So umm, my exam starts in three and a half hours... I kinda thought I'd post this now rather than later because I need something to cheer me up. But hey after this exam my summer break starts and I'll feel less bad over starting yet another new story! I blame this one on Éva, so from now on it'll be her responsibility to make sure I write a lot during summer. :)

Anyway, I've wanted to write a real ninja-verse story for a while, and this one just seems too good to pass up on. I'm not going to spoil where they end up but I'm sure it's not impossible to guess. You'll find out in chapter two anyways. As for their teleportation skills, it'll be explained later. This chapter is more of a tease;)

I'm thinking I'll write fairly short chapters and try to update more often instead (as well as update my other stories heh), but probably a bit longer than this one. We'll see. I hope you're all as excited as I am!

A few (not really) warnings: This story will contain both humor and drama, which means that some parts are meant to be funny and some to be right in the feels. So yeah possibly some small amounts of crack ahead but I'll keep it mainly realistic. If you can even call something like teleporting into another dimension realistic... oh well. I'm going to have fun with this and I hope you'll like it! It's mainly gay unless there are minor canon straight couples. Mainly Naruto/Sasuke with no specific top, we'll see what happens. Oh, and the title kinda refers to Sasuke because yeah, he's precious.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its different dimensions, even if it would be cool. Guess I'm a nerd.

Edit 2021-11-13: I re-wrote the first chapter, and made some minor changes to ch. 7 (moved the first scene in italics from ch. 7 to ch. 1).

The sun within me

Chapter 1: What lies ahead

xxx

They were inside a tent, reality shut away for a moment. Things were quieting down, battle-weary survivors picking up the pieces. Naruto tried not to think about it. The people they had lost. The cost for victory that had only truly sunk in afterwards, written on grief-filled faces, counted in bodies. But he had Sasuke, beside him, alive.

Sitting on the ground, Naruto crossed his arms over his bent knees, laying his head over them to quietly stare at Sasuke. Nearby, Sakura was tending to some of Kakashi's minor wounds, all of them waiting for Tsunade to arrive.

Dirt covered them both, and he traced a faint trail of blood leading down Sasuke's left arm, first with his eyes, then with his fingertips. He could feel his gaze on him, watching him as if too tired to object. Sasuke felt warmer than he had expected. When he reached a pale hand, he closed his own over it, palm flat over its back.

Sasuke started, trying to remove his hand, but Naruto gripped it tight.

"Don't do that," Sasuke spat, tugging hard enough to force Naruto into letting go.

"Why not?"

Sasuke struggled for words for a moment, turning his head awkwardly to the side.

"I don't need to see all that again."

His voice was low, as if he didn't want the others to hear, and Naruto got to his knees in confusion. Leaning in to face Sasuke again, he frowned at him.

"See what?"

"Your regrets."

It took him a minute to try and figure out what he meant. He'd forgotten all about it, hadn't exactly realized that everyone was able to see what ran through his mind at the time. His cheeks heated up, but he clenched his fists and moved to sit in front of Sasuke.

"I'm not going to apologize for the truth," he said with conviction, searching Sasuke's face when he still refused to look at him. "But I wasn't doing anything just now."

"You were," Sasuke gritted out through clenched teeth. "When you touched me."

He hesitated, opening his palm to stare at the circular mark in the center. Was that it? He placed his left hand on Sasuke's arm for comparison, and at first the other ninja tensed. When Sasuke's eyes flickered up to meet his, he figured that it really had been the mark. Holding Sasuke's arm steady he placed his right palm over it again, and a second later Sasuke pushed it off like it burned. When Naruto put it on the fabric covering his wrist instead he almost felt like it was some sort of childish game, but Sasuke didn't react this time.

They stared at each other for a long moment, until Naruto stood up to ask for some bandages from Sakura. He covered Sasuke's palm with it, taking great care as he secured the knot.

Then he did the same to his own, feeling Sakura's eyes burn into his back. Once done, he stared down at his hand for a long moment. He wanted to lie down and sleep for a hundred years, but he feared Sasuke would disappear if he so much as blinked for a few seconds too long.

Sasuke shifted, their knees brushing. There was a steady beat next to Naruto's heart, like a pulsating light inside his chest. He could feel it inside Sasuke, too, beating in tune. They felt connected. He wasn't going to question it, and definitely wasn't going to mention it. If Sasuke felt it, he would say something if he felt he needed to. Until then, Naruto would keep his mouth shut and count his blessings.

He wanted, desperately, to reach out to Sasuke again. To touch him, just to make sure he was still there, still real.

Instead he sat still, cheek pressed to his knees, and waited.

xxx

The village was bustling with activity.

On an ordinary day, Naruto would have enjoyed it. And he supposed today was an ordinary day, except tomorrow wasn't, and that was the problem.

People followed him with their eyes, some turning to keep looking as he passed. He smiled at them, waved at those who waved first, and tried to look like he was in a hurry. It worked for the most part, but some of them paused him on his way, eager to chat with him. Some called after him, an early Happy birthday! that didn't sit entirely right with him.

Tomorrow, a year would have passed.

"What a dreadful thing to share your birthday with," an old man sighed at him, shaking his head. "So many lives lost…"

Naruto decided to teleport, instead.

His dad's technique, hiraishin, was definitely handy. All he had to do was focus on the mark he'd left in Sasuke's kitchen, and an instant later he was there, narrowly dodging a knife thrown at him.

"Hey!" he yelled in protest, crossing his arms. "You should be used to this by now."

Sasuke glared at him, raising an eyebrow condescendingly.

"Stop sneaking up on me, dumbass."

Pouting, Naruto pulled out a chair, making himself comfortable.

"You should be nice to me," he said, tapping his fingers on the table. He bit back a snort as Sasuke turned to continue cutting up the bread loaf he was working on, only to realize his knife was now embedded in the wall behind Naruto. "Besides, you're just jealous I'm much better at teleporting than you are."

"I'm not the one who's banned from teleporting into the Hokage's office."

Sasuke had successfully retrieved the knife, and now stood with his back towards Naruto. His shoulders tensed as he cut a few neat slices, back muscles shifting as he reached into the fridge for some butter. Naruto blinked, distracted for a moment.

"It wasn't that bad," he said.

"She spilled sake over all her documents," Sasuke droned, utterly bored by the topic. "And her bottle broke."

"ANBU jump into her office all the time," Naruto muttered, leaning his chin on a closed fist. "Baa-chan's just being mean for no reason."

There was no reply, but a minute later Sasuke slapped something onto the table in front of him. A sandwich. Naruto's eyes instantly lit up with glee – all he'd had for breakfast was a hurriedly made cup ramen. He bit into it, and immediately frowned.

"Can I skip the green stuff?" he complained as he chewed, Sasuke giving him a nasty scowl as he sat down in front of him.

"It's all or nothing."

"You're evil."

"Really, I had no idea."

Naruto knew better than to argue more than that.

"So," he said, staring at the potted plant in Sasuke's window that he'd given him when he moved in. "Tomorrow, yeah?"

"Tomorrow what."

He rolled his eyes. Typical Sasuke, to forget.

"It's my birthday? You know, one year since we sealed Kaguya and stuff?"

The look on Sasuke's face clearly showed he had forgotten.

"What about it?" he asked, taking small bites of his own sandwich, eyeing Naruto with distaste as he shoved what remained inside his mouth and chewed loudly before replying.

"You're, uh, I mean. You'll be free to do what you want."

He wiped some crumbs off his mouth, pretending his heart wasn't attempting to beat out of his chest. Sasuke had spent the year working as punishment, which had gone from execution to prison to community service. Naruto was quite proud of that, even though in his opinion, he shouldn't have been punished at all.

"Right."

Sasuke didn't offer anything else. They hadn't precisely talked about it, but surely, if Sasuke wanted to leave he would have said something? Started packing, maybe?

"What are you going to do?" he blurted out, scratching at his cheek.

A shrug, and Naruto wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"I guess I'm staying," Sasuke said, refusing to look at him.

"Really?" Maybe his eyes were tearing up a bit. He cleared his throat, wiping at them discreetly with the end of a sleeve. "I mean, I really want you to, but I'd get it if you wanted to leave…"

"Idiot. If I left you'd just trip on an empty ramen cup and die or something, and who will be hokage then?"

Warmth welled up within him, his face breaking out in a grin.

"Can't believe you're making jokes now," he said, and if his voice was a little thick, Sasuke didn't point it out. "Even if it was a shitty joke."

"Come on," Sasuke told him, getting up. "We'll be late."

"Yeah, yeah."

Naruto followed him out the door, making a face at all the people below.

Ugh, Kurama groaned inside his head. He's really staying.

What do you mean 'ugh', Naruto shot back at him. Of course he's staying!

I'm not sure this village is big enough for two handsome bastards, he complained, as if Naruto's cheeks didn't heat up with indignation.

"Why is Kurama so mean to me all the time," he complained out loud, knocking his shoulder into Sasuke's when he didn't show any sympathy.

"Probably because you're stupid, and he has to deal with it all the time."

"Hey!"

Sasuke dodged the kick he aimed at him and kept walking with his hands down his pockets, cool as ever. Naruto huffed at him, knocking into his shoulder again. Sasuke was wearing a standard ninja outfit sans chuunin vest, even though he wasn't officially a ninja. He claimed it was too much work getting something else. Naruto privately thought he just missed his weird open-chested shirt and purple skirt combo.

Soon enough, people started trying to talk to him again, offering their condolences. Sasuke's frown grew more and more pronounced, until he pulled him up onto the roofs. They weren't really supposed to use that way, since construction was still ongoing in some parts, but Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and didn't remind him.

"It's not that it bothers me," he lied, glancing at Sasuke. "It's just that it feels a bit weird, my birthday was always the worst day of the year, well except when I travelled with Ero-sennin, and now it's going to become some national hero holiday?"

"I thought they were all talking about mourning," Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but the schedule is to spend half the day mourning the dead and then there'll be a huge party in the evening."

Sasuke looked like that was news to him. It probably was.

"Sakura-chan said she'll go with me. As friends, I mean, so I don't have to be bothered by 'eager young women who want to marry me'."

He said the last part in a mock, quoting tone of voice, and Sasuke gave him an uninterested look.

"Am I supposed to care?"

"Well duh, I'm popular now!"

"Good for you."

Sasuke did a good job of looking like he didn't care. It didn't sting, precisely, but sometimes he wished Sasuke would show some type of emotion when other people tried to get Naruto away from him.

"I think you still beat me when it comes to girls, though," he added, Kurama snorting at him.

"I'm really not keeping count," Sasuke told him, a pained look crossing over his features.

"Will you go with us?"

"No thanks."

Naruto contemplated kicking him again.

"You have to!"

Sasuke thinned his lips.

"Don't ask if you're just going to say I have to, idiot."

"I was trying to be nice!"

"Don't."

They reached the Hokage tower, bickering the entire way. Naruto shoved the doors to Tsunade's office open, the ANBU guards outside probably scowling at him through their masks.

"Baa-chan, what's my mission today?!"

Tsunade slammed her fist onto her desk, glaring harshly at the two of them entering her office uninvited.

"Just once, Sasuke, do you mind teaching him how to knock?"

Sasuke looked out the window, leaving Naruto to deal with her as usual. Tsunade grumbled something, but Naruto wasn't really listening.

"Oh, come on, what did I ever do to you? Did someone break your bottle of sake?"

Playing dumb always managed to distract her, and he hid a smile as her face twisted in disgust.

"I swear to god, you two will bring me an early death," Tsunade muttered, rubbing her face tiredly.

She probably hadn't slept much, what with all the preparations going on. Naruto felt a small stab of guilt at sneaking off early yesterday, but he was dying from boredom and honestly, organization was not his strongest point.

"Just send your clones to the same places as yesterday," Tsunade continued, crossing her arms around her bosom and giving him a contemplative look. "As for you, I guess you'll get today off."

Naruto's eyes widened before he pumped his fist in the air, letting out a victory shout.

"Awesome, I'll send them off right away!"

He filled the room with his clones, excited and not a little bit eager to have an entire day to himself. No paperwork!

Maybe if you behaved more often you'd get more days off, Kurama mused, and Naruto wished he could mentally stomp on his foot.

"But, you'll have to think of a speech to give tomorrow."

Naruto's triumphant look turned into chagrin, and some of the clones patted his back as they passed him. Of course the old hag would come up with something to ruin the day.

"A speech? You're kidding me! Have Kakashi do it or something!"

"Naruto," Tsunade began, face stern and screaming lecture-to-come. "If you're going to become hokage you need to be able to speak in front of crowds, not to mention make them follow you and trust you. Just speak from the heart and you'll be fine."

Naruto groaned, pushing his hands through his hair, attempting to make her change her mind with begging eyes. They usually worked, but not this time apparently.

"No excuses," she warned, eyes narrowed at him. "Make sure he's prepared," she added towards Sasuke, who raised his eyebrows and waited for further instructions.

Well, that was nice at least. Maybe Sasuke could write it down for him, that way it might be readable. A speech was better than longwinded lectures on How To Be A Proper Hokage (which was basically just Tsunade shoving paperwork at him), but he still mourned the headache he was bound to get.

"Alright, you're dismissed," she said, and he jumped out of the window before she'd finished the sentence, Sasuke following him despite the protests shouted after them.

"Aah, so nice to have a day off!"

Naruto smiled, stretching his arms above his head once they'd landed on the ground. He was determined to forget the speech until the last minute.

"You still have to think of a speech."

Naruto cringed, grimacing again. Of course Sasuke would remind him right away. But still, the boring stuff could wait! He turned towards Sasuke, bright grin in place.

"I can do that later, let's go train instead!"

It had been a couple of days since they'd last trained together, and he could tell that Sasuke was as eager as he was.

"Fine," Sasuke agreed, and they made their way out of the village.

xxx

A couple of hours later, in the middle of cursing the fact that she let Naruto go without doing any work, Tsunade got a visit from Inari.

"Umm, excuse me Hokage-sama, but Naruto's clones disappeared and they haven't come back yet like they usually do."

She frowned at him. Whenever one of Naruto's clones disappeared he'd notice and send a new one, unless it wasn't necessary.

"Should he have?"

"Well, it was all twenty of them in one go, and it's not like there was a reason for them to be dispelled. Tazuna said I should check with you."

She nodded, clasping her hands in thought.

"How long ago?"

"Maybe fifteen minutes."

She opened her mouth to answer when another knock was heard from the door, and one of the women in charge of the gardening squad entered.

"Naruto's clones disappeared, I was wondering if-"

"Yours too?" Inari exclaimed, a little excited that something was happening. His usual job helping Tazuna with the construction work wasn't very eventful, and could get a little dull after a year or so.

"And this was fifteen minutes ago?" Tsunade asked the woman, who nodded. "I suppose he's training with Sasuke, maybe something happened. Inari, do you mind checking on them?"

Inari nodded, happy to get a break, and eager to see Naruto in action. He'd gotten to see some of the jutsu Naruto had used during the war, but not all of them since they were too powerful to use close to the village. He ran the whole way, trying to make use of his chakra now that he was starting to learn a few things about ninja stuff. If he could, he'd like to be one as well despite starting ten years late. Anything to be able to work with Naruto, the person he'd looked up to as a hero even before he became famous and recognized.

It took him maybe twenty minutes to reach the area specially designated for Naruto and Sasuke, the only sounds he could hear being a bird or two chirping. He entered a large clearing, crooked and singed trees surrounding it. There were broken branches scattered here and there, most of them full of kunai and shuriken, and some of the holes in the ground looked deep.

"Naruto?" he called, walking over the trampled grass and trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of something orange.

Maybe he was hiding? He kept a close eye on the ground, making sure he didn't step on any traps or fell down a hole, coming to a stop when he found Sasuke's katana reflecting sunlight to the far left of the area from where he stood. That was weird, he didn't think Sasuke would carelessly leave his sword out in the open like that. Walking up to it he pursed his lips in thought, contemplating what to do. Figuring he should wait for a bit he sat down next to the blade, legs crossed and face towards the bright sun.

Breaks weren't bad, anyway, and it's not like he was actually worried about Naruto. If anyone could get out of trouble it was him.

Maybe ten minutes later a shadow fell over his closed eyes, and looking up he found Kakashi staring down at him with a serious face.

"You didn't see them?" the silver-haired ninja asked, crouching down to his level and scrutinizing the katana.

"Nope. It's just Sasuke-san's sword."

Kakashi nodded, thinking for a few seconds before standing up and pulling the blade out of the ground, weighing it in his hand.

"Let's go back, they probably teleported somewhere and will come back later."

Inari nodded, thinking he'd check up on Naruto later that day and ask where they went.

The problem was just that, later that day, Naruto still hadn't returned…

Alright what do you think?! I think it's going to be fun. Suggestions are also welcome:) I probably forgot to say something important but if there are question marks it should be explained soon enough! I'd love to hear your comments:3