Chapter Text
Sasuke wasn't worried.
No, he definitely wasn't worried. But he was curious. It's been two days since he's seen that idiot. Where could he even possibly be? The sweltering heat was getting to him it seems. To even be thinking about him.
“Oh, Sasuke! Good to see you!”
The Uchiha looked up at the merchant. Finding himself with apples and all sorts of other fruits shoved into his hands. The treatment of the village was jarring after that… night. It was even more jarring compared to Naruto’s treatment. So what if he was a fox? It's not like he was going to go haywire and attack the village like what happened eight years ago.
“Take them! Take them! Anything for the great Uchiha,” he hated the way people danced around the subject either.
Sasuke knew why everyone was being nice to him. It seemed like every interaction these days were with awkward smiles and wary sentences. No one knew how to interact with him without trying so hard to not bring up that night. They were all idiots. Somewhere along the way, he stopped caring what others thought of him. His goal for revenge was what drove him now. Nothing else.
Entering the Uchiha Compound with way too many bags he usually carries, Sasuke strode down each road. Empty and cold. Today was going to be nice and quiet. Just like every other day. Biting his lip, Sasuke would deny the increase in his speed. Finally reaching home, he slid open the door. Taking off his shoes and heading towards the kitchen.
The kitchen was bare. Everything left before that night had already been used up by him. So in a way, he could appreciate these fruits. He set them down on the table, lost in thought as the echoing tick of the clock drowned out everything in the room. That was until—
A rustle.
Then more rumaging.
Sasuke drew on his kunai as he approached the sound quietly. Whatever it was, it was in the kitchen. The thing would be greatly disappointed to only find nothing. He figured it was some kind of animal, but no clue as to what. There was no chirp, snarl, croak or snort. Just the sound of claws on wood and pots and pans clattering about.
Spotting it in the brief second it appeared, Sasuke threw the kunai. Listening to it digging in the wood that stopped its path. A scream was what he heard next which was strange because he couldn't think of animals that screamed. Bolting to the figure, the Uchiha felt like a complete moron seeing who it was.
“What's the big idea?! Scaring me like that!” Naruto bit out. His ears pinned back with all nine of his tails puffed out.
“You’re one to talk,” Sasuke retorted. It was true too. “Who sneaks into someone’s house and gets mad when they rightfully get attacked?”
Naruto had the gall to look a bit sheepish. Laughing awkwardly as he pulled on his ears gently.
“Well, I was just—” and Sasuke caught the open containers laying behind him.
“You really are a fox,”
Naruto tried playing innocent but they both knew that it was a lie.
“Here,” he threw the fox an apple, the canine lighting up at the fruit. “I’ll cut these up for us,”
—
Protected from the shade, Sasuke looked at the apple cores lying in his backyard. He had no problem with it. Not like there would be anyone to scold him for the mess. He munched on some watermelon, content in watching the fox beside him. Naruto was much more comfortable with what he was willing to show him. Anytime they were alone it was always ears and tails.
“She would… always give me these fruits, y’know,” Sasuke froze at the words. Automatically knowing who ‘she’ was.
They both sat in the summer silence. Cicadas singing and dragonflies whirring at record speed. The bees hovered over the apple cores as well as ants crawled over each piece they could claim. The wind was practically nonexistent, what took its place was the hot, dizzying heat of the midday sun.
Naruto picked up a piece of watermelon next. Taking a big bite out of the gushing fruit. Its juice dribbling down his chin and staining his clothes. It was gross and childish, but Sasuke couldn't find it in him to scold the other boy. What happened next was a series of seeds shooting out of the fox’s mouth. Each with perfect precision.
“See that! ‘M quite talented, y’know!”
“How is that better than your shuriken throwing,” he teased. Reveling in the way the boy got all worked up.
“Guess I won't show you how to do it, then!” Naruto huffed, stuffing his face with more of the watermelon.
“Why would I ever want to do that?” But Sasuke got no reply. Only a snort.
“Why weren't you at the academy?” He found himself saying.
“Oh, I quit!”
Sasuke drew a blank. Confusion and shock hit him all at once, only managing to turn to the boy with it all on display.
“How’re you going to be a shinobi?” He asked, shifting back to looking at the backyard.
“I’ll figure something out,”
“You can't be a shinobi without going to the academy,” Sasuke watched him stiffen before replying.
“Of course I can!” He yipped.
“Fine, I'll leave too,”
Naruto finally put the watermelon down. Snapping at him now that his hands were free.
“But you can't—”
“Then come back, idiot,” he flicked the fox’s forehead. “Iruka-sensei is worried,”
Naruto stopped his whining and looked at him with suspicion.
“As if! He thinks I'm just a monster too!”
Sasuke stared at him blankly.
“Are you sure?”
The fox growled. Sasuke jumped not out of fear but out of the absolute shock that hit him. He tried covering up his shock after seeing the boy slap his hands over his mouth. Naruto was a fox after all, it shouldn’t surprise him that there was more to it than ears and tails.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It's fine,” Sasuke replied, rather stiffly because he was not used to the whole ‘feelings’ shtick. Naruto wasn’t either if the way he was as stiff as a board said anything.
He wanted to switch the topic but wasn’t quite sure how, Naruto wasn’t even eating his watermelon anymore. Sasuke watched as the fox swung his legs, and just like that, the Uchiha ruined the moment.
—
Banging at his door woke the fox up. He wondered who could possibly be here at this time of day. Naruto got up groggily, feeling his paws drag along the cold wooden floors. He took on his human appearance to peer through the peephole, suppressing a startled yelp seeing who was at his door.
Iruka-sensei really came all this way, huh? Well, two could play at this game. Quickly grabbing whatever clothes were laying around, Naruto slipped through the window and onto the streets. Iruka was not catching him, no matter what it took. Scrambling through the bustle of the populated street, Naruto found his escape route blocked by four kids.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Naruto,” Hibachi said, a sly grin settling on his lips. “Just who we were looking for,”
Naruto made a face as he looked at all of them with disinterest. He wasn’t particularly keen on interacting with Hibachi anymore. He knew how mean the boy was but put up with it anyway just in case there was a sliver of a chance of being friends. Truly a bleeding heart.
“We’ve decided that you can be our friend.”
Naruto perked up. “Really?!”
“Yeah, but only if you go to the backwoods and bring us something from the corpses!” The boy said. “There was a huge battle last night, I'm sure you could at least find something,”
“Alright! I'll be back. So you better keep your promise!” Off he was scampering into the forest in his search.
—
Digging through the tall grass and mounting large rocks, Naruto had found the battlefield. Corpses gone as only their blood smears dripped from tree trunks, kunai and shuriken alike lodged in the dirt and branches. The fox took a hesitant step forward, as if he could awake the dead. He tried his hardest not to look at the wreckage, focusing his energy on what to bring back.
His search, however, was cut short to a large rumbling originating in his belly. Naruto hadn't anything to eat after fleeing Iruka-sensei in such a hurry. He didn't have time to hunt, but hunger was clawing inside of him. Persistent. That's when he spotted a nest and where there's a nest, there’s usually eggs. That's what Naruto hoped would be there when making his way up the tree.
In the mulch of twigs and leaves, nestled four, round, white eggs. Dinner! Naruto reached for one, enjoying the satisfying crunch of the shell as the warm, gooey yolk slid down his throat. Reaching for another, he noticed something glisten after catching light. A paper right next to it. Naruto pulled it out, marveled at the shape the kunai took.
He’d never seen anything like it.
It was perfect to bring back.
Sliding down the tree, Naruto all but leaped his way back to Konoha. Everyone would be so impressed that's for sure! Then a rustling emanated from his left, causing the fox to freeze in place. Everything in him told him to run but he didn’t. If he focused really hard there was a faint chakra source drifting from there. It wasn’t malicious or dangerous, a bit panicked maybe but nothing else. It was a form of purplish blue and that's when Naruto knew exactly who it was.
“Sasuke?”
The raven haired boy walked smoothly from the bushes, though some shock was evident on his face. Almost like he wasn’t expecting to find Naruto so soon. The fox rushed up to him in eager curiosity.
“What’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the academy, y'know!" He blurted out.
“I could ask you the same thing. Iruka-sensei’s looking for you,” Sasuke patted off some stubborn shrubbery clinging to his clothing.
“Iruka-sensei is…” Naruto wasn’t expecting that. But that wouldn't be enough to change his mind.
“No, I have to bring back this kunai! Then Hibachi and everyone will be my friend,” Naruto yipped, prodding the sharp thing in the other boy’s face.
A frown pulled on Sasuke’s face. “You do know they're only toying with you. They don't care about you,”
Naruto shrunk under the words. Of course he knew that, but what if… what if the offer was truly genuine? His one and only chance could’ve been destroyed. Naruto would never let that happen.
“If there's even the slimmest of chances that they’re genuine, I can't say no, y’know,”
Sasuke only looked at him, whatever words that could've been died right then and there. All the boy could do was snatch Naruto’s hand in his. “You’re such an idiot,” he snapped, dragging the boy along.
Even with harsh words, Naruto felt all bubbly inside at the fact that Sasuke was willing to hold his hand. Nobody’s ever done that besides Mikoto. That’s what friends did, wasn't it? Was Sasuke his friend then? The thought of that made him all nervous. He had to ask the boy sometime, but… he was afraid of the answer.
Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by Sasuke taking a defensive position. From the brush, three shinobi emerged. Identities concealed with foreign headbands as their only clues. Naruto didn't recognize what village that was. A sudden realization hit him as he saw how Sasuke was protecting him. Annoyance buzzed in his head as he got in front of the boy.
“You idiot what're you doing?” Naruto heard the whispered urgency in his voice. The fox gave no reply.
“That kunai, hand it over, kid,” the foreign shonibi spoke.
Naruto looked at the kunai in his hand, its three pointed edges standing out from an average kunai. He couldn't afford to lose it. “No way!” He screamed.
“Then we'll take it by force,” the three charged at him.
Naruto quickly grabbed Sasuke’s hand and dashed to conceal themselves in the tall grass. “Listen, I know this forest like the back of my hand! So just follow me,” Naruto ushered out, setting off a trap that came by. He didn't check behind him to see the boy’s response.
The trap flung, set off by his quick paw. His ears caught the frustrated groans of the outsiders, having been caught in the net. Naruto emerged from the tall grass and twirled around to check if Sasuke was alright. The boy was panting heavily but looked okay otherwise. He looked at him with determination clear in his eyes.
Naruto clutched the kunai in his hand as he took in the clearing the grass led them to. A cliff nuzzled by a gorge. A rushing river below cushioned with pebbles and wet gravel. They couldn't go this way unless they wanted to be swept away by an angry stream.
“This way!” He said before disappearing into the trees.
Naruto leapt from branch to branch, his claws providing adequate grip without fail. He peered behind him to see Sasuke following with ease. Of course he was. Nothing the great Sasuke couldn't do. He tried suppressing the annoyed grumble that followed to no avail.
Naruto prepared for another leap, kunai now placed between his teeth. The metal in his mouth muffled the startled noise he made when a kunai whizzed past his cheek. The outsiders escaped it seemed. They caught up with them and blocked their path. Naruto jerked at the sudden stop to his momentum, feeling Sasuke’s presence linger next to him.
“What do we do now?” The other boy whispered. “We’re surrounded,”
Naruto felt panic rise slowly in his chest. There wasn't a trap anywhere here and by the looks of things, they were in deep, deep trouble. The shinobi’s hands moved in sync, forming hand signs. The hot flames they released should’ve hit Naruto. But they didn't.
Heat wafted against his side as bright flames blinded him. Sasuke’s own jutsu able to fend off there’s. But his was smaller— weaker than all three of theirs that they combined. He felt a push to his side, knocked out of the tree and onto the hard dirt below. The grass tickled his skin as his head swam in a rhythmic motion.
The smell of burnt flesh was in the air. Hands were on his side shaking and shaking him aggressively. It was obviously Sasuke, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to get up. If it wasn't for the harsh sting his cheek was met with, he probably would've never gotten up.
Being dragged back and running through the shaded forest floor blurred all in one. The harsh wind caressing him as he speeded behind Sasuke woke him up a tad, blinking profusely to check his surroundings. There was a river and it was rushing. Slamming against rocks with the occasional jump to his nose.
They had to cross it.
“Let’s go!” He spoke first without even thinking. Sasuke’s hesitant calls died out as he too followed.
The rocks were wet and slippery. It was hard to keep his balance while the angry river rose to his level, closer than the last every time. He tried not to look but felt himself doing so anyway. Naruto immediately turned away, not wanting to dwell on what would happen if he did fall in.
The force of this wave deemed too much for the boy as he felt his foot slip. Leg gliding against the wet grain of the rock as his clothes tore. Leaving his skin bare and bloody.
He was plunged into the cold stream. Its force knocked him back the more he resisted. Soon, he stopped resisting.
—
Gasping was how he awoke next. Gurgling out salty, river water from his lungs right after. Naruto felt his body move with each cough. His head ached but it wasn't as bad as before. He noticed how cold he was, looking down it was no surprise. His clothes clung to his form, only his right leg bare and free.
With the puffy gash there, Naruto had trouble standing up without pain. Luckily, it was already starting to heal. When a particularly strong breeze hit him, he shivered. It would be best to go inside. Or even some wood to start a fire. A sharp yelp tore from his throat, a harsh stinging feeling buzzing in his leg.
He looked to see a river. Not like the one from before but much, much larger. It could even be mistaken for sea with its vastness. Naruto brought his leg closer, fully intending to lick his own wound when he remembered.
Sasuke.
Getting up in a rush, the stinging was back full force but he paid it no mind. He had to find Sasuke. He called for the boy over and over. His pitch varying in volume, the salt from the river still lingering in his throat. Limping to search for the boy, Naruto noticed he had no idea where he was. Destruction and ruins was the only way to describe it.
For if this had been a village before; it certainly wasn’t anymore. Rubble crumbled and cracked beneath his feet. Things belonging— or should be belonging— to someone laid dirty and forgotten. Dolls ripped from their stuffing and unrecognizable with the amount of dust and rubble that coated them.
Books, clothes, jewelry, it was all forgotten and wasted. Slowly deteriorating away with no purpose anymore. Naruto only wondered where he was. Another chilly breeze hit him and that's when he noticed the giant whirlpools forming. He staggered over in curiosity, having never seen something as magnificent as that.
And then there it was. Or rather he was. Just above the shoreline, Sasuke laid motionless. Naruto sprinted, taking the boy in his arms as he assessed him. His head was bleeding and his breathing slow. Body cold— colder than usual.
When another chill racks his body, Naruto decided finding shelter was the best course of action. He looked around, the abandoned ruins greeting him once more. Perhaps he could find a cave. One nice and warm. Secure from the outdoors. Naruto moved to wake Sasuke, a slithering tail curling itself around his body before he was flung away.
“A child? You— wait,”
A wet nose was pressed against his face, Naruto grumbled as he tried clawing it away. “You smell of Kushina. Are you her kit?”
Naruto looked up confused, barely paying attention. With the sun glinting behind, a large fox stood over him. Its rusted fur glowed in contrast to its shaded counterparts. Red eyes once glaring at him, softened in something Naruto couldn’t describe.
“What’re you talking about?” He coughed.
The fox growled. “They kidnap you and deny you of your heritage. Traitorous scum,”
“Wha— I wasn't kidnapped?” He was really confused. Blinking up at the beast in front of him.
“Then how is it you end up so far away from home, little fox?” The beast kneeled down to him.
Naruto blinked.
“You know I'm a fox?”
The large fox huffed.
“Of course, I am the being that made your kind. It would be silly to not know my own offspring,”
“Offspring? Are… you my dad?”
“...Sort of,”
A groan to their side brought their attention to it. Naruto jolted, remembering he had to take care of Sasuke before scampering towards him. Naruto held him up so he could cough out the water stuck in his lungs. Soon, water emerged from his mouth, running loose like a waterfall.
Naruto sighed in relief. The scream that shattered the eerie silence of the ruined village called upon gushing waves and spiraling whirlpools. The earth shook and rubble tittered closer to the pair.
“Release that boy, little fox!” Naruto saw the fox behind him. Gone was the gentle melancholy, replaced by the purest forms of hatred. “I’ll end it quickly,”
Naruto guarded the boy below him. Snarling with his ears pulled back as he faced the beast.
“You don't know what you're protecting, boy!” The large fox growled. His tails lashed and aimed for Sasuke cradled below Naruto.
Naruto bit one, tearing through fur and chakra. Feeling the bones grind beneath his teeth. With a little bit more pulling, it came off after a harsh tug from the larger fox above.
“You brat!” It cried.
The little fox panted as the searing sting of bubbling chakra steamed off his face. “You won't hurt him! He's my friend,”
“He is an Uchiha! All they do is use us,” his voice laced with disdain. Naruto watched as the tail he bit off squirmed and writhed. Blood whipping like acidic sparks as it ate whatever it clung to. It was bones first; meat, then flesh, finally fur.
The tail was anew.
“You must try harder than that, little fox. If you even have the slightest hopes of killing me,” he laughed.
Naruto felt his own bones, meat and flesh shift and mold. Then finally his fur encasing everything changed. Sasuke positioned unconscious beneath his belly. The fox was much smaller than the beast that towered over him, but he wouldn't let such a thing intimidate him.
Like a magnetic pull, his hackles raised from their bed as his ears flattened. His lips pulled back as far as they could go and without warning— he sprung. Immediately his attack was shut down with a heavy slam to his side. The little fox ate wet dirt from the water pooling neath his paws. He shook, assessing the whirlpools feasting off one another before springing back.
Naruto could almost taste the threatening chakra dominating the air. He wouldn't be intimidated. He aimed for the beast’s legs only to be jolted with a blinding pain. Naruto didn't know what this feeling, harassing his body like a parasite, was. Only when, through battered eyes, he found the maroon scented iron glistening under his paws, he knew.
The beast stabbed him with his claws.
Naruto whimpered— a loud, shrill cry escaping his throat. The wound was beginning to close but the pain hadn’t ceased. He shook himself off again, snarling at the larger fox.
“Why do you protect him, so?” The beast’s claws slid around Sasuke’s throat. Naruto gasped, finding his legs moving without him commanding them.
“He’s my friend! He's all I have left,” he cried, purchasing himself on top of the unconscious boy.
The beast’s whiskers twitched.
“What was that?”
“He’s my friend! They're all gone… even Mikoto..” her name was foreign on his tongue, nothing like the familiarity the words found themselves with him before.
Unsuspecting what happened next, the little fox jumped at the tremors shaking the ground. The river sprang, shooting fountains of water into the sky. Rainbows painted in their aftermath. The large fox laughed with a joyfulness Naruto only ever heard from Iruka-sensei when they ate out at Ichiraku’s.
“They’re all dead, eh? Then let me finish the job,” the claw rung around Sasuke’s neck pressed on his soft skin. Blood leaking from the cut it endured.
Naruto prepared for another attack, muscles flexing and tense, ready to be called upon when—
The beast collapsed in a pile of heaving breaths. His weak claw retreated from Sasuke’s neck, the cold from before growing. The land was eerily still. Silent like never before. Even when Naruto first entered, there were still howls of wind and splashes of whirlpools. Now it was gone. The large fox’s chest rose and fell slowly. Naruto sat confused, what was going on?
“Don’t give me your pity!” He spat. “It is my fault I am dying,”
Like they weren't at each other's throats before, the little fox rushed up to him. Sniffing him gently as the scent of corrupted chakra poisoned his lungs. Naruto gagged and pulled back, feeling his being affected by the nasty scent.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“Nothing,” large teeth snapped at Naruto, but the little fox made no attempt at moving. “This is what I get for being a fool,”
“Why.. are you dying?” He asked, hesitantly. Naruto was confused beyond words for this beast seemed powerful like no other. But it was sickly and a tail's length away from death’s door.
“Because only fools protect the weak! And I am the greatest fool of them all,” he spoke with a softness not there before.
“Let me help you,” Naruto said.
“No,” the beast growled.
“Why not?”
“Because there is nothing left to live for,”
Naruto twitched his whiskers. The great fox laid down in peace; repulsive, corrupted chakra poisoning his being. His laboured breaths came in long pauses as his chest rose and fell with each one.
“That can't be right!” He yipped. The beast looked at him with a scrutinized gaze. “Don’t you have any dreams?! Or friends you want to see? Not even a family…”
The little fox paused as the surge of chakra bursted from the beast. His body clung to the ground, ears flattened as the whips of power shook his body. Weaving through his fur and whistling in his ears. He made sure to press Sasuke extra tight against him.
“Dreams? Friends? Family? I left that all behind long ago. I couldn't even tell you where my siblings are now,” black sludge dripped from the great fox’s mouth. His body wracked and pushed, the disgusting, viscose liquid running tiredly from his mouth.
“That’s it! That's it! Find your siblings! I'm sure they miss you,” Naruto yipped.
“Brat!” The beast yelled. Naruto pressed himself against Sasuke once more. “I am tied to this place. There is no leaving,” the great fox laid down.
“So if I untied you, then you could leave?” The little fox asked. With all the brightest a child could muster.
The beast smirked.
“You think it's that easy? Presumptuous you are,” he laughed.
Naruto twitched his whiskers, a frown settling on his muzzle. “Tell me how and I bet I could untie you!”
“Very well,”
The little fox blinked.
“I will indulge you,” the beast said. “Even if you are a halfblood— I’m sure you could pull it off,”
Naruto puffed his chest in pride. Though, he wasn't sure how much he appreciated being referred to as a “halfblood”.
“First—”
“Wait!”
“Wait?”
A foxy grin settled on the boy’s face. “Promise me you won't hurt Sasuke and then I'll help you,”
The beast looked appalled. Opening his jaws to yell at him for such insolence before all the fire leaving his body. A fond smirk decided upon his face.
“You little fox,” he said.
Naruto flashed him a grin full of sharp, baby teeth. “Name’s Naruto! What’s yours?”
The beast huffed.
“Kurama, kid.”