Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…I think that is kinda obvious…
I normally hate doing things like this, but I just want to make something clear in case there are any questions, since that might make the story less enjoyable if there were questions about things. This story takes place in between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. I'm timing it around the time when Jiraiya is experimenting just how long Naruto can stay in control of the Kyuubi state. And at this time, Sasuke is not aware of how his Sharingan can be used to enter Naruto's mind, or even control the Kyuubi. Sasuke enters Naruto's mind for the first time after they encounter each other in the second arc of Shippuden, and I don't want to change that. So, sorry if there was any confusion about the timeline and I hope that clears things up.
Anyway, onward with the chapter!
Sasuke was annoyed. No. Beyond annoyed.
He had expected to sleep last night. He had arrived back in high spirits, or and Uchiha version thereof. The storm had let up by the time he was getting ready to sleep. More important than that, though, he had seen Naruto going to sleep.
That adorabl—LESS FERAL image of Naruto had put him in a better mood than anything Orochimaru's hellhole could produce.
But, of course, the hellhole proved him right last night.
Apparently, the victors of yesterday's brawl between the experiments were still in a destructive mood last night, and had refused to go back into their cages.
They attempted to break free again.
Orochimaru had ordered all of the guards to sedate the test subjects and to forcefully lock them down, and had called for Sasuke, Kabuto and himself to oversee things to make sure that things would not get as messy as they had gotten the last time the experiments had staged a coup.
Sasuke did not understand why Orochimaru did not simply order for them to be exterminated.
After all, they were CLEARLY more trouble than they were worth. Plus, these were failed experiments, or mere stepping stones for greater purposes so the others were mere prototypes. They held no purpose.
But Orochimaru had only said that they still had use for him, and that was that.
So Sasuke had spent the night babysitting guards who could not do their damn job in the first place.
Beyond annoying.
He almost preferred the days when Sakura was hanging off his shoulder and his usuraton—AND NARUTO was shouting out how much he hated the Uchiha in the other ear with Kakashi being late as usual.
To make things more irritating, Kabuto had decided to cut off the meat supply for the day.
THAT meant, that Sasuke could not securely grab more meat for Naruto, and that the only thing he could provide were the meager portions from his own meal.
Technically, he could have grabbed more for his plate, go for seconds, or just straight out take the meat, but any of those options would raise suspicions. Sasuke never more than what was required for a balanced breakfast, and that only included two small sausages and three strips of bacon, along with the rest of his non-meaty breakfast.
He had confidence that taking his meal to his chambers was unsuspicious enough, as he was already in a testy mood, and he knew that Kabuto preferred the safety of Sasuke being in another room when he was like this.
The temporary training grounds were still unusable for the majority of the day. There was much debris from the storm, and limbs still scattered the area from the bloodbath the experiments had caused.
Sasuke was also annoyed at how he knew what his cure would be—and it was located in a certain clearing he had been frequenting all week—but he did not know when he could leave.
He wanted it to be soon. He was eager—or at least, an Uchiha equivalent—to see if he had made progress or not.
He would like to believe he had; after all, Naruto had fallen asleep right next to him and even let Sasuke pet his head.
But the realist inside of him reminded Sasuke that yesterday could have been a special one-time case. It had been storming, Naruto had been forced to stay awake during the storm and had to endure the elements. Sasuke had provided food, shelter, and warmth, so maybe all Sasuke had done was lull Naruto so that he was too exhausted from earlier and was simply out of energy for the first time in memory.
The Uchiha was no optimist blindly grasping onto hope; he had to side with the realist side of himself. It was only logical, after all.
He paid no attention to how his stomach fell a bit whenever he had to remind himself to stay realistic…
It was almost like when he had to defect in order to attain the power Konoha was too weak and cowardly to offer and the Uchiha had to discipline himself that his leaving was for the better; as well as his never letting his blon—LETTING NARUTO know of Sasuke's then delusional feelings.
A part of him, however, could not help but think about what if he had made an accomplishment yesterday.
An image of Naruto rubbing himself against Sasuke popped into his head. Another image popped in as well: Naruto on his back waiting for a belly rub.
Sasuke was a cat person, but he felt like he could get used to foxes.
Wild Beast
"Lord Orochimaru has decided that today's training shall take place in the sparring arena inside."
Sasuke did not even bother to grunt a response to what Kabuto had told him. He did wonder why, though.
After all, yesterday, there had been a terrible storm and instead of using the arena—simply a larger room than most—Orochimaru had opted to simply outright cancel Sasuke's training. Sasuke had not particularly minded, due to his mind being elsewhere, but he still found it odd.
He did not follow Kabuto to the arena, choosing to walk alone in the hideout. With his Sharingan, he had already memorized the way to his destination, so there was no need for a pony-tailed guide.
Sasuke took his time while he walked. While he was there purely for training, he did not like being summoned. It never bode well with him that he, the last Uchiha, was supposed to adhere to someone else's schedule.
He arrived later than what Kabuto must have wanted or expected, judging by his scowl. But Sasuke did not care; extremely so.
Orochimaru, however, seemed to expect Sasuke to show up as late as he did. When Sasuke arrived, Orochimaru greeted him, saying, "Ah, Sasuke."
Sasuke did not reply.
Orochimaru continued to say, "Today's practice shall be a test in tracking."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow as a reply.
"You see, one of the experiments escaped this morning after we had left. It seemed to have escaped a guard's notice," Orochimaru explained.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. He stayed up all night keeping the guards and experiments in check, and as soon as their backs were turned, the guard forgot how to do their fucking job? Because of that imbecile, last night's efforts were now void. He stayed up all night for nothing.
"The guard responsible has since been…let go," Kabuto supplied, glasses flashing.
The Uchiha did not spare the medical assistant a glance. But he was satisfied to hear in a way that the one responsible would not be around to mess anything up anymore.
Orochimaru spoke up again, "In light of recent events, I have decided to make the most out of the situation and turn it into a training exercise. You will be the one to track and retrieve the escaped test subject."
Sasuke did not wait to listen to anything else. He turned around and left, annoyed. What was the point in going all the way down to the indoor sparring arena if he was just going to be sent back out again?
He was also annoyed at his given task. He could see the logic, and why he could be a little optimist and see why this was a blessing in disguise as the phrase was, but all he could focus on was the way he had been given the task. It seemed as if he was the scape goat and was being sent purely because Orochimaru did not want to go himself.
Sasuke had been sent on errands before, and he was getting used to it as they all had some sort of use for training, but they never ceased to annoy him.
He was not like a certain usuraon—FORMER TEAMMATE who would have glowed at the distinction of being the only one trusted for the tasks. Sasuke was an Uchiha, and Uchiha were not errand-boys.
But once Sasuke was out of the base, he had a thought.
While he was not as proficient as Kakashi, the man did teach Sasuke the basics behind tracking, as well as some extra tips on the subject. So, as long as the escaped experiment stayed within the general vicinity, Sasuke was free to do whatever he wanted…
…Or visit whoever he wanted…
With that in mind, Sasuke headed into the forest, and headed towards the clearing.
Along the way, he did scan his chakra out and activated his Sharingan. He needed to know where the experiment had gone to so he could know how long he had time for to visit a certain clearing.
He walked, not ran, since tracking one of the experiments was different from a normal ninja. He had to treat it like Kakashi had described trailing an enemy ninja in enemy territory: Sasuke had to be aware of his surroundings, and make sure to hide himself.
Strangely enough, he saw that a crude pathway had been made. He followed it, zig-zags, circles, turns, and all, and saw that it was near parallel to his own.
Although it should not have, what he saw gave Sasuke chills down his spine.
What if the escaped experiment found Naruto?
Naruto was not in his current mind. What if he could not defend himself? A silly thing to think, really, considering who was in control of Naruto's mind—or so Sasuke assumed—and how easily the Kyuubi would dismember the failed test subject.
But still, Sasuke could not shake his pessimism.
Naruto had been very tired yesterday. And Sasuke remembered Naruto being one of the heaviest sleepers he had ever met. Whenever they slept close to each other on missions, Sasuke could observe—AND ONLY OBSERVE—just how closely Naruto's sleep mirrored almost anyone else being in an induced coma, but with more snoring and moving around.
And to add with that, Sasuke did not know which experiment had escaped. What if it was one of the more vicious ones that Orochimaru had detached their pain receptors? Orochimaru and his pathetic assistant had been excited about that possibility, claiming that once they perfected it, then the experiment would be able to keep fighting on without a limb or even a gaping wound in the chest almost as if it were nothing more than a small bruise.
Or what if it was one of the test subjects that Orochimaru had made with detachable limbs? The snake had specifically made it so that the limb could be removed without any lasting damage to the rest of the body, including somehow removing blood loss from the equation.
It could have been any range of failed test subjects. Orochimaru never liked to entirely focus on one range of experiments, choosing to work with a variety of factors, resulting in an assortment of possibilities. One thing that remained common, though, was that the more brute strength or the more durable Orochimaru granted to the subject, the less they care about wounds or risks so they become reckless.
Sasuke should not be worried about Naruto… Even though he was the dead-last, Naruto knew how to protect himself… And though Sasuke hated to admit it—really hated to admit it, and would not do so out loud—Naruto's skills had advanced tremendously and rapidly.
Not to mention that the Kyuubi was the main thing in charge of that blonde head of Naruto's. Hell, even SASUKE dreaded the Nine Tailed Fox Demon's wrath should it be unleashed. There was a very real reason why the Uchiha took several precautions and was always on edge whenever he was near the beastlike Naruto.
He still could not shake the feeling of uneasiness for Naruto though…
Sasuke sped up, barely caring about properly tracking at the moment. All he wanted to do was make sure that his Naruto was safe.
The pathway that the test subject had created was veering off course from the direction to the waterfall clearing. But Sasuke did not care. That took secondary concern and would not deter Sasuke from checking in on his blonde.
Sasuke was running. The experiment's path had swerved off to the side, but he did not care. He needed to get to that clearing.
When he saw the tree that he had cut up the previous day, Sasuke felt a small wave of relief. He was close.
There was no hesitation. Sasuke vaulted over the fallen tree.
When he was in the clearing, the first thing he saw was the shelter he had built yesterday.
Naruto was inside it.
Sasuke felt a huge wave of relief when he saw that. Naruto was curled up on the ground, lying in a different location than where he had fallen asleep yesterday; he was deeper inside the shelter.
At the Uchiha's rather noisy entrance to the clearing, Naruto's eyes snapped open. They were still red, and still demonic.
Naruto stood up on all fours and began approaching Sasuke. His red eyes were glaring at the Uchiha, and elongated fangs were bared.
It was in that moment that Sasuke realized that he had left the bag of meat he had collected from breakfast in his sleeping chamber.
Sasuke felt a moment's worth of hesitation and trepidation. He was not prepared to face the wild beast.
Then he steeled himself. He was not a helpless coward. The area might still have been slightly damp, but he had full visibility and multiple ways to evade danger. Plus, all these months of training had not been fruitless. Sasuke was confident that he could at least stun the beastlike Naruto long enough to escape.
Squaring his shoulders, Sasuke raised his hands to show the animal in front of him that he was not armed. He wanted to make it clear that he was no threat.
He deactivated his Sharingan and kept eye contact with the demonic eyes glaring at him. Sasuke wanted to demonstrate his confidence.
As Naruto approached closer, his red eyes were losing their animosity, though Sasuke could clearly see some leftover hunger along with the fact that it was still an animal looking back at him and not his Narut—FORMER TEAMMATE.
Sasuke slowly shook his head and said out loud, "I do not have any food today."
He did not know what he expected. Could the Kyuubi understand language?
Naruto glared at Sasuke again, but he surprised the Uchiha by turning around. He walked on all fours over to the pond at the bottom of the waterfall.
Naruto squatted down, and stared at the water for a bit. Sasuke was wondering what he was up to when Naruto dunked his head into the water, trying to bite at something.
Then Sasuke realized that Naruto was fishing for food.
A warm feeling bubbled in Sasuke's abdomen. Was Naruto waiting for him?
The idea was plausible. Sasuke had been coming every day for the past week, and for the majority of those days he had brought food with him. The logical side of his brain told him that Naruto was probably expecting food and clearly did not care about Sasuke himself. But a part of him could not help but feel something at the possibility of Naruto waiting for him.
Sasuke walked forwards to the edge of the pond opposite of Naruto.
Even though he was sure that the beastlike Naruto had recognized that he was not a threat, he was taking no chances. After all, there was the possibility that Naruto would assume that Sasuke would try to steal his food.
Naruto's eyes were on him, following his every move, and Sasuke could see that Naruto was ready to attack at any given moment.
Keeping eye contact, Sasuke slowly took out his katana from its sheath on his hip.
Naruto's eyes narrowed when they saw the weapon and bared his teeth again.
Sasuke kept eye contact while he pointed the tip of his katana at the surface of the pond. He tried to communicate with his eyes that he was not going to use his weapon against Naruto.
He then broke the eye contact so that he could focus on the pond, and more importantly, the fish swimming inside.
When he saw one swimming close to him, Sasuke darted his katana out and speared it through its side. He made sure to stab right through its body so that it did not fall off the katana when Sasuke pulled it out of the water.
Sasuke met Naruto's eyes again as he placed the fish beside himself before refocusing on the fish inside the pond again.
He repeated the process until he had a pile of four fish besides him.
The Uchiha looked up, and saw that Naruto was not glaring at him, but rather regarding him with wide, curious eyes. It was as if Naruto was wondering what Sasuke was doing.
Sasuke then stood up, and backed away to the fallen tree from yesterday, and broke off some of the smaller branches to create another fire.
He chose to locate the new fire besides the pond, so that it would be easy to dowse once everything was done; he only needed the fire so that he could properly coo the fish.
When he had everything set up, Sasuke used a minor fire jutsu to light the small fire. He then used some of the small branches to hold the fish above the flames to properly cook them.
While they were cooking, Sasuke saw Naruto approaching him. Well, Naruto's eyes were on the fish, but he was heading in Sasuke's direction.
Like the day before, Naruto was crawling on the ground as he approached the fire, sniffing along the way. Sasuke kept an eye on him in case, like yesterday, Naruto got too close to the flames.
Naruto stopped, though, next to Sasuke in front of the fire. He barely seemed to notice Sasuke as his eyes, and drooling mouth, were entirely focused on the fish.
The blonde leaned forwards—apparently trying to grab the fish from its little stake—but was once again not realizing that he was getting too close to fire.
Sasuke reached out and briefly held the other's shoulder until red, demonic eyes looked over at him. His hand immediately retreated, and then he said, "The fish are not ready yet. Wait."
Again, he did not know what he was expecting, and did not know why he kept talking to the beastlike Naruto as if he expected him to understand everything.
But Naruto surprised him by backing his head away to its original position.
Naruto then crouched on the ground again and darted his eyes between Sasuke and the fish, as if impatiently asking when the fish would be ready.
Sasuke smirked, and said, "I'll let you know when the fish are done. And you will have three."
Naruto's expression have no indication that he understood what Sasuke said, making him feel slightly embarrassed to be conversing with an animal, but he did not lean forwards again to take the food, and that was what was important.
Silence fell between them as they waited.
There once was a time when Sasuke craved for this, for him and Naruto to be able to sit together, enjoying the serenity of the quiet atmosphere. But it felt wrong, now. Naruto was not a quiet person.
As crazy as it sounded, Naruto not speaking was a bit unnerving.
But Naruto currently could not speak at all, so it was up to Sasuke to fill the silence.
"Er," Sasuke began. He did not know what to say; he was not the chatty one of the two.
Naruto looked up at him with his red, demonic eyes.
Sasuke cleared his throat, and said, "I was not expecting to see you here when I first arrived."
Naruto did not reply, and his expression of indifference did not change.
Still, Sasuke continued, "After I had arrived in this location, I would go on, well, walks around the area. The day when I first saw you, I went on a longer walk than usual and ended up here. At first, I had thought that you were a trick since I never expected to see you until a couple more years, if then, and I certainly never saw you like this."
Naruto's expression, again, gave no indication that he understood what Sasuke was talking about, or even the words that he was saying.
"I learned recently that you are the vessel to the fox demon," said Sasuke, looking into those red eyes of the Kyuubi. "So I guess that is why you are in your current state."
Naruto did not respond.
Sasuke sighed, "I wish I knew what made you become like this. I also wish I had more time, but I do not know how long Orochimaru plans on staying in this location."
After he said that, he realized just how bothered he was by not knowing when he was going to leave.
Silence fell over them again as they both stared at the fish, one more hungrily than the other.
When the meal was done cooking, Sasuke said, "The fish are done."
Naruto sat up immediately, making Sasuke wonder just how much Naruto actually understood.
But he did not dwell upon that. He had a hungry animal to feed.
He removed the fish from their posts, and took them off their stakes.
Like he said, Sasuke gave three to Naruto, who immediately began devouring the first one with enthusiasm.
Sasuke smirked at the sight as he put out the fire and dumped the branches into the pond; he did not want any remaining embers to set ablaze the grass or surrounding foliage.
He started to eat his own fish as he watched Naruto eat.
Naruto had gripped the two ends of the fish underneath his two fists as he quickly gnawed off bites of meat.
The blonde was quickly disposing of his meal with the fast pace he was eating in. Sasuke was halfway through his own fish when Naruto had started on his third.
When Naruto had finished his meal, he licked his lips. Then he crouched down and sniffed the area for food.
He followed his nose until Naruto looked up at the source of the remaining scent: the last third of Sasuke's meal.
Before Naruto could glare, bare his teeth, or do anything threatening, Sasuke smirked and offered the rest of his meal to Naruto.
He had expected Naruto to either lunge at him, or wait until the meal was on the ground before eating it. But Naruto had surprised Sasuke by mildly eating the offering out of Sasuke's hand.
Then Naruto proceeded to lick his hands of whatever residue they had on them.
Sasuke smirked again. When he first saw Naruto like this, he would have never imagined that he could be so…docile.
The Uchiha was enjoying himself. The area was tranquil, and he had his blon—HAD NARUTO next to him, who was enjoying being in the sun as he lazily lay down to the ground.
Then, suddenly, Naruto shot up.
"What is it?" Sasuke automatically asked. Then he realized how stupid it was to ask a question and expecting an answer from an animal lie Naruto currently thought he was.
Naruto whipped around and crouched on the ground, ready to pounce on something. His eyes were practically glowing red, and his teeth were bared as he growled threateningly.
Sasuke looked in the direction that Naruto was glaring at and activated his Sharingan.
Once he did, he saw that some leaves were rustling, and that something was approaching.
When it came into view, Sasuke could see that it was the escaped experiment that he was supposed to be tracking.
He could not recognize which one it was, though. He had never paid much individual attention, and the failed test subject had activated its cursed seal to the second stage.
Sasuke was about to reach for his katana, when he felt a burning next to him.
He automatically jumped to the side. When he looked over, he saw that the burning he had felt was radiating from Naruto; or the Kyuubi's chakra, to be exact.
The Kyuubi's chakra was enveloping Naruto in some sort of cloak. A single tail was it its end.
Even though Sasuke had distanced himself, he could still feel the intensity of the heat, demonic aura, and evil that was emitting from the red chakra.
The experiment must have realized that Naruto was a threat, because it came charging into the clearing, roaring wordlessly.
Naruto released a roar himself—surprising Sasuke as it was NOT Naruto's voice he had heard—and lunged forwards full speed at the approaching experiment.
They clashed midair with a flurry of swipes at each other.
They clawed at each other, bit one another, and fought like animals would.
While the two of them fought ferociously, it was clear that Naruto had the upper hand; anywhere the Kyuubi's chakra touched had burned the skin of the experiment.
The experiment failed to notice; either from adrenaline or because it was one of the test subjects that Orochimaru had cut off the pain receptors of, Sasuke could not tell.
Even though Sasuke recognized that Naruto had the upper hand, he still could not help but want to stop the experiment. He wanted to protect his Naruto.
He began to quickly rationalize his decision to stop the fight. Normally, Naruto would not forgive him for butting into his battles, but Naruto was not in his right mind. Sasuke had also been charged with retrieving the experiment, so technically it was his responsibility.
Also, he could not let the experiment endure too many incriminating wounds. He did NOT want Orochimaru to become curious and investigate.
He did NOT want his Naruto to be found, for Orochimaru would quickly attempt to take advantage of the situation. Either to capture Naruto for experiments or to just outright kill the threat of the Jinchuuriki, Sasuke did not know.
And neither were an option.
His decision was made, and as soon as the experiment's back was turned to him, Sasuke hit him with a Chidori, effectively knocking the test subject unconscious.
As soon as the body fell, Naruto roared his discontent. Red eyes glared at Sasuke with such animosity, that the Uchiha briefly feared that Naruto would attack him next.
Sasuke raised his hands in the air as a gesture of surrender and peace and called out, "I did what I had to."
Naruto still glared at him as if he did not hear or understand what Sasuke had said, and for all the Uchiha knew, that very well could have been the case.
Sasuke lowered his hands, deactivated his Sharingan that he had not realized had been activated all throughout the time the experiment had been conscious in the clearing, and said in a lower voice, "I just wanted to protect you."
Naruto angrily sniffed out of his nose and glared to the side. Sasuke could just imagine his ururaton—FORMER TEAMMATE shouting out that he did not need the Uchiha to protect him.
Then Naruto's chakra cloak began to dissipate, the tail leaving first.
When it was fully gone, Sasuke walked over to Naruto. He was trepid on the inside, but outwardly he only allowed himself to appear fully confident.
He kneeled down in front of Naruto, who regarded him with a glare, and said, "I have to go back and return that," he gestured behind him with his head, "back to Orochimaru."
Naruto did not seem to understand what he said.
Sasuke lifted his hand as if to pet Naruto, but the wild beast glared harder and growled as he bore his teeth, making Sasuke pull his still lifted hand closer to himself.
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke said, "I have to leave now, but…I…I'll see you tomorrow, if I can…Is that, alright?"
He hated sounding so hesitant, but it this close proximity to the beastlike Naruto, he was finding it hard to appear as confident as he wanted.
Naruto was not glaring at him anymore, so Sasuke raised his hand again. When he got to a certain distance, Naruto growled again.
Sasuke froze, his hand still elevated between them.
Naruto stopped growling, and then regarded Sasuke's hand.
Then Naruto leaned forwards and touched his nose to Sasuke's extended palm.
After that, Naruto walked on all fours back to the shelter Sasuke had made for him yesterday.
In a slight daze from what had just happened; Sasuke looked behind him to watch Naruto return to the shelter. The then smirked, and grabbed a leg of the experiment—that had since had its cursed seal deactivated—and proceeded to return it back to the hideout.
Sasuke was not in a bad mood anymore.
And that was the chapter!
I kind of want to finish this story soonish. I've had the entire thing planned out for a while now, so I know exactly how I want it to end so there is no confusion right there on my part. It is just that I get lazy at writing individual chapters. I know the general overview of what I want, but they can be summed up in a couple of sentences. Elongating them to actual chapters with more than a couple of paragraphs is what takes so long.
So bear with me, I promise I'm working on that.
So thank you for those who favorite/alerted this story! It's one of my lesser known/less popular ones, so it is more of a treat when I see that people like this one. And an extra special thanks to those who review!
And to those who were excited that I have not abandoned this story, I send you a smile. And please know that I may get seriously distracted and lazy, but I try my best to never abandon a story; even though it may not appear like so. But I have spent much time planning out these lesser known ones so I know how they end and such so they are not on the fly as some of my other stories.
And just so you know, Forgotten Love will be the next story updated once I finish with this one.
Love you!