Land of Waves. Team 7, S-rank mission.

Kakashi watched over the two sleeping bodies of his students with worry. The battle on the bridge had taken a deep toll on both of them, deeper than he had expected. Nobody could deny that the mission had been a success. Gatō was killed by his employee's own hands, and in the process so were Haku and Zabuza, though Kakashi was having a hard time trying to feel any sort of joy or relief on the account of their deaths.

However, Kakashi was a ninja. He knew that there was always a heavy price to pay for peace and he was intimately familiar with the sorrow of loss. The death of those two, as regrettable as it was, was still an acceptable payment for a greater goal. There were no more obstacles left to prevent Tazuna from building his bridge and The Land of Waves would soon walk into a new era of prosperity as a result.

And yet, despite of that, it was difficult to feel victorious at all. It seemed like Kakashi still was, despite his best efforts, a sentimental fool. And all this success would matter little to him unless his two most promising students woke up soon.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi turned his only visible eye to look at his third student. She was his responsibility too, this shinobi girl, who was not more than a child in all the ways her teammates were not: innocent and untouched by loss.

"They will wake up soon", he lied to her smoothly.

In truth, he had no idea if they would wake up. By all accounts, they should be awake already. "That's what you said yesterday. And the day before." Sakura's voice was weak and tired, barely a whisper. The girl was seconds away from crying.

Kakashi clenched his fists for a second and then forced himself to relax. This wasn't Sakura's fault. If anything, it was his fault. He was the one who decided to take the mission and brought his pupils along despite knowing the risk of going against a class A criminal, let alone two. Sakura was their teammate, and she was obviously very shaken and dead with worry about them.

"Chakra exhaustion is different for everybody. And this was Naruto and Sasuke's first real battle. Their bodies need time to rest and recuperate, that's all," he explained, trying to be reassuring. He tried not to think it was his sensei's son laying in that bed, cold and still. Tried not to think about Minato at all.

"Come on." He put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, guiding her towards the door. "It's late and we must rest. I'm sure they'll be awake by tomorrow."

Later that night...

His whole body felt like it was on fire. Someone had set him on fire and his whole body was burning because there was no other explanation for the pain. Nothing had ever hurt as much as this. Not even going full force against Kaguya. Not even losing his arm after colliding with Sasuke.

Sasuke…

Sasuke should be here…

The thought of Sasuke gave him strength. He tried to open his eyes, to look for his comrade. Tried to call his name. If Sasuke was here… There was something he and Sasuke needed to do. But the pain was too much. It was overpowering. He couldn't think clearly. The pain was consuming him.

Naruto wished for death. Death and peace, a place where the pain would be no more. He could join his parents there… His mom.

"Naruto, rest." The voice echoed in his mind.

It was… familiar.

"Ku- Kurama?"

"Rest. The pain will pass. I'll let you know when it's safe."

It wasn't a confirmation, but Naruto somehow knew he could trust the voice. And he needed the pain to stop. It was maddening. If the voice offered…

Slowly Naruto felt himself slip into unconsciousness.

He didn't know how long he'd been out, but when he woke up again the pain was gone; all there was left was a thin echo of it. He could still feel his muscles burning, his brain cells shaking so badly that he'd feared his head would explode. He could still feel it, but the real thing had passed.

"Naruto…?"

He blinked a couple times, giving his eyes time to adapt the light, scarce as it was. Then he turned to look at his teammate. His best friend.

"How long…?" Sasuke asked weakly.

Naruto thought about it. He blinked once more and allow himself time to study his surroundings. It was night-time, that much was obvious. The moon, visible through the window, provided them with the only source of light. The room was small and tidy, the furniture scarce, and the bed he was laying on was comfortable but unfamiliar. He turned his head to look at Sasuke.

The image was…

"You're young," he said, full of wonder but not really surprised.

Sasuke didn't look impressed.

"And you look like shit," he answered, honest as always.

"You don't look any better," Naruto replied quickly.

It was true. Sasuke's face was too pale, though perhaps it was merely reflecting the white halo of the moon. But his hair was untied, a very rare occurrence, his skin was sweaty and his under-eye circles were big enough to remind Naruto of his brother.

"I always look better than you, idiot."

Naruto smiled, "Bastard."

Sasuke smiled back at him. "How much do you remember?"

Naruto thought about it for a few seconds.

"Just pain."

Sasuke nodded once, his eyes lost in the distance. "Yeah…"

It had been the same for both of them, then. But Sasuke didn't have Kurama to shield him from the pain… which meant he had been awake through all of it. Suffering. Naruto wanted to throw up at the thought. "Sasuke-"

"Don't. What is done is done. We are here now." Naruto didn't necessarily agree, but he recognized that look in his best friend's eyes. It was pure stubbornness. So he let it go. Sasuke sighed and turned to look at him. "It was worth it, anyway. And we are here now."

They really were here. Naruto still couldn't believe that this mad plan of his had worked. And if he started to think of all the people they had left behind, forever lost to them now… Naruto closed his eyes and a tear escaped, trickling down his cheek. He wiped it away, angry at himself. It wasn't the time to think about it.

"Do you regret it?" Sasuke sounded sad, almost guilty. Even though it had been Naruto's idea to leave everything behind to come here, they both knew Sasuke had the power to dissuade him. Naruto would've listened to him. Instead, he had chosen to be selfish once more, caring more about his own needs than those of his friend.

It had been Naruto's idea, but Sasuke's choice to go along with it.

"No." Naruto was sure of that, at least. He might be a fool, yearning for something that would never happen in this reality. He might even be a self-sacrificing fool, giving up everything he knew and loved for an uncertain future, but he was sure of his choice.

The pain of the loss was painful, and it was a kind of pain that would never go away. The memory of his precious people, now forever lost to him, was something that Naruto would always keep alive in his heart. It was the least he owed them, after leaving them behind with little consideration. But given the chance, he would do it all over again. That knowledge made him feel slightly guilty, but perhaps not as much as it should.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said to him.

Naruto didn't answer. He needed a few moments to regain his composure.

It was pointless to reminiscent about what they had left behind, he reminded himself, when they should be looking forward to this new future instead. There was a whole new world waiting for them, full of posibilities. He waited until his tears had dried and he was sure that his voice wouldn't break before speaking again. "Do you still have the Rinnegan?" He asked Sasuke.

"Yes." Sasuke brushed away his hair from his forehead, and Naruto spied a shadow of purple in his left eye through the shadows of the room. "But I can't use it. With this body's current levels of chakra… it'd be dangerous."

Naruto nodded. Just as they had thought.

"What about you?" Sasuke questioned him.

Naruto closed his eyes, blocking the outside world to his senses while opening the inner world of his mind. "Hagoromo's seal is active, like yours," he determined after a few seconds. "He embedded it in our souls. But this body is… fragile. I don't know if I'm capable of using the sixth path sage mode, or what using it would do to me. And I'll need Kurama's chakra to do it, my current levels are not much higher than yours." Again, it was nothing they hadn't accounted for.

"We will need to train, then," Sasuke didn't sound worried about it. "And Kurama? Is he at full chakra?"

"Yes," Naruto smiled. "We talked for a little while before I woke up. We arrived just in time when the seal was starting to leak, and his future half merged with his present half, as we planned."

"Good," Sasuke nodded, apparently satisfied. "We should sleep. Regain our strength. I'm going to need a genjutsu to hide my eye from Kakashi tomorrow, and he's not easy to trick."

"Are we staying in Konoha, then?" Naruto asked, his voice filled with poorly concealed hope.

"At least for a little while. We don't know where Itachi is at the moment, and it'll be good for you to see everybody again. I know you want to."

Naruto couldn't deny it, just as he couldn't deny the warmth that filled his heart at Sasuke's words. They were proof that Sasuke cared.

Of course, this was no news for Naruto.  Sasuke himself had told him so in a few ocassions. And even more important, he had proved it by standing by Naruto's for almost two years after the war. The blond also remembered his brief experience in one of the parallel universes - the universes that Kurama and he had visited while they were searching for the right one to make the journey back in time.

Naruto recalled the intensity of that universe's Sasuke's gaze as he looked at Naruto, the tickling sensation on his hand as Sasuke held it, the urgency of Sasuke's kisses as he devoured Naruto's mouth and the low whisper in his ear… "I love you". But those had been the actions of a Sasuke whose heart hadn't been broken and then eviscerated at the tender age of eight; a Sasuke who had grown up surrounded by the love and care of his parents and dear older brother.

That Sasuke had loved Naruto in a fearless, passionate, beautiful way. His Sasuke, however… His Sasuke cared for him too, even if his way of caring was different: more cautious. It was still as much as Sasuke could offer to anyone. And for Naruto, that someone so broken, someone so lost, someone who still woke up screaming most nighs and could barely hold it together most days, still chose to care for him... for Naruto, that was priceless. It meant the world.

Naruto wouldn't let himself wish for more.

The journey back to Konoha was a slow one, and there was a noticeable vibe of tension between the team members that Naruto didn’t think it had been present during their original mission. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact origin of said tension either.

Both Sakura and Kakashi had been terribly relieved when Naruto and Sasuke made their way to the kitchen downstairs that first morning. Sakura had hugged both of them and Sasuke had allowed it, which perhaps was a little out of character for him; and maybe Naruto had clang to her a bit longer than necessary, but that was hardy suspicious considering the enormous crush he had had on her at this age.

His feelings for her were no longer of a romantic nature, but she was still one of his best friends, and after leaving her behind in the future, it was wonderful to see her again. Kakashi too. Their sensei had smiled when he saw them, and for a few seconds his face had lost his usual expressionless features and showed some warmth instead.

That was five days ago. Now they were approaching the Hidden Leaf’s borders, and if something had been made obvious during the journey was that Sasuke and Naruto were very different from their twelve years old counterparts. And they weren’t doing a very good job at hiding these differences.

It was expected and, at the same time, it was not. They had discussed it in the future, before making the journey, and had agreed to easily slip in their old selves’ personalities, at least for as long as they remained in Konoha. Despite everything, Sasuke was still a broody bastard and Naruto the Number One Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja. It shouldn’t have been too difficult to impersonate their younger selves.

But it was the little things that were made it so hard. The way they walked and held themselves with unspoken confidence. The way they were always aware of their surroundings, without even trying, like experienced shinobi were. And especially the peculiar way they gravitated towards each other: the way their gazes found each other before anything else, the way they exchanged quick conversations with no words, or even the way they moved - always covering each other’s back, always in synchrony.

Naruto and Sasuke were clever enough to conceal the first two things from Kakashi, the rest of it though… The rest of it was more difficult to hide.

Once in Konoha, they were ordered to report to Sarutobi’s office immediately.

“How bad was it, really?” The Hokage asked seriously, after the three genin had been dismissed. Kakashi met his scrutinizing gaze with his uncovered eye.

“It was bad,” he admitted. “They were out for three days. I don’t know if Naruto remembers killing Haku, or using the Kyuubi’s chakra to do it. But the experience changed him. Both of them, really.”

“Oh?” The kage raised an eyebrow.

“When Sasuke jumped in front of Naruto, they both thought it was an attack meant to kill. I did too, to be honest. For Naruto, Sasuke died to save him. And for Sasuke, he gave up his life to save someone, with all that means for him. It changed them. I don’t know in what way, yet, but I know it did.”

Kakashi closed his eyes for a second, letting himself to remember. The awareness of his left eye burned brighter than ever. He, too, had been saved by a comrade once upon a time. Obito hadn’t been as lucky as his cousin. There hadn’t been a comeback from the death for him. But his sacrifice had changed Kakashi; Obito had changed him in ways he would’ve never dared to dream of before.

“I trust you to keep an eye on them.” The kage was saying.

“Of course.”

“Have you thought about the chuunin exams?”

“It would be a good chance to test them.” The jounin agreed easily. “But if Naruto’s seal goes off again, especially in presence of any of Konoha’s citizens… it could turn into a dangerous situation.”

For Naruto as much as for the citizens.

Nobody in the village had forgotten the attack of the nine tailed fox; and there were many who wouldn’t pause a second at the chance of taking revenge, even if it meant killing a twelve year old boy as well. This, Kakashi did not say. But Hiruzen heard him anyway.

“I’ll send a letter to Jiraya. It should be about time for him to meet his godson, after all.”

Kakashi nodded. With the Sannin near, he would feel much more confident sending his students to face the danger of the unknown. Understanding that the conversation was over, he bowed his head and disappeared from the office. His team had been out of Konoha for three weeks. It was very likely that a new exemplar of Icha-Icha had hit the stores in that time. And Kakashi hadn’t even had the chance to look at it yet.

That, simply could not be.

 Konoha, three months later...

“Are you okay?”

The question surprised him. Naruto raised his head to glance at Sasuke who was gazing at him from his own small bed in the corner. Since they had arrived to Konoha, eleven weeks ago, Sasuke had all but moved to Naruto’s apartment. His friend’s house was bigger, but it held too many bad memories and Sasuke had outright refused to set a foot in the Uchiha district again, not even to collect his things. At the end, Naruto had volunteered to go and bring a suitcase full of clothes and weapons for him, plus a few pictures.

He didn’t mind it. Living with Sasuke was nice. The flat they had shared for two years after the end of the war had been bigger and more comfortable than their current one, but Naruto didn’t need those luxuries to be happy. He simply needed Sasuke by his side.  Sharing a room, however, well, that was a little bit more complicated. He tried not to think about it.

“Yeah. You?” He answered with a smile.

Sasuke ignored his question.

“You look worried,” he insisted.

“I suppose I’m a bit tired” Naruto admitted with a heavy sigh. In truth, he felt exhausted and without good reason. “I’m sure I’ll feel better after a good night of sleep, though.”

Sasuke frowned. He lowered his head and glanced at his bed, and for a moment Naruto was sure Sasuke would drop the subject. But then his friend lifted his gaze again, stubbornly. Sasuke's pupils were dark, deep, and familiar, and for Naruto to look into them meant to be at home. Unfortunately, they also had the ability to see too much, always had. Sasuke spoke, “You don’t have to lie to me. You don’t have to tell me the truth, either. But if you do, I’m here and I will listen.”

Naruto felt torn. Sasuke was nothing if not honest, and he was inviting Naruto to open up to him. Naruto wasn’t a fool. He knew the kind of person that Sasuke was, always a loner, and he was familiar with the way Sasuke kept his heart locked away behind a steel door. Because of this, Naruto understood how precious and uncommon this offer was - but he felt conflicted, as he didn’t want to burden Sasuke with his worries.

At the end, though, Naruto had to make a choice. He took pride in being a good friend, and friendship was a two ways road, so Naruto chose to be brave and share his worries with Sasuke. “It’s harder than I thought. Being here,” he admitted, to what Sasuke nodded, understanding, but remained silent.

Naruto took a deep breath, seeking the courage to put into words the feelings that had been eating him alive for the last couple of months. “It’s… the people. I look at them and I see my friends, my precious people, but they look at me and… I’m just a stranger to them. Even for those who don’t hate me or despise me because of Kurama. I’m just no one. And it’s not like... like I didn’t expect it, because I knew it, I knew was gonna be like this. I just thought I’d be able to create those friendships again, you know. But now, everytime I look at them, every time I try to…  I feel like shit. Like a fake. Shit!” He cursed, slamming his fist against the wall.

His blue eyes were filled with rage, but this rage was directed at himself. “I left them, Sasuke," he confessed, not looking at his friend. "My precious people. They loved me, and they counted on me. Of course I knew they were gonna be okay without me, I knew they’d be fine, but I left them nonetheless. Forever. I didn’t even explain them why… And all along, I felt relief I was leaving!” All his rage seemed to dissipate after that exclamation, leaving him feeling guilty and exhausted. “What right do I have to walk into their lives again?” He asked, weakly. “I look at them and I see them, not for what they are, but for what they were to me. What right do I have to play with their lives like that?”

“You care for them. You are their friend,” Sasuke answered with simplicity.

Naruto shook his head. “No, that’s the whole point. They were my friends once, before I left them. But they aren’t now. They-.”

“Bullshit,” Sasuke called him out, not losing his cool. “They might not be your friends, but you are theirs. Or are you going to tell me that you wouldn’t die to protect them? That you won’t fight for them if they ever need your help?”

“Of course I will!” Naruto replied quickly. There was no doubt about it.

“Then you are their friend. Believe me, I know it better than anyone,” Sasuke smiled at him then, almost shyly. “Naruto, you will always be their friend. That’s who you are.”

Very slowly, Naruto smiled back at him. “You are right. I’ll protect them if I ever need to. And I will always love them and watch out for them. But Sasuke, they are so young. They are just kids, while you and I have been through a war. Every time I look at their eyes and I let slip another lie… I don’t want to do it anymore. I want them to have a chance to grow up in their own terms, to make their own decisions. It should be them, the ones who decide the kind of person they want to become, not me. I… I lost my friends. I left them behind, and that was my choice. And maybe one day, when they are older, we will become friends again. But that is not going to happen now. And I can’t… I can’t keep living through the motions, playing god with their future; knowing so much about their lives when they haven’t chosen to share that knowledge with me yet. That kind of power is dangerous. And it’s not… it’s not good. It’s not something anyone should have.”

Sasuke nodded, slowly. He could understand where Naruto’s feelings were coming from, even if he himself wasn’t bother by such conflict. But they had never been his friends, not really, not even after the war. They had been his comrades, and he had come to respect some of them; the rest of them he tolerated or ignored, Sakura being the notable exception.

Sakura, he had cared about; he still did. But caring for her had only meant that he wanted her to be happy, and to fulfil all her dreams. Sasuke didn’t need those dream to include him - he rather they didn't, actually. That kind of emotion - when someone being happy just wasn’t enough, because Sasuke wanted them to be happy with him, because he wanted to be part of their lives, was rare. In all his life, Sasuke had only felt that way about two people. One was sitting in the bed next to him. The last one was his brother. 

And Sasuke wasn’t planning on lying to Itachi, after he found him. On the contrary. Sasuke was going to tell Itachi nothing but the truth. For once, Sasuke would be the one doing all the talking and his brother would have to listen. Sasuke was going to use his Sharingan and show Itachi the future, all of it. Only then Itachi would realize everything that Sasuke had been through, everything Naruto had sacrificed to give Sasuke this opportunity. Sasuke was sure that if he showed Itachi all this, his big brother wouldn’t have any other choice but to give up everything else, and simply choose Sasuke this time.

“We should go, then. If we are careful, we can leave the village tonight.”

His words took Naruto by surprise; that was the last thing he expected to hear. Naruto looked at Sasuke, his blue eyes too honest and expressive to hide the susprise he felt. “Sasuke?” He frowned. “I thought you wanted to wait for Itachi? We don’t have any guarantee we’ll find him if we leave now.”

“He is my brother, and you and I are the most powerful shinobi alive. Even if we can’t access some of our powers yet, we are strong enough to survive. We will find him.” He was sure of that. It could take them a month, or two, or even a year, but they would find Itachi. After finally learning the truth about his brother, and after what Naruto had done for him, after being here now, Sasuke wouldn’t let anyone to keep him away from his brother.

Naruto didn’t seem as convinced. “Are you sure?”

“You gave up everything for me,” Sasuke answered gravely; his dark gaze having captured his best friend’s. “I know I was selfish. I know I shouldn’t have let you do it. I know if Kakashi or Sakura were here they’d hate me for it and accused me of being a terrible friend.”

“Dont-” Naruto tried to interrupt him, to deny these claims, but Sasuke stopped him.

“It’s the truth. I know I’m not a very good friend, Naruto, and I’ve never claimed to be a good person. It’s not…” He bit his lower lip. “It’s not like I do it on purpose." Caring was difficult. Unnatural. Strange. “Sometimes I remember the way I was a child... how natural everyting felt back then..." he lowered his gaze. He felt ashamed by this confession, and he couldn’t bear to meet Naruto's gaze right now.

"I can't be like that again," Sasuke asserted, fixing his gaze on the opposite wall instead, "but you are my friend and I do care about you. You were always my friend, even when I didn’t want you to be. It was so easy to look at everybody else and not to care - but with you, it was impossible to look at you and ignore you.” And yet Sasuke had tried, he had almost killed Naruto trying, and died himself. The difference was that he didn’t want to try anymore. Naruto was his friend. He and Itachi were the only people he cared about in the world. And Sasuke would do anything for them. “So if being here makes you unhappy, then we’ll leave,” he concluded speaking, a delightful pink blush creeping into his cheeks as he did.

Talking about his feelings was fucking hard. Sasuke made the effort for Naruto, because honesty was the very least he owed his friend after everything he had done for Sasuke, but he hoped that Naruto would see that this was as much as Sasuke could offer for the moment; that he would take him up on his offer and drop the conversation for now. As always, Naruto didn’t disappoint him.

He smiled at Sasuke, and his smile was the brightest smile Sasuke had seen on his face in a long time. Naruto stood up from his bed and walked to his side, quietly, sitting in the mattress next to Sasuke and resting his hand over Sasuke’s knee. Then his eyes looked up to him. They were very blue eyes. “We leave tonight.”

Sowhere in Earth Country, two weeks later...

Naruto’s plan had been brilliant in its simplicity. Honestly, Sasuke felt ashamed of himself for not coming up with the idea all those years ago. It certainly would have saved him a lot of trouble.

After their conversation, Naruto and he packed two bags with everything they needed to take with them, which wasn’t much anyway. They waited until the moon was high in the sky and the village was relatively quiet, and then they climbed out the window and walked away, stepping beyond the gates. They also left behind a couple of shadow clones to cover for their absence.

“How do you think they are doing?” Naruto asked him as if reading his thoughts.

Sasuke shrugged.

“They hadn’t been discovered yet, so I assumed they are doing fine.”

“Well, we instructed them to wait two weeks. After tomorrow everybody will know we've left, and they’ll probably send someone to retrieve us.” Naruto couldn’t help but feeling slightly guilty about it, but not enough to go back.

The first few days traveling with Sasuke had been a huge respite. Since nobody else was around, Naruto didn’t need to put on an act anymore. He didn’t need to pretend to be an oblivious child, and he no longer needed to act like someone who’d never been seen the horrors of war: the worst and best of humanity. He didn’t have to look at Kakashi’s only eye and talk to him as if he were ignorant of the loss that tormented him, and didn’t have to look at this young Sakura as he yearned for the woman he had left behind.

“I’m counting on that,” Sasuke said.

“Oh?” Naruto glanced at him, frowning. “Why do I get the feeling you’re hiding something from me?”

Sasuke didn’t address that question. Instead he just smirked at him, the bastard. Unfortunately, the smug look on his face made him look particularly attractive, and for a just a second Naruto wished to wipe the smirk off his face with his fist. Or maybe with a kiss. Now, that was an idea. It would bring the bastard down to Earth, if nothing else.

That image only lasted a second, though, and Naruto felt guilty immediately afterwards. But a second was enough for a dangerous surge of desire to uncoil within him. Naruto fought fiercely against it, ruthlessly suppressing his arousal.

“It’s not like I’m the only one.” Sasuke was defending himself, a scowl in his face. He had misinterpreted Naruto’s expression for anger directed at him. Naruto wasn’t going to clarify his mistake. “Or are you telling me you didn’t let any instructions for your clone?”

“Fine,” Naruto admitted distractedly, forcing himself to sound normal. “I might have told him to do a thing or two for me.”

“You see? You have not right to complain.”

In different circumstances Naruto’s curiosity would’ve led him to pester Sasuke until he confessed everything, even the smallest details of his plan. This time though, he was happy to drop the subject. His heart was beating too hard, and his body still felt too hot to focus his attention on anything else. The image of him kissing Sasuke –adult Sasuke, angry Sasuke–, just to wipe off his smirk was difficult to forget.  It made him feel guilty, but also aroused - which, in turn, made him feel even guiltier.

His body reaction was also more intense than normal, confusing him. Naruto had accepted a long time ago that he was physically attracted to his best friend. It wasn’t even that unusual. Generally he prefer the company of women, but he had been attracted to a few males as well. And Sasuke was beyond beautiful. Anyone with a pair of eyes could tell.

Nevertheless, when he allowed himself to remember the things he had experienced in “that one universe”, as he called it, it wasn’t the physical relationship between that version of Sasuke and Naruto that he yearned for the most. It was the intimacy between them. That closeness that went beyond words or touches, for it had felt as if their very souls were tied to each other.

On the other hand, while it was true that sharing a room with Sasuke didn't help Naruto to get over his attraction to him, living together wasn’t a new development. They had, after all, shared an apartment for two years after the war. Naruto had witnessed Sasuke getting out of the shower more times than he would have liked, and yes, obviously, that image had been hard to forget - but now, it was only a mental picture he had come up with. It shouldn’t be so difficult to turn off his arousal. Which probably meant that his body’s reaction wasn’t as much about Sasuke as it was about Naruto.

It had been, he recalled now, at least five months since the last time he had sex, and for someone as physical as him, five months was a long time. This realization made Naruto's heart feel lighter - as if a heavy burden were taken off his shoulders. He finally understood what was wrong with his dick. He was turn on because his best friend was a very attractive man, and Naruto was sexually deprived.

This had little to do with Sasuke himself, as person, so Naruto had less of a reason to feel guilty. Of course, taking into consideration that his body was currently in the form of a twelve years old, and that he looked far under the age that any decent woman or man would consider it acceptable for a bed partner, well, that opened up a whole new series of issues.

Now, Naruto felt depressed. This problem hadn't occurred to him before. Not that it would have changed his mind if he had, of course, but still. The prospect of going without sex for the next three to four years was not an appealing one. In fact, it was gloomy enough to finally cool down his body.

“… Naruto?”

Sasuke was calling his name.

“Eh?”

“I asked if you are feeling alright.”

“Sure.” Naruto nodded cheerfully. “I was just thinking. How long are we from Iwagakure anyway?”

They had entered Earth Country two days ago. The country was large, the largest of the five ninja nations; the weather was pleasant compared to Suna and its relationship with Konoha wasn’t the best, which made it the perfect place for hiding.

“Depends. Two or three days, if we keep up this speed. But I don’t want to get to close to the hidden village. We’ll keep going north for today, a tomorrow we’ll turn west, towards Rock.”

Naruto nodded.

“It’s a good plan. Any reason you want to go to Ishi no Kuni?”

Sasuke shuddered.

“Maybe. It’s too soon to tell.” He paused for a moment, and hesitated before saying. “There should be a small village a few miles from here. They have an onsen. We could go and spend the night.”

His friend looked at him in surprise, his lips curving into a big smile.

“Really? How do you know?”

“I stayed there with Team Taka once.”

It had been back when Sasuke was still looking for Itachi to kill him, so he preferred not to think about it. Naruto understood this and didn't pursue this topic of conversation. He did have a question, though. “Do they have ramen there?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes just as Naruto had expected, and refused to dignify that with an answer. Nevertheless, his eyes sparkled and his lips curved at the corners. There were parts of Naruto that would never change, and surprisingly, Sasuke was thankful for that.

"Idiot..."

Two days later, in Konoha...

In Konoha, the two clones had been following Sasuke's and Naruto's instructions by carrying out their day-to-day work as usual for the last two weeks, which chiefly included training, hanging out in Ichiraku, and conducting a series of D-rank missions along with Kakashi and Sakura. Today, however, was the day that the teams from the other villages were arriving for the chuunin exams, and it was also the last day of the previously mentioned two week period, which meant that they both had things to do before disappearing to be reunited with their original selves.

From their apartment’s roof, Naruto and Sasuke shared a quick glance and nodded at each other, before taking off in different routes. Today of all days, there was not time to lose.

Naruto found Gaara very quickly. He remembered very well the first moment he had seen him, all those years ago, and the address where his old friend and his siblings were staying for the duration of the exams. He entered the building discreetly, and didn’t hesitate to knock in their apartment's door. Unsurprisingly, it was Temari who opened it. She lowered her eyes to meet his with an black expression on her face.

 “What do you want?” She demanded.

 “I’m here to see your brother.”

She scowled at that, glaring at him with suspicion. Honestly, Naruto had forgotten her ability to scare people off with just one glare, but he didn’t allow himself to be intimidated. “And what business you might have with Kankurou?”

“Not that brother,” Naruto pointed out. “I’d like to see Gaara.”

At that, her scowl deepened, and for a moment she failed to successfully conceal the fear from her features. She recovered quickly. “That’s not a good idea. Go away,” she demanded.

Not uttering another word, she tried to shut the door on his face, but Naruto was quicker. “Please,” He begged her, holding the door open with his right foot. “I only want to talk to him.” Seeing as Temari was going to refuse him again, he added. “You know I can’t hurt him. The worst thing that can happen it’s that he hurts me. And I really need to talk to him.”

Temari narrowed her eyes, not quite willing to trust him yet, but at least she ceased her attempts to shut the door on his face. “Why?” The perplexity on her voice was real, and Naruto reminded himself that she had always loved his youngest brother, even if she had feared him too. “He’s dangerous. If you value your life, you will leave him alone.”

He decided to answer honestly, “Because I'm the same as he is - and that I doesn't mean I'm not a person as well. Gaara deserved to know that. And he deserved to know that he is not alone. I owed him that.”

For the first time in the conversation Temari looked at him, really looked at him - and it was obvious that she was stunned by his words. Finally she said, “He’s in the roof. He spends most of his day there. Go talk to him if you want to, kid, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If he kills you, it’s on you.”

Naruto nodded in agreement. Then, he left for the roof.

Once there, he spotted Gaara easily. He was a lonely figure sitting on the edge of the building. He was surrounded by a cloud of sand, but the sand remained still, at least until he sensed Naruto approaching. Then it rose up like a deadly wave, threatening to attack at the slightest provocation. Stubbornly, Naruto chose to ignore this obvious threat and, instead, walked determinedly to Gaara's side, sitting down next to him.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Gaara demanded in disbelief.

Naruto could tell by his voice that Gaara was very shocked by his presence, and even more confused by the fact that anyone would choose to come near him willingly. Naruto was more than ready to take advantage of this confusion. “My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I’m Sasuke’s best friend, Kurama’s jinchuuriki, and a shinobi of The Leaf.” His cheerful tone of voice made Gaara narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t know any Sasuke and I don’t know what a jinchuuriki is, but if you don’t leave now I’ll kill you,” he promised. “That’s what I do. I kill others to reassure my own existence.” There was a more than note of pride on his voice as he uttered this words, but this time Naruto was old enough to discern the vast loneliness and desperation that lured behind them.

Naruto's heart shattered painfully at the evidence of the dreadful existence his old friend had led up until this moment, and that was the reason Naruto could not leave Gaara behind the way he had left everyone else in the village - not without talking to him first.

“Sasuke is a bastard," he addressed his first question first. "He’s always grumpy and scowling. I believe you two would get along greatly if you got to know each other. He is also the most important person in my life. And a jinchuuriki is a container. It’s someone who has a tailed beast sealed within them. The tail beasts are the beings with the highest amount of chakra in the world,” he explained. “At the beginning the bijus were friendly and good, but then the shinobi enslaved them and forced them to use their powers against each other, and as a result, they became resentful and full of hatred. There are nine of them. Kurama, the one sealed inside of me, is the oldest one and has nine tails. Shukaku is the youngest one, and has only one tail. He is the biju that is sealed inside of you.”

Against his will, Gaara found himself listening to this boy. His story made sense in a very strange way. “… another being… inside me?”

“Yes," Naruto nodded.

The ginger teenager frowned. He wanted to hate this kid, this little shinobi whose cheerful and friendly behaviour was weird enough to unsettle and confused Gaara. This child was too joyful and too naïve to merit his attention, to really be someone. He shouldn’t be paying him more attention than he did to the flies that were accidentally crushed under the weight of his sand.

And yet, he couldn’t help but noticing, his innocent looks were misleading. It was his eyes that gave him away: those eyes were not strangers to loss. They were the eyes of a person who had experienced death, and not just as a witness. No matter how deceiving his bright spirit try to be, Gaara was sure of this: the child in front of him was a killer.

But there were other emotions luring behind those eyes too; ones that Gaara could not decipher quite yet. If he had to name one, he would say it was kindness; the kindness of a person who after having seen the worst of humanity was still willing to believe in the goodness of it. The other one, though; the other was an emotion Gaara hadn’t seen in years. The last time he had witnessed it, it had been in the gentle eyes of his uncle.

The similitude rendered him speechless for a moment.

“Why?” He asked a second later.

In truth, he himself didn’t know what was asking.

“For power, I suppose. You and I, our fathers did it to protect our villages.” Naruto explained sadly. “That’s the thing about kages, you know. Not matter how much they love someone, the village always come first. That’s what makes them great shinobis, and shitty parents. My father, the forth Hokage, gave up his life to save Konoha the day I was born. And right before he died, he sealed the Kyuubi inside of me, so one day I’d be strong enough to protect the village too. He loved me, I know that, but because of him I had to grow up alone and hated by everybody without ever knowing why, wondering what had I done to them to make them hate me so much.”

As difficult as it was to talk about it, Gaara deserved to listen to the truth. Naruto turned his head to look at him, and his gaze was full of sadness and memories. “Your father did the same," he told Gaara. "He needed a weapon to protect his village, so he used you. And he never explained to you why he did it, or why everybody hated you, why they feared you. He mistook your gentleness for weakness, and wanted you to get stronger, so he ordered your uncle to kill you, and in case he failed, he was ordered to lie to you too.” Gaara himself had confessed this to Naruto more than two years ago, his eyes full of tears.

At this revelation the sand surrounding Gaara - sand that had remained still on the ground while he listened to Naruto's story - suddenly came to life. It spiraled around Gaara without direction and leapt violently towards Naruto. “You’re lying!" He cried. "Why would you say that? How do you know that? Liar! Liar!” Naruto dodge the attack effortlessly, vanishing from his seat at the roof’s edge and reappearing seconds later, a few steps away from his original location.

“I’m not lying,” he explained calmly. “And I think you know it. 'The medicine for the pain in your heart',” He quoted, recalling the memories that his friend had shared with him once upon a time. “Your uncle loved you. Just as your mother did. She loved you more than anything, like my mom loved me too. And she left proof of her love for you in the sand that surrounds you. It’s not Shukaku who protects you, but her spirit.”

Tears were sliding down Gaara’s face now. His heart hurt. His chest hurt. His heart pained him as it hadn’t in years, not since the moment he’d tattooed the word "love" his forehead and decided he would live only for himself, and love only himself.

Gaara hated the kid in front of him, he hated him like he hadn’t hated anyone before - not even his own father, who had tried to kill him innumerable times. Gaara wanted to kill this kid. He wanted to wrap his sand around his body and constrict it, so that Gaara would hear the very satisfying noise of his bones  shattering. And yet, despite of that, he did nothing. He didn't move, and he didn't attack. He was paralyzed in fear. He was frightened that the kid was not only speaking the truth, but that part of him, part of Gaara, wished to believe him.

“Why?” He cried, a broken expression upon his features. “Why are you telling me these things?”

“Because you are one of us," Naruto responded, calmly. There were other reasons too, but this was the one he could share with his friend. "We jinchuuriki are hated for no reason. People despise us, and yet, they still seek to use us to their benefit. The world will never be a kind place for us, but that’s why we have to stick together - the jinchuuriki and the tailed beasts too. If the world is scared of us, we’ll prove them there is no reason to fear us. If they want to destroy us, we’ll fight them off and show them that it’s not easy to mess with us. And if they want to insolate us we'll let them know that we are not alone.” Naruto smiled at this point, walking closer to Gaara and resting his hand over his friend's shoulder. “You are not alone, Gaara. You are my fellow jinchuuriki, and one day I hope you’ll be my friend too. But even if you don’t want to be that, you can’t stop me from caring about you.”

Gaara was very still, and for several moments it seemed like he wasn’t going to say anything at all, but when he finally looked at Naruto, Naruto noticed that there were new and unfamiliar emotions staring at him from his friend's dark eyes. “Who are you?” He asked again.

“I’m Naruto Uzumaki,” Naruto answered this time. “I’m a shinobi of the Leaf: I will fight for my village if the need arises and I’ll die to protect it if I must, but I won’t let anyone dictate who I am or the path I should follow. It's up to me to decide the life I want to live, and no one else,” he stated with confidence. “Don’t let your enemies control you, Gaara. Don’t be a monster just because they think that’s the only thing you can be. Don’t be unhappy just because they'll never believe a jinchuuriki has feelings too. Whatever path you choose, choose it for yourself. And remember that you aren’t alone; you can always count on me. I'm your friend. If you need me…,” he searched his pocket for a moment, and offered Gaara a small silver chain. “-this seal will bring you to me.”

Gaara reached out to take the small item, cautiously, and said nothing. Naruto sighed, and stepped back. “Keep it a secret for me, will you?” He requested. “There is something I have to do now, something I promised to a person very important to me. But I’m afraid many people will be upset when they discover I left the village and they will try to find me. It's better if they don't, not until this person has found what he is looking for, at least.”

Gaara glanced at him in disbelief.

“You… You would trust me with this?” He asked, his incredulity plain on his face.

“Of course. You might not see my as a friend, but I consider you as my brother. We are really related, in a way, through Kurama and Shukaku.” After a second of pause, he added, “Try to give Shukaku a chance, if you can. He is the youngest of the bijus, and as such the humans’ betrayal hit him the hardest. In the end, he’s just as hurt and alone as you are. You both could do with a friend.”

Naruto smiled at Gaara one last time and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Gaara was left behind to consider what he had learned. There was much his old friend needed to think about, but for the moment, Naruto's business in Konoha was finished.