Sasuke was not happy as they walked down the road to finding Lady Tsunade. The whole time Jiraiya had been bothering Naruto about showing him his sexy jutsu again and Sasuke kept having to fight the man off using only his glare because he knew that Naruto would get mad at him if he did anything physical like castrating Jiraiya just like he wanted to. Besides, he knew that they would need Jiraiya if they wanted to convince Tsunade to come with them to become the new hokage. So, instead of castrating the perverted old man, he was forced to stay near Naruto (he didn't mind that part so much) and glare at Jiraiya whenever he got too close without allowing Naruto to notice for a whole two days so far.
Sakura, on the other hand, was having a blast. She kept having to stifle her laughter every time Jiraiya got close to Naruto only to be scared away by Sasuke. It was hilarious and Naruto hadn't even noticed. Sometimes Sakura didn't understand how Naruto, the most perceptive person in the group, could possibly miss how Sasuke acts around him. Sometimes she even wondered if Naruto didn't actually miss it and knew of Sasuke's love, but didn't know how to tell him. However, that thought had been squashed once when Sakura had asked Naruto about something that Sasuke had done without telling Naruto and he looked genuinely confused.
Naruto was thoroughly oblivious. He really didn't care what was going on around him. He was just happy that he was going to be able to see Tsunade-baa-chan again. The woman had always been like a grandmother to him and she had even helped him become hokage in the future. He had missed her these past few years and, even though she wouldn't remember him, he was determined to get her to come back in some way.
"I think that we should stop here," said Jiraiya as he pointed to an inn on the road that was connected to a bath house.
"You just want to see the girls bathing," Naruto laughed.
"How dare you?" Jiraiya said with an insulted look on his face. "How dare you insult my research."
"You really should have stuck to novels," said Naruto. "I loved the one that you wrote about Naruto."
"I don't know what you are talking about," Jiraiya said.
"Of course you don't," Naruto smiled back. "It is getting dark. We actually should probably stop for the night."
"Good!" said Jiraiya excitedly. "I'll go get us rooms."
Naruto laughed. He never thought he would, but he missed his old sensei's perverted antics. Though he was one of those people that Naruto could only bare to be around for small doses without growing annoyed with the man. He hadn't yet gotten to the point where the man was starting to annoy him so he just continued to be amused by the pervert's ways.
Naruto walked up to Jiraiya when he was done getting the rooms only to have two room keys shoved in his hands as Jiraiya dashed into the inn.
"Three guesses where he's going," said Sakura.
Naruto laughed. "That's pervy sage for you," he said.
Sasuke said nothing. He was just glad that the perverted man would finally stop bothering Naruto about his sexy jutsu. If it had gone on much longer he would have been forced to take action even if it would make Naruto mad at him. He hated annoying people and Jiraiya was the most annoying person he had ever met.
"It seems that he only got us three rooms," Naruto said suddenly as he handed one of the keys to Sakura, "so it seems that Sasuke and I will be sharing." Not that it mattered much to either of them. They were used to sharing there sleeping quarters. They always shared a tent because Naruto never felt the need to get one and there had been several times when they had to share rooms.
Sasuke wasn't so happy about it though. Lately he had been getting so many urges to kiss the young teen whenever he was close to him and he knew that being in the same room would strengthen that desire. He wouldn't complain about it though, because he wanted to be in the same room as Naruto just as much as he didn't want to be. He would just have to control himself like he had always done for just a bit longer. "That's fine with me," he said.
"Good," Naruto smiled happily at him. "Let's go see how our room is and then I think that I'm going to take advantage of that hot spring.
"Are you not feeling well Naruto?" asked Sakura.
"I think I just slept weird last night," said Naruto. "My back and neck are killing me."
"It's because you didn't have a pillow Naruto," said Sakura. "I keep telling you to bring one, but you always forget."
"Don't worry about it," Naruto smiled again. "I'm sure the hot springs will soothe my muscles."
"You still need to start bringing a pillow with you," Sakura said,
Naruto just smiled and waved to her as he began to search for his room. Jiraiya had gotten rooms that weren't anywhere near each other so Sakura had to go in a completely different direction to find her own room.
Sasuke followed Naruto diligently. He hadn't even seen the key and had no clue where he was going, but he trusted that Naruto would get them to their room.
Naruto sighed as he sank into the hot water. It was already soothing the pain he had in his neck all day and it was relaxing every other muscle in his body. He hadn't wanted to admit it to the others, but he had actually been really tense before because he was nervous about talking to Lady Tsunade. Last time he had used his learning his father's jutsu to gain her respect, but now he didn't know what he was going to do.
"Are you feeling better now?" asked Sasuke as he walked out of the dressing room to join Naruto in the bath.
Naruto nodded without looking up for two reasons. The first being that he knew that the kink in his neck would be aggravated if he did and the second was that he knew that if he saw Sasuke's unbelievably hot sculpted body he would definitely blush.
Sasuke sank into the water behind Naruto and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Let me give you a massage," he said. Naruto nodded again slightly and Sasuke immediately began his ministrations. Naruto moaned. He hadn't even known how tense he was until Sasuke started to work at his muscles to loosen them up a bit.
They sat in silence as Naruto enjoyed his massage until Sasuke finally spoke. "You'll find a way," he said.
Naruto smiled. Sasuke always seemed to know what was bothering him and could usually fix it too. "I'm just a little worried," he said. "I don't want to fail."
"You won't fail," said Sasuke.
"But what if I do?" Naruto sighed.
"Then you will continue to try until you succeed," Sasuke answered. "You are a very stubborn person."
Naruto laughed at that. "You know Sasuke?" he said.
"Hmm?" asked Sasuke.
"You are the greatest friend I have ever met," Naruto smiled sleepily.
Sasuke frowned. He hated it when Naruto said the word friend when referring to him. Even if it was best friend. Whenever Naruto called him a friend it made it so that he could not pretend or hope for anything more. "I'm glad," he mumbled knowing that Naruto would expect a reply.
"You're supposed to say that I'm the greatest friend you've ever met too," Naruto pouted playfully even though Sasuke couldn't see him from behind.
"I don't know if I can." Even though Sasuke said the words playfully, they were actually truthful. He hated to say the word friend about Naruto just as much as he hated to hear it from Naruto about himself.
Naruto turned around and gave him his cutest puppy dog eyes that he could muster as he sat in Sasuke's lap and pushed himself against Sasuke's chest. "How cruel Sasuke. Have you replaced me? I'm so heartbroken."
Sasuke tensed at Naruto's closeness. He was acutely aware of the only thing separating them was the small towels that they wore around their waists and from this close he feel every dip and crevice that Naruto's skin made over his defined muscles. He leaned in close to Naruto's face so that their lips were almost touching as Naruto gave him a confused look and smirked as he stood suddenly.
Naruto, who was distracted by the closeness of Sasuke's face, tumbled into the water with a splash. "No fair Sasuke," he pouted as he came out of the water.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said innocently.
Naruto crossed his arms and pouted at Sasuke making him laugh.
"Come on Naruto," Sasuke said as he held his hand out for Naruto to grab it. "We should get out of the water before we turn into prunes."
"Alright," Naruto smiled as he took the offered hand and Sasuke pulled him up out of the water. "Hey!" he said suddenly. "You didn't answer my question."
"What question?" Sasuke asked.
"Have you replaced me?" Naruto asked again with a playful grin.
"Yes," Sasuke said sarcastically. "I found this boy with golden hair, tan skin, and sky blue eyes who is hyper, smart, strong, and loves his friends more than anything and I thought he would be a perfect replacement."
"You're making fun of me," Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"What gave you that idea?" Sasuke smirked.
"Meanie," Naruto stuck his tongue out.
"Thank you Naruto," Sasuke said, "for the compliment."
Naruto pouted and crossed his arms again as they both entered the changing room so that they could get dressed and enjoy a nice night of sleep in a comfortable bed before they had to return to their mission.