Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started with silence.

Not the dramatic kind—the silence of explosions or death—but the quiet hum of being alone. The kind of silence that creeps under your skin when you realize nobody in your class looks you in the eye. That was the silence both Naruto and Sasuke lived in, long before they understood what loneliness really meant.

Sasuke was always surrounded by people, but none of them ever reached him. Girls gushed. Teachers praised. Boys envied. But he moved through it all like a shadow with too many memories, too many ghosts. The last Uchiha.

Naruto was different—he was laughed at, shouted at, avoided. If Sasuke was admired from a distance, Naruto was feared from up close. Kids weren’t even sure why. They only knew their parents whispered about him and that teachers got tight-lipped when he was near.

They both knew what it meant to be watched, but never truly seen.

At the Academy, the lessons were dry and distant. Chakra control, transformation jutsu, hand seal theory. Most students were there because it was expected. Sasuke was there to get stronger. Naruto was there to be noticed.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu,” Iruka announced one day. “A high-level technique. Very few of you will ever be able to master it.”

Naruto raised his hand so fast he nearly fell out of his seat. “I’ll do it! I bet I can make, like, five clones!”

The class snickered. Sasuke didn’t.

He just watched.

Later that afternoon, when Naruto stood humiliated on the training field with a single, twitching, half-dead clone, Sasuke stayed behind after everyone else left. Naruto was too embarrassed to look at him.

“I’m not stupid,” Naruto muttered. “I just… no one teaches me right.”

Sasuke stood there for a long moment. Then he walked over, took Naruto’s hand, and began to correct the seal formation.

“Your chakra’s too scattered,” he said. “You need focus.”

It was the first time Naruto had ever been taught instead of scolded.

That night, Sasuke showed up at Naruto’s window. No explanation. No training scroll. Just a pale face in the moonlight.

Naruto opened the window with a frown. “What are you doing here?”

Sasuke shrugged. “You left your ramen outside the classroom.”

Naruto blinked. “You… brought it back?”

Sasuke tossed it in and turned to go.

“Wait,” Naruto said quickly. “You can stay. If you want.”

Sasuke paused, then slipped inside.

They shared the ramen. Then the floor. Then—eventually—the futon.

That became their rhythm.

Sasuke didn’t smile, but his eyes were softer in the dark.

Naruto didn’t talk much, but his breath was steady when Sasuke slept beside him.

They didn’t call each other friends. They didn’t have to.

As they got older, the village changed but stayed the same.

Sasuke became a prodigy. Naruto became a nuisance.

Even in Team 7, nothing felt even.

Sakura was kind, but distant—idolizing Sasuke, dismissing Naruto. Kakashi was calm, but always watching, calculating.

Naruto felt like he was constantly shouting just to be seen.

But Sasuke Sasuke looked.

Sometimes during missions, when Naruto cracked a joke that fell flat, Sasuke would give him a look that said, “I heard you.”

Sometimes, when Naruto struggled with a new technique, Sasuke would stay late to train beside him, never saying a word, just standing nearby as if his presence alone could carry Naruto through.

And sometimes, when everyone else walked ahead, Sasuke would slow down—just a little—so Naruto could catch up.

Then came the turning point.

The curse mark. The Sound Four. Orochimaru’s offer. Sasuke’s eyes darkened like a stormcloud that never stopped growing.

He didn’t talk as much. He trained harder. He began to disappear.

And Naruto noticed. Of course he noticed.

Late one night, Sasuke came to Naruto’s apartment again—but this time, there was no ramen. No casual excuses.

Naruto opened the door and saw the packed bag slung over Sasuke’s shoulder.

“You’re leaving,” Naruto said.

Sasuke didn’t deny it. “I need to get stronger. I’m not staying here to rot.”

Naruto stared. “So that’s it? You’re just going to vanish again?”

Sasuke looked away. “You don’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Silence.

Then Sasuke whispered, “I wake up every day and hear their screams. I train every day with their blood on my back. And I—can’t—breathe—here.”

Naruto stepped forward, fists clenched. “Then I’m coming with you.”

Sasuke froze.

“What?”

“I’m not letting you disappear again. I’m not going to chase you this time, or wait for you, or scream your name in another valley while we bleed out. I’m coming with you, Sasuke. That’s my choice.”

“You’d abandon the village? For me?”

Naruto’s voice shook. “They never wanted me. You did.”

Sasuke said nothing, but something behind his eyes cracked. Not weakness. Not victory. Something like relief—and fear.

Then he nodded.

And they ran.

⸻

That night, as the gates of Konoha faded into the trees behind them, they didn’t speak.

Naruto looked up at the stars.

Sasuke looked at him.

And the silence between them—for once—felt full.

⸻

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Chapter Text

The forest beyond the village grew darker the further they ran.

Naruto kept pace, not because he had to—but because he wanted to. Sasuke never looked back. He didn’t need to. Naruto was always just a step behind.

When they crossed the border into the Land of Rice Fields, the air changed. The world got quieter. Too quiet.

By the time they reached Orochimaru’s hideout—a jagged fortress hidden deep underground—Naruto felt the weight of something cold settle over him. This wasn’t just another training ground. It was a cage made of chakra, needles, and intention.

Kabuto met them first.

He blinked at Naruto like he was a glitch in the matrix. “You brought him?”

Sasuke didn’t explain.

Orochimaru emerged from the shadows like mist. “Uzumaki Naruto. How unexpected. The jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails… choosing to follow you, Sasuke-kun. Fascinating.”

Naruto glared, ready to fight. “I didn’t choose you. I chose him.”

Orochimaru’s smile curled. “Even better.”

The days that followed were full of tension. Naruto wasn’t allowed to train with the others at first. He was watched, tested, prodded. Orochimaru was curious—but also wary. There were whispered conversations. Plans.

But Sasuke made his stance clear.

One night, in front of Orochimaru and Kabuto, Sasuke spoke with a tone like a blade pulled halfway from its sheath.

“If he leaves, I leave. If you hurt him, I turn this place to ash.”

Kabuto scoffed. “Since when do you need anyone?”

Sasuke’s eyes burned with something that wasn’t rage.

“Without him,” he said quietly, “I can’t function.”

Even Naruto turned to look at him.

Orochimaru only laughed. “How beautiful. A shared curse. Fine. He stays. For now.”

Their room was small. Two beds—pushed together after a week.

They didn’t speak of the village. Not often. But some nights, when Naruto lay staring at the ceiling, Sasuke would say something soft into the dark.

“They’ve already labeled you a missing-nin.”

Naruto swallowed. “I figured.”

“They say you were corrupted. Turned. That you betrayed them.”

Naruto turned his head. “Do you believe them?”

Sasuke looked at him. “No.”

Their first mission came sooner than expected.

It was reconnaissance—deep into Lightning Country. An Akatsuki informant had gone silent, and the pair was sent to track him down. No robes. No flashy symbols. Just shadows and silence.

They worked well together. Too well.

Naruto’s clones scouted the high ridges. Sasuke’s Sharingan caught the faintest glimmer of traps. When ambushed by rogue shinobi, they moved like one organism. No hesitation. No missteps.

By the end of it, their hands were bloody—but their bond was ironclad.

When they returned, Kabuto raised an eyebrow. “You’re both alive. Impressive.”

Sasuke shrugged. “Did you think otherwise?”

Naruto smirked. “Sorry to disappoint.”

That night, after cleaning the blood from his hands, Naruto leaned against the doorframe of their shared room.

“You meant it, huh?” he said. “What you told Orochimaru. About not being able to function without me.”

Sasuke didn’t answer right away. He was sitting on the bed, staring down at his open palm.

“I’ve lost everyone,” Sasuke murmured. “Family. Clan. My mind, probably. But you… you keep coming back.”

Naruto stepped closer.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

Sasuke looked up. “I know.”

And for the first time since they left the village, they stood close enough that the past couldn’t reach them. Just long enough for the future to feel possible.

Chapter Text

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Emotional, Banter, Slow Burn

Naruto hated wearing the Akatsuki cloak.

Not because of the design—it actually looked kind of cool—but because of what it meant. The red clouds felt like ink stains on his skin, like someone else’s sins branded onto his body.

But Sasuke wore it without hesitation.

And Naruto followed him still.

It was late autumn when they were assigned their first joint Akatsuki operation with others. The team was simple: Sasuke, Naruto, Deidara, and, to Naruto’s surprise, Kisame, who never seemed to stop grinning with shark-like teeth and resting bloodlust.

The mission was technically surveillance—a shinobi group was growing in the outskirts of Wind Country, and Pain wanted to know if they were worth destroying or recruiting.

Deidara, of course, was already planning the explosions.

“Boom now, question later,” he muttered, sculpting tiny clay birds in his palm as they walked through the desert.

Naruto ignored him. Sasuke scouted ahead.

Kisame laughed under his breath. “You two always like that?”

Naruto blinked. “Like what?”

“You know—quiet, moody, and three inches from each other’s throats, unless you’re standing so close it looks like you’re glued together. Cute.”

Deidara snorted. “They sleep closer than my bombs. I swear they’re like a married couple.”

Naruto nearly tripped on a rock.

“We’re not—what—No! Shut up!” he sputtered.

Sasuke, ahead of them, didn’t even flinch. “Stay focused.”

“Ugh, so boring,” Deidara groaned. “At least hold hands or something if you’re gonna act like you’re fused at the hip.”

Naruto’s face burned hot as sun-baked stone.

⸻

That night, they camped near the remains of a ruined outpost—half-buried under sand, surrounded by cold wind and cracked stone. They set up a small tent structure with Akatsuki-grade sealing jutsu to ward off detection.

Deidara and Kisame took first watch.

Naruto was left in the inner shelter with Sasuke.

The space was tiny—barely enough for two bedrolls side by side.

Naruto muttered, “I can sleep outside, it’s fine.”

“You’ll freeze,” Sasuke replied, already pulling off his cloak and settling in. “Shut up and get in.”

Naruto hesitated. Then he slipped in next to him. The night was cold. The desert wind had no mercy. Within minutes, they both realized the seal-warded tent didn’t hold heat well.

Sasuke shifted slightly. “You’re shivering.”

Naruto scoffed. “Am not.”

“You are.”

A pause.

“Get closer.”

Naruto rolled over, his arm bumping Sasuke’s shoulder. “This is weird.”

Sasuke didn’t look at him. “You followed me into rogue-nin exile and wear an S-rank cloak with dead men’s symbols, but this is where you draw the line?”

Naruto scowled. “Shut up.”

But he didn’t move away.

He shifted closer, breathing in slow, trying not to think about how warm Sasuke was, or how the quiet between them didn’t feel awkward anymore—just known.

Outside the tent, Deidara’s voice floated in, sing-song and mocking: “Awww, I bet they’re spooning in there~!”

Kisame let out a rumbling laugh. “Definitely. And the Uchiha’s the little spoon, I can feel it.”

Sasuke groaned quietly and muttered, “I’m going to kill them in the morning.”

Naruto laughed into the blanket. “Nah. Let them think what they want.”

Sasuke was quiet for a long moment. Then, softly, he said, “…I don’t mind.”

Naruto looked at him.

“Don’t mind what?”

Sasuke didn’t answer. He just turned slightly, back facing Naruto—but close enough that their legs brushed.

The silence stretched between them again, warm and full.

The mission was simple in execution: the rogue shinobi had been a decoy, luring attention away from something bigger brewing further west. They handled it cleanly—Sasuke with a flash of lightning chakra, Naruto with a barrage of clones and taijutsu.

Deidara barely got to blow anything up. He complained for hours.

Kisame just kept smirking at the two boys who moved like they shared a single thought.

Later that night, Naruto stood at the edge of the camp, staring at the moonlight reflecting off the sand dunes.

Sasuke approached quietly. “You’ve been quiet.”

“I’ve just been thinking,” Naruto said. “About what they said. About us.”

Sasuke didn’t speak.

“They’re wrong,” Naruto added quickly. “We’re not a married couple.”

“I know.”

Naruto hesitated. “But… we’re not nothing either, right?”

Sasuke looked up at the stars. “No. We’re not nothing.”

A breeze passed between them, lifting the sand, the memory of old lives, old promises.

Naruto turned his head. “Good.”

Chapter Text

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Romantic Tension, Hurt/Comfort, Long Chapter

They weren’t supposed to be on this mission.

Originally, it was meant for Itachi and Kisame alone. But when the target turned out to be a rogue Sannin from the Land of Rivers with forbidden medical jutsu that distorted space around the body, Pain ordered reinforcements.

Naruto and Sasuke were sent.

Naruto had never seen Itachi this close since the defection.

He expected cold silence, indifference. But the moment Itachi laid eyes on Sasuke—worn, robed in red clouds, eyes colder than winter—there was a flicker of something behind his gaze. Not surprise. Not guilt.

Resignation.

“You’ve brought him far,” Itachi said softly to Naruto when Sasuke stepped ahead of them.

“I didn’t bring him,” Naruto replied. “I just refused to be left behind.”

Itachi didn’t smile. But his eyes glinted, just barely.

The mission turned fast.

The enemy’s hideout was carved into a cragged canyon wall—shielded by mist, sound, and genjutsu so thick even Itachi had to force his way through. Inside was something worse: a trap designed to fracture space between the body and its chakra network.

Sasuke didn’t hesitate—he moved in ahead of them, using Chidori Nagashi to disrupt the seal. Naruto followed, as always.

But the moment they broke through, a barrier burst from the wall like a living pulse of energy.

It hit Sasuke hard.

He screamed once—briefly—and fell to the ground, his body jerking like he was being electrocuted from the inside.

“SASUKE!”

Naruto was already by his side, hands on his chest, chakra flooding through his palms in a panic.

Kisame barked something. Itachi moved to hold the barrier off. Deidara cursed behind them.

But Naruto didn’t care. The rest of the world melted into background noise.

All that mattered was him.

“You idiot,” Naruto muttered, his hands glowing bright blue. “Why do you always rush in first? You never think—never let me go first—”

Sasuke was pale. His eyes fluttered open, then closed again, body twitching in the aftershock of chakra collapse.

Naruto’s chakra shifted. Slowed. Became steady.

He’d trained for this.

After every fight they’d had as kids, Naruto remembered the bruises. The cuts. The cracked ribs. Sasuke always got hurt. And Naruto always hated that.

So one day—without telling anyone—he asked Tsunade for scrolls.

He didn’t want to be a medic. He just wanted to be able to help him.

And now, his chakra pressed into Sasuke’s chest, into his arms, down his spine—knitting the damage, closing what the jutsu had tried to pull apart.

“You’re going to be okay,” Naruto whispered. “You hear me? I’ve got you.”

The others left to complete the mission. Only Itachi stayed nearby, watching in silence from the shadows. He didn’t interrupt.

Later, when Sasuke woke, he found himself lying on Naruto’s cloak, his head pillowed against Naruto’s thigh. The sun was dipping low, burning orange through the canyon opening.

Naruto didn’t move. He was sitting perfectly still, one hand still glowing faintly, the other resting gently on Sasuke’s shoulder.

“…I’m alive?” Sasuke rasped.

“Yeah,” Naruto said softly. “But only because I’ve had practice saving your ass.”

A beat of silence.

Sasuke turned his head, just slightly, to look up at him. “Since when can you use healing chakra?”

“Since you started getting hurt every time I looked at you wrong.”

Sasuke blinked.

Naruto glanced away, ears slightly red. “I asked for scrolls after we were twelve. Didn’t tell anyone. Figured I’d use it someday. Guess that day was today.”

Sasuke stared at him for a long time. “You’ve always been an idiot.”

Naruto smiled faintly. “Takes one to love one.”

Sasuke froze.

Naruto’s eyes widened. “I mean—know one. Takes one to know one!”

Silence.

Then Sasuke let out a soft sound—half a cough, half a laugh.

Naruto covered his face. “Please let that jutsu have scrambled your hearing.”

“…No.”

Naruto groaned.

But when he peeked through his fingers, Sasuke was still staring up at him. Eyes softer than they’d been in years.

“Thank you,” Sasuke said, quietly.

“You’re welcome.”

Neither moved.

Sasuke didn’t sit up. Naruto didn’t pull his hand away from Sasuke’s shoulder. Their legs were still pressed together, warm through the cloak. The fading sun painted gold over both their faces.

Itachi’s voice came from the far end of the camp.

“They’ll recover. The others are dead. We move at dawn.”

Naruto didn’t look back. “Understood.”

Sasuke still didn’t move. “You’re warm.”

Naruto looked down at him. “Do you want me to move?”

“…No.”

Naruto relaxed. Sasuke closed his eyes again.

It wasn’t quite a confession.

But it was something.

And sometimes, in a world made of blood and silence, something was enough

Chapter Text

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Emotional, Healing, Slow Burn Romance

They were sent to eliminate a rogue ninja scientist who had been experimenting on chakra hosts, hoping to recreate jinchūriki without the beasts themselves.

“His name is Kuroha,” Pain told them. “He’s playing god with fractured chakra. Find him. Shut it down. Alive or dead—your choice.”

Naruto heard only fragments after the word chakra. Something cold had rippled through him. That name—Kuroha—had appeared before in old scrolls. Orochimaru once mentioned him. A chakra surgeon obsessed with dissecting jinchūriki for research.

Sasuke noticed the shift in Naruto’s expression. He didn’t ask.

He never needed to.

They tracked Kuroha into a canyon forest — a place warped by failed experiments. Trees twisted by chakra. Birds with two heads. The air smelled electric, like a storm on the verge of collapsing.

The four-man team consisted of Naruto, Sasuke, Konan, and a relatively new member: Shiro, a silent, pale shinobi with chakra threads in place of veins.

“Watch your chakra levels,” Konan warned. “This terrain is laced with traps that detect intent.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “Meaning what?”

“Meaning if your chakra spikes too high from aggression or fear, you’ll trigger something. Or someone.”

Naruto looked at his hand. It pulsed faintly orange with Kyūbi chakra under the skin. He flexed his fingers slowly. Stay calm.

The mission went wrong almost instantly.

They were ambushed by failed test subjects—twisted humans with barely stable chakra signatures. Konan held them off from the sky, her paper wings slicing through the branches. Shiro cloaked himself in his thread-veins and vanished into the mist.

Naruto and Sasuke pushed forward.

“You good?” Naruto asked as they ducked behind a rotting log, panting.

Sasuke nodded. “You?”

“Keeping the Nine-Tails down is like trying not to laugh when you’re about to explode.”

“…You’re not exploding yet.”

Naruto grinned. “That’s because you’re here.”

Sasuke looked at him. Just for a moment.

And then the world cracked.

A pulse of black light tore through the forest—like someone had broken a mirror over reality.

Sasuke cried out.

Naruto turned just in time to see him fall—blood splashing from his side, his eyes wide with chakra distortion. Something had pierced through his defenses. A cursed chakra seal—a needle laced with suppression energy.

“Sasuke!”

He rushed to his side, catching him before he hit the ground. Sasuke’s skin was pale. His body spasmed as the chakra seal spread.

“Damn it—damn it—no no no—stay with me.”

Naruto didn’t hesitate. He pressed his hands to Sasuke’s side, chakra flooding golden-blue into the wound, burning the poison as it entered.

“It’s trying to shut down your chakra flow—but it won’t,” Naruto muttered, teeth clenched.

“You’re… glowing,” Sasuke breathed.

Naruto didn’t laugh. He was too focused. His eyes were narrowed, sweating pouring down his temples.

“You used to get hurt all the time,” he whispered. “I always told myself—next time, I’ll be faster. I’ll stop it. I’ll protect you.”

“You were always… too loud.”

“And you were always too quiet.”

Sasuke let out a shaky breath. “So nothing’s changed.”

Naruto smirked, voice thick. “Not true. You let me stay.”

Flashback

It was raining. Again.

They were ten. Sasuke had been silent all day. Training alone. Bleeding from scraped knuckles and refusing to stop.

Naruto had followed him, umbrella in hand. “Why do you keep punching that tree like it killed your clan?”

Sasuke didn’t answer.

Naruto sat beside him on the wet grass anyway.

After a long moment, Sasuke muttered, “You talk too much.”

Naruto leaned over and gently bumped their foreheads together.

“I know.”

Sasuke stared at him.

And didn’t move away.

That was the first time Naruto ever saw the look that would follow him for years.

A look that said, you see me.

Present

Sasuke lay still, breathing stabilizing.

The cursed chakra seal had melted under Naruto’s glowing hands, leaving only a scar and the tremble of memory.

Naruto hovered above him, still glowing faintly. His hands were splayed over Sasuke’s ribs. Their faces were too close.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Naruto said, voice low. “Don’t rush in without me.”

“You weren’t fast enough,” Sasuke said.

Naruto’s eyes burned. “I am now.”

They stared at each other. Neither moved.

Sasuke’s fingers twitched—just slightly—against Naruto’s thigh.

“…Why do you care so much?” he whispered.

Naruto’s voice caught in his throat. “Because you were the first person who ever stayed.”

Sasuke’s eyes searched his.

For the first time, something cracked open.

He reached up—and pressed his hand lightly against Naruto’s cheek.

Naruto didn’t breathe.

Then Konan’s voice echoed from the trees. “We’ve cleared the field. Regroup in ten.”

Sasuke didn’t drop his hand.

Neither did Naruto move.

“…We should go,” Naruto said softly.

“In a second,” Sasuke replied.

Just a second longer.

One second more, before everything changed.

Chapter Text

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Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Turning Point, Battle, Forbidden Healing, First Kiss

⸻

The mission should’ve killed them all.

It was supposed to be a simple elimination: a splinter faction of ex-ANBU using chakra-engineered beasts to destabilize the eastern border. But they were wrong. The intel had been wrong. These weren’t remnants — they were experiments. Chakra weapons in human form, programmed with hatred, trained on Akatsuki signatures.

It was the first time Naruto saw Itachi break formation.
The first time he saw fear in Konan’s eyes.

But Naruto couldn’t focus on them.

He could only focus on Sasuke.

They were fighting back to back, just like they always did. The rhythm was second nature: Naruto blocked from above, Sasuke countered below. Fire jutsu ignited the forest. Rasengan shattered the ground.

They were winning. Until the beast came out.

It was made of chakra and flesh, stitched together with sealing threads and blood. Its roar shook trees from their roots. One blow cracked the earth into a ravine.

They barely managed to destroy it — Sasuke using a final burst of Chidori-surge through Naruto’s clones for distraction — but as the beast collapsed, it lashed out one last time with a tail of condensed chakra, sharper than steel.

It hit Sasuke.

Square in the chest.

“SASUKE!”

Naruto caught him before he hit the ground.

Blood coated Sasuke’s chest, pouring from a jagged wound under the ribs. His Sharingan flickered. His body seized.

“No—no no no—this isn’t happening no again —”

Konan’s voice barked commands in the distance. Itachi was fighting the last clone. Shiro was down.

Naruto pressed his glowing hands to Sasuke’s chest.

Nothing.

No chakra response. The wound was rejecting healing — the energy scrambled and reversed itself the moment it made contact. Naruto’s heart slammed in his chest.

I can’t lose him.

Not now. Not like this.

He gritted his teeth, shaking, searching through the chakra techniques in his mind — and then he remembered.

Three months earlier, in Orochimaru’s archive, Naruto had found a scroll sealed in black wax. A technique designed for chakra-compatibility injuries. Ones where the wound refused healing unless the chakra came from someone with an emotional resonance to the target.

The scroll described it coldly: Direct transmission of stabilized chakra via intimacy. Lips to lips — the mouth is the fastest conduit for pure energy flow, especially between bonded partners.

Naruto had laughed at the time. Like some twisted fairy tale.

But now—

Now he was staring at Sasuke, who was dying, and no amount of regular healing was working.

“Damn you,” he whispered, voice cracking. “You always push too far.”

He hovered over Sasuke’s face. His fingers trembled as he cradled Sasuke’s jaw.

“This isn’t about me,” he whispered. “This is about saving you.”

And then he pressed their mouths together.

At first it was just desperation.

But then—

Naruto felt it.

Something unlocked.

The chakra surged from his chest into Sasuke’s like fire through a tunnel. His body glowed faintly gold where it touched Sasuke’s. Their lips stayed pressed, barely breathing, and the wound began to close — slow at first, then faster, like time reversed itself under Naruto’s hands.

Sasuke’s body jerked, breath pulling in sharp.

Then his hand — his hand moved.

And it curled into Naruto’s shirt.

The kiss didn’t break.

Not right away.

Not until Sasuke opened his eyes.

They stared at each other.

Sasuke’s hand still clutching his shirt. Naruto frozen above him.

“…You kissed me,” Sasuke rasped.

“You were dying!” Naruto’s voice cracked.

“You kissed me.”

“It was a healing technique! From a scroll!”

Sasuke blinked slowly. “So we’re kissing now?”

Naruto flushed a shade of red so deep it looked like blood.

“I wasn’t—I mean—not like that—”

Sasuke’s eyes were soft. For once, not guarded. Not cold.

“But it was like that,” he said quietly.

Naruto froze.

The air between them felt fragile. One word could break it.

“…Do you regret it?” Sasuke asked.

Naruto shook his head.

“No. I just… didn’t know if I was allowed to want it.”

Silence.

Then Sasuke sat up — slowly, wincing. Naruto moved to stop him, but Sasuke leaned in.

And kissed him.

No chakra. No desperation.

Just truth.

It was brief. It was quiet. It was perfect.

⸻

Later, Konan found them sitting under a tree — Sasuke’s head resting against Naruto’s shoulder, both of them bruised and exhausted, but alive.

“Is he stable?” she asked.

Naruto nodded. “He’s healing.”

She looked between them. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Then she said, “About time.”

Chapter Text

p>

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Established Relationship, Nostalgia, Akatsuki Mission, Slow and Soft

⸻

Everyone noticed the shift.

It started small: the way Naruto and Sasuke stood a little closer than necessary. The way Sasuke no longer pushed Naruto away when he laughed too loud. The way Naruto stopped teasing when Sasuke’s hand brushed his. The look in their eyes after battle — like they were always counting each other’s wounds before their own.

Konan noticed it first.
Then Deidara.
Even Kisame muttered, “They’re either dating, or fighting in secret with their mouths.”

No one dared ask directly. This was the Akatsuki. Personal questions didn’t survive long here.

But when Pain gave the next mission — a high-risk ambush in the rain forests north of the River Province — he paired Naruto and Sasuke together again, along with Konan and Kisame.

They didn’t complain.

The mission was swift, brutal, and full of traps.

They were hunting a rogue informant who’d defected with sensitive data about Akatsuki hideouts. The terrain was dense with fog and vines, chakra mines planted along the ground like thorns.

Konan soared above, her paper wings unfolding in wide, elegant sweeps. Kisame cut through obstacles with Samehada like a man clearing brush.

Naruto and Sasuke moved in near-silence, fast and precise.

When the first ambush came, Naruto threw a kunai — without looking — and Sasuke ducked at the perfect moment, letting it take the enemy clean in the neck.

Kisame whistled. “You two rehearsing or reading each other’s minds?”

Naruto smirked. “Little of both.”

Later that day, while tending to the body of a wounded target, Konan paused mid-sentence and glanced over her shoulder.

She found Naruto and Sasuke off to the side, whispering.

Sasuke had a small cut along his jaw. Naruto leaned in to touch it — fingertips glowing faintly with healing chakra. But he didn’t stop at the cut. His hand lingered just a little longer, brushing Sasuke’s cheek with quiet intimacy.

Their eyes met.

Konan turned away, smiling faintly to herself. “They’re together,” she said simply.

Kisame grunted. “Knew it.”

The mission ended by dusk. Blood. Rain. Success. Another page turned in the endless Akatsuki ledger.

They made camp in a natural cave carved into the cliffs along the riverbank. A small fire crackled between the stones, throwing gold light over the damp stone walls.

Naruto and Sasuke took the far corner of the cave — a quiet pocket of space near the entrance, half-sheltered by dripping vines.

They sat side by side in silence, watching the flames flicker.

Outside, rain hissed through the leaves. Inside, the fire crackled softly.

After a long while, Naruto spoke.

“You remember the Academy?”

Sasuke hummed. “Barely.”

“Liar,” Naruto said, smiling. “You remember everything.”

Sasuke didn’t argue.

Naruto leaned back against the wall. “I used to watch you all the time. I was always loud. Trying to get attention. But you… you were already the center of everything. And still somehow just as lonely.”

Sasuke didn’t respond right away.

Then: “You made it louder. The loneliness. Because when you were near, I felt it more. Like it wasn’t just mine anymore.”

Naruto’s breath caught. He hadn’t expected that.

Sasuke looked at him. “I didn’t hate you.”

“I know.”

“I just didn’t know how to… want you.”

Naruto swallowed. “I used to think it was just me. That I was the only one who felt like something in me pulled toward you. Even when we fought. Especially when we fought.”

“Especially,” Sasuke echoed.

Naruto glanced at him. “You ever think… maybe we weren’t meant to be enemies at all?”

Sasuke didn’t blink. “All the time.”

The firelight shifted over his face, casting orange into the hollows of his eyes. He looked like a memory—alive but distant.

Naruto shifted closer. Their knees touched.

“Back then,” he said softly, “when you used to show up at my apartment without saying anything. That was the first time I thought, maybe this feeling had a name.”

Sasuke tilted his head. “And now?”

Naruto turned to him fully. “Now I know. It always did. We just weren’t ready to say it.”

Sasuke didn’t move. But his hand reached out — quiet and slow — and laced their fingers together.

They sat like that, pressed side by side, fingers entwined, breathing steady in the quiet cave.

⸻

Later, when the fire dimmed and the others were asleep across the cave, Naruto turned to Sasuke in the dark.

“Sasuke?”

“Mm.”

“You scared me. Back in the forest. When I couldn’t find your chakra for a second. I thought you were gone.”

Sasuke shifted. “I’m not.”

Naruto’s voice was barely a whisper. “I know. But someday I won’t be able to stop it.”

A pause.

Then Sasuke rolled toward him, hand sliding along Naruto’s jaw, steady and warm.

“You don’t have to save me,” he said. “Just stay.”

Naruto kissed him — soft and sure.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

⸻

That night, they fell asleep curled together in the narrow cave, the rain singing above them, the fire burning low, and their past lives finally quiet behind them.

They weren’t enemies.
They weren’t weapons.
They weren’t broken pieces anymore.

They were simply — Naruto and Sasuke.
And for the first time, that was enough

Chapter Text

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Soft Domesticity, Affection, Akatsuki Life Between Battles

⸻

They had two days off.

It was rare — Pain usually didn’t grant that kind of silence — but after the last mission, even he agreed they needed time to “stabilize.”

Naruto translated that as: “Don’t die before the next battle.”

So he and Sasuke made camp near the outskirts of an abandoned outpost — a crumbling fortress overtaken by moss and vines, just far enough from the others that they could pretend the world didn’t exist.

No war. No enemies. No red clouds stitched over their hearts.

Just air. And time. And each other.

⸻

“Don’t move,” Naruto said.

Sasuke, sitting cross-legged on a stone ledge with the sun hitting his hair, raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because your hair’s glowing. Like some tragic anime prince.”

“I am a tragic anime prince.”

Naruto snorted. “You wish.”

They were supposed to be meditating. Naruto had even laid out old training scrolls. But Sasuke kept interrupting. With his silence. With the way he sat like he belonged to the sun and not the shadows.

Naruto sighed and flopped onto his back in the grass.

“You ever think we could’ve had this sooner?”

“This?” Sasuke asked, lying down beside him.

“This. Us. Quiet. Not just survival. But… life.”

Sasuke was quiet for a moment.

Then he murmured, “I think if we’d had it too early, we would’ve ruined it.”

Naruto glanced over. “You saying we were emotionally stunted?”

“I’m saying,” Sasuke said, smirking faintly, “you would’ve confessed with a fart joke and I would’ve punched you for it.”

“…Okay, fair.”

They laughed. Light and full. Not sharp like it used to be.

⸻

Later, they sparred.

Not the brutal, explosive fights of their youth, but something looser — like a dance.

Naruto used slow clones. Sasuke countered with feints and lazy lightning flicks.

They weren’t trying to win.

They were trying to feel.

And somewhere between Naruto flipping over Sasuke’s shoulder and Sasuke tackling him into the grass, they ended up rolling to a stop — Naruto pinned under him, both panting, grinning like idiots.

“You lost,” Sasuke said breathlessly.

“Did not,” Naruto muttered, hands still curled around Sasuke’s wrists.

“You’re literally under me.”

“Maybe I wanted to be.”

A beat of silence.

Then Sasuke bent down and kissed him — slow and sure and a little smug.

“Then you definitely lost.”

Naruto didn’t argue.

⸻

That evening, they returned to the Akatsuki base briefly to report in.

They entered the hall side by side, Naruto still brushing bits of grass from Sasuke’s collar, Sasuke silently letting him.

Deidara, who’d been mid-argument with Hidan, stopped short.

“Okay, what is that?”

“What’s what?” Naruto asked, too innocently.

“That thing you’re doing. The couple thing. The domestic thing. Are you serious right now? You’re brushing his clothes. In a murder hallway.”

Naruto smirked. “Sorry. Forgot there’s a ‘no affection in the blood corridors’ rule.”

Kisame just grinned. “You two are lucky. No one ever lasts long enough in this organization to act married.”

Sasuke leaned casually against the wall, hand drifting into Naruto’s.

He didn’t let go.

⸻

They returned to the outpost cave that night.

The fire crackled low. A single blanket was spread across their shared corner.

Naruto lay on his side, watching Sasuke stretch out beside him. His shirt was half-unbuttoned. His chakra was calm.

“Still feel like a missing-nin?” Naruto asked quietly.

Sasuke blinked. “Less and less.”

“Good,” Naruto said. “Because when you’re like this — when it’s just us — I forget who we’re supposed to be.”

Sasuke reached out and tugged Naruto into his chest. No hesitation. No resistance.

“You don’t have to remember,” he said. “Just stay.”

Naruto closed his eyes.

“I will.”

⸻

Later that night, as rain tapped against the stone and their breathing slowed in sync, Naruto whispered against Sasuke’s throat:

“You think… in another life, we’d still find each other?”

Sasuke didn’t answer right away.

Then: “I think we already have”

⸻

Chapter Text

p>Chapter Nine: One More Day

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | Soft Intimacy, Hickeys, Affection, Sensual Without Explicitness

⸻

When Naruto woke up, the world was warm.

Not because of the fire — it had burned low overnight — but because of Sasuke.

His leg was slung over Naruto’s, their arms tangled somewhere between the blanket and each other. Sasuke’s head rested on Naruto’s chest, breath rising and falling in time with his heartbeat.

Naruto didn’t move.

Didn’t dare.

Because this — this exact moment — was something he had never believed he would get.

Not with him.

Not with Sasuke.

A soft knock at the outer stone entrance made both of them twitch.

“Pain sent word,” Konan’s voice called gently. “You’re off-mission for one more day.”

She didn’t wait for a response.

Sasuke groaned and buried his face in Naruto’s neck. “Do we have to tell him thank you?”

“Nope,” Naruto mumbled, smiling as he wrapped his arms more tightly around him. “But I might build him a statue.”

Sasuke snorted against his skin. “Don’t push it.”

The day moved slowly.

They washed in the stream outside the cave — half naked, playful, careless.

Naruto splashed Sasuke until he got dunked. Sasuke retaliated with an icy glare and a handful of wet moss.

“You know,” Naruto said, lips twitching as he ducked a wave of water, “you’re way too graceful to be this petty.”

“And yet,” Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto’s collar and pulling him under, “here I am.”

They collapsed together onto the warm rocks afterward, clothes half-dry and sticking to their skin, the sun baking golden across their bare shoulders.

Sasuke turned his head lazily. “You have a freckle here,” he said, brushing Naruto’s jaw with his finger.

“Yeah?” Naruto asked, eyes closing.

“I’m gonna bite it later.”

Naruto grinned. “Promise?”

⸻

Back inside, they lay together again, this time on Naruto’s cloak. Sasuke curled on top of him, fingers slipping beneath his shirt, not hurried, just curious.

Naruto’s hand traced up the curve of Sasuke’s spine, slow and patient.

The kisses were unhurried. Open-mouthed. Deep.

Sasuke’s lips tasted like the river.

Naruto kissed his way down his throat, nipping gently at his collarbone.

Sasuke arched faintly, one hand sliding up into Naruto’s hair.

Then came the first hickey — low on Sasuke’s neck, near his shoulder. Naruto paused after it, watching the dark bloom of it spread.

Sasuke blinked up at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” Naruto said, smiling. “Just… mine.”

Sasuke’s eyes gleamed. “Then come here and let me return the favor.”

⸻

By the time they stopped, they were both flushed, panting, marked with hickeys like paint strokes down their throats and shoulders. No one else would see — not under the high collars and cloaks they wore in battle — but they would know.

Their bodies pressed together, skin hot and flushed. Legs tangled. Fingers laced.

Sasuke curled his hand gently over Naruto’s cheek.

“…I used to dream about this,” he murmured. “Not the kissing. Just… being near you. Like this.”

Naruto looked at him — really looked.

“I always thought I loved you too early,” he said softly. “Before I even knew what love meant.”

Sasuke’s thumb brushed his lip. “You didn’t love me too early. I just took too long to catch up.”

Naruto kissed him again. Long. Deep. A promise.

⸻

They spent the rest of the day wrapped in each other, telling stories from their childhood that neither had ever said out loud before.

Naruto admitted he used to pretend Sasuke was his imaginary teammate during solo missions as a Genin.

Sasuke admitted that he used to sit outside Naruto’s apartment door, just listening — because Naruto made noise when he was happy, and it made Sasuke feel less empty.

They didn’t cry.

They didn’t need to.

Because they had one more day.

One more golden, stolen day.

And for now — that was everything.

Chapter Text

<

Canon Divergence | Naruto/Sasuke | M/M | New Mission Arc, Intimacy Revealed, Future Dreams

⸻

They left at dawn.

The sun hadn’t yet cleared the mountains when Pain summoned them to the inner chamber, cloaked in mist and silence. The room smelled like stone and old chakra. The air was heavy.

“This mission,” Pain said, “is one of the few that cannot fail.”

Konan stood at his right. Her expression was unreadable, but Naruto noticed her eyes flick briefly toward him and Sasuke, standing shoulder-to-shoulder near the back.

Naruto didn’t flinch when Sasuke’s pinky brushed his.

They were done hiding.

⸻

The objective was complex.

A military outpost on the northern border had fallen under new control — a black-market chakra syndicate dealing in forbidden jutsu and jinchūriki remnants. They had knowledge Akatsuki couldn’t allow to spread.

“Total extraction,” Pain said. “No survivors. No witnesses. And retrieve the scrolls from the inner vault.”

Itachi’s gaze lingered on the map. “Their terrain is heavily trapped. Reinforced with nature-based genjutsu.”

Deidara scoffed. “Sounds like a fun playground.”

Kisame chuckled. “Guess we’re all going this time.”

⸻

The team split into three flanks. Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, and Konan led the infiltration unit — the sharpest edge of the blade.

The walk through the misted ridges was long, winding through old trees with cracked bark and dark branches.

Sasuke walked slightly ahead of Naruto, his steps fluid, silent. He moved like a shadow with purpose.

At one point, they paused at a vantage ridge. The others scouted ahead, and for a moment, they were alone again.

Naruto touched Sasuke’s shoulder lightly. “You okay?”

Sasuke turned, dark eyes soft. “I was just thinking.”

“About?”

Sasuke looked out over the forest.

“…About after. If there is one.”

Naruto stepped closer. “There will be.”

Sasuke’s voice was quiet. “I spent so long thinking there was nothing beyond revenge. Nothing after destruction. But now…”

He glanced at Naruto.

“I think I could live somewhere quiet. By a river. Grow vegetables. Maybe teach brats how to throw kunai.”

Naruto smiled. “And me?”

Sasuke looked at him without blinking.

“You’d be there. That’s the point.”

⸻

The raid began at sundown.

Blades of fire streaked across the enemy sky barriers. Genjutsu traps collapsed under Itachi’s pressure. Konan moved like wind through paper.

Naruto fought with brutal clarity — Rasengan after Rasengan, golden chakra flashing. Sasuke’s Chidori danced around him like lightning drawn to its source.

They didn’t speak in battle. They didn’t need to.

When the final vault fell and the scrolls were retrieved, they regrouped in the ruins of the stronghold. Blood stained the marble floor. Smoke curled from broken rafters.

The Akatsuki gathered in a loose circle.

Kisame leaned his massive blade against a wall. “Well, that was dramatic.”

Deidara cracked his neck. “Told you it’d be fun.”

Pain turned to Naruto and Sasuke. “You two worked… efficiently.”

Itachi’s eyes slid between them. His voice was calm. “You’ve grown.”

Naruto didn’t look away. “You know.”

“I always knew,” Itachi said, almost kindly. “I only waited for you to figure it out.”

Sasuke didn’t speak. But the corner of his mouth curved, just barely.

⸻

Later, while Sasuke and Itachi stood apart — sharing a rare quiet moment between brothers — Naruto found himself walking beside Konan as they examined the remaining scrolls.

She handed him one, then paused. “You’re different now.”

“How so?” Naruto asked.

“Calmer,” she said. “Not less wild — just… focused.”

He glanced back at Sasuke, who was now leaning against a tree, eyes half-lidded but alert, listening as Itachi spoke.

“I think I found what I was fighting for,” Naruto said. “And it wasn’t power. Or even peace.”

Konan looked at him. “It was him.”

Naruto nodded.

“I think I want a life,” he said quietly. “With him. One that’s not about hiding. Or bleeding. Just—being.”

She smiled, almost wistfully. “Then hold onto it. Because things like that don’t last long in this world unless you fight for them.”

⸻

That night, they set up temporary camp deep in the forest, where chakra didn’t echo and voices didn’t carry.

Naruto and Sasuke lay side by side under the stars — not secretive, not hidden.

When Deidara passed by and saw their hands loosely clasped between them, he just rolled his eyes. “Gross. But whatever. Guess you’ve earned it.”

Kisame grinned. “They’re still stronger together. Let ‘em have it.”

Even Pain said nothing.

No scolding. No silence.

Just acceptance.

Sasuke turned his head toward Naruto in the dark.

“I meant what I said. About the river. About the quiet.”

Naruto brought their joined hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to Sasuke’s knuckles.

“I’ll build it,” he whispered. “If you promise to come back to it.”

Sasuke didn’t smile.

But he didn’t need to.

His silence meant yes.