Acquisition

Naruto lay on the couch, staring up at the collage of family pictures on Sasuke's wall. He'd yet again come over to clean but instead of returning home afterwards, he decided to stay there. It was better than going back to his tiny, cramped apartment. After the way he'd been working lately though, he now had plenty of funds to move to a bigger place, but didn't want to be bothered with the process of changing locations.

From the day Sasuke had left, he'd signed up for as many assignments as possible, no matter how menial. Keeping busy allowed him to drown out his feelings of loneliness. Every day, he quoted to himself the same words: "Sasuke is gone. I won't see him for a very long time," and while he still fully understood that and accepted it, it didn't mean he didn't miss him. Two months had gone by and Sasuke had yet to have sent him anything telling him he was safe.

He rolled over onto his stomach, grabbing one of the throw pillows to hold close. He'd also finally broken the news of his relationship to everyone else, which was met predominately by surprise and then shrugs and laughter. They seemed to have forgotten about his initial crush on Sakura when he was younger and like Tsunade, Kakashi and Iruka, they felt it was only a matter of time before he ended up with Sasuke. It was Shikamaru who'd said that though but when the others agreed with him, Naruto remembered feeling rather irked at them. Though he'd been called unpredictable in the past, it was almost as though now, his unpredictability was predictable, making him feel one-dimensional. It was almost as though they were saying "dating Sasuke is such a Naruto thing to do."

But he'd had to calm himself down. Once those feelings settled, he also felt a little proud. He reasoned that it could also be construed that they were saying that Sasuke wasn't someone who would settle down with just anyone and that Sasuke was unique and different. So of course, someone as distinctive as Naruto, who'd always fought for him and had accomplished immense feats, including helping to reshape the shinobi world, could be seen as a compliment to the Uchiha. He smiled into the fabric of the pillow, honored to have someone like Sasuke at his side.

From the door, he heard someone knock and then a familiar voice call out, "Hey, Naruto, are you there?"

Naruto rolled off the couch, picking up the house key off the table. He opened the door to see Captain Yamato, whose dark eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled. "Hey there, not seen you in a bit. You weren't at your house and your classmates said that you sometimes come over here to housesit for Sasuke. Speaking of which…we're being tasked with tracking him down. Just like the good ole days."

"Wait…I thought Sasuke wasn't allowed back? Did Granny Tsunade change her mind?" He eagerly turned around, putting on his shoes in the foyer, then locking up the apartment to follow Yamato as he led the way.

"Unfortunately, I don't think so. She says she's not gotten any kind of notification from him of his whereabouts since he left. He was supposed to send word to her once a month. By not doing so, he's either intentionally disregarding orders or something's happened to him."

Naruto bit his lip at the words "intentionally disregarding orders." Was Tsunade worried that Sasuke had yet again defected? Swallowing down his anger, he asked, "Who all is going on the mission?"

"Me, you, Sai and Hinata. Sai can help with traveling and Hinata's Byakugan will make it easier to see long distances," Yamato said.

Their walking brought them to his house and Naruto ran inside to quickly pack any essentials he thought he'd need. From there, they headed towards the front gates of the village. Sai and Hinata were already there, though as they drew closer, Sai said something to her that caused her to blush and twiddle her fingers.

"Perfect, everyone's here now," Yamato addressed them. "I already told you guys the basics of the mission but the assignment isn't to bring Sasuke back. We're only trying to ensure nothing's happened to him," he said gently.

Naruto bit down all the harder on his lip. This was nothing short of keeping tabs on Sasuke, disguised under the thin veil of being concerned about him. He was certain Sai, Hinata and Yamato were actually worried. However, it wouldn't surprise him if the other nations had heard wind of Sasuke being all but kicked out and so, the Leaf would now have to keep an eye on him to ensure he caused no trouble. No matter where Sasuke went, he would always be scrutinized.

"Naruto, were you listening?" Yamato asked, waving a hand in his face. "You look like you spaced out there for a moment. I said, we have intel that claims to have seen Sasuke passing through the Land of Earth in the northwest. Unfortunately, this was over a month ago so no telling if he's still there but we're going to try that way anyways. Once we reach there, we'll split into two groups. We're going to make this run as fast as possible so you, Naruto, and Sai are going to be essential."

Sai gave an enthusiastic smile. "I understand." He began to unroll one of his scrolls, crouching down to draw a couple of birds. At his command, the creatures came to life, flapping powerfully to remove themselves from the page. "Will this do?"

"That'll be perfect," Yamato agreed. "We'll use your beast scrolls first to conserve energy, but I hear that you can pretty much fly now, is that right, Naruto?"

Naruto flushed, looking a bit like Hinata. "Well, it's more like an extended levitation. I still have to touch on the ground every now and then."

"That's fine, it's still much faster than what would be covered by ground travel alone. Would you be able to support one of us with that power? Once we reach the land of Earth, we'll need to split to search more in-depth."

"Yeah, I'm sure I can carry you guys. And hey, push comes to shove, I can share some of my chakra again," he reassured them, giving a thumbs up.

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that," Yamato chuckled. "Alright, let's move out. The Land of Earth is pretty far but we need to try to complete this in a week."

There were only two birds, so Yamato took one with Sai while Naruto made space for Hinata. He took her hand to pull her up, causing her to blush at the contact. "Th-thank you, Naruto," she whispered as she sat behind him.

He hadn't forgotten her courageousness during the war (and Pain's attack on the village…he'd never forget her near-sacrifice) and was happy she was coming along. He knew she could kick ass and take names with the best of them, and thus found it a little amusing that she was still so shy. "Don't mention it," he said casually. "This sort of feels like that time we formed the eight-man squad to find Itachi and Sasuke, doesn't it?"

At the mention of Sasuke, he saw her eyes lower. "Yeah…sort of."

He was about to comment on it, but Sai gave a signal and the birds began to rise, the jolt of movement surprising him out of speaking. What was it with everyone becoming so withdrawn the moment he mentioned Sasuke? He understood the reason behind Sakura's sadness…but why Hinata? He was too scared to ask for fear of making the trip awkward. Instead, he resigned himself to focusing on the mission ahead and at finally getting to see Sasuke.

~.~.~

Sasuke wrapped the long scarf around his neck and face multiple times, doing his best to cover any openings against the frigid wind. In his hands was a large sack of food which should stretch to the end of the month, though it came at the cost of the last of his money. He had fully intended to return Orochimaru's gift once all of this was over but it looked like that might have to wait.

As another gust of wind threatened to blow him off course, he began to move that much faster, eager to get back to the wooden cabin he was renting. He'd chosen to settle down for the time being in the Land of Iron, choosing there as it was neutral with no loyalty to any of the other nations. In fact, it contained the new Shinobi Union, which strove to maintain the current peace. Realizing the usefulness of such a location, it'd been one of the first places he'd traveled to after the war to make his apologies. As such, the military leader, Mifune, granted him access to come and go without too much trouble.

The fact that the land was also so far removed from everyone else was another reason he'd come there. The biting cold gave him a reason to constantly cover his face so that he wasn't stared at or whispered about like he was with almost anywhere else.

He sighed gratefully as the cabin came into view, pleased that he'd already stocked the inside with plenty of wood in preparation of the forecasted blizzard. Shivering, he pulled the door open with numb hands—

Which made him unprepared to counter the charge that hit him square in the chest. The force tumbled him back several feet into the deep snow. He tried to form a Chidori, but his hands were shaking too hard due to the after effects of whatever had hit him. None of his limbs would cooperate with his commands. With ninjutsu no longer an option, he dually used the Rinne-Sharingan, the right eye to cast Amaterasu and the left to sense the energy presence of the attacker.

He was a fraction too slow. From out of his vision, his hair was roughly grabbed, pulling him up into a sitting position with the person remaining out of view. With limp arms, his body was dealt a second blow to the back, something that felt similar to electricity. His thoughts were scrambled but he strove to focus, to keep fighting. If he couldn't use his hands, he still knew how to conjure forth lightning. Amaterasu automatically created thick storm clouds, something he'd learned with his fight against Itachi.

"Kirin!" he hissed, mentally prepared to guide the bolt to its target. Instead of seeing lightning however, his body trembled, erupting in pain at the attempt to use chakra. Furthermore, he felt another stab of agony in each eye, as though recoiling against the usage of the Rinne-Sharingan. His body reacted before he could control himself and he closed his eyes.

He tried to open them again, but the pain was just too great. No, don't let this happen now! They're right there! Use Amaterasu again, open your goddamn eyes—!

His body wouldn't respond and with a third and final jolt, he stopped struggling altogether. As his consciousness faded, he heard a mysterious voice laugh softly. "Thank you for your cooperation, Sasuke. Now…sleep."

His mind was enveloped in darkness.