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1
Naruto isn't feeling like a boy today, and her body reflects that. It's a step further from the Sexy Jutsu that gives her a more feminine appearance, with curves and a more womanly form, instead of simply using Henge to alter her body.
Jiraiya's booming laugh filters through from the men's side of the onsen as he holds a conversation with a local. It's a nice backdrop to her own empty pool, and Naruto closes her eyes and just lets herself drift.
The past weeks have been way too taxing, and just letting her body float in the hot water feels like heaven.
A giggle tells her she's got company and Naruto startles. She hadn't heard anybody enter, but as she looks up, a naked redhead pulls at the towel of another girl, this one looking uncomfortable and clutching at it as though her life depended on it.
Maybe Naruto should have just sucked it up and changed back for the duration of the bath because she can't stop staring. Jiraiya had teased her endlessly the first time she had gone to the women's part of the onsen, but it wasn't to perv on women. Or at least it hadn't been, because now she can't stop staring.
There is something tantalizing, something painfully familiar about the uncomfortable girl. She seems to be in Naruto's age range, they both do, and her black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin break her heart.
Her creeping gaze must have gone on for too long because suddenly the redhead looks away from the girl and meets Naruto's eyes. Naruto can't even feel shame at getting caught, spellbound in her gaze. Then, the redhead uses the distraction to finally pull the towel away from the girl and tosses it behind her to a dry spot.
"There you go, Sa-" a hesitation "-yaka. Now this isn't so bad, right? Come on." She pulls Sayaka behind her and guides her into the water. Sayaka apparently having surrendered to her fate. "You know, I don't know why you're complaining so much, you look so beautiful like this." Then, to Naruto's horror, she turns around and asks her, "Doesn't she look beautiful? You were staring, you must think so too."
She is. But Naruto had been staring because she saw someone else in her. She looked through her undefined, soft civilian body and saw the face of someone almost familiar. Still, she nods awkwardly and, as she tries to sink into the water to hide her embarrassment, she hears Sayaka tell the other girl, "Obviously, she was staring because of you."
"You think I'm pretty?" The redhead asks, teasing but also pleased, and more embarrassed than when she had tranced around naked without even water to cover herself.
"Sure, Karin." The name is spoken defeated but sounds like a reward, and Naruto would give a lot to hear her own name from these lips, to understand why it's so unfamiliar yet rings every bell in her brain.
It only gets worse from there. Karin presses herself close to Sayaka, their whole bodies touching, and continues teasing her about every possible topic. It's careless and relaxed, and Naruto misses Sakura and Sasuke with a painful pang.
Until two years ago, she'd never had friends, and even then, they hadn't been as close. They were all too scared of different things to connect in the same way.
But it's not just that she misses her friends, but also the realization that she's just as bad as Jiraiya, no worse even. She isn't just peeking; she's put herself in their bath. And now she's staring again - her currently brown - fringe wet enough to drip into her eyes and obscure her wrongdoing, if only slightly. Black hair entangled with red. Skin sliding over skin. Soft bodies pressed together.
There is a heat in her lower belly, but more so the feeling of inadequacy in her body at the sight of them.
Her body is too strong, too broken despite the Kyuubi not allowing scars - and hadn't that been an answer to a thousand questions - to feel false. It isn't even her own body but something she forced when her original shape got too uncomfortable.
Black eyes meet her own again, and Naruto can't deal with this right now.
It's bringing up feelings and memories in her that are too much for her poor heart to handle, and she gets up.
She's uncomfortably aware of her entire body, but she's a shinobi, and shinobi don't shy away from nudity or impracticality. As she leaves, she bids them a friendly goodbye, but Sayaka's gaze burns holes into her until she turns a corner.
She feels uneasy, her energy too high, adrenaline filling her veins, and every single instinct screaming at her to move or fight.
Instead, she drops the transformation and makes her way over to Jiraiya. He's annoying and pervy, but his overwhelming presence never fails to make her feel protected.
At his questioning gaze, she just shrugs and sinks deeper into the water, trying to ignore the way her body isn't what her mind wants. She tries to ignore Karin's voice drifting over or the occasional comments Sayaka makes. It's incomprehensible what they're talking about without channeling chakra, but Naruto suppresses the yearning to do so or to go back over and instead focuses on the conversation between Jiraiya and the civilian.
2
Sasuke's wasting his time collecting some herb in some village for Kabuto when he meets him.
His eyes are green, and he's too short and too old, but his hair is a golden yellow.
He's carding fish around, joking with the other fishermen while they do their work, and his whole outgoing demeanor reminds Sasuke of Naruto in an aching stab at his heart.
During their last meeting, they had beaten each other bloody, and Sasuke put his hand through Naruto's ribcage. He can still feel the gore around his hand when he focuses on it, the Sharingan having burned the sensation into his memory.
He had been exhausted, muscles trembling and limbs refusing to work as he wanted them to, but he had felt for Naruto's pulse when he left.
He wouldn't be like that man. Wouldn't kill his best friend for power. He had promised, and yet had Naruto not suddenly developed some kind of healing jutsu, he would have done just that.
It's a hard blow, to realize just how weak he is, how out of control. It's what gives him the conviction to endure Orochimaru until he's strong enough to kill him.
Figuring out where to go by himself wouldn't be a hardship, yet something compels him to ask the blonde.
His voice is familiar, but the lilt of the man's (he can't be more than twenty) words and his speech pattern is all wrong.
He lets himself be drawn into conversation for a moment, but it's just small talk about where he comes from, where he's going, how his travels went, and the nice catch they had this past week. Finally, he forces himself to stop indulging in this craziness and get to business, asking the man for directions.
He's back in Orochimaru's current hideout within the next two days, his stomach still churning.
3
Jiraiya has something dangerous to check out, so he left Naruto in a cushy bodyguard job until he returns.
It had been a nice break from all the spying and combat training they'd been doing lately, but nothing's happening, and Naruto's bored out of his mind. Until he isn't.
There's a masked intruder on the second level sneaking around, and Naruto quickly grabs his own mask - annoyingly, Jiraiya hadn't let him use a Henge this time; he was supposed to train on disguising without chakra - and is out of bed and at the window they entered through within seconds.
Guarding the client would probably be smarter than stalking the intruder, but Naruto's bored, and his shadow clone will tell him if he's needed anyway.
The intruder is clad in complete black, and their face and hair are completely obscured. They're maybe Naruto's height and dangerously light-footed.
They dance through the traps without setting them off, and their steps make no sound. Had Naruto not seen the shadow of the open window, he wouldn't have noticed them.
There's a sword strapped around the intruder's waist, and while Naruto's armed, it's only a couple of kunai and some ninja wire. In a fight, he'd be outmatched. Especially since he isn't supposed to reveal his identity.
Slowly, the intruder winds their way deeper into the complex until they come to some sealed room. The door is carelessly, with a slash of the sword, cut apart and they step through. All seals destroyed before they can activate.
It's a beautiful display of restrained violence and precision. Naruto is in awe.
As the intruder searches the room, Naruto ponders what he should do. Normally, he would just barge in and stop the thief, but he isn't really Naruto right now, he's a disguise.
And while preventing thievery isn't technically part of his contract, preventing harm to the client is, and one could argue either case. Naruto decides to do the less boring option that bears the lesser likelihood of him getting yelled at by the client in the morning and makes himself known.
The intruder startles badly and throws the scrolls he's holding into the air, then in a practiced motion, kicks them at Naruto.
The paper scrolls flutter harmlessly, if not a bit torn up, to the ground, but the wooden ones embed themselves into the wall.
The intruder, meanwhile, seems to have found what he's looking for because there's something in his hand as he goes for Naruto's throat.
His kunai stops the intruder's blade, but Naruto is at a huge disadvantage in terms of reach. He snaps his other arm forward, and the ninja wire - razor-sharp and whip-strong - tears into his opponent's side, revealing pale skin and a line of blood.
The intruder takes a step back, then summersaults over Naruto's head, moving almost too fast to follow. Gone are the quiet steps; they're as fast and agile as ever.
Naruto grabs one of the katana the guards summoned by the noise are carrying and continues his pursuit until they're outside.
The stolen scroll has vanished into the intruder's clothing, and both of their hands are free as they turn to face him again. They don't plan on being followed, and if Naruto wants the scroll back, he'll have to take it by force. The situation feels painfully familiar.
Naruto doesn't plan to lose. A grin splits his face, and in an instant, they spring toward each other.
But instead of clashing with him like Sasuke does in his memories, the intruder dodges to the side, and the wire they had stolen wraps around Naruto's legs.
Naruto stares up at the sky, momentarily contemplating just lying there in the dirt, while the intruder is surely long gone.
"Bastard!" he yells into nothingness, startling the guard who had finally made their way outside.
4
These past two years have taught Sasuke to appreciate every tiny errand Orochimaru or Kabuto sends him on.
At first, it had been grating, being used as a hound told to fetch, but it's become a respite, a way to take a breather away from them.
This time, he has to travel to one of Orochimaru's more remote labs and fetch some poor soul trapped there for further experiments. Someone previously from the Hidden Mist, who has a penchant for escaping. It's Sasuke's task to keep him contained despite his abilities during the journey.
He's found that he can stretch the time out by some margin as long as he can show results, so he joins a merchant caravan for part of the travel.
It slows his travel speed down significantly, but it gives him the option to talk with non-Orochimaru-affiliated people, even if they are civilians, and get a feel for the current situation.
His current conversation partner is a girl his age with long, silky raven hair and glowing blue eyes.
Her looks and kindness remind Sasuke of HIM, before everything happened, and when he was still pretending to be the loving brother, in a confusing mess of emotion. But her brash manners and smiling eyes are all Naruto.
Sasuke feels like throwing up or throwing his arms around her and never letting go whenever he looks at her, so he mostly keeps his eyes on the road.
Sasuke knows he's signed his death warrant the moment he left the Hidden Leaf Village, but if he can bring Itachi down with him, it'll have been worth it.
These small, happy moments in between are just the last meal for a dead man.
+1
Naruto's not expecting it, so he stumbles and falls out of the trees he and Jiraiya are currently running through, on their way back to Konoha.
He's so thrown by his clone's memories that he doesn't even manage to catch himself, and the only thing stopping his painful crash to the ground is Jiraiya catching him.
Why had...? He had...? Sasuke...?
The memory of a stolen garrote stings around his neck, but heat fills his whole body.
He needs to return to Konoha, has been ordered to by his Hokage, but after his mission in Suna, he'll get Sasuke to return.
*
Sasuke curses himself as he rushes back to Orochimaru's current hideout.
He hadn't been prepared to see Naruto, had panicked when Naruto's gaze met his, had acted rashly when Naruto approached.
He hadn't attacked, a surprise after the promise to - if need must - break all of his bones to get him back, and Sasuke's Sharingan saw his chakra unnaturally halved. A clone.
If he'd attacked, he'd have been destroyed immediately.
Is Naruto too far away to reach Sasuke with the knowledge of his current position? Is the clone buying time?
He won't risk it; he'll be gone as soon as the clone is destroyed and unable to follow.
He moves to do just that, but his eyes catch Naruto's. He looks vulnerable, hurt by Sasuke's aggression.
Foolish, especially since their last meeting.
Still, Sasuke hesitates, and Naruto takes the opening.
"Sasuke-" Naruto starts, but is cut off when Sasuke kisses him, a deep, desperate kiss.
As Naruto deepens it, his hands leave fire trails down Sasuke's bare torso, and Sasuke grips Naruto's hips to pull him closer.
No matter what he might say or what everyone else assumes, it isn't a honeytrap. Or it hadn't been intended as such. He wanted to kiss Naruto - an apology, a damnation, a selfish want - and he thought Naruto might not be opposed, so he did it.
But his pinky getting cut on the garrote wire brings him back to reality.
He can't do this. Not now, not out in the open, not to Naruto, not to himself.
Itachi and Orochimaru are still threats, and he is a corpse-walking, a traitor to his village, and has committed the worst crime a shinobi can commit.
His heart hurts, but he takes the wire and lets his chakra run through it.
Naruto reacts a second too late, and the wire cuts his throat.
Sasuke is alone. The only reminder of what just happened is a droplet of blood on his left pinky.