"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs before bursting through the doors to the Hokage's office. Startled, Kakashi looked up at a frantic Naruto. "Kakashi―what are you doing?!"

"Uh…" Kakashi blinked, "my job?"

"Yeah, yeah, right—" Naruto waved off as he made his way up to Kakashi's desk, zigzagging around the towers of books scattered in the office. He slammed his palms down with a loud thud and leaned in—"But is it anything important?!"

The thud had shaken a few books tumbling off a corner with the sounds of cracking spines and flying papers coming from Kakashi's side of the desk. He blinked again, and a couple more times, then all at once he sighed noisily, slumped his shoulders, and his hand went slack around the pen. "Naruto, being Hokage isn't something to be taken lightly," he lectured. "But if you have anything more entertaining, please do tell me about it." His eyes closed with a smile, talking too fast through the several cracks in his voice.

"I can't believe this," a voice mumbled behind a few particularly giant stacks on the desk. Naruto whipped his head around the books—

"Shikamaru! What are you doing here?" Naruto straightened up.

"Making sure our Hokage stays on track, 'cause someone's gotta do it." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Kakashi.

Kakashi chuckled with a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, would it be so bad if I took a break every once in a while?"

"I walked in on you not even ten minutes ago reading your book." Shikamaru dropped his posture, shoving his hands into his pockets with a stack of paperwork clutched between his forearm and hip. "Man, why do I even bother," he sighed, shuffling his way out of the office.

"I won't take long! I promise I'll get Kakashi-sensei back to doing important Hokage stuff in no time!" Naruto shouted after Shikamaru, fist balled in determination.

"Yeah, whatever," Shikamaru drawled in response, his voice just barely echoing through the hallway.

"Don't tell me you're having your shadow clones 'babysit' me again, Naruto," Kakashi asked nervously. "It… didn't quite go well the last time," the small fake smile dropped, opting to glare at Naruto instead.

"Ah…" Naruto awkwardly grinned, remembering the… kind of devastated office his clones had left in their wake. "Only if you do me a small favor?" He asked cheekily.

"Hm?" Kakashi quirked a brow. "A favor?"

"Yeah! I jus' need to send Sasuke a message! It won't be a long one and you can read it if you need to but it's kinda been a long while since I've talked to him, y'know? And it's… well, I kinda—"

"Naruto," Kakashi sighed. "Those messenger hawks aren't to be used for passing around frivolous classroom notes," he started lecturing again, but his hands had moved to grab a small piece of paper and a pen, and Naruto had to keep his grin under control. "They're meant to relay important information and missions to Sasuke, as well as other shinobi and villages—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Naruto interjected, playing along with his sensei as he grabbed the pen from his hand. "But like I said," Naruto absently kept up as he wrote his message, "it won't be long, and it's not some frilly classroom note!"

"Fr–frivolous…" Naruto looked up at Kakashi's embarrassed tone and found a blush so intense, it was peeking out from under his mask. Weird.

"Yeah…" He furrowed his brow but decided he wasn't really interested in what'd gotten into his sensei. "Sure, that." He went back to his note, jotting down the rest of the cryptic message he spent all of yesterday thinking of.

"What were you doing, anyway?" Naruto remembered he should probably keep going with Kakashi's play, though he couldn't figure out why. Maybe they were being listened to? It's not like they were breaking any laws here. None that Iruka-sensei had drilled into his head at least. It's just a short and simple note he wanted to—the note. He couldn't get distracted—

"Oh, well," Kakashi cleared his throat, "I was going over a list of complaints from the villagers…" and Naruto tuned him out, writing the last few words.

"Uh-huh," he nodded, unsure of when Kakashi had started talking about chickens getting stuck on somebody's roof and blew on the note to dry the ink. He stood up straight, catching Kakashi's eyes with a smile as Kakashi kept talking, and slid the note across the desk over to him.

Kakashi picked up the small piece of paper, folded it, and tucked it in his pocket while holding Naruto's eye contact. His smile grew even wider as a warm, fuzzy feeling spread in him at the blatant trust his sensei displayed toward him. Kakashi didn't feel the need to read it first, and Naruto was assured Sasuke would get the note. His work here was done.

"Okay, well, uh… listen Kakashi-sensei. It was nice catching up with you, but I gotta go," he cut in nonchalantly, grinning as he slid his hands into his pockets. "And you better get back to your important Hokage business." He swept his eyes around the room. Kakashi really needed to—this place was half a book away from turning into a public library.

"Ah, right," Kakashi leaned back in his chair, voice falling back to that tired tone he always spoke in. Even more tired since his hold of the office, honestly. "Were you even listening?" Kakashi asked though he looked like he already knew the answer.

"Totally!" He couldn't grip the way his answer tripped over his laugh. He spared a glance back at the door that Shikamaru left open, turned back to Kakashi, and leaned in over the desk. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Kakashi silently nodded back. "And you better not be slacking off on your lessons with Iruka, Naruto."

Caught off guard, Naruto yelped, "I'm not!" He resisted the urge to fold his arms and shifted his eyes to look out the large window, and he was instantly captured by the spectacle of the village. "It's not my fault half the stuff's boring, anyway." He muttered absently, feeling the lack of weight in his words. The sun was getting ready to set, and Naruto decidedly had a reservation with the top of the Hokage monument for it. "And today wasn't any different."

Kakashi chuckled at him. "Boring or not, it's all relevant to your—" his hand reached for the top drawer, and that was another cue for Naruto to depart.

"Sorry, gotta go, Kakashi-sensei! See ya later!" He turned on his heel and beelined for the exit before Kakashi pulled out that pervy book of his. He had seen enough of those during his lifetime. He turned the corner and was suddenly met with an annoyed Shikamaru.

"Oh!" Naruto stumbled back, having nearly body-slammed right into him. "You're still here?"

The unmistakable sound of a desk drawer loudly slamming shut came out of the office, followed by a heavy waterfall of books crashing to the floor, and beneath it all was a distant wail from their Hokage. Shikamaru sighed deeply, looking too tired and smelling like cigarettes.

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, eyes shut with a mean-looking frown. Naruto grinned and slapped a hand onto his friend's shoulder.

"Cheer up, Shikamaru! Think about it this way, once your shift is over, you, Choji, and I could go out for some barbeque!"

The furrow in his brow lifted a little, and he opened his eyes. "You know what? That doesn't sound half bad." Shikamaru turned his small smile away from him and headed towards the office. "I'll see ya later, Naruto."

"You bet," Naruto saluted, continuing his path down the hall.

"I'm coming in, Kakashi, and I better not find you doing anything nefarious in there," Naruto heard Shikamaru warn.

"Nefarious?!" Came Kakashi's outcry and Naruto laughed his way onto a window's ledge to jump out of. He agreed with Shikamaru—it was criminal of Kakashi to hide his genius behind a frilly book like that.

'Sasuke. You may not be back in the village right now, but you're still protecting it. You're just like a one-man Leaf police force!'

Sasuke had reread that illegible note from Naruto over and over so that he had lost count about eight months ago. It was absurd. Leave it up to Konoha's most unpredictable knucklehead ninja to bring back memories of his youth. To infiltrate his mind and plague him with the very thought of going back. Back to Konoha.

He scoffed. He couldn't go back. He shouldn't go back.

Not… yet. There were still things he needed to see and do, to experience and take care of. Tie up loose ends, unravel tightening knots. 'Protecting' the Leaf, as Naruto had put it.

As for the other thing Naruto had unceremoniously scribbled down…

Well, he supposed he could visit areas neighboring the Leaf, despite some of them still seeing him as a threat. Kakashi had warned him to not cause too much trouble, and he had been persistent in upholding that promise for the past three years. But not today. The promise to Kakashi, his own personal oaths, and work would have to pause for today, and for the next several days, because…

For no other reason than Naruto.

Teleporting into Suna and getting villagers to notice the undisguised rogue ninja wielding the Sharingan and Rinnegan was the easiest part of the plan. He was counting on the few that ran off more than the ones standing still and gawking at him. Regardless of the ninja he could hear rushing towards him, Sasuke continued his stroll down the busiest street of Suna in broad daylight.

"Stop right there!" One of the shinobi finally surrounding him barked, armed with a kunai and a glare.

Fighting off a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth, Sasuke zeroed in on a potted plant several yards away from the shinobi making their break at him and switched places with it. He switched places with a few more objects, further from the last as he could, pushing through a building migraine until he was outside of the village walls and took off.

Perfect. The first phase of his plan had begun.

Now all that was left for him to do was wait for his old teammate to hear about it, and set the rest of his plan into motion. A plan Sasuke was quite proud of, a little something to remind Naruto of a thing or two. If that dumbass was getting impatient, it wasn't on Sasuke to drop everything and make the trek back to the Leaf. If he wanted to see Sasuke, he had better do it the only way that knucklehead seemed to know how to.

Naruto should've known as much. Served him right for utterly shrouding his every waking thought with memories of his past for several months.

That bastard.

Months he had waited for Sasuke to write back. Years before then, and years before then for anything from him! All he really wanted was a message back to know Sasuke was alive. Was that too much to ask?!

The moment he saw the look in Kakashi's eyes when he was called into the office this morning, he knew it had something to do with Sasuke. He waited for Kakashi to hand him a message back, something with Sasuke's perfect handwriting, anxious to his very core, but he got a report from Suna instead.

"Bastard," he grumbled, shoving an extra shirt into his backpack. This wasn't the first time the thought of leaving to chase Sasuke down again since the war ended crossed his mind. The urge—man, that buzzing under his skin—so many times he had tried to quell the urge to go after him, but all it did was continue to grow to new heights. And weights and lengths and widths—

It was like vines. Brittle, thorny, and dying, but not really. They'd sprout again and cocoon his worry with a sense of calm, only to die yet again and leave him bare. Exposed. Raw.

With the peace they had now… yeah, it was great and all, but he had nothing else to do except cycle endlessly through the thoughts of where the hell Sasuke could be and get caught in the vicious loop.

What was he doing? How was he feeling? Was he meeting new people? Was he in trouble? In danger? Was he sleeping enough? Getting enough to eat? Was he safe? Sasuke was strong. And smart. He could handle himself. If he was hungry, he would find something to eat. If he was tired, he would sleep. If he needed help—well, Naruto knew he had his Team Taka friends, but could he trust them? Were they secretly trying to rope him back into Orochimaru's hands? What if he had been wrong, and Sasuke had been wrong, too, that his mental state was still fragile, and his traveling wouldn't be as beneficial as they had hoped it would be?

He'd thought he could do it; let Sasuke go out there again because he was back, because it was different this time, because Naruto knew Sasuke would come back eventually all on his own.

But damn it, he was taking too long! Sasuke has always been at the forefront of Naruto's worrying and it was getting exhausting. He just… Naruto just wanted Sasuke home. Where he would be safe and with his friends and with him and they would hang out and go eat dumplings together—

Naruto dug the palms of his hands into his eyes. It felt silly… sometimes. Sasuke had been on his own since he was a kid, he had been through worse things than him. And judging by the report, Sasuke seemed to be fine. So, yeah, obviously Sasuke could take care of himself. He was still alive.

But then… Naruto wished he knew what Sasuke was thinking sometimes. All the time. He felt as if tuning into Sasuke's mind to hear his thoughts like it was a radio would set Naruto's nerves at ease. Just to be sure.

Naruto huffed, dropping his hands on his backpack. Okay, maybe not all the time, but at least some times. Honestly, he could never pinpoint when the rivalry and bickering had turned into… whatever this was. It was like growing up had only intensified his thoughts of Sasuke. Changing from his well-being, how much stronger he'd gotten, or what kind of trouble he was in, and into something he couldn't figure out if it was better or worse. He felt nauseous.

It was exhausting and nauseating, all the ways Sasuke had a grip on his mind.

His hands clenched involuntarily, and the buckle clipped his finger. Yeah, that would do it; it helped him lose his train of thought. He looked around his bed at the mess he'd made while packing his bag. He had the essentials, but looking at the other stuff, maybe he should bring some rope, in case he needed to tie that bastard up to bring him back home. Just because.

It shouldn't be too big of a deal if he left the village for a few days. It wasn't like he was still in his rebellious phase as a twelve-year-old. He was an adult now, and this was a mission. A self-imposed one, but still a mission.

He checked his hip pouches and holster one last time before buckling up his backpack. He gave his apartment a once-over, flicking off all the lights, and then he was out the door. In order to make it out of the village, he would need to blend in with the shadows. Meaning, Sage Mode or Bijuu Mode wouldn't help, either one would just attract attention. And the roofs weren't an option either, he'd have to stick to ground level.

Man, Iruka-sensei really didn't need to scare the gate guards into not letting Naruto leave. Kakashi really didn't have to reinforce it, either.

Whatever, it didn't matter. He had already thought of another way out.

If he remembered correctly, there was a tunnel somewhere along the walls Kiba dug some years ago that could take him outside unnoticed. The dark cover of nighttime was doing wonders to keep him hidden. But it also hid his only way out.

"Ugh," he kicked a broken branch on the floor away, "where the hell is it?!" In his frustration, Naruto picked up a bigger branch to throw. Before he had time to realize what was happening in his moment of deforesting this part of Konoha, the force he used to pick up the unexpectedly lightweight branch sent him flying to the ground to land on his ass.

He groaned, perching himself up on his elbows. "What the hell…" he looked beyond the traitorous branch on his chest and found a gaping hole at his feet. Determination came back in full swing and he jumped back up on his feet. He drew in a stabilizing breath and lowered himself into the hole, then pulled the branch over his head to cover the tunnel behind him.

Naruto unearthed himself about thirty yards outside of Konoha's walls, finding himself in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees. So far, so good. The trees provided enough cover to slip into Bijuu Mode now, it was a sure way to get him there the fastest. He lit up in a bright light, effectively illuminating the area around him, especially the path in front of him.

This was it; the path that would lead him to Sasuke. That jerk, causing a scene like that in Suna. If the report was his reply to Naruto's message, then Sasuke should consider it deciphered. When they weren't at each other's throats, they were playing the guessing and waiting game. Always have been. And he guessed it would be like that for… how long? He didn't know.

He estimated he would be in Suna by morning, optimizing the Bijuu Mode to cut down two days and a half of traveling. But knowing Sasuke, Suna was probably not going to be Naruto's actual destination. He racked his brain for any memories of smaller villages or towns scattered in Wind country, any place lowkey and out of direct eyesight. That was more like Sasuke's style.

Naruto scoffed at himself. At the ball of nerves lashing around in his chest, the exhilarating thrill and frustration back and stronger than ever at having to chase Sasuke down again. It didn't pass over his head, though, how different this time felt. But the fact remained the same: it had been too long since he had felt this alive.

With a smile on his face, fists clenching at his sides, he took off at full throttle, leaving a whirl of forest debris behind him without a second thought.

By daybreak, Naruto had passed through a few small towns, but there were no signs of Sasuke. By midday, he had made his way around Suna, not wanting to be caught by any distractions, knowing that the report in his pocket was all he would get about Sasuke being there, and found another small town to investigate.

He wanted to pass through this one the same way he had the others—a quick sweep of the area for a sense of Sasuke's chakra signature and be on his way, but his chakra reserve was dangerously low after pushing it too far in Bijuu Mode. He had forgotten how big Wind country was and didn't really have a backup plan. Apart from walking into the town and… of course, the inevitable happened.

He was stopped by the townspeople, being greeted left and right, given gift after gift, and offered free lodging and food—it just kept going and he didn't have time for any of it.

"Uh, thank you, but I should really be getting back to my mission—" Naruto was telling the group of young women around him.

"Mission?" one of them shrieked. "Sounds serious! I thought there weren't any more of those! Are we under attack again?!"

Shit. He hadn't meant to slip up like that. "No, no—no one's under attack!" Except for Sasuke. "It's not that kind of a mission…" He chuckled nervously, "you see, I'm sort of looking for someone—"

"Oh, who is it?"

"Who is she?"

"Oh, you silly, I'm right here!"

"Naruto-kun, if you're looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, you don't have to look very far."

"What did you say?!" And just like that, two of the seven women around him got into a fight. At the sight of them, he was hit with the memories of the fights Ino and Sakura would get into over Sasuke. This was… weird. And he really, really didn't have time for it.

"Uh, listen… ladies," he tried to cut through the bickering. Seven pairs of eyes instantly snapped at him. He squinted reflexively, trying to will the chilling shiver away. "Th–thanks for these… uh—" he spared a glance down at his hands, the bags and boxes an added inconvenient weight, "these gifts. But I'm kind of in a hurry, so—"

The women huddled around even closer, begging him to stay, inviting him to dinners, and sightseeing—he internally groaned. He thought he only had to deal with this kind of thing in the Leaf, not all the way out here, too! Sure, it was nice to be acknowledged for what he'd done, but this was… too much. No wonder Sasuke was always pissed off and ignoring everyone back then… anyway—

After a shameless invitation from one woman to take a tour of her bedroom, Naruto muttered a goodbye and awkwardly backed out of the conversation. 'Conversation'. It felt more like an ambush, honestly. Ignoring the voices behind him, he jogged toward the end of the road and turned the corner until he was out of view. He pressed his back to the wall of a building, trying to come up with a solution for what to do with all of these things in his hands. His backpack wouldn't fit all of them, even if he unwrapped them.

"Hey, Mister. You," a small voice called from his right, followed by a tug at his pants.

"Huh?" He looked down. It was a kid, not more than six years old. "Oh. What's up, kid?"

"Are you Naruto Uzumaki?" The kid looked up at him with a scowl like he was suspicious of him. "You look like you could be him, but you could be lying." Taken aback, Naruto stared at the deepening scowl. What was this kid's problem?

"Well, yeah I'm Naruto, but I don't know how I could be lying about that—"

"Prove it!" He yelled, crossing his arms and sticking his ground. Naruto blinked. He wasn't sure what to make of this. He had run out of chakra, gotten ambushed with gifts, and now, this kid.

He sighed. He wasn't going to turn down children, even little brats like this one. But how was he supposed to prove he is who he says he is? Attempt to wipe off the marks on his face? Tell the kid to ask the Kazekage for proof? He didn't know.

He bent down on one knee and placed the stack of gifts on the ground. "Alright, how do you want me to prove to you I'm Naruto?"

"Hmm," the kid tapped his finger on his chin animatedly, eyes still squinting at him. Naruto held his stare, pretending like the small sly smirk on the kid's face wasn't a dead giveaway that he was fake thinking. "Show me a Risengan!"

Naruto was having trouble placing this kid's motives. He definitely knew who Naruto was, with his little act of pretending and then asking to see his jutsu. How does he even know about it? Naruto had met only a handful of kids this young back home who actually knew about it. They just know him as the many nicknames of the ninja that had saved the world. All of them were too young to know that Naruto hadn't done it on his own. Though it wasn't like any of the older people were giving Sasuke the credit he deserved if those women from five minutes ago were anything to go by.

Confused but curious, Naruto decided to play whatever this kid's game was. "Sure. But before I do, it's called a Rasengan," he held out his bandaged hand, "and I can make 'em any size I want!" Thanks to the improvement of his chakra control—chakra he should be saving up right now. He made a mini Rasengan in the palm of his hand and held it up between them.

"Woah!" The kid's eyes widened, his arms dropping to come in closer, "that's so cool!"

"Thanks!" Naruto pulled back, and let the whirling ball of chakra disperse.

"So you are him!" The kid smiled at him with stars in his eyes, and Naruto felt that weird new feeling in his stomach when people recognized him like this coming back.

"Yeah," he brushed off with a grin, "and what's your name?"

"Yuito!" He exclaimed brightly. The sudden change in attitude after proving himself had Naruto silently praying Yuito wouldn't ask for an autograph or—

"And I have something for you." Great, so it was straight to gifts, then. Naruto waited patiently for Yuito to dig around his pocket, grateful it looked to be something small enough to be carried without any trouble.

"Here, take it." Yuito held his fist out. Naruto extended his hand, palm facing up to accept the small gift, expecting something heavy or nothing at all and for this to be some kind of prank. But Yuito let go and Naruto felt the item fall into his palm.

It was a piece of fabric. Torn, dirty, and dark blue. Instantly recognizing it, Naruto had to ask. "Where did you get this?"

"Some guy gave it to me yesterday. Told me to give it to you when you showed up today," Yuito explained. Sasuke was here yesterday, expecting Naruto to be a day behind him. And Naruto couldn't decide what temperature the trail was at now. "I thought he was crazy, but you came! He even said 'sometime in the afternoon,'" Yuito mocked in a serious tone. "Do you think he can see the future?"

Naruto laughed. "Hardly." Maybe. Probably. If it was concerning Naruto, then definitely. "Uh—did he say anything else?"

"Umm," Yuito tapped on his chin again, this time actually thinking. "Yeah! He said we look alike. You and me." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, giving the kid's appearance a once-over. Admittedly, other than his gutsy attitude, they did have similar eye colors. Yuito's hair was a darker blond, though, almost brown. And he looked like he preferred baggier clothing.

Huh. Well, that's something. "Yeah, I guess we do, kid." Naruto smiled at him.

"Yeah, well I don't see it," Yuito asserted, crossing his arms again. Naruto laughed, turning his head away—his eyes landed on the stack of gifts next to him.

"Tell ya what, Yuito," Naruto pulled the stack closer to them, "as a thank you, pick out whichever one of these you like!"

"Really?!" Yuito beamed. Naruto nodded and motioned at the stack. "You know, you're so much more nicer than that other guy. He was a jerk." It was odd, creepy, and downright hilarious how much they were alike.

Yuito picked out the biggest gift from the stack, just as Naruto would have back then, and waved back at him as the kid jogged away. "Later, Naruto! And thanks for saving my dad in the war!" Naruto froze mid-wave, Yuito's little laugh suddenly sounding like a taunt.

He guessed life held many possibilities. And being tricked and bested by a younger and smarter version of himself was one of them.

—

Naruto toyed with the torn fabric in his hand. This must be some kind of sick game to Sasuke. Leading him on like this. Forcing him to look for any clue imaginable, be it gigantic or microscopic. Always guessing, always keeping him on his toes, always pulling him in only to shove him back again when he got too close. As close as they've gotten to be sometimes, it was never close enough for Naruto. Never damn close enough because the bastard kept slipping out of his hands—

He wanted to be so fucking close to Sasuke that when he blinked, Naruto would feel those long, dark eyelashes on his skin.

He didn't care if he was insane for wanting that. Sasuke was just as insane for tearing off a piece of his Hitai-ate and using a kid as a messenger hawk to leave it behind as a clue. Like the piece of his headband was no more than a crumb from a loaf of bread. But he didn't need to think about it too hard, he had already felt the truth of it years ago. Sasuke was the only person who was able to drive him to a certain level of insanity, just as Naruto knew he was able to do to Sasuke.

So of course this was a game they weren't done playing yet. Madness, chaos, and violence. The three ingredients they needed copious amounts of until the pot boiled over, putting out the flame, and only then would they get to savor the calm that came after. Simmering down to a peaceful, boring quietness that would last, at best, five blinks. And then they'd do it all over again.

Damn it. He couldn't wait to see how the rest of this chase was going to play out this time. He was sure of one thing, though. By the end of it, when he and Sasuke were close enough, Naruto was going to adorn that bastard's pretty face with a bleeding bruise with a—

"Here it is, one order of miso ramen for our hero!" The waitress startled him out of his thoughts, setting down a normal-sized bowl in front of him. Huh. Yeah, he ordered ramen. But he didn't remember asking for it to be miso…

"Looks great! Thank you," he smiled at her. She nodded at him and left, luckily leaving him to eat in peace. He was glad to have found a restaurant that wasn't as crowded as the others. Normally, he would've loved chatting with people, getting to know them, and hearing them out. But not right now, not when he was in a hurry. He was only a day behind, but every second he spent standing still, was one he was losing to catch up to Sasuke. So, this corner of a quiet restaurant was the best place for him under these circumstances.

In under ten minutes, he had demolished the bowl of ramen, left more than enough money to cover his bill, a gift to top it off, and was on his way out of the town.

Naruto didn't get very far outside of town when the late afternoon sun reflected off of something to the left of him and straight into his eye. He paused, focusing on the dark object lodged into a giant boulder in the middle of the desert. It was no time to get distracted by something small like that, but… it looked… like—

He ran.

Another piece of dark blue, held in place with a kunai. Insane. How could Sasuke be so sure that Naruto would pass through here at an hour when the fucking sun would be the next messenger hawk?! If it wasn't for that flash of light, Naruto would have totally missed the kunai jabbed in a giant rock at an impossibly perfect downward angle. Naruto squinted at the kunai.

Sasuke. Always so perfect at everything.

Naruto peeked behind the boulder. Nothing but desert. The vastness of it trickled his anxiety from his brain to his stomach. He had forgotten the sheer size of the Land of Wind. Huffing, he turned back to the breadcrumb. So, his path was to go beyond this boulder, huh? Nothing else here told him how far he would have to go, only the way the kunai was perfectly straight like it was some kind of a road sign, simply pointed him where to go. He eyed the thing again, wanting to pick it up, but these… damn gifts—

"Right, that's it." He set the gifts down on one of the smaller rocks around him and sifted through them. Horrible thing to do, but he felt stilted. He had just gotten here, barely a day into his mission, and already he had so much to carry. He should've done this back at the restaurant, but it was pointless to dwell on that now.

Luckily, most of the gifts were perishables. While stuffing his face with the desserts, he went through the rest. A bracelet—he wore it. A pack of expensive-looking essential oils—shoved into his backpack. A… pillowcase? He shoved that in there, too. And a watch. He never had any use for watches, but this would be great to give Shikamaru later. He closed the lid and carefully wrapped the pillowcase around the small box, already making use of such a strange gift, and tucked it into his backpack.

Flinging the last piece of daifuku into his mouth, he packed one perishable worth saving, collected the gift cards, plucked the kunai and fabric, and set off beyond the boulder. As he ran, flickering up in his recovered Bijuu Mode, he absently hoped whatever animals there were out here would enjoy the rest of that blueberry cake.

Nightfall was approaching. Naruto was still running in a straight line, eyes peeled for any more pieces of dark blue. He had passed through a particularly small village briefly and swept the area for a sense of Sasuke's chakra signature. He was there, his chakra was lingering. Faint, almost gone, but he still picked it up from inside one of the buildings. He figured it was where Sasuke had rested before continuing, leaving behind just enough of his chakra to tell Naruto he wasn't off course.

For a second, he stopped and considered if Sasuke had traveled into another dimension, kicking the game's difficulty up a few notches. But Sasuke wouldn't do that. Traveling into another dimension would only end the chase and in Naruto's opinion, it would be Sasuke who lost. Besides, Sasuke wanted this. Why else would he have pulled Naruto all the way out here? That jerk, he was having fun messing with him.

The village had been deserted, nothing but ruined buildings he didn't bother looking in, but the chakra he felt was unmistakably—Shit.

"How did I miss that?!" Naruto grunted, skidding across the sand and doubling back. Lowkey, out of direct eyesight—there weren't any people, and the village was abandoned. It was a perfect match. Did Sasuke—was Sasuke still there? Hiding and concealing his chakra?

His anger spiked, mostly at himself. It was getting to his head already, and obvious things were flying over him. Hyper-focusing on Sasuke alone wasn't going to help, especially if he was leaving things behind for him to pick up. He needed to center himself, otherwise, all his haste was going to do was keep him from thinking critically. Upon seeing the edge of the shallow crater the village was built inside of, Naruto pressed himself to run faster.

He kept going until he was at the top of the highest building, standing over the ruins. Looking at the bigger picture, he could now—

Huh. His abrupt stop had him considering the sky for the first time since his departure from the Leaf. He had only used it to gauge the time before now, but stopping here at this height, he had forgotten how beautiful the skies could be in the desert. Especially at dusk, with the blend of blue into purple then into orange and yellow, vibrant in the nearly cloudless sky. It was… calming. It was exactly what he needed to do; he needed to calm down, stabilize himself, and clear his head. Taking a deep breath in, he closed his eyes for a moment. A current of dry wind blew across him, and he let it carry away the anxiety clouding his better judgment. He breathed out, eyes opening.

Now to assess.

At 10 o'clock were the remnants of the building where Sasuke's chakra lingered the strongest. He followed the paths leading out of it with his eyes, guessing what each building he passed used to be. The path going northwest passed by similar small buildings, a shop he assumed sold clothing, and ended at a bakery. Northeast took him further into the village, obviously being one of the village's main roads. It led him to the center of the village where a rotary forked off in a few other main roads. In the middle of the rotary was a relic of a statue, ravaged by the elements. He wondered what it could've been of.

Southeast, the direction he had doubled back from, led to the building he was standing on top of. A sickly feeling dropped in his stomach. Not only had he underestimated the village and nearly skipped the whole thing, but he now had a handful of breadcrumbs to sift through, each one feeling equally as heavy. One thing he could be certain of, though, was that Sasuke wasn't here—not currently. He wouldn't have kept himself hidden this long if he was.

It was so… damn typical of him. He shows up in one place for five stupid blinks and then his ass up and leaves for three years and then—a report, a kid, the fucking sun. What could be next? That building? The bakery? Did Sasuke pin something to that statue? What was Sasuke up to, anyway?! What was his goal this time? What did any of this mean? Had he missed anything else? Where could Sasuke be taking him? How could he—

"Stop." Naruto flickered his Bijuu Mode off and screwed his eyes shut. His senses were overwhelmed. And his mind, too—far too worked up. Looking at the bigger picture meant he needed to stay on the surface for the obvious signs to pop up. Right? So, obviously… the building under his feet. It was where one path from Sasuke's chakra led, it was in the direction he was running in, and it was where he decided to stand on top of to look for another clue.

Without another thought, he scaled down the side and jumped through the first open window he found. Boxes, stacks of paper, tables, chairs, and… chalkboards. A… school?

A school.

Sasuke had taken him to a damn school. He groaned, slumping his head into his hands. He felt stupid. He was spending so much mental energy just overcomplicating things. Sasuke wasn't complicated. School always was, though. Still was, if his lessons with Iruka were considered schooling.

Sighing, Naruto straightened up and began to look for any relevance to being here. Nothing in the attic looked interesting, so he took the stairs down to the rest of the building. There were cobwebs in every corner, rubble and dust, and things people left behind that looked like they were frozen in time. There were backpacks and lunchboxes scattered every few meters. Peering into the classrooms he passed, he found piles of books with pages that turned yellow or brown, pieces of equipment like really old microscopes, and beakers, and an anatomical human model that had been toppled over. In the hallway, there was a globe smashed in with sand filling the cavities, a chair with only its back still intact, and odd pairings of shoes. Even school projects, photographs, and trophies were left behind.

By the looks of it, this village had been abandoned since way before the fourth shinobi war. From what he'd gathered, it substantially lacked some of the technology the Leaf and Suna had now, even those other villages and towns he had passed through. It was like this village had stopped growing over a decade ago. He wondered what had happened to the people that used to live here, and why they'd had to leave in such a hurry in the middle of the day.

He passed by offices, and supply rooms, went down another staircase, and found himself staring down another long hallway lined with windows and classrooms. This brought back a lot of memories. Like… running down similar halls in the academy as a kid to make it to class on time. But he'd be two minutes late sometimes and was forced to stand outside as punishment. He didn't mind missing the lessons, they were all boring anyway. But the boredom was always worse outside.

Naruto huffed out a small laugh and walked down the hallway. What was Sasuke's angle here? Why the school? They both had wildly different experiences at school, it wasn't until they got assigned together that their experiences started to overlap. He remembered it like it was yesterday, finally being part of a team. He was so nervous that he felt the need to pull a prank just to dispel some of that energy. Served Kakashi right for being so damn late—

Naruto stopped. The day they got assigned. At school, in a classroom. The next clue had to be there, right? But what was the point? Why the school?! What's Sasuke trying to say? Was there something specific Naruto had to remember? That's what the game's starting to feel like—a big confusing game of 'remember that one thing from ten years ago'.

Naruto sighed exasperatedly. Sure, they have history. But that can't be the whole point of this. It just can't. He looked at his surroundings, at where he was, and how he got here. The lengths he had gone to see Sasuke again, and this was just another one of those lengths. They've done this before. It was almost like… they were backtracking. But it was different—like Sasuke was trying to rewrite something, but what—

Damn it, he did it again! He totally caved to his thoughts. He may have popped a couple of veins but it was worth it because it made sense now. He ran down the hallway, passing each classroom until he found the one with a door—

Like this one. He took a sharp breath, his jaw clenched, and his fingers curled. This was insane. Sasuke was trying to—it was so—he laughed. He laughed and the uncomfortable restless anxiety he felt was peeling away, and for some reason, it was welling up in his eyes.

Of course! The reports of missions, the excitement and frustration they came with, the kid that resembled his younger self, maybe even that fight between those two women, the sun that was always warmer and extra bright back then, the school where they grew up together as teammates—the clarity of the game…

The breadcrumbs left behind made up the bigger picture he kept missing. Sasuke and him—their lives had been part of a never-ending cycle, but they had stopped it. They had ended it together, despite believing one or both of them would have to die for it. They rewrote history and gave it a whole new ending. It was over, they were alive, and they could savor the peace that came after. But that didn't feel like all of it.

The other side of this chase, it wasn't over for them. Not for Sasuke and him. The dark blue pieces of fabric in his pocket had been part of an object that signified their loop. Their repeating history. A back and forth that only applied to them alone.

Sasuke was taking him back to their younger days. Back when it had been just them being themselves. Before Orochimaru, before Pain, before finding out that they were reincarnated souls or wills or chakras —whatever it was the old sage had said—born out of a mess of past misunderstandings and mistakes. At the heart of it, it had always been just them.

And Sasuke's goal… was what? Relive some parts of their story? Or rewrite it? Was it really as… simple as that?

He smiled warmly, though the corners of his mouth felt weighed down. Younger Sasuke, he noticed, had always avoided looking up. Kept his head down wherever he went. He felt a numbing kind of sadness for that Sasuke. All the times he could've walked down those stairs to sit beside him on the pier overlooking the river. Roped him in as an accomplice to his pranks, just so Sasuke could have something to laugh about later.

Held his hand more often, by accident or whatever. Just because.

Stepping out of his head for a moment, and into Sasuke's, he avoided looking up to where an object should be lodged between the door and its frame. He trusted Sasuke more than enough to not expect a kunai or a rock. If he wanted to hurt Naruto, he would be here to do it himself. That was more like Sasuke's style.

He needed to pace this right if he wanted the next piece of dark blue to fall on his head. Or it could be nothing at all, and he was so far off, and nothing would come from stepping through a door like this one. So specifically like this one—closed just enough to hold a chalkboard eraser to fall once opened.

His feet stepped forward and his hand moved to slide the door open, automatically pacing themselves right for the thing to fall on his head and then to the floor in front of him with a clatter. He frowned. That… kind of hurt, what the hell—

It was another piece of dark blue, only this time—

Okay. Up to this point, all the clues have been coming in pieces. So, he really didn't expect the entire fucking thing to just drop on his head like that. What was Sasuke going to use to leave behind now? Why the whole thing? What the hell did this mean?!

He bent down and picked it up. The fabric was frayed on one end and he resisted the urge to try and piece it back together on the spot. He flipped it over and the sight of a long scratch across the metal plate…

He could still feel the way his own fingernail had carved it there. That fight. He had put everything he had into it, and he knew Sasuke had, too. Everything, to stop him. While Sasuke…

Naruto sighed. He was stumped.

Cryptic. Naruto's message to Sasuke hadn't been this fucking cryptic. He had spent all night thinking about it with the goal of insinuating Sasuke visited sometime. Initially, the act of not replying had Naruto thinking that was his message back, but this… Sasuke had been thinking about this and planning it out for months. Far more cryptic than Naruto imagined a simple message back could ever be. Man, what had pissed that bastard off so much?!

Well… staying on the surface, the Hitai-ate had been where he had once placed an eraser. And he had figured out Sasuke's game here, hadn't he? Sasuke was either trying to get him to remember some specific thing or trying to rewrite something else. But what about the other stuff—the 'other side'? Was any of that important? Maybe he was wrong and there wasn't an 'other side' and it was all just one big tangled mess. Remembering, rewriting, what could come after—

He dropped his hand and closed his eyes. This was confusing. So much so that it was exhausting. The adrenaline had worn off and running on fumes wasn't going to help. Especially if he needed to crack whatever code Sasuke was baiting him with. Thinking too much always made him feel sick, and he didn't want to think about this anymore. Just for a little while. He needed to get some rest.

Passively sweeping the room for anything else, he found nothing but abandoned school supplies and dust. Some notes scattered around, backpacks housing all sorts of insects, and he couldn't differentiate between the chalks and the sand along the ledge of the board. From Sasuke, the remaining piece of the Hitai-ate was all he would get here.

He walked out of the classroom and meandered through the rest of the school. It had gotten too dark in the hallways to see anything, but he wasn't looking for anything in particular; he was simply curious about the people who used to inhabit this desolate village.

Walking out of the building through the front doors, Naruto was met with a sky littered with stars, big and small. The giant moon just hanging there like it wasn't some kind of nefarious ball of doom. His eyes traveled down the horizon, and down the path he knew he would be taking tonight. Well, at least in this village… he had free lodging.

He let his feet walk him to the building where Sasuke's chakra still barely lingered. He must have spent the night here—last night. It would explain Sasuke's fading presence. Reaching the door, it looked like this used to be a house. He furrowed his brow. He didn't feel good about going into somebody's house uninvited… but what is he to do?

He sighed, and a moment later, he muttered an apology under his breath as he pushed the door open.

The house was dark, eerily quiet, and covered in sand. But he still needed to scope the place to make sure it was safe for the night. Consciously skipping over the spot Sasuke most likely hadn't actually slept in, he turned to the right side of the one-story home. The kitchen. Cobwebs, dust, and sand covered the interior here too, only they were thicker. The cabinets were either closed or rusted open. Some cookware was knocked over on the counter, and the small round table was set for one. Naruto walked over to the single chair on the floor and picked it up. It looked like whoever had lived here had lived alone. He tucked the chair under the table and found his way to another room.

The bedroom. The first thing he noticed were the dried-up branches of a tree that looked like it had fallen almost clean through the window. It must have been tough, maintaining a tree that big in the desert. Shattered glass and thinner branches covered the ground below the window, and the sand was even thicker in this room. There were mounds of it and some rubble lining the walls. Other than that, the room was a standard bedroom. A bed, a single nightstand, a closet with a matching dresser. A circular rug that had melded with the floor. Cobwebs. He exited the room and shut the door behind him.

The bathroom and small storage room were about the same; toiletries and miscellaneous items were left behind. Naruto found himself anxious for the people again. What the hell had happened to this village? Looked like they had needed to get out of here without much of a notice. Maybe he could ask Gaara about it later.

Turning around, he was faced with the living room. A couch severely faded in color, and stiff from non-use. A coffee table with a mug stuck on the surface, and a rug underneath. Across from it, there was a long and narrow table with boxes of… board games? He couldn't be sure, but they looked similar enough to the few he grew up with. A couple of shelves mounted on the wall carried books, small clay planters with dead plants, and an empty picture frame with the back removed. Everything was encapsulated by layers of sand, so frozen in place like they were in some sort of exhibit. It was creepy.

Right, so… there were no signs of immediate danger. It was safe. And there weren't any small animals that could attack him out of nowhere, thankfully. Naruto didn't have the best of luck when it came to befriending small animals. Or even big ones. Like, who knew raccoons could get so offended by a simple fist bump?!

Naruto stood in the middle of the living room and took off his backpack. At least he could relate to whoever had lived here. Plants and pictures always helped liven up a place. Silently excusing himself to the person for staying the night, Naruto unclipped his sleeping bag, ready to sleep some of his exhaustion away, but held on to it once he looked around again. As lovely as this home was, and he was sure it had been even better before, there wasn't really a good spot to lay down.

His mind wandered back to Sasuke, because why wouldn't it. Sasuke always took up the majority of his thoughts, it was only a matter of time before he did. Naruto supposed he had tried to ignore the spot where he still felt Sasuke's faint chakra for long enough, and he was curious to see how that stupid genius had managed to not sleep here. He turned his back to the rest of the room and finally looked at where Sasuke had been.

So… this was where Sasuke stayed last night. This corner. Disregarded the entire home, save for this corner; the farthest one from everything else. Weird. Yeah, it was like Sasuke to want to rest sitting upright and leaning against a wall, he had done that all the time during their missions, but in a corner? Like a child being punished? Sasuke wasn't a child, and especially not someone who deserved punishment. Sasuke had his reasons for doing what he did—valid ones, and—

Squinting his eyes, he caught himself before he went off the deep end again. If he was going to start thinking again, he needed to stabilize, stay on the surface, look for the obvious. This… was a corner. Everything in the room in his eyesight led to these two walls converging. To a point, like an arrow, like a pointed finger—

A laugh burst out. It ripped out of him like the air was being pulled from his lungs.

No—no way! Naruto was losing his shit all day only to end up with Sasuke literally pointing him in the right direction?! He had to be wrong, there was no way these impressions in the sand on the floor and dust on the walls were delivering his next message so blatantly. Sasuke was messing with him, yeah, but like this? Suddenly a lot less cryptic, and a lot more childish?

Man, wherever that bastard was, Naruto hoped he was getting his kicks out of this stupid game.

Wait—how—what if he hadn't gone to the school first? What if he had come here instead, seen this, and left, completely missing the Hitai-ate at the school?! Had Sasuke predicted that Naruto would run past this village? No, that was just him messing up on his part—

Naruto shook his head violently, begging his thoughts to give him a little break. He was fine with this. More than fine. He hadn't missed anything and this was fun. It was funny, exciting, and mushy. Also emotionally exhausting. With all of the emotions he sifted through in a single day, maybe he was losing his shit. But now, Naruto was having fun, too. So, he would just glue himself to the surface from here on out.

Hmm… maybe Sasuke just knew him too well. Knew that he had taken his advice all those years ago to use his head more a little too close to heart. And maybe Sasuke's actual goal was just to toy with him.

Naruto walked closer to Sasuke's spot, and unrolled his sleeping bag, laying it flat on the ground beside one wall. He made sure to keep some distance from Sasuke's impression in the sand at the end of his feet, knowing better than to mess with a child's pranks. He grabbed his backpack and plopped himself down on his temporary bed with a huff.

The motion caused an object to slide out from his pocket, bolts clinking familiarly. Sasuke's Hitai-ate. He eyed it for a moment, before picking it up, sighing as he did. This thing again. Always so close, but still miles away. Repeatedly just out of reach. Some nights, Naruto recounted the amount of time that had passed between them. It was years at a time. It continued to strike him, the way he couldn't really forget Sasuke's face like he kept expecting to. Surely going years without seeing someone would distort his memories of them, and it scared him to think about it, but that never was the case with Sasuke. Maybe those glimpses they got of each other sometimes had something to do with it.

He hoped—no, he was going to make sure this would be the last time their meeting would just be a glimpse. This had to end, this… game. This cycle. It had to end, right? Sasuke would come back home for good, say Naruto was his 'one and only' again, and be mushy to his face instead of having to fight for it, to chase him all over the world for it, that amazing pretty-bastard-jerk.

He sighed again, irritated and full to the brim. Instead, here they were passing Sasuke's Hitai-ate like it was some kind of frivolous classroom note.

Okay… maybe not come back for good; Sasuke had his reasons for traveling. But he had to visit sometime! He didn't have to go away and be radio silent for years. All those months passing by like that, with Naruto counting them down to the days. He was going stir-crazy with how boring things had gotten. He knew it was a good thing—boring meant there wasn't any bad stuff happening. But it didn't mean that by having chaos and violence die down, Sasuke could just disappear for so long.

Even if Sasuke did visit, visiting only meant he would leave again. Maybe… glimpses of each other were all they were going to get, like it was some kind of inevitable way of staying in each other's lives. Five stupid blinks per glimpse—

Naruto's hand clenched around the headband. He had enough of spiraling over Sasuke. Unbuckling his backpack, he shoved the damn thing in there as far as he could, not wanting it to unearth itself again until the very end. It was time for Naruto to think of Naruto.

First thing Naruto needed was some food, and then a good night's rest. And a shower, but he doubted there was any running water here. He could fish out the food pills Sakura had made for him, but he had that one gift from earlier that had been worth saving…

Not thinking of Sasuke, he unwrapped the package containing three rice balls. He wondered what fillings each had, or if they were all the same. He wondered if the person who gifted him the rice balls had made them themselves or if they had bought them. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, they were still made by someone with the intention of feeding the hungry. That was nice of them.

Not thinking of Sasuke, he wiped his hand down his pants, though they were most likely just as dirty, but he didn't care. He grabbed one rice ball and bit into it. Hm… red bean filling. Oh, sweet red bean filling. He leaned back until he was pressed against the wall, and savored the rest of the delicious rice ball in this quiet moment of peace. In this person's home. In a desolate village. At night in the middle of the desert.

Thinking of its people again, Naruto picked up another rice ball. Cucumber and cream cheese. Odd, but still nice. So they were all different, then. He wondered what the third one would be. Maybe the people had to evacuate because of a pretty bad sandstorm or something, and found somewhere else to live? He hoped that was the case, and not something worse. Found some place closer to Suna, or dispersed around the populated places surrounding Suna. That would be safer for them…

And… he lost his appetite. Instead, his stomach was filled with anxiety the rest of the way. Man, using his head was the worst advice Sasuke could've ever given him. He wrapped up the last rice ball and tucked it back into his backpack, then set it aside. He hadn't planned on eating it anyway. He was only curious about the filling.

Next on the agenda for Naruto was sleep. Kicking off his shoes, taking off his own Hitai-ate, and shucking off his black outer shirt to use as a pillow, he tucked himself in and instantly pulled his muscles into a long, much needed stretch. It was satisfying, the way his joints popped and tense muscles lost their ache. Naruto relaxed, situating his hands under his head. He closed his eyes and sank further into his plushy sleeping bag.

Not consciously wanting to think about Sasuke, his mind had automatically pictured him with every comforting detail it could, as it did every time he tried to sleep. It had turned into some kind of ritual at some point, thinking of the softer parts of Sasuke to lull him over. It didn't matter how pissed he was at him, or how dejected he made him feel sometimes. All on its own, his mind had compartmentalized every part of Sasuke and would dive into whichever lake it needed to when the moment called for it. The lake of detailed memories of a softer Sasuke to help him sleep; that one he guarded closely. It was something he would never tell anyone about.

How could he? How could he tell anyone that these precious thoughts acted as an aid to his insomnia? Besides, that version of Sasuke was selfishly his alone. And that wasn't something he had decided for himself, it was something Sasuke had told him. Indirectly, but he had. It was in the way he caught Sasuke staring or smiling at him sometimes. A smile that was small and cute. Sasuke was cute. The way he always looked bored and uninterested, until Naruto did something, and Sasuke reanimated himself, so over the top, just to throw an insult his way, or grab his shirt and pull him in real close. Naruto had fought for his acknowledgment for so long, not knowing he'd kinda had it from the very beginning.

The way Sasuke had thrown himself in the direct line of fire just to save his ass multiple times. It was a dark thing to think sweetly about. Like dark chocolate. He wondered if Sasuke liked dark chocolate. Probably the darkest, but more probable was Sasuke's dislike of sweet things. He hoped the last rice ball was savory. Kinda funny of Sasuke to not like sweet things, since he was such a mushy guy.

Mushy, cute, pretty. So, so pretty, it was insane. Pale skin that would turn a deep pink when he got too worked up. Kind of like ramen fish cake. That's funny. Maybe they should switch names? Sasuke would be Naruto, and Naruto would be Sasuke. Hmm… that'd be weird, but it made his chest feel super warm. Warm and buzzing all over whenever Sasuke touched any part of his skin. It looked like Sasuke preferred his ear, he was always pinching him there. Naruto preferred every bit of Sasuke if he were honest, but he liked holding his hand. Sasuke had nice hands.

Just like his hair, super black, shiny, and probably really nice to touch. He bet it was longer now, long just like his eyelashes. His eyes—darker than the night sky, and they sparkled a thousand times brighter than the stars. Pale white, pitch black, and the pink would come back to soften the edges in his lips. He could still feel them on his own lips. From that time at school, and that other time at the waterfall. Funny how it kept happening to them, those… accidents. He hoped he would feel them again. Soon. But on purpose, for once. And maybe less painfully. And then again, and again, and some more after that…

Sleep was fading him in and out of consciousness. It worked every time, thinking of Sasuke like this. Thinking of him, just as he was.

The morning came with a bird's loud cry. Naruto sprang upright, and a wave of dizziness heavily poured over him. He groaned, shutting his eyes and slumping his head into his hands. His skin felt sticky. And his dream had been… he couldn't remember it, but he knew it couldn't have been something nice, because there was a pit in his stomach and it was stirring up a nauseating feeling. He was used to it, though. Still, he hated waking up like this.

He rubbed his palms into his eyes, breathing through the feeling and waking up some more. His hands dragged down his face, and the way they slid made him realize he had been sweating in his sleep. He sighed, desperately hoping he would be able to shower soon. When he felt his body settling a bit, he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was his fingers, blurred and crushing his eyelashes together. Beyond them was Sasuke's corner. The pointed finger.

Right. The chase. Dropping his hands, he turned his gaze to the window above his head. The sun wasn't fully out yet. The sky was barely a light blue. Out of all the enemies he had fought, sleep was the worst of them.

He put on his shoes, and with a quick breath in, he hauled himself up and stretched. He supposed he could get an early start. After all, Sasuke was waiting for him. He flung his outer shirt over his shoulder and rolled up his sleeping bag, then clipped it back onto his backpack. He grabbed his shirt and slipped an arm through—on second thought, he was too sweaty for it. What was he doing, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt in the desert anyway? He folded it back up and stuffed it into his backpack. That was it, if he attempted to shove anything else in there, it was for sure going to burst.

Adjusting the backpack's straps on his shoulders, Naruto looked down at his own Hitai-ate he had yet to pick up off the floor. Before his brain branched off into another endless spiral so early in the damn morning, he bent down to pick it up, dusted it off, and tucked it into his hip pouch. In the same motion, he let go of the headband and plucked out one food pill from the smaller pouch Sakura had given him and pulled his hand out, effectively switching the objects in his hand from something he didn't need to something he did.

He didn't need it—his Hitai-ate. Not right now, not for this self-imposed mission. This was between him and Sasuke, no one and nothing else had anything to do with it.

He spared Sasuke's corner one last glance as he flung the food pill into his mouth, and turned towards the door. Sasuke's chakra had completely faded by now, but he'd gotten the message. His path was southwest bound. Stepping off the doorstep, his eyes snapped to a set of footprints in the sand. Huh… he hadn't noticed them last night. They were leading out of the home and were closer to the edge of the street. Clearly, they were not his own footprints, his were way over to the left, in the middle of the street, and led towards the home…

"Probably Sasuke's," he muttered to himself. So… that answered that. He wouldn't have not gone to the school, but it looked like he had gotten the order mixed up. It had been in Sasuke's plan to lead him there after the home.

He bit his lip and tucked his hands into his pockets. Just to be sure, he should follow the footprints and see where they really led. Walking beside them, he didn't reject his mind's attempt at wanting to imagine Sasuke walking here with him. An old habit he could never really kick. A couple of steps ahead of him, of course. As he always was. Naruto scoffed, shaking his head.

So, retracing his mission, Naruto had received that report from Suna, and then there had been… he still wasn't sure if he should count that little squabble between those two women as something, but he did anyway, and then that kid, Yuito. The sun—if Sasuke was trying to tell him something by using the sun to show him the right path, he still wasn't sure if he had cracked it yet. That part still didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. Maybe it was just the kunai acting as another pointed finger? But if it wasn't for the sun reflecting off it…

He sighed, hoping some things weren't completely going over his head.

Rearranging the lineup, it looked like the home was next. He should have gone there first, instead, he had messed up and nearly skipped the whole abandoned village—nope, no way he was going to chew himself out for that again. The home was next, where someone had lived alone, and then…

Naruto looked up at Sasuke's back to the right of him. Still walking ahead of him leisurely, knowing this slow pace could only ever exist in his head since their genin days. His eyes dragged upwards, looking at the back of Sasuke's head as if he was really there. He knew if he spoke, the figment of his imagination wouldn't hear it, much less respond… but he mumbled his frustration anyway.

"Where are you taking me, asshole?"

The hallucination turned its head, and Naruto could just barely make out the Rinnegan side-eyeing him. It was a visceral reaction—the way his breath caught in his chest and his eyes widened. Then he blinked, and Sasuke was gone.

Naruto swallowed. Was he still asleep?! Was he dreaming? He turned his head to look behind him, looking for something real, anything to ground him. Prickly. Sticky, and now prickly, his skin felt. He turned back around and huffed, willing himself to shake off whatever that was. It was… spooky.

His eyes landed on the ground at Sasuke's footprints. They were real enough to know he wasn't actually still asleep. They also reminded him of the reason why he had stopped giving into his mind hallucinating Sasuke like that years ago. It always left him feeling disoriented and spooked. And it was never as good as the real thing.

Staying in place, Naruto followed the footprints with his eyes the rest of the way, until they were at the school's front doors. Right, the school was next.

The home, then the school. Huh. Was this about them making their way to school back then? If he were to look at the obvious signs, it would be. For him, most days he would take the road less traveled by the other villagers, just to stay out of the range of their harassment. All those mean whispers… and he could never forget that one old geezer, how he had yanked him out of his shop by his shirt when all he'd been trying to do was buy some vegetables as a kid. He hadn't even liked vegetables, but Iruka had kept berating him to eat healthier.

He scoffed, remembering that same old geezer later turning around and gifting him a full basket of vegetables after saving his ass from Pain. The way they had treated him back then made him feel hopeless at best. At worst, he would use his shadow clones to cover up the ache of loneliness.

Sasuke… had been right, during their last battle. Calling him out on his weakness like that. Amazing how he had seen right through it. He knew it was their shared pain that had opened that door for them. Sasuke had told him he knew as much, too. It had gotten a little easier once school had started, though. Being around other kids for most of the day became some sort of escape from the solitude. And as much as Sasuke tried not to show it sometimes, it was obvious it had been the same for him, too.

But more than that, Naruto had always felt the darkness that consumed his best friend. Before everything, but after the massacre. Could anyone blame him? Could anyone blame someone for falling into despair after losing every single member of their clan at the hands of someone they loved? And then finding out it had all been a manipulation tactic?! Like they were nothing more than pawns in some disgusting, twisted game for power. If Sasuke had punched him in hand-to-hand combat training back then instead of freezing the way he did, he would've totally understood. He understood more now why Sasuke had frozen in the first place. Hell, he'd even let Sasuke try to kill him a bunch of times, but it wasn't like he would just let him achieve that goal. But he understood. What Sasuke didn't understand, though, was that someone had to show him that there was at least one person left who hadn't given up on him, who didn't blame him, who would always be in his corner, who truly understood him, and loved him for all he was.

Naruto was that person. He fought tooth and nail to be that person and he would chase Sasuke all over the world again and again if it meant he would—

He would…

…Wh—

That son of a bitch.

He had cracked it! Yesterday at the school—it was—Sasuke was taking him on a trip down memory fucking lane again, like the one they shared on the brink of death wasn't enough because he was looking for a different answer! That had to be it. It had to be! Sasuke kept asking the same question, and he kept giving him the same answer—they were going in circles so many fucking times around it. Damn it, he was so totally going to give Sasuke a bleeding bruise with a fist or a kiss—he didn't know which yet, but he was going to do it.

Both. He was going to do both. It was what he deserved for pulling an insane stunt like this one for a dead set answer.

Naruto unclenched his fists from his hair, not the faintest clue of when they had ended up there. The sigh left him with a bittersweet laugh. Sasuke wasn't complicated. What he was, though, well… he chuckled.

Good. So, Naruto hadn't been far off. He figured out Sasuke's little game here. And he was going to get what was coming to him.

Finding the rising sun, Naruto turned his back to it, flickered into his Bijuu Mode, and took off through the ruins of the village. He wasn't sure how long he would have to run this time, but if southwest was where Sasuke pointed him, southwest he would run.