The end of August in Jungle Country turned out to be the thick of monsoon season.

A bit of rain was nothing new, to Fire Country natives like them. Accustomed to wet winters and wetter springs, quenching the thirst of sprawling forests that gave Konoha it's name.

This was no mere bit of rain.

"What the fuuuck," Naruto groaned loudly, as the already ferocious downpour somehow managed to increase in intensity around them, "How?!"

Beneath their sandals, the ample puddles drowning the muddy road continued to erupt in a chaotic dance as raindrops pelted their surface in an endless, violent onslaught.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto from underneath the hood of his standard, Konoha-issue cloak. Naruto looked miserable, like a drowned puppy, peering listlessly up at the cruel sky from the shadows of his own hood. Their trek from the base of of Earth Country's easternmost mountains into the wilds of Jungle Country had been a stark departure from the rest of their journey so far. Their lackadaisical pace replaced by a bitter slog along swampy back roads, pace slowed to a crawl not by distraction or leisure, but the arduousness of the travel itself.

He reached out, snagging Naruto's empty sleeve, pulling his attention away from the menacing storm clouds roiling overhead. He opened his mouth, prepared to shout his alternative proposal over the din of the storm—

A earsplitting shriek broke through the monsoon's uproar.

It couldn't have come from far, Sasuke surmised, not with the thunderous white noise of rain buffeting every leaf and puddle in a twenty mile radius. No, whoever it was must have been just up around the bend in the road ahead—

Naruto took off up the road, chakra laden feet skimming the tops of the puddles in a dead sprint, cloak whipping out behind him, before Sasuke could voice any of those thoughts.

Sasuke smothered the urge to groan. That reckless moron.

A quick flare of chakra later and Naruto was back to where he started, blinking at Sasuke in annoyance where'd he'd taken Naruto's place farther up the road.

Too far away to communicate without shouting and blowing any cover the rain provided, Sasuke jerked his head pointedly toward the trees flanking the road before leaping into their branches. Naruto thankfully took the hint, following close behind.

Sasuke managed to catch it this time, when Naruto surreptitiously summoned a trio of bushin, as soon as they entered the forest proper. The clones remained behind as he and Sasuke continued to soar through the dense branches toward the distant sounds of a scuffle— and bewilderingly, the braying of a donkey— becoming clearer the farther along they went.

They slowed, as the road came back into view, curving to the north. At least Naruto was willing to bend to Sasuke's sense of caution now. Sasuke took extra care to muffle his landing, bracing himself against the thick trunk of a tree within a few meters of the road itself. Next to him, Naruto's halt was surprisingly muted as well. As one, they carefully peered through the sleet toward the commotion up ahead.

Four rough looking men, surrounding a pair of soggy travelers. A man and a woman, from what Sasuke could tell through the bulk of their traveling clothes. Off to the side, an ornery mule was tethered to a roughshod cart with a broken wheel.

The man was slumped at the feet of what Sasuke could only assume were roadside bandits. None of them wore typical shinobi gear or hitai-ate and their weapons consisted of simple axes and pikes.

Not so much trouble then. Naruto's clones amassing nature energy behind them would likely be more than overkill.

Sasuke flinched as the foremost bandit whipped their slouched victim over the head with the handle of his ax. Not out of any sort of sympathy— the blow couldn't have been that terrible, from the likes of a untrained thief— but because Sasuke knew the moment the man tumbled to the drenched earth that any sense of discretion Naruto had managed to exercise up until that point would be—

Naruto launched himself toward the thugs without a backward glance.

— thrown out the window.

Before the bandit could so much as blink, Naruto was on him. Tackling him into the thick mud with a grisly snarl. His compatriots staggered away in alarm. With a swirl of his cloak, Sasuke followed, engaging the remaining croonies before they had the chance to collect themselves from where Naruto's careless charge caught them off guard.

As Sasuke cut one down with a precise chop to their jugular, it became readily apparent just how out classed these goons truly were. More familiar with preying upon defenseless civilians rather than a pair of ninja born and raised in a Hidden Village.

Honestly, it was kind of refreshing.

A real fight, but with no true stakes or discernible risks. No need to tap into the full power he'd spent years of his life honing. It was practically playful, compared to every other battle he'd fought in recent years.

Might as well have fun with it, he thought.

His next opponent shouted in dismay as he vanished, dropping suddenly to his knee in the sloppy mud. Unmindful of the sludge that would surely coat him after, he braced his hand against the oozing muck, launching a vicious kick upward to nail his opponent on the underside of his vulnerable jaw, sending him flying.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto's attention snap toward him.

Sasuke didn't wait a moment before giving chase, twisting onto all fours— or more technically, threes— to fling himself into the air along the same trajectory.

Floating through the air underneath the thug, he tapped two fingers against the man's ribs, causing him to gasp, "Wh-what're you—?"

Not giving him a chance to finish, Sasuke pushed out with his hand, shoving the man directly into a solid roundhouse kick from his right side. With a grunt, his enemy flinched away, directly into yet another savage kick on his left. Sasuke felt a spatter of blood against his bare hand, when the man coughed.

The man began to descend steadily, under the force of the subsequent blows. As he passed, Sasuke spun, bringing his arm around to collide with the man's sternum in a heavy hammerfist, sending them both plummeting toward the sea of mud below.

Breaking into a dive, Sasuke used his momentum to curl himself up, gaining speed. Just before they crashed, he uncoiled with a flourish. His heel slammed into the man's torso as he called out his finishing blow—

"Shishi Rendan!"*

Waves of mud shot out from the force of the man's body ramming the ground with a deafening thud, audible even over the torrent of the storm. Sasuke was standing from his three point crouch, fruitlessly attempting to brush the muck from his clothes, when the sounds of shouting reached his ears.

Concern flooded him suddenly— Naruto— had those goons managed pulled out some trick when he hadn't been looking— too busy playing around to—?

A warm, heavy weight collided with his back, "Sasuke! You— That was—!"

The tension bled from him instantly, at the sound of Naruto's breathless excitement.

Sasuke tried to hold back a smile as he glanced down at his unconscious opponent, buried in the cracked, damp clay exposed by the displaced mud.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before, dobe," he chuckled, unsure what all the fuss was about.

He felt Naruto's nose bury itself between the material of his cloak and the cold skin of his neck, the humidity of his breath fanning over Sasuke's shoulder. A strong arm wound around Sasuke's chest from behind.

"I d-don't know why," Naruto murmured against him, sounding agitated, "But I just wanna fuck you so bad right now, y'know— it's horrible."

Sasuke barked out a startled laugh, "My genin moves really do it for you, huh?"

"Don't think that's it," Naruto said, "It's good to see you enjoying a fight again though. Haven't seen you like that in a long time, even if it was like watching a cat play with a mouse."

"Speaking of," Sasuke turned within the embrace, glancing back over to where the three clones had the remaining thugs trussed up like turkeys ready for plucking. At the same time, he caught sight of the woman, clutching her unconscious partner to her chest, staring at the pair of them with wide, violet eyes.

Abruptly aware of their intimate proximity, Sasuke brought his arm up, putting a more respectable distance between them. Naruto let him go easily enough, following Sasuke's gaze.

With a sigh, Naruto turned more fully toward her.

"Oi! You alright?" he called out, shouting to be heard over the ongoing storm.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered, barely loud enough to be heard at this distance, looking startled at being addressed at all, "B-but my— Jun is—"

Sasuke huffed a breath, "C'mon, usuratonkachi," he took a step toward the pair, dragging Naruto along with him by his cloak, "Let's get them patched up."

It took hardly anytime at all for two of the clones to repair the wagon wheel, while the third hoisted the man and woman into the cart, bundled up amongst the stacked crates and barrels. Sasuke and the original Naruto managed to jury-rig a canopy out of one of the tarps covering some of the packaged cargo, securing it over four hastily erected branches at the cart's corners. Sasuke normally wouldn't have spared much thought toward anyone's comfort in such a way, only one thing became clear as they'd tended the traveler's scrapes and bruises—

The woman— Ai, she'd called herself— was pregnant. Heavily so.

They were refugees, she'd said, though Sasuke couldn't determine from where, with no wars currently raging to explain their displacement. All that was clear was that they had no where to go. Sasuke would be the last person to claim any knowledge of the finer points of obstetrics, but in his unprofessional opinion, the woman looked ready to pop at any given moment. Even he knew a woman in her condition couldn't afford to catch a cold days from bringing new life into the world.

So they did their best to spare her and her injured husband the worst of the monsoon's effects, as Naruto took the mule's lead in hand, heading for the dim peaks of the lowland mountains to their north.

As they walked, Sasuke slanted Naruto a glance from under the safety of his hood.

Compared to his defeated posture from earlier, Naruto had clearly gained his second wind. Vibrant and glowing, even through the bleak downpour that surrounded them. Naruto had always been that way, hadn't he? So eager to save the day. Bolstered by the opportunity to help those who needed it. Where did he get it? From what deep corners of his person did he find that compassion, after having none offered to him for so long?

As if sensing Sasuke's gaze, Naruto looked over with a grin, "What?"

"Nothing," Sasuke grunted, though his lips twitched under that bright scrutiny, "You're just ridiculous, is all."

Naruto snorted, looking back toward the thin marshy trail, meandering toward the base of the peaks, "You're in a weird mood."

"You're in a weird mood," Sasuke shot back, "No one should look that happy, soaking wet."

"I'm having a good time!" Naruto laughed, "It good to get to do this kind of thing again, isn't it?"

Sasuke huffed, "I could do without all the mud, personally."

It was true. After his little performance during the fight, he had filth caked in places he really preferred not to think about.

"Maybe you shoulda thought of that before you decided to show off, huh?"

"It's too late to pretend you didn't enjoy it."

Naruto ducked his head, "Yeah, yeah. Don't let it go to your head or anything, y'know."

As they continued to chat throughout their gloomy trek, Sasuke had to appreciate the change in tone the day had taken. The easy jibs, friendly banter— it could have been ripped from the script of their days on Team Seven. Though the finer details— the warmer tinge to Naruto's smile, the softer fluttering in Sasuke's chest— made all the difference. A reminder that they were walking a new road, together. Even when that road was sometimes soggy and miserable.