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The Blessed Realm	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1746 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the world he lives in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story only for my pleasure and I don't make any money with it.

Chapter List
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Chapter
Twenty-One: Danzou again

Naruto
was rather glad that Karin had found a place of her own. His offer to
Sasuke and his team to remain his guests as long as they wanted came
from his heart, but he had to admit that having a female living with
them had made daily life complicated. Sasuke and Karin herself had
been ridiculously coy, taking care that the other would not even see
them in their underwear, but Naruto too longed to be able again to
walk naked from the shower to the main room, or not to care to hide
his morning erection.

Together
with Juugo and Suigetsu he helped Karin move to her new apartment,
while Sasuke had gone to the ophthalmologist again to practise
putting in the contacts and taking them out again. It would be for
the last time – Naruto was glad that with Karin's new job and
the removal of her bitemarks, Sasuke's and his team's departure had
been postponed again. He did not want to think about the time when
Karin had finished her job and recovered from the removal of the
scars.

Helping
Karin was not really necessary as her possessions consisted only of
what she had carried around in her backpack during her journeys with
Sasuke, and she could well have carried it all on her own. The men of
her team, however, liked to use helping her as a pretext to see her
new flat, to test her coffee-machine that came with the apartment
(passed down to Karin from the former inhabitant) and to sit on her
sofa (Naruto did not own one.)

Suigetsu,
who had not carried anything, but had drunk a lot of coffee, got
rather sentimental when it was time to leave.

„Come
and visit us occasionally“, he said. „We'll come over for
a cup of coffee too.“

„Don't
forget: You are still a member of the team“, Juugo added.

Naruto
embraced her too, as Suigetsu and Juugo had done, not knowing what to
say. He liked Karin, even though she was a bit weird and even though
he definitely disapproved of her aim of gaining Sasuke's love, yet he
had only known her for a week.

„Good
luck with having your scars removed“, he said. „I am sure
you will be very pretty afterwards.“

Back
home he tidied up, and then waited for Sasuke to return. He had
picked up the magazine with the events in town from downstairs,
looking for something they might do together this afternoon –
something harmless, as the children's zoo with young animals to feed
and caress, or an guided tour into the woods with some explanations
on local herbs and trees, but Sasuke, when he arrived, would not
agree to any of this. He had been to the restaurant before he went
upstairs to Naruto's place, had asked for this week's newspapers and
a pair of scissors and was now sitting at Naruto's table and cutting
out all the articles on Konoha he could find.

„Tomorrow
we can do some more touristy stuff“, he said. „Today I
want to stay at home.“

Actually
he had had a walk around town by himself before he had returned to
Naruto's place, not visiting the touristy places but just having a
look at shops and cafes and what else there was for the benefit of
the locals, not the visitors.

Naruto
remained on his bed, idly perusing the magazine to gain more ideas
what they might do (maybe going to the movies or some concert), and
Sasuke returned to his self-assigned task of looking for articles,
but he could still sense Naruto in his back, sulking and being bored
and feeling offended. It was getting on his nerves, and after some
time he could no longer bear it, so he turned around his chair.

„Don't
you have anything to do by yourself? How did you survive here before
we came? What did you do then on a free afternoon?“ Naruto did
not answer, and Sasuke continued: „Lie on your bed and dream of
Konoha, was it?“

He
regretted immediately what he had said when he saw how his words had
hurt Naruto – because they had been quite close to the truth.
(The other half of the truth was that Naruto had also dreamt of
retrieving Sasuke, but he'd never admit this.)

„What
about you?“ he asked Sasuke. „Travelling around
aimlessly, searching for a place that does not exist. Itachi is dead,
your revenge is completed. You might return to Konoha, instead of
wasting your time on a pointless quest.“

„Why
should I return to Konoha, when you are here?“

The
answer left Naruto speechless for several seconds. Indeed, it might
be safer if Sasuke did not return to Konoha – again, Itachi's
warning came to his mind. As long as he was here with him, Sasuke
could not attack Konoha – not to speak of the fact that Naruto
really enjoyed having him with him, though not at this particular
moment when they were provoking each other.

„It's
still your home“, he said. „You have friends there who
care for you.“ (Sakura, he thought.) „They'd be happy
about your return.“

Sasuke
shook his head. „I am a rogue-nin, a deserter. They'll try to
arrest or even kill me as soon as I arrive at their gates.“

„Not
necessarily. You've defeated Orochimaru, after all, and killed
Itachi. They might welcome you as a hero.“

He's
naive, Sasuke thought. Even with the information from the newspapers
it should be clear that Danzou would not welcome anyone as a hero.

„So
why are you here? Why weren't you celebrated as a hero?“ he
asked.

„I was. It is just – I still have the
kyuubi within me, and the seal almost broke when I fought for Konoha.
It's different for me.“

„It's
not. I've become too dangerous too, and I've already proven that I'm
uncontrollable. Besides, I didn't kill Itachi.“

„But
you told me he's dead, didn't you?“

„He
is, but I did not kill him. He broke down by himself, from some
illness that was the effect of the Mangekyou Sharingan. I only may
have hastened his decline, making him exhaust his chakra reserves
while he was ill.“

It
occured to Sasuke that he might die from the same illness, now that
he too had the Mangekyou Sharingan. He shrugged off the thought: He'd
die before this could happen, during his revenge against this Danzou.

„So
this means that you won't ever be able to complete your revenge“,
Naruto said. „Or are you glad that Itachi's death from an
illness spared you from killing your own brother?“

Suddenly
he enjoyed hurting and provoking Sasuke in his turn. He was now
sitting upright on his bed, so that he was on eye level with Sasuke,
who was still sitting on his chair.

„I
am glad that I did not kill him“, Sasuke answered calmly. „And
I wish that he were still alive.“

Naruto
stared at him – he still remembered how Sasuke had named
„killing a certain guy“ as the most important aim of his
life, and how later he had found out that this certain guy actually
had been Itachi, Sasuke's brother. Taking revenge against him had
been Sasuke's central purpose in life, his guide in all his
decisions, his reason to train as hard as he could, his reason to
leave Konoha – what had happened that suddenly he wished that
Itachi was still alive? „Did you find out that he did not kill
your clan?“

„He
did, but it was not his fault“, Sasuke said. „He did it
on order of the top echelon of the Leaf. All top secret of course.“

Naruto
was as shocked as Sasuke had been when he had first heard it.

„You
don't mean that, do you?“

„I
do.“

„Who
gave you this idea?“

The
previous night, Sasuke had spent quite some time pondering how he
might convince Naruto to support him in his plans, but his thoughts
had centered around the question on how he would persuade Naruto to
agree to his revenge, considering that in spite of everything he was
still loyal to Konoha. He had forgotten that he also had to convince
him that his story, gained from an admittedly not very reliable
source, was actually true.

„The
Akatsuki with the mask told me. If you have ever happened to meet
him.“

„I
have. He's the true leader of Akatsuki, guiding it from the shadows,
using the others as a puppeteer uses his puppets, even Pain or
Nagato, whom we all thought to be the head of the organization. You
don't trust him, do you?“

Sasuke
shrugged. „I don't. But this does not necessarily mean that
what he said was wrong.“ Doubt crept into his heart again. He
tried to push it aside, to remember what in the end had made him
believe Madara.

„Itachi
loved me. He loved me to his end. He rather wanted me to hate him,
for my own safety, and for my peace of mind, than to follow him into
exile and try to persuade him to turn against those who gave this
order, which I would have invariably done if I had known the truth.
Itachi loved me. He was the most wonderful older brother one can
think of. He played with me, he cared for me, he taught me ninjutsu,
he told me of the history of the clan, he covered up for me when I
wanted to do something I was still too young for, he spoke up to my
father in my behalf. He loved me, but then he got accepted into ANBU
and everything turned to the worse. He no longer had time for me, he
got into trouble with my parents, which had never happened before –
he had always been my father's favourite – and was suspected of
having killed his friend.“ He paused. „I guess that the
latter was true. He had to do it to obtain his Mangekyou Sharingan.
It was not his fault – it was the fault of those who ordered
him to do it.“

He
no longer talked to persuade Naruto, he just talked for the sake of
talking, because his heart was full and flew over. „He loved me
to the very end. Even when he fought me, he did not fight in earnest.
He wanted me to defeat him. He couldn't show that he loved me until
the last moments of his life.“

For
a minute, Naruto was silent, not knowing how to react to this story.
He still had his doubts, but it was obvious how much Sasuke wanted to
believe that Itachi loved him. Sasuke was lost in his sorrow for his
brother and his pain about how he had been betrayed, and he could not
even use his fantasies of revenge to ease his pain.

„I
spoke to him“, Naruto finally said, to Sasuke's surprise. „It
must have been a short time before his death. He asked me why I went
to such lengths for your sake. I told him that I cared for you more
than he ever had.“

Sasuke
smiled a little, and Naruto continued.

„Then
he asked me whether I was ready to kill you if this was necessary to
protect Konoha.“

„And
what was your answer?“

„That
I would find a way to protect Konoha without killing you. Itachi
seemed to like this.“

It
was an answer typical for Naruto, Sasuke thought, not ready to admit
that there were situations in life when you simply had to choose.
Still Naruto's words had given him comfort: Naruto, whom he trusted
(more than Madara anyway) had confirmed that Itachi had cared for
him, even near the end of his life.

„He
knew that he was going to die and could no longer care for me“,
he said.

Naruto
suddenly was distracted. For a few days now he had wondered about
Itachi's warning that Sasuke might attack Konoha. It had not made
sense, but it did now, with the information that Itachi had killed
his clan on orders of the Leaf. But did this mean that Sasuke's story
was true? Was it not possible that Itachi had known that the Akatsuki
with the mask (Naruto remembered now how he had used his
space-time-jutsu to be first at the site of Itachi's and Sasuke's
fight) would tell this story to Sasuke, even though it was a lie?

But
Itachi had sounded as if he cared for Konoha, and cared for Sasuke.
Slowly Naruto began to believe that maybe he was not simply the
maniac and criminal he had always thought him to be.

„He
was not evil, as I had believed“, Sasuke continued as if he had
heard Naruto's thoughts. „It was not his true self. His true
self was what he had been before he had joined ANBU, when he was
still proud of the clan, proud that we, as the strongest clan of all,
had been assigned the military police of Konoha. We both dreamt of
becoming policemen then. It was only in ANBU that they turned him
around, telling him that the clan was planning a rebellion and that
he had to kill them in order to prevent a bloodbath, and then perhaps
another ninja world war.“

Just
as Nagato had wanted to prevent a war by killing millions of people
with that forbidden technique created with the bijuu, Naruto thought.

„Itachi
has been deceived“, he said. „You don't prevent a
bloodbath by killing dozens of people. The peace that he tried to
create was nothing but a lie.“

He
reached out to Sasuke to comfort him, and as Sasuke was too far away
he got up and sat down on the edge of the chair. Sasuke made room for
him, still it felt a bit awkward as they were really close now.
Timidly Naruto put his arms around Sasuke (he had to, or he would
fall off the chair.) Sasuke was first all limp and passive but then
he returned the gesture, but his arms felt as if they were of jelly,
just as Suigetsu's.

„He
was only thirteen“, he said. „Still a child, and already
ANBU. They scared him, lied to him, manipulated him, and as he feared
a war more than anything else, he obeyed.“

„But
how could he?“ Naruto replied. „Thrusting you all in
loneliness and despair. He loved you, didn't he?“

Tears
were now running down Sasuke's face, and he was glad that Naruto,
still holding him in embrace, could not see them. He was barely in
control of his voice now, but still he could speak: „He did
love me. He let me live – that was the compromise he could
achieve.“

„They
wanted him to kill you too?“

Naruto
tightened his embrace – he needed to feel that Sasuke was with
him, that his heart was beating, that his belly was moving with his
breath. Killing Sasuke – not now, but when he had been a child,
ripping him out of his life, not only out of his future but also out
of his past. An abyss opened beneath his feet – he would have
never become friends with Sasuke, he would never have felt the joy of
being acknowledged by him, of Sasuke regarding him not as a monster
but as a human being. He'd never have become the person he was now.
The room was shaking, and suddenly it was Sasuke who held him and not
the other way round.

„But
you were all little then“, he said. „Just seven.“

„I
was still a member of the clan“, Sasuke replied, and silently
he finished the sentence: and might have grown up to avenge them. „I
was not even the youngest child.“

As
Naruto pondered these words, realization sank in. The village he had
grown up in, the village of his friends and all his precious people,
the village he had fought for – they had been ready to order
the murder of a whole clan, including the children.

„I
still can't believe that the Sandaime consented to this“, he
said. „Don't you remember him? He seemed such a gentle friendly
old man.“

„He
was outvoted by Danzou and the two councillors. Itachi entrusted me
to him when he had to leave after the massacre – he had been
chosen as scapegoat for their crime, taking all the blame upon
himself, and then living with Akatsuki as their spy until his death.
He didn't gain anything from what he did, only a short miserable
life. They sacrificed him as they had sacrificed the rest of the
clan, and as they would have sacrificed me – no happy end for
him.“

Danzou
again, Naruto thought. Nagato's tale came to his mind, how he had
been driven into despair by Danzou's betrayal, and then how Sai had
grown up in Root, being forced to abandon all his emotions. He was
ready to believe that he was capable of anything.

„Danzou
will have to pay“, he said. „I promise you: When I am
Hokage I will make him pay for what he did to you – and to your
brother.“

„You
will have to make him pay in order to become Hokage“, Sasuke
said, gently dissolving the embrace, caressing Naruto's shoulders
while he did it, to make sure that he was not rejecting him but just
no longer needed to be held. He felt weak and exhausted, but also
strangely light-hearted: Being the first to ever do so, Naruto had
stepped boldly into the circle of sorrow and despair Sasuke had been
living in since the massacre, instead of telling him to leave it or
simply remaining otuside and leaving him alone.

„Whatever“,
Naruto said. „Make him pay, become Hokage, see that the truth
gets known and make you return as a hero of the Leaf. And your
brother“ – he could not force himself to promise that he
would be honoured as a hero too, as he still disapproved of what he
had done. „The truth shall be told about him too, and he shall
be mourned appropriately.“

It
was a weird feeling, raising his heart and scaring him at the same
time: He'd have to do everything to become Hokage, not one day in the
future, but as soon as possible, as now Konoha was ruled by a
criminal and a murderer, and not just a militaristic hardliner, as he
had previously thought. It could not remain like this.

Sasuke
was content, and tired from the emotional uproar. He had not intended
to tell Naruto about the massacre – not now at least, but only
after some careful planning and deciding of what he wanted to tell
and what not, and certainly he had not intended to get as emotional
as he had, but all in all, he had gained more than he could have
hoped for. They'd discuss the details of how to achieve their aims
later, as he was exhausted now, and as Naruto had to work – it
was Friday and his shift started early. Sasuke would not join him
this evening – he did not feel like being among people. He
asked Naruto for something to read: No newspapers, but something
light and entertaining.

Naruto
gave him the Gutsy Ninja. It felt strange, giving Sasuke such
a personal book, but he did not have any other. He left Sasuke curled
up on his bed, reading.

A/N:

Sneakyfox:
Thanks again for your review! Well, now they are stuck in town for
another four weeks... Concerning Sasuke's plans to make Naruto join
his team – you will see soon what happens to them.
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The Blessed Realm