Warning: an explicit NaruSasu scene, an implicit SasuNaru scene, yaoi, OOC and unbeta-read.
Author's note: There is a reason why we wrote a NaruSasu here so please refrain from stabbing us with the objects nearest you. Poking us with the tip of your mouse arrow is forgivable though. Thanks to notperfectXbutXhonestcritic for making some quick corrections.
Chapter 8: Calando
Shion straightened and wiped the sweat from her forehead before she looked at her work on the ground. Nothing was amiss. The sign she drew on the ground was just like that on the scroll.
She gave a reassuring smile to Sakura and Naruto who were with her at the empty training ground at this early hour. She never knew why everything related to this- from research to execution was a secret, and she never asked. Even to her it seemed Sakura barely knew the reason and Naruto looked too secretive. It would be embarrassing if he would brush her question off and the possibility of it happening was high. If Naruto didn't share it with the pink-haired kunoichi, what were the chances of him sharing it with her?
She took out three vials which contained blood from three different people whose identity she only knew and positioned them on thethree dots.
"Preparation completed!" she told her companions.
Naruto slapped his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet. In the briefest of seconds, he was standing side by side with the priestess, with a voice full of determination, she said, "I won't fail you,"
Naruto paused. With his gaze focused ahead, he said, "I know you won't." Then he continued forward to stand at the place where the three dividing lines conjoined.
Shion took a deep breath before she started murmuring a chant under her breath. A few seconds later, the mark which was drawn with just a stick, became dark and prominent. The leaves of the tree above them rustled to a direction completely opposite to where the breeze was blowing.
In a voice slightly louder than before, she continued, but this time, hand seals were accompanying her chants.
The blood in the vials rose up and hovered above their own container in balls. Shion slammed her left palm on her right fist and the globes of blood moved to hover above the nearest dots.
She fell quiet and made a quick succession of difficult hand-signs. When she brought her hands together in a single clap, the granule of blood dropped on the little dots simultaneously.
Shion opened her eyes. She, together with Sakura and Naruto, waited with abated breath for the sign that the first part of the seal was successful.
That sign came six seconds later. A faint red blood light burst from the ground, outlining the symbol.
Shion then resumed her chanting, hand signs more elaborate.
Then the light started moving towards Naruto and when it crawled on his skin starting from his feet, it manifested as ancient scripts.
Sakura attentively watched as those text completely occupied him from head to toe. When the priestess fell quiet, she looked at her, but the priestess was staring at the blond shinobi. And Sakura knew she accomplished her role.
In the second the writings began seeping into his body, Naruto slowly became detached from the world until he was surrounded by darkness with only his sense of touch working.
He felt thin, invisible threads zooming and joining, forming a cocoon around him. He didn't feel pain, just an unexplainable discomfort, but that too disappeared. Or to be exact, he had been robbed of his sense of touch. Suddenly, he felt as though he was floating. Naruto felt light and blissful, he thought that if Shion's prediction of his death were to come true, he wanted to disappear from the world like this.
"Naruto!" Sakura gasped when her friend fell to the ground. Few steps ahead of her, Shion broke into a run and followed suit. Both of them reached the unconscious blond at the same time.
"He's burning," a frowning Sakura stated.
"It's just a reaction," Shion assured her. "Everything is fine." However, Sakura didn't believe her. They couldn't leave Naruto like this. With a fever like his, she knew dehydration was a step away. She quickly extracted a syringe and a needle, ready to inject a generic medicine, but a dainty hand covered hers. Emerald eyes clashed against sapphire ones.
"Everything is fine."
"You-"
"What is going on here?" a voice asked.
Both of them looked up.
"Gaara," Sakura said while wondering which part of "everything is fine" involved having Gaara, of all people, find them in this situation.
Shion must have realized their sudden change of luck because her hand trembled and she quickly pulled it away from Sakura's- an action which Gaara didn't miss. He frowned when he saw the syringe.
The kazekage crossed his arms in front of his chest, waiting for an answer to his question. His scowl deepened. Kankuro and Temari cleared their throats, snapping Sakura from her stupor.
She let out a dry chuckle while stealing a glance around her. Strangely, there were no traces of the seal being written on the ground and she was grateful for her luck, at least it would make her lie believable.
"Since last night, Naruto has a fever, but he insisted in training today..." she trailed off, letting the Suna shinobi assume the rest.
Gaara stared at her, then at Naruto who smelled of blood. In fact, the whole area reeked of the scent of blood. The scene itself wasn't suspicious in the least, except for the clean and empty vials, he couldn't find anything strange.
"Take him to the hospital," he commanded cooly.
"Of course," a relieved Sakura replied. "By the way, we were expecting to have you a week from now."
"Hn," the redhead answered and turned to leave.
"Gaara wanted to come here early," Temari hurriedly explained, "but the rest will come as scheduled." She then bowed and went after her two brothers.
A groan from Naruto had the girls attention riveted back to him. His eyelids fluttered open.
"Did I miss anything?" he asked groggily.
"Nope," Sakura answered. "Be steady for a second, I'll just..." She trailed off upon realizing that his fever was gone. To her slight irritation, the priestess shot her a triumphant look which made her want to stick her tongue out.
Stupid priestess. Stupid Naruto. Stupid her.
-SasuNaru is love-
With light, muted footsteps, Madara walked along the winding hallway and stopped at the room where he knew the younger Uchiha was. He leaned against the doorway and silently regarded him. Very cheeky, he thought when the lad didn't acknowledge his presence even though he knew he was there.
Sasuke placed the last shuriken he needed in front of him, cleaned and sharpened. When the first ray of sunlight filtered into the room through the window and bathed his kunai and shuriken with its radiating glow, he roved his eyes on each blade, checking his work, although he was aware that he didn't have to. Satisfied, he picked his sword and unsheathed it. He held it against the sunlight, watching it as the blade glistened. He shifted his sword causing the reflected light to accidentally focus on Madara's eyes.
"Such a beautiful sword," Madara commented in wry sarcasm after he moved to escape from the glaring beam of light. When he heard the sharp sound of the air being cut by the weapon, he added, "and very sharp too."
Still gingerly swinging his sword, Sasuke asked, "What do you want?"
"The Sand siblings have arrived in Konoha earlier than what your contacts reported."
"So I heard."
"And?"
"Our plan remains unchanged because the backup will leave for Konoha as scheduled. That's four days from now."
"My guys are getting impatient," Madara stated.
"You can send them as part of the ambush team, but I want them to be in top condition when we attack," Sasuke replied before standing up. He turned his head to regard Madara when he became quiet and found him staring back with speculative eyes. He arched an eyebrow in silent inquiry.
"The glory of the name of Uchiha depends on this," Madara reminded him.
He scoffed. Obliviously, he felt threatened by Naruto just as Orochimaru was. "I'll only say this once: he means nothing to me. Take away Kyuubi and he'll be reduced into a weak ninja with nothing but empty dreams."
"I'll kill you if you fail," Madara warned.
Sasuke just looked at him apathetically for quite a long time before he replied eloquently, "Hn." Thus, their conversation was brought to an end.
-SasuNaru is love-
Naruto leaned against the rock wall and allowing his eyes to flutter shut, awaiting another wave of dizziness to pass him. Who would have thought that he would still feel the side effects of the seal? Even Shion, who had left earlier that day didn't, but she assured him and Sakura that it was okay... that according to the scroll, it was normal and that it would fade. While the side effects hadn't gone yet, at least, the interval and intensity of their occurrences stretched further apart while the pains became bearable. He brought his hand to his mouth when another bout of nausea hit him. 'Dammit!' he cursed mentally.
"Don't tell me I got you impregnated," he heard a familiar voice whisper to his left ear in a wry and teasing note. He cursed his luck. It was humiliating for him to be found like this, especially by Sasuke.
At the lack of any heated reaction from the blond, Sasuke became serious and frowned. "Dobe, are you okay?"
Naruto dropped his hand to his side and turned his head to look at his friend. "Ignoring that I was nauseous until a second ago, that I'm still dizzy and my body feels like lead, I'm fine," he snapped.
To see you in your usual self...
"Do you want me to carry you inside?"
The blond glared at the other man. "And have my pride fall to its all-time low? Stop messing around, bastard!"
To have you react to me in your usual brash way...
He heard him snort and tensed up when a pale hand shot towards him. "Bastard! Don't-" He trailed off when that hand just grabbed his arm to drape it over his shoulders.
Dark eyes looked at him in amusement. "Your pride won't suffer much with this, right?" Sasuke asked while he supported him.
"Bastard."
And to hear you calling me like that...
The two silently walked inside their little place and Sasuke led him to their bed.
Naruto's eyes fluttered close and a relieved sigh slipped past his lips the moment his back hit their- Sasuke's bed.
I will miss them all.
Standing by the bed, Sasuke regarded the blond whose hair messily framed his face; whose eyes were close; whose lips were half-parted and whose arms were slightly spread. Naruto, he thought, was beautiful and the more he wanted to let him go, the more he found himself clinging to him. He pushed him away, but wished the idiot would come back... straight back to him. He did, but this time... it was different.
I will miss you.
Naruto felt the slight dip of their cot and opened his eyes to find Sasuke hovering above while staring down at him. The way he looked at him... Naruto couldn't put it into words, but it felt like it was breaking his heart.
"Sasuke," he breathed and raised his arms, wanting to embrace his dear friend. However, said friend moved away just when his arms were in mid-motion.
"I'll get you water," Sasuke told him gruffly and left without once looking back.
Naruto frowned before wrapping his arms around the place where Sasuke was just moments before.
Sitting, Naruto took few sips of the hot water Sasuke prepared for him before cupping the mug with his two hands. He gazed at Sasuke who was sat in front of him.
"Is it because of Sakura's sleeping pills?" Sasuke asked.
"Eh?"
"What you're feeling now..."
Naruto lowered his gaze to his mug and nodded. It was a perfect lie... a perfect excuse.
"Hmm... It was two days ago. That potent?"
"I guess so, plus I was training with the guys and not resting as much as I should."
"Hn."
Blue eyes slightly widened when he felt a cold hand against his jaw. His gaze met black eyes staring back at him, with the same, heart-breaking look.
"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly.
"Hm?"
This is goodbye, he wanted to answer, but his throat constricted painfully.
"Sasu-" The last syllable was smothered by Sasuke's lips. Even dark eyes were staring at him and he stared back until his eyelids got heavy. When he closed his eyes, Sasuke followed suit.
Naruto moved his lips against Sasuke's. He completely forgot about the mug in his hands until he felt it being lifted from his hands. He opened his eyes when Sasuke broke their kiss and watched as his friend lowered his mug to the floor. He gave him a sheepish look before pulling him back for a kiss.
He didn't understand, but right now, his feelings were welling up inside him, making his chest feel like it was constricting to the brink of implosion. The way Sasuke was kissing him; touching him and pressing his body against his, washed him away.
"Sasuke," he breathed with his voice shaking and his fingers digging into pale shoulders. He moaned and clenched his eyes shut when his navel was being toyed with by Sasuke's tongue. He moved a hand to Sasuke's head and let his fingers comb through dark strands.
Sasuke paused and savored Naruto's touch, a part of him tried to remember the warmth of that hand so that when everything was over, the memory of his hands would still remain. A tug on his hair had his face hovering above the blond's.
Naruto slightly pushed himself up to capture his lips and plunder his mouth. When the blond pulled away to breathe, Sasuke whispered, "Embrace me tonight."
Blue eyes widened.
"Scared, dobe?" There was a slight smirk on his lips when he asked that.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something... anything, but when nothing came out, he decided it was better off to say nothing at all. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist and rolled them over. Naruto hastily attempted to remove Sasuke's yukata.
"Your hands are trembling," Sasuke stated matter-of-factly.
"S-shut up," Naruto retorted. He was nervous. God! He was so nervous that he felt like an inexperienced moron. This was just Sasuke, he told himself. There was nothing to be nervous about. Wrong, he thought. It was because this was Sasuke. He frowned. Nothing was different. It was still just him with Sasuke and the feelings that flowed in between them was the same.
With that thought, he lowered his head and enclosed his mouth on one nipple.
He was nervous all right, but because he was with Sasuke, he could be himself. He might mess up along the way and Sasuke might tease him, but he knew that Sasuke wouldn't mind because... because he understood him... trusted him.
Sasuke let out a shuddering sigh and shivered as those curious and warm hands moved southward, leaving a scorching trail on his cold skin. He expelled a sharp breath when Naruto's mouth started following the direction his hands were taking after showering his nipples with equal attention.
It was hot. He couldn't say that he was burning because that would be an understatement. He was past burning. He was close to exploding and he wondered if this was what it felt like to be scorched by the sun.
You're melting me.
A soft smile played on his lips at the impatient tug of his pants. "Impatient," he uttered while he raised his hips to help the blond. He felt no shame in being naked. He wasn't allowed to feel that way when Naruto was looking at him hungrily as he licked his suddenly dry lips.
Devour me then.
He gulped when he felt hot breaths fanning his tip and when he felt hands brushing against his inner thighs.
Touch me. Hurry.
Naruto let out a shaky breath. The musky scent of Sasuke's desire was sending all of his blood to his nether regions. His tongue darted out to catch a pearl of pre-cum that had just dripped from his slit.
Sasuke.
With his senses attuned to all of Sasuke's reactions, Naruto slowly slipped his lover's angry rod into his mouth. With utmost reverence, he slid it in and out and would occasionally tease it with his tongue. He traced the slit and wrapped his tongue around the tip; nibbled the underside and sucked on the tip again before swallowing it all as much as his mouth would allow. While he was doing this, he had his fingers brushing and rubbing the muscles of Sasuke's entrance. And when they were hot, wet, stimulated and swollen, he slipped his fingers inside one after another.
Sasuke tightly gripped the sides of their cot while his legs were half-bent and his toes were digging into the soft surface. Feverishly and with an effort to be slow, he started thrusting into that oh-so-willing mouth, getting lost and heady with the pleasure he was taking and receiving simultaneously. His eyes fell shut. It was getting harder to breathe and the desire coiling in his abdomen had become heavier and tighter. Close. Yes, he was so close and he was mentally demanding for the blond to continue... to never stop or he would kill him. He was getting closer to that light and he was straining towards it. When it was within his arm's length, he stretched his hand. Come on. Yes. Before his fingers grasp it, the light disappeared and he was falling too fast back to the ground... to the blond idiot who was now looking at him. Just looking at him only.
"Dobe," he growled.
"Look who's impatient now," Naruto snickered while he started discarding his pants and boxers.
"With your pace, it will be tomorrow before we finish this."
"Keep that attitude up and it will be the day after tomorrow."
Sasuke scowled and lunged forward, a second later than Naruto. He found himself pinned with his mouth occupied with the blond's tongue. He kissed back in a deliberately rough manner. Hands gripping golden strands painfully.
Naruto slightly pulled back to inform him that he was going to thrust into him, but the moment he opened his mouth to speak, Sasuke thrust his tongue into it, smothering his words. Sasuke brought it upon himself when the sudden pain choked him in the middle of their demanding kiss.
"Fuck, N-naruto."
In reply, the blond started feasting on the pale skin of his neck.
Sasuke inhaled and exhaled while he told himself to relax. He wasn't scared, but his senses were screaming to attack the man who caused this pain. He had to repeat to himself over and over again that it was Naruto... just Naruto whom he trusted and who had hurt him over and over again albeit unconsciously.
He grabbed the tanned globes and pulled them towards him, bringing Naruto's half-buried cock deeper into him. "I refuse to wait for tomorrow," he whispered in a needy voice before sucking the outer shell of Naruto's left ear.
A husky chuckle rushed past Naruto's lips before they began moving.
Sasuke had no idea what to expect even if he did, he would never have known that it would be like this- memorably awkward and painfully beautiful. It felt like he was being torn, but to be filled like this and to be touched like this made the discomfort worthwhile. And the pleasure. Oh God! The pleasure. It was so addicting that he shifted his hips so Naruto would hit that spot dead-on; set the pace so he could have more of everything.
However, pleasure wasn't the only thing that was getting Sasuke high, but also Naruto's chakra that was dripping unto him and rubbing against his skin. Worse, it was more potent than the electrifying sensation that originated from his erogenous zones. It was fanning his fire-element-based chakra and awakening a different hunger in him- a hunger he ignored out of his respect to the blond's decision.
That hunger crawled upward, taking with it lots of chakra and leaving a burning trail in his veins. He could feel it licking its way into his eyes, activating his sharingan. He knew what was going on and what was going to happen. With Naruto staring at him, completely oblivious of the reason why his sharingan was activated, it was so easy to control him... so insanely easy that laughter bubbled inside him.
He brought a hand to Naruto's eyes, pressing it almost painfully. "Don't look," he commanded. "Don't you dare look."
"Sasu-"
A confused Naruto never got to finish because Sasuke had pulled him for a dizzying kiss that went on and on until both of them came. And their post-coital bliss pushed that hunger back and putting the dark-haired man in control of it again.
Naruto slumped beside him, the latter's breathing harsher than his. He almost drifted to sleep when he felt a warm hand holding his and he let a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth.
-SasuNaru is love-
Having came earlier than Naruto, Sasuke doubled his efforts in jerking him off. He slumped against him the moment the blond finally came with a silent cry. He dragged his lips from tanned shoulder to tanned nape before he extracted himself from Naruto's body.
Naruto slung an arm over his eyes and let Sasuke wipe him clean and dry. He listened while Sasuke cleaned himself and when he heard the rustling of clothes as he dressed himself, he too got out of bed and started dressing. When he was done, he found Sasuke staring at him intensely, he began to understand.
Sasuke seemed to know that he now knew because there was a small wry smile that graced his lips. Naruto returned it with his own that came off as a grimace.
Simultaneously, they both had one their knees on the cot, and leaned towards the other for their last kiss. A moment later, they pulled back, and this time, it was more than their cot that separated them.
Naruto clenched his fists. "Sorry, I can't go with you. I have responsibilities entrusted to me."
"Responsibilities, eh? I understand them well." With that said, he turned his back towards a quiet Naruto and walked away. By the entrance, he paused. "Naruto," he started, "three days from now, I'll attack your village." He took a quick glance at the blond before he disappeared.
It took awhile for those words to sink into Naruto and when they did, he hurriedly left for Konoha without even glancing back at the place full of memories which had now become bittersweet.
A top on a certain tree, Sasuke watched the blond leaping from one branch to another at a very impressive speed, but he didn't feel betrayed, angry or disappointed. He was resigned to how things ended. Their dream and lucid interval were over and that little flare of hope that he harbored died like a candle in the wind.
He turned around and walked away with his resolve remaining as firm as when he heard the truth from Madara.
For Itachi. For the Uchiha name. Goodbye, Naruto.
-SasuNaru is love-
"Old hag," Naruto shouted before he burst into Tsunade's office, disrupting whatever discussion Tsunade and Shizune had. "That bastard... I mean, Sasuke will attack Konoha three days from now."
Both kunoichi stiffened.
"How did you know?" a scowling Tsunade asked. Her attention solely on her blond subordinate.
"He came to me."
The hokage slammed her hand on the table. "How come I wasn't told of this meeting?"
Naruto looked away. "It was a secret. It was my last chance in convincing him-"
"What if he killed you? Why do have to believe-" She sighed. It already happened and Naruto was in front of her alive, besides there were bigger things she needed to deal with. She leaned back in her chair and nibbled on her thumbnail.
"What should we do, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked. "It could be a trap."
Tsunade knew that. No man would ever tell his enemy when he would attack, unless it would increase his margin of winning. Was Sasuke that desperate? Obviously, he was, but would he betray Naruto? Who he trusted in? She snorted. Hell yeah, he would over and over again.
Her frown deepened. What if the Uchiha expected them to treat this information as a bluff or a trap and ended up attacking on that date. He was playing a game with them... with her, but he was hundred years early.
She smirked. "Shizune, send word to all captains for an emergency meeting."
"R-right away, Tsunade-sama," her assistant replied and hurriedly left the office.
Naruto was about to leave as well when Tsunade's voice stopped him by the door. "Are you ready, Naruto?" he heard her ask and there was so much concern for him that it slightly chased the coldness that settled in him earlier.
We made our decisions.
He gave her a smile. "It's okay. It's vexing, but I have already given up on him." He dropped his smile. "I am resolved to kill him." Just like he is resolved to kill me.
We said our goodbyes.
With that said, he left.
Right, Sasuke? We already said our goodbyes.
For the rest of the day, there were no sightings of a captain in Konoha.
-SasuNaru is love-
Baki frowned. Something wasn't right. He had sensed it the moment he and his troops crossed the boundary of Sunagakure. Although he had ordered everyone to be on alert, nothing had happened and he wanted it to remain like that.
From a distance, he heard what could be the sound of a bow string being plucked, but he wasn't able to confirm it until few of the shinobi holding the end of their party were making a commotion. He looked over his shoulder and saw four arrows moving towards a kunoichi.
The chuunin kunoichi smirked and with her chakra, got rid of them easily. Then there was silence- a deafening silence before one explosion after another occurred as the set-up was triggered by the kunoichi's chakra.
And like vultures, the blood-thirsty warriors and an Akatsuki member dealt with the rest.
In a snap, eyelids fluttered open, revealing alert emerald eyes. Gaara sat up and looked at the red moon hanging low on the inky black sky. Something wasn't right. His senses told him.
Just then, there was an urgent knock on his door before a frantic voice called his name. He could even hear other voices calling his siblings' name.
"What is it?" he asked as he opened the door. From his side-view, he noticed the doors of his siblings' room opening.
"Your subordinates were ambushed on their way here."
"What?" Kankuro uttered.
Unlike his siblings, Gaara remained calm. "And?"
"Eleven of them had survived. They are being treated. Tsunade-sama wants to talk with you."
The redhead nodded. In their sleeping clothes, he and his siblings went to the hokage's office.
The three of them had to wait for a few minutes before the hokage walked into her office. They immediately noticed that she wasn't in a good mood; that she smelled of blood and that her clothes had been stained with blood.
"How are they?" Temari asked on their behalf while Tsunade seated herself.
"We lost two of them," the hokage stated grimly. "The rest are in stable condition."
"What about Baki?" Kankuro asked.
"He suffered critical injuries, but we managed to save him. He managed to give his report before he lost consciousness."
"Who did it?" Gaara asked.
"Bandits, but they weren't exactly ordinary ones. Baki didn't expound this detail," the hokage explained.
"He doesn't need to," the redhead replied. "There were thirty-five shinobis on their way here and who were either chuunin or jounin."
"There was also an Akatsuki member. However, he wasn't serious during their confrontation."
"Damn that Akatsuki!" Kankuro cursed. "What more do they want from us?"
Temari looked at her younger brother. "Gaara, perhaps our village is in dan-"
"I doubt it."
Tsunade was about to agree with him when there was a rap on her door and Raidou came in.
"We received these SOS from the others," he said and handed the hokage the small papers.
The hokage scanned and noticed that one letter had a drop of blood. Remembering what Naruto had reported, she had more reason to suspect that this was Sasuke's doing. He was ridding their support before he would attack.
Damn! This was getting to be more troublesome. She had to send back-up, or the village's ties with their allies who sent aid would be ruined. At the same time, she had to consider the village's safety and security.
"Raidou," she said in a commanding tone, "we're going to send back-up. Summon the following team... "
TBC
For those who haven't figured out why we had NaruSasu here: It symbolizes the finality and gravity of Sasuke's goodbye.