Saffron

Arranged marriage. That’s the punishment they’ve reached at. Sasuke will be reinstated into the village with all counts cleared, as the head of the Uchiha clan of Konoha when he takes a wife from one of the other clans. That would serve to build roots with the village and sufficiently restrict his autonomy when it came to pursuing his murderous intentions. Naruto's sitting in the council room with Kakashi, Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru, completely baffled at how Kaka-sensei had allowed this to happen.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Kakashi explains severely, grabbing Naruto's shoulders to placate him, “You know Sasuke couldn’t just be let off scot free. We needed some kind of punishment for his actions, and the clan elders thought this was the best decision. In my opinion, just marriage is getting off lightly compared to the number of countries that want him in prison.” He finishes soothingly, mentally bracing for some resistance. He knows Naruto would rather eat his remaining arm. Not disappointing him, Naruto’s face turns interesting shades of red until he finally bursts, “This is ridiculous! I can’t believe you of all people agreed to this. What is the difference between this and what Danzo and the council members did? We’re still fucking controlling Sasuke’s life! Why are the elders so obsessed with the Uchiha?”

Naruto looks so offended on behalf of Sasuke that Kakashi almost feels guilty about it. It wasn’t a decision he could change on his own. Sometimes the Hokage sure did have limited power. Resisting rolling his eyes, he continues, “The clan elders from the Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Nara and Yamanaka are also pushing for it. You can’t convince all of them Naruto,” Kakashi sighs, resigned. Naruto’s eyes widen, and he throws such a betrayed look at the others, none of them quite meet his eyes.

Shikamaru speaks up after a moment, “Look Naruto, this is doesn’t have to be such a bad thing. Eventually, Sasuke has to rebuild his clan, so he would have needed to marry anyways.” Naruto opens his mouth to argue but he can’t refute that logic. “It should still be Sasuke’s decision when and if he wants to marry -Who he wants to marry!” he snaps, frustratedly running his hand through his hair. “Sasuke-kun will have full choice in choosing who he wants to marry. We won’t interfere in that.” Ino says stepping in.

Naruto turns to look at Sakura for some support, but he's greeted by hesitation on her face instead. Shock courses through him. How could she even consider this! “Sakura-chan! Even you? I expected at least you to be on my side.” Sakura gazes uneasily from Kakashi to Naruto, “Maybe, this could be good for him Naruto. If Sasuke-kun gets married, he’ll stay in the village more so you should be happy too.” She has that half-hopeful look on her face where he's not sure she's trying to convince him or herself. Technically, Naruto knows he should be happy about Sasuke staying in Konoha but there's just this restlessness pounding in his chest. He wants Sasuke to stay in the village. Or does he? Sasuke will never be happy here. Naruto frowns, he won’t win here if everyone has already agreed to it. Well, stubbornness is still his middle name. He declares, jaw set, "If Sasuke is fine with it, only then it’s going to happen.”

                                                                                                                ***

Sasuke is standing in Kakashi’s office with Naruto. Naruto’s been throwing Kakashi mean looks the whole of the five minutes they’ve been there and Kakashi is determinedly not looking at him. Starting to get impatient, he raises an eyebrow at them. Kakashi clears his throat. Naruto crosses his arms beside him continuing to glare at the man in front of him. The Sixth Hokage looks at him intently and begins, tone grave, “The council thinks you should get married, Sasuke.” Sasuke doesn’t react except for a slight tension in his shoulders, visible only to the most trained eyes, but Naruto has a lot of experience in observing Sasuke. Kakashi continues, “Right now, we think it’s the best way to integrate you back into Konoha and some of the older clans feel having you settle down with someone from one of the clans would make you less likely to turn on them in future.”

Sasuke can’t say he is surprised. Truthfully he had expected to spend some time in prison or even be kicked out of the village, but he knows Naruto would sooner stop eating ramen. The next best solution to control him would have been marriage. At some point of his life, he had thought about it- when he killed Itachi it would be his duty to rebuild the clan. But Itachi had always been so unattainable, a smoke dream that marriage had remained a distant thought, easily forgotten. He honestly hadn’t thought he would ever reach this point. But now that the moment is here, it’s here too soon. It's such an absurd and foreign notion, maybe he'd rather prefer to be in T&I right now.

Beside him Naruto hasn’t stopped looking at him. Righteousness is practically radiating from him in fumes, it almost makes the situation comical. “Sasuke, you don’t need to do this if you don’t want to. Kaka-sensei and I can find a way to convince the elders.” Naruto assures him, looking straight into his eyes, sincerity bleeding from his azure eyes. Sasuke glances at Kakashi to check the truth of that statement, the man just shakes his head. “What happens if I refuse?” he tilts his head, voicing the question that all of them were thinking. It hangs in the air, obvious that Sasuke doesn’t have a choice in the matter. “It would be in your best interest to agree.” Kakashi's voice becomes tight, warning him, "A complete trial would be long and your odds would not be great. We have a list prepared, containing some potential candidates. Go through that once. You are encouraged to add any candidates of your own choice too.”

                                                                                                                ***

Naruto has a plan in mind. Of course, like all his plans, it’s half-baked and involves chasing after Sasuke. He pouts- he hasn’t even been able to catch his breath and really spend some time with Sasuke. The fallout from the war had taken up all his time and he knew Sasuke needed some time to process. Now that he finally had enough space on his plate, the council dropped this bomb.

Marriage- Sasuke’s.

He doesn’t know how to feel about this- well except a lot of anger and that compulsive need to do something about it. But there's something hidden, something he’s not quite understanding. Sasuke didn’t give much of a reaction, but Naruto’s 100% sure that Sasuke isn't accepting it without a fight. It’s impossible that he’d dance willingly on the strings of the councilors. So, he’s going to drag Sasuke along to an onsen and force him to talk about it. About anything. Or maybe just to listen to Naruto. That’s probably how it’s going to end up anyways.