Not sure what to say about this chapter. Que-bae looked it through and told me it's fine for posting so... any complaints go to her lol. Other than that, it's more plotty this time I'd say. Next chapter we'll see Itachi and Charasuke again:D

Chapter 22: Naruto's guy

xxx

Sasuke woke up to the sound of incessant knocking and Naruto's knee pushing at him to get up. As he untangled his limbs from Naruto's, his sleep-befuddled brain chose not to linger on the fact that Naruto had been drooling a little on him during the night. It was a narrow bed.

Responsible for the knocking was a child, with fluffy light brown hair who barely reached mid-chest on Sasuke.

"Oh," the child said. "You're Naruto's guy."

Sasuke stared at him, and for a minute they simply stood there sizing each other up. Clearly this child was studying to become a ninja judging by the sharp look in his eyes, though he had a sour expression on his face. Deciding that the child posed no threat, Sasuke allowed himself a shrug and a frown once the boy's words caught up with him.

"I am not anyone's anything," he replied irritably, not liking the roll of eyes that was presented to him. "Now do you have a reason for knocking or do you just like waking people up."

To his defense Sasuke was not a morning person and definitely not good with children, but his snappish comment earned him a grin that took him by surprise.

"Do you have a reason for being so grumpy or didn't you get any last night?"

The boy's grin turned impish, but Sasuke only blinked at him.

"Get any what?"

The boy paused, surprised first and then laughing until he almost doubled over. Wheezing and trying to catch his breath he pointed at Sasuke's face, which he had now set in a firm scowl.

"Honestly I don't know but the look on your face!" Small hands slapped small thighs and Sasuke was not very amused about being woken up to have some kid tell weird jokes that neither of them apparently understood. "It's just something I picked up," the boy admitted, having regained his breath by now.

When Sasuke's face didn't so much as twitch, the kid darted his eyes nervously between him and the end of the corridor, his fingers fiddling with his sleeves.

"Don't tell Iruka-sensei, okay? I thought you'd be more like Naruto."

"Like how?"

"Uh, well…" The boy trailed off, staring at Sasuke now as if seeing him for the first time. "Is Naruto awake?"

"No."

The boy was looking increasingly fidgety, and Sasuke realized that it was probably due to the faint killing intent rolling off him. He took a deep breath, calming himself down. He'd been warm and comfortable, and he didn't appreciate standing barefooted in the slightly chilly morning air coming in from some window further down the corridor. But maybe he was overreacting a little bit.

"Well?" he asked, leaning slightly against the doorframe in a casual pose, the effect on the previously tense boy evident.

"Iruka-sensei told me to wake you up so you can help out with breakfast, and then you have an appointment with Orochimaru and the Hokage."

"I see," Sasuke murmured, then promptly straightened up and closed the door before walking over to the bed and kicking Naruto awake.

xxx

Breakfast was a lively affair. The boy who woke him up was called Mitsuru, and he seemed to enjoy arguing with Naruto as well as poke fun at him. Naruto retaliated, of course, but spent most of the time cracking bad jokes and trying to help Iruka with varying success. Sasuke had chosen to stand, eating quietly and trying not to feel misplaced as opposed to how Naruto seemed to fit in perfectly. It seemed like the kids had taken a shine to him already, eager for his attention and pointedly ignoring Sasuke. Maybe Mitsuru had told the others that he wasn't exactly approachable.

Which isn't to say that Naruto didn't try to include him, but Sasuke was rather left alone. To have the kids looking at him with the same excitement as they showed towards Naruto wouldn't just feel strange, it would feel wrong. He wasn't exactly a role model. In fact, no one in their right mind would put him anywhere near children, which brought him to more urgent matters. The fact that Tsunade had sent for them could only mean one thing, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Thankfully breakfast didn't last long, and soon they found themselves waiting for Orochimaru to call them in for their check-ups.

"They're pretty cute though," Naruto said, yawning wide and hugging one leg close to his chest. "If you ignore how rude they can be."

"Maybe you could teach them some manners," Sasuke offered, and it took Naruto maybe two seconds to realize he was being mocked.

"Hey! I was never rude! You were a total rude ass, though."

"Towards you? Definitely."

Had they been twelve, Naruto would have already thrown himself at him, punching and kicking wildly. As it was he settled for a mean look and a kick to his shin that Sasuke didn't even bother blocking.

"I'll get you next time we spar," Naruto hissed, crossing his arms and sinking lower in his seat.

Before Sasuke could reply the door opposite of them opened, revealing Orochimaru in all his glory. It was definitely going to take some time getting used to how old he looked. He even had wrinkles.

"Ah, my troubled dimension travelers, good to see you again.

The voice was the same though, surprisingly dark and lilting. Sasuke remembered the feeling of snakes slithering along his body, their hissing in his ear… Naruto cringed next to him.

"So just what is this check-up about?"

Orochimaru's eyes focused on Naruto, and Sasuke had to resist the urge to step between them. He had failed to protect his teammates from the snake sannin once, and it was not a fond memory. He'd thought he'd suppressed it successfully, but over the past year all those memories he'd buried deep within himself had slowly returned, and this coupled with his brain apparently behaving differently from before only made the memory that much clearer.

It was a terribly uncomfortable feeling, causing him to rub at the place where his curse mark once sat until he caught himself.

"Oh, the usual," Orochimaru answered with a vague flick of his hand. "Well, usual for us I mean. It's just a general check of your physical and mental health to see if you need a more thorough one."

Naruto didn't look particularly satisfied by that, still slumped in the plastic chair and with a suspicious tilt to his mouth. When Sasuke stood up to follow Orochimaru inside he frowned, lips tilting downwards instead.

"Are you sure you wanna start?" he asked, but Sasuke gave him a light shrug.

He preferred knowing rather than waiting, and Naruto would probably cause less of a fuss if he saw Sasuke come back unharmed.

"It won't take long," Orochimaru reassured them, and led Sasuke into his office.

It looked similar to Sakura's, though Sasuke had only visited it once. There was a chair, a desk littered with papers, books on medicine on shelves along the walls, a small table filled with various equipment, and of course an examination bed that looked rather worn with age.

"Sit," Orochimaru told him, motioning towards the bed. "I ran some tests already while you were unconscious so I don't think I'll need to do them again."

Sasuke nodded, sitting perfectly still while Orochimaru looked through some papers, most likely his file.

"Of course, most things are exactly the same as for this world's Sasuke," he continued, picking up another much thicker file and weighing it in his hand. "What's your medical history? Any hereditary illnesses that run through the family?"

Hesitating, Sasuke stared at Charasuke's file. He wondered if they were really identical.

"I don't know," he finally replied.

Itachi was the only one he knew of who had been sick, and he didn't know the symptoms or name for the disease. He'd rather not think about it at all.

"Well," Orochimaru sighed, sitting down in his chair and placing the files back on his desk. "You seem fairly fine, but it's obvious you've been through some tough fights. The skin cells on part of your chest seem slightly different, for example. How come?"

"I was hurt." He shrugged, letting his eyes run over the books on the shelves. He only recognized a few of them from Orochimaru's extensive collection. "One of my former teammates has a special kind of regenerative cells, so he transplanted some to me."

"In the midst of battle?"

Their eyes met, and Sasuke could tell that there was something the other man wasn't telling him.

"Yes."

Orochimaru gave him a searching look, but didn't comment further.

"And your eyes are fine again. You still haven't explained why you're not supposed to go blind eventually."

Sasuke said nothing.

"You have few scars, but the ones you have tell a lot. Your chest," Orochimaru dragged a finger down his own throat and the middle of his chest, mimicking the path of it on Sasuke's body, "is one example that you've fought for your life and almost lost. It's a rather sloppy healing, but functional I suppose. Only visible if you know what to look for."

Again, Sasuke said nothing.

"Your left hand shows extensive, strenuous use of lightning based techniques. Either you've pushed yourself too hard during training so many times it has passed the bar for 'plain dumb', or you've had no other choice. In fact, your entire body shows signs of it. If you weren't young and healed easily you'd be feeling it for sure."

Self-conscious, Sasuke clenched and unclenched his left hand, knowing he'd been close to burn out his chakra nodes in the past. Tsunade had commented on it, too.

"Still, your body is a bit worn. No one your age should have a body like that."

To hear something like that from Orochimaru was a little ironic, considering his alternate self had wanted his body in prime condition for when he planned to take it over.

"In the best of worlds, there wouldn't be a need for ninjas at all," was Sasuke's simple answer.

"Of course." Orochimaru gave him a wry smile that looked decidedly out of place. "Would you at least consider taking better care of yourself in the future?"

"You think I got these for fun?" The words left his mouth before he had time to think them through, but the older man held his hands up in a placating gesture.

"No," he said, his tone serious. "But I think that you are training too hard and too frequently. What use is your strength if it renders your left hand useless before you reach thirty?"

Staring at the fresh bandage covering most of his left palm, Sasuke kept his face impassive.

"Your right one isn't far behind, either."

Another round of silence, while Orochimaru narrowed his eyes in contemplation.

"You already know this." It wasn't a question. "If I thought you'd follow my advice, I'd tell you not to use any damaging techniques for at least a year. Give the body time to heal properly, instead of ripping open old wounds."

Sasuke flexed his fingers.

"Well then, let's move on. How is your head?"

"Still suffering from hormones."

Orochimaru let out a quiet chuckle.

"Is that so? Here, let me check."

He walked over to Sasuke, placing his hands gently on each side of his head. Sasuke could feel the gentle thrum of chakra, surprised to note that he smelled a bit different here. Less cave and snakes, more antiseptic and clean. It took him a couple of minutes, but soon he stepped back with an amused glint in his eyes.

"Everything seems perfectly fine," he announced, sitting down again and waiting for Sasuke's response.

"Fine?"

"Yes. Fine."

"But-"

Sasuke struggled to come up with an explanation. Things were different. He felt things differently. It made him feel less in control…

"I'm sure it must feel strange. I've tried to come up with a good theory on what exactly happened, but I'm still not entirely sure."

"Tell me."

"Well, there isn't that much to tell. The hormones are the visible part of it. They act like signals, and to put it simply you've had a shortage of certain signals and now they're back to a healthy level. For example, you haven't been eating enough. You should have a better appetite now, and feel less stressed."

"I'm not stressed."

Orochimaru merely looked at him.

"Of course, there's more to it than that. My best guess is that there's a connection to your Sharingan. Does anything feel different about it?"

"I… yes. Less pain."

Nodding, Orochimaru leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful look.

"I think your Sharingan was blocking something. Maybe there was a bit of intentional blocking, as well." Sasuke's eyes hardened, but he said nothing. "Fugaku graciously helped me do some research, and there have been cases where the Sharingan had side effects such as depressive thoughts, increased anger and so on. Basically the brain tries to protect itself from the emotional pain that triggered it by blocking certain positive emotions, so that it doesn't happen again."

Sasuke thought of Tobirama's explanation, and the curse of hatred. Was Orochimaru suggesting in a roundabout way that the curse had been lifted? Ridiculous. That was wishful thinking.

"It's difficult to say when I don't have much to compare with. I think the easiest way is for you to take note of what you feel is different, and compare it to how you felt before. Like I said before you'll probably feel an increase in appetite, perhaps differences in your sleeping pattern. Have you noticed anything the past two nights?"

Well, his sleep depended entirely on whether or not Naruto was close. If Naruto was there he usually slept alright, for the past months at least. It was almost as if his body had slowly grown accustomed to his presence and listened to the beat connecting them to determine danger rather than waking up at every little sound.

"It's hard to say, I've been sleeping better the past months already. But I feel well rested."

"And your sex drive?"

Not exactly something Sasuke had pondered, or found relevant at all.

"I feel calmer," he said instead, shrugging. "My mood has improved… I laugh too easily."

"How easily is too easily?"

Sending the amused medic a glare, Sasuke tried to come up with an answer that would explain things but not reveal too much.

"More than usual, then."

"Well," Orochimaru said in a conclusive tone of voice. "Personally I think you will only feel better from here on out. However…"

He frowned, looking Sasuke over as if he were a piece of code he needed to translate. It was not entirely pleasant.

"Tsunade will be asking for your version of the story today. She wasn't too happy with Naruto leaving out a lot of details last time, it seems. I don't know what happened to you but it's rather obvious it wasn't pleasant. Still, it's important that we get the information."

Orochimaru reached for a drawer, retrieving a small glass bottle and handing it over to Sasuke. Recognizing the label, his eyes instantly found the snake sannin's apologetic ones.

"After that little… incident at the Akatsuki hideout, I figured it was better to give you a choice. You can tell the information the easy way, or…"

"Or what, you'll torture it out of me?"

Orochimaru's eyes widened in horror, which was strangely satisfying to see.

"No! We could never do that."

"But I'd still have to talk."

They looked at each other for a long moment. Contemplating his options, Sasuke couldn't say there was anything that seemed very appealing to him. Still, be it because of his newfound hormones or some other type of tampering that old lady had done with his brain, the thought of telling his story didn't feel like the crushing weight it usually did. In a way, it was comforting to know that no one here had any previous misconceptions about his actions. They knew nothing except for what he would tell them.

He thought of Itachi, the tears streaming from his eyes as he left Sasuke next to their dead parents. Thought of Orochimaru, and the experiments he'd been forced to witness. Thought of team Taka, and discarding them in his darkest moments like they meant nothing to him.

Thought of Naruto, blood pouring out of a wound in his chest…

Rolling up his right sleeve to bare the inside of his elbow, Sasuke wordlessly handed the glass bottle back to Orochimaru.

If he was going to talk, he didn't want to be interrupted.

Least of all by himself.

xxx

By the time Naruto's examination was finished, Sasuke already felt pleasantly numb. Normally he'd never resort to something as lowly as using medical drugs, but right now he didn't trust himself to keep a grip on his emotions.

"Come on, let's go," Naruto said, looking vaguely irritated. "I don't get why we have to come back every second day, there's nothing wrong with us!"

"They're just following protocol."

Naruto sent him a put out look, shoving his hands down the pockets of his work pants. Since today was a bit more on the chilly side he wore a thin hoodie in a dark green color, of course also provided by Iruka. It felt odd, to see him dressed in anything but orange or those patterned t-shirts he liked. It made him look older somehow. Different.

"Do you think it's going to rain?" he asked instead as they left the hospital, scrunching up his nose at the sight of dark clouds hanging low in the sky.

Sasuke shrugged, enjoying the side effect of the drug. He felt relaxed, like nothing could annoy him at the moment. It could start pouring and he wouldn't mind.

"I wonder what Baa-chan wants," Naruto continued, as usual filling in the silence. "Probably just nag us for more details."

He lifted his face in thought, and Sasuke found himself tracing the curve of his chin with his eyes, then down his throat to linger on his exposed collarbones. Green suited him.

"Umm, Sasuke?"

Startled, Sasuke realized he'd zoned out.

"What?"

"You were staring."

Naruto looked embarrassed, rubbing his neck as if Sasuke's gaze had tickled him.

"It's weird to see you dressed properly."

"What the hell!"

Their bickering continued the short distance to the Hokage tower, Sasuke easily having the upper hand in it since nothing Naruto said could rile him up. Instead he couldn't help but feel amused at the agitated waving and gesturing Naruto did, his voice continuing to rise as he informed Sasuke just how much better his fashion sense was. He even mentioned the skirt again, but Sasuke only snorted and dismissed Naruto's poor understanding of culture and history.

They were met by Nawaki and led to the same room below ground, with Obito, Tsunade, and Shizune already present.

"I hope you're feeling better?" Tsunade asked him, and he gave a short nod as he sat down. "Well then. Here's a recap of what Naruto told us, so you'll know what gaps to fill in."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Naruto protested, standing up with his hands placed on the table. "You agreed that Sasuke wouldn't need to talk."

"Just sit down, dobe," Sasuke sighed, leafing through the papers Tsunade had handed him. "I'll make it brief. Unlike you, I don't talk until people's ears fall off."

Naruto didn't take the bait, blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

"No," he said. "That was the deal."

Ignoring him, Sasuke scanned the text. He hadn't been listening properly at the time, and was surprised at how seamlessly things were fitted together if you ignored the gaping hole left by his own absence.

"Sasuke," Naruto insisted, forcing him to meet his eyes.

After a long minute of staring at each other, Sasuke reached out with a foot and tripped the moron so that he sat down in the chair, holding up a hand to silence him.

"It's my story," he told him calmly, "and I decide what to do with it."

Tsunade cleared her throat, glancing at Naruto before focusing on Sasuke again.

"Good. Since you are both here, we need the full story."

"Why?" It was Naruto again, his eyes hard as steel. "I told you everything about our enemies and our fight with Kaguya. The rest is personal!"

When Sasuke took a hold of Naruto's hand he seemed to deflate, lowering his eyes to scowl at the floor instead.

"You did leave out a lot."

"Fine," Naruto muttered. "Do what you want. Nobody listens to me anyway."

Sighing lightly, Sasuke decided to keep his hand where it was. It would be easier to stop Naruto from interrupting him, and if it also gave him a small sense of comfort, well he was too drugged to pretend he didn't need it.

"I'm not sure where to start," he said mostly to himself, combing a hand through his hair and shifting in his seat.

"Just start at the beginning," Shizune suggested, looking at him with what he supposed was meant to be encouragement.

"Oh really. And what would be the beginning… But you already know about Obito."

He rested his cheek in one hand, thankful for his numbed emotions. Naruto's thumb brushed over his, and he could feel just how tense his best friend felt. Though, of course, this story wasn't pleasant for either of them, and very much personal.

"To put it very short, my brother murdered our whole clan on orders from the council, then-" He faltered. It wasn't good enough as an explanation. "No, after Obito attacked Konoha and tried to steal the kyuubi, my clan wasn't trusted. We were pushed away to the outskirts of the village, monitored, treated badly. No one told me, thinking I was too young."

He paused, wetting his dry lips. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the table below him, no longer leaning into his hand but keeping his head bent.

"Itachi was in the Anbu, acting as a double spy. Spying on the village for the clan, and spying on the clan for the village. He was thirteen."

There was a quiet gasp, most likely from Shizune.

"My clan wasn't happy, and could see the corruption within the system. Shisui tried to stop them from revolting, but Danzo stole one of his eyes, and so Shisui later committed suicide after giving his other eye to Itachi. Before my parents could stage their coup d'état, Danzo gave Itachi a choice."

Naruto's thumb was caressing the back of his hand now, slow and steady, and Sasuke took a deep breath that felt painful despite the numbing drug he'd taken.

"To either let a civil war break out and have the village fight until everyone was dead anyway, or kill the clan himself but with my life spared."

There was a stunned silence, but Sasuke pressed on, not wanting to deal with questions or comments.

"He chose me. Not that he told me this. So I grew up thinking he had just turned mad, and spent my time training to become strong enough to kill him."

"And no one else told you?" Obito looked horrified when Sasuke shook his head, leaning back into his chair and gripping at his hair with both hands. "I can't believe it. They must have done something, right?"

Sasuke had glanced up at him but averted his eyes quickly, feeling his emotions fighting the numbness in waves.

"I grew up alone. Like Naruto."

He could hear Naruto open and close his mouth, as if wanting to say something but deciding against it.

After that, he quickly described how he'd trained and then gone off with Orochimaru, thinking he could skip his fight with Naruto.

"I was with him for about three years, then-"

"Hold on a minute, didn't anyone try to stop you? Try to bring you back?"

Another silence, this time breathless, waiting. Even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't form the proper words to tell them. Not this. It was too big and too hurtful and too full of old wounds he didn't want to think about. As numb as he was, there are some things you just can't talk about.

"Of course we tried."

It was Naruto, his voice quiet, brittle like glass shards. His hand clenched Sasuke's, steadying him.

"In the end he came back on his own."

"Hardly." Sasuke was surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded, breathing in deep before continuing. "But I was manipulated. Controlled. By Itachi. Orochimaru. Obito."

Closing his eyes, he reminded himself of the past year, and the strange feeling of loss that came from no one else pushing him in a certain direction.

"Naruto couldn't stop me from leaving, and even if he had I would only leave again. It was inevitable."

He paused again to gather his thoughts, irritated by the interruptions. Yes, he was going to tell them what happened, but there were things they didn't need to know.

"I trained under Orochimaru, then killed him. I gathered up a team and searched for Itachi. I killed Deidara. I fought Itachi, and he kept up the act until just before he died. Obito found me and told me the truth, about why Itachi killed everyone and that he joined Akatsuki to keep me and the village safe. I decided to destroy Konoha, and joined the Akatsuki. Then I found Danzo, and he confirmed what had happened, so I killed him too."

All of this he said in a low, monotone voice, wanting to be over with it quickly. Naruto was growing increasingly tense by his side, which wasn't strange considering he didn't have anything to numb the emotions brought back by talking about it. Add to that the fact that Sasuke had never properly told Naruto exactly what happened and in what order… Though he probably knew anyway.

"Danzo was the Hokage stand-in at the time, and I attacked him at a meeting between all five kages. If it weren't for the war, I'm sure I would still have a death sentence hanging over my head."

Not that he regretted it. Killing Danzo was a favor to the world, and he knew Naruto agreed with him in that.

"I was on my way to Konoha when I met the resurrected Itachi… Well Naruto told you we fought Kabuto. He explained a few things to me, and I decided I needed more answers. So I brought Orochimaru back, from another person's curse mark. And that's why the previous Hokages were resurrected, Orochimaru did it on my request. And well, I decided to join the war on Konoha's side."

Taking a break, he contemplated how to describe the rest. He'd been so conflicted at that point, even more so by Naruto's presence. Part of him still wanted to crush Konoha, another part was tired of everything and just wanted to die. Then there was the part that Indra was in control of, heading for darkness and complete control.

And, of course, the part that won in the end.

"So talking to Itachi and the previous Hokages changed your mind, then?"

Tsunade's light brown eyes bored into his when he met them, and it was clear she wasn't convinced by her own words.

"No," he said. "I had… contradicting plans. I hadn't decided. But then when we talked to the Sage of the six paths, and I told him about what I wanted to do…"

He hesitated. He hadn't told Naruto about this, and especially not what Indra had caused him to say, to want, to think was the only logical solution. Up until then he'd been fairly in control of himself, but aided by the Sage's chakra, Indra's lingering consciousness had made its move.

"He sent me into my own mind, and I realized that I was also, to some extent, being manipulated by Indra's chakra."

Naruto sucked in a breath next to him, the thumb that had been caressing him stilling.

"I was sick of it, sick of not being in control. All my life people had been telling me what to do, where to go, what would be best for them."

He thought of Sakura, and her pathetic attempts at making him think that as long as he pretended everything was perfect and let her be all over him, he'd feel happy. He thought of Kakashi, and how enraged he'd felt that he was so useless, how it had only made it clear to him that leaving was worth the price of giving up control. Almost. It wasn't worth hurting Naruto.

"So I defeated him, then woke up and we defeated Kaguya. Then we went back to Konoha."

"The end," Naruto muttered, then rubbed his face vigorously and straightened up in his seat. "Well, was that good enough?"

Sasuke raised his eyes, finding the four adults listening to them in different stages of shock, disbelief, and tears.

"I won't ask more," Tsunade answered, sighing deeply. "I also brought you here for Obito to tell you about Madara and Hashirama, if you feel up to listening right away."

Naruto shrugged, still in a bad mood. Sasuke went back to feeling pleasantly numb now that he didn't need to think about it anymore.

"Alright," Obito started, clearing his throat before glancing at Sasuke. "It's not a very uplifting story either."

When no one replied, he continued.

"As you know, the bijuu have no consciousness of their own, only acting as mindless beasts. It wasn't like that before, they were rather friendly, really, until they suddenly started to go wild. When Madara and Hashirama were in their early twenties they fought the bijuu, and captured them to be sealed for control. During the fight they received sage powers from Kaguya-"

"From Kaguya?" Naruto asked, looking interested now.

"Oh yes, I told you she's good here, right? They were in a bad spot and she gave them enough power to defeat the bijuu, on the condition that they wouldn't harm them and only keep them safe. Well, I say Kaguya, but it was the Sage of the Six Paths that actually did it on her instructions. So the five villages split them between one another, but left the kyuubi to Uzushio since they were the best at sealing and the kyuubi was the one causing the most trouble. Though, Hashirama fell in love with Mito who became the jinchuuriki, so eventually they decided to agree on the kyuubi changing villages."

Obito looked pointedly at Naruto, clasping his hands in front of him on the table.

"Since the Uzumaki clan seemed best fitted for sealing the kyuubi within themselves, the kyuubi was sealed in Kushina once Mito died. And now, Menma as well."

"Did the same happen in your dimension?" Shizune asked, turned towards Naruto. "With Uzushio, I mean."

"Not sure." Naruto thought for a bit, staring into nothing. "Since Uzushio was destroyed when my mom was a kid… I never asked."

"Destroyed?"

Again everyone looked horrified, which wasn't strange he supposed. If that village was a strong ally of Konoha here too, it would seem weird that a powerful force like Konoha wouldn't save them.

"Kurama says it wasn't like that. He was captured by Madara, and sealed into Mito as a sign of Konoha's power and alliance with Uzushio."

Obito nodded, then continued to explain.

"Uzushio still exists here, and they help with the sealing. That's their part in the power balance, even if they don't have a bijuu. Konoha used to have the ichibi but gave it to Suna instead."

Naruto let out a laugh, but quickly caught himself.

"Sorry! It was just something Kurama said to me. Just ignore it."

"I told you before that they lost their sage powers after the fight, but they still had tattoos on one hand each. Eventually, Madara gained the Rinnegan again."

"And this was when he went crazy?" Naruto asked, fiddling with the bandage on his right hand, the one holding Sasuke's.

"I'm not entirely sure if the Rinnegan triggered it, or if it was when Hashirama told him they couldn't see each other anymore."

Naruto frowned, but before he had time to ask again, Obito continued.

"Yes, they were seeing each other even though Hashirama was married to Mito. He loved them both but had to marry her for appearances, since Madara was seen as rather troublesome. In a way he was, especially the Second didn't like him or the influence he had on Hashirama. I suppose there were several smaller things building up. That or he suffered from the same thing as the bijuu."

Things went quiet again, but Sasuke figured they had talked about everything they needed to. Naruto was squirming in his seat, however, gnawing on his lips and looking torn between frustration and embarrassment when Obito motioned for him to talk.

"Is everyone gay here?" he blurted out, raising four pairs of eyebrows. "I mean, it's so different from at home…"

"I wouldn't say that," Obito mused, leaning back in his chair and eyeing Naruto. "I heard you had a little argument over sexualities with some of the Akatsuki."

"That's the point, everyone here seems like they're gay. I was just wondering if that's one of those opposite things between our worlds."

"Idiot," Sasuke sighed. "You probably just haven't noticed before because people aren't open about it."

"Oh yeah? Give me one example of someone who's gay at home then!"

"I'm sure you can discuss that on your own," Tsunade interrupted them with, sharing a look with Shizune that Sasuke couldn't fully interpret. "But there are a lot of straight people here, I assure you."

She smiled, and Shizune and Nawaki nodded in agreement with her. Obito's smile was more apologetic, and definitely amused. It felt as if the tension in the room had been broken, at least.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, rubbing his neck.

"Are we done then?" Tsunade asked, making a move to stand up.

"I have a question." Everyone looked at Sasuke, who thought that if he'd been forced to endure talking about his past, there was no point in withholding something that actually happened here. "What does Kaguya look like?"

He received a few surprised looks, especially from Tsunade.

"You don't know? I assume she looks the same in both worlds."

"Young, long white hair, byakugan eyes?"

She shook her head at his description, a thoughtful wrinkle making its way onto her otherwise smooth face.

"No, my grandfather described her as rather old."

"I see. Then I've met her."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, letting go of his hand to grab his arms instead. "Why didn't you say anything!"

"I wasn't sure it was her." He shrugged. "She didn't say anything interesting, anyway. It was just before I woke up in the hospital."

"We have a painting of her, that might help decide if it really was her or not," Tsunade suggested, and Sasuke nodded in agreement. "What did she say?"

"She wouldn't tell me why I'm here, only talked about how long sticks would burn." When he received odd looks, he clarified. "She said even the sun would burn out eventually, but what matters is how soon it burns out. Then she made me light a stick, asking me why it was burning. It didn't make sense. I thought it was just a fever dream, at first."

"So you think Kaguya messed with your head? Dammit Sasuke, why didn't you tell me until now!"

Naruto was shaking him lightly, fingers digging into his biceps, eyes intent and worried. Of course he was worried. When wasn't he?

"I didn't make the connection until now, relax."

Naruto did relax, barely. His hands slid down Sasuke's arms and for a second, he admitted to himself that he missed their warmth once they lost contact with him. 'Messed with' was a good description.

"Well, then," Tsunade said, sounding tired. "I guess that's it for today. Sasuke, you'll rest another day and continue to work under Fugaku from tomorrow on. Naruto, I expect Iruka has already given you instructions. Tell me if you think of anything that might have brought you here."

xxx

Naruto was still unhappy as they made their way out, and Sasuke could feel the numbness wearing off to be replaced with fatigue.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me."

Sasuke heaved a sigh, and then another one when he saw that there was a steady drizzle of rain outside.

"No, really." Naruto stopped only a few steps away from the entrance, not caring if anyone else was within earshot. Which they were. "You're the one babbling about how we need to be careful and shit, and then you don't tell me?! Teme! Don't let it happen again!"

During his little tirade, Naruto had moved closer to him until they were nose to nose, but not touching. It wasn't an unusual position for arguing, but Sasuke felt distracted by it. Naruto wasn't really angry, but he probably wouldn't listen to Sasuke's excuses at the moment. No, more importantly, Sasuke realized with horror that Naruto's nose was quite possibly a tiny bit higher up than his own. He looked down between them, to his relief finding Naruto standing on the balls of his feet, heels not touching the ground.

"Sasuke! You're not listening!"

If Naruto grew taller than him it would be awful.

"I didn't know you were done talking," he said, and there must have been something in his eyes because Naruto's angry expression softened, disappearing with a quiet sigh of resignation.

"Sorry, I just…" He hesitated for a moment, then took a hold of Sasuke's wrist and pulled him outside.

He didn't stop until they've passed several blocks, instead pulling him into an alley where people wouldn't see them unless they looked closely.

Then he punched Sasuke.

"What the-?!"

He'd been too surprised to even think about blocking or avoiding it, though there hadn't been more force behind it than needed to turn his head a bit. And probably give him a swollen lip, judging by the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

"That's for not telling me," Naruto explained with a nasty scowl.

"I told you I didn't connect the dots-"

"You're supposed to be a genius!" Naruto yelled, slamming a hand against the rough wall of the house next to Sasuke's face. "At least tell me you had a weird dream before waking up!"

He was breathing heavily, clearly upset again. When Sasuke didn't answer he pressed closer, close enough for their breaths to mingle and their chests to brush.

"I didn't think about it," he said, not knowing what else to say.

He hadn't seen the outburst coming and was trying to deal with the half suppressed emotions of guilt and defiance. Naruto scowl turned even nastier, but it wasn't the kind of look he would give an enemy, or even a friend who made him angry. While Sasuke tried to decipher it, only knowing it made him feel all sorts of awful, Naruto seemed to come to his senses.

"You have to tell me, Sasuke. You have to tell me everything."

Oh. This wasn't about the dream at all. Or maybe some part was about that, but it had probably been building up longer than that.

"I'm fine. Promise."

Naruto didn't say anything, only stared hard into his eyes for several, long moments.

"That's not what I meant," he finally sighed, shoulders sagging. "It's just so goddamn frustrating to not know what's going on! At least if it was Kaguya messing with your brain I'd feel a teeny tiny bit better since she's supposed to be good here."

He looked so defeated, his hair starting to plaster to his forehead in the increasing rain, his expression too open and vulnerable for Sasuke to dismiss it.

"Why would someone trying to kill us go through all this trouble? Last time Obito revealed himself fairly quickly, right? And this doesn't feel like a genjutsu. There's no point in worrying until something happens."

When Naruto lowered his head instead of replying, Sasuke pushed his chin back up with two fingers.

"It's not like you to worry about things like that."

To his surprise, Naruto continued to look miserable.

"What do you know," he mumbled. "You weren't there to see when-"

He bit his lip, then pushed himself off the wall and stuck his chin out, eyes a defiant, electric blue, droplets of water trickling down his face.

"You're right," he said, sounding like he'd found his confidence again. "And when I find out who's behind this, I don't care what kind of tragic backstory they've got. If they try anything, I'll kill them."

Ignoring the small shiver running down his spine, Sasuke almost smiled. This was the Naruto that made him stay in the village, even if the worried one was also important to him. The number one most surprising ninja, who stood up again no matter how many times he'd fallen first. Fierce and feral and loyal to a fault.

Sasuke felt the urge to reach out and hold him close, wipe away all memory of his earlier hesitation, leaving only strength and determination.

But when the moment passed, Naruto ran a hand through his wet hair and frowned at him. Then he reached a hand out to wipe off the blood that had gathered in the corner of Sasuke's mouth, staring at it covering his fingertips.

"I can't believe we've only been here two weeks," he said, wiping the blood off on his pants."I feel like enough shit happened to last us a year."

Sasuke nodded, still leaning against the wall.

"Do you think everyone's okay back home? I mean it can't look good that I ran off with you the day before the anniversary."

"They probably realized it wasn't intentionally. I mean, would you really just up and leave everything if I told you to?"

Naruto looked at him, his eyes a darker shade in the rain. It seemed as if he was contemplating the question, but couldn't come up with a good answer. Which, in itself, was rather telling.

Sasuke wasn't sure what to think. He knew that Naruto cared about him, hell he even acknowledged that they're best friends. But for Naruto to go so far as to leave the village on his request…

Maybe he'd do it. Maybe Sasuke could simply ask and Naruto would follow him wherever he wanted to go. The thought was almost frightening to him, that Naruto cared enough to put Sasuke's interests above his own.

Then again, wasn't that exactly what Sasuke had been doing the past year?

An uneasy feeling settled within him as they continued to stare. He didn't want to think about his feelings in regard to Naruto, because he didn't know if he would like what he found. Yes, Naruto was important. Yes, he would give his life to protect him because what else could he do? It was a rather helpless feeling, and he didn't like it one bit.

"We should keep going," he broke the silence with, averting his eyes. "You need to start working, and I need to pick up that bag."

Naruto's eyes were still boring into his skull, the mood sullen and layered with something deeper, something almost tangible but never brought fully into the open. Then Naruto sighed, and the moment was lost.

"Alright, but from now on you better start telling me stuff."

"Are you going to tell me why you broke that mirror?" Sasuke retorted as they made their way out of the alley.

"I told you it was a mosquito."

"Yeah, whatever."

Naruto crossed his arms and huffed, as always quick to forget his anger. Before they could launch into another argument, however, an all too familiar voice interrupted them.

"There you are!"

It was Hinata, her hood covering her head but not much else, hanging off her shoulders. She looked like she'd been waiting for them somewhere dry, judging by the few water drops darkening the fabric.

"Sakura sent me to tell you that we're having a barbeque tonight, and you're invited."

The way she said it, it sounded like an order more than an invitation.

"I don't know…" Naruto started, but she crossed her arms underneath her breasts so that they bunched up and threatened to spill out of her fishnet top, and Naruto instantly faltered and looked anywhere but at her.

"Eight o'clock at Ikki's, we'll celebrate Sasuke's good health."

With that she turned and hurried down the road, not even sparing Sasuke with a glance.

"I guess we have no choice then," Naruto sighed, pushing his hands down his pockets.

"We might have had if you didn't get distracted by her breasts."

Naruto's indignant shouting turned the heads of most people braving the rainy street.

Well well, a barbeque huh? That doesn't sound innocent at all. I smell an orgy.

Just kidding. What a shame. But I do smell Sasuke's brain starting to think of important things... dun dun dunnnnn!