Blasphemy.
This was all plain blasphemy.
Sakura really should've expected this - Naruto was a secretive bastard and she knew it. So it shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did that the very first secret Naruto revealed to them, casually and idly, was that a monstrous chakra entity was sealed inside of him. It made her worry about the other secrets he'd yet to reveal.
"What an asshole," she muttered and was pleased to see that Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.
Not only had their blond teammate dumped this shocking revelation onto them but had also somehow managed to convince Jiraiya to let him and Shikamaru go to Suna–to inform the Kazekage about the capture of two Akatsuki members. Sakura called bullshit. Those two idiots just wanted to spend time together.
"Is that what it was then? The yellow chakra was the kyuubi's?" she inquired.
"Yes," Jiraiya nodded, travelling a few feet away from the duo. "His chakra has synched especially well with the nine tails'. It would've been impressive if it wasn't so... terrifying."
Sakura shuddered mentally at the thought of the sheer power Naruto held within himself. Not that he wasn't a powerhouse already, but with almost infinite amount of chakra–he would simply be unstoppable.
She glanced at Sasuke, frowning a bit at seeing his mullish expression. She had no doubts about why he was in such a mood–his traitor of a brother lay unconscious, sealed inside a statis scroll lying inside Sasuke's own pouch. But she hoped that he'd get over it. A grumpy Sasuke was ten times better than an upset one.
Kami help her.
"It's too fucking hot," Shikamaru grumbled, immensely peeved by the fact that he had to walk across the sand dunes just because Naruto had the bright idea to visit Suna.
"Duh, we're in a desert Shika. What did you expect?"
"A nap under the cloudy sky," Shikamaru replied. "Not this shitty task of dragging my feet through the burning sand."
Naruto hid a smile, "Just use chakra under your feet, dumbass. That should help."
Groaning, the Nara channeled chakra to the soles of his sandals and refrained from complaining about how troublesome it was to expend chakra.
"So, what's the real reason we're headed to Suna?" he asked, keeping his gaze fixed at the huge grainy wall indicating the entrance into their allied village.
"What do you mean? It's an intelligence-sharing mission dear. Nothing more."
"Spare me those lies," Shikamaru said dryly. "A messenger hawk could've simply done that. There's no reason for you to physically be in Suna."
Naruto grinned at him, "You're too smart for your own good Shika. But yeah, I've got another reason to be there. Remember Gaara?"
"Gaara... " Shikamaru scanned through all the neatly packed information in his head. "That maniac who almost maimed Lee and then lost against you in the finals?"
"Precisely," Naruto said, "He's my friend."
"Ofcourse he is," Shikamaru replied, not the least surprised that Naruto had gone and befriended the guy who had more or less been the personification of killing intent.
"He's the Kazekage's youngest child," Naruto supplied helpfully.
"I'm aware. So, what about him?"
"He's like me."
"In what way?" Shikamaru asked, "He didn't exactly peg me as the gay type–"
"Idiot," Naruto interrupted, laughter in his eyes. "If anything, Gaara's asexual. But that's not what I was talking about."
"Figured. So...?"
"He's also a jinchuuriki."
Beyond the slight widening of his eyes, Shikamaru didn't show any outward reaction. He'd had his suspicions about Gaara's ungenin-like chakric presence but this made more sense than all of his theories.
"So, you've developed some sort of kinship with Gaara and just want to randomly spend time with him?"
"Kind of?" Naruto answered. "But I also have to fix his mess of a seal. Swear to Kami, I haven't seen such a horrible sealing disaster ever."
"Fine," Shikamaru said, resigned to his fate of following Naruto around in his way too adventurous endeavours, "but you're playing shougi with me later. I need some much needed relaxation."
Naruto chuckled because Shikamaru relaxed ten times more than he moved a muscle, "Sure, but let's pick up the pace. I wanna be there before nightfall."
"You're carrying me to Suna if I pass out of exhaustion."
"You're a fucking chunin," Naruto said exasperatedly, thumping the lazy guy on his back. "Act like one."
"Whatever," Shikamaru mumbled but obliged. Besides, traveling across the desert with Naruto by his side didn't really sound too bad.
"What a dumbfuck," Naruto hissed, walking in the busy corridor alongside Shikamaru. "What are your thoughts on assassinating the kazekage?"
Shikamaru bit back his laughter and said, "I'm in, but I'm not helping you discard his corpse. That's on you."
"Perfect, you just need to hold him down long enough for my katana to go through his stone-cold heart."
"Calm down," Shikamaru replied, mirth still lurking in his tone, "Kages are all universal assholes - except the first Hokage - so no point raging about it."
"He doesn't even call his own son by his name!" Naruto ranted. "So he's not only a shitty Kage but also a shitty father and I'm kidnapping Gaara, that's it. We're taking him back to Konoha."
"Yes, sure. Let's commit an international crime while decimating our peace treaty with Suna by stealing their jinchuuriki. How ever did you come up with such a wonderful plan?"
"Shut up," Naruto grumbled. "Politics suck."
"Indeed," Shikamaru agreed with a solemn nod.
"So, any ideas about where Gaara might be?"
"The Kage residence, probably."
Naruto knew exactly where that was but he didn't think it'd be appreciated if he navigated Suna like he knew it like the back of his hand, so instead he replied,
"Great. Let's buy a map of this god forsaken maze of a village."
"Gaaraaaa!"
Kankuro's unncessarily loud scream broke Gaara's meditative state and the redhead moved out of his room to check what his foolish brother wanted from him. He had to admit that this–this tentative truce with his siblings wasn't so bad. Sure, Kankuro still got on his nerves and Temari was too overbearing for his liking, but they were finally getting along. Their eyes didn't hold fear when they looked at him, and that's probably what Gaara was most grateful for.
"What is it, Kankuro?" he asked, crossing his arms as he leaned to look below the banisters into the living room.
"Someone's here to meet you!"
Oh, that was not a usual occurrence.
"Another assailant?"
"No, you idiot!" came the voice of his idiot brother. "He says he's your friend. Uh, that Konoha fellow. All bright and loud and infuriatingly strong."
The moment Gaara registered his visitor's identity, he rushed towards the door–though he doubted his brother could tell he was in any rush. He spotted the yellow hair standing by the concrete wall almost barricading their home, along with some guy in a ponytail. Judging by their vests, he reckoned that they were promoted after the exams.
He walked upto them calmly, not unsettled by their visit but definitely curious about the reason.
"Hey Gaara!" Naruto cheerfully greeted when he saw him. "How's it going buddy?"
Gaara side-stepped out of the incoming hug but was surprised when Naruto ended up wrapping his arm around his shoulders, smiling brightly at him.
"Hello," he said in return. "I'm well."
The other chunin nodded his head in acknowledgement, "Hi, I'm Shikamaru Nara."
"So, er..." Gaara didn't really know how to lead a proper conversation. So he asked,
"You're not here to murder me, right?"
Naruto's grip on him turned gentle and his smile mellowed, something unreadable in his eyes,
"No Gaara. No one's ever laying a damn finger on you ever again."
"Well, Naruto, I don't think that's realistically possible–"
"Shut the hell up."
"–and you're laying all your five fingers on him this very moment."
Naruto turned his sweet, honeyed smile towards Shikamaru who was already glancing at the clouds with utmost interest.
"As I was saying," Naruto continued pointedly. "We come in peace."
Gaara nodded, unsure of what to make of all that needless banter.
"So what brings you here?"
"Oh nothing, silly," Naruto said, walking while pulling Gaara with him. "Just wanted to meet you, that's all."
Gaara highly doubted that this was all.
"I may be a bit behind in following social cues but even I'm not foolish enough to not detect that obvious lie, Uzumaki."
"You caught me," Naruto replied mildly. "Say Gaara, do you trust me?"
That question again. Gaara hesitated, thinking about his reply. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't warmed up to Naruto. The blond was nice–the kind of nice Gaara never hoped to be. And Naruto was nice to him. For no reason other than to genuinely befriend him and Gaara found this thought somewhat pleasant.
"I do," he said, then added, "but pull a prank on me like Kankuro did and I'll break your legs."
For some reason, Naruto laughed and Gaara wondered if the blond knew that Gaara totally meant what he had said.
"The Sharingan isn't as scary as I thought," Sakura mused. "It's actually quite pretty to look at."
"It's supposed to be the most intimidating feature of an Uchiha," Sasuke informed her, not surprised that she didn't hold the same opinion as his now-dead clansmen.
"Really?" Sakura asked. "But they're so beautiful."
Sasuke didn't reply, instead he turned off his kekkei genkai and sighed when the constant pull of chakra to his eyes stopped, now returning to it's normal, steady flow.
"I need to get more kunai," Sakura said abruptly, "and ooooh, Ino told me last week that old man Satori's shop is having a sale this weekend! I'm definitely getting new shinobi sandals. Wanna join me?"
"No, thanks," Sasauke replied smoothly, having absolutely no intention to follow Sakura around while she shopped the whole day.
"Such a joykiller," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll get you a pair, too. Because I'm a good person like that."
Sasuke chuckled, but she really was he thought–a good person. All this random chitchat was only for his sake. Sasuke knew why Sakura was doing it - so he didn't end up too deep inside his head and get all gloomy again. It wasn't easy to keep some of his darker thoughts away when the man he'd wanted to kill for so long was just behind that metal door, getting interrogated. But as long as there wasn't too much silence for his thoughts to go astray, Sasuke would manage. Doubly so, with Sakura's support.
"Is Tsunade-sama really returning?" Sakura questioned when the silence stretched a bit longer.
"Mostly," Sasuke said, remembering what Naruto had whispered to Jiraiya and the look the two Sannin had shared amongst themselves. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she'll be here by the time Naruto returns."
"Awesome!" Sakura cheered with no small amount of excitement. "She's the best medic-nin out there and you can bet your ass that I'm going to become her student no matter what."
Sasuke didn't doubt it one bit.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno," a stern voice called out to them and Sasuke turned towards the man he immediately identified as their proctor for the written portion of the chunin exams.
"Yes, Ibiki-san?"
"We'd like to ask you two a few questions. Step inside."
Sakura cast him a nervous look before a soft smile graced her lips and she stood up with him.
Sasuke sat through the entire interrogation with Sakura's hand on his thigh and it helped ground him enough to recall the details of their encounter with the two rogue nin. He tried to keep things professional but when some of his personal rage leaked through, no one pointed it out. By the end, he wasn't sure what he wanted Itachi's fate to be. But he didn't have to make the decision, Itachi's crimes spoke for themselves and he was sure his brother would either be executed or imprisoned for life. Justice was better than revenge, Sasuke understood this now.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Ibiki-san said and there was dismissal in his tone, clear as day.
Both chunins exited together, and Sasuke didn't return to his cold apartment that night. Sakura knew that wouldn't be good for him, so she convinced her parents to let him bunk at her house for the night and Sasuke - too drained, emotionally and physically, to refuse - simply complied.
He lied on the futon beside Sakura's bed and slept more peacefully than he had since the massacre.
Author's Note:
Now's the time where things settle a bit. Less action, more interactions. I kind of enjoy writing long conversations as much as I do long fights. Hope you liked it!
Also, we've entered the last stretch of this fic woohoo. 10 more chapters to go! I've yet to decide whether the next fic in the series, entitled Changed Times, will simply continue on here or whether I'll publish it separately. On ao3, I've made it a series but ffn doesn't have a similar feature. So, do let me know what you would prefer–continue the next part on this story itself or publish it as a separate one?
Thanks for reading!!