Title: Wisdom to Relent
Pairing: NaruSasu, side NaruSai
Rating: R
Warnings: Shifting tenses for past and present. Spoilers up to chapter 430. Oh yeah, and sex. 8D
Notes: Written for admiral-yen for the Winter 08 round of Oh Shit Santa! Title and beta courtesy of crazy-toffee and second title (lol) and second beta courtesy of silverwyrm.
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Wisdom to Relent
or Boom III

Act I

Konoha’s defenses have improved.

That was Sasuke’s first thought when ANBU scouts intercepted them, barely fifty yards from the front gate. In retrospect, it is laughable—and typical—how furious Naruto had been, despite that he should have seen it coming.

Overhead, the fluorescent lights of his cell flicker once, drawing his attention to the present. He lies with fingers laced across his stomach and lets his gaze grow unfocused across the fixtures, two matted blocks breaking up the dull plane of the ceiling. His cell is white, blindingly so, as if by bathing him in perpetual light, his captors believe he might absorb some of it—some semblance of who he’d been; honor and duty and friendship, and all those pretentious ideals Konoha boasts in their ninjas.

Sasuke shuts his eyes, slowly, so that the shadows linger at the edges of his vision before closing in.

***

News of Konoha’s destruction rippled across the continent.

Sasuke’s breath grew short for the duration of a single heartbeat, but this he attributed to the loss of his revenge. And the way his breath quickened at the subsequent news of Pain’s defeat, he attributed, with more honesty than he was comfortable admitting even to himself, to the fact that Naruto had taken that victory.

Naruto, whose incompetence had been evident at their last meeting, had somehow defeated the puppet leader of Akatsuki. While Sasuke had never met Pain, he’d heard enough of the man’s prowess—his overwhelming triumph over Amegakure and its leaders, the rumors of his doujutsu which had been little more than awed speculation, his defeat of Jiraiya the Toad Sage. At that last, Naruto would have been devastated.

Death, Sasuke knew, was a powerful enabler.

Across the room, Suigetsu sipped at his water bottle and said, “Naruto. Wasn’t that the name of that bridge?”

Sasuke ignored him. If Naruto had indeed gained enough power to defeat Pain... Sasuke felt something stir inside him—a curiosity, a persistent question strung through with the threads of a dead rivalry: if he were to face Naruto again in battle, who would take the victory?

With Konoha in ruins, what do you fight for now, Naruto?

Such thoughts were best left unattended.

“Karin.”

The door burst open and Karin stumbled in, red-faced and trying very hard not to look like she’d been loitering in the hallway. “Yes, Sasuke?”

Suigetsu let out a bark of laughter. “Pathetic, the way you pant after him.”

“Oh fuck you,” she spat. “Why don’t you go swim around in your tank and leave me and Sasuke—”

“Karin,” he said again, sharper this time. Her mouth snapped shut and remained so, despite the way Suigetsu sneered. “I need you to do something for me.”

She nodded, her smile a bit too eager.

“I need you to find out who was killed in Pain’s attack.”

Her brows knit and she said, with uncertainty, “Specifically... the council?”

“Yes.”

Suigetsu snorted. He tossed his hair back and grinned, broad and shrewd. “Be honest, Sasuke. You want to know who survived.”

Sasuke met his gaze and said nothing. Suigetsu shrugged, Sasuke’s affirmation unnecessary now that the sentiment had been voiced.

Madara had left the base a few days prior, but even in his absence, he was probably aware the news would have reached Sasuke and his motley team by now. When he returned, it was likely he would expect Sasuke to seek his council.

Sasuke was not a fool, regardless of what the summation of all his life’s choices would suggest. In order to fulfill his ambitions, decisions had been made, old alliances severed and new ones created, absent of guilt, and Sasuke wasn’t about to start accommodating the weakness now. He knew that, as much truth as there had been in the story Madara had woven about Itachi and the clan, there had been just as many holes, lies patched over with fabricated sincerity.

Concerning Konoha, Sasuke knew Pain had to have moved under Madara’s orders. But if Madara chose to deny association with Pain’s actions, Sasuke was prepared to play along and feign ignorance. Madara could continue to spout his half-truths and attempt to retain Sasuke’s trust, likely for the purpose of future manipulation, and Sasuke would let him—at least for the time being.

Deception upon deception. Machinations had been the downfall of their clan and Sasuke found it fitting that it would remain a distinction between them.

“Find out what you can and try to remain hidden. I need to know if the records hall is intact—it’s located in the main tower, built into the base of the Hokage Mountain.”

There was something to be said for compliant subordinates who didn’t think to question ulterior motives.

After Karin left, Suigetsu sipped noisily at his water and said, “Konoha will be on high alert. She won’t even get close before they detect her.”

There was also something to be said for subordinates who did question his motives, but only after the departure of the compliant ones.

Sasuke nodded. “I’m counting on it.”

***

Ever predictable, members of the Inuzuka clan had caught wind of Karin’s presence. Kiba, in particular, had identified Sasuke’s scent on her. They’d allowed her to do her snooping before she effectively lead Konoha straight to Madara’s hide out.

Sasuke hadn’t needed to be present to know exactly how it would play out. Karin had been cross with how Sasuke had used her, but considering the mayhem that had erupted in the base at the arrival of Konoha ninjas (and soon after, Suna and Kumo forces), they’d had little time to discuss the merits of trust amongst teammates.

Sasuke doubts he would have had much to say on the matter anyway.

Naruto, in his typical reckless fashion, had exploded into the base with little subtlety. But for once, Sasuke had appreciated how easy Naruto always made it to locate him. After a brief conversation, during which it had been obscenely easy to convince Naruto Sasuke was on his side, they’d launched themselves into the heart of the battle. Sasuke’s presence at Naruto’s side had been all that was necessary to convince the other ninjas that detaining him could wait until they’d taken the base.

Bringing down Madara had been no easy matter and, even now, Sasuke wonders if Madara had yet again managed to elude death.

But Madara’s fate is of little importance to him. He sits on the thin mattress of his cot, his back against the pristine walls of his cell. He watches as the Hokage enters, her expression as stern and implacable as he remembers.

After the battle, after Madara had fallen in the throes of his self-righteous crusade, Sasuke had lingered only long enough to alert the rest of Taka before disappearing into the rugged landscape. Naruto’s anguish had echoed through the crevices of the dry hills, a battle cry to herald their failed pursuit of Sasuke’s team.

Tsunade crosses her arms and Sasuke assumes it is a practiced gesture, meant to either intimidate or convey authority. Sasuke exhales softly, releasing the tension in his shoulders, before pushing to his feet and standing to meet his jailor.

There are no bars in his cell. No iron manacles or chain links, no visible evidence of his forced containment. There is a sturdy cot along the wall, clean enough for his purposes. It is furnished simply with a flat pillow and a thin blanket, but the room temperature is well regulated so he has yet to need the extra warmth. In the corner, a short partition sections off a toilet and sink, and a small shower that operates only between 7:00 and 7:30 pm. All in all, it is not the musty underground cell he’d expected.

Sasuke takes two steps forward and stops when he begins to feel the pull on his chakra. Between his side of the room and the exit, there is an invisible barrier, sustained through some immaculate jutsu that Sasuke has only a mild interest in. He keeps at least five feet between himself and the barrier—any closer and it sucks at his chakra, drawing it from him in thick, steady waves and leaving him in an unpleasant state of vertigo. Adequate as his accommodations are, it is still very much a prison.

“Why did you return with Naruto?” she asks.

Curt and straight to the point. Sasuke has the urge to smile but doesn’t. Why, indeed?

“For answers,” he says. There are things Sasuke needs to know, things Madara would have never told him—about the clan, about why they’d been pushed into a corner, so deeply ensnared within a web of their own design that a coup had been the only option left to them... and about why Itachi had been the one chosen to betray them in turn.

There is little left to Sasuke now but the answers to these questions, questions that matter to no one else but him, because he is the last of his ill-fated bloodline.

“And provided you find your answers? What then?”

“Then...” Would finding the answers bring him peace? Is that truly what he wants? Peace is such a transient thing, and highly subjective. As a state of affairs, it has always seemed lacking to him. He has always felt it to be a conflicting ideal for villages whose livelihoods were founded on warfare.

Even so, he suspects he would not be unwelcome to it.

“I don’t know,” he says, because the Hokage is watching him with eyes that dissect his defenses, and lying to her would be counterproductive.

For some reason, this seems to appease her because her arms drop to her sides and she addresses him in a voice he remembers from a distant hospital, years ago, before he’d turned away from Konoha.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” she says. “You may have returned of your own free will, but the fact remains you relinquished your status as a Konoha ninja when you left three years ago. As a result, you are a missing nin, and we consign all traitors to the same fate.”

Sasuke has prepared himself for this. He had very little hope to begin with that Konoha would welcome him back into its ranks. He wonders if perhaps—in the absence of peace—death is a hidden village’s true ideal.

“However,” she says, and Sasuke’s gaze jerks back to her face from where it had trailed away to the floor. “I have taken into account the Raikage’s recent correspondence with his brother, as well as your critical role in leading Konoha to our enemy, and I have decided capital punishment would to be too severe a penalty.”

“How generous,” he says. The sarcasm in his voice surprises him. Thankfully, the Hokage ignores it.

“You should count yourself lucky, Uchiha. You still have friends who are vouching for you.”

Naruto, Sasuke thinks, and warmth kindles in his chest despite himself.

After she leaves, Sasuke withdraws to the cot and closes his eyes to shut away the glare of the lights.

***

“I’m leaving.”

Karin glanced up with wide, blinking eyes from the map she was holding. “Should I come with you?”

“I’m going alone,” he said. He tugged his cloak around his shoulders and looked at each of them in turn.

“Well,” Karin said, confused. “When are you coming back?”

Leaning against a nearby tree, Suigetsu regarded him, the silence of predawn broken only by the unfamiliar birdsong of an unfamiliar forest. Finally, his lip curled and he looked away.

“Che. You’re not coming back, are you?”

Karin glanced between them, lips parted, an insult already poised for release at Suigetsu’s remark.

“He’s right,” Juugo said, interrupting her. Karin sputtered.

“But... but why? Where are you planning to go? Back to Konoha? What about our t—?” She jerked back, shoulders rigid, lips compressed.

At any other time, Suigetsu would have taken the opening to mock her slip up. But he was too busy glaring a hole into Sasuke’s chest, sharp teeth bared in what Sasuke was surprised to identify as genuine anger.

Team Taka had only ever been temporary—Sasuke had never planned for them to be anything more than convenient comrades. Poor social dynamics aside, they had worked well together as a team and he conceded that his old teacher hadn’t been completely off when he’d preached the values of teamwork. But Team Taka had played its role and Sasuke had no reason to cling to their companionship. He had no plans beyond his immediate need for answers, answers that he knew would eventually lead him back to Konoha, and he wasn’t about to drag them even deeper into his aimless tribulations.

He thought perhaps he owed them an explanation, but instead, simply said, “I’m sorry.”

Suigetsu shoved away from the tree. “Whatever,” he muttered. Sasuke met the look in his eyes with a faint sense of déjà vu. “I was getting sick of listening to you boss me around anyway.” Then he turned and stalked away, the underbrush snapping under his angry footsteps.

Juugo offered him a smile, however dim. “I better catch up to him before he does something stupid. Good luck, Sasuke. Maybe we’ll meet again.” Then he, too, disappeared into the trees.

Karin looked troubled, glancing with uncertainty between Sasuke and the spot where the other two had disappeared. There was nothing else to be said so he nodded and tightened his cloak around his collar.

“Wait.”

Sasuke paused; his lips perched at the verge of a wry smile for the sudden familiarity of the situation. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine the glow of streetlights, the shadows that cut across the cobbled road like overturned blades, and, in contrast, the gentle presence at his back. Sakura, baring her heart in its tremendous vulnerability, a reminder of warmth and weakness and all the things he couldn’t afford to hold onto.

But Sasuke was no longer the boy from that night and Karin was not Sakura.

Sasuke turned back, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said, “Thank you.”

***

Naruto is Sasuke’s most frequent visitor. Currently, he is sitting in a metal chair against the wall, blathering about one thing or another. Sasuke can’t be bothered to pay attention. Naruto always talks about the same things, mostly plans. Plans for the future, for vacations they’ll take, for restaurants they’ll eat at, plans that involve Sasuke free from the glare of his white prison.

He paces his side of the room, just far enough from the barrier to avoid adverse side effects. He doesn’t know how Naruto can be so optimistic all the time, but he supposes it’s a talent of his, however dubious. Naruto speaks with such conviction, as if everything he says is truth, as if all of his grandiose plans are facts, not simply variables attached to an equation, the results of which were still being determined.

Naruto’s voice has stopped and Sasuke glances at him. Naruto is smiling, the endless blue of his eyes a suitable substitute for Sasuke’s newfound desire to see the sky again. The curve of his lips is all joy and certainty, as if Sasuke’s presence alone is enough to validate every hope Naruto has ever had, every bit of faith Naruto has ever placed in him. It makes him wary, makes him want to push Naruto away until there’s something more concrete between them than an invisible barrier that has nothing to do with his prison.

Sasuke watches him warily as Naruto stands and approaches the barrier. The effects work only on Sasuke’s side so Naruto has no trouble stepping right up to it. He lifts a hand, fingers hovering so close that Sasuke can actually see the barrier dance across his fingertips.

“Don’t worry, Sasuke,” he says. “The old hag will work things out. You’ll be free soon.”

Sasuke snorts. “What makes you think I care?”

“Oh please, don’t even try to play that card. You came back willingly. You can’t pretend you don’t care.”

“You didn’t even think to question why I returned with you.”

“I didn’t need to,” he says. He shrugs and the movement is enough to shift the collar of his shirt and reveal a small red mark at the base of his neck.

Sasuke’s eyes narrow and, against his better judgment, he moves forward. The pull of the barrier presses around him, stealing his chakra so that he suddenly feels lethargic, his limbs weighted as if moving through sliding sand. His vision swims and he forces it back into focus out of sheer willpower.

“Sasuke,” Naruto says, eyes widening. “Stop! You’ll hurt yourself, you idiot!”

But Sasuke steps up to the barrier and manages just barely to keep his legs from buckling. He has plenty of time to recuperate later on.

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispers, confused. There is something else in his eyes, something akin to what Sasuke feels in his chest as he struggles to lift his hand, placing it just short of the barrier, the opposite side of which Naruto’s hand is still splayed.

He frowns at the mark on Naruto’s neck and wants very much to reach out and wipe it out of existence. He swallows with difficulty before lifting his gaze to Naruto’s. His lips are parted but he has no clue what he’d intended to say.

So he says nothing. Instead, he closes his eyes and lets the darkness wash over him.

***

Running into Naruto that first time was less an accident and more Sasuke feeling disinclined to leave his tea.

The teahouse sat just off the road, several miles between neighboring towns. Sasuke sensed Naruto’s approach long before Naruto dropped down onto the bench beside him with two furiously clenched fists.

“Why did you run away after the battle?!” he shouted without preamble, face screwed up in his anger. Sasuke sighed at his dramatics and ignored the frowns of the other patrons.

He set down his teacup before saying, “Nice to see you too, Naruto.”

“Don’t avoid the question, you asshole. You ran away.”

“I escaped imminent imprisonment in a Kumo prison.”

“I would have protected you,” he said. Rash and impulsive. Naïve.

Sasuke snorted. “It was the logical option at the time, considering I had no intention of submitting to the Raikage and I doubt you were prepared to protect me from the full force of your allies.”

Naruto huffed and turned in the bench to glare at the wood grains of the tabletop. Sasuke sipped at his tea, a smile tugging at his lips. They sat in silence, something loosening inside him as Naruto lingered beside him. His presence was unsurprising—Sasuke had known that eventually, Naruto would find him.

He’d parted ways with Taka but had yet to decide what to do with himself. He knew Konoha would likely be his final destination, but... there was no guarantee Konoha would even allow him past their gates. And if they did, would he remain in Konoha? Leave again? And then what? He wanted to press a hand to his chest and search for that gaping hole where his purpose had once been and where now... now, there was nothing.

“You are one annoying bastard to track down,” Naruto finally muttered. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his cheek in its cradle, head turned to peer up at Sasuke.

“Took you long enough.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He frowned, his lips pushed into a pout from where his cheek rested against his forearm.

“It means you’re shit at tracking.”

Naruto scrunched up his nose and glared. Sasuke smiled into his teacup.

“Did you come alone?”

“Nah,” Naruto said. “Sai’s out there somewhere, looking.”

Sasuke was surprised at the name. He hadn’t expected Sai to remain with Team 7 after his failed assassination attempt. “Interesting choice of partner.”

Naruto shrugged. “So when are you coming home? Reconstruction has just started and we could use your help.”

“If it’s so urgent, why aren’t you back there helping?”

Naruto turned his face into his arms and said, voice muffled, “Because you’re just as important.”

Sasuke had no reply to that and very much resented the way the words sank into his chest and took anchor there. “When have I ever given you the impression I was coming back?” Never mind that Sasuke had been reconciling himself with the idea for weeks now—he didn’t feel like accommodating Naruto just yet.

Naruto popped back up, a red patch across the lines on his cheek where his arm had pressed into the skin. “Well, what the hell else do you have to do?” he said, blue eyes flashing. “Did someone kill your cat when you were little and you have to exact revenge on him too?”

Sasuke’s lips tightened and Naruto stiffened, realizing belatedly that he’d crossed a line.

“Sasuke, I—”

Sasuke ignored him and stood. Naruto was an idiot and, for the sake of a few minutes of harmony, Sasuke had forgotten that fact. Luckily, Naruto was very good at reminding him.

He paid for his tea and left the small shop, Naruto trailing behind.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? Stop being such a bitch about it. You know I didn’t mean it. Just come home already; there’s no point in all this traipsing across the countryside unless you’ve got some super secret plot you’re concocting to build a teahouse and you’re sampling all your competitors because that might be something stupidly pointless you’d get it into your head to do now that you’ve got nothing better to do, like, I don’t know, come home or—” Naruto stiffened and glanced down at the kunai buried in his chest. “God, you complete bastard,” he muttered, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke rubbed lightly at his temple and bent to retrieve his kunai. Idiot, he thought. Then he leapt into the trees, intent on putting distance between himself and the teahouse before any more of Naruto’s clones, or Naruto himself, caught up to him.

***

There is a dent in the mattress of his cot, worn thin from the long hours Sasuke spends sitting or lying there. He has taken to pacing in his cell for hours at a time, not only because he has grown restless from the inactivity, but also because it seems to help burn off the excess energy that builds inside him whenever Naruto visits—which is often.

“Why do you hate Sai?”

Sasuke’s feet falter for a moment before he resumes his pacing. “Who says I hate Sai?”

Naruto seems to take this into consideration because his forehead screws up in that way he has when he’s thinking perhaps a bit too hard about something. “I guess I just assumed... I mean, he did join Team 7 with the intent to get close enough to kill you. I figured you held a grudge since you refused to even acknowledge him when you came back with us. It’d be nice if you guys got along.”

Sasuke spares him an annoyed glance and wonders why Naruto chooses to worry about something so trivial. “Sai is insignificant. He does not merit my acknowledgment, much less my hatred.”

Naruto rolls his eyes in a noncommittal fashion, with little feeling in the gesture. “Well, I don’t think Sai likes you very much either.”

“Is this where you’d hoped I’d confess my desire to become friends with your lover?”

Naruto’s shoulders bunch uneasily and he looks away. “He’s not my lover.”

“As I said, Sai is nothing to me.”

“I think he’s jealous of you.”

Sasuke stops in place and tips his head back. He draws in a breath to calm his rising irritation and returns to sit on his cot with his back to the wall. He wonders how many different ways he has to tell Naruto that he Does. Not. Care. Convincing Naruto is about as difficult as convincing himself.

He doesn’t care for Sai, that much is true. But there is something about the man that grates Sasuke in all the wrong ways and he can’t put his finger on why.

“He’s been really off lately... He doesn’t seem to like how often I come see you.”

“Naruto,” Sasuke says, slowly, so the moron can’t misinterpret. “Either shut the hell up, or get out.”

“I don’t see why talking about Sai should bother you if you really don’t care,” Naruto says, left eyebrow hitched.

And Sasuke is left to wonder when Naruto had learned to read beneath one’s words. He returns the gesture in cold silence, daring Naruto to continue.

Which he does, of course.

“Right, like I was saying. Sai has been kind of clingy, which is really, really weird because... well, it’s Sai and I know you don’t know him that well, but you spent enough time with him on our way home. He’s kind of like you—doesn’t socialize well with other people.”

“Don’t compare me to him.”

“Well, it’s true. But he’s been really trying for me, really... trying to be more open and to understand things about normal... er... people. And...” Naruto slumps in the metal chair and sighs, a wealth of unspoken things in that short exhalation.

“If you think telling me any of this will relieve you of whatever misgivings you have with Sai, then you’re mistaken. I have no interest in your little domestic affairs.”

“Geez, you’re a bastard.”

“If you’re quite finished, you can leave now.”

“No, I don’t think I will.” Naruto slouches lower in his chair, both feet planted solidly on the floor and arms crossed.

After a few moments of silence, he begins to hum and tap his foot in time to his horribly off key tune. He shifts in his chair, head bobbing along, fingers moving restlessly, slowly but surely driving Sasuke mad with his inability to just remain still. Sasuke runs a hand through his hair and wishes, not for the first time, that the Hokage could ban Naruto during visiting hours.

“So, seriously, why don’t you like Sai?”

Sasuke’s fingers clench against his thigh. “How many times do I need to spell it out for you, you complete dead last moron? I don’t care about Sai. I don’t care what he does or how he is or what you do with him. Go... braid flowers in his hair or something and just shut the fucking hell up.”

He very much does not like the way Naruto is regarding him now—not with the pinched look of earlier, but with deep contemplation, the blue of his eyes strangely calm.

Sasuke can only hold his gaze for so long before he looks away. Moments like this are unnerving. Moments when Naruto somehow manages to throw him off with words or looks that belie his idiotic smile. Since the moment Naruto blew into Madara’s base, Sasuke has been cataloguing the changes in him—mostly minor things, like how his hair is a shade darker than it’d been three years ago; how he’s grown tall enough now to confirm he hasn’t been living completely off of ramen; how his hands are rougher, broader, and how easily they curve around the hilt of a kunai.

But he catalogues other things as well, like the scarlet blaze of Naruto’s eyes when he lets Kyuubi’s chakra through; or how, when he smiles at Sasuke, it’s as if he’s smiling with his entire being—body, mind and heart—and it’s too painful to see, but even worse to look away. Or, in contrast to his recent infuriating behavior, how utterly still he can be when he has something important to say, as if the years have also instilled in him an appreciation for simply weighing a moment before breaking it with some stupidly profound declaration.

Like now. Sasuke feels his chest seize and his throat grows tight at the sudden expectation that charges the distance between them.

“Sasuke,” Naruto begins, and Sasuke doesn’t know what Naruto plans to say but he does know, with complete certainty, that he isn’t ready to hear it.

His gaze drops to Naruto’s neck, where his skin is smooth and tan and free of any incriminating blemishes. But the memory of that love bite remains and, for a brief, insane moment, Sasuke is irrationally furious at the idea of Sai’s lips on Naruto’s skin, skin he had absolutely no right to—

“You should go now,” he says, voice rough and leaving little room for argument.

Naruto squares his shoulders, as if having expected this from him. “Sasuke, just listen—”

“I’m through listening to you. Get out.” Sasuke lies down on his cot and turns his back on Naruto’s bewildered face. He tucks his shaking hands beneath his pillow, and closes his eyes.

***

Sasuke folded his hands in his lap and passed his gaze between the shogi board and his opponent. A group of children darted past, kicking up small billows of dirt that stretched out beneath the table and curled around their crossed legs. His opponent stroked the long line of his beard between his thumb and forefinger, the wrinkled folds of skin around his eyes a shield against Sasuke’s scrutiny.

“So,” the old man said. Sasuke waited to reply despite that he knew just what the old man would say, because he’d been asking the same question every day for the last week. “How long you plan on sticking around?”

And Sasuke would have given him his same answer (‘Only a while longer.’), but the wind shifted, bringing with it the dry scent of fire, and Sasuke said, instead, “I believe I’ll be leaving soon.”

The old man looked up to meet Sasuke’s gaze for the first time that day. The creases in his forehead grew more pronounced as he lifted bushy gray eyebrows. “Oh? I’ll need a new shogi partner.”

“I’m sure it won’t be difficult to find someone else to defeat.”

The man chuckled, his voice coarse like sand paper. Sasuke’s lips quirked in response.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d given up,” Sasuke said, just as a shadow fell across the shogi pieces.

“You are the hugest pain in the ass in the history of pains in the asses.”

The old man chuckled again and made his move. “Sit down, young stranger; my opponent isn’t going anywhere until he loses again.”

Naruto slumped down into the dirt next to them and crossed his arms, brows drawn in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

“I mean, what are you doing here, duh.”

Sasuke didn’t reply, instead contemplating his next move. This was the fourth time Naruto had found him in about twice as many months. He had suspected from the moment he sensed Naruto’s proximity that this was Naruto in the flesh and not a shadow clone. The knowledge of this was neither bothersome nor reassuring—simply what Sasuke took as a sign that, perhaps, they’d finally come to a head.

To his surprise, Naruto managed to remain silent for a good fifteen minutes before beginning to shift impatiently. He adjusted his legs and spread out on his side, the loose dirt sticking in dry patches to the palms of his hands. He sighed loudly and unzipped his orange jacket before scratching at his stomach through the black mesh tank he wore underneath. Sasuke glanced at him, eyes dropping to the strip of skin visible above the waist of his pants before returning to the shogi board.

Really, Sasuke thought. This was getting a bit old.

“Naruto,” he said. He waited until Naruto had looked at him before continuing. “To what lengths would you go to take me back to Konoha?”

Naruto’s eyes narrowed. Sasuke could see him turning the words over in his head, searching for a trap.

When he found none, he said, with absolute certainty, “Anything. Everything.”

Sasuke frowned at the way the knot in his stomach twisted tighter.

For another ten minutes, they sat in silence until the old man made his final move and murmured, “Checkmate.”

Sasuke bowed his head in acknowledgment.

“Thank you for playing with me this week,” the old man said, before shuffling to stand on thin legs. “It was a pleasure.”

Sasuke stayed seated until the shogi board had been packed away and the old man had left before turning back to Naruto.

“I believe you,” he said.

Naruto blinked, head cocked. “What?” But then he seemed to recall his last words because awareness slackened the skin around his mouth. “Oh. Well, good.”

Sasuke disagreed. There was nothing he would identify as ‘good’ in the way all his qualms about returning to Konoha seemed to dwindle in the face of Naruto’s convictions.

Naruto pursed his lips and shifted to sit up, hands dusting lightly at his clothes. He rubbed at his neck, and said, “So uh... how long have you been here anyway? The old man said you’ve been playing shogi with him all week. Must be... uh... boring.”

Sasuke hadn’t realized he’d been leaning forward until, suddenly, all he could see were Naruto’s baffled eyes, wide with confusion and looking every way in quick uneasy glances.

“This is a pretty small village—I guess that’s why you liked it, huh? Easy to disappear in and make it stupidly hard to find you. You’ve always had to be difficult about everything, couldn’t just... um.”

Naruto’s voice wavered. He cleared it before starting his babble again, and Sasuke felt compelled to shut the idiot up. He braced one hand against the ground beside Naruto’s leg and dipped his head, Naruto’s thin breaths catching in the air between them... before releasing in an unsteady exhalation.

“S-S...”

Sasuke closed his eyes.

“S-Sai is waiting outside the... the village. For me. Er. For us.”

Sasuke stilled before slowly drawing back. Naruto was staring at the spot where the shogi board had just been, cheeks burning, and looking vaguely stunned.

“The Hokage has assigned you to be his partner?” Sasuke asked, voice neutral.

“...No. He just... he volunteers to help when Sakura can’t.” Naruto had yet to meet Sasuke’s gaze, his face still flushed. He turned, glancing over his shoulder, eyes searching the dirt road with the frantic edginess of what Sasuke realized, extraordinarily, was guilt.

Sasuke stiffened. Anger welled inside him and he held it close, letting its familiarity settle across his shoulders like a well-worn mantle. “For what reason?”

“Because he’s my friend, asshole,” Naruto said, quick to latch onto the opportunity to pull the old shield between them. “That’s what friends do.”

“Friends, is it?”

Naruto’s eyes darted to him in alarm before darting away again. Sasuke closed his eyes. What exactly had he been about to do anyway? He had no clue what or why or how it should matter enough to make him feel anything other than cool dispassion for the idiot sitting beside him. Naruto had chased him for what seemed like an eternity and Sasuke had grown, against his better judgment, used to his shadow bearing Naruto’s idiotic grin.

Very carefully, he unfurled his fists against the dirt road, letting the dust and grit slide between his fingers. Such feelings—anger, disbelief, resentment—no longer had a place between them.

“I see,” Sasuke said.

Naruto’s lips twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but, for once, chose to hold his tongue. “Whatever,” he said. He dragged his fingers through the dirt, head bowed. “You’re getting delusional from all the time alone in the woods.”

“Indeed.” Sasuke shook his head before glancing down the road that lead out of the village, where Sai was presumably lurking.

Returning to Konoha seemed less disconcerting now with the indication that Naruto had, in his own unexpected way, moved on. Politics and rejection and manipulation awaited him in Konoha—all of it seemed so easily surmountable in Naruto’s presence, but Sasuke didn’t want easy. If Sasuke returned to Konoha now, it would fulfill whatever promises Naruto had made to himself, to Sakura, to his comrades who’d accompanied him in their misguided attempt to ‘rescue’ him those years ago. Naruto’s unremitting sense of duty would be appeased. He could allow himself to be diverted by Sai—the concept of which still felt disjointed and nebulous in Sasuke’s thoughts—and Sasuke could seek out his answers free of his irritatingly persistent shadow.

Sasuke nodded, satisfied with his assessment. It would have been a mistake if he’d... if he’d followed through with his actions, and mistakes were something Sasuke could no longer afford.

“So,” Naruto said. True to his nature, he’d apparently squared his shoulders and refocused on the reason why he was here in the first place. Sasuke willingly let the previous awkwardness pass into memory. “Are you coming back or what? You can’t just toss a weapon at me and expect me to disappear this time.”

Sasuke was certain they’d both been fumbling toward this moment for some time now. “Yes.”

“... What?” Naruto blinked.

Sasuke frowned. “I said, y—”

Naruto shook his head, hair flying into his eyes. “I heard you. I just...”

The look he gave Sasuke was haunted with every exchanged blow between them, every word Sasuke had aimed with the intent to sear and score at the heart of the hope Naruto wore like a blazing cape. All of which Sasuke could see warring with his simple concession in Naruto’s eyes.

And then Naruto snapped straight and, to Sasuke’s horror, launched himself forward and tugged Sasuke roughly against him. The warmth of his chest was uncomfortable under the heat of the afternoon sun.

“Come on,” Naruto said, arms tightening around him. “Let’s go before you change your mind again.”

***