Summon
Madara Uchiha had been dead for eighteen years.
The sun rose, the sun set, and the world might have already eclipsed under the great red eye of the moon Naruto sometimes dreamed of, had he not seen the rips and tears in this new reality for himself.
Sometimes he wondered which ending could have been worse.
Rogues in the wood, on the mountain, breaking into his house for something to eat before running again (after nearly busting the thief's ribs in while Mikoto wailed in another room and Minato tackled him to the ground in a choke hold. Sasuke had just laughed. "You're kidding, right?"). An assassination attempt on the Fire Lord.
He waited. Waited for...he wasn't sure anymore.
Wait for my summon, Kakashi had told him. Naruto had kept him to that promise. Every day he waited, and every day he grew tense. He watched the horizon on the mountain and wondered how much longer he'd have to hide, or if maybe, he should have stepped out on his own a long time ago.
Would have been easy enough. If he wasn't a father. And that alone made him step away, look back, retrace his steps. Sasuke would put a hand on his shoulder, and Naruto would walk back to the house, as if nothing had happened. Another day would come.
It would change.
Sasuke had lost hope in a smooth resistance. "Another war," he'd said, bemused.
And in the years they had spent waiting, the demon paced in its cage, restless, in constant pain from its split soul. One night, it had snarled until Naruto woke. Other nights, it was so quiet he almost forgot it was there. He hated it most when it would speak to him as he watched his children.
Sometimes, it would carefully pick at his thoughts about Madara. About the war that he dreamed of, still coursing an angry tremor through his hands.
Men like Uchiha die, no matter how god-like they think they've become. Only I will live to see them born, die and rot, before another rises to do it all again, the Kyuubi had mentioned.
Not if you die with me, Naruto had mused.
Ah. But I will not die, Naruto, it had said ominously, and it wasn't until Minato was thirteen that it had, yet again, acted on its promise. He still remembered the morning he had realized it, watching his skin undulate gently with Mikoto's first movements. The first sign he'd had of her life. She'd been shy. Tricky to detect until it was obvious she was there.
It had scared the absolute shit out of him, so much it made him vomit to think of the demon's manipulations.
Sometimes he would catch Minato watching him, shortly after Mikoto was born, and it was like he was waiting for something to happen. Something to burst free. He shadowed Naruto, always watching, always worrying. It had been a difficult few months, smoothing over the strain still left over from Minato's angry days. Mikoto's birth seemed to have scared Minato though. But if he was, he wouldn't talk about it, he'd just shrug, eyes darting every which way, which was how Naruto knew he was lying, holding something back.
He'll talk and come around soon enough Sasuke assured him, and Naruto would only sigh. There were days Minato was quiet, reclusive, nights Naruto heard him thrash around in bed, as if from a nightmare, and Naruto would curse the Kyuubi for it, for frightening him, for overwhelming him. It never would respond. It was quiet most days. Other nights, it would surface. Sasuke would lie close as the dark pressed in, lips so close his teeth would snap at Naruto's skin against his neck as he bit out his words when Minato began to snore, far away in his room, Mikoto's crib sharing it.
So many years later, and he never did tire. There was a comfortable routine to their relationship that would force a smile out of him even if he wasn't trying for one. A sort of push and pull. That kept them in balance, in check. Maybe it was that they'd been through hell and back, together in some cases. They'd fought together, stayed alive together, loved together. They'd fight as much as they laughed together, like two squabbling boys, but only half the time it was serious and they'd really argue, sometimes pretty damn badly. When it was all said and done, they'd look each other in the eye, and Naruto had yet to have a moment where it didn't quietly blow over with those silent gazes. Slowly, old wounds began to scab over, even though they left a scar. Where Sasuke was fire, Naruto was wind. It fueled them, sometimes made everything bigger, harder to calm, but it was all one hell of a ride.
Sometimes fire never stops burning.
I want you, Sasuke would whisper, and Naruto would shiver, run his hands down a bare back and hum thoughtfully, brow furrowed in a pleasured grimace when their bodies began to mold together, mouths trying to keep up in lazy locks that would get faster, rise, fall, and they'd crash again , trying to rub the world away.
Sometimes the Kyuubi would laugh, deep in Naruto's thoughts, and Naruto would break from Sasuke, roll away, bemused, irritated, uneasy. Sasuke would sigh. There was a light in his eye. Something hungry when he heard of what the Kyuubi would resort to in order to be free.
How many times, he'd wondered once, how many times will it try to split itself before it gives up?
It wasn't something Naruto wanted to know or find out. You're fucking delusional if you're thinking what I think you're thinking. There were nights the Kyuubi whispered to him, and he dreamed of little demons stretching his skin, the demon glow eating away at the children he already loved, and he'd wake drenched in a cold sweat, would need to pad softly to the kids' rooms and peek in on them. He and Sasuke had fought that night. Sasuke's vision had worsened over the years since Mikoto's birth, a constant blur to the right of his eye...
"Hey! A bird!"
Naruto looked up.
Mikoto was standing in the yard, watching a jay flit from branch to branch in the cherry tree Sasuke had planted. She was nearly as tall as it, its skinny, budding branches spotted in green and seeming to sprout from her head like a forest crown. Her dark head bent back until she bore her throat to the clouds, and the jay kept screeching at her.
It was frightened.
Mikoto blinked. Then she laughed, spun around and jabbed a finger at it.
"Look, Daddy," she cried. She smiled so widely Naruto could count the gaps in her teeth. The two teeth in the front had fallen out yesterday, and last month, it had been a molar. When it had happened, she'd been so mortified she'd wailed about being toothless and ugly like the old hag no one ever knew the name of, the one who sold pails of eels down in town (while Naruto continued to blabber about why the gap in her front teeth was cute) until Sasuke could convince her otherwise. (If you don't stop making that face and crying like that, you'll really start to look like that old hag).
She looked like Sasuke, Naruto thought, ridiculously so, and sometimes he struggled to pick out himself in her face. From the point of her chin that made her look severe when she wanted to, to the thin lips and straight nose and dark almond eyes. Darker than Minato's, which had dulled to a deep storm gray by that age. Hers were black, like Sasuke's, always watching.
Sasuke said he saw Naruto in her temper tantrums, and her long, big feet, and in the way she smiled, just slightly crooked. Your mouth, not mine, he'd said. Naruto bit back a soft laugh at the thought. She was a wiry little girl, thin and nimble and spry, slippery as an eel, but extremely hard to shake off when she was in one of her cuddly moods. Minato often complained he had a barnacle stuck to his side, and would stomp into the kitchen, Mikoto clinging to him, to prove it.
Naruto offered her a smile, and Mikoto turned back to the tree, black hair fanning out behind her. She had her hands on her hips, feet set wide like a fighting stance, white summer dress one size too large. She had a doll tucked away under her arm, and she proceeded to wave Miki at the jay. Naruto laughed.
"You'll scare it away," he called. Mikoto only giggled.
Naruto leaned against the porch, and for a moment, he merely listened, watched. The afternoon sun had browned his skin after starting his morning with a spar and tending the yard. Mikoto had skipped after him, trying to land in his footsteps all morning. A sheen of sweat was all that he had to show for the heat, which, along the steady roar of cicadas, was beginning to make his eyes droop. He dumped his bottle of water over his head, shaking out his hair like a dog, making Mikoto squeal with laughter.
He watched an eagle circle overhead, enjoying the peace with his daughter and the glow. Sasuke had wandered into the house. Minato had ran off, as he often did these days, disappearing into the mountain like a thief. He'd become broody lately, (again with these damn kids and their Sasuke-ness. Where was the Naruto-ness? Though Sasuke would vehemently deny the absence of Naruto-ness if asked and turn around to laugh) and sometimes Naruto would wander over, sit on his bed while Minato lounged in his open window, seated on the sill, one leg already swung over. He and Sasuke took turns, but when Sasuke spoke to him like that, it was usually during a spar...and half the time it ended in an argument (read: Sasuke interrogating him) and both storming into the house. Naruto usually just took his chances and made a move.
Somethin' on your mind? he'd asked one afternoon. Minato had shrugged, which seemed to say 'yeah' for him. Naruto waited.
Dad, Minato began, slowly, you think you'll ever leave the mountain?
Naruto had furrowed his brow and wondered if it was finally happening, the restlessness, the need to move on and out, a need Sasuke wasn't keen on indulging just yet. But this was a boy who'd been taught at home. He'd learned to read, write, do math, all at home or in the garden. He hadn't gone to school. Hadn't been able to mull over whether or not he wanted to try to go to the Academy.
Eventually, Naruto had muttered, and Minato hadn't said anything back.
Maybe it was because Enma had been gone for over a year. Minato's one real friend. Minato could use a little help in making new friends, if the gang of boys from town who had constantly tried to gang up on him for supposedly stealing the ring leader's girlfriend was anything to go by (though they hadn't tried since coming face to face with Naruto and Sasuke once Minato's back was turned, although he probably hadn't needed their help anyway as they'd discovered, if the black eyes and deflated pride wasn't enough to go by). If someone pushed, Minato always pushed back eventually. If someone cheated him, he cheated them back.
It had been difficult to explain to a young Minato, who couldn't understand why he couldn't send Father to the corner when Father sent him there all the time. It was simply no fair! And Sasuke had glared when Naruto hid laugh behind a cough before attempting a serious answer.
Doesn't always work that way, kid, he'd explained, and Minato had only looked confused. Now he was nearing his eighteenth birthday, and he'd grown bolder. He was a good kid, Naruto knew and Sasuke couldn't deny, but he had a defiant streak which had slowly started to rear its ugly head after Minato turned thirteen (which Sasuke seemed to blame on Naruto. You're always spoiling him, letting him get away with shit).
Naruto grimaced. There was nothing more irritating than having to kick your kid's door in because they weren't answering the raps and pounds on their bedroom door to come eat breakfast already, only to find his clone (and really, with how smart Minato seemed to be, Naruto was sure he would have figured out by now it was only his clone that nearly wet its pants at Naruto's threats, which was very un-Minato-like) cowering under the covers from your glare ("No, you'll never get me to talk! Never!") and discover they had already gone, right under your nose, what was probably hours ago.
Sasuke grew increasingly frustrated.
"Thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants," he groused one (too early) morning. Naruto had groaned, rolled away from him (after rolling towards him to wrap a lazy arm over his chest), and stuck his head under a pillow.
"It's too early for this."
When Sasuke had shot something back, Naruto had tried shoving his pillow on Sasuke's head to exorcise his lover of his foul mood with a cry of be gone, evil morning spirit, be gone!, which…
Well.
That had turned into an interesting morning, after Sasuke had stopped bitching and trying to suffocate Naruto with his own pillow. He rubbed at his neck, a finger gliding over a faded hickey near his collar bone, and grinned.
"Heh…"
Something began to scream, and Naruto jerked his head upright, the sound chilling and running down his spine. Instinctively, he took a step forward.
"Mikoto?"
Mikoto was standing still in the yard. She'd dropped Miki, her arms held out in front of her. Naruto shaded his eyes with a hand, gazing out.
She was squeezing the jay in her hands. The sight kept him rooted to the ground for a long moment. She stared at it impassively. The bird screamed again, tried to peck at her fingers. Naruto cursed, jogging over and calling out to her.
"Mikoto! Heyheyhey, no-!"
She let it go suddenly, smiling when it blinked a beady eye at her, pausing to jump onto her shoulder before flapping away with a song.
Naruto stared, a growing unease gnawing at his gut.
I will not die, the demon had whispered.
"Mikoto?" Sasuke had poked his head out the kitchen window, squinting into the yard. Naruto waved over at him, pushing the thought away and walking over to pick up the little girl and plant her on his shoulders.
"Daiiiisuuukkkeee!"
Naruto turned, and he smiled. Mikoto giggled and wiggled free of him, dropping to the grass. Natsumi Kobayashi was walking up the road, flanked by Ai and Takeo. Sasuke leaped out of the window, scooping Mikoto up as she ran.
As it turned out, Enma had finally returned.
"If you're wondering where your Minato went off to," the old woman babbled, pushing a gray strand out of hair out of her face, "They're off near the clearing fighting, as usual." She gave a playful roll of her eyes, but she was proud.
"Boys," said Ai petulantly, scrunching up her nose. In reality, she was nursing a crush on Minato, and was jealous of all the time her older brother spent with him and how little Minato noticed her when Enma was around. Takeo rolled his eyes. He'd broken an arm, and so there was so sparring for him. He seemed to be taking it hard, because he pinched Ai, who screeched.
Mikoto mimicked Ai. "Boys!" she spat, agreeing. Naruto blinked.
"But I'm a boy," he said. "Father's a boy."
Sasuke grinned. Mikoto considered this, a finger tapping her chin in a very ridiculously-Sasuke-like manner. She opened her mouth to say something, but all Naruto heard was the boom, rattling the ground beneath his feet. The windows in the house shuddered. The Kobayashis jumped, startled.
His stomach dropped, head snapping to the east. A plume of smoke was already rising from the trees, by the clearing.
Minato. He could feel the blood drain from his face.
"Dammit. Akira-!"
But Sasuke was already gone, and Mikoto was clinging to Naruto's leg like a cat stuck to a couch by its claws, lip trembling and eyes wet. She screamed when he disentangled himself and handed her off to Natsumi, who'd gone white.
"What's happening? Where did Father go? I want Father! Wait, Daddy, wait, don't leave me!" She twisted in Natsumi's hold, and Naruto tried not to look back as he ran, gone with a blink of an eye.
Enma was back.
And he was different. Every time he came back Minato always thought Enma was a little different, a small piece of someone new carved into him from travels, from missions, from blood that wasn't his. But one thing that never changed was the way his old friend grinned, clasped his hand, and fought with him like Minato wasn't any different. It had been nearly sixteen months, if Minato counted. Sixteen months with no regular sparring partner who wasn't Dad or Father or Mikoto leaping up and kicking away at his hand, palm up, very much like Enma would sit and do when Minato was young. Sixteen months of no wandering out of bed to find him by the pond, whittling at a block of wood like Hiro had shown him how to do. He'd carved a bird for Minato once, a small wooden pendant, back when he was seven. He'd tried showing Minato once, but Minato eventually gave up, irritated by his ugly lumps that could never compete with Enma's. Even with the Sharingan activated (he shamelessly did, ignoring how Enma laughed at him), he never could cut it the same way, get the wood to turn into something that looked beautiful, like Enma could.
Sometimes Minato would find him at the pond and they said nothing at all to each other. Just threw rocks at the water and watched the ripples, and something would be bothering Enma, something he never talked about. Other times, Minato would tell him he was afraid.
Sometimes I think I'll never leave here, he'd confided the last time he'd seen Enma, right before he'd left for Water Country, and Minato had stared at the reflection of the moon on the water. He didn't tell Enma about the voice in the back of his head, whispering his name. He hadn't told his fathers either, who seemed to be expecting something, waiting for something. They'd explained it to him once, five years ago when Mikoto was born. About the demon hidden away inside Dad, which was responsible for their births.
Sometimes Minato wondered if he was slowly going insane, and it made him fidget, made him agitated, made the need to do something nearly insatiable. When he felt like that, it was Enma who seemed to make it go away when his fathers couldn't. Enma knew whether to knock his shoulder against Minato's and challenge him until he fought it out, or to just wait for him to speak or go trail after him through the forest. Sometimes they'd pull pranks. Skirt around town and run around the back roads winding behind the houses. They'd filled a trash can squatting in the alley and stinking like fish halfway with water and leaned it up against Ayato's (the brute who kept thinking he could land a punch on Minato for sleeping with Ruriko) bedroom door, which conveniently opened up to the back yard. They'd accidentally trampled through the flowers, but it was worth it to knock and flit away, watching from across the road as a light flickered on, and Ayato stumbled over to open the door, yowling when a gush of trash, fish heads, and water sped past him, drenching him and his room. Minato and Enma had laughed until their sides nearly split when Ayato's mother got up and started hitting him over the head with a towel for the mess.
Enma had said all those nights ago, You'll be eighteen next year. He'd grinned, picking at a hangnail with his little carving knife. I'm gonna smuggle you out! Then he'd hooked an arm around his younger friend's neck, ignoring Minato's squawks as he bore a knuckle down in his wild black hair. I'll show you the joys of manhood and my little Minato will be all grown up! he pretended to wail.
Not a virgin anymore, Minato had drawled, disentangling himself.
Enma had gaped. AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME? IT WAS KOTORI WASN'T IT? That sneaky little vixen! Even if Enma never said it, he'd always been enraptured with the younger girl, jealous when Minato had her attention.
Minato had laughed. It had actually been Ruriko, the shy girl with the boy cut, the butcher's daughter, before she'd moved to some village he couldn't remember the name of, but he kept the memory close and didn't say anything. It had been awkward and sweet and had gone so stupidly fast it was over before he could fully grasp it had ended anyway.
This time, Enma didn't say a word when he saw Minato. He'd been walking up the beaten trail, the deer path no one but he and Minato seemed to use, and Minato could hear the footsteps as he lazed around up in a tree, practicing a genjutsu Father had shown him on some poor squirrel, who kept running into trees as a result. He'd dropped, excited, and Enma had laughed. But he didn't say anything, and neither did Minato. Enma only dropped his pack. He looked older this time, more like a man than a boy, all gristle and grit and a haggard face that had grown stubble somewhere along the way. He met Enma halfway, grazed knuckles, and leaped away when Enma threw a greeting punch.
"Hope you didn't slack off while I was gone," he said, and Minato laughed. After, when they had sprawled out on the grass in the nearby clearing, looking at nothing, chests heaving, Enma was quiet.
Very quiet.
Minato sat up suddenly, and he tensed. Beside him, Enma didn't move. There was someone in the trees, Minato realized. Watching. He could feel the eyes on the back of his head. He quickly grabbed a kunai, not bothering to turn around to look, he already knew it was someone he didn't want watching, and he could feel a sense of dread. He could almost feel this person's chakra bin the area, like his fathers had been showing him how to do. But without a specialized ability for it, it was hard to zone in on, something that took practice and a lot of sensory talent. Enma gripped his wrist, stopping him from going to investigate.
"I need to tell you something," he said, looking over, and Minato raised a brow. A woman stepped out of the leaves. Enma smiled tiredly and waved her over. She looked around for several long seconds before darting over, and suddenly Minato knew what this new different about Enma was, as soon as the woman sat down in the grass, sizing him up with glare. She was mousy, hair cropped short, with a small, round face and large eyes. Not particularly pretty. Minato noticed her hitai-ate.
Slashed through the middle with a thin, ragged line. Minato stared.
He wasn't sure when he began to see it. Maybe it had started to happen all those years ago, that summer he was thirteen, when Enma said, ever wonder what it was like before this? while they he'd laughed and acted like he hadn't said anything at all. He'd noticed there was something quiet, observant, about Enma then. Minato's eyes narrowed, searching his friend's face.
He stood up quickly.
"Where's yours?" he asked suddenly, chest tight, and he wasn't sure if he was horribly angry or saddened by this suspicion. Enma frowned, and Minato couldn't see it, the hitai-ate, tied around Enma's arm like it usually was. It was gone. Minato began to back away. The woman glared, said, "Knew it," and her fingers went to the senbon in her belt as Enma tried to grab her and stop her assault. But Minato had thrown a kunai and pinned her hand to the ground faster than she could react, and Enma shouted.
"No, wait! Minato! Hold on, let me explain-" He angrily shoved aside his companion, oddly silent save for her grunts of pain and a hiss of, "Why do you even want this kid?" She plucked the kunai from her hand and gasped, cradling it. Minato ignored her.
"You going rogue?" Minato spat, and he feel the blood going to his face. He thought of Enma, the boy who wore the Fire Country symbol proudly. The boy who'd done everything Minato had always wanted to do, only to throw it away with a death wish. The boy he'd told secrets to, the boy he'd had to share bunks with when he spent the night, the boy he'd spent summer catching frogs with. The boy he thought he knew, and the man he didn't recognize.
His heart began to race.
"I'm joining a resistance," Enma said shortly. "I'm still fighting." He shook his head. "You don't know what it's like out there, Minato. I was out there, and I've seen enough shit, man. I've seen enough to know when something isn't right, and you have to believe me when I tell you it isn't. I can't sit around and not do something about it anymore-"
Minato cut him off with a caustic laugh. "You could have been doing something about it before you gave your chance the finger-"
"You don't understand. You don't know what it's like-" he sounded pained.
"Hell you can't. You wanna make a difference, you were in a pretty damn good position to start trying. You wanna throw your fucking life away, go ahead. You better start running," he said dangerously, "They pay a pretty penny for a rogue."
Enma took a hesitant step back before scowling. "I wanted to come home and tell you before I left-"
"Ha. Yeah, okay," spat Minato, turning, looking over at the woman sitting in the grass, no doubt secretly planning his death with how intensely she glowered. It could have also been because Minato put a hole in her hand.
"I want to ask you to come with me."
Minato turned to stare. Enma swallowed. "Shit's bad beyond the mountain. Clan kids taken from their beds. Ninja aren't who they used to be. It's not like it was. But...we could change it. I know we can and..." he hesitated, and Minato tried to quell the sinking feeling in his gut.
"You could," said Enma finally. "You're the only one who could. Ever since you told me about..." he paused again, looking over at the woman, who was listening hard. Minato ground his teeth together.
His one secret. He'd confided in Enma, and here his friend was, about to spill it in front of a stranger.
This is a family secret for now, understand? Father had said, years ago, hand on Minato's shoulder, and Minato had nodded. But he hadn't kept the secret like he'd promised. Now he wondered if he regretted it.
"Think about it, Minato," said Enma slowly, "Don't you wanna know what it's like? Do you wanna just sit here while it happens, when you could do something? You don't have to hide! I can protect you, we all can, and we can change the age we're in. Together. You're like my brother." He paused. Held out a hand.
"And I don't want to leave my brother."
Minato shook his head dumbly. "I can't even use it," he whispered.
Enma gripped his shoulders. "You don't have. You don't have to yet. You're already a freakin' legend with those eyes." He laughed a little. "Think about it," he urged, "You can make a difference. We need you. Do you wanna stay up here when everything is happening down there? I thought you wanted out."
The woman scoffed at this. Minato said nothing. He thought of his fathers, of his sister. He thought of leaving the mountain.
Somethin' bothering you? Dad had asked the other week. Minato hadn't said anything then. He wondered what he would have said now. He wondered if Father would forgive him.
"We're small right now," said Enma, pulling him away from the thought, "but we'll get bigger-"
"Enma," the woman said suddenly, but Enma ignored her.
"Hold on, Rumi-"
She fell suddenly, a stricken look on her face, and Enma whirled around. Minato sucked in a breath. A kunai handle sprouted out of her back. Enma clenched his fists.
"Hunter nin," he said, right as the earth exploded. Minato was thrown, skidding over the clearing. He spat out grass and dirt and blood. When he looked, Rumi's body was gone, nothing but a black char mark left in the grass.
"Are you a fucking idiot?" he cried, jumping at just the right moment senbon rained from the sky. He activated the Sharingan with a quick blink.
Enma groaned. "They must have followed me-"
"No shit," Minato growled, glaring into the trees, but he couldn't find or sense anyone. Enma staggered to his feet.
"I gotta get back to the group, they could be in trouble-" Enma didn't get to say much more. Suddenly mud clones rose from the ground and began to attack.
"Find the damn earth user and take him out," Minato cried, slashing a clone's neck. It spurted mud and dissolved. As he said it, his blood rushed in a roar. Minato had never had to use these skills in a genuine fight.
He was excited.
Something was behind him. He whirled, slashed, got rid of another clone. It exploded, a ticking time bomb if it didn't kill you first. Enma used his Octopus, taking out all the clones with a wring to the neck in one fluid movement. The ground rumbled.
Rock restraints began to pop out of the ground like daisies, and Minato practically had to skip over them all, each one erupting just as his heel touched the ground. Despite the situation, Enma laughed at him from across the field.
"This ballet or what?"
Another kunai was thrown, and Minato sent a fire dragon spiraling towards the trees where he'd finally seen one of the hunters, and watched, wide-eyed as the kunai sped past his cheek as he avoided it narrowly, his tomoe spinning. It embedded itself in a tree trunk, and it erupted, gone when the smoke cleared. The man in the trees screamed as he burned, and Minato froze for a moment.
He thought of Tsuki, so long ago, dead by his shuriken star, and it bothered him, this dead man he'd killed. Made him shake. He narrowly avoided getting hit again.
"Keep you head!" Enma cried.
Minato looked over to shout at Enma, say something he couldn't even remember then, when suddenly one of the exploding kunai came. He watched in morbid fascination, in horror, as the Sharingan slowed the image down in his mind. Enma saw it, Minato shouted, and Enma tried to escape it.
But it slit his throat as it sped past, staining the grass red. Enma crumpled with a gasp. The ground exploded where it hit, erasing everything in a neat little circle, and Minato shielded his eyes, screaming.
"ENMAAAA!" Minato was there in a flash, and his blood, his limbs, everything seemed to freeze. Dark blood was oozing from Enma's throat, jugular vein severed neatly. Minato realized, belatedly, that Enma was drowning in his own blood as he gazed up at Minato, mouth opening and closing, a trembling hand reaching up for him.
He didn't know what to do. His brain seemed to pause with the shock. He clapped his hands over Enma's throat, as if his fingers could staunch the blood, like he could pinch the torn flesh together and make it right.
"You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay, I got you, I got you." It was what Father and Dad used to say, whenever he hurt himself when he was younger. When he broke his arm and kept trying not to cry. His hands were red.
Enma stared at him and gurgled. He reached up, clapped a hand tightly to Minato's arm, and shuddered. He stopped moving, and Minato backed away slowly. He didn't realize he was crying until his vision blurred so badly his image of Enma distorted.
A kunai zoomed in, embedding itself neatly in Enma's chest. Minato lunged as it exploded, eradicating whatever was left of his friend.
Rogues needed to be destroyed, completely erased.
Minato went rigid. Someone was standing behind him. He could feel the breath on the back of his neck. "I never though I'd see another Uchiha alive again."
Minato realized he couldn't move. The shock of Enma's death numbed him, kept him from screaming. A kunai tapped at his temple, traced gently down to the corner of his eye, where the Sharingan still spun. "I'm gonna start with your eyes, boy," said the man he couldn't see, "You know how much I can sell those babies for? And I'm gonna take 'em slow, watch you scream before I kill you. There was only one Uchiha I knew of back when the war was goin' on, and if you're that bastard's boy, killing you's gonna make a lot of things right for me." The kunai point bit deeper into his skin, and he felt a small trail of blood ooze past his eye, like a tear.
It reminded him of Father. Sometimes Father cried blood.
Footsteps. A grunt, and the body behind him was shoved violently forward. A figure shot past Minato, a figure all in black he knew all too well, and as Father chased the hunter into the wood, Minato felt his knees give way. He sank to the grass, eyes glancing at the charred black spot where Enma had fallen.
He stared at it, and when a scream ripped from the forest, Minato felt a heat bubbling over his skin. Something burning and rancid and terrible, and the voice in his head whispered, Minato.
He thought of Enma, alive mere moments ago, Enma who'd been laughing, Enma who's ass he was going to kick for even thinking about leaving, and he opened his mouth to shout.
Minato screamed, and the world washed over in red.
Sasuke nearly stumbled once he sped past the trees, throwing the hunter ahead of him. Minato didn't move, and Sasuke didn't have time to look back, only feel assured he'd arrived in time. The man crashed into a tree and roared, but Sasuke threw his katana, pinned him to a tree th, and the hunter gaped dumbly at the speed . Sasuke walked over to look him in the eye as he grasped at the handle with firm hands, making him squirm.
"Hunter nin?" he breathed, and shook his head, eye spinning. "You're just a bounty hunter out of your league." He pressed on the sword, making the poor fool scream, before he activated Amaterasu and burned him away. He quelled it instantly as soon as his target had disappeared. For a moment, he stared at the charred tree, before plucking away his katana and sprinting away.
"Minato!"
Sasuke stopped, breath catching in his throat.
Ahead, Minato was slowly climbing to his feet. He stumbled a little, staggering, and when he looked up, it wasn't his son's eyes that stared back. Th right eye was burning a vivid red, the whites and pupil gone, still wide with shock. The other was his Minato's, but already the pupil was beginning to slit. The Sharingan activated in his left eye, and the tomoe spun, morphed, until Sasuke was staring at the Mangekyo.
His heart skipped a beat.
"Enma," said Minato. He opened his mouth again, as if to scream, but only a roar followed. Minato stumbled again, staring at his hands. Sasuke took a careful step forward, his own Mangekyo straining his eye.
"Minato," he tried, slowly, carefully. "Son."
Minato whipped his head around unnaturally fast. He blinked. "Enma," he said again. Cold fear prickled Sasuke's skin. This was his son, he told himself. His boy. He took another step forward.
"It's going to be okay. I got you. You're alright." A muscle in his cheek began to spasm as he said it. He reached out. The Mangekyo kept spinning.
Minato stared. The venomous chakra that burned red was beginning to ooze in bubbles off his skin, so much like Naruto. But nothing happened. The demon chakra didn't hide, and Sasuke grunted at the pain in his head. Bloody tears seeped from his eye.
"I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill everyone who ever wronged us," said Minato, in a quiet voice. Sasuke's stomach seized.
"No," he whispered, and his fingers were close, so close, to cupping Minato's cheek. He could feel the burn, like his hand was hovering over fire. Suddenly Minato snarled, and a chakra tail coiled around Sasuke's wist, burning him. He was thrown, skidding over the grass.
"I'm going to kill them all." It was no longer Minato's voice.
The tail lashed out, setting fire to the trees, and another one sprouted. Minato began to hunch over, snarling and cursing, bones beginning to appear like armor over his skin. Sasuke shook his head.
"No!" he shouted, and he lunged forward, taking his son forcefully by the shoulders and biting back the curses from the pain,"NO! Minato, look at me-"
He was tossed aside like a rag doll, and he felt a rib fracture. He grunted against the sear on his skin. So this is it, he thought grimly, the harnessed power of the Bjuu.
"Don't...don't make me hurt you." A tear of blood slipped from his eye, but it slid away too fast, too real to be only blood. Minato growled. Sasuke gripped his katana, pondering his next move. Chidori began to sing as he activated it.
Minato had surpassed him in brute strength with this transformation. He'd have to rely on speed and tricks, and aim to deliver a stunning blow to the side of Minato's head, hoping that unconsciousness would end the demon state.
He ran. A demon tail sped towards him, but Sasuke fooled him with a simple illusion, and the tail grasped nothing, allowing Sasuke to keep on running. But Minato saw through the illusion too quickly and the demon tail came racing up behind him.
Sasuke leaped, katana raised, sparking with Chidori for a stunning effect-
He was grabbed by the ankle at the last moment, dodging the second tail, thrown so hard he was lying in a shallow crater, trying to shake off the pain and woozy vision. He leaped away before Minato could take another hit.
He formed seals quickly, and Chidori snaked into the twin dragons he'd perfected over the years. They hissed and Minato snarled, growing a sword out of bone. He slashed at them with insane speed, but the dragons were quick, and Sasuke sighed when they coiled tightly around him. His son howled as the dragons eletrocuted him. Over and over. Sasuke winced, looked away. But suddenly, Minato tore them, bisecting the dragons with the bone.
"Stop, Minato! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!" An ache settled deep in his chest, twisting and warping and making him think of old promises and legends and prophecies. His boy. His boy...
Minato's mouth opened wide, a bijuu bomb beginning to form. Sasuke swallowed, forming the seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The great fireball hurtled into Minato head on, interrupting the bomb. Minato flew back. Sasuke trembled, breathing ragged, running forward. But when Minato didn't fall, Sasuke cursed.
Too quickly, he found himself purely on the defensive, unable to do much but dodge and deflect. His own Mangekyo was doing little for him. With his own activated, Minato could see the speed, slow it down, notice the techniques. Suddenly a tail wrapped around Sasuke with bruising strength, rising in the air before crashing back down, never once releasing him. Sasuke rolled once it let go, groaning, clutching at his chest. He spat blood.
"Minato!" he yelled, staggering to his feet.
"Kill them all," said his son, in a voice that wasn't his, and before Minato could deliver a fatal blow, someone came streaking through the wood. Sasuke could see the blond hair, the fiery glow of Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode. His stomach dropped again. He stretched out a hand, as if he might be able to reach into the sky and pull Naruto back.
"No, Naruto-!"
"MINATO!" Naruto roared, and he leaped through the air like a wild thing, blue eyes blazing, bijuu bomb in his palm. Sasuke braced himself for impact. He was thrown backward as a mighty wind from the hit leveled the clearing. He shielded his eyes, fighting his way back up, taking a step forward.
Naruto had Minato in a choke hold, while Minato struggled and roared.
"This isn't you!" he heard Naruto yell. "This isn't you, and if you don't snap outta this, I swear, Minato-" he didn't finish. Minato roared, and Sasuke saw something feral in Naruto he'd never seen before. Naruto's eyes burned red, and when his lips pulled back in a snarl, Sasuke could see his teeth had elongated. He roared, right back in their son's face, a ferocious light in his eyes. Minato quieted.
"You. Don't. Let. It. Consume. You." He shoved Minato down viciously, and suddenly their son went limp. The red chakra began to fade. The red light in his left eye began to disappear.
Naruto slumped over him. Sasuke was too stunned to move.
"Dad," rasped Minato suddenly, beginning to come to, and Sasuke pulled himself forward, gritting his teeth against his burns. "What happened to me?" his son asked, looking at his hands in horror, gray eyes impossibly wide with shock and pain.
He watched, as Naruto bent his head, put a hand on Minato's shoulder and say something low Sasuke couldn't hear. Minato groaned, tried pushing him away, squeeze his eyes shut and grab at his hair, saying, "Enma's dead." Then he turned his head and vomited.
Sasuke stumbled. One of the tail whips earlier had slicked through the skin on his ankle where he'd been grabbed. He'd seen the pale glint of bone when he'd last looked at it. With a pained grunt, he finally reached them, and plopped down next to Naruto and Minato. He watched as Naruto cradled Minato's head as if he were a baby, and kiss Minato, lightly, on the top of his head, as he hugged him. The type of treatment you gave your child when you were relieved they were still alive.
"I got you," he growled, "I got you." He flicked his gaze over to Sasuke, narrowing when he took Sasuke in. Sasuke shook his head.
Not now.
"It's going to be alright," Sasuke heard himself say, and put a hand on Minato's trembling shoulder, letting his fingers grip into his son's shoulder comfortingly. He looked up to the sky. The clouds were rolling in. A storm was coming. Thunder rumbled low in the distance.
"It's going to be alright."
He closed his eyes and hoped it would rain.
Ai was braiding Miki's hair.
"Your tugging too hard on her hair! You're going to make it fall out!" Mikoto snatched the doll from Ai's hands with a glare, running her fingers through the Miki's yellow yarn hair, inspecting it as though she would find a bald spot she could blame Ai on. Ai rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.
"Geez, relax." She sighed, and flopped onto the couch. A storm was coming, and Mikoto nervously hugged Miki tightly to her chest. Mrs. Kobayashi was in the kitchen, washing the dishes in the sink and pausing every five seconds to throw a look over her shoulder, out the window. Mikoto wandered over, standing on her tip-toes to look out.
She only saw stupid Takeo beating up a tree with a stick, probably pretending he was Minato or Enma, like he always did. She sighed explosively.
"When are they coming back?" she demanded, hands on her hips. Father and Daddy and Minato were taking way too long.
"Soon," said Mrs. Kobayashi shortly, in that don't-ask-me-again tone. Mikoto huffed, hugging Miki again. She blinked back tears.
"Twenty minutes," said Ai, squinting over at the clock. "They've been gone for twenty minutes."
Mikoto groaned dramatically, sprawling out on the floor with Miki.
"Are you worried about Minato?" she asked. Ai blushed crimson.
"Of course not."
"I think you love him."
Ai looked scandalized. "I do not!" she hissed.
Mikoto giggled. "I saw you kiss your hand the other day." She puckered her lips and made kissing noises, saying, "I love you, Minato!" and hugged herself.
Ai threw a pillow at her. Mikoto wailed as though it had been a brick thrown at her head.
"No rough housing!" Mrs. Kobayashi yelled sternly.
Mikoto harrumphed and stopped crying. "Go ahead and like him. See if I care! You can both be stupid together!"
Ai rolled her eyes again. Suddenly Takeo came barging in through the door, still brandishing his little stick.
"They're coming back!" he cried, and bounded back outside. Mikoto threw herself upright, grabbing Miki ("Hurry up, Miki, you slow poke!") and sprinting out the door. She opened her mouth to cry, "Daddy!" (which she called both of them sometimes anyway) at the top of her lungs, but stopped. Mrs. Kobayashi ran past her as though she hadn't seen her.
Daddy and Father were walking up the path to the house. Slowly. Minato was draped over Daddy's back. He looked like he'd been sunburned. Really badly. Father walked with a limp.
"Enma?" she heard Mrs. Kobayashi ask them, and suddenly Ai was pushing her back to the house, because someone was wailing, and it sounded worse than Mikoto's angry crying.
"What's going on? What's happening?" she asked as Ai pushed her inside.
Ai said, "Enma's dead," and slammed the door shut in Mikoto's face.
When he woke the second time, night had come.
Sasuke sat up slowly, letting the sheets pool around his waist. He looked over himself. His chest was bandaged. Burned, he remembered. His ankle had been stitched up and seen to.
Minato.
He sighed and pulled himself out of bed, just as Naruto came inside.
"Get your ass back in bed."
Sasuke grunted. "I can walk."
Naruto sighed. "Sure you can." He stepped close to hook Sasuke's arm over his shoulder to take the weight off his injured foot, and Sasuke could smell his usual musk: somethng like cinnamon, probably because Mikoto loved it on her toast every morning and Naruto had taken a liking to it. Sweat, earth, grass. He didn't realize he'd leaned in a little closer.
"How's Minato?"
Naruto took a breath. "He's taking it hard. Blaming himself."
"Any idea what happened back there? It seemed like-"
"I know." Naruto cut him off grimly. "Like the fox."
They were in the hallway now. "Do you think it-?"
"No, it didn't possess him, not entirely. He became in tune with the Kyuubi's soul, started molding with the demon's hate. Lost his sense of self. There's a lot of hate that comes with demonic chakra-"
"He couldn't control it," Sasuke finished for him. "How do you know?"
"No," answered Naruto bitterly, "And I got it right from the damn fox himself. He may wanna kill me most days and keeps thinking he can burst through kids like a sociopath, but we've developed a respect over the years, or else I wouldn't have been able to hold onto Minato like I did today. Wouln't have Tailed Beast Mode either, come to think of it."
"Will he ever be able to? Control it?"
There was a pause. "Yeah. It's something that will eat you alive if you don't." They stopped outside Minato's room.
"He saw you in bed," said Naruto slowly. "He was in shock there for a bit when he woke up, when we brought him home. He saw your ankle as Natsumi was redressing it. He got really upset."
Sasuke nodded, knocking on the door. Naruto opened it without waiting for a "come in".
Minato was sitting up in bed. He blinked when he saw Sasuke hobble in.
"You're awake."
"So are you."
Minato turned his gaze away. He was ashamed, Sasuke could see.
"Don't act like that," Sasuke reprimanded gruffly, and Minato looked up. "You can't take back what happened out there, but you can do something about it."
A tear spilled down Minato's cheek. He nodded, silent, looking away again. Sasuke sighed. "Good."
He surprised Minato by stepping forward and wrapping him in a hug. For a long moment, they were silent. A cold fear had wrapped itself around Sasuke, and he held his son tight. For a terrible, terrible second, he'd wondered if he'd have to kill his son to stop the transformation when nothing worked, when his own Mangekyo had done nothing to hide the Kyuubi's influence, and he had been willing to die to avoid it. Sasuke cleared his throat and pulled away, hands on his son's shoulders.
"Why did they kill him like that?" Minato suddenly asked. "He doesn't get any chance? Nothing at all?" His voice was empty. Flat. Naruto ran a hand through his too-short hair, unsure of what to say. Sasuke patted his shoulder.
"Maybe one day it'll be different." He walked out the door then, Naruto not too far behind. They wandered back to the bedroom. Naruto sat on the foot of the bed, a little hunched, shoulders squared.
"Where's Mikoto?" Sasuke asked. He hadn't heard her.
"Already asleep-"
"Hey!" The door burst open.
"...Or not," Naruto mumbled, an oomph flying out of his lips when their daughter collided with him headlong.
"Father are you awake? Father? Father? Helloooo!"
Sasuke decided it was a good time to pretend he was already asleep if she was in a playful mood, and winced when Mikoto attempted to pry his eyelid open. Naruto snickered.
"You're not asleep," she said.
"But I am tired," he said.
"But you're not asleep." She swung herself over onto the bed and Sasuke groaned when she landed on his stomach. Naruto snorted, and Sasuke shot him a glare.
"Are you hurt real bad-?" Mikoto frowned at the bandages on his chest, and before she tap her chin and poke Sasuke in the chest experimentally, Naruto laughed, getting up.
"Alright, little miss, time for bed!" Naruto swooped over, Sasuke's savior for the night, and gripped Mikoto under the arms, lifting her.
She pouted. "No, wait!"
"You can bug him tomorrow, I promise."
"Pinky promise?"
Sasuke snorted and held up his pinky. "I swear," he said solemnly, and Mikoto looked over Naruto's shoulder to grin at him. She said, "I love you and goodnight!" blowing a kiss like a movie star, like everything was okay with the world, and he was glad to see it. He thought of Minato, reeling from the loss of a friend and the fright of something unknown, and sleep was hard to come by.
Minato turned eighteen two days later. The days came and went, and the Kobayashis didn't reappear. The medicine woman came, an ex-nin with a medic history, and Sasuke's burns and wounds healed quickly. Mikoto would grow quiet whenever she heard Enma's name.
"What happens when you die?" she'd asked, and Sasuke had only patted her head, and never said a word. Minato drifted from room to room, quiet and contemplative, but when Naruto got him to spar again, he'd smiled a little. Sasuke found him picking at a little wooden totem bird one day, no bigger than the tip of his pinkie.
"Enma made it," was all Minato said. Inspired, Sasuke took it, searching around the house until he found a strip of leather. Now Minato wore it proudly. He'd even grinned, the big one that showed all his teeth, the one that made him look like Naruto. With Minato's birthday came the storms. They rolled in form the north, blackening the sky. Sasuke thought of Minato's birth.
On Sunday, early morning greeted them with a thunder storm. Minato wandered into his and Naruto's bedroom, and one look was enough to explain why. Minato pointed at a sleepy eyed Mikoto clinging to him, arms wrapped around her older brother tightly.
"She's stuck," he said flatly, and Sasuke and Naruto laughed. The thunder rumbled, and Mikoto whimpered, wedging herself between Sasuke and Naruto, while Minato flopped down across the foot of the bed, his legs dangling off the side with a yawn.
The rain came.
Sasuke couldn't sleep. He looked at his family, huddled on the bed. Naruto snoring, Mikoto lying across his chest with her thumb in her mouth, and Minato sprawled on the end of the bed, unconsciously pushing away Naruto's feet every now and then. Sasuke rose and dressed. The sky had lightened by then, but not by much.
He shuffled past the kitchen, past the living room, finally reaching the door. He pushed it open, walking into a wall of summer heat, fresh with the smell of rain and dirt. He crossed his arms, watched the rain fall in sheets. The light on the porch was still on, the morning dark making it wink orange.
"Couldn't go back to sleep?"
He turned to see Naruto. He thought about lighting a cigarette, almost reached into his pocket, but didn't.
"Not much room on the bed," he answered, and Naruto yawned, laughing a little. He stretched, reaching his arms into the air, and running a hand over his short-cropped hair, scratching the back of his neck as he squinted through the rainfall. He was still in what he'd worn to bed: boxers and t-shirt still splattered with rose-pink paint stains from painting Mikoto's room when she'd asked two years ago.
Sasuke silently studied him. Not too much about Naruto had changed since their youth. There was a ruggedness about him, but on Naruto, it looked handsome, it carved out his face with the hardened look of a man who'd been there, done that. He kept his hair short, cut close to his scalp since they'd shaved for their subtle henges after the Temple. The darker tan Suna's deserts had given him had never completely gone away.
But his eyes were exactly the same. And so was the confidant, cocky smile Mikoto and Minato mimicked so perfectly.
Today he was sitting on the porch swing, the porch swing that was there because Minato had wanted one just like the one the Kobayashis had. Naruto's elbows were on his knees, and Sasuke could tell he was waiting. Again. Like he did every morning. Every night.
"What do you think you'll see?" he asked finally.
"Hmm?" Naruto turned, raised a golden brow. He let out a breath, and a smile Sasuke knew so well. "Pfft, I see a lot of things. I see a tree over there, a bird eating a worm, got pretty loud kids in that nest that remind me a bit of a couple people-"
Sasuke snorted.
"Smart ass."
Naruto chuckled. He paused. "I don't know," he said finally. "I don't know, but one day maybe it'll be something."
Sasuke remembered telling him once no one is ever coming. He thought of Minato, of the story behind Enma's death, and he frowned.
"Something's going to give."
Naruto nodded. "I know."
"Did he tell you," Naruto began suddenly, and Sasuke looked over, "Did he tell you Enma wanted him to go with?"
Sasuke was quiet. "Yeah."
"Do you think he would've?" It seemed to bother Naruto slightly, in some way. He leaned back against the porch swing, chest rising and falling with a sigh, spreading his arm over the back, so his fingers grazed over Sasuke's shoulder.
"Didn't you come with me?" Sasuke asked. The rain fell harder, and Naruto turned to look at him.
"Is that even the same?"
"Does it matter?"
Naruto paused, brow furrowing with a thoughtful frown. "He's eighteen. He wants to see things," he said. Sasuke nodded.
"But not if he can't control himself."
Naruto was quiet.
"Did that stop you?"
Sasuke raised a brow. "What?"
"Did that stop you," he said lowly, and his blue eyes were hard, like flint, in the early morning gloom. "When you broke into Konoha that night?"
Sasuke eyes drifted to his lips. He thought of a night long gone, the very first night that had started it all. He thought of how Naruto had gripped him tight, with a grip that could have easily thrown him around and taken him in as much as hold him back. He briefly wondered about the last time they were together (and with a very curious Mikoto, that cut down on time). It'd been quick, consuming, a romp in the garden shed, and when he'd pressed so tightly against Naruto that Sasuke had shoved him into the wall and sent tools flying, Naruto had laughed. It was a nice thought. But underneath it was the fact that Naruto was right.
The last week had been Naruto lying awake in bed, and Sasuke knew what he was thinking, because he was thinking it too, and they could only lie closer and watch Minato go through the motions with careful eyes. Once Naruto had confided that he was worried about Mikoto. She was rough sometimes with animals she found in the yard. He talked about a bird she'd trapped in her hands.
Freakin' weirdest thing though. She let it go all of a sudden, and it hopped onto her shoulder like she'd never done anything wrong. Even started to sing.
She's just curious, she probably doesn't mean it, said Sasuke, but he was dubious. The thought made his squirm uncomfortably, and he thought of Minato again. He wondered what sway the Kyuubi's evil had over personalities. But when he looked at his daughter, she was a normal five year old. She played a little rough, was mischievous, but she was sweet.
Naruto noticed his silence after a while. "You're annoyed."
"Hn." Sasuke wondered about that cigarette.
Nauto gestured to his face, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips that had always been the same. "You do that thing with your-" Sasuke batted his hand away.
"Shut up," and Naruto did, because Sasuke kissed him, slowly, leisurely. They broke apart, and suddenly Naruto was cupping his face, pulling him closer. Lips on his mouth, on his neck, nipping at his ear. Hot breath ghosting over his throat. Sasuke could feel the pent-up frustration, from everything, in the way their lips collided. Sasuke groaned and gripped Naruto by the shoulders, pulling him to his feet by his shirt.
"Too damn long, huh?" Naruto teased with a waggle of his eyebrows. Sasuke smirked, and they darted through the rain, away from the bedroom window too close by the porch swing. Past the tool shed, and then they were racing for the shrine a mile up the road, the old, crumbling one covered in moss and hidden away in the forest that no one ever visited.
It was sinful, and it made Sasuke laugh.
The race was a tie, and that was just fine, because Sasuke caught Naruto easily. He ripped the t-shirt away, rain water slick on Naruto's skin, and Naruto gripped him back tightly, the same way he'd done all those years ago. It bubbled over quickly, a crashing of bodies and muted groans and desperate touches, hungry bucks against thighs and hips.
And the rain fell all around them as Sasuke pushed past that wall of euphoria, the darkness of the storm hiding them away. Naruto leaned back against him with a sharp hiss, hands gripping his hips in a bruising grip and pulling him roughly forward.
Don't stop, Naruto had gasped, and Sasuke hadn't wanted to. Death, destruction, demons, it all vanished then, just for a moment. After, they lay curled around each other, their clothes a terrible pillow for the hard, cold floor. Naruto had an arm around him, his nose to Sasuke's temple. He could feel Naruto smile.
"We should get back."
Sasuke laughed. "Probably. Before Mikoto starts looking for us in the shed again."
Naruto snorted, rolling away to put on his clothes.
"I wish I could reenact your face."
"No."
"It was priceless."
"You made her come to me with all the difficult questions."
"And I'd never laughed so hard in my life-argh!"
Sasuke hooked an arm around his neck, making Naruto stumble.
"Want me to say uncle? Or maybe you just want me to say Sasuke?" he teased. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but playfully pushed him away.
"Moron. Thirty-freakin'-four and you've never changed."
"Now you want me to change? I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna be that cranky old guy."
Sasuke leveled him with a dry look.
"I'm not old," he sniffed, and with that they left the shrine. The rain had let up to a light drizzle, but before they could reach the road, Naruto stopped.
"Sasuke," he said, and Sasuke turned. Naruto jerked his head to the road.
A dog was trotting up the road, its brown head bent and sniffing at the dirt, not pausing to look up. It was a mangy old mutt with a wolfish face and pricked ears. It walked in a zig-zag as it tracked, and suddenly, it paused to look up and blink large dark eyes at them. The dog ran over. For a moment, Sasuke had wondered if it would run past them. His heart began to hammer away as it got closer, and he wondered if it was finally time. Naruto said nothing. The dog approached them and sat on its haunches.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha," it said. Sasuke nodded grimly. Naruto was silent by his side, hands clenched into fists. He only bent his head forward slightly in acknowledgement.
"The Fire Lord was assassinated this morning," said the dog, pausing to scratch its ear. Sasuke looked to Naruto sharply. "The time is now. We're waiting for you, in the village hidden in the leaves."
Then it was gone, and Sasuke could feel Naruto's eyes on him. Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Someone came," he said.
A/N: Another beast of a chapter, but I figure since it's pretty much the end now, I don't really want to keep breaking it up and prolonging it xD Um, last chapter will be up soon. At the lastest, next week, so I guess I could even say next year xD Although...it would be really nice to end it all before 2013 ends. I'm going to spend the weekend working on Born This Way's newest chapter (which is currently at about 2k), since I have admittedly been chugging away with this one most of my writing time since it's ending. Don't worry, Born This Way will have a new chapter up before the new year.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to giving you all the conclusion of Fortune's Fool in the next update :)