Chapter 1: Goodbye for Now
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
This was it, Naruto thought. He stood in the trees and watched Sasuke say his goodbyes to Sakura and Kakashi. He was leaving that day, on a journey to only-he-knew-where, and he had no idea when he'd be back.
They'd already had an argument the night before, or as much of an argument as Sasuke was willing to have those days. Naruto was insisting, and had been insisting, that he go with him on this journey of atonement. The fact that atonement was the word Sasuke had chosen was already wrong in Naruto's head, but it wasn't his journey. Either way, he was going. Whether his dark haired best friend allowed him to go, or whether he followed him until he gave in. Well, Naruto was fine with either option.
The night before, they'd discussed it. Much like they had ever since the first time Sasuke had thought to mention his idea to the blond, he refused to allow Naruto to travel with him. By the end, all he'd left Naruto with was a "no." So here he was, in the trees, ready to tell Sasuke an official goodbye so he could hide his real plan to follow him.
Naruto had to be extra careful because Sasuke knew him, like better than anyone ever had. He was wearing his day off clothes, he had no conspicuous bags on him, and he was even making sure to keep his heart rate down and his scent controlled. The first part was the hardest because he was genuinely keyed up about following his best friend, and he was already used to keeping his scent minimized. Even so, he was putting extra effort into keeping relaxed. Nothing was going to clue Sasuke in before they got far enough away from the village.
He watched Kakashi and Sakura wave him off before he turned around and headed in Naruto's direction. It wasn't until he was almost upon him that the blond stepped out of the trees and into his path.
Surprise flitted briefly across Sasuke's face before he shuttered it away, "Naruto."
"You didn't think I'd let you leave without saying goodbye, did you?"
"I—"
"It doesn't really matter 'cause I'm not. I wanted to give you this," he said, thrusting Sasuke's old headband toward him. He seemed to hesitate before reaching out and taking it.
"You…kept this?"
"Of course I did, Sasuke," he let his voice trail off. He felt emotions rush up from his chest, but none that he felt he could vocalize. Sasuke must have felt similarly because he quickly tucked it away under his traveling cloak. "I'd still like to go with you," Naruto said, breaking the silence.
"You can't," Sasuke said, but he seemed to brace himself for a fight.
Naruto wouldn't be giving him one. "I won't let the last thing we do be to argue, but just know. I don't like this." Sasuke seemed relieved.
As hard as it was for Naruto not to show any visible clues, it was even harder for him not to react on the inside. Both the men seemed to pause before he stepped out of Sasuke's way.
"Don't forget to contact me every once in a while, Sasuke," Naruto said to his back. Not that it was a real request, and even if it was, the bastard probably wouldn't have anyway. Good thing Naruto wouldn't be relying on that.
He watched Sasuke walk away from him until he couldn't see him anymore. The first part of his plan was done. Now, he could go get the stuff he'd packed last night and stowed a short distance from the path. Before he did though, he turned to watch Kakashi and Sakura walk back through the gates to the village.
As soon as they seemed far enough away too, he made a clone to go back to his apartment. He had to make it look like he was still in the village long enough for him to at least get started following Sasuke. Once he was far enough away, his clone would go tell Kakashi where he had gone. If he was being honest with himself, he'd have to admit that his old sensei already knew what he was up to. Naruto had no doubt that someone like him would be able to predict such an outcome.
It took him no time to get back to his pack, and to start traveling in the direction Sasuke had gone. He would stay to the trees for a while and avoid the direct path the Uchiha had taken. He hoped since Sasuke wasn't expecting him to follow, that it would take him longer to be found out. It was unrealistic of him to think that Sasuke would never figure it out, so he was just hoping to get far enough along that he'd give in. What he was going to say when Sasuke confronted him was the least thought out part of his plan, but he'd get to that when the time came.
He'd been following Sasuke for hours when he felt his clone dissipate. It wasn't long before sunset, and they'd been making good time. He smiled to himself as the memories washed over him. Kakashi had acted even more bored than normal when his clone had sought him out, so he'd definitely been at least somewhat aware of Naruto's plans. He'd also made sure his clone would let certain other people in the village know where he'd be for the next who knew how long.
Naruto had made sure Sakura was the last one his clone talked to because he knew there was a 50/50 chance she'd get pissed and punch him. Sure enough, his clones memories ended with Sakura's fist meeting his face. He could understand somewhat. He wouldn't want to be left behind either, but there was no way Naruto's plan would have worked for the both of them. Besides, he was pretty sure…well he just had a feeling Sasuke would be more likely to accept Naruto completing this journey with him.
"Pay attention kit," Kurama mumbled inside his head, jerking him out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"Your Uchiha just went in a different direction. The one you follow now is a clone."
"Shit." Naruto stopped where he was to make two clones of his own. The only way he'd be able to keep following the real Sasuke was to stay even farther away from him.
He sent one clone to keep following Sasuke's clone, and the other he sat down with to try and gather nature energy to enter sage mode. If he could try and be in sage mode as much as possible, he'd be able to let Sasuke get farther away from him, and he'd also be able to tell when he was following a clone.
When he'd gathered enough, he got up to follow the real Uchiha, and left his clone to dispel when he ran out himself. It would definitely be more exhausting to pursue Sasuke that way, continuously being in sage mode, but he really needed to get a little farther from the village before he tried bargaining with the Uchiha.
With his sage mode activated he could sense Sasuke's chakra going off the path, but eventually turning to continue on in the same direction, so it was obvious to Naruto that he had a specific place that he was traveling.
Naruto made it through the night and almost the whole next day before things went wrong. He had made it through the night without a hitch, owing mostly to Kurama, who'd promised to watch "his Uchiha." It didn't matter how many times he told the demon fox that Sasuke was in no way his, he refused to call him anything else.
But now, after getting through what he thought would be the hard part, Naruto was pretty sure he was stuck in a genjutsu. So Sasuke was obviously on to him again, which was really no surprise. Even though he had enough of an idea to know he was trapped, it still took him an almost embarrassing amount of time to release himself from it. The fact that it was born from the sharingan soothed his pride in the end.
By the time his mind was back with his real body, the Uchiha had him effectively tied up. His entire body was bound to the biggest tree Sasuke must have been able to find as his hands were no where near touching. Naruto's eyes immediately landed on the dark haired man standing in front of him.
"Sasuke I—"
"Save it. I'm leaving." Naruto watched him start to turn away before panicking. He really should have come up with something to say.
"No! Wait, please! You know this won't even keep me here long. I'll just get myself free and follow you again," Naruto's voice was frantic, even to his own ears.
"It will keep you long enough for me to get out of the range of your sage jutsu. That's all that matters. Where I'm going would be a waste of your time, Naruto. Go practice being hokage." If Naruto was more aware, he might have better understood the slight sneer in Sasuke's tone. Instead, he just assumed it was directed toward his lack of focus on anything but his supposed goal.
"I won't, Sasuke. I refuse! I want to be with you. Please!" Those words seemed to make some kind of progress because Sasuke turned back toward him. "I want to go with you wherever this journey takes you."
"Tch, whatever. You can't just change your life goals, Naruto."
"You've always been my goal," Naruto mumbled, finally casting his eyes down and away from the Uchiha. He could never help vomiting his feelings the second he felt them, especially when Sasuke was around, even if they seemed…different when he said them out loud.
Silence stretched between them before Sasuke finally spoke again, "I'm not working against the village anymore. You don't have to pursue me."
"I'm—I'm not pursuing you. I want to be with you, like…on a team…together. Side by side. We didn't get much of a chance to be that when we were younger, and so I…I want that now." By the time Naruto chanced a look back up to try and catch Sasuke's expression, he was turned away again. But it didn't look like he was about to leave, instead—
He seemed to hesitate before raising his arm and making a sign. Naruto's body was immediately free, his hands dropping back by his sides. Even he knew better than to press his luck by commenting on Sasuke's apparent change of heart, so he just picked up his stuff and got ready to follow him.
Aaaannnd he made it two hours before that logic just trickled away. They'd been moving toward wherever, and Sasuke hadn't said a word since they'd left. Naruto, of course, was brimming with curiosity now that they were officially traveling together, and the patience that he had was running out.
"Say Sasuke…where are we going?" Naruto said, trying to be as cool as he could. The longer they went before the Uchiha answered, the more he regretted even saying anything at all. But he didn't want to spend their whole time together tip toeing around his best friend, so he had to break his own fear of upsetting him.
Whenever Sasuke was stingy with his words and kept his emotions locked away, Naruto was always tempted to scent him. Scenting people, in general, was something that was avoided because it was a little invasive. A person's scent held all kinds of information.
While some things were immediately obvious, like their secondary gender status, whether a person was in heat or pregnant or sick, required more focus and was usually reserved for mates only. Not to mention most shinobi were trained in ways to minimize their own, and Sasuke surely excelled at it. So while most people's emotions were actively broadcasted, Sasuke's were not.
Still, Naruto had always had an extremely sensitive nose, whether his relationship with the fox was to blame or not, he didn't know. Either way, he could always faintly smell the sweet omega scent Sasuke did so well to hide from others, and if he tried, he could pick up his emotions too. Just because Naruto could actively seek out the Uchiha's feelings though, didn't mean that he would. If Sasuke went so far to try and keep them hidden, then Naruto wouldn't pry, but the temptation was still there.
"Orochimaru's hideouts," he finally answered, exasperation obvious in his tone. Naruto barely refrained from rolling his eyes. It wasn't like he'd asked a hundred questions. "I want to destroy them all."
"Okay. How long before the first one?"
"Another day."
They made it by the middle of the next day. This particular hideout was basically a hole in the ground, hidden by some jutsu that Sasuke obviously knew.
"There might be people inside," he said over his shoulder, his tone nonchalant, like he'd only told Naruto on a whim.
"What?!"
"I'm hoping there's not. Just be prepared." Sasuke ignored the rest of Naruto's sputtered questions and jumped down into the entrance. He had no choice but to follow him.
They stuck close together because only Sasuke knew the layout. They ran down hallways and explored rooms, deeper and deeper into the hideout. Sasuke didn't seem surprised by anything they came across, but Naruto was having a hard time keeping up. He wanted to stop and look around each room, to absorb all the medical equipment and things strewn about. But he had no choice.
It seemed like Sasuke's only intention was to make sure the hideout was empty and then blow it up. He left paper bombs in every room they went through, but spent no extra time in them.
It wasn't until they were really deep into the hideout that Sasuke seemed to slow down. They came to a large wooden door that obviously marked a different section of the underground building. Even still, they only paused long enough for the Uchiha to use some chakra seal to unlock it, and they were back to moving.
Their momentum didn't last long though. Sasuke actually stopped to shove some scrolls into his bag after they passed through the big door, but they'd barely made it into the next room when explosions were raining down on their heads. Naruto felt himself get shoved violently to the side. He didn't have time to try and assess the situation before he was fighting an enemy he could barely see. The dust was thick and blinding, but he could hear the clash of kunai nearby which meant Sasuke was battling an attacker as well.
Even without his sight, Naruto took two of the assailants out efficiently. By the time the debris settled, Sasuke had three bodies lying at his feet and a pinch between his eyebrows betraying his anger at the ambush.
"You think that's all of them?" Naruto said, collecting his dropped kunai. It had been a while since he'd had to defend against a surprise attack, but it didn't hurt to finally have some practice.
"Yes, let's go. There's another way out through the back. We're almost there."
They ran the rest of the way, Naruto taking over the task of placing paper bombs, until they burst through a fake wall into a forest. Neither of them stopped until they were far enough away to take cover from the explosion they'd soon be setting off.
"Ignite them," Sasuke said, his voice ragged. They'd finally crouched behind a large rock, well away from the hideout's exit. Naruto sped through the signs to trigger all the bombs and caught his breath to the sounds of multiple explosions. It wasn't until he stood up to go and inspect the damage, that he realized Sasuke was hurt. The Uchiha had dropped down to his knees and was frantically trying to strip off his cloak and shirt.
"What's wrong? What happened?" His voice may have been alarmed, but Naruto thought they'd gotten away unharmed. When he got no answer, he started looking Sasuke over. He'd finally managed to remove all of his upper garments to reveal a gash running across his back, from his shoulder almost to his hip. "You idiot! Why didn't you say anything? We ran all that way, and you—ugh!"
"Shut up!" Sasuke obviously didn't care about the anger in Naruto's voice. He was more concerned with trying to find a way to assess the damage and bandage it up.
"Just let me help" Naruto grumbled, moving to kneel in front of Sasuke. It's not like he could do much for himself, since he couldn't even see where he was injured. Naruto grabbed both of his wrists and closed his eyes to concentrate. It must have been so at odds with what he expected that Sasuke just looked at him.
A second later his own chakra was flowing from his hands, spreading slowly over Sasuke's entire body. It took minimal effort on Naruto's part, but they still didn't speak.
Whether Sasuke was just stunned speechless or not, he didn't know. But when he finally opened his eyes, he found black gazing into his blue. Sasuke was the one that finally broke the eye contact, and if his cheeks were tinged with pink, then Naruto just considered it a side effect and shrugged it off.
He could feel the moment when the wound was completely healed, without a scar, but he kept going to replenish Sasuke's chakra as well. It wasn't very often that he and Sasuke touched, especially for so long, but it felt…nice. Naruto caught himself just before he stroked the soft skin his thumbs were resting on, and he shook himself internally.
What kind of urge was that? Sure, they never touched, but it was…weird. To want to caress his best friend's arms. This close he couldn't help but catch Sasuke's sweet smell in the air between them, and it was…also nice. But that didn't mean he—didn't mean he enjoyed his scent—or did he? Sure it was comforting, familiar, but more than that? Before his thoughts could get much further, Sasuke was suddenly tugging on his hands.
"I think I'm healed," he said, once he had Naruto's attention.
"Wha—yeah," Naruto let the chakra dissipate and dropped his wrists, "sorry."
Sasuke just stood up and stretched his back, "thank you." Sincerity echoed in his voice, and it was such a rare occurrence that Naruto couldn't help but smile up at him.
"You're welcome."
"Did—did you restore my chakra?" Surprise was written across Sasuke's face, he'd dropped his arms, his stretch forgotten.
"Yeah? I mean I just figured—"
"I…really appreciate it Naruto," Sasuke said, interrupting what was sure to be a rambling explanation. Naruto didn't really know what to say after that, so he just stayed quiet. The moment felt significant for some reason that he couldn't wrap his mind around, but he had no choice but to let it go. After Sasuke had righted his clothes, they stood up to go investigate the rubble, to make sure everything was destroyed before they moved on to the next one.
The quiet stretched between them as they retraced their steps. If there was something either of them felt they could say to break it, neither of them did, at least until they'd thoroughly investigated the ruined hideout.
"Good?" Naruto said, standing on the edge of the rubble, waiting for Sasuke to finish scanning with his sharingan.
"Yeah, let's go."
And they did. It didn't take them long to move through hideouts. Some were closer together than others, some were smaller, and some were obviously used for completely different purposes. Sometimes in between they would stay at inns, and other times they camped outside.
The routine didn't differ much for the new ones they encountered, except they had yet to run into anymore people inside. Of course, that changed when they approached the fifth hideout on their long list. It was weeks since the first one they entered, and they'd crossed many different types of terrain.
This one was in a forested area. There was a cave that appeared to be real, but it had a false back, where releasing a specific chakra seal against the wall opened the entrance to the hideout. Ever since their mishap at the first one, they'd been pausing for Naruto to search for chakra signatures in his sage mode, so they knew right away if it was occupied.
"There's people inside, shinobi of some sort. Their chakra feels familiar somehow, but I don't know," Naruto said, then looked at Sasuke to see what he wanted to do.
"How many?"
"Three."
"It should be fine then," Sasuke said, and walked through the cave wall without another word. Naruto wanted to ask him what that meant, wanted to ask him to explain further, but he knew it was probably a losing battle. His questions were soon answered, however, when they were met in the second corridor they came to, by the three Naruto had felt.
"Sasuke?!" The red head screeched. Karin, Naruto thought. From Sasuke's group that he travelled with after he killed Orochimaru, Taka he called it.
"What are you guys doing here?" Leave it to Sasuke to greet friends with the most unenthusiastic voice imaginable.
"There were some things I left here that I wanted back," Karin said.
"And we're hoping to gather information from here and some other hideouts," Suigetsu added after her. The tall red head stayed quiet.
"And what are you doing here, Sasuke? And what's he doing with you," Karin fired back.
"We're emptying and destroying all the hideouts. He's none of your business." Naruto's eyes darted sideways to gape at Sasuke, but his face was impassive. He was serious.
"No need to get your panties in a bunch," Karin said, looking unbothered by Sasuke's attitude, "which hideouts have you gotten to so far? Maybe we can help you finish them." As she spoke, she turned to walk back the way they all must have came. Everyone followed her deeper into the hideout, Naruto last, trying to soak up all the information he was getting from them interacting. It was interesting for him to watch Sasuke communicate with these people Naruto barely knew, to see him be different in some ways but the same in others.
He obviously pulled no punches, which was just like the Sasuke he knew. But they all seemed to just let it roll off their shoulders, almost like his bad attitude was some kind of ongoing joke. Naruto hoped they'd be staying at least a little while.
Hours later and they'd all effectively caught up on each other's movements since they'd last been together. Naruto was just an accessory to their conversation, but for once he didn't mind. He was learning new things about Sasuke, about who he was while they were apart, and about his life with Orochimaru and after.
Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu had agreed to split the remaining hideouts with them. They would cover ones in a certain direction, eliminating them just as he and Sasuke had been doing. It was a revelation for Naruto, learning that Sasuke trusted them. It was refreshing almost, with the Uchiha's history taken into consideration.
They sat talking, Sasuke mainly listening, long after they had eaten dinner. Eventually, Naruto excused himself to go explore the rest of the hideout. All the others they'd been inside, they'd been moving quickly, so this was the first chance he had to actually take his time and look. None of them seemed to think he shouldn't be allowed to see whatever was there, so he left on his own.
He couldn't have been gone longer than an hour, but on his way back, Naruto heard their voices drifting out into the hallway. The distinctive shift in the tone of their conversation from the earlier one caught his attention immediately.
"So what about you, Sasuke. Surely you've been enjoying this time traveling with the blond," Karin said, her voice had an obviously teasing edge.
"I didn't want him to come. He followed me, and I gave in." Sasuke wasn't playing into it, or at least he was trying not to.
"Yeah right, Sasuke Uchiha. Sure you never wanted him to come along. You can't fool me with that best friend bullshit."
"Karin," Suigetsu groaned, obviously hating the direction of the conversation. Almost as if a similar one had taken place before. Naruto was shamelessly eavesdropping at that point, standing silently down the hall from the room they were in.
"WHAT, Suigetsu," she whipped out violently, "my own feelings aside, they're soulmates." Sasuke was determinedly quiet through their whole exchange.
Naruto's heart rate had picked up enough that it was echoing in his ears. Sausuke was his best friend, and sure they were soulmates. Everyone who'd been in the war knew about the connection of their chakra. But the way she was saying it, made it sound like…almost like love. Like the definitely-not-friendship type of love. It was…he'd never really thought about that in detail, but he couldn't shake the thoughts that rushed through his head.
In his contemplation, he'd completely missed whatever the end to that conversation had been. They all seemed to be quiet now, so Naruto continued down the hall, like he'd just come back from his look around. He felt the slightest wave of guilt over listening in on their talk, but none of them seemed the wiser. Unless he counted the almost imperceptible narrowing of Karin's eyes, but he was too preoccupied to really examine that.
Naruto and Sasuke stayed a whole extra day before moving on to finish their list of hideouts. But the remaining ones were easy, so it left Naruto a lot of time to think about what he'd overheard.
He'd definitely never considered the possibility of Sasuke having actual feelings for him. The way Karin talked, it was like their existence was a sure thing, but there was no way. No way the Sasuke that he relentlessly chased, that had been his rival, that had gladly insisted they beat each other within an inch of their lives could love him like that.
But even more startling to him, was the fact that he never thought about his own feelings. He could honestly say he'd never thought about the Uchiha like that. But now the idea was planted in his mind, and he found himself thinking over and over. Why not?
With this new perspective, he thought back over all the things that they'd been through together, and it was as if everything was painted in a different light. Every word he'd spoken with his emotions choking him, every night he'd been unable to sleep with thoughts of Sasuke on his mind, every time he'd motivated himself with thoughts of his rival.
Every time he revisited a memory or heard Karin's words echoing in his head, he always ended up asking himself the same question.
Did he love Sasuke Uchiha?
Notes:
Hopefully this has caught your interest :) I'm generally the type of person who likes to stick to regular update schedules, but I'm trying to take my time with these chapters and make sure they're a good length, so it'll most likely be every other week. I'm expecting this story to be around 8-10 chapters, but maybe longer.
Either way...if you like it, I wouldn't be opposed to comments or kudos :) Thanks for reading!