Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Sasuke flinched when he felt someone appearing in one of Orochimaru's old hideouts, where he currently resided. He soon relaxed when he recognized the chakra signature. It was just Naruto. Or, to be more precise, it was probably Naruto's clone. After all, Naruto was the hokage, so it was improbable that he would appear here in person. 

"Hey," Sasuke muttered a greeting without raising his eyes from the scroll he was reading. Naruto didn't reply. He just slumped on the floor next to Sasuke. He seemed distressed. "What's wrong?" Sasuke inquired. "If you needed me to do something, you could've sent a hawk-" 

"I don't need you to do anything," Naruto sighed. They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes. Sasuke rubbed his forehead. He caught himself reading the same sentence over and over again. 

"Why are you here?" He asked. He needed to regain his focus, and Naruto was ruining his attempts by not being himself. 

"Being a hokage sucks," he replied in his usual carefree tone. "I can't do anything without the council's consent, and the council... Well, they don't want anything to change-" 

"This much was obvious," Sasuke noted. He was surprised that Naruto was so deflated. It was nothing like him. He was supposed to have enough inner strength to cope with some resistance. This was why Sasuke chose to believe in Naruto as hokage. 

"I fought to bring you back and yet you're always away," the blonde complained. "I need you-" 

"You don't," Sasuke disagreed. If he stayed in Konoha, people would believe that he was influencing Naruto's decisions, what would weaken his position. Nobody wanted to have a former missing nin working as an advisor. Even as an unofficial one. 

"I do," Naruto exclaimed. "I feel so powerless-" 

"You can't beat sense into everyone," Sasuke said.  

"I know but I'm not cut out for plotting and scheming," the blonde whined. "Tsunade was able to make things go her way," he added in a much quieter voice. 

"So you want me to start a revolt so you would have more power," Sasuke murmured. Naruto smacked his shoulder in righteous anger. "But you do want the council to disappear." 

"Perhaps," the blonde admitted. "I promised Neji I would change Hyuugas but I can't. They've just marked another kid. And the branch family can't revolt because they would just get killed. Hanabi is the leader of the clan now but she can't do anything about it too. The rest of the main family wouldn't agree to it," he explained in a broken voice. 

"Shouldn't your wife be marked then?" Sasuke asked. He looked at his friend, who glared at him as if he had said something unimaginable. 

"She's hokage's wife. They wouldn't...," he whispered. "Our kids don't have the byakugan though, so I don't know if... Well, it's not like we're being invited anymore," he said. "The council wanted a byakugan user with lots of chakra but... It didn't work out," he added. Sasuke nodded. The council ordered him to reproduce as well. Apparently, the sharingan was too precious to be lost. That was the requirement he had to fulfill to be pardoned. He didn't want to agree but Naruto insisted. Sasuke still wasn't certain why he agreed. Maybe because he didn't believe that it would actually work. The sharingan was a recessive gene. And he had chosen Sakura because she didn't have any blood limit, and her chakra reserves were too small to allow using the sharingan in an actual combat. And she was one of the very few willing ones. She agreed to it even though he had told her that their marriage was to exist only on paper. It didn't bother her in the slightest. 

"I promised you a change too, and I can't do anything," Naruto whimpered, resting his head in his hands. "I've never felt this useless," he confessed. Sasuke frowned. It appeared that Konoha was able to break an unbreakable spirit. 

"I can't help you," Sasuke said the obvious thing. If he was to do it, things would get even more messed up. His reputation didn't allow him to do anything meaningful, so he resorted to securing the immense data Orochimaru had left. He wasn't surprised that the man was called a sannin. 

"I know," Naruto barked. He really was frustrated. "I want to escape but I know that it's not the right thing to do," he mumbled out. 

"Isn't Shikamaru your advisor? He's smart enough to do the plotting for you," Sasuke suggested. Naruto shook his head. He didn't even get angry at the implication that Sasuke considered him too stupid to successfully scheme. 

"He is my advisor but he... I've never asked him but it seems that he approves of the council's decisions. He is a strategist, after all. And the council works towards making Konoha matter. And this means... It's not what I wanted. And I don't trust him enough. If I asked him for help, he might start to spy on me," the blonde explained. Sasuke tilted his head. Naruto was more thoughtful than he expected him to be. It seemed that he had some basic grasp of politics now. "I'm all alone in there," he complained. "I'm lonely without you-" 

"You're not," Sasuke disagreed again. "You have many people looking up to you. It's what you've always wanted. I would just make things difficult for you," he said. 

"Yeah, we all got what we've always wanted but none of us is happy about it," Naruto barked. Sasuke sent him a questioning look. "I mean you, me, and Sakura," he clarified. "We all fulfilled our dreams and ambitions-" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed that Sasuke activated his rinnegan in a silent threat. "You know it's true-" 

"Don't compare it," Sasuke ordered. "You and Sakura are not even close-" 

"I know," Naruto yelled. He panted a few times. Finally, it seemed that he calmed down. "The thing is that none of us is happy," he declared. "I'm not happy, you're not happy, and Sakura's definitely not happy," he blabbered. 

"She knew what she was signing up for," Sasuke noted. 

"No, she didn't," Naruto retorted. "She thought you would change your mind. That she would be able to... That you would learn to love her," he explained in a bitter tone. 

"Funny that you're the one to call me out on this," Sasuke growled. "Sarada told me that your son doesn't consider his mother's marriage a happy one," he said. Naruto looked away, clearly ashamed of himself. "I at least was honest with Sakura-" 

"It's not like I don't love her," the blonde blurted out. Sasuke clicked his tongue. He was getting tired of this conversation. He formed a chidori blade to pop the annoying clone. "Hey, what do you think you're doing, eh?!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping backwards. 

"I'm going to destroy the clone. Don't teleport to me if you don't have nothing important to report or I'll stop carrying your mark with me," Sasuke threatened. 

"I'm not a clone," the blonde protested. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his chidori dying out. This was unexpected. From what he had heard from Boruto, Naruto used his clones for pretty much everything. Hinata was practically married to a clone, and not the real person. 

"What about the village?" He asked. If they were both out of it, then Konoha was virtually defenseless. 

"I'll teleport back if any of my clones will disappear," Naruto replied. It was an acceptable answer. Sasuke pinched the blonde's cheek, sending some electricity through him just to make sure that he wasn't being lied to. He wasn't. "It hurt, you bastard," Naruto complained, rubbing his face. "And it's not the nicest thing to do, you do realize that-" 

"I don't care," Sasuke interrupted him. Naruto pouted at him, folding his arms. Now he was more of his usual self. "What exactly do you want from me?" 

"I don't know," he admitted, returning to his deflated state. 

"Just spit it out," Sasuke ordered. 

"I really don't know," the blonde barked at him. "It just... I thought I would feel better after talking to you," he confessed. 

"Do you?" Sasuke questioned. Naruto rolled his eyes. The brunette smirked at the mute answer. "Shouldn't you talk about such matters with your wife?" 

"I barely know her," the man whispered. "She's very nice, and I know that she loves me but... I don't know, I guess we're both too busy to... I don't want to worry her. It's bad enough as it is, she doesn't need to know that I'm still a total failure," he sighed. 

"So you just wanted to spill your guts to someone, who's away from all of your problems," Sasuke realized. 

"No, I wanted to talk to my best friend," Naruto disagreed, sounding as if he was talking to a complete moron. "This is what people do, you know," he added. 

"I wouldn't know," Sasuke replied, trying to read the scroll again. It was just as fruitless as before. Naruto was distracting him. 

"I wanted to go with you but you've said no," he complained. "I want you to be with me, and you're saying no. Do you really hate the idea of being anywhere near me this much?" 

"I don't," Sasuke answered. "But it wouldn't accomplish anything beside angering the village folk," he explained. 

"You've saved them enough times to make them understand that you're not a threat-" 

"I am a threat," Sasuke stated. "The council knows that if it will try anything funny, I'll come to get their asses," he said. 

"Yeah, I doubt that they're currently planning to assassinate me," Naruto grumbled. Sasuke let out a tired breath. If Naruto was to find a way to actually bring the change he had promised, his life would be in danger. Sasuke could just hope that whoever it would be, they would be afraid of him. And the council should worry about it the most since they were the most obvious suspects. "Besides, what if they target you first?" 

"This is why I agreed to carry your mark with me," Sasuke answered. "You can feel my chakra, you know when I'm in trouble, and I doubt that someone would be able to one-shoot me," he explained. 

"So the general idea is that I should save you when you're in trouble, and you're just going to avenge me," Naruto huffed. "Not fair," he decided. "I want to live too-" 

"You have a whole garrison of people, whose only job is to protect you," Sasuke pointed out. 

"Yet none of them knows that I'm right here with you," the blonde chirped. He plopped on the ground, his leg touching Sasuke's. Sasuke ignored it. "Why don't you just copy my technique and mark me?" 

"I thought you didn't want me to copy your techniques," Sasuke mused. 

"It is cheating, you have to admit it," the blonde snickered. Sasuke shook his head in amusement. "But hey, if you could teleport to me, then we could see each other more often... I mean... You could see your family more often," Naruto suggested. "They miss you, you know," he stated in an accusing tone. 

"I can't copy it," Sasuke informed the other man. "And they're better off without me," he said. "At least they can be their own people and not the wife and the daughter of a criminal-" 

"They would just punch everyone, who calls you that," Naruto interrupted him. "And I would pardon them. I guess I can do at least this much," he mumbled, visibly pondering over the issue. 

"This isn't what I wanted," Sasuke whispered, more to himself than to Naruto. 

"Yeah, you wanted to kill the kages and destroy the tailed beasts," the blonde sighed. Sasuke sent him a faint smile. It wasn't what he had in mind. When he and Naruto had fought for the last time, Sasuke actually believed that they would build the new world order together. The harsh reality caught up with him a couple of days later when he was still in hospital. If he wanted a new world, he had to disappear. Otherwise people would rebel against being ruled by someone with his past. 

He was supposed to be with Naruto but he couldn't. Even if the first decision he had made on his own was to protect the accursed village. 

"Now I know that kages don't mean much," Sasuke said to humor the blonde. 

"Killing the council isn't going to solve anything," Naruto stated in a serious tone. "Just so you know-" 

"I do," Sasuke assured him. "I could take one more blow for you, though. If you were to come up with a solution that isn't considered legal-" 

"I don't plan to stoop so low," Naruto interrupted him. "And I wouldn't sacrifice you," he added. His hand landed on Sasuke's knee, squeezing it. "I check on you every couple of minutes, you know," he confessed. "I don't want to lose you again. Even if it feels as if I've already lost you," he grunted. 

"You haven't," Sasuke assured him. 

"If I could turn back time, I would've stayed with you," he whispered. 

"You wouldn't have became a hokage or had a family," Sasuke noted. 

"And neither would you," Naruto sighed. 

"Then I would've been at jail," Sasuke pointed out. "Now the village has potential hostages if it wanted to blackmail me." 

"...do you really think that this is what they were after?" Naruto inquired, a look of genuine shock on his face. "Those bastards-" 

Sasuke leaned backwards, resting his back on the hard and cold stone floor. If the village took Sakura or Sarada hostage... He would've rescued them. It was true that Sakura sealed her fate when she'd agreed to marry Sasuke but, Sasuke had to admit it to himself, he knew that she wasn't aware of how final his decision was. As for Sarada... The poor girl didn't have any say in the matter. She was the true victim. 

"You need to throw them down, Sasuke decided. "I bet they have some skeletons in their closets-" 

"They voted for murdering your clan," Naruto said. 

"I can't really count on any sympathy," Sasuke replied. The blonde lay next to him, deep in thoughts. His hand embraced Sasuke's. "I'll try to find some dirt on them. There's bound to be something in one of Orochimaru's libraries," he yawned. Only now he realized how sleepy he was. "You'll need a new council, though. You can't rule alone or people will call you a dictator-" 

"You should rest," Naruto murmured. "And I should probably go," he sighed. 

"You should," Sasuke agreed. None of them moved for the next few minutes. 

"I'll leave my clone with you," the blonde decided. "He'll help you with your research-" 

"He'll just be a nuisance," Sasuke protested. 

"I'll tell him to follow your orders," Naruto grumbled. "Although it's practically me so...," he trailed off, and cleared his throat. He sat up, forming the seals. Soon enough, another Naruto was standing in the room. "I'll leave you here," Naruto informed his clone. "You'll do as Sasuke tells you-" 

"Disappear," Sasuke demanded. The clone only rolled his eyes. "See, he's untrained-" 

"-unless it's something stupid," Naruto finished his command in a tired voice. 

"Sure," the clone agreed. The real Naruto gave Sasuke's hand a final squeeze before disappearing into thin air. Sasuke glared at the clone. "What?" the clone asked. 

"Make my bed," Sasuke ordered. He was tempted to simply evaporate the intruder but he decided against it. If he was to do it, Naruto would probably just send another one. And another. And another. 

"No," the clone replied, folding his arms. He disappeared with a satisfying puff when Sasuke pierced through him. "I'm not your maid," another clone barked immediately after teleporting to the hideout. 

"Then I don't need you right now," Sasuke pointed out. "I'm going to sleep, come back in the morning," he suggested. 

The blonde made a stupid face. "You have a point," he admitted after a longer while. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. Of course he had a point. This much was obvious. The clone disappeared, leaving Sasuke alone. 

He stood up, and headed towards the bathrooms. He knew the water would be cold. When Orochimaru was still using the hideouts, everything was in a much better state but now... And Sasuke knew nothing about plumbing. He wondered if he shouldn't learn Naruto's Flying Thunder God technique just so he could take a hot shower. Gods knew he needed one. 

Sasuke woke up quite disappointed with himself. He hadn't noticed Naruto teleporting to the hideout. What was more, it seemed that Naruto slept even less than he did. Sasuke sat up on the hard mattress, and rubbed his limbs to give them some warmth. His left arm was especially needy. It would hurt for no reason at all. Even the part that wasn't there. Sasuke went through his morning routine, and left the room to join the obnoxious blonde in an otherwise empty kitchen. 

"You don't have any food," the clone complained. 

"I don't," Sasuke admitted, making himself a tea. He didn't offer Naruto one. It was pointless since it was just a clone, and clones didn't deserve anything in Sasuke's book. It would be wasting resources and time. 

"Do you like...hunt or something?" Naruto inquired. 

"Or something," Sasuke replied, opening a glass jar filled with pills. He ate one, and put the jar aside. "Orochimaru invented these. They are somewhat similar to the ones used by the Akimichi clan-" 

"These are for harsh conditions, and not for everyday use," Naruto interrupted him, looking terrified. "People keep telling me I have an unhealthy diet but this... This is just unthinkable. I bet it tastes like shit-" 

"It tastes like a pill," Sasuke assured him. "I don't eat them on a daily basis but, since you're already here, I don't have time to fix myself anything more complicated," he said. The clone opened his mouth, probably to be more annoying. "We have a work to do," Sasuke reminded him before he could say anything. 

Sasuke lead Naruto into one of the hidden libraries. Hundreds of scrolls were stored in there - the most precious ones. The rest had been already robbed by Konoha and other villages. Kakashi made sure of it. Luckily for Sasuke, Orochimaru wasn't an idiot, so some of his secrets remained what they were- secrets. 

"It's possible that there won't be anything in here," Sasuke warned Naruto. "I came here to study Orochimaru's techniques, not to uncover dirt on the council-" 

"I bet they're all forbidden," Naruto grumbled, glaring at the scrolls. 

"You're using a forbidden technique right now," Sasuke scoffed. The blonde frowned at him but it seemed that he decided against saying anything. "Don't make a mess," Sasuke ordered the clone before making a few of his own, and dispatching them to read through the scrolls. Naruto followed his example, and, surprisingly enough, he was more helpful than Sasuke expected him to be. He wasn't even talking. Perhaps he knew that as a clone he wasn't considered a valuable interlocutor. Or maybe Naruto learned how to concentrate on a task. 

"The onion people have died," the blonde said out of the blue. Sasuke sighed - half disappointed, half relieved that Naruto didn't change as much when he wasn't around. "You know, the clones-" 

"The ones with the sharingan?" Sasuke supplied. The blonde nodded. "What happened with their eyes?" 

"The council wanted to keep them just in case but they kind of rot," Naruto murmured. "I guess they messed up the liquid they were keeping them in," he said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Tsunade's doing," the blonde explained. "They're pretty angry at her right now but, well, it's not like they can do anything about it-" 

"Can they link you to it?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head. "It's good news, then," Sasuke said. 

"Not really," the blonde replied. "They're dead, you know. Sakura told me that it was a bad design from the very start, that they were doomed to die," he sighed. "It wasn't their fault-" 

"Neither it's yours," Sasuke interrupted him. The blonde looked miserable. "Why do you always have a bandages on that artificial arm of yours?" Sasuke asked to distract him. 

"It's made from the same stuff white Zetsus were made of, and it's kind of icky," Naruto answered. "And since I'm some kind of a poster boy, I can't look icky," he let out a bitter chuckle. "How about yours?" 

"Nothing has changed," Sasuke replied. 

"You're doing pretty well,  considering that you have only one arm-" 

"I could still take you on," Sasuke interrupted him. 

"Sure, it's not like you're unarmed," Naruto snorted. Sasuke glared at him. Then he gave up and cracked a little smile. The blonde grinned at him, visibly happy with himself. "When I'm with you, I feel as if I had a day off," he confessed in a hushed voice. 

"That's because you're slacking off," Sasuke said. This wasn't entirely true. They were working much faster than he had been expecting them to. One of Naruto's clones disappeared with a quiet puff. 

"Hey, I found something," he realized. "There's a bingo book of Konoha ninjas, and it's been handed over to Orochimaru-" 

"That was to earn his trust, so Sai could get in and kill me. Not the brightest plan but the intentions were good," Sasuke sighed. The blonde smacked his head. 

"Tsunade never approved of that plan, you know," Naruto said. "She sent us on a rescue mission," he muttered. 

"And look where it got her," Sasuke argued. "I'm sorry but whenever something is linked to me, it's worthless," he said. 

"Yeah, endangering a whole squad of ninjas to get one teenage boy is a great idea," the blonde grunted. 

"I wasn't a teenage boy," Sasuke protested. The idea was absolutely absurd. 

"You were," Naruto barked. "I was a teenage boy. We were all kids, that's why it's so fucked up. When we were Boruto's age, we were already fighting to death," he rambled. "Our children will never know what it was like," he added in an angry voice. "And I'm happy because of that but... I envy them. Things should've been different-" 

"Different how?" Sasuke interrupted him. "My whole clan was murdered because it was planning a rebellion, and you were a vessel for a demon, who had attacked Konoha. What did you expect? A candy and a pat on the head?" 

"No," Naruto grunted. "But hasn't it ever occurred to you that we shouldn't have had to live all alone when we were little kids? Nobody ever cared-" 

"You can't change it, so there's no point in discussing it," Sasuke muttered. "Unless you just want to whine about how hard it's been-" 

"Stop being like this," Naruto growled. "Stop accepting everything. It's not like you-" 

"You fought me to make me stop. You wanted me to be like this," Sasuke yelled. "Here you have it-" 

"This wasn't what I wanted," the blonde screamed back. "I wanted you to be happy-" 

"Well, I'm not," Sasuke barked. He was regretting ever agreeing to having Naruto help him. He wasn't helpful. He was anything but helpful. And he was bringing back unwanted feelings. 

"Me neither," the clone whispered, slumping on the floor. "Where did I go wrong?" 

Sasuke knew that it was just a rhetorical question. Nevertheless, it annoyed him beyond belief. He took out seven shurikens, and threw them at the clones. He has never been as satisfied as when they all disappeared. 

Sasuke rolled out from the bed, taking a fighting stance. Only then he realized that the intruder was Naruto. Of course. It was morning again. This time, the blonde wasn't waiting on him in the kitchen but decided to visit his bedroom. 

"Ever heard of knocking?" Sasuke growled, standing up like a proper human being should. 

"Don't be an ass, I brought you groceries," the clone chirped, showing off a big bag of goodies. 

"So you are my maid now," Sasuke said, trying to upset the blonde. His stomach grumbled at the thought of eating actual food, what ruined the attempt. Naruto just smirked at him, way too full of himself. 

"So, since I did the shopping part, you'll fix us some nice breakfast-" 

"I'm not playing house with you," Sasuke protested, taking the bag from Naruto's hands, and heading towards the kitchen. 

"Why not?" the clone wailed after him. 

"You're a clone," Sasuke muttered. He heard the other man following him. "It's not like you're an actual person-" 

"So you would play house with the real me?" Naruto asked in an obnoxious voice. "I'm tempted to disappear just so the real me could learn about it," he snickered. "And people keep saying that you're so unapproachable-" 

"They're right," Sasuke interrupted him, simultaneously throwing a kunai at him. To his surprise, the clone jumped away to avoid being hit. He picked up the kunai, swallowing a curse. "I thought you wanted to disappear-" 

"But not like this," the blonde grunted. "Why are you so mean to the clones?" He whined. 

"Because they're annoying. Proper clones shouldn't blabber like this," Sasuke argued. "You'll cease to exist by the evening or sooner if I'll feel like it. Why should I worry about not being mean to you?" 

"My memories will go straight to the real me," the clone mumbled out. 

"It's a miracle he's not getting a headache with how many clones he uses daily," Sasuke sighed. "His brain would turn into a sponge if he was to actually care about these memories. How many clones does he use right now?" 

"About twenty," Naruto answered. 

"See? He's a busy man," Sasuke said, putting the bag on the kitchen table. He looked inside. The contents surprised him. He expected instant noodles or other unhealthy food but no, this was actually acceptable. It was probably Hinata's doing. Sasuke breathed in. He hadn't came to Naruto's wedding because he wasn't able to stomach the idea of Naruto getting married. His own wedding consisted of just signing the marriage form but Naruto had an actual party. No wonder. He did fall in love with Hinata. Sasuke had no  idea as to when it happened. He was pretty certain that he didn't want to know. "Go read through the scrolls. I'll join you soon," he ordered. 

"I'm already doing it," Naruto replied. "The clones are doing it, I mean. I'm here just to keep you company-" 

"What's the point?" Sasuke asked in a tired voice. He already calmed down after yesterday. He was thankful that Naruto didn't decide to come back. And that he acted as if nothing had happened. This was exactly what he needed. A fresh start. 

"I don't know, I hate to eat alone-" 

"I bet you're not doing it now," Sasuke interrupted him. There were days when it was easy to forget that Naruto was married. Today wasn't such a day. 

"I actually do it all the time," the blonde confessed. "I'm busy, you know. With paperwork. Why am I even doing it? When Tsunade was in charge, she had Shizune doing it for her-" 

"She could trust Shizune," Sasuke guessed. 

"Well, I don't have such a person. Not that it actually matters. When I don't like something, I'm forced to agree to it sooner or later anyways. But hey, let's stop talking about me, and focus on you," he merrily suggested. "The last two days were all about me. It doesn't make any sense," he blabbered. "I came here, saying that I miss you, and then I... Well, this is me talking about me again," he laughed. "How's life treating you?" 

"Take a wild guess," Sasuke sighed, starting to prepare the breakfast. He was waiting for Naruto to start talking again but he didn't. The uncomfortable silence lasted for quite some time. "I miss hot showers," he mumbled out eventually. 

"You could always come to Konoha," the blonde suggested. "Or I could teleport you there just for a little while, so you would-" 

"That would be stupid," Sasuke snorted. "You always had a talent for wasting serious techniques for random shit." 

"Oh, you mean this?" Naruto asked with a mischievous smile, immediately turning into a naked woman. He put one small hand on Sasuke's shoulder, a troubled expression on his face. "Why are you so cruel, Sasuke," he complained, drawling out the last word. His breasts dangled in an exaggerated way. 

"Save your breath, it never worked on me," Sasuke said, gently shoving Naruto away. 

"Well, you grew up, so it was worth a try," the blonde chuckled, turning back into himself. "I thought the reversed version would've worked for you but it too didn't do anything," he sighed. 

"First of all - I was kind of busy fighting Kaguya at the time, second of all - where did you get that idea?" Sasuke inquired, returning to slicing a tomato. "Third of all," he said, practically interrupting Naruto, whose mouth was already open, "That was quite some variety. Your regular one is pretty boring." 

"The fact that the second question wasn't the first one is pretty telling," Naruto replied. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And it had more variety because the regular one worked anyways. Why try to fix something that isn't broken?" He joked. "The reversed version wasn't my idea," he confessed. "It was Konohamaru's," he explained. "He actually showed me you and Sai. And it wasn't as... subtle as mine-" 

"That's...creepy," Sasuke decided. "Especially since I wouldn't call your performances subtle." 

"Yeah, and back then he was like thirteen years old," Naruto laughed. "But, anyways, what's so bad about teleporting to my place?" 

"I don't want to disturb Hinata," Sasuke hissed. 

"She'd be happy to see you," Naruto protested. Sasuke frowned at him. "Or you could just go to your house," the blonde added hastily. "And I would be more than happy to meet Sakura, I haven't seen her in ages-" 

"Then just go and see her," Sasuke barked. 

"That would be pretty awkward," the blonde grunted. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. This didn't make much sense. "We're both married, and people would talk. You know, because I used to have a crush on her, and you're never home, and I'm never home," he explained. It still didn't make any sense. 

"You don't have any issues with seeing me," Sasuke pointed out. Naruto sent him a sheepish smile. 

"We're both...," his voice died out when he saw the growing frown on Sasuke's face. "Nobody knows that I'm here with you," he blurted out. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them once again. "You were avoiding me," Naruto snapped after a few minutes. "You ran away from Konoha the moment you could stand on your own legs, and you forbid me to follow you-" 

"It didn't stop you before," Sasuke barked back. 

"What, you wanted me to chase you again?!" Naruto yelled. "Was I supposed to throw away everything just because you were moody?" 

"No," Sasuke replied after a short hesitation. Somewhere deep inside he had hoped that Naruto would ignore his protest and follow him anyways. It had been his time to choose between his dreams and Sasuke since there was no way to have it both. Naruto's choice was a reasonable one. Still, when he had came to say goodbye, Sasuke was almost certain that they would leave together to never come back. It didn't happen. 

"What is it then?" The blonde asked. His eyebrows were knitted together, he looked both confused and angry. 

"It's nothing, sorry," Sasuke replied. The other man looked away, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. 

"You knew I loved you," the blonde complained in a hushed voice. His eyes were still glued to a wall. "You knew it, and you disappeared from my life-" 

"What else was I supposed to do?" Sasuke asked, a pained expression on his face. They had never talked about it. Naruto had never said he loved Sasuke. He was using many different words but never this one. Sasuke didn't want to hear it. Not now, when it was already too late. 

"Stay with me," the blonde growled, finally turning his face to him. 

"It wasn't possible," Sasuke sighed, looking at the finished meal. He slowly shoved it towards the clone. He wasn't hungry anymore. "Not if you wanted to be a hokage. And you wanted it," he added. 

Naruto rested his head in his linked hands. "Well, hokage doesn't mean shit," he said. "I wanted to change the system, and I used to believe that being a hokage would let me do it but... I think I was more effective when I was still a nobody," he confessed. "If I wasn't a hokage, I wouldn't have to worry about all this stupid shit, and I could be true to my heart." 

"You're angry at me because you're disappointed with your life choices," Sasuke realized. 

"I'm angry at myself," Naruto corrected him. "We're not trapped in some stupid genjutsu, are we?" 

"We're not," Sasuke assured him. He leaned back on his chair. "Do you wish we were?" 

"...no," the blonde answered. "If wouldn't be fair to Hinata-" 

"Is this the only thing you have troubles with?" 

"No, I also love my children," Naruto barked at him. "My family's the only thing I'm happy about-" 

"Then why do you complain about me leaving? It shouldn't bother you," Sasuke pointed out, staring at the dirty ceiling. He flinched when Naruto touched his arm. "Eat up. We need to get back to work-" 

"I shouldn't have come here," the blonde whispered. Sasuke frowned at the words. 

"Suck it up," he growled. "Or be gone, and I'll get my hands dirty for you. Just like I've said it had to be like. You shouldn't have won with me back then-" 

"You never meant to kill me, Sasuke," Naruto interrupted him. "You lost on purpose, and then you ran away-" 

"I didn't run away," Sasuke angrily disagreed. "When I was actually running away, I did in the middle of the night, and made sure nobody knew about it," he barked. "The second time I did it, I killed Orochimaru to make sure he wouldn't follow me. This time I told you I was going away, you knew when and where I would go-" 

"You told me not to follow you," the blonde yelled at him. "If I knew I had to choose between you and being a hokage, I would've chosen you-" 

"I know... but it wouldn't be a smart choice," Sasuke noted, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This conversation came too many years too late. 

Naruto stood up and paced around the room, making angry, unintelligible noises every couple of seconds. "I'm not exactly known for being smart," he grumbled after a minute or so, stopping in his tracks and leaning against a wall. 

"Have you ever considered what could happen if overthrowing the council wouldn't work? You'd be putting your family in danger. You're not alone anymore," Sasuke said. He was getting angry at Naruto. The blonde looked away, as if ashamed by himself. He was right to be ashamed. 

"I think I should resign from the post," he mumbled out. "Let Konohamaru or someone take it, and then-" 

"And who would provide for your wife and children?" Sasuke interrupted him. "Hinata can't count on her family anymore, so you'd leave her alone with two kids? Sakura's barely able to meet ends with just one," he pointed out. "There was a reason why I believed hokage had to be lonely-" 

"Great, you were right, are you happy now?" Naruto barked at him. Sasuke shook his head. "Can't you just use your Izanagi or some other bullshit to turn back time?" He sighed. 

"...no. If I could, I would've used it to save my family," Sasuke replied. "Besides, I'm already one arm short. Losing an eye wouldn't be a smart move," he said. He expected Naruto to laugh at the silly comment but he didn't. The blonde simply slumped on the floor, looking completely deflated. Again. Sasuke got up from the chair, and sat next to his best friend. "You can't fix everything without ruining it first," he whispered. 

"...yeah," Naruto hesitantly nodded.

Naruto opened his eyes feeling nothing but pure terror. There was something in his nose and in his throat, and he could barely breath. He wheezed in panic, trying to pull the offending tubes out. He had only one arm again. How did this happen? 

Well, if he had tubes in throat... And the walls were white... And he was lying in a bed, feeling like shit... It had to be a hospital. The blonde looked around the room. He was the only patient in there. It seemed that he made some people worry since the entirety of a window sill and a small round table in the corner were full of bouquets of various flowers. Naruto coughed when he finally freed himself. 

He had no idea how he got here. The last thing his mind registered was talking with Sasuke. Sasuke! Naruto gasped when he felt his friend's chakra signature relatively nearby. He had to be in the village. It didn't happen too often, and it never lasted for too long. Did someone attack them? 

He jumped in his spot when he heard a door opening. 

"Naruto," Sakura cried in relief, practically choking him in her embrace. The blonde patted her back, simultaneously trying to come to terms with the fact that Sakura looked incredibly young. Maybe it was that Tsunade's technique. It had to be it, and this time Sakura really overdid it. She looked like a teenager again, as if she wasn't much older than her daughter. "How are you?" Sakura asked, cupping Naruto's face in her hands. Her pretty green eyes were fogged by tears. 

"Tired," he mumbled out. He cleared his throat, surprised by the sound of his voice. Well, it had to be because of all those tubes because coughing didn't help much. "What happened?" He asked. "How did you find us?" 

Sasuke and he were really lucky. He probably shouldn't have actually went there, he should've sent a clone. He endangered the wellbeing of Konoha. It just showed what a crappy hokage he's been. 

"Well, it wasn't this far away," Sakura replied. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. It was pretty far away. A couple of days of travel by foot. "Kakashi and I found you both unconscious and covered in blood," she whispered. "You have no idea how happy I was that I'd spent all that time studying under Tsunade," she let out a sad sob. 

"Someone attacked us?" Naruto inquired. It seemed so absurd that there still were people, who could take him and Sasuke head on. They were both ridiculously strong. Who was that person? Were they trying to attack the village? How did they know about the hideout?  

"No, of course not," she said. "You knocked yourselves out," she informed him. "Luckily, the eternal tsukiyomi's been already dispelled. After a couple of days you still weren't waking up, so we checked on you two, and... It seemed you were trapped in a genjutsu. We weren't able to free you," she whimpered.  

 Naruto gawked at her. Eternal tsukiyomi? It happened ages ago. Did it mean that Sakura looked like her younger self because she was her younger self? The blonde pinched his thigh. This couldn't be true. Maybe this was a genjutsu. Sasuke was probably screwing with him, he would wake up in some time, and everything will be the way it was. It had to be. 

"Naruto? Your heartbeat is erratic," she noticed. The blonde breathed in to calm himself down. Did it mean that he wasn't a hokage? That he didn't have a wife and two kids? He swallowed a sob that threatened to escape his throat. His children... They didn't exist? "Naruto, I should've known it would be hard to take, here, have some tranquilizers-" 

"I'm fine," he lied. He did a round of breathe-ins and breathe-outs to calm himself down. It didn't do much. "What about Sasuke?" 

"I don't know if he's woken up yet," Sakura answered, looking away. "Some people wanted him to get a capital punishment but Tsunade was able to keep him alive. Although he's in jail-" 

"Why?" Naruto inquired. It was probably a stupid question. He shook his head to let the girl know she didn't have to answer. "How long were we out?" 

"Over four months," she informed him. "You were taking it pretty fine... Well, you're still weakened, of course, but otherwise you're doing okay. It took a bigger toll on Sasuke. He's generally healing worse..." 

"I have to see him," the blonde demanded. 

"It's too early, Naruto," Sakura protested. "You have to recover. And you don't even know if he's up-" 

"He has to be," he interrupted her. "Let me see him, please." 

"I can't," the girl said. "In your condition-" 

"I'm going to see him," Naruto informed her, getting up from bed. His legs felt so weak. Sakura pushed him, forcing him to lie back. "Take me to him," he pleaded. She shook her head, clicking something on his IV. He immediately started to feel dizzy. 

"Sorry, Naruto," she murmured. It was the last thing his mind registered. 

*** 

When Naruto woke up again, he noticed Sakura sleeping in a chair, half lying on his bed. He gently shook her awake. The girl mumbled something in her sleep, shoving his hand away. He smiled at it, poking her cheek. Finally, her eyes cracked open. 

"You're up," she murmured. Then she jolted away, and started to act more proper, straightening a crease on her skirt. "I managed to convince Tsunade to transfer Sasuke here," she informed Naruto. "He's up, too. It was his genjutsu-" 

"Bastard," the blonde grunted. 

"He's still dangerous, you know. We're keeping him out of chakra, though, so you can go see him," she said. He immediately sat up, ready to run out of the room. "Not like this," she disagreed. "I'll drive you there. Here, I have a wheelchair prepared for you-" 

"I can walk," he protested. The girl just frowned. "All right, have it your way," he surrendered to the silent threat. "Thank you, Sakura," he whispered. 

"Think nothing of it," she said. "You deserve to say your goodbyes-" 

"What?" Naruto interrupted her, grabbing her by the wrist. She sent him a sad look. He knew what it meant. "But you've said he wasn't going to get a capital punishment-" 

"He was harmless in coma but right now... Keeping him harmless is costly and pointless. We can't count on him, he may betray us any second. Hell, he tried to kill you, and he put both of us under a genjutsu-" 

"Have they lost their mind?!" Naruto exclaimed. His heart began to pump ridiculous amounts of blood. No. No, no, no, no, no! It can't end like this. He won't allow it. Sasuke will live no matter what. "Take me to him," the blonde pleaded. 

Sakura helped him get on the wheelchair, and pushed him through the corridor. Many people stopped to greet him and thank him for saving Konoha again. He smiled at all of them even though he was too distracted to note whom he was talking to. It was just a sea of faces, and none of them was the one he wanted to see. 

Finally, they entered a room. It was rather crowdy in there - six ninjas were sitting in a circle around the bed, so focused on their task that they didn't even notice Naruto and Sakura coming in. The blonde was guessing that they were keeping Sasuke out of chakra. This wasn't good. It meant keeping him on a brink of exhaustion. 

Then there were three anbu, who were guarding the doors and the window. They were the ones who let Naruto and Sakura in. 

Finally, there was Sasuke. Strapped to a bed, a piece of textile covering the upper side of his head. The only visible parts of his body were his chin and mouth. 

"Hi," Naruto mumbled out. When he was coming there, he seriously considered hitting Sasuke. Hard. For putting him into a goddamn coma, and screwing with his brain. Now Naruto realized that Sasuke looked terrible enough as it was. He had to help him fast. Sasuke sighed in reply. "Can you leave us alone for a moment?" Naruto pleaded. The guards shook their masked heads. Sakura stepped back, a pained look on her tired face. "I'll be fine, he's completely pacified now," the blonde argued. 

"Hn," Sasuke verbalized his discontent. 

"Sorry, Naruto," Sakura murmured. "It's either this or nothing." 

The blonde let out an exasperated sigh. He touched Sasuke's arm with his cold fingers. "I hope you have a good excuse for what you've done," he whispered. "Because I'm about to seriously screw up," he said in a hushed voice directly into Sasuke's ear. Suddenly, he felt a huge surge of chakra in his fingers. Sasuke's chakra. So his position wasn't as bad as he made people believe. Naruto breathed in in relief. 

"I'll be fine on my own," Sasuke whispered back. Naruto could barely make the words. So he still had a choice. As long as he didn't care about countless casualties Sasuke's escape would cause. 

"Don't do anything," Naruto ordered the other boy. "We'll talk later," he promised. "And seriously, think up a viable excuse," he grunted before riding away from Sasuke. Sakura appeared by his side as if on cue. "I want to talk with Tsunade," he informed her. 

"...I'll ask her to come visit you," the girl complied. 

"I need to talk to her now," Naruto emphasized, trying to stay composed. "I want him alive-" 

"It's not so easy," Sakura stated after they both left the room. Once again, Naruto was forced to act all cheerful around people on the corridor. "He wanted to kill all the kages, he put me under a genjutsu, he tried to kill you," she paused to smile and smalltalk with yet another person, "and he's put you under a genjutsu," she said. "He also killed Danzou, was a part of Akatsuki, threatened to destroy Konoha-" 

"I know," the blonde whined. Sakura didn't even enlist all of Sasuke's crimes. "He'll be in my custody-" 

"You haven't won with him," the girl pointed out. "If it wasn't us but his allies, you might've been dead for all we know," she whispered. "Give up on him," she pleaded. 

"I won't," he said. Sakura squeezed his shoulder. He had no idea if the true answer wasn’t 'I can't,' but he didn't want to dwell on it. 

"He ripped my heart out in that genjutsu," she confessed when they finally reached Naruto's room. "I don't even want to think about what kind of tortures he's put you under-" 

"He didn't," Naruto hastily informed her. 

"What was it then?" She asked. Naruto pondered over the answer. He himself wasn't certain about it. It was a world in which he chose being a hokage. A world in which he had a family. A world without Sasuke. 

"Remember when we were teleported to that other Konoha? It was something like this," he explained. "You were his wife," he added. 

Sakura blushed heavily, escaping with her eyes. "Were we happy?" She inquired. 

"No," Naruto told her. She sighed, helping him get back to bed. "You were sick, and in debt, and he was never home-" 

"What about you?" Sakura questioned. 

"I married Hinata," he said. "And I too was never home," he let out a bitter chuckle. 

"It was just a genjutsu," she whispered . "Don't take it too seriously. I still have my heart, don't I?" She asked, her hand touching her chest. "It wasn't real. It was just what he wanted to show you to... I don't really know what he's trying to do," she grumbled. "Maybe he simply wants you to save him." 

"Maybe," he agreed with her even though he was sure that it wasn't the case. Sasuke was able to escape on his own. This much was certain. "I can't let them kill him," he insisted. "We came to an understanding," he said. "And he did help save Konoha out of his free will. Without him, we would've ended up in eternal tsukiyomi." 

"Yeah but... You never know what he'll do next. He's not very stable," she murmured. "Naruto, you're seriously considered as a viable candidate for hokage," she said. "This is your dream coming true. Don't throw it away for someone who's not even going to thank you for it," she pleaded. "I still love him, okay? I do but even I know that he has to go-" 

"You mean die," the blonde interrupted her. She shook her head. 

"I'm not this stupid," she laughed. "You two are on a demigods level of strong. Some villages are even complaining that there'll never be balance in force if we have both of you," she mused. "Most of them demand to have you transferred to them. Funny how nobody wants Sasuke," she chuckled. Naruto couldn't help but smile back. 

"I'm cuter," he joked. 

"That's hardly an accomplishment," the girl snorted. "I'll ask Tsunade to come visit you today. She'll probably want to run some tests anyways so..." 

"Thank you," Naruto whispered. Sakura sent him a warm smile. 

"I doubt it'll help, though. He wanted to kill her and the other kages, remember? Other villages will be furious if Tsunade frees him. Everyone knows that, well, he's actually capable of killing anyone he wishes," she said. 

"I'll keep him out of trouble," the blonde promised. Sakura snickered in doubt. 

"He's not going to listen to you," she replied. "If there was a way to keep him under control, nobody would want to kill him. He'd be too big of an asset." 

"...so what else can I do?" Naruto whined. 

"The smart thing to do would be to just let him go his way. He'll keep himself safe," she assured him. Naruto let out a sad huff. He already saw it happen, and it wasn't what he wanted. "The stupid thing to do would be saying that you're going to have him freed anyways, and that you're just trying to avoid violence," she whispered. Naruto blinked in shock at the suggestion. "If it was Sasuke saying it, nobody would doubt that he's not bluffing. With you... It's difficult to imagine you turning against Konoha," she added. 

"Or I could just run away with him," he mumbled out. He didn't like the idea one bit. Konoha was important to him. "I could threaten them to spill information about the Uchiha massacre," he thought out loud. 

"...what information?" Sakura inquired. 

"It was ordered by the council," Naruto answered in a hushed voice. "People won't like it," he murmured. "Especially the clans-" 

"This could actually work," the girl whispered. "I had no idea... Wow. Just wow. No wonder he's been so angry..." 

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, resting his head against the pillow. "The council will want to avoid public uproars. It's how they operate," he sighed. "...although Sasuke won't like it-" 

"He's tried to kill you so whatever," Sakura interrupted him. "He should be happy that he has a friend in you," she grunted. "Naruto," she murmured after a long pause, "are you certain you want to do it? There's no coming back, and it might sink your chances for being a hokage," she said. 

"I know," he sighed. Not becoming a hokage wasn't what he was worried about. Leaving the village was much more terrifying. But he promised Sasuke he would save him, and it seemed that there was no other way to do it. "Yeah, I want to do it," he stated, forcing himself to smile. "It'll be fun," he added. 

"Yeah, right," Sakura snickered. "I'll go call Tsunade," she promised before leaving the room.

"What is it, brat?" Tsunade inquired, her arms folded, her lips trembling in an attempt to look all business and not to smile. She appeared happy that Naruto was finally awake. 

"I want Sasuke," Naruto stated. The woman glared at him for a while. Then her features softened. 

"I can't agree to it," she said in an apologetic tone. 

"It doesn't have to be official," the blonde assured her. "You can say we've ran away-" 

"This wouldn't be a good PR for Konoha," she disagreed. "Naruto, I know he’s important to you but you have to understand that he's a wanted criminal. I can't let him go." 

"You have to," he insisted. 

"I've been through it, okay? It was the very same story with Orochimaru, and I didn't let him live. Sasuke's much more dangerous-" 

"He's not dangerous," Naruto exclaimed. It was a stupid thing to say. "Not to Konoha," he clarified. "He promised he'll keep it safe-" 

"And before that he had promised to destroy it," Tsunade grunted. "What if he kills a kage? It's my head people will be after. It'll be my failure. And look, we've already had a war while I was in charge. It didn't help my popularity," she tried to joke. 

"I am going to save him," Naruto said. 

"It'll be considered treason," Tsunade informed him in a grave tone. 

"Same was thought of Itachi, who was Konoha's agent," Naruto retorted. "He killed his family to keep Sasuke safe but Konoha never finalized their end of the deal," he uttered. Tsunade blinked as if she had no idea what was going on. Then she shook her head in resignation. 

"Don't hurt anybody while you're running away," she pleaded, looking defeated. "You're making a huge mistake. He's not worth it." 

"He is worth it," the blonde insisted. 

"You both don't have one arm, and his rinnegan eye is blind," Tsunade pointed out. This was new. "You also both need to recover but I can't postpone the execution. It's scheduled for tomorrow's evening. Run away tonight. I'll call off some of the hospital security. Don't hurt the rest," she ordered. "You'll be sending me encrypted reports. Sakura will give you a code you'll use. Otherwise, you're on your own, and Konoha won't take any responsibility for any of your actions. You'll be considered missing nins, and you'll be hunted as such but not by us," she promised. 

"Thank you," Naruto exclaimed, getting up from bed and jumping towards the woman to hug her. She simply sighed. "You won't regret it-" 

"I already am," she complained, embracing Naruto back. "I had high hopes for you but it seems you'll end up even worse than Jiraiya," she said. "Don't die," she demanded. "You were supposed to take my place," she whispered. 

"I'm not cut out for this job," he smiled. Tsunade stepped back, wiping a stray tear out. 

"You grew up," she said, looking quite emotional. "You have friends in here," she reminded him. "Don't forget us." 

"I won't," he promised. He wished everything was different but it simply wasn't. Sasuke and he couldn't stay in there. Not like this. Not if they wanted to fix the system. 

Sasuke flinched when he heard a sound of breaking glass. Then there were footsteps and screams. Of course. He shouldn't expect Naruto to act like an actual ninja. 

"Don't hurt anybody, we're running away," a voice informed him. Sasuke mentally shrugged his shoulders. It was probably one of Naruto's summons. The presence disappeared within milliseconds, and Sasuke treated it as a signal to fight.  

It was now or never. He released some electricity to cut through the straps that were holding him tied to the bed, and some more to stun but not injure his guards. Soon enough they were all lying on the floor. He got up from bed. His head hurt. His muscles were weak from not using them. He got up, barely able to stand straight. He approached the window, where he was greeted by Naruto's smiling face. 

"What now?" The blonde asked him. Sasuke breathed in to refrain himself from snorting. "Don't look at me like this, I'm pretty useless without an arm-" 

Sasuke bit his thumb and summoned a hawk big enough to carry them both away. 

"Yeah, this works," Naruto said, straddling a bird and helping Sasuke to hop on as well. His hand was warm and much softer than Sasuke remembered it to be. 

"I thought you were supposed to save me," he whispered, ordering the hawk to fly away. He didn't feel too well. Nevertheless, he forced himself to use his Susanoo to shield them from potential attacks. 

"I can't really use any techniques," Naruto mumbled out. He touched Sasuke's shoulder to supply him with his chakra. "Where are we going? One of Orochimaru's hideouts?" 

"I guess," Sasuke agreed. Nobody attacked them. Nobody was chasing them. A quite pleasant surprise. "He should have some supplies stashed," he added. He needed medicines. He wished Taka was with him. Naruto probably knew nothing about medical techniques. He's always had a medic with him. Sasuke regretted not learning any himself. Not that it couldn't be fixed. 

"Anyways," the blonde started uncertainly when they were far enough from the village, "what's your excuse for putting me into a coma for over four months?" 

"I thought it would last three to four days," Sasuke answered. 

"...yeah, because this makes it right," Naruto muttered after a longer pause. He probably expected Sasuke to continue his thought. "You just wanted to manipulate me into agreeing with you-" 

"Not really," Sasuke disagreed. "I was trapped as well, so up until yesterday I had no idea what was happening," he said. "And I've set two conditions, which, if at least one of them was fulfilled, would break the illusion. The first one was that either you or me would agree with the other-" 

"No wonder it lasted so long," the blonde grumbled. "Disagreeing with me is your second nature-" 

"The second condition," Sasuke continued, unfazed by interruptions, "was you being happy," he confessed. "Or generally content with your life, if you want me to be precise." 

"...and how was I supposed to be happy in your genjutsu?" Naruto inquired. His cheeks were slightly flushed. "That world was horrible-" 

"It was your world," Sasuke clarified. "I would never come up with a trip to the moon," he snickered. "And with a unicorn guy who lives there-" 

"Oh, shut up, will you," the blonde grumbled. Sasuke ended his Susanoo. It was no longer needed. He still felt as if he was about to collapse. "...what was the point?" Naruto asked. "You've lost your rinnegan-" 

"I wanted to make sure that you'd make the right choice," Sasuke explained, rubbing his forehead. "It didn't necessarily mean agreeing with me or going with me," he clarified. "You can probably still go back-" 

"I can't," the blonde said. "And I don't want to," he whispered. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders even though deep inside the fact that Naruto chose to go with him made him happy. 

Naruto woke up, feeling awful. His back hurt. His legs hurt. The room they stayed in was cold. The mattress was harder than the ground and it reeked of mold. Last night Sasuke suggested they use Orochimaru's bedroom, which was supposed to be more comfortable but, somehow, this seemed even more awful. Naruto shrugged in disgust. Ugh. That guy practically was a snake, and snakes were like worms but worse. 

"How was your first night after escaping from Konoha?" He asked. He himself was regretting everything. Yesterday he threw away a quite comfortable future to live like a fugitive with his criminal best friend. Not the most sound of his life choices. 

"I had to recover after our fight, so it was rather uneventful," Sasuke replied. "Kabuto gave me some painkillers and a tranquilizer." 

"No, I mean," Naruto hesitated before speaking again, "did you miss home?" 

"You mean the place where my whole clan was slain?" Sasuke questioned in a dry voice. "Not really," he muttered. 

"...right," the blonde sighed. Probably even this dump seemed better than a goddamn cemetery. He had no idea why Sasuke and he hadn’t been put in an orphanage or something. He suspected that Sasuke wasn't really interested in talking about it. It wouldn't change anything. Or something along these lines. "What about your eye?" Naruto asked to change the subject. 

"What about it?" 

"Are you going to transplant one or what?" He prodded. "You've said it yourself, having only one arm and one working eye doesn't exactly give you any advantage-" 

"You have two eyes but I could easily defeat you," Sasuke smirked. "That's one of the good things about that genjutsu. I had over fifteen years to master forming seals with just one hand," he said, raising the said hand and straightening his fingers. "I don't plan to have anything transplanted unless it turns out that it's absolutely necessary," he added. 

"Why?" Naruto asked, turning on his side. Maybe this way his back would stop hurting. 

"These are Itachi's," Sasuke answered, pointing to his eyes. The blonde frowned. This was... Kind of gross, and kind of romantic. Mostly gross, though. Naruto was staring into eyes of a dead man. "Remember Five Kages Summit?" Sasuke asked. He continued when he saw a nod. "I was practically blind back then. Turns out you can't spam mangekyou," he whispered. 

"So what, when I'll die you'll take my arm?" Naruto tried to joke. Maybe they should avoid difficult topics for now. He didn't want to remember yet another of their fights. Sasuke just shook his head. "I missed you, you know," he said after a hesitation.  

"I know," the boy replied. 

Then there was an uncomfortable silence. Naruto felt somewhat guilty because of how needy he was. Nevertheless, although he knew very well that the feeling was mutual, he wished Sasuke would admit it verbally as well. Being with him wasn't exactly lonely but it was much different from being surrounded by people. The blonde breathed in to calm his racing heart. He just reminded himself of what he's done. 

Right now it really was Sasuke and him against the world. By now, the word of their escape had to reach other villages. He could just hope that nobody knew where exactly Orochimaru's hideouts were located. He wouldn't be able to fight people he used to protect. 

"What are we going to do now?" He asked. 

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "We could try to find something edible for breakfast," he suggested. "Or take a shower-" 

"No, I mean... With our escape and stuff," he clarified. He had forgotten what it felt like to be on his own. In the last few years he got used to having someone support him. He had Iruka, Sakura, Tsunade, and his other friends. Right now he had only Sasuke, and... Well, some of their last few meetings ended up with both of them getting hurt. The last time they were all friendly with each other was when they were still kids. 

He was glad that Sasuke had found himself a new team. At least he hadn't been completely alone. Right now they had only each other. Naruto braced himself for what was about to come. They both had to support one another. 

"First you'll have to learn to form seals with one arm," Sasuke replied. "In the meantime, we could start where we've left off. The council has to go." 

"I guess," Naruto agreed. "So we'll be technically terrorists-" 

"I don't plan for us to jump in there and assassinate them," the other boy sighed. "Even if it sounds tempting-" 

"Oh, shut up," the blonde whined, poking Sasuke's stump. "It's cold in here," he complained. "And these clothes don't help," he added, studying the hospital pajamas. They were made of thin cotton, what worked in a warm and dry environment but, sadly, Orochimaru's hideout was nothing like it. 

"We could go to the laundry room and try to find something warmer," Sasuke suggested. 

"Yeah, I wouldn't feel very comfortable in a dress," the blonde snorted. "Or with a bow around my ass-" 

"It's not a bow," Sasuke snarled. He breathed in, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"I bet there's also a fine choice of shirts with indecent v-cuts," Naruto chortled. He hiccupped with laughter while Sasuke tried to cover his mouth with a hand. "Those clothes, man," he snickered. 

"Because an orange tracksuit is so fashion forward," Sasuke barked at him. "Moron," he huffed. It didn't sound too angry, though. It was almost like a pet name. "There are different types of clothes. Orochimaru wasn't the only person to live in here," he said in a much calmer voice. "Besides, it's not the right time to be picky. It's either this or hospital pajamas. Your choice." 

"Not the only person to live here," Naruto repeated. "Nice euphemism," he muttered. "You tend to forget that most of these people were kept in here against their will-" 

"I didn't kill him just for my selfish reasons," Sasuke retorted. "I also freed all these people. Neither Konoha nor any other village did anything to help them. They didn't care-" 

"But then you brought him back to life," Naruto interrupted him. "Who does that?! You knew he was evil and twisted, like, why would you-" 

"I wanted information," Sasuke explained. "And I don't recall him lying to me-" 

"I remember him talking about you as if he owned you," the blonde grunted. 

"He didn't," the other boy assured him. "And he's supposed to be dead now," he added. "Even if he isn't, he'll keep a low profile for some time. He's not an idiot." 

"...I have something for you," Naruto whispered. He didn't feel like talking about Orochimaru. If it wasn't for him... Maybe, just maybe, things would have been different. Sasuke shot him a surprised stare. The blonde reached to his bag, noting its unpleasant dampness. Staying in that place wasn't too good of an idea. He took out the other boy's headband. "It's yours," he said. 

"I didn't come back to Konoha," Sasuke pointed out, taking the headband. His fingertips left their marks on the cold metal. He tracked the scratch with his thumb, looking as if his mind has drifted away. 

"I'm just really glad that you're still alive," Naruto said in a hushed voice. "And I don't even mean that death penalty. After our last fight... I thought you wanted to be dead. So... This may sound dumb but I'm happy that you've chosen to be alive. It means a lot to me," he paused when he noticed that Sasuke was staring at him wide-eyed, clearly taken aback by the words. The blonde embraced him with his arm, and pulled him closer. "I'm still panicking about this whole being a missing nin business," he admitted, "but if it means that I get to be with you, then it's worth it," he whispered with a smile. He couldn't see Sasuke's face because it was pressed against the nook of his neck. However, he could feel a strange wetness. Not a lot of it but enough to make it unmistakable. It was tears. He chose to not comment on it. 

"... I'm sorry," the boy rasped. Naruto opened his mouth to ensure him that there was nothing to be sorry about but Sasuke interrupted him. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "This isn't real, Naruto."