Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Soul of the Senju

Chapter 2: Coming to Compromises

June 14, 2012

Bump.

Sasuke shifted with discomfort as he was jostled again. Silently, he swore if the cart rolled over another patch of uneven earth, he'd katon the whole thing. Half drugged and unimaginably groggy, it didn't even occur to him that the entire situation was a little strange, and that he shouldn't even be in a cart in the first place. At the moment though, all he knew was that there was a blossoming ache behind his eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep the headache away.

Bump.

Unfortunately, like a sick parody of his life, the road was filled with seemingly endless bumps and obstacles. He wasn't sure how long he existed in this state between sleep and wakefulness, but just when he thought the road was finally beginning to even out, the cart suddenly screeched to a full stop. Sent careening to the other side of the cart, he barely suppressed the urge to hiss when his forehead collided soundly with the metal railing. Then, as if to add insult to injury, he became the mat that cushioned someone else's fall.

It was only after he tried to kick out at the person on top of him that he finally realized he'd been tightly bound with a thick coil of rope, snapping both his arms and legs close together.

Oblivious (or indifferent) to their discomfort, an imposing voice that belonged presumably to the leader immediately took control, directing half the men to set up camp, and the other half to get dinner ready. Even amidst the cacophony of noise, however, one voice stood out loud and clear. It was annoyingly screechy and louder than all the other noise combined. The reason, Sasuke thought irritably, could probably be attributed to the fact that the idiot was screaming right next to his ear.

"Oi, you dunderheads, don't suddenly stop without any warning!"

The voice was disturbingly familiar, and he instantly found himself irrationally annoyedby it.

"Look what you did to him!"

The voice was too male to be Sakura (although if it had been hers, it would've partly explained his immediate irritation to the sound of it). It couldn't be Kakashi either because the voice was too emotional to fit the laid-back jounin. That and Sasuke had a hard time accepting the idea that any self-respecting jounin could ever scream in this fashion. It could've been Sora – he certainly hated him and his voice enough – but he was hesitant to think his reluctant teammate would ever express concern on his behalf (even false ones).

"His head smacked like wham against the side!" There was a sharp jab in his gut as the speaker rolled off of him. Sasuke swore he was going to kill the idiot – whoever he was – after this. "I swear I heard his brain flop – twice – in there!"

What the hell?

"What if he gets amnesia? Or worse, brain damage?"

"Yeah?" a gruff voice shot out. "And why the hell should we care?" The noise around them quickly quieted – most likely in anticipation of the verbal exchange between the two idiots. "For that matter, why the hell do you care? You can't possibly know him that well."

"Uh, yeah, of course I don't know him." There was a nervous tint in the voice that had Sasuke somewhat suspicious. "Anyway, of course you guys should care! What if this really did knock a few screws loose? He could end up a complete nutter! Even with a pretty face, how many people do you think are going to pay full price for a veggie?"

Veggie? Sasuke mentally sputtered.

"…"

There was a long pause. At last, someone meekly pointed out: "He's kinda got a point, boss."

The leader immediately lashed back with an angry scowl "No one asked you for your opinion, and who told you guys to stop? Get back to work!" There was a series of loud shuffles as everyone hurriedly dispersed, scurrying off in different directions. "And you," the leader growled. "I don't want to hear another peep from you, got it?"

"Crystal, boss!"

Sasuke could practically hear the man's veins throb. "Don't call me boss, you fool! You're our slave. Slave, got that?"

As the angry footsteps departed, Sasuke was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. "So…" The voice trailed, sounding way too close to his person for comfort. Close enough that Sasuke could practically feel the boy's breath fanning across his face. Eugh…

Eyes snapping open, Sasuke was immediately greeted with a grinning face...inches from his own. Glaring, hard, he tried to snarl. However, all that came out was a weak cough that sounded like he was choking on sand.

"You okay?"

What do you think? He snarled without words. His glare must have conveyed his feeling because the boy immediately backed off, giving him his personal space back. Every now and then, however, Sasuke found the other boy shooting him slightly nervous and guilty looks. The nervousness he could understand, but guilt? Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke silently scrutinized the muddy face that seemed oddly familiar for someone he shouldn't even know…

And then, all at once, he remembered.

"You…" he snarled, his voice coming out slightly garbled due to disuse. The point, however, came across loud and clear despite his lack of eloquence. It's because of YOU that I'm here at all! The street urchin's eyes widened in alarm, and Sasuke vindictively soaked in the pleasure of seeing the idiot squirm.

The boy, probably in hopes of distracting him, quickly turned and shouted, "Oi, boss, what's for dinner? I'm starving!"

"Do you ever shut up, brat?" The snarled words had the orphan grinning cheekily in response. "And who the hell said I was going to feed you at all?"

"But I'm hungry!" the boy whined shamelessly with his bottom lip jutted out. "And if I die," he paused dramatically, "my corpse isn't going to be worth much."

An aggravated growl ripped through the clearing.

Sasuke felt oddly soothed knowing he wasn't the only one whose patience was being tested.

Elsewhere…

"What do you mean Sasuke-kun's gone?" Sakura shrilled as she twisted her hands into her other teammate's robes. "Why didn't you keep an eye on him?" she continued, ignoring her instincts to flee in the face of her teammate's growing anger. For Sasuke, she wasn't afraid of anything.

Not even their monster of a teammate.

"Back off, you dumb fangirl!" Sora hissed, slapping the girl's hands off with enough force to leave a stinging, red mark in its wake. "And what made you think he was my responsibility? Is baby Sasuke three?Does he need me to hold his hands on missions?" he spat.

"Take that back, Sora!" Sakura shouted, face red with fury. "Don't you dare talk about Sasuke-kun like that! He's ten times stronger than you'll ever be!"

"Of course, how could I forget?" Sora sneered. "He's the rookie of the year."

"You got that right!"

"But everyone knows that's only because his cousin – his younger cousin, by the way – had already graduated last year."

"That's because he…because…he…argh!" Sakura spluttered. "Quit changing the subject! Who cares about that? Now spill! Where's Sasuke-kun?"

"Weren't you listening, stupid?" Sora taunted. "I don't know, and I don't care."

"Sora," their sensei finally cut in, "Explain, from the beginning, exactly what happened."

"What?" Sora's eyes narrowed. "You think he's my responsibility too?"

"He went out with you!" Sakura interrupted, clenching her fists by her side to resist the urge to grab her teammate by the collar again. "Who else are we supposed to ask?"

"Sakura, calm down, Sasuke's going to be fine." He had to be or else he would never be able to forgive himself."I'm sure he can take care of himself." Kakashi hated how easily and quickly their team dynamics (the little that existed) had crumbed in the face of this mishap.

"Fine," Sakura huffed, muttering darkly under her breath about evil teammates and stupid teachers. "But Sasuke-kun better be okay!"

Sighing (and silently wondering if she would ever grow out of that stage), Kakashi focused his attention back on Sora with a considering look. "While Sasuke isn't directly your responsibility, per se," he conceded, "he is your teammate. Do you still remember what I had told you three on the day that you passed my exam?"

"…" Sora gave him a blank look.

"Of course you'd forget!" Sakura hissed with renewed anger.

"Those who don't follow rules are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are lower than trash!" Kakashi repeated, giving both genins a silencing glare.

"I knew it." Sora growled. "You're just like the rest of them!"

Kakashi stayed silent as Sora worked up a temper.

"You think I'm trash, don't you? That I'm a monster!"

Kakashi cursed the day he agreed to take on this team, and cursed the Hokage doubly so for convincing him to allow them to pass. He understood the purpose of doing so. Sora needed bonds to the village, and what could be better than forming close ties to classmates from his age-group? Except, he couldn't help but question what made his sensei think the Uchiha heir and his fangirl would be the best choice. True, in theory, if they the three had managed to get along, Kakashi could see how they could've become a formidable combination. However, as the case had shown, placing Sasuke and Sora on the same team was plainly begging for problems.

Add a fangirl to that mix, and it was definitely a recipe for disaster.

"Well, it wasn't my fault!" Sora shouted, face twisted in a combination of anger and…fear? "It was that boy."

Boy? Kakashi echoed in his head. He couldn't be talking about –?

"That beggar we saw on the way. He was working with the slave traders." Sora explained, suddenly looking much calmer. "After splitting up, we ran into our targets. We were going to come back to get you guys, but we were ambushed. The beggar tricked us into thinking he'd been injured by the slave traders, and we were helping him when he used some sort of technique to knock Sasuke out."

"That – That creep!" Sakura immediately shouted. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Stay calm, Sakura." he repeated. "Anger isn't going to help Sasuke. My nin-dogs should be able to track Sasuke down easily enough."

Sora's sudden flash of discomfort didn't go unnoticed, but Kakashi didn't bother to point it out. He wasn't sure what parts to believe (Sora had a tendency for exaggeration), but he wouldn't be too surprised if the orphan they had met yesterday morning really did turn out to be a ninja. The boy had been too alert (and his movements too smooth) to be a simple orphan.

This lent credit to Sora's explanation.

Yet, Kakashi couldn't help but be a little suspicious about the entire thing. After all, just moments ago (before he had come 'clean'), Sora had claimed he didn't know anything about what had happened to Sasuke.

In either case, the most important thing was to find Sasuke first.

He'd deal with everything else after that.

A full-blown smirk threatened to spread across his lips as Sasuke watched the idiot across from him repeatedly attempt to get a word out around the rag in his mouth. After the third time the fool had made ruckus, complaining that 'mother nature was calling', everyone had finally had enough.

After securing their ropes to make sure they wouldn't be able to 'escape' (Sasuke snorted at the notion that a ninja could be held in place by such plebian methods) and gagging the other to make sure the night would pass undisturbed, they had been dumped in one corner of the makeshift camp. Two guards had been set up, but from the way they were swaying from side to side, Sasuke had no doubt they would fall asleep within an hour or two.

More than anything, the entire situation was simply boring. There may have been a few ex-ninjas in the slave traders' ranks, but it was clear from their lackadaisical attitude towards him that they were probably no more than genins themselves. To be honest, he wasn't completely sure how they had managed to capture him in the first place.

Well, he knew it had something to do with the idiot across from him.

So, for a while, Sasuke simply took pleasure in watching the other struggle with the gag. Gradually, though, incredulity replaced amusement when he noticed the idiot was still struggling after two whole hours. Sighing, and deciding to take pity on the fool, he snorted, "Quit struggling, stupid. I'll get us out of here after they fall asleep."

The boy immediately began shaking his head back and forth in the negative.

Sasuke blinked once in an expression of bewilderment. He couldn't possibly be interpreting the motions correctly, right? Did the idiot actually want to stick around and be sold off? "Tch, suit yourself." he snorted. The idiot could stay here if he wanted. He certainly wasn't going to offer again though. "I'm not doing this to help you." Somehow, he felt the need to emphasize that. "I was going after these guys to begin with." And why the hell am I telling him about my mission?

But then, like a broken record, the boy began rapidly shaking his head again.

"You don't think I can?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at the perceived slight to his ability. But then, he remembered he wasn't actually wearing his forehead protector. Sure, the boy had seen him fight. But then again, the idiot was exactly that – an idiot. Maybe he didn't fully understand the significance? "I'm a ninja." he tried, carefully watching the other's attention. Though, to be honest, he wasn't even sure why he bothered.

In any case, if he had thought the other boy would be awed (or even surprised) by the revelation, he was sorely mistaken.

The boy rolled his eyes.

Sasuke had to forcibly temper his sudden upsurge of ill feelings towards the orphaned boy. In the end, he settled for his most frigid glare. "Do you think I'm –?"

"Yeah, yeah," the boy cut in. "I know, I know. You're awesome, bastard, a kick-ass ninja."

Sasuke blinked. When had he –? How? Staring at his companion, who was carefully stretching out the kinks in his shoulder, Sasuke was suddenly left with an ugly and terribly unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't even seen the boy move.

"Look," Sasuke recoiled when the boy was suddenly in his face. Again, he hadn't been able to follow his movements. "If you wanna go, I'm not going to stop you. But you're not going to lay a hand on these men, got it?"

Sasuke's eyes instinctively narrowed as he asked coldly, "You're together?"

The boy rolled his eyes again as if he thought Sasuke was the stupid one. "You think I'd be sitting here if I was?" he asked, holding up the ropes that had bound him.

"You got out of it easy enough."

"Yeah, so what?" the boy shot back. "If I was with them, why go through this at all? What's there to gain? They've already got you –"

"No thanks to you."

"Oi," the boy frowned, a somewhat disturbed look on his face. "I admit it's partially my fault. But in my defense, I did try to get you to leave. Plus, it wasn't like I was the one who knocked you out."

At that, the last memory fell into place. True, the idiot in front of him had been distracting him, but he had been hit from behind. He wasn't completely certain it was his teammate, but his attacker had certainly felt familiar enough for him to be sure that his assumption probably wasn't too far off the mark. Eyes flaring with anger, he didn't even realize that he had raised his voice. "That bast –"

"Sh!" A hand – filthy and stained with something black – was promptly slapped over his mouth. "Quiet, do you want them to hear us?"

Jerking back, Sasuke shot the owner of the filthy hand a dark glare.

"Stop being such a prissy princess," the boy snorted as he wiped his hands on his trouser.

As if that did anything at all. The pants were equally filthy.

"Look, like I was saying, you're free to go. If you really need these guys for your mission, you can come back later. If you want, I can even deliver them to you after I complete my mi-job."

Sasuke could have sworn – no, he was sure – the boy had wanted to say mission. So, did that mean he was a ninja from another village? But then, where was his team? And would that make him an ally or a foe? Sasuke understood that there was no way he could truly know (all ninjas were trained to lie), but one thing was for certain. He was definitely going to successfully complete his first mission out of the village, and to do that, he needed more information. "What are you trying to do?"

The boy gave him a considering look. Then, seemingly coming to a conclusion after a brief inner struggle, he answered: "I'm going to save the orphans."

So they essentially had the same mission with slightly different objectives. But he couldn't be certain the other wasn't lying. In any case, he supposed he didn't have anything to lose. "I'll help you." The words sounded strange, and it took a moment for him to realize this was the first time he had ever willingly offered to lend his abilities to help accomplish someone else's goal.

The boy blinked, his blue eyes widening slightly. "You sure?" he questioned.

"Hn."

The boy grinned. "Okay, but I'm team leader!"

This time, Sasuke was the one who rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he snorted while simultaneously crushing the urge to argue for the sake of argument. Though, it did rankle slightly that he would be taking orders (willingly) from someone else.

"Well," the boy smiled widely. "The name's Naruto."

It didn't escape Sasuke's notice that his surname had been conveniently left out. "Sasuke," he reciprocated in kind.

"You have a last name?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Do you?"

"Touché," Naruto grinned, his bright smile as wide as ever. There was a lull in the conversation as the boy eyed him with a considering look that left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what they boy was thinking, but if he –

Sasuke barely repressed the urge to flinch when the boy's face suddenly appeared next to his. Naruto's face was uncomfortably close…again. "What?" he demanded through gritted teeth. He refused to be the first one to back off. Seriously though, didn't the boy have any concept of personal space?

"Are you really a ninja?"

Sasuke hissed at the insinuation. "Of course I'm –" He reflexively recoiled when a stinging pain shot through his head. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he whispered dangerously under his voice as he glared at the two fingers that the other boy had pressed to his forehead. "Get your hands off me!"

"Ya know," Naruto began, grinning impishly, "There's like this huge-ass mark on your head."

Sasuke blinked, looking fairly horrified by the statement.

"Didn't you learn how to manipulate your chakra?"

"Manipulate my chakra?" Sasuke repeated, feeling fairly stupid for parroting the question.

"You know what chakra is?" Naruto asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Sasuke snarled slightly. "Of course I know what chakra is! I –"

"Well, then why didn't you use it to reinforce and protect yourself?" he asked, lightly tapping his forehead again.

Shaking the fingers off, Sasuke snapped back, "I was out of it." Naruto shrugged, seemingly accepting his response. Sasuke, however, knew that it was a lie. To be honest, he hadn't even known chakra could be used like that. Of course, he'd die before admitting that to anyone – much less the idiot before him.

"Okay, okay," Naruto held up a mollifying hand when his new 'teammate' continued to glare at him. "Here, I'll even heal it as an apology."

Before he could react, Naruto's fingers were pressed to his forehead again. But instead of the sharp pain he had felt before, the feeling was soothing. "What'd you do?" he found himself asking before he had even registered it.

"I healed it." Naruto flashed him another grin.

"You're a medical ninja?" Sasuke asked.

"Nah," Naruto shrugged noncommittally, "I just know some basics."

Sasuke nodded. He wasn't particularly familiar with medical techniques, so he was in no position to judge. Still, it had certainly seemed simple enough…It'd only been a small bruise, after all.

"Anyway," Naruto excitedly waved off the incidence with something akin to mild impatience. "Let's just get onto the good stuff."

"The good stuff?" he repeated.

"Yeah, remember, my mission? I mean, job? Anyway, as I was saying, here's my plan." As Naruto leaned in to whisper his plans to him, Sasuke found himself automatically sharing his own thoughts and critiques. It wouldn't be until sometime later after the two had separated to catch a bit of sleep before daylight that Sasuke would realize he had actually been excited about the prospect of carrying out this mission with his temporary ally.

Naruto had an enthusiasm that was contagious, and despite his attempts to remind himself that rescuing orphans wasn't really his mission, Sasuke found himself arguing back and forth with the idiot late into the night, trying to convince him to alter the parts of the plan that he found to be too unrealistic. It was nearly daylight when they finally hashed out a plan that both agreed on. It'd been tiring since the idiot had been surprisingly bull-headed about certain aspects of the plan, but Sasuke felt strangely…satisfied?

Shaking the thoughts aside, Sasuke blearily refocused his attention on Naruto.

"Ya look like you could do with some sleep, bastard." Naruto grinned, purposely standing so he could look pompously down his nose at Sasuke. However, the effect was ruined when he ended up yawning himself.

Sasuke smirked. "Speak for yourself, idiot."

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto grouched, soundlessly flopping back to the ground. "Anyway, I'm going to try to catch an hour of sleep before we're forced back on the road."

Remembering all the bumps and dips that they had come across during the day, Sasuke paled slightly and conceded that it probably wasn't a bad idea. Just as he was going to shut his eyes, however, Naruto suddenly groaned.

"What now?" he asked with an air of long-suffering and exasperation – all without actually altering his tone or facial expressions.

"How am I going to put this back on?" Naruto hissed, holding up his untied rope.

Sasuke blinked. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Help me!"

"How?" he asked in a deadpanned tone.

Naruto blinked owlishly as he registered the fact that Sasuke had never been untied, "Oh."

Sasuke snorted. To think he had felt irritated (no, he was not jealous, he scowled darkly) at the possibility that the boy might have been a little stronger than him. Seeing the fool hop around now, he felt slightly mollified that his first judgment hadn't been completely off.

The boy was still a complete idiot.

TBC

AN: Hope you enjoyed. All comments are appreciated, and thanks to those who reviewed last chapter!