"How do your goods arrive at the village?"
"Er, I just send out some clones when we're running low?"
"And you've got no buildings?"
"Well, not yet-"
"Do you have the infrastructure of the village pre-planned?"
"The infer-what now?"
It's almost painful listening to the current Nara Head of this time period interrogate Naruto. It's her own fault; they'd come in and asked who was in charge. Naruto had sent him one fleeting look (as if to check if he was going to challenge her for the title of First Hokage, head of the pack, leader of the free world) before she cheerfully announced herself to be the one intending to head the village. A village of two ninja and two Biju.
Yeah, Sasuke hadn't missed the way all three other ninja present had eyed the two miniature Biju. The miniature Biju had eyed the right back.
"What are your plans for separating the previously warring clans?"
"Separating the wa- We're not separating anyone, 'ttebayo!"
Scrap that, it is painful.
Snorting, Sasuke kicks off from the cliffside he'd been leaning against, stalking towards the three grown men that are hassling Naruto. Well, the Nara Clan Head is hassling Naruto, the other two are just standing back and looking equal parts grumpy and imposing. It's a good thing Sasuke doesn't give a fuck about that and Naruto doesn't notice it.
"We're literally just starting out, Dickhead," Sasuke throws in, refusing to show any of the pain that zings through his body when Naruto elbows him for the insult. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't already know this though. And you wouldn't be here if you weren't ready to risk it." It's obvious how your eyes keep drifting towards the Three and Nine Tails is what he doesn't say. But the Nara Head hears him loud and clear anyway.
The Yamanaka and Akimichi head have both straightened up at his approach and it's utterly astounding how they're dismissing Naruto, despite the reports they'll have already read. They hadn't exactly been quiet in that little seaside town, nor during their return to base. Multiple stops at multiple villages, literally sitting down to eat with two miniature Biju (because Naruto had summoned her own up, just smaller than what Sasuke had ever seen him before) and Naruto's utter inability to not chat up a storm with the locals; yeah, plenty of time for rumours to circulate. The misogyny in this time runs rampant. He'll enjoy watching Naruto bulldoze over it all. The best part is, unless someone explicitly says 'women can't do that' to her face, Naruto won't even think to acknowledge it. Which will piss them off even more.
The Nara head eyes them again for another minute; Sasuke's not intimidated and Naruto doesn't even register him as a threat.
"Tch, how troublesome. You can count the Nara Clan in." No 'of you'll have us', 'no, we'd like to join your village'. It's phrased as if they're the lucky ones in this scenario.
"Great!" Naruto calls, surging forwards with one hand out, far too fast for the other to react to until she's already shaking his hand back and forth, too roughly as well, if the Nara's pained grimace is any indication.
Sasuke smirks.
A moment later, Naruto is releasing the other's hand (the Nara nurses his palm with a superstitious frown, eyes considering) and turning back to their recently made clearing. Then, there's hundreds more Naruto's probably a good thousand.
The other men gawk. Well, the clone jutsu hasn't been invented yet, so of course the solid replicas will be a surprise. What isn't a surprise is that the Senju haven reported this skill out to other 'allied' clans. Of course they don't want others knowing how soundly they got trounced by a complete unknown.
"Right, Team Toad, you're on Nara houses. Team Ramen, Yamanaka. Team-" she cuts off, swinging around to look at him, whole face lighting up as if he has the power to turn the fucking sun on or something. "Team Hawk! Akimichi homes! Go go go!"
"Right on, Boss!"
"And what would you like me do to, Boss?" Sasuke asks, teasing, one set of fingers dancing up the bared flesh of her upper arm. Either Naruto's more oblivious than he first thought (a miracle, given her sensei) or she doesn't comprehend that people can flirt on the job, because he just blinks at him.
"Eh? I need your help for the alliance writing stuff, Bastard. You're my only other witness! Unless..." she trails off, eyes sweeping over the Nine Tails. It opens one eye, red and menacing.
"Not a fucking chance, Naruto."
.
They all take a seat at a table very hastily presented by Naruto clones. Though they'd come in full of bluster and self-assurance, the three clan heads are starting to look rather swept away in the epicentre of Hurricane Naruto. There're orange clothes bodies as far as Sasuke's eyes can see (never mind their inferior vision), many yelling at one another, all working hard and there's already several logs being shaved down to create walls. Yeah, she might not have the Mokuton, but the village will be built regardless. All he's good for is clearing the landscape via Rinnegan push technique.
Naruto sits herself down with her usual grace (none) and good cheer (plenty). He can all but feel the headache that is steadily oncoming as he sits himself down beside Naruto, on the opposite side of the table to the other clan heads. All three are eying him now, though the Nara seems to be the only one that has clicked onto the fact he's a Uchiha, what with the way his eyes have been scanning his cloak, looking for the clan sigil.
He probably got an eyeful of the whacking great big fan on his back.
Now the poor bastard is probably wondering how long it'll be until the Uchiha descend on the 'deserter', worrying about getting caught associating with him.
The Three Tails swans over, dropping itself down across Naruto's lap like a particularly large, scaly cat. It's three tails swish ominously in a non-existent breeze, the picture of contentment as Naruto's hand comes down on it's weird-as-fuck head like she's gonna start stroking it.
The three clan heads settle. Yeah, sitting with a miniature tailed beast on your lap is a fucking power move if Sasuke ever did see one and he's the one here used to Naruto's weird ass luck.
"Introductions are in order, I guess," the Nara leader murmurs, rubbing at his chin and very deliberately not looking at the lounging Biju. Sasuke leans back on one hand, the other coming to rest over Naruto's, the one not stroking the Three Tails' head. She abandons her half-hearted polite façade in order to fucking beam at him once again. His personal sunshine; he feels warm just sitting next to her. God, he could have been basking in this for years if he'd got his shit together. Aww well, he'll just have to make up for lost time here then, won't he?
"I'm Nara Shikato."
"Yamanaka Inomoto."
"Akimichi Chōdai."
Yeah, those names mean fuck all to Sasuke. As they're all clearly middle-aged, chances are good it was their sons/daughters who took up the mantel of the clan by the time Hashirama and Madara pulled their shit together.
With Naruto here though, they don't have to sit on their hands, to twiddle their thumbs and wait for the two biggest bastards in the area to stop taking pot-shots at each other.
"Nice to meet'cha! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and this is Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto lifts their joined hands as if it's something to celebrate. Well, to them, their presence is something to celebrate, even if they don't fully believe it yet. It's worth celebrating for him too; somehow, by some hiccup in the universe, he's actually managed to catch Naruto's attentions, her affections. He let them go once, back when he was young and stupid. Now though, he's desperately gathering up as much as he can to hold on to for as long as he can.
"Uzumaki?" Yamanaka blinks, goggling at the very much-not-red hair as if he's expecting her to whip it off and pronounce the blonde to be a wig. She'd look good with either colour but there's something about her particular shade of blonde that's just, lovely.
"Yeah, that's me!" Utterly oblivious. Eh, as long as she knows he's in love with her, Sasuke can live with that.
.
They end up hammering things after about an hour of discussion. Sasuke's the one who fends off the terms that would lock Naruto into situations that would get fucking difficult later on in their lives, and Naruto's the one who reels the trio of clan heads back in when Sasuke gives them a particularly vicious shut down (they deserved it). All the while, the army of clones continued their construction of the village. They little homes they've got up aren't fancy, they aren't a long-term build, but they'll sure as hell do until they can source some actual carpenters. Clearly Naruto picked a thing or two up when the Leaf was destroyed by Pein.
They shake hands on it at the end. The Nara will provide medicine, the Akimichi food, the Yamanaka herbs for the Nara's to use and poisons that they'll all have access to. While Naruto will do what she does best; protect her home. While it'd come about suspiciously easy, Sasuke does have to keep reminding himself that these people have yet to find the way to create a jinchūriki; here, Biju are seen as unstoppable forces of nature. And Naruto sits with two acting like retried fat nin-cats.
He's a Uchiha, he's allowed to make that comparison.
"-estimate all three clans will be here within three days. Will this be sufficient time to prepare?" The Nara, the figurehead of these three, asks, dark eyes still focused with a kunai-like intensity on Naruto. Their hands are still linked; her palms are free of sweat and pleasantly warm against his own skin.
"Yeah, sure! I'll get up as many temporary homes as I can before you arrive, maybe go look for a carpenter or three in the nearby villages. Hey, Sasuke, should I recruit some civilians now that it won't just be us having to help look after them?"
"Probably a good idea," he concludes, ignoring the offense on the other ninjas' faces (the fuck is up with them?).
"Are you engaged?"
Naruto chokes. Full on chokes, hunches over and hacks and coughs. Sasuke lets go of her hand long enough to slap her on the back a few times, just until she's done with her big show and dance of 'oh wow, you've shocked me, I was not expecting that'. While he's hammering away at the love of his life to ensure she doesn't die by her own stupidity (of course she'd suddenly struggle properly when they're hurling ridiculous questions like that about), he levels a fierce glare on the Yamanaka.
"We're in a relationship-" and fuck if he can't help but smirk/smile at that statement. "-we haven't even thought about marriage yet." We. Not I. Because Sasuke most certainly has thought about marriage (about a house and three plus kids and a stupid little picket-fence that he'd sneered at the vapid girls in class for dreaming of). He doesn't know if Naruto has and they've certainly not spoken on the topic.
"If I'm gonna marry anyone, it's gotta be the bastard!" Naruto suddenly jumps in with, slamming a closed fist down into her other palm. "No one else in the world would be able to put up with him!"
Well, she's probably not wrong there.
Sasuke slips his arm around her waist, levelling his best Uchiha-standard glare on the Yamanaka, Mangekyō flaring.
She's taken, bastard. Go find some other kickass kunoichi for your idiot of a son.
Senju Tobirama jolts to a sudden stop at the sight before him, utterly ignoring the civilian he'd just been haggling groceries with (they need more meat but moving the entire clan compound two weeks ago hadn't exactly been cheap).
No matter how he looks at the scene before him, it remains the same (it remains worrisome).
The woman that ran them out of their own clan compound retrieving a Uchiha (a Uchiha they've luckily not seen among their opponent's men) stands alongside what is clearly a Nara and an Akimichi, chatting with the local blacksmith. She's gesturing wildly in a manner that's terrifyingly alike his brother, hands all over the place as she bargains, though for what, Tobirama isn't sure. He will find out though. Father has put out orders for them to gather intel on the woman and her Uchiha (Sasuke. The many, many clones that day had called him Sasuke), but stated they should only approach if Hashirama is in the vicinity. This sombre order had come right after the report about the Three Tails.
Tobirama is half convinced that it was all an illusion cast by the Uchiha (the bastard's genjutsu had been far stronger than any other Tobirama's encountered, even one's placed upon him by the Sharingan), though it cannot be fully discounted.
Not with how the Akimichi Clan and their two allied clans have mobilized.
A Nara and an Akimichi in close proximity to the clone-woman is potentially bad news. His best bet would be to press his chakra down, hide his presence and observe them from a distance.
Before he can, the woman spins on heel, spots him and waves. Full arm in the sky, swaying back and forth, overly exuberant with the motion and a massive smile on his face. The spitting image of Hashirama in action, if not colouring.
He'll never voice them aloud, but he suddenly finds himself inundated with questions for his father.
Then, he spots what he'd mistaken for a small summons on her shoulder- shit.
It's the Three Tails.
Fuck.