Enjoy!
The Long Way Home
Part 15
The Deed
Chapter 5/5
The rest of the afternoon was spent making sure that no one was following them which included covering their trail, misdirection and a lot of other time wasting precautions. Throughout all of it, Sasuke wasn't too worried. Whatever forces they'd left in the village would either need time to recover, regroup or wait for reinforcements especially after seeing just what he and Naruto, not to mention Kurama, were capable of.
If the Hunters decided to chase them, which Sasuke had to assume they would, they would probably come en masse but not, Sasuke greatly suspected, any time soon. Which was a good thing, he was tired and sore and needed to rest.
Naruto had cut the bonds from his wrists soon after escaping but now that they had put some distance between themselves and the village and slowed their pace a bit, he had a chance to inspect the irritated and red skin where the ropes had chaffed his wrists.
"I lied to Amaya," Naruto admitted out of the blue as Sasuke dropped his hands back to his side.
"I would have preferred you'd killed her," Sasuke muttered.
Naruto frowned deeply at him. "You better be joking."
"Whatever makes you feel better. So, what did you tell her?"
"That we'd planned to cut straight towards the border."
"Well let's hope she's a moron then and thinks we won't change our plan."
Sasuke could see Naruto clench his jaw out of the corner of his eye but was feeling a little too sorry for himself to feel too bad about it.
"I left most of your stuff behind," Naruto told him.
It hadn't escaped Sasuke's notice that Naruto was traveling a little light. He had his own bag and it looked fuller than usual, but there was no way it could have held all their combined gear.
"I suppose you weren't exactly expecting a fight to break out in the street," Sasuke allowed.
"Not really," Naruto agreed. "I mean I wanted to be prepared for anything so I made sure to put as much as I could in one bag but almost all our weapons including your sword, bedding and most of your spare clothes got left behind."
Well that wasn't the best news. Of course he'd realised early on that Naruto didn't have his sword but it was still disappointing to hear him say it. He tried to be reasonable about it though, of course Naruto shouldn't be burdened with all of his things, it would have made fighting difficult and looked suspect besides, but it was still annoying. He'd really liked that sword.
"Weapons would have been handy," Sasuke pointed out.
"You think I don't know that?!" Naruto snapped. "Look, I have what's left of our money, our personal stuff and..."
"Left of our money?" Sasuke asked looking around at him.
"That's a really long story."
"Since when have you balked at telling stories?"
So Naruto did, including everything he'd found out and how, none of which was terribly good news. And while Sasuke might have preferred a more violent way of getting Juro to talk rather than giving away most of their money, the value of the information was undeniable.
After all, neither of them would have realised just how screwed the situation was if they hadn't found out about the Hunter's abilities.
He watched Naruto closely while he related what Amaya had said and saw the faint pink spread over his cheeks. Thankfully he seemed more embarrassed about it than flattered so Sasuke kept his mouth shut about it. He really wanted to make some snide comment about her offer to take Naruto with her at the very least but still refrained.
For now. Naruto might have a better understanding about how she felt and it wasn't just about getting into his pants, but telling Naruto that this whole thing was due to her wanting him might not be the best course of action.
Not that Naruto would condone the behavior but he might not believe that was the reason anyway. And even if he did believed Sasuke, instead of arguing, he might feel guilty about it instead. He already believed Sasuke had killed for him, he might assume Amaya had tried to as well. It really just wasn't worth the headache in the end.
The landscape was beginning to turn orange in the intermittent sunlight that managed to make its way through the canopy above when the pair of them almost walked past a tightly packed grove of trees. They were already surrounded by densely packed forest but something about these trees caught Sasuke's eye and he reached out and grabbed Naruto's arm to stop him, gesturing toward the trees.
There was a small opening in the line of trunks that they pair managed to squeeze through, opening out into a very rough oval of clear ground. Thanks to the sunlight being able to reach in here, the ground was carpeted in thick grass that felt springy underfoot. Well it wasn't as good as finding a cave to hide in or something but it was better than nothing.
As he stood in the center and looked around, Naruto dropped his bag and came to stand in front of him. Without a word he started pulling at the ties on Sasuke's pants.
Sasuke stood there and let him, watching him in a raised eyebrow.
"Feeling frisky?" he asked already knowing the answer.
"No," Naruto replied letting the pants drop.
Naruto got down on his knees in front of him, one hand holding Sasuke's leg to keep him still and began unwinding the bandage the hunters had put on his leg with the other.
"They did a good job with this," Naruto said after a moment. "But I still don't get how you could run on this let alone fight."
"The threat of imminent death does wonders to spur you on," Sasuke replied in a bored tone. "And they put something on it that numbed it so I could move. I suspect it was the same ointment Amaya gave you back in Adessa. My leg still feels a little stiff, but it doesn't hurt all that much."
"Better not wash it off then," Naruto replied standing up.
Next Naruto grabbed at Sasuke's shirt trying to pull it off him to inspect the damage done to his side.
"Don't bother," Sasuke told him. "The cut isn't that bad."
"Bullshit. You've got blood all over your shirt!"
Sasuke thought he was overreacting to the amount of blood but he could do little else at this point but let Naruto pull his shirt off and bend down to look at the cut more closely.
"Oh," Naruto said after a moment. "It really isn't that bad."
"I told you," Sasuke reminded him in annoyance. "It won't even need stitches. It barely even grazed me."
"A couple more inches to the left and it wouldn't be a graze," Naruto told him severely straightening up again and looking Sasuke in the eye.
Sasuke couldn't be sure, but underneath the anger he saw the remnants of fading panic.
"But it didn't," Sasuke told him. "I'm not that easy to kill."
"Ego will only get you so far teme. And you think I'm reckless."
"You are reckless. I had everything under control."
"Yeah well, I must have been watching a different fight. I thought they were gonna kill you," Naruto told him in a quieter tone at the end.
"Gee you might have to find someone else to follow around and call you an idiot then," Sasuke said sarcastically.
"You know I care what happens to you," Naruto told him hotly. "As if I'd put up with your shit all the time if I didn't care."
"I know you care," Sasuke returned sharply. "I wouldn't be becoming increasingly pissed off by your overprotective attitude right now if you didn't care."
"Fuck you Sasuke," Naruto spat with meaning before turning and storming off to the other side of the clearing where he sat down next to his bag with his back to Sasuke, shoulders tensed.
Sasuke couldn't help but think that Naruto was having some childish temper tantrum or something but obviously the stress of the past few days had caught up with him causing him to act like this. He probably wanted some time to breathe and calm down on his own but he wouldn't storm off entirely because he wouldn't be able to bring himself to. And it was because he really did care. Sasuke felt the adrenaline of the escape and his following spat with Naruto drain out of him in an instant making his limbs feel heavy and his cut side to ache more than it had before.
Standing naked in the clearing, the warm breeze sliding against his skin and feeling a just a little abandoned, he realised he'd gone too far again. Naruto was probably monumentally pissed with him right now but he wouldn't leave Sasuke injured and alone because he was just that kind of person.
Sasuke knew he'd broken something between them again but at least this time the realisation was quicker in coming rather than taking days to settle into his brain. This time he actually felt somewhat bad about it.
Sasuke pulled up his pants and walked over to where Naruto sat tensely and took a seat beside him without looking at his face.
"You moron," Sasuke accused. "You aren't supposed to take it so personally."
"Screw you."
Sasuke looked at him now, that straight tense set to his features and teeth set so tightly together it was probably making his jaw ache
"I clean up my own messes," Sasuke told him. "I don't need your help for that."
"You fucking liar. You need my help, you just don't want it," Naruto said bitterly.
"Fine, I didn't want it. They were after me for something I did. It was for me to deal with."
"Something you did for me," Naruto clarified.
"Not just for you. See, you're taking it personally again. It was my mess, it shouldn't have been your problem."
"People tried to kill you, it is my problem!"
Naruto still wasn't looking at him but Sasuke was studying his face very closely. "I notice you're not actually angry I killed someone anymore," Sasuke commented after a moment. "Somehow I thought you'd be more annoyed about that."
"It's not like I think it's okay to kill people teme. But it's hard to get pissed about that since Amaya's father was going to have her sold off and me staked. I still don't think what you did was right, but I get why you did it."
"So what? This whole rant is just because I didn't want you to help me?"
"Yes!"
"And not at all because you were worried about me," Sasuke finished.
Naruto didn't answer right away but Sasuke saw his face soften and had his answer anyway.
"I don't want something to happen to you," Naruto told him evenly.
"Yeah well you can still do me a favor and shorten the leash. I told you I'm not so easy to kill and besides, I knew you would help even if I didn't want you to."
Naruto looked at him now, he didn't look so angry anymore but his features were still a little hard.
"If you keep telling me you don't want my help when you're in trouble you're not gonna be able to rely on me ignoring you. One day I might actually take it to heart."
"Yeah right, like that will ever happen," Sasuke scoffed. "You never listen."
"I always listen," Naruto corrected him. "But sometimes I figure you don't always know what's best for you."
"Oh, and you do?"
"Better than you do, obviously."
"You have the common sense of a doorknob, dobe."
"Sasuke just go away, I don't want to talk to you right now."
Sasuke blinked at that. Naruto might get annoyed and angry with him a lot, but he'd never just simply told Sasuke to go away. Naruto was more the fight right back kind of person who'd rather argue till they reached some kind of understanding. He almost never left things hanging. Well yeah he had once when he'd gotten so sick of Sasuke he'd left him behind.
A few months ago this wouldn't have bothered Sasuke at all who was never one to talk out his problems. He would have been happy that for once Naruto wasn't talking to him. But right now the idea put him off balance and made him troubled.
He wasn't used to the silence anymore, he wasn't used to not having Naruto there to bring him out of his own thoughts and make him feel lighter for the first time in many years. And he also realised he didn't want Naruto to leave again either.
"I almost forgot what fun was," Sasuke said before thinking. "Not that getting arrested is fun of course. But the last few months have been so... different than my regular life."
"I'm angry with you," Naruto reminded him. "Go away. You can't tempt me into talking with you by having a sharing moment. I don't care right now. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"You still do," Sasuke said confidently. "You can't help yourself and that's why you're angry. You care that I killed someone, you care about why I did it, you feel guilty because it caught up with me because you think I did it for you."
"You did do it for me. To get me out of jail."
"Sort of. It was a lot more selfish than you assume. I didn't want to leave you behind because I was beginning to like the idea of having you with me. Without you there I was on my own again and I didn't want that. I get bored now when you aren't around, I never used to get bored so easily when I was alone before."
"I'm not travel Shogi, Sasuke. I don't want to be your entertainment."
Sasuke sighed. "Okay, maybe 'bored' was the wrong word, stop being so fucking sensitive. But anyway, being alone felt wrong so I went back for you."
"This isn't making me feel real special. I don't even get why you're telling me this, this isn't like you."
"Do you know how many people I have done something like that for?"
"No."
"Just one actually. People tend to bore me more than being alone except for you. Even arguing with you is better than nothing. But then every now and again I even have fun."
"What are you getting at?"
Sasuke took a deep breath. "I've never had a real friend before you."
"Well kudos for you," Naruto replied sarcastically. "If you weren't such a socially retarded jerk this wouldn't be a new experience for you."
Sasuke's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Do you have to be such an ass while I'm attempting to be nice?"
"Well at least now you know how it feels. Sasuke, I get it," Naruto told him relenting slightly. "I get that for you this is a big breakthrough in emotional balance or whatever and I'm happy for you. But normal friends care about each other and look out for one another and don't get pissed off when their friends try to help them out. And they don't lie to each other either."
So it seemed they'd finally gotten to the crux of the matter. Naruto didn't think Sasuke was forthcoming enough with him, which happened to be true but Sasuke liked it that way.
And he never saw it as unfair because Naruto shared things with him so freely and he didn't share because Naruto was just an open kind of person. For Naruto sharing was like breathing, something natural. For Sasuke, this type of conversation was very hard and he had to push himself just to keep going every moment.
"Okay fine. Right now, ask me whatever you want and I will tell you the truth."
Naruto obviously hadn't expected that and it took a while for the surprise to work itself through his brain.
"You'll really answer me? Direct answers, no trying to talk your way around them?"
"Yes. You can ask me ten questions on the condition that you answer two of my questions. Sound fair?"
Naruto nodded. "Alright. Are you still thinking of staying behind?"
"Yes," he'd expected the question since what had happened might have understandably thrown that idea in question. "But not in Arrei, obviously."
"You know becoming a criminal in each country we pass through is starting to become a thing with you. You're never going to find somewhere to stay if you keep pissing people off."
"Technically you were the criminal in Adessa. I just killed an Arrei citizen, but I was never caught there."
Apparently, that thought that he had been the wanted man had slipped his mind to judge by the astonished look.
"I've never been a criminal before. Well there was that one time, but that was a total mistake and I..."
"Is this going to be a question at some point?"
"No. Fine. When I collapsed on the road 'cause of the headaches, did you think about leaving me behind?"
"No."
Which was the truth. He might have told Naruto he would never carry him but he'd done it without much thought.
"The um, frustration relief thing that we do, is it just because you're comfortable with me and you don't have to deal with some love-struck girl?"
"Yes."
"Oh," Naruto replied like the answer had bothered him.
"I haven't really been tempted by any of those girls," he pushed himself to admit. "They don't seem to do it for me."
"And I do?" Naruto asked by now a little pink and more than a little surprised.
"Apparently so."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Oh, okay. Speaking of girls, why do you hate Amaya so much? I mean before all this. I get why you might not like her now."
"I dislike people like her."
"That's not much of an answer," Naruto pointed out. "I mean I'm just surprised 'cause you say you don't like all those girls who drool over you without knowing who you really are. I thought you'd like a girl who wasn't instantly in love with you."
"I don't hate her because she had no interest in me," Sasuke told him obviously, "I hate her because she is a selfish bitch that uses people to get her own way no matter the consequences to anyone else."
"No offense Sasuke but you don't tend to think real hard about consequences either. I've seen you use people to further your own goals."
"Perhaps," Sasuke allowed after a moment. "But I've never lied to anyone about my intentions. Every person that helped me knew the score."
"So you say, but I think some of those people might disagree. Even if you say you didn't lie to them, I doubt you really shared much with them about where they stood with you either. It's not exactly the same thing. And I really doubt that girl that was following you ever thought you'd stab her just to get to an enemy."
"She was... misguided."
"She was in love with you," Naruto corrected. "Even I saw that."
"I never reciprocated. It wasn't my fault she labored under a misapprehension."
"C'mon, you can't be that cold. Don't you regret it?"
That was a tricky question. If Naruto was asking him whether he would do it again given the same circumstances then he probably would. Of course hindsight could be a bitch of a thing sometimes. Those had been pretty unique circumstances during a time if his life when he couldn't think straight for being so angry.
"I wasn't in a clear thinking frame of mind at the time."
"That's not an answer."
"Sort of."
"Neither is that!"
"I regret the situation that lead me to that point, satisfied?"
"I guess. But then how can you say that you and Amaya are so different?"
"Fine, let's assume for a moment that what you say is true about my comrade's past, Amaya and I are still not the same. I never pretended to care about someone and then put them in danger just because I lack the courage to stand up for myself."
"Yeah but she never killed someone either. " Naruto muttered with a faint hint of bitterness in his voice.
Okay, so maybe Naruto cared more about what he'd done that he'd previously let on.
"Maybe not directly. But if Sachio had been a better fighter she still would have been responsible for whatever happened to you if you'd lost that fight with him. If he'd by some miracle killed you, she would have been responsible for your death. I'm just a little more up front about murdering people."
"This isn't a fucking joke!"
"Notice the way I am not laughing? Don't pretend she is some innocent little thing when you know full well that she isn't just because she's a beautiful girl that smiles at you."
"Huh, I wouldn't think you'd find her beautiful," Naruto muttered obviously displeased by Sasuke's observation.
"I'm not blind. I know she is attractive, it just doesn't make me want to stab her any less."
"Teme! I told you not to make jokes! You can't hurt her just because she accused you of killing her father. Especially because she happens to be right!"
Okay so he had been joking that time. Well sort of. He was guilty, but regardless, she was still a bitch.
"Tch."
"You know," Naruto continued with a puzzled frown, "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you call anyone beautiful. I didn't think you really looked at people like that. Do you?"
"I find some things ascetically pleasing sure, but it doesn't compel me to touch them. Like I said, I am not blind, I'm just not very moved by it either."
Something about what he'd just said had made a small smile show up on Naruto's face. It was good to see after he'd spent to long looking either angry or annoyed.
"There's something wrong with your brain, seriously. But wait, you touch me."
"Is that a question?"
"No."
"What does it matter?"
Naruto's smile dropped and he looked sort of nervous all of a sudden. "I guess it doesn't."
But now it was Sasuke's turn to smile though a lot more smugly than Naruto had. "You want to know if I find you ascetically pleasing."
Naruto flushed again. "Look it's not like I'm digging to make this into something it isn't. But it'd be nice to know I can tempt you as much as you tempt me."
Naruto shut his mouth quickly after that slipped out looking for all the world like he desperately wanted to take those words back. Sasuke just raised a single eyebrow at the statement.
Honestly he hadn't really thought too closely about it. He knew on some level that most people found him attractive, so he'd just assumed that he didn't look horrible to Naruto even though Naruto generally didn't spend any time admiring any other guys that Sasuke had noticed. But he must have liked something about him since every second or third night they fooled around with each other.
However now it seemed as though Naruto thought he looked temptingly good and the news was surprisingly pleasing. If nothing else it revealed to him new and exciting ways to irritate or frustrate Naruto, which was a fun game in itself. Perhaps more interestingly though the news of this didn't bother him as much as it usually would. He couldn't deny liking his own looks but it did give him a lot of unwanted attention. But weirdly this time it didn't depress him at all.
"If I didn't find some part of you appealing I doubt we'd do what we do."
"That's not direct," Naruto reminded him.
"Obviously you tempt me to want to do things to you. Good enough?"
"Okay. Would you miss me if I died?"
Sasuke looked around at him then, smile gone and more than a little disturbed by the question so thoughtlessly blurted out.
"You really want this as your last question?" Sasuke asked him.
"Well I only thought about it 'cause you might have... Hey," Naruto said with sudden realisation, "That hasn't been ten!"
"Yes it has."
He watched Naruto count them up in his mind before his eyes widened. "You're counting that 'really' question? No wait! Don't answer that!"
"You've reached ten, deal with it. Think about your last question carefully because it's not like you're going to get much of an opportunity later. I get the no lying thing about important things, but I never promise in the future I will answer every question you ask if I don't want to. So I suggest you choose carefully."
"But I wasted most of them asking about Amaya, that's not fair!"
"It's not my fault what's on your brain."
"Okay, fine. Can I save it? You know, for another time so I can think about it? 'Cause you're right, I have a free shot at a question you have to answer the truth to. I don't wanna waste it."
It was a risky proposition for someone who guarded their personal life so closely but then it was better than having to think about the alternative.
"Okay. Now it's my turn.
"Fine."
"I'm safe, we won, aren't you happy?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and let himself fall backwards to lay in the grass. Sasuke watched him close his eyes and breathe deeply.
"I'm happy you're okay."
"That's not a full direct answer."
"Fine! I'm happy you're safe, but I'm angry you didn't want me to help you. You just kept everything to yourself and faced down a squad of guardsmen because you didn't think your problems were any of my business. You just do all these drastic things without thinking about anything else but your own narrow view. You always take these burdens on without letting anyone help you and it pisses me off! Just when I think you're mellowing out and starting to think about other people you do crazy shit like this."
"So this isn't just about what just happened. You think this is like before when we were younger."
"Of course I do."
"It's not like before."
"But you're still doing the same shit!"
"I could say something to tell you that you are wrong but I don't think you would believe me."
Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at Sasuke curiously. "I don't get why you want to reassure me anyway. You're being really strange today."
"It might make the pissed off sulk go away if nothing else," Sasuke replied.
"Well at least you're still being an asshole. Ask your last question already."
"Okay. I'm annoyed that my birthday was ruined. It's your fault for making me believe it was something special only to be disappointed in the end. That wasn't really fair."
"Was that actually a question? 'Cause I'm thinking you're just making fun of me now."
But Sasuke didn't reply. Instead he got up on his knees, turned so he was straddling his friend's waist and before Naruto could mount a protest, grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt and pulled him up into a sitting position so he could press their lips together forcefully.
Naruto immediately kissed him back but after mere seconds pushed him away with a hand on Sasuke's chest.
"You're not going to distract me, teme. I'm still angry with you. And we don't know for sure if we're safe here."
"Yes I am. And yes we are."
"Don't be so fucking confident!"
Sasuke gripped the sides of Naruto's t-shirt and dragged it up over Naruto's head. Naruto, despite his earlier words, let him do it.
He slid his fingers up to side of Naruto's neck to keep him still and leant in to latch his lips on the other side. He felt arms go around his waist causing him to slide further into Naruto's lap.
"You think doing this is going to stop me from being angry?" Naruto asked him.
With one last lick with his tongue all the way up behind Naruto's ear he then said into that ear, "No. But I just escaped possibly having my head cut off so I can think of better things to be doing than bitching at each other right now."
He felt Naruto's arm tighten around him. "Don't joke about that either."
"So you would prefer the warm breathing version of me then, even if you are so pissed off," Sasuke concluded. "I'm starting to get this danger makes you horny thing like you said back in the caves. This is the first time in a long time I've been so close to death. It's an interesting feeling."
None too gently Naruto rocked his whole body forward shoving Sasuke onto the ground behind him. Naruto followed him down to kiss him roughly, forcing his tongue inside Sasuke's mouth and bracing himself up with one hand.
His other hand snuck down in between their bodies to untie Sasuke's pants once more. Once they were undone he sat up and yanked them off quickly, settling himself down against Sasuke again and sucking the skin of his exposed throat.
Sasuke meanwhile, brought up his legs to hook Naruto's pants with his toes and after flicking open the buttons dragged them down. When warm naked flesh finally met his he groaned loudly and sank his teeth in Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto hissed and nipped his throat with his teeth in warning but Sasuke ignored him, reaching down with both hands to trap both his and Naruto's erections in his grip. Naruto moaned and lips met once more with tongues twining together aggressively.
Not ten minutes later Naruto did something unexpected and broke lip contact with him.
"Let go or I'm gonna come."
"That's the point."
"Let go."
Sasuke complied confused and uneasy. Perhaps he'd pushed too hard, perhaps Naruto was too angry with him after all and was finally calling a stop to it. But when Sasuke released him Naruto slid down his body and without hesitation wrapped his lips around Sasuke and sucked him in.
Sasuke's head fell backward and his back arched almost off the ground at the unexpected move.
He'd never get over how good that felt. He wasn't watching Naruto anymore so was a little taken off guard when he felt oil slicked fingers massage against his entrance. Naruto must have gotten the oil out his nearby bag when Sasuke hadn't been looking. He did wonder that of all the things Naruto chose to pack in his bag that morning why he hadn't bothered to take the oil out and say put more weapons in, but right now he was hardly complaining.
He felt the fingers rub against him, not going in yet but coating him with the warming oil and pushing against the tight ring. It wasn't until Naruto sucked in as much of Sasuke as he could, his tongue brushing against the underside of his penis that he felt a finger push inside him and began moving around. Later a second finger was added and the two began to open him up more.
This was the second time he'd received such attention and was able to relax a lot more easily than the first time. When a third finger went inside his stretched hole he bit his lip to keep himself from hissing at the intrusion. He'd noticed before that Naruto wasn't exactly the most patient of people when it came to, well, anything other than fishing.
And once Naruto had a clear goal in mind he tended to go for it in the shortest possible amount of time. Lucky for him that Sasuke wasn't so put off by the small sting. And once he'd had time to adjust and relax, it was hardly painful anyway and this time he round himself biting down on a moan as Naruto rubbed his fingers against a certain place inside him.
But he couldn't do it for long since he'd been so close to coming anyway that it wasn't long before he did so. He didn't even have a chance to warn Naruto but it didn't seem to matter. The warm mouth swallowed around him easily this time and he looked up as the heat left him to see Naruto watching him closely.
"I needed to do that," Naruto said almost to himself.
Sasuke didn't ask why because he already knew the answer. And if he had to completely honest about it, it was mainly the reason why he'd started messing around with him. And sure, he hadn't been lying before either, surviving something like that made him feel the desire to do something physical in a way he hadn't experienced before. But it was also one of the few ways he could think of to reassure Naruto as well since he did know the effect dangerous situations sometimes had on him.
Of course making Naruto feel better made things easier for him too. The overprotective attitude of Naruto's was a little overwhelming at times. The more Naruto became distressed, the more on edge it tended to make him nowadays as well. All he'd had to do was look at the expression on Naruto's face as they were leading him away and it was enough to make him snap and fight back.
It wasn't exactly the most logical way to react to things and he hated that Naruto apparently had such an effect on him but it seemed as though the simple fact of it was that Naruto being at ease helped him feel better as well. Plus orgasming had an interesting calming effect too.
But apparently just simple coming wasn't going to cut it this time for Naruto since he seemed to want to procrastinate this time. Even though Sasuke come he still felt the fingers inside him, shallowly pumping into him.
"You're trying to get me hard again," he accused. "You'll have to give me a bit of time you know."
Naruto brushed his fingers across the sweet spot inside him again and he gasped almost inaudibly.
"Fuck, I said give me some time," Sasuke reprimanded him.
Naruto stopped trying to drive his over sensitised body completely mad but he didn't remove his fingers or stop their movement completely either. It wasn't as bad but he didn't like the feeling of Naruto tormenting him much without getting a little payback of his own.
"Stop," he told Naruto.
He didn't wait for him to comply but moved making Naruto's fingers slide out of him. He got to his knees in front of Naruto, reaching out to curl his hand around the now excessively hard penis of his friend.
"No, don't do that," Naruto protested, grabbing his wrist to stop any more movements. "If I come then we'll stop and I don't want to stop yet."
Prolonging their fun was something neither of them had really tried before. It was usually a quick affair for the purposes of feeling good for ten minutes and getting off. And even though he'd been persuaded into this, Naruto seemed eager to keep it going. Well that was fine, but it didn't mean he only had to come once.
"I must have missed where those rules were written down."
He tried to dislodge Naruto's grip on him but Naruto took his wrist and twisted making Sasuke have to turn on his knees in order to just barely keep himself up due to his stiff leg. Naruto moved up close behind him, his arm sure and steady around his waist and not letting him budge an inch. Which was good because that arm was the only thing allowing Sasuke to keep his balance and remain upright now.
Normally this was the point where these moments got really aggressive between them. When punches were almost thrown just to see who would remain in control. But as much as Sasuke wanted to fight back, Naruto was pressed up closely behind him. Naruto's warm slightly damp skin sliding against his back every time he took a breath and his insistent hardness pressing up against his ass stole his breath. He shifted his hips till he could feel that hard push press in between his cheeks and heard the groan behind him.
"Don't do that," Naruto warned him. "I told you that you can't do that anymore."
The command if anything only made Sasuke want to rebel even more, so naturally he did it again.
"Sasuke, stop it!"
"Why?" he asked a little more huskily than he had intended.
He didn't know what was wrong with him, or Naruto for that matter. Okay fine, so he understood the delaying tactic for Naruto at least a little bit. Naruto had been freaked out with worry and just like Sasuke had predicted, was feeling better for the physical comfort. What Sasuke hadn't really counted on was just how much reassurance Naruto apparently needed.
And fine, Sasuke wasn't so against drawing things out a little more. But that was probably the really surprising thing, that he even wanted to. This was sort of on those blurred lines of what was efficient and what just plainly felt good. And those lines became blurry pretty often admittedly but at least he still knew deep down what was considered a little too close and personal. The problem here was that close and personal was kind of necessary at this point.
He'd known that things had changed between them lately as far as physical stuff was concerned.
Lately it has been a weird mix of experimentation and sensation that seemed to go above and beyond the simple needs of just overcoming frustration. But even with every new thing introduced into the proceedings there had been this recent feeling of something left undone.
Something not quite reached and it had become more frustrating than it had ever been before. And that was why Sasuke had suggested that after his birthday, they'd put a stop to too much frustrating teasing. After the night of his birthday, the night they'd never gotten around to and therefore Sasuke had missed out on finding out if that something more was too much of a temptation after all.
The problem was that Sasuke knew what that something was and he knew it was something too much. Well at least when he was clear-headed and thinking rationally he knew. When it was like this and all he could feel was warm skin, hands, and lips it all became a little too hazy and he just wanted to scratch that infuriating little itch.
He almost felt crazy for thinking it but he wondered what he had to lose at this point. Naruto might feel better for a little more control and he might just plainly feel a little bit more of anything.
"I told you before," Naruto told him.
"You started to tell me that first time before the bandits showed up and stopped. I don't read minds, dobe. And I don't buy that it's merely frustrating."
"Oh yeah, right. I thought you'd freak out. I would, I think I am a little bit right now. Godsdamnit Sasuke, I said stop!"
Despite Naruto's demand his palms were flat against the tops of Sasuke's legs at this point, keeping Sasuke in place against him but still giving him enough slack to move his hips back against him. It was almost like Naruto was fighting a war against his own body that he was obviously losing. But what really mattered to Sasuke in that moment was that he was the one that was winning over both Naruto's brain and his body.
Of course having that slick hardness rubbing up against a beyond sensitive part of him at the moment was slowly starting to make him forget to care about winning or losing at this point. He could feel the muscles in his legs twitch slightly due to some unknown strain and he felt flushed from the tips of his ears all the way down to his toes.
The hands against his legs were shaking just the tiniest amount as Naruto took a shuddering breath blowing it out against the side of his neck raising goosebumps on the skin there. He'd never felt a need quite like this before and he'd certainly never felt this kind of anticipation either.
"I don't want to tell you what I felt like doing," Naruto confessed.
"Well for once you might actually have a good reason to just shut up then."
"Not while you're doing that. Just stop okay? It's not going to finish me, it's just teasing me."
"I wasn't planning on finishing you this way. You just won't take a fucking hint. You're not that stupid to miss a moment like this, are you?"
Well he'd had one more question so why not use it? However asking it seemed to have caused Naruto to stop breathing for a moment. But then some sort of life must have sparked again because he felt lips against his neck, sucking on that magical little spot below his ear and hands move upwards to grip his hips tightly just before Naruto ground himself against Sasuke this time.
Well that reaction certainly answered his question with gusto. He felt something low down in his belly clench in reaction to the almost aggressive answer but it couldn't possibly be fear, that would be stupid since he'd been the one to invite this.
It just wasn't, no way.
Well maybe a little.
And strangely, even though he'd basically told Naruto to seize the moment, Naruto's unexpected eagerness almost made want to call it off, to say he was joking or that he didn't mean it like that. He figured frustration had finally driven them both insane when they'd already decided to tone things down. That was how regret came about after all, by deciding things in the heat of the moment.
But strangely his brain just didn't seem to care enough to make him say anything or get his body to move away. All it seemed to care about was what he wanted right now. And the more he felt Naruto's body against him, the more he pushed back to hear Naruto groan into his ear, the less fear he began to feel.
Well he was going to have to move a bit either way. All Naruto could really do in this position was rub against him and attack the side of his neck. Which was certainly pleasant but it wasn't solving anything. Unfortunately, Naruto had a good grip on him so it wasn't like he could move much at the moment anyway.
"Let go," Sasuke told him.
He hardly recognized his own voice. Something in him told him that this was too much, too far, kept repeating it in his mind over and over again. He didn't want this, he didn't want to be in this position, it was unnecessary, it would change too much and Naruto, had he been in much of thinking mood, would probably agree.
Well maybe something in Naruto's brain was still working because he did let go, almost instantly at the command like he realised as well what was about to happen and suddenly had freaked out. Sasuke hadn't expected to be obeyed so quickly, or at all and the sudden release took him a little bit by surprise.
Without Naruto holding him in place he fell forward, catching himself with his forearms just before his fell face forward into the grass. So now he found himself in a low bow, his forehead almost touching the grass and his back arched in a way that probably looked very suggestive and inviting. But all he did was shift his legs for comfort and tried like hell not to feel so fucking vulnerable.
He sincerely hoped that Naruto did not say anything. Any questions or comments would probably break whatever hazy state Sasuke was in right now and dealing with consequences was really not something he wanted to do right now no matter what the logical part of his brain was screaming at him.
But Naruto didn't say anything. Actually he didn't do anything either for a few good and very long seconds but eventually he felt very shaky hands touch him low on his back and roam downwards. He was still somewhat loose from before to judge by the lack of resistance he felt as two fingers pushed inside him again but the third still stung a little.
At least it made him refocus his thoughts a bit more and just get back to sensation rather than linger too much on the doubt. Until he felt the fingers retreat and all he could hear was the chirping of insects, the light breeze ruffling the leaves above, the distant sounds of the river flowing and the harsh shuddering breath of Naruto behind him.
It felt like it went on for ages.
Then he felt the push of something larger against him but it moved no farther. Well fuck that, the anticipation whether for something good or something bad was going to make him insane. Well, more insane anyway. This was already done as far as he was concerned. It wasn't going to get less awkward whether they went through with it or not at this point.
It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but Sasuke pushed backwards against Naruto who, probably quite out of instinct, pushed right back and drove himself inside. Sasuke grunted at the feeling of being stretched so far, further than anything else had prepared him for. It had been too much too fast and he leant his head against his arm for a moment and just breathed.
Naruto meanwhile had grabbed his hips in a tight grip reflexively. He didn't move but he was breathing just as hard. He wasn't even close to being all the way in but already it felt like way too much. It hurt, not too badly but it hurt. He just needed a moment...
Naruto moved in slowly but not deeply, sighing then moaning. But holding back wasn't exactly Naruto's forte as Sasuke had already noticed and probably didn't realise how much more invasive this felt. The next time he pushed in, he pushed deep.
Sasuke clenched his teeth, his fingers tearing into the grass and dirt beneath his hands as Naruto pulled back and thrust in again deeply and harshly. This was not what he had imagined, this was not relieving that itch he had felt.
This was a little too over that line of pleasure and pain but it was still a kind of pleasure so he just kept his teeth jammed together and breathed deeply through his nose hoping it might start to feel better soon. But as it continued he could feel himself tensing up almost as though his body was telling him that it felt wrong.
And Naruto for his part wasn't helping a great deal. Sasuke could appreciate being lost in the moment and by this point Naruto was probably just acting on the compulsion to just keep thrusting without realising that being too harsh so soon was hurting his friend. Of course that didn't mean he appreciated the treatment either. Naruto was such an unselfish person and Sasuke had never thought he would be so mindless at a time like this.
He told himself over and over to relax. He knew from past experiences with Naruto what being anxious would do to his body and that the only way to make the sting lessen was to calm himself. But his body just didn't seem to want to relax and he almost panicked a little just then which made it all the worse.
He didn't know whether it was the way his muscles had been drawn tight or whether, gods forbid, he even made some kind of painful sound but Naruto slowed and then stopped entirely. Sasuke could hear him breath raggedly as he loosened the deathlike grip he had on Sasuke's hips and moved them up till Sasuke could feel his fingers gently but firmly kneading his lower back on either side of his spine.
That felt nice. He then felt Naruto lean over him, pushing his weight down on Sasuke's back till Sasuke felt lips against his skin. Well that was strange. Had Naruto noticed his difficulties? It seemed unlikely since Naruto had seemed so hell bent on mindlessly thrusting into him a moment ago but here he seemed to have calmed himself down and realised what he was doing. Sasuke wondered if that kiss was some kind of apology or something.
He drew out almost entirely before pushing in again but not all the way this time and repeating the process at an incredibly slow and much steadier pace. That first movement had made Sasuke tense instinctively again but Naruto seemed determined to hold back this time.
This new slow, shallower movement helped him adjust a little better to the invasion until it stopped stinging almost entirely and started to feel good. Especially good when a hand reached around and grabbed his waning erection and began coaxing it back to life. Eventually he managed to keep his hand moving almost in time to the slow thrusts.
Sasuke breathed out deeply and relaxed more, letting his head loll. It seemed odd after being so rigid before but he noticed after a little while that he had unconsciously started to move with the body penetrating him. He was only made aware of this fact when a hitched breath followed by a heartfelt moan behind him alerted him to it.
He pushed back against Naruto confidently now and Naruto complied going deeper this time and each time till Sasuke felt full and then on the next thrust Naruto seemed to readjust his aim a little and hit that spot inside him making Sasuke clench for a moment and groan raggedly.
"Do it again, keep doing that."
Okay so this was officially better than mere fingers. The major discomfort and pain from before felt distant and he could acutely feel the slide of Naruto as he went inside him deeper now though still not very fast. He felt open and yes, still a little invaded, but just as he'd found before it was actually becoming a bit of a turn on. Besides now he didn't feel like he wasn't in control. whenever he moved back against Naruto, rolling his hips Naruto would groan.
So as much as Naruto was driving him toward that white blank his mind and body so enjoyed, he was pretty certain he was having the same effect on Naruto as well.
Naruto kept driving against the spot that never failed to make his belly tight and soon Sasuke lost the ability to think whatsoever. No thought of awkwardness, no thought of who was in control or long forgotten pain both physical or otherwise, it was just the sensation and beguiling need of his body wanting pleasure that drove his movements from then on.
But by this stage he was too close to coming to keep it up for much longer. He only lasted what seemed like a very short time afterwards before coming yet again and clenching around Naruto so hard that his friend yelled thrust a few more quick times and then collapse against his back.
Sasuke held them both up that way for a while before he became increasingly aware of the pain in his legs, arms and side. Naruto was still inside him so Sasuke flexed around him making Naruto gasp.
"Gods, teme, don't do that."
"Then move, my legs are going numb."
Naruto carefully drew out making Sasuke wince at the ache he had thought forgotten. Something warm snaked down in between his legs and realising what it was he wondered yet again what the hell was wrong with him. His first time and it had been with his friend out in the middle of the woods in the middle of one of their arguments.
He probably could have picked a better time, but it was difficult to be rueful of that right now, even when he was aching and had Naruto's seed running down the inside of his leg.
Naruto had collapsed on the grass and was lying on his back looking up at the sky with a palm flat against his heart like it must be beating so fast it was about to break out of his chest. He looked so thoroughly done in and Sasuke figured he looked much the same himself. The exercise had awoken the pain in his leg a little so it was throbbing in time with his own rapid heartbeat but it wasn't enough to bother him at all.
Something bright flittered across his line of sight, tearing his eyes away from Naruto and across the clearing to see a dozen or so incandescent flying insects hovering around near the trees. Fireflies of some type probably. They seemed to be flying off towards where the river should One flew across Naruto's field of vision.
"Am I seeing lights or are those fireflies?"
"You're seeing things," Sasuke mocked him.
"When did it get dark?" he asked the world in general.
"Probably sometime between the blow job and the... other stuff."
Naruto huffed a few times in an attempt at laughing while still a little breathless. Sasuke noticed that Naruto's lip was torn and bleeding slightly. He hadn't been injured like that before and Sasuke wondered whether he'd done it during the sex. Probably.
Either he'd done it to keep his concentration or to keep himself from coming too fast but no matter, whichever reason it had worked for Sasuke and he didn't feel particularly bad for Naruto's self inflicted pain.
"I we..."
"Don't talk," Sasuke advised. He was feeling oddly detached and fuzzy right now and wanted to preserve that sensation for as long as possible.
"Don't be a jerk then," Naruto countered without much venom.
"Deal," Sasuke decided.
The following day was spent suspiciously silent for the most part.
The night before they had practically passed out where they lay both too drained by the day's events with the Hunters and... afterwards. So Sasuke had woken up with the morning sun feeling hot, sweaty, dirty and sore.
He was mainly sore from the cut in his side and the wound on his leg made worse by the rigorous exercise of the night before. But there was a dull ache lower down too, which for some reason made him a little angry.
As far as he could see though it was an irrational anger. He wasn't angry at anything in particular and so getting up and ignoring the snoring presence beside him he made his way down to the river to wash off and ponder over his feeling.
After cleaning himself off, cleansing his cut and having a ginger feel of other sore areas he wondered if he was angry at Naruto. He didn't think so though. Of course he might just be angry with himself. He hadn't imagined that if they did it that he would be so willing to give up like that. He supposed at the time it seemed like the thing to do considering the position he was in. He further supposed he should be happy that he'd won in the sense that Naruto hadn't shied away from the act. And he was in a way, but it still made him wonder why he'd done it.
He did have a sick thought that maybe this was more about winning than anything else. Naruto had refused to do such a thing with Amaya after all, despite the amount of effort she put into trying to get to him. And yet Sasuke had what, spent a few moments sharing followed by a lot of foreplay and Naruto hadn't seemed at all worried that he was going to end up doing it with his friend out in the wilderness.
Talk about imperfect moments. He had figured Naruto for a magical moment with someone 'special' kind of person like he'd said before. Not a roll in the grass with 'a recently convicted murderer who he could barely tolerate most of the time' person. But his imperfect moment had trumped Amaya's carefully plotted and planned scheme without him even really trying.
And that made him feel pretty smug in the end. Which also made him feel a little sick strangely at the same time.
Well it had done wonders for Naruto's mood anyway. He'd been pissed off and afraid for Sasuke and he seemed to feel all the better for feeling his friend up against him and being inside...
Sasuke shook his head both to dislodge the thought and the mental image. There was no way he'd given in just to reassure Naruto. Their relationship with each other just didn't work that way. Well Sasuke sure didn't work that way at least.
Did he?
And he realised that's why he was angry. He'd really just done that to make Naruto feel better, knowing he needed to feel in control and giving up his own control of the situation. Well kind of. He supposed he hadn't been as submissive as all that when he thought about it.
And okay, in the moment he'd also really wanted to do it. Reassuring Naruto might have started it, but his curious need to do something more had really been the driving force in the end. He'd lost his head, he'd tempted Naruto to do the same and that made him angry too.
But it had felt good.
It wasn't like giving up had been a hardship. Soreness aside, pain at the time aside, it had actually in the end felt really...
"Morning."
Sasuke's head shot up toward the timid greeting to see Naruto standing by the shore trying to look casual and failing miserably.
"Morning," Sasuke replied guardedly.
"How's your, um, side?"
Sasuke regarded him closely for a few uncomfortable seconds.
"I'll live."
Naruto nodded, smiled nervously and left.
And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day.
They kept to the river mostly during that day, not wanting to walk the road in case of possible pursuit. Though Sasuke still doubted pursuit would be all that forthcoming any time soon. They would need more men, time to organize and the foggiest clue as to where the pair had gone. Sasuke spent most of the day anyway covering their tracks while Naruto walked around in a useless daze.
Sometimes Naruto would smile out of nowhere, then the smile would drop and he'd frown deeply in thought. This was repeated just about every time Sasuke looked at him and instead of trying to work it out this time Sasuke let him be for the moment. Not really out of any care for his feelings, but just because Sasuke would rather deal with it later.
Later didn't come until hours after sunset when the pair finally found somewhere suitable to set up camp. They didn't light a fire to cook just as a precaution and they could see well enough by the bright full moon not to need the light.
Naruto was even now still continuing to be strange but it was a jittery sort of glancing at Sasuke while he thought he wasn't watching and quickly looking away kind of thing. And it took Sasuke some time to realise he knew what Naruto was doing because he was doing it too.
What was he, seven? Well no because considering the circumstances that would be very wrong, but he was acting like a timid child and it sickened him. Despite his concerns yesterday and this morning about it, he tried to force himself to shrug it off. It was just sex right, what the hell was the big deal? He'd gone for so long not even caring about it and now all of a sudden it seemed like it had clouded their lives until neither of them could think of anything else.
They had bigger things to worry about, the Hunters, Amaya, food, money and all the rest and he couldn't focus on any of it. Instead his mind wandered back to last night during twilight, his fingers digging into the earth under his hands, feeling himself be stretched and filled and pleasured and thrust into and...
Sasuke closed his eyes. He was really losing it.
If Naruto could sense his inner turmoil he didn't show it. Apparently he'd given up his game of furtive looks at Sasuke and was hunting around in his bag for something to cook. Actually he was probably just trying like hell to find something to do with himself but at least he wasn't trying to act like the mature one in all of this. Sasuke figured that would have broken him completely. And he did wonder if last night broke them both.
Would they remain stand-offish towards each other for the entire trip now because things had gone so far? Was all the teasing, taunting and tasting merely leading up to that moment so they could get it out of their systems and move on?
He watched with half lidded eyes as Naruto bent over his bag and dug around for a few minutes.
He didn't know why he was even thinking this over so much. He didn't dwell on things unless he felt unable to act on them. He was good at acting on impulse. Well, once upon a time he had been. Perhaps it was as Naruto had told him, perhaps he'd gone a little soft.
Well fuck that.
He got up and went over to Naruto, grabbed his collar and pulled him upright so he could look at his face. He mainly saw shock and surprise there and even a little nervousness. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"Is it out of your system now?" Sasuke asked sharply.
Naruto's eyes widened. "What?"
"Last night, did you get everything out of your system with me?"
"Sasuke I don't-"
So Sasuke kissed him instead, roughly. Naruto grunted against him but Sasuke thrust his tongue inside that open inviting mouth and Naruto was unable to say anything further for a good long time.
Of course this wasn't exactly getting him answers he just hadn't been thinking properly so although he kept his grip on Naruto he let up with the kiss just long enough for Naruto to speak if he wanted to.
Naruto looked dazed for a moment when he was allowed to get his breath back. Then his eyes focussed sharply, his arms went around Sasuke and then he crashed their lips back together again.
So it wasn't a vocal answer but a good enough one in Sasuke's estimation. Eventually Naruto drew away again with a confused look on his face as though something had just occurred to him.
"Ne, Sasuke? What did you mean when you said that about getting something out of my system?"
"It doesn't matter now," Sasuke replied suddenly feeling a little stupid for acting the way he had.
He hadn't really known what was wrong with him. Here he was the one who was supposed to be blasé about this stuff yet at the same time had been annoyed by the idea that last night might have been enough for Naruto when he was still being plagued by thoughts about it.
"You thought that was the only time?" Naruto asked surprisingly perceptive for once. Then he snorted, "Yeah right, as if. You can't just convince me with all that talk about moments and then act like there can't be any more."
"Then why all the furtive looks today?"
Naruto shrugged suddenly a little uncomfortable and tried to smile although it didn't quite work. "It's just, I mean it's kinda a big deal, ya know?"
"What is?"
Now Naruto's grin got a little wider. "Well aren't the big bright letters on my forehead gone now?"
That was what had been bugging Naruto all day? Not that he was embarrassed or afraid or even regretful but because he was excited about not being a virgin anymore and the dobe was too nervous to express it?
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "No, now it just says 'soppy girl' instead of 'virgin'."
Naruto gave him a rough but playful push. "You're such an asshole. But you're not a virgin either anymore. Aren't you happy?"
Sasuke hadn't given all that much thought as to whether he was happy about it or not. He'd acknowledged that he wasn't one anymore but he didn't really feel very different.
"I'm sore."
Naruto grimaced. "Yeah I meant to say sorry about that. You should have told me if it was hurting. It just kinda felt so good and I lost my head for a moment."
So Naruto had noticed after all. Well Sasuke had assumed that anyway. Of course those few minutes of pain compared to the pleasure of the rest certainly hadn't soured the experience for him.
"But you liked it right?" Naruto asked without waiting for an answer.
Sasuke nodded unsure of what else to say and watched as Naruto's mouth curved up into a pleased grin.
"I mean I totally get what you mean now. About the moments thing and everything," Naruto clarified when he saw Sasuke's brows knit in confusion. "I can't believe I almost missed out on that. I realised something yesterday after I'd talked to Amaya and she was saying all that stuff about if I'd done this journey with someone else it would have been the same."
Actually Naruto had kind of glossed over that part of the story yesterday. Especially what he'd thought about what she had said and Sasuke didn't really appreciate where this might be going. Had Naruto just given into the situation because he'd thought it would have been inevitable no matter who he was with, even Amaya?
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I realised she was talking shit."
Shocked just didn't seem to cover it. It certainly wiped off whatever annoyed look Sasuke had on his face, that was for sure.
"What?"
"Like I told you before, it's different with you. And I sort of get why now after thinking about all the things we've gone through. I'm not ever going to have another friend like you so I should probably pay more attention to those little moments like you said."
"Your talk with Amaya made you realise you wanted to have sex with me?" Sasuke asked for clarification.
"Actually her talk made me realise how much better it is to be here with you more than anyone else and why. But if I've gotta be honest, you rubbing up against me kinda tipped the scales with the sex thing," Naruto admitted with a grin. "Realising the other stuff just made me not wanna stop this time. And I bet it'll get easier with time too, especially if we get something better to use than bath oil."
"With time?"
"Well sure! I mean you don't want to stop now do you?"
Well Naruto sure didn't seem to feel that way and Sasuke felt a certain tension ease at the words. All day he'd kept feeling that something that felt this good and easy couldn't last, nothing easy and or good ever did. He'd expected it to go bad in some way, which might have accounted for his bad mood throughout most of the day.
It was just what he was used to he supposed. And even if he still thought that somewhere along the line it might have to stop, that it couldn't last, he was willing enough not to let it happen prematurely by being overly pessimistic about the whole thing.
And why not? With the rest of their lives being in complete shambles and possible danger, why not have one good thing to even things out?
"Don't be a moron."
Naruto smiled at him.
TBC in Part 16