A/N: Sasuke and Naruto have a talk.
"Naruto, I need your advice," Sasuke said the morning after a troubled sleep.
"About?" The boy yawned, buttoning up his tunic. His hair was still a tousled mess, even worse than usual, and he rubbed one eye as he turned to face his friend.
"About Shien," he replied, and when Naruto sighed, he turned around with a confused frown. "What?"
"I swear, you two have some kind of schedule or something," Naruto muttered before rolling his eyes and sitting down. "Look, Sasuke, before you say anything, I highly doubt she'd be too upset if you told her that you're getting married to someone else. She's very understanding and-"
"What? No!" Sasuke sputtered. "I'm not- this isn't- I'm not marrying any girl!" He paused, then added, "Hopefully not yet! Father is supposed to tell me of his choice this week."
"Oh. Well, that's one question down." The blond shrugged. "Go for it. I'm stumped."
"I need... advice on being attracted to two women," Sasuke finally slumped in defeat, looking quite guilty.
Naruto looked surprised for a moment. "You have the hots for a living girl that's not Sakura?!"
"No! I'm still in love with Sakura!" Sasuke yelled. "It's just... I feel like it's unfair to Shien if I keep measuring them against each other. I mean, Sakura is my first love, and Shien is... well, Shien is interesting , but-"
"I get it, you feel like you're betraying her by loving someone who's not... y'know, her. And not dead, I guess." Naruto nodded. "I get it, man. I really do."
"How could you possibly understand how I feel?" Sasuke demanded. "The only girl I've ever loved romantically died before I could even tell her how I felt, and every girl I've ever loved like family has either died or ran away!"
Naruto looked up at him with a frown on his face. "I know how it feels to let the person you love most go. I know how it feels to move on."
"You loved someone?" Sasuke trailed off in surprise. "But... but who?"
"I was in love with Sakura," Naruto confessed.
Sasuke's heart sank at the solemn expression on the blond's face. "Oh. How could I have forgotten?"
Before Sasuke could say anything in reply, Naruto continued. "I loved her. She was everything to me. She was the first non-clan girl who was ever nice to me. Not even Ino was the first clan girl to do that; Hinata was the first from a reputable family. But Hinata was so shy and quiet, I turned to Sakura again. I knew how she felt about you, of course, but... but I just kept hoping that one day she give up and would realize that she loved me. That one day she would marry me ." He scoffed, chuckling. "Guess we know how that turned out."
"I spent so many years of my life knowing that she would never see me as more than a friend, a brother, and I guess that's what made it easier to deal with Hinata. It was the same situation, just reversed." He halfheartedly grinned, looking away with a shake of his head. "It taught me a great deal about patience, and I lost my bitterness at you two. Part of it was realizing that it wasn't her fault for feeling this way, that when you love, you love - and the other was Karin. She gave me a good wake-up call."
"I'm... I'm sorry," Sasuke breathed in disbelief, resting a hand on his shoulder as he sagged to the bed. "I never knew."
"You're a prince, what else could you do?" Naruto asked with a laugh. "But seriously, Sasuke, it's fine . I could never, ever hate you. You're my brother."
"You're my brother," Sasuke replied, giving him a genuine smile. "Still... I am sorry. For Hinata."
"What are you apologizing for?" The blond chastised, elbowing him in the side. "I was never worried about Hinata being your wife. If anything, I trusted her with you more than anyone else in this world; I've known you since we were babies. This isn't your fault."
"But... but what about Shien?" Sasuke asked with a helpless note to his voice. "What can I do?"
"For the gods , Sasuke, you already know what you have to do." Naruto groaned in exasperation, rolling his eyes. "Geez, and people say I'm the dense one. Look, don't do what I did, okay? If you truly love her, then you need to go to her. Tell her. I've seen the way she looks at you. Believe me, she's probably going to accept your feelings. Then you can just walk right up to your dad and tell him you aren't gonna be marrying anyone else but her."
"I'm just... I'm worried that either Mother or Father will get their hearts set on someone and get rid of her." The prince confessed, clenching his fists. "I can't lose another reminder of what I could've had. Not now. Not yet."
"Like I said before, when you love, you love . Sometimes, there's just no rhyme or reason to it. Your heart is seldom wrong." The pointed look he was giving made Sasuke bow his head in shame. "Take it easy for a while, Sasuke. All we have to do is lay off the rebels until your coronation, and then you can do whatever you want. At least the king promised to stay and guide you for your first six months as ruler."
"Yeah, what luck," the Uchiha scoffed. "At least the uneasiness about my marriage situation will be over soon. For our sakes, I hope he never intends to marry me off at all."
"Tsunade," Rin began as she entered the tent, catching the attention of both Tsunade and another guard, looking to be in the middle of a discussion. She held up a note. "Another note from the palace. We need to set a date, and soon. If the king intends to coronate Prince Sasuke on the twenty-fourth, we need to act."
"Yes, yes, I already know that." Tsunade nodded, pacing about the space. "We'll need to attack early. Security will be brimming for the few days before and during the ceremony, so perhaps we should go earlier. There has to be a sweet spot."
"If I may," the young lady piped up from where she was seated. "I recall Hinata telling me that in the week before the wedding, perhaps the twenty-eighth, or so she noticed little security around. When she asked around, the answer was that they were off doing little errands."
"Three to four days before the ceremony, then?" The brunette pondered. "That might work. Plus, if all goes worse than planned, we can just call in backup. We won't have to rush."
"But they may be expecting that now," the officer argued with narrowed turquoise eyes. "We may need to pick a date closer to home, so to speak."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
"I was thinking," she began, leaning in, "about the time I had to organize a graduation party for my niece. None of us knew if she'd actually make the cut, so about three days before graduation, when my sister revealed that her teachers decided to make her a genin, we had very little time to prepare something suitable. I remember the day of the party everyone was in a frenzy trying to check and double-check that everything was set."
"So what you're saying is..." Rin slowly guessed.
The young woman's eyes gleamed, and she grinned. "The day of his birthday would be perfect. In the wee hours of the morning, when everyone is still running around like headless hens to finish everything."
"That's..." Tsunade slowly nodded. "That's perfect. Brilliant, actually! We'll have to attack on the twenty-third, then." She nodded firmly, grinning over at the brunette. "Let Kakashi know."
"At once, my lady," Rin bowed, an uneasy look on her face, and hurried off.
The guard watched as Tsunade sat back down. "Are you certain that even this gives us enough time to train up and assemble a formidable army?"
"No worries when we've got Konoha elite on our side." Tsunade smiled proudly. "Without Hatake and Gai, I don't know where we'd get the extra boost. They're both very influential among their ranks, I've seen. The Akatsuki are on standby, just awaiting orders. Plus, if we need backup, we've got the group in Morino. So far, we've got all of our ducks in a row."
"And..." she continued to press, "... you're sure we can succeed?"
"With Sakura as our mole, without a doubt." Her chest puffed out in pride. "She knows the mission better than anyone else would. She's got the skills. She will not fail me."
Rin delivered the message to Kakashi, who was overseeing a small group of defected soldiers that had managed to pass under the radar of suspicion. "Ayame-sama has set the invasion date for the twenty-third."
Kakashi paused then, something akin to shock in his face before it softened and he quietly inquired, "The morning of his birthday, am I correct?"
"It was the only day available," she replied, her shoulders drooping. "Trust me, I don't want to either."
Kakashi heaved a sigh, observing his men for several long seconds.
There were heavier bags under his visible eye now, as well as dark circles from lack of sleep. While she hated to run him ragged like this...
He interrupted her thoughts by trying to smile at her. "I think we can manage. It'll be a tight crunch, but we will be ready, won't we?"
"Sir yes sir!" His squad cried, saluting both of them.
She frowned as she looked around. "Where's Gai?"
"He's back at base, filling in for me," Kakashi replied. "We've been taking turns going back to serve. The official story is that I've undergone a bit of a sickness and I need time to recuperate."
She smiled softly up at him, leaning against his arm. "It must be so good to have such a good friend with you like this. I'm glad you defected, Kakashi."
He looked over at her, debating on whether he should say something. "Should I confess my true feelings?"
When her bright, brown eyes locked on his black one, he shook it off, instead replying, "You know I would never betray you. Whether at war or at peace, I will always be at your side."
Her heart skipped a beat when he brushed a lock of hair out of her face. She looked away until she realized one of the older recruits was running up with a message.
"Hinoki-sama, a message from the faction at Morino." The recruit spoke clearly, her green eyes sharp. "They are in need of more food and medical supplies. Should we arrange for them to join us here soon?"
Rin bit her bottom lip in thought for a few moments. While they were still at the planning stage of the final plan, it would be risky to get them all the way to the outskirts. But at the same time, leaving them would ensure the group would run out of supplies. Best case scenario, they received help from nearby villages. Worst-case scenario…
She shook her head, narrowing her eyes. It was best not to think that way. Not when nearly everything was in place. They were close. So, so close.
Realizing there were still eyes on her, she answered, "No, send a group with the needed supplies. We need them as backup in case something goes wrong."
"Of course, ma'am." The soldier saluted her and nodded firmly to Kakashi. "Keep up the good work here, Hatake."
"Hai hai, Beru-san." He raised his hand to her in a short salute.
As the young lady walked off, Rin turned to him with an exhausted look.
"I really need to take a break from this," she said quietly. "I've been up since three this morning."
"Go," he implored. His gaze was sad as he lay a hand on her shoulder. "I've got things from here. Don't burn yourself out. Obito would have my head from beyond the grave."
The two chuckled bitterly at the reminder, before she smiled slightly at him.
Patting his hand, she turned and trudged away.
