The next days Sasuke spent in complete self pity. He didn't leave the apartment, just watched Naruto leave in the mornings and come back far too late in the evenings.
He'd never quite been the domestic type, but he'd started to pick up cooking, probably out of guilty conscience for not doing anything and basically living under Naruto's roof and off his money.

When Naruto came back, Sasuke still stood in the kitchen, cooking up whatever he could with the groceries Naruto still had from the last time he'd gone and bought them. Ramen with something, couldn't really go wrong with ramen anyway when it came to Naruto.

"I've got a mission for you, Sasuke."
His words barely registered in Sasuke's head as his mind started racing.
"I need you to go to Suna and retrieve something."

Silence.

'You want me to leave?', he thought, but said: "What rank?"

"S."

'You want to get me killed.'
He hadn't been on a mission in a long time. There was no way Naruto was giving him an S-rank mission as his first one back in Konoha.

"You need money and I've talked this through with Kakashi and Shikamaru." He swallowed hard. "I think you're our best pick for this mission if I don't go myself."

Realisation hit Sasuke like a brick. Naruto didn't look like he was confident in his words, his eyes avoiding him. Kakashi had probably talked him into sending him. Maybe this was a test to see if he could be trusted at all and maybe they really hoped to get rid of him that way.
"Who's coming with me?", he asked in order to confirm his suspicions.

Naruto looked at him for a second, then away again.
"It's a solo mission."

Since when was Konoha doing S-rank missions solo? It really began to sound like a suicide mission.

"Come with me after dinner and I will give you all the information. You're leaving right after the briefing, so make sure to pack beforehand."

They ate dinner in silence. This time, Sasuke didn't rush it.
Unsure what to make of the information or of Naruto's mood, he didn't know if it would be adequate to pester him for more information.
Leaving during the night reduced the risk of him being seen by anyone, but it also meant no one would notice him leaving in the first place. If they really wanted to get rid of him, this was the way.
It was fitting as well that they'd picked Suna of all places. Maybe Gaara was in on all of this. Why else couldn't they just send someone else they trusted more? He was fairly certain even Naruto didn't trust him. He'd be stupid if he did.

"Why me?"
Suna wasn't that far and they were allies. There was no way the mission really was dangerous enough to require an S-ranking.

"You're retrieving important documents regarding the peace between the nations. You're also not to ask further questions about the contents of what you're retrieving."
If not for him fearing for his life, Sasuke would have found immense pleasure in hearing Naruto talk like a real Hokage.

He wasn't even completely finished with his bowl when Naruto announced that they had to leave soon and he'd better get packing.
Apart from the whole set up that felt fishy in general, it was really strange, having to prepare for a mission again, when he hadn't done it in ages.
It was a short trip, so he opted for the bare minimum and only packed supplies for possible fights like kunai and shuriken and a little bit of food that was easy to carry for his time in between villages. He didn't want to have to carry too much else, since he didn't know how much space the documents would use up and he hated to be slowed down by having too much to carry on him. If they sent him out to die, he didn't need much anyways, and he still considered this to be the most likely possibility.

By the time he'd finished packing, Naruto already stood at the door, waiting for him. He immediately started walking off, when Sasuke closed the door behind him.

"Naruto?"
The blonde was walking much faster than Sasuke deemed necessary.

"Hm?"

He could barely bring himself to ask, because he knew it would carry an accusation.
"Is this a suicide mission?"

"No", the blonde said without hesitation, but didn't look at him.
The Naruto he knew would have jumped at the accusation, but this one didn't even flinch.

'Are you lying to me?'
"Okay", he said and then remained silent for the rest of the walk.

In Naruto's office, Kakashi was already waiting for them. For it being the first time he and Sasuke met again after he returned, it was quite an anticlimactic meeting. The air in the room felt awfully cold for them being indoors, it sent shivers done his spine.

"Good to see you again, Kakashi", Sasuke lied.

"My pleasure."

Naruto went behind his desk to sit down and it had Sasuke wondering how the blonde was able to move through this tense air, because to him it felt like there were walls around him.

"For this mission, Sasuke, we want you to travel to Sunagakure in the Land of the Wind. There you're expected to meet up with the Kazekage. He will hand you sealed documents that are only supposed to be read by me personally. This mission is classified as an S-rank mission, because we have reason to believe that there will be people trying to stop you after you leave Suna."
Naruto took a deep breath.
"There are still a lot of shinobi who do not approve of the alliance between us and we suspect they will wait for you at the border in order to stop these documents from getting to us."

"I understand."

"From how I see it", Kakashi butted in, "this could either be a walk in the park with only a group of five people trying to stop you. Or there could be a larger group."

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, then cleared his throat, before he spoke again.
"Gaara has told me that he's been suspecting a lot of underground activity happening lately. They weren't able to make out anyone in particular, although there are suspects. Those suspects range from very strong shinobi to rebel kids. We know for certain that there's a group, but we don't know how well they're organised." He took another deep breath. "We have to send you alone in order to avoid word of the mission getting through to them as best as possible. At this point we can't even tell how far the group have infiltrated us. There could even be Konoha-nin among them. Only Kakashi, Shikamaru, you and me know about this mission, as far as we're concerned."

'So, this was what made you work late all these past days.'
"Why me?"
Sasuke had to ask again.

"Because we voted you expendable." Kakashi sounded nonchalant. "We can't risk losing any more good shinobi."

'But I'm not a good shinobi, so you can afford to lose me.'
Sasuke didn't know why it even surprised him. It wasn't like he deserved any better, but somehow part of him had seemingly still hoped that Kakashi wouldn't hate him anymore.
"I see."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke", Naruto finally said, breaking character, "I can't even really ask you if you want to accept this mission, because you're obliged to. It has been decided that, after what I just told you, you are to be deemed a traitor of the Land of Fire, as well as an enemy to the Land of Wind, if you decide to decline."

'What a fucked up set up!'
He cursed in his mind, cursed them all for doing this to him. But one look at Naruto's pained expression told him that he wasn't the only one who'd been set up.
This definitely wasn't his idea. It disappointed him to know that after all this time, the Hokage could seemingly still be outvoted.

"Do you accept this mission?"
It was a farce that he even asked.

"I do."

It felt like walking up to his own execution when he left.
They'd made sure he left in the middle of the night in order for him to be able to sneak out unnoticed.
There was no one to see him off, no goodbyes exchanged between him and Naruto or Kakashi, he just left fast and silently over the rooftops and through the woods.

He didn't know if it was paranoia or his trained senses, but he immediately started feeling followed. Activating his Sharingan almost felt wrong, he hadn't used it since he was back in Konoha.
Shocked he realised, that he wasn't alone and they were almost everywhere in the woods.

'How could I not have noticed sooner?'
His lack of training showed and he hated it, but he decided to let them believed that they'd gone unnoticed for a while longer. They could be Anbu escorts after all. Just maybe Naruto had wanted to make sure he got out of the area safely. He hated himself for wishing that were the case. 'Pathetic.'

Their chakras felt hostile, but at this point that was no indicator. The whole village hated him, even the Anbu would be hostile towards him. Thinking about it, it was a plain stupid idea to send him in the first place. While it might be an advantage that no one would notice him missing from the village because hardly anyone knew he'd even been there, he could see that a lot of people were more likely to attack him just for who he was and not worrying too much about provoking conflict between the nations. Konoha certainly wouldn't risk causing an uproar over someone killing Sasuke Uchiha, those days were long gone.

Although he made sure to travel fast, he never lost his followers. He gave up on the thought that they could be his escort when he hadn't lost them after what must have been at least 20 kilometres. There was no reason to follow him this long if only to make sure he really left the village and went in the right direction.
When he reached a small clearing he decided to take a small break just to see if they'd strike, his Sharingan still scanning his surroundings. He was surprised to find himself completely surrounded by them in seconds and they were, indeed, closing in on him.
For a short moment he contemplated just sitting there and letting them attack him like he'd done with Naruto, but when they finally decided to show themselves his survival instincts kicked in and the fight returned to him.
Upon noticing their headbands another problem arose; some of them were from Konoha. While killing wasn't a problem for him, he was sure he wouldn't get away with killing Konoha-nin. Even if he claimed they attacked him, the odds were slim that anyone would believe him.

His mind started racing as he dodged weapons and tried to put distance between him and his attackers, but they were still everywhere; escaping wasn't an option.
Talking wasn't either. He was sure just by the number of them they'd overpower him before he even got the chance to ask the purpose of their attack.
Sasuke decided to trap as many of them under his paralysing genjutsu as he could but it was unlikely they'd all fall for it. If it was like Naruto said they were most likely prepared to run into him. The infiltration must go deep if they even knew when he was supposed to leave Konoha.

Surprisingly, he was wrong and got most of them easily. If they didn't know not to look a Sharingan user in the eyes they couldn't be high ranking shinobi.
'What a waste of time.'

After he'd dealt with the rest of them by catching the last in his genjutsu as well and rendering them immobile he took a closer look at them. Not even all of them were from Konoha.

"Mind telling me what you want?"

He randomly released one of them, making him stumble forward. Sasuke, too, took a step in his direction.
"Who sent you?"

"I-", he stammered. "I'm not telling you anything!"
He seemed fear-ridden. Did they not know who they'd be up against after all?
Annoyed he trapped him in his genjutsu again, this time sending him through five days of hell in the blink of an eye just to have him collapse in front of him crying and vomiting.
'Useless.'
He thought about how he could easily get rid of them all right then and there but he really didn't want to take the chance.

"I'm willing to let you go if you stop following me", he suggested. "Or you can all have what he had." Sasuke pointed to the poor sucker on the ground.

He could have released them one by one to make sure that they'd really rather run away than attack him again, but after the sorry display of the first one he didn't deem them a threat anymore, so he decided to turn his back to leave while releasing them.
Only six of them came after him and he easily stopped them with his katon.
Maybe Kakashi was right and this would be a walk in the park indeed. Something in him hoped so, while he felt another part of him awaken that he'd buried deep down in himself. The part of him that enjoyed the battle, the part of him that wanted to draw blood, to kill, to destroy.
His demons were ready to awaken any moment if he let them. The gods knew, he probably would.