Despite my lateness completely not deserving you all, thank you so very much to mistralle, clio1111, Rosebunse (Sakura is alive ;)), ovicati (FLYING TACKLE GLOMP), Fireotaku18, Sanz0girl, demonsLOver, Ttrace, Wolfsong, Italian Roulette, EgotisticalxTurtle (am I weird if I love it when people refer to my stories as such? XD), koifish, TaeMint, Melikalilly, The Darkness Of Your Fall, Hyouhaku, gummybear1620, Failing Mentality, Protozoa (blush, for completely appropriate reasons, mind you), Rolly (Naruto wouldn't have awoken on his own, or if he does, he would do so so far into the future that even I wouldn't know about it ;)), missmonti, missbip0lar, Piro, Mizuiro Yuki (thank you, I appreciate you for taking the time to let me know, and am happy that you like my writing style :)), DaisyTango28 (I hope I don't disappoint you! I read Cruel Irony before and I have the feeling I've got a tough reader on my hands ^^;), mis0ram3n, nettieneko, sunshine143, narutofweak and jesokaa for reviewing the last time and continuing to support this story. You guys keep me going when writer's block attacks and sinks its vicious paws into me.
~~~~~Also, ovicati, love of my life and my self proclaimed valentine (stolen or not), has given me sweets in the form of my first fanart for this story *goggly eyes*. I don't think links show up here so please go to my profile to find the link ~~~~~
Beyond War
By Om0cha
Chapter 6: The Remembrance of Reality
Multiple streams of water trickled in the background somewhere, running steadily over stone and tile before dripping melodically down to join a greater body of liquid. The clear sound snuck into dreams of nothingness, creating ripples that tempted Naruto easily away from that empty other place.
Something stirred with the tinkling swirl of whirlpools.
The next thing that joined sound in his consciousness was the breezy wind upon his skin, slightly humid and much warmer than the frigid gales that he had last felt in the forest near the Land of the Samurai. With it, an orchestra of rustling overtook the trickling water, louder and more demanding of his attention than the calming waves. His hands were touching something soft and his curiosity taking over, Naruto opened his eyes.
A shower of leaves, carried upon a tepid breeze, fluttered before him.
He was laying on his back on what he guessed was a long, thick cloak over hard blades of grass, the material unusually soft yet strong beneath his prodding fingers. Straight ahead of him was the night sky, leaves cascading ahead of it, and he gazed distantly at the stars strewn across in brightly glowing clusters. A ghost of a smile took hold and he lifted his right hand above himself, stretching it up and sliding his spread out fingers across the velvety expanse as though he could stroke it given enough determination.
Something moved in his peripheral vision and he paused, not having bothered to take note of everything else around him. Arm still raised, he turned his head on the ground to his right, glimpsing a shadowy figure sitting in one of the large trees forming the grove. Strange blue flickers of light were dancing across the branches and trunks every now and again. He lowered his arm and the tenseness disappeared from his body at the familiar, upswept hairstyle that he saw, scarcely visible in the shadows.
"Sasuke," he murmured.
This was a nice dream.
He waited for the figure to move again, but it was as though he had heard his thoughts and was staying sinfully still just to spite him. He wondered if he could see Sasuke's face for once and he pulled his upper body up with difficulty, suppressing a shiver at the air that met his back. Looking down, he raised an inquiring eyebrow at the thin, foreign clothes that he was wearing before shrugging to himself and pushing off the ground. The palm of his hand touched something smooth in texture and a sharp pain shot through the top of his neck at the same time as he attempted to leverage himself up. The next thing he knew, a force had pulled him back down and flat onto the ground with a solid thud.
Frowning in bewilderment, he placed a palm on the ground next to his thigh to support himself and twisted around. It took him a few seconds to register what he was looking at on the grass there, shining an odd combination of gold and blue in the ambience. He reached out cautiously and picked up a lock of long, golden hair, following it with his eyes to where it curved around his middle. It felt exactly the same as his own hair did and with a taint of harrowing apprehension, he tugged, hard.
Ouch!
He dropped it with a yelp.
Eyes wide, he reached behind himself with both hands and quickly patted up his back until he found the twine wrapped base of what was, without a doubt, a ponytail. He ran his fingers over the tie, identifying it and pulling it off, giving the red twine only a passing glance before throwing it to the grass. The hairs at the base of his neck remained firmly attached to his scalp, the rest of the sleek bundle now hanging loosely over his shoulder where his action had swept it. Fingers curled in golden strands as he realised with a sinking heart that his hair had somehow managed to grow unbelievably long without any memory of it doing so.
A whooshing sound accompanied by soles meeting earth reminded him of the figure in the tree and he snapped his sights back to the man that was now stalking across the grass towards him. Black pants, boots, and a high collared, sleeveless tank covered the phantom-like shadow, the light gradually illuminating more of his body the closer he got. Naruto's throat went dry when it cast upon the other's facial features clearly.
He could only stare as the dark haired man crouched down beside him, face inches away from his own. Then Sasuke reached out and plucked the fallen, red tie from the grass. Holding it loosely between thin fingers, he leaned over and reached behind Naruto's neck to the loosened hair there. There were a few soft tugs as Sasuke –Sasuke?— retied it, Naruto sneaking sideways glances at his face every now and again with a hesitant wariness and more than a little confusion.
Spice and musk, subtly mixed, washed over him.
He scarcely dared to breathe.
Sasuke was pale, and ruggedly older than he recalled. Definitely older, he thought with a swallow. The younger Uchiha seemed more roughened, still unnaturally elegant but with an acquired masculinity that belied his strength. Even crouching, Sasuke was taller than him and Naruto looked first from his thin lips at eye level to the highly sculpted nose. He moved to the narrow, obsidian eyes last, highlighted by the barest wisps of greyish blue, the tint made more obvious by the strange blue glow permeating everything. He averted his gaze and examined the area behind Sasuke with interest when dark eyes darted to his momentarily in the middle of wrapping the twine around.
The blue glow was brighter over Sasuke's shoulder. A soothing, ocean blue and when Naruto made to sit up straight to find the source, Sasuke threw him a curt look to keep still, revealing a flicker of something that had once belonged to Naruto. Naruto stopped shifting but lifted a hand towards him instead. Sasuke paused, watching the blonde's expression as he hesitantly reached out and touched his strong jaw line, lightly running his fingers across a chin that was as wide as a fully grown man's should be.
Warmth, there and so very palpable beneath his very fingertips.
"This is real, isn't it?" he croaked hoarsely.
Sasuke stared at him and the brief moment at the inn returned to Naruto. The tie was tightened. A rich, deep voice whispered a single word in his ear.
"Breathe."
A familiar taste, experienced once before, pressed to his unsuspecting lips.
Naruto wiped the water droplets from his lips and chin with the back of his hand. With his thirst momentarily quenched after drinking continuously from the strange, glowing fountain that he was currently kneeling in front of, he began to think. Within the shallow pool, the water slowly settled without his disturbance, becoming almost mirror-like in its calmness.
It drew him in and leaning over, he braced his palms on the stone edge and gazed at his reflection in the lightly rippling water, illuminated softly by the blue lights glowing from the tiles lining the sides of the pool. He lifted one wet hand to his face and watched as his mirror image did the same, feeling a scarred cheek that had lost almost all of its baby fat. His hair was still spiky and short around his face but the single long length that hung over his shoulder drew his eyes like a magnet. He fingered the wet locks lightly and noted with a pang of nostalgia that they were almost as long as his mother's red hair had been.
His eyes swivelled back to his face. The changes there were subtle, but for him who had not seen his own visage develop gradually through the years, he could suddenly see the mix of his parents more obviously in himself. The large eyes of his mother, the rounded taper of her face, his father's straight eyebrows and even the oddly 'pretty boy' appearance that his mother had accused his father of having all of his life were slowly rising to prominence. He looked more like their son now. He was still a young, not quite developed brat, but he was getting there.
The wind blew and some leaves fluttered down from the nearby trees, disrupting the surface of the water. He pulled back on his haunches away from the stone edge, slowly so as to not encourage any outlandish action from the man that he knew was lounging on the ledge of another pool somewhere behind him. He was uncomfortable with not knowing exactly what was happening all around him, and to his frustration his senses were coming back at a dismal rate, much slower than they should have been. But he supposed that that was to be expected, now that he had had time to come to grips with the fact that he really had been unsealed.
The regeneration jutsu was designed for use by only an Uzumaki, after all.
His breath hitched when Sasuke's white face suddenly appeared in the wavering water next to his own and he hurriedly rearranged his expression when he caught the briefest flicker of fear within the large, blue eyes of his own reflection. Ridiculous, he scolded himself internally, heart-rate increasing traitorously. This was Sasuke. The Sasuke that he had pursued relentlessly for three years of his life and who had taken him from the war. No doubt about it.
And his mind whispered the reality that Sasuke had dropped reluctantly like a guilty secret.
Seven years.
"Are you alright?"
His strong voice was familiar beneath the deeper quality and Naruto drank it in as greedily as the water that he had been consuming moments before. But where was the same satisfication that it had given him, the jibes and insults attached to every sentence? Or even his name, which Sasuke used when he was serious?
"I'm fine," he forced out, and he couldn't help a slight shiver as he looked over their reflections again, seeing the obvious differences. Sasuke was an adult towering over him, physically and mentally. He was a fully grown, mature man, and no longer the teenager that Naruto had been equal to in every single way. The realisation was hitting him in small dosages, slowly but surely preparing to overwhelm him.
How to continue chasing, when his target was now time?
Sasuke's hand settled heavily on his shoulder, dragging him back, and he refrained from shaking his head furiously as he wanted to do. He turned around and climbed to his feet, the hand sliding away. He pulled a grin to his lips and ignoring the fact that Sasuke had just seen every discomfort bared raw in his reflection mere seconds ago, he spoke as normally -remember? - as he could.
"I'm fine," he repeated firmly, looking Sasuke square in the eyes. He shuffled on his feet uneasily when he saw the bruise that was forming on Sasuke's left cheek. The skin was a particularly dark shade of purple bordering black on his cheekbone and Naruto knew that that was where his knuckles must have connected. He had hit pretty hard, so convinced he was that Sasuke was an imposter.
"I'm sorry about that," he said, gesticulating awkwardly. "How is it?"
It wasn't as if they hadn't knocked eachother around in the past. Completely the opposite, and everyone in Konoha had feared their destined meeting. But this time the violence on Naruto's part had been provoked in a rather unorthodox manner, and a light flush stained his own cheeks with colour at the memory.
Surprisingly, Sasuke had not retaliated but he hadn't had to; Naruto had knocked himself out when he tried to draw on his nonexistent chakra to form a rasengan. When he came to some minutes later, it was to find that his wrists had been bound with some kind of rope that didn't budge at all. Amidst his panic, Sasuke had calmly told him to interrogate him until he was satisfied that he was the real deal. A wave of questions had thereafter followed, reluctantly because they pained Naruto, but Sasuke had answered them flawlessly. Every mission, every memory...it was all spoken of almost reverently when called upon. That in itself was enough to shock Naruto, since Sasuke had always been so determined to sever everything. But here were memories, bared as though they hadn't been banished from the minds of two, and occasionally a couple more people.
He was Sasuke, of that Naruto was sure. But...
More questions bubbled at the top of his throat. He flat out refused to voice them. There were already enough bridges to cross as it was before getting to that particular one.
Sasuke touched a finger to his blackened cheek. "It's nothing," he said dismissively. He was watching him like a hawk and it unnerved Naruto, a feeling that he had rarely felt with the other. He actually felt his breath skip a beat when he glanced away for a second for respite, only to see bright red sharingan eyes boring through him when he looked back. "Do you feel tired?" Sasuke asked in a low voice when he breathed in sharply. "Does anywhere hurt?"
He hesitated but shook his head, and offered a strained smile. "I'm...kinda hungry, though," he eventually said sheepishly, letting Sasuke gather his own analysis on his chakra.
Sasuke's lips thinned as he inspected Naruto, looking particularly displeased when his sharingan roved over his stomach and the seal.
Naruto bit the inside of his mouth, wondering what changes Sasuke could see with those eyes of his. A moment of panic arose when he considered that Sasuke might be questioning his identity now, before he hastily reassured himself that the Kyuubi should be sufficiently impossible to replicate proof of who he was. He wasn't quite sure if he would pass his own interrogation at the moment. His discord was for naught though when Sasuke turned on his heel after the short, physical examination. Naruto watched the Uchiha walk back to the grove at the very edge of the forest. For the first time, he noticed the small pile of clothing, scrolls and weapon pouches that littered the base of a large tree. There was even a bundle that looked like a folded up tent.
"Stay here."
He startled at the stern command and cast an incredulous look at the dark haired man.
"What?"
Sasuke extracted his kusanagi from the pile on the grass. Looping the latch onto his belt, he cast him a warning glare over his shoulder, eyes back to onyx.
"I said, stay here," he repeated, and with that he stalked off into the forest, disappearing almost immediately like a shadow dispersing into darkness.
Naruto was left alone.
A combination of annoyance and relief immediately washed over him with the abrupt solitariness. The feeling of abandonment, he did not allow to even surface. He had to get his own bearings first before he could handle anyone else and looking into the water once more at his reflection, he was still taken aback to see a stranger. It would take some getting used to. He willed his features to set into something of the kind that he had worn when his younger self would be plotting a prank, more difficult to do than expected when his facial muscles turned out to be half asleep. It ended up as a disturbingly perverse expression instead and he gave up mulishly, looking back after the direction that Sasuke had gone instead.
Sasuke.
He tensed again.
And then we'll fight, go back, laugh together...live.
This Sasuke was so different to the teenage Sasuke that it disturbed him, but even so he had no right to say anything because in a way, it was almost like his greatest wish had been granted. Here was a Sasuke seemingly without vengeance plaguing his every thought, and if Naruto had to seriously consider what he would have been like if they had ever returned to the village together, then the current, mature one could actually match any expectations that he would have come up with. He was obviously still silently laboured with more than a few mental scars that left him more withdrawn than the usual person, but ultimately he was more whole than before. It had to be a good thing...right?
As long as it didn't disappear.
He used the pain of his fingernails digging into his palms to ground himself.
He looked around. Sasuke had told him to stay but he couldn't honestly expect him to listen. What was he supposed to do? Sit around and twiddle his thumbs while musing on how he should feel after waking up from a seven year slumber? Naruto didn't need that (look where it was getting him already), and he hoped Sasuke didn't think so either. But then again, the Uchiha was being unnaturally accomodating and that spoke for itself. He bristled in annoyance. In the past, he certainly would not let Sasuke underestimate him and get away with it. He would have already been long gone by now, off over some hill just so Sasuke could come find and scold him.
He considered it briefly, fingers and thumb on chin thoughtfully, before nodding once determinedly to himself. If Sasuke was willing to leave him here, chakra-less and –loathe as he was to admit it –vulnerable, then the vicinity at least must be safe enough for him to wander.
He strode off in the opposite direction to the grove, ignoring his hunger and accompanying weariness that urged him to wait for food. The pools continued to light his way like gentle beacons, their blue glow illuminating a winding path as his sandaled feet stepped lightly over pieces of tile, assumedly from the broken fountains. For some reason the light made him feel comfortable, a stark relief from the tenseness around Sasuke. He made a point of zig-zagging from pool to pool, inspecting the seals that created the light with an appreciation of the simplicity that absorbed sunlight by day and re-emitted it when the sun had gone down.
It was no wonder that he had mistaken this place for a figment of his imagination. It was unlike anything that he had ever seen before, and there was an entirely surreal quality pervading this strange world. Only Sasuke's presence allowed him to think otherwise.
He walked for awhile in the dimness, dallying at the pools, before he bothered to pay more attention to the dark hills that loomed behind them. They got larger in size the further on he went, and were covered with all sorts of debris, things like abandoned scraps of wood, metal and the occasional shred of cloth. Many people must have traversed this place in the past, he thought absently, taking into consideration just how long the lighted path in front of him seemed to stretch. A little while later, he noticed that the hills seemed quite hollow in places, the light reaching into deep pits and troughs.
Passing between two pools, he jumped up onto one of the hills curiously and let out a cry of shock as the entire mound collapsed beneath him straightaway. He only just managed to stay upright by windmilling his arms as a cloud of dust and dirt went flying up, making him splutter and spit ruefully from his mouth while balancing himself on a plank of wood. Wincing at the strain the sudden movements had had on his muscles, he straightened. In that moment, he realised that he was surrounded not by stony hills, but by mounds of debris.
He hurriedly leapt from the pile and back onto clear ground. His skin prickled as he crouched over and examined the closest collection of twisted wood and metal carefully, noticing for the first time the aged, bloody stains of violence and murder that stained the floor as well.
Swallowing, he lifted his head and got to his feet, doing a complete 360 and finally identifying the surrounding landscape for what it was. By night it was difficult to confirm but now that his eyes had adjusted, the resemblance to Konoha after Pein's attack was there. He took a step back from the rubble.
He was standing in the middle of a destroyed city.
Reality.
Where is Sasuke?
Something suddenly roared furiously in his mind and gasping, he dropped to his knees. The broken tiles easily cut through the thin, black material covering his kneecaps but he ignored them in favour of addressing a more prominent ache. His head dropped against the impending headache and his hands gripped his hair as the newly awake Kyuubi began roaring something barely intelligible from within its prison, its rage beyond anything he had felt before. Eventually, he pieced together what it was saying and gritted his teeth. Against all instinct that told him to curl up and nurse his throbbing head, he stumbled to his feet and back the way that he had come from.
He didn't make it very far before a pair of hands and a familiar scent descended upon him from behind, holding him steady by the upper arms. There was the sound of several objects thumping lightly to the ground and looking, he saw some oddly shaped fruits rolling where they had landed.
"You never listen do you?"
Wincing, he turned his head and glared furiously up at Sasuke's obsidian eyes, struggling to stay standing without letting the other completely support him. He was so angry that if he could, he would have given the bastard another bruise to mirror the first one.
"You used the sharingan on me," he hissed, trying to pull away. Within, the Kyuubi growled in outrage at the presence of an Uchiha.
Sasuke appeared surprised for a split second, eyebrows rising by millimetres, but then it quickly disappeared.
"I did," he confessed.
"Why?"
"To get us here."
Naruto's face twisted in confusion and pain, catching another glimpse of the view behind Sasuke. "And 'here' is?"
"Whirlpool," Sasuke answered without skipping a beat.
Naruto's eyes widened in recognition and then Sasuke had turned him around, tugging his chin with rough fingers and making him look clearly at the destroyed city once more. "With your chakra and blood," he explained levelly, "I took us to the only place that Madara cannot access freely. At least, not with his space time jutsu."
Naruto's breathing caught and became difficult as his chin was released and he saw the landscape with new vision. The occasional splatter of white dots would materialise when his head throbbed behind his eyes but against the backdrop of the night sky, he could now recognise the silhouettes of fallen, stone towers that spiked out in places from the hills, as well as the occasional metallic glint that he'd mistaken for reflecting water but which was actually coming from broken signs and twisted foundations. He trembled, disbelieving that he had been waltzing amongst those ruins so contentedly just minutes ago.
"This…this is…?"
His eyes almost dropped out of his head when Sasuke's hands tightened their hold and he was jerked forwards into an unmistakeable embrace, the decidedly weird atmosphere from before returning in a rush of heat. It wasn't like the suffocating hugs that he himself used to give Iruka, but more... controlled. One arm encircled both of his upper-arms and the other held the length of his shoulders comfortably, barely exerting any pressure at all. Almost as though Sasuke didn't dare to put anything more into it.
"Sa—Sasuke," Naruto stuttered, turning beet red with hands coming up to grip Sasuke's arms awkwardly. "What – Uh...?"
"If you can't even handle this one city, I don't know how you're supposed to deal with everything else."
Ice filled Naruto's veins at the barely veiled warning. Nightmares that he'd thought he had evaded came back one after the other to mock him. He pushed against Sasuke's chest, Sasuke's arms sliding off his in the process. Distance was good, because the touch was deceiving him.
Twisting reality.
"What do you mean?" He grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt harshly and looked up at him. "Sasuke, what exactly happened while I was gone?" That expressionless face was ever harder to read than in the past, giving nothing away.
"What you are probably imagining, and worse." Sasuke ran a hand through Naruto's hair, in what was probably meant to be a comforting gesture. "You will see in due course."
Naruto searched his eyes, for the first time noticing a tint of grey at the edges. "Are you hiding something from me?"
Kyuubi roared in response to Naruto's distress and Sasuke's closeness. Flinching, Naruto lifted a hand to his head, knocking Sasuke's hand away. Sasuke lowered it slowly back to his side but did not offer a reply to his question.
"Well? Why aren't you saying anything? What aren't you telling me?" Naruto asked through clenched teeth. Inside his mind, he promised the fox lethally that he would get him back for this rebellion. The Kyuubi only sneered.
"It is difficult to explain. You're still tired. Now is hardly the time." Sasuke's lips thinned, signalling that he would not reveal anything without a fight, one that he knew Naruto was in no condition to win. Naruto growled, echoing Kyuubi.
"Just tell me!"
"No."
Naruto glared at him. That familiar anger that had so often been directed at Sasuke as genin was back in full throttle. Knowing that he was in no condition to win a fight, he guessed that he would just have to get his way like back then, too.
"Fine," he spat out stubbornly and with resolution. "Even if you won't tell me, I can still find out myself."
With sheer, reckless will.
He took several shaky steps away from Sasuke and closed his eyes, concentrating with difficulty on his surroundings to try and draw out the natural, positive energy. He found some almost straightaway in the immediate area, but it was not enough to achieve the level of tracking and sensory that he was after to reach his goal. Frowning, he searched further, ignoring the other sounds around him.
"Naruto, stop –"
It hit him with all the power of a raging, screaming tempest.
Hatred. Fear. Grief.
It hurt so much. The pain overwhelmed him, the pain of hundreds upon thousands of souls crying for lost days and fading hope. The forlornness of the elderly. The loss of livelihood for a current generation that clung pitifully to the final shreds of life. The lack of understanding by the young ones whose futures were so absent and without guidance at all that it was hard to see why they had been brought into this world to begin with. Behind it all, there was an insurmountable wall of terror, escapable only through death. Negative power was all that he could find the more that he attempted to tap into his sage mode. He choked on sobs.
Somewhere in between his thrashing on the hard ground and the Kyuubi's cruel cackles of sudden delight, Naruto felt a warm hand grip his own. He clutched to it like a lifeline, refusing to let go, drawing the warm body closer to his own and not caring about which reality it was anymore, so long as it was his. Hot tears were streaking down his cheeks, relentless in their attempt to wash away the suffering that he had selfishly avoided but allowed the rest of the world to take in his place. Despite it all, he was determined to keep at least that one warmth with him, sanity or not.
I'm sorry for pulling you into my darkness.
The next time that Naruto woke up, he knew exactly where he was. Knew also who he was with, and what he had to do. His chest felt heavier than before but his mind was clearer now that the reality had been established.
Madara is still alive.
Sheets slid down as he sat up and he pressed his wrist against his forehead, thankful that the Kyuubi had stopped its racket but still feeling the lingering shadows of the migraine that it had created. Sadistic fox, he cursed it. A savoury, enticing smell tickled his nostrils and opening his eyes a crack, he saw Sasuke sitting next to a fireplace some metres away, slowly cooking what appeared to be a small fowl over the flames. It was still night so he mustn't have been out for very long, and his hunger from before came back with a vengeance.
He was sure that Sasuke had sensed him rise and he settled with his legs pulled up to his chest beneath the sheets, wrapping his arms around his knees with his cheek propped on them as he watched Sasuke roast the meal. After a few minutes of absent thoughts he realised that he was much more focused on Sasuke than on the fowl and he looked away. A small collection of fruits on a thin, linen cloth beside him caught his attention instead and he picked one up, rolling the brilliant red morsel between his fingers.
"You should eat those first," Sasuke spoke up suddenly. His eyes moved sideways to look at Naruto. "I'm almost done here."
Naruto didn't know whether to be mortified or not. Sasuke had almost definitely known that he was staring the entire time.
"…Okay."
He lifted the strange, elliptical-shaped fruit to his lips and his eyes widened with the first bite that he took. Even though the memory of food remained fresh in his mind, his body had forgotten it. The sweet, slightly acidic juice tantalizing his tongue was like an entirely new experience and he dug into the rest of the pile eagerly.
Sasuke came over with the fowl speared on a stick just as he had popped the last berry into his mouth. Naruto took it from him gratefully and tore into the savoury meat straightaway, not really giving a care as to how unrefined he was being. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was a bit embarrassed about Sasuke watching the ravenous way that he was eating, but he supposed that anybody who had been privy to his ramen habits could not mind all that much. At that thought, a sudden craving for the noodles made itself known but he quashed it. This was plenty good enough for now.
Sasuke moved around while he ate and he was more comfortable with eating like a starved man while the Uchiha took the cloth that had held the fruits and went off to rinse it. When Sasuke came back, he lay the cloth on the ground next to the rucksacks before tending to the fireplace and hanging up some garments to air out near the side of the grove. Naruto amused himself by thinking that there was a domestic aura surrounding Sasuke as he completed these tasks before sitting down beside him again.
When he was done and rubbing his tummy in satisfaction, he threw the stick and remaining carcass into the flames with an under-arm toss, thrilled that his strength had partially returned and that the action was effortless. He wiped his mouth and hands on the napkin that Sasuke had passed over to him before listening intently as the raven began speaking.
"I didn't want you to know yet," Sasuke said as he stoked the fire, "about what's going on out there." Dropping the stick into the flame, he moved and sat down closer to Naruto.
Naruto managed to smile at him, for now locking the acute pain away.
"I can take it, Sasuke," he responded, remembering that the other was underestimating him. "I guess I was hoping for Madara to be gone by old age or whatever by the time I returned, but I'm glad now that I'm back. I never imagined that it would get this bad."
"I thought so." Sasuke stared at him curtly and Naruto hesitated a bit, unsure what was going through the other's mind. There suddenly seemed to be tension in the air and he didn't like that. That had never turned out well.
"You know," he said hastily, "I'd much rather you tell me everything now, than find out later from other people."
He watched as Sasuke reached out a hand to him and felt the gentle motions as fingers stroked his hair back again. He found himself leaning into the large hand on instinct, and he explained to himself that it was because he craved human contact again.
"I don't intend for many people to have that chance."
Naruto blinked, processing that sentence. Then, docile thoughts shoved aside, he grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pried the hand from his hair, keeping it still.
"Sasuke," he uttered lowly, "I'm not a pet."
"I never said you were."
"But you're treating me like one!"
"You're just overthinking things."
Naruto peered at him suspiciously. Then dismissing it, he sighed and let go of Sasuke's wrist. "Okay then. What's the plan?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "For?"
"You know." Naruto waved his arms in exasperation. "To kill Madara, Kabuto. Make everything right in the world again."
They needed a plan, because that was a pretty damn big 'everything' that they were looking at.
"I wasn't aware that there was a plan for that."
"Eeeh! But you always have one for everything!" he exclaimed.
"No." Sasuke levelled his gaze upon him seriously. "I had a plan to get you out of there," he said firmly. "I had a plan to keep you away for as long as necessary. I also may or may not have a plan to kill Madara so that he doesn't get any chances in the future. But it is not and never was my problem what happens to them."
"But I thought you said –"
"I said you won, Naruto," Naruto shuddered at his name, having not been aware of just how much he wanted to hear the other say it, "but all you proved is that I care for you more than I should. That is all."
Naruto's faltered and then his cheeks flared up. He was sure that he was doing his mother's brilliant hair proud.
"That—that isn't what I–"
"Cat got your tongue, dead last?"
"Don't call me that bastard!"
Sasuke smiled derisively. "Really, you haven't changed that much at all." He ruffled Naruto's hair again, mockingly like their sensei used to do.
"Don't treat me like a kid, either," Naruto snapped, knocking it away.
Sasuke lunged at him, and Naruto yelled out in alarm a split second before he was pinned to the ground. Recovering from the surprise attack, he looked up at the raven that had taken up a comfortable perch above him, knees on the ground either side of his waist.
"So maybe I was lying about that." Sasuke smirked, the expression somehow even more arrogant now that he was an adult.
"You—get off!" Naruto exclaimed, flushing and more than aware how this position could be interpreted thanks to Konohamaru. He could never look at two wrestling males the same way again because of that brat.
"Fight me."
"Wha –"
"Or are you still just a scaredy-cat?"
Gritting his teeth, he lifted his hand to repeat the vicious punch from earlier, not really caring how hard he hit because as far as he was concerned, the jerk deserved it. Sasuke was ready for it this time however, and both of his wrists were slammed back down onto the grass before he had even formed a fist. Blinking, he tried lifting them back up but it seemed that Sasuke had at some point overrode him in brute strength, holding them there easily and shoving a knee painfully into his stomach to stop any attempts to buck and knock him off. He wheezed a bit. Damn, Sasuke had gotten heavy.
Snarling, he called on the demon's chakra cloak instead, feeling it bubble up in a red shroud through his skin that began to burn at Sasuke's smooth skin as well. Seeing this, he moderated it so that he would not transform. He didn't exactly want to give Sasuke any mortal injuries, no matter how annoyed he was. Knocking that smug look off his face would be quite enough
He made the mistake of tilting his head slightly though, and ended up looking straight into the other's sharingan. He instantly knew his mistake as the red shroud began melting away quickly, taking his strength with it and dissolving into nothingness in the air. In horror, he felt as the demon's chakra was suppressed to a place that he couldn't touch. His own chakra levels still remained too low to use and he was weapon-less. Sasuke's head was sadly too far away to headbutt. Tapping into sage mode was out of the question and there was absolutely nothing else that he had at his disposal, number one most surprising ninja or not.
With a gulp, he realised that he had just lost to Sasuke with a speed that had not happened since they were paired up in the Academy.
"I can't have you using that," Sasuke said, simpering.
Naruto swallowed. "That's completely unfair. When did you…?"
Sasuke leaned down close to him, eye to eye with only a couple of inches separating their faces. Naruto felt the hands on his wrists slide up to his palms and slender fingers intertwined with his against the ground. His raging blush returned once more and he released a shuddering breath that moved through Sasuke's hair, his heart feeling like it wanted to jump out from his ribcage.
"What was your plan?" Sasuke murmured silkily. "Did you even have one?" Naruto could hardly process the question, struggling to keep his breathing steady, so much more difficult now for some reason. Unfortunately, he did manage to understand it.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said in quick succession, averting his eyes.
Sasuke so knew.
Sasuke's face was lowering and Naruto began to panic. Eyes so dark that he could drown in their depths filled his vision. He saw it coming, but that didn't prepare him any more for the moment that Sasuke pressed their lips together again, the contact warm and assuring.
His protests were swallowed up and Sasuke disconnected one of their hands so that he could grip Naruto's chin, pulling it up to deepen the kiss as Naruto gasped to breathe around the connection. Was it possible to die of asphyxiation via kiss? He wasn't all that eager to find out. Sasuke's tongue was in his mouth and all he could think about was that he had another man's saliva going down his throat.
Eventually he realised that one of his hands had been freed and he lifted it, prepared to give Sasuke a swift, solid swing. But something had changed and there was now a desperation in the lips attacking his own. Those dark eyes were still on his and they would not let him punch the other on a guilt-free conscience. Instead, his half raised fist lowered and a thumb stroked his cheek, coaxing him to relax and surrender.
Confused, he hesitantly stopped struggling, not understanding why the thought of hurting Sasuke right now was somehow abhorrent to him. The tongue in his mouth twined with his and he fumbled weakly to answer the passion that he found, so unfamiliar and unbelievable. Something profoundly raw and obvious was being conveyed to him and Naruto found that in that moment, he didn't have it in him to reject it.
Was this his fault, he thought, chest aching as his free hand held onto Sasuke's shoulder and gripped tightly to it instead. Was he the one that had created this desperate, fragile creature, broken over so many times that the next time, fixing might no longer be an option?
Eventually Sasuke pulled away, a thin trail of saliva breaking between their swollen lips as both panted for breath. Naruto immediately felt horrible when he saw the forlorn sadness in black eyes and he pulled the other back down again, wrapping his arms around him as he buried his face into Sasuke's collar. Sasuke hung there laxly, letting the blonde hold him.
Sasuke so knew.
"I'm sorry," Naruto whispered. "Fuck, Sasuke, I'm so sorry."
"Just don't do something so stupid again," Sasuke said quietly in his ear.
"I know."
"No more games or lies."
"No –"
"Or I'll never forgive you."
Sasuke pulled Naruto's arms away and lifted himself off of him. The two of them sat across from each other again.
Naruto bit his lip. "I didn't want to put you through all of this," he said, not sure if he wanted Sasuke to believe his next words or not. "I had hoped, but I didn't really believe that you would stay with me for so long," he admitted.
"It wasn't your fault." Sasuke snorted self deprecatingly. "It was mine. If I had realised sooner then maybe you wouldn't have done something so idiotic as seal yourself away. But I guess that makes us even now. You chased after me for all those years."
Naruto wasn't humoured and he fixed an unusually serious face on the other. "Very funny, Sasuke. You and I both know how to count. Seven years. Nothing can return the time that I stole from you."
"Then what do you want me to do? Demand that you pay your debt? I'm quite happy with the current arrangement as it is, actually."
Reaching over, Sasuke pulled another duvet from where it was sitting closer to the fireplace and lay it out by Naruto's side as the blonde sank back onto his own and contemplated.
"That's messed up," he muttered finally. "That shouldn't be how we work."
Sasuke grunted in his throat as he settled down on his back, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
"I don't want us to run on a debt between us, Sasuke," Naruto said. He hesitated. "I think you understand what I'm talking about."
"You're worried that I'll want you to stay with me when everything's over?" Sasuke interpreted. "You think that I won't let you go back to Konoha?" His voice dropped. "Or perhaps, you're afraid that one day, you'll be laying next to a woman and yet you'll still be wondering where I am?"
Naruto's lips thinned and he shook his head violently. "That's not it," he said harshly. "You're important to me. No matter what happens in the future, you'll still be there somehow."
"I don't know." Sasuke closed his eyes. "I like the idea of you being indebted to me more. At least that way, no matter who you're with, you'll still owe me first and foremost."
"You're speaking as though you love me," Naruto whispered.
Sasuke didn't answer for so long that Naruto thought he might have fallen asleep, almost thankful that he didn't know what would be said. He had no idea what had possessed him to say that, he was being ridiculous. But when Sasuke did suddenly reply, murmuring confidently and without opening his eyes, Naruto felt the first chain of the unpaid debt lash itself excruciatingly around his heart.
"This time it took you years, dead-last." A chuckle. "Go to sleep."
Naruto pulled his head onto the nook of his arm and closer to the other male. "How can you be so sure?" he asked almost desperately, afraid of what else he could have possibly stolen from Sasuke. "That what you feel is…you know? Couldn't you have just mistaken something else for it?"
Sasuke snorted. "Like my feelings for my brother?" he tossed out.
"It could be completely platonic," Naruto reasoned, thinking of his own emotions back then.
"Remember that I've had years to think over this."
He fell silent. What was he supposed to say to that? He couldn't insult seven years of sacrifice.
"It's the same with you, and it'll only be a matter of time before you realise," Sasuke continued calmly, voice definitely starting to drift, "and now that your time has started moving again, we'll get there soon enough." Sasuke's breathing evened out as he slipped into sleep.
He was so confident, Naruto thought distantly, looking over him. He pulled back to his own sheets, eyes staying on him, and he was unable to help but notice the shadows beneath Sasuke's eyes that he hadn't seen before. He was warmed to know that the dark-haired male was comfortable enough around him to let his guard down so much when obviously, he had been going through hell and high water beforehand with Madara still out there.
Laying down on his back on his own bedding with a heavier feeling in his chest than when he'd awoken, he folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the sky. He asked himself, would he do the same for this man? If their positions had been reversed, could he give up not just his life, but forsake the sweet release of death for the sake of the other? After all, Naruto was sure that the worst pain was not death, but being denied something in life.
"Maybe…" he murmured, and then he thought about it from another angle.
No matter who you're with in the future…
He stiffened.
…it'll always be me on your mind, first and foremost.
He blinked a few times, as though whatever had just crossed his mind could be blinked away. Then with a groan he turned over and buried his face into the sheets stubbornly. It was much too early to be thinking about this and he made a firm point to count spiral-decorated ramen bowls as he sank into sleep.
When he woke up the next morning, the house rules were set up plainly and without negotiation. They came to him over the remains of the fireplace as Sasuke passed over a breakfast of fish, the Uchiha having woken up earlier to hunt. It made Naruto feel rather useless and lazy, and the rules that followed didn't do anything to abate that.
Simply put, he would not do anything to annoy Sasuke. He would not attempt to wander around by himself, and he most definitely would not use any jutsu whatsoever that may threaten to blow up the barrier surrounding Whirlpool. Sasuke had obviously made the restrictions as broad as possible so that he could not find loopholes in them. Naruto was sure that something as trivial as leaving his futon unfolded in the morning would happily get him a sharp whack on the back of his head.
Not annoying Sasuke was clearly impossible. He had only to stare at Sasuke with an 'are you serious?' expression and protest loudly about the latter two rules before Sasuke's glare was focused upon him again. Sasuke may have perfected that look, but Naruto wasn't about to back down just because the other was now officially older and larger. He proceeded to throw another tantrum about almost being an adult anyway and that Sasuke should stop trying to parent him. The first rule was consequently thrown out the window and Naruto spent the rest of his first day with the living by sulking on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea (thereby breaking the second rule).
It seemed that growing older wasn't only for show though, because Sasuke came at nightfall to attempt a reconciliation, promises of food and being less strict rolling off his tongue. Such a level of maturity from a man whose stubbornness had once encompassed the entire five great nations was mind boggling, and a rather bedazzled Naruto ended up following him back to the campsite without much complaint.
When his chakra returned a few days later, however, there was also no way that he would sit down and let his shinobi skills rust. He practised taijutsu first, which was perfectly fine by Sasuke until a colossal mountain of debris collapsed somewhere near their sleeping area, sending dust everywhere and forcing them to move their campsite further inland. After that Sasuke agreed to spar with him and slowly but surely, Naruto felt his previous ease of movement return to him. Even though the other didn't say anything, Naruto was sure that Sasuke enjoyed the spars just as much as he did. When he thought about it, Sasuke was actually dealing with him better nowadays, and very rarely did they descend into serious arguing. They would spend hours attacking and blocking each other, testing new manoeuvres and getting back into the habit of old ones. Naruto was fascinated by some of the weapons that Sasuke had collected on his travels and borrowed a few to experiment with. In the end, he kept a kodachi blade as his own after Sasuke had seen how much of a liking he took to it.
He also had to get used to his longer hair, and being admittedly clumsy, he had already managed to yank on it several times when drawing weapons or twisting. He was more than a bit perturbed when after one such training session of it getting in the way, he indicated his desire to cut it off and Sasuke had objected. No vehemence whatsoever. Just a simple denial, as though that settled it and Naruto could not disobey. He grumbled but ended up only trimming off the last few inches so that it didn't get in the way of him opening his weapons pouch. He could always just pass it off as something he'd done in honour of Jiraiya's own long ponytail. Definitely not just because Sasuke preferred his hair long or something weird like that.
When it came to jutsu however, the two of them completely disagreed on what was reasonable. Sasuke told him that anything more than simple transformations or a couple of kage bunshins would be enough for Naruto's chakra to seep through the protective barriers and give them away. Naruto pronounced that he had already inspected the seals etched into the shores of the island and that they were strong enough for him to unleash at least a few tails and even some rasenshuriken without anything breaking. He never ended up going quite that far though, capping his ninjutsu at an odama rasengan at the most. Sasuke could be such an old man sometimes.
More than anything, he was overwhelmingly relieved that the two of them living together was not as awkward as he had expected it to be, especially with the way that Sasuke's feelings were going (and those, thankfully, he did not yet have to address). It almost felt like they were camping out during missions again, except without the constant fear of being ambushed. But after a week of peaceful routine, of hunting and exploring and sparring and spending time with each other talking of simple things that did not go beyond the island's boundaries, Naruto had the nagging suspicion that Sasuke had another, ulterior motive.
"When are we going back?"
It was night again and they had just finished their meal. The two of them had been talking about the best places on the island to hunt when Naruto randomly asked the question that had been popping up in his mind the past few days, ever since his health had all but fully recovered. Sasuke glanced at him from the branch that he was on, a small scroll held open in his hands. He had been multi-tasking, reading while listening to Naruto hold what was mostly a one-sided conversation. Naruto looked up defiantly from the ground.
"Why are you so eager to go back?" Sasuke asked, turning back to his scroll. Naruto had been surprised to discover that it was not about any shinobi techniques whatsoever, but was something of a historical note documenting the Whirlpool Country's past.
He sighed and shifted, kicking a stone into the fire. "It's not like we can just stay here until whenever."
"I don't see why not," Sasuke answered disinterestedly. "Madara can't make any move towards here without us knowing about it beforehand."
"Sasuke…" The Uchiha tensed at the tone, "I want to do something."
Sasuke folded up the scroll in half, throwing it onto the grass before dropping down from the tree and walking over to him. Naruto didn't let the extra height faze him as he held his ground.
"When you can convince me that you know exactly what you're doing," Sasuke breathed softly, "then we will leave."
"How can I make a plan when I don't even know what's going on?" he protested loudly. "I know absolutely nothing about Madara's strengths and weaknesses at the moment and you won't tell me anything either."
"Can't you just trust me? We will go eventually, just not now."
"People are suffering and I'm useless here! It's almost as if I was never unsealed in the first place," he said desperately. "If I'm walking around but I can't do anything for anyone anyway, I might as well just go and disappear again before Madara comes searching himself."
"Don't say that," Sasuke groaned resignedly, displeased. His arms wrapped around Naruto's body again and Naruto allowed it wearily, resting his head against Sasuke's collarbone. "Don't leave."
"I…I won't." Not wanting to be persuaded, he sighed again and dislodged himself carefully, walking away from the still Uchiha. If there was one thing that he couldn't argue with Sasuke about, it was the delicate subject of when or if Naruto would leave him in the future. "I'm going to the scroll room," he said quietly, referring to the underground chamber filled with scrolls and papers that his clan had left behind.
As the firelight behind him disappeared and he made his way slowly down the hill and back to the city nearby, Naruto knew now that he had been right about Sasuke wanting to control him, to an extent. Sasuke was always finding ways to avoid or reword his questions, and he handled Naruto like he was something fragile. He had come to accept that Sasuke was probably accustomed to touching him familiarly after the past seven years but he wondered if the raven was consciously aware of how fiercely protective he had become, so much so that Naruto was suffocating beneath the pressure of being a useless child again.
He probably doesn't realise, he thought. And I can't blame him, because I made him this way.
He paused at the mouth of the city, on the strip of broken tile and dirt that wound between the fountains. It didn't matter whether Sasuke did it for good or bad reasons. Naruto wasn't some animal that would be content with being kept on a small island, and he couldn't take much more of it. Being so dormant, locked on a decaying city away from a humanity that was suffering because of him, he couldn't help but feel like some…
"I'm not some object," he whispered to the air.
He felt so goddamn weak. And deep down, he felt even worse because he wasn't even brave enough to try and leave without the Uchiha. What was with that? He could just destroy the barrier and walk across the ocean if he had to. But no, he had promised, and he owed the Uchiha at least that much after the stunt that he had pulled. Stupid Sasuke, he thought bitterly. They were supposed to be rivals.
"We'll go back."
His breath hitched in surprise and he turned around quickly.
Sasuke had evidently followed him and was walking slowly towards him, the wind teasing his hair gently. Naruto pulled back a bit as Sasuke took one hand from his pocket and reached out, brushing the knuckles across Naruto's cheeks. Naruto flinched and he lowered his head to look at the ground, thoroughly humiliated when he saw the clear liquid wetting Sasuke's skin.
Sasuke lowered his hand. "I didn't know that it was worrying you that much." His lips curved up sadly at the edges. "But I guess that I don't have other people to care about back in Konoha."
Naruto wiped the tears messily away on his sleeve, trying to be as inconspicuous about it as possible. "Are you being serious," he asked with a sniff, but he was unable to hide how hopeful he sounded, "about going back?"
Sasuke nodded, and then he smirked and Naruto wished that he could wind back the past few minutes and erase the part with his crying pathetically. "You're going to feel worse when we get back, you know," Sasuke teased lightly.
"Yeah, I know. Shut up, bastard." Naruto let out a large breath and offered his own, strained grin. "There's nothing I can't handle though." It dropped and then he cast his eyes around the city. "If it's anything like this...well, I suppose I'll be a bit more prepared now. And if we were able to patch up Konoha back when Pein destroyed it, then we could definitely fix up all the other villages as well."
He looked around thoughtfully.
Suddenly, "I once thought that I could revive the Uchiha clan, as well," Sasuke said quietly.
"...And then you realised that girls weren't your thing?" Naruto said sneakily, unable to resist the opening.
Sasuke glared darkly at him and Naruto scratched his head with an apologetic grin. He waved his other hand at him to go on.
"My clan is gone," Sasuke said, "and no matter how much time I spent renovating the compound, some things will never return to the way they were. The people are gone." He raised his hand, staring at his own flesh. "The Uchiha name has been dragged through mud and I'll no longer try to revive it."
"Sasuke," Naruto hesitated, "are you still being hunted as a criminal? Did I make things worse?"
Sasuke seemed to think about something seriously for a few moments. "No. I don't think so." His smirk returned and he looked at him. "You can be sure that it'll be because of you if anyone comes after us."
"…That's nice to know." Naruto frowned. "I guess that means I really do need to get rid of Madara first if I ever want to go back to Konoha." He exhaled. "At the very least, I want to be able to step foot in Konoha again sometime before I die." He looked around again and gestured grimly. "Or before it becomes something like this."
Sasuke walked in front of him, blocking his view of the city, and he turned his head up warily. Although the other hadn't attempted any other surprise attacks as Naruto referred to them, he had the sneaking suspicion that the atmosphere at the moment was the kind that would lead to one. The Uchiha closed his eyes and Naruto suppressed his shock when they reopened to reveal a different sharingan to any of the ones he had seen thus far. The black pinwheel in the centre was much more larger and complicated than before.
"I'll explain later," Sasuke said when Naruto made to open his mouth and question him, "but for now, let me show you something."
Sasuke lowered his face a few inches so that their noses were almost touching. Naruto tried not to move away, but he still tilted his head back a few millimetres suspiciously, feeling sweat begin to form on his neck when Sasuke kept their eyes unnervingly locked. He was just about to send a flying kick at the Uchiha's knee when Sasuke blinked and pulled away. Naruto watched him do so in confusion.
"What was that all about?"
"Look." Sasuke jerked his head.
Frowning, Naruto looked past Sasuke to the city and the raven stepped to his side, out of the way. Naruto absently cast his gaze to where the piles of debris were and almost fell backwards in shock at what he saw. He looked up at the Uchiha disbelievingly, seeing a smug look spread across his face.
"My eyes are a curse," Sasuke said, lifting a hand to cover one of them, "but they can still show someone their greatest desire."
He turned his head and together, they watched a small, blue butterfly as it flew past and beyond it, a glowing, untouched city stretched up towards the night.
Spiralling towers, sparkling tiles and marble glinting with rainbows. Fountains and water jets that continued for as far as the eye could see.
People walked down perfectly paved streets, chattering and holding all arrays of exotic produce in their arms. Naruto stepped aside for the children that were running and laughing loudly as they dodged the water jets, making sure to jump in and splash every single pool that they passed. He dared to lift a hand, holding his breath until his fingers went right through a small arm.
"It's only an illusion," Sasuke reminded him, giving a passing family a sideways glance.
"No." Naruto shook his head slowly, staring forlornly at the playing children.
It is the future.
End of Chapter Six.
(Claws from her zombie deathbed). Feeeedbaaaaack isssss luuuurrrveeeed. (Eats).