Breathing in, Uchiha Izuna stills, half crouching, half cowering behind the rocky outcrop. He can see cousin Torazo doing the exact same thing, a single kunai clutched in his trembling hand. Only the smallest of trembles though. Hell, Izuna's trembling too; how could he not, given what's on the other side of their shelter? Slowly, painfully slowly, he draws his sword, silent as the still night, every breath as shallow as he can keep it without losing consciousness. He angles the blade carefully, adjusting until he can see around the rock formation they hide behind. And yes, he is hiding. But Izuna doesn't doubt any other fucker would be doing so too, given what's on the other side.

In the surface of his blade, the image of two Biju is reflected. The large blue cat with two tails, the five tailed dolphin-horse-thing, side by side. They're sizing each other up and the Uchiha Spare (because Madara's the heir, though he might have to get to work on a spare himself if things go south here for Izuna) does his best to supress the swallow his body wants to perform. If two Biju start fighting out here, it'll destroy every town, village and hideout nearby. Certainly, they'll squash Izuna like a grape, probably won't even notice he's here. Not exactly the way he wants to bite the dust.

Then, then they start talking.

"Kyūbi's got himself a human."

"Kyūbi? The Kyūbi? A human?" The laughter that follows is ear-shatteringly loud. Izuna winces despite himself, prays that the two won't hear it over the racket one is making.

"From what Isobu has said, he even lets her call him by name."

"You must be joking."

"No."

"Wait, is that why you're travelling South?"

"It is. I want to see the human for myself!"

"Then I'll come along as well, I guess."

There's a rumble along the ground and, in the flat of his blade, the two tailed beasts begin to move away.

Holy, holy shit.

The reports had said the Kyūbi appeared in a flash of gold at the call of the woman who'd found the bastard Uchiha (time-travelling Uchiha, if what she's said was to believed and, from the reports of the techniques the two are using, Izuna believes it. He only wishes Madara did). Now, now there are two other tailed beasts heading their way and he's relatively certain the Three Tails is with them.

Fuck. Madara had been half certain he could take on a Tailed Beast with his new Sharingan but… four of them?

Double fuck. They need to get back and make a report.

The idea of a village where peace exists isn't so wild a dream when there's four of those monsters backing it up.

"You monster!"

Naruto's down on her hands and knees, one fist slamming into the ground as she wails. It's a pitiful sight in truth and Sasuke glares at the Akimichi who's the cause. The man shrugs, looking remarkably sheepish for someone with thrice the amount of bulk than the girl he has (probably unintentionally) upset.

Behind the counter, Ichiraku Ruiga laughs nervously, hastily shoving more noodles into the pot on the stove. "I'm sorry, Naruto-sama. I wasn't expecting such a dinner rush!"

The centre of Sasuke's world whimpers, clambering to her feet to take up her stool. It's practically her stool now. She'd had an entire team of clones dedicated to the construction of the ramen stand working day in and day out; it's probably the most well-constructed building in Konoha so far. Certainly, it's the most lovingly constructed building.

"It's- it's fine, Ruiga. I'll, I'll send a clone ahead tomorrow." A few days ago, the chef would have probably been surprised at Naruto's intentions to eat at his stall again. After six days of consecutive visits however, the man seems to have realised there'll be no stopping his most-loyal customer from acquiring her daily ramen. Barring her 'office', it's the one place the rest of the village has come to realise Naruto can be found at.

Sasuke hasn't missed the Yamanaka bastard over in the corner. He sends the fucker a Mangekyō glare, watching him pale and force himself not the shiver. Bastard doesn't have a hope in hell anyway (Naruto's blind as a bat to people who like her; Sasuke'd all but beaten her over the head until she realised he was sincere) but Sasuke's going to make it fucking obvious that, if he wants a shot at throwing himself at Naruto, then he's going to have to get past him.

And nothing will get between Sasuke and the love of his life.

"Er, Naruto-sama? What are you going to do if the Senju or the Uchiha want to join the village?" The stall goes quiet; the couple who'd beaten the Akimichi to the eatery stop stirring their ramen, looking up in interest. Sasuke can understand, it's probably been something at the forefront of all of their minds. They're the two biggest clans in the elemental countries, the strongest ones, and they've been at each other's throats for longer than living memory tells. If Naruto accepts one of them into the village, she'll make an enemy of the remaining one. From the way she's drawn her face back and away from the ramen stand, their Hokage seems to have realised the gravity of the situation herself.

"I'll have both, or I'll have neither," Naruto concludes firmly, before making obnoxiously grabby hands towards the bowl Ruiga presents her with. She dives in without any grace or consideration for those around her, slurping up the noodles like a champ. Sasuke signals for his usual, taking a seat between the girl and the Akimichi.

"Both? I don't think the two would ever agree to that," the other mutters, rubbing at his rounded cheeks, frown on his lips. Sasuke nods in agreement, fingers finding the hilt of his blade. It's not the same as his actual sword, but it's a fairly good substitute for now. Just until he can reclaim his favoured weapon from the Senju bastards.

"If Naruto allows one in, she'll make an enemy of the other forever. But, they're both too big and too influential to feel anything other than threatened by the village; if they keep warring with each other, then there won't be any true peace. If anything, Konoha will just become a third party in that war."

"And with the Biju, we'd win?"

"Kurama's not for waging war against others," Naruto snaps, slamming her empty bowl down on the countertop. Ruiga is quickly learning how swift his most loyal customer can down his ramen; there's a new bowl to replace the empty one twenty seconds later. Impressive. "Neither's Isobu. If the Uchiha or the Senju wanna fight, it's me and Sasuke they'll be facing. Kurama's agreed to protect the village if they try and bring the fight to it, but I'd stop them before they even got anywhere near, 'ttebayo!"

Naruto inhales a few more noodles, licking her chops once she's swallowed. Sasuke reaches out and catches the droplets dribbling down her chin with his forefinger, holding it out in offering. Naruto sucks the liquid free and he has to look away, an uncomfortable heat flushing his cheeks.

"That-" the Akimichi breaks off with a cough, also looking away and Sasuke huffs to himself. It's just a normal scene of domestic bliss between the two of them. That's all. "That confrontation might be coming sooner than later." He turns in his chair, gesturing to the three new stalls that have opened up. "The bakery and the tailor? They were the Senjus go to stops before they moved here. I've never even spoken to them before, that's how closely the other defending them. And the, er, paper maker guy? That was the one the Uchiha Clan used." Huh. That'd explain why the scroll Sasuke'd picked up yesterday was so familiar to him.

"Right, so these guys have come to the village because they're gonna get more customers and there's less chance of the other clan attacking them, right?"

"Up until they get too pissed over what you're doing and decide to do something about it."

.

Naruto waves off the worries, declaring she's stopped the Senju clan in their tracks once and she can do it again. The bluster calms the nerves of many, though Sasuke doesn't doubt those doubts will still linger. More importantly than the general public's issues, he now has Naruto's fingers woven in with his as they make for the training ground to begin sparring practice. She's been working tirelessly, so it should go without saying that she needs a break. And, for Naruto, a break is getting a chance to spar.

"You do know I can cook, right?" Sasuke grumbles, one hand resting on the hilt of the (temporary) sword, the other still occupied with Naruto's. He taps his thumb against her first knuckle, a rhythmic pattern that he can just get lost in. Quiet thumps that can get lost in the background noise of the village; of the forest they're approaching.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"I could cook for you. If you keep eating so much ramen, you're eventually going to start looking like it," Sasuke grunts, transitioning from ground to water with ease as they cross the river. Already there are training posts set up, an Ino-Shika-Chō team looking up from where they'd been practicing. Their starry eyes lock onto them as they make their way over, the three kids staring something fierce.

"I'd love to try your food, Sasuke. As long as there's not too many tomatoes in it!" And then she's off, bouncing over to the kids and greeting all three with a wide grin, hand out for a shake with each one. Sasuke watches the interaction, a soft smile sweeping across his features against his will. Does the idiot realise she'll be able to take on students now? Hell, there'll be a few dozen kids ready to battle to the death to learn under her. Stopping the Three Tails from rampaging, daring to defy the two biggest clans in the Elemental Countries by setting up her own village where there'll be no fighting, swarming the Senju compound, even if most people don't know about that last one; Naruto seems like a dream come true to most. Something reliable in a world where life is painfully fleeting.

It's why the Hyūga came crawling back this morning, wanting to negotiate the whole seal thing. Naruto had explicitly told them that, no, she would not allow for a seal that can cause pain to ever be on the body of anyone in her village. Sealing the eyes after death; year whatever (and that's an idea that Sasuke can get behind, what with his past experiences with that fucker Danzō). But, forcing servitude? Yeah, it's no wonder that rubs Naruto up the wrong way.

"Where is she?!"

The thunderous bellow has the three younger teens freezing, swinging around to look at the source. The very, very large source.

"…Were you aware they were coming?"

"Nope!" Naruto chirps, bouncing forwards again, past the trio to stand before the two Tailed Beasts. That, that makes four now, doesn't it? Four in close proximity? Yeah, only a fool would try anything with them now. And fuck, with this reassurance, Sasuke might even be able to get a full night's sleep and wake up to Naruto's gorgeous face beside his.

A man can hope.