Title: Falling is Like This (2?)

Author: WolfPilot06

Pairing: SasuNaru

Warnings: Slightly AU, shonen ai, death of major character, angst, slight language.

Notes: And with a little tiny bit of transition, Wolfie plunges into plot. Now, this was actually rather deliberate. When a person dies, life doesn't give you a break. It just goes on. This doesn't mean that the effects of a person's death aren't felt, though…

Please, if you read, please review. This is my current baby, and the fact that so few people seem to like it is a little disheartening.


Life went on after Uzumaki Naruto died.

The world did not seem to care that Konoha's number one ninja at surprising people had pulled his ultimate unexpected trump card and died. Konoha still received missions, Tsunade still had to issue orders, and Naruto's friends still had to carry them out.

It was all terribly unfair.

--

Tsunade sighed, tapping her pen against the desktop in a rapid staccato as she peered blearily at the two shinobi standing across from her. Dusk had fallen long ago, and though there was nothing Tsunade would have loved more than to be able to fall asleep at her desk, she had work to do. Tsunade began doodling on her blotter, ignoring the fact that Shizune would take her to task for defacing the fifth one this week.

"Where is he?" she burst out irritably. Shikamaru sighed, shifting his weight and looking at the ceiling in bored askance.

"He's been late to practically every mission briefing since – " he paused, his easy-going expression tightening for a moment as he grimaced. "Let's just say that he's not taking Naruto's death well."

"None of us are," Tsunade muttered darkly. Still, her anger abated a little. They were all suffering in the aftermath of Naruto's death. Half the time, they found themselves waiting for a familiar boisterous voice to hail them from down the street or turning upon seeing a spot of orange in their peripheral vision. It was almost as if Naruto's ghost walked the streets of Konoha, his face and laughter so fresh in their memories as to almost be real.

"Well – " The second shinobi piped up uncertainly, her pale face drawn and weary, "H-He almost seems – angry. It's as if he blames N-Naruto-kun for…for d-d-dying." Her voice trailed away.

Tsunade viewed the delicate Hyuuga heir sympathetically. Of all of Naruto's friends, Hinata had taken Naruto's death particularly hard. One didn't have to be a genius to figure that the girl had been desperately in love with the irascible blond, and that he had never thought to realize that she did.

"In a way, he is." Shikamaru scowled at the floorboards, lazily scuffing patterns in the dust with the toe of his shoe, "He and Naruto were always weirdos. They had this twisted agreement that they'd be the ones to kill each other, or something." A half-wry, half-sad smile twisted his lips. "We even had a betting pool as to when they'd finally snap and strangle each other to death."

"How interesting," noted a cool voice. Shikamaru stiffened, his expression growing wary. The Uchiha heir was perched on the windowsill, dark eyes boring into the genius relentlessly. Shikamaru shuddered at the violence implicit in Sasuke's gaze and found himself calculating the chances that he'd be able to catch Sasuke's shadow before Chidori found itself a new home in his chest. "I'd be fascinated to know what your bet was, Nara."

The shadow-user licked his suddenly dry lips nervously, noting as he did that Tsunade had straightened imperceptibly in her chair, and that Hinata subtly had placed herself between Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"I didn't place a bet," Shikamaru said, his voice calmer than he felt, "I figured the probability of your actually killing each other was too small." He smiled weakly, "I thought the chances of Naruto choking to death on ramen were much higher."

Sasuke snorted quietly and stood, approaching his two fellow shinobi with catlike grace. Shikamaru only relaxed when his companion came to a stop on Hinata's other side and faced Tsunade, hands akimbo at his sides as if he'd been standing there the entire while, waiting for Tsunade's orders.

The Fifth Hokage sighed loudly, muttered something about troublesome brats under her breath, and pushed a folder across her desk. The tension in the room immediately shifted as the three Leaf-nin snapped to attention.

"I'm sending you three on a B-ranked reconnaissance mission," Tsunade said without preamble, "Apparently, around Kirigakure, there have been multiple sightings of dead people come to life."

The three looked at her incredulously, though Sasuke's look was more of a disbelieving glance before he went back to perusing the contents of the folder. Tsunade laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them.

"The Mist shinobi are baffled as to the origins of these sightings. They claim that it's not genjutsu, though it would have to be a pretty high-level one to confuse so many people at one time."

Sasuke next gave the folder to Shikamaru, dark eyes shifting back to watch Tsunade silently.

"A lot of trouble seems to originate in Kirigakure," Shikamaru noted dryly after scanning the mission report quickly and giving it to Hinata. "That Zabuza guy Team Seven fought came from there, as did that shark-faced Akatsuki member and Orochimaru's pet psycho."

Tsunade snorted at Shikamaru's referral to the Kaguya clan member that Gaara and Lee had reported fighting, though she secretly agreed that anyone who followed Orochimaru so blindly had to be either incredibly stupid or psychotic to an extreme.

"What are you suggesting we do?" she asked, amused, "I can't exactly send a task force down there to wipe them out. We've got a tentative treaty of sorts with them, and they still have five of their Seven Swordsmen."

"We've got him." Shikamaru suggested jokingly, hooking at thumb at the impassive Sasuke. His expression grew serious again. "As far as I can determine, our mission is merely to determine the source of the trouble." He carefully watched her face, "We're not to deal with the problem if we do find it, though?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"Kirigakure hasn't given us permission to act on their land," she said, "They've only asked us to lend them the Sharingan and Byakugan to look into the matter. They lack doujutsu users."

Sasuke merely grunted, though Hinata nodded her understanding. Surprisingly, it was she who spoke next.

"Tsunade-sama," she began hesitantly, "These reports seem a little odd. It seems as if the 'living dead' possess actual, corporeal forms, rather than illusionary bodies." Hinata leafed through the report again, pulling out a page. "In this report, it says that the dead retained some characteristics from when they were alive, and that their movements were jerky and erratic. If it were genjutsu, one would think that the caster would make the reanimated dead look, well, more reanimated, no?"

Tsunade nodded, contemplating the Hyuuga's words. Hinata had a great deal of sense when she wasn't busy stuttering and being uncertain; Tsunade had learned to value her insight greatly.

"It might be an imperfect genjutsu," Tsunade suggested, "These dead people don't seem to be doing much more than stumbling around and staring at people. Someone may merely be trying to perfect the technique."

Again, Hinata spoke, her voice thoughtful.

"Somehow, I don't think so, Tsunade-sama," she disagreed, "My instinct is telling me that this is something of a game. The dead appear around people they once knew, and after they've gotten the people's attention, they disappear again. It's almost as if the person summoning them is playing around with people's minds."

Shikamaru straightened a little at that, his bored expression becoming a bit more alert at Hinata's words. The other three present glanced at him, all too familiar with the calculating look on his face.

"You have a theory, don't you, Shikamaru?" Tsunade said, arching an eyebrow.

The shadow-user looked slightly shifty.

"I do, and I don't," he said evasively. "I'll have to see these 'living dead' myself to be sure, though. If it's alright, we'll leave tomorrow at daybreak. We should reach Kirigakure by nightfall; we'll rest tomorrow night and investigate these so-called 'living dead' the day after."

Tsunade nodded and gave Sasuke, who had yet to say anything on the matter, a searching look.

"What about you, Sasuke? Do you have any ideas?"

Sasuke's expression remained bland, but for a moment, Tsunade swore she saw his gaze darken, as if in response to a particularly bad memory. He shook his head slightly. Tsunade frowned; the Uchiha scion was keeping something from her, but whatever it was, she would have a hell of a time prying it from his stubborn mouth.

Sighing, Tsunade waved her hand limply at them.

"Go off, then. Get some rest. I expect you back by the end of the week; send a report if you encounter enemies and need help. Dismissed!"

She turned back to the reports lying on her desk, waiting until after she heard the distinctive 'pop' of teleportation jutsus before she allowed herself to relax again. Sighing heavily, she half-heartedly picked through a few complaints submitted regarding mismatched mission assignments, mentally making a note to shove the matter at some hapless flunky later. It took her a moment to realize that she was not alone.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked without looking up.

"Have you heard anything regarding the people I asked about before?" His deep timbre voice was deceptively calm, a hidden, dark undertone of barely restrained anger lying beneath the composed veneer. Tsunade shook her head slowly.

"Sasuke," she said quietly, "All we have to work with is that the ones who attacked you were Mist shinobi. We don't know why – "

She barely kept from flinching as Sasuke's hands slammed on her desk, a pile of papers tottering off the edge from the force of the blow. Furious Sharingan eyes bored into her apprehensive gaze as she leaned back, trying to keep calm.

"They were after Naruto!" he half-yelled. The surface of the desk splintered as he dug his fingers into the wood. Tsunade stared at Sasuke, unable to reconcile the unflappable, stoic Uchiha heir with the snarling creature before her. "After he died, they fucking ran away! They didn't even try to get the scroll. It was on Naruto's body, and they didn't even bother looking for it!"

"You know that Naruto was murdered. I know Naruto was murdered, but damn it, Sasuke, he was a shinobi! He knew the risks of taking missions just as well as you and I!" There were tears burning her eyes, but she furiously refused to let them fall. She couldn't. Naruto had been like a little brother to her – he had been the embodiment of all her hope and faith in humanity. When Sasuke had returned, alone, blood-spattered, and homicidal, and reported Naruto's death, Tsunade had felt her heart freeze within her chest. Sasuke wasn'tthe only one upset by Naruto's death; Tsunade wanted nothing – nothing – more than to be able to find his murderers and gut them with her bare hands, but she was the Hokage. More than anything, she held the position Naruto had so deeply coveted, and she would be damned if she was going to sully his memory by neglecting the duty he'd cherished so much.

"Shinobi die, Sasuke. If we hunted down every enemy shinobi that killed one of ours, there'd be no shinobi left."

"If it was in the course of a mission, I'd understand," he snarled, though Tsunade doubted he really would. "But they were targeting Naruto! Why the hell would they? Naruto was just – he was an idiot, a moron, the fucking dead-last. What could be gained from killing Naruto?"

"Think, Sasuke!" She snapped, standing abruptly and meeting Sasuke glower for glower. "You of all people should be able to put one and one together and figure out why they would have wanted Naruto dead. Naruto told me what happened at the Valley of the End. Put your so-called genius to use. You tell me why they killed him!"

They glared at each other, violent crimson eyes meeting defiant golden ones in a clash of wills. For a long moment, there was no sound apart from that of their heaving breaths.

Slowly, bit by bit, Sasuke's grip upon the edge of the desk eased, his expression slipping back into its usual blank state. Tsunade watched the transformation apprehensively, setting her jaw as she watched Sasuke deduce the meaning behind her words.

"Kyuubi no Youko."

Tsunade nodded and sank back in her chair, though she didn't look away from Sasuke's face. It was impossible to tell what the man was thinking.

"You have to understand," she said quietly, "As the Hokage, I cannot do anything. To demand retribution would be to start the shinobi wars all over again."

Sasuke's eyes flashed, and Tsunade could guess what he wanted to say, that he could care less about starting a shinobi war if it meant getting revenge for Naruto's untimely death. She raised a hand to cut him off. Locking eyes with him again, she chose her words carefully.

"As the Hokage, I cannot allow you to pursue Naruto's murderers. As the Hokage, I forbid you from deviating from your mission while in Kirigakure. If I find that you have acted rashly, I will be forced to punish you accordingly." She paused meaningfully, watching realization dawn in Sasuke's expression. "I am sure that, while you are investigating the origins of the disturbances reported, you will utilize your time efficiently to solve the mystery and find the culprits responsible. You are to report on every aspect of your mission upon your return. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Sasuke nodded, his eyes fixed upon hers. "I do."

Tsunade smiled grimly.

"I'm glad we have an understanding."


To be continued…


Again, comments and criticism most deeply appreciated.

Wolf