Identity Crisis

This chapter is dedicated to Kaikouen. I don't even know if she reads this fic, but for some reason, instead of writing the name Kyohaku for Naruto's grandmother, I kept writing Kaikouen. So this chapter is dedicated to her since her name kept popping up.

Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. Life has been hectic. The past month and a half. I’ve had papers like you wouldn’t believe. Lots of papers, including a 23 page paper, a 72 page paper, and an 103 page paper. Not to mention I’ve had a number of health problems that have just made me feel horrible. :’( Ah well…

Anyway, my (late) Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Yule or (early) End of the Year gift to you all is a bit of smut at the end of the chapter. :-) Enjoy.

Identity Crisis

Chapter 3: Daimyo or ninja?

"Who's who again?" Sasuke asked Naruto exasperated. As they had gotten closer to the Sen family home, Naruto listed off the names of his entire family that he had met just a few days ago to give Sasuke a heads up. Naruto had been surprised when he had actually remembered everyone’s names. He supposed since they were his family they had made a deeper lasting impression on him and thus stuck in his mind more vividly than those he had met on missions. However, Naruto’s ramblings had been done with enthusiasm, and just a bit too excitedly for Sasuke to understand really who was who, hence Naruto needing to repeat the names to Sasuke.

"Hmmm, well, I guess the people you really need to remember are my grandmother: Kyohaku, my great grandfather: Sen-san, my great-grandmother: Izanami, and I think you already know the daimyo, er, my uncle,-Shijimi and his wife Lady Shijimi."

Sasuke was half tempted to say "that lady we rescued the cat for is your aunt?" but refrained from making a negative comment about Naruto's new relatives. All anyone had to do was look at who Sasuke was related to - like Itachi. Enough said.

"What about all those other people you were talking about before?" Sasuke asked.

"I guess you really don’t need to remember them right now. From what I gathered, I happened to meet everyone on a good day. It was my great-grandmother's 80th birthday party and not everyone lives there all the time. Only my great-grandparents, the daimyo and his wife, and my grandmother still live there. Most everyone else lives rather far away. My grandmother, Kyohaku, explained that when my great-grandfather heard that shinobi wanted to come to talk to her, he was rather wary. So he suggested they come on the day of my great-grandmother's birthday so that way if he needed to, he could use her party as a family affair to get them to leave," Naruto explained.

"A good tactic to use if you're not sure what to expect from others. It puts the other person at a disadvantage," Sasuke said, nodding. Naruto scowled.

"Stop nodding like that! It really throws me off. I feel like I have another head that's coming out of my body when you do that," Naruto complained.

"You try and be still in a spirit realm. I don't even realize what I'm doing half the time," Sasuke retorted.

"Well you're losing your touch. I thought you were really good at controlling everything," Naruto said, unable to resist the urge to taunt Sasuke.

"I have lost my touch, and possibly permanently," Sasuke said curtly, though even Naruto could tell that he didn’t seem overly upset about having lost his own body. Naruto had been surprised at how at ease Sasuke seemed living in his body. Naruto would have assumed that Sasuke would miss being in his own body, and especially miss his sharingan. Somehow Sasuke’s indifferent acceptance unsettled Naruto. "I'm finding controlling one's body is much easier than controlling one's real emotions as well as controlling internal workings in the spirit real," Sasuke tried explaining.

Naruto remained silent, not sure how to respond. He sighed. He knew Sasuke was probably still getting used to his new self, and Naruto had no idea what to do to help Sasuke – if he even wanted help. In part, Naruto felt very little sympathy for Sasuke because if he had just been straightforward from the beginning, he felt that Kakashi wouldn't have misunderstood Sasuke's intentions. Yet Naruto hoped that there had to have been other complications and reasons why Sasuke did what he had. He was going to make sure to pick Sasuke's brain about it later. Right now, he had family to see.

As he approached the Sen Family home, Naruto noticed his great-grandfather outside of the main house. Naruto shook his head. He couldn’t believe he was related to people who had a separate house for their servants. He came from a family with servants for crying out loud! Not that that was bad, but…it was just unexpected. Not that he hadn’t ever dreamed about some rich, long lost family coming to claim him during his youth, but to actually have it brought to reality when he had outgrown such childish hopes was just a little odd.

At first glance, Naruto thought that his great-grandfather had a bucket and mop in his head and was cleaning the front steps. Then he took a closer look and realized that his great-grandfather was using a large calligraphy brush and just water to write kanji on the ground. Naruto felt slightly nostalgic at the sight. The monks where he grew up used to practice writing in the sand or writing with water on the pavement with the large brushes. It was supposed to be a meditative exercise. Sen-san looked up from what he was doing and waved happily as he saw Naruto approaching. The water from the brush in his hand as he waved sprayed off in different directions, and Naruto laughed at the sight of his great-grandfather acting so carefree. Sen-san was a relatively short man with graying, waspish hair, yet despite his wrinkles, he seemed to exude a sort of youthful radiance.

"Naruto!" Sen-san greeted jovially, a smile on his face before suddenly looking more serious. Naruto was reminded of the looks that the people at the Hokage's office had given him, and he realized that even his great-grandfather thought he was mourning Sasuke. He wondered just how much his family had heard about Sasuke's and his relationship. Then again, him running off crying from Sasuke's funeral yesterday was also probably a bit of a giveaway that they had been pretty close.

"Sen-san," Naruto said in return greeting, but Sen-san shook his head.

"You're my great-grandson. You should at least call me Jiji," Sen-san said. Naruto smiled widely.

"Morning Jiji!" Naruto said, liking the way that seemed to roll off his tongue.

"I'm pleased to see you this morning Naruto. We were worried about you yesterday," Sen-san said.

"Ah, sorry," Naruto said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Sen-san shook his head slowly.

"No need to be sorry Naruto. You went through a strange ordeal and then your," Sen-san paused, clearly trying to put a name to the bizarre relationship he had had with Sasuke, "friend died." Naruto merely nodded his head. He didn't think it was a good idea to try and explain to his great-grandfather that the person his family had assumed to have kidnapped him was not only still (sort of) alive, but his soul was residing in Naruto's body. Of course, Sasuke was there along with the Nine-Tailed demon fox. Oh, and he and Sasuke were secret lovers too. Yes, he thought he could wait a while before revealing some of that information. He didn't want to scare his family off.

"Naruto!" Naruto turned his head to see his grandmother, Kyohaku, emerging from the house. Her silvery-blonde hair was pulled back in a bun save for a few strands that had fallen loose curled around her face.

"She doesn't sound old enough to be your grandmother," Sasuke said. Naruto was about to say "she doesn't look old enough to be my grandmother either" but decided not to respond since he was sure that his great-grandfather, despite his age, still had relatively good hearing. Kyohaku did not even bother to wave as she immediately glided gracefully down the front steps and swept him up in a hug. Naruto tensed ever so slightly before relaxing into her embrace.

"We were so worried about you," Kyohaku said, her tone full of concern, pressing herself even closer to Naruto. Thankfully, unlike Tsunade and Kakashi, she didn't squeeze him in a death grip, but it was obvious she had a nice, strong grip. She smelled like flowers, and Naruto idly wondered if his mother had used a perfume too.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled. Kyohaku released him reluctantly from her embrace and gave a small pat to his head.

"No need to be sorry. You probably needed some time alone to think for a bit. If you need to talk, I'm here to listen," Kyohaku said kindly. Naruto smiled at her gratefully. Both his grandmother and great-grandfather seemed more worried than angry that he had run off from the funeral without speaking to them. He smiled shyly, and then realized he was acting much more bashful than he usually did. Why was he being so different around his family? This wasn’t like him.

Sasuke felt a little left out as he watched the "spirit" Naruto's reactions. It was odd to see Naruto seem so coy. He knew that Naruto was also happy, but he wished he could see what Naruto's family looked like to see why Naruto was acting so oddly. At the same time, Sasuke couldn't help but feel somehow jealous that Naruto was reunited with his family. Sasuke could never get his family back. He and Naruto had been able to bond through their loneliness. Things would be different now.

Due to his brooding, Sasuke completely missed the fact that Naruto's family had invited him (well, Naruto) inside and Naruto was commenting about how it was nice to see his great-grandmother as well. Sasuke shook his head, trying to concentrate on what was being said, berating himself for missing the fact that Naruto was greeting his great-grandmother. He should be happy for Naruto. Sasuke saw Naruto's spirit form put a hand to his head, and then grit his teeth as though in discomfort. It took a moment to realize what was the matter with Naruto, and Sasuke nearly laughed. He had forgotten that shaking his head had probably made Naruto look so disgruntled. Naruto had not been expecting him to shake his head, and it had caught Naruto off guard.

"Sorry," Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto looked like he was having trouble not making a nasty retort to Sasuke since he had forgotten that shaking his head made him uncomfortable. It was clear that Naruto would have responded had it just been the two of them, and Naruto’s clear desire to answer him back somehow made Sasuke relax. He knew that given the circumstances Naruto would love to talk to him, but it would make him look rather insane to talk to him when only Naruto could hear him. Sasuke was sure talking to his “dead” friend, especially in front of his family, was something that Naruto should avoid lest he be dubbed insane. Sasuke contented himself to listening to the conversation as Naruto's family engaged him in small talk about themselves, clearly trying to help keep Naruto's mind off of (Sasuke had to smirk at the irony) the "death" of his friend.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto could tell that Sasuke was rather restless in his mind, but Naruto couldn't help that. Sasuke made a few comments here and there that showed he was at least being encouraging, despite Naruto's inability to talk back to him. Even so, it was nice for him to get to know his family, and so far, he was learning a lot about them. His great grandparents and grandmother were clearly trying to "help" him get his mind off of Sasuke's "death" and were talking about themselves instead of asking him personal questions. Naruto was grateful. He wouldn't have known where to start explaining his life to his family other than his ambition to become Hokage – which he had mentioned already briefly.

"Naruto-kun!" a deep voice rumbled from behind him. Naruto turned around in his seat to see his great-uncle, the daimyo, walking in. Naruto and his family had sat down in a living room type area to chat, and Naruto was a little thrown off to see someone else walking into their conversation an hour later without knocking but then remembered the daimyo lived there too. It was strange for him to see so many people living under one roof. He had lived alone for the majority of his life, and before then, living with monks at the temple hadn’t really felt like a home. He felt odd. Naruto knew that this was how some families lived, but to know that this was his family – it was all still mind boggling to him.

His Uncle beamed widely at him, and Naruto pulled himself back from his thoughts as he noticed his uncle held no trace of trying to tiptoe around someone who had just lost a close friend.

"Hello!" Naruto waved jovially to Lord Sen Shijimi. He was glad to see that at least someone wasn't treating him like he was a fragile being. Naruto had also decided that he liked his great uncle, and to see him without his great aunt - and her cat - somehow made him all the more likeable. Naruto was the first to admit he wasn’t fond of his great-aunt. And he felt bad for her cat.

"Just the man that I wanted to see," Lord Shijimi said, clasping Naruto on the shoulder.

"Shiji, now's probably not a good time for that. Too soon," Kyohaku hissed to her brother, clearly trying to be quiet so Naruto wouldn't hear but of course he had.

"Oh, hush up Kyo. Stop coddling the boy," Lord Shijimi whispered back. Naruto had to hold back a smirk as he watched his grandmother and her older brother banter back and forth, finding it endearing how the two of them had nicknames for each other.

"Better now than never," Sen-san said, putting a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. Kyohaku sighed and turned to look at her grandson. All eyes turned to him, and Naruto suddenly got the feeling that he might not necessarily like what was going to be discussed next.

"As you probably know, my wife and I have no children," Lord Shijimi said. Naruto merely looked at his uncle, wracking his brain to the other day when he had been introduced to his cousins or his father's cousins (that was weird to think about), or however they were related to him. Thinking about it, he didn't recall any of them being the son or daughter of the daimyo. Naruto nodded slightly after a moment, and Lord Shijimi continued. "Since I have no children, the position of daimyo would then be given to the second eldest child and that family line.”

"Is he seriously implying what I think he is?" Sasuke asked Naruto, and Naruto burned to answer Sasuke's question.

"Naturally I'm getting on in years myself," Kyohaku said. "When the time comes that Shijimi decides to retire, it won't make sense for me to take on the position."

"I never understood that. Retire? Why aren't you daimyo for life?" Naruto asked, confused looking at his great-grandfather who he knew had once been the daimyo of Konoha. He had wondered why he was no longer the daimyo when he still seemed to have so much spunk left in him.

"We are required to retire at sixty to ensure a clear line of succession. Not that I expect any of my children, or grandchildren, or great grandchildren to ever be malicious but it’s the law. There is always the possibility sometime down the road that the death of a daimyo without a clear line of succession can throw the local landlords into a war as they all fight over the position of daimyo. The children could also argue about who will become next in line. However, since Shijimi has no children, and Kyohaku would be the next in line to take on the title, it wouldn't make sense for her to be daimyo for only a few years before she retired herself," Sen-san explained.

"And since I'm her grandson," Naruto began.

"We thought it best if you became the next daimyo," Lord Shijimi said, smiling. "A powerful ninja as the daimyo would make sure to keep the local landlords in order. Not that any of them are out of hand, mind you, but we don't know how their children will be when they take on the position."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, his thoughts in turmoil. He thought there was a lot of what ifs in what they were talking about.

"Well, I'm flattered and all-"

"We'll talk about it more later," Kyohaku said quickly, placing her hand lightly on Naruto's wrist and squeezing it gently. Naruto looked into her eyes, to see that she looked slightly panicked and he refrained from flat out refusing. She smiled at him. "My brother likes to throw things out there all at once!" Kyohaku laughed, breaking the slight tension that had filled the room.

"I'm hungry," Sen-san said, rubbing his stomach. "We've been talking for some time. Let's eat!"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto left his family's home after dinner, both his stomach and his head full. After lunch, he and his family hadn't talked any more about their request for him to become daimyo. He had stayed the remainder of the day learning about his family, and then left after a late dinner.

"That was unexpected," Sasuke murmured thoughtfully. Naruto didn’t even need him to clarify that he was talking about the idea of Naruto becoming daimyo.

"No shit," Naruto grumbled. "I could tell my grandmother didn't want anybody to approach me about it just yet though."

"I wonder when they'll expect you to become daimyo," Sasuke said thoughtfully. Naruto snorted.

"I don't want to be daimyo. Daimyo's have a lot of paperwork and stuff to do. I want to become Hokage!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Sasuke slapped his forehead, making Naruto growl at Sasuke as Naruto rubbed his forehead.

"Idiot. Becoming Hokage means lots of paperwork to do too," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, but it's different. I doubt I'll get to do missions being a daimyo. I'm a ninja. I need to be out there protecting Konoha," Naruto explained as he jumped from one rooftop to the next. Sasuke was going to argue the point further that he didn't think that his family would let Naruto not become daimyo. Sasuke did his best not to mentally sigh lest he give his doubts away. He didn't think that Naruto realized that his family hadn't been asking him. Naruto was unaware of the workings of powerful families. Sasuke had been raised in a very well to do clan, and he knew some of the politics behind what went on, and he had made connections he was sure that Naruto hadn't.

If Kyohaku was the second eldest, by default, she should be the next daimyo if the lineage went solely by age succession. Therefore her young grandson could not escape the duties. It was his heritage, one that he would have to fulfill sooner rather than later.

Sasuke knew that there had been a policy instituted in Konoha that the daimyo had to retire at the age of sixty in order to get new leadership and policies changed within Konoha. It also helped the Hokage, the higher "ruler" of Konoha, to be more powerful. If what Naruto had told him was true, Kyohaku was 57, which meant that her brother was nearing 60. Which meant that they needed a new daimyo - and soon. And whether she liked it or not, Kyohaku would be daimyo until she turned 60 years old, and then Naruto would be the next daimyo by default.

"This day has felt so long," Naruto said, yawning. "I'm going to bed." Sasuke watched as Naruto’s "soul form" stretched. Naruto's spirit self suddenly began to look fuzzy to Sasuke as Naruto’s eyes began to droop. Naruto proceeded to slip into his pajamas and then slip under his covers. "'Night Sasuke," Naruto murmured.

Something that Sasuke hadn't thought about all day since that morning popped back into Sasuke's head as Naruto's spirit form became even fuzzier.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. The next thing Sasuke knew, he was looking at Naruto's pillow, once again "in control" of Naruto's body. "Naruto," Sasuke hissed, this time, his voice coming out sounding like Naruto's. Sasuke looked over at the clock on Naruto's bed, noting that it was just a little after 9:00 in the evening. 9:00! That was early, especially for Naruto. He flung the covers off of himself. "Wake up!" Sasuke said again. He really wanted to talk to Naruto, but he didn't know how to reach Naruto's unconscious self while he was sleeping.

After wiggling around, yelling at himself, closing his eyes and concentrating on trying to find Naruto’s soul, hitting himself – or rather, Naruto’s self – on the head to see if Naruto would once again take control of his body, Sasuke conceded that Naruto’s soul was at rest for the night. Sasuke sighed. What was he to do in Naruto’s body until Naruto woke up? As far as he knew, he didn’t need to go to sleep. He decided he would use the time to enjoy the freedom of once again being elsewhere than Naruto’s conscious.

Sasuke got out of Naruto's bed, tentatively feeling Naruto's body and how different it felt to be inside of Naruto. Last night he had hardly moved let alone gotten out of bed because he had honestly been scared that he might have pushed Naruto's soul out of his body, and taken it over like Orochimaru had done to his victims. Sasuke had been so relieved the next morning when Naruto had woken up and Sasuke hadn’t pushed his soul out (though he wasn't going to ever tell that to Naruto because he had felt so foolish for thinking about it in the first place). But tonight, he knew for sure Naruto would "come back." So Sasuke decided to do a little exploring, not at all hesitant to use Naruto’s body in any way he saw fit.

The first thing he noticed was that Naruto smelled rather foul. He wasn't sure when Naruto had showered last, but he figured Naruto wouldn't mind if Sasuke gave him one. Sasuke slipped out of Naruto's pajamas and headed to the bathroom. It was quite an experience. While Sasuke had had to pretend to become others in henge form before, he had always still been distinctly Sasuke. He looked at himself in the mirror, watching his own expression on Naruto's face. Sasuke smirked in the mirror, finding that he liked Naruto looking serious back at him.

Sasuke got in the shower, blushing as he remembered the first time that he and Naruto had fooled around (when Naruto had been fully awake anyway) had been in here. Sasuke turned on the shower, remembering everything that had happened.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto and pushed him roughly into the shower.

Sasuke turned on the shower and grabbed the soap, feeling a very similar sensation as Naruto's body reacted to Sasuke's thoughts as Sasuke recalled some of his favorite intimate experiences with Naruto.

The grinding was much harder, much more intense than the slow experimentation on Naruto’s living room floor. Naruto took the opportunity to try and push Sasuke back, but Sasuke's grip was unyielding, holding Naruto's arms down at his sides and grinding against him.

Sasuke began to moan as he explored Naruto's body, feeling heated as he began to pump himself with Naruto's hand. It was a strangely erotic feeling as he controlled Naruto's body to pleasure himself. The warm water felt good as he imagined it was Naruto was who touching him so intimately - which was very easy to do since Sasuke was using Naruto's own hand. Sasuke licked his lips, relishing in the way it felt to control Naruto's tongue as he ran it slowly across pink lips. He could vividly remember the way that Naruto's mouth felt on his body, wishing he could feel it again now, especially on his lower region.

"Mmmmmmm," Naruto hummed, making Sasuke's penis jerk happily inside of Naruto's mouth at the wonderful vibrations, followed by Naruto snaking his hands up and gripping both of Sasuke's butt cheeks hard, pushing himself forward onto Sasuke's cock.

"Nnn," Sasuke moaned, becoming even more aroused at hearing Naruto's voice - even though it was coming from his own body as more and more erotic images assaulted his mind.

"Naruto," Sasuke moaned, finding himself lost within Naruto. The friction, kami-sama, how the friction made him hot. He gripped Naruto's shoulders and drove himself deeper, Naruto making delicious noises beneath him. Sasuke leaned his chest against Naruto's back and moved his hands so they were grabbing Naruto's biceps as he found a way to drive himself as deep as possible inside Naruto’s tight and heated body. Sasuke began leaving love bites along Naruto's neck and shoulder, kissing and biting through the orange fabric Sasuke wished he had thought to remove before jumping Naruto.

"Naruto," Sasuke mouthed wordlessly as he recalled the time that Naruto and he had had nearly endless, rough sex, both of them fighting for dominance. He remembered the way they had fought to be on top, the way that Sasuke wanted to put Naruto in his place, only to realize being beneath Naruto felt so damn hot too.

As his panting became heavier, Sasuke grasped at the bathtub wall with his free hand. He imagined he was back in his own body, imagined that it was indeed his hand on Naruto, pumping at him, thrusting into him from behind. Imagined Naruto’s body pressed against his, the water pouring over both of them, his heated skin touching Naruto’s -

"Naruto!" Sasuke panted as he came -

And in a rush, Sasuke felt as though he was being sucked backwards as he found himself once more inside of the soul realm.

"Sasuke," Naruto said breathlessly, and Sasuke watched as Naruto's spirit self became clearer to him. Naruto was panting heavily, his eyes looking groggy. "Were you masturbating while in control of my body?" Naruto asked him incredulously, still panting slightly.

"Well if it wasn't me, then you were sleep-masturbating," Sasuke snapped. His emotions were still in a whirl from being assaulted with such intimate images of his and Naruto's passed. He had tried so many things to wake up Naruto, and Naruto had woken up when Sasuke had been thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Bastard. Still enjoy molesting me while I sleep I see," Naruto grumbled. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "I can feel you smirking!" Naruto said. Sasuke's smirk only grew.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto awoke the next morning feeling extremely comfortable and somehow sated. His entire body felt warm and rested as he lay nestled snuggly in his covers, his brain slowly forming memories from the night before. Naruto had been slightly shocked to wake up in the shower as he began to orgasm. Naruto almost chuckled. Sasuke had actually used his body to jerk off, and he wasn't sure if he was more amused or more annoyed at the fact that Sasuke was still molesting him while he slept. Naruto realized that Sasuke probably wanted time to "move around freely" while "in control" of Naruto's body, so Naruto had decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and tell Sasuke he was not comfortable with the idea of Sasuke being out and about in Konoha as him while he was unaware of what was going on. All he asked was one: Sasuke didn’t do something stupid, two: not to jerk off again without warning him (or at least coming up with a way so he'd enjoy it), and three: to return "their" body back to Naruto's bed so that Naruto wasn’t shocked if he woke up on a rooftop or something.

Naruto yawned widely and scratched behind his ear - before stopping dead mid-motion.

"I wondered when you were going to figure out something was wrong with your body again," Sasuke's voice said, and Naruto could feel Sasuke rubbing his temple.

"I have fox ears again, don't I?" Naruto asked.

"That's not the worst of it," Sasuke said, sighing. Naruto's body stiffened as he began to realize just how his body felt and realized what his body was feeling. It wasn't blankets that he was snuggled in. It was tails.

Nine fluffy red-tails with black tips to be exact.

"At least you don't have paws," Sasuke supplied. Naruto nearly growled. Yesterday Sasuke had said "At least you don't have a tail," and today he had woken up with NINE of them.

"Shut-up, Sasuke. Just shut-up."

Next Chapter: Teammate or Snake?

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought. ~ Jelp