A pact of Foliage

After Sakura’s apology, things had been going a lot smoother for team seven. Gone were the tense bickering between the two alphas on the team during missions, although periodically he and Sakura would be caught in a small moment of brief, yet tense posturing.

Kakashi sensei had explained that it was normal for young alphas to get a bit snippy with one another, especially young alphas who were constantly near each other because they were on a team together.

Naruto believed him, because why wouldn’t he?, but still, there was a small, yet dark voice in his mind that was mistrustful of Sakura when she was near Sasuke. During their mission near Suna, he’d often tried to hold himself back from pushing her sleeping bag away from where his and Sasuke’s were placed around the fire, even when he knew there was no reason to.

Sasuke had smacked him over the head for “thinking with his instincts instead of his brain”, but the blonde didn’t really know what that meant, so he ignored the Uchiha in favor of rubbing the spot of his scalp that Sasuke had hit.

The Uzumaki’s cheeks heated up as he thought about how strong of a blow his boyfriend could deliver. No one could blame him for it, of course, because what wasn’t there to admire about Sasuke?

“I spy, with my one visible eye, a blush on Naruto’s face.” Kakashi sensei teased as the team continued their journey back to the village. Sakura had been the one to suggest playing the game, and Sasuke hadn’t disagreed to it, which was as good as the omega saying yes, so they’d been playing it for the last few minutes.

“Aw c’mon Kakashi Sensei! You didn’t have to rat me out like that!” the genin whined, stomping his foot childishly to show the jonin that he meant business.

“I agree with Naruto! That’s not even how you play the game!” Sakura joined in.

She jabbed a finger in their sensei’s direction and stared him down with all the authority of a teenage girl who was determined to win the game. So far, her biggest competitor had been Sasuke, although Naruto thought that the Uchiha was using his sharingan to cheat. … Not that he would ever voice that out loud..

The last time he’d accused Sasuke of it, things had not gone over well.

“Fine. I spy, with my one biological eye, something red.”

“Is it Naruto blushing?” Sasuke finally spoke up. Kakashi nodded his head in glee, clearly happy to have embarrassed his student again.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cried in betrayal, “you’re supposed to be on my side!” The blonde turned swiftly to face the omega but didn’t account for a slight dip in the dirt pathway and tripped. After he crashed, unceremoniously, to the ground, Sasuke just smirked at him and feigned ignorance.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There aren’t any teams in I Spy.” the pale boy said dryly.

The nerve! And after Naruto had been thinking about that stupid bastard and how cool and strong and-NO!

“You only got it right because Kakashi sensei already said the answer! I demand a redo!” he cried. Birds flew from their nests in the surrounding trees, startled by the volume of his voice.

“Don’t be a sore loser Naruto. I’m sure Sasuke would’ve guessed correctly anyway, because your blush was very obvious.” their grey haired sensei added.

“I wasn’t blushing! I-I.. I have a sunburn!”

“No, Sasuke is sunburned,” They all paused to look at Sasuke, who was almost painfully red from head to toe, “you were just blushing.” the jonin fired back.

What had he done to deserve this harassment?! All he’d done for this entire trip was be himself- Wait. Never mind, that was probably why.

“What were you thinking about, hmmm?” Sakura chimed in to tease her teammate.

“Why did you have Rock Lee’s scent on you three days ago?” Sasuke cut in as Kakashi stifled a laugh. Sakura squawked in shocked outrage, and turned to glare at the three of them collectively, but was quickly cut off when a stray tree branch smacked the back of her head.

Naruto liked to think that it was just Sasuke’s subtle way of defending his honor, and not just an easy jab at Sakura, who the omega had taken to calling out on her antics much more frequently.

The sun’s rays caught the sunburned boy’s hair in just the right way as he pushed the unruly sea of black out of his face, causing dark blue-black undertones to shine proudly in the light. It matched his eyes, the alpha thought fondly. His hand, that had been resting in his pocket, found the inky blue rock that he had taken to carrying with him everywhere he went.

It was the same one that he’d found at the lake, all those months ago, when he and Sasuke had still been in their weird phase. The blonde smiled at the memory of him and Sasuke splashing around in the cool water, one of the few times that it hadn’t ended in a fight.

He didn’t know what it was, but Naruto couldn’t get enough of fighting with the omega. It felt electric and addicting, yet at the same time, calm and he got the unshakable feeling of being truly and totally understood in those moments.

“Awe, look, our little Naruto is blushing again.” their sensei gleefully divulged.

“Come on, knock it off already!”

~~~

Night had fallen as the group decided to wind down for the night. They were close to Konoha, but not quite close enough to warrant a journey through the pitch black blanket of the night.

Across from where she was setting up, Sasuke had begun to perform the hand signs for his fire ball jutsu. In small breaths, they’d learned a few missions ago, Sasuke could light a fire without setting everything else in fire along with it.

Sakura sighed as she rolled out her travel pallet. Naruto had been quietly grumbling the past few nights when she put her makeshift bed close to the fire, and consequently, close to Sasuke and Naruto’s pallets, so this time she made sure to keep her distance. It was the least she could do after she’d been such a thorn in everyone’s sides lately.

But even though things were a bit patchy, it was better than the before. Her shoulders didn’t carry the same weight that they once did, and she had Rock Lee, and eventually Ino and Hinata, to thank for getting her to see her mistakes.

“I’ll take first watch.” their sensei decided as he wandered off, probably just wanting some alone time to read his stupid Icha Icha book as he vaguely checked for foreign chakra signatures every once in a while.

“Figures..” she muttered, half jokingly, half exasperated, as it had become a pattern for the grey haired jonin.

“Hey guys,” Naruto spoke up as he finished sharpening his kunai, “do you think it’s weird that we still don’t know what Kakashi sensei is?”

When she and Sasuke didn’t catch on, he gestured to his neck, where his scent gland would be, and it clicked.

“Why are you asking now, of all times?” their omegan teammate asked dryly from where he was perched into a perfectly balanced crouch in front of the newly made fire.

“You guys didn’t notice all the village people in the drop off zone try and scent the air to see what he was?” Naruto questioned.

Sakura had definitely noticed some of the staring and whispers about their sensei, but she chalked it up to how famous the copy ninja was, and hadn’t thought anything of it after that. Now that she thought about it, Kakashi had always dodged their own questions about his designation, when they managed to work up the courage to ask, that is.

“What do you guys think he is?” she wondered aloud. It was hard to picture the man as an alpha or an omega. He was just simply.. Him.

Omegas, she’d been taught growing up, were soft and fragile, to be respected and admired at all costs, as they were the ones that kept careful care of the future generations of the village. Lately, she’d been alerted to a new belief, one that Ino had nearly ripped every strand of pink hair on her head out over in attempts to get the alpha to understand. The Yamanaka heir had described omegas as the heart of society, with the ability to both give and take life, and they were amazingly strong as well.

Kakashi certainly was strong, but she couldn’t picture him ever doing omega things like nesting or having and caring for pups.

… then again, she couldn’t really picture Sasuke doing either of those things too. Though, if the gossip from her mother’s circle of friends was true, Sasuke had taken little Konohamaru Sarutobi under his wing. Maybe Sasuke was more like an omega than she’d ever assumed before..

Alphas were an entirely different spectrum of ‘not Kakashi’. Her sensei was much more level headed and logical than the average alpha- if he was even an alpha. Not to talk badly about her own dynamic or anything, but even she wasn’t stubborn enough to say that alphas didn’t have a tendency to lean more on instinct than anything else, and instinct didn’t necessarily equal logic.

Kakashi, in her opinion, was impossible to guess at.

“I think he’s an alpha!” Naruto jumped up excitedly, as if he’d figured out a puzzle the rest of them hadn’t.

“Why do you say that?” Sasuke asked with a raised brow in his boyfriend’s direction.

It was quiet for a moment as the blonde took a moment to try and formulate what he was going to say, save for the quiet symphonies of the crickets in the surrounding forest and the gentle rustling of tree leaves in the wind.

“Because he’s a ninja and so is Iruka sensei and they’re always around each other and Iruka sensei is an omega! That clearly means they’re in love!”

“Them both being ninja, one of which being an omega, that spend time together doesn’t mean they’re in love.” Sasuke sighed.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, causing the light from the fire to cast funny shadows across his whiskered face. “But.. that’s what happened to you and me?”

Sakura tried and failed to hold in a laugh. She spared a glance in Sasuke’s direction, only to find her teammate’s face carefully shielded by his hair, although judging by the slight twitch of his hand, he was either embarrassed by the other alpha’s words, or was prepared to strangle him if necessary.

It didn’t quite make sense, those two. Sasuke had never been one for affection, whereas Naruto gave it a little too easily. Sasuke watched his words, while Naruto would say just about anything with zero care in the world.

They were an interesting match, she’d give them that, and although a part of her was still confused about how they’d even happened in the first place, she was glad for them. She’d always thought Sasuke seemed impossibly lonely, and life was never a dull moment with Naruto around.

She only wished she’d seen it sooner.

“I think I’m with Sasuke on this one, Naruto. Lots of ninja work together and aren’t in love. Plus, it’s no longer the reign of the second hokage, alphas and alphas and omegas and omegas can be in relationships too, you know.” she spoke up to save Sasuke from whatever embarrassment he was feeling at the blonde idiot’s bluntness.

Same status relationships were something she was still doing her best to see as equal to an alpha and omega relationship, but with Ino and Rock Lee guiding her away from the traditional views of her upbringing, she had full confidence that she would be as open minded as necessary in the future. She just needed to put in the work, and be much more aware of the impact tradition had on their lives.

“.. He could be an omega..” the Uchiha muttered distantly.

~~~

Naruto’s eyes widened at what the omega had suggested. He’d probably just accidentally reminded Sasuke of the struggle he’d faced after he’d presented. No one had even guessed at thinking that the last Uchiha could possibly be an omega. Naruto was ashamed to admit that he, too, had never considered Sasuke’s designation to be anything less than an alpha.

And therein lied the problem. Back then, he’d thought that omegas weren’t on the same level of alphas. Of course, now he was completely disgusted at the idea, but the same couldn’t be said for everyone else.

Of course, Kakashi sensei could also be an omega! He hadn’t meant that the Hatake couldn’t possibly be one because he was such a powerful shinobi, he’d just.. Well, he’d just thought that if their sensei were an omega.. He would have wanted to make team seven a pack..

Not that Naruto had been secretly hoping for someone to suggest it so that they could all be a family or anything.. Noo, not at all.

“Oh yeah! Uh, that too! Yeah, totally, he could be an omega! That-That’s what I meant to say the first time!” he tried to recover, although judging by Sakura’s mouth gaping in amused embarrassment and Sasuke’s suspiciously narrowed eyes, he’d done the exact opposite.

“Oh? How so?” Sasuke drawled, knowing exactly what he was doing and judging from how the omega’s lips softened from their usually hard line, Naruto just knew that the bastard was enjoying his floundering.

When they got back to the village, he was so going to give Konohamaru a key to Sasuke’s apartment so that the brat could annoy him. Call it revenge, call it strategically getting even, either way, Naruto wasn’t gonna let Sasuke win their little chess match so easily.

Two sets of eyes stared at him, although one dark gaze was much heavier than the other. “Uh.. Well-I-” he stammered. Not a second after he cut himself off, did he get an idea. It was genius and smart and convenient and all of the good things that would get him out of this tricky situation.

Dramatically, he hopped in the air to really sell his act. “I-I just remembered that I have to pee!” he shouted and hightailed it into the darkening forest.

Whew. That was a close one.

~~~

The three had continued to suggest evidence that could lead to figuring out what their sensei’s designation was throughout the rest of the trip back to Konoha. Of course, none of them dared to do it while in earshot of the Hatake, so their discussion had been kept to a minimum at best.

As the team had finally passed through the gates of their village, the three genin had broken away from their sensei to discuss their theories in more detail.

“No Naruto, for the last time! Having colorful hair doesn’t mean Kakashi sensei is an alpha!” Sakura whisper shouted.

“But I have colorful hair, and you do too and we’re alphas!” the Uzumaki whined petulantly, sounding oddly like Konohamaru. Speaking of Konohamaru, now that the kid had taken Sasuke’s advice about becoming the strongest ninja in his year, the pup no longer snuck around and followed the two. Not that Sasuke cared or anything… he was glad that there wasn’t some little snot nosed gremlin clinging to him like an ungodly warm octopus… but he kinda missed having the brat around.

“But Ino has blonde hair and she’s an omega!” Sasuke rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s antics and pointedly ignored Sakura’s mutter of “stupid Ino-pig” under her breath.

Honestly, how had he become a ninja when his observation skills were that questionable. His two alpha teammates looked at him oddly, and Sasuke realized that he’d actually spoken at a normal decibel level for a change. Sure, that wasn’t anything to bat an eye at for other people, but for the last Uchiha, it may as well have been a shout.

The omega shrugged and looked away, suddenly shy at being the center of attention, shoving his hands in his pockets as he did so. He used to pride himself on being exceptionally composed, but after being on team seven for half a year, all of his pride and composure had gone out of the window a long time ago.

“Okay, how about this!” Naruto jumped in his place excitedly. Silently, Sasuke and Sakura both visibly steeled themselves for whatever the Uzumaki was about to say. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to know that whatever the alpha was about to say, was going to be.. a bit unique.. to put it lightly.

“We make it a mission! Whoever can find out what Kakashi sensei’s status is, wins!”

Hm, that actually wasn’t terrible.

One look at Sakura, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. Besides, even if they didn’t succeed and figure out Kakashi’s mystery designation, what harm could it be? Wasn’t Kakashi always yapping at them to bond as a team anyway?

Sasuke crossed his arms in interest as he gave the idea some thought while Naruto and Sakura began bickering over how they would determine the rules of the ‘game’.

“Where should we start?” Sasuke interrupted them. He’d just gone on a week long mission and dealt with petty alpha squabbles the entire time, he didn’t need to put up with it while he was back in Konoha.
“Hmm, maybe we should interview the people closest to Kakashi sensei? I’m sure his friends would know, or at least have some idea.” Sakura suggested.

One thing that had changed since the incident at the cafe was that she no longer looked for his approval when they planned things as a team. Instead, she’d begun to seem more comfortable in her own skin, even if her back and forth arguing with Naruto hadn’t quite settled. Kakashi had pulled the Uchiha aside one day, after a very long evening trekking along in the woods, and told him that freshly presented alphas were usually like that.

Sasuke was almost glad that he was an omega. He couldn’t imagine being that embarrassingly pig headed and posturing all of the time, though maybe he would’ve been a rarity and not been so stupid.

“Ooh! Bushy Brow’s sensei! He’s Kakashi sensei’s rival! He should know all about him!” Naruto exclaimed.

How was it that Naruto actually had good ideas and could follow through on leads when it came to pranks and general mischief, but on missions, all rational thought flew out of the window? Sasuke had asked himself that very question many, many times, but the question itself had become much more fond than its initial tone. He could blame his super duper, not at all softening heart for that. At least Naruto’s scent was nice, a thing Sasuke had to keep telling himself each time the alpha had fallen from a tree on their last mission.

“His name is Rock Lee, Naruto!” Sakura snapped in annoyance as she crossed her arms and glared at the Uzumaki.

Interesting. Perhaps that ninjutsu weirdo and she had become better friends than Sasuke had initially assumed.

“Bushy Brow’s sensei is Rock Lee? I thought Rock Lee was Bushy Brows?” Naruto cocked his head to the side in a way that caused his startlingly blue eyes to catch in the sunlight. The Uchiha sighed as he slyly admired the blonde. His idiot could be such an idiot sometimes.

The moment was gone when Sakura decided to punch Naruto in the shoulder, causing the blonde genin to yelp in surprise and hop behind Sasuke for protection.

“Ow Sakura! What’d you do that for?! That hurt!” the Uzumaki shouted from his hunched position behind his stoic boyfriend.

“Ow, Naruto, would you quit it! That’s my ear you’re yelling in!” the omega muttered firmly, even though he secretly appreciated having the blonde’s scent so close to him. They’d, for the most part, kept their distance on missions, even though their annoying scent bond stung if they strayed a bit too far from one another, which meant Sasuke had been deprived of one of the less annoying things in the world: the soothingly sharp fragrance of summertime oranges for about a week.

“Oh,” Naruto took a step back bashfully, “heh, sorry Sasuke.”

Sasuke ignored him in favor of leveling their pink haired teammate a look.

“Bushy Brows is Rock Lee, you numbskull! And stop calling him names!” Sakura huffed, pointedly ignoring Sasuke’s tired glare in favor of readjusting her headband.

“So do we all go talk to Gai, or do we split up and look for information by ourselves, and then meet up later?” Sasuke asked. Instead of removing himself from behind Sasuke, Naruto apparently deemed it wise to start tickling his sides.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully while Sasuke batted Naruto’s mischievous hands away from him, all while Naruto laughed at his embarrassed frustration. Sasuke whispered so lowly that not even Sakura, who was standing only three feet away could hear him, and gripped Naruto’s hands painfully between his own, “Keep that up, and I’m going to introduce your ramen stash to my fire ball jutsu.”

The blonde gasped in horror and leapt away from his boyfriend, which in turn pleased the omega greatly. Naruto may not follow rules particularly well, but for the most part, he listened to Sasuke and heeded his warnings. Apparently, judging by Ino’s omega rights lectures, young alphas weren’t typically so agreeable.

He was lucky to have such an unassuming and relatively harmless boyfriend in Naruto.

“How about we all split up, look for clues, and then meet up later at that ramen place for dinner and compare what we’ve found.” Sakura determined.

It sounded fine to him, and besides, if they didn't find anything, at the very least it was practice for honing their information extracting skills.

“Fine.” Sasuke agreed, only slightly wincing when Naruto shouted his own agreement.

The three parted ways to clean up and drop off their gear at their houses, and then to scout possible informants.

~~~

Naruto found Gai sensei at the lake. It had been an accident really, because after about an hour of trying to locate the jonin instructor, he’d gotten frustrated and decided to take a break by watching the gentle waves of the lake to soothe him.

The older alpha had been balancing his entire body weight on just the pointer finger on his left hand when the Uzumaki had walked up, not that it had really surprised the blonde at this point. That guy was crazy, bushy brows was crazy, Neji was, well, Neji, and the only normal one that he liked was Tenten.

Tenten was great. She’d helped him plan his and Sasuke’s wedding. Although, later, she’d also explained to him that having a crush didn’t mean he had to marry the person he liked, so she was even super helpful!

“Hello, Naruto! Isn’t the weather today ripe with the power of youth?” Gai sensei called out to him.

“Uh, yeah?” the young alpha called back, still not quite sure what the power of youth meant.

“I see you’re back from your mission,” the jonin acknowledged as he cartwheeled into a standing position, “do you know where I could find my eternal rival at?”

It took a moment for the lightbulb to go off in Naruto’s head that the sensei meant Kakashi. It felt weird that his sensei had a rival. He didn’t typically seem to care about most things except for his dumb old porn book and his ninja hounds. How did he ever make the commitment to having a rival to begin with?

A one sided rivalry, like what Gai and Kakashi sensei had, seemed so sad and lonely to him. It made him appreciate his and Sasuke’s rivalry a bit more, because both of them put in the extra effort to try and best the other one. He knew that if he punched Sasuke in the face, Sasuke would punch him back just as hard, if not equally so. He loved it, it was nice, and their rivalry made them both feel a bit needed.

But Gai and Kakashi’s rivalry seemed so lonely by comparison.

“I think he's going over the mission report with grandma Tsunade.” he answered diligently.

The older man seemed to accept the answer and slid down into a sitting position as he gestured for Naruto to do the same. The Uzumaki obliged, curious as to where this interaction was going, and how he would try and fish for information.

“I’ve noticed, Naruto, that you have a good eye for fashion.” Gai said with all the seriousness of a widow at a funeral.

Naruto glanced down at his beautifully constructed orange jumpsuit, complete with fine blue accents, and decorated with strategically placed grass stains and singe marks from accidentally setting his clothes on fire one too many times on his last mission.

“Of course I do! I’m a fashion genius, believe it!” he shouted, pleased with the praise. He never quite figured out why no one else really appreciated how fantastically he dressed. It was odd, in all honesty, but most people were weird, so Naruto had learned to accept that he was just usually the best dressed person in the room.

Gai hummed in agreement before leaning in and whispering, “I’ve only ever met one other pupil that could pull off something so beautifully bright and youthfully obnoxious, and that pupil is my beloved Rock Lee.”

The older alpha paused for dramatic effect before continuing, “but now I believe I’ve found another gem in you, Naruto. And I would be honored if you would wear this.”

He pulled out a bundle of cloth that was too similar to the getup he was wearing for it to not be the same exact tree leaf green jumpsuit and yellowish orange leg warmers that he and Rock Lee wore like a second layer of skin. Tied around it neatly was a thick pink bow, with Naruto’s name printed on a small tag attached to it.

Naruto, for the first time, was speechless.

“Wow! Thank you! I’m gonna look so cool in this!” He screeched with the same level of excitement that Konohamaru had when Sasuke had scented the boy for the first time.

Boy what a sight that had been. To see his Sasuke, er, well, Sasuke be all cuddled around tiny and annoying little Konohamaru had been such an interesting thing for Naruto to witness. He could still recall how weirdly happy the air around the trio felt, that day, and how it had pulled at something within him to wrap himself around the two in a tight hug. Later, when he’d asked Iruka sensei what that weird feeling had been, the instructor had told him that it was probably some weird alpha protectiveness stuff.

Naruto still wasn’t sold on the idea, but who was he to argue with one of his senseis?

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you like it!”

Naruto reached out to grab hold of the gift, but just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was yanked backward and away from him. He looked up at the older alpha with confusion and disbelief written all over his face, but Gai just grinned down at him.

“Ah, Ah, Ah, not so fast. First, you must earn the right to wear this beautiful jumpsuit!” the man laughed.

“Wha-” Naruto began but was interrupted by Might Gai’s muscled hand yanking him up and towards the forest that resided on the other side of the lake.

“Training awaits us, my youthful companion!” The man cried enthusiastically. It was somewhere between a battle cry, and a desperate roar, as if the last three minutes spent not training had been wasted. To a man like him, it probably had felt like hours.

Naruto wailed in surprise as the older man forced the two into a speedy jog. It wasn’t like Naruto had a choice with his hand still firmly stuck in the jonin’s crushing grip. It was either run, and submit himself to the insanity that was the black haired man’s training methods, or refuse to cooperate, and get himself dragged through the mud. Literally.

How on earth was he going to be able to get information on Kakashi’s status now?!

~~~

With Naruto on his quest with Gai sensei, only Sakura and Sasuke were left to figure out what route they wanted to take.

It had been one of the first times they were left alone after the incident at the cafe, and Sakura would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t a bit nervous. Of course, it wasn’t like she was going to do anything, but she still wasn’t sure what her relationship with the omega was.

Sasuke had been cordial at best, and uncaring at the worst, but that was how he always was! He had always been impossible to read, even Kakashi sensei had said so before.

Secretly, she hoped that Sasuke didn’t hate her. If he did, she wouldn’t blame him. After what she’d done, she kinda deserved it. But she was making the effort to change, and would continue to do so, so she hoped at least that Sasuke would appreciate her efforts.

“Do you have any ideas?” She asked him, trying to break the uncomfortable silence as they looked for their sensei.

“Why don’t we just ask him?” Sasuke pondered aloud in his usually dry tone.

She hadn’t thought about that. Had any of them ever asked him directly?

“Do you think he’d answer us seriously?” she countered.

The Uchiha shrugged and continued looking ahead blankly. “Worth a shot.”

And so, they began to walk towards the Hokage tower to wait for the grey haired man’s meeting with lady Tsunade to finish.

~~~

Returning to Konoha was like a breath of fresh air after his last recon mission hunting down the Akatsuki.

Not to mention, there was just something so nice and delicate about the women in the leaf village that Jiraiya just couldn’t find elsewhere.

“Ugh.” he groaned as he stretched his back muscles. The journey was a rough trek, and at his respectable age, it had also been hard on the joints. As soon as he walked into Tsunade’s office, he was definitely going to beg her to heal his aching elbow.

He wondered what Naruto’s team had been up to while he was away. Last time he, Tsunade, and Kakashi had talked, they’d decided to clear the genin squad for missions, but only missions that would have them disguised so that there would be no potential sightings for the Akatsuki to track down Naruto. Hopefully, the kid hadn’t given Kakashi any trouble, but just about anyone with a brain knew that it was just wishful thinking.

That Uzumaki boy sure did have a talent for disrupting plans.

Her office door was closed and guarded by the time he finally made it to the hokage building. “It’s okay, she won’t mind.” he assured the guards, one of whose names was Genma, if he remembered correctly.

“I’m sorry sir, it's lady Tsunade’s orders that no one be let in during her meeting with Kakashi.” The other spoke up dutifully.

Great. He was going to have to pull out the big guns. “While I find your respect for your task very admirable, I’m one of the legendary sanin, I’m one of the reasons this village is even still standing.”

Genma, or at least who he thought was named Genma, sighed and uncrossed his arms. “Whatever you say, boss.”. The nonchalance did not seem to carry over to his partner, who only doubled down. “Sir, I mean no disrespect, but wasn’t Orochimaru also one of the legendary sanin?”

A shock of cold ran itself down his spine, and if he were any younger, more youthfully stupid, he would’ve assumed Naruto had thought it was funny to dump a bucket of ice water on him. But alas, forty something years of dealing with that particular feeling when his old teammate was mentioned had trained that out of him.

The toad sage was too tired to keep himself from getting irritated. “Look, kid, if you don’t let me through, I’ve got a toad summons that would have no problem eating you.” he added a bit of a growl to his tone to let the guy know he wasn’t kidding.

“Eep! Master Jiraiya! You’re back! Come in, Tsunade’s been waiting for you!” Shizune appeared as suddenly as she usually disappeared, right next to Genma, who didn’t seem the least bit caring of the situation. Idly, he wondered if Genma was part of one of the Nara clan branches.

Shizune shouldered the remaining guard out of the way with her own personal brand of weaponized cheeriness and opened the door for the old alpha to enter before her.

Shizune was a good kid, the toad sage surmised. He could definitely see why Tsunade had taken the girl under her wing, even though she had refused nearly every other would-be apprentice.

“Thanks, Shizune.” he tipped his head in thanks before walking into Tsunade’s office. To his surprise, she didn’t follow behind him.

“Ahem, took your sweet time, did you?” Tsunade remarked as Jiraiya plopped himself down into the only vacant chair left near her desk. The large surface of said desk was littered with wobbly stacks of important papers and documents, with a few empty- and some nearly empty- bottles of sake supporting them. It was a mess, and very much the opposite of how a healer’s office would look.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you couldn’t run the village without me, Princess. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.” he winked at her, proud of himself for childishly annoying her when she rolled her eyes. Some things never changed.

“As you were saying, Lady Tsunade?” The Hatake kid cleared his throat, either unimpressed by the two sanin’s exchange, or was entirely too used to similar interactions with his genin. Probably the latter.

“Right,” the blonde omega cleared her throat and sat her bottle of sake down, “about the outcome of the chunin exams.” she paused as she eyed the two men seriously, “The Nara kid, Shikamaru.. I’ve decided that he will be the sole genin that passed the exams. I’m promoting him to the rank of chunin.”

Jiraiya didn’t really care one way or another, but he was a bit surprised that none of Kakashi’s students had made it. Naruto was a powerhouse, he’d even fought against one of the tailed beasts and it’s jinchuriki, Ganda or something, and won.

“Not even Sasuke?” Kakashi choked out in surprise. It was a rare sight to find the copy ninja of the leaf village so caught off guard, and even with only one of the jonin’s eyes uncovered, Jiraiya could picture the utter shock on his face oddly well.

Jiraiya’s attention turned itself onto the tired woman in front of them. She’d leaned back in her chair, as if to brace herself for Kakashi’s questions, but Jiraiya trusted her judgment, even if he was silently a bit disappointed that his student’s son hadn’t succeeded. Minato had been a prodigy like no other, and here his son was, not taking after him at all.

Kushina would have had a field day.

“I’ve decided that Sasuke needs supervision, now more than ever. Promoting him, even if he truly did succeed in the exams, would only grant him more freedom. Jiraiya and myself can attest to it first hand how dangerous freedom is in the wrong hands.”

“But-”

“She’s said her peace, kid, don’t argue with her.” Jiraiya came to the blonde woman’s rescue, “Besides, wouldn’t it be best if we keep him on a tight chain now that he’s presented anyway? I know of a lot of bad things that can happen to omegas that come from powerful clans. I don’t even want to imagine what could happen to the last member, and only living omega, of one of the most famed clans in the world.”

Kakashi bristled beside him, and Jiraiya didn’t blame him. There was an odd sort of protectiveness that a sensei felt for their students. Maybe that was why Tsunade herself rarely ever took on a protege.

“Since we’re already on the subject of Sasuke now, Kakashi, you were told to monitor Naruto and Sasuke while you were on your intelligence mission. How did they perform on the mission while being connected through their scent bond?” Jiraiya added, sensing that if they stayed on the current subject of conversation, they would only lead themselves down a road of ghosts and painful memories.

The masked man shifted beside him, rubbing at his chin in thought as he did so, before cooly replying “They are very attached. I didn’t see anything abnormal for the two of them concerning the actual mission, but they seemed very close. Their sleeping bags were never apart, they walked side by side unless otherwise instructed, if they didn’t have different hair colors, strangers would have thought they were twins.”

That was interesting.

Ever since Old Man Sarutobi had outlawed scent bonding, slowly but surely, most of the knowledge surrounding them had been lost. Only now, about five people in the leaf village knew something about them and their odd properties, and one of them was Jiraiya himself.

The toad sage rubbed at the juncture where his own faded and scarred scent bond was displayed. It was a wound of his that would never heal, and one he was terrified of being inflicted on Naruto as well.

Scent bonds were so dangerous, especially for shinobi, who were actively putting themselves in the worst possible situations every day. Scent bonds were meant to bind a couple together before mating, to make the transition easier, but they were also the most risky thing a person could partake in. Of someone else other than the person that an individual was bonded to mated them, one of the cruelest feelings of torture would overcome the afflicted persons.

Even if that didn’t occur, if a bonded person died before the mating bite could be placed, the scent bond would fade on the living partner, and force the scent of the living to permanently fade into nothingness.

He knew from personal experience how cruel scent bonds could be.

But what he didn’t know was what a prolonged scent bonding could do if the mating bite didn’t occur at all. Especially for someone as young as Naruto or Sasuke. It was unheard of territory.

“And where are we on separating them? The longer we wait, the longer we run the risk of them maturing and something worse happening.” Jiraiya prodded.

It felt like all they’d done was run around in circles on the subject. Tsunade still refused to perform the operation to sever the bond manually for at least another year. He understood why, of course. After all, the younger the person being operated on, the likelier the chances that the outcome would be fatal for that sort of surgery.

“Naruto isn’t some main character in one of your books, Jiraiya! He’s a person, and Sasuke is too!” Tsunade yelled half heartedly in exasperation. With a pale hand rubbing at her temple and her eyes shut tightly in thought, it didn’t take long to figure out that she was having another one of her migraines.

“Yes, they are people. But we cannot deny that these kids are two of the most influential people in the ninja world. Sasuke has ties to the Akatsuki through Itachi, do you seriously think Itachi wouldn’t use the scent bond to his advantage and lure Naruto into a trap? Naruto needs to be trained to control the nine tails and it needs to be sooner, rather than later. He would never leave the village if it meant leaving Sasuke.” Kakashi spoke up in Jiriaya’s favor.

Tsunade sighed and addressed her old teammate, “Is there no way that Sasuke could travel with you while you train Naruto?”

“Naruto needs a clear mind. You and I both know the dangers of having them travel together when they’ve reached the age where heats and ruts are every couple of months. Factor in the fox demon, and we’ve got a recipe for disaster.”

“... I just want the two of you to know that this is the kind of thing that Orochimaru would do. Experimenting on children like this? If this goes wrong, I don’t even want to think about the consequences.”

“So you will go through with the surgery?” Kakashi asked.

“... if my hands are tied, then I must.” she answered.

“How do we break it to Sasuke that his career as a shinobi will be hindered?” Kakashi asked after a pause.

“We could tell him it’s temporary. Just say it’s because of the curse mark and have Anko keep watch over him. With her on the case, we’ll be the first ones to know if there are any Orochimaru related dangers.” Tsunade theorized.

“Tell us about Sasuke. Is there any way we can act on our plans subtly, so that he thinks that these decisions are his own?” Jiraiya mused, turning to the youngest in the room.

His old eyes didn’t miss the way Kakashi faltered. He wore his unease like an ill-fitting shirt, but Jiraiya paid it no mind. He couldn’t blame him, if he’d been in the Hatake’s shoes, he’d feel the same way.

“Sasuke’s goals will be hard to shake. The first time I met him, he made them very clear. He’s vowed to avenge his clan, kill his brother, and then restore his clan.” The masked ninja spoke clinically.

Jiraiya paid no mind to the first part, that all was a given. But the last part? The last part they could work with.

“Restore his clan? That’s interesting. We can work with that.” he mused, scratching his chin in thought as he did so.

“Jiraiya, you’re not suggesting what I think you are-” Tsunade cut in, distaste clear in her tone as she stared him down in a heated match of wills.

The old man leaned forward and uncrossed his arms in exasperation, “What choice do we have? If we can get him to focus more on the “restore clan” side of things, we’d have a decent shot at restricting his ninja duties and keeping a closer eye on him.”

“You’re forgetting the small issue of him being a literal child!” She slammed her hand down on the desk.

“How many omegas do you know of that don’t have a kid by the time they’re sixteen? He’s a kid now, yes, but he won’t be later.”

“Master Jiraiya, that is my student you are talking about. With all due respect, I will not help anyone conspire to trick one of my students into repopulating their clan as soon as they mature.” Kakashi spoke up.

“Look, I’m not saying we definitely do that. I’m just saying that restoring his clan is one of his goals, yes? We need to make him give up the revenge thing so we can handle the Akatsuki and keep him safe from Orochimaru by stunting his growth as a ninja. Maybe pushing him down the more traditional route for an omega wouldn’t be such a bad thing for our plans.”

“Say we do agree to do that, and we manipulate his goals a bit, he’s still scent bonded to Naruto. And, as we are all aware of, Naruto needs to go into hiding and be trained to control the nine tails. We have to split them up, but our plans for Sasuke can’t be followed up on if Naruto isn’t in the village.” Tsunade reasoned against him.

Kakashi hummed, “Not to mention, I can’t imagine a worse idea than Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha having a kid, mixing two of the most powerful and sought after bloodlines, and parenting it while still being teenagers. We want to get the attention off of those two. Do you know how fast news would spread if there was another Uchiha running around?”

“Look, put the kid idea on the back burner. Kakashi, for now, just do your best to steer Sasuke away from his revenge goal. We’ll discuss the… other part of this after we’ve solved what to do with Naruto.” Tsunade decided. She rubbed at her temple again, and Jiraiya selfishly felt relieved that he wasn’t the hokage.

As they sat and debated, Jiraiya couldn’t help being distracted by the cold feeling in his chest. Something big was going to happen, he could feel it. He just needed to make sure everything was turned in their favor.

As it had become a small habit of his, he wondered what Minato would have done in his position.

~~~

It was as if someone had knocked every ounce of air from his lungs as Sasuke gripped onto the sturdy wall beside his hiding spot for support. All of the quiet fears he’d been harboring since the chunin exams were coming true, and the few adults he thought he could actually trust were the very ones making his nightmares a reality. Coming here to spy on Kakashi after he’d split away from Sakura had been a mistake.

Not for the first time, Sasuke had been betrayed.

How could they do this!

Debating among themselves over what to do with him and Naruto as if they weren’t people with their own wishes! And that stupid Jiraiya, who kept blathering on and on about how they needed to keep Naruto’s best interests at heart. As if Sasuke were just some meaningless omega pawn.

But that was what he was, wasn’t it?

The searing words from Itachi’s last tsukuyomi echoed in his mind like a plague that he could never fully be free of. “How can you be a powerful shinobi when all you’ve done is tie yourself to an alpha and get beaten by your sworn enemy?” Those traitorous, cruel words unsettled Sasuke to his very core.

How, after all this time, had Itachi still been able to read him like a book? It wasn’t fair that Itachi was right.

The worst part, even after the blatant disrespect that the hokage and his and Naruto’s respective senseis had shown him, was that he couldn’t even get stronger. There were so many secrets to the sharingan that had been kept from him after the massacre, sealed away in scrolls that the third hokage had refused to ever let him see. Kakashi had already taught him everything he knew about wielding the kekkei genkai, so the man would no longer be able to provide him any sense of a mentorship.

If his growth was being purposefully stunted by the village leaders, how could he ever avenge his clan and kill Itachi?

On shaky legs, and with an even shakier heart, Sasuke made his way out of the building. Where he was going, he didn’t know, but he just knew, with every ounce of what made him him, he couldn’t be there anymore.

“How can you be a powerful shinobi when all you’ve done is tie yourself to an alpha and get beaten by your sworn enemy?” Itachi’s dark, threatening voice reminded him.

Sasuke thought of Naruto, of how the last few weeks had been, objectively, not terrible when it came to dating the alpha. He thought of the scent bond that had been forced upon both of them, but only Sasuke was continuously punished and taunted for.

Orochimaru had used the scent bond against him in the chunin exams, which led to the stupid curse mark that had formed on the other side of his neck. Itachi had used it against him to get into his head. Every once in a while, Kiba or Shikamaru would make a comment about being happy Sasuke had someone to “keep him in line”. Now, his own sensei was conspiring against him because of the damn bond.

“Hey Sasuke! You just get back from your mission?” someone asked him, but who it was didn’t even register in his mind as he made it out of the building and his foot made contact with the dirt pathway leading to the part of Konoha that was more forest than building.

He needed to think, and he needed to do it where no one else could bother him.

~~~

The sun was setting by the time Naruto made it back to their agreed upon rendezvous point.

It had been about three hours since he’d been allowed to pause and catch his breath, so he basked in the small joy as he waited for the others to arrive. Gai sensei’s training was no joke, and it gave him a newfound respect for the sensei’s squad. Not only that, but Rock Lee’s miraculous feats in the chunin exams seemed a bit more believable to the blonde now.

He sat down on a bench nearby and decided to watch the passersby. Families that were heading to Konoha’s residential district to get ready for bed rushed past him. When he was little, he used to try and follow families home, in hopes that one of them would let him stay, but clearly, that had never happened.

Naruto hoped that they were happy, because he knew from experience that being alone was lonely, and he didn’t wish that on anyone.

One of his signature wide smiles forced its way onto his face as he turned his attention to the sky. He wasn’t alone anymore. He had friends, comrades, a team, two senseis- as soon as Pervy Sage got back- and a little brother in Konohamaru.

And Sasuke..

The alpha sighed in contentment. He had Sasuke. His rival, his friend, his brother in arms, his boyfriend. And the best thing was, Sasuke knew just how to chase that loneliness away. And the way he did it was so effortless, he made it look easy.

The smile on his face dimmed a little as a dark thought crossed his mind.

Sasuke had been lonely too, and he didn’t like it one bit.

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind and stretched his sore limbs out in front of him.

At least he’d gotten some intel out of Gai sensei, so his killer training session hadn’t been for nothing. Though, as he looked down at the hard won, beautiful and majestic green jumpsuit that he was wearing, he couldn’t help but get excited. Surely, Sasuke would love his new outfit. It even came with leg warmers! Of course, he’d love it.

“You look like you’ve been through the ringer.” Sakura’s voice caught him off guard from the left.

In his surprise, he jumped and landed with a thud back onto the bench. His aching muscles screamed at him, but he ignored the pain in favor of scooching over and giving his fellow teammate enough room to sit down if she wanted.

Sakura made a point of sniffing the air playfully as she eyed his sweaty attire. “Smell like it too.”

Naruto laughed. It was the kind of laugh that would either make him sound insane, or the opposite, which would make him sound so sane that he finally snapped. Gai sensei’s training was…intense.

“I had to train with Gai sensei for him to spill any information about Kakashi sensei.” he explained after calming down slightly. Laughing that hard had not helped his screaming lungs that had desperately been trying to get oxygen for the last hour.

The other alpha winced in sympathy as she sat down. “Is that why you’re wearing that?” she jabbed one of her fingers in the direction of his brand-new outfit. Her facial features pinched themselves together in disgust as she said it, but Naruto didn’t understand why.

His new outfit was super cool and pretty. Not as good as his regular orange and blue outfit, of course, but nothing could ever come close to comparing to that.

“Yep!” he grinned proudly, “I earned it!”

The two continued chatting as they watched a few more civilians go by. Usually, Sakura would be home by now, helping her mother prepare dinner, but when he’d asked her about it, she’d huffed and crossed her arms at the mention of her mom. Maybe they were arguing again?

About half an hour passed by the time Sasuke showed up.

Having managed to somewhat relax during his time sitting on the bench, Naruto jumped up with a newfound energy to greet his boyfriend, who, by the scent of things, was in a very sour mood.

The acidic fragrance of bitter omega and suffocating smoke filled his lungs as he hopped in front of the Uchiha, causing the alpha to frown. “Sasuke?”

The omega in question settled his eerily black, endless eyes onto the blonde, sending warning bells off in his mind. Was Sasuke okay? Was he not feeling well? Had Neji bothered him again?

“My stomach is not feeling well. I’ll catch up with you later.” Sasuke addressed them, first looking at Sakura, and then leaving a longer, indecipherable gaze for Naruto to try and piece together.

“Are you sure? Do you need medical attention?” The blonde yelped in concern. If Sasuke was sick enough to acknowledge it, then he must have been on death’s door! Sasuke rarely got sick, and when he did, he always pointedly powered through it.

Before he could stop himself, his hand shot out in an attempt to rub Sasuke’s stomach. He’d seen people do the trick before, and apparently, it helped soothe upset stomachs. When he’d been small, and not yet living on his own, one of the old ladies at the orphanage had sworn by its effectiveness. Not that she’d ever rubbed away Naruto’s stomach aches…

The area surrounding the three teammates was still for a long moment, before a sharp sting in Naruto’s hand had him yelping and effectively breaking the silence. Sakura, who’d merely been a spectator, broke out into a fit of giggles as Naruto brought his hand closer to his face to inspect it. Sure enough, in a dark red row, were the tiny imprints of where Sasuke had just bitten him.

“What’d you do that for, bastard!” Naruto screeched.

Sasuke shrugged and the smoky, bitter scent permeated the air around them tenfold. “I’m leaving.”

True to his words, Sasuke walked away, leaving a bewildered Naruto and a puzzled Sakura behind him as he went.

What was Sasuke’s problem?!

~~~

Kakashi’s lecture on abandoning his revenge came soon after he’d found himself some solitude in a tree. Sauske had anticipated it almost. It made sense that almost immediately after he’d spied on the meeting in the hokage’s office, that Kakashi would come to him and try and manipulate him down the path that they had deemed appropriate for him to follow. What was Kakashi if not the perfect Leaf village lap dog?

He’d had to hold himself back from coming clean and confronting his would be mentor with the information he’d gotten. If the two remaining sanin and Kakashi were going to be so underhanded, so was Sasuke. He needed to bide his time, and use the information against them.

What Sasuke hadn’t expected was Kakashi telling him that they were more similar than Sasuke was aware of. There was a weight behind those words that Sasuke couldn’t quite decipher yet.

“Even if you succeed, and you get your revenge, what will you have then? Nothing.” the grey haired jonin had said. It angered Sasuke to no end that Kakashi was using his goal against him. No one, not even Naruto, had the right to judge him for wanting to avenge his clan! He seethed as he watched his sensei talk, reacting like a crazed, enraged animal when the older man struck a nerve. Kakashi had no right.

None of them did.

Sasuke stayed in the tree, thinking, numb to his surroundings long after Kakashi had left.

It was in the early evening when he felt four chakra signatures nearby. By the looks of it, they were not his friends.

“I have to warn you, before you start, I’m in a really bad mood.” Sasuke grit out angrily at the four sound ninja who appeared behind him a second later.

The silver haired freak said something annoying, but Sasuke wasn’t listening. No, he was too riled up with his anger and the betrayal of every adult in his life. Instead of furthering the conversation, that no doubt would have been pointless- as most conversations were, the omega leapt from the tree branch he had occupied and onto the rooftop to attack the other ninjas.

“Do” a wave of nausea and pain washed itself over Sasuke as he was thrown back.

“Re” the silver haired ninja spoke again, and this time the other three ninja began to toss Sasuke around as if they were all schoolmates kicking a ball around an empty field. Except Sasuke wasn’t some stupid toy ball, and these were not his friends.

“Mi-” Sasuke saw an opening and he took it, effectively cutting off the ring leader before he could use another one of his weird sound jutsus. He kicked his leg out and brought it down, smashing it into the older’s arm, and simultaneously plunged them both into the air, trapping the silver haired ninja.

He fought with the four ninja until he was caught. To his mild surprise, they didn’t harm him any further. Instead, they began to talk to him as if they hadn’t just been locked in a small battle with him just seconds prior.

“Your talents are wasted in this dingy little village.” the white haired man told him.

“Come with us, and let Lord Orochimaru grow your power.” the redheaded girl lured.

Right as she spoke, a sharp pulse came from his curse mark, making him nauseous with a hatred that he wasn’t entirely sure was his own.

“But it can’t be by force. You have to decide.” the spider-jutsued ninja spoke up.

There was silence as they looked at him, waiting for an answer that Sasuke wasn’t even thinking about entertaining. Not yet, at least.

“Oh come on! This is taking forever!” the largest of them all groaned in irritation before he lurched forward and grabbed hold of Sasuke’s ankle. Before the omega could get a proper read on the situation, he was being thrown into the wall behind the group of sound ninja.

As his back collided painfully against the unforgiving structure, his curse mark pulsed once more.

He hated these ninja. He hated Orochimaru. He hated Itachi for killing his clan, and making sure Sasuke would be hunted for the rest of his life by the very likes of Orochimaru. He hated that he was being plotted against by his own sensei and hokage. He seethed with complete and utter rage.

“If he doesn’t answer soon, I’m going to ring his little neck.” One of his attackers muttered to the rest of his teammates.

Sasuke welcomed his hatred like an old friend as the group crowded around him, cornering him. The sinfully agonizing curse mark began to paint itself down the side of his body. Orange, almost red hot, figures danced along the stark paleness of his skin.

“Come and try it!” Sasuke threatened viciously as he planted himself low to the ground, readying himself for his next attack.

His attempt was stopped before it even began when the leader shoved him down once more. To Sasuke’s shock, the exact same curse marks began to appear on his opponent’s bodies as well.

“Come on now, you didn’t think you were Orochimaru’s only pet, did you? It looks like you can’t even control it.”

“In exchange for this gift from Orochimaru, you are tethered to him. You must give up your life and join him.”

“To gain one thing, you must lose another.”

“What is your purpose in this life? To stay in this backwater village, never knowing true power and staying weak with your friends, or achieving unheard of power, and beating Itachi Uchiha?” the girl’s eyes glinted with pride as she glowered down at him. She knew she’d gotten through to him.

“Don’t lose sight of your true purpose!” The leader shouted as they turned away, vanishing into the night.

Sasuke watched them go with a heavy mind and an aching neck. A leaf fell from one of the branches nearby. The omega caught it in the palm of his hand and crushed it in his fist.

Kakashi’s words from earlier echoed in his mind as Sasuke mulled the events of the day over.

If he stayed in Konoha, he would lose sight of his mission. But if he left, he would lose himself.

Furrowed brows creased even more. Who was he if not an avenger?

Sasuke had made up his mind.

~~~

“Did Sasuke seem weird to you earlier?” Sakura asked him as they received their ramen.

The two teammates had kept with their original plan to have dinner and discuss the clues they’d collected about Kakashi Sensei’s status, even though Sasuke had bailed earlier after he’d explained he wasn’t feeling well.

He must have been feeling really bad, because when Naruto had tried to follow him and try and nurse him back to health, Sasuke had bitten his hand!

Sakura had watched and laughed as he’d danced around, cradling his injured hand to his chest as his boyfriend stalked off, but Naruto hadn’t paid it much attention. He’d been too shocked at how Sasuke’s scent had been so… off.

“Well, yeah.” Naruto paused to find the right words before continuing, “Sasuke’s always weird, you know? But I guess him having a stomachache just makes him bite people.” the Uzumaki shrugged before digging into his delicious meal.

It sucked that Sasuke wasn’t with them. It was like there was a hole that wasn’t filled when the Uchiha was absent, however rare it was.

Sakura snorted as she tucked a few stray tufts of hair behind her ear. “Well, you didn’t need to try and rub his stomach to make him feel better in broad daylight.”

How dare she! He’d seen medical ninjas do it all the time! Obviously, it would have worked.

“Uh, it would have definitely not worked. For starters, medic nins use medical jutsu. You just kept tapping at his stomach like it was a drum.” she countered, causing his ears to turn bright red in embarrassment.

He hadn’t even realized he’d said that out loud!

“So…” he commented before slurping down more noodles sloppily, “What all did you find?”

She grimaced as she watched him devour his first bowl of ramen, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t his fault that she didn’t know how to appreciate quality ramen when she had it.

“Honestly, Naruto, with the way you eat, I have no idea how Sasuke deals with it.” she remarked teasingly.

“Hey! I’m Sasuke’s favoritest person ever! That’s how he deals with me!”

She rolled her eyes, suddenly a bit timid, “Anyway, I found out that apparently something big happened when Kakashi sensei was younger, it sounded like someone had died and he wouldn’t stop cuddling a bunch of dogs.”

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. Did that even mean anything? Didn’t everyone hug something when they were sad?

“So what does that mean?” he asked cluelessly. Sometimes, or rather, usually, it was glaringly obvious that he really didn’t have much information on how dynamics or other social etiquette type things worked. No one had ever pulled him aside and talked about that stuff with him before. Well, minus Kakashi sensei after the whole accidental scent bonding thing and Iruka sensei after Naruto had tried to be nice and do the laundry for him and accidentally wound up destroying the omega’s nest.

“When someone close to omegas dies or gets hurt, like, close enough to be a pack member, they kinda go into a really sad mourning period where they get tunnel vision and latch onto whatever comforting things they have and don’t let go for like… a long time” she explained monotonously, as if she’d been repeating something she’d been forced to memorize long ago.

Naruto mulled it over.

“But isn’t he also part of that Hatake clan? They’re super weird and cuddly with their dogs.”

“That’s a good point, actually.” she agreed thoughtfully.

“I found out from Gai sensei that Kakashi used to get into a lot of fights with some alpha named Obito when they were about our age.” he commented to fill the silence that had fallen between them.

“So you’re suggesting that Kakashi sensei is an alpha?”

Sakura put her chopsticks down neatly, finished with her dinner. Naruto looked down at his second bowl that had just been placed in front of him by the owner’s daughter and smiled. There was nothing that smelled as good as fresh, warm ramen. The faint scent of smokey lightning that clung to his jacket suddenly stuck out to him, as if to remind him that Sasuke’s scent was actually the best thing ever and that fresh ramen was just a close second.

Naruto hoped that Sasuke was okay and resting right about now.

“I don’t know, it just sounds like something young alphas would do, you know?” he explained bashfully.

Kakashi sensei had been the one to tell them that it was natural for he and Sakura to butt heads a lot, so maybe he’d been speaking from personal experience.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night, Naruto. I’ve got to go drop something off to Lee before visiting hours are over at the hospital.” Sakura said suddenly. She stretched as she stood and yawned, and Naruto bid her a good evening.

The seat next to him felt empty, and he wished that Sasuke were with him.

~~~

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke’s apartment was dark when he entered. The faint scent of oranges hung in the air, as it had been a week since Naruto had been there, and Sasuke was thankful for it. He didn’t need anything to cloud his mind and make him rethink his decision.

As the omega made his way to his closet to grab one of his travel bags, he sighed. The wooden cabinet was rough under his touch, but he ignored it in favor of swiftly yanking a sturdy cloth bag from one of the shelves. He remembered the day he’d purchased it. Choji had cracked jokes the whole time and oddly enough, Sasuke had almost let himself laugh.

Ino and Choji had yanked him along for some stupid shopping spree they’d begged for him to participate in, and Sasuke hadn’t firmly told them no, so they took it as a yes.

Even though no one was around to see him, Sasuke quickly steeled his face and straightened his lips. Thinking about that was just a waste of time that could make him lose precious minutes.

Grabbing his toothbrush from its location in the bathroom was a routine at this point. After around fifteen missions under his belt, his muscle memory for packing was impeccable. Next to join the lone toothbrush in the trusty travel bag were his ninja tools. He didn’t know what Orochimaru’s training would be like, but he would prefer to practice with his own equipment in his free time regardless.

Almost as if the curse mark knew what Sasuke had just been thinking, it surged and fed off of his numb frustration.

His omegan instincts had his feet walking of their own accord to the bedroom, where his nest was proudly displayed with several of the most comfortable blankets imaginable and woven cloths with his clan’s symbol embroidered onto them. In the center, near where Sasuke would typically lean his face into as he slept, was the jacket Naruto had given him back when the omega had been in the hospital, waiting for Tsunade to come and heal his mental wounds from Itachi’s tsukuyomi.

Naruto had giggled like one of those annoying schoolgirls from the academy the first time he’d seen his jacket in Sasuke’s nest. To hide his own embarrassment, Sasuke had thrown a pair of chopsticks at the alpha.

His heart hurt at having to tear down his nest. Even his hands were shaky as he pulled the fabrics apart, one by one, and tucked them away, and into their original storage compartments. The last piece of nesting material his hand dared to touch was the jacket.

It was an eye sore to anyone with common sense. It was old, and scuffed and torn, and lightly stained with dirt or grass that just wouldn’t come out, no matter how many times the article of clothing had been washed. But it also smelled so deeply of Naruto, so familiar and comforting, though the omega would die before he admitted it. The texture was worn, but oddly soft, in a way.

The hideous thing had all the telltale signs of being a possession that had been well loved, and it represented so much more. So much more that Sasuke was sure the blonde had no inkling of.

That was why he didn’t begrudge himself for quietly slipping the jacket into his pack. He was allowed one thing of comfort, right? If he was going to be subjecting himself to training under that creep Orochimaru, then he could allow himself that one weakness to have.

Sasuke ignored the ache of his scent bond. He had to.

Almost as an afterthought, Sasuke swipes two scrolls regarding his clan from a table nearby and places them next to the jacket inside his bag.

That was it.

His entire life, summed up into one, medium sized bag. A tooth brush, some weapons, a jacket, and some scrolls.

The thought brought a hateful frown to his face. Itachi was the cause of it. He was the cause of all of it. If things were different, Sasuke would be able to stay. He’d be able to become a chunin, and not the prized last member of a powerful clan. He could hold Naruto’s hand in public without yanking it away again, because the last person to hold his hand had been his mother, and he wasn’t ready to let that go just yet.

He never would be.

The last Uchiha calmly secured the bag onto his shoulders, and walked out of his bedroom, closing the door behind him with the same caution. Now standing in the living room, he let himself take one last glance around what he had called home for the last five years. Nothing was out of place, everything perfect and ordinary. Doused in darkness, and with only the moonlight flickering in through the windows to guide his eyes, his gaze landed on the only photo he’d displayed in the apartment.

It was the only photo of team seven, taken on the day they’d officially become a genin squad. Things had been so simple then. Sasuke hadn’t presented yet, his brother was only a looming goal over his shoulders, and Sasuke’s neck had been free of both a curse mark and a scent bond.

In a bout of unbridled anger, the Uchiha marched over and slammed the picture frame face down onto the table and smiled maliciously when he heard a slight crack sound from the thin layer of glass.

Nothing was simple for long. He’d learned that all too well.

Uncharacteristically, Sasuke took his leave through the front door, and not from the window. All he had to do next was check up on a few people, and then he was gone. Poof. a phantom runaway in the night, with only the moon as his witness.

His footsteps were quiet against the roadway as he crept along the deserted streets. Storefronts were deserted, alleyways darker than ever before. It took him only a few minutes to arrive at his destination, and Sasuke was glad for it. He needed his goodbye to be short, after all.

Konohomaru’s parents were away again. Not for the first time, Sasuke grew angry at their neglect and the village’s refusal to do anything about it. But, he thought bitterly, wasn’t that a key talent of the leaf village?

The omega had no problem unlocking the door to the kid’s home and even less trouble locating Konohamaru’s bedroom.

He wrinkled his nose at the void, almost clinical smell of the house, and decided that it was just a house, not a home. Konohamaru deserved a home.

The door creaked only once as Sasuke opened it, but he was undeterred. The brunette was a heavy, and very loud, sleeper. He could hear the small exhales of air and the snores from the entryway, making him absolutely sure that his presence wouldn’t wake the boy up.

Call him sentimental, but Sasuke couldn’t allow himself to leave without making sure the kid would be okay. The Uchiha didn’t know when he’d be back, or if he’d ever return, but he knew that the next time he entered the village gates, he wanted to see Konohamaru, alive and healthy.

He tiptoed soundlessly across the cold, wooden floors, until he was standing directly above the pup’s bed. Narrow, inky eyes followed every rise and fall of Konohamaru’s chest, searching for any abnormality in the small breaths.

It was funny, how in the beginning, Sasuke had thought of him as nothing more than a less annoying and younger Naruto, but eventually, had grown to accept Konohamaru’s presence in his life. He’d even begun to enjoy the way the rambunctious pup would try and sneakily scent him. Always, without fail, he’d clumsily knock his head into Sasuke’s chin by mistake, but the omega would only pretend to be mad.

A small sniffle interrupted his thoughts. Sasuke looked down to find a tuft of dark brown hair had settled itself right in front of the Sarutobi’s nose. Gently, Sasuke reached out and tucked the hair away from the small face.

Konohamaru’s eyelashes fluttered as he turned over in his sleep, chasing the touch and now facing Sasuke. No doubt, the kid was unconsciously seeking out the omega’s familiar scent. Sasuke stepped a few feet back, so as not to wake him, and idly wondered if he’d ever done that when he was a child.

The gruesome image of his dead parents flashed in his mind, ultimately only solidifying his resolve to leave.

As a parting gift, Sasuke picked up the signature blue scarf and rubbed a bit of his scent on it. If Sasuke had to leave, he needed to at least leave something behind for Konohamaru for when he got lonely.

With closed eyes and his breath held, Sasuke exited the bedroom, leaving Konohamaru none the wiser to the late night guest.

Leaving the home was as easy as it had been to enter, although Sasuke’s heart was heavier upon the exit. He hoped that his leaving wouldn’t make Konohamaru feel abandoned, but he knew that that wouldn’t be the case. Abandoned pups rarely ever adjusted well in society. Sasuke himself was a prime example.

Once again, it was just him and the moon as he made his way through the darkened streets. The silly thought of stopping by Naruto’s apartment crossed his mind, but he pushed it away just as quickly as it had appeared.

Seeing Naruto’s face would weaken his resolve to leave, and Sasuke had to leave. He had to. He couldn’t let his future go by playing second fiddle to the blonde. He couldn’t stay, end of discussion.

It didn’t stop the omega from picturing the blonde. Right about now, he’d be drooling in his pillow with his leaf village headband tangled in his hair because he had a bad habit of forgetting it was there and not taking it off before bed. The Uzumaki would be curled up in the nest that Sasuke had built for him, because no matter how many times Iruka had tried to teach Naruto how to construct one, the idiot failed spectacularly at it every time.

It was the kind of scene that would make Sasuke’s entire list of goals crumble in less than a second.

But that didn’t matter, because Sasuke had to go.

~~~

The streets were empty, a welcome and foreign feeling for the Uchiha all at once. It was so silent and calm, almost as if the closed store fronts and lonely pathways knew what he was about to do. Even the wind, a near constant figure in the daily life of Konoha, had silenced itself. There was not a single footstep, save for his own, nor a single rustling of the tree leaves to be heard.

It reminded him of the Uchiha compound the night of the massacre, which only served to further his resolve to leave.

He had to get powerful. He had to make himself unstoppable. If the Leaf village wasn’t going to allow that to happen, then Sasuke had no choice. He had to go.

He needed to stop Itachi.

The omega continued on his trek across the silent village streets, hands in his pockets as if it were just another late night on his way back from one of Ino’s omega squad meetings that he’d actually grown to not hate. But it wasn’t just some other day, and this would be potentially his last time setting foot in the village.

Sasuke was walking past the bench where team seven had first grouped themselves together, not that he’d cared much about the significance, when he smelled it. Spicy, dull cinnamon and flowery perfume.

Sakura.

“Sasuke?” he heard her ask uncertainly from behind him. He hadn’t been followed, he knew that much. So how had she found him?

He turned around, internally frustrated that his leave wouldn’t be as quick and simple as he’d planned. “Sakura.”

He said her name as if it were the answer to her question, even though it wouldn’t deter the pink haired alpha in the slightest. Carefully, without being noticed, he scented the air again, and caught faint traces of iron on her. Hm, she’d been with Rock Lee recently. It was an easy enough deduction for him to make, as the older alpha had an uncommon scent. It was off putting, but not terrible.

“I was on my way home after visiting Lee when I saw you..” she trailed off. Unlike the Sakura of the past, who would have immediately asked what he was doing, she only left the question to be implied. The question, which Sasuke refused to answer, hung in the air like wet laundry on a clothesline.

Silence again as the two stared at each other. She craned her neck to peer around him, and then looked oddly stricken as her eyes met his again. “This is the only road out of the village..” she trailed off.

She was smart, he knew, but he’d apparently underestimated her detective skills.

“What do you want, Sakura?” he groaned in feigned casual annoyance. For all she knew, he was taking a stroll around the village, with a pack strapped to his back with things he’d bought earlier at the ninja tool store.

She looked at him for a long moment, as her bright green eyes traced over every inch of his face, searching for something that she wouldn’t find. “I’m worried about you.” she breathed out finally, “you were acting so strange earlier.”

Sasuke had to hold himself back from laughing bitterly. The irony of Sakura finally managing to somewhat figure him out after all those years wasn’t lost on him.

“Sakura,” he let his eyes settle on hers, carefully blank, and eerily black, “you should get to bed.”

He turned around and began to walk away, done with the conversation.

He was done with many things. Done with being deceived. Done with being kept from his full potential. Done being treated like a trophy as the last Uchiha. Done with his status as an Omega holding him back.

He was.. He was done with Konoha.

“Sasuke please!” she cried with all of the desperate helplessness of a girl with no legs to stand on.

His body stopped on instinct as it had been trained to do after almost a year of coming to her aid on missions. Somewhere in the distance, a bird cawed. It was likely that its rest had been disturbed by Sakura’s cry. Sasuke hoped that the bird’s sleep was the only sleep that had been interrupted by her antics.

“Is- are you leaving because of me? I promise, I’ll- I’ll leave team seven if you’ll stay, but Sasuke, please, you have to stay!” she added with a watery voice.

He refused to turn around and face her. The Uchiha had seen all the worst sides of her, and even some of the best ones, but her naive attitude towards life was just another nail in the coffin for his decision. After all, his own childlike innocence and naivety had been torn from him, and now he had to forge his own path to avenge it.

“For a while, I thought I could let go of my goals, and find new ones with my friends. Now I know that I can’t, my destiny is to avenge my clan, and my path no longer coincides with being part of team seven.” Sasuke explained, figuring that he owed her that much at least.

“But Sasuke! We can help you! Just tell me what you need, and I’ll find a way to help you!” she begged.

Tears were probably already forming small rivers down her cheeks, and her eyes were almost definitely red rimmed, making her green eyes stand out even more in the moonlight. Before she’d cut her hair, her long pink strands would glue themselves to her face, making her look pitiful and unkempt. Now, her hair didn’t cause much of a problem.

The omega took a step towards the village’s only exit, not wanting to waste any more time than he had. So what if she knew he was leaving. It was Sakura. She’d break down over her own despair, and only after her tears had dried would she go for help. The pattern had been one Sasuke had witnessed often, and one Kakashi had tried many times to break her of.

Burnt cinnamon was coating the air now, nearly making the omega choke on the air he breathed, but he wouldn’t give her, nor anyone, the satisfaction of tripping him up. Not anymore.

The pathway was silent for a split second before she cried out once more, changing her tactics, “What about Naruto!”

His mind went blank and his heart was carefully numb. Naruto- Naruto was his-

A shaky image of the blonde boy dashing into Sasuke’s apartment tomorrow, only to find it empty painted itself across his mind. It was so eerily familiar, and if it had been an eight year old with black hair and even inkier eyes, childish and disbelieving in Naruto’s place, Sasuke would have called it a memory.

Itachi’s cold, red, swirling eyes flashed in his mind. He remembered the fear he’d felt and the despair at not being able to save Naruto from Itachi all those weeks ago, back at the inn. He hadn’t been ready, even when he’d needed to be.

Naruto was his number one reason to leave.

“Sakura,” he drawled, voice devoid of any human emotion, in a way that it never had been before, “has anyone ever told you that you’re annoying?”

Hastily, he spun around and jumped behind her. His fingers found the pressure point at the back of her neck, and he pressed down harshly. The pink haired alpha had fainted before she could even realize what had happened.

Carefully, he caught her in his somewhat shaky arms and laid her on the bench beside them.

When she awoke in a few hours, there was no doubt in his mind that she would alert the village and have people sent after him. He smirked, “Let them come.” he whispered cockily aloud to no one.

Sasuke took one last look around at the village that he’d called home for so long. Inky eyes traced over every old, faded building in the distance, they trudged over every distinctly green blade of grass, and finally they moved upward, and landed on the hokage mountain.

He wondered if Naruto’s face would ever be up there.

With a quiet sigh, and a mournfully angry heart, the last Uchiha made his way down the lonesome path. Initially rough stones that had been smoothed over with time felt familiar under his sandals, but his quest felt foreign. The moon was out, and the sky was still blanketed with a purplish black that worked together to cast odd shadows on the large, iron gates of Konoha.

Sasuke’s heart thudded in his chest as he took the first step. A sharp, familiar pain stung the juncture between his shoulder and neck, and painfully he realized not for the first time what he was truly leaving behind as the scent bond continued to throb.

The deep, aggressive ache of the curse mark on the other side of his body, on the other hand, made him think of all the things he had to accomplish, the goals he had to achieve, and the very reasons he had to leave.

He was Sasuke. He was a genin of the Hidden Leaf village. He was a mentor to Hinata, friend to Ino and Choji. He was the pride of the village. He was the boyfriend of the village idiot, and the sole omega role model for a child named Konohamaru.

Sasuke crossed the gateway, and entered the wide, empty and dark forest.

He was Sasuke. He was now a missing ninja, a traitor to Konoha and an omega with an empty heart. He had no friends, and no family. His future lay in the past, his present void.

But soon he would succeed. He would be the last Uchiha, and it would all be worth it.