Title – Worlds Apart
Genre – Romance/Erotica
Pairings – NaruSasu
Warnings - Mature Content, AU, Fem-Sasu
Summary – The tale of Romeo and Juliet was one of passion, pure love and heartbreak. This is not Romeo and Juliet...
000
Naruto didn't even realize he had no idea where he was going until he saw a familiar-looking pile of bones he was sure he'd already passed twice. He stared numbly at the cracked skull before looking down at his stomach for what felt like the hundredth time within an hour. Now that he had calmed down somewhat he wished he had asked Killer Bee more questions instead of stubbornly denying everything. Because the more he thought about it the more aware he became of how little he actually knew about Kurama and the demon's origins.
It was not unheard of for gods to be mistaken for evil entities. Even Nix had once been viewed as an 'idiot goddess' incapable of complex thought who just mindlessly attacked anything in her path. Her terrifying appearance didn't help. It was only fairly recently that it was discovered that Nix was as intelligent as any other guardian deity and the reason she had been so violent towards superhumans was because they'd been using her forest as a battleground for centuries. Nix was not the only god who held a grudge against them for all the wars they fought and destruction they caused, but she was probably the least forgiving and they demonized her because of it.
Unlike Absim, the gorgeous stag god who healed everything in his presence, or Goku, the mischievous monkey god who randomly dropped indestructible weapons (deities with abilities and/or habits that were deemed beneficial), Nix was not immediately worshipped. In fact, they had tried to get rid of her, drive her to the borderlands. Only when they discovered the hard way that they were just making things worse did they try to appease her. A task only Minato had succeeded in. Camazotz was living proof, a contract of sorts, to solidify their alliance. The Namikaze clan would protect the forest during the day so Nix could sleep peacefully and, in exchange, Camazotz would loyally serve Minato. No doubt the armored bat would turn on his father if the contract was ever broken.
So the notion that Kurama was actually a misunderstood god was not as ridiculous as Naruto initially thought. Even Killer Bee's claims of him being the 'son' of Kurama wasn't that crazy. He most likely hadn't meant 'biological son', but more so like 'chosen one' or 'heir' of sorts or... what had he said? Champion? In the same way Nix had chosen Minato and Goku had chosen Hiruzen.
Naruto froze.
Could it be that Kurama was the original guardian god of the Inari cloud forest? Could it be that Hiruzen had told the Uzumaki clan to use their unique abilities to seal Kurama in exchange for citizenship because, like with Nix, it wouldn't forgive them and was causing trouble but, unlike Nix, no one could calm it down and appease it? Could it be that that was why the Inari forest was falling apart? Because the original guardian god had been sealed away? Is that why Inari disappeared? Because she was like a daughter of Kurama or something, a demi-goddess who desperately tried to keep the curse caused by her father's absence at bay before succumbing to it? Was… was Menma actually kind of… on to something?
Naruto crouched down, hands in his hair, eyes wide in shock. It couldn't be. Kushina would never seal an angry, vengeful entity inside of her own son. But it's very possible that she sealed it inside of herself, not realizing she'd been pregnant at the time, and it somehow ended up inside Naruto instead. Disrespecting the gods and disrupting the balance of the world went against everything the Uzumaki clan stood for, but it would've been so easy for someone like Hiruzen to convince a young, inexperienced and desperate Kushina that Kurama was an evil demon and that she'd be saving people. She'd be a hero and the sins of her predecessor would be forgiven.
But… Minato wouldn't be that easy to manipulate. He couldn't imagine his father falling for that kind of flattery. And the Namikaze clan's religion was basically just 'don't piss off the gods, they don't have to like you, you're not special to them, you don't have to like them, just don't get killed by one and cause trouble for the rest of us'. Their relationship with Nix was about as close as they came to worshipping so it wasn't like Hiruzen could use Minato's faith against him. So that didn't make sense. Right? It just didn't make sense, it just… couldn't be.
Naruto's mind reeled. His stomach turning with sick anxiety, he meekly called out to Kurama. Nothing. He gritted his teeth, unsure of whether he was relieved or upset. He glanced back, hoping to see a sign of Killer Bee's cave, but there was only the vast nothingness of the wastelands. The cold gust of wind hinted at the cold the night would bring. Perhaps it was better if he traveled at night when he could use the stars to navigate and hope that keeping his body in motion would prevent him from freezing to death. He didn't want to go home. The warmth and comfort he had previously associated with home seemed like a distant dream. He stared at the sunset, watching the giant far-away form of a long-necked god trekking across the horizon.
Sasuke...
Naruto jumped up, confused for a moment. Carefully and feeling rather silly, he whispered back, "Kurama? Is that you?"
Sasuke…
Naruto clenched his jaw. He knew the way to Anger Empire as soon as he returned to Konoha. He could… rescue her…
Sasuke…
Rescue her and take her somewhere far away. Like a tropical island where they could love freely and openly, start a family, live a simple but fulfilling life together.
Naruto clenched his fists determinedly. Now that he knew Kurama would not simply allow him to die, he had little reason to fear the Uchiha clan.
000
The Blue Garden was the hidden gem of Mangekyo. It was small compared to other gardens because blue, even in flowers, was nature's rarest color. It was located amidst the Carmine Sea, a series of gardens decorated in all shades of red flowers, like a sacred blue flame amidst a forest fire. The gardeners wore golden masks and black uniforms, and visitors were expected to cover their clothes with black hooded robes before they entered. The water in the fountains was dyed red while a special stained glass ceiling made the sky above purple without affecting the color of the sunlight. In the far back, framed by unsung orchids, the bluest of all flowers, was an abandoned mural showcasing the women of the Uchiha royal family.
It should've been a tribute to them, but it was instead used by Fugaku to minimize the damage he'd done. After all, how could anyone believe he'd stripped women of their freedom and rights for anything other than their own good or reduced them to pretty trinkets to be owned by their fathers or husbands, when he'd spent so much time and money making a pretty garden with a pretty painting in their honor.
Blue Garden was hauntingly beautiful and eerie. Sasuke always felt like the restless ghosts of her female ancestors were following her around when she walked through it. That's why she avoided it since her mother…
Servants and outsiders were not allowed in, and all the gardeners were deaf and mute, making it the perfect place to discuss secrets without worrying about spies or eavesdroppers. Sasuke could only assume that's why Itachi had brought her here. She was too afraid to ask. Had they finally decided on the father? Was he going to tell her that her punishment period had been extended indefinitely because of her behavior last night? Was he going to interrogate her about Naruto, threaten to have him killed if she misbehaved one more time? She shivered, not daring to look up at the mural, knowing her mother would be looking back.
"I love this place."
Sasuke turned to her brother. Unlike her, his eyes had never left the part of the painting where she knew their mother was portrayed. There was a serenity in his expression she had never seen before, hints of a small peaceful smile. "I hate it."
"I know." He replied, almost immediately. "You won't look at her and I can't stop looking at her."
Sasuke continued to stare at him and, for the first time in a long time, realized that Itachi had lost his mother too, a woman he had loved dearly. Possibly the only woman he had ever loved truly. She didn't know how to respond. A part of her felt guilty for accusing her brother of being callous and cruel just because he processed their mother's death differently than her, mentioning her whenever possible instead of lashing out whenever she was named like her. And he probably had been concerned the other night. But her guilt quickly dissipated when she remembered he had also emotionally manipulated her, threatened her with Madara, treated her like a misbehaving child and tried to justify controlling every inch of her being as for the 'good of the people'. It was his own fault that she didn't trust him and always thought the worst of him.
"Why have you brought me here?"
Itachi remained silent for a few seconds as if pondering whether or not he felt like answering. "I've stood in front of this mural so many times yet I never noticed it until now."
He didn't continue so Sasuke rolled her eyes and asked, "Never noticed what?"
"The eyes." Itachi finally looked at her. He seemed to wait for her to look at the mural to see what he was talking about, but she refused. "The sharingan."
Sasuke narrowed her eyes. "I don't understand."
"We have been told that our women don't possess sharingan. At least not one developed enough to do anything besides turn their eyes red whenever they're emotional. I suppose I previously thought it was a symbolic gesture. A strange sign of respect to the women who died fighting in the wars to protect their people despite their weakness." Itachi's jaw clenched. "Until last night."
Sasuke's eyes widened. She knew what he was implying, but she couldn't believe it. "I-I don't understand." She repeated.
"Has that worthless bucket of vomit been training you?"
"What? No! We had one mock-fight which he lost intentionally."
"Intentionally, huh?" Itachi whispered. "When you and your bodyguards traveled to-"
"I traveled alone."
"You did not."
"I did."
"You wouldn't have survived." Itachi insisted. "You couldn't have survived. You're…"
Not strong enough? Not smart enough? Sasuke curiously studied her brother's face, intrigued by how surprised he was by the fact that she wasn't completely helpless despite being a member of one of the most powerful clans in history. Or maybe there was more to it than that. Something in her gut told her to lie. "He met me half-way."
Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Did he?"
"Why are you asking me all these questions? Haven't I been punished enough? Is that why you brought me here? To interrogate me? To humiliate me further? Why do you keep scaring me, aniki?" Sasuke replied, putting a hand to her face and looking away with a quivering lip in a perfect display of feminine delicacy.
Itachi tilted his head in suspicion before sighing. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Let's go back."
Sasuke ignored the hand he extended to her. She didn't need him to guide her through the garden like she was a toddler. She wanted to return to her room as fast as possible. Itachi might've unknowingly given her a ray of hope, but she needed to think about it and she couldn't do that with him breathing down her neck.
000
He had underestimated just how cold the wastelands would be at night. The freezing temperature forced him to stay mobile and reminded him of just how hungry he was. The few creatures he'd come across seemed more likely to eat him than the other way around. There was nothing he could use to make a temporary shelter or a fire (though making a fire was out of the question. He did not want to attract the monsters lurking in the dark), and he swore something burrowed under the ground was following him. He hated it. It had been a long time since he felt so vulnerable and anxious in the wilderness.
His knowledge on the wastelands was practically nonexistent. He knew it was the deadliest known place on the planet. A barren world filled with masters of deception and destruction. A dried up tree could easily be a predator in disguise, a fresh carcass could be used as bait, a seemingly easy meal could be pretending to be injured, the sound of an approaching beast could lure you straight into the mouth of its hunting partner. He hated not knowing.
Despite his earlier confidence, Naruto wasn't sure how far Kurama would go to keep him alive or even if there were injuries it couldn't heal and he wasn't willing to find out just yet. Especially not in this hellhole. His only solace was that he could finally tell where he was going thanks to the starry night sky.
The fraction of solace was short-lived however when the thing in the ground finally made an appearance. It was a giant insect of some sort, around his height, and it wasn't alone. Five more burst out of the ground. They smelled so bad that he physically gagged, nearly stumbling over himself.
Naruto ran faster. He didn't know what they were or what they were capable of so he wasn't taking any chances. Luckily, the things didn't appear to be as fast above ground as under it. Hopefully, they bungled up the ambush and didn't have anything else up their sleeve because he could barely see. Naruto slowed down a bit, cautious in case he was running straight towards more of those freaky-looking things without realizing it.
Not long after, he felt the rumbling in the ground return. It was stronger than before. There were more of them and they seemed faster. A lot faster. Fuck. The stinky ones were scouts. They probably scent-marked him for the hunters of the hive to track down. He really didn't want to deal with all this. He concentrated, focusing on his wind element and released a gentle breeze from his body that carried the awful stench with it. Almost immediately, he heard several loud noises behind him, indicating that his plan had worked. They were confused and thought he was a lot closer than he actually was.
And then it was quiet. The booms and the rumblings stopped.
Something else was out there. It had probably been attracted by all the noise. Whatever it was, it was quick, deadly, silent and killed multiple prey in one night. Naruto had a bad feeling. Did some reaper cats hunt in the wastelands at night? He hoped the fuck not. Then again, that would mean he was close to the borderlands. He sped up again and surveyed the area, keeping an eye out for the telltale gleam of the apex predator's eyes. He tried to remember how to defend against a reaper cat, but the only thing he remembered was 'run and hide'. It wa-
The ground was gone.
Naruto, heart frozen and mind blank, flailed frantically in search of something to grab onto. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Using his wind element, he blew himself backwards and slammed into something solid that immediately began to crumble. Fuck, fuck. He desperately clawed at the wall of stone until his hand wrapped around something. It hissed at him. He let go in surprise. Forcing himself to calm down, he used his wind element once again. This time to decrease his falling velocity. It was going to hurt, but it wouldn't seriously injure him. Not if he timed it right. Keeping his eyes trained below, he finally saw a glimpse of what looked like solid ground and changed the direction of his gust, rolling several times before coming to a halt.
He frowned at the trees, several which were smoldering, and the sound of running water, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he'd fallen into a canyon. Correction: now he was in the deadliest known place on the planet.
000
Sasuke paced back and forth in her room, trying to get her jumbled thoughts to get in line. She kept asking herself the same two questions over and over again. Did she truly possess the sharingan, and why would that freak her brother out so much? She almost tripped over that dreadful statue chained to her ankle. She blinked at it before slowly picking it up, examining the seals carved into it. She stopped when she spotted the one that prevented her from using her powers. It… prevented her from using her powers…
She dropped to the floor.
...Had she unlocked a sharingan so powerful that it broke through the seal?
Almost immediately she began to think up reasons as to why that was a ridiculous thought while another part of her, the rebellious part that got her into this mess in the first place, argued that it made sense. Thinking back to the moment when it supposedly happened, Itachi, who never backed off when she was throwing one of her 'hissy fits', had stopped dead, stunned, and left. Because something had freaked him out so badly that he couldn't deal with it at that moment. What was more plausible? Him being thrown off by her angry display of emotions, something he was usually so dismissive of, or him being shook by the fact that his younger sister had a sharingan (something that she, as a woman, should not even have in the first place) potentially stronger than his?
Sasuke couldn't wrap her head around it.
He had accused her of being trained without their knowledge. Why did her family even bother to restrict her powers if she was as weak and fragile as they claimed? Why were they so against her receiving any kind of training in the first place? And Naruto… Didn't Naruto mention once that Uchiha women were stronger than the men? Did her family control her in such detail because they were… afraid of her, of what she was capable of?
Sasuke began to smile as the rebel took over her thoughts.
All things considered, she was the most worshipped person in all of Anger Empire, perhaps even more so than Mangekyo himself. And, speaking of the phoenix god, he had blessed her with one of his daughters so she was clearly his favorite. Her father never allowed her to speak publicly. He never allowed her to worship Mangekyo by herself, forcing her to go to the Lugian temple instead. The possibility that this was because he didn't want her to find out that she had more power and influence in Anger Empire than she realized started to look higher and higher.
She thought back to the mock-fight she'd had with Naruto. He had obviously been going easy on her, and was stronger and more experienced, but there were definitely moments that caught him by surprise. He, the heir to a formidable warrior clan who was not impressed by every little thing she did because he had no reason to underestimate her, had even admitted it. She was far more powerful than her family wanted to admit or realize, even without training.
Her smile faltered slightly. She needed training. Preferably from someone who knew what they were doing. Her mind went straight to Namikaze Minato. She sneered his image away. Not only was that wholly impossible, but he'd sooner feed her to his monster bat. Itachi was out of the question. Shisui was even worse with all of his 'oh damsel dearest, watch out, don't trip over this pebble' nonsense. Her great-uncle Izuna was not an option, was he? He was not as obsessed with controlling her as the rest of her family, even being amused by some of her antics, but he was still very much a traditional Uchiha male. But she always heard stories of how ridiculously skilled he had been back in the day, and was often the only name left standing when people discussed who could take Itachi on in battle. Unlike his older brother, Izuna's ambitions died on the battlefield. He lost interest in his own clan when it became clear that their glorious days of conquest were over. In his own words, his only true love had been the drama of a fight to the death. Nowadays, his main concern was fitting as many cocks into his body as physically possible.
Sasuke sighed. Should she risk it? Her great-uncle was undeniably bored by life itself, but was he bored enough to go against Fugaku's orders? Perhaps an Uchiha was not the best choice.
… Kakashi?
Sasuke paused. She could probably make it happen. A whisper to a servant here and there about how glad she was that Fugaku didn't give her a bodyguard again, and how she would have never gotten away with her affair had that masked menace been around. One of them was bound to be her father's spy so then all she had to do was wait for him to think it was his idea. And she was almost a hundred percent certain that Kakashi would train her. He had offered to do it before, annoyed by her lack of 'fighter finesse' or whatever he called it. She tried to shake away the feeling that she was betraying Naruto for considering a former lover as her sensei. It wasn't like she was going to sleep with him. She might flirt a bit, if that's what it took to convince him. She had no reason to feel guilty.
She almost squealed in excitement. Perhaps that was why the heavenly signs had been so mixed. Because, before being with the man she loved, she was destined to be queen.
000
Naruto sprinted through the trees, resisting the urge to look back. He had never seen a draco majora before. The dragons native to the Inari were primarily insectivores while the dragons of the Nix were even smaller, fitting in the palm of his hand, and they were naturally afraid of superhumans. The two dragons currently fighting over a bigger, wingless third were the size of Gamabunta. He thought it had been an earthquake at first, until a burst of flames shot up into the air. As far away as he had been, he could still feel the heat coming off of it. Just when he thought he was safe, another different-looking dragon emerged from a hole in the wall.
"Don't run. They like to chase things that run."
Naruto jumped. He stared incredulously at the child. A boy. "Where did you…? What're you-"
"Yer a clan slave."
Naruto's jaw dropped. "A what?"
The boy smirked as if the thought that his words had offended Naruto amused him. "A clan slave." His smile widened, revealing a chipped tooth.
Naruto just continued to stare at him for a moment, wondering if he was hallucinating. He nodded. Yep, definitely hallucinating. He turned to walk away, heading towards the river as he tried to figure out how to scale the canyon wall.
"Yer not seriously going to climb the wall, are ya? Ya gunna die trying." The boy called after him.
He ignored him.
"I mean, even fer a clan slave it would be-"
"Stop calling me that." Naruto growled.
"So ya are one?" He sounded excited. "Most people who fall in here be already dead and half-eaten by the time we find them. Ya must be pretty tough. And, ya know, smart."
Naruto thought back to all the creatures he'd fought since falling down the canyon. He'd choked out a big feline that looked related to reaper cats, wrestled a school of fish trying to drown him when he foolishly attempted to jump across the river and lost his footing, kicked some teethy slug-looking things off of him and then some. He was exhausted, hungry and not in the mood for his brain to be giving up on him. He looked longingly at a bush carrying fat yellow berries.
"Well, maybe not that smart if yer planning on climbing the wall." A pause. "Oh~! Banana berries~!"
Naruto stopped and turned around. The boy was plucking the yellow berries, putting half into a basket he was carrying and popping the other half into his mouth. He hummed happily before spotting Naruto staring at him.
"Ya can't eat these." He said around mouthful before swallowing. Before Naruto could ask himself if he was hungry enough to steal from an imaginary child, the boy rummaged through his basket and pulled out a larger green fruit. "Here. Is not as good, but it won't give ya 'splosive derriara."
"Derriara?"
"Yep." The boy laughed. Their hands touched when he passed him the fruit.
"You're… real." Naruto mumbled incredulously, hunger forgotten. "Who are you? Where are your parents? How are you even…? You shouldn't be here!"
The boy blinked and took a step back, an act that obviously meant he was beginning to question Naruto's sanity. "Me parents are at the pellapple grove. Just by that tree there. 'Sides, I'm already eight."
Eight? Naruto frowned. "You mean eighty?"
"Nope." The boy said simply before turning around and running off.
Every fiber in Naruto's being told him not to follow the boy. He looked at the fruit, looked at the tree the boy had pointed at and turned around. He was staring down the length of a steel weapon of some sort. The woman holding it seemed to be five seconds away from bursting into tears. Despite that, he held up his hands, more curious than anything else.
"Hi?" He tried.
"Who are you? How did you find us?"
"Uh…"
"Don't move or I'll shoot!"
"I need to move my face to speak." Naruto replied, frowning at her weapon. "Are you… humans?"
"She is, but I'm not." Another female voice said from above him. The woman had nothing that he could use to identify what clan she was from. "Stand your ground, Ayame. Don't let the clan slave intimidate you."
"Don't call me that."
"Or what, clan slave?" She hissed. "Is your stomach gonna growl at us? You seem hungry and tired. You sure you wanna play tough guy right now?"
Naruto glared at her. "Very sure."
The woman flinched and tried to play it off as a chuckle, but he'd already seen the uncertainty in her eyes. They were not warriors and, even in his current state, he could take them both down. "Who are you and how did you find us?"
"I didn't find you. I stumbled into you while trying to return home. I've no interest in any of this." Some of that was a lie. He was actually very curious. A human woman? He glanced at her. She was entirely unremarkable. How did she end up here with her loudmouth superhuman friend? "What is that thing you're holding?"
"Thought you had no interest in any of this?" The other woman sneered, jumping down from the branch. "Is that why you're here? To steal our weapons? Huh? To kill some more people? Start some more wars?"
She was getting on his nerves. "What are you talking about?"
"Who's that?" A third voice said, also female.
Naruto recognized a lycan when he saw one. He immediately jumped back, startling the human woman. She fired her weapon. He dodged it as the two women screamed, "Outsider!"
The lycan woman snarled and tackled him. It was the oddest fight he'd ever been in. She was powerful, but had no idea what she was doing. She kept trying to hold him down by pressing against his chest, not realizing he could just shove them away with his hands. He created two clones who put the lycan in a chokehold, shocking her and the other two women. They seemed so overwhelmed by just that that Naruto actually felt sorry for them. Definitely not warriors.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone or steal anything. I'm just trying to get out of here!"
The loudmouth steeled her jaw, still trying to look tough. "We have no reason to believe you."
"I could kill all of you right now." Naruto said confidently. He was even certain he could kill the lycan who seemed to utterly lack all of the fighting instincts her kind was usually born with. "But I'm not. I'm not the violent one here. You're attacking me."
They all looked at each other, hesitant to trust him. "Are there more of you?"
"No, it's just me." He probably shouldn't have said that.
"What's going on?" More voices. A brown-skinned man with red facial tattoos appeared with his animal companion, a white canine that Naruto wasn't familiar with. "Tamaki?! Release my wife!"
Naruto's jaw dropped. Wife? The lycan? Things were getting weirder and weirder, and, for the second time that day, he wondered if he was hallucinating. "She attacked me."
"Minato?"
Naruto froze. He turned to his right to see a white-haired man. He also had red facial tattoos and the unmistakable triangle on his bottom lip.