Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Sector Five	By : FlairForTheVeil Category: Naruto AU/AR > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2291 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor its characters. Rightful ownership belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I make no profit of this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 13: Standard Issue

The next morning, Sasuke exited his tent into a few inches of snow. He sighed and nodded to a few of the other late risers. It was unusual for him to awake this late into the day – it had to be nearly noon. But, he had been travelling all day yesterday.
The raven walked to the center of the camp, teenaged voices already echoing into the cold air accompanied by the roasting aroma of meat. Smoke from their bonfire was rising alarmingly high into the sky. Kami, they were going to attract every Katon in a five mile radius. Hadn’t Itachi already told them something?
Sasuke approached the lively center of the camp and wrinkled his nose. The heady and thick smell of smoked meat nearly choked him and made his eyes water. Something was different about the smell, though. Not utterly roasted like it should have been, but with a scent of something bitter. He batted away a thick cloud of smoke to reveal Chouji poking at a sizzling piece of pork and most of the members of the camp having some sort of meat fest.
“Ey, wa’ some?” Kiba asked to his side. The rugged boy held out a large chunk of disgustingly oily beef on a fork and waved it in Sasuke’s face a bit. Sasuke palmed the meat away and shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows and glancing around for his brother.
If anyone could get a group of teens’ attention, it was Itachi. Albeit out of the fear factor, Sasuke couldn’t be taken seriously with one useful arm. The leaders of their group were nowhere to be seen. Where could Tsunade and Jiraiya possibly be?
Sasuke tucked a chunk of his bangs behind his ear and weaved through the thick smoke and crackling sounds of the fire. He almost mistook Sai for Itachi; it was when Sai tilted his head that Sasuke noticed the difference. He found Neji and Hinata, Sakura and Ino, nearly stepped on Shikamaru’s slumbering face and bumped into Juugo. But Itachi was nowhere to be found.
Sasuke turned and pondered who would know the whereabouts of his brother. He’d already asked Kakashi, to which the man looked generally confused. Suigetsu had glanced around himself and shrugged.
“Last time I saw ‘im,” Suigetsu hacked and spit heavily unto the ground. The boy winced and chugged a bit of water before starting again, “he was fuckin’ with that hunter.”
“Fucking with that hunter,” Sasuke deadpanned and stared straight into Suigetsu’s icy eyes. “Were they fighting?”
Suigetsu shrugged and looked off into the distance, watching a few flakes of snow fall to the ground. “Maybe it was a fight w’ words.”
Sasuke pictured Itachi and Kabuto arguing once again in his mind. He hadn’t seen Kabuto all morning, either.
Sasuke parted and glanced around for tufts of gold hair. He’d seen a glimpse of Naruto when the other boy had woken and left the tent. He walked back to the tents, kicking a few pebbles and pursing his lips when they made loud pangs against the gun barrel. Sasuke glanced inside and found it in full stock, minus the inevitable handgun or two. The girls probably had them.
“Naruto?” he called before he made the few steps to the tent. When he didn’t get a response, he sighed and moved to turn back to the road.
“Wha’?” a strangled voice came from their tent. A head fell through the flaps of the tent and Naruto peeked up at Sasuke. “Morning! Have you-“
“Seen my brother?” Sasuke interrupted. They shared a look and sighed together.
“No.”
Sasuke shifted his weight to one foot and crossed his arms. Well, at least he could sneak out of camp without his brother noticing. But he needed his brother to notice something right now, since Kakashi couldn’t give less than a shit.
“Um,” Naruto grunted and hoisted himself out of the tent, dragging Itachi’s duffel bag of guns behind him. “I think he’s with Kabuto.”
“I thought of that,” Sasuke pursed his lips. “Suigetsu mentioned that they had been fighting.”
“Well,” the blond ran a hand through his dirty hair and rocked on his heels. “He kinda told me to steer clear of Kabuto and a few other people.”
Itachi had? Sasuke raised his brows. “Who?”
“Kabuto, of course,” Naruto lugged the duffel bag in front of Itachi’s tent. “Neji, Gaara, and someone else who I don’t remember.”
Sasuke felt his face go slack. “Naruto,” he said. “There’s only a bit over fifteen people in this camp.”
Naruto gave him a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah…”
“And you can’t remember a name?”
“Just give me a few minutes!” Naruto spread his arms. “Uh… Sai.”
Sasuke nodded. What could Itachi be doing, if he were actually with Kabuto? Perhaps Itachi had taken off for the day to go into town or hunt by himself. The man valued his alone time.
“Have you at least seen Tsunade or Jiraiya?”
Naruto shook his head. “Not since yesterday.”
The raven appreciated Naruto not immediately poking into what he was up to. They were silent now, one that was an odd balance of comfortable with a tinge of awkward. Sasuke guessed their argument last night had changed both of them a bit. He adjusted the tangled strap of his sling and Naruto shifted his weight to one foot. Neither of them wanted to talk, but neither of them wanted to leave. Sasuke felt oddly exposed as he could feel Naruto’s eyes on his face and he dug a few pebbles into the ground.
“Hey,” Naruto said softly. “Uh, you wanna teach me how to shoot?” The boy turned around and hefted the bag of guns on one arm and presented them to Sasuke.
A black eyebrow twitched. “What, you don’t remember now?”
Naruto lowered the bag of guns until they landed with a soft thud on the ground. “What Sakura told me is blurry,” he admitted. “Not all of it has come back properly. All I know is what she said.”
Sasuke frowned but refrained from commenting about that girl. Instead, he tilted his head and pointed at the bag. “You’re carrying it today,” he said and ducked into their tent, rummaging around until he produced Kusanagi in its glossy sheath. He slugged it over his shoulder and nodded toward the huge cloud of smoke in their camp.
“Did you eat already?”
“Nah, but I’m fine,” Naruto grinned. “You?”
“I’ll pass,” Sasuke grumbled. He didn’t trust a thing that had been touched by Kabuto.
Naruto led the way into the woods this time. A gentle scuff had worn into the path they took, used by Sasuke and a few other rebellious members of the group. Some roots of trees were frozen white and crumbled under their heavy footsteps. Snow in ugly shades of brown and gray littered the path and sloshed around when stepped on.
“So, whatcha gonna teach me today?” the blond asked and pushed some low-hanging branches out of their way.
Sasuke hummed. “What about handguns?”
“What about a rifle?”
The raven rolled his eyes. “You’re not ready for that yet, Naruto. Let’s start with the basics.”
“But you taught me how to shoot a shotgun,” Naruto turned to walk backwards and used his hand to shoot into the distance. “I think I’m ready.”
“I wouldn’t say that you know how to handle a shotgun,” Sasuke shook his head. “Want me to remind you about what happened the last time you tried to shoot one?”
The other boy tsk’ed. “Wasn’t my damn fault.”
Sasuke shrugged his shoulder and tilted his head. “Wanna go into the city?”
Sasuke quickly shook his head. He had forgotten that the city had been empty of Katons and any kind of life. There was no use in going to the city if there was just light bulbs and tin cans to shoot at.
“What about it?” Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets. He turned back around and led the way once more, kicking new rocks out of place. He placed his foot against a particularly heavy rock and rolled it over, revealing an oval imprinted into the soil. There were odd animal tracks through this part of the woods. Naruto made out the animal’s claws in the track and sniffed.
“When I was there yesterday, there was no Katons. No anything. It was like the city had been evacuated really calmly.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really,” Sasuke replied and shivered. “Not even scraps of them.”
“Huh.”
They trekked through the cold and thick forest in silence the rest of the way. Naruto had silently asked if they could go into town to check it out somewhere along the way, and Sasuke had gone along with the idea.
While their footsteps and wild animals occasionally broke their silence, Sasuke got lost in his thoughts. In all honesty – what were they doing? Going out without their group, without telling anybody, especially when the authority figures were all nowhere to be seen. This was stupid. This was foolish. Naruto barely knew anything about weapons, and Sasuke only had one viable arm to protect himself with. If they were to be ambushed, they didn’t stand a chance.
Actually, did it even matter that they had a sliver of a chance? They were living in an environment where they constantly had to move around to survive. And for what? It wasn’t like the Sectors were going to take pity on their evicts and let them back in. It had been ten years. A decade. The Sectors most likely wouldn’t even have their names on record for past citizens anymore. This was ridiculous.
It was inevitable to think that they would all die sometime in the near future. Their childhoods had been ruined, torn from their fingertips in the favor of a younger, brighter generation to bring better technology upon the Sectors. The Sectors would never take them back. The majority of the other survivors had already been killed by drones, scouts and Katons. So what was the damn point, living out here?
Sasuke furrowed his brows. He had questioned this many times, and answered this many times. They were living with each other. Sasuke sneered. They were living for each other, by each other, and because of each other. Who was to say that one of their group members would have an allergic reaction to food and die? Who was to say that the others with his condition didn’t even know they had anemia?
The Sectors and their leaders had gotten to be selfish. They had murdered the universal donors of blood, or at least the ones they could get their hands on. Sasuke curled his lip and cast his eyes to Naruto, whose shoulders were shifting strongly under his shirt. Some people were lucky. Sick people, people like himself, were left to die without those donors. People with blood disorders and conditions, elders frail and easily bruised, those with already severed limbs that were in dire need of transplants and transfusions. People who needed to wear helmets so they wouldn’t hurt themselves, people who couldn’t move because they were left in their straitjackets, and people who died the first day because they didn’t have the tubes to eat.
Gluttony was an unspoken sin. Sasuke wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be back in One, with his family, and be a complete and absolute spoiled fucking brat. He wanted to be back in a selfish environment, with selfish people and animals, and the selfish leader who had cast them out so he could seek revenge.
But he couldn’t.
Why?
Because it wasn’t safe enough out here. He just had to be stuck with a group full of idiots who were wasting the Earth’s rolling hills and sinewy valleys.
But Sasuke, as intelligent as he was, could find wormholes in his own theory. He could find small spaces where he could actually be selfish. Sasuke was already a selfish person. He had gone out and read by himself, for himself, hadn’t he?
So he glanced at Naruto once again, who fingered the strap of the duffel bag so it wouldn’t dig into his armpit. Who kicked up dirt when he walked and never failed to ask how he was doing. How was Naruto such a selfless person?
Maybe this was the way it was supposed to be. Sasuke selfish, Naruto selfless. Sasuke could never find a firm enough grip on something to keep it for himself; but Naruto always found a strong grip on something, just to hand it to somebody else.
Sasuke sighed and focused his eyes on the back of Naruto’s head.
Maybe, just maybe, he could have something for himself.
------------------------------------------------------------
They had come across a squirrel a little time away from the city. Sasuke had explained that it was best to shoot it with an arrow. Naruto had done so with excellent preciseness.
Now, they faced the steep hill that led down to the same eight-lane road Sasuke had crossed just yesterday. Naruto whistled.
“You need help?” the blond asked and held out an arm.
“I’m fine,” Sasuke said tightly. It was definitely more difficult maneuvering downhill with Kusanagi on his back. Naruto slid down the hill like going down a ladder, eventually dropping Itachi’s bag of guns so that it hit the ground with a heavy thud.
“Idiot,” Sasuke grunted as he skidded downhill a bit when he missed a foothold of root, “Don’t fucking break them!”
“They’re fine!” Naruto called back, setting his feet on the road and shrugging the bag back onto his back. “Hurry up, Sas.”
“Don’t call me that,” Sasuke replied and nearly tumbled down the last few feet to the pavement. He grabbed onto a thin root and quickly lowered himself.
“Alright,” Naruto rubbed his palms together. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
“If we’re the show, we are already on the road,” Sasuke clipped and fixed his chokutō strap. He led Naruto steadily over the pieces of broken glass littering the road, not bothering to step quietly this time. Their footsteps broke multiple pieces of glass at a time, some of the shatters echoing out into the open space.
Four lanes into the road, Sasuke pulled Naruto to a stop. He partially unzipped the duffel on his shoulder and rummaged through the bag, producing a black Jericho. He shoved it through his belt loop and zipped the bag closed.
“Move quietly now,” Sasuke hissed when the blond stomped on a large piece of glass and kicked it out of the way. Naruto nodded back to him and begun taking large strides, placing his feet gently on the ground and letting glass shift under his boots.
They continued on like this until they reached the city, crouched and moving efficiently. Sasuke smacked his hand against a tall red building whose roof was hidden by fog. The slap echoed out into the rolling alleys and returned to fall upon their attentive ears. No beeping signals, no footsteps, nothing.
Naruto made quick eye contact with him and nodded towards a large plant. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he watched the blond tug a miniature tree from its terra cotta pot about two feet tall. Naruto heaved it into his arms, hung it over his head, and took a deep breath.
“Shit, Naruto, don’t-“ Sasuke scowled and shoved Naruto to the side.
He was too late. Naruto flung the vase nearly twenty feet away and it ear-piercingly shattered, its large pieces screeching against the pavement and sending the hairs on the back of Sasuke’s neck to the sky. He cringed and relaxed his shoulders.
“You’ve just got every Katon three miles away on our asses!” Sasuke growled and glanced around for cover. The safest hiding option was in an alley – where the drones usually rolled. The city was too much of an open space.
Naruto spluttered when Sasuke ran to the alley, yanking the Jericho from his belt loop and switching its safety off. Cold wind smacked his cheeks and blew his bangs out of his face when he crouched against the red brick wall and faced the street, partially hidden by gas and water pipes.
Naruto settled closely behind him, breathing heavily. “The hell’s the big deal?” he grunted.
Sasuke didn’t answer. He kept his eyes glued to the road, slowly scanning up and down the pavement for any signs of movement. Maybe he imagined that tinny beep he just heard, or it was his own heartbeat in his ears. The raven turned to Naruto and nodded his head to the side of the road, where a Katon had climbed out from a sewage hole.
“That’s the big deal,” Sasuke murmured. He shook his head and elbowed the blond roughly in his gut. Naruto grunted and wheezed, falling back on his haunches from his kneeling position.
“And you’re gonna get rid of it,” Sasuke hissed and turned to Naruto’s flushed face. He shoved the handgun into Naruto’s chest and made a gun with his thumb and pointer finger, aiming at the Katon.
Naruto fiddled with the weapon and stared at the raven. “Wait, what?”
Sasuke raised his brows and pointed to the drone. “You,” he drawled, “make Katon dead.”
“Uh,” Naruto flushed redder and glanced at the safety of the Jericho. “Um, do I-“
“Just make it die,” Sasuke shrugged and rested the side of his head against the cool wall. Naruto would have to deal with it this time, because he caused this Katon to come out. At least they had something important to use these bullets on, not wasting them for idle target practice.
He heard Naruto gulp and allowed the corner of his lip to tilt up. This was just as Itachi taught him – to clean up his own messes. Naruto was in the same situation as a young Sasuke had been once. He had been skidding rocks across a lake when scouts emerged from the woods opposite of it. Itachi had made Sasuke kill them himself, with a pump shotgun that he didn’t know how to use.
So he pretended not to carefully watch Naruto hold the gun incorrectly. He right eyes, out of Naruto’s view, twitch when the boy didn’t lock his elbow. At least Naruto would save himself some embarrassment because Sasuke had already turned the safety off.
Sasuke tilted his left ear to his shoulder to shield it from the loud bang when Naruto pressed his finger on the gun’s trigger. The blond jumped at the noise, but the bullet went cleanly through the white metal of the Katon. The machine sputtered in its mechanics for a moment before tucking its legs in its body and shutting down.
“Good,” Sasuke said and stood up, holding his hand out for the gun.
Naruto stood slowly and placed the gun in his hand, barrel facing Sasuke. His face looked a few shades paler and a fine sheen of sweat had formed on his tan forehead.
Sasuke broke their eye contact and maneuvered the gun into his own grip, holding it at a right angle and locking his elbow.
“Locking your elbow will improve your aim,” he said.
Naruto nodded and stared at the barrel of the gun, tensing his jaw and swallowing. Sasuke shot another bullet into the Katon just to be safe. The raven turned to him and clicked its safety on, shoving it back into his belt loop and looking up at Naruto.
“Questions?”
“Why’d you make me do that, Sasuke?” Naruto questioned and tensed his jaw.
“Because you threw that vase,” Sasuke snapped.
“Why? Couldn’t you have taught me before shoving me headfirst into an unfamiliar place?”
The raven tightened his lips. “It was discipline.”
Naruto’s jaw went slack. “Discipline? Discipline? You’re ‘disciplining’ me like a fucking kid?”
Sasuke furrowed his brows and took a small step back. “You threw that pot like a fucking kid,” he spat back. “Just because it looks empty, doesn’t mean it’s damn well empty.”
Naruto’s face and neck turned red for a few long moments as he silently fumed. In all honestly, Sasuke expected the boy to lash out at him – that’s why he ducked to the side when Naruto reached for him.
Blue eyes softened by tens of degrees and he slowly lowered his hand back to his side. “Itachi taught you to do that, didn’t he?” he whispered.
Sasuke barely stopped his eyes from widening and clenched his jaw. They stood in silence, Naruto patiently waiting for an answer, and Sasuke trying to fight past his own walls.
Maybe a minute or two later, Sasuke nodded two times. He clenched his fists and bore his dark eyes into Naruto’s blue, demanding a judgment or a jab at his mindset.
Naruto cast his eyes to the ground for a few seconds and locked them with Sasuke’s again. “You don’t have to be like him, you know.”
Sasuke sneered. “I’m not.”
“Make yourself your own person.”
“I am my own person,” Sasuke snapped and ground his molars together.
“Okay,” Naruto smiled. An irritatingly bright smile, at that. “I believe you.”
Sasuke flared his nostrils. He hated it, fucking hated it, when idiots like Naruto attempted to read him. He wasn’t a puzzle to put together or a damn riddle to solve. It wasn’t a game, trying to understand him. “Don’t compare me to Itachi.”
“I’m not,” Naruto genuinely stated and stuffed his hands in his pockets, frowning at their small height difference. “I’m just saying that you don’t have to take after him.”
“Who says I’m taking after him?”
“You’ve been snappy today,” Naruto winced and fixed the duffel bag on his shoulder. “Did you take your iron?”
Sasuke growled and ignored the blond’s jabs. Fucking immature idiot. He knew a hell of a lot more than Naruto.
“Hey,” Naruto called to his back when he turned and jogged to catch up with Sasuke. “I’m just saying, like, be yourself, you know?”
“Shut up.”
“I’m just giving you advice,” he whined. “I’m sorry if I offended you?”
Naruto’s words fell upon Sasuke’s deaf ears. Naruto was especially annoying today, whether it be the boy or Sasuke’s sour mood. This had been their second argument in a span of less than a day, and Sasuke was already tired of it.
Naruto sighed behind him and idly kicked an old can of soup. Maybe they had both woken up on the wrong side of the tent?
They walked in silence. Sasuke led them to the center of the city. He didn’t feel like teaching Naruto shit anymore. Even that tin can he was kicking was annoying him. Naruto kicked the can into a lamppost, creating a loud metallic pang that could rise the dead.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,“ Sasuke rose his voice. “Can’t you ever-“
“Who else heard that?” A gruff voice called out, dangerously close to them. Sasuke’s look of anger got quickly replaced with one of shock. Naruto froze beside him as a few other voices echoed into the city center.
The raven whipped his head around and sprinted towards a rusted green bench, skidding on a thin layer of ice and nearly falling on his left shoulder. Naruto barreled right next to him and cursed. The bench had small holes on its seat and back, originally to let rain fall through instead of pool. Sasuke used these to peek through at the many faces of a group of people forming in the city center, picking up the canned soup that Naruto had been kicking.
“Think it was a Katon?” A man with red hair tied back in a low ponytail grunted and threw the can to the side. He spat so that his saliva landed just a few inches before Sasuke’s feet and fixed one of the golden tassels adorning his military uniform. Sasuke swallowed heavily and planted his eyes on another man with strange markings on his face.
“I’m sure there are other evicts out here,” the man said slowly and turned his head to observe the city. His long white hair swished gently when he turned, some of its strands tangling in the wind and sticking to his navy uniform. “Other survivors.”
“In here?” The read headed man held out his arms. “Do we track ‘em or let ‘em die?” he sleazed.
The white-haired man tilted his head. “We’ll kindly move out of their way,” he stated. “For a bit.”
A mangy group of about nine other low-ranking men chuckled obnoxiously at that. Each of them had some sort of standard-issue rifle or shotgun on their backs or in their arms, and at least two pistols on either side of their hips. They even had a fancy arrangement of hunting knives, Sasuke noted. If they could ambush this group… They wouldn’t need any more weapons
“We’ll just have to wait for them to come out,” the long-haired man flicked his eyes to lock with Sasuke’s. He froze. Could that man see him? He made no sudden movement, didn’t even allow himself to blink. He felt Naruto shift uncomfortably beside him and his arm involuntarily twitched.
“And then we’ll take what we need,” the man finished and smirked at Sasuke. The man set a hand on the classic revolver at his hip and pressed a button on his uniform, holding it up to his mouth. “Portion J, scouted. Clear, vague signs of life.” He cast his eyes back to his group. “Let’s move. We’ve stopped too long.”
“Come on, sir! We were just here for five minutes!”
“Move,” The man barked.
A volume of curses followed the man, single file, into a dark alley and eventually died off. Sasuke turned to Naruto, his eyes wide and his lips tight.
“We need to go!” Naruto whispered furiously and fumbled with the gun bag. “Holy shit, we need to tell Kakashi-“
“Shut up!” Sasuke whispered back. “We just need to focus on getting back to camp right now. Just follow me.”
Naruto only frowned and nodded, hugging the guns to himself so they wouldn’t clatter against each other. Sasuke unsheathed Kusanagi with some difficulty and crouched low to the ground, guarding himself with her and keeping an eye out for the scouts. They moved together, almost silently behind a tree ten feet away from where they were.
Sasuke nodded and fixed his grip on Kusanagi. They were smashed too closely together, their breaths fanning across each other’s’ face from where they were facing each other. He mouthed something to Naruto, and Naruto nodded back at him.
“One,” Sasuke whispered.
“Two,” Naruto breathed back and hugged the duffel closer to himself.
“Three,” Sasuke crouched and prepared to move efficiently.
He and Naruto slowly crawled with their backs hunched through the center of the city. Naruto looked at him in askance, the guns in his arms in perfect silence except for the soft pitter of bullets. Sasuke nodded back at him and pointed to the soup can he just stepped over. Unfortunately, Naruto hadn’t been paying attention to him.
The blond took a mighty step straight into the can and sent it flying and clattering against a building.
“Hey!”
Naruto booked it.
“Shit!” Sasuke immediately stood up and chased after Naruto, who had already leaped over traffic cones and was stomping his way over broken glass with ground-eating strides. “Naruto! Knock it the fuck off!”
“This is how you gotta do it!” Naruto called back and almost tripped. “If we moved too slowly, they would’ve seen us!”
“Well, they’ve probably seen us with all the damn noise you made! We should have snuck around!”
“Still gets us back to camp, doesn’t it? What else left do we have to do?”
Sasuke cursed again and caught up with Naruto, their long strides matching each other and blowing their hair out of their faces. Damn you, Naruto. Sasuke smirked.
Their breaths created heavy clouds behind them and they breathed in the fresh snow that was falling. It stuck to Sasuke’s face and melted in Naruto’s eyes, but that was okay.
“You’re such a fucking idiot,” Sasuke panted and sheathed Kusanagi. He skidded to a stop and glanced back when they reached the steep entrance of the forest. So far, the other group hadn’t seen them, but it they weren’t careful, then they’d definitely see Naruto and Sasuke climbing up this slope.
Sasuke set a foot on a thick root and hoisted himself up, grabbing another with his right arm and slowly carrying himself up the slope. Naruto was right under him, grunting when he lost his footing and cursing when he almost fell back. Sasuke nearly kicked him in the face. A root he grabbed onto tore out, but he quickly grabbed a stone protruding from the ground and righted himself.
Sasuke hooked his arm and threw his leg over the mossy ground. He rolled back into the forest and caught his breath while he waited for Naruto to climb up the rest of the way. Then he scrunched his nose and looked into the forest.
Honestly, Sasuke had actually contemplated waiting for Naruto. He was currently ripping most of the protruding roots from the terrain. If he ran… Naruto would definitely be able to catch up, right? He snorted.
Sasuke hauled Kusanagi onto his shoulder and placed the Jericho on a mossy patch of ground for Naruto to pick up.
And he, well… he booked it.
“Hey!” Naruto screamed behind him. Sasuke leaped over a tree stump and tore through a holly bush. The ground felt amazing under his feet, slightly dry and leaves crunching from old ice. He ducked under low hanging branches and skirted around roots, leaped over mud puddles and swatted away vines. Damn, he hadn’t gotten to run in months. All this moving around had kept him too busy to have too much free time, and running with one arm was difficult enough.
He had an hour or more to run, but that was perfect. Sasuke sprinted the whole way home, with the comforting thump of Kusanagi on his back and the clamminess of his slung arm. He opened his right hand to cool the moisture on it and occasionally ran with his head down to dry the sweat on the back of his neck, but not without making sure he was running straight into open space. He even had to stop a few times to catch his robbed breath from the cold wind, hide his face in his sweater to feel it again and remove weeds from the laces of his boots.
Sasuke slowed to a jog and gradually stopped, pressing his forehead to a tree and panting. The temperature was dropping and his mood had moved oppositely.
No footsteps behind him. He could only guess that Naruto had chosen to walk or was too slow to catch up with him. He sank to his haunches and dangled his arms off his knees, ducking his head into his sweater and gulping in warm air.
So, he thought to himself, military officials were scouting in town. That was an obstacle. He thought of what he and Naruto would tell the adults back at camp. Itachi would surely question why they were in town in the first place – but at least they had gotten there in time to witness the scouts. Maybe they could relocate a few miles away, or far, far away.
This would probably be the last time Sasuke ever came to town because of them. He frowned. Sasuke still needed to read up more on the subject he’d been wondering about. Surely he could sneak into the city, but now he knew that there was a great risk. A risk of his friends’ and his own life.
Sasuke’s breathing calmed and he couldn’t tell if the faint thrumming he heard was Naruto’s footsteps or his heartbeat. He looked up and, sure enough, Naruto was jogging and huffing towards him. Sasuke couldn’t help the quirk of the corners of his lips at the glint in the blond’s belt loop. He had seen the Jericho after all.
Naruto stopped in front of him, bending over and letting sweat drip out of his hair and onto the ground. “Dude, what the hell’s with you today?” He rasped and collapsed next to Sasuke. “How the hell do you run that fast?”
Sasuke sneered at the scent and sweat coming off of Naruto. Hadn’t the boy ever heard of taking a break?
“I run in my free time.”
“Kami, don’t you ever just relax?”
“Frankly, that’s a waste of time,” Sasuke clipped. “Why not practice something that could help me out?”
Naruto sighed heavily and knocked the back of his head against the tree. “Man,” he grumbled and threw the duffel of guns onto the ground.
Sasuke only flared his nostrils for a few seconds and wisely decided to breathe through his mouth. Perhaps Naruto was just a heavy sweater. He glanced at the ashen sky, which looked like it was going to unleash a heavy storm of snow within a few days. Maybe a blizzard, judging by the heavy wind that slapped their cheeks.
He decided to tilt his head to quickly glance at Naruto. His tan cheeks were flushed a deep red, and his almost nonexistent eyebrows were ruffled by the wind. Sasuke’s gaze lingered a bit longer on his short flaxen eyelashes and wandering deep blue irises, and on the pieces of hair that plastered to his neck and behind his ears. Those blue eyes met his own and Sasuke immediately snapped his gaze away to a pile of mossy sticks by their feet. He felt the burn of Naruto’s stare on his cheek and tried his best to keep the onslaught of heat on the back of his neck down.
Naruto sighed gently and shouldered their duffel. “Let’s go, eh? A walk this time?”
Sasuke snorted. “Yeah, why not.”
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Returning to camp was made harder than it should have been. The trek back was filled with small talk and sarcastic comments, real conversations and stupid questions.
It was unfortunate that it had been Konohamaru’s shift to guard. It was unfortunate that this wood’s foliage was so thick. It had also been unfortunate that Sasuke stepped on a rather large stick and the crack had rung out loud enough to be heard by the boy.
“Ey!” Konohamaru spit out his lollipop and dazedly glared at the forest. “Who’s out there?” He pointed his rifle incorrectly into the woods and shifted it madly.
Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes. If they had been Katons, Konohamaru would surely be roasting next to the meat at the bonfire. “It’s just us,” he called out.
“Yeah, it’s Naruto and Sasuke,” Naruto said and narrowly stepped over a poison ivy bush.
“Damn y’all scouts,” Konohamaru’s voice cracked. “Y’all got that new technology to copy someone’s voice, I know that! Come out here and we can finish this fair and square!”
“Konohamaru, shut the fuck up,” Sasuke growled.
“Ay, Ino! Kiba! You guys, there’s scouts over here!”
Naruto groaned. “It’s okay, Konohamaru, it’s just us.”
“Damn it! Hurry up! Show your faces and we can get this done!”
“We’d be done if you’d shut up,” Sasuke snapped and unsheathed his sword. “Kono-“
“Konohamaru, you idiot, that sounds like Sasuke and Naruto,” a female voice cut in. “Stop pointing that gun.”
“Sakura, you don’t understand! Those scouts got those voice-copying technology!”
“I wish you had been old enough to go to grade school,” Sakura snapped back. “Don’t you dare shoot.”
“Hey, hold up your hand,” Naruto said to Sasuke. “You’re the palest one in the camp and they’d be able to tell if it’s you.”
Sasuke glared at the blond. “Why don’t you hold up yours? You’re the one with a damn summer tan.”
“They’ll see yours like a flare gun,” Naruto grinned innocently and put his hands behind his head.
The raven’s eyebrow twitched, but he held his hand up nonetheless.
“What is that?” A different voice asked.
“A scout!” Konohamaru screamed and cocked his rifle. “Damn impersonators of Naruto and Sasuke.”
“No, it’s us,” Sasuke yelled back and waved his hand. They broke through the last of foliage and startled the small crowd that had come to observe the side of the forest.
Konohamaru glanced at both of them and lowered his gun to his waist. “Where have you guys been?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Town,” Naruto grumbled and dropped his bag. “And we come with bad news.”
“What?” Ino asked, looking at both of them skeptically and crossing her arms. Neji, Sai, Sakura, Karin and Hinata relaxed behind her. “You went all the way into town?”
Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, silently agreeing to let Naruto do the talking. The crowd would pay more attention to him, anyway.
Ino shook her head and held up her palm. “Anyway, what ‘bad news’ do you have? Food shortage?”
“It’s actually worse than that,” Naruto said awkwardly. “Like, a lot worse.”
Sasuke aimed a gentle scowl at him and shook his head. “While we were in town, a team of about ten officials was scouting through.”
Ino’s soft features immediately hardened and she stood a bit straighter. “My goodness…”
“I didn’t look long enough to see what Sector they were from,” Sasuke said, “but I’m guessing One or Two.”
A few sighs were heard within the gathering and some people stepped away. Sakura furrowed her brows. “Did they say that they were looking through the rural?” she demanded. “Did they say how long they were staying? Did-“
Hinata set her hand on Sakura’s shoulder and they made short eye contact. Sakura silenced and stared into the woods, like she was expecting them to come any minute.
“They’re staying for a while,” Naruto cut in. “Not sure if they’ll be coming through here, though. Their captain seemed… dangerous.”
“Oh,” Sakura sighed. “What do we do? We have to find Tsunade and Jiraiya and tell them!”
“We’ll tell them that-“
“No!” Konohamaru suddenly yelled and dropped his gun to his feet. “We can’t tell them.”
“That’s the dumbest shit I have ever heard come out of your mouth,” Neji snapped. “Why on earth shouldn’t we tell them?”
Konohamaru stewed silently and threw his arms out. “We need to learn how to handle ourselves. We always depend on the adults for every little thing. We can show them that we can handle things like this-“
“Konohamaru,” Ino interrupted and shook her head. “I understand what you’re saying. We all know that we could pitch in and hunt for ourselves, travel by ourselves, etcetera. But these are military officials from the Sectors. If there’s any situation we need the adults in, it’s this. We can’t take risks with a group like this.”
Konohamaru’s eyes turned glassy and he shook his head harder. “Why don’t y’all open your eyes! You wanna know why they’re not nowhere to be found? They’re testing us! They wanna see how we can handle ourselves so we can be left alone like this! And it seems that we’re almost falling apart since we’ve spent most of the day looking for them and didn’t even notice that Naruto and Sasuke were gone. We can show them that we can handle ourselves. We can show them that we’re strong without them-“
“Konohamaru, we’re a group. We work together. I get what you’re saying,” Ino argued and set her hands on her hips. “But we can’t gamble our chances like this and take a stupid risk. The wisest thing to do right now is tell them.”
Konohamaru wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Damn you, you don’t understand. I just said we spent the whole day lookin’ for ‘em and we find jack shit. Can’t even find Kakashi and he was here this morning. We can do it this one time.”
Silence hung over the crowd and Sasuke could see over half of its people agreeing with Konohamaru’s emotional preteen outburst. He partially agreed with it – but Ino was right. The wisest thing to do overall was tell the adults, and as soon as possible.
“Konohamaru, calm down.” Sakura set her palm on his shoulder and pet his brown hair. Konohamaru shrugged it off and shied away from her other hand.
“Damn this,” Ino growled. “The hell are we supposed to do?”
“Wait,” Sasuke deadpanned.
“For those scouts to get here and gut us?” Ino gestured slicing her neck so violently that her long ponytail swished high to the side. Her blue eyes were wide and angry. “Damn these adults. Itachi’s not even here.”
Sasuke scrunched his nose and almost sneered. If they were smart enough, capable enough, they could handle a group of military men that were half of their number.
Ino unclenched her fists and sighed heavily, pressing her index and middle fingers to either of her temples and massaging. “Let’s just increase security tonight,” she breathed. “Four to the perimeter and myself at the center watching all of you. Neji guarding the tent area. Keep at least two guns in your tents, and have them there as soon as we finish here,” she grumbled, glancing at the setting sun. “And keep an eye on each other’s back. All of you, partner up. Don’t separate at all and avoid going to the bathroom. Forest is off limits from this point on. No yelling,” she glared at Konohamaru, “and no loud conversations. Tonight and the upcoming few are strictly inside voices and whispering at sundown. I know the snow’s gonna be coming down real hard these next few days, but Chouji, stomp out the fire. We can’t have smoke signals giving us away. No lanterns in tents. Finally, if any of the volunteered guards get held hostage,” she made eye contact with everyone in the crowd at this. “We don’t exist. You’re the only one out here. Get that word? Spread it to the others.” She barked.
The group looked at each other and sighed heavily. It was going to be a long next few days, adults or not.
Naruto turned to Sasuke and frowned. “Wanna be partners?”
- 13
- 14
- 15
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Sector Five