One Week After the End

The sun sets on a terrible, wonderful day, making fiery halos around statues of men who started this all. Men unable to escape the fate carved into their very souls. 

Naruto’s hands have found their way under Sasuke’s shirt, locked in an embrace neither is willing or able to escape. The scars on Sasuke’s back are unfamiliar, proof of years apart written into skin. It breaks Naruto’s heart just a little more. 

Inexperienced and eager, they give each other room to breathe. Naruto looks at everything. Sasuke’s lips, the faint blush on his cheeks, the secret light in his eyes, the furrow of his brow. It’s surreal, being this close without hurting each other. The distance was always more painful. 

A bird falls noisily out of a nearby tree, dead or drawn into its own flighty dream, and Naruto is reminded that he and Sasuke are unfortunately not alone in this world. 

“Sakura,” he says. 

Sasuke frowns, which Naruto finds ridiculously charming. “Who cares about her?”

“No, I mean, she’ll come looking for us. With Kakashi.”

“And you don't want them to find us?"

"Not yet."

Sasuke tries summoning a hawk but all he gets is a feather and a headache. Naruto does better, sinking into unnatural stillness as he draws in natural energy. The world slips further into darkness and his eyes snap open, meeting Sasuke's. He's close enough to touch.

"You look like you're wearing makeup," Sasuke says.

"No time for flirting," Naruto replies, biting his thumb and flashing through signs. "They're almost here. What kind of weakass genjutsu did you use?"

Sasuke's indignant spluttering is drowned out by the smoky arrival of a small red toad. Resigned to his fate, the toad opens his mouth. Naruto grabs Sasuke's hand, briefly amazed he's allowed to do that now, and climbs into the toad.

"This is disgusting," Sasuke says, wiping slime from his skin. It's useless. He gets covered again once the toad starts to move, hopping into the river and swimming with its chilly current. Naruto laughs and latches onto Sasuke, fixing himself to the toad's gut with chakra, the glow of his power lighting up the muggy chamber.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asks, holding Naruto just as tightly.

Naruto thinks about kissing him, but doubts Sasuke would appreciate the added toad juices. "My apartment, for now. I haven't slept in days."

Sasuke hums, but doesn't object, which amounts to an enthusiastic endorsement of the plan.

Sticky and nauseated, they disembark at Konoha’s gates. The roots of the divine tree have spread here, invasive vines wrapped around all that is living. Buildings crumble under the weight of the tree’s fruit, pale sacs enveloping around people and animals alike. They walk carefully around each cocoon, unnerved by the silence and the ominous pulse of the branches. Naruto draws Sasuke through the outskirts of the village, the poor parts of town ironically spared from the desperate crater Nagato made. The apartments, already run down from years of neglect, buckle under the added weight. Naruto’s building is strangely unaffected. 

“Why is that?” Sasuke asks. 

“No one wanted to live near me,” Naruto replies. They let the matter drop. 

Naruto doesn’t have the grace to be embarrassed once they get inside, once Sasuke sees the proximity of an old photo and a defaced hitai-ate to Naruto’s bed.

“Since I won, I’m taking a shower first,” Naruto says. “Wanna put on water for ramen?”

“You didn’t win, and don’t order me around,” Sasuke says while walking to the small kitchen and filling a kettle. The stove hisses to life, and Naruto smirks as he turns on the taps. 

Once they’re showered and changed into old but thankfully clean clothes, they sit across from each other and make eye contact through rising steam.

“These are limited edition,” Naruto says, gesturing to the cups of ramen.

“Like I care about that,” Sasuke says, crossing his arms. 

Naruto scratches the back of his head, heat rising to his cheeks. “No, it’s just that I was saving it for a special occasion. So, now’s a good time. The best time!”

Sasuke snorts, but reaches a hand across the table to lace fingers with Naruto’s own. Three agonizing minutes pass as Naruto resists Sasuke’s gravitational pull. The incessant urge to find him, chase him, save him, has been refined to simply being near him. Some bizarre combination of fighting for their lives, fighting godlike beings, a moon dyed blood red, running away inside a toad, has led them to this place, this time, to a willingness to show each other affection denied to them by the circumstances of their lives. It’s overwhelming, and Naruto reluctantly pulls his hand away to break apart his chopsticks. 

“What was it like?” Naruto asks, trying his best not to slurp. “Living in Otogakure or whatever.”

For a moment, Sasuke doesn’t respond. Naruto has always been attuned to the silences, the small gestures that spoke louder than any words, but it’s been years. There are things they don’t know about each other, things they have done, things Naruto is desperate to learn. It’s the most remarkable thing in the world, getting to know Sasuke again. 

“It was dark,” he says. “It wasn’t…I trained a lot. That’s pretty much all I did. The training areas were far away from…from the labs.”

“The experiments?” Naruto asks. “I know what kind of stuff he did, Ero-sen—Jiraiya told me about it. Did you—”

“No,” Sasuke says. “I wasn’t involved in any of that. That’s not what I was wanted for.”

“You know,” Naruto says, recognizing the dour mood that threatens to over take them, “Orochimaru was kind of like your fangirls.”

The stunned look on Sasuke’s face makes his anger all the more worth it.

“What the hell? Don’t say shit like that!”

Naruto laughs. “I’m sorry! Don’t take it so seriously, I didn’t mean it like that. But…did he?”

“No,” Sasuke says bluntly. Naruto knows better than to push, even as his stomach churns at the thought. 

“I’ll kill him for you,” Naruto declares. Even though he’s never killed before, never wanted to kill anyone. Not Nagato, who killed half of Konoha. Not Obito, who killed his parents. Not Danzo, who killed Sasuke’s entire clan. But for Sasuke? He would do it. 

“I already killed him once,” Sasuke says, stirring the remnants of his meal. 

“Yeah, well, I want a turn. He won’t even put up a fight, considering.”

“Mm.”

“Speaking of which, should we release them now?” Naruto forms the proper seal, looking at Sasuke expectantly. To his surprise, Sasuke immediately grabs his hands, blocking the seal. “Sasuke? What is it?”

“I’ve been thinking,” Sasuke says, not taking his hand away. Naruto can’t help but stare at it. “This is the perfect opportunity.”

“Opportunity for what?” His stomach rumbles uneasily, and his thoughts briefly go to ramen. 

“Villages and clans closely guard their secrets,” Sasuke says, giving Naruto a significant look. He knows where this is going.

“And there’s no one guarding them now,” Naruto says. “But there’s still traps and barriers, and actually finding stuff.”

Sasuke waves his concerns away. “We can use shadow clones to go faster. There is never going to be another chance like this, Naruto. Konoha isn’t the only corrupt village.”

Naruto sighs and stands up, tugging Sasuke’s hand and leading him to his bedroom. “How long can people go without water? Like, Obito didn’t mention how long people could survive in those things.”

“A few days,” Sasuke says. “But it’s possible they could go for longer given the situation.”

“Yeah, if everyone died in a week the whole eternal dream thing would be kinda pointless. So,” he says, stopping in front of his bed. “Uh, I could sleep on the floor I guess? Sorry my place sucks.”

For an answer, Sasuke slips an arm around Naruto’s waist. He wonders if he’s in a dream after all. 

"Hold on, you can use shadow clones?"

When they wake up in the middle of the night, one asks, "Did you ever think about me?"

The other replies, "Always."