Disclaimer: The original manga, Naruto, is the work of Kishimoto Masashi. Characters and settings have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
"Forecast: Windy, With a Chance of Flames"
It was truly fascinating to Kabuto how much the little things mattered. Everything could be otherwise completely in order, and one picky detail askew could set the whole at odds. Indeed, the fact that one detail was other than predicted, other than proper, could make an underlying flaw in the order itself appear where it had previously gone unnoticed.
He wandered through the outskirts of the village while he waited for his scout birds to return, double-checking every trap and warning system for signs of tampering, for signs of avoidance. For any signs at all. Unfortunately, if Uchiha Sasuke had been by this way, he'd been too careful to leave any visible trace.
You see, at this precise moment, Uchiha Sasuke was nine hours, thirty-two minutes, and fifty-three seconds later than expected in returning from his mission.
Given that Uchiha Sasuke was never late, and given the state of perfect calm about the village, there appeared the effect of the hidden flaw. There was no cause for him to be late, yet he was late all the same.
A conundrum.
A contradiction.
A complication in so many ways, not the least being his master's slowly worsening condition. He would need the Uchiha's body soon.
The fact that there had been no news of him reeked of danger precisely because no danger was apparent. This morning, the sun had risen on time. The weather was fair, as predicted: partly cloudy with a strong wind from the east that broke the summer heat and made the day quite pleasant. No alarms had gone off during the night, their perimeter showed every indication of being secure, and the morning routine was proceeding exactly as it always did. Steaming pots of rice were available in the mess for those who wanted breakfast, the first screams of the day had begun to spread their melody through the compound (the acoustics of the rock particular to the ground in this region were particularly good at distributing a crisp, echoing sound with almost no distortion), the younger ninja were already diligently practicing their knife technique. Indeed, every one of their scouting missions had reported in yesterday or this morning as they were scheduled, not a single problem appearing on any front.
No stories of epic battles that might have slowed him down, no reports of foul condition or mishap along the way. The boy might attack like a hawk in the darkest night, but he would by no means die so quietly. Sound Village would have heard of it. Naturally, as fastidious about the details as his master was, Orochimaru-sama had been on edge since last evening. He, too, could sense the presence of the flaw they could not detect.
But they had watchmen in and around the village of Konoha, and there was little chance the Uchiha would betray them to side with anyone else. Who else was as skilled and as willing to train him as Orochimaru-sama? Only the members of Akatsuki might present Sasuke-kun with a challenge, but aside from Sasori-sama none of them were the nurturing type -- and besides, his older brother was among their number. No, Sasuke-kun would go to Konoha, or he would go off on his own. That much was sure.
And a boy that sentimental would never just leave without saying goodbye.
Certainly he'd have a parting word for his mentor to be delivered at knife-point, or at least an array of bombs if he couldn't summon the decency to show his appreciation for their years together in person. It was very nearly inconceivable that the Uchiha boy wasn't hiding in the outskirts of the village at this moment, waiting for the right chance to attack. Still, he had to see it with his own eyes before he could raise the alarm. The world was simply too imprecise.
Finally, he saw Teion, the largest of his birds, winging over across the trees and circling slowly over his head.
Sasuke had been found. That had been almost too easy.
~//~
"What the fuck is taking him so long?" a quiet voice muttered to her right.
Sakura turned from where she was peeking through the tall grass to look at the frowning face of the one-time love of her life. The genius, the elite ninja, the best looking guy in the class... the renegade that so many of them hadn't been able to give up on, even while their elders told them he was a lost cause. Now, here he was -- crouched between her and Naruto, aiming to destroy the village he'd run to when he'd left Konoha, as if nothing could be more natural.
When they'd stopped in a nearby town to rest last night, she'd sent Tsunade-shishou a communique through the local spy network so that at least the Hokage would be aware that they'd made contact with Sasuke -- upon which meeting they'd 'taken a unique opportunity to execute a strike on the enemy village of Sound with the intent of retrieving Sasuke from captivity, eliminating the missing-nin Orochimaru if necessary and if possible'. Because Sasuke 'seemed to be non-hostile'. She hadn't gone into details about exactly how non-hostile Sasuke and Naruto were being (Seriously! When people are watching! What the hell?), but Tsunade-shishou had to understand that Sasuke wasn't acting like their enemy. That had to count for something.
If they were lucky, her message would reach Konoha before news of the attack whose plan her teammates had scratched in the dirt between the three of them. It wasn't the kind of plan that usually required a diagram -- she would keep Kabuto occupied once he showed up looking for Sasuke, Sasuke would go to eliminate Orochimaru, and Naruto would destroy the alarm system while holding off anyone else in the village who might complicate either central fight -- but in this case, two thirds of the operatives were coming in with no knowledge of the terrain whatsoever. The fact that this was even happening went beyond ridiculous, but she understood Naruto's decision.
This was Sasuke. She loved him, too.
The real question was whether or not Naruto would understand that he couldn't make Sasuke want to come home if, when all the dust had settled, he still planned to follow his own path away from the village. This wasn't going to be as simple as just getting him away from Orochimaru, not as long as Sasuke's eyes looked as distant as they did. There would come a point -- not too long from now -- when they couldn't follow him, and they'd have to go home to Konoha while he...
She bit her lip, trying to keep all her emotions down. How she was going to tear them apart and drag Naruto back to where they needed to be, she couldn't even begin to think. It was hard enough knowing she herself would have to watch him walk away again. Even if they could take Sasuke in a fight and drag him back by force, none of them would be happy bringing him home any way but willingly.
Sasuke hadn't changed. That might have been the saddest part of this whole melancholy and bizarre side trip. He still seemed like the same cool boy she'd had a crush on when they'd been in Iruka-sensei's class, and when the three of them had been Team Seven under Kakashi-sensei. He and Naruto had fallen into step on this "mission" like they'd never been apart, and she would have liked to have been swept along, too. Unfortunately, she couldn't make herself blind to the look in his eyes, or as deaf as Naruto was when Sasuke said there was no going home.
He hadn't changed at all since the night he walked away; she could tell. She remembered what was coming -- the moment when they'd go home and Sasuke would insist for the last time that he wasn't going with them, no matter what.
Naruto wouldn't like that, and she wasn't looking forward to seeing him get hurt.
He was annoying, and a little dense, and apparently he'd managed to beat her and everyone in engaging Sasuke's affections (When did that even happen!? When we were twelve? Were they completely playing me!? Ugh. No, no way have they gotten less stealthy since we were twelve.), but he was still a friend. More than a friend. In a lot of ways, he was like a brother. She wouldn't wish on anyone a repeat of the night Sasuke had told her he wouldn't stay. Not even on Ino.
And even if she couldn't help being just the slightest bit jealous that the two of them only had eyes for each other (What am I, last week's riceball!? But so fine, he's gay. They could still try to remember that I'm here.), she couldn't stay upset for long.
At least Sasuke had never given her a reason to think she might be worth staying for.
But Naruto...
When she spared them a glance, she found Sasuke looking resolutely into the brush while Naruto sprinked dead grass on the dark, spiked mass of his hair. A stray grass blade fell and tickled Sasuke's cheek, prompting him to brush the grass away with a twitch and to elbow Naruto in the stomach.
Sakura rolled her eyes and went back to watching the approach over the hill from Sound Village. Boys.
Who was she kidding? He probably wouldn't even notice.
A bird circled overhead, sounding a low call, and someone was approaching from the bottom of the hill without even bothering to hide the rustle of his footsteps.
"There he is," Sasuke hissed, legs tensed and ready to jump.
Kabuto blinked as he came close enough to smile and wave. "Ah, Naruto-kun. Sakura-san. Well that makes sense."
For an instant, they all froze, taking in the enemy's position and accounting for their surroundings. Then in a flash, Kabuto dove to the side -- aiming for one of the alarm wires Sasuke had pointed out -- while Sasuke vanished with a quick-step technique to flush out Orochimaru, Naruto exploded into a wave of orange thundering towards the encampment, and she flung a kunai at Kabuto's wrist.
~//~
Fist met face with a neck-twisting slam, and copies of himself coming from every direction were jumping down the holes in the ground that led to Sound proper. Naruto stayed above, eyes on the enemy ninja he'd just sent flying. The guy had hit a tree and landed head first in the dirt, but he didn't seem too likely to stay down.
Orange confusion blew past while he waited. Step One was to subdue, so Sasuke could take care of his business. He'd get to Step Two when he got there. Meanwhile, he pulled out a kunai and twirled it around his finger, waiting for the enemy ninja to stop thinking and do whatever he was going to do. Sasuke'd said they'd only get maybe two or three hundred people who resisted if he made the assault look "overwhelming", and most of the resisters would be the ones who were "stupid enough to think Orochimaru was worth their necks". Maybe this was one of the smart ones. The guy was thinking, after all -- like Shikamaru did.
The crowd thinned out, leaving just the two of them. A siren was ringing up through the ground like the rocks themselves were screaming, and the occasional Sound ninja with a clone on his tail jumped out of one hole and down another like a giant game of musical hedgehogs, but this match was one-on-one. Good enough for me, Naruto thought. One of pair of chasers jumped down the entry way between Naruto and the ninja on the ground by the tree, and the guy's eyes followed them down with that 'thinking' look on his face. Not long after, those eyes turned up at him.
"There's only one of you," he said.
Okay, so not one of the smart ones. Naruto scratched his head, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "Actually, I made more like nine hundred of me," he said. Could this guy not count?
Still no motion -- just the thinking. It'd be kind of nice if the Sound ninja would pick whether he wanted to surrender or attack already, because this was getting boring and he couldn't exactly leave until he was sure there was no threat.
"Hey, mister!" he called out. "Are you planning to fight, or are you just gonna sit there all day?"
"You're the one attacking us, brat."
"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna fight you if you're not gonna fight. We're only here to rescue Sasuke."
The Sound ninja looked confused. Actually, he looked like a fish, with his mouth open and his eyes all weird, but in Naruto's experience that was generally the look of someone who didn't understand something. "You... you're what?!"
Yup. Confused. "Rescuing Sasuke!" Naruto yelled back. "And I'll stake my life against yours, or Kabuto's, or Orochimaru's, or whoever! He's coming back home today."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," the ninja said, standing and brushing the dirt off his pants, "but Sasuke-sama doesn't need any rescuing. If he didn't want to be here, he wouldn't be here."
"You don't know anything about what Sasuke wants!"
"More than you do, apparently." His opponent pulled two short swords out of the twin sheath on his back. "And if Konoha wants to make a stand against Sound, let alone against Sasuke-sama, you'll need more than one ninja."
Hadn't he just said there were nine hundred? Could this guy not count and not listen?
Oh, but he wasn't taking every clone separately, was he? That explained it. Well, whatever. At least he'd decided whether or not he was going to fight.
Naruto pulled his special kunai from the pouch on his leg, mixing it in with the spray of blades he sent whistling through the air when it looked like the ninja might move. The guy dodged them all -- not bad -- but didn't seem to notice the trick. "Oi!" Naruto yelled, "I told you, there's not just one of me!"
"Nine hundred clones of one ninja is still one ninja, and you'll pay for your audac--"
The kunai transformed back into another Naruto, putting the Sound ninja into a choke hold. He rushed in, aiming for a headstrike to take his opponent out in one blow (no sense in playing around), but the clone who had been holding the Sound ninja in place lost the grappling match in a big way. He was now an orange blur, speeding through the air at Naruto's head, which meant he needed a change of plans. Naruto ducked and rolled under the flying clone and kicked his opponent's legs out just as he saw the puff of smoke where his former clone hit the ground. With a grin, he stood and told the man who was now lying at his feet, "If you want other ninja, we've got enough. Sakura-chan's right over--"
"Dude!" a voice interrupted from up below. A clone was poking his head out of the hole in the ground, breaking out of the larger scuffle taking place under their feet. "Don't tell him that!"
"Oh, right," Naruto replied, then turned back to his opponent. "Sorry, that's a secret."
"What makes Konoha think that two ninja are a match for our entire village?" The Sound ninja didn't take long to recover his feet. "Your Hokage has severely underestimated Hidden Sound."
"No, she hasn't," Naruto replied. His opponent's face twitched. "The Hokage didn't even--"
He was interrupted by the Sound ninja charging. That charge was interrupted in turn by a wave of clones popping out of the ground in the north, plus what sounded like a stampede underfoot. The one in front of the charge was yelling, "Hey! We got this half locked down! You need any help?" His opponent's momentary distraction let Naruto score a punch that knocked the Sound ninja back into the dirt.
"I've got the alarm disabled!" another clone yelled, bursting through what used to be solid earth as the klaxon blaring through the compound vanished suddenly. Just as suddenly, the ground all around him crumbled into bits with a loud pop, and the clone scrambled for footing in the landslide. "We're all good here," he finished, waving and smiling. The fresh army of Naruto shrugged and began to launch themselves down whatever gaps in the ground were most convenient, pausing only when a rustle in some nearby bushes turned out to be an enemy patrol returning home.
"Whoa, shit!" the lead ninja yelped, right before getting clotheslined by one clone and dropped hard by a punch to the gut from another. A few seconds later, the line of clones jogged back from the bushes toward an entrance to the village. One waved at him with a smile.
"All good!"
"Nice one!" Naruto yelled back, then turned to his particular Sound ninja, who was wiping a small line of blood away from his eye. "I think I'm doin' okay," he said.
"We'll see about that," the ninja replied.
An instant later, the man phased out of view and Naruto felt one knife materialize by his throat. The other was aimed right for his kidney.
"You may be a match for our younger ninja, but in me you've picked a bigger fight than you can handle," the ninja hissed into Naruto's ear. "No nine-hundredth part of a fool like you can take on one of Orochimaru-sama's hand-picked elite! I'll dispense with you first, then... then with what's left of you, and then your partner -- wherever she is -- won't be long for this world!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. Stupid Sound ninja. It was a good thing Sasuke hadn't picked up their stupid Sound way of talking in all the time he'd spent here. Listening to them was like watching a bad movie, not to mention that the long speeches gave him extra time to twist the one knife away from his kidney and do a cartwheel to escape the other one -- extra points for kicking the guy in the face while he did.
"Ow," he said, grabbing at his scuffed jaw. "You little shit!"
"You're one of his elite, huh? Hey, guys!" he called. Two of the clones stopped waiting for their chance to jump down into Sound's underground and walked over to form a Rasengan in his hand. He wasn't taking chances -- this was for Sasuke. "So you're like that guy, Kimimaro?" he said, squaring off with the Sound Ninja. "He was pretty damn strong. But too bad for you, I'm going to be Hokage someday!"
"Kimi--" The enemy ninja's guard dropped a little. "Pretty damn-- You mean, you fought Kimimaro and lived?"
With a Rasengan aimed at his chest, his opponent didn't stay off guard or chatty for long. "Doton: Ganjun no Jutsu!" A plate of rock spiraled out of the knife in his left hand, growing into a shield. It splintered into pieces when it came into contact with the Rasengan, but still kept Naruto from hitting his mark. The block pushed him off to the side fast, and he rolled to absorb the impact. Of course, he never saw the seals the ninja made to break the earth open at his feet. He was just lucky he saw the crack. The ground yawned open, rushing across the clearing in a broad chasm and exposing a couple dozen of his clones below to sunlight and falling rocks.
Would've been a nasty fall if he hadn't managed to jump into the tree behind where the ninja was standing. One of the clones got caught in it and barely managed to cling to the side so as not to fall in, and at least one of the guys in the underground complex vanished under a pile of debris. That looked like it'd hurt.
"That was close," Naruto whispered to himself. The ninja he'd been fighting didn't stay at rest for long. Another one of the clones nearby had to dodge a spray of projectile rocks a second later, until he could get close enough to grapple. That him was having a little trouble, though. As soon as the enemy ninja's back was to the tree, Naruto took his opening and jumped down, knocking him flat. "By the way," he said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
"Yeah, I figured," the Sound Ninja coughed.
"Don't think I caught your name."
"It's Gozen. Not that you'll need to remember it long."
He was about to ask why, when all of a sudden a rock spike shot out of the ground and got him hard in the side.
'Poof' by rock spike always sucked. That shit hurt like hell.
He and some other clones had just finished tying the hands on the pile of Sound ninja they'd knocked out and started looking for something else to do when they saw the ten-foot spike shoot out of the ground a little to the east. He could make out one enemy and the clouds of a few clones checking out. Looked like trouble.
"Let's go!" Naruto called out to the other clones hanging around. The ten of them formed up and started over, circling around the Sound ninja and the four clones who'd already engaged to fight. Their opponent eyed the crowd warily, but didn't look too scared.
"You'll meet your death here, today, at my hands," the guy hissed. "Everyone will see that I, Gozen, was more than a match for Uzumaki Naruto."
"Dude, you know me?" asked the clone trying to put him in a choke lock.
"Sasuke-sama's orders were clear enough: a loud, blond, simple-minded ninja from Konoha, who says he's going to be Hokage. It's your bad luck that Sasuke-sama's not here, or I'd have to hand you over to him. I'm sure your death would have been much faster and less painful at his hands."
"But Sasuke's totally here!" one clone on the circle called out, followed by a chorus of Naruto yelling, "Yeah!" Before the sound died, the clone on his left gave a nod, and he started making a Rasengan in his palm. It looked like a few more had started all around the outer ring.
"That's your mistake, but hardly your first. You want to save him? He's Orochimaru-sama's right hand, out doing his work right now! And when Sasuke-sama comes back from his mission, it'll be your corpse he gets from me!"
"Don't you look down on me!" three clones yelled back as they rushed in with their Rasengans.
The giant dust cloud whimpering, "Ow..." that resulted didn't look like it really needed to be subdued much more than he already was.
When the dust cleared, it looked even less like help was necessary. One Naruto was sitting on Gozen's back, while one tied his hands and the other tied his legs.
"You may think you've won, Uzumaki Naruto, but Kabuto has probably made short work of all your clones underground, and soon he'll be up for--"
"Chaa-naro~!!"
Kabuto raced across the field, Sakura flying after him. Every Naruto in the crowd and Gozen the Sound Ninja turned to watch her tackle the former spy and knock the both of them down a hole, which quickly turned into a crater -- which then turned into a line of craters spreading south in a series of blasts.
Gozen turned to the Naruto clone sitting on his back. "Sakura-chan, I presume?"
"Wow, you know everybody..." the clone replied.
The Sound ninja scoffed as the mass of clones underground started finding their way up out of the rubble, dusting off their hands and scratching their heads as they looked about for something left to do. "Well, when Orochimaru-sama stirs, you'll wish you'd never heard the name of Sound Village, and when Sasuke-sama comes home, we'll see who needs rescuing."
"I told you, he's already here," said the clone sitting by Gozen's feet.
"He's been gone for over a week!" the ninja replied. "But he's expected any-- Ah!"
Naruto looked over toward the patch of solid ground Gozen indicated with his chin. Sasuke was facing Orochimaru, who must've been in bed when they'd hit because it looked like he was wearing snake-print pyjamas.
"It looks like Sasuke-sama will get to fight you himself, just as he wished."
"But Sasuke's on our side," answered the clone sitting on the ninja's back.
"...What?"
Over on the hill, Orochimaru spoke, and his voice echoed off the landscape. "You should rethink this, Sasuke. You still have much to learn."
"Hmph," Sasuke said. The drawn sword in his hand glowed blue and stretched out in front of him as he took his guard. "Eat shit, snake-breath."
Orochimaru dodged the first attack and shot off toward the woods for cover. Sasuke wasn't far behind.
"Say," called out one clone approaching the three now sitting on the tied-up Sound ninja. "I didn't think Sasuke was on our side. I thought we were on his side!"
Half of the clones now milling around and bored started yelling, "Yeah! We're on his side, aren't we?" while the other half yelled back, "No way! He's definitely on our side!" until the whole conversation was a mixed-up jumble so loud you could barely hear the one clone yelling, "Guys! Does it even make a difference!?"
"Oh fuck," the Sound ninja said from where he was lying by Naruto's feet. "We are screwed."
~//~
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, biting his lip and twirling a kunai he'd picked up off the ground. "Do you think we should go look for him?"
She turned to Naruto and smiled. Maybe with a little longer to think, she'd come up with a way to raise the idea that Sasuke might have left without them. "Let's give him a few more minutes, Naruto." The blond let out a heavy sigh and leaned as far forward as he could go.
Maybe she'd be able to think of something if they did walk around. Or maybe Naruto would figure it out.
"He's got to be done settling things with Orochimaru by now."
No, the thought that Sasuke might not be coming back would never occur to him. Even if she said it, he'd never believe her. Maybe that was why she was having so much trouble coming up with a way to say it. Every time she even started to think about the words, something inside her head yelled back, 'That's wrong!' just like she knew Naruto would.
'Sasuke-kun will definitely come back!' it said.
She paused, the sound of her own thoughts taking her by surprise.
Sasuke... -kun?
Naruto would never say that. She'd never imagine for a minute that Naruto would say that. He'd say something like, 'That bastard's coming for sure, I'm tellin' ya!' That voice had sounded more like...
Like... herself?
And here she thought she'd known all the voices inside her head. Had this one been there all along? Still, it seemed so obvious once she'd realized it.
That was some voice of her own, yelling at the top of its invisible lungs to be heard, because somewhere deep inside...
"Sakura-chan..." Naruto interrupted. "Don't you think we should--"
"Have some patience, Naruto! He'll be back," she told him with a smile. "He'll be back. I know he will."
She hadn't seen Naruto quite this happy in a long time.
"Oh, man! I can't wait to get the team back together. It's gonna be..." He paused, then started waving frantically. "Sasuke! We're over here!"
"I can see you, moron!"
There was someone walking at Sasuke's side, Sakura could see from the moment he appeared. As they got closer, it became clear that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing -- just his pale skin. Paler even than Sasuke's, with white hair. Sakura blushed and looked off toward Sasuke's face, ignoring the stranger. What was with boys and their complete lack of modesty, even when ladies were present?!
It didn't take long for them to cross from the woods to the part of the clearing where they were standing. "So, I guess you killed Orochimaru, then," Sakura said when he stopped, just out of arm's length away. How was Tsunade-shishou going to take the news, she wondered. For all that Orochimaru had started a war with Konoha, and for all that he never would have let Sasuke go easily, she had a rather good idea how her teacher felt. How could she not?
Sasuke was staring at Naruto, and neither of them were speaking. The question hung in the air unanswered until she wasn't sure if she should have asked at all. Finally, Sasuke turned to face her, brushing a stray bit of snakeskin off of his shirt.
"Mostly," was all he said.
"Mostly?" Naruto asked.
With a shrug, Sasuke answered, "He tried to take over my body. I guess he never counted on someone's will being stronger than his. What's left of him isn't going to surface, but it's inside me somewhere."
"That sounds like a personal problem," the stranger cut in.
Sasuke shot him an impatient look. "Didn't I tell you to put on some pants?"
"I never said I was going with you," the boy replied.
"You're coming back to Konoha with us?" Naruto stuck out his hand, smiling broadly. "Nice to meet you! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"
"And I'm Haruno Sakura," she threw in with a smile. Socially dubious nudity aside, it simply wasn't polite not to introduce yourself.
"Like I said, I'm not-- Wait... what?" The pale boy threw a puzzled look at Sasuke, who was very intently studying something on the horizon to the north. "Konoha? They didn't kick you out?"
Sasuke's face was as still as stone. He looked like he hadn't even been listening, his attention far off in the distance. His hand, though... his hand was in a fist, practically shaking from the strain of clenching it so tight. Off to the side, Naruto laughed, telling the strange boy, "Are you kidding? Tsunade-baachan'd never kick Sasuke out. And once he get's back, it'll be just like old times! Right, Sasuke?"
Almost too fast to see, Sasuke took a step toward Naruto, grabbing the front of his jacket roughly to pull the blond the rest of the way in. The stranger took a step back, staring wide-eyed at Sasuke's sudden shift from apparent inattention to trying to wring Naruto's neck. Well, if he planned to spend much more time around them, Sakura was pretty sure he'd get used to it. And she knew perfectly well that Sasuke wouldn't kill Naruto in cold blood.
"Sasuke..." Naruto said. "I'm never giving up. You know that."
His grip went slack after a second, arms dropping to his sides. "I can't go with you, Naruto," he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. If it had been her in Naruto's position, with Sasuke so close and threatening to leave again, Sakura knew she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from holding on. Naruto somehow managed to stand firm. In the end, it was Sasuke; his hands moved to Naruto's hips, holding so hard that it looked like it must have been hurting both of them, but their faces didn't show it. Sasuke had rested his forehead against the other boy's, expression as unreadable as ever, and Naruto was... Naruto; just as strong with his eyes closed as when they'd been open. "I can't go home," Sasuke said in a tone that sounded like he'd used all his self-possession to pull the words out of a frustrated scream. "Why can't you understand that?"
"You're wrong."
"I can't." Sasuke bit his lip and stepped away, pointing out toward the horizon to the north. "I have things to do. Don't you have to go become Hokage?!" He turned, the stranger following after, and left Naruto standing with gritted teeth. "Get back to the village, both of you," Sasuke said.
Naruto paused for a moment before he yelled, "No matter where you go, we'll still be here!" at Sasuke's back. His departing steps faltered, but didn't stop.
Sakura walked up slowly, placing a hand on Naruto's back. It trembled with every breath. "Naruto. I bet I can get a week from Tsunade-shishou before we have to report in, if you want. After that..."
He turned to face her with a wide smile that was painful to look at. "I know, Sakura-chan. Thank you." Without pausing another second, he sprinted off towards Sasuke, and she after him.
Sasuke tried and failed to shrug off Naruto grabbing him around the shoulders, which she knew meant he wasn't really trying as hard as he pretended. "What the-- Just go home already, you idiot!"
"No deal. You're stuck with me for a week," Naruto replied, letting go on his own and lacing his fingers behind his head as he walked alongside.
"In a week, I still won't be able to go."
"Then I'll keep finding you until you can."
"I don't need you!"
The pale stranger (who was going to introduce himself when?) pressed his hand to his temple like he had a headache and turned to Sasuke to interrupt their argument with a look of complete confusion. "What's your damage?" he asked.
Without bothering to glance at the boy, Sasuke's only answer was to ask, "Where are your pants?"
It was a good question, but far be it for her to comment on the behavior of persons who wouldn't give their names.
"Fine, be that way. See if I care. Speaking of which, if you want me along, I'm gonna need to be getting something out of the arrangement..."
He went on babbling, not seeming to notice that no one was listening. Sakura, for one, was too distracted by the way Sasuke looked at Naruto when he thought he wasn't paying attention, studying the obstinate blond with a gaze that was almost warm enough for the ice in his eyes to melt. Unfortunately for him, he was still looking when Naruto turned back.
Caught without an excuse by one of their teammate's laughing grins, he turned away with scornful sniff. "Suit yourself, then."
Tsunade-shishou would probably be a little upset, it was true, but she'd understand. How could she not? This was Sasuke.