The Little Things

Chapter 7 – these are signs of life
Days rolled over and nights fell into place between them as they moved towards the sea, over mountains towards sands that touched fierce waters. The pace was fast, the company still and stilted, pointed silences the beat to which they marched.

The first signs of life came a brief moment in the shape of a meadow nestled in the midst of an ancient forest. A forest so shot through with old age that it hummed with it, the pine clean and mint with the support of millennia. The meadow spoke of mystical meetings done in secret under cover of night, when only stars witnessed behind veils of cloud.

In the middle were eight markers set into the ground, chiseled obsidian letters shone out. They read the words in panic, neither daring to speak. For a village trying to get lost, these were obvious markers. Their minds folded over the conclusion that Konoha must be alive and safe somewhere with everyone they knew and loved, because they didn’t have a marker right here and now. That Konoha must be close by, and yet far away.

They didn’t spare time to mourn over the fallen. They didn’t recognize the names. They weren’t shinobi. And even as part of Konoha, it didn’t count for anything with them if you weren’t a shinobi. Naruto lifted, tiptoeing, his nose tasting the air. The smell of sea came to him, drifting in lazy clouds over them. He lifted a hand and gestured towards the sea.

They stepped from the meadow into more forest, the never-ending forest which curled around them, held them in its protective grasp. The stillness of the trees set them on edge, the light that suddenly erupted ahead of them as they exited the forest for the last time and came on a large stretch of land devastated. Trees that had names and histories had been chopped down, leaving their roots bared to the sky.

“Ships. Fucking ships. I should have guessed Tsunade would do something like this.” Naruto ground out, the lightness of the fox urging away from the expanse of water.

Away from the damp cover of life and leaves, away from the hold of mother earth and matrix soil they stood bared in the rising dawn at the beach, the wind whipping sand and salt into their faces. If Naruto concentrated just a little, rose that little higher into the air on his toes, if he forced away his current location and focused the sensation of sand into his mind he could almost conjure up a living body of Gaara. His eyes closed for a brief moment, taking the risk of vulnerability to feel alive and here. The sun rose behind him, he could feel the gloss of its heat fall over him.

“Island.” Sasuke’s voice whispered. Naruto cracked open, slitting his eyes at Sasuke who stoically stood, hands loose at his sides but ready to strike. The balance was shifting again, and he adjusted accordingly. Blue eyes flickered to the horizon, to the left where an island jutted out proudly from the depths of the ocean.

“Fuck.” Naruto was in bad temper. Sasuke turned to face the ocean, making derogatory comments about leaving an obvious trail.

”It doesn’t matter. A demon doesn’t really want to go all the way out there just to kill people. They are quite happy to control a huge chunk of continent and hunt game all day.” Naruto commented, turning back inland. The forest tugged at him, trying to garner a smile. It lost, the line in his face set into a grim tone.

A few days later, stripped down to trousers rolled up to their knees, they paddled the boat-thing out to the open sea. It was a calm day, the strapped logs sat in the water comfortably. The empty bottles secured underneath it kept it up. Naruto had gone back to get them from the last village while Sasuke chopped trees with chakra.

Even as they worked, Naruto couldn’t quite concentrate. He was excited at the prospect of seeing everyone again, but he couldn’t help wonder how Gaara was faring. If his village was okay, even if he didn’t care. He understood Gaara, more than Sasuke. It made sense, he had spent so much time with Gaara and they had fought together so easily, making it look like a show in which they danced through forests and open fields, sands threatening and fires burning.

With irritation he pushed down the residual fear of water left by the great fox. He didn’t know why it even played on his mind, he was strong enough to swim to the island. The wetness on his thighs played on his mind, and still, instinctually he shied away from it, clambering onto the boat. The silence between them was grating on his mind like a wet saw that refused to give up. Naruto crouched down on the back of the boat, making himself comfortable while Sasuke sat down at the front. Dawn had long graced them, now the sun shone down on them at an angle, yet to reach its apex.

He let his hands dangle in the water, his trousers drying in the air and sunshine while he pushed chakra through his hands in short gasps that propelled the boat forward. He would demand some help, just to make it fair and share the burden, but he could imagine the look of disdain Sasuke would give him. Naruto snickered then, audibly. Sasuke probably didn’t have the strength or stamina to power the boat.

It was a calm and peaceful day, and the sun gently warmed their bodies, giving them a chance to rest for the first time since they had left Konoha.

“What are we going to do, Naruto?” Sasuke called back, having to shout over the rush of water. His voice had strengthened with usage, and yet it sounded alien in his mouth. Then again, they both sounded different, voices having broken while they were both gone from each other. Just another sign that they had changed too much to reconcile the differences.

“Hope they welcome us.” Naruto shrugged out. If they tried to lock him up because of the tails he’d be pissed off. “We’ll creep in and go straight to Tsunade.” He paused in his thoughts. “We? Suddenly we?” he bit out, fangs glinting wet white in the light.

“I’ve been gone for 5 years, should be a missing-nin…. You know what I mean.”

“I know that Tsunade is going to kick your ass. But ‘we’ implies we’re going to help each other. Are we?” Naruto dug back to the original question.

“It makes sense, right?” Sasuke said, as if it explained all and was a perfectly good answer. Naruto took it anyway, because behind all the semantics, it was a promise to help each other. Escape if necessary.

“Fine. We’ll take our cue from their actions, run if necessary and hide. Together.”

Sasuke grunted an affirmative, then asked, “Can you do something about those tails?” the tails twitched. Short of pulling them out, there was nothing he could do about it. Or wanted to do about it. It had hurt so much for them to come, but in the middle of a battle you never really notice those kinds of things, and the pain at the base of his spine had been a dull throb for many weeks before it disappeared.

“Pretend they are part of my costume?” Naruto lamely quipped, giving a short bark of laughter that faded into the uncomfortable silence.

“We’ll go in when night falls.”

“Because going in during daytime was what we had planned all along.” The sardonic reply made Sasuke smirk, but neither really noticed it. The coastline beckoned, and Sasuke swept it with his eyes, looking for any guards. He didn’t seriously expect to see any guards, that would mean Konoha had slackened and he doubted Tsunade would allow it.

“Just checking, dobe.” The name rolled off his lips, a reminder of time lost and long passed. There was a split second of silence, too long and too much, making him wonder if this was still too new and too bitter.

“Whatever, teme.” The reply finally came, but Sasuke noted how the deep voice didn’t match the enraged scream of a younger Naruto. He stared at the island, growing moment by moment.

“Another half hour and we’ll land at the beach.”

They stashed the boat under thick dense brush, making their way up the mountain range. It would make sense for the new Konoha to be on the other side of the mountain, down in the valley where there might be a river. Either way, the land is more fertile there, the foam of soil thick with nutrients that could support two harvests a year. They trekked down the side of the hill, avoiding guards, catching glimpses of a town under furious construction through the canopy of trees. The climate was like the one they had left, but warmer, hotter, more humid. And yet the sea breeze kept it at a bearable temperature. It didn’t smell of Konoha, and it never would.

Sasuke wondered where his riches, his land and heritage was now. If it hadn’t been taken from him. The thought suddenly panicked him. He didn’t have the focus of Itachi to concentrate his energies in anymore.

Naruto sported a grim smile. To him, it was Konoha rearranged. The reached the edge of the jungle-forest and looked towards the new gates that framed and contained a village under construction. They circled it, taking it in from all sides, estimating the location of Tsunade’s office. Under the cover of night they’d be able to find it, no matter what.

They settled back into the forest, climbing up a dense tree for cover. Naruto dangled his feet idly, looking back towards the village. A part of him was tense, wondering what would happen next, almost sick with anticipation as the acid snaked its way up his throat, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten properly for days. Sasuke was on another branch, suddenly feeling unimaginably alone.

“The land…” he whispered, “how do you think they’ve given it away?” there was an anxiety in his voice. There was a gap in his consciousness, the one that had demanded he kill Itachi for the sake of his clan, in honour of it. Protecting the dead as best as he could. Naruto savoured the moment. He leant up towards the other man, giving him a light smile.

“Don’t worry baby, you can live with me.” He laughed, winking suggestively at Sasuke who glared at him. And yet Naruto’s muted hoarse laugh fled through his system, bringing up the heat of bruising kisses against his lips.

“No thanks, you have bad habits.”

“Ouch.”

“I saw the Uchiha Estate in Konoha, but I never took a good look at it. They haven’t done anything to it, right?”

“Don’t worry. In the old Konoha your land was all intact and in your name. How things are now… well, it depends.”

“Hmm.”

They let the time fall over them until the night drew over them like a shadow, thick and cloying, hidden in the depths they advanced on the fortifications. They jumped the fences, wary of watchtowers and cycling guards. They passed into the town with no problems, fading like ghosts into the woodwork. The town was wild and full of the dust of construction. As he watched a tiny furl of dust curl into the midnight air, almost opaque, Naruto thought of Gaara. A tiny movement to the left of him made him draw back into the shadows, stilling Sasuke who was behind him.

The shadow moved on, not having heard them. A smile quirked on his lips as they continued to break and enter. He’d have words with Tsunade when they got there. They crept around buildings until they hit the market square. A large brick building stood at the head of the trodden down ground. It had clearly been built to last, and yet an air of temporariness hung around it. Two shinobi stood at the front, chuunin. They looked at them from the depths of the shadows, trying to decide if they recognized them.

They fled back into the surrounding buildings, working their way up to the building from the back, circling, assessing, finding the weak point. An open shot could not be found. The building was too new, and therefore a brick building with two windows and an open door really didn’t leave them too many open points.

“Okay, new plan.” Naruto whispered furiously. “We rush the front under cover of a few genjutsu and hope no one notices us until we’re under Tsunade’s protection.”

“Mine or yours?” Sasuke asked, assessing the situation by sweeping them with a Sharingan glance, calculating possibilities.

“I hate to say it, but yours have always been more effective.” Naruto grinned, adrenalin rushing through him.

“Thanks.”

“You first.” Sasuke swapped with Naruto, taking point.

“Count to five, then follow me.” He whispered.

“Trust me, you’ll need ten, otherwise I’ll run you down.” Sasuke sighed.

“Sure.” Sasuke prepared himself to sprint around the corner and up, hands linked ready to start the seals for his favourite genjutsu.

“See you inside.” Naruto called, watching Sasuke take off. He counted down steadily, the old kunai-technique guiding him. The blood in his veins pounded, rushing around his ears. He sprang into action, rushing down the pavement and into the building noting dimly the chuunin who stood frozen, captured in the illusion Sasuke had spun. He had always been very good at those. His had been too dramatic, without any of the proper symbolism, too charged with chakra. Sasuke had the sophistication for such work.

Sasuke was waiting for him in front of the second set of doors that lead to the Hokage’s room. He gave him a questioning look, clearly wondering what had taken him so long.

“Come off it. Let’s go.” He stalked through the doors, belatedly noticing the desks that had been in the other room. He was too tightly sprung, waiting to get in. But it had been worth it. A sleeping Tsunade woke suddenly, eyes narrowing as she came to in a world where two ghosts she had thought long lost had come to life. “Hello Tsunade-sama.” Sasuke bent stiffly at his side. Her eyes narrowed, and Naruto wondered if this was good or bad or possibly worse.

“Who are you?”

“Uchiha Sasuke on my left, last member of the Uchiha Clan of Konoha, and I am Uzumaki Naruto. Come on Tsunade, we are not illusions. We are real, hungry, kind of worried you’re going to throw us in jail….” Naruto blathered on, anxiety setting in when faced with her. He hadn’t seen her in over a year. “Gaara was nice and might be coming here. Oh, and don’t sign me up for anymore missions, because I’m really tired and want to sleep for the next five years.”

“Shut up Naruto.” Sasuke ground out. He focused on Tsunade, who now stood, fists clenched. “We are who we say we are. We don’t intend to do anything, but if we are harmed we will fight back with all of our strength. Can we stay?”

“One loud, the other arrogant. I suppose all those years away really haven’t changed either of you. Where did you get those tails, and your hair is so long now…. You’ve both grown.” A smile settled on her face as she spoke, but adopted a grimmer line as she continued. “You’re both going to be under arrest until all of this is sorted out and you’ve explained yourselves to the council.” She held up her hand to stall any arguments. “I’m sorry, but it has to be done properly, even though I know my boys and know you’ve done nothing wrong.” She motioned for them to sit.

“You haven’t aged at all, baa-chan.”

“Yeah yeah. Welcome home, kids.”

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