Sacrifice

by Arigatomina

NaruSasuNaru. The Uchiha clan has to make peace with Konoha after years of enmity. To ensure the truce, they hand over one of their own.

9. Chapter 9

"You're never going to get it. What are you trying to do, anyway?"

Sasuke clenched his teeth as the chakra flared wildly and then exploded in his hands. He was very close to attacking Naruto's toad. He had been able to ignore it when he was warming up with the training post and it had been content to lounge on the other side of the stream. Once he had sat down near the water, it had turned its full attention on him. He didn't know if it was intentionally trying to irritate him or if it was really oblivious to the fact that he was trying to concentrate. He didn't care either way. His patience was fraying fast. He should have had Naruto leave him with a clone instead. At least then he would have had the option of dispatching it.

After breakfast Naruto had seen him to the small training ground he had introduced him to yesterday. He had been reluctant to leave him, but he had things to do and Sasuke hadn't wanted to be stuck waiting in the apartment. Once Naruto had spoken to his toad about the two shinobi who had shown up yesterday he had taken off. Now it was just the two of them. Sasuke supposed the toad could be bored and annoyed to be assigned to watch him. Or maybe it was just naturally nosy. Whatever its motivation was, he saw no point in explaining himself to a summon. He narrowed his eyes to block out the sight of it. The toad was sitting directly across the stream from him now. He would only have to turn his hands a few inches to the right in order to accidentally blast it in the face. For all he knew that was exactly what the summon wanted.

He cooled his hands in the water, shook them off, and performed the jutsu again. His chakra coalesced pale blue between his hands, forming three jagged lines even with his fingers. He eased his hands closer together to thin the spikes out. His teacher had kept the skewers thick and jagged when adding wind, and thin and sharp when using sand. He was just trying to keep them solid enough that they wouldn't explode the moment he started to transform the chakra. He was able to add lightning to the ragged edges the same way he would coat a solid weapon, but as soon as he tried to coax it inward the currents crackled wildly against his fingers and palms. It stung and his natural instinct was to move his hands away. This was the point where his teacher would have caught hold and thrown them. He had been able to do that without being cut by the wind-laced chakra, so Sasuke was sure there had to be a way to avoid being affected by the lightning. For now he just focused on keeping the chakra stable. The skewers were trying to lengthen on him, flickering at the tips.

"Naruto isn't going to like this," the toad warned him.

Sasuke's fingers twitched and that was all it took. For a split second he was very tempted to release the chakra into the stream. The splash wouldn't carry the current cleanly enough to kill the toad, but it would singe him quite painfully. Instead he thrust the chakra away, letting it fizzle out in the dirt. Naruto was in a good mood this morning and he wanted to keep him that way. Attacking his toad in a fit of frustration would guarantee the exact opposite. He cooled his hands in the stream and then retreated to the far side of the training ground. The toad might decide to follow him, but he had an easy way to keep it at a distance.

He divided his weapons up and made two shadow clones to take them into the trees. Sure enough, the toad hopped the stream and started toward him. Sasuke raised his right hand and the clone on that side threw a kunai. He caught it with the chakra on the back of his hand, whipping around to throw it so it embedded in the ground right in front of the annoying summon. The toad leapt backwards, proving it did have reflexes to make up for its lack of common sense.

"What are you trying to do?" Gamakichi demanded, sounding more startled than angry.

"Train," Sasuke sneered. What did it look like? He turned his back on the toad, confident it wouldn't come any closer. The second clone threw a shuriken at him. He got his left arm up in time to graze it with his chakra, but he couldn't quite hold it. He swept it up with his foot and kicked it back. It took a few minutes before they could get a good rhythm going, then the clones began to change position in the trees, pausing only long enough to catch what he managed to return. He made it a point not to watch them, though he couldn't help hearing the occasional crack as one of them tried a branch too weak to hold his weight.

"You have a weird way of playing catch."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he snapped his hand to the side so the kunai he'd been about to catch flew over his shoulder instead. He heard the toad choke and scramble out of the way. After that there was silence. The clones picked up the pace until they ran out of weapons. He hadn't missed any with his hands, but he had only managed to catch one with his arms. He considered that a fluke. He hadn't been able to return it, and had it come any closer it would have grazed him. He was getting better at slowing weapons down with his chakra, but he could only hold them with his hands and feet. The clones came in to gather the weapons scattered around him, and then he sent them back to the trees. He would have liked to try this in the trees himself, but then the toad wouldn't be able to watch him and Naruto wanted him watched. With the bunshin he would get the experience even if he couldn't join them himself. They were quicker to pick up the pace this time, more used to moving in the branches. Sasuke was fully engrossed in the fast exchange when one of the bunshin missed and was grazed by a return. It was expelled and the feedback hit him just as the other clone launched a kunai. He missed with his chakra and was forced to catch it with his hand, grimacing as it bit into his palm.

"Incoming," the remaining clone warned, dropping from the trees.

"I know," Sasuke sighed. It was the sound of footsteps approaching along the ground that had distracted the clone enough to miss. He took the remaining weapons from the second clone and let it go retrieve the ones the first had left behind. He quickly gathered up the few spotting the ground around him. The clone had a bemused look on its face when it returned. Sasuke accepted the weapons and released the clone. He immediately understood. Pink hair couldn't be that common even here. And since she was important to Naruto he would have to be civil to her. No wonder the clone had been amused at his expense.

"What's up?" the toad asked, eyeing him warily when he retrieved the two kunai that had landed near it.

"Sakura, I assume," Sasuke muttered. He couldn't wait until he was training exclusively in the forty-fourth training ground. This one was far too close to the rest of the village. Between Naruto's toad and curious villagers he would never be able to train here. He resigned himself and turned to watch for the visitor. Naruto was right. She didn't look much like her pregenin photo. She was taller, her hair was shorter, and she looked a lot more like a shinobi now.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she greeted, stopping just inside the clearing.

"I know," said Sasuke.

She blinked in surprise and then her smiled widened. "Did Naruto warn you I might be stopping by?"

"No."

Naruto had warned him he might have to talk to his father or Ibiki about the scroll, but he hadn't taken that seriously. Ibiki already knew he had been doing assassinations so he shouldn't be surprised that he knew the storage seal. He wondered if Naruto had been talking to this girl about him or if he had merely run into her on his way to see his father. She was the one who had helped clean Naruto's apartment, which meant she knew all about their arrangement. He disliked that immensely. It might as well be public knowledge with everyone close to Naruto knowing the truth. But he had agreed to it, so he would have to live with it.

He took in the girl's openly confused expression and blanked his own. "What do you want?"

"He isn't much of a talker," Naruto's toad offered in a droll voice.

She smiled at that, greeting the summon by name. There was still amusement in her green eyes when she turned back to him. "I just thought I'd stop by and say hello, and welcome you to Konoha. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to meet you yesterday. Naruto mentioned that you had a few bruises he'd like healed." Her eyes swept over him, and her lips twitched. "I'd say it's your hand that requires immediate attention."

Sasuke broke eye contact long enough to heal the shallow stab wound on his palm. He then slid his hands into his pockets and waited. The bruising on his face was faint and would be gone within a day or two. If Naruto had told her about the dark ones on his neck he would deal with him later. She continued to watch him with barely restrained amusement, so he stated the obvious. "I don't need a medic."

Sakura smirked. "I am a medic-nin. A very good one, in fact. If you're really planning to train with Naruto, I expect we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the hospital. Or his apartment, if Tsunade-sama is particularly annoyed with him. She likes to let him linger in the hospital for a few days when he's really injured, just to remind him that healing a bit faster than normal people doesn't make him impervious. You, on the other hand, should be in and out fairly quickly. Quiet patients are the easiest ones." She had advanced as she spoke, and now paused a foot away. Her smirk faded into a small apologetic smile. "It will only take a moment. You won't put up a fuss, will you?"

Sasuke looked away, knowing it wasn't worth arguing about. Her hand hovered over his cheek, the chakra tingling against his skin. Then she moved both hands over his bandaged neck. He gave no reaction to that, but inside he seethed. He would make Naruto pay for telling her about that, the only question was how. She stepped back when she was done, and then asked to see his hands. He grudgingly pulled them out of his pockets, looking down at them himself. The palms were reddened and there were a few nicks on his fingers. That was nothing compared to the damage he had sustained during his early attempts. He watched her heal his hands, pulling away when she tried to touch one of his freshly healed palms. He had put up with the healing only because Naruto had obviously asked her to do it. He wouldn't stand for any more than that.

"What were you doing to cause that sort of damage?" She was frowning at him now, and her tone implied that she expected a quick answer.

Sasuke wondered if that tone of hers worked on Naruto. He had said she was more liable to punch him through a tree than to hug him. She didn't look capable of that, but he had learned a long time ago not to judge shinobi entirely by appearance. She wore fingerless gloves with plates on the top, which wasn't standard for a medic as far as he knew. He watched her annoyance increase as he remained silent. Like Naruto, she didn't bother to school her expressions. In the end it was the toad who spoke up.

"Something dangerous," Gamakichi informed her eagerly. "Naruto isn't going to like it."

"I should say not," she huffed. She glowered at Sasuke for a moment and then let it go. "Since Naruto is handling your training you won't learn any healing jutsus. Being able to seal a flesh wound is handy in a pinch, but it won't help if there's internal damage. If you decide you're interested in medical ninjutsu, just let me know. It would be nice to know Naruto has someone with at least a little medical training accompanying him. I'll try make time to join you two on missions, but Tsunade-sama prefers to have me on hand at the hospital as much as possible. I'm only a chunin, so I still have a lot to learn myself."

"Naruto mentioned doing missions to you?" He had assumed it would just be the two of them. Naruto hadn't said a word about taking someone else along. She might be a skilled medic, but she was also the person Gaara had targeted as Naruto's 'weakness' during their exam. He couldn't fathom why Naruto would want her to accompany him anywhere after that.

"Of course," Sakura said in surprise. "Didn't Naruto tell you? We're teammates. Now that you're here we have a three-man team again. This time we can do real missions together. It's a good thing, too. He might be strong enough to handle solo missions, but they're an unnecessary risk. I'm sure between the two of us we'll have no trouble keeping him in line." She grinned deviously. "I look forward to working with you. Naruto means well, but he's still a little too impetuous for his own good."

He didn't want to work with her. He certainly didn't want to be on a team with her. The only 'team' he had ever really been a part of had been slaughtered right before his eyes. He didn't want to imagine how Naruto would react if anything happened to her during a mission. It would be difficult enough to keep Naruto from worrying about him without dragging his old weakness along for the trip. He could only hope she had improved greatly since her chunin exam. Surely Naruto wouldn't consider taking her on missions if he didn't think she was capable. He tried to reassure himself, but all he could think about was that hollow tree. Maybe taking Naruto back to that forest had been a mistake. If Naruto was looking to use him to rebuild the genin team he had lost then Sasuke would just as soon forgo missions altogether. To him that sounded like a good way to ensure history repeated itself, the very thing Naruto had claimed he didn't want. He refused to be party to that. He didn't say anything to Sakura, though. This was between him and Naruto.

"I have a little time before I'm due at the hospital. Would you like a sparring partner?"

She couldn't be serious. Sasuke had a difficult time keeping the distaste off his face. Some of it must have sounded in his voice because her eyes narrowed when he gave a flat no. He didn't care if she was insulted. He was insulted himself that she would even suggest it. He refused to believe Naruto had put her up to it. That meant it was her idea. Did he really look that weak? Her arms were as thin as that female transformation Naruto had performed. Even if she did have special abilities that made her stronger than she looked offensively, he wouldn't be able to risk fighting back. A glancing blow might be all it took to injure her. He could easily imagine how Naruto would react to that.

"You're underestimating me," Sakura said with a pursed frown. "I get that a lot, so I won't hold it against you. I guess Naruto hasn't told you as much about me as I thought. My medical training has offensive aspects as well. I'm a lot stronger than I look." She cracked her knuckles, a taunting smile curving her lips. "Come on, show me what you've got. I promise to heal any damage I cause."

If she was that strong he would have to avoid being struck. Sparring with her would still be a waste of time. He was already good at dodging. Even if he could see a point in fighting her, he wouldn't unless Naruto pushed him to. "I'm not going to fight you." She promptly scowled, reminding him even more of Naruto. Maybe it was the village or Fire Country itself that led these shinobi to be so emotional. He was suddenly sure she would be as easy to incite as Naruto or the jounin who had attacked him on the way here. Since he didn't want to incite her he kept his expression neutral. Naruto's toad was watching him closely, as if he were the one liable to attack her rather than the other way around. The summon was already biased against him thanks to the genjutsu he had used yesterday. In all likelihood it had been annoying him on purpose just to see what he would do. He decided to borrow its objection. "Naruto wouldn't like it."

"No, he wouldn't."

Sasuke tensed, his eyes snapping up to locate the man in a tree above Sakura's left shoulder. The man had approached right in front of him and he hadn't seen him, let alone sensed his presence. It was things like this that told him there were levels far beyond him. Kakashi was in one. Where before he had respected that, now all he felt was resentment. Where was Naruto? He shouldn't have to deal with these people of his on his own. He felt harassed. They knew he had no recourse against them, so they were free to do whatever they liked the moment Naruto left his side. It could be like that with every shinobi in this village. He wondered how long he would be able to put up with it before he stopped going anywhere on his own. He had no doubts that it was intentional. Naruto had promised him freedom, so it was up to the rest of them to make him voluntarily give up that freedom. He knew he shouldn't blame them. He certainly wouldn't have wanted an outsider roaming freely through the clan compound.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura whirled around, looking startled and guilty. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," the man said as he dropped to stand beside her. His visible eye curved with amusement. "Really, Sakura. Testing him before I've had a chance to? And you call Naruto impetuous."

"It wasn't like that," Sakura said quickly, flashing a harmless smile. "I know Naruto is going to keep him to himself for a while, so I just stopped by for a chance to meet him. I wasn't really planning to fight him, but you know how I feel about being underestimated. I guess I let my temper get the better of me."

Kakashi hummed skeptically, flicking Sasuke a knowing look before eyeing the girl. "Then you came dressed for combat in order to make a good impression and not because you intended to challenge him from the start? I see. That makes perfect sense to me. I'm sure Naruto will believe it as well when you explain it to him. He's so understanding."

The girl winced. For a moment her eyes flashed with what might have been outrage, but all that made it to her face was awkward embarrassment. The look she sent Sasuke made him wonder if she wasn't better at hiding things than he had thought. There was a glint in her eyes that definitely didn't match her apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm sure Naruto wouldn't mind us sparring, but I should have waited until he was around to watch before suggesting it. Maybe the three of us can make a day of it. And don't worry, I promise to be gentle when I teach you why you should never judge a kunoichi by appearances."

"You've been spending too much time with Tsunade," Kakashi drawled, shaking his head at her. "Take off. And no spying. You've meddled enough for one morning."

The girl made a face at him, waved at Sasuke, and then darted off into the trees. Sasuke wished Kakashi had gone with her. More than that, he wished he had asked Naruto to teach him the teleportation jutsu. He would have had no qualms about retreating to his apartment in order to avoid being left alone with this man again. If Kakashi became as involved in his training as Naruto had warned he might, Sasuke supposed he would develop the patience to tolerate being condescended to eventually. He didn't have that sort of patience yet. It took most of his restraint just to keep his aversion to the man from showing on his face.

Gamakichi hopped forward suddenly, halting Kakashi in his tracks a few feet from him. Sasuke blinked in surprise when he realized it was the toad's way of defending him. Maybe the summon wasn't as biased against him as he had thought. More likely it was just following Naruto's orders. Considering how upset Naruto had gotten the last time he was left alone with Kakashi, the toad might be as reluctant to see him again as Sasuke was.

"If it's Ibiki again, forget it," the toad said sharply. "Not unless Naruto goes along with him."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow. "Sasuke would be much more comfortable speaking to Ibiki in private than he would be with Naruto hovering over him."

"Tell that to Naruto," Gamakichi grumbled. "All I know is I'm not letting anyone take him there again on my watch. I'll tell Pops if I have to."

"That won't be necessary," Kakashi chuckled. "As a matter of fact, Ibiki is content to wait a few more days before questioning him again. I'm here for an entirely different reason." He produced a little golden bell on a short string from his vest and reached down so it jingled in front of Gamakichi's head. "Hokage's orders."

The toad groaned, rocking back on its haunches. Its voice was plaintive. "Does Naruto know? Please tell me he knows!"

"He does. His father is keeping an eye on him so he doesn't interfere or panic too badly. Feel free to join them at the tower." His gaze flicked up, his eye dark with amusement. "I suspect Sasuke will perform better without any witnesses."

Sasuke's stomach dropped. Whether this was a real test or not, he was in the exact same position he had been in yesterday. The only difference was that if he failed this time the Hokage might decide he wasn't capable of joining Naruto on missions. He almost snorted at that. If Naruto intended to take Sakura along he wouldn't be doing missions anyway. The thing he really stood to lose was training. The Hokage might not let Naruto train him freely if he failed to pass this test. His eyes narrowed as he made the connection. With a simple joke of a test this village could get around another of the promises Naruto had made him. He wouldn't let them. If they had wanted him confined and harmless they shouldn't have let Naruto proposition him in the first place. It was too late now. Unless Naruto himself went back on his word he was going to get everything he had been promised.

Naruto's toad vanished, and Sasuke stepped forward to fill the space. "Naruto mentioned that you had a test involving bells," he said quietly. "What do I have to do to pass it?" His tone was as calm as his expression, but inside he was furious. He refused to waste a second more of his time on this farce than he absolutely had to.

Kakashi must have sensed some of his hostility because he sobered quickly. "All you have to do is get this away from me." He hooked the string of the bell to his waist, just below the vest.

"Does it matter how I accomplish that?"

"No. So long as you don't kill me," and his tone told Sasuke how unlikely he considered that possibility, "anything is allowed. There are Anbu stationed on the outskirts of this training area. They won't see anything so long as you don't venture too deep into the woods. I usually set a time limit with this test. For us that's until Naruto's patience wears out and he comes to check on you. That could be anywhere from a few hours to days, depending on how long the Hokage can reassure him."

He would only need a few minutes at most. His anger simmered and he didn't have to ready his chakra. A dark smile pulled at his mouth. He was going to enjoy this a little too much. "Once I've gotten your bell, I want your word you will never 'test' me again. I'm never going to impress you no matter how many times you stand in one place and invite me to attack. If you want to know what I'm capable of, attack me yourself. Otherwise stop wasting my time."

Kakashi looked disappointed in him as he sighed and shook his head. "You have a strange reluctance to fight for someone Naruto claims wants to be trained. You also seem confused about the point of this. I'll be impressed if you can so much as touch my bell. If you actually manage to take it, there won't be any need for further tests."

"I have your word on that?" He didn't expect the man to keep his word, so he wasn't surprised when he immediately gave it. The point was to have the man's promise so he could inform Naruto when he broke it. If Naruto placed value in trust he would make it a point to show him how untrustworthy his own people were. "When does this test begin?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"How about now?"

"That's fine with me," Kakashi drawled.

Sasuke smirked and channeled all of his chakra into his eyes. The man's left hand jerked upward as if to block his sight, but it was already too late. This was the only thing Itachi had ever given him advice on. Upon his return to the clan he had told him it was possible. By the time Sasuke had managed to do it, Itachi hadn't been interested in seeing it. In the end he had only used it on another person once. From then on his instructor had avoided looking at him any time he activated the sharingan. He didn't bother to hope it would have a similar effect on Kakashi.

Since he knew nothing about the man he plunged him into his own personal nightmare. Pulled beneath the water, reaching vainly toward the fading light as the icy darkness closed in around him. Kakashi fought him, recognizing the genjutsu for what it was and keeping his calm. He had a fine control of his chakra. Had Sasuke held back even a little he might have lasted much longer. As it was he could only strain to maintain a connection to his body as Sasuke pulled his mind deeper. His breathing became shallow as the pressure of the water forced the last bit of oxygen from his lungs.

Sasuke walked slowly toward him. Itachi had told him this was a level of genjutsu only an Uchiha could learn. He was confident no one but a fellow sharingan holder would be able to break free of it. But he hadn't mastered it, he hadn't even tried it since that first time because his own bunshin had no trouble throwing it off. He had more chakra to devote to it now, but the lack of steady practice made it more of a strain on his eyes. He wouldn't take any chances. He held the man suspended in the depths, his heartbeat pounding slower and slower in his ears. He waited until the last flickers of consciousness ebbed away along with the sound, and the body before him stopped breathing. Then he reached out and took the bell. The moment his hand curled around it he could see himself coating it with lightning chakra and shoving it down the man's throat. The thought was so petty and vicious he wrenched his eyes away before the image could be passed along via the sharingan. That sudden urge had nothing to do with Kakashi and his infuriating tests. It stemmed from his impotent rage at the entire situation he was now in. He wanted to take it out on someone because he couldn't take it out on the two people who were to blame. Itachi was out of reach and his father was his father.

A harsh breath sounded behind him as he reached the stream. He didn't bother to look back. He dropped the bell on the ground beside him and leaned down to splash water on his throbbing eyes. They hurt worse now than they had the last time he had done that. He had known they would. Back then he had performed it after months of intense practice using the sharingan to increase the strength of his genjutsu. Nothing he had done recently had prepared his eyes for this sort of strain. The technique might be useful in killing an opponent stronger than him, but he doubted he would ever have the chakra to perform it on a regular basis. Using it in a battle with more than one opponent would be nothing short of suicide. He wiped his hands off on his pants and picked up the bell. Kakashi was watching him when he rose and turned to face him. He didn't bother to try and decipher his expression. He tossed him the bell, noting how easily he caught it. His instructor had been left shivering and panting on his knees, and he hadn't kept him under nearly as long. Kakashi didn't even appear dizzy.

"Tell your Anbu guard to stand down," Sasuke muttered. "I'm going back to Naruto's apartment." He hadn't even reached the trees before the man was suddenly beside him, a vice-like grip closing over his shoulder. His eyes flashed furiously as he wrenched away. "I passed your test. You have no right to detain me."

"You used Tsukuyomi on me," Kakashi said coldly. "I have every right to 'detain' you."

Sasuke was shocked to hear that term spoken by someone who wasn't an Uchiha. Just how much did Konoha know about his clan? He hadn't even known that technique existed until he had returned with the sharingan himself. "I did not."

Kakashi's response was scathing and heavy with sarcasm. "Oh, your version was weaker than Itachi's, but it was the same technique. I should know since he used it on me not too long ago. My question is how you did it without having the Mangekyou sharingan."

A chill swept over him. So it was true, then. He had known something had happened to Itachi the moment he saw him with the sharingan for the first time. Once he learned of the mangkeyou he had wondered, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. He still didn't. But he knew a real Tsukuyomi could only be performed by someone with the mangekyou sharingan and there was only one way to get those eyes. He had come home to find Shisui dead and his brother a stranger. It was so obvious and unthinkable. What the hell had Itachi done? And why? There was no need for the mangekyou sharingan. Itachi had told him that himself. Any sharingan could be trained to perform a genjutsu nearly as strong as the real Tsukuyomi without making that sacrifice. Itachi had told him that and he had verified it for himself. Was that the real reason Itachi had told him? So he wouldn't make the same mistake? Using the mangekyou led to blindness. If Itachi had those eyes he had not only murdered his best friend, he had cut his life as a shinobi in half. What could have possibly driven him to do that? He clenched his fists against a sudden wave of nausea. He had been secretly proud of himself for recognizing that Itachi couldn't be trusted. He'd had no idea how bad things really were.

"Well?"

Sasuke shot him a venomous glare. "Unless you want to explain to me how you managed to survive a real Tsukuyomi, I have nothing to say to you. Touch me again and I will consider it an attack. Then you won't just be making a liar out of Naruto, you'll be making one out of your own Hokage as well." Kakashi's eyebrow shot up, but he made no move to stop him this time. He followed him instead.

"Tsunade brought me out of the Tsukuyomi," Kakashi informed him. His tone was utterly casual, as if he hadn't been coldly intimidating just a moment ago. "I survived it in the first place because I was only using my left eye when Itachi performed it on me. I would have used this eye with you if I had realized you intended to use the sharingan this time. I thought I would have to force you to use it."

Sasuke sent him a reluctant look. He promptly recoiled, stumbling away. He couldn't stop the horror and outrage from showing on his face. What had the man done? Stolen from the dead? Kakashi's left eye was an implanted sharingan. His first instinct was to tear it out and destroy it by any means necessary. Kakashi must have read his intention because he lifted a hand to forestall him.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Kakashi said, in a quiet and sober voice. "This eye was a gift from my former teammate, Uchiha Obito. I received it years before your clan left Konoha. I won't claim the clan elders were happy with Obito's decision, but they didn't contest it."

He was the one Sasuke had heard rumors about, then. The last Uchiha prior to Itachi to have developed the sharingan at such a young age. He might have been the clan heir instead of Itachi if he had survived. Instead the only legacy he had left behind was now staring at him out of the face of a Konoha shinobi. How the clan must hate that this man still lived. He wondered if that had anything to do with Itachi's decision to use the Tsukuyomi on him, or if Kakashi had intentionally confronted Itachi because he had the only sharingan in the village. Sasuke dropped his eyes. He had no feelings about this. What an Uchiha chose to do with his sharingan before he died was his own choice. No one had the right to contest that. He folded his arms over his chest. Kakashi had answered his questions. He now knew why the man had spoken so freely about things that were supposed to be clan secrets. "What I used on you was not Tsukuyomi. It was as close as one can get to it without having the mangekyou sharingan, but anyone with a normal sharingan can do it."

"Do you really believe that?"

His lips twitched as he corrected himself, "Any Uchiha with a normal sharingan." It was no wonder Kakashi kept the eye covered. Without Uchiha blood just using it would be a huge drain on his chakra. "Naruto said you knew a lot of techniques. Did you copy them with the sharingan?"

"They do call me Sharingan Kakashi, or the Copy-Nin."

Sasuke let out a disgusted breath. Naruto could have mentioned that.

"Who taught you to perform that level of genjutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"No one. I heard that it was possible to do, so I practiced until I could. The only other person I've used it on was the jounin Sand assigned to teach me. Once was enough for him."

"Gotou." There was audible derision in Kakashi's voice. "The one who tried to teach you wind release."

"And earth," Sasuke admitted. "I didn't take to that, either."

Kakashi snorted but didn't offer to explain what he found so amusing. He waited until they broke from the forest before speaking again. "Instead of going back to Naruto's apartment, let me show you to the tower. I know you haven't been there yet, and Naruto will be relieved to see you."

Sasuke sent him a suspicious look. Kakashi's forehead protector was once again slanted to cover his left eye. In retrospect he should have wondered why the man kept it covered. "What tower?"

"The Hokage tower," Kakashi smiled, his visible eye curving. "That's where Naruto will be spending most of his time if he ever gets the promotion he's been aiming for."

Implying that he might not get it, or that it wouldn't happen as quickly as he hoped? Sasuke considered going along with him, but he didn't particularly want to see the Hokage again so soon. Besides, he'd had more than enough company for one morning. "I'm going back to the apartment."

"Alright, then," Kakashi sighed. "I'll take my leave here, then. One thing before I go, though. Don't ever use that genjutsu on Naruto."

There was no point using it on Naruto since he was more than willing to engage him in a direct fight. He was curious why Kakashi felt the need to warn him, though. "Why?"

Kakashi smirked. "Let's just say the Hokage wouldn't like it."

All the more reason to do it if he were interested in breaking their terms. Luckily for them he wasn't. Kakashi took off, and he made his way alone back to the apartment. He was relieved when no one approached him. He didn't want to deal with any more of these people without Naruto around. He had no idea what was expected from him. The Hokage had told him he was only obligated to live and refrain from attacking others. Obviously he was also obligated to interact with shinobi like Kakashi, who for all his annoying personality quirks was only following his leader's orders. So long as Kakashi stopped trying to manhandle him he supposed he would get used to his manner eventually. He was his superior in terms of skill and rank. But he was also the closest thing to an Uchiha this village had. Having someone with an implanted sharingan treat him that way was twice as infuriating. If Kakashi had a personal grudge against him because of Itachi then he should take that up with the Hokage. He had made a name for himself with just one of the eyes so he should know the potential Sasuke had. Maybe he did know. That could be the very reason the Hokage had sent him to test him. Sasuke would have to voice his suspicions to Naruto. If the Hokage planned to use Kakashi the same way the clan had used his jounin instructor then it would be up to Naruto to keep the man out of their training. Whether or not Naruto could manage that remained to be seen. The point was to see just how much Naruto valued keeping his word. Between Naruto's stubbornness and his idealistic morality, Sasuke was sure he would fight to keep his promise. If not, then at least he would know Naruto wasn't nearly as honorable as he pretended to be.

It was only when Sasuke arrived outside the door of Naruto's apartment that he realized he didn't have a key. He could use a senbon to pick the lock, but he hadn't studied Naruto's wards well enough to risk it. He jumped to the roof instead. It was warm from the sun. He sat comfortably for a while, watching the occasional shinobi hurry along the rooftops in the distance. Two children ran past him at one point. They wore forehead protectors but they clung to the roof so clumsily they couldn't have been genin for long. Aside from pulling up when they stumbled around him, they didn't pay him any attention. He wondered what sort of missions they did. The smaller one might have been eleven, but the other had to be at least thirteen. Yet they were definitely children, as excited and careless as civilians. He watched them darting around in the distance, playing some sort of game, until the younger one almost fell off a rooftop. Then they dropped out of sight. To Sasuke they epitomized what he had seen while walking through the village yesterday. Konoha was too quiet, seemingly carefree to the point of complacency. It wasn't just the civilians who struck him that way. Even the shinobi seemed too casual and relaxed. Weren't they at war with Sound and Mist? He could only assume they weren't. This certainly didn't feel like a village in the middle of an open war. Perhaps the conflict Naruto and his jounin instructor had mentioned were long-standing threats rather than open hostilities.

After an hour he accepted that Naruto wouldn't be back any time soon. His chakra had recovered enough for him to dismantle Naruto's wards, but he didn't want to. If they were attuned to Naruto's chakra he wouldn't be able to fix them afterward. As far as he knew Naruto hadn't made any plans for them today, so he decided to make some of his own. He nipped his thumb and summoned Terra. The little snake immediately slithered off his lap to stretch out along the warm rooftop. Sasuke watched in amusement as he twisted and rolled before finally settling on his belly. Fully uncoiled the snake wasn't much longer than his arm. He lay back himself, turning onto his side so Terra wouldn't have to lift his head to see him. "Are you hungry?"

"Always," Terra hissed. There wasn't so much as a tiny bulge beneath his scales, evidence that he hadn't eaten in days. There were only so many creatures small enough for him to swallow whole and he disdained most of them. Sasuke still didn't know what his usual diet consisted of.

"Three reverse summons and I'll reward you."

"Your weapons?" Terra asked suspiciously.

"That can wait."

The snake rose to look at him more closely. "What's wrong with your eye?"

Of course he would notice that. His periphery vision was a little blurry on the right side, but it was already starting to clear up. "Genjutsu."

"A waste of chakra," Terra said contemptuously.

"I know." He rose to a crouch and offered a hand down to the snake. "Are you game?" Terra didn't bother to answer, merely slithering up his arm to coil loosely around his neck. He jumped down to the balcony outside Naruto's door. "First, I need in there." He set the snake down, watching as it masked its chakra and reduced its size. Unlike Naruto's toad, Terra had no qualms about making himself smaller. He was little more than a silver hair when he slipped under the door. Sasuke braced himself. He severely disliked being summoned, but it was the best way to get into a protected place without being noticed. He had yet to encounter a ward that could detect a well-masked summon, and unlike teleportations it didn't require any chakra use on his part. It was trusting a summon not to call him of its own accord that he had difficulty with. So far Terra hadn't abused the privilege.

As soon as he arrived in the apartment he unpacked most of his equipment. He would clean it when he got back. Naruto had left his bag in the livingroom, so he used the scroll he had stored the fern in to leave a note for him in case he came back here rather than teleporting directly to him. There was only one empty scroll in the bag when he put it over his shoulder and looked around for Terra. He found the snake on the bookshelf, hanging down from a higher shelf to stare at the photographs.

"The Leaf hitai-ate doesn't look any better on you than the Sand one did," Terra remarked. "You shouldn't let yourself be branded that way."

Sasuke knew his summon felt the same way about the clan symbol he wore on his back. All snakes were solitary by nature, but Terra took it to the extremes. "It doesn't matter. I want you to go back to the spot where I summoned you last night and bring me there." The snake's coils clumped strangely as it curled in on itself and vanished. Sasuke had never determined whether the contortions were to make up for the snake's lack of hands or if pulling itself into a knot simply made it easier to teleport itself. Terra was the only snake summon he had met that could transport itself at all, so he didn't question how he managed to do it. The summon was more jarring this time because of the distance. When he arrived he nearly tipped off the limb and into the pit. He knew Terra had done that intentionally. He was a snake, after all.

There were only a few snakes in the pit today, all male from the looks of them. That meant the pit was used for resting through the day as well as mating. He dropped to the ground, startling them awake. They coiled and hissed warningly at him. He waited for one to strike and caught it behind the jaw. He quickly took it into the tree before the others could get worked up enough to follow or flee. If they regularly used this spot it would save him a lot of time hunting for them. He gathered up his summon and moved a safe distance away. Once he had settled on a thick root that rose above the brush, he shook Terra off his left arm so he could get a kunai. The little summon was hissing and flicking his tongue out tauntingly at the larger snake. His intended prey flicked back at him and he snapped his head forward to catch the tip of its exposed tongue.

Sasuke scowled, releasing the dead snake so the summon could slither smugly over its head. "And you complain about me wasting your venom."

"You said you didn't need any right now," Terra reminded him. He butted against the jaw, peeking into the mouth when Sasuke opened it for him. "They eat well here."

"Probably a squirrel or two. This forest is full of them."

"How bland."

"I'll cut around it," Sasuke said drolly. Aside from the meat, the only parts Terra was interested in were the venom sacks and the lungs. The lungs had no particular nutritional value that Sasuke was aware of so he didn't understand why his summon liked them so much. He just did. Sasuke slipped the kunai into the dead snake's mouth, pressing lightly against the back of its fangs. Terra unhinged his jaws, his tongue flicking out to catch any drops that missed his gaping mouth. The little summon looked so ridiculous that Sasuke was almost glad when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him. Naruto had wanted to meet his summon and this was the best time to do so. Terra must have caught Naruto's scent back at the apartment because he didn't so much as flick the tip of his tail at the sudden arrival.

"Sa-" Naruto cut himself off mid-rant, his eyes dropping and then widening comically. He gaped for a moment before letting out a startled laugh. "You weren't kidding?"

"I never kid about summons." Or anything else, for that matter. He looked from Naruto to the gaping mouth that was the only thing visible of his summon's head. "Naruto, this is Terra. My best summon," he said, for Terra's benefit. "Terra, this is Naruto. Son of the Hokage and my lover." Naruto choked and blushed bright red at that simple factual statement. The tip of Terra's tail jerked, but it wasn't until he had milked the last few drops of venom that the summon reacted.

Terra darted out of the snake's mouth, slithering up Sasuke's arm and rising until they were at eye level with each other. "How did this happen?" he demanded in a dangerous hiss.

"Politics," Sasuke smirked. Naruto was looking distinctly uncomfortable. And guilty. "Itachi infiltrated this village. The clan had no choice but to declare a truce or risk retaliation. Itachi is now officially a missing-nin and I'm dead as far as the clan is concerned. My father gave me to Konoha."

"And they decided to keep you," Terra finished, arching his neck to look over at Naruto. "Are you letting them?"

"Yes."

"Can I bite him?" Terra asked, flicking his tongue at Naruto. When he saw the way Naruto winced away, he did it again, adding an eager hiss.

"No," Sasuke said firmly. He didn't bother to hide his amusement. Naruto had no doubt rushed out here intent on lecturing him for coming to this forest alone. That was the last thing on his mind now. "I don't want you to bite him. He's my lover."

Terra let out a disgusted hiss and rounded on him. "You can do better."

"Hey!" Naruto yelped. "Don't you go giving him any ideas!"

"He reeks of toad," Terra said haughtily. He flicked his tongue at Naruto again. "Snakes eat toads."

Terra would sooner eat his own tail than swallow a toad, but Naruto didn't know that. Sasuke snorted at the heated glares the two were exchanging. He lifted the dead snake, reminding Terra of his empty stomach. "There's a stream nearby where I can prepare this." He stood and caught Naruto's eye. "You did say you wanted to meet him. Don't blame me if you dislike my summon as much as I dislike yours." Naruto appeared taken aback by that. He walked past him, heading in the direction of the stream.

"Wait," Naruto blurted, catching up to him quickly. "Are you saying you don't like Gamakichi? Why not? Everyone likes Gamakichi. He's one of the friendliest summons I've got!"

Which was precisely the problem. "He talks too much. I don't want to be left alone with him again. I can't concentrate with constant interruptions."

Naruto grumbled and sent him a reproachful look. "I only summoned him because I didn't think you'd want to be left with a bunshin."

"I don't need to be left with anything," Sasuke said flatly. "But if you insist, I'd rather have a bunshin. At least then I wouldn't have to deal with your people on my own."

Naruto jumped at that, instantly defensive. "I wanted to be there for Kakashi's test but my dad wouldn't let me. He made me do paperwork! Believe me, I would much rather have been with you than stuck in that office all morning. Even after Kakashi came back he wouldn't let me go check on you until I finished sorting through the scrolls. That's the only reason it took me so long."

"And Sakura?" He shot him a dark glare. "Why did you tell her about my neck? Were you bragging about it?" Naruto might consider hickies something worth showing off, but he certainly didn't.

"No!" Naruto blushed, though his expression remained pleading and earnest. "I didn't say anything about that to her. I just mentioned that we sparred a little last night and you had some bruises I wished I could heal for you. I swear, that's all I said. If it seemed like she knew more it's only because she knows how obsessed with you I am."

"How obsessed?" asked Terra.

"Stay out of this," Sasuke sighed. He shifted the little snake so its head was on his other shoulder. Naruto was making a face at the summon. He quickly refocused his attention. "You shouldn't have sent her to me without warning me first. I went to that training ground to train, not to be accosted by one of your friends. She tried to pick a fight with me," he explained, before Naruto could argue with his word choice. "Whether her intention was to prove her abilities or to test mine, she was set to attack me when Kakashi showed up. I would have had no choice but to use the sharingan on her or flee. Don't place me in that position again. If she's important to you, then take better care of her."

"I should have seen that coming," Naruto admitted with a wince. "She's headstrong, so I should have known she'd want to fight with you, especially after I told her we were sparring last night. I'll talk to her. She can break bones as easily as she can heal them, and you're fast enough to cut her up if you had a mind to. I definitely don't want the two of you sparring without some strict ground rules. Thanks for not giving in. She is important to me. I want you two to get along and that'll be a lot easier without a bad first encounter hanging over you."

"Are you really planning to take her on our missions?"

"She said that?" Naruto dropped his eyes with a grimace. "Damn. I hadn't really thought about it yet. We used to talk about doing missions together, but after the exam that all fell apart. It would be great to finally have a three-man team. We couldn't ask for a better medic. But to be honest I get nervous just thinking about doing missions with you. I know you're capable," he insisted, before Sasuke could get insulted. "I'm just worried about how much I'd hover. I want to train with you and just...get used to having you around before I start looking for missions we could do. With Sakura along I wouldn't worry as much about injuries, but we'd make a pretty flaky team with me hovering over both of you. I'm sure it would drive you as crazy as it would Sakura and the last thing I want is to have the two of you teaming up against me."

Sasuke accepted that for the time being. He was more interested in training than he was in missions, at least for now. They reached the stream and walked across the surface. Terra peered over his shoulder at the infant snakes darting along the bank. Some of them were thicker around than he was, but that didn't stop him from flicking his tongue out. He did it again when he caught sight of Naruto watching him. The two of them were in the middle of another glaring session by the time Sasuke reached the rock he had used yesterday. He would have said Terra was too old to be that immature. He wondered if it was an instinctive rivalry. Naruto had warned him not to tell his toads that he summoned snakes. Maybe it was only natural that his snake had such distaste for someone who summoned toads.

He had to cut the dead snake's lower jaw off in order to dig out the venom sacks. He couldn't blame Naruto for his queasy expression. This would have been messy enough with a knife, let alone a kunai. Terra didn't care about the mess. He slithered down to snap up the drained sacks, his tail flicking impatiently as Sasuke finished undressing the kill. By the time Sasuke had fed him the lungs and scraped out the insides, which included two partially digested squirrels, Naruto had turned his back on them. Sasuke took amused pity on him and didn't say anything that might force him to look back. He skinned the snake and cut the meat into thumb-sized chunks. Gathering up the remains, he left Terra to gorge. He dumped the mess into the stream where the fish and snakes joined forces in a feeding frenzy. Once his hands and kunai were clean, he joined Naruto.

"I can totally see why feeding the big ones would be a problem," Naruto said, smiling weakly.

"They aren't as picky since they're big enough to swallow most snakes whole, but they eat a lot more." Sasuke looked at him curiously. "Why haven't you asked me about Kakashi's test? Did he tell you himself?"

Naruto's eyes brightened and he gave a wicked grin. "I almost forgot about that! When he got back to the tower he was so exasperated it took my dad ten minutes before he could get a word out of him. He said you made a complete mockery of his test. What did you do? I've never seen him like that."

"He didn't tell you?"

"No," Naruto huffed. "All he said in front of me was that you passed the test without even taking it, and the next time he sees someone named Gotou he's going to drown him for real. I have no idea what he was talking about. That's when his eye started twitching and my dad took him out of the room. He made me stay behind with the paperwork." Naruto made a face at that before shaking it off. "What the heck did you do to him?"

"Nothing to cause a reaction like that. When he left me he was smirking." He wondered if Kakashi had been putting on a front to confuse Naruto. All he'd gotten from the man was anger and then amusement at his expense. "He said he wouldn't test me again if I passed, and that all I had to do to pass was take his bell. So I used the sharingan to hold him in a genjutsu while I took it from him. He was angry about that. You should have warned me about him." He probably would have still used that genjutsu on him, if only for the chance to try it on a sharingan-holder. But he wouldn't have been as shocked by what Kakashi had to reveal.

Naruto's eyes were wide with disbelief. "You just used a genjutsu on him and took his bell? You didn't fight him or anything? No wonder he's so messed up. The bell test has been a Konoha tradition for I don't even know how long and you just- How long did it take you to get the bell?"

"A minute," Sasuke frowned. He had expected Naruto to apologize for not warning him about Kakashi's history with his clan. That was much more important than some stupid mock test.

"That's hilarious," Naruto laughed. "I can't wait to tell Sakura and Iruka-sensei. They'll get such a kick out of this. No wonder he didn't want to explain in front of me. I can tease him about this forever."

"He was angry," Sasuke repeated.

"I'll bet he was," Naruto grinned. "He was probably hoping you'd hide and give him a real run for it like you did with me last night. Instead you just-"

"Naruto," Sasuke said sharply. "Why didn't you warn me that he had the sharingan? Were you ordered not to tell me?"

"What? No..." Naruto sobered quickly, as if he had only just now noticed Sasuke wasn't as amused as he was. "At first it wasn't my business to tell you, but once you actually met Kakashi I figured you knew the moment you heard his name that he was Sharingan Kakashi. He was famous before the clan ever left Konoha. You mean you didn't know? Didn't the clan ever say anything about him?"

"No," Sasuke muttered. Naruto might not be lying, but he wasn't telling the full truth, either. When he had told him about his obsession, he had mentioned that one of the Anbu had recognized the sharingan, implying that Naruto hadn't recognized it. But he'd known all about Kakashi, so he should have recognized the sharingan the moment Sasuke used it. Had he known he was an Uchiha from the very start? If so, there was no reason to make him believe otherwise. Why lie about it? It didn't change anything. Except now he was wondering about other things Naruto had said that he had accepted on face value. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He was usually much more skeptical.

"And Itachi," Sasuke sighed. "Is there a reason you didn't tell me Kakashi was one of the people he attacked here?"

"Lots of reasons," Naruto admitted quietly, dropping his eyes with a frown. "Mainly because I didn't think you'd want to talk about him. You're here because of what he did, but we don't hold you responsible for that. As far as I know Kakashi wasn't even planning to mention it to you. That's between him and Itachi and has nothing to do with you. If he brought it up, I'm sure it's only because you caught him off guard with your genjutsu. Did you do it before he had a chance to uncover the sharingan?"

"Yes. I didn't know he had a sharingan until he revealed it afterward."

Naruto smiled at him with just a hint of his former enthusiasm. "If he'd known what you were going to do he would have uncovered it from the start. Do you think your technique would have worked against his sharingan?"

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted. "It doesn't work when I use it on my own bunshin, but my chakra is halved then and I'm trying it against my own eyes. He doesn't have Uchiha blood, so I don't know how strong his sharingan is." It had to be fairly strong for him to have survived a Tsukuyomi, but if Itachi hadn't intended to kill him then that didn't mean much. He didn't know what Itachi had been after, so he couldn't guess how much effort he had put into his attack. "I'm sure I would have caught him regardless. I probably wouldn't have been able to take him as deep or keep him under as long, though."

"We'll find out," Naruto grinned. "When he comes looking for a rematch I'm going to have a front row seat."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that. "He gave me his word he wouldn't test me again."

"I'm not talking about another test. I just meant a rematch, fighting and training. My dad pointed out today that Kakashi is the only one here who can train you as far as the sharingan goes. But I'll get to watch from now on, so it won't be too bad."

Sasuke stared blankly at him. Naruto had no concept of the insult he was giving him. There was absolutely nothing lacking in his use of the sharingan. He certainly didn't need someone with a second-hand eye teaching him how to be an Uchiha. This was just the Hokage's way of convincing Naruto to accept Kakashi's involvement in their training and Naruto had fallen for it completely. Could he really be that naive? He wanted to believe that Naruto knew something about Kakashi that he didn't, that he had a valid reason to view the man's involvement as a good thing. Instead all he felt was sinking disappointment. He obviously wasn't the only one who found Naruto easy to manipulate. Naruto was the closest thing to an ally he had in this village and he couldn't even keep him on his side.

"Are you sure you don't want me to bite him?"

Sasuke shot an exasperated glare over his shoulder. Then he groaned. He should have kept an eye on him, should have sat there and hand-fed him if necessary. The little snake was packed so full he could see the individual bulges straining to burst free. It was a wonder he could even move. "Did you eat all of it?"

"I was hungry."

"Obviously," Naruto snorted, his expression torn between a grimace and a grin at the sight of the grotesquely bulging snake.

Terra tried to hiss at him, but all that came out was a meaty belch. Sasuke let out a disgusted sigh. This was his best summon and he looked more like a stuffed sausage than a snake. He dropped into a crouch so Terra wouldn't burst at the seams trying to look up at him. "Go home and digest. The next time I call you, I'll have real work for you to do."

"I should hope so," Terra sniffed. "Uchihas aren't exactly welcome in Konoha. Watch your back. At the first sign of trouble, you're the one they'll blame."

Sasuke released the summon before Terra could say any more. The snake was more than old enough to know all about the clan's break from Konoha. If he was offering information about this village, Sasuke would take him up on that. But not with Naruto standing right behind him. He rose and turned to find Naruto looking upset and defensive. "He's a snake," Sasuke said, as if that explained everything. He had intended it to be a jab for Naruto's uninformative 'Orochimaru did it' explanation last night. He knew his plan had failed when Naruto huffed and relaxed.

"Just as long as you know that's not true. We're the ones who asked for you. Of course you're welcome here. We'd welcome back the entire clan if they were willing. We never wanted them to leave in the first place."

Naruto didn't offer any more than that, so Sasuke didn't ask. He did wonder, though, whether Naruto's 'we' referred to the village as a whole or merely to him and his father. Naruto couldn't have been more than a baby when the clan left, so he would only know what his father had told him. The clan's version of events were bound to be very different.

"Is there somewhere you have to be this afternoon?" asked Sasuke. He had planned to look around for a while, to see if he could find anything useful. But with Terra gone he would have to rely on Naruto to get him back to the apartment or take the long way and walk. He should have done his exploring before feeding the snake.

"I need to talk to some of my friends," Naruto admitted reluctantly. "Sakura isn't the only one curious to meet you. If I don't head them off they're going to end up ambushing us. Don't get me wrong, I want you to meet them. Just not all at once like that."

"Can it wait an hour?"

"Sure," Naruto shrugged. "Why? Do you want to spar a little?"

Sasuke's lips twitched with amusement. Naruto really couldn't tell when he was low on chakra. He supposed he could take that as a compliment. "No. I want to check out some of the sprung traps I spotted last night. You can help." He would wait until they were back in the apartment before telling him he had been locked out this morning. If Naruto guilt-tripped himself as badly over that as he had over locking him out of the bedroom, then he'd be too worried about his mood to bring any of his friends back with him later.

.-.

Sasuke was napping on the couch when Naruto teleported into the livingroom. He tensed at the sudden arrival and then frowned in annoyance. Naruto looked far too happy for someone who had slunk out of here like a whipped dog just a few hours ago. It wasn't natural for a person to change moods as easily and completely as he did. Naruto looked at him expectantly, obviously waiting for him to ask why he was so excited. Sasuke reluctantly sat up. "Does everyone in this village teleport as much as you do?"

"Only chunin and up, and only if they're in a hurry," Naruto said cheerfully. "Guess what!"

"What?" Sasuke muttered.

"You're going to the Academy tomorrow."

"The pregenin Academy?" Sasuke asked quietly. Either Naruto was oblivious to his dangerous tone or he had been expecting it.

"That's the one," Naruto grinned. "I have to put in a shift in the mission room in the morning. My dad does that a few days a week and he likes me to sit in on it with him. Says it's good practice. But there aren't any classes tomorrow, so Iruka-sensei offered to tell you about the ranks while I'm busy out front. You'll like him, everyone does. He already likes you. I told him you wanted to know about the cutoffs and he went right into lecture-mode on me for not knowing enough to explain it to you myself. He can tell you all about the way we do things here, anything you want to know."

"I'd like that," Sasuke admitted. He might change his mind after meeting the man, but the information he had to offer would be worth it even if he proved to be another Kakashi.

"I thought you would." He came over to sit beside him with a small satisfied smile. "He'll also talk to you about Kyuubi and the Uchiha clan leaving. My dad wanted Kakashi to be the one to tell you about that, but Iruka-sensei is a much better choice. He was just a kid at the time, so he saw it from both sides. Once you know all about it, that will be one less topic for us to stumble around. It's hard to talk about much of anything without getting into that."

Sasuke had noticed that himself. Naruto had done well to keep his word, so he supposed he should reward him. "Are you hungry?"

"Always."

A wry smile pulled at Sasuke's mouth. Naruto had done more to earn a feeding than the greedy summon he was unwittingly echoing. "I'll fix us something."

Naruto hovered around the kitchen until Sasuke asked him to wipe down his weapons just to get him out of the way. Having his hands busy didn't stop his mouth from running freely. Not knowing any of the people he was talking about, Sasuke largely ignored him. It wasn't the comfortable silence he would have preferred, but he supposed he could get used to this. He phased him out until he started talking about the drugs and food pills one of his friend's family made.

"You don't use those, do you?" he asked, sending a sharp look over his shoulder at him.

"Not if I can help it," Naruto grimaced. "The crash isn't worth it for me. Sakura tried her hand at some energy pills for me when I was burning myself out with training. I was sleeping twelve hours a day and dragging for another four. I couldn't eat enough to make up for what I was burning. But those pills of hers were the nastiest things I've ever tasted. I decided I'd rather starve in my sleep than tear up my insides trying to digest those things. I don't know how Choji does it. He swears the ones he eats taste great, but he's skin and bones by the time the rush wears off. Choji's a big guy, so that's saying a lot."

"I've never used supplements," Sasuke admitted. "To me it's no different from intentionally poisoning yourself."

"The ones we use in Konoha aren't that bad. The standard ones are really useful if you just need a quick boost, and they're weak enough that they don't cause too much damage. It's the special food pills you have to watch out for. Choji's are specially designed for members of his clan because they're the only ones big enough to burn that much fat and survive."

"Another clan? How many are there in this village?"

"Oh," Naruto winced. "No, I don't really consider the Akimichis a clan, not the way you're thinking. I mean they are technically a clan since they have a clan head that speaks for the family, but they don't isolate themselves. You could call any family that passes unique skills down to each generation a clan if you wanted to. All of the big families have a representative to speak for them. But they're not clans in the traditional sense. We only have two that you'd consider clans, the Hyuuga clan and the Aburame clan. They're very old fashioned and mostly keep to themselves. They resent any 'outside interference' and don't even like their members to interact with people outside the clan. They're the two I'm working on the hardest. The Aburames are really quiet, so I haven't had much luck with them so far. I have two friends in the Hyuuga clan, though. Neji and his cousin. With them on my side we can just wait and outlive their elders if we have to. My dad says when people reach a certain age it's not even worth trying to change their ways. All we can do is keep an eye on them, limit their influence on the younger generations, and put up with their stubborn close-mindedness."

"That's easier said than done when they have ultimate authority over the entire clan." His father had shown that to him the few times he had openly butted heads with the elders. It wasn't enough for the third generation to be open to change when the second was still controlled by the first. That wasn't only true for clans, either. Sand had the same problem with their elderly Kage.

"I know. But there are more of us than there are of them. Once my generation starts having kids we'll double that. We're going to win out in the end," Naruto said confidently. "It's only a matter of time."

He was talking about nothing less than a revolution. Sasuke doubted it would go as smoothly as he hoped. Clan rules and traditions were written in blood. Rather than rally around the outspoken youths who sided with Naruto, a clan was more likely to shun them as traitors and close ranks against them. Being out-numbered would simply make the remainder cling even tighter to the old ways. His own clan was a perfect example of that.

As they ate, Naruto continued to talk about the different backgrounds each of his closest friends had. He occasionally referred to them as clans and eventually he stopped adding reminders that he didn't mean that in the 'traditional' sense. Sasuke knew he was stumbling around that distinction to avoid insulting him. Since he was proud to be a member of his clan, he ignored it for the most part. He added little to the conversation as he picked at his food. His mind was on what he would learn about the clan tomorrow and what, if anything, that would explain about Itachi. He was old enough to have been an active shinobi when the clan left Konoha. Perhaps growing up here was what had left him ripe to turn against the clan. Sasuke couldn't see a single incident causing Itachi to change that much. The seed must have been there all along just waiting for something to make it grow.

"Sasuke? Do you not like your own cooking?"

He glanced up in surprise to find Naruto smiling at him over his own empty plate. He took a quick bite and admitted, "The sauce isn't thick enough and it's too sweet."

"The sauce is what I liked about it," Naruto snorted. "It really covered up the vegetables. The tofu is awful, though. I shouldn't have let that woman talk me into buying it."

"I didn't cook it long enough to absorb the flavor. I'll prep it in advance next time." It was his own fault for not paying more attention to the food Naruto had purchased. Mixing up ingredients to make a well-balanced meal was easy in theory but learning to prepare it would take some work. There was another block and a half of tofu in the refrigerator for him to experiment with. He'd get it right eventually. "If nothing else I can try frying it. In thinner strips the lack of flavor won't be as noticeable."

"If you cook it, I'll eat it. Just don't ask me to try it raw. I know that woman said it's good in salads, but I draw the line at raw vegetables. When it comes to food that isn't ramen, I'm a carnivore at heart. I'd take snake over some rubbery meat substitute any day."

"You did eat quite a bit of that for someone with a fear of snakes."

"It's not a fear," Naruto insisted, "just a...strong dislike. They have a serious creep factor. Even if I didn't automatically connect them to Orochimaru, they're still slithering sneaky things with those flicking forked tongues and slit eyes." He gave an exaggerated shiver of revulsion. "You have to admit they're about as evil-looking as you can get."

Although Naruto was playing it up a bit too much, Sasuke did find it amusing. "Your eyes were red and slitted when you were accessing your demon's chakra. It was very snake-like." Naruto immediately took offense at that, as he had known he would.

"That was not snake-like! They're more like angry cat eyes. And they're only red because Kyuubi is and his chakra is, too. I mean, yeah, it's a little evil-looking, but it's demonic chakra. What do you expect it to look like? He's a fox demon, so when I channel him I come out looking like some rabid fox. I know. But that's nothing like a snake. I've seen Orochimaru do the snake thing, with the long slithering tongue and the slit yellow eyes. That's creepy as hell, and it's nothing like what I do."

"If you say so," Sasuke drawled. "At least you're channeling a fox rather than a toad."

Naruto started to say something only to bite his lip. He dropped his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. When he spoke it was in a small reluctant voice. "My dad does that. And his eyes do turn yellow." His eyes flashed up defensively. "But they're not slitted! It doesn't look snake-like at all."

"But you don't do that?"

Naruto dropped his eyes again, this time with a frown. "Not yet. I'm hoping I won't have to. I could get more with Kyuubi than I ever could with toads. That was my dad's path, passed on from Jiraiya. I have my own." His eyes flicked back up, suddenly radiating confidence. "Your summon was right about one thing. Snakes do eat toads. But foxes kill snakes."

"Is that a threat?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Naruto laughed. "You might summon snakes, but as far as I'm concerned you're more like a cat than a reptile. Solitary and stubborn and too curious for your own good. With you and Kyuubi on my side our kids will never have the threat of Orochimaru hanging over their heads."

Since they were talking about a Kage-level shinobi Sasuke didn't see where he would be much help. It was nice to know he would be included in Naruto's plans, though. That meant Naruto was no longer viewing him solely as a bed-warmer. "Is Kyuubi on your side?" From what little he'd heard about demons he had thought they were more like captive energy sources than cooperative entities. That was one of the reasons the hosts they were sealed in continued to be feared - there was always the risk that the captive would escape.

"Not at the moment," Naruto said reluctantly. "I don't want to talk about that right now. I'm in a good mood and I want to keep it that way. Let's talk about you. I've told you all about my friends. Tell me about yours."

"I don't have any," Sasuke said flatly. "I could tell you my appraisals of the people I've worked more than once with, but that would probably interest Ibiki more than it would you." He could have told him a few things about the boys who had made up the team Naruto's squad had killed, but he didn't feel like sending him into another guilty fit. "I can tell you who Gotou is," he offered, when Naruto looked disappointed.

"The guy Kakashi wants to drown?" Naruto perked up. "Sure!"

"You've already heard about him. He's the jounin that Sand assigned to me. He's afraid of Gaara, water, and the sharingan. He has no concept of loyalty or sacrifice. He's a pawn, and not a very useful one at that."

Naruto blinked for a moment before making a face at him. "You really didn't like your instructor, huh? That's a pretty low appraisal. I was hoping to hear about someone you liked. Isn't there anyone you worked with that you'd like to see again? Or a clan member that you're going to miss seeing all the time?"

The only people he would miss were members of his immediate family, namely his mother. That was none of Naruto's business. "There was a pair of Mist shinobi I'd like to see again. They attacked me while I was lying in wait for a target. I'd like to know why they decided not to kill me. They had the look of missing-nin, though, so they're probably dead by now."

"Well, that's depressing." Naruto let out a weak laugh. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about you right now. If a brush with some missing-nin is your idea of a fond memory then I don't think I'm ready to hear the bad ones. My worst memory is the chunin exam. That probably won't compare to yours and I really do want to keep my good mood."

His worst memory was learning the katon jutsu. Week after week of fear and failure. He had hidden his fear of water for almost three years before realizing anyone could have trained him out of it had he simply admitted it. Knowing that made the memory even worse. He didn't like to think about it. Talking about it certainly wouldn't put him in a good mood. "What's your fondest memory?"

"Joining the Academy," Naruto said instantly. "It was my first chance to get to know all of the kids my age. It took me a little while to make friends, but once I did those were the best years of my life. What's yours?"

"Finishing my first mission," Sasuke smirked. The difference between them couldn't have been more blatant. "The members of the retrieval team were my father's age. I was so proud of the way they looked at me with fear and respect. I had never gotten that from an adult, let alone trained shinobi. It took a few years before I realized that reaction had more to do with my being an Uchiha than with anything I actually did on my missions." If it hadn't been for his father his arrogance would have gotten completely out of hand.

"The Uchiha clan does have a reputation. I'm surprised you don't have one, though. I'd never heard your name anywhere before Gaara gave it to me."

"That's because I never gave my name. My employers were hiring an Uchiha. It didn't matter which one they got. Itachi is the only Uchiha anyone ever asked for by name."

"I guess it was safer for you that way. It doesn't seem fair, though." Naruto sighed and smiled apologetically. "Everyone's going to know your name before long. We'll have to be careful. If any of the people who used to hire you realize you're in Konoha they might send their requests here. I'm not about to share you with other villages."

"You said Konoha turns down the sort of requests the clan takes, so I doubt there will be any conflict due to my being here." If anyone did recognize him and care about where he was now, it would be Sound worrying about what information he might have to share. "I haven't done a mission in years. The only ones likely to remember me are Sound and Mist, and Konoha doesn't deal with them anyway."

"We still deal with Mist," Naruto said, wrinkling his nose. "They have such a bad track record with missing nin that we have to deal with them. We just don't like to."

Sasuke took their dishes to the sink and began cleaning up. Naruto followed him.

"You cooked, so I'll do the dishes," said Naruto.

"You're offering to clean?"

Naruto ignored his skeptical tone. "We have to get up early in the morning, so we should turn in soon."

Considering it was barely evening now, Sasuke could see exactly where Naruto was going with this. He took the dish liquid out of Naruto's hand so he was forced to look at him. His eyes were far too easy to read. "I'll 'turn in' with you if I can sleep on the couch afterward. Alone."

Naruto looked torn, and a little confused. "I don't think it's right to use sex as a bargaining point..."

"I do." Naruto did as well or he would never have propositioned him in the first place. He handed the bottle back and turned to gather the weapons Naruto had pushed to the side of the table earlier. "Think about it while you're doing the dishes. I'll be in the livingroom."

Sasuke sat on the floor in front of the couch. The items he had picked up in the forest were spread out on the table. He set his weapons aside and looked over the curiosities he had found. Naruto hadn't understood why he wanted things he had no idea how to use. He hadn't been able to explain why that made them especially attractive. Because he didn't know what their original function had been he was free to use them however he liked. This was one of his favorite aspects of being a shinobi. Although he was limited in what he could actually do, and even more limited in what he could do well, there were no limits to what he could conceive of. Just looking around that forest gave him as many ideas as a mission might have. A larger variety of shinobi had passed through that forest than he had ever fought himself. He didn't need to fight those strangers in order to learn from them. Whether or not anything he picked up had a practical application in his own ninjutsu didn't matter. Keeping his mind open to new possibilities was just as important as improving on his known weaknesses. He had learned that lesson very early. His missions had been straight-forward with the plan of attack clearly outlined for him in advance. All he'd had to do was follow his orders precisely. But none of that helped when he had encountered unknown shinobi on his way to and from those missions. He'd had to develop his own tactics to deal with the unexpected. While he couldn't say he was particularly quick at thinking on his feet, he did enjoy it.

He was looking at an odd double kunai when Naruto quietly joined him. He didn't look up. It didn't matter to him which option Naruto had chosen. He had made the offer to see how Naruto would react to being forced to choose one or the other. Technically he could have both. Sasuke had agreed to that from the start and wouldn't refuse if Naruto called on him to keep his part of their deal. Naruto was the one who had decided to give him a choice in the matter. He was curious to see how long that would last once Naruto realized what it really meant. He could easily choose to reap the benefits of this situation without offering anything in return.

"A double-sided weapon might be useful against my clones," Naruto offered quietly. "But only if you learn to use it without cutting yourself."

"Maybe." The circle was small enough to grip comfortably, but the blades were too close together. A windmill shuriken would be far more practical if the point was to wield multiple blades one-handed. As far as he could tell the weapon had been used to set off a trap, most likely from a distance. He hadn't found any chakra wire on the scene, so he had to assume it had either been thrown or released from a larger weapon of some kind. As deeply as it had bitten into the tree there had to have been considerable force involved, possibly even wind chakra. His instructor had demonstrated the cutting power of that often enough.

"What's so special about these?" Naruto asked, lifting one of the small curved blades they had found strung along a thick log. "Lots of people wrap spiked chains around logs and boulders when they're setting up traps."

"These come apart," Sasuke pointed out. He picked up one of the blades, running a finger along the concave groove cut into the edge of the small circle at its base. "You can string them securely or hold them to the wire with chakra to be released at will." That they had been used on a spring trap seemed wasteful to him. He had to wonder about a shinobi who would throw them away as if they had no more value than barbs strewn along the ground. They should have at least been rigged to release if the log were spotted and cut down.

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked so determined and noble that Sasuke immediately knew what he was going to say. "If you want a night away from me, all you have to do is ask. You don't need to have sex with me in order to get it. I know I'm clingy, so I understand why you'd want a break from me. When you need some space, just tell me. I'm already getting what I want the most just by having you here."

"You're a push-over," Sasuke stated. "It's very unattractive." In an instant Naruto's noble self-sacrificing expression was replaced by a scowl. That looked much better on him. "If we don't sleep together and we don't have sex, then having me here will be no different from having one of those friends of yours move in with you. Don't tell me you could be satisfied with that. You wouldn't have asked me to be your lover if all you wanted was a roommate."

"I don't get you," Naruto groaned. "I'm trying to be considerate of your feelings and you're throwing it in my face? What do you want me to do?"

"Be honest. I've seen enough of your stubbornness to know you're not weak-willed. Stop acting like you are. I detest weak-willed people."

"What, then? You want me to be an inconsiderate jerk?"

"Do I have to pick one extreme or the other?" His tone wasn't nearly as sarcastic as Naruto's had been. "Find a comfortable middle ground. Pushing for what you want won't make you a jerk so long as you don't attempt to force me. Likewise, conceding when I'm reluctant won't make you weak. I wanted to sleep alone last night but I decided not to ask because you didn't force me to have sex with you when I was reluctant to do so. Tonight I wouldn't mind having sex with you because it will leave me free to sleep alone without feeling that I'm not fulfilling my part of our deal. You're the one who said being lovers was about compromise. Have you changed your mind about that?"

"No." Naruto's scowl faded into a perplexed frown. "You told your summon we were lovers. I don't know why you did that, but I liked hearing you say it. I don't want you to think of yourself as a whore who has to have sex with me in order to earn privileges. I never saw it that way and I never will. I told you from the start that so long as you stay with me you won't lose anything whether we have sex or not."

"You gave me that out so that if I didn't like sex I wouldn't have to do it anymore. We know that isn't an issue now. As for what I told Terra, it was necessary. He was bound to smell you on me. If he knew I let myself be coerced into this he would lose all respect for me. Whether I agree with your definition or not, most people will assume we're lovers. I'd rather my summon believe the same."

"Then you still see it as-"

"Of course," Sasuke said firmly. "You can't convince me otherwise. That doesn't mean I won't claim you as my lover. As far as Terra is concerned, you being my lover means I'm responsible for you. He may not agree with my choice, but he won't attack you or yours without my express permission. Honestly, I'd rather have you as my lover than my keeper. If you remove sex from the equation you'll be no different from your father, just another gaoler to watch me and make sure I adhere to the conditions set for me. I could live with that, but I seriously doubt you could without resenting me for not giving what you yourself decided you could do without. Think carefully before you make that choice. I agreed to stay with you regardless. Are you really prepared to live in abstinence indefinitely?" Naruto couldn't even go one night without sulking and feeling rejected. Sasuke couldn't imagine himself having the patience to tolerate a week of him acting that way, let alone years.

"I sure as hell don't want you thinking of me the same way you think of my father," Naruto grimaced. "That's just disturbing. On multiple levels. And, no, I don't want to give up sex with you now that I know you can enjoy it as much as I do. Physically," he acknowledged, with a wry smile. "If we had never done it I could have been content to go without, telling myself it's better to hope we will someday than to do it now and find out you're one of those people who just doesn't like it. Now it's too late for that. I've had a taste and now I'm addicted." He admitted that without shame and with only a little visible embarrassment. "I can't give it up altogether. What I can do is reign in my desires for your sake. If you're willing to have sex with me tonight I'd love to take you up on that offer. But you don't have to. You won't ever have to. That's all I was trying to say. Compromise doesn't mean you have to give me one or the other each time in order to be fair. It just means I let you have your way as often as you let me have mine. I know you held me last night to make me happy. I don't mind leaving you alone tonight to make you happy."

They were right back where they had started, Sasuke realized with a heavy dose of exasperation. For someone biased against rigid clans, Naruto was very set in his ways. He was confident he had it all figured out. Arguing with him was pointless. Sasuke couldn't explain how unappealing it was for him to imagine living with someone who tiptoed around him out of fear of being rejected. He wouldn't have wanted a wife that meek. How Naruto could think he would be 'happy' with a male lover who behaved that way was beyond him. What Naruto considered being 'considerate' he considered being a total pushover. He would take advantage of it, though. He'd be a fool not to.

"It's up to you," Sasuke said. If Naruto was sulking and resentful in the morning he would just do his best to ignore it. He had made an offer. Naruto was the one turning him down. That was strangely ironic. He had assumed it would be the other way around.

"Are you going to clean these?" Naruto asked, in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

"Only if I decide to keep them." Since they were obviously finished discussing their relationship, Sasuke turned his attention back to the weapons. The smaller pieces were corroded, most of them having been on the bottom of the fallen log. As thin as they were, he would have to be very careful in cleaning them if he decided it was worth it.

"We could probably find some new ones here in Konoha, or order some specially made if they didn't originate here."

"There's no need for that." He doubted he would use them often enough to justify getting new ones made when these were still serviceable. If Naruto was eager to spend money to outfit him, there were other things he would rather have. "The next time you stock up on equipment you can get me a supply of senbon and chakra wire. Those are things I take for granted that you don't have much of."

"I'll get some," Naruto promised. "I only use chakra wire for traps, that's why I don't have much. Senbon I've never really used at all. The ones I do have are ones I've been hit with, that I didn't have time to remove until later." He gave a sheepish smile. "It's been a few years since I've been hit with one, so that's not as bad as it sounds."

That explained why he only had a few of them. "Do you rely mainly on taijutsu and ninjutsu, then?"

"Yeah. I'm good at catching people off guard, but if I have a choice I prefer upfront one-on-one fights. I'm a heavy-hitter so I'd rather single out the strongest opponent. I know with my chakra I could use bunshin to thin the ranks in a big fight, it's just not my preferred fighting style. I'd only do that if I were following someone else's strategy. Like I said, I've mostly done solo missions. The biggest battle I've taken part in was against your team and that doesn't really count since I didn't get to do much. We didn't know until it was too late that you were the strongest, and I wouldn't have been allowed to fight you directly even if we had known." From his expression he looked both relieved and disappointed about that. "We were supposed to be saving our chakra until we found the real enemies we were looking for. I didn't know who they were at the time, just that they'd be strong enough to give an entire Anbu team a difficult fight. Can you confirm it now? We already had our suspicions that an Uchiha might have been involved from the start. That Sound team infiltrated the village a little too easily. Once Kakashi recognized your sharingan it was obvious you'd been sent to delay us for a reason. But we never had any concrete proof. Itachi was involved in that, wasn't he?"

"What difference would it make if he was?" asked Sasuke. He had already admitted to Ibiki that he had taken orders from Sound. If necessary he would point out that Sand had been dealing with Sound themselves despite their public claims to the contrary. Either way, it was too late to hold the clan responsible for things that had taken place before the truce unless they were planning to hold Sand responsible as well. If Konoha was counting Sand innocent of any involvement in Orochimaru's attack on Naruto, then he doubted they wanted to acknowledge any other traitorous actions they'd had a hand in at the time.

"It won't change anything," Naruto said quickly. "Officially it was just another of Sound's attempts to mess with us. No one has acknowledged that an Uchiha was a member of the team sent to slow down our pursuit even after we knew who you were. Even if you confirm that Itachi was involved, it won't make any difference in how we view the incident. It's over with. I only asked because we know he infiltrated our village with a Mist nin. If we verify that he was part of that Sound team it might mean there's something going on with Mist and Sound now, with Itachi in the middle of it. That would be a worst case scenario for us right now. But I understand if you're not comfortable talking about it. I shouldn't have brought it up. My dad might be able to negotiate a confirmation from your clan's elders now that we have a truce. They have as much to worry about with Itachi running loose as we do."

"Get your information from them. The clan never told me about Itachi's missions, or anything else he did. I didn't even know he had openly infiltrated Konoha and attacked two of your shinobi until my Sand instructor informed me of it the day I left." He only had his instructor's word that Itachi had been part of that Sound team. He believed him about that, but he didn't believe Itachi had done it without Sand's knowledge. With all of the politics Konoha was playing with Sand he would prefer to leave it to the clan to decide what 'official' story to give, if any. For all he knew they would deny his involvement as well as Itachi's.

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Naruto insisted. "It's bad enough that Ibiki wants to question you without me doing it, too. Forget I said anything." He snatched up the double kunai, trying out different holds that might be used with it. After a minute or two he attempted to twirl it around two fingers. He obviously wasn't using any chakra to hold it because as soon as he got it spinning at a fast rate it slipped free to clatter across the table. He promptly folded his hands in his lap and dropped his eyes with a dark blush. He looked awkward enough that the clumsiness probably hadn't been intentional. Sasuke snorted softly but didn't comment.

"So," Naruto mumbled after a while. "Are you still willing?"

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and he turned to stare at his shame-faced partner. After all of that talk about how content he was to go without, he still hoped to have sex tonight? His expression was exasperated by the time Naruto finally worked up the nerve to look at him. "You said I didn't have to," he reminded him.

"You don't," Naruto said quickly. "You don't have to do anything. I'll leave you alone now if that's what you want. I just figured it was worth asking. You being 'willing' is a lot better than you not being 'particularly reluctant,' so..."

Once again Naruto wanted it both ways. By stressing the point that he didn't 'have to' he hoped to get what he wanted without feeling like he was forcing him. The end result was the same. It was up to Sasuke to decide how much he was obligated to do. He wondered if Naruto was playing the same sort of politics with him that Konoha was playing with Sand. For someone who placed importance on honesty, Naruto had trouble calling things like they were. Whether he gave in because of their agreement or because it would prevent Naruto from pouting or being resentful tomorrow, he did 'have to' do it. That was why he had made the offer in the first place. Rather than get into another argument, which he now realized was little more than a semantic debate, he simply gave in. He had planned to have sex with him from the start if it meant he could spend the night alone. That Naruto viewed it as anything other than a trade made no difference to him. It was still a trade.

"Alright," Sasuke said simply. "Do you want to shower first?"

"Sure!" Naruto beamed and hopped up. "I'll be quick."

Sasuke shook his head as he watched him bound down the hall. If nothing else, he would learn from this. The next time it looked like Naruto was offering to forgo sex in order to make him happy he would simply let him babble. If he had to listen to Naruto convince himself that it wasn't a trade before he'd accept a trade, so be it. He was more comfortable having sex with him than he was sleeping with him, and it was far more interesting. Maybe once Naruto got used to this he would skip the self-delusion and simply accept what he offered. Sasuke didn't consider himself a positive person by nature, but in this case he decided to hope for the best.

An hour later found him back in the livingroom physically satisfied but thoroughly disgruntled. They'd had sex. Or, to be more accurate, he'd had sex with Naruto. And that was it. He was surprised to find himself disappointed that Naruto hadn't asked for more. Given Naruto's perversion and his fondness for kink he had expected any sex with him to be interesting if not physically demanding. The only thing challenging this time had been getting himself worked up enough to come as quickly as Naruto had. Some heavy kissing toward the end had taken care of that. He didn't know why he was disappointed. Topping Naruto was certainly more convenient for him. The clean up was definitely simpler and he had no physical discomfort afterward. Still, maybe he had looked forward to it, though not for the same reasons Naruto did. He had expected each encounter to introduce something new, something different that he would have to struggle with. If he had known Naruto could be satisfied just from bottoming he wouldn't have resisted so much last night. He wondered if that was the reason Naruto hadn't asked for more tonight. Maybe he really was trying to hold back out of consideration for him. If this was the result it meant sex with him would be physically satisfying and mentally boring. He hated being bored. Rather than feeling grateful that Naruto was being considerate, he went to bed on the couch fully convinced that he had less reason than ever to look forward to having sex with him.

.-.
TBC