding his mind again.
There is a long tall mirror next to the door so he stops in front of it to make sure that no blue goo is left in his hair. He stares at himself for a few seconds. The person starring back looks almost unfamiliar – it felt like looking at a stranger. He searches his features for any indication of self, but the more he stares the more he feels at a loss.
'Masaru, Sasuke, does it even matter?' he asks himself.
In Kumo he would hear the name so often that it almost never felt like his own. It would usually be a mother calling for her child, or maybe a brother looking for a sibling – no one really called for him, he thinks bleakly.
But his Konoha name made him even more uncomfortable. The first time he heard it, it was muttered by the police chief, his father.
Meeting his parents had to be the strangest experience of his life he decides. He could see the shock in their eyes, the horror and the elation. They lived the last thirteen years thinking about him, they worried and assumed the worst possible things had happened – but deep down they never really lost hope. Hidden in the back of their minds, they often entertained the idea that their son, against all odds, was safe and sound.
Sasuke could see the expectancy in their hurt eyes and it made him uneasy. He didn't reciprocate their strong feelings – he was always an orphan and he grew accustomed to a lonelier life, he never thought about having parents. They made him feel like an imposter even more – when he was around them he felt like he crawled in the body of the child they lost so many years ago. Their love for him felt morbid – just thinking about his parents made him nauseous.
He tries to shun the dark thought away, but the uncomfortable feelings remain. He takes one more look in the mirror and heads out to meet Jiraiya and Naruto.
"What are we doing here?" Sasuke asks as he glares at Jiraiya.
The older man decided to take them to a place he often frequented when he was in the Land of Iron. To the boys' utter disgust the place was a shabby bar – the banner showed a woman posed in a suggestive position, other racy pin-up posters were displayed in the windows.
"We are not going in there," Sasuke deadpans, leaving no room for debate.
"Yeah, no way old man," Naruto agrees "Weren't we supposed to start our super important mission? Dad said we shouldn't mess around," he asks as he crosses his arms.
"It's already late, we'll start tomorrow," Jiraiya says while looking at a young woman who was entering the bar. Sasuke clears his throat dramatically, redirecting his attention back to him and Naruto. Jiraiya stuffs his hand in his pocket and brings out a wad of cash, he grabs one banknote and hands it to Sasuke "Go enjoy the festival," he adds.
"What are we supposed do to with this?" Sasuke asks offended by the low amount "Buy a paper and a pen to write you a thank you note for being so generous?" he asks ironically, sneering ever so slightly.
"I couldn't have come up with a better idea," he says not paying them attention anymore "Behave yourselves around the festival," he says as he walks to the bar.
"Kami, he's the one that needs to behave," Naruto mutters "Well, if he's gonna be like that we should just check out this place," he says while stretching his arms above his head.
Sasuke nods at Naruto and the two of them head to the center of the village.
They walk around the swarming crowd, the place is covered in flowers and decoration. There are food stands everywhere, merchants advertising their luxurious stock and kids playing games all around. On a wide stage, a little further away from them, young women were performing a traditional dance – they were dressed in long tulle costumes, making them look like forest nymphs.
"This place looks awesome," Naruto offers. They check out the place for the next hour, they play a few games and, with the little money Jiraiya gave them, get something to eat.
"Hello," a little voice says. The girl Naruto saved earlier appeared next to them. She was in much better spirits, Naruto notes happily – she was wearing colorful festival clothes and was smiling widely.
"Hey, how are you doing?!" he asks lightly as he squats down in front of her. The little girl only blushes and covers her smile with her hands.
"Maya, don't run away from me," a slightly distressed woman says as she approaches them "You are the boys from earlier," she notes, shocked to see them again.
"Thank you for saving my daughter," the woman says sincerely looking warmly at Naruto.
"Maybe you should take better care of you kid" Sasuke intervenes sternly "First you let her run on the road now you lose her in a crowd?" he says, his expression was bored yet his tone was cruel.
"I … I will," the woman says slowly, feeling taken aback by the words, she avoids looking at Sasuke directly in the eyes "Thank you again, have… have fun at the festival," she adds looking at Naruto, obviously shaken by the impromptu lecture. The little girl waves at him and the couple gets lost in the crowd.
Naruto roughly grabs Sasuke's wrist and starts dragging him away from the center of the festival.
"What are you…" he starts but Naruto turns around to give him a look that indicated that he better shut up. The blonde boy doesn't let go of Sasuke's hand and drags him all the way to the back of the sea food stands – there are vats and barrels filled with sea creatures all around them – the air is stick with the smell of shellfish and sea salt.
"What was that? Did you seriously have to be that rude to that woman?" Naruto asks, feeling extremely angry.
"Why do you care?" Sasuke retorts dismissively "She's no one to you."
"You can't keep acting like that, you bastard," Naruto says, his voice sounding less angry and more pleading now. Sasuke narrows his eyes at him, a sense of combativeness taking over.
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asks as he crosses his arms.
"You know what I mean!" Naruto says looking Sasuke straight in the eyes "You need to stop being so awful to everyone, you're being mean to my friends, you're…"
"You mean that blonde airhead from the training ground?!" Sasuke scoffs and rolls his eyes "What do you want me to do, go apologize to her? Is that what got you so pressed?" he says leaning closer to Naruto, his tone is patronizing.
"That's exactly what I mean!" Naruto retorts, feeling irritated by Sasuke's response. He points an accusing finger in the brunette's face "You don't take anyone seriously – everything is a mean joke to you. Do you ever realize how hard to deal with you are right now? We are only trying to help you, you bastard!"
"I'm sorry," Sasuke says mockingly, wanting to annoy Naruto a little more "I thought that all those smarmy kids from Konoha wanted to beat me up because they fucking hated me. Why didn't you say that they were trying to help? Next time I'll just let them have a go at it," he says, not breaking eye contact with Naruto.
"I'll be nice about it, don't worry," He finishes smirking, wanting to make a point out of not taking the blonde seriously.
Naruto can feel his blood boil, after the genin exam his friend has acted increasingly worse - his patience was wearing thin.
"You are just so unbelievable." He says exasperated, he makes a wide gesture with his arms and looks at the sky, shaking his head "I'm not saying it's easy for you but I'm just trying to help, Itachi and your parents too," he says with a calmer voice, Sasuke takes a small step back. The mention of his brother and parents made him uncomfortable.
"But you're just being a bastard. I can't fucking believe you didn't even talk to your mother since you got here," Sasuke raises a confused brow "My mother told me – they're friends," Naruto explains.
"Do you realize how much they missed you? My family is friends with yours and I know how fucked up it was for them to, you know…" Naruto's tone is peaceful but his words are cutting deeper now.
"I get it, Naruto, just shut up already," Sasuke says and starts rubbing his temple, he knew from experience that Naruto could talk for hours to no end – he wasn't in the mood for such a long lecture being directed at him.
"You know what? No," Naruto says, felling suddenly struck by vexation "You've been a real pain to deal with those last few weeks. You say rude stuff to literally any human that come in contact with you. Not everyone is your enemy, if you weren't such a self-centered arrogant jerk maybe you…"
"I said shut up," Sasuke says through gritted teeth, he sinks his arm in the barrel that was closest to him – the water was cold and slimy.
He grabs hold of a lobster and throws it at Naruto's head. The blonde boy ducks and the lobster flies further behind them – ending up through a window. The sounds of shattered glass and terrified screaming fill the tense silence between Naruto and Sasuke.
"You can't do that boys," a man says approaching them, going by his uniform he was a police officer. The festival was littered with security "I'll have to take you to the station," he finishes plainly.
Sasuke wants to comment but stops when he feels Naruto's hand griping his wrist tightly. Minato made a huge point about how important this mission was, how it could alter their relationship with the Land of Iron irreparably. Being dragged down to the police station on their first day here wouldn't be a good look for Konoha– it was a good thing they didn't have their headbands.
They exchange a meaningful look, silently deciding to conceal their status as Konoha shinobis for the moment. They let the officer take them to the station without making a fuss.
"I can't believe you threw a lobster at me," Naruto says, still offended by what happened earlier.
"At least I missed," Sasuke offers not feeling like listening to Naruto anymore.
The police officer took them to the station and allowed them to make a phone call, but as expected, Jiraiya wasn't at the motel to answer, so the two boys were stuck in a jail cell for the night.
"Can we at least get something to eat?" Naruto asks as he gets close to the bars "We're starving," he adds and rests his arms on the grating.
"We just ate, you moron," Sasuke says rolling his eyes "There's no way you are already hungry."
"Well, I am," Naruto retorts in a bratty tone, he too didn't feel like listening to Sasuke anymore.
The officer left with them was a short, scruffy man. He gets up from his desk and walks into another room, out of their view. He comes back with a few snacks and two bottles of water.
"That's all I can do for you, boys," he says apologetically as he hands Naruto what he brought "Don't worry, you will be out of here in no time!"
"Thank you!" Naruto says to the man "You want anything?" he adds looking at Sasuke.
"Just the water," he growls, still upset with the blonde.
Naruto hands Sasuke the bottle and starts gulping his own down. He finishes the bottle in seconds. He noticed that there was a garbage can across the room, he scrunches the bottle in his hand and throws it in the can.
"Score," he says excitedly and Sasuke rolls his eyes, taking small sips of his own water.
"Yes, that was just…. Naruto?"
The blond boy starts fumbling on his feet, finding it suddenly hard to stay awake, he brings a hand up to his face and starts rubbing his eyes groggily – but it's too late, he starts losing his balance and falls down.
Sasuke kneels next to him and tries to wake him up, slapping his face and muttering his name – but those actions are useless. Naruto was unconscious.
'What the…' Sasuke thinks as he starts to feel disoriented, his arms feel shaky and he can barely keep his eyes open 'The water bottles, someone put drugs in the…' but he doesn't get to finish the thought. His arms eventually give out and he falls limp next to Naruto.
I'll be starting uni soon so my schedule is going to be busier.
I will try to update at least once a month from now on. :D