Naruto
When inside the Nara home, he is led over to Shikamaru’s room after he obtains the book from his dad’s study. There, Naruto reads about the Uchiha clan’s traditions, keeping a close eye out for the section talking about their views on omegas and their rights.
“Whoa, they believed in arranged mating? How is that possible for Sasuke…his clan isn’t around anymore to arrange him with anyone who fits the requirements.”
The Uchihas do believe in arranged mating. The clan has run for years successfully on arranged matings, with the alpha or beta chosen for the Uchiha omega by the one person in the clan they are closest to and the same being said for the Uchiha alpha or beta obtaining a beta or omega mate. They believe omegas and alphas are to be equals in the mating relationship, but that omegas are to let alphas take the lead on certain issues, such as when the home is under attack, when one of their pups is missing, or when they lose a loved one. It is the alpha’s duty to take care of and protect their mate no matter what; failing to do so makes one a lesser alpha not fit of their gender. Betas are not held to such strict standards if they are mated to an alpha, but if they mate an omega then they are held up to the same standards.
The requirements for an omega to be arranged to a Uchiha alpha or beta are as follows: to be beautiful in the eye of the interested Uchiha alpha or beta, to have caught their eye more than once in the past, and to be one who never leaves their mind.
The requirements for an alpha or beta to be mated to an Uchiha omega are as follows: to be one who never leaves the mind of the interested Uchiha omega, to be a good provider, to be strong enough to take care of them and the family they will have one day, and to have caught their eye more than once in the past.
There’s simply no way any of this actually applies to him. Sasuke wouldn’t ever…there’s no way…no, none of this can be right! He never thought of him like that, did he?
“The Uchihas were known to keep that sort of thing documented. Deidara always whined about it back when he was here, but it is helpful enough for you because you can look it up for yourself to see if any arrangements were made between you and Sasuke. There is no age limit on arrangement since they believed the proper mating ages were anywhere between sixteen and up. All the arrangement would have done is given the Uchiha and the person they were arranged to a mating date if they didn’t fit the minimum age requirement.”
Chouji glances over to Shikamaru, grinning widely as he placed a hand on his shoulder, “You really know a lot about this stuff Shikamaru! It’s super impressive!”
He shrugs, taking his hand off of his shoulder in the process, “Not really. I only know so much because of Deidara and what all he ranted about the clan. This book really did help to clear up the truth from the Deidara ranting growing up.”
His eyes turn onto Naruto, his question to him rather pointed in that moment, “Did this help you or not? Can you believe me when I tell you Sasuke likes you?”
Naruto bites his lower lip, not being fully convinced despite what Shikamaru had said, “I-I don’t know…Sasuke could like me as a friend and…and…maybe you’re reading him all wrong.”
“We can go to a shrine his clan owned and find the arranged mating records there if you want the proof. I wouldn’t doubt if Sasuke somehow managed to pull that off before everything went down the way it did.”
Shikamaru’s offer is tempting, but Naruto isn’t sure if he wants to go or not.
For one, he’s afraid of Shikamaru being right. What if Sasuke does like him as more than a friend? What is he supposed to do with that information, how is he supposed to face Sasuke with this on his mind? He’s also afraid of Shikamaru being wrong because the idea of Sasuke really not liking him like that is enough to make his chest twist and hurt and to make it worse, he doesn’t know why.
“I…have to…I need time to think, this is all a lot to take in and—I’ve never been so confused before in my entire lifetime.” Naruto confesses to them, with Chouji digging his hand in the potato chip bag and offering one to Naruto, “Take all the time you need and a potato chip. I can tell you’re gonna need it after hearing all of this.”
Shikamaru says much of the same, but with less care than Chouji did, “It’s a lot to take in, but I know you’ll be the one to do it in a day or less. You’re resilient like that, Naruto, and I can find that respectable. If you need any more help, I can make time out of day to help you so you’re not always on Ino’s back.”
Naruto hugs him tightly, thanking him as he rubbed his cheek against his chest, “Thank you so much, Shikamaru! You really are a great guy!”
This was met with a kunai breaking through his window and almost hitting him right in the face. Shikamaru immediately pried Naruto off of him and glared at the Uchiha who had thrown the kunai from his on the tree branch right across from his bedroom window.
“Dammit…” he seethes as the other alphas enters his room with speed he hadn’t seen in him before, his sharingan out as he snarled at the Nara alpha, “What were you doing with my Naruto?”
“Nothing! All I did was show him the book that told him about your clan’s views and traditions surrounding omegas and mating!” he groans loudly, irritation slipping through as he crosses his arm across his chest, “I’m not fighting you, Sasuke. I have no interest in dating or mating anyone. All he did was hug me after I told him I respected his resilience, nothing to get all mad about.”
“Stop it, Sasuke! Just tell me…is Shikamaru right? Do you like me?” Naruto intervenes, his hand pointing in Shikamaru’s direction as he asks with pleading eyes to the Uchiha alpha in front of him, “If you do, are we arranged mates by your clan standards? Did I even have any of those qualifications listed in the book? If I do, did I always, do I still have it now?”
Sasuke lowers his guard, with Shikamaru signaling to Chouji with his eyes to leave the room to allow them time to speak alone. Chouji agrees and makes his way over to the door, Shikamaru following suite in silence the entire time as the two boys began their trek out of the home and away from Sasuke.
Despite this happening, Sasuke didn’t care, nor did he notice. All he could do was give the omega across from him a blunt truth he had been hiding for years, “I do like you, Naruto. I always have even when we were young and in the academy together. I know you won’t want to believe it, but we are arranged by my clan’s standards. I begged my father, mother, and Itachi to allow it to happen because you were the only one who ever fit all of the requirements for me. If you don’t believe me, I can take you to the shrine and show you the records myself right now if you want.”
Naruto is stunned into silence, his hands falling to his side as he stared at Sasuke to see if there was any deceit in his eyes…only to find none.
Knowing Sasuke meant all of what he said was…something else to say the least. He never envisioned this happening and now he has no idea what to do other than to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Because I didn’t know how to in a way that didn’t make me out to be a lovesick fool.”
Now he’s left with only one conclusion to see if this is really all as Shikamaru said or not, “Take me to see the records. I need to know this is all real and some misunderstanding on my end because the idea that you could like me so much that I fit all of the requirements to be your arranged mate…it…I don’t know, makes me feel…light and fluttery all over. Not in a bad way, but in a good way, really! I just never felt this way before about anyone, so it’s new and kinda scary, you know?”
It’s not a rejection and Sasuke can live with that, “I know how you feel right now. I didn’t know how to accept my feelings for you until my mom showed me how. I know you may have Iruka sensei for that, but I’m here too, so don’t forget it, okay?”
“I won’t.” Naruto responds with the same bright smile he’s used to seeing, which led into the omega asking, “So, should we head out to see these records or…”
“Yeah, sure. Get on my back, I’ll take you there myself.”
The blonde is hesitant for good reason, “Are you sure? I don’t want to injure you—you did just get out of the hospital and all.”
Sasuke’s not budging on this issue though, “I’m fine, now get on my back and let me show you the records I have documenting our arrangement.”
“If you say so…but shouldn’t we get out of the room first?”
“Fine, we can do that first.”
Naruto had thought he meant it, but then Sasuke caught him off guard by snatching him up princess style and carrying him through the threshold of Shikamaru’s bedroom door, “Hey, I never agreed to this!”
He sighs and rolls his dark eyes, “Whatever Naruto, just let me do this for you. It’s all for the sake of the tradition my clan has around this sort of situation.”
Naruto didn’t bother to argue because he knows Sasuke’s clan is gone now and he figures it would be rude to after everything that happened here.
They were able to exit the home without any fuss after this was done and when outside, Naruto rode on his back to the family, allowing Sasuke to feel a strong rush of success for a moment.
Itachi never got to do the traditional signing off on the arrangement document. Now he will be the one to do it for him and that will be something he can say he surpassed him in with ease.
When they did arrive at the shrine, Naruto was stunned by the silence on the Uchiha clan’s compound. He couldn’t believe how still and silent it all was, but it wasn’t a peaceful silence. It was a deeply sorrowful one which left him feeling as though he could hear the cries of the dead in the air as they made their way to the shrine.
Upon their arrival, Sasuke set Naruto down on the ground before carrying him princess style through the threshold of the entryway and the building where the records lay hidden underneath a tatami mat.
Naruto didn’t feel right speaking inside the building—it felt wrong to even so much as laugh or smile in here, like he would be disrespecting Sasuke’s entire clan if he dared to show too much emotion.
He must have been lost in thought for too long as he glanced around the building because before he knew it, he was met with the last page of the arrangement records, “Right here, on the bottom line, is my name and your name is supposed to go on the column right across from mine, with your parent or guardian’s name right beside it to make it a legitimate arrangement. I was going to ask you about it years ago and bring you here to celebrate the way we do in my clan when such a thing happens…I would take you on my back all the way here to the sounds and sights of my clan celebrating the arrangement. Then I would carry you through the thresholds leading into the shrine both inside and out, afterwards you would sign this record making our arrangement official.”
Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, amazed by all that he’s heard. It sounds like it would have been an amazing time in his eyes full of good food, new people to meet, and a family he could have been a part of.
It’s moments like this where he can understand why Sasuke wants to kill Itachi. After everything he did, he can believe he has it coming, yet it does nothing to help him know what to say in this moment outside of a small, “You wanted to be arranged to mate me this entire time and you never lost those feelings for me once over the years?”
“I never did. I couldn’t even if I tried.” Sasuke takes his hand into his own and meets his eyes, not missing a chance to let his sincerity show, “You mean a lot to me…you always have. I obviously didn’t show it to you in the right way if you could think I’d ever be a thing like Neji was to Lee and I’m sorry I didn’t. You don’t have to sign the record; we can date and take things slow if you want to see if you would be open to it.”
Naruto doesn’t say anything at first. It’s the longest thirty seconds of silence in his life until he hears his longtime crush ask, “I’m only open to this if you can answer me this right now: are you fine with holding off on our mating until I have to mate you in order to be made hokage? Are you fine with me being hokage and going on missions? Are you fine with me being loud, independent, and myself or do I have to change everything about me for you?”
Sasuke is quick to reject this notion, letting him know, “I’m fine with all of the above. I am willing to wait until the day you get the chance to become hokage to be your mate officially. I am fine with you going on missions and being hokage someday, I am fine with you being yourself and I wouldn’t change a thing about you if I had the chance to.”
He was taken aback by the blonde omega signing his name on the column right across from his name so suddenly with a casual, “That’s great, Sasuke! At least I know we stand a chance at working out now as a couple… How about this? I figure you’ll need Iruka sensei’s name to make this thing official, so why not set something up now: I’ll write down my name and we can date to see if I want to be arranged to you or not. If I do, then I’ll get Iruka sensei here to sign it right away to make things official between us.”
Naruto isn’t wrong on this end. Without Iruka sensei’s signature, the arrangement won’t be official. This leads Sasuke to come to a different conclusion which could be wrong on his end, “Are you saying this is some sort of trial to see if you want to mate me someday or not?”
“It is, and I know it will sound weird, but now that I know you like me for real and this isn’t some misunderstanding, I feel better about going out on a date with you.” Naruto also lets a fun little fact slip past him as he sets down the pen he wrote his name down with, “I also figure that if I met those requirements then I’d be stupid to not give you a fair chance. I don’t know my feelings for you yet, but I’m willing to date you to figure them out. You deserve as much of a fair shot with me as anyone else and I’m going to give it to you.”
Sasuke would argue that nobody deserves a fair shot with Naruto outside of himself, but that’s for another discussion for another time.
What matters most right now is Naruto is willing to give him a chance to date him and win him over. What could honestly be better than that?
He clears his throat of the nervous lump building up in there to do the one thing he’s been wanting to do for years: “Naruto, we can go out on a date after this if you want…you know, to give you a good idea of what to expect from me.”
“Sounds great, I was preparing to go on a date today with Shikamaru, but this will be a lot better because I know I can be myself with you.”
This makes Sasuke’s cheeks lightly flush and his heart rate speed up as the look of happiness on Naruto’s face makes him feel whole and warm in a way he hasn’t in a very long time now, “Let’s get going then.”
Naruto was about to agree…that is until another omega’s face popped up in his head at random, “Oh, is Deidara’s name in there?”
Sasuke looks through the records and finds the one he knows will have the answer to his question, showing it to Naruto without a word being spoken between them.
What Naruto sees are the names of Sasuke’s parents with Itachi’s name following theirs…and a blank column where Deidara and his parents’ names should be.
It wouldn’t have been as bad if there weren’t others who had the names of their arranged mates and their parents throughout this page of the record, making Itachi’s obviously blank one a real eyesore for anyone looking upon it at first sight.
“My brother could never get Deidara or his parents to sign their names on the record. Doing so would have meant a legal obligation to become mates with Itachi someday and Deidara absolutely refused to do it. Itachi was seen as the perfect prodigy of the clan…for him to not be able to win over Deidara was seen as a great dishonor against himself, making others believe there was something wrong with him if he couldn’t win him over.”
Naruto pauses as he hears Sasuke reveal some details about his family life he had never heard before, “I was never held in high regards in the clan or my own family like Itachi was. Everyone always favored him over me because he was so amazing and I wasn’t. To finally succeed at something he couldn’t is as amazing as finally getting you to agree to the idea of being mated to me someday.”
This was not a fun fact to learn though it did inspire Naruto to hug Sasuke and let him know, “I think you’re great…and besides, your brother’s an overrated jerk anyway. Someday you’ll better than him at everything, I just know it.”
Sasuke is finally on cloud nine for the second time in his life—his first time being when he and Naruto kissed each other—and he can say it feels better than the last somehow.
It’s probably because Naruto sees him as being better than Itachi when no one else in his clan did.
Oh well, no time to obsess on it now! They need to get heading out soon if Sasuke wants to get started on their first date together.
Before they leave, Sasuke puts away the arrangement records, feeling a certain sense of accomplishment as he sees the permanently blank line where Deidara’s name should be.
Shikamaru had decided to ditch all of his plans in general today to spend time with Chouji, watching the clouds from his favorite spot.
There, Chouji lazily points out something that catches him off guard, “That one cloud looks like the sort of flower Deidara used to make with his hand mouths and clay, doesn’t it?”
“Oh yeah…it does.” Shikamaru is a bit taken aback by this for a very obvious reason, “I don’t remember you ever spending time with Deidara or really being by him much. How did you know he made sculptures like that? Did you have a secret crush on him or something?”
His best friend doesn’t deny it, yet the answer isn’t one he’s expecting, “Oh come on, Shikamaru! Every alpha and beta had a crush on Deidara at one point in our lives. He was the most beautiful omega to have ever existed in our village—he was named the most beautiful omega of Konoha ever since he was four all the way up to the day he left with Itachi. I only knew of the sculptures because he made me one once and it made me really happy to know someone so beautiful had made me something so nice. He was very kind about it too: he didn’t insult me for my weight and he said I’d grow up to be more handsome than the kids who picked on me someday. He was so kind, sweet, and beautiful…I can’t believe he’d go with Itachi willingly. He was way too good for that guy.”
Yep, Shikamaru’s about to feel alone in this once more, “Maybe it’s because I knew the guy a bit better, but I don’t really have such a positive view of him.”
“Only ‘cause you’re an alpha.”
“Nothing to do with that at all, actually. It’s more to do with other issues of his that I couldn’t overlook, but I doubt you’d want to hear that.”
Chouji stops in his eating to say, “No, I’d actually want to hear about it. I always knowing him would’ve been fun…but you don’t seem to act like it was.”
He doesn’t say much to this other than, “He was human, Chouji. We all have our flaws and faults…Deidara’s were a bit more severe in my eyes, that’s all.”
He sits back as he listens to Shikamaru regale a tale he would never tell Ino for as long as he lived: his own memories of Deidara and how they led him to believe he left with Itachi willingly.