Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Bonds That Never Break	By : Keth Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 4801 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters and I make no money from writing this fanfiction.

Chapter List
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- 3
- 4
Updated Author's Note!: Looking back at this chapter I didn't realize just how insanely, rediculously long it was. I'm really sorry about that, I didn't notice it was that crazy friggin long at the time: 32,000 words! Seriously! So I'm working on splitting it into two chapters so it's not so massivly long and tough to read, while simultaniously writting the next chapter and going back and rewritting the previous chapters (they aren't exactly to my liking yet) so it may take a while before I can update again, so sorry for the inconnveniance and annoyance to any readers.

Author's Note: Sorry for the super long chapter, but I had a tough time deciding where to cut it off and I couldn't find a good place so I kept it as one big chapter because everything here fits with the theme of this chapter in my opinion. I might eventually come back and split this into two chapters so it's easier to read, but for now it's staying as it is, so thanks for bearing with for anyone who reads this!
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Chapter 3: Strength of Feelings and Feelings of Strength
“Can you believe that little Uzumaki loser got into the Chunin Exam finals?” Sasuke overheard a bulky bearded man a little ways down the street loudly ask the compatriot standing next to him as Sasuke casually strolled along on his customary evening walk. “Why’d they even let that monster kid compete in the first place?” he shouted angrily, uncaring of who heard his complaints. The two men were both swaying slightly in place, wet eyed and lush faced; they were obviously drunk, despite the sun not have even set yet. Losers with nothing better to do than get drunk during the day while they bitch and moan, Sasuke viciously labeled the pair in his mind as he eyed the two rough looking men talking animatedly outside the entrance of a bar further down the road.
“I know what you mean,” the other one, a short, thin man covered in scars, replied with a slight drunken slur, nodding in agreement with his friend’s sentiments. “The prelims must have been really easy this year for a screw up like him to get in. I’m still surprised they even let him become a genin in the first place. I heard he failed the Academy graduation exam a bunch of times. Ah well, there’s no way that kid can beat Neji anyways. Should be pretty fun to see him get trashed!” he chuckled cruelly. “He’ll be done for in 30 seconds flat, I guarantee it! Maybe getting knocked down a few pegs will actually get him to give up on being a ninja and make him crawl back into the corner where he belongs.”
Jeez, it’s easy to talk when you don’t know shit about what you're saying, Sasuke angrily thought as he passed by the two men and they continued to discuss the exam finals, moving on from Naruto’s participation in the event to which contestant they had bets on to win the whole tournament. The fact that one of the men, the big bearded one, had placed a large wager on Sasuke to win meant nothing to him; Sasuke had no interest in their opinion of him, or anyone’s opinion of his ability or actions for that matter. He didn’t seek strength for fame or personal glory, nor did he do it to gain acceptance like Naruto did. He simply needed strength in order to hunt down and kill that monster known as Itachi Uchiha, a man of a terrifying, almost unbelievable level of power. That had been his life since that same monster had slaughtered everyone Sasuke had cared about and morphed his shape from the beloved and admired older brother to the despised butcher and destroyer, changing his colors like a deceptive, bloodthirsty chameleon. What these two drunk morons thought of him meant even less than what an ant thought of him to Sasuke. Their insults thrown at Naruto were a different matter though. That he did mind for some reason he wasn’t so sure of himself.
Sasuke was almost tempted to tell them off, but he figured it would have been a pointless gesture trying to correct a pair of drunken fools, so he merely glared daggers at the two in a silent act of comeuppance as he passed by them. It was little more than a meaningless act of youthful defiance that did them no real harm, but Sasuke wanted to do it anyways; he had no tolerance for this kind of pointless badmouthing. They didn’t know Naruto like he did, they never saw the boy work his ass off time and time again to the point of physical exhaustion, striving to be better than he was. They had no idea just how hard he tried to gain the approval of people just like themselves, people who either hated him and mocked him or ignored his existence completely. Why Naruto wanted acknowledgment from worthless pieces of shit like these was entirely beyond Sasuke. Nevertheless, Sasuke committed to his childish, almost Naruto like solution and gave the two men the best look of disapproving anger he could muster. If the drunks even noticed the scowl Sasuke threw their way they choose not to react and continued loudly chatting on, making themselves a nuisance of the whole busy street. They were probably too drunk to even realize one of the contestants they were speaking about had passed right by them.
Unfortunately for Naruto, this wasn’t the first set of disparaging remarks Sasuke had heard uttered about his partner since he had been announced as a contestant in the finals. Though to be honest, Sasuke didn’t know if people were speaking ill of Naruto more these days because the unexpected news had made him a hot topic for discussion-or ridicule to be more accurate-or if Sasuke had simply become more aware of something he would have typically ignored completely. After some consideration, Sasuke decided it must have been the latter. It made sense after all, considering how desperate Naruto was for attention and acknowledgement. Sasuke tended to ignore anything and everything that didn’t relate to gaining strength for himself; interaction with other people was, until recently, not an important or needed experience for him. But now that he had a team things had changed somewhat. He had been forced to open up, even if it was just slightly, to accommodate his new partners Sakura and Naruto. In doing so Sasuke found himself learning about them, their likes and dislikes, their personality quirks, their techniques and methods in battle. He had been aware of Naruto for a long time, ever since their Academy days, but it was only in getting paired with him that Sasuke realized just how truly isolated Naruto was in the village. It was any wonder he was so desperate to be liked, for people to notice him. In any case, Sasuke did his best to ignore the venomous words pouring from the villagers’ mouths about his comrade. Their uncaring bitterness towards someone they didn't understand at all upset Sasuke, but he tried his best to not let it faze him; getting angry at them on Naruto’s behalf wouldn't fix anything, and would more than likely just cause Naruto to yell at him for butting in on something that wasn’t his business.
Though he never would have said so to the moron in questions face, Sasuke felt a growing sympathy for Naruto considering all the ridiculous crap he had to deal with from the villagers. Having everyone write him out before he even had a chance to explain himself or make an attempt must have been a beyond frustrating experience. The thought that Naruto had so few people that supported him, let alone to even acknowledge his existence or to simply be kind to him, left Sasuke feeling oddly dispirited. More and more over the months as they spent time both on and off missions together, he found himself feeling sorry for the boy, and as time passed on Sasuke also found himself wanting to support Naruto, even if only in a small manner. So he resolved to be the best rival he could for Naruto, to give him at least one person who treated the boy normally, without prejudice or judgment. That was all Sasuke could think to do for him.
Naruto may have been brash, thickheaded, noisy, and stubborn, but Sasuke didn’t exactly dislike him, despite those numerous annoyances. There was a certain something he couldn’t quite explain about the blond ninja that inexorably drew Sasuke to him. He found his teammate to be… interesting. At the very least, the time he spent with Naruto was never boring. He was cheery, excitable, and always livened up a situation with his mouthy attitude and do or die ways. Competing with Naruto always gave Sasuke a rush of excitement that very few things in life did for him anymore.
Sasuke found Naruto’s rivalry to be a good thing for himself as well; Naruto's ceaseless desire to grow and learn and beat Sasuke at every available juncture also pushed Sasuke to stay ahead of his rival. As Naruto raced to catch up with him, Sasuke worked to maintain his edge in their endless competition. It wasn’t out of hatred or bitterness though; if he were to be truthful with himself, Sasuke actually liked the way Naruto looked at him, with those envious yet admiring eyes that sought to surpass him and prove his own worth. Deep down Sasuke thoroughly enjoyed their rivalry and believed it brought out the best in both of them; Naruto tried harder than he ever did while seeking to one up Sasuke, and Sasuke pushed himself to his limits in response. Neither of them would have admitted it to the other, but their rivalry that had sprouted from an initial mutual dislike had now grown into a two way sense of admiration and understanding between them. Naruto was the only person Sasuke felt comfortable enough with to lower his guard even the slightest bit; their secret meet ups at night more than proved proved that.
Sasuke sighed to himself in frustration. He continued to walk slowly throughout the town with no particular destination in mind, a ritual he had participated in for as long as he could remember. Whenever he needed to clear his mind of distractions or felt he was getting too emotional, brimming with the feelings he kept bottled up inside which occasionally threatened to overflow like a overfull tea cup, Sasuke found that taking a leisurely stroll helped him to calm down and sort things out in his head. It was the only weakness he allowed himself, the only moments where he let himself feel human again and not just a weapon brought into this world for the sole purpose of striking down Itachi. During these ramblings he thought about many things he would have never thought otherwise, such as those irritating, more positive feelings on Naruto, things that most of the time were only distractions that weakened his resolve, things that he would have prefered not to think about. It was only when he wandered the village as crowds of people went on their way home to prepare dinner or groups of friends started on their ways to go out drinking together at bars and the sun set low in the sky, casting an orange shadow on everything as the cicadas chirped loudly in the trees that he let himself be Sasuke the individual before being a son of the Uchiha clan.
He should have been thinking about his training at the moment, especially considering how he wasn’t finished perfecting his new technique yet, but for some reason, today Naruto’s dumb grinning face just kept popping into his mind no matter what he did, refusing to allow him to focus. After a number of only semi-successful attempts at using his new jutsu, Kakashi had allowed Sasuke to take the rest of the evening off to relax and recoup after the long weeks of difficult training. Sasuke had tried to protest, but his teacher had insisted. It wasn’t like he was a fool; Sasuke knew being worn out would only hurt his chances in the competition, but he also understood how dangerous an enemy Gaara was, even for someone like himself. He would need all the practice he could get in order to win. Even after much fruitless arguing between them Kakashi still wouldn’t relent, so Sasuke finally begrudgingly gave in and went out for a long walk to smooth out his flustered emotions. Naruto kept appearing in his thoughts as he strolled the streets, even though Sasuke hadn’t intended to think of him.
It had been nearly a month since they had last met up or spoken to each other. Sasuke hadn’t visited Naruto’s house late at night in quite a while, ever since the last time when he reacted badly to how unexpectedly heated things were becoming and ran away, way back before the Chunin Exams had even started. Then when that occasion was added together with what they had done in the Forest of Death things probably would have been very awkward between them. The memory of the two of them standing side by side, the raspy breaths they each let out as they both were swept away by lust, the feeling of Naruto’s hand tightly gripped around his penis and his own hand wrapped around Naruto's throbbing member as they jerked each other off caused Sasuke to flush with embarrassment and shame; he still couldn’t believe that he had done something like that. There was no way he could see Naruto again without those images flashing into his mind now.
Even so, he did wish to see his teammate, even if only for a little while; Sasuke felt oddly bored without the boisterous ninja around to lighten the mood. He could definitely use someone to talk to right now, someone to spend a few stress free hours with and really relax for the first time in a month. Sasuke could never ask something like that of Kakashi out of pure pride and Sakura would probably have been more interested in talking about him rather than talking with him. The only other person he could hang out with was that stupid loser. After all, who else did Sasuke have in his life besides them? Those three were the only people in the world he had to depend on at all.
Sasuke also found himself curious how Naruto’s training was going along. Hopefully the boy did more than pig out on ramen and nap the days away; Sasuke would be sorely disappointed if Naruto didn’t give him a good challenge when they fought. It was so strange how much Sasuke suddenly desired Naruto’s presence; when you got used to someone being around day after day and then suddenly they vanished things tended to get boring without them. He wouldn’t have liked to admit it to anyone, but Sasuke was a creature of habit who relied on strict schedules and timetables in his daily life. It sorely bothered him when wrenches were thrown into his plans. Day after day spent with Naruto and now he was suddenly gone; it felt like something was missing. For better or worse, Naruto was part of his everyday life now and his absence was definitely felt.
***
The Chunin Exam finals were only a few days away now. The day after tomorrow. It seemed so close, but at the same time it seemed so far away Naruto wondered if it would ever arrive. The minutes seemed to tick by so slowly to Naruto, time crawling at a snail's pace. The tension built inside him like a lake of water being held back by a dam threatening to burst at any moment. He had never been very good at waiting or being patient, and having to wait a whole month to make his spectacular debut was almost painful. Naruto got nervous butterflies flapping around in his stomach just thinking about fighting in front of so many people, so many of those who quietly cursed him and despised his existence. He had no choice; he had to win. There was no other option for him, it was the only way he could gain the respect and acknowledgement he desired so much. The thought of fighting in front of so many people only added to Naruto’s irritated anticipation as he waited for the moment to finally arrive.
Mixed in with that apprehension, however, was a great deal of excitement; finally he would be able to show everyone just how strong he really was. His training with that perverted sage Jiraiya had given him a superb boost of confidence and ability. Not only did he feel stronger than he had before, he was more comfortable with his own strength level. Naruto had never thought of himself as weaker than Sasuke, but after so many times seeing the smug boy perform jutsu so expertly and perfectly while he himself struggled to learn new techniques and use them ably, well it did leave a little seed of doubt inside. But with his new training he had refused to let that seed grow any longer. Naruto now had become what he had felt he always should have been from the start; a ninja able to stand on equal terms with Sasuke. All his hard work and perseverance thus far, from his very first fights in the Land of Waves to the hellish battles for survival in the Forest of Death to his unexpected victory over Kiba in the prelims, all of these had set him on this path and prepared him for what was to come. The anticipation of winning another battle was practically killing him.
Despite this, Naruto couldn’t help but worry about a number of things; that creepy looking guy Gaara from the Sand Village and his attempt to kill Lee as the wounded boy slept in the hospital, just how on earth he was going to beat Neji, who was regarded as the strongest rookie in the whole Leaf Village, and the fact that Sasuke had all but disappeared over the past month. Naruto had yet to see him even once since they had begun their individual training regimens. He was too busy most of the time to think about how Sasuke was doing, but every now and then Sasuke slipped into his thoughts during the little free time he had left and it still concerned Naruto that hadn’t seen the boy.
The fact was Naruto wanted to see Sasuke more than anyone else at the moment. Mostly to rub his new power in his stupid cocky face, but it was a little lonely without his team around him to spend the days with. Iruka and his teammates were pretty much the only people Naruto felt he could really trust. Nearly everyone else acted ambivalent, hateful, or uncaring towards him. There were a few exceptions, like the chef at Ichiraku Ramen, the pervy sage Jiraiya, the Third Hokage, and some of the other genin rookies, but they weren’t people Naruto felt he could personally place his faith in, people who stood next to Naruto and made him feel like he was somebody. Simply put, they weren’t friends. Maybe they could be someday, but right now only Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura, and-despite how they acted together-Sasuke as well had gained that level of trust with Naruto. It was only natural for Naruto to be wary of trusting others; there had never been anyone for him to place his faith in before. It was hard to truly trust people when you grew up isolated and alone, unknowing of how to interact well with others and shunned by society. Anyways, the only person Naruto had spent the past month with was Jiraiya, making him feel a bit cut off from the rest of the world. Not being around the few friends that he had made Naruto feel like he had when he was a small kid and he had been truly alone, without anyone at all who cared.
As Naruto walked down the street heading home from a long, tiring day of training, he spotted a familiar visage. As if his thoughts had summoned him from thin air, when Naruto took a closer look ahead down the street he spotted Sasuke off in the distance, staring down at his feet as he slowly meandered along the side of the road. Ah, there’s Sasuke. Yeah, that’s definitely him. I’d recognize that duck-butt haircut anywhere.
“Sasuke!” Naruto called out excitedly, causing the black haired boy to quickly jerk his head up as if startled to see who had dared to call out his name and unwillingly shake from his deep thought. Naruto ran up to greet him with a big smile on his face. “I’d expected you to still be training right now considering what a stubborn bastard you are. What are you doing out here?” It probably came off as too cheery, but Naruto was genuinely happy to see his rival for the first time in a month, so it was difficult to hide his excitement. It just felt weird when they weren't around each other to compete and talk trash to the other for so long.
“...Just walking,” Sasuke replied in a strangely mellow tone, returning to staring at his feet as he continued to aimlessly stroll down the road. Naruto kept pace along beside him, slinging his arms behind his head with his elbows poking out into the air as he stuck close to Sasuke.
“Walking, huh?” Naruto asked, somewhat thrown off by Sasuke’s unexpectedly passive response. Does Sasuke like to walk? What kind of weird hobby is that? ...Wait, now’s my chance! “Do you like to go walking?” he impulsively asked. It sounded like a dumb question when he said it out loud, but Naruto remembered Kakashi’s talk about discussing things with people you had feelings for, how getting to know people was important to getting closer to them. Not that he actually had feelings for Sasuke. It was just that when he thought about it, maybe this was Naruto’s chance to try to find out more about Sasuke. Maybe they could actually find something they liked about each other and move past their bitter rivalry.
“Yeah. Helps me think…” Sasuke said softly without looking up at Naruto as he still wandered at a slow pace down the street, bringing Naruto tagging along with him like a baby duck trailing behind its mother struggling to keep up and groups of people quickly passed by the sluggish pair on their way home or out for a night of fun and drinking. Naruto almost had to force himself to walk this slow; he wasn’t used to being so meditative and calm. If he had someplace to be he wanted to get there in a flash.
“I see...” Naruto replied, not knowing exactly what to say in return. A long period of silence then developed as they walked side by side, Sasuke unwilling to talk and Naruto not knowing how to start a conversation with him. Crap! Well that didn’t work, Naruto thought to himself, frustrated at his failed efforts.
“Uummmmm… S-so how’s your training going?” Naruto finally spoke up and broke the long awkward silence between them, hoping he had landed on a good topic for discussion.
“Good,” Sasuke replied simply, again avoiding any long answers.
“My training’s going great! I’ve gotten way stronger, you know. I’m definitely going to beat Neji, so you have to beat Gaara…” Naruto trailed off, trying not to sound as eager as he really was for a match against Sasuke.
Sasuke finally lifted his head back up from his shoes-which must have been very interesting considering how much he had been staring down at them-and looked at Naruto dead on. They both suddenly stopped in place as an unexpected sense of tension rose out of the strange situation. Sasuke’s formerly emotionless features were now twisted into a small, almost invisible smile as he stared directly into Naruto’s eyes. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said, nodding slightly. Naruto knew something about him was different though. He didn’t seem to be acting like the usual Sasuke did. Something seemed to be weighing him down, keeping from being like he normally was. His odd mood concerned Naruto a little; was even the highly talented Sasuke Uchiha worried about the outcome of the Chunin Exams? Or was something else bothering him entirely, something he wanted to keep from the awareness of others? Naruto wanted to ask him, but couldn’t find the right words to bring it up without sounding like he was prying into Sasuke’s private life, which would likely get him nothing more than a snub accompanied by some insults.
Still, even considering Sasuke’s somewhat out of character words and manner, Naruto was pleased with finally drawing him into conversation. Or at least getting him to say more than two words. Yes! Finally some results! he silently cheered himself on. “You know, I’ve gotten so strong that I might even beat you! Actually, I’m definitely going to defeat you! And when I do win I bet you’ll get so frustrated that you’ll cry. If you ask me nicely I might even consider teaching you some of my secrets,” Naruto said with a mirthful confident chuckle. Before Sasuke could make a snappy comeback Naruto loudly cleared his throat and attempted his best Sasuke impersonation, scrunching his face into a comical overly glum scowl and belting out in a lower tone of voice, “Naruto, just how did you get so strong? I’m sorry I’ve been a big jerk all this time. You’re so cool, let’s be best buddies.”
“We’ll see about that, idiot,” Sasuke laughed derisively at Naruto, shaking his head in annoyance. “Don’t get your hopes up, there’s no way a loser like you could ever compare to me.” He then paralleled Naruto by impersonating him as well, donning an obviously fake cheesy grin as he spoke in a more rapid, excited manner than his normal speaking voice, “Oh Sasuke, I’m such a loser. Why did I ever think I could best you in battle? I’m sorry I ever doubted your greatness, so please be my friend and teach me how not to be an idiot, dattebayo!”
His pensive muteness was gone and he had returned to the normal bastard Sasuke after their exchange of mocking comments. Had his previous sullen state been just an illusion after all? Perhaps Naruto just read his mood wrong; it wasn’t like he understood Sasuke all that well after all. As much as Naruto wanted to believe that, something kept bugging him. That expression that Sasuke had looked at him with, it had seemed almost… sad. An emotion Naruto had never seen from Sasuke, like he was filled up with things he desperately wanted to say, but didn’t know how to even begin to. No, it must have been a mistake. I’m just tired, I’m probably seeing things, Naruto assured himself. Sasuke actually being sad was just too out there of a theory to consider.
“Argh, shut up shut up! I’ll show you!” Naruto yelled out as the pair began walking again, causing a few bystanders to look their way in confusion. Even though Sasuke was insulting him, Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little at Sasuke’s impersonation of him; it was very rare for Sasuke to do anything playful like that. Even more surprising, as Naruto happily laughed, Sasuke started to chuckle as well, though he seemed to be trying his hardest to hold it back. His suppressed laughter came out as a sort of snorting cough like sound, desperate as he was to maintain his cool air. But try as he might, Sasuke’s shroud of detachment fell apart and he began to earnestly laugh along with Naruto. He just couldn’t hold it in anymore, and for the first time in many years Sasuke allowed himself one brief moment of fun to act stupid with a friend like a normal thirteen year old boy. Something about seeing Naruto smile and laugh like a carefree moron made Sasuke want to join in, and the opposite was true as well; seeing the bitter and grumpy Sasuke actually enjoy himself for once left a pleasant feeling in Naruto’s heart.
Sasuke’s small quiet laughs underlined Naruto’s loud boisterous ones that echoed through the streets, a concert of amusement. The sight of the monster boy Naruto so publicly enjoying himself drew a number of glares from passersby, mostly those who hated him, but Naruto couldn’t care less at the moment; Sasuke had dropped his guard and allowed Naruto a peek inside, perhaps signifying that they had finally built up a little trust between them. People could stare and curse him for being annoying all they wanted; this was everything Naruto had ever wanted, to just spend time being stupid with someone who could be considered a friend, and he wouldn’t let them ruin his long awaited moment of happiness.
The boys’ idiotic laughter was interrupted by a long, remarkably loud gurgling noise coming from Naruto’s stomach. The sound seemed to split the air and dissolve their joy like a booming roll of thunder.
“Ehehehe,” he laughed sheepishly, patting his stomach as if to quiet down the insatiable monster that was his stomach.
“Jeez, even your stomach is loud and annoying,” Sasuke commented and rolled his eyes. It was such a typically Naruto like thing to happen he wasn't surprised in the least.
“Screw you! I didn’t have lunch today so I’m starving!” Naruto paused for a second to think then asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
“I was just about to once I got home,” Sasuke replied, expecting precisely where this train of thought was headed. Naruto talking about food meant only one thing.
“Hey hey, if you aren’t too busy being a big jerk d’you want to come grab some ramen with me?” Naruto asked nonchalantly, pretending it made no difference to him either way.
“...I suppose I could grace you with my presence,” Sasuke said with an artificial aloofness, both of them completely avoiding their mutual feelings of wanting to see each other and spend time together after their long separation, too prideful and stubborn to admit to those feelings.
“Aw, whatever you stuck up dick,” Naruto replied, waving him off with false irritation. “Anyways... You're paying, right?” he giggled expectantly with a pleading grin. The only thing he seemed to love more than eating ramen was having other people pay for his ramen. And maybe pissing of Sasuke came pretty close too.
“No way,” Sasuke refuted with a glare. He knew just how much Naruto could eat. He wasn’t going to foot the bill just so the idiot could gorge himself.
“Ugh! Fine!” Naruto shouted dramatically. “I’ll pay for this time, but you have to swear to pay for us next time or so help me!” Naruto threatened, shaking an angry fist at Sasuke.
“Whatever,” the black haired boy sighed noncommittally, pretending he hadn’t heard Naruto’s request, but he did make a mental note to bring extra money with him next time he got some down time. ‘Swear to pay of us next time or so help me’ was pretty much like saying ‘Let’s eat together again sometime,’ in Naruto language, a confusing, rapid, nonsensical dialect spoken by one particular blond idiot living in the Hidden Leaf Village. Naruto was so evasive and contradictory when he spoke that it got on Sasuke’s nerves, but as he thought of that Sasuke realized he wasn’t exactly one to talk since he was pretty much the same way.
Naruto took out a fat, green frog shaped wallet stuffed with a treasure trove of bills and coins, a bright smile appearing on his face as he glanced at all that money.
“Ah, my froggy is so cute!” Naruto cooed over the wallet, nuzzling it against his cheek affectionately. The bizarre sight completely stupefied Sasuke; it contrasted so much with the usual tough guy act that Naruto put on, that mouthy attitude that he loved to annoy Sasuke so much with. Watching this made Sasuke wonder just what other hidden sides Naruto had to himself, what things did he keep hidden from his fellow Team 7 members, what kind of things did he keep buried down so deep that even he would like to pretend they didn't exist. What kind of person was Naruto really, when separated from all posturing and pretending?
***
“...Do you usually have dinner here?” Sasuke inquired as he and Naruto sat down at the counter of the Ichiraku Ramen shop and promptly ordered their meals.
“Huh? Oh, no I usually make something at home for dinner and breakfast. But I do try to have lunch here every day that I can! I really miss it when we’re out on missions,” Naruto explained, sounding far more lovelorn than he should have when talking about food.
Sasuke knew that feeling, what it was to eating at an empty dinner table, all too well. It’s not like there was anyone waiting for him at his house either, preparing a hot meal to sit down with and to ask him how his day was or what jutsu he had learned or how his recent mission had gone while they laughed and chatted as they ate together. It was just a big dark house filled with memories of people long since gone. Having a meal together with someone, even if it was that dimwit Naruto, was a nice, but an all too bittersweet, nostalgic experience.
The chef came around from the back of the restaurant and placed two steaming bowls of ramen down on the counter, one in front of each boy. Naruto rubbed his hands together greedily as his eyes glimmered and sparkled in delight like he had just set his sight on a long lost lover or something. A trail of drool dripped from the corner of his mouth in famished anticipation. “Time to eat!” he cried out with glee.
They didn’t speak much to each other much beyond small pointless chatter, too focused on their meals to bother, but even without any important conversation going on eating with someone was still better than eating all alone in their empty houses.
Taking a sideways look over at Naruto while the blond kid merrily chowed down, Sasuke was relieved he had refused to pay for his meal; in the time it had taken for him to finish just one of the considerably big bowls the amazing black hole that was Naruto’s stomach had managed to devour three whole bowls already and he was well on his way to finishing his fourth.
That’s… actually kind of impressive, Sasuke remarked, watching Naruto slurp down more and more food, almost mesmerized as the food vanished into thin air so quickly. It’s a good thing you’re so energetic and you have such a high metabolism or else you would be as big as a house, he thought, smiling slightly at the imagined image of a plump, round Naruto rolling into a group of enemies and knocking them down like a bowling ball crashing into pins.
As the chef came back to set down Sasuke’s second bowl and the glutton Naruto’s fifth down on the table Sasuke noticed the stark difference in appearance between their meals; Sasuke had selected a nice blending of noodles, meat, and vegetables good for both energy and health. Naruto’s bowl on the other hand was brimming almost entirely with meat, the few vegetables actually present smothered under a mountain of pork. In a weird sort of way the two opposite meals ideally represented their vastly contrasting personalities.
Taking it upon himself to see that Naruto got a properly balanced meal for once, Sasuke took a bundle of cabbage from his own ramen with his chopsticks and nonchalantly placed it atop the mountain of meat in Naruto’s dish before going back to eating his own noodles as if he had done nothing at all.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Naruto asked, confused at Sasuke’s actions.
“You need more vegetables,” Sasuke replied plainly, his expression not changing at all, but inside he was sorely embarrassed with what he had just done.
“Awww, c’mon, not you too!” Naruto howled at Sasuke, irritated with his obnoxious display of concern. “Sakura’s always going on and on about how I should eat more vegetables. Kakashi-sensei too! You guys should just butt out and let me eat what I want!”
“Maintaining a healthy diet is part of your job as a ninja, stupid. No wonder you’re so useless on missions, all you do is pig out on ramen,” Sasuke spouted out venomously in return.
“What was that you bastard!? So you’re saying you actually like eating this stuff?!” Naruto shouted with surprise, springing up from his seat and pointing down at the cabbage like it were some sort of mutant abomination defiling his sacred food.
“Of course I do,” Sasuke said with a haughty air about him, “but then again, I’m not a stupid useless loser who can’t even eat properly.”
“Grrr,” Naruto growled at Sasuke as the obnoxious boy continued to steadily, methodically eat his own food, paying Naruto no mind. Normally he would have wanted to start a fight with Sasuke for his offensive comments, but Naruto restrained himself all he could; after all, he was trying to get to a better, more stable place in his relationship with Sasuke. Beating his ass would do no good in that department. Besides that though, Naruto didn’t want to cause a commotion or end up wrecking anything here at Ichiraku Ramen, this most holy and wonderful of places. This place was very important to Naruto; he was actually treated with dignity here, like he wasn’t the Nine Tailed Fox but just any other customer coming for delicious food. Teuchi, the chef, and his daughter Ayame didn’t fear or ignore Naruto, making them some of the very few people in the village who treated Naruto like he was actually human. Their kindness and normalness towards him helped to get Naruto through some of the darkest times of his life, something he was eternally grateful for.
Naruto reluctantly withheld his rage, resisting his fiery urge to deck Sasuke, and sat back down in his seat. He glared down at those unappetizing green vegetables making a mockery of him, as if treating them with his withering gaze would cause them to flee in terror. But no, he just had to eat them no matter what! If Sasuke could stomach this junk then so could he! He wouldn’t let Sasuke make him into a laughingstock who couldn’t even eat the same things Sasuke did let alone equal him in a fight. It was just food after all! Naruto timidly reached out his pair of chopsticks and poked at the cabbage like it were some sort of strange lab experiment, then ever so slowly picked up one of the leaves and placed it in his mouth, crunching down.
“Bleh. Tastes like leaves,” he muttered with a disgusted look on his face, but continued eating the cabbage pieces Sasuke put in his bowl without too many more complaints.
As Sasuke amused himself with the sight of Naruto chewing on the vegetables with a grimace looking more like he were eating poison than food, two young men both roughly around 18 or 19 years of age walked into the stall, only to stop dead in their tracks once they saw Naruto sitting there enjoying his meal-minus the leafy greens of course.
“Ugh, he’s here,” one of the teens, the shorter of the pair with a head of shaggy brown hair, complained in disgust, looking down at Naruto like he were nothing more than a cockroach or spider or some other creepy crawler dirtying up the restaurant with his filthy presence.
From the time Sasuke and Naruto had entered the shop the cicadas that had been noisy chirping away in the trees had since ceased their chatter and the yellowish lights had flickered on in windows across town as the sun crested behind a hill and vanished. Sasuke would have expected a dinner rush of hungry patrons to be here by now as ninja getting off duty came looking for a good meal, but strangely the two young genin were the only customers in the otherwise empty place until this pair of older teens had walked in. It was only when Sasuke heard the boy's scoff of revulsion at Naruto's mere presence in the building that he realized just why the restaurant was so empty when it normally should have been packed with famished ninjas: it was because Naruto was eating here right now. No one would want to come here right now if it meant sitting near the shame of the village, that monster boy loathed by all. This fact hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks; he knew Naruto wasn't a welcome presence anywhere around town-even when they were little kids way back before they had been teamed up he had known that much-but he had never completely understood until now just how far people would go out of their way to avoid and isolate Naruto.
“Damn. I suggested we get ramen because it sounded good and he’s usually not here around this time, but I didn't know he was gonna be around. You wanna still eat here?” the other young man, taller than his friend with dirty blond hair that was cropped short, asked the brown haired guy, a sickened look on his face while he spoke.
“No way, man, I can’t sit in there with him!" brown hair exclaimed. "Dude this sucks, I was really looking forward to getting some food after that mission!”
“I know what you mean. Let’s just wait until he leaves to go in, yeah? He creeps me out big time. I swear, those whisker marks on his face make him look like a demon or something,” blondie said shivering in disgust.
“Ha ha, I don’t know about that, but he is certainly weird. My mom says he causes a lot of trouble for everyone for no reason so it’s just best to ignore him and stay away. She also told me the little bastard set a trap that dumped a bucket full of ice water on her friends husband a few months back.”
“Jeez, why does the Hokage make us put up with him?” brown hair asked, shaking his head, unable to understand. “I get what your mom means, but it’s kinda hard to ignore the little freak when he’s in everyone's face all the time,” the shorter boy said, causing them both to laugh as if he had said a particularly funny joke. Once they had gotten their fill of amusement badmouthing Naruto they shifted to other topics and left the stall, standing just outside the wide entryway chatting loudly-still within hearing distance incase they had more cruel words to fling Naruto’s way-as they waited for the inconveniencing target of their persecution leave.
Sasuke kept his eyes stealthily glued on Naruto the entire time the teenagers were spewing their bile while pretending he wasn’t there, unable to look away from his friends profile in this heartbreaking moment. At one point in their tirade against him, Naruto's hands froze as he stared empty eyed down at his now slightly diminished mountain of food, chopsticks halting from their formerly rapid pace of shoving food into his mouth before the mean spirited young men had arrived. In that moment a faint flash of emotion came across Naruto's face and then was gone in an instant as Naruto hid it away and went back to eating his food pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
But despite Naruto's efforts to dispel it, Sasuke had seen that flicker of emotion. His eyes were well adjusted to paying attention to the finest, tiniest of details, even without his sight enhancing Sharingan active. It was a brief glimpse, only a small second that it showed on his face before Naruto masked it away, but Sasuke definitely saw it: hurt. Sadness. Deep and unyielding loneliness. The emotions Sasuke knew must have been deeply rooted in Naruto’s heart, but those same which he tried to hide the most. They weren't secret to Sasuke, though. He understood Naruto well enough to see through the mask he put up. Besides, Sasuke had his own experience with hiding his own most deeply rooted and bitter feelings. He could see them plainly in Naruto despite the blond’s efforts to hide them away, so perhaps Naruto could clearly see those feelings in Sasuke as well. Maybe the reason they acted the way the way they did with each other was because they inherently understood each other's feelings without having to try all that hard.
This happens all the time to you wherever you go, doesn’t it? When people aren’t ignoring you completely they're being pointlessly awful to you, Sasuke thought sullenly, a rare honestly and completely considerate look in his eyes as he secretly watched Naruto continue to eat from out of the corner of his eye. Naruto had never done anything so bad as to warrant this kind of needlessly cruel treatment. Why did people go out of their way just to make a young boy feel even worse about himself than he already did? Why couldn’t anyone just be nice to him even once? ...I should say something to him. But no matter how much he thought, Sasuke couldn’t come up with any comforting words to say to Naruto. What could he possibly say that wouldn’t end up sounding patronizing, sarcastic, or hollow? Just say something! he insisted to himself, certain that saying anything even the least bit encouraging would have been better than staying silent, but the moment of opportunity to engage quickly passed him by and Naruto went back to eating his ramen, albeit a little less enthusiastically. If Sasuke said anything now it would have just sounded awkward and not at all real and truly meant. He could have spoken up during the teens tirade, told them to go to hell, or he could have said something reassuring to Naruto, but it was too late now. Sasuke just had no idea how to properly interact with people anymore even if he wanted to; he’d spent far too long entirely focused on himself to remember how to function as a normal person. He could barely even remember what it felt like to support someone in a true, heartfelt way and not the sarcastic bickering back and forth that he and Naruto had. You coward, Sasuke berated himself, disgusted with his own inaction and cowardice when even a few meaningful words could have made a huge difference to someone close to him.
The insipid words spewing from those teens’ mouths reminded Sasuke of the loud, harsh whispers he had heard so often after his family had been destroyed. ‘Poor boy’ they would say, or ‘How sad for him’ and so on, while they gossiped on like obnoxious chattering birds as if the death of his whole clan was merely another big topic of the day to prattle on about. Sasuke did his best to ignore it as useless banter from outsiders who knew nothing of his circumstances, but… keeping a strong face had been so terribly hard. He put on a brave face, the mask of the last of the Uchiha, talented and strong willed and brave and determined. But inside he felt was none of those things. He might have seemed strong, seemed like he was doing okay to others, but on the inside Sasuke was breaking under the weight. Their incessant stares, their pitying eyes and meaningless platitudes only accentuated his pressing feeling of isolation further. He wanted to scream out, to make everyone know that he was alright and their idiotic attention wasn’t necessary. But he hadn’t been alright. Nothing about it had been alright.
For an unknown number of days he could no longer remember after the massacre, Sasuke refused to allow himself to fall asleep, terrified that Itachi would suddenly change his mind for some reason and come back to finish off Sasuke as well and fully complete his familial genocide. So the petrified boy sat in his house of horrors, waiting for the death he believed to be coming. Trembling, sobbing, completely alone inside his worst nightmare come true. He ate nothing and drank only water for over a week; not even the smallest amount of food would stay in his stomach for very long. Even light foods were expelled from his body quickly.
As the weeks passed by Sasuke began to eat once again, but only the barest amount of food each day, the little food that would remain in his body as the shock and terror of the events slowly wore off, but still he ate only the amount of food needed to keep himself alive and no more. Sasuke thus lost much weight over a short time span, becoming emaciated and rail like. He grew weak and sick, convinced he was going to die, that Itachi wouldn’t need to come back to kill him since we was going to die soon anyways.
But soon Sasuke had an epiphany: his family could be avenged. He could be the one to bear their grudge and he could act as the righteous sword of vengeance to bring Itachi down for his most heinous and hurtful of betrayals. So it was that Sasuke realized if he was going to survive to carry out that plan then he had to change. If he kept up his current pace he would surely die. He wouldn't do that. There was no way in hell that Sasuke was going to let Itachi have that satisfaction. He wasn’t going to roll over and die. No, Itachi would be the one who would die!
So Sasuke swore to himself. That one day he would hunt down that betrayer and make him suffer for what he had done. And with time Sasuke regained his strength and his courage, more so in fact. He began to push himself far beyond anything he had ever done before, beyond what his assertive father had expected of him, beyond what he was expected to know as a proud Uchiha. From that moment on Sasuke pushed himself to the brink studying, training, casting off anything unnecessary to his vengeance, preparing for the day when he would perform his duty as the embodiment of the Uchiha clan’s honor, vengeance, and anger.
But being around Naruto dug up many of those buried feelings, awakened them from their long slumber in the grave of his heart. The two of them were very different, that was true, with their own separate pains, personalities, pasts, and beliefs, but the more Sasuke looked at him, the more he thought that he and Naruto were far more alike than he ever would have wanted to admit, like mirror images of each other; they were similar but not the same, two sides of the same coin. Maybe that was why Sasuke felt oddly at ease when he was with Naruto, even when the noisy ninja was yelling at him or challenging him.
Sasuke had been so deep in his tumultuous thoughts of the past that he hadn’t even noticed that Naruto had stood up from his stool and performed a jutsu. It took him a shamefully long time to realize there were two Narutos standing next to him, one obviously being a shadow clone. The two Narutos sneakily glanced outside the stand entrance to make sure the teens that had badmouthed him-or them as it were-were still there. The young men still stood just outside the door, impatiently awaiting Naruto’s departure, too busy chatting all the while to notice they were being spied on.
One of the Narutos gave the other a thumbs up accompanied by a wide grin, and he responded with an emphatic nod. That Naruto used the Transformation Jutsu and vanished into thin air… no wait. Sasuke raised his eyebrow in amused confusion once he looked down to find that this Naruto had turned himself into a tiny grey mouse.
The Naruto mouse scampered out the doorway, presumably headed towards the teens. Was he really going to scare them with a mouse? What a lame plan, Sasuke thought, somewhat disappointed. As if two boys of that age would be startled by a little rodent and run away screaming in terror. But much to his confusion the mouse returned inside after a few minutes, crawling up the remaining Naruto’s leg and hopping into his open palm.
“Did you do it?” Naruto asked the mouse. It let out an excited high pitched squeal in response. “Good job, thanks,” he smiled expectantly at the grey furred creature before it disappeared in a tiny poof of smoke.
“Hey, old man, can I take the rest of this home with me?” Naruto called out to the chef, motioning at his to his still half full fifth bowl of ramen.
“Sure, Naruto, anything for my best customer,” the chef openly smiled back at him, something few people were willing to do. “Just bring the bowl back tomorrow like usual.” Sasuke was sure to make a mental note that the ramen shop owner was a good man, silently approving him for his kind treatment of Naruto.
“Ready to leave?” Naruto asked Sasuke with a poker face, not revealing his hand even to Sasuke.
“...Sure,” Sasuke replied, still confused what Naruto had needed the mouse for. There were a number of things Naruto excelled ahead of Sasuke at, among them being loud, stuffing his face, and playing pranks. Naruto was pretty infamous across town as a trickster known for his vicious practical jokes. From the rumor mill Sasuke inevitably overheard while walking through the village he knew that Naruto could even be quite creative in the application of his pranks sometimes. If only he put that much effort into training, Sasuke thought with a deep inner sigh. Though, when he thought about it, that imagination did noticeably carry over into battle; Naruto thought on the fly, coming up with plans in the midst of battle as he learned more about his enemies movements and techniques. Sasuke was almost jealous of that ability of his. Almost. It took a special kind of idiot to charge into battle without a plan hoping to come up with something as the battle went on.
Naruto walked confidently through the curtains hanging over the doorway of the shop, followed by Sasuke. He had the bowl of unfinished ramen cradled in his hands like something very precious.
“Finally he’s leaving,” the tall blond teen mutter angrily, but still spoke it loud enough so that Naruto could hear.
“Yeah, I thought I was gonna die of old age before we got to go in!” his brown haired friend confirmed their impatient irritation.
Sasuke could only watch in amazement as the next events seemed to play out in slow motion before his eyes. The two teens walked headlong at Naruto while moving for the entryway of Ichiraku Ramen, both them and Naruto refusing to leave their shared path, similar to two cars playing chicken, seeing who would chicken out first and get out of the way. But Sasuke knew Naruto was far too stubborn to be the one to move; the teens would likely shove him out of their path if he didn’t get out of their way. Sasuke was about to drag him by his collar to safety when he saw Naruto grin slightly at the two bullies, a fake, vicious smile full of suppressed anger. That was when it happened: on his next step forward Naruto tripped over his own feet. No… he made himself trip. He was doing this on purpose. Naruto stumbled forward a few steps towards the teens, who froze in place in surprise. The half full bowl of ramen flew out of Naruto’s hands up into the air, seemingly floating for just an instant before it came flying back down to earth. The bowl tipped upside down in the air as it flew over the short brown haired young man, spilling its contents onto his head. A medley of noodles and pork and broth rained down on him, some of the meal landing in his hair or resting on his shoulders.
“You little shit…” brown hair steamed, a powder keg ready to explode, while his buddy glared on.
“Whoops. Oh, I’m so sorry,” Naruto replied with blatantly false sympathy, smirking at the ramen covered teen.
Brownie, not taking any more abuse from this smart ass little trickster, made a move to swipe at Naruto, but Naruto jumped back and it was now the brown haired boys turn to trip on his own feet as he stepped forward for a second strike. He came plummeting to the ground with a crash like a falling tree.
Sasuke took a quick glance downward, confused as to what had just happened. He spotted the problem immediately; the brown haired teens shoelaces were tied together. A grey splotch of fur darted from his collapsed form to the blonde teens feet, whose own shoelaces were untied. It was then that Sasuke finally understood Naruto’s plan for comeuppance against these two: the mouse had been sent out before as a scout to untie their shoelaces while they were too busy talking. Then once Naruto left the building the mouse appeared again while the ramen bowl was soaring through the air, the boys once again too distracted to pay attention to their feet. The mouse had tied brownies shoelaces together while he was busy being soaked by ramen. The little grey creature ran over to the fallen boys friend and grabbed blondies laces, rapidly working them in his tiny hands, knotting them together before disappearing with another puff of smoke, his mission of vengeance now complete.
“You’re gonna regret that!” blondie shouted, attempting to defend his friends honor, before falling flat on his face into the dirt, tangled up by his own shoe predicament. “Whoah! What the-?” He looked down at his feet in disbelief.
“HAHAHAHA!” Naruto burst out laughing at the comical scene before him. “Take that, stuuuuuuupid!” he taunted his foes, sticking out his tongue at the irate teenagers.
“You’re dead when we get our hands on you, you hear me?!” brownie screamed out in impotent rage, fiddling with his laces so he could beat the snot out of Naruto for making them look like fools.
“C’mon, Sasuke! Let’s run!” Naruto said as he turned around, looking at Sasuke with a toothy grin. He gripped Sasuke’s wrist tightly, tugging him along and urging him to run along with him before the two teens could remove their shoes. “See ya, bastards!” Naruto shouted as he bolted off from the scene of his crime, Sasuke in tow.
***
They sprinted away from Ichiraku Ramen for about 10 blocks before they finally slowed their pace down, Naruto grasping at Sasuke’s wrist and pulling him along behind himself the whole time. Once they had reached this distance Naruto must have decided it was now safe because he suddenly let go of Sasuke’s arm in one quick, almost shy motion. “Heh heh heh, that was a good one,” he chuckled, more congratulating himself than informing Sasuke.
Sasuke continued to study Naruto’s face as he had done in the ramen shop, mulling over the boy's actions. You play pranks on people because you're sick of being ignored. They don't want to deal with you or bother noticing you so you force them to with the only way you know how. The truth is... you're actuality really lonely, aren't you Naruto?
“What’s wrong, do I have something on my face?” Naruto questioned, noticing Sasuke’s interest in him.
“No, I was just thinking how you wouldn’t be so much of a loser if you tried that hard with everything is all,” he half lied in response.
“Ah, you bastard! That was funny! You just have no sense of humor,” Naruto said, offended at Sasuke’s lack of enjoyment of his prank.
“I didn't say it wasn’t funny, I just said you were an idiot for not trying hard all the time.” Truth be told, Sasuke did find that act kinda funny. Not as funny as Naruto did, but he wasn’t exactly the jokes and pranks type of guy.
“...Just for that, I’m kicking your ass double hard in the Chunin Exams!” Naruto proclaimed.
“Yeah? What are you going to do, put tacks in my shoes? Spread itching powder on my clothes?” he said with an emphatic scoff. Though part of him was paranoid that he would have to watch his back from now on; with Naruto’s creative mind and their head to head relationship Sasuke was a little worried he might find himself on the end of a few nasty practical jokes.
“You are such a bastard!” Naruto yelled out, annoyed at not being taken seriously by Sasuke.
“You’re being too noisy, loser,” he simply replied, but his slight smile belied the fact that for once in his life he was actually having a good time.
They walked along together for a while, playfully insulting each other and trying to psych each other out before the upcoming contest, both talking up how powerful they had become since they had last met.
After a few more blocks of the almost friendly banter Sasuke turned to leave to go home for a night of rest before another day of more training tomorrow. It had been a long time since Sasuke had visited his house and for some reason today Naruto desired him there now more than ever. He talked a big game, but he was extremely nervous about the Chunin Exam finals, his stomach doing flip flops all day. His pointless conversations with Sasuke followed by their shared meal had cheered him up considerably, but... He was worried that Sasuke would berate him for bringing up their late night routine or outright refuse his offer, but Naruto wanted some more time with Sasuke to calm his nerves. Whenever he was around the cocky bastard he found himself strangely empowered. He was happier, felt his doubt blasted away, felt that maybe if things continued like this that he could be real friends with Sasuke some day. Overall Sasuke’s presence comforted him, something Naruto could use very much right now. If he was alone that worry, that corroding doubt would start to seep back in. For a short while with Sasuke this evening naruto had forgotten his troubles. He didn’t want to be plunged back into reality just yet.
As Sasuke turned to part ways with him, Naruto gulped down his fear and stretched out his hand, grabbing hold of Sasuke’s wrist once again, but this time for a completely different reason. “Uh… w-w-would you… come over to my house tonight? If you have time, I mean…” he stuttered out nervously.
Sasuke took a long serious glance at Naruto, as if studying his intentions. His face burned red all the way up to his ears and he avoided looking Sasuke in the eyes, maybe for fear of being shunned or rejected. It must have been extremely embarrassing of him to ask anything of Sasuke, let alone something as intimate as this. Naruto’s hand remained gently but firmly grasped around Sasuke’s wrist the whole time, as if silently pleading with him to come over to participate in the secret ritual they shared.
“...Okay,” Sasuke replied after an awkward long silence with a single affirmative nod. Naruto looked up at Sasuke momentarily shocked, but a miniscule smile formed on his face as he loosened his grip around Sasuke’s arm but still didn’t let go completely, pulling him gently to his apartment.
***
For the first time in a long while Sasuke was back in Naruto’s room. The place was still a pigsty, old empty ramen cups stacked precariously in the trash and dirty clothes and other litter spread out on the floor. The piece of paper defiantly proclaiming the words ‘Defeat Sasuke!’ in big bold letters still hung tacked to the wall. It was pretty much the same as it always had been. The one difference Sasuke could notice was the scent; this place smelled of Naruto. That wasn’t to say he stank, it was simply the flowing unique individual aroma of the pubescent boy clinging to his bed, his clothes, his body. Sasuke had never noticed the smell before when he snuck away at night to come here, but perhaps he just was already used to it by that time and the past month without Naruto had made his scent an unfamiliar thing now. It smelled slightly of sweat and musk underlied by the fresh, clean smell of soap. Somehow, it reminded him of rivalry, of strength, of friendship; it was a good smell. ...I just thought of something very strange, Sasuke remarked to himself. Despite that thought, however, he took in a deep whiff of Naruto’s natural aroma as they kissed.
Their lips came together again and again, lightly scraping against each other in repeated pecks, never touching for more than a few seconds at a time. Naruto was worried that any overager actions would cause Sasuke to get angry with him and flee once again. That was the last thing he wanted right now; he needed this time where he didn’t have to worry about the Chunin Exams or being constantly judged by everyone he passed on the street, hearing them doubt him and trash talk him. Naruto just wanted to feel comfortable and happy right now. He had missed this softness, this feeling of connection with Sasuke. It felt good to once again feel Sasuke’s plump lips pressed up against his own.
Sasuke unexpectedly took the initiative to further their actions, wrapping his arms around Naruto and nestling them gently in the small of his back. Naruto followed in kind, tying them both together. Their kissing became slightly more passionate, each kiss lasting a tiny bit longer than the one before it had until finally they no longer backed away but remained in one exceptionally long smooch, their lips locked together. Sasuke pulled Naruto closer to himself, further entangling their bodies as they kissed. Naruto responded by scooching closer to Sasuke who again pulled Naruto closer to him until they were now resting lip to lip and chest to chest.
Sasuke’s hands abandoned their positions in the small of Naruto’s back and wrapped completely around him, drawing Naruto into a complete hug, the first one Naruto could remember ever getting in his life. Emotion welled within the blond boy; what they were doing would probably have been called wrong, but it just felt so right it made him unbelievably happy. It was a kind of warmth and kindness Naruto had never experienced before and certainly never had expected he would have received from Sasuke. The act might have been nothing to Sasuke, only a simple hug, but the significance to Naruto was massive. He had no idea how to show his appreciation except only to do the same thing in return. His own hands also left Sasuke’s lower back and tightly hugged him back as their lips never stopped touching all the while.
What Naruto didn’t know though, was that Sasuke vastly appreciated the return of his gesture. Even he hurt inside sometimes. Even the great Sasuke Uchiha got lonely and desired comfort at times. For many years now he had no one to tell when he was sad or afraid, no one to support him and tell him things would be okay. Growing up alone had left him very bitter towards other people’s happiness. They had what he had been robbed of. So it didn’t anger him or hurt his pride when Naruto, who understood the same pain, held him tightly to his own chest. This was the first time since the loss of his family that Sasuke truly felt that someone else in the world cared about him, even if it was in this completely unusual way.
The two love starved boys cradled each other in their arms, the sounds of their thundering heartbeats and quick breaths through their noses resonating together as they intertwined their bodies, each pressing up to the chest of the other. Both of them could feel the rapid thumps in each others chest, expressing their excitement, their worry, their hidden pain.
Without breaking their embrace or their kiss Sasuke rose to his knees, followed in suit by Naruto. They now both stood on their knees on top of Naruto’s bed, not just their chests pressed together anymore, but their entire bodies mashed together in a tight full body hug. That was when Sasuke noticed it; something hard poking against his leg. It took Sasuke a moment to register that it was Naruto’s boner grinding against him needily. Even though they were both wearing all their clothes Sasuke would feel just how stiff it was as it moved back and forth against his pant leg in desperation. After realizing just what was going on Sasuke all at once broke their amazingly long kiss, withdrew his arms from around Naruto, and pushed him back onto the bed.
“Wait! Sasuke I didn’t-” Naruto tried to explain.
“Shut up,” Sasuke interrupted him somewhat forcefully and stern. This was going all wrong again! Once again Naruto’s dick had gotten him in trouble by making him push things too far too quick. But much to his amazement, Sasuke didn’t shout angrily at him and storm out the door. Quite the opposite; when Naruto looked up at him confused, he noticed Sasuke staring back down at him with a haze of lust taken over his features. He looked like he wanted to devour Naruto whole.
Sasuke fearlessly reached out his hand and cupped it over Naruto’s crotch, staring him directly in the eyes all the while. The black haired boy began massaging and rubbing Naruto’s dick through his pants. “Nng!” Naruto quietly moaned, not expecting Sasuke’s forwardness. He groped and fondled at Naruto’s package, mostly focusing on his throbbing length, but occasionally he moved downward to press the palm of his hand against the outline of the panting blond boy’s testicles and gently rolled the fragile eggs in his hand.
Sasuke might have been trying very hard to pretend that this was no big deal, that this was just a normal evolution of their strangely intimate physical relationship, but nothing about this situation was anywhere close to normal. In normal circumstances guys didn’t make out with each other, they didn’t jerk each other off, they didn’t get as physically and intimately close as Naruto and Sasuke were now, certainly not when they hated each other as much as they both proclaimed to. Sasuke tried to assure himself that he was completely in control of himself, that his emotions were in check, but that was a blatant lie he told to comfort himself; his rock hard erection throbbing unattended to in his pants betrayed his bewildering sexual excitement. The sight of Naruto trying to hold back grunts of pleasure as Sasuke touched his junk, that confused but desiring face Naruto wore as Sasuke gazed down on him awoke a fiery lust deep inside Sasuke the likes of which he had never felt before. The semi hard erection he had been sporting during their make out session grew quickly to full mast as he carefully watched Naruto squirm and moan while Sasuke pleasured him.
Of course Sasuke had gotten inconvenient boners out of nowhere on occasion-embarrassingly enough, sometimes even when on missions and in class back at the Academy-and there were times when he awoke early in the morning to find a sticky mess left behind in his trousers after a wet dream-after all he was a growing boy subject to the changes of puberty like any other-but never had Sasuke been this painfully aroused before. Most of the time whenever Sasuke felt that need rise up he ignored it and went off to train in order to subdue his passions; he had no time to focus on his burgeoning sexual desire when every second of his time counted towards his life’s goal. Even then, there were times when his annoying erections just wouldn't leave, so he had no choice but to take care of them. It wasn’t a thing he enjoyed all that much; it made him feel like he was being controlled by his petty whims. It happened very rarely and he expected he masturbated far less than the typical boy his age, something he was proud of in fact; others were slaves to their baser natures, he was above that kind of thing except on all but a few occasions, perhaps once a month or so when his loins demanded they be ignored no longer.
But this... This kind of all consuming, frustrating lust he was feeling right now was an entirely new sensation to Sasuke. It wasn’t annoying like the other kind of feeling either. This was actually enjoyable. Sasuke made a mental note not to get hooked on this incredible feeling; this could very easily get addictive. But his lust addled brain quickly forgot the recommendation and tossed it out. Right now he wanted more and more of it and he wanted to give more of this feeling to Naruto as well.
“Naruto… touch me too,” Sasuke was surprised to hear himself say. Naruto complied almost immediately, eagerly returning the favor Sasuke was providing for him. They sat in silence staring at each other as they rubbed each other's bulges carefully but deliberately, fondling each other's raging hard erections hidden beneath their pants.
Suddenly getting bold, Naruto took the zipper to Sasuke’s pants in between his fingers and slowly slid it down. He looked up questioningly at Sasuke to see if his current course was alright with him, but the black haired boy showed no signs that he was going to stop Naruto’s actions, so he reached his hand in and took firm hold of Sasuke's cock and pulled it out of his fly hole. The foreskin was retracted back almost all the way, exposing the pink tip which drooled a tiny stream of precum. Naruto slid his hand back and forth slowly along Sasuke’s length, giving it a few shallow tugs while he continued to stare Sasuke in the eyes. Only now did Naruto notice a small but growing wet patch in his own underwear as his penis excitedly leaked precum out, creating an uncomfortable moist sensation in his pants.
“Hey, Sasuke… Let’s take our clothes off,” Naruto half asked, half begged. Sasuke readily agreed to that proposal with a single definitive nod.
The boys watched each other hungrily as they stripped off their clothes in a hurry to leave themselves completely bare for the other to see for the first time since the mission to the Land of Waves-but only Naruto had been paying close attention to Sasuke’s physique back then. Now Sasuke got a chance of his own to closely ogle the blond in return. Sasuke noted to himself that Naruto seemed a little more toned and muscular than he last remembered. Perhaps all that training had done him some good after all; he honestly looked like he was stronger. Naruto, who had always had a somewhat young, baby faced look about him that was only accentuated by his childish attitude, looked older and more mature in this instance. It seemed he had even grown a bit taller too, but he still was a shrimp next to Sasuke.
The two horny boys slowly stroked themselves as they eyed each other, both unknowing of just what to do next and both too timid to make any more brash moves just yet.
It was Naruto who finally worked up the courage to make the next aggressive move in their sexual game. “I have an idea. How about we put them close together and see who’s is bigger,” he suggested, pointing down as his rigid member.
“You’re on,” Sasuke replied confidently.
The boys walked close up to each other, erect cocks in hand, until they were standing about three inches apart. From a quick glance Sasuke was bigger, but no, that wasn’t close enough though for them. They both took another small but bold step forward. Two inches, but still not close enough. They stepped forward again, their members now only had an inch of empty space apart between them. It still wasn’t close enough; if they were going to figure out who was truly bigger they needed to know by exactly how much. Eyeing it wasn’t enough, they needed the closest measurement they could possibly get. They paused a moment to take an affirming look at each other in the face, making sure this last movement was okay with the other, before they took that final last doozy of a step forward, removing their hands from their genitals and pressing their cocks together. They were as close now as they could possibly get, their entire lower bodies pressed together; any more and they would be standing on top of each other. Naruto and Sasuke’s penises proudly jutted upward from their groins, lined up against each other, touching shaft to shaft and head to head. Their ballsacks lined up as well, the handful of hairs on Sasuke’s scrotum ticking Naruto’s in an unfamiliar but strangely pleasant sensation.
Naruto’s face heated up in embarrassment and excitement. He was standing here with his rival/friend Sasuke Uchiha, the same boy who irritated him to no end and drove him to work so hard, with their most intimate and sensitive parts pressed together. He shyly looked to the side in uncharacteristic modesty, afraid of meeting Sasuke's eyes in this strange situation but also scared of looking down at the undeniably intimate act they were committing. Even though his loins were burning with heat Naruto could feel the warmth pouring off of Sasuke's own junk as it throbbed along with his accelerated heartbeat, thump thump thump. Sasuke must have been feeling the same sensation, Naruto's member pulsing against his own, because his pale face was stained with a large splotch of pink blush as well.
“Heh. Looks like I’m longer than you,” Sasuke gloated with a satisfied grin on his face. Naruto, who had been avoiding looking at their two dicks nestled beside each other out of an overload of embarrassment-despite him being the one to suggest this-took a quick look downwards in disbelief. It was true; even after the months that had passed since Naruto had first seen his penis in the bathtub at Tazuna’s house in the Land of Waves, Sasuke still was longer than he was. Naruto had noticed that his own penis had gotten a bit longer over that span of time so he had secretly hoped that he had outclassed Sasuke by now, but sadly his length had grown as well. Naruto was now about 3.9 inches long when erect, but Sasuke was around 4.2 inches long these days. The comparison wasn’t completely equal however; thinking back to his impressive 4 inches back then in the tub, Naruto figured that Sasuke was definitely a shower, a guy who didn’t have much difference between his flaccid and erect lengths, while Naruto himself was a grower, a guy who had a measureable difference between his hard length and soft length. The difference between them was small but important to Naruto; oh, how he wished he could have beaten him!
“Shut up! Well... Mine’s thicker than yours is!” Naruto said defensively, pointing out his girthier size compared to Sasuke’s thinner length. Sasuke shrugged as if to feign interest but a momentary flash of jealousy appeared on his face, healing Naruto's ego slightly. “Plus, you’re a little older than I am. Give it time and mine will be waaaay bigger than yours!”
“Well, then when you get bigger let me know and we can check again. But until then, I win dummy.”
To them this was just another form of competition, another challenge to either be won or lost. It was a strange form of competition, especially considering just how much they proclaimed to dislike each other, but perhaps not as unnatural an evolution as they had first believed. Passionate feelings, both positive and negative, could manifest themselves in a number of odd and unusual ways.
Naruto moved his penis up, rubbing the sensitive pink tip against Sasuke’s, sending a large bead of clear pre leaking out of Sasuke’s urethra and trickling down on to Naruto’s cock head. “Heh, it’s like our penises are kissing,” Naruto remarked childishly as the tips of their cocks glided together and they exchanged precum between them like the swapping of spit during a french kiss.
“Don’t say something so weird you freaking idiot!” Sasuke exclaimed, Naruto’s dumb comment threatening to kill the mood for him. He restored the order by suddenly grasping at the two cocks in one hand and began masturbating them together.
“Ah!” Naruto let out a high pitched moan in surprise of his partners sudden action. Streams of pre dripped out both of their rigid members, lubricating them as they rubbed together in Sasuke’s slow fist.
Naruto and Sasuke began bucking their hips together, grinding dick against dick as Sasuke worked their cocks in his hand, which started moving at an agonizingly slow pace as he dragged his hand over them at first, but gradually worked his way up into a steady pace. It was the most incredible feeling ever to Naruto. Even their mutual masturbation session in the Forest of Death had nothing on the sheer intensity and passion as they frotted their cocks, humping their loins together in frantic lust.
But that wasn’t all; Sasuke quickly jammed his lips against Naruto’s, plundering Naruto’s mouth with his tongue, who was too surprised to mount a defense. Even if he had, he would have gave in without much of a fight. This kiss was entirely unlike their previous kisses in the day, the sweet chaste pecks on the lips that started this whole thing and the passionate, deliberately long passionate lip lock that followed. This kiss was wild and sloppy and domineering as Sasuke ravaged Naruto’s mouth with his tongue, roughly exploring his mouth. Naruto and Sasuke dueled each other both with their tongues fighting and wriggling in their mouths and with their cocks scraping and dragging against each other as they fought to see which one of them would allow himself to be submit completely to pleasure first.
Sasuke began to slow his movements down without warning and withdrew his tongue from Naruto's mouth, a long strand of saliva forming between their mouths until it broke. He removed his hand from their dicks, causing Naruto to softly whine in disappointment. But Sasuke had something else in mind; Sasuke wanted to inflame his passions even more than they already were. He wanted... “Naruto… can I do more?” Sasuke asked in a hoarse whisper.
“More?” Naruto questioned, panting just as heavily as he would after a difficult battle.
“...I want to put it in you,” Sasuke said after contemplating a moment. He was trying to think of a way to say it so it wouldn’t sound as bad, but Naruto was pretty dense sometimes, so perhaps it was better to just be out and say it plainly.
“Inside me?” Naruto questioned once again. He was utterly confused. He knew how sex was supposed to work between a guy and a girl-he wasn’t a little kid anymore after all. He had never tried it-or even kissed a girl sadly-but he knew the basics of how sex worked. But when it came to this he was in the dark. Just where could you stick it in with another guy? What more was there to do between two men? Unless Sasuke meant he wanted to put it in his… Naruto’s eyes flew open wide in shock as he realised just what Sasuke had mean with his words.
“No no no no no! No way!” Naruto exclaimed animatedly, crossing his hands into a big X as if to further illustrate his objection. This was already screwed up enough as it was. Doing THAT was just plain wrong! What kind of person would put it in THERE of all places? It was just plain gross and it would definitely hurt and no no no way in hell was Naruto going to let that happen to him!
“That’s how guys do it,” Sasuke replied calmly, not pressing the point, but not entirely willing to let it drop either in his lust fueled state.
“How would you know? Have you done it with another guy before?” Naruto questioned, suddenly suspicious.
“Of course not!” Sasuke shouted back defensively.
“Then how do you know?!” Naruto demanded answers with an irritated look.
“I just… know, okay?” Sasuke maneuvered evasively. He could remember that sometimes when he was young of having snuck into his elder brothers room to snoop around while Itachi was away on missions and finding a couple of dirty magazines that were particularly well hidden behind some ninja manuals on his bookshelf. The magazines all showed a variety of different kinds of men, muscular men, skinny men, young men, middle aged men, tall men, short men, all of them doing lewd acts with each other, putting their ‘things’ in each others mouths or their rears. It was an incredibly exciting thing to stumble upon this forbidden treasure trove. He had been too young to understand exactly the significance of these acts and too young to get aroused by them, but even back then Sasuke understood enough about sex to find them to be irresistibly forbidden and tantalizing. He gained quite a lot of information about sex-or gay sex at least-from the dirty mags as he peeked at them from time to time when Itachi was out. Of course he’d never admit that to Naruto; it was better to let the blond think he was a prodigy at this as well than to admit the embarrassing truth that he pilfered porn from his older brother.
Naruto sat with his arms crossed, completely unconvinced and unwilling to change his opinion on the matter.
“Oh, I get it. You're scared. You got one look at my size and you were too frightened to do anything else,” Sasuke mocked him.
“What was that?!” Naruto shouted, offended at the insinuation he was afraid of anything, even the thought of Sasuke's penis pushing into his most private place. “Wait a minute, why do you get to put it in me? Why can’t I put it in you?!” he continued to shout, realizing the unfair advantage Sasuke had on this topic.
“You’re just being a scaredy cat again. Besides, I asked first. You snooze you loose,” Sasuke said unsympathetically as he shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s not fair! I didn't even know two guys could do this!” Naruto pouted.
Sasuke sighed, deciding to let Naruto have the argument for just once. “Fine, let’s play rock paper scissors. Winner gets to be top.”
Of course, Sasuke stacked the deck in his favor. He knew Naruto always had a preferred bias for scissors and used it far too much, so Sasuke easily won. True, he may have cheated, but it wasn’t out of any ill intentions; if Naruto went at him with that unlimited energy of his Sasuke knew he would probably break. Even though his only knowledge about this was from dirty mags and he had no real practical applications of his knowledge, he still knew more about this than Naruto did. Better to let him bottom now and learn how to do it right than let him top right away and break Sasuke’s ass.
“You sure you wanna do this? If you wanna chicken out, now’s the time.”
“Go to hell, Sasuke! You won. I never go back on my word,” Naruto affirmed somewhat irritated at his loss. I’ll force you to recognize me, Sasuke! I’m not some kid you can make fun of just because you’re a tiny bit bigger than I am. I’ll let you do it to me and I’ll make you feel so damn good that you’ll cry out my name!
“Alright. Lay on your back and spread your legs open wide,” he ordered Naruto, who blushed in embarrassment at the suggestion but still did as he was told, leaving his virgin hole in plain view for Sasuke. His eyes were shut tight and his ass clenched probably even tighter as he held his thighs up in his hands..
“You need to relax, stupid. I can’t put anything in when you’re tightened up like this,” Sasuke said, knowing at a glance that Naruto’s fearful anticipation to be penetrated would prevent any possible entry.
“That’s easier said than done, jackass! Cut me some slack here, will ya?!” Naruto shouted in anger. He was laying on his back with his asshole out on display and his legs splayed up in the air; what more did the bastard want from him?!
Sasuke sighed, somewhat annoyed at the inconvenience, but he hadn’t expected this to exactly be an easy task in any case. He laid his nude body gently on top of Naruto’s, pinning him down, and kissed lightly him on the cheek.
“What are you doing?” Naruto asked suspiciously. They had only ever kissed on the lips, kissing on the cheek seemed a little too lovey dovey of a thing for them to do.
“Getting you to relax, so just shut up,” Sasuke said, laying down another kiss on the cheek, and then another onto Naruto’s jaw. He then moved on to Naruto’s neck, sucking gently as he kissed the tender flesh, causing Naruto to draw in a quick short breath in surprise.
Sasuke continued kissing his way down Naruto’s body, planting a trail of kisses across his chest, on his collar bone, then his abs, and finally directly on his pert nipples. More and more Sasuke planted moist kisses across Naruto’s torso, practically smothering him with their amount. He moved farther down and down until Sasuke reached it; the seal that held back the Nine Tails, the thing that forever marked Naruto as ‘different’, as ‘other’. The thing that secretly made him feel so much shame and anguish. Here Sasuke’s lips retreated from Naruto’s body.
Sasuke stared down silently at the ornate seal ringing around Naruto’s belly button, the heavy scrutiny being given causing Naruto to shift uncomfortably as if trying to flee sasuke’s eyes. He never liked to show off the mark, felt it to be a burdensome thing. Few had ever seen the seal, but with Sasuke gazing at it so intently a nervous tension began to rise in Naruto. What if he thinks it’s weird? Or gross? He was used to people reacting to his whisker marks on his face-or as some called them, his ‘demon marks’-and his seal mark too, on the rare occasions when he had no choice but to display it. Naruto remembered the occasions when he went to the public baths and the old men and young boys alike would gape at the strange seal and whisper about it’s meaning, preventing him from having the relaxing soak he wanted. He saw the way their faces looked at him, like he was tainted and disgusting. The thought of Sasuke looking at him the same way frightened Naruto. Strangers treating him poorly was bad enough, but if even Sasuke turned against him then just who in the world would treat him as an equal?
But Sasuke didn’t call him a monster or say it was gross or scary or anything of the sort. Sasuke only brought his lips back down and planted a series of gentle, almost loving kisses around the seal, tracing the circle with his lips. The act caused Naruto to begin quietly crying for some reason. It was if Sasuke was silently telling him that he was accepted, regardless of the terrifying beast sealed inside him. Never before in his life had Naruto felt so open and vulnerable with another person, yet Sasuke’s movements brought with them a reassuring sense of understanding and comfort.
“Naruto? What’s wrong?” Sasuke asked, a surprising level of concern appearing on his face as he halted his work to check if everything was okay.
“Nothing. I’m okay, just keep going,” Naruto replied, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand, completely ashamed that he could cry in front of Sasuke of all people in this of all situations.
Sasuke stared at him, unsure of what to do for a moment, but went back to his work of pleasing Naruto after a small nod from the boy. Upon the next kiss, Sasuke extended his tongue into Naruto’s belly, licking the tattoo emblazoned on his body. The warm wet feeling as Sasuke continued to trace the mark with his tongue sent a pleasurable shiver down Naruto’s spine and caused him to gasp loudly.
Naruto’s tense body had slackened and his nerves calmed as he received his multitude of kisses across his body. Sasuke was right about one thing; he certainly felt a lot more relaxed now. Sasuke, noticing this as well, lifted his mouth off of Naruto’s body, ready to get down to business.
“If it hurts too much let me know,” Sasuke told him, again moving to lay ontop of him.
“‘Kay,” Naruto replied, smiling to himself. Sasuke was being so patient and gentle with him it almost made his heart melt. Almost. The bitterness and rivalry between them had completely dissipated just for this period of time, leaving behind this single moment of intimacy between the two of them. On the other hand, this sort of treatment of kindness was so unexpectedly unlike Sasuke that Naruto was almost tempted to shout out ‘What have you done with the real Sasuke?!’ It was just such a strange concept to think of the cocky and combative Sasuke caring for his wellbeing and smothering him with warm affection and gentle kisses that Naruto thought that this had to have been an imposter. The real Sasuke would never do anything like this in a million years.
Sasuke moved his pointer finger to Naruto’s entrance, pushing against the pucker gently as it resisted his entreaties. The unfamiliar feeling of something touching against this place caused Naruto to jolt in surprise. The feeling only become more odd when he felt something begin to drive its way inside of himself. Sasuke found his finger facing resistance as he slowly worked his way inside, despite Naruto’s more relaxed demeanor. He could only make it up the his first knuckle before being forced to a stop.
“Wait, that’s not…” Naruto mumbled, realizing what was happening down there. Sasuke was supposed to be putting in his penis. Even though he couldn’t he could see what was happening Naruto knew what was being pushed into him couldn’t have been Sasuke’s dick based on the size alone. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR FINGER IN MY ASS?!” Naruto screamed out, the previous gentle, borderline romantic mood blown away in an instant.
“If I don’t loosen you up first it will really hurt!” Sasuke cried out in confusion, momentarily forgetting Naruto was a completely inexperienced cherry boy with no knowledge.
“With your fingers?! You’re just making fun of me, aren’t you?!” Naruto angrily asked, hurt that he had been tricked after all they had done, after all the kindness Sasuke had so uncharacteristically shown him. They had come this far only for Sasuke to make him look like a fool.
“No, I’m serious! Unless you want it to hurt I need to loosen you up with my fingers first,” Sasuke said with a deadly serious face as he tried to convince Naruto of the dangers.
“Grr!” Naruto growled suspiciously as he glared at Sasuke. “Fine! Do whatever, I don’t care!” he yelled, crossing his arms in frustration and shyness. Getting sasuke’s didck put in his ass was already enough of a difficult thing to emotionally deal with, but somehow he figured that his fingers inside him was even worse to contemplate for some reason.
“...Do you have anything slick?” Sasuke asked, looking around the room for a lubricant. Even after stretching, going in dry for the first time would still be too much for Naruto to handle. Sasuke was not proud of the fact that he knew that, but he did know it.
“Slick? Ummmm… Oh! There should be a healing cream that I got from Hinata over on that table,” Naruto said, pointing out a little unmarked jar with a clearish white goop inside. Sasuke rose off of Naruto and went over to the bedside table, unscrewing the cap to the healing remedy. He stuck his thumb and index finger into the substance and rubbed it between them.
“Yeah, this should work,” Sasuke muttered, confirming the stuff would work for his purposes. He returned to the bed, slathered his index and ring fingers with the cream and returned to his work on Naruto’s ass.
“Ah! Cold!” Naruto shouted as he jumped in surprise as Sasuke grabbed a small handful of the impromptu lube and smothered it across Naruto’s hole.
Sasuke again pressed at the tender pink hole, his lubed up pointer finger slipping inside much easier than before. He began to slowly drag his finger in and out, repeating the process to familiarize Naruto with the sensation, pushing deeper and deeper with every movement.
“Feels… weird…” Naruto grunted as Sasuke’s digit writhed inside him.
After a few minutes of slow fingering, Sasuke wedged his ring finger against Naruto’s entrance. He gently thrust and the opening gave way, reluctantly allowing him in and causing another loud grunt from Naruto, who lay back in total disbelief of what was happening. With two fingers now inside, Sasuke began to speed up his movements, preparing Naruto for what was to come. He wiggled and moved his fingers around, attempting to stretch out the orifice as much as possible to prevent as much pain as he could.
Finally, after a seemingly endless number of minutes passing by, Sasuke had become satisfied with how loose Naruto had become from his finger fucking and withdrew his fingers from the blond ninja's rear.
“I’m going to put it in now,” he warned his partner, who only nodded and shut his eyes tightly in anticipation. Sasuke placed his cockhead, dribbling much more pre than before in barely contained excitement, at Naruto’s entrance and pushed in harder this time; it would take more effort to insert this than just a finger. Naruto winced in pain, but said nothing to stop him, so Sasuke continued until he entered his target with a satisfying pop. He took a moment to allow Naruto to adjust to the pressure of his invading member, and also to admire the sight of the usually loudmouthed boy laying quietly beneath him, pierced by his tool.
Slowly, bit by bit, Sasuke sunk his shaft deeper into Naruto. The feeling was incredible beyond anything he could have ever imagined, even after reading those porno mags of his brothers; the tightness gripping at his dick, the incredible warmth radiating into him. It was almost too much for the senses.
After slowly working his way in Sasuke finally bottomed out, his entire dick now implanted inside Naruto, and he let out a loud contented sigh of pleasure.
“I’m going to move now,” he informed his partner, dragging his cock out until only the head remained inside and then slowly pushing it all back in again. He did this again and again, building up speed as he went, thrusting faster and deeper into Naruto’s cavern, completely taken over by the act. He became delirious with sheer pleasure, rapidly lunging into Naruto as the sound of his hips slapping against Naruto’s ass egging him on even more. Sasuke became completely consumed by his lust.
God did it hurt. That invading thing charging into him over and over left Naruto sorely hurting. It pulled out and then came slamming back into him, the quick place of Sasuke’s pumping not giving Naruto a chance to prepare himself. With it came a burning soreness every time Sasuke pulled his cock out and a stinging pain every time it came pounding back inside of him. Naruto was trying to put up with it, to just grit his teeth and bear it, but he could do that no longer. Sasuke’s furious pace, a complete reversal of his gentle ways a little bit ago, only made matters worse. He had to say something.
“Ah! Not so fast, Sasuke! Go easy on me, you bastard! It’s not like I’ve ever done this before!” Naruto cried out in pain, causing Sasuke to reluctantly slow his pace.
“Well, neither have I, idiot!” the dark haired boy growled down at Naruto, momentarily angered at the interruption of his almost animalistic breeding as he allowed himself to be overtaken by his throbbing biological imperatives.
Really? Naruto thought to himself smugly. I’d always assumed since he was so popular with girls that… Damn, why does that make me so happy? The fact that Sasuke was a virgin too made Naruto happy, but the fact that he was Sasuke’s first and Sasuke was his gave Naruto an unusually joyful feeling inside. He had always wanted attention from Sasuke, his efforts to one up him and challenge him a subconscious display of that inner desire. More than anyone Naruto wanted Sasuke’s approval, Sasuke’s opinion, Sasuke’s attention. This was just another form of that selfish desire to monopolize his teammate.
“...Sorry,” Sasuke muttered after an awkward silence, realizing he was the one in the wrong as he looked down on Naruto’s pain stricken expression; he had told Naruto to let him know if it hurt yet he got mad when the boy interrupted his pleasure. He was bitterly ashamed of himself for getting so wrapped up in his own pleasure, for losing control of himself. “I promise I’ll go slower now,” he assured Naruto.
Naruto almost did a double take after hearing this uncharacteristic apology; he didn’t think ‘sorry’ was a word that was even in Sasuke’s vocabulary. But his expression did look sorely apologetic, so Naruto opted to let him continue. He kept to his word from that point on, slowly rocking his hips back and forth into Naruto as he gently but still passionately continued to fuck Naruto, robbing him of his senses.
It looks like it still hurts, Sasuke remarked while looking sympathetically at Naruto with his eyes knit tightly together and his frowning mouth slightly open in order to grunt or gasp as Sasuke thrust up inside of him. He didn’t want to hurt his teammate, but he didn’t exactly want to stop either. Surely there had to be something he could do to make Naruto feel more pleasure. Why are you always like this? Why can’t you ever ask for help? If you asked me to stop now I would. You’re so damn stubborn. Why do you care so much? Why do you want to prove yourself to me so much? I just don’t get it.
“Ngh! Naruto… You’re so tight. It feels really good…” Sasuke grunted and panted as he pistoned into Naruto. He hoped that maybe the dirty compliment work work toward lessening Naruto’s pain, distracting him from it a little bit. It wasn’t as though he was lying either; the experience did feel wonderfully good.
Yeah, that’s right! Make lots of noises Sasuke! he cheered himself on, oddly proud he had gotten Sasuke to gasp out his name. It hurt, that was true, but something about the act fed Naruto's ego. The fact that he was the one making Sasuke groan in pleasure like this, despite his own pain, meant that he was the one in the dominant position in their relationship. He held the high ground in this contest of passionate wills and Sasuke was whimpering in pure pleasure at his mercy. But damn, did his asshole feel sore. The stinging pain that had come together with the long invader had relented and now become a more manageable dull ache, but the pain reignited every time Sasuke thrust up into him. He couldn’t help but wince. But with every thrust of Sasuke’s dick into his ass Naruto could feel something strange happening to himself. The sensation of being penetrated was starting to actually feel… good. Every time Sasuke pulled out and left Naruto’s opening empty only to return moments later it brought a strangely pleasurable fullness to his hole. It still hurt, but the pain was ebbing away, being replaced over time by the oddly satisfying pressure of his rival’s cock driving into his deepest places.
Sasuke suddenly stopped his thrusting all together, wrapped his arms around Naruto, and hoisted him up onto his lap, shifting from missionary position to a lotus position. The sudden change in position caused Naruto to sink down onto Sasuke's lap, his dick digging deeper inside than Naruto would have thought possible. “Ahhhh!” Naruto moaned loudly as Sasuke’s member flipped a switch inside him as it grinded against something inside him that made him feel no pain, only pleasure.
Sasuke took a minute to acclimate to this new position and find the best speed to continue his lewd act with the boy who annoyed him so much, but who in this moment he wanted to be with so much. Naruto threw his arms and legs around Sasuke’s body, gripping him as tightly as possible. Each truth Sasuke made Naruto met in equal measure, bouncing slightly on Sasuke’s cock and making him moan and also sending Naruto jutting forward to rub his desperately aching cock, now sandwiched closely between his body and Sasuke’s, against Sasuke’s taught stomach, leaving behind a sticky trail of precum on his pale skin.
Without warning, Sasuke reached out his hand and grabbed a hold of Naruto’s stiff member and began stroking it in unison with his thrusts. No no no! Don’t do that! If you do that then… Naruto was worried that his long sought after superior position would be taken away from him if he allowed himself to wallow in pleasure like Sasuke currently was. If he let Sasuke dictate the moment then he would fall behind, if he lost now then he would never be able to forget it. But try as he might he just couldn’t refuse Sasuke’s firm grasp around his dick; it felt all too amazing to reject the motion. He might not like it, but he lacked the willpower to keep himself from falling into a sea of good feelings.
“Mmmmmm. Sasuke, you know… Sometimes, I really hate you,” Naruto leaned forward, resting his chin gracefully on Sasuke’s shoulder, and whispered into his ear in a soft, raspy tone.
“I know,” Sasuke replied, not bothering at all to stop his lovemaking or stroking of Naruto’s member.
“So much… Ah! Ah!” Naruto reiterated his contempt for him, gasping in a torrid mixture of pain and pleasure each time Sasuke thrust into him.
“Shush,” Sasuke soothed the boy, rubbing his back with his free hand while his other hand quickened its pace jerking Naruto’s cock, sliding back and forth rapidly and his hips still pounded into him again and again. “I know. Gnh! I hate you, too,” he assured Naruto right back through barely muffled pants and grunts.
It was incredibly hot in here, though whether that was just the situation they were in or if the temperature actually was high Sasuke didn't know. Sweat dripped from his body, actually from both their bodies he noticed. A bead of sweat rolled down his back onto Naruto’s hand clenched tightly around his body. He could see the perspiration running down Naruto’s face and chest, both of them burning with desire that was about to erupt.
All of a sudden Naruto realized he was close. So very close to the release he wanted so much. Sasuke’s hand expertly working his cock played a big factor, but he also realized that every movement into him hurt less and less. The pain remained, but it was overset by more of a dull sensation, an incredible fullness as Sasuke’s penis filled him, withdrew, then rammed its way in again. Some of the thrusts Sasuke made into him even felt, dare he think it, good. This whole thing had seemed so gross and painful and unthinkable just a little while ago, but now Naruto was honestly enjoying this feeling, wallowing in this pleasure with the bastard Sasuke, being filled with a kind of pleasure he had never felt and emotions that were troubling and confusing.
“Gonna come!” Naruto alerted Sasuke, who was also rapidly approaching his own climax and responded by quickening his pace even more, pounding into him in horribly desperate, quick motions, robbing Naruto of all reason and sanity. He couldn’t stop himself from doing it, didn’t know exactly why he did it, but as his orgasm approached Naruto got a strange urge and opened his mouth wide to bare his teeth and bit down on Sasuke’s right shoulder, hard enough to leave a mark, teeth impressions to signify that Naruto had been there. He grunted loudly, fangs sinking into his rival as his mind turned white and he finally achieved the release he had so desired all this while. Thick cum erupted from his cock like a volcano, spurting across Sasuke’s belly, three, four, five shots of the sticky semen splashing against his milky skin. Naruto licked and sucked at the sensitive bite imprint he had left on Sasuke as he rode his orgasmic high back down to earth.
“Fuck fuck fuck!” Sasuke cried out loudly in impending need of release, the feeling of Naruto's warm spilled liquid pleasure dripping down his chest and the painful pleasurable mixture of feelings surging into him as Naruto’s teeth sunk into his shoulder sending him overboard. Naruto’s tightness spasmed and contracted around his member as the boy sprayed Sasuke’s torso with his jizz He quickly pulled himself out from Naruto’s rear in one swift motion, aimed his dick at Naruto's chest, and after three quick, desperate tugs, splattered the blond with a cumshot of his own, painting his stomach white with his seed.
As he came, Sasuke thought of how different his life was at this moment that it typically was. For just this moment he let himself feel again, free of his burden of killing his only brother and avenging his clan, free of his deep seated hatred and anger, free of all pretense and reason. Right here, right now, he was just Sasuke, partaking in stupid and probably misguided lust with the only person in the world whom he wanted to hug closely, but also beat the tar out of. And it felt good.
The two boys collapsed back onto Naruto’s bed, sweaty, tired, and more alive than they had ever felt before in their lives.
***
After finishing their romp, Sasuke got up to get a wet washcloth and wiped away the numerous pearls of semen splattered on Naruto's stomach and chest as he laid unmoving on the bed, completely exhausted from the ordeal of his first fuck.
“Naruto?” Sasuke said quietly as he rubbed the cloth across his partners body, cleaning up the puddles of their combined spilled seed. The boy didn’t move an inch. Normally he would have been embarrassed beyond belief and hid away his face from looking at Sasuke, but he was just too tired to care about being buck naked as Sasuke wiped their cum from off his belly.
“Naruto,” Sasuke said louder. This time Naruto turned his head in acknowledgement, but otherwise stayed still.
“I have to go home now. I need to get ready to finish my training, okay?”
“Do whatever you want,” Naruto replied unenthusiastically, completely spent.
“But…” Sasuke began, unsure of how to word his next statement. “After the Exams are over… I’ll start coming by again, okay?”
“Sure, that’s fine,” Naruto replied, making it sound like he didn’t care one way or the other.
“Good night, Naruto,” he said with some warmth in his voice.
“Night, Sasuke” Naruto replied monotone.
Sasuke went towards the door, but paused for a moment once his hand was on the door handle and turned back, saying, “Good luck at the Chunin exams... You’re gonna need it, loser.”
“Fuck you, Sasuke!” Naruto yelled at him, causing Sasuke to shake his head and chuckle slightly, before he headed out the door. Naruto picked up a pillow from his bed and went to throw it at him but unfortunately he escaped behind the door unscathed.
Naruto waited to be sure Sasuke was really gone and the door had clicked behind him before he let his guard down and he succumbed to a borderline panic attack. We actually had s-se-se-GAH I CAN’T SAY IT! From now on, they could no longer ignore it. Something strange was happening between them. You couldn’t just get fucked by your team mate, or fuck your team mate, and pretend like everything was the same as ever. Naruto was young, but even he understood that much. It was frustrating but he still had no idea how to classify Sasuke. Just what on earth was he to Naruto anyways?
Naruto sighed a single deep, long sigh in confusion and annoyance. “...My butt hurts. I hope this won’t affect me during the Exams. ...Next time I’m definitely going to be the one doing you,” he swore to avenge the pain in his rear end.
***
That dumbass bit down on me like I was a freaking bowl of ramen! Sasuke raged as he examined the reddish area on his neck left by Naruto in his bathroom mirror. The skin was punctured, not enough to bleed, but enough to see viable teeth marks. The area was red and inflamed from Naruto sucking on it as well. It stung when exposed against the air. “I’m going to beat his ass up,” he promised to his reflection.
Despite his harsh thinking however, for some reason Sasuke found himself slightly smiling as his fingers rubbed over wound, recalling the feeling of Naruto’s warm tightness as he clamped down on Sasuke and sunk his fangs into that tender white skin. It had been an unexpectedly amazing feeling, Naruto’s body heat, his scent, his… everything.
His examination of the mark reminded Sasuke of the other marking on his neck; the Curse Seal left by Orochimaru. Naruto’s love bite on the right side of his neck stood in stark contrast to the Curse Seal on the left side left behind by Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. These two marks symbolized the two paths before him: the one of anger and hatred or the one of friendship and… whatever the hell he was doing with Naruto. For as long as he could remember Sasuke had devoted himself to hatred but maybe there was another way...
His smile evaporated immediately on thinking this, replaced with his usual frown of disinterest. Naruto was changing him. He realized that now. That couldn’t happen; his life wasn’t just his own to live, because he was the vessel for the combined rage and sorrow of the whole Uchiha clan. He had no time to be happy or to waste on sex or friendship. But even knowing that he still found himself falling farther and farther into Naruto’s orbit like a comet being dragged unwillingly into a planet's gravity. The distance between them was smaller than it ever had been and before he had even realized it was happening Naruto had already taken a firm grip ahold of his heart. Sasuke had no idea how to pry those fingers away, how to return to his former self. Being here with Team 7, with his friends, made Sasuke happier than he’d been since his family was alive. And that deeply frightened Sasuke to no end.
***
A heavy cloud hung over Naruto’s head. Normally he would have been thrilled at finally getting his chance to prove to everyone that he wasn’t just a screw up, that he deserved his place as a ninja and the recognition and respect that came with that title. He should have been excited at the chance to rub it in the faces of everyone who had ever singled him out and acted cruelly towards him when he walked out into the arena and fought against Neji in front of that huge crowd. They wouldn’t be able to ignore him any longer, they wouldn't be able to turn their noses and pretend he wasn’t there. He now had the opportunity to force them to accept him into the fold and deem that he was worthy after all. This was what Naruto had waited and struggled so long for, the future he dreamt about on quiet, lonely nights at home alone and during meaningless long days spent watching other children play together from afar, so obviously he should have been over the moon with excitement and joy. But for once in his life, Naruto just couldn't summon up the energy or the courage for the task at hand.
I was so nervous I barely slept at all, he thought, sitting up wearily in his bed and squinting his tired eyes to adjust to the morning light. It was difficult to fall asleep when your mind wouldn’t stay still. All night long, Naruto slipped in and out of bursts of slumber, but found himself unable to completely rest. His erratic thoughts wouldn’t allow him to completely drift asleep, meaning he only rested for maybe an hour or so at a time before his worried mind awoke him to force more anxious stressful thoughts onto him.
The first match is against him… Naruto pondered ominously, recalling any knowledge of Neji Hyuga and his fighting style that he could remember, replaying Neji’s brutal fight against his own cousin Hinata over and over again like a movie on an infinite loop in his mind as he tried to think up a good strategy to beat the vengeful boy. Naruto would have been the first to admit strategizing wasn’t exactly his strong suit, but he was desperate. If he lost, everything people said about him, every doubt cast on his worth would have been made true. Most people thought he wouldn’t have even made it this far. If Naruto lost now his success up to this point wouldn’t be noticed or commended. He knew that much. He would return right back to where he started; all but exiled and ignored, all of his hard work for naught. He hadn’t been born with the vast amount of natural talent that Sasuke and Neji inherently had, so there was no other way for him to gain respect than to tough it out and try his best.
Still, self doubt began to creep in like tentacles wrapping around his mind, refusing to let go no matter how hard he tried to reassure himself in order to loosen their devious grip. He had done his best to get stronger, trained as hard as he could with Jiraiya until he collapsed from weariness day after day, and learned a lot over the past month, but would that really be enough to defeat the coldhearted Neji, regarded as the strongest rookie ninja in the whole Hidden Leaf Village? When he compared the two of them side by side Naruto couldn’t help but think of himself as just so… weak. That word that he hated so much. That word he was so very sick of hearing from others.He desperately wanted to prove himself, to Kakashi, to Sasuke, to everyone. He was tired of always failing, frustrated with being considered a joke. But was there really any chance for him?
Come on, get it together! If Sasuke saw me now he’d definitely make fun of me! I bet he’d call me a wimp or a cry baby. He’s just a bastard like that… Naruto paused to take a moment to think about Sasuke’s words to him a month ago, the words that had stirred up something powerful inside him. He said he wanted to fight against me, so I just have to get through this match against Neji first. I really want to fight Sasuke too… Maybe after we fight we’ll start being friends for real, Naruto thought with a small smile on his face as he imagined just how Sasuke would react when they faced each other and he saw how strong Naruto had become. Would he be happy for Naruto’s growth? Or perhaps jealous?
Even with the direction their relationship had evolved recently, Naruto still had a difficult time understanding Sasuke's emotions and actions. Why Sasuke did anything he did was a mystery to Naruto. Setting aside their sexual relationship and just whatever the heck that entailed, Naruto had soon realized he wanted to be closer to Sasuke, much more so than he ever had before, not simply in a physical sense, but he wished to know more about the standoffish boy, what he thought about, what he felt, Sasuke’s opinion of Naruto, these things had become oddly important to him now. Naruto secretly hoped that two of them could actually get along outside of this room, the single place where they didn’t argue and compete, but sat together as equals. If clashing against Sasuke had even the slightest chance of allowing them to grow closer, of building their bond, then Naruto was more than willing to give Sasuke his all. Even if he lost to Sasuke-which Naruto definitely didn’t plan on doing-he hoped that his teammate would finally give him the respect he desired so much. The only obstacle to Naruto’s desires now was Neji.
I’ll think of something and I’ll be sure to win… somehow.
Steeling his nerves the best he could, Naruto prepared his mind and body for the day’s events, throwing on his clothes and gathering his thoughts together to filter out anything unnecessary. He might have been worried about the outcome of this fight, he might have been struggling to understand his complex relationship with Sasuke, but right now Naruto needed to focus on Neji; if he was panicky and afraid, if he allowed himself to be distracted then he would lose for sure. His dreams of being Hokage and winning the respect of the village and being true friends with Sasuke were all important, but if he let them weigh on his mind too much they would only get in the way during battle.
“Ha ha ha ha, everything's gonna be fine!” he laughed aloud, reassuring himself as he walked through the crowded streets to the arena. For some reason Naruto suddenly recalled Sasuke’s opponent, the seemingly insane Sand ninja Gaara. Naruto noticed that he and Neji had something in common, despite their different fighting styles, motives, hometowns, and ideals; they had the same eyes. Those sinister glaring eyes that looked at everyone as an nothing more than an enemy to be challenged and destroyed. They were the eyes of predators seeking out prey to be devoured.
All those scary eyes… Is that what it means to become strong like those guys? You become angry and bitter? Naruto grimaced to himself at the thought. Was that what true strength was, just concentrated rage? Sasuke was very strong too, and Naruto knew that he also held his own deeply rooted anger, but the reasons behind it they had never really spoke at length about. If Sasuke didn’t want to tell him then Naruto wasn’t going to pry, but he did know it had something to do with Sasuke’s brother from the time when Sasuke had been pierced by the assassin Haku’s needles in the Land of Waves. Naruto remembered the grievously injured boy tell him about his quest to kill his older brother. Was that why Sasuke and Neji and Gaara were so strong, because of their burning hatreds buried inside? Was that what separated them and Naruto?
No, that couldn’t have been it. If that was the true secret to strength, then Naruto didn’t want to be strong. Naruto wanted to get stronger by always standing up again when he fell down and proving his worth to those around him. He fought and struggled to gain whatever little ground that he could in his ongoing battle for acceptance. His stubborn refusal to back down was what made him strong in his own opinion. Hating everyone and everything didn’t make you stronger, it just made you bitter and alone. Naruto knew that all too well. He had spent much of his childhood despising the villagers for their attitudes towards him, rather than working to change their opinion of him. That kind of strength wasn’t what he wanted. For all their strength Neji, Gaara, and Sasuke too, they were all alone, separated from the rest because of their superior bitterness. There had to be something else, something Naruto was missing. Just what in the world made people truly strong?
***
Naruto stood lined up with all the rest of the contestants for the Chunin Exams in the center of a grand arena, the vast crowd of spectators seated all around him failing to impress him; his mind was too preoccupied with other matters. Two of the exam contestants were noticeably absent; the guy from the Hidden Sound Village was one of those missing, but more importantly, so was Sasuke.
Has he not recovered from the injuries he got during the prelims yet? He seemed okay when I saw him the other day, Naruto worried unwittingly, incapable of hiding his concern for his comrade’s unexpected absence from himself. That’s pretty strange. Knowing his personality I would have thought he’d be here even if it meant dragging himself here.
“Hey!” Naruto called out to the judge.
“What?” he questioned, obviously annoyed by the young ninja’s lack of decorum.
“Sasuke isn’t here yet. What’s gonna happen?”
“If he doesn’t show up by the start of his match then he’ll automatically lose,” the man replied plainly.
...You better hurry up Sasuke. You said you wanted to fight with me, so prove it. Don’t be an idiot and loose without even showing up.
The judge quickly moved on, explaining the rules of the tournament and announcing the first match: Naruto’s fight against Neji. This was it, the moment of truth. Everything he had worked for, everything he wanted to do from here on depended on the outcome of this match. All around him Naruto could feel the many pairs of eyes silently judging him, mocking his efforts, doubting his capabilities. How could this loser wannabe ninja ever hope to beat the highly regarded Neji? This fight was just a joke to them, something to breeze through on the way to more interesting and worthwhile fights.
Don’t let it get to you, Naruto reminded himself, refusing to let the sea of judgmental faces psych him out. Stay calm. This is what all my training was for. Though he couldn't hear their voices, Naruto could feel the well wishes and support of people egging him on: Iruka, Sakura, Kakashi, Hinata, Kiba, and even Sasuke. That's right. If Sasuke had said he wanted to fight against Naruto then that must have meant that he had, at the very least, a small amount of confidence in Naruto’s abilities and determination to win. Sasuke wouldn’t have said what he said if he didn’t have any faith in Naruto; he wasn’t the type to say meaningless words for the sake of placating others feelings. Right here on this arena floor, Naruto knew he wasn’t alone. For the first time in his life he had people on his side rooting for him. They may have not been standing right beside him, but they were all with him in spirit. He suddenly felt empowered, as strong as he had ever felt in his life. Naruto stared down Neji, concentrated and unblinking, his anxious fear and self doubt washed away, replaced with a sense of confidence and strength.
“Looks like you have something to say,” Neji mocked him with a cocky smirk.
“I told you before that you’re definitely going down!” Naruto shouted back, holding out his fist. He seemed almost a completely different person now, one brimming with power. You’re just the first step. I have a long way to go in order to become Hokage. I’m going to beat you Neji. And I’m gonna kick Sasuke’s butt too, and he’ll be amazed by how strong I’ve become, and then he’ll finally acknowledge me as an equal. I won’t give up. There’s no way I can lose now. Not when I have people that believe in me!
***
“Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!” the judge shouted, announcing the end of the match and Neji’s defeat.
The crowd roared with unexpected excitement, completely stunned at how well Naruto had performed. A thunder of applause and congratulatory shouts rang out across the wide arena space, surprising Naruto with their sheer volume. He grinned ear to ear, laughing bashfully at the unexpected attention. He began to showboat his victory, running around wildly and blow kisses of appreciation to the audience.
A untold feeling of pride washed over Naruto like he had never felt before. He had accomplished what most assumed was impossible for him, something that deep down even he doubted he could do on his own without the support of his team. But more importantly, the people sitting in this the arena, many of the from the Hidden Leaf Village, were wholeheartedly showing their support for Naruto and his upset victory. People who had written him off his whole life were now enthusiastically cheering him on. He had fought well and earned that much at least. A wellspring in Naruto burst forth, a surge of hope filling him. If he could continue to impress, continued to defy the odds and prove his worth, then perhaps there was a place for him here after all. Maybe people would come to accept him after all if he never gave up his relentless pursuit of strength and acknowledgement. It had worked for him so far; he now had people who supported him and who also relied on him. Ever since he had found out the Nine Tails that had attacked the Leaf Village 13 years ago was sealed up inside him and plainly understood why he had been segregated from the rest of society Naruto had expanded his horizons vastly, learning new things, gaining new allies, people who honestly sought his success. He now had people who cared about him, people he could actually call friends. Learning that horrible truth had fractured his world, but surprisingly for the better. He just had to keep on this path. To never lose faith in himself, to never give up; the struggles he had experienced in his life had led him to this conclusion. That was Naruto’s way forward, the way for him to become strong. The way for him to change things so he wasn’t hated anymore.
Despite his elation over his victory, Naruto couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when he looked up at the contestants stand; Sasuke was still absent. He had been hoping that his team mate had come in late while he was busy fighting, but Sasuke was still missing in action. Where are you Sasuke? I wanted you to watch my match, Naruto thought with just a tinge of hurt feelings. He wanted to prove himself to Sasuke more than anyone else. The fact that his fiercest rival hadn’t been here watching his greatest victory to date spoiled Naruto’s mood, if only a small amount. He was truly ecstatic, filled with pure happiness over his upset defeat of Neji. It was just that he would have been happier if Sasuke had been here watching. Naruto had imagined beforehand what Sasuke would do when he won, wondering if he would have brushed it off as the mellow boy usually did or if Sasuke would have actually congratulated him, perhaps even been proud of his achievement. Naruto did his best not to let Sasuke’s absence interrupt his good mood. Hopefully they would be fighting against each other soon enough. Sasuke would see first hand just how determined Naruto had become.
***
Naruto stood on the arena floor once again, having jumped down to bitch out Shikamaru for forfeiting his match while on the verge of victory. A leaf floated down gently in the air out of nowhere, followed by another and another, the green plants sent cascading downwards by the light breeze. Then a sudden whirlwind of leaves exploded onto the scene, a cyclone of wind spinning the leaves round and round, heralding the arrival of the late final contestant. The leaves fluttered before Naruto's face, dancing about in the air as the tornado slowed its pace and Sasuke and Kakashi appeared in the midst of the storm. An excited, expectant smile grew across Naruto’s face. Finally that jackass had shown up.
“Just how late were you planning on being, huh?! I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show up cuz you were too afraid to fight me!” he accosted Sasuke playfully.
“Heh. Don't get so worked up, moron,” Sasuke replied with a knowing smile of his own. “I’m guessing from how excited you are that you won your round?” He didn’t seem the least bit surprised in learning of Naruto’s victory, as if he had predicted the boy would win anyways, despite no one having confidence in him.
“Of course!” Naruto grinned confidently back at him.
The two comrades looked each other in the eyes and for a moment it seemed as if the whole world melted away and only the two of them stood together in this coliseum. Passion burned in both their eyes, passion to best one another in combat, passion to definitively settle their rivalry, and perhaps also the passion to understand one another better. For just this instant they were the only ones here and the looks in their eyes did all the speaking that was necessary. The two boys gazed at each other without a single word falling between them, each attempting to convey hidden feelings they were too proud or too fearful to express to the other.
Sasuke, we might not get along sometimes-or more like a lot of the time actually-but… I really do consider you… my first real friend. You never made fun of me for not having parents. You never treated me differently, like I was a monster or an inconvenience; you’re a jerk to me like you are to everyone else. It’s really annoying, but I’m also thankful for that. That let’s me feel like I’m just a normal person, like I’m more than just a container for this stupid fox. We fight a lot and I tell you that I hate you all the time, but... I don’t actually hate you. It’s just that you know how to piss me off better than anyone else! You're a big jerk, cocky, and annoying to boot, but you’re also pretty cool sometimes. You’re the first friend I ever had and even if we want to punch each other at times, you’re still important to me because I never had anyone to yell at and fight with before. I want us to be friends for real though. I’m going to beat you because I have to. I want to make you realize that I’m not weak. I want you to respect me for real. I may not know much about friendship, but I don’t think friends should look down on each other like that. When I’m Hokage I’ll be strong enough to protect everyone, including you. Not because I don't respect you, but because you’re all alone like I used to be before I met you and Sakura and everyone else. And I don’t want you to be alone anymore. It’s just too sad. So when I beat you then you'll finally respect me. And then I can tell you how much meeting you changed my life and we can be friends for real. Then neither of us will have to be alone any more.
Naruto… I used to think you were just an idiot and a talentless loser who wasn’t good for anything. But you’re different than that. I get that now. You always try your best, despite what anyone else thinks of you. You’re tired of being an outsider so you struggle and suffer so much in order to get people to notice you. Well… I notice you. I understand how much you want acceptance. Even if no one else will, I’ll pay attention to you. If I abandon you now you’ll probably just end up doing something super stupid anyways. ...I’m sorry, but I can’t let you beat me. After all, I can’t afford to go easy on you, I have too much at stake here. It’s not because I hate you, but… because you’re my only friend. I really wish I was brave enough to tell you that. I need you to be the one needing protecting, I need you to be the one running after me. Everything I have to do relies on me being the stronger one. So I want you to give me your best so I can test myself. After you lose I’ll even treat you to some ramen so you know there’s no hard feelings between us.
Sasuke broke eye contact with Naruto to look up into the contestants stands. Gaara was awaiting his gaze their, returning a look of calm madness and desire to crush Sasuke.
“Don’t lose to that guy,” Naruto warned Sasuke as he glared up at Gaara.
“Yeah,” he simply replied.
“Sasuke!” Naruto called out, catching Sasuke slightly off guard with his seriousness. “I… want to fight you too!”
“...Yeah,” Sasuke said simply again, affirming his desire to fight Naruto. Naruto grinned back at him widely as Sasuke prepared for his battle.
***
All hell had broken loose; a genjutsu cast on the entire audience had caused them to fall into a deep sleep, Gaara, already teetering on a tightrope of mental instability, had seemed to topple into complete insanity as the battle between him and Sasuke wore on and had fled with his Sand compatriots, Orochimaru, masquerading as the Kazekage, had abducted the Third Hokage at knifepoint, and an army comprised of Sand and Sound ninja had invaded the village. What a complete mess this had turned out to be.
Naruto had no time to think of all that, however. Sasuke had darted off after the retreating Gaara alone. Damnit Sasuke! Running off all by yourself like that… I know I shouldn't be talking, but you’re gonna get yourself killed at this rate. Just hand on! Don’t be an idiot and end up dying before we’ve had our match. Naruto’s thoughts were focused solely on Sasuke as he ran through the trees chasing after him; why the Sand ninja had betrayed them was a mystery to him and thinking it over was pointless and he probably wouldn't have understood the reason anyways. Let the jounin worry about that, it wasn’t like he could do anything about that matter in any case. He and Sakura were better suited to searching out Sasuke and assisting him against Gaara. His ominous words, his overpowering chakra, Gaara was truly a terrifying enemy. Even Sasuke would need help against someone like that.
***
The monster lunged forward, seeking a killing blow on Sasuke, who was lying face down on a large tree branch. The Curse Seal burned in his neck, desperately begging to be used. I have to control this, he thought while trying to distract himself from the pain as the seal fought for control of his body. He couldn’t give in, he was stronger than this. But he just couldn’t get to his feet. In seconds Sasuke was going to be dead.
A surprise boot to the head flung the monster back and away from Sasuke, sparing him from an untimely end. Naruto and Sakura appeared, Naruto placing himself in front of Sasuke and Sakura kneeling over Sasuke’s prone body. Naruto carefully studied the tall sand colored monster before him. It looked sort of like Gaara, only hideously deformed and transformed into the shape of some sort of beast. Those eyes… Naruto remarked on looking at the monster. Those bitter hate filled eyes were oddly enough the most striking thing to him.
The beast snarled and growled, it’s muscles tensing in preparation for movement. Naruto realized all too late that Gaara wasn’t targeting him but the defenceless Sasuke and Sakura.
“Guys! Get away!” he screamed out in panic. He couldn’t lose them, these two people that were important to him. But from his stance he would never make it in time.
Sakura drew her weapon, pointing it fearlessly at the rampaging Gaara in defence of Sasuke. And low and behold he halted his attack, if only momentarily. He stared at her for a tense long second, seemingly having a debate with himself over what to do with her, then blasted her back against a thick tree trunk with his large, demon like claws. Naruto took the opportunity to snatch Sasuke out from underneath Gaara while he was distracted and retreated to a safe distance. Thought with as fast as Gaara was there really wasn’t any such thing.
Naruto gulped, his throat dye and itchy as Gaara stared him down viciously. Those eyes, they were all he could focus on when looking at Gaara. He saw past the deformed beast and into those eyes filled with unbridled rage. What sad eyes. Lonely eyes. He’s a monster… just like I am. ...I hated everyone. I didn’t know who or even what I was. I didn’t understand why everyone treated me like shit. And I hated them so much for it. I wanted them to pay. The way they looked at me was so painful. But now I have people who acknowledge me. I don’t have to worry anymore about the villagers being cold to me because I’m not alone anymore! I never knew just how happy that would make me. That I can exist here and not be hated, and not hate in return. That makes me feel so relieved and thankful. That’s why when I look at Gaara it kills me to remember how things used to be for me. That pain of being alone is like a pitch black hell. I can understand how Gaara feels. I understand it so much that it hurts. He’s been suffering in that darkness with no way out just like I was.
“I’m going to protect them no matter what!” Naruto declared. There was no way he was going to let Sasuke and Sakura, people who were important to him, people who saved him from the dark abyss of being alone, be harmed. He prepped himself for battle against the beast that threatened his most precious friends.
***
Those memories. Those painful memories of when he was a child and all he could do was cry. This rage fueled boy Gaara reminded Naruto so much of himself it was scary. He understood that same pain, the sorrow that came with isolation. The loneliness that hung like dark storm clouds that never dissipated, casting depressing black shadows on everything.
Naruto recalled how it had felt back then. Those tears that flowed on and on like an endless ocean. “Please...” he quietly begged, “Please, someone… won’t anyone be nice to me?”
But no one ever was kind. They turned their backs and pretended he wasn’t there while they spoke horrible things about him, always loud enough so he could hear.
“No one cares about him.”
“He should just disappear.”
“He’s so disgusting.”
“Don’t come near us.”
“Go away!”
“Monster.”
“Monster.”
“Monster.”
“No! I’m not a monster! I’m not!” But no one listened. No one cared. “Why? Why does everyone hate me? All I want is someone to be nice to me, someone to be my friend. Why do they treat me like this when I never did anything?!” That deep pool of loneliness began changing soon after Naruto realized that he was alone and would forever be alone. His sadness morphed into bitter hatred. “I’m not the one who should disappear. It’s everyone else that should go die! I hate everyone!” He was filled with this rage against everyone who had been cruel to him. He wasn’t the one who was wrong, they were! But after a while he realized that this hatred only separated himself from other people even more. He then began to understand that he would have to fight and struggle to be recognized. Even then he would probably fail. But still it was better to try. Maybe if he was lucky he would find one person, even if it was just one single person, to tell him he mattered. With time though he found more than one. His amount of important people continued to grow. Many people still hated him, this was true, but he now had more people who acknowledge him than he had ever dreamt of having.
“The pain of being alone isn’t easy to bear. That's why I understand your pain,” Naruto told Gaara almost sympathetically, as he crawled along the ground towards the defeated Sand ninja, who lay in the dirt all the same, both of them too exhausted from their excruciating battle to stand. “But I have people who are important to me now. I won’t let you hurt those people. If you try to kill them I will stop you,” he said, throwing Gaara a viciously determined look.
The redhead looked at Naruto, this boy who was so like himself, and he was baffled. “Why do you go so far for other people’s sakes?” he asked. He didn’t understand it. He fought only for himself and loved only himself. How could these two boys have started out so similar yet diverged and become so different?
“They saved me from the hell of being alone. They accepted my existence. That’s why they're all important to me.”
Gaara’s eyes shot open wide. That was where Naruto’s remarkable power came from. Not from hate, but from love. This boy had suffered and with time turned his weakness into his strength. He had used his hurt to build a new life for himself. That was why he was so strong.
“That’s enough, Naruto. Sakura's alright now, the sand holding her is gone,” Sasuke reassured Naruto, coming over to his side and kneeling down beside him.
“I see…” he replied simply, before passing out, completely drained from his fight as Gaara was carried off by his siblings.
Sasuke stared down at Naruto’s battered body as he slept, completely stunned at just how powerful the blond had become. He had done what Sasuke himself could not and defeated Gaara. Sasuke was amazed and thankful and confused and proud and many other emotions that all swirled around inside him all at once. But deep down, in some dark part of his heart, he recognized that he was angry and jealous. How had Naruto, the eternal screw up, been able to beat an enemy that even he had no chance against? If Naruto was the stronger one… then he would never be able to exact the Uchiha’s revenge. He would end up lagging behind. He would become the weak one. Sasuke had to note how disgusted he was with himself for thinking that way; Naruto had fought so hard to protect him and Sakura, put his life on the line for them even when the situation had seemed so hopeless. But still, as he looked down on Naruto’s contented, worry free sleeping face, Sasuke understood that that a kernel of frustration had been planted in his heart fueled by resentment and jealousy. And he had no idea what to do with his new growing desire to reestablish his superior position. He felt robbed and completely helpless. Just like he had felt on that terrible night all those years ago.
***
The Hidden Leaf Village had been dealt a grievous blow, a wound from which it would take a long time to recover. But they would heal. The ninja who called this place home wouldn’t allow themselves to be taken lightly. The Third Hokage may have been killed in battle against Orochimaru and the invading army of Sound and Sand had caused catastrophic damage to the village, but their plans had been foiled and the enemy soldiers repulsed. The pieces were being picked up and it would be a long time before things returned to normal, but the people who lived here were strong and they wouldn't give up in the face of the difficult task of rebuilding. The most urgent thing that lie before them now was to find a new Hokage. That was why Jiraiya, the great toad sage, was venturing out to find the new Hokage candidate with his pupil in tow.
“Whaaaat? Why do I have to go on a trip with you pervy sage?” Naruto complained as he walked beside Jiraiya.
“Because it’s our mission. We’re supposed to find a certain lady. Plus, we could make a stop in a red light district. There’s a lot about life that Kakashi hasn’t been teaching you,” the old sage added, trying to entice his student.
“I’d rather stay here and make Kakashi-sensei teach me the Chidori.” Don’t think something like that will work on me you pervy sage. I’m not that stupid.
“But this woman is hot. She’ll definitely want to meet you Naruto!” the old sage continued his charm offensive unabated.
“You’re just trying to trick me! I don't want to go!” Naruto pouted like a stubborn child.
“Are you sure? She knows a move even stronger than the Chidori. But if you don’t want to come with me, I guess I’ll have to ask Sasuke to accompany me instead,” Jiraiya sighed with fake resignation.
“All right then! Let’s go!” Naruto cried out in excitement, his reservations about traveling with the old pervert blown away in an instant as he tore off towards his house. “I’m going to go pack. Don’t leave without me!” he yelled back to the sage.
Heh heh, I had a feeling that would work. He’s a cute brat sometimes.
I’m gonna learn so many new things that I’ll surpass Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke! Naruto planned out in his mind as he hastily threw objects from his room into a large backpack. We didn’t get to have our fight because of everything that happened Sasuke, but when I’ll come back I’ll amaze you with my new skills.
“Let’s go!” Naruto announced when he had returned, dragging a huge sack of what was probably every possession he owned behind him. The bag seemed to be even bigger than the boy was. How he had pulled it to the gates of the town by himself was anyone’s guess.
“Uhhhh, are you serious? We’re just going on a trip, you don't need that much stuff…” Jiraiya sighed.
After forcing Naruto to go repack only what was necessary, the two of them were off on their adventure. They walked at a comfortable pace on a dirt trail, the occasional fellow traveler passing by them.
“Hey pervy sage, what kind of jutsu are you going to teach me this time?” Naruto looked up expectantly at the big white haired man.
“Pervy sage?” he grimaced at the annoying nickname. Jiraiya struck a sudden dramatic pose, sort of like a kabuki actor hamming it up for the audience. “Don’t you understand what kind of amazing person I am? I am the world renown Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! Not only that, but I am one of the Legendary Three Ninja! The handsome man known all around the world, Lord Jiraiya!”
“...I don’t get it,” Naruto muttered as he stared blankly, confused at a string of words that he didn’t quite understand. He certainly had a big opinion of himself, but this guy didn’t seem like anything more than a perverted crazy old man who had a few good techniques to teach.
“Hey hey, great pervy sage? Why did you choose me to bring along with you? Is it because you’re going an advanced jutsu class and I’m the only one good enough to get in? That’s it, right?” Naruto questioned.
“...” Jiraiya was silent for a moment, as if debating with himself over something, then spoke up. “It’s because the Fourth Hokage was my student and you remind me of him in a funny sort of way.”
The Fourth Hokage? Naruto thought as he stared baffled up at the dirty minded old man. Was this guy really so great that he could train a Hokage? And not only a Hokage, but the Fourth Hokage, the one Naruto most admired, the man who had shown such passion for the wellbeing of his village and such unbridled courage in the face of danger that he sacrificed his very life to protect the people from the rampaging Nine Tails. A sudden thought occurred to Naruto; if this man had trained one Hokage, then he certainly had the knowledge and skill to train another. Naruto then made a silent vow to stick by Jiraiya for as long as permitted and soak up all the information and techniques he possibly could. If it came down to it Naruto would beg the pervy sage to teach him if it was necessary. There was no way he was going to let this golden chance slip through his fingers. Naruto would make sure that Jiraiya became known as the great pervy sage who had taught two Hokages.
***
Sasuke panted heavily, sweat dripping down his face. He had been out here in the woods practicing the Chidori for hours on end, but it still wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even near enough. How much more do I need to grow from here? he thought, recalling than amazing power Naruto had displayed in his battle against Gaara. The battle where Sasuke couldn’t do anything useful. He had been completely helpless against Gaara. I use to make fun of him for being useless, but now when I compare us… I’m the weak one. He never used to have that much power. Where did he get that kind of strength? How? Just how can I get that kind of power? What the hell do I have to do to become that strong?
After seeing that incredible display, after witnessing Naruto’s tremendous progress first hand in that battle, a burning jealousy began to grow inside Sasuke. He didn’t enjoy that feeling; it made a sickly nauseated sensation rise up in the pit of his stomach. He was disgusted with himself that he could be so petty towards a teammate. It was like his feelings of anger and resentment were seeking to cancel out Naruto’s success, to deprive the boy of what he had always wanted; strength and courage and acceptance. Sasuke didn’t want to feel this way, but he couldn’t help it. The emotions just kept flowing on inside like a river, a rapid current of negativity he couldn't find a way to stop.
Naruto the friendless loser, Naruto the useless screw up, Naruto the one exiled from social life in the village… that very same Naruto was now stronger than he was. He should have been happy for Naruto; they were teammates and rivals after all. But he wasn’t. He was just angry and ashamed. How could he have he let himself fall so far behind? Sasuke just couldn’t muster the courage to congratulate Naruto on his success. He was simply too proud to admit he had been bested so easily. It dug at him like the claws of a rabid animal, tearing away his pride and leaving behind the scars of obsession and bitterness. It wasn’t as if Gaara had beaten him, no it felt as if Naruto had been the one to defeat him, and in doing so he had trampled on Sasuke’s pride, mocking everything that he stood for. Naruto certainly hadn’t intended to do so, but somehow that just made Sasuke feel worse; Naruto didn't seek to crush him, but had only done so by accident. Sasuke’s feelings were just a victim caught in the crossfire.
Sasuke realized something soon after Naruto’s battle. Maybe he understood even during the battle; he just couldn’t match up anymore. As he was now, there would be no hope of ever defeating Itachi. That thought fueled his current efforts. The current him was pathetic, weak, worthless. If he let this stand then Naruto would surpass him even farther and Sasuke would languish behind, his revenge for his destroyed clan but a mere dream.
I need more power. Kakashi has to have something in mind, Sasuke thought, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He needed to set things straight again, with him being the strong one and Naruto the one chasing after. His honor and his duty to his disgraced clan depended on it. Surely Kakashi would have some idea of where to begin; he understood his student's strengths and weaknesses nearly as well as they did themselves. A jounin of his caliber would have to have some secret technique or hidden training method that would restore him to his rightful position.
After taking a few minutes to cool down, Sasuke walked to Kakashi’s apartment, intent on forcing him to teach Sasuke yet another new technique. However, Sasuke entered the room to find the odd sight of Kakashi laying in bed with the three other jounin teachers seated around him, worried looks on all their faces.
“Why is Kakashi sleeping? And why are all the jounin gathered here?” Sasuke questioned this bizarre sight.
“Uh, well you see-” Guy-sensei tried to begin to explain before he was interrupted by another ninja running through the doorway.
“Is it really true that Itachi is here and that he’s chasing after Naruto?” the ninja shouted, only realizing all too late after he had finished his question that the single person this information should have been kept from the most was standing right there.
Sasuke froze in place for a moment, a volcano of rage boiling inside him, ready to explode. He couldn’t believe it. How dare Itachi come back to this place, the town where he slaughtered his own family. What nerve he had to come here, just like rubbing salt into fresh wounds. Even his mere presence here shamed the Uchiha name.
Sasuke shoved the ninja out of the way and bolted out the door, not waiting even a second for an explanation from the older ninja assembled in the room.
“Wait, where are you going?!” Guy shouted after him, but he would not let himself be stopped, not by anyone, not with Itachi so close by. If Itachi was here then Sasuke needed to know why. He wouldn’t be able to do or think of anything else until he understood why that bastard had come back after all these years.
He’s here. He’s really come back here. And he’s chasing Naruto? What would Itachi want with Naruto? Sasuke darted through the streets in a panicked mood, his mind racing along at a similar pace, before realizing he had no clue where Naruto was right now. Okay, think: where would Naruto usually go around this time of day? ...The ramen place! The idea came to him quickly with how well acquainted he had become with Naruto’s habits ever since they had met.
Sasuke rushed into the Ichiraku Ramen stall, not bothering with the time required to properly greet the owner. Every second counted when it came to Itachi. Whatever he wanted Naruto for it was certainly nothing good.
“Naruto usually stops by here for lunch, do you know where he went after that?” he practically yelled.
“Naruto? He and Jiraiya ate ramen here… let’s see, and then… they went together on the backroads to a nearby town I think.” Sasuke nearly yelled for the owner to hurry up, his slow speaking pace grating on Sasuke’s nerves, but he just barely managed to hold it together, despite his anxiousness pouring off of him.
“Jiraiya?” Sasuke questioned at hearing the unfamiliar name. Was that another enemy, someone in league with Itachi, recruited to help him abduct Naruto for whatever ill intent he had? Had Naruto been tricked and already fallen into his grasp?
“Ah, he’s one of the Three Legendary Ninjas. He’s an easy one to spot; a big old man with lots of white hair.”
Alright, he’s not another enemy. If someone else is there with him, Naruto should be okay for a while. But still, I have to hurry! Sasuke thought as he charged out of the stall, not wasting the half second it would have taken to thank the man for his valuable information. That town isn’t far from here, I should be able to get there pretty quick.
***
Moving at full speed Sasuke was able to swiftly reach the nearby town where Naruto was located, hopefully safe and sound. There’s too many buildings to check one by one. I’ll start with hotels and go from there then.
Sasuke burst into the nearest hotel and ran up to the counter. “Is there a stupid looked blonde kid about my age and a large white haired old man staying here?” he asked rapidly.
“Ummm… yeah, I think I know who you’re talking about,” the clerk slowly replied, temporarily thrown back at Sasuke's desperation, before giving Sasuke the room number. He plowed up the stairs hastily, running them by twos as he skipped over every other step and beat on the wooden hotel room door wildly. The door creaked open to reveal a confused looking old man and young blond kid… but not the ones he was looking for. Shit, wrong people. He dashed off again without a word, not apologizing to the baffled pair for disrupting their stay.
In his mind Sasuke replayed the events of that horrible night over and over again as he raced through the town from hotel to hotel searching for his teammate. He knew acutely well just what Itachi was capable of. The image of Naruto’s bloody, sliced up body lying motionless on the ground, just like those of his parents, entered Sasuke’s mind and stuck there as he frantically sought him out. He couldn't shake the thought that he might already be too late. Come on, stay focused! Where are you Naruto? Just why the hell is Itachi after you? Knowing you, he’ll try to goad you and you’ll charge at him without thinking, but Itachi isn’t the kind of enemy you can face off against recklessly without a plan. He won’t hesitate to completely destroy you… If Itachi touches even one hair on your head I swear I’ll rip his fucking arms and legs off with my bare hands! Sasuke promised to himself, to Naruto, and to Itachi.
It might have seemed contradictory that Sasuke was so desperately searching out Naruto when only a little earlier in the day he had been so angry and frustrated with the boy’s growth, but in truth the person he was angry with wasn’t Naruto; it was himself. Sasuke despised his own weakness more than he did Naruto’s strength. Every time when he was little and he cried alone in his recently empty house his internalized hatred grew. Every time he looked at the other kids and found himself wanting to play with them instead of training, his self hatred expanded ever more. In order to fulfil his duty as a son of the Uchiha clan he had been required to cast away all childishness and weakness and he loathed when he displayed those qualities even inadvertently. It made him feel so powerless, so out of control. Naruto hadn’t meant to, but his remarkable strength had wounded Sasuke’s ego, made him feel just like he had back then. But there was more to it than just that. It wasn’t as if he now wanted Naruto dead over something like that, no matter how much it wounded him inside. Over their missions Sasuke had come to enjoy his time together with Naruto, so much so that he found himself still trying to protect the boy who now no longer needed his help. He might be recognized as the weak one temporarily, but Sasuke would regain his position and he would protect Naruto again. Because Naruto was someone he had come to care about, perhaps the only person left in the world he truly cared about. He despised that part of himself, that weak part of himself that desired to be friendly with Naruto and wanted him close by. But he could hate himself and rationalize his feelings all he wanted later; right now finding Itachi and saving Naruto were more important. Sasuke just didn’t know if he could bear to lose another person in his life.
***
Naruto rolled his eyes as a tapping came from the hotel room door. Jeez, he’s been rejected that fast? Jiraiya had seen an attractive woman and, as was typical of him, had completely bailed on Naruto, ordering the boy to go back to their room while he went out to party and drink and woo women. Serves you right pervy sage. You’re supposed to be helping me, not living it up.
The knocking came again, louder and quicker this time. “Yeah, yeah, shut up already, I’m coming,” Naruto muttered, annoyed at his teacher's complete lack of any sense of duty.
Only when Naruto opened the door, the large white haired pervert wasn’t standing there, dejected and alone. Instead there was a sickly looking young man, staring down at him with fearsome, almost carnivorous eyes, as if he saw Naruto as nothing but a small rabbit or squirrel, mere prey to satiate his ravenous hunger.
Huh? Sasuke? Naruto thought in a momentarily confused state. This man certainly looked very similar to an older Sasuke would probably look like, but… No, this isn’t him. He’s got the Sharingan just like Sasuke, though. Those eyes. They looked so empty, so terrifyingly brutal that it sent a chill down Naruto’s spine. His eyes were tinted the same red and black colors that Kakashi and Sasuke had when they used their own Sharingans, but somehow this man’s bloody red eyes looked far more cruel and evil than there’s ever did. Naruto felt a deep, chilling fear growing in the pit of his stomach just looking at this man. He gave off a cruel, icy aura, freezing the air around him with his cold, calm glare and fear inspiring presence. He almost seemed some sort of demon, a Grim Reaper come to take souls of the living.
“Is this brat really the Nine Tails?” another man called out from the hallway, a tall, fish like man with strange blue skin and gills. He carried a massive sword on his back, one larger than Naruto’s body. Both of them wore distinctive flowing black cloaks with red cloud patterns on them.
How do they know about the Nine Tails?! Naruto began to panic, his most important secret seemingly common knowledge to these strange men.
“Naruto,” the Sharingan man said, his voice soft yet forceful, “we’d like it if you came with us.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand from someone far superior in position. Naruto couldn’t move. He was too afraid. This man, his aura of menacing power, it was just too much for him to handle. His voice was like poison, subtle and calm, but at the same exceedingly dangerous and powerful. “Come out of the room,” he repeated his demand more forcefully this time as Naruto quivered slightly in fear in his presence. Naruto had no choice but to force his body to inch out of the room into the hallway.
“We should cut his leg off to keep him from running away,” the blue skinned man threatened, reaching for his large sword.
What the hell? I’m gonna die! Why can’t I move? C’mon move! Naruto was too stricken by the sheer power of these strange men emanating off them like body heat to do anything but stand there, awaiting his own demise. It was if they were suppressing his very existence, snuffing him out like a deathly humid day, crushing him under their invisible weight.
Before the blue man could lop off Naruto’s limbs the Sharingan man unexpectedly interjected without even turning his head back to see, “It’s been a long time, Sasuke.” True enough, when Naruto looked between the two strange cloaked men down the otherwise empty hall Sasuke stood there with his own Sharingan active.
“Itachi Uchiha...” Sasuke began, his eyes fixed on the Sharingan man and filled with a murderous intent the likes of which Naruto had never seen on Sasuke’s rigid facial features. “...I’m going to kill you!!”
“Huh? This guy seems to know you. Who is he, Itachi?” the Sharingan man was asked by his nefarious blue skinned cohort.
“He’s my younger brother,” he replied calmly. There was no warmth, no affection there in his voice at all. He stated it merely as a fact; the sky was blue, December was the last month of the year, and this man was Sasuke’s older brother. Nothing important, nothing worth bothering with.
This guy… he’s the one Sasuke mentioned when we first were teamed up. And then during our mission to the Land of Waves. This is the man that he has to kill, Naruto recalled his team mate’s words on those occasions about this man.
The demonic looking man named Itachi Uchiha turned around in one smooth, almost graceful, motion and took a look at his younger brother, standing there in barely contained fury. The two brothers stared at each other eye to eye, Sharingan to Sharingan, the twin marks of their shared bloodline, of their hatred and pain and struggle. A silent battle raged between them for a long tense period of time, their eyes doing all the fighting necessary. Itachi maintained his cool demeanor, looking down at Sasuke like he were no more than a rat in the presence of a god, tiny and insignificant. He allowed not even a speck of emotion to stain his white porcelain face. Sasuke’s eyes reflected something else entirely; his wide, glaring eyes and flared nostrils made him look like an ancient painting of a demon hell bent on destruction and chaos. Even from this distance Naruto could see the horrible emotional scars left behind that whatever Itachi had done to Sasuke painted out clearly of his bitter face.
“I have lived hating you… I have lived only for killing you!” Sasuke shouted furiously, preparing himself for an attack against his foe. Friendship, fun, even my own happiness; I sacrificed everything in my life for the sake of killing you. I gave up everything so I could get stronger. I devoted my whole life for the sole purpose of finding you and getting revenge even if I died in the process. You killed mom and dad and everyone else simply because you could, because you wanted to test yourself. Because of that you completely destroyed my image of you. I looked up to you, I loved you. You were my idol, even when I was jealous and felt overshadowed by your brilliance, even when you never had time for me anymore and treated me like I was a pest, I still loved you so much. But you ruined everything for such a bullshit reason. And now you’re going after Naruto, the only friend I have in the world. You took everything from me and even still you just want to take more and more. WILL YOU NOT BE HAPPY UNTIL I HAVE NOTHING LEFT AT ALL?!
Sasuke activated his Chidori, charging down the hall at his only brother, his most hated enemy. The high pitched screeching noise that was characteristic of the attack sounded like the souls of the Uchiha clan, screaming out in anticipation of their coming revenge at their betrayer.
But Itachi effortlessly caught Sasuke’s arm as it stabbed at him and deflected his attack harmlessly away into the wall. It was like a little brother trying to beat his elder brother with a toy sword, completely useless on someone of this caliber.
This is bad! I need to do something… Naruto thought, charging his chakra in preparation to join in on the fray to assist Sasuke. Naruto’s chakra, the chakra of the Nine Tails, filled the room with its amazing overbearing presence, catching the attention of Itachi and his partner.
Itachi, barely paying attention to Sasuke anymore, crushed down with full force on Sasuke’s arm, still clasped firmly in his grip after Sasuke’s failed assault. The bones broke like a twigs under Itachi’s terrible strength, sending Sasuke wailing to the floor in agony.
Just as Naruto was prepared to attack the duo himself, the fish man swung his sword in front of Naruto. All the chakra he had saved up drained away from his body like water flowing down the drain.
“My Samehada eats up chakra!” he gloated at the confused young ninja. “Now that you can’t use any jutsu, should we start with an arm or a leg?”
“You seem to not know much about me,” the reassuring voice of Naruto’s savior called out from behind him. “I am Jiraiya, the very epitome of manliness! I fall for no woman. When you’re as sexy as I am, women fall at your feet!”
“Oh, it’s one of the Three Legendary Ninjas. I heard you liked pretty women, but I wasn’t expecting such a simple ruse would stall you,” the tall blue skinned man chortled.
“You guys wanted to draw me away, so you cast a genjutsu on a woman to trick me… So you really are after Naruto.” The information confirming his suspicions came as no surprise to Jiraiya, but left both Naruto and Sasuke shocked and confused. “...You won’t be getting Naruto,” Jiraiya told the men matter of factly.
“Oh? And why is that?” Itachi questioned back, his voice still emotionless and flat.
“Because right here and now I’m going to kill you two.” It wasn’t a petty threat; the stern look on his face replacing his usual goofy looking expression made his bold words evidently clear that it was no mere attempt to psych them out or cause them to retreat. He fully intended to slay them here.
“Don’t do it,” Sasuke panted out in between small grunts of pain as he struggled and scrambled up from the floor. “This guy… is mine!” he spat with venom.
“I have absolutely no interest in you at the moment,” Itachi said plainly, almost like he were bored by Sasuke’s desperate attempts to kill him. He accentuated his disinterest by kicking Sasuke in the stomach, sending the boy crashing into the wall with a loud audible thud.
“Sasuke!! You assholes!” Naruto shouted out in concern and anger as he began to charge at Itachi to defend his friend.
“Naruto! I told you not to!” Sasuke screamed, his face contorted into pain. If you interfere with my fight… I swear, even if it’s you, I will never forgive you for as long as I live. “This is my fight!”
Naruto halted his attack, stopping dead in his tracks. Something about the look in Sasuke’s eyes forced him to stay back, like Sasuke was silently pleading with him to leave this to him. He didn’t like it, but Naruto reluctantly abided by his wishes.
Itachi walked quickly and calmly over to Sasuke and delivered one well placed punch into his gut, knocking the wind out of the vengeful boy and causing him to spurt up some blood. But he didn’t stop his attack there; Itachi began striking Sasuke again and again and again, delivering punishing blow after blow to Sasuke, who took them all without any chance of counter attacking.
Naruto grit his teeth in frustration, using all of his willpower to hold himself back from intervening in this entirely one sided affair. He watched Itachi relentlessly land blow after blow on Sasuke’s body, eyes narrowed like daggers as he growled at the enemies.
Why? I thought I had gotten stronger… Why is there still such a gap between us? Even now the difference is so huge. Just what have I been doing all this time? Sasuke thought, completely outclassed even after all his training and hard work.
Sasuke collapsed to the floor in utter defeat, only to be lifted up by his throat and slammed against the wall by Itachi. “You’re weak,” Itachi informed his little brother. “From now on, you will always relive that day, 24 hours a day,” he ominously said, opening his eye to reveal the terrible power of the Sharingan's genjutsu.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Sasuke screamed out in an earsplitting noise signalling his complete capitulation. The sound shattered Naruto’s strength of will, the only thing holding him back from getting involved.
What am I supposed to do, just stand here and watch you get hurt? Like hell I will! We’re a team Sasuke, stop being stupid and rely on me more! Naruto charged forth, this time swearing that nothing Sasuke could do or say would stop him from helping. He could bear this heartbreaking painful sight no longer. The wrenching screams of agony, his broken body covered in wounds yet still continued to get pummeled; Naruto was done doing nothing! If Sasuke was angry at him or hated him later, then that’s just what would happen and he would have to deal with that, but there was no way in hell that Naruto was going to stand by and watch as this abuse carried on against his friend while he did nothing.
But Jiraiya acted first, and the whole place, walls and ceiling and floor all, turned squishy and pink, like flesh. “You’re in my toad’s stomach now! Hope you enjoy being his next meal.”
“Why are you still so weak? Still not enough... hatefulness,” Itachi left his utterly broken brother with devilish whispered parting words. The two assailants then fled, breaking through the window and escaping from the trap Jiraiya had set for them.
“Sasuke!” Naruto ran over to Sasuke’s slumped body and shook him, trying to awaken him from his dazed state. But the boy didn’t move, or make even the slightest noise. Even his breathing was light and shallow.
“Pervy sage… Is Sasuke going to be okay?”
“He took a considerable amount of mental damage…” Jiraiya trailed off, not wanting to sugar coat his words, but not wishing to worry and hurt Naruto even more than he already was.
“Damn it! I didn’t do anything… I’m going to go get those guys!” Naruto promised, desiring to take out his feelings on them for hurting Sasuke so badly.
“Hmph. Try it and you’ll die. That guy is on a whole different level,” Jiraiya refuted him.
“They’re after me! Am I just supposed to run away forever?!”
“Shut up,” Jiraiya sternly scolded Naruto like a disobedient dog. “You’re weak.”
Naruto clenched his jaw tightly in frustration. He knew that. He knew he was helpless against them, that he would have been killed if Jiraiya hadn’t come and saved him. But the thought that he was so powerless when it mattered most, that he could do nothing against these assholes who were hunting him down and had hurt Sasuke, that was a very bitter pill to swallow.
***
Naruto gazed up at Sasuke’s ragged body draped on Guy-sensei’s back. He looked so broken, so defeated. He almost looked dead, completely empty of signs of life. Naruto couldn’t contain his worry, it was plainly written on his features. Maybe if he hadn’t listened to Sasuke and had done something, then maybe Sasuke wouldn’t have gotten hurt this badly. This kept happening: in the Land of Waves, in the Forest of Death, during the Chunin Exams against Gaara, and once again, Sasuke placed himself in the way of danger and ended up badly hurt, and more than once he did it in order to protect Naruto and Sakura. Why am I still so weak? Naruto lamented. I thought I had gotten stronger but… How can I ever become Hokage if I can’t even protect the people who are important to me? Looking at him, Naruto couldn’t help but fear that Sasuke might die from his injuries. If he did then… Naruto had so few important people already, the loss of even just one would drastically shrink his world.
Guy, perhaps noticing Naruto’s sullen demeanor, spoke up. “Jiraiya, please find Tsunade and bring her back to us.” He too had a badly wounded rival of his own, Kakashi suffering the same fate as Sasuke at Itachi’s hands, not to mention Lee and his terrible injuries, so he likely understood Naruto's current feelings very well.
“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely find her! Take care of Sasuke, Bushy Brows Sensei!” This was all Naruto could do at the moment; to leave Sasuke in the care of others. He couldn’t do anything to lessen his pain or heal him, he couldn't fix the wounds in his heart that had driven Sasuke into his current state. Would Sasuke even want that from him? Probably not, but Naruto wasn't about to give up on trying to inch closer bit by bit. Sasuke was too important of a person to him to let him get hurt like this again. Sasuke had protected him on more than one occasion; it was time to repay the favor. When Itachi showed up again Naruto would be sure to get him, even if Sasuke hated him forever for doing so. Because Sasuke… was Naruto’s friend. Even if Naruto didn’t say it out loud, that was how he truly felt. The bond he had forged with the stuck up boy was fragile, but deeply important to him. He had never had people to worry about or protect before, people to argue with and fight beside, and sometimes even laugh with when Sasuke was in a rare good mood. He would do anything to keep that bond alive. So Naruto resolved that when Sasuke had recovered he would tell him plainly how much he mattered to him. Even if he was made fun of, or if Sasuke called him an idiot, or ignored him completely, Naruto would make it clear: Sasuke’s presence there, as a rival, as a friend, just as Sasuke, meant the world to Naruto.
***
“That boy… he’s important to you, isn’t he?” Jiraiya asked without warning once they had returned to the road after dropping Sasuke’s catatonic body off at the Leaf Village.
“Sasuke? He’s… my rival,” Naruto replied after a moment’s hesitation. That word didn’t fully explain the murky relationship between himself and Sasuke, but it was the only word that came to mind, the one closest in meaning to whatever they really were to each other.
“I see… Rivals are important,” the old sage nodded solemnly, then things returned to the quiet state between them before he had brought the subject up. From the corner of his eye Naruto could see a hint of a sad expression on his face as Jiraiya walked along beside him. Perhaps the sage was recalling his own past rivalry with the fallen ninja Orochimaru.
Contrary to belief, a rival wasn’t someone you hated or sought to hurt, but someone you truly respected as an equal. Because of this a rival’s actions and feelings could have the most profound and permanent effect on someone else's heart. The desire to better yourself to challenge them, the striving for that person to recognize you as a person of equal worth and strength, all this came with the status of rivals. Jiraiya knew how all this felt from long ago during his youth. But he also understood the terrible pain that came when your rival, someone you honestly and plainly admired above nearly all others, let you down and failed to live up to your expectations. He knew what it felt like to have your emotions betrayed by someone you trusted and respected. That pain cuts deeper than any kunai or shuriken wound ever could, straight to your very heart. Watching someone you claimed as a rival fall into darkness and evil and realizing that you failed to save them, that you weren’t strong enough to drag them back, was a kind of inner pain you never forgot and that never dulled. Jiraiya knew that all too well. Even after all the years that had passed by, even after all the terrible things Orochimaru had done, still that sadness burdened Jiraiya’s heart.
The toad sage had seen the pure and utter hatred the young ninja Sasuke had displayed as he charged recklessly at Itachi. He hadn’t said anything aloud, not wanting to worry the already stressed Naruto, but that display had reminded Jiraiya all too much of Orochimaru. He could feel the darkness welling in the angry boy’s soul, even without knowing him, he could read all the warning signs. How much had Naruto felt it then? How aware was Naruto of his rival’s treacherous tightrope walk between his friends and his vengeance? If nothing was done, Sasuke would likely fall into the pit of hate and despair and be swallowed up just like Orochimaru had. Perhaps the only one who could save him from that fate was Naruto. Jiraiya could only hope that Naruto would be able to help Sasuke, unlike himself, who had only failed miserably. When that time came only Naruto would know what to do for sure. He would make sure the boy was prepared for what was to come.
***
Naruto lay in the dirt, completely exhausted. The Rasengan was much more difficult to learn than he had ever expected. Day after day passed by with the same failed attempts made over and over again. The first stage of the technique had been difficult enough to get, but this second stage just seemed impossible. No matter how hard he tried, that damned balloon wouldn’t explode like Jiraiya had made it do. Naruto’s hands felt stiff and cramped, his arms sore from days of fruitless effort. Is this how Sasuke trains all the time? No wonder he’s in a bad mood all the time, this is exhausting.
“Hey, Naruto,” Jiraiya approached him as he stared at his palm, as if wishing the Rasengan into existence.
“What do you want?” Naruto asked with a hint of anger in his voice. It was hard not to be frustrated when he kept failing and Jiraiya only explained the bare minimum of information on the technique.
“Go into town and buy us lunch.”
“What? Why me?!” Naruto asked, incensed at Jiraiya’s attitude. It was bad enough getting so little help from the sage, but doing his chores for him was too much to handle.
“Well, I am teaching you jutsu. For free I might add.”
Naruto quietly pouted, but couldn’t exactly refute that fact, and since he couldn’t come up with any good excuse or comeback he stomped off into town.
What a lazy teacher. He doesn't even actually do anything, all he does is sleep and go flirt with girls. How can he expect me to learn anything without any help at all?
As Naruto paid for the box lunches at a food stand a nearby little boy holding hands with his father excitedly asked, “Hey dad, buy me an ice cream!” The older man obliged and split the popsicle down the middle, taking one half for himself. The child complained that he could eat both parts, but the dad insisted the boy not spoil his appetite for lunch with his mother as they walked off through the crowd to their happy life and home.
Naruto watched the display of familial affection with a heavy heart. It wasn’t any of his business, but seeing a display like like still stung. It reminded Naruto how truly alone he was in the world. It was at times like this, times when he was frustrated and struggling to achieve something, that Naruto wished he had parents. People who would encourage him and support him and had faith in him. People to love him and spend the days doing all the things families did. He had no one like that. Everything he had he had worked with his own two hands to get. Every negative emotion from his childhood had went unnoticed by the world. His sadness, his loneliness, his anger, his frustration, they hadn’t meant anything to anyone. Naruto had people in his life now, maybe not family, but still people he trusted and cared for, but it was still difficult to be presented with what he had longed for and wanted so much right out in the open, as if the universe were rubbing it in.
His glum attitude stuck with him on the way back to deliver lunch to Jiraiya. Naruto just couldn’t shake it off.
“Today… can you help me with my training? Just a little bit?” Naruto asked the man timidly, hoping for even just a little bit of encouragement.
“I don’t have time for that. We still need to find information on Tsunade,” Jiraiya rejected him flat out.
Naruto knew that he shouldn’t have even bothered to ask. Jiraiya wasn’t his father and it was wrong to try to seek any comfort from him. To him, Naruto was just like any other student, a brat to teach, not to coddle.
“Unless you think for yourself, you’ll never get it,” Jiraiya chastised the boy, who looked down at the ground and avoided his eyes like an ashamed child being punished. “Stop being a baby. You’re a ninja, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I got it!” Naruto replied with a big smile that was almost certainly synthetic.
***
Damnit! I even poured out all the chakra I could and it still didn’t break. Later that night, Naruto continued on with his training. The balloon only gained a small hole in the side and deflated, air rushing out. It wasn’t anything like when Jiraiya had demonstrated it and the whole thing exploded into bits at once.
“You’ve improved a bit,” Jiraiya’s voice came from behind him.
“What are you talking about? I only made a whole, I couldn’t break it!” Naruto replied defensively. He didn’t know whether Jiraiya was making fun of him or being sarcastic, but it wasn’t in good taste. I’m trying as hard as I can, dammit.
“Don’t be so stubborn,” Jiraiya said with an unusually kind look in his eyes and warm smile on his face. “You’ve done a good job on your own. Here.” In his outstretched hand was a popsicle, split down the middle. It’s partner was in his other hand. Perhaps Jiraiya wasn’t so uncaring afterall.
***
The Rasengan, the product of his blood, sweat, and tears, impacted against Kabuto’s stomach. Naruto didn’t know why Kabuto, who he had met during the Chunin Exams, was with that villain Orochimaru, but the bespectacled young man was certainly an enemy now. There was no time to feel hurt over his betrayal; Jiraiya was fighting Orochimaru himself and Tsunade was too stricken with fear by the sight of blood to fight.
Kabuto went flying backwards, pushed by the remarkable chakra force of the Rasengan and it’s powerful whirlwind. A direct hit on his stomach. That had to take him out. Naruto knew he was too weary to continue on any more. This attack had to finish off Kabuto, because if it didn't, Naruto would be the one finished. He was too wounded, too worn out to do anything else.
But Kabuto withstood the attack. He was wounded by the explosive blast, but not enough to knock him out of the fight. Naruto was running on empty, he had nothing left to give anymore. He coughed up a stream of vicious red blood from an internal injury. His hand bled profusely from having Kabuto’s kunai driven straight through it. This was it, Naruto could fight no longer. He collapsed into the dirt, wheezing and hacking as he tried not to choke to death on his own blood, still being coughed up from his internal organs. Light faded from his eyes and all that he saw before him was pitch black empty darkness.
It’s dark. Why is it so dark? Am I… going to die? My heart hurts, my lungs hurt, my whole body is screaming in pain. I can barely move. Hell, I can barely breath. I don't wanna die. There’s still a lot of things I want to do. I’m still so far away from being Hokage. I haven’t tried that new ramen flavor that came out recently. I haven’t kicked Sasuke’s butt yet. And I haven’t been able to tell him how much I like having him around… I haven’t told you that I’m glad we’re friends.
***
Orochimaru and Kabuto were beaten back by Tsunade’s newfound courage. Their three tremendous summoned beasts had clashed in a fight of titans and the two fiends fled in the face of a united assault by herself and Jiraiya, the fierce fight between former friends now silenced. Tsunade had decided to take up her role as Hokage, despite some protesting from Naruto, after realizing how much the village had meant to her. The almost motherly kiss she planted on Naruto’s forehead became a promise to protect what was important, not only to herself, but to the village and Naruto, whose reckless determination had brought the woman to a realization about her own feelings. Naruto himself had things he wanted to protect; those certain people in his life who lifted him up out of bitter loneliness.
Just hold on a while longer Sasuke. We’re coming back to help you. And when you’re up again and being a mouthy jerk like usual get ready to have your butt handed to you by my awesome new powers, Naruto snickered to himself joyfully. So much had changed in the rapid stream of recent events, but hopefully things would return to normal soon. With Tsunade in tow, now ready to take on the task of becoming the next Hokage, perhaps some stability could return to the Leaf Village and the lives of its citizens. Naruto certainly hoped they would, for all of their sakes.
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The Bonds That Never Break