Chapter Text
Not long after they were done eating, Izuna and Madara left. Sasuke and Naruto also took their leave. Sasuke didn’t want to be around people anymore. They went back to their room in silence. Sasuke lost in thoughts and Naruto apparently having enough sense to keep the quiet atmosphere undisturbed.
“Are you ok?” The blond finally asked when they were alone in their room.
Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. “Maybe I should be the one asking you that. You seemed pretty worked up with the plan they came up with.” Sasuke said as he opened his eyes again, successfully dodging the question.
Naruto sputtered at the reminder of their relationship status and a deep blush took residence on his cheeks.
“That’s… that’s because it’s not the truth you know.” He said. “Why are you not more against it. You didn’t want to have anything to do with me until recently?” Naruto accused his friend.
Naruto’s words hit Sasuke harder than he thought they would. Naruto was right after all. He had been trying to sever his bond with the blond not so long ago. Maybe that was why he wasn’t against this plan of pretending to be in a relationship. It was a great way to spend more time with his friend and try to make up for the time they had lost.
Sasuke thought back to their days as team 7 when they were still 12. He remembered feeling closer to Naruto than he ever did toward Sakura. Each time she said she liked him he couldn’t help but think it was the wrong person confessing to him. Sasuke thought about it a few times after he left the village. He tried to push the thoughts away since he had made his choice and it was counterproductive. But he couldn’t help but ask himself what if? What if Naruto had been the one asking him to stay that night he left the village? Would he had been able to refuse the blond? Would he had still left? Maybe nothing would’ve changed or maybe everything would’ve. It was useless now to ask these questions. Sasuke simply shook his head and looked at Naruto in the eyes.
“I just don’t see what’s the big deal. It’s not like we’ll have to change anything. We already spend all of our time together.” Sasuke explained with a shrug.
Naruto deflated at his answer. “You’re right. It’s just… I have the impression everyone will look at us differently from now on.”
Sasuke couldn’t argue with that. People were noisy and some liked to gossip. They’ll have more eyes on them from now on. Maybe that was Tobirama’s plan from the start. Have everyone in the future village keep an eye on them.
“At least they didn’t tell them about the Nine-Tails inside of me. It’s nice not being treated differently because of that.” Naruto said with a sigh.
Sasuke didn’t say anything else. It wasn’t like Naruto had asked a question. He had no idea what he could say to that except that he was also glad that his friend wasn’t treated unfairly.
“Hey!” Naruto exclaimed after a moment of silence. “You never answered my question.” He said indignantly.
Sasuke sighed. He thought he had managed to change the subject. Apparently not.
“I’ll manage.” Sasuke said. He knew Naruto wouldn’t accept that short answer, but he still tried it.
“You’re really ok with the fact that we’ll be staying with the Uchiha?” Naruto asked suspiciously.
“Of course not!” Sasuke exclaimed. “I still want to challenge Madara to a fight every time I see his face. But then he’ll open his mouth and say something that the Madara we met wouldn’t say or he’ll look at Izuna and I can’t help but think about Itachi and I’m reminded that they’re already changing. It’s going to be tough but what can I do? It’s not by fighting them that’ll we’ll be able to change our future.”
Sasuke hadn’t realized he had bottled up so many emotions toward the situation. He ended his rant, and he was panting a little.
Naruto stayed silent as Sasuke was recomposing himself. The blond simply stared at him.
“What!” Sasuke snapped when he couldn’t deal with the silence anymore.
“Nothing. It’s just… It’s the first time you speak so much since we got here.” Naruto admitted. “It’s… It’s kind of a relief to see your composure crack even if it’s a little.”
Sasuke sighed. It wasn’t like he kept his composure on purpose.
“Look.” Sasuke started. “I’ll say it once and only once. I’m glad you didn’t die during our last fight. I’m glad we have kind of a second chance. Maybe, just maybe, if we pull this off my family doesn’t have to die, and my brother doesn’t have to kill them. Maybe your parents will still be alive. And maybe we can all have a better future where we don’t have to fight a war at sixteen.”
Naruto looked at him with his mouth agape. Sasuke huffed. Naruto wanted him to answer his question but looked like a fish out of the water when he did.
“So, to answer your question more directly, I don’t mind pretending to be in a relationship with you because I would do anything for this second chance to work. And with everything going on between Madara and Hasirama or hell, even between Izuna and Tobirama, pretending to be your partner is the easiest thing I have to deal with at the moment.”
“You really think we can do it?” Naruto asked.
“Well, I’m pretty sure we can change things. Especially now the four of them know what will happen in the future. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to go back to our time and if we don’t it’s not a big deal. We can manage to live well enough here.” Sasuke admitted.
He liked being here better than the timeline they had left. If, by some miracle, Naruto had survived, and they had come back. Sasuke knew he wouldn’t be left off easily by the others. Naruto didn’t hold a grudge, but the rest of the villages would’ve argued that he needed to be detained. Here, no one knew what he had done and Sasuke could breathe more freely without judging eyes following his every move.
Naruto had kept silent for a moment. Looking lost in his thoughts and maybe thinking about what Sasuke had just said.
“Ok.” He finally said. “Let’s do this. Let’s change things.”
“You’re suddenly not freaking out.” Sasuke said with a suspicious lift of his eyebrow.
“You’re right. We can save so many people if we change everything at the root. If for that to work and people to trust us we have to pretend to be in a relationship, then so be it.” Naruto said with a determined look in his eyes. “My parents, your brother, your whole clan… I’m not letting Neji die a second time.”
Sasuke frowned at that. He didn’t know the death of Neji Hyuga had affected Naruto that much. At the same time, he wasn’t sure what the circumstances of Neji’s death were. Knowing his blond friend, he probably blamed himself for it.
“Also, if we change things and go back to our time, we’ll probably have two arms again.” Naruto said with a grin.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. It was inconvenient having only one arm, but he was getting used to it. Naruto seemed more bothered by the lack of his limb.
“Maybe we could ask Hashirama about it. Aren’t the Senjus good at medical ninjutsu?” Sasuke mused.
“Oh yeah. That’s a good idea. Granny Tsunade was really good at it!” Naruto exclaimed.
Naruto seemed back to being his joyous self now that he had a new purpose. Sasuke enjoyed this last moment alone with his friend. Tomorrow they were moving into the Uchiha’s camp and Sasuke could already feel the headache forming at the thought. Then they would be building the village from scratch. They have a lot of work in front of them… but that was a problem for tomorrow.