Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He’s out of breath and his body is on fire. Sleep deprivation from days of over practicing and aching knees from pushing himself to run faster than he ever has in his life were beginning to take their toll on his body- his legs especially.

The palms of his hands are still burned slightly from his stubborn attempts at perfecting the chidori technique, but it doesn’t stop him from slamming the door to yet another inn entrance open.

The old man behind the desk looks at him like he’s insane, and Sasuke can hardly blame him. He’s red faced and he knows his eyes have a crazed look in them and outside of hidden villages, omegas usually do not run around by themselves- especially with the brutal pace he had been setting.

“I’m looking for a blonde alpha boy, around my age and height, he’s with an old man.” the words tumble out with ease, as he’d already been to seven other inns before this one. The old man isn’t finished saying that they’re not there as he turns on his heel and continues his brutal pace to the next inn.

The omega wasn’t sure if his uneven breaths were from the exertion or his fear.

Itachi was back. He’d slipped through the gates of Konoha, injured Kakashi, and left to go after Naruto.

Did Itachi hate him so much that he would get rid of any family Sasuke formed? What had Sasuke ever done to him to deserve this?

Images of the last encounter he had with his brother made him nauseous, but he forced the bile down so that he wouldn’t be slowed down. He could only imagine the horrible things Itachi would do to the innocent, fumbling alpha.

He would break him, just like Itachi had broken him.

~~~
The man looks like Sasuke. He’s got the same fine nose and deep, looming eyes, but it isn’t a comforting feature on him. Sasuke had mentioned a brother, before, back when they’d fought Zabuza on the bridge.

Could this really be Itachi?

If-if he was here, then was he looking for Sasuke?

Naruto wanted to move, wanted to fight but he was frozen in his place. It was like he was paralyzed and he could tell Itachi knew just how panicked he was.

He hated every second of it and he hated that he was looking at someone who looked so similar to his friend with such hatred. It felt like a betrayal, even though he knew that Sasuke would understand.

He was glad that Sasuke wasn’t here. For once, he was relieved that Jiraiya sensei was unpredictable at best, so he hadn’t had time to tell anyone where they were going when they’d set off on their journey.

The guy with gills on his face says something about the nine tails, but his ears are foggy. They’re both alphas, and the sword guy smells like rain at a funeral. Itachi’s scent is bloody and ashy.

Their scents are strong, trying to force him to submit but he can’t, something in the pit of his stomach won’t let him.

~~~
He smells him before he sees him. Relief washed over him like the water from one of Ino’s watering cans poured over the freshly bloomed flowers in her family’s store.

Naruto was okay- for now. He detected traces of fear, but another strong whiff of the claustrophobic air tells him that there were worse things Naruto could be right now other than scared.

Itachi didn’t usually leave victims behind to be scared. Sasuke knew that all too well.

He rounds the corner in record time and his body freezes.

Those eyes.

They’d been so warm and fond and patient once, and now they struck such genuine terror and rage within him that he felt almost insane. His big brother, whom he’d lived the first eight years of his life idolizing, was staring at him with the same intent to harm that he’d used on his opponents.

Sasuke hated those red, crazed eyes.

He’d used them on their family. On that annoying girl Izumi, that Sasuke had hated originally, but now would give anything to hear her offer him disgusting candy. On Uncle and Aunty who taught Sasuke how to whistle and snap his fingers together while Itachi encouraged him.

On Father, who Sasuke had been so sure was indestructible. On Mother, who always whispered quiet words but loved loudly.

Itachi had killed their family and now he was after Naruto.

His new family.

He didn’t feel the chidori’s lightning licking his fingers, nor did he really remember performing the jutsu. All he knows is that he’s running towards the monster that possesses his brother’s face with the intent to kill and blue lightning is throwing odd shadows on the hallway walls.

Sasuke wanted him to hurt, like they had, like he had. He wants him to writhe and squirm and gasp for air that will never quite fill his lungs. He wants his big brother to hold him and tell him everything will be alright and that it was just a bad dream. He wants Naruto to not be standing there, watching him lose his grip on his sanity. He wants to not feel so achingly tired every second of every day because his longing is so deep and never ending that he just wants everything to stop.

He wants to prove to himself once and for all that his life is worth something, that Itachi was wrong, that he was a worthy opponent.

It’s white hot pain in his wrist that stops him, not even half a second after his chidori is halted by Itachi’s iron grip and fizzled out into nothing. The pain forces his senses to go into overdrive and suddenly he can’t breathe. His throat is clogged and he’s caught between a pained shout and a wheezy, hacking cough.

He’s an alpha.

He should’ve known, the omega thought bitterly, of course the famed prodigy of the Uchiha would be an alpha.

The old man, Jiraiya, has shown up in the split second it’s taken Sasuke to adjust to his revelations, another unfamiliar alpha but he won’t let himself recoil from the foreign, threatening scents. He won’t give his brother even more reason to look down on him.

He’s a shinobi, he’s a prodigy in his own right, he’s an omega. He will not submit.

His mouth is moving, growling something, but his mind is calm. It’s the same feeling he gets right before a fight, where all you can focus on is your surroundings and everything that lies ahead of you.

Itachi throws him back like it’s nothing, like he’s still just an eight year old trying to train with his older brother. Sasuke doesn’t let himself look over the criminal’s shoulder because he’s ashamed of the knowledge that Naruto is watching him lose so heavily.

Itachi is fast. He doesn’t give him room to breathe before he’s being kicked again, a harsh elbow coming down on his neck as blood spills from his mouth. The pain doesn’t hurt the omega, the humiliation does.

Nothing has changed. He isn’t strong enough. Itachi will win.

And once again, Sasuke will lose everything.

~~~
The sword that had cut through his chakra was slammed down in front of him. “Don’t move, kid. It would be rude to interrupt them, wouldn’t it?” The shark guy half growls half laughs as he speaks.

Naruto knows what rude is.

It’s Kakashi sensei being late to practice. It’s Ino and Sakura calling each other names. It’s the teachers that ignored his pleas for help, or the whispering students from other classes whose words are sharper than kunai knives.

Rude is not wanting to help your friend. It’s not jumping head first into a fight to save someone important to you. Rude is not protecting Sasuke with his life.

The warmth of Jiraiya’s hand weighs on his shoulder. Naruto knows its a silent message to not rush forward, to let the brothers have their fight.

His fist is shaking and he so desperately wants to smash it into Itachi’s face.

He can’t because this is Sasuke’s fight, not his. If he took this from Sasuke, the omega would never forgive him.
~~~
His body aches as it collides face first with the inn’s wooden flooring.

He’s always had terrible luck, and the universe must surely be laughing at him because his head is angled towards their spectators. Itachi’s partner is eyeing him in a way that makes his skin crawl and the alpha that must be Jiraiya is unreadable. The fight must have looked even more disgraceful than it felt because Naruto looks angry.

It makes sense that Naruto would be angry. Sasuke has always made a show of being better. If he can’t beat his brother, achieving his ultimate goal, then his entire rivalry with Naruto holds no grounds.

Naruto must have just realized how weak and useless he is and that hurt more than anything his brother has done to him. But still, the scent bond soothes its sting when the pair lock eyes and he’s calm again. Tears pool in his eyes and he lets them blur his vision so that at the very least, he can’t see Naruto’s face watching him continue to be utterly useless.

He blinks and wishes he could push his hair out of his face so that he could just focus on the comfortingly hideous orange in his peripheral vision but Itachi has other plans.

His back thuds against the wall but he can’t focus on that when Itachi’s hand is around his throat.

Sasuke’s brain short circuits and he has to try harder than he ever has before to keep an iron cage around the omega part of him that is whining at him to beg the others for help. Itachi’s thumb is pressed painfully to his scent gland and he can’t mask his scent any longer.

He clenches his jaw and prepares for the worst.

He’d never been great at reading Itachi’s facial expressions before, but he’s infuriatingly familiar with the look of amusement that coats the alpha’s face when the omega hisses in despair.

A white hot burning scent of a fearful omega in distress permeates the air and Sasuke holds in a sob. It’s the last bit of his dignity he could protect and now it was gone. Everyone in the inn, and probably the town, could smell him. He feels shame course through his veins. His nature was his, and no one had the right to force it on display. Nausea wells up in his throat but he pushes it down with what will power he has left. Everyone may be able to smell his fear, but he won't let them see just how vulnerable he feels.

It's over. There is no winning, not when he’s just lost control of the one thing that makes him weak.

He lets his head hang because he can’t look up and see the evil, mocking glint that is surely plastered on Itachi’s face. The floor looks interesting. It has scratches and marks that come with age and Sasuke wonders if he will get to live as long as the floor.

~~~
The scent bond burns so deeply that his knees buckle, and the blonde nearly collapses, but Jiraiya steadies him. The shark guy eyes him suspiciously but doesn’t say anything, probably too busy trying to block out Sasuke’s scent that’s clouding the air.

Naruto isn’t sure if his scent feels so strong because of the scent bond or if the others can smell it just as much, but his breathing turns shallow and his fists clench and unclench hastily, like he’ll do something rash. Which he does want to.

Sasuke is dangling and limp and in so much pain.

The blonde can smell all of the layers of pain and he tastes blood on his tongue as he forces himself to refrain from letting out the bone chilling growl he’s only ever let out once before.

“Naruto, calm down. You aren’t helping him by making things worse.” The low voice sounds from behind him and for the first time, Naruto wants to fight his teacher and win so that he can go help Sasuke.

He didn’t notice his fingernails sharpening into claws or the orange chakra start to pool out of his body and surround him in a whirling airy cage.

All he could pay attention to was the single tear pooling in an empty ebony eye that crashed to the ground. All he could feel were the tiny vibrations of Sasuke’s swallowed cry and the pressure of their scent bond. All he could taste was the blood drawn from sharp fangs he hadn’t noticed before that pooled like water in his mouth. All he could smell was Sasuke.

All of the despair and suffering and anguish that coated the normally strong, sharp scent of captivating electricity made him flare his nostrils. His breathing was heavy but not as heavy as his heart.

Sasuke was strong, the strongest. To see him be used as nothing but a punching bag by the alpha that had ruined his life made Naruto feel sick. Why wasn’t pervy sage jumping in? It stopped being an honorable fight when Itachi had messed with Sasuke’s scent glands.

He may not be the most well informed on social cues and what is and isn’t appropriate, but the Uzumaki knew just how serious it was when someone touched a scent gland without consent. Sasuke didn’t deserve this.

He needed to stop it.

Now.

~~~
“Interesting.” Itachi turned back to face Sasuke, clearly having noticed just how intertwined the enraged blonde’s scent was with his. He smirked and the tomoe began to spin.

“You’re weak.” his brother stated calmly, as if it was a simple observation and not Sasuke’s worst fear. “You don’t have enough hatred.” he began to lean down, “And you know something?”
Sasuke tried to recoil and get away but it was futile. One wrong move and the nail of his brother’s thumb would shred his scent gland.

“You never will.”

He’s eight years old again, being told to let his hate and rage fester and grow. He’s nine years old again, waking up from a nightmare before remembering it wasn’t a bad dream, it was a memory. He’s ten and eleven all at once, angry at himself for working so hard and still coming up short at the academy. He knows it's on the tip of the teacher’s tongues, how Itachi’s record remained unbeaten. He’s twelve and holding back tears as he sneaks into the Uchiha compound in the dead of night, wanting to remind himself of what he’d lost because since becoming a genin, he can feel himself straying from his path of revenge and he needs to be reminded.

He’s thirteen and still too weak to save his closest people from the man who completely and irrevocably wrecked him five years ago.

He’s thirteen and for the first time in such a long time, he feels scared because he knows what comes next.

He knows that when he inevitably locks eyes with Itachi, he will be thrust into that dark spinning world with red skies and redder eyes.

He forces his eyelids shut anyway, because maybe somewhere within him, there’s still some fight left. He’s shaking and the continued pressure on his scent gland is making him light headed with nausea.

He hears Naruto’s voice call out to him and it shocks him out of his daze, inadvertently making him open his eyes and falling victim to Itachi’s genjutsu.

It’s darker than he remembers.

~~~
He’s never heard Sasuke’s voice so raw and hurt. The scream the omega lets out settles itself in Naruto’s ears and he thinks it’s all he will ever hear for the rest of his life.
“Jiraiya do something!”

“Awe, isn’t that heart warming? Using tsukuyomi on his own brother.” Itachi’s partner says, brandishing his sword with a menacing look in his eyes, daring Naruto and Jiraiya to move.

He springs into action, dodging the huge sword and runs like he never has before towards the two brothers. He can tell that the shark guy moves to follow him but Jiraiya shouts at him to stay still.

The walls turn pink and spongy and Sasuke fades into the weird fleshy substance and away from Itachi’s grip.

What’s going on? What is this stuff?

“-Toad mouth trap.” Jiraiya sensei finishes speaking from behind him.

Oh, a jutsu.

Naruto doesn’t like this at all. The fleshy bounce of the substance below his feet burns slightly, as though it’s acidic. He forces himself to stay calm when his sensei tells him to and ignores the weird feeling of the ground in favor of watching their attackers flee.

There’s a crash and even though the jutsu is inescapable, they escape. The master and student round the corner hastily but the assailants are gone. There’s black flames and Naruto wants to touch them, but he stops when Jiraiya shouts at him to stop. Regular flames weren’t supposed to burn like that, the toad sage says after he seals them away.

He runs to Sasuke when his body finally surfaces to catch him before he falls. He smells tortured and his eyes are open but unseeing and it’s scary.

What did Itachi do to him?

A kunai knife sails through the air and then Gai sensei is there but he doesn’t care because Sasuke isn’t responding when the blonde nudges him. HIs eyes are open but he’s unblinking and he’s boneless.

He gathers the omega into his arms and cradles his body close, gently easing the Uchiha’s nose to his scent gland in hopes of waking him up from whatever trance he’s in.

Jiraiya sensei is telling Gai sensei what’s wrong with the boy in his arms and worry bubbles up in his chest. He’s careful to gently hold Sasuke’s broken arm and he rubs his face against Sasuke’s uncovered cheek but the silence in response is eerie.

“Sasuke’s gonna be alright, isn’t he?” he asks brokenly, and while he’s used to seeing pitying looks thrown his way, the kind of pity Jiraiya sensei’s eyes watch him with is different. It’s like a knowing pity and Naruto wonders why the old man doesn’t have a scent or a mate at his age.

The sage crosses his arms and looks away, “He’ll heal physically, but I’m worried about the mental damage Itachi’s jutsu will leave behind.”

Gai sensei cuts in before Naruto can, “But hasn’t Itachi already done this to Sasuke? On the night of the massacre? Surely if he can overcome it once, he can again.” and he knows it’s meant to be positive, but the words feel like poison in his mouth and even worse in his ears.

He remembers seeing a distant look in the newly orphaned boy’s eyes the next day at the academy, but he’s assumed it was grief not... whatever aftereffects these were. The Uzumaki feels guilty now, for having been excited that someone in his class would finally understand him.

Gai goes to check on the civilians in the other parts of the inn and Jiraiya slides down beside him, leaning his back against the wall to mirror the Uzumaki.

“Careful kid, you’ll make the scent bond worse.” he says as Naruto continues to rub his scent onto his friend in hopes of comforting him. White hot terror floods his body at the implication that he shouldn’t be holding the ailing boy so close to himself.

“But-but he’s my friend.” The “please don’t make me let him go.” is left unsaid.

Jiraiya sensei chuckled at him, “Is that what was going through your head when you two got yourselves into this mess?”

Naruto looks down, careful to not jostle Sasuke. He can feel his ears burn red, “No, I uh- thought we were forming a pack bond.”

He knows now that it was stupid but at the time no one had ever explained how all that stuff works to him.

The old man looks over at him with shocked amusement, “Wha- Kid did no one ever tell you that they’re formed on your wrist?”

“No-” a whimper from Sasuke cuts him off right as Gai appears.

“Okay, I should get Sasuke back to the medic nins.” He holds out his arms, beckoning Naruto to hand over his teammate.

The blonde can’t really stop the growl he emits as he speaks, “No! I’ll take him back.”

He flashes his eyes at Jiraiya when Gai looks to the other adult as well, silently begging the man to let him take Sasuke home.

“Let him go, Naruto, we need to go find Tsunade so that she can help Sasuke.”

He knows that their mission is important for the village, since she’s the next hokage, and he is aware that yes, the quicker they find the lady, the quicker they can get rid of their bond, but he feels like he’ll die if he doesn’t keep holding onto his friend.

After some back and forth, he reluctantly lets Gai sensei tenderly hold the omega but not without fussing and making sure Sasuke is in the most comfortable position possible. Wordlessly, right before Gai sensei is about to set out, he unzips his jacket and wraps it around the Uchiha. It had comforted him in the past, so hopefully it would comfort him now.

Please be okay, he thinks as he watches the jonin go.

He can’t lose Sasuke, not like this.
~~~
It’s been days in this hellscape. He’s trapped in the Uchiha compound on the night of the massacre, and he’s watched every single clan member fall victim to his brother’s blade. He knows it isn’t real, but the splashes of blood across his cheeks feel so real that it begins to make his skin itch.

Sometimes he watches them die in silence. Sometimes all he sees is the red of Itachi’s sharingan and hears the horrified screams of their soon to be corpses. Sometimes his consciousness is swapped with the mind of the victims, feeling what they felt.

It’s hell and he deserves it for being this weak.

Sometimes Itachi appears to taunt him. Tsukuyomi Itachi likes to belittle his status as an omega. It’s a shame, he’ll say, that even his biology will never let him get strong enough to face him.
He says graphic things that make Sasuke red with shame and anger but it’s when he mentions the scent bond that Sasuke truly breaks down.

“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?”

Sasuke wants to run because he’s figuring out that the insecure voice inside his head sounds an awful lot like Itachi.

The red skies continue to burn his lungs and he’s cried all the tears he can, but he knows he’ll cry even more when the killing begins again.
~~~
She’s sitting by Rock Lee’s bed reading him a story when Gai arrives with a somber look on his face. “Sakura,” he starts, frowning “un-youthfully” as Lee would say, “come with me.”

She knows it’s meant to be a gentle suggestion from the way his thick, rectangular eyebrows shift, but it’s a statement all the same. What could possibly be wrong now?

She throws Rock Lee’s unconscious body another glance before getting up and placing her book on the bedside table. It was a children’s story that most children knew, but it reminded her of him and she wanted to do something nice for the boy who had jumped in to save her when she couldn’t even save herself.

They walk in silence, mostly because she’s too worried about what could have happened to make the usually radiant jonin so solemn. Could it be news about Rock Lee’s condition that he didn’t feel comfortable sharing with her while the genin lay injured in a hospital bed?

Or- had- had there been a training accident with Sasuke and Kakashi sensei? Or Naruto?

Gai halts in front of one of the more secluded hospital rooms and hesitates to speak before sighing, “Sakura, what I’m about to tell you is top secret alright? It can’t leave this room.”
She nods, throat too closed up in anxiousness to speak. He looks at her for a moment before turning his face to the ground, “Sasuke was attacked by his brother, Itachi, and while he is relatively fine physically, one of the Uchiha clan’s cruelest jutsu was performed on him, and now he is in what I can only describe as a mental cage. It’s a genjutsu of the highest rank, and we’re waiting on the retrieval of one of the legendary sannin to fix him.”

He looks at her again and she knows she looks pitiful but her world has just collapsed around her.

Her Sasuke is injured and will probably suffer from some kind of mental instability, and she can’t even help him. She’s no medic nin, she’s not even good enough at her genjutsu resistance to even try and see if it would work for Sasuke’s situation. Gai steps away from the door and she asks, brokenly, “Is he in there?”

It’s obvious that he is but she still needs the verbal confirmation to make it feel real. The jonin says yes and it still doesn’t feel real. Sasuke is so strong, how could he fall victim to something like that?

She cracks open the door and for some reason, she smells Naruto. Had they told him before her? But when the door swings open fully, all she sees is the broken and bruised form of the Uchiha. Gai notices her confusion but doesn’t say anything.

Maybe he’s confused too?

“Naruto was with him when it happened.” Oh, so that’s why the other alpha’s scent clung to Sasuke. It’d wear off soon then.

“Why isn’t he here now?” She sits on the edge of Sasuke’s bed and holds his hand. She’s got tears forming in her eyes but she’s honestly tired of crying over her teammates. It seems like that’s all she does, and after the Chunin exams, she wants to at least try and act like she’s a shinobi, not a cry baby like that Neji guy had called her.

She wondered how such a rude bitter person could be teammates with someone as kind and energetic as Lee but the team formations weren’t actually their decisions. The Hokage chose weird line ups for genin squads.

Gai shuffles his feet, “He went with Master Jiraiya to search for Lady Tsunade so that she can heal Sasuke.”

She sees him glance at the doorway, and she knows he’s thinking about his student. “Don’t worry,” she says reassuringly, “The doctors said he’s stable. Go see him, I’m sure he’d appreciate it.” Usually she’d laugh at how he nearly ran from the room but right now a stone had settled in her gut and she knew she wouldn’t be finding the humor in many things for the oncoming days.

He’s paler than usual, nearly translucent, and she can see the map of veins spreading out under the skin of his wrist.

As happy as she is at finally finding out what Sasuke smells like after his presentation, she wishes it were when he was conscious and choosing to do so. He was a private person, she’d come to learn after years at the academy together, and she could only imagine his frustration and awkwardness when he woke up to realize that his scent wasn’t masked when he was asleep.

Asleep or whatever he was right now...
~~~
He’s in the body of his younger self and he feels even more powerless than he already did in this endless nightmare.

He’s watched his mother die seven hundred and sixteen times now, and every time the smiling corpse forces his knees to give out and he collapses onto the blood soaked floorboards of his parent’s bedroom.

The blood pools from her body and chases him, following his every footstep while Itachi laughs at him and taunts the weak little omega who isn’t strong enough to save his family.

He can feel the hatred taking seed inside of his head, it’s stronger this time around, more focused and cruel.

He hates and he burns and he seethes.

It’s when he watches his uncle and auntie get slaughtered, like nothing more than cattle Itachi’s voice adds, he makes a promise to himself.

He will turn the world into ashes if it means he avenges his clan. Even if it means forsaking a future he thought he could have. His goal will lie in the past.

The sky is the exact shade of the sharingan now, and his body begins to fall endlessly into a dark void of screams and fear.

He will achieve his goal.

~~~
It takes a night and the better part of a day for the rest of their genin friends to hear about Sasuke’s hospitalization.

Ino is the first to arrive with flowers in tow, after having refreshed the lilac, she’d supplied Rock Lee’s room with.

She places a lively looking vase filled with puffy looking flowers on the table next to the bed and takes a seat next to Sakura. A nurse had been kind and brought in chairs the previous evening. The omega tosses her hair over her shoulder and eyes the unconscious boy with an unreadable expression before Sakura interrupts her. “What kind are those?” she asks, pointing a finger at the vase.

“Oh, they’re peonies, they symbolize good health.”

Sakura nods and thanks her on Sasuke’s behalf.

“Choji and Shikamaru should be here in a minute. The nurse wouldn’t let Choji bring his snacks in so he’s finishing them outside.” The two girls share a chuckle before Ino turns serious, “Sakura, you should go home and get some rest. Your mother is asking after you.”

It’s the tone she remembered so clearly from their academy days when they’d still been close. The lilt of her voice would come off caring but there was an underlying hint of scolding underneath that wasn’t noticed until later.

“Just tell her I’m on a mission, Ino-pig,” She knows it’s wrong, but she can’t stop her mouth from letting the childish insult loose from her tongue. She’s tired and worried and angry and beside herself with concern and she’s tired of everyone telling her to take a step back when she can take the pressure.

She didn’t realize that she’d said the last part out loud, but Ino’s arms are wrapped around her in a hug and Sakura can’t force herself to lean away from it. “Oh Sakura, I didn’t mean it like that. We aren’t just worried for Sasuke ya know, we’re worried about you too.”

Sakura is sitting in her teammate’s hospital room crying because she can’t handle it even when she says she can and she feels like a burden.

Maybe she does need a break. “Yeah,” she sniffles, “okay, yeah I’ll go home in a little while.”
Ino nods at her encouragingly like a parent nods approvingly at a baby babbling incoherently.

They stay quiet and Sakura is secretly thankful for the company. Seeing him like this is so... It feels wrong. It is wrong.

The door swings open and Shikamaru and Choji step in, awkwardly sensing the heavy atmosphere.

“Ah, geez, dontcha think Sasuke wouldn’t want us in here, Ino?” the genius grumbles as he leans against the wall, bored already. Choji looks worried and it’s odd for Sakura to see him serious for once. The furrowed brows and slight frown don’t belong on his face.

They chat idly, Choji regales them with the story of when the “omega club”, as Shikamaru calls it, went to Choji’s house to learn how to cook the famed Akimichi special dessert recipe, mostly because he had been hungry and Hinata had become addicted to the treat after Choji brought her some after training.

Sakura was surprised to learn that Sasuke had been spending time with them. He was secretive and generally did not enjoy being social, so it didn’t really make sense that he would have agreed to it. Maybe she didn’t know Sasuke as well as she thought.

“Don’t forget about the part where it blew up in Sasuke’s face!” Ino cackled, holding her stomach as she laughed. Shikamaru is smirking even though he’s still pretending to be bored and Sakura gets the fleeting suspicion that he might not be as cool headed as he lets on.

They keep telling stories and they paint the injured boy in a different light than what she’s so used to seeing him in. Ino talks about his honesty and shy attempts at being social, Choji mentions Sasuke’s weird gift for subtle kindness and blunt personality.

Sakura had never seen him as anything but perfect, but hearing Ino and Choji talk about him made him sound.. less godly than the Sasuke in her head was. It didn’t make sense but she was willing to figure it out if everyone was patient with her.

There’s a petite knock on the door and they all know it’s Hinata. She enters with watery eyes and hands clasped against her chest. Kiba and Shino follow behind her and the room begins to get a little cramped, but it isn’t uncomfortable.

“H-how is he?” the timid girl asks as Shikamaru steps aside to let her have room to sit. They give her the run down and she nods in determination, “He’ll pull through! I know it!”. It’s oddly similar to the stubborn tone that Naruto has when he says “Believe it!” but it’s not annoying like when he says it.

Kiba’s been oddly silent but his nostrils are flared and even Shino is giving him an odd look after Hinata and Ino’s exchange. He looks unsure and kind of shocked and the others are starting to pick up on it too.

“Uhm, guys?”, he asks and the alarm in his eyes is growing by the millisecond, “Why does Sasuke smell like a mated omega?”. “What? All he smells like is Naruto?” Sakura cries in shock. Shikamaru’s face goes carefully void and Choji’s jaw is on the floor. All of their heads whip around to the unconscious omega, noses straining trying to pick apart Sasuke’s scent like Kiba had done effortlessly. “What does he smell like usually?” Ino breathes out.

No one knows. He’d masked his scent almost since the day he’d presented and even before he’d begun to mask it, he’d wash himself void of his natural scent.

Kiba looks thoughtful and Akamaru barks from inside the Inuzuka’s jacket pocket.

“What do you mean, ‘mated’? Does he have a mark?” the genin says to the pup, who wriggles in the jacket pocket in response.

They really should check but every single one of them hesitates. If Sasuke finds out that they went snooping.. Sakura shuddered at the thought.

“I-I’ll do it.” Hinata squeaks, her face is red and she looks faint, but she’s the least likely person to be murdered by Sasuke so they let her peal back the bandages and take a peak at his ascent gland.

She breathes out a sigh of relief and shakes her head no, and they all relax slightly. “That’s a relief” Choji mutters, his fingers are twitching and Sakura can tell that he's itching for a snack to stress eat.

“That still doesn’t explain why he smells like he is.” Kiba trails off. “Should we go get the nurses?” Ino asks in alarm, “They’ll know what’s wrong!”

Shino turns to leave, already sending bugs out to scout for an idle medic nin but Shikamaru is suddenly in the doorway, arm outstretched to stop him from leaving.

“Shikamaru wha-” Choji gets cut off when the genius sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

What did he have to be frustrated about? Sasuke was the one with a weird scent issue right now!

“Calm down. It’s not what you think it is.” he grumbles, before pausing to think about something that Sakura can’t guess.

“Well, if you know then spit it out already!” the blonde omega screeches from beside her, clearly over the Nara’s dramatic pauses already. He gives her a pointed look while Kiba still sniffed the air in bewilderment beside them, mumbling every now and again to Akamaru.

“Well maybe I would if you’d let me!” Shikamaru snaps before looking at the ceiling and continuing, this time much calmer. “When Sasuke presented, he and Naruto accidentally formed a scent bond and they’ve been trying to get it severed. It’s part of the reason why one of the legendary sannin showed up.”

It’s so quiet that Hinata’s shocked gasp sounds like a scream. The shy omega wobbles visibly and Kiba leaps behind her to catch her as she faints.

Shino and Shikamaru are watching Sakura with analytical eyes and she wants to crawl into a hole and die. How could they keep this from her? She was their teammate and their friend and they couldn’t even be bothered enough to tell her this life changing secret? Did Kakashi sensei know? Why did they choose to tell Shikamaru instead of her? He didn’t even seem to care one way or another, wouldn’t they want someone to know that would take the situation seriously?

Ino sensed her rising anger and chose to verbalize what the pink haired alpha was thinking.
“Shikamaru! How could you know and not tell me! I thought we were friends!”

He looks more annoyed than sheepish. Shino is fanning a still unconscious Hinata while Kiba and Akamaru communicate animatedly and Choji is uncharacteristically quiet.

“I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t my place to tell! They didn’t even tell me, I figured it out okay?” He throws his hands up in the air as he and Ino begin a screaming match.

The arguing and the barking are getting louder by the second. and the buzz of the bugs zooming around the room and the beeping of Sasuke’s heart monitor are beginning to overwhelm Sakura but what sets her off is the scent of orange wrapped around a lightning bolt.

It’s their scent and her stomach rolls.

“Sakura, are you alright?” She hears Shino ask but her tongue is heavy and she doesn’t respond. She gets up hastily and knocks her chair down in the process. Her legs are moving and her head is spinning with this betrayal.

Shikamaru steps aside and she runs. She’s pretty sure she knocks into someone but she can’t stick around long enough to help them up.

She can’t be here anymore.
~~~
They’re all shocked at the pink haired alpha’s departure. “I should go after her.” Ino says but her voice is hollow and she stays rooted to her chair. Why would she when she had had a crush on the Uchiha for just as long, if not longer than Sakura?

“Sheesh, I know it’s serious but I didn’t think she’d have a meltdown over it.” the lazy alpha says as he helps himself to the now empty seat Sakura had toppled over in her haste. He crosses his arms over his chest lethargically and turns his analytical gaze to the rest of the room’s inhabitants.

Hinata has come to and has a confused expression on her face but Shikamaru doubts anyone will fill her in right now. Shino is recalling his bugs but is otherwise unreadable because of his sunglasses and giant jacket collar blocking the bottom half of his face.

“So-so N-Naruto and Sasuke are?..” The timid girl trails off and the remaining alphas in the room are uncomfortable. Who wouldn’t be when the girl that’s had a crush on your friend forever finds out that she’s out of the running for their heart for the foreseeable future? What do you even say to that?

Sheesh, what a mess.

Choji saves them all from answering by coughing loudly, “So did no one else see that coming?”

His best friend’s words must have lit a fire under Ino’s butt because she leaves not a second sooner than the words have just left Choji’s mouth. “Maybe wrong timing for that, Choj.” the genius groans.

Great, now they’re going to get to deal with an emotional Ino. Girls are weird like that and Shikamaru can’t be bothered to understand the intricacies behind their dramatic antics.

Hinata seems to be taking it well. She’s the only one that is still standing by Sasuke’s bed, even though her face is still red. For some reason Kiba is still behind her, arms carefully by his sides in case he needs to catch her again. Despite her red face, she was looking as pale as the injured Uchiha.

From what he can tell by Shino and Kiba’s nonchalance, Hinata faints a lot. At least Ino wasn’t troublesome like that. She just gossiped and bossed them around and screeched at them like a banshee. He sighed, girls are a different breed of complicated.
~~~
They’re on their way back to the leaf village with the old hag in tow when she finally asks about why he has a scent bond.

He’s been teased enough by Jiraiya already to know that he should only tell the basics. With one quick look to the toad sage, who seems gleefully mischievous about potentially hearing the tale again, Naruto takes a deep breath.
“So we were fighting Zabuza and then Sasuke sacrificed himself for me but like he presented and also Haku was there and Haku was a boy but really looked like a girl, which was really confusing but also I got a bridge named after me and Sasuke awaken his sharingan and-” SMACK!

Tsunade had whacked him! “Hey! What’s the big idea you old hag! I was telling the story!”

The blonde woman looks like she’s wishing she had a bottle of sake in her hand as she grits out “I don’t care about a mission, I want to know why you’re bonded at like seven years old.”

She has a way of saying everything like she’s scolding him even when he’s doing nothing wrong. She’s like the grandmother he probably would have had if he’d had a family and he’s clenched his jaw in irritation in the last few days than he thinks he has in his entire life.

“I was getting to that granny!” Shizune intervenes before Tsunade can chase him down the dirt path. For an old lady, she sure can move when she wants to.

“As I was saying,” Naruto makes a point of grinning at her tauntingly while Jiraiya shakes his head fondly, “Sasuke presented as an omega when we were on this really tense mission and when we got back to the village, Kakashi sensei told me and Sakura to leave Sasuke alone while he was in the hospital.”

He pauses to collect his thoughts but Tsunade fills in the blank for him, “You went to see him anyway, is that right?” The Uzumaki can feel his ears burning as he nods in shame. He knew it had been stupid of him to go when Kakashi sensei had explicitly told them not to, but the worry in the pit of his stomach that no one could take care of his injured friend as well as him had forced him to act irrationally.

She must get his confirmation from the look on his face because the next thing he knows, he’s being swatted at again. “You idiot! You do realize that if you were older and had done that, it would have been a crime right?!”

Shizune makes a faint, distressed sound and Jiraiya starts to whistle, not daring to stick up for the blonde against Tsunade’s wrath.

He didn’t know it was illegal. He didn’t know anything because no one ever told him anything. If he asked questions they laughed at him and when he pretended to know things, such as why the heck it was rude to smell people in public, he became even more lost and confused.

“No! Okay! I didn’t know why it was such a big deal because I don’t have a family to tell me that stuff and they didn’t exactly explain it at the academy! I’ve been alone my entire life with no one to guide me! I didn’t even know what a nest was until Sasuke made one three months ago!”

The hag has the decency to look ashamed of her outburst but Naruto doesn’t care. What had happened with Sasuke was an accident and nobody that knew about the scent bond ever believed him.

Was it really such a crime to want to take care of his teammate when he was vulnerable?

“Okay guys, let’s cool it. No one meant any harm, so why don’t you finish telling us how it happened, kid.” His new sensei was weirdly good at trying to smooth things over with people. It probably had something to do with his long history of being a creepy perv conducting “research” now that Naruto thought about it..

“As I was saying,” he started again for the second time in less than three minutes, “I went to go check on him because I got worried and he was acting really weird, well weirder than usual anyways, and he was really aggressive and Sasuke has like a lot of fangirls and gossip spreads like wildfire so like, they all were at the hospital trying to get to him and he stabbed one girl, which she so deserved, and he kinda latched onto me and didn’t let me go so I was kinda stuck. We uh..”

Naruto was embarrassed to admit the next part but Jiraiya was all too eager to hear the rest of the story. “He kinda um.. Scented each other.. Like.. a lot and we fell asleep like that so.. Yeah..”

He can feel the blood rushing to his face and he kicks a pebble in the road to distract himself from the, amused in Jiraiya’s case, shocked stares of his travel companions. The gambling fiend’s eye twitches as she asks “What on earth did you think you were doing? Surely you knew it was” she gestures a hand in the air awkwardly, “intimate.”

He’s sheepish because he knows they’re going to laugh. Kakashi sensei sure had a nice, long cackle at his and Sasuke’s expenses when he explained to them what they’d done.

“... I thought we were making a pack bond?” he trailed helplessly, speeding up his pace so that he could hopefully avoid another smack from the alcoholic.

Jiraiya’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Kid- you-” he can’t finish wherever he is about to say because he bursts into a loud, hearty chuckling laugh that would shake the earth if it were any louder.

“Uhm, Naruto?” Shizune squeaks out, “Pack bonds are established by-” She gets cut off by Jiraiya. “Pack bonds are formed at the wrist you knucklehead!”

Sasuke had been very clear on that when they’d gone back to their senses. He’d been clear on a lot of other things too, like how if he told anyone that the Uchiha had stuck to him like an octopus, he’d remove his fingers one by one and set his stash of ramen on fire- which was arguably worse than having his fingers removed.
“So what are you going to do about the bond?” Tsunade speaks up, all business. Her eyes are boring into him and he instantly feels bad for any of her past patients because while doctors were scary enough, she was terrifying.

“Uh, well you see-” Jiraiya interrupts again and the blonde is starting to believe that he’s doing it on purpose just to mess with him.

“Kakashi said that they couldn’t locate any information on how to sever it without medical involvement, so we were hoping that you would be able to perform the surgery.”

He thinks it’s weird how Tsunade’s facial expression softens at the mention of Kakashi sensei, but they’re discussing something literally life or death so he chalks it up to fondness for fellow comrades.

The future hokage and her disciple share a serious, heavy look before the old woman sighs. Her lips are pursed in thought and even Jiraiya has a serious look on his face. “Jiraiya you know I don’t do that anymore. Not after-” her eyes clasp together tightly, clearly pained at a memory from long ago.

Shizune squeezes her teacher’s shoulder in what should have been a comforting manner, but the blonde woman pushes her hand away.

“Please grandma Tsunade, we don’t have any other options.” Naruto hopes his voice is pitiful enough to convince her but it’s not likely. She’s obviously as stubborn as he is and that’s arguably more infuriating than anything else about her.

“No Naruto.” she half shouts sternly before she whirls around to face Jiraiya. She jabs a finger to his chest and he lets her with a stony, unreadable expression on his face. “And you! You should know better than to ask me that! Especially after what happened last time!”

Jiraiya emits a growl and it honestly scares him. He’d never seen the sage so.. angry before, but Tsunade didn’t even flinch. She had to be the coolest, most stubborn omega Naruto would ever meet. Well, besides Sasuke that is.

The atmosphere is tense and ripe with the angry scent of lemon and for the first time, Naruto notices the lack of scent emitting from his sensei. That didn’t make any sense because for an alpha as powerful; as Jiraiya, even if he were really, reaallyyy good at masking his scent, there would still be something.

He’d have to ask him about it later, after Tsunade had healed Sasuke and they managed to convince her to perform the operation.

~~~
Sasuke can’t breathe. The air has turned into thick, black, syrupy tar and it’s in his lungs and he can’t breathe. Itachi is standing over him, toying with his blade and all the omega can do is panic.

His parent’s cold, dead arms are wrapped around him in a tight grip that’s reminiscent of a rope and all he can do is stare up at Itachi’s looming form as he chokes on the tar in his throat. Itachi tuts, in mock pity, and his eyes are maliciously sympathetic as he crouches down to be eye level with Sasuke’s trembling body.

“You know, maybe it’s a good thing the clan is dead. After all, they only let the strongest omegas continue to be shinobi after presenting and you’re much too weak.”

He grins then and Sasuke had never seen him smile in that way and he never wants to see it again. “Honestly, you’re just one wasted potential after another, aren’t you, Sasuke?”

The omega in question tries to ignore the taunts because he knows Itachi wants a reaction. He can’t focus on anything specifically, it’s all just one hellish daze.

In the blink of an eye, but Sasuke knows it is actually far longer because time works differently here, Itachi is gone, the bloody arms constricting him like snakes turn to ash and fall to the ground. He can breathe but he’s falling and no matter how hard he yells, he can’t make a sound.

This time, his fall isn’t endless. He hits the inky ground hard and it squeezes what little air he’s managed to obtain from his lungs. Footsteps echo around him and they come from every direction so he has no idea how to prepare or even where to look. All he can do is wrap his arms tightly around himself and let his tears flow freely. He’s still in his powerless, weak eight year old body.

He can’t really see what figure approaches him, the fat, rolling tears that have hijacked his face again make his vision too bleary to tell. The light doesn’t help him, as the sky is its usual acidic blood red, and the shadows it casts are larger and deeper than any shadow caused by a sun.

There’s a hand on his shoulder and his neck burns. The red light of the blood moon casts an orange glow on blonde hair and Sasuke’s blood runs cold. Itachi wouldn’t- how did he-

His eyes trailed up the form in front of him slowly, too scared to meet the eyes of the person he was almost certain he would find, but unable to move away while the hand was sternly placed on his shoulder.

He never thought he would be terrified to see him but he was. Naruto was grinning down at him, with an evil twist to the wide smile Sasuke had come to appreciate. His eyes weren’t the same and Sasuke hurts when he sees red in place of blue.

The omega cries out as Naruto tightens his grip and he thinks he hears a slight snap where the alpha’s fingers rest on his collarbone. His nerves are electric and the sting of hurt shoots through his body, making him shudder with nauseating tendrils of pain.

“STOP! ITACHI PLEASE! NOT HIM!” he begs as Naruto’s fingers move to where his glands are. The omega part of his brain is screaming at him to relax, that he should let his alpha do with him as he pleases, but Naruto isn’t his. Even if he was, Sasuke was much too proud to let that happen.

He wants to fight and run and scream and claw at the hand at his neck, but he’s paralyzed. He doesn’t know if it’s from his own fear and shock or because Itachi wants him to be as helpless as he feels.

The red eyed alpha bends down to where he’s level with his ear and begins to tell the omega all of the thoughts that have plagued Sasuke’s mind since presenting. He starts to struggle against invisible bindings and not-Naruto laughs.

“You think you can escape? You’re an Uchiha that’s trapped in a genjutsu. Clearly, your genes must have been defective.” Sasuke clenches his jaw to keep himself from screaming at the alpha. He’s learned that if he fights back, in any way, it only gets worse.

“Are you even worthy of the Uchiha name?”

Two more figures step out of the red shadows and he doesn’t have to look to know it’s more versions of Naruto. They begin to swarm him in droves, taunting him all the while, and it feels like they’ve been at it for days before there’s a change.

Sasuke has sobbed and raged and hurt and it won’t end.

But then Itachi is there, and he carries a sword that Sasuke still has nightmares about, and the omega is free of his invisible confines. The genin collapses from his kneeling position, dazed with dried tear tracks on his cheeks. Itachi ominously crouches next to him.

“Sasuke, you know what you have to do to make them stop, don’t you?”

Sasuke turns wild eyes to take in the crowd of sadistic Narutos who haven’t stopped their hateful barrage of verbal assaults. He-he can’t do what he knows the older Uchiha wants him to.

The sword is in his hands but Sasuke doesn’t remember picking it up, nor does he remember getting so much red fluid on the blade. He realizes he’s standing and Itachi watches him shake like a feeble child.

Air stings his lungs and he registers the coppery, gory scent that he’s all too familiar with and he can’t look down because he knows what he’ll see and it’s wrong.

He doesn’t get a choice, however, because he never gets a choice. Itachi forces his head down when he spots the look of pained defiance flutter across his face.

All of the clones are mutilated and broken and butchered but their faces are grinning up at him, eyes as red as the pools of blood spreading beneath their bodies.

“You couldn’t save your own family, what makes you think you can save us?” they parrot, one after the other in a sing-song that gets in his ears and Sasuke knows he will never unhear it.

One last Naruto remains, and the sword moves of its own accord, dragging Sasuke’s arm along with it because he can’t let go.

He’s sobbing, loudly. His throat is clenching and unclenching and his chest is rising and falling too erratically. “Stop.” he chokes out, ignoring the rawness of his voice. “Itachi, please. I’ll- I’ll do anything just please don’t make me-”

His begging is cut short when the blade sinks into the blonde alpha like nothing. He doesn’t say anything, he just grins up at Sasuke with trusting eyes and Sasuke hates.

“That’s it, little brother, let your hatred flow.”
~~~
Shikamaru sighs as he folds his arms over his chest, completely and utterly bored. The nurses have told him that Sakura hasn’t set foot in Sasuke’s hospital room since the discovery and he can only think about how terrible team seven’s bond is.

Sakura’s loyalty is conditional, Sasuke’s loyalty is on his terms, and Naruto seems to glue himself to whoever doesn’t want him dead. What was the hokage thinking?

Ino had forced him to be the one to look after the comatose omega as payback for dropping the bombshell on them all and upsetting Sakura. There were a lot of things the alpha disliked doing, like moving swiftly and doing laundry with his mom, but he could safely say that there was nothing he detested more than having to stare blankly at nothing, waiting for Sasuke to wake up.

It had been like this for two days and already he wanted to gouge out his own eyes. Choji and Hinata were the only ones that showed up consistently anymore. It made sense, Kiba and Sasuke had a poor relationship at best and Naruto beating the crap out of the other alpha for no reason hadn’t helped things much. Shikamaru couldn’t remember ever seeing Shino and Sasuke even speak to one another, and Ino was helping her family rebuild their home.

Sakura.. well, was being a girl about things, so he didn’t expect her to be showing up any time soon.

He almost felt bad for the guy. If it weren’t for Ino’s stubbornness wearing him down, he wouldn’t be here, and Choji visited more for Shikamaru than he did for the omega. Hinata was a rare occurrence because outside of missions, the Hyuuga clan kept a tight leash on the omega heiress.

Sasuke was alone.

It became increasingly obvious as the clock on the wall continued to tick and the rush of the hospital could be heard inside the room, yet, inside remained silent.

Sure, it was kinda obvious that the omega was an orphan. Shoot, Shikamaru would be surprised if the whole world didn’t know the famous tale by now. But, wasn’t Naruto an orphan too?

Shikamaru knew without a doubt that if Naruto was in Sasuke’s place, this room would be filled to the brim with people.

Lord third’s grandson, that pipsqueak Konohomaru, teams seven, eight, and ten would be frequent visitors. Their old sensei from the academy, Iruka, would basically be living in the place until Naruto was better.

Outside of Naruto, and maybe Kakashi and the girls, no one would go out of their way like that for Sasuke, not the way families would.

Him being a complete asshole didn’t help either. Sasuke is prideful and arrogant, with skills that nine times out of ten would back him up on that at least, but the worst thing about him is his complete lack of care and respect for other people. It makes Shikamaru uneasy, because his older brother had so little care and respect for people that he slaughtered their entire clan. The genius alpha did not want to figure out just how similar he and Itachi Uchiha were in that regard.

Shikamaru couldn’t say that Naruto was his best friend, or even one of his closest friends, but he cared about the fumbling, brain dead idiot, and he absolutely despised the fact that the blonde was so obviously head over heels for Sasuke.

It was all just one big disaster waiting to happen and he thinks it’s a drag how no one else can see that.

He shifts in his chair and looks out of the carefully reinforced window. He’d asked one of the nurses why it was like that and she told him that when Sasuke was in the hospital the last time, when he’d presented, he’d smashed the glass and threatened several hospital staff with kunai knives.

How troublesome.

He doesn’t get to stare at the clouds through the window, however, because almost immediately Hinata enters with snacks and flowers Ino had sent her with. He didn’t get why she sent flowers every day, Sasuke had only been out of it for four days, the original flowers weren’t even dead yet. Plus, it wasn’t like he was awake to appreciate the kind gesture.

Not that a bastard like that would.

“Hi, Shikamaru.” The girl’s soft voice cuts through the silence like a knife and it amuses him because it just goes to show just how quiet it is.

“Hey,” he shrugs, inclining his head gratefully when she hands him a bag of chips, “Thanks.”

She blushes in response, then looks sadly towards Sasuke’s unresponsive body. It’s as if she feels bad for being happy when her old schoolmate is lying injured in the same room.

“How is he?” she asks timidly, for some reason Shikamaru can’t fathom because it’s not like he’s going to bite her head off for asking about their comrade.

“Same as usual.” he says lazily in between bites of chips. The package looked an awful lot like Choji’s favorite spicy brand that had been out of stock for a week now.

Shikamaru would need to burn the evidence, or he’d be facing one pissed off Akimichi.

“Why do you keep coming anyway? No one’s taking attendance.”
“We-well, I could say the same for you.” touché.

Her hands rush up to her mouth in shock, like she’s just said something world endingly offensive, and Shikamaru can’t help but feel a twinge of pity for her because, while a rare occurrence, Hyuuga omegas were heavily sheltered and disciplined. It’s not a surprise how rare they are, given the harsh circumstances surrounding that eerily reserved clan.

He chuckles faintly to let her know that she hasn’t done anything wrong and pushes one of the chairs in front of her for her to sit.

He’d thought that was the end of the conversation, but a few moments later to gather her thoughts, Hinata speaks up again.

“Sasuke is my friend a-and it’s not fair that Naruto isn’t here.” Her voice is honest and her words are simple, but they’re strong and her lilac gaze is unwavering. With a quick assessment of the air, the driven scent of vanilla and lavender tells him that there’s not a sliver of doubt in her.

“Crazy, never would’ve thought that the leaf village’s meanest omega would be the nicest omega’s friend.” Her cheeks turn red again. Does she just have too much blood in her face or something? Why is she always so red?

“Sasuke isn’t bad.” her phrasing is innocent, yet blunt, and it reminds him of Choji when they were little kids.

“Oh yeah?”

She nods her head insistently and she crosses her legs. “He is really kind when you get to know him, and I think he’s lonely but is scared to make friends.”

Well, that was certainly an.. alternate take on the guy’s personality.

As an afterthought, when she sees Shikamaru turning her words over in his mind with careful consideration, she adds, “The world was mean to him, so he’s mean to the world.”

Now it all makes sense. She felt like she had something in common with the omega, and Shikamaru couldn’t deny that. They both came from prestigious clans, both were omegas, quiet, somewhat isolated, and both gravitated towards Naruto.

Hinata could have been Sasuke, and Sasuke could have been Hinata, and that makes Shikamaru think.

She’s wiser than people give her credit for and he tells her as much. She looks like she’s either about to deny it or thank him for the compliment- which really isn’t a compliment because it’s just an observation, but whatever-, but the door swinging open abruptly cuts her off.

“Lady Hinata. What would your father say if he found out you were alone with an alpha without an escort?” Her older cousin they’d met in the chunin exams, Neji, scolds. Sheesh, he sure didn’t waste time being an asshole.

His eyes, even though they’re identical to hers thanks to the Hyuuga bloodline trait, are malicious and if Shikamaru didn’t know any better, he’d say the older alpha enjoyed seeing the way Hinata’s face crumbled. Neji must have just gotten done visiting his teammate a few doors down.

What’s more, her calming, subtle lavender fragrance is completely diminished by Neji’s bitter polish scent, which is a clear sign of her submission, however hesitant it may have been.

Neji rolls his eyes, and Shikamaru watches him. He gives off the same vibe that Sasuke does, although Sasuke’s general aura is nowhere near as obviously angry and bitter as the older Hyuuga’s.

Hinata turns to her friend with a deeply troubled smile and says “Goodbye, Shikamaru, it was nice talking to you.”

He nods instead of responding verbally because he knows Neji would be the kind of guy to take anything the wrong way on purpose. Hinata didn’t need any more grief than she already got from her clan, and Shikamaru didn’t want any part in making the girl more miserable than she already was.

Too bad her cousin didn’t have the same thoughts on the subject.

Warily, Shikamaru watched them go.
~~~
The injured boy could tell something was wrong with Sakura the moment she entered his hospital room. Her newly shortened hair didn’t have its usual shine and she smelled as though she were deeply troubled but had covered it up with the scent of freshly baked cookies- a common perfume that female alphas used.

Rock Lee stiffened as she took a seat next to his bed, desperately trying to sit in a disciplined, respectful way that she would hopefully appreciate. “Sakura, what is the matter?” he made sure to catch her gaze as he spoke so that she could see his sincerity.

She gave him a smile in return, bouncing her head to the side and closing her eyes in a smile, but it didn’t quite reach her mouth. “Oh nothing, Lee, my teammates are just being- well, them. How are you feeling?”

That was suspicious. How could Sasuke give her trouble when he was unconscious? And hadn’t she mentioned that Naruto was away from the village two days ago? Something didn’t sit right with the genin.

What had happened within the last twenty four hours to make her so obviously frustrated and upset? “I am doing better than I was before you arrived, my beautiful Sakura, and I will be even better than I was then as you continue to visit me!”

She chuckled then and he was relieved to hear it. To him, her laugh was effortlessly melodic, an aphrodisiac for his wounded pride. The nurses kept telling him that the medicines they continued to give him were healing his injuries, but he would bet doing three hundred laps around the village on his hands that it was really Sakura’s presence that did the trick.

There was something about her that just felt comforting.

“Sakura, I can tell that something is not right. I respect that you do not wish to tell me, but please, do not let it hinder your youthful spirit!”

If he could raise a fist in the air to display his unwavering determination, he would, but alas, he was almost completely in a body cast. “Thank you Lee, that means a lot.”

They sat there for a moment, appreciating each other’s presence. One of the nurses had come in earlier and opened a window so that the air flow would rid the room of dejected iron. His scent was uncommon in the leaf village, and many had theorized that he had an ancestor that had come from the sand village years ago, which he supposed that made his loss in the chunin exams even more bitter than it already was.

His scent didn’t go with many, and it was as striking as his physical features. Many girls had told him as much, but he didn’t really let it get to him anymore. He had something to prove, and wasting time on unproductive emotions such as insecurity was not a good idea. However, when he’d stumbled upon team seven trying to sign up for the exams, and he’d noticed that Sakura hadn’t flinched away from his scent, he’d been giddy.

Even Ten-Ten and Neji, despite their best efforts, found it hard to adjust to his heavy, airy iron fragrance. It was like a breath of fresh air to see Sakura not even blink at him that he’d had to profess his love for her on the spot. Rock Lee did not like to do anything that was understated in any way.

It just made sense to him, why do something at all if it didn’t have all of his energy put into it?

Sakura was kind as well. She had witnessed his devastating defeat and instead of treating him shamefully, she offered him friendship and care, and he’d even heard her scolding others in the hospital wing when they’d been disrespectful to his situation.

She was brave like that, and even though she did not return his affections, she never wavered in her respect for him.

Sakura was a good friend.

That’s why Rock Lee decided that he would get to the bottom of whatever it was that was disturbing her and he would solve it for her. It would be his form of a thank you for taking care of him.

Chapter Text

Passing through the gates of Konoha was all a blur. Those really old people that always frown when they see him, the council elders, were waiting impatiently for Tsunade to walk with them but she insisted on talking to Jiraiya for a bit longer. Meanwhile, Shizune tried to keep hold of the wriggling, excited pig, but she managed to freed herself from the confines of the brunette’s grasp and terrorize the old lady elder.

Jiraiya sensei failed to hide his laughter. “Lady Tsunade, is that Sake I smell on your breath?” the other elder asked, to which the omega sanin lied through her teeth and said no, it was just a really unfortunate brand of toothpaste she’d used while on the road.

His mission had been completed and he had no reason to remain with the crabby adults, so he hightailed it to the hospital to go see Sasuke. He got a sense of deja vu from the Zabuza incident as he scurried along the village roads towards the hospital but he pushed the darker thoughts that came from those memories out of his head. That mission was nothing but fleeting ghosts and a lonely bridge now.

He jumped across rooftops with ease and Naruto couldn’t remember the last time he and Sasuke had chased each other across these very roofs. When the omega was well again, they would have to rectify it.

It had been what? Two days? Why did it feel like the alpha hadn’t seen his teammate in a year? Sure, the scent bond’s constant sting was probably a factor, but that only counted for physical loneliness. Why did he feel so heavy?

The fangirls weren’t storming the hospital this time, and Naruto suspects it has more to do with everyone helping rebuild the village after the third hokage’s fight with that bastard Orochimaru than the girls finally deciding to respect Sasuke’s right to privacy regardless of his status.

It was a bit ironic that his best friend was never truly alone but wished to be, but Naruto was always alone but wanted to be the center of anyone’s attention. Kakashi was probably right, they were two different sides of the same coin.

The hospital has its usual hustle and bustle, nurses are filling out charts, the person on desk duty is in a heated discussion with an old woman about whoever the patient in room twenty seven is and why the medic nins can’t operate until their chakra reserves fill back up. Chakra exhaustion seemed to be a common occurrence at the hospital, which made sense.

The blonde narrowly dodges someone carrying a big brown box labeled ‘gauze’. He doesn’t quite know where he’s going but his nose leads him to the third floor, ninth room on the left. It’s the same room Sasuke had spent his first heat in and Naruto’s body warms at the memory of the quiet breaths Sasuke let out as he slept with his face buried in the blonde’s scent glands.

Pft, dumb scent bond making his body feel weird.

He paused as his hand grasped the door knob. Would he still be unresponsive? Has anyone even told Sakura or Kakashi sensei? Has Sasuke suffered in here for days, alone with no one to fluff his pillow or talk his ear off even though he probably couldn’t hear it?

Bracing himself, he let the door swing open and immediately, a wall of the omega’s burning, ashy, wounded scent attacked him. Lightning stung the air, and instead of last time, when
Sasuke had attacked him in his daze, the room remained stagnant. His teammate, his friend, his Sasuke was lying still in a neat hospital bed. Upon further inspection, and a sneeze at the small vase of flowers that Ino had more than likely sent, he took in just how terrible the omega looked.

He was in short sleeves, the usual hospital attire, and Haku’s needle marks were prominent against the ghostly white complexion of his teammate’s skin. His inky hair, that looked so fine and pristine, was dull and limp against the small pillow. Sasuke’s arm was in a cast, and it looked like Choji and Kiba had been here at some point because they’d written their names on it.

If-when Sasuke woke up, he was not going to like that one bit.

There were a couple chairs surrounding the bed, so at least the blonde knew someone had come to check on Sasuke while he was gone. He scooted the nearest one closer to the bed and sat down, but it didn’t feel right. So, instead, and hoping Sasuke wouldn’t ever find out about it, he climbed onto the bed with the injured omega and proceeded to hold him.

The Uchiha was cold to the touch and up close, Naruto could hear the short, stumbling breaths coming from his fine, perfect nose. It felt wrong. Sasuke was always here. First, the Zabuza mission, then because of the curse mark from Orochimaru, and now because of his own brother.

All three instances had been because he was protecting the blonde too, and he felt nothing but shame pool in his gut. How could he be worthy of Sasuke if all he did was cause the grump to get hurt?

The alpha let his hand find Sasuke’s uninjured one and he held it with a tight, loving grip. He smiled a bit, when his thumb grazed over the calluses on the underside of the pale fingers. Naruto couldn’t really explain why he’d smiled, because callused hands were more than common amongst shinobi, but there was something about Sasuke’s that made his heart clench.

Was he having a heart attack?

The Uzumaki paused, to see if the pain would go away, and it did, so he deemed it just a weird body thing. He’d been experiencing a lot of those around Sasuke lately.

Did Sasuke ever get moments like that? If he did, he never let on. Sasuke was hard to read like that, although since their first real mission, the blonde felt that he was getting better at understanding the Uchiha. Like how his nose scrunched slightly when he was around people he didn’t like or that Sasuke hated group hugs but was never the last one to pull away.

It should be him lying in that bed, injured and unconscious.

How will he ever be hokage if he can’t even keep his teammate safe? And that’s only protecting one person, not an entire village.

The light that peaked through the reinforced window- ah, so that’s why Sasuke was in this room again, they’d sealed the only possible exit a shinobi would use.- was growing dimmer by the second. Logically, he knew he should go home, or at the very least track Tsunade and Jiraiya sensei down to discuss healing Sasuke but his body was molded around the omega’s in a way that felt grounding, leaving him rooted to his spot that even if he wanted to leave, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to.

The lightning scent smelled less despaired the longer the blonde glued himself to the comatose boy. Was that a good thing? It had to be, because after pausing to listen to his own body, he found that the scent bond was thrumming with warmth, not the usual sting.

He felt whole when the bond got that way. It wasn’t often, because he and Sasuke fought a lot and were separated often, but when it felt that way, for a few fleeting moments, Naruto felt seeds of regret in the back of his mind. In those few seconds, he didn’t want to get rid of the bond, he just wanted Sasuke.

When he’d mentioned it to Shikamaru, and bragged about how that proved that Sasuke was definitely meant to be his teammate, not Kiba or Hinata’s, the sulky genius had laughed at him and called him an idiot, but Naruto never felt like an idiot. Not when he was with Sasuke.

“Hey, Sasuke?” he knew the boy wouldn’t respond, but he needed to get the words out, otherwise he’d swallow them and choke. “I’m-I’m real sorry that I keep getting you hurt like this. It feels like every time I try to prove myself, it ends up blowing up in my face and you’re the one that has to clean up my messes. But- But when you wake up, I promise, I’ll be stronger, okay?”

The alpha’s thumb dragged itself against the pale boy’s knuckles, and every bump reminded him of another reason to do better for his friend. For some reason, he recalled the day they’d been put into teams back at the academy. Someone had bumped into him from behind and he’d fallen face first into Sasuke’s.

Even though he’d been disgusted at the time, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from liking how soft the other boy’s lips were. They weren’t overly firm or soft, which was almost the perfect metaphor to describe Sasuke with.

Now, those same lips were cracked and dry.

Naruto turned to the bedside table to grab the glass of water the hospital staff customarily left for their patients, but there wasn’t one. Was he a choking risk?

He couldn’t communicate with the omega, he couldn’t help with his injuries, and now he couldn’t even give him something to drink. The only thing he could do was simply be there, and that was basically nothing.

“Instead of you always protecting me, I’ll be the one protecting you from now on, believe it!” he muttered to the unresponsive Uchiha.

Naruto continued to lay there, pumping out his scent by the bucket load in hopes that it would somehow bring his friend some comfort and caressing his good hand tenderly. He didn’t like how the bed felt. It was stiff and orderly, but not in the way that the nests Sasuke built were organized, this was just sheets on a bed, folded tightly at the edges with little leeway.

He got the idea right as his eyes caught sight of the unsightly curse mark just under the mating gland on Sasuke’s neck.

He was going to build Sasuke a nest. Nests were comforting for omegas, right? After the last few weeks he’d had, Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke could use all the comforting things he could get, even if he wasn’t aware enough to appreciate them.

It was a bit awkward, seeing as Sasuke was currently laying on the things he’d have to use to make the nest, so it took longer than expected. First he removed the pillows, careful to ease Sasuke’s neck down gently so that it didn’t hurt him, and then began to strip the sheets one by one.

It was a process and Naruto was glad that Sasuke wasn’t aware enough to laugh at him for getting tangled in the bedding more than a few times. Arranging the nest was difficult, mainly because he had never made one before, but he’d seen how Sasuke’s nests looked a few times now, so all he would have to do is design it the same way that the omega would.

That was easier said than done.

He twisted one blanket and molded the pillows into the base, but it just didn’t feel like the ones the Uchiha made. The ones Sasuke made, even though Naruto had only ever been in two of them before, were precise but warm and firm but comfortable. How on earth could he possibly replicate that?

Naruto probably spent the better part of an hour constantly arranging and rearranging the nest before he deemed it sufficient.

Sure, one side was really droopy, and there were a few gaps here and there, and now that he thought about it, it was probably a bit too small, but it was the thought that counted, right?

The blonde scratched the back of his neck in contemplation.

Looks like nest building was another thing Naruto could add to the growing list of things Sasuke was better at than him. Though, this one didn’t feel like a slight on the alpha’s part.

It had been a long day for the Uzumaki. Shizune had woken them up early demanding that they hurry and get to the village before nightfall, which Naruto suspected was because she missed indoor plumbing, and Tsunade had demanded that they stop at every town on the way to try her luck at gambling.

If it hadn’t been for Jiraiya getting them kicked out of most of the places because well-, he’s pervy sage for a reason, Naruto suspected they would have taken a day longer to arrive. When he wasn’t chasing down Master Jiraiya, he was hiding from the old hag because she kept borrowing money from his froggy wallet when she thought he wasn’t looking. Even Shizune had run off at some point, although that was mainly because she had misplaced the pig.

Pft, and everyone said he was a loose cannon on missions. At least he usually got places on time. (Although that was mainly because he was more scared of Sakura than anything else.)

He was pulled from his musings when he noticed the omega shaking and immediately jumped as close as the edge of the bed would allow, and he leaned down for further inspection. One hand shot out to caress a cold, nearly translucently white cheek, to comfort his friend and the other went to inspect the rest of his body. Obviously, Sasuke’s arm was still broken, but as he paid closer attention, he noticed bandages on his neck that had been covered by the collar of his shirt before now.

Curiously, because he didn’t remember Sasuke getting injured there, he peeled the bandages back. Wave upon wave of distressed omega poured was unleashed from the barrier of the wound dressings and he gagged. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to help and protect but what he saw wasn’t something that Naruto could help with.

Sasuke’s scent gland had been scratched.

That was probably why he was so cold to the touch, now that Naruto thought about it. The one thing that had been drilled into their heads as much as basic training had been was that under no circumstances should you let your opponent near your scent gland.

If injured, he remembered Iruka’s firm voice announcing, you could lose your scent, or go into shock as your body went into overdrive trying to heal it. Common symptoms were overheating, being temporarily unable to produce body heat, and with larger injuries to the scent gland, a prolonged comatose state.

Seeing as the genjutsu already had Sasuke in a comatose state, the only real give away was the drastically low body temperature.

Naruto hated being cold. He couldn’t imagine how painful being ice cold was, so he did the only sensible thing to do- climb into the questionably built nest and wrap his body around Sasuke’s to warm him up.

Of course, he was careful of the omega’s broken arm.

His arms rubbed up and down Sasuke’s back to try and create friction to warm him up and in the meantime, the blonde began to think.

Tsunade wouldn't be free until morning. Then, he would hound her and annoy her until she dropped everything to come heal Sasuke.

For now, he would sit tight, and hold the omega close.

~~~
Kakashi liked to think he was a patient man. He had an amazing track record of going on long term undercover missions that required the utmost tolerance. He’d carried them out swiftly, and unrelentingly.

But there was something about seeing a sobbing Sakura at his doorstep nearly an hour until the sun went down that made him want to flee the country and start a new life in the sand village.

It was hot there, and the culture was much less.. chatty than Konoha’s. All he would have to do is live quietly and far away from his genin squad.

He really should have taken the chance to move to a new apartment building when they were all busy with the chunin exams. It would have been the perfect timing.

“Did you know?” she forces out amid the raw cries that wrenched themselves from her throat. Her voice was coarse, as though she’d been a crying mess and Kakashi could only assume that his observation was correct.

“Know what, Sakura?” he sighed as he opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow her entry. She’s angry, he can tell by the way the veins stick out in her forehead and the set stare of her leaf green eyes.

“Did you know about Naruto and Sasuke’s scent bond?!” she yelled and Kakashi’s blood ran cold. It was the early morning, so half of the building’s occupants would be asleep still, but for those that were up, they surely would have heard her voice carry down the corridor.

The tear tracks on her cheeks are war trenches, clearly, she’d been having trouble with this information but the jonin is quick to respond with his own anger.

He yanked her in and slammed the door shut, and if he weren’t so utterly done with these childish love triangles, he would feel bad about the death grip he has on her arm.

“Are you stupid?” he spits with venom he’s only ever used with Obi- no. It wasn’t the time for that. “Scent bonds are illegal and you’ve just alerted the entire building with your childish yelling!” He scolded as he rubbed a hand over his face in frustration.

“So you did know.” she accused lowly, ignoring his words.

That’s what she got from that? That he knew about an important and potentially dangerous situation two of his students were in?

He’s glad two thirds of his face are always covered because the look on his face was probably incredibly irritated.

“Yes, Sakura, I knew.”

It was as if he’d hit her. Her face twisted into a childish anguish and the cinnamon scent she let off felt betrayed once it wafted into his nostrils underneath his mask. She collapsed on his floor, and if he weren’t partially hurting for his student, he would be annoyed at having his genin blocking the doorway.

Kakashi hated feeling trapped with no exits.

“You-You” she heaved wetly, sharply inhaling in between her words only to sob them out afterwards, “You three always leave me out! I’m part of this team t-too and-and-” she cut herself off with another sob as Kakashi crouched down to where she sat on his floor, “I had a right to know!” she wailed out.

The jonin winced, and not for the first time cursed his elite sense of hearing. “Sakura, it is true, you had a right to know, but Sasuke and Naruto also had a right to privacy. It is a delicate situation and requires the utmost secrecy. Think of it as a mission, would you be upset at them for keeping important intel from you if the situation required it?”

The unfortunate thing about Sakura was that she wasn’t like Sasuke or Naruto. Kakashi couldn’t sway her emotions with comparisons to ninja life or missions, and he instantly regretted being a jonin instructor. Iruka and Gai were much better at the whole ‘connecting emotionally to all of your students’ thing than he was.

“We’re supposed to be a team! If-if it was as important as you say, then why would Shikamaru know before I did?! I was just sitting there, feeling like an idiot because all the other teams actually are part of their teams! I’m-I’m just here for when one of you is bored, aren’t I?” she cried, furiously wiping at her eyes to no avail, the tears just kept flowing.

“Sakura, I-” Before he could finish, she was bolting out of the door, sobbing all the while.

He didn’t know if he should go after her or let her have her space, so he did the next best thing, he summoned a ninken to tail her discreetly.

After Bull had scurried off, Kakashi sighed, he had a certain Nara to go interrogate.

Wait-how did Sakura even know where he lived?

~~~
“Why am I not surprised?”

Naruto whipped his head around to face the door, face red in embarrassment at being caught taking care of his rival.

His sensei was standing at the entrance with his hands cooly in his pockets, but his one visible eye looked like the jonin was troubled by something. The dim light coming from the window made the shadows of the man’s face look stern, and it reminded the blonde of those weird dreams he used to have of people in masks outside of his apartment watching him from when he’d been a little kid.

“Uh- Kakashi sensei- I-I can explain!” he whisper shouted as he left from the bed where he’s been trying to keep Sasuke warm.

The jonin huffed out an amused breath of air and took a seat on one of the chairs that was farther from the hospital bed. “If I remember correctly, that’s what you also said when I walked in on you two a few months ago as well.”

Yeah, okay. That was fair, but still. With a pervy mind like the one Kakashi sensei had, there was no telling what the jonin had assumed Naruto had been up to.

“His scent gland is scratched and he’s not retaining body heat so.. I thought I’d give him some of mine..?”

He hated that it came out as more of a question than a confident statement, and judging by the look on his sensei’s face, the grey haired man was unimpressed with his reasoning. The burning of his ears, which no doubt were visibly red to Kakashi, forced him to break eye contact with the man and look at any and everything but the serious looking man.

“Naruto, why is Sasuke covered in a pile of bedding?” His instructor asked again after a few moments of awkward silence had passed at a snail’s speed in the stuffy hospital room.

The blonde craned his neck behind him to admire his craftsmanship once more. “I built him a nest, see how great it is?” he couldn’t help the excitement from spilling into his response, and the large smile that broke out onto his face actually hurt just a little.

His sensei looked unimpressed, however. Sure, the nest was a bit lopsided, and there were a few unexplainable lumps here and there, but Sasuke looked cozy and hopefully the extra layers were helping to keep him warm.

“That is the worst nest I have ever seen in my life!” Kakashi laughed, finally losing some of the edge that had been in his tone since he’d stepped foot into the room.

“Whaddaya mean ‘worst nest’!?! This is the most awesomest nest that’s ever been made, BELIEVE IT!!”

Kakashi sat back in his chair and crossed his arms as he said, “I dunno, it looks like laundry day gone wrong if you ask me.”

It was as if steam were shooting from Naruto’s ears, “Oh yeah?! Well what do you know about making a nest, huh?”

“More than you do, apparently.”

The urge to kick his sensei out of Sasuke’s hospital room was growing with each second the jonin spent criticizing his nest. Naruto stomped his foot, like he’d seen Konohamaru do hundreds of times to get his way and pouted threateningly at the man.

“What’re you even here for?” his voice sounded more bratty than it did menacing, and if he weren’t trying to be tough to the grey haired man, he would have face palmed immediately after letting the words fall out of his mouth.

It was Kakashi’s turn to glower, although his was actually a little scary. “Oh nothing, I just figured you would want to know that the cat’s out of the bag. Sakura knows about the bond, from what I gather, so do the rest of your little genin friends.”

Oh man. Sakura was gonna be so mad.

Everyone with eyes, ears, and noses could tell she had her eye on Sasuke. Hearing that Naruto had beat her at her own game, accidentally, could only mean one thing. He could kiss his dreams of being hokage goodbye, Sakura was gonna kill him.

“Kakashi sensei, how did she find out?!” his voice cracked mid sentence due to shock.

Kakashi sighed and adjusted his sitting position, “Why don’t you take a seat, Naruto. It’ll be a long story.”

Oh no.

Long stories involving team seven always ended in disaster.
~~~
Shikamaru hated waiting outside of the hokage towers for his dad. Like clockwork, whenever his old man had business to attend to, he’d take Shikamaru along so that he could catch up with his son and ask about his training.

At least, that’s what they told his mom when she asked what they were up to.

Shikaku often used the walks to talk about Ino and Choji and make sure they were well. His dad and Ino and Choji’s dads were all alphas, and while the Nara and Yamanaka clans were fairly open minded when it came to status, the Akimichis were less predictable with their views.

The genin could tell his dad was worried about Choji. He was an omega and only child of their clan head. Personally, Shikamaru didn’t think the guy had much to worry about, but hey, if his dad wanted to check up on his friend without his outspoken mother chiming in, who was Shikamaru to complain?

The clouds were entertaining at least, although he could do without having to crane his neck to stare up at them. His dad had been in there for an hour now, and Shikamaru was debating on whether or not he should just leave.

“Hey! Shikamaru!” came a frustratingly familiar shout from the bottom of the stairs.

Naruto sounded angry, but Shikamaru didn’t really care. The idiot was always angry about something.

“What a drag..” he groaned and went to go get it over with.

Looks like someone had blabbed about him telling their friends about his and Sasuke’s secret. Though he couldn’t prove anything, he was willing to bet it had something to do with Sakura.

The blonde alpha was red faced with his teeth bared in a snarl as Shikamaru took his time descending the stairs. What was the rush? It’s not like getting there faster would make the blonde less likely to yell at him.

“What do you want?” the genius sighed out, making sure to kick a rock with his foot to show Naruto that his alpha postering wouldn’t work on him.

“What gave you the right to tell everyone about me and Sasuke?! We trusted you!” The Nara heir rolled his eyes but made sure to take note of the various passersby who were no doubt overhearing their conversation.

“Would you be quiet! I’m not the only one that can hear you, ya know.”

Naruto tried to glance around slyly in an obvious attempt to make sure that what Shikamaru had said was true without giving the other alpha the satisfaction of being right. Classic Naruto.

The idiot saw Genma and Raidou milling about and several others walking casually, but eying Naruto warily and straightened up in embarrassment.

Shikamaru wondered why he even stuck around to hear the rest of what the blonde alpha had to say, and chalked it up to not wanting to go back to waiting for his dad in complete boredom. Besides, the sooner he got this over with, the less of a drag it was going to be for him later.

After waving awkwardly at Genma, Naruto turned back to the brunette and leaned in close, brought a hand to block other people from physically seeing him talk, and stage whispered- only slightly quieter than before- “ Sakura told Kakashi sensei that you told everyone about me and Sasuke’s- you know what!” he gestured animatedly to his neck, where his scent gland was located, and not for the first time in five minutes, Shikamaru came to the conclusion that Naruto was a dumbass.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and dragged the Uzumaki around the corner to a more secluded, empty road with Naruto kicking and screaming all the while. How the blonde was a ninja, with his abysmal sense of stealth, he would never know.

“Now would you shut up and let me talk?” Naruto glared at him with all the animosity of a demon, and even let out a warning growl at him, but Shikamaru couldn’t bring himself to care.

He took the blonde’s angered silence as a go ahead to explain himself. “It’s not even my fault, Kiba is the one with the loud mouth and no impulse control.”

“So it’s Kiba I need to have a talk with!”

Shikamaru remembered the beating the Uzumaki gave Kiba over just hanging out with the gloomy omega, he did not want to see what the fool would do to Kiba when he actually had a reason to be mad.

The genius pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “No, moron. You don’t need to ‘have a talk’ with anyone because none of this would have happened if you,” Shikamaru jabbed a finger at the blonde’s chest, “hadn’t screwed up in the first place.”

“Shikamaru,” he growled out in response, “that’s not the point. The point is, you and Kiba,” Naruto spit the Inuzuka’s name out of his mouth like it was poison on his tongue, “are the reason why six more people know about our situation at all. I don’t even care about people knowing that about me, I’m upset because people are gonna talk, and they’ll be talking about Sasuke!”

“Yeah, that may be the case, but you weren’t there and I had to make a quick decision. At the end of the day, Sasuke is just an omega in a hospital bed who got himself beat up to the point where he can’t even mask his scent anymore. That’s not my problem”

“SHUT UP! Sasuke isn’t just some omega! He’s the best ninja this village has and you’re lucky to even know someone like him!”

Shikamaru sighed, this was getting them both nowhere. He turned to leave and let the idiot stew and seethe until he was actually ready to talk about things, but before he could walk away, Naruto tackled him to the ground.

“Hey- Naruto, cut it out!” Shikamaru dodged the first few punches, and unfortunately, the blonde alpha was sitting on top of his arms so he couldn’t really move them to do his shadow possession technique.

Shikamaru was not in the mood for another one of Naruto’s childish fights.

The genius lifted up his legs, bent his knees, and brought them to the blonde’s neck. He caught Naruto by surprise, and slammed the other alpha down to the ground with all the strength he had in his legs.

With his hands free, he then performed his shadow possession technique, trapping Naruto before he could stand up and pounce on him again.

“Look, I know that you and Sasuke have this weird relationship where you beat up other people to show that you don’t hate each other, but pretty soon, all you’re gonna have left is each other if this shit continues.”

He paused to gather his thoughts before continuing, “Me telling the others was the best solution, and you weren’t there for me to ask permission. It was either that, or a bunch of catty nurses getting in on it and telling the whole damn village.”

Once Naruto’s head seemed to clear a little, Shikamaru released the jutsu. As the blonde stood there, fists shaking but not moving forward, the genius looked at him, really looked at him. His whisker marks were thicker than normal, and his teeth, which had been barred in anger, were sharper too.

Hmm, well, that proved his nine tails theory.

He put his hands in his pockets and sighed again, “This has been quite the drag. A word of advice? Talk to Sakura and get your shit together.”

And like that, he walked away from his idiot friend and rounded the corner, taking his time in climbing the stairs to the hokage tower.

He had a lot to think about.
~~~
“Are you alright, Sakura-chan?” Hinata asked once she noticed the pink haired girl crying on the training field. She was supposed to be meeting up with Shino and Kiba to train, but the omega had a feeling that she would be putting that on hold for a few minutes.

Sakura sniffled and rubbed her eyes, “No, I’m fine, Hinata.”

Clearly the alpha was very upset, but was it Hinata’s place to call her on it? She and Sakura weren’t close, in fact, the Hyuuga couldn’t remember a time when they had had a conversation between them without the others present.

Quietly, while releasing calming pheromones into the air to hopefully get her friend to stop crying, the omega sat down next to her, ignoring the itch of the grass on her legs.

“Is it about Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?” she tried again, this time reaching out to put a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder to comfort her. She wasn’t going to lie, their revelation at the hospital had hurt her too, but ultimately, Shino had helped her realize that just because she had feelings for Naruto did not mean he had to have feelings for her.

Hinata wondered if anyone had had that conversation with Sakura yet.

“No- yes, I don’t know!” The alpha threw her hands up in the air in frustration and the bitter scent of cinnamon filled the quiet girl’s nostrils. “W-What are you thinking?” The omega pushed down the rising feeling of unease as she continued to be in the company of a frustrated alpha in hopes of helping her fellow genin feel better.

“It’s just- What does Sasuke even see in Naruto?! He’s a loud mouth and has no boundaries or respect for social norms! He doesn’t even have parents to teach him that omegas are supposed to be cared for, not challenged to a fight every ten seconds!”

Almost as soon as the words had left the alpha’s mouth, she realized the implications of what she’d said. Green eyes widened as she scrambled to apologize, “Wait, Hinata I didn’t mean it like that-”

But the damage had already been done.

Contrary to popular assumptions, Hinata did not get upset easily. Sure, she fainted when extremely embarrassed, and was shy in most social situations, but she was not one to back down when she knew someone she cared about had been wronged. It’s part of the reason why she got along with Kiba and Shino so well, they both came from clans based on deep loyalty and fierce protectiveness.

She inhaled and calmly interrupted Sakura’s apologies, “Sasuke deserves someone who will respect him as the person he is, as the ninja he is. Naruto may not have been taught very much about social standards, but that’s a good thing, because if he had been, he may have turned out as mean and self centered as the comments you just made.” She was proud of herself for not stuttering once, but the red, hurt look on Sakura’s face made her feel guilty.

Hinata was glad they were sitting down, otherwise Sakura would be able to see her body shaking with nerves. It wasn’t every day the Hyuuga girl was able to muster up the courage to scold an alpha. If Neji or anyone from her clan found out about this, they would have her head.

The alpha burst out into tears after Hinata’s words had taken a moment to sink in. “I know, I’m sorry, I’m just going through a lot right now and I’m feeling a lot of ugly things. I didn’t mean it.”

Hinata decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, but still wanted to get her point across. “Sakura, I-I understand where you’re coming from, because I have feelings for Naruto too, but our feelings are exactly that. Ours. It’s harder for you because you’re on the same team with them, but didn’t Shikamaru say that it was an accidental bond?” She waited for Sakura to nod before continuing, “So who knows what they’re actually feeling right now. Have you talked to Naruto about it? Shino mentioned that he’s back in the village.”

Sakura shook her head no, she hadn’t.

“Then-then maybe you may want to talk to him? I’m sure the situation seems worse than it is.” she tried to smile encouragingly, but she feared it looked more like a grimace than anything else.
“Yeah, you’re right Hinata.” the other girl mumbled bitterly, although the wobble of her lip was still obvious.

“Hey Hinata! Over here!” The pair snapped their heads in the direction of Kiba’s voice. He and Shino were standing a few yards away with Akamaru happily prancing around beside them.

The omega stood and waved at the pink haired alpha politely, “G-goodbye, I hope you feel better soon!” she said, allowing her voice’s usual shyness to slip in again as she turned to leave.

Hinata wasn’t sure that Sakura had even really listened to her, but it wasn’t her place to meddle in another team’s affairs, even if they were her friends.

“Hey, Hinata, is Sakura okay? Her scent is all over you.” Kiba grimaced in distaste as she walked up to her teammates, the alpha girl’s cinnamon scent was probably bitter and spicy to his above average sense of smell.

“I-I think she will be.” she stuttered, face going red after realizing that Kiba was upset with her having someone else’s scent on her.

“Well, let’s begin. Why? Because training is important to shinobi life.” Shino’s calm, gravelly voice startled her from her moment of embarrassment, and she nodded firmly in determination.

Hopefully Sasuke would be impressed with her progress whenever he was discharged from the hospital, and they could resume their one on one training.
~~~
“Hey, kid. Kakashi told me you’ve been camped out in here?” the white haired sanin noted as he sank down into the wooden chair beside the blonde. Naruto had been moping by Sasuke’s bedside ever since his fight with Shikamaru.

He felt guilty and ashamed, and he didn’t know why he got so angry so quickly, but that's neither here nor there. He’d hurt one of the few people that didn’t treat him like some annoying, wild thing, and in doing so, had proved that he was just some wild orphan that no one wanted to be around.

“Yeah” he responded glumly. His face was still pointed to the floor, so he didn’t get to see his sensei’s reaction to his less than enthusiastic reply. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think Jiraiya had ever seen him in one of his solemn moods. Not that it really mattered much or anything…

“I also heard from Shikaku Nara that you and Shikamaru got into a little bit of a skirmish this morning outside the hokage tower, is that right?”

Naruto nodded wordlessly and refused to look up and see the disappointment painted on his teacher’s face. He didn’t like it when he disappointed people, but from years of playing around the village, he could tell that he disappointed a lot of people anyways.

The Sanin sighed, and out of his peripheral vision, he could tell that the old man had crossed his arms. “Mind telling me what it was about?”

He felt embarrassed as memories from that morning swam around in his mind. Would Jiraiya sensei lecture him, like Iruka sensei? Or laugh at him and punish him with chores and training like Kakashi sensei?

Instead of responding, he shrugged and fumbled with his hands. It was a habit he’d accidentally picked up from that Hinata girl that he just couldn’t seem to shake. When he’d complained about it to Sakura, she’d just giggled and said something weird about ‘hopefully picking up some other things from Hinata’ whatever that meant.

“You know, when I was a genin, I got into a lot of fights too. Tsunade was usually the reason, but sometimes I just got so mad that I wanted to lash out and that usually resulted in many long winded lectures and punishments from Lord Third, who was our sensei at the time.” The man paused and Naruto could feel his gaze on him.

“Do you ever feel like that sometimes?” Jiraiya asked after Naruto remained quiet.

“You-you get angry too?” He asked, finally looking up and seeing his teacher’s wise expression.

Jiraiya nodded with a small, reminiscent smile. “All the time. It’s harder when you’re younger and a newly presented alpha, but you eventually learn to control it-” His face turned serious all of a sudden and he fully turned to face the blonde as he added “and you will learn to control it. I expect nothing less from one of my students.”

Naruto nodded in understanding, and sighed, “That thing inside me- the nine tails? It gets angry too a lot and I think it slips out sometimes when I’m really mad.”

The sanin nodded, said he expected as much, and turned his attention to the injured, comatose boy. “I know you were thinking about Sasuke and wanting to keep others from knowing about the bond because ultimately it will be harder for him to be taken seriously as a leaf shinobi, but fighting his battles for him will not help that either. You need to learn how to step back and think instead of just attacking whatever upsets you, especially when you’re trying to beat up one of your friends.”

He felt shame welling up inside his stomach again but he pushed it down in favor of asking a question that had been on his mind for a few days now, “Hey, Pervy Sage?” His voice was scratchy with uncertain curiosity but he continued nonetheless once the man’s eyes were on him, “Why don’t you have a scent?”

Though the older alpha has no scent to factor into it, the air stiffens around them anyway. The toad sage closed his eyes harshly, as if he were thinking of something bitter, and shrugged.

“I guess I’d better tell you, since you’re in the same predicament I was in.”

Had Jiraiya sensei accidentally scent bonded one of his teammates? Did- it- it couldn’t be Orochimaru, right? Tsunade had talked like she’d never been scent bonded before so, it had to be the creepy snake guy, didn’t it?

The thought made a shiver of disgust run down his spine.

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Well,” his teacher paused, “during the second shinobi war, my team- me, Tsunade, and Orochimaru- had discovered three orphans of war while on a mission. I stayed back to take care of them for a while, to train them to defend themselves, but I met someone. She was a ninja who’d gotten separated from her team and was injured and needing care. I took her in, even though she was from Suna and I was from Konoha.” She was beautiful and had the most startling laugh that you couldn’t help but laugh along with her.”

The old man broke off, thinking of a life that was a lifetime ago, before continuing, “She was beautiful and had the most startling laugh that you couldn’t help but laugh along with her. We grew close, and we fell in love. It was just the two of us and my students, hiding away in our little corner of the world, untouched by the war.”

His face grew dark, and his voice had an edge to it, but Naruto continued to listen patiently, “Back then, it wasn’t illegal to be scent bonded, and while we wanted to wait to get mated until after the war was over, we scent bonded as a promise to one another that the next step would be mating.” He chuckled sadly, “We were young and in love, so naturally we were fools, and didn’t notice the Suna ninja watching us.”

Naruto was on the edge of his seat in anticipation, “What happened next, sensei?”

“I left with my three students to go train them for the day, and I felt this alarming, ice-cold sting on my neck that spread to the rest of my body, and I knew she was in trouble. We hurried back to the makeshift home, and she was dead, killed by her own teammates for fraternizing with the enemy.”

Naruto let out a shocked whimper, and accidentally released a cloud of wilting oranges into the air. His poor sensei..

“I killed them and buried her and within two weeks, I was back at Konoha, scentless and devastated. Lord third outlawed scent bonds as a result, as he saw how it affected me and decided they were a cruel gift to bestow upon another person.”

He let out a final sigh and Naruto felt fear dancing in his mind. If something were to happen to him, Sasuke would lose his scent. If something happened to Sasuke, he would lose his scent.

A person’s scent is said to be a window of their soul. Losing that? Well, Naruto didn’t even want to think about what losing a scent would feel like.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot kid, you do that already!” Jiraiya sensei laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“What.. What did you smell like? Before…”

“Tsunade used to say I smelled like the ocean, but I thought it was more like driftwood.”

Before he could respond, the door knob turned and the door swung open to reveal Tsunade with Shizune in tow.

“Sorry, I was checking up on Gai’s student.” The blonde omega apologized as she rushed to the Uchiha’s hospital bed.

Naruto sat up straight in concern, his hands stiffly sat on his knees as he watched Tsunade poke and prod his teammate.

“His arm is healing nicely.” she commented before moving to place her hand in his forehead.

“Grandma Tsunade, you’ll be able to heal him, right?” Naruto asked worriedly, jumping up to stand beside her as he did so.

“I’ll try my best, brat, now move, you’re in my way.”

The blonde alpha side stepped about two feet and decided that was enough room. He couldn’t move too far away because he had to make sure she didn’t hurt him or anything. It was probably overkill but he didn’t care. Sasuke didn’t have a family to worry over him like this, so he would fill their role as best he could.

A soft, green glow emitted from her hand and it cast odd shadows on Sasuke’s pale skin. The glow made him look ghostly when the contrast of his black hair added to the mix. Naruto thought his teammate would make a great ghost. He was usually quiet, and the Uzumaki never heard him coming, but his eyes were entrancing and Naruto often found himself getting lost in them.

He’d asked Kakashi sensei if him finding Sasuke’s eyes so alluring was because of his clan’s kekkei genkai, but all the grey haired man had done was laugh at him.

He laughed at Naruto a lot when the blonde asked him questions about Sasuke.

A wince followed by a groan brought the alpha’s attention to the head of the bed, where Tsunade was moving her arm back as Sasuke opened his eyes.

He’d missed his eyes.

He’d missed the hundreds of shades of black they became based on the omega’s mood. He’d missed how they were always narrowed into some form of glare- usually Sasuke’s tired glare which was kinda more dark grey than black, but sometimes, when the timing was right and Naruto was lucky enough, he would catch his happy glare. His happy glare was perfect and his irises had the perfect balance of black and blue-black, unlike his warm glare.

His warm glare had too much black.

“Sasuke!”

The alpha broke out of his trance and leapt on the bed to encase the Uchiha in a full body hug. He was so wrapped up in his own relief at seeing Sasuke finally awake that he didn’t notice the room fill with the scent of a panicked and angry distressed omega. A strong hand yanked him off of Sasuke and he went crashing to the ground.

“Ah, that hurt you old hag!”

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as Naruto rubbed his shoulder. “I think you crushed my arm!” he exclaimed, only to be met with Tsunade’s disapproving glare.

“Would you knock it off? You’re upsetting Sasuke!” she scolded as Sasuke sat up slowly.

That’s when Naruto noticed the anguished smell wafting off of his friend in droves. Why did he smell like that? He was better now- well except for his arm- why wasn’t Sasuke happy?

“I think this is my cue to leave.” Jiraiya’s voice startled the blonde. He’d honestly forgotten his sensei was even in the room, his mind had tunnel visioned and all he saw was Sasuke from the moment Tsunade had entered the room.

Judging from the sharp turn of Sasuke’s head to the direction of where the sanin’s deep voice had come from, and the reddening of his irises, Sasuke had been startled too.
“Shizune?” Tsunade turned to face her mousy assistant, “will you go find Kakashi and tell him Sasuke is awake? I’ll need to speak with him.”

Shizune nodded her head diligently and rushed out of the door that Jiraiya kindly held open for her.

After the two were gone, Tsunade sighed and forced Naruto to sit down on the chair beside her. Sasuke had yet to say anything, in fact, he was eerily quiet and his sharingan was still activated. He hadn’t even acknowledged the others in the room, he just kept staring down at his hands lying limply on the sheets.

“Sasuke, you’ll be feeling some confusion and dizziness for a little while, but it should clear up within an hour or so. Nod if you understand what I’m telling you.” Tsunade’s tone was all business and had the gentle firmness of an established doctor.

Which of course, she was, but it was hard to picture her as anything other than some old lady that had a serious gambling problem that nagged him all the time.

Sasuke nodded slowly, like his neck muscles were stiff from a lack of use.

Tsunade hummed to herself and pulled out a chart from who knows where and began to scribble something down, but Naruto paid her little attention. His focus was on Sasuke.

The average person wouldn’t be able to see the slight shake of the Uchiha’s body, but it was glaringly obvious to a trained shinobi. The miniscule tremors didn’t seem to be from the cold, as Naruto had made sure that the nurses were aware of Sasuke’s body not being able to retain heat the day before, so they’d probably handled it.

Was Sasuke.. scared?

He was safe! Why would he feel any shred of fear at all?!

Before Naruto could ask his rival about what was bothering him, Tsunade spoke again, “It says here on your chart that your scent gland was scratched and needed some serious medical attention. Do you mind if I take a look?”

Sasuke ignored her in favor of continuing to stare emptily at his hands. The sanin didn’t appear to be phased by his lack of response, so she eased forward carefully so that she wouldn’t appear threatening in any way, and gently peeled back the bandages on his neck.

Naruto tried to jump up and look over her shoulder, but the blonde woman pushed him back with her foot. “Does it look any better?” he asked after taking a moment to sulk and stick his tongue out at her from behind her back. “It could be a lot worse. It could be infected, or the scratch could have been much deeper.” Her hand began to glow green again as she placed a gentle hand over the wound, “You got lucky, Sasuke, this injury could have been much more serious.”

When she stood back up and began writing on the chart again, Naruto decided it was time to get Sasuke to talk. “Hey, Sasuke, hellooOOo,-” he began to wave his hand in front of the Uchiha, “Talk to ussss” he whined.

Sasuke’s eyes shot up to look directly into Naruto’s own, and for the first time, the blonde alpha understood why Kiba was so scared of the omega. The look on his face was almost sinister and the hateful red of his sharingan didn’t help either.

“Leave. Me. Alone.” The omega’s voice was dry and rough from misuse, but the complete hatred in his tone got his point across very well. Not suspecting such a harsh response from his friend, Naruto jumped back, just in time for Tsunade to whack him over the head with her clipboard.

“Naruto you idiot! Leave him alone, he’s just coming out of a four day long genjutsu!” she snapped at him, causing the alpha to feel ashamed of his actions.

Before he could apologize for his negligence, Kakashi strolled into the room with the calmness of a corpse. “Kakashi, you’ve grown up.” Tsunade gasped fondly. “Mah, wouldn’t you know that that’s what they call the opposite of dying?” he responded dryly, stepping out of range of her angered arm.

Sheesh, Sakura and Tsunade sure did beat people up a lot. Naruto winced at the memory of frequent bruises he’d received from the pink haired girl. At least her slaps didn’t quite sting like Tsunade’s..

“Sasuke, glad to see you awake.” Sasuke’s unresponsive body language didn’t seem to deter the jonin from bending over and looking over the injured omega for any other signs of harm. Sasuke didn’t look like he was offended by the action, and it confused Naruto even more.

Why was Kakashi sensei allowed to be close to Sasuke, but he wasn’t?! Was-was the omega mad at him for not protecting him from Itachi?

All Naruto could do was stare, wide eyed and open mouthed, as their instructor summoned Pakkun. “What’re you-” Tsunade cut herself off, too stunned to speak at what they were witnessing. Pakkun had jumped on the bed, crawled into Sasuke’s lap, and nuzzled his face into Sasuke’s uninjured palm until the Uchiha began to pet him! Even his sharingan deactivated!

The blonde woman turned to the jonin, confused, “How did you-”

He shrugged, “Meh, just a hunch.” The only evidence they had of the man’s amusement was the fact that his visible eye was curved upwards.

“Why.. why is there a heap of blankets on top of me?” croaked out the Uchiha as Pakkun licked his pale cheek. “That is a good question, I was wondering that myself.” the blonde omega stated, turning to Naruto for an explanation after seeing Kakashi shrug and point at Naruto.

That bastard. How dare Kakashi sensei rat him out like that!

All eyes were suddenly on him and he could feel Sasuke’s dull gaze scrutinizing him for every second Naruto awkwardly spluttered out an excuse. “H-He looked.. cold?” He stuttered, cringing as he heard the words leave his mouth.

Pakkun rolled his eyes as their sensei laughed at him, but Sasuke remained quiet.

Tsunade took the chance to clap her hands together, “Alright, now that everyone is present, we can finally discuss the elephant in the room. Your scent bond.”

Even Sasuke seemed to pay closer attention to the woman as she continued speaking, “Naruto and Jiraiya already informed me on how it happened, but do either of you know why it happened?”

The blonde alpha cocked his head to the side, “There’s a difference?” Even Sasuke seemed to be bewildered, though she wouldn’t be able to tell. The sanin sighed and placed her clipboard down on the bedside table, next to the vase of flowers Ino had supplied hours earlier, “I guess your generation would barely know what a scent bond is since they were outlawed thirty years ago, let alone the circumstances involved.” she pushed her bangs out of her face and crossed her arms, “Scent bonds can only be established if there is an emotional bond. You guys know how people create mating bonds? That’s the physical bond. Ideally, a mated pair establishes a scent bond first, so that their hearts are in tune, before they mate and make their bodies align with one another.”

“Ew gross! Why’re you telling us about all that mating junk!” Naruto exclaimed, covering his ears and humming to drown out whatever she was about to say.

Kakashi sighed and shrugged at the sanin, leaving her to deal with the blonde’s antics as Sasuke calmly ignored everyone- except for Pakkun that is.

“Naruto! Sit down and shut up! I’m explaining this because hopefully, it will prevent you from being an idiot in the future!” Tsunade looked like she was regretting making Shizune leave. The mousy girl usually calmed her down, or at the very least, apologized for the sanin’s actions when the blonde woman wouldn’t.

He sat down immediately and even folded his hands together neatly on his lap. The old hag was scary, after all.

“Now, as I was saying, because the both of you are young, we don’t need to rush into severing the bond. Neither of you have matured yet, so we have plenty of time to think of options and alternative solutions. I will admit, I am hesitant to try surgically severing the bond. It’s a very experimental procedure and there have only been three instances of it even being performed at all, the success rate is dubious.”

It was Sasuke who spoke up next, “So you’re saying you won’t sever our bond?” The room was suddenly devoid of Sasuke’s lightning scent, alerting everyone in the room to the omega’s.. harsh attitude on the medic’s stance. His eyes flashed dangerously and even Naruto didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that look, even during one of their fights.

“I’m saying that nothing needs to be done immediately. It is a dangerous surgery with usually fatal results. The both of you are young, an unnecessary operation doesn’t need to be the reason you stay young forever.”

Naruto was stunned.
He hadn’t even considered not doing anything about their scent bond. From the very first day, when Kakashi sensei had explained their predicament to them, they’d both wanted to get rid of it. Now old lady Tsunade was saying that one of them could die in the process and he couldn’t think of his life without Sasuke.

He couldn’t not grow up to be hokage either.

“What- what are our other options?” he voiced uncertainty, ignoring the look Sasuke shot him as he did so.

“Well, that’s where things get tough. Most of our knowledge on scent bonds was destroyed when the library collapsed during the nine tails attack. I would have to call in a few favors from my friends in other villages and we would have to do our own trial and error to see what could work long term and what wouldn’t. It’s uncertain, but not out of the realm of possibility that we would be able to find a less drastic approach.”

“And if we don’t end up finding anything better?” Sasuke’s voice growled out lowly.

Tsunade looked unsure, and before she could answer, their sensei cut in, “Alright, I think we can save the rest of this discussion for another time. Lady Tsunade, didn’t you want to go examine the Akimichi patient three doors down?”

It was an easy out, and the newly appointed hokage took it.

“Boys, I want you to see me in a week for any updates” she said over her shoulder as she left the room.

“Naruto, why don’t you and I let Sasuke rest?” Kakashi suggested, leaning away from Sasuke’s hospital bed to head for the door.

“Uh, yeah, just- just gimme a sec, okay?”

Once they were alone, Naruto released soothing pheromones into the air to hopefully relax his friend, and it seemed to work partially, because Sasuke started to pet Pakkun, who had decided to fall asleep in the Uchiha’s lap earlier.

“Sasuke?..” he trailed off, not knowing what to say but wanting to say something. Anything.

Sasuke was focused on the cast on his arm, where Kiba and Choji’s names were scrawled in large, blocky lettering. His eyebrows were furrowed, and from the angle his head was tilted and his black, silky bangs partially blocking the Uchiha’s face, Naruto couldn’t figure out what the omega was feeling.

“What?” came Sasuke’s dry voice a beat later than he normally would have responded. Naruto looked away hesitantly, knowing Sasuke was probably feeling a little embarrassed at his rival seeing him in his weakened state. Naruto didn’t know if he’d feel the same way if he were the one lying in that hospital bed instead, but he understood. How could he not? They had an unbreakable bond- in more ways than one.

“Are you okay?”

That was a dumb thing to ask. Of course he wasn’t okay! Sasuke was injured and looked like a zombie! The alpha had to restrain himself from face palming at his own stupidity.

“I’m fine.”

Of course Sasuke would say that. Even if his hair were on fire and his leg was stuck in cement, he would be too proud to ever admit when he wasn’t fine. He was stubborn and aloof, and everything in between. It frustrated the blonde to no end, but a small seed of warmth was planted in his stomach every time the omega conveyed his penchant for obstinance.

After a few moments had passed of him staring at Sasuke, the omega’s scent grew sharp, burning Naruto’s nose with the bitter scent of ashy clouds, “Naruto, get out.”

Unlike before, where Sasuke’s voice held an undertone of something, it was completely devoid of anything then.

Naruto cast a long look at his teammate before walking to the door, not wanting to argue to stay and upset the Uchiha further. As he opened the door, he turned back once more to address the raven haired boy.

“Sasuke? I’m glad you’re okay.”

And then he was gone.
~~~
“Tsunade!” Jiraiya half yelled as he sped up to match her pace.

The elders had finally dispersed after giving them both the run down of the village’s current affairs and Tsunade had jumped at the chance to go explore Konoha’s nightlife. She’d run off while Jiraiya had been stuck talking to one of the old sacks of bones.

Her body tensed in what years of experience as teammates told him was irritation and she turned around swiftly on her heels. “What Jiraiya?! Can’t you see I'm not in the mood for whatever this,” she paused to gesture between them jerkily, “is?”

Kakashi had been the one to inform him about Tsunade’s hesitant stance on the subject of severing Naruto and Sasuke’s bond, after having met up with him earlier to discuss the Akatsuki’s motives. The Akatsuki were just another reason to sever it on the ever growing list of reasons, but Jiraiya didn’t know how much Tsunade even knew about their threat level to begin with.

He bit back a growl as he came to stand before her, crossing his arms in distaste as he did so. “Well you’d better get in the mood because you and I are going to discuss Naruto and Sasuke’s predicament right here, right now.”

Thankfully, there was no one around to witness their argument. There were only two buildings open late at night: the hokage tower and a bar run by an old classmate of theirs about six streets over.

It was just them, the lone street lamp, and the quiet songs of the crickets.

“We’ve already discussed it! I won’t do it and you can’t bully me into performing the surgery like you did last time! I’m not sending either of them to their deaths!”

The last word she’d shouted echoed between the buildings nearby, sending quiet parroted versions of the heavy word to slap at their ear drums repeatedly, without fail.

Memories flashed in his mind. A bitter cry and the non existent scent of a dear one in agony surged to the front of his brain and the alpha had to grit his teeth to keep from growling at the painful memory.

“You think I don’t blame myself for what happened that night?” he spat and for once he really hoped that it was as venomous as one of Orochimaru’s prized snakes.

They’d gone their separate ways that evening, the shock and pain had been too much to bear. Twenty years had gone by, and as it had become increasingly obvious to Jiraiya, time did not heal all wounds.

The omega woman looked away with a weighty expression and all of the fight seemed to evaporate from her body.

“It wasn’t your fault…” she whispered wetly, “You couldn’t have known that Orochimaru was going to-”

She cut herself off and clenched her eyes closed, allowing tid bits of her lemony scent to burn the air with acidity.

“Look, Tsunade, we have a chance to save two kids from a life of never ending pain. I don’t have a scent anymore because I was scent bonded and she was killed. You would be in the same boat as me right now, if not for your boyfriend dying before you could complete the process.”

The toad sage ignored the muffled whimper his old teammate let out, and continued, “You’re the only one left alive that even knows how to perform the procedure.”

The look she gave him was sardonic. “For good reason! Look at what the surgery caused! Orochimaru is a monster now!”

The surgery had nothing to do with what the missing nin had become. It was Jiraiya’s fault and his alone.

They’d been on a mission, shortly after Tsunade’s little brother had died, and it was just the two of them while she stayed back to grieve.

It was a stealth mission that they’d had to blow because Orochimaru had gone into an unexpected heat. They’d had to split up so that Jiraiya could lead their pursuers away and Orochimaru could get to their rendezvous point as quickly as possible.

Only, when Jiraiya had finally found his teammate, Orochimaru had been scent bonded and mated. He would never fully remember what happened next, but he attacked and incapacitated Orochimaru’s attacker and dragged them both back to the village as quickly as possible.

It was late and Tsunade’s apartment had been the only place he could think of to go.

Because of Jiraiya’s mate dying, the blonde woman had been inspired to create a new medical technique to separate scent bonds so that the unforgivable pain Jiraiya had gone through would never have to happen to anyone again. She’d traveled to other villages to learn from their own expert healers, in exchange for aiding their own wounded ninja, to try and find the best possible methods for doing so.

It had been extremely experimental, with only a handful of cases ever working out well enough in the end, and Tsunade had wanted to change that.

Orochimaru had been her first patient to undergo the surgery and he’d died on the table.

Jiraiya had run to the hokage tower to alert their sensei of the terrible news and Tsunade had been in complete shock. Losing her brother, her boyfriend, and then her teammate so close together had sent her over the edge.

Kabuto had been watching them through the window. When Tsunade went to rid her hands of the blood and grab some sake to ease her sorrows, he snuck in and took the snake sanin’s body.

From there, it was only speculation, but they had gathered extensive intel that Kabuto had taken Orochimaru’s corpse and injected it with some sort of concoction and restarted his heart. From there, in his mentor’s weakened state, he helped him perform the forbidden body replacement technique.

Orochimaru lived, but soon after discovered that he was no longer an omega. He wasn’t an alpha either, he was.. nothing.

No scent, no caste, and after the pair fled the village, he had no one.

It wasn’t until later, with the help from a misguided and abused Anko that they discovered the labs and scrolls of stolen jutsu. Orochimaru had been a monster long before his physical form transformed into one.

“Tsunade, please, they’re young. They haven’t even matured yet and Naruto comes from the Uzumaki clan, their life forces are relentless. The odds may not have been in our favor last time, but don’t we owe it to Sasuke and Naruto to at least try?”

“No, Jiraiya..” she shook her head and refused to meet his gaze, “I can’t.”

She paused to wipe the tears that had begun to form in her eyes, after having probably been remembering the same series of unfortunate events as Jiraiya had been. Her eyes, while red and watery, were steel when she looked him dead in the face, unwavering and firm as she did so.

“I won’t.”

The new hokage turned on her heels and walked away.

Jiraiya didn’t follow her. He stood there, rooted to his place in the middle of the dark, empty street, and watched her go, not for the first time in his life, and most likely not the last.

Chapter Text

It had been three days since Sasuke had been released from the hospital. Ino had gotten back from her mission and on the second day, decided to throw a little party to celebrate Sasuke’s recovery. The only one who hadn’t shown up yet was Sasuke himself.

Naruto was getting impatient, and Kiba’s teasing was not making anything better. Sakura was still avoiding him, instead choosing to stand on the opposite side of the room than to speak with the blonde, no matter how much he tried to start a conversation with her to explain what had actually happened.

He didn’t really know who to talk to because Shikamaru was still irritated with him, and while Tenten, Neji, and Bushy Brows had been invited, only Tenten was really branching out and getting to know her fellow genin. Though, to be fair, Rock Lee was confined to a chair and Sakura was the one keeping him company, so naturally everyone else avoided them like the plague- no one wanted to get involved in Sakura’s turbulent moods these days. Naruto was both amazed and concerned at how resilient Rock Lee was being, in more ways than one.

Neji was monitoring Hinata’s every move, glaring at her and subtly shaking his head when any of their alpha friends got too close to her. Naruto kind of understood why the Hyuuga girl was so shy around everyone now, her entire clan barely let her interact with most people her age.

Ino and Choji were arguing over snacks while Tenten was asking Shino about his bug friends- he’d been banished from the snack table after one of Shino’s ladybugs had landed on Choji’s favorite dessert.

Naruto couldn’t help feeling a bit lonely without Sasuke there. Where was he? Sasuke was never one to be late for anything, and usually went as far as to timing the other members on team seven to chide them on their own lateness.

Had- had Itachi come back for him and no one had noticed?! What if that snake Orochimaru had kidnapped the Uchiha because of that stupid curse seal he’d given him?! Or-or maybe Sasuke’s fangirls had finally gotten a hold of him and because he was still injured, he couldn’t get away in time and they’d hauled him off to an impromptu wedding ceremony where they all took turns legally marrying him-

“Hey, Naruto, you okay, man?” Choji asked, startling the blonde alpha from his internal panic. The others all turned to look at him to see if he was okay and the newly silent room made him uncomfortable. The only silence he could enjoy was if it came from his best friend.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, just looking forward to training with Jiraiya sensei later!” he lied. If he told them about how much he was worried about Sasuke’s belated appearance, they’d take it the wrong way. None of them had listened to him when he’d tried to explain that, no, he and Sasuke weren’t dating, they genuinely had just been very unfortunate and had a freak accident that no one could have foreseen happen to them.

Kiba especially enjoyed teasing the blonde about Sasuke. If it weren’t for Hinata, the shyest and weirdest girl he’d ever met, always scolding Kiba, Naruto would have punched him by now.

“Oh yeah, that’s right, you have a new sensei, what’s it like training under one of the legendary sanin?” Ino asked curiously, covering her mouth politely as she munched on a stick of dango. Neji, who the alpha still felt uneasy around after his fight with the older Hyuuga in the chunin exams, inclined his head in the blonde’s direction, interested in his response.

Before he could respond, the door opened, and none other than Sasuke Uchiha was standing glumly in the entryway looking as bored as ever. His eyes were still blank, like they’d been back at the hospital, and it made the hairs on the back of Naruto’s neck stand up.

“Sasuke!” Ino cheered, rushing forward to greet her fellow omega. Naruto would have, but he was too busy putting his detective skills to work. Sasuke didn’t look like he’d been chased by a mob of hormonal alpha girls. His hair was too purposefully messy, and his chest rose and fell calmly, indicating that his body hadn’t been exerted enough to require lungfuls of air.

He couldn’t sniff the air to see if there was anything off about the Uchiha’s scent because Sasuke was masking his scent and in a room full of ninja, he would surely be called out by one of them for doing so. Not naming names or anything, but Ino and Kiba had been enjoying picking apart his interactions with his teammate a little too vigorously.

Sasuke ignored their friend’s joyful cry in favor of analyzing the room. His gaze, from what Naruto could tell, lingered on Shikamaru and Neji a millisecond longer than anyone else, and his usual frown lessened microscopically when he noticed the omegas gathered around each other.

“Hnn.” came his response, and while it was monotone and borderline not even a response at all, it was music to Naruto’s ears. Sasuke was much quieter these days and Naruto often found himself missing the times when Sasuke would tease him. The alpha had always been teased and made fun of by his peers, but for some reason, hearing the little jabs fall from the Uchiha’s stoic lips felt important, like they were meant as compliments but Sasuke just didn’t know how to be so effortlessly kind that way.

“Sasuke! Even though we fought at the beginning of the chunin exams, I must say, I am very happy for your youthful recovery!” Rock Lee’s loud, energetic voice echoed in the room and Naruto could almost see the soundwaves bouncing off of the walls. He doubted Sasuke had enjoyed the older alpha’s energetic decree, in fact, he knew he didn’t because he could tell by the clawed shape of Sasuke’s hand that he was very close to chidorying the loud genin.

Sakura remained quiet and to be honest, it pissed him off. Choji had been the one to fill him in on how Sakura had reacted to the news, and every time Naruto had tried to smooth things over with her, she just started crying and shoved him away.

It was obvious that she resented the two of them, and if it hadn’t been Ino that had thrown the party, he would have made sure she wasn’t invited to begin with. He didn’t know what she was going to say to their teammate, but if the tongue lashing he’d received was anything to go by, he knew it was going to be bad.

Ino lurched forward and pulled her fellow omega fully into the room, “Sasuke! You have to try this food dish that Choji made! Look, it has your favorite, tomatoes!” she cheerfully announced, either too busy being a good host to notice or politely ignoring Sasuke’s willful silence.

The alpha wanted so badly to growl at the girl and steal Sasuke away from her so that he could talk to Sasuke, but he knew how everyone else would react to that. So instead of going over and hovering next to the omega and releasing his scent to comfort the tense Uchiha, like a good best friend would, he threw an arm over Shino’s shoulders and invested himself in the Aburame’s conversation with Tenten.

It was like time had started up again, because as soon as he had done so, everyone else continued what they’d been doing as well. “Naruto, I do not wish to discourage you, but you are upsetting my wasps.” Shino mentioned, subtly tensing his shoulder after a moment to shake the blonde’s arm away. “Oops, sorry Shino,” Naruto moved away from his friend, “Hey, Tenten, what’s the deal with Neji? I don’t think he’s blinked since I got here.”

She turned her head to where the stoic Hyuuga alpha was seated, legs crossed and arms folded across his chest, like a statue. “You don’t know? The Hyuuga clan always has some sort of escort for Hinata because she’s their heiress and an omega. Neji’s her cousin so the task usually falls to him.”

That didn’t make any sense to the blonde. If they wanted her to be safe and looked after, why had she trained to become a shinobi to begin with? Tenten must have seen his confusion written across his face, because she was talking again, “The Hyuuga are a very.. traditional clan, so while Hinata is an omega, it’s also customary for the first born to be the heir. That’s why she’s in the situation she’s in.” Shino nodded in agreement, preferring to keep quiet about his teammate’s pesky clan politics.

Naruto wondered what the Uchiha clan had been like. The Uchiha were distantly related to the Hyuuga, so did that mean some of their traditions would have been similar? If they were all still alive, would Sasuke be forced to have an escort like Hinata? The blonde couldn’t imagine that going over well with his friend. Sasuke preferred his freedom, having someone watching him all hours of the day would probably have ended in many, many agitated fireball jutsu and chidoris.

He smiled at the thought, which gained him an odd look from the two alphas he was talking to.
He spluttered, quickly wiping the grin off of his face but before he could come up with a convincing lie to explain his weird timing, Kiba had appeared, looking moderately peeved about something.

“Hey, Naruto, you need to tell your boyfriend to stop being such an asshole!” the Inuzuka growled, tossing a glare over his shoulder as he pointed towards an eerily calm looking Uchiha with his thumb.

“He’s not my boyfriend, dog breath!” Naruto stage whispered, having the good grace to realize that using his usual tone of voice would cause a scene.

“What happened?” Shino asked his teammate, not at all phased by the other alpha’s growl. Alphas typically were agitated when hearing another’s growl, as somewhere deep in their brain, it came across as a challenge, even if it weren’t intended in that way. That was why everyone had immense respect for Shino. That guy had such an iron grip on his instincts, that even Kakashi sensei would be put to shame.

“All I did was try to high five him but he caught my wrist and twisted it! And then he had the balls to snarl at me!”

Sasuke had never been one for physical touch outside of training or missions, but after Itachi.. it was like physical contact scared him. The omega was always tense now, ready to pounce and attack at the first sign of a threat. He’d probably just assumed Kiba was trying to attack him or something.

“Sasuke has just suffered a serious mental rewiring. Why is that important to this situation? Because he is still healing and recovering.” Shino explained as Tenten tilted her head to the side in thought. The group peered over to where Sasuke was standing still, like a statue, as Ino and Choji told him jokes. Ino’s hand brushed Sasuke’s arm and his jaw clenched, but nothing came of it other than Akamaru wagging his tail at the Uchiha.

“Yeah, well, he’s still an asshole.” the Inuzuka grumbled, glaring over at the omega while rubbing his sore wrist.

Naruto decided to join Sasuke and the others. He’d felt the pull of their scent bond from the moment he’d woken up that morning, and something was beckoning him closer to his pale teammate. He needed to be close, to make sure Sasuke felt reassured, but also to make it all feel real.

He still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Sasuke never lost. He never failed, and he never, ever looked so defeated and unsure. The omega’s, somewhat arrogant at times, confidence had dwindled from the raging inferno it had always been, to a tiny inkling of smoke, the ghost of a fire he’d once held within himself.

It scared the Uzumaki terribly.

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been plagued by nightmares ever since that day at the inn with Itachi. Seeing Sasuke so limp, so helpless for lack of better words, had embedded such a deep, aching fear within him that not even his dreams were safe anymore.

Not that he missed that weird recurring dream of a giant orange fox in some sort of cage growling at him. Seriously, every night for as long as he could remember, he’d gone to sleep, only to be met with that fox in his sleep.

If it weren’t because Sasuke’s defeat had scarred him so badly, the blonde would have rejoiced at having a different dream for once. Now, he just wished he could see the fox in his dreams instead.

His attention was pulled away from his musings when Ino shrieked. Choji was apologizing profusely and trying to wipe up some water he’d unintentionally spilled as Sasuke just stood there, blankly looking at Ino furiously trying to wring out her soaked shirt.

“I-Ino do you want my jacket?” Hinata murmured, already sliding the article of clothing off and handing it to the Yamanaka.

“Oh, thanks Hinata! You’re such a life saver!”
~~~

“Tsunade, don’t you think it’s a bit early to be drinking?” Jiraiya’s voice cut through the stale air of the hokage office.

She had been here ever since their fateful argument in the alleyway, letting off steam in the form of paperwork, and because there hadn’t been a hokage for at least two weeks, there was a lot of paperwork. Shizune had been a great help with the initial stacks of documents, which for some reason were almost entirely about clan relations, but the blonde omega had sent her home after she’d fallen asleep standing up.

“Isn’t it a bit early for you to be here instead of at the women’s baths?” she countered, not bothering to give him the satisfaction of giving him her attention after the stunt he’d pulled, and kept signing the lengthy proposal on her desk.

She heard him sigh, and even though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was rubbing his face in exasperation. “Look, princess, I understand that this whole situation is dangerous. Believe me, I know because I’m the one that sensei sent to hunt down Orochimaru, but there is more at play here than two awkward ‘in love but they don’t know it yet’ teenagers.”

That caught her attention.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and finally glared up at him, “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, not bothering to keep the bite from her voice as she reached for another bottle of sake hidden in her desk drawer.

Her old teammate took that as a signal to sit, and if he had a scent, she might have assumed he was antsy.

“They’re calling themselves the Akatsuki. They’re a terrorist organization comprised of all the big bad missing nins from all of the hidden villages. Word on the street is that Orochimaru was part of them for a while but broke off when they got to be too bad for even the likes of him.”

He paused to let the information sink in.

How bad could these so called Akatsuki be if even Orochimaru wanted to steer clear from them? Just what connected this group to Sasuke and Naruto? Unless-

“Itachi Uchiha, he’s one of them, isn’t he?”

The white haired alpha nodded, and he looked the very age Tsunade felt.

“So we need to protect Sasuke, give him a guard detail, something until we can figure out what this guy’s motives are.” she added.

“No, Itachi wasn’t after Sasuke. He was after Naruto.”

Her eyes widened with alarm, as his stared at her deeply trying to say without saying what they both knew. What they’d both been sworn to never speak of aloud for thirteen years.

“The Akatsuki want the Nine tails, and with the way village relations are right now, I don’t think we have the political leeway to ask the other villages if their own jinchuriki have been followed or worse, had a run in with the group. We’re completely in the dark on this one.” The sanin elaborated.

“Does Naruto know?”

He should have been told when he had joined the academy. She couldn’t believe their sensei had kept the kid in the dark for this long, especially when he also descended from arguably the most powerful clan to ever exist. It was stupid to leave him ignorant, especially with someone as unpredictable as Naruto. Who knew how he would react, how aggressively he would take the revelation, especially now after they’d taught him jutsu and given him one of the strongest jonin instructors they had.

“No, I haven’t talked to him. I don’t even know how I would bring it up. You knew you were from a powerful clan, and even the first hokage’s granddaughter. You knew how to conceal your identity. That numbskull? He’d probably find out and immediately go shouting it all over the village, and you know how gossip spreads.”

Tsunade leaned back in her seat thoughtfully.

“Sasuke is an Uchiha, if the nine tails is freed, theoretically, he would be able to control the demon. Why would you want their bond separated if an incompleted scent bond means they have to be near each other.” She inquired, internally grateful that she had moved her appointment with Danzo to later in the afternoon so that she and Jiraiya could hash the issue out in depth.

“He is from the bloodline, yes, but without a teacher from the same bloodline, how much can he actually accomplish with that sharingan of his? Kakashi can only do so much, and not to mention, most of the Uchiha’s jutsu scrolls were confiscated and hidden away to protect the kid. We have no idea if he would ever reach the power level strong enough to control the nine tails.”

Curse the stupid council and their hobby of snatching and sealing away important scrolls from the clans. No one had any idea what had become of the two measly Uzumaki scrolls Kushina had owned after her death, but even back then, Tsunade had a rising suspicion that they’d been stolen from the rubble.

“So, you won’t even give Sasuke a chance, Jiraiya? Seriously? He has way more potential than you did back in the day, and look how far you’ve come!”

“Look, that’s not what I’m saying. We have no idea what kind of timeframe we’re talking about here before the Akatsuki try to get Naruto again. Itachi knows they’re scent bonded, if he would murder his entire clan, he absolutely would have no problem with exploiting Naruto by kidnaping Sasuke, or worse, just killing him. Sasuke’s an omega, that automatically means he’s at a greater risk of either of those options.”

“Choose your next words very carefully.” the omega sanin cut in, glaring at him.

“Oh, for the love of- I’m not saying omegas are weak or a waste as ninja, it’s a fact that Sasuke will have heats and will be less likely to successfully protect himself from danger during one.”

Orochimaru had been a prime example of that.

“Still, there are other ways. We can keep Sasuke in the village, heavily guarded, with Anbu of Kakashi’s choosing to monitor him while you go off and train Naruto like you’d originally planned, or we can even send Sasuke with the both of you.”

Jiraiya wasn’t having any of it. “Tsunade, I’m telling you, the operation is the best option we have.”

“No, Jiraiya, it’s the easiest one. We can’t let either of them die. What happens when Sasuke dies, and we have no one left from his clan to keep Naruto in check if Kyuubi ever becomes an issue? What happens when Naruto dies and we have no one to seal the demon into because he is the last Uzumaki at our disposal? Konoha needs them, both of them, and I will not jeopardize that.”

The toad sage stood up and the chair squeaked against the old wooden flooring. “It’s always Konoha first until that same logic destroys the village.” he said darkly before leaving her office.

Tsunade couldn’t help but feel unsure.

~~~

Sasuke felt empty. Kakashi had come by, asking about how he was feeling, and before, it would have irritated him, but now, he felt nothing.

Logically, he knew he was scared and this was his mind’s way of protecting him, because it had been the same the first time around when he’d dealt with the aftermath of a dead clan and a three day genjutsu. Eight year old him had welcomed the nothingness with open arms, but thirteen year old him felt like he was vaguely missing out on something.

He couldn’t look his teammate in the face yet. Not after watching the blonde alpha die by his pale, shaky hands in Itachi’s genjutsu. He’d smiled until the very last drop of blood in his body had dribbled down Sasuke’s hands and the omega was nauseous just thinking about it.

He hadn’t reacted this strongly when it had just been his family’s deaths. Why did he feel so.. despondent now? It was just a teammate and he knows it wasn’t even real.

It felt real.

The curse mark on his shoulder burned more lately, like it was feeding off of his pain, and the scent bond stung, trying to force his body to seek out Naruto and scent him, but Sasuke wouldn’t allow his legs to move from where they were folded under him on his bed.
After what he’d done, real or not real it didn’t matter, he didn’t deserve to be in the Uzumaki’s presence. Not after everything Naruto had done for him, like making him part of a new family, or pulling him back from the dark path he’d been set on.

He’d betrayed the alpha by being weak and Sasuke couldn’t bear to be around Naruto long enough to make the genjutsu become a reality.

The Uchiha sighed and got out of bed. He walked over to his desk that housed the group photo of team seven and a single piece of paper with neat, uniform inky lines going down the page in a list format.

Sasuke Uchiha
Kiba Inuzuka
Shikamaru Nara
Sakura Haruno
Choji Akimichi
Ino Yamanaka

He picked it up with an embarrassed grimace. He’d been so stupid to think he could ever be part of Naruto’s future pack, much less pick and choose who would be part of it. Sasuke crossed his name out bitterly with his uninjured hand and crumpled the paper into a ball.

He could never be part of a pack while Itachi was still alive. He would never put the others in the position to have targets on their backs just because Sasuke cared about them. That would be selfish. No, instead, he would distance himself to keep his friends safe, even if it meant shouldering the burden of loneliness all on his own.

The cat was out of the bag on his and Naruto’s bond in Itachi’s eyes, so the omega couldn’t really shy away from the blonde now. That would just leave an opening for Itachi to come and finish the job he’d started, and Sasuke would not let Naruto die by the same hands that had killed his clan.

No, Sasuke would keep very close to the alpha, even if it shamed him to look him in the eyes.

~~~

Night had fallen hours ago, but Naruto couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned for what felt like ages before he finally stilled in frustration.

Anxiety plagued his mind. Sasuke was alone in his apartment, probably sound asleep, with no one to watch guard over him to make sure he was safe, and it ate at the blonde.

Why did no one seem to care that Sasuke was in danger but him?! Itachi had broken into the village with no trouble before, what was stopping him from coming to finish what he’d started in the dead of night? And everyone had apparently forgotten that while Orochimaru’s arms had been sealed, he’d gotten away and had who knows how many minions under his control to come collect the omega whenever he wanted.

If Sasuke was kidnapped or stolen away in the dead of night, Naruto wouldn’t ever get to show the omega how strong he was and how worthy of their rivalry that he strived to be. The thought made the blonde shudder in dismay.

A lightbulb went off in his head. If no one was looking out for Sasuke, what was stopping him from doing it himself?

The Uzumaki rolled out of bed, tripping over a tangled blanket in his haste, and scrambled to get dressed. Once he was done, he left through his window, so as not to disturb his neighbors that already hated when he made noise during the day time, and silently crossed over rooftops. He didn’t have to pay much attention to where he was going, because his feet had memorized the way to Sasuke’s apartment long ago.

Finding the perfect spot to see into Sasuke’s window from a distance while also being close enough to get there in a hurry should he need to proved more difficult than he thought it would. He wasn’t usually the one who scouted out hiding spots on missions, that was usually reserved for Sasuke or Kakashi sensei, so he was rusty to say the least.

The chill in the air sent a shiver down the young alpha’s spine but he ignored it in favor of focusing on his surroundings. The moon cast a bright glow on the streets below, causing shadows to stretch up the buildings like dark little claws, waiting to snatch whomever dares to step into the inky blackness.

Naruto didn’t particularly care for shadows, partially because he always looked so lonely, and also because when he had been younger, maybe five or six, the shadows always alerted him to when another bad person was coming.

He didn’t like the bad people. They were mean and yelled at him and called him names. As he got older, he forgot what their faces looked like, though every now and then he sees a familiar, anxiety inducing face when he goes to the market or to buy supplies for missions. The strangers haven’t yelled much these days, though, because now he had a leaf village headband displayed proudly on his forehead.

Although he suspected that Iruka sensei had a hand in making the villagers back off a bit. The omega had been ferociously protective of him after that misunderstanding with the forbidden scroll a while back. He could definitely see the brunette hissing and clawing at anyone who so much as glared at the Uzumaki.

Naruto secretly wondered if that was what a parent’s love felt like. If it was, he understood why Sasuke missed it so much, and also didn’t understand why Sakura got so frustrated with hers.

Maybe there was something more about having parents that he couldn’t quite grasp, and that’s why he didn’t really get why she was always so mad at her mom. Once upon a time, he would have jumped at the chance to ask her about it, but Ino, who had hung around him more because she’d grown close to Sasuke- as close as someone could get with Sasuke- had yelled at him for asking ‘invasive questions’.

Joke’s on her, he had no idea what invasive even meant at the time, but the punch she’d given him had gotten the message across clear as day. As payback, he’d thrown a frog at her when she wasn’t paying attention, and the shriek the blonde omega had let out still made him giggle a bit.

The Uzumaki sobered up. Now was not the time to be giggling, he had serious business to attend to. For good measure, Naruto glanced around at the surrounding rooftops, nodding to himself when he’d deemed the coast clear, and went back to focusing on Sasuke’s window.

He didn’t like how.. open Sasuke’s window was. The glass was closed, obviously, just the way it had been ever since he’d presented and all those crazy Uchiha fangirls started mobbing his apartment complex to catch a whiff of his scent, but there was nothing covering the window.

Naruto could see everything: Sasuke asleep on his bed, the dining table with its lone chair and a pile of tomatoes neatly stacked in a pyramid on top, even Sasuke’s Uchiha fan tapestry was on wide display, even from the distance Naruto was sitting at.

If he, a fairly unaware person, could so easily find Sasuke while he was asleep, so could his enemies.

Hmm, well, he’d just have to come back tomorrow night too. To make sure Sasuke was safe of course, not because the omega had just turned over in his sleep to face the window and it pulled at his heartstrings.

Seriously, for such a scary guy, Sasuke sure did look sweet when he was asleep, adorable even, like one of those little babies that were passed out in their parent’s arms. If he ever said that out loud, he’d get murdered viciously.

Naruto was pretty sure he’d die with a smile on his face if that were the case.

~~~

Sakura sat up in bed for the thousandth time that evening. Seeing Sasuke and Naruto together now that she knew that morning had stung. They didn’t trust her, and while she understood why they couldn’t, it didn’t mean her feelings weren’t hurt.

Neither of the two had even apologized to her for being the root of all her problems. How could she even be part of a team that consistently treated her as an afterthought? She had the most extensive knowledge fresh out of the academy than either of the other team seven genin, and she had the best chakra control too, not to mention Kakashi sensei had discovered her affinity for genjutsu resistance, but he’d followed it up with nothing. Even her training had been put on the back burner.

Why did they think she was so useless? Why did Sasuke not think she was good enough?

A deep resentment welled up in her chest for Naruto at the thought. It was his fault, all of it, it had to be. Hinata just didn’t know what she’d been talking about the other day at the practice field. The meek omega was just making excuses for her crush, like always.

Well, there would be no excuses made for Naruto this time, not when he’d stolen Sasuke from her. It should be her scent bonded to Sasuke. He didn’t even know Sasuke like she did, so what gave him the right to just stake a claim on the omega like that.

She needed to save Sasuke from that stupid Naruto. That’s why he hadn’t been himself lately, obviously he was too depressed about being scent bonded to Naruto to function properly.

The kunoichi smiled to herself, already plotting her top secret rescue mission. Sasuke was going to be so happy with her, that he would fall right into her arms and declare his love for her right on the spot.

Sakura couldn’t wait.

~~~

People were chanting his name as he towered over them on the hokage tower balcony. Sasuke was beside him, with Iruka sensei and Kakashi sensei and Sakura a few feet away, all smiling proudly at him.

Sasuke handed him the hokage hat, and as he drew his hand away, he began to speak with pink dusted cheeks and doe eyes that stared into the blonde’s soul, “Naruto, I-”. Someone from the crowd screamed out joyously, drowning out what the Uchiha had said next, but Naruto had watched his lips move, and it looked a lot like he’d said “dove moo''

Dove moo? Sasuke doves moo?

Before he could ask him to repeat himself he was ripped away from the scene abruptly.

“What are you doing?” screeched a child’s voice in his ear, startling him awake so viciously that Naruto jumped a few feet in the air and nearly fell off of the rooftop he was on. He landed unceremoniously on his butt, and glared at the grinning little elf that was Konohomaru.

“Ugh, Konohamaru!” he snapped, “Can’t you see I was sleeping!”

The pup ignored him in favor of looking around suspiciously. Naruto paid him no mind as he rubbed his sore buttocks from when he’d harshly landed a few seconds prior. He definitely should have been, because not even a moment later, Konohomaru was screeching “Hey! Isn’t that Sasuke’s house?!” at the top of his lungs. Naruto spluttered, blindsided, “Wha-NO! Why would you think that! It-It’s my friend.. Sesame’s apartment! Not Sasuke!”

The blonde alpha threw the kid a thumbs up, proud of his amazing deflection skills. Using sesame instead of Sasuke? Truly a work of his own genius.

“Nuh uh, that’s clearly Sasuke glaring at us from his windo-HI SASUKE!” the boy waved, proudly showing off his grin that was missing a few front teeth. By the time the morning was over, Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that Konohomaru would be missing a few more..

He didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to look into the cold, dead eyes of his teammate, and he did not want to see the omega’s response to Konohomaru’s display of exaggerated cheer.

Konohomaru didn’t give him a chance, however, because he was jumping on the blonde’s back and manually turning his neck for him. “Ouch! Would you quit-” Naruto cut himself off as his eyes caught Sasuke’s stare.

It was questioning, he could tell, because his lips were thinner than usual, and his eyebrows were impeccably straight. Sasuke did not like to showcase his uncertainty, so he usually kept a very blank face when he was confused about something. At first, back when they’d still been at the academy, Naruto had taken offense to the staring. He’d thought Sasuke was sizing him up and deeming him not worth his gaze, but after having gotten to understand the Uchiha, he knew better than to ever assume Sasuke would be like everyone else like that.

Now, after having been caught keeping an eye on his friend by said friend, he wished he could be swallowed up by the ground. Too bad the ground his feet were standing on was concrete and a roof, so if it swallowed him, he’d just be falling through levels and levels of floors. That would hurt, like a lot, so he kinda didn’t want the ground to swallow him whole, now that he thought about it.

“Look! Look! He’s coming over!” the runt on his shoulders shouted in his ear.

It wasn’t Konohomaru’s loudmouth tendencies that sent him over the edge, nor was it the fact that he’d been caught sleeping when he should have been watching Sasuke for any signs of danger, nor was it even really the unamused look Sasuke had given him while standing neutrally in his window.

No, the thing that set Naruto off was Konohomaru’s sticky fingers making contact with his earlobe. With no time to spare, the kid was sent flying off of his back, and onto the ground.

When Sasuke showed up, the alpha was having it out with the younger boy, fists were flying, and both of their round, petulant faces were already swelling with purple bruises. Konohomaru got a few good punches in, using his small body to wriggle out of the Uzumaki’s grasp like a worm.

Sasuke was almost amused.

He waited patiently, not feeling the need to stop the two idiots from being their own worst enemies. The morning sun was warm on his skin, and Sasuke silently cursed himself for not wearing a longer sleeved shirt to protect his skin from the sizzling rays on his arms.

When he was young, he used to ask his mother why their clan all looked like ghosts but still lived in a really sunny place. She would just smile, chuckling a bit at his inquiries, and ruffle his hair.

Sasuke never did get an answer.

Naruto’s voice squalled out something indignant as he yanked the kid’s scarf to send him flying back into his fist. “Help! Somebody help! I’m being attacked!” the brunette boy hollered to anyone that would listen.

Too bad they were on a very high up roof, and this part of the village was usually empty at that time of day. Finally, the third hokage’s grandson noticed him standing there, hands tucked uncaringly in his pockets. The pup’s eyes widened, pleadingly, and despite his large reserve of willpower, something softened within himself.

“Knock it off, loser.'' The omega finally spoke, looking off to the side, embarrassed to have given into the childish cries of an eight year old. Maybe it was because when Sasuke was eight, he’d also held a similar look of desperation on his face- no. Now was not the time.

“S-Sasuke!” Naruto shouted in surprise, releasing Konohamaru from his hold. “We were just, uh, DANCING! Yeah, uh, we have a dance- uh, team!”

Sasuke let a perfectly sculpted eyebrow quirk up in judgment, “What? Too weak to fight actual ninja so you’re beating up a little kid?” he snipped, enjoying the look of embarrassed annoyance painting itself across the Uzumaki’s face. Konohomaru, after dusting himself off and throwing one last retaliation kick to the blonde’s shin, proceeded to sniff the air thoughtfully as he turned to face Sasuke.

His little nose continued to sniffle at whatever he was smelling, and the child’s body followed the scent trail diligently. It dawned on Sasuke what the Sarutobi was smelling, him.

The omega backed up slyly, but as his left foot left the ground, Konohomaru leapt into his arms like a monkey. Because it was a rare occasion that Sasuke was caught off guard, he was unbalanced, nearly crashing to the ground as his arms wrapped tightly around the pup to protect him from the fall.
Before his body could make contact with the hard surface of the rooftop, a tan arm shot out, grabbing him by the waist to stop the omega’s descent. The scent of warm sunshine and fresh oranges invaded his senses, and for a split second, Sasuke felt at peace.

The peace was interrupted, however, when the larger of the two idiots began to yell.

“Konohamaru! You moron! Why’d you pounce on Sasuke?!”

The pup was too busy to give a full answer, seeing as he was rubbing his chubby little cheek against Sasuke’s chest. The scent of a happy child filled the air, and no matter how strongly Sasuke wanted to unwrap his arms from the imp, whose full body grip on the omega was as cute as it was irritating, his arms were locked, and he cursed his biology for making him not want to let the pup go.

“Warm, so cozy…” Konohomaru trailed off, nose tickling Sasuke’s neck as he discovered the source of the ‘cozy’ smell wafting off of the omega.

Against his better judgment, Sasuke discreetly scented Konohamaru as well. The sharp pang of loneliness filled the pale boy’s nose, and his heart ached. The pup was not only the same age Sasuke had been when-when- but he had also experienced the loss of someone precious to him, just like the omega had.

There had been no one to hold Sasuke, or let him scent them, and certainly no older omegas that would allow such a damaged and sad child into their arms. Not even the nurses at the time had offered him so much as a hug. He wondered briefly if anyone had hugged Konohamaru since the funeral..

Sure, the kid usually screamed his head off around the village about how cool his anbu parents were, but the Uchiha doubted he ever really saw them, the anbu were notoriously sent on long, harrowing missions that left them either a mindless bloodthirsty machine, or an empty husk, too damaged to provide many familial bonds to a child. He knew Asuma, the sensei for Ino’s team, was the kid’s uncle, and Kurenai, Hinata’s sensei, may as well have been an aunt to him, but having an uncle and semi-aunt that had six kids of their own to look after all the time probably hadn’t left much time for Konohomaru.

Sasuke held the boy a little tighter.

“Uh, Sasuke?” came the Uzumaki’s familiar voice from behind him, and loosely Sasuke realized he’d forgotten the alpha was there. He registered the weighted touch on his waist, and embarrassedly realized that Naruto was still holding him up.

Quickly, the Uchiha’s poker face was carefully back in place, and he gently placed the boy back on the ground, releasing the pup from his hold with a pang in his chest that would never admit to having. He spun around to face the blonde, “Why are you arguing with some kid outside of my apartment?” he bit out, forcing more force into his voice to cover up for the fact that he’d just let a random pup nearly topple him over.

From how close he was standing, he could count all of the Uzumaki’s bright yellow eyelashes and the sea of faded freckles that had made their home on the bridge of the other’s nose. “I-well-'' the alpha was interrupted by Konohomoru’s mischievous giggle, “He was watching you cuz’ he loooves youuu!”

Sasuke stepped in between the two idiots to block Naruto from strangling the brunette like he so obviously was debating. “No I DON’T! It's-its a mission! Yeah, I had a mission!” the Uzumaki argued, crossing his arms petulantly across his chest and sticking his tongue out at the younger.

A mission.

Someone had been given a mission to watch him.

That person thought Naruto, of all people, would be better at protecting Sasuke than himself.

They knew. Everyone knew what a failure he was, how he’d completely and utterly been unsuccessful at stopping Itachi and now they thought he was weak enough that Naruto had become a better, stronger ninja in their eyes than Sasuke.

The best Uchiha at their disposal. (The only Uchiha they had.)

Quickly, Sasuke sealed his scent away, ignoring Konohomaru’s pitiful whine at the ‘cozy smell’ vanishing from the air, and shoved away from his friend. The person sent to spy on him because he was too weak to be useful.

“Sasuke?” The blonde questioned.

In response, the Uchiha let the calm, neutral expression he reserved only for Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba’s dogs dissipate from his face, and replaced it with his darkest, most spiteful and hate filled look in his wide range of microexpressions at his disposal.

The alpha recoiled, as if he’d been bitten by a venomous snake and the curse mark on Sasuke’s shoulder sang whispers of sweet, poisonous threats across the span of his skin. “Your mission’s canceled.” he growled out, feeling the black swirls of the curse mark dance and expand along his pale, albeit light red from the sun beating down on him, flesh.

“Wait, Sas-” the alpha’s hand darted out to grab ahold of his, but Sasuke tore his wrist away, burned in more ways than one. “No!” the omega snapped once more, only this time it was louder to cover up the whimpering coming from Konohamaru. He knew pups were easily affected by moods, but in the moment, he didn’t care. All he cared about was being left alone.

The fight seemed to deflate from Naruto’s body at Sasuke’s reaction, and he retracted his arm dejectedly. “C’mon, Konohamaru, there’s no one here worth talking to.” the blonde spit out lowly as he walked past the Uchiha with a tense aura surrounding him. If Sasuke didn’t know any better, he’d think that Naruto had been.. Sad? Annoyed?

Sasuke may have been hurt by his words, but he was too proud to show it. The omega stood icily still as he watched the pair go. He ignored the sting of his scent gland, and the sting of his eyes as he turned to face the hokage tower. He glared with red irises at the large, imposing building.

The Uchiha had some business to attend to.

~~~

A hand slamming down on the solid wood of the hokage’s work desk startled Tsunade from her frustrated, although slightly tipsy, stupor.

She glanced up in boredom from yet another stack of papers updating her on clan politics, and was surprised to find the little Uchiha brat standing there, glowering like a pup who’d been denied a nap.

“Not that I’m not happy for the interruption,” she sighed in amusement as she let her pen fall beside the stack of papers and leaned back in her, rather uncomfortable, seat, “But how on earth did you get past my security team?”

The old omega raised a blonde eyebrow at him as her hands itched to reach for the bottle of sake and down the whole thing in one go. She had a feeling that whatever the teen was going to say, she’d need about a gallon of sake to get through it.

Too bad Shizune would notice if she tried to sneak a gallon of sake into her office.

Sasuke kept his hand on the sanin’s desk, and if it were a seasoned shinobi standing in his place, she may have actually the threatening implications the young omega was trying to exude.

“You gave Naruto a mission to spy on me!” he growled lowly. Tsunade was not fool enough to miss the red tinge of his irises.

That wiped the amused smile from her face. Tsunade leaned forward in careful interest, resting her head over her folded hands. Obviously, if someone had been given a mission to spy on the boy, she would not have sent Naruto of all people. That idiot could barely watch himself, much less someone as fast and subtle as an Uchiha.

How on earth would he have come to that conclusion. Unless- unless someone had tricked him and one of the kids’s growing list of enemies had been posing as the jinchuriki.

“There is no such order, or even mission, at this time for you to be spied on, tailed, or guarded. Where did you even get that idea?”

The omega’s glare only intensified at her. Unfortunately for him, she was much too drunk to care.

“Look, short round, I can’t help you if you won’t talk. What I can do, however, is actually send someone to guard you, only it won’t be someone you know, or even like, no, it will be the most obnoxious, chatty, enthusiastic and flamboyant jonin we have.”

His eyebrows shot up to his unnaturally perfect hairline in horrified understanding, and internally, she was smug at her successful attempt to pull some form of emotion out of the boy other than bored annoyance or neutral hatred.

“That’s right. I’ll assign Might Guy to the case. So you’d better start talking.”

Sasuke eased his arm away from where it had previously been anchored to her desktop and decidedly kept it by his side, both hands in white knuckled fists.

“Naruto was outside of my apartment this morning, watching me and he said that he’d been given a mission to do so.” he gritted out with some force. Honestly, the blonde omega was shocked, she’d never heard the lone Uchiha speak that many words at a time.

His voice was as dead as his clan, she’d noticed.

“And you’re sure it wasn’t some prank or disguise?” she asked gently, as if she were talking to a pouty, sick child before she healed them.

Her tone caused him to bristle, however, and did not achieve its intended calming effect. His face turned pinched, as if he’d tasted something sour, and she was sure that if he weren’t masking his scent at the moment, she would be smelling the dangerous scent of crackles of lightning.

When she had first met him, she’d found it odd that an omega carried such a tumultuous, dangerous scent. She hadn’t assumed he would have a sweet scent- as that was a rather annoying stereotype that did more harm than good for omegas, but it was incredibly rare for a freshly presented omega to have such a raw, powerful fragrance forever entwined with their person.

“No.” he replied sharply, before remembering himself and just who he was talking about, causing his body to soften a tiny fraction, “I could recognize his chakra signature even if I was blind.”

She eyed him consideringly, noting the glare the boy sported softening ever so slightly at his mention of Naruto’s chakra signature. If she knew him any better, she would probably say it was out of fondness, but alas, she did not- and nor did she want to. She’d put in more than enough time trying to learn the tones and mannerisms of one emotionally stunted genius, and that had been back when she’d been young enough to even want to try and figure Orochimaru out.

What had she heard the Nara boy say the other day while she finished up her meeting with Shikaku? ‘What a drag’?

Well, that was a drag.

Sasuke didn’t like the amused stare the new hokage had plastered on her face whenever he met with her. He certainly did not like her amused huff at his genuine grievances.

If she was telling the truth, and no one had been sent to spy on him, then why would Naruto find it necessary to watch him of his own free will?

A thought struck him instantly, and for once, Sasuke detested the sharpness of his mind, allowing his thoughts to come swiftly and unabashedly. If Naruto was watching him, and lying about it, then that could only mean one thing.

Naruto thought he was too weak to take care of himself.

“Sasuke?” the sanin’s voice cut through his troubled musings, “Are you alright?”.

He gave her another sharp glare, and parted his lips ever so slightly to breathe through his mouth. She’d been pumping her soothing, lemon scent into the room by the lungful and he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of calming down. Normally, he would have no such issue, because he had perfected the art of not allowing scents to affect him, but her citrusy scent was too similar to Naruto’s for his liking.

Because of their stupid scent bond, Sasuke was unable to control himself as much as he would like when around that damned tangy fragrance or summertime oranges.

He hated that too, although slightly less than he would ever admit to.

“I’m fine.” he snapped, irritated again and the thought of the idiotic blonde alpha. The Uchiha swiftly turned around and left the office, not caring to wish the woman goodbye. Though, he hardly thought their interaction had even required one.

He wasn’t fine. Naruto, his sworn rival, turned out to be just like everyone else. He thought Sasuke was weak and pitiful and useless.

He needed to prove him wrong. He needed to get stronger and faster, and smarter.
Sasuke let his legs carry him towards the Uchiha compound’s old training grounds. What he was about to do needed to be done away from prying eyes.

~~~

“What now Tsunadeeee!” whined the toad sage as he trudged into her office. He had an ink smear on his hand, and binoculars around his neck. Of course the old fool had been out peaking at the women’s baths again for ‘inspiration’.

The hokage sighed in exasperation. “Jiraiya, am I going to have to give you an escort? How many times have I told you to stop researching here in Konoha?” she lectured, although there was no real authority to her words.

Instead of responding, knowing there was nothing he could say that he hadn’t told her a hundred times before, he opened a bottle of sake from his travel bag and held out another in her direction as a silent peace offering.

“Don’t think you can buy my affection so easily.” the omega said, ignoring the knowing chuckle he let out as she downed the sake un one go. She’d earned it. Making her way through six floor to ceiling stacks of paperwork was cause for getting black out drunk, but Shizune had said no, so Tsunade would just settle for the measly bottle Jiraiya had given her.

“Did you send Naruto to spy on Sasuke?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

Her eyes narrowed, watching her old teammate for any signs of dishonesty. “What?” he leaned forward like he’d heard her wrong as he coughed a little on his own drink, “Why would I do that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you don’t trust the kid to do something reckless, or you said it on a whim to get Naruto off your back about training and the idiot took it too seriously. Whatever the reason, tell Naruto to knock it off for me. Sasuke is in a delicate position right now. If we coddle him, we may as well go ahead and already call him a deserter and send him on his merry way right into Orochimaru’s waiting arms. If we give him too much freedom, he’ll be a jonin in no time and go after his brother before the time is right.”

For all of her drunken mistakes and complete distaste for strategy, which is probably why she was so bad at gambling, she had to be strategic about the Uchiha brat. She could see it in his eyes, that need for power. Orochimaru had held the same look in his slitted eyes many years ago, only Orochimaru’s path had been written in stone long before he’d even been born.

Sasuke had many different roads he could walk, and when she witnessed him interact with Naruto, she could almost see the gravitational pull the Uchiha felt tugging him towards Naruto.

If Naruto was used as a tool of the leaf village to contain the willful omega, then Sasuke was as good as gone.

“Alright, I’ll tell him, but princess, I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

And maybe, just maybe, Tsunade believed him.

~~~

The moon was barely in the sky when Naruto made his way to the same rooftop, he’d occupied the night before. The alpha scratched his neck in thought as he debated with himself on which corner he should set up shop, before ultimately deciding it didn’t matter. He could see any and all entrances to Sasuke’s apartment from the rooftop, so he rolled out his blanket directly in front of Sasuke’s window.

The window had its curtains drawn this time, and Naruto’s ears turned red in embarrassment because he’d been caught on day one. Even worse, apparently Sasuke was mad about it. Personally, Naruto had no idea why he would be. There was always at least one or two dudes in animal masks watching the Uzumaki when he was home, didn’t that happen to everyone?

A few hours passed as he squatted diligently on the rooftop, making sure to use every one of his five senses to the best of his abilities to make sure no trouble was headed Sasuke’s way while he was asleep and defenseless.

Sasuke hadn’t talked to him since the incident that morning, and the alpha hoped that by tomorrow, he had gotten over his frustration at the blonde. The day had been boring without being able to pester Sasuke. Sakura was still icy with him, and Shikamaru, even though Naruto had apologized for beating him up, still thought of him as a drag. Kakashi sensei had been in the process of moving apartments and wouldn’t even let the Uzumaki help because “Naruto, if I had wanted you to know where I lived to begin with, I wouldn’t be moving apartments.”

Even Pervy Sage had waved him off when he’d begged the sanin to train him. Dumb old man, who takes on a student and refuses to train them whenever some chick with big boobs walked by?!

Besides, none of the girls Jiraiya sensei even fell head over heels for were that good looking. They weren’t strong looking, or pale, or dark haired, and their eyes boring. Naruto liked pretty eyes that were a challenge to figure out. How could he not? Those kinds of eyes were like a competition, and the alpha was nothing if not a competitive person.

Naruto sighed, the last time he and the other alphas were hanging out, Kiba had made fun of him for having a type, but didn’t everyone have a type? Ino apparently liked assholes, and that weird girl Hinata supposedly really liked lively, stubborn people, but Naruto had no idea who she’d have her eye on. Kiba maybe?

Naruto couldn’t really figure out how the others knew when they had crushes on someone, let alone knowing their own preferences. He thought he’d had a crush on Sakura back before they made genin, but soon discovered that he’d just wanted to be friends with her very badly.

Choji had told him that crushes were just really strong feelings you had for someone, but Shikamaru had butted in and told the blonde that a crush was someone you wanted to spend all your time with.

That hadn’t been helpful at all, because Naruto had strong feelings for everyone and he wanted to spend all his time with Sasuke. The alpha rubbed at his scent bond absentmindedly as he glanced at the curtained window once more.

Had Sasuke ever had a crush on someone?

Naruto tried to picture what that would look like. The image of Sasuke blushing and stuttering around someone made him laugh, Sauske would never. Nah, Sasuke was more likely to chop off his own hand than to willingly act like a lovesick girl.

A thought struck him, once his giggles died down. What if Sasuke had acted like a lovesick girl before and his crush made fun of him for it and that was why Sasuke never let on that he liked anyone? The alpha’s fists tightened at the idea, and he had to remind himself not to growl because he was on a stealth mission to keep Sasuke safe.

If Naruto ever found out that someone had made fun of Sasuke like that- well, he’d kill them.

~~~

Sasuke woke before daybreak, unsurprisingly.

The omega allowed himself to lay there for a few minutes before getting up to start his day. As he stretched out, and ignored the sting of his muscles from yesterday’s rigorous training, he made a mental note to sharpen his kunai knives again before heading off to train alone.

Because the village was still in a disarray because of the chunin exams, Kakashi had been going out on more solo missions, so team seven were left to train however they wanted. Sasuke chose to train alone, relentlessly, from morning to night with carefully timed eating breaks.

Sasuke closed his eyes and let himself feel the area around him. He couldn’t feel Naruto’s chakra this morning, so he counted it as a win, even though he distinctly remembered waking up last night and feeling the raging orange chakra centered on the same roof the Uchiha had found him on in the first place.

He rubbed at his scent gland, and irritation shot through him.

That idiot.

It hurt Sasuke more than he cared to admit that Naruto saw him as helpless. It was such a stupid notion. Sasuke was the one always saving Naruto on missions. The omega even had dozens of needle marks to prove it.

It wasn’t fair that the moment Itachi came back, his new life was in shambles. All Naruto probably saw him as was some dumb, worthless omega who couldn’t even stand up to his older brother properly. And just to put salt in his wounds, Sasuke was weak to Itachi’s genjutsu and had no idea on where to start training his eyes to create the same threat level as Itachi’s Tsukuyomi.

Sasuke grit his teeth at the unfairness. Itachi had their father and Shisui to guide him in the Uchiha clan’s tricks and skills, Sasuke only had the fuzzy recollections of an eight year old mind and Kakashi, someone who had only guessed at the more intricate abilities because he wasn’t an Uchiha.

How long could he train for before he ran out of things to teach himself? There were no senseis that specialized in his kekkei genkai, for obvious reasons at his disposal after Kakashi, and already it felt like Kakashi had begun to run out of things to teach him.

With Naruto’s new sensei in town, Sasuke felt like he was losing their competition, and something much worse, Naruto’s respect. He could tell he’d begun to lose some of it during the chunin exams because he’d lost against Orochimaru, and in Naruto’s eyes, that was Sasuke’s first ever loss. Naruto was wrong of course, Sasuke’s first ever loss had happened eight years ago, on a blood soaked street, gasping for air as a monster with red swirling eyes towered over him.

Sasuke would not lose the next time he faced that monster.

The Uchiha pushed himself into a sitting position and shoved his unruly hair out of his face, and if his cheek had a lone, damp streak trailing down his face, well, there was no one around to see it.

It took him time to get ready. His breakfast was a practical one, light for an overworked body, but solid enough to gauge any feelings of hunger he would feel for at least half of the day.

Later, when he arrives at the training grounds, Naruto is already there, practicing against his clones. The blonde looks fierce, well, as fierce as a scrawny thirteen year old with all the menace of a penguin can possess, as he dives from a tree branch and dispels four clones at once with a technique he hadn’t witnessed the alpha use before.

His new sensei must have taught it to him.

That made his blood boil. Sasuke needed to catch up, he couldn’t fall behind because falling behind meant letting Itachi go free for even longer, and his team, his friends, wouldn’t be safe until he was brought to justice.

Sasuke summoned his own clone, and began to fight it. He was pulling out all of the stops, so much so that it distracted the other people that were there, such as Tenten and Shino, although Shino just appeared to be trying to locate more bugs, and even Naruto had turned to watch him practice instead of working on his own training.

Good.

Sasuke wanted Naruto to see. He needed the idiot to know that Sasuke was capable.

He trains like that for hours, not stopping even when the others shoot him questioning glances as they retreat to their homes for lunch. When one clone dispelled, he summoned two more in its place, until he was fighting about forty clones of himself all at the same time.

He’d obviously been overdoing it, seeing as his arm was still in a cast- which annoyed him to no end, because Kiba and Choji had written their names on it while he was unconscious and therefore, unable to threaten them into not signing his cast.

Sasuke lost track of time, and before he knew it, an angry Naruto was stomping towards him, or well, twenty seven of him. The irritated boy let loose a handful of kunai, sending them sailing into the clones closest to Sasuke.

“What is your problem!” Sasuke snapped. The Uchiha had as much patience in him as he had food in his system, which was exactly zero.

“You’ve been out here all day!” Naruto snapped back, his metaphorical hackles raised, “Are you trying to completely exhaust your chakra?!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, debating on whether or not to sic his remaining clones on Naruto.

“I’m fine. Leave me alone!”

“NO!” Naruto blocked the omega from turning away from him and going back to his training, “You gotta eat something you bastard! You look like a ghost died, became another ghost, then died again and became a ghost times three!”

“If I were dead, I wouldn’t have to listen to your stupid interruptions anymore!” The Uchiha mocked, finally allowing his clones to disperse.

Naruto huffed but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he looked around, noticing all of Sasuke’s clones were gone, and began to walk away. “Stop being such a show off!” he spat over his shoulder, knowing Sasuke would hear him.

Good. That meant Naruto had noticed how skilled the Uchiha was today. Maybe the idiot wasn’t as incapable of seeing Sasuke as an equal as he’d originally thought.

There could only be one way to really know for sure, however.

Sasuke needed to test the blonde more.

~~~

It goes on for a month before things come to a boiling point.

They’d just set foot within Konoha’s gates, having just completed a week long mission in the land of waves. Sakura was the first to skip away from the team, anxious to get home and bathe properly for the first time in five days.

Naruto was glad to see her go. Ever since Sasuke’s party, she’d been scarily.. normal. Overbearing almost, although the blonde probably wasn’t the best person to determine if that were truly the case. Her smiles had started to give him the creeps too, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was mad at him or something.

Which was a crazy idea because he’d already apologized to her about the accidental bonding thing and she’d accepted it very quickly. So, obviously, she wouldn’t still be mad.

Kakashi sensei had been gone when the orphan turned around to say his goodbyes, probably tired of the genin’s week long squabbling and not wanting much fuss.

That left him and Sasuke alone. Great.

Sasuke was such a bastard. Every waking moment on their mission, Sasuke had been doing outrageous things and took countless unwarranted risks. It was stupid and dumb and stupid- wait he’d already said that one. Ugh.

It was stupid though. Because what if the Uchiha had gotten hurt again? It would make it way easier for that snake pervert and Itachi to kidnap him and then Sasuke would be gone.

The blonde absentmindedly scratched at the bite mark on his left hand, that Sasuke had given him during their last argument about an hour ago, and huffed in annoyance.

He wished Sasuke weren’t so strong, then it would be easier to keep him safe because the stronger a shinobi is, the more powerful enemies they attract.

“Why are you growling, loser, upset that you can’t try to control me anymore?” The omega purred venomously. He’d been excruciatingly venomous for the entire duration of their mission.

Naruto was tired. He was hungry. He was angry because Sasuke was acting like he had something to prove, and he didn’t. Sasuke never had to prove anything to him because, well, it’s Sasuke. But Naruto had no idea why the asshole had decided to start acting like it now.

“No you bastard! I was trying to protect you! Do you know how close you came to losing an arm near the lake?!” the blonde shouted in return, gesturing wildly with his arms as if that would help him prove his point.

It was a familiar song and dance, Sasuke irritated him to the point where Naruto started shouting, Naruto inevitably lunged, Sasuke ended up winning.

But this time? Everything felt.. charged. Like every molecule of air surrounding them was humming in anticipation.

The tension snapped like a stressed rope, and they lunged at each other. Naruto kicked out, but Sasuke was quick and dodged it, finding the blonde’s open spot and digging his knee into the alpha’s side.

Sasuke hadn’t noticed Naruto’s arm swing through the air, and when the blonde’s fist made contact with his jaw, a thick thud sounded in the air.

It sent the omega stumbling back, giving Naruto just enough time to make a few shadow clones and send them after Sasuke.

The air in Sasuke’s lungs evaporated when he saw the shadow clones coming for him. It was just like Itachi’s genjutsu where he’d been forced to watch as endless Narutos died by his hand, unable to do anything about it.

He couldn’t stop the pained whimper from escaping his throat, and only the angry shouts of the clones had covered it. Sasuke refused to let the alpha see his weakness.

Instead of attacking, out of guilt from the genjutsu, or from a simple lack of wanting to give the real Naruto a leg up, Sasuke spun around just before two clones lunged at him, forcing them to crash into each other and poof out of existence.

He went for the real Naruto next, ignoring the remaining five clones. The Uzumaki seemed surprised, and Sasuke used it to his advantage. If Naruto had thought Sasuke was weak, well, he would just have to prove him wrong.

~~~

They’d fought for what felt like hours, but was really only about thirty minutes, and had somehow ended up in the forest near the foreboding old Uchiha compound. Neither of them had won, per se, but neither had lost either.

Naruto had been the first to collapse, however, because being thrown into a tree did numbers on a person’s back, but Sasuke had fallen not even a second after, clutching his side in pain. After that, they’d just laid there, close enough to hear the other’s rapid heart beating but far enough away to not care, faces turned towards the sky.

“Hey, Sasuke?” The blonde’s voice was soft but a little hoarse from all of the yelling they’d been doing earlier.

Naruto rolled over to the best of his abilities, looking a bit like an injured turtle, to turn his deep blue eyes on the Uchiha. Both of them were bruised, and battered, and exhausted, but something, something that they couldn’t name, kept them there on the grass, listening to each other’s harsh breaths and too tired to get up.

“What?” the Uchiha rasped out, unintentionally letting the alpha hear the rattle in his ribcage as he exhaled.

“I-” he cut himself off, not knowing what to say, but something was on the tip of his tongue regardless.

The silence that fell was a comfortable one, despite Sasuke’s expectant gaze lingering on him like a soft blanket. The air was no longer charged, and the Uzumaki’s blood no longer boiled, although something oddly energizing was thrumming under the surface of his skin.

“Sasuke,” he found his voice again, “do you regret our scent bond?”

Naruto couldn’t look away, not now when Sasuke looked so open, so youthfully exhausted and honest, but he probably should have, even if just for a flimsy excuse for privacy.

The trees around them were rustling with the wind, and it felt cool on the alpha’s scratched cheek. Night would fall soon, and he knew they should probably get up and hobble back to their apartments, licking their wounds, but laying there, together, that was healing in itself.

“No..” the reply came out in a broken whisper, almost like Sasuke himself was shocked by his answer.
Realizing what he’d said, the Uchiha began to turn away, but before he could, Naruto’s arm shot out and caught the pale boy’s chin and guided it back to face the alpha. The two stared into each other’s eyes, searching black pearls probing at the blonde’s face, trying to detect any traces of a trap.

Naruto knew him well enough by now to know when Sasuke was feeling unsure, “Do you?” the omega asked softly, breathlessly, and oh, right, Naruto had forgotten Sasuke’s ribs were probably broken.

Did he? The Uzumaki tried to think back to what life felt like before the accidental bonding but found it difficult trying to picture his life without such a strong tie to his best friend. Even when Sasuke had made him angrier than physically possible, he still wanted to be near him- as close as the grumpy Uchiha would allow anyway.

Besides, what did the scent bond even really mean? All Kakashi sensei had said was that it would mean they had a deep connection, but shouldn’t every teammate have some sort of deep connection like that?

Sasuke’s stare had begun to grow cold as Naruto thought, and when the omega began to sit up- with a pinch of thunderous ash permeating the air- he quickly blurted, “No! No! Never! Not even once, believe it!”

Which may have been overkill, but who was Naruto to say for sure?

The tension eased in the Uchiha’s shoulders as he let his arm fall from where it had been applying pressure on his stomach. The sleeve of his shirt rode up, and Naruto zeroed in on the fine little needle scars dotting the pale skin.

He forced his aching arm to move, gently making contact with the tiny healed wounds. “I never thanked you.”.

At Sasuke’s silence, he continued, “You saved me, when all I did on that mission was screw up, you saved me and you didn’t have to.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Hey you bastard! I’m trying to-” Sasuke interrupted him, “You saved me in that fight with Gaara, we’re even, idiot.”

His words, which would have sounded mean and bitter to anyone else, made Naruto grin widely. Sasuke had just thanked him for something. Something shone in the Uchiha’s eyes, and his cheeks tinged pink, or as pink as they could be, given half of his face was a budding shade of purple.

The alpha couldn’t bring himself to feel all that guilty over Sasuke’s injuries, because Sasuke gave as good as he got, and if it weren’t for his weirdly fast healing, Naruto was pretty sure he would be paralyzed from that last jab the omega had delivered to his back.

Besides, he knew if he voiced any of his concerns for his well being, Sasuke would muster up the last bit of strength he had to chidori him right in the face.

Another question popped into head, and due to a possible concussion, he didn’t possess the common sense required to keep him from asking, “Hey, what did you see.. in Itachi’s genjutsu thing?”

He knew he was an idiot from the second those words left his mouth, and if his left eye weren’t nearly swollen shut, he would have cringed at the way Sasuke’s body tensed.

The pale boy’s jaw clenched as he turned his head away from the alpha. Gone were the pink cheeks and sincere eyes from the moment before.

If he strained his eyes, he could almost make out the reflection of the moonlight in the lone test that dripped down the other’s chin, falling and catching on Sasuke’s shirt and leaving a lonely looking damp spot.

“You.” Sasuke croaked out, although with his ribs the way they were, it was more like a determined wheeze.

“ME?!” Naruto began to shout, before breaking into a coughing fit. Man, Sasuke had not been messing around earlier with those kicks to the alpha’s chest.

What was he supposed to make of that? Why would Itachi torment Sasuke with him. It didn’t make any sense. Unless- had the criminal used Naruto’s face to do the things that only Itachi would do to his younger brother?

“Sasuke.. You know I’d never hurt you, right?” Naruto meant every word. He would never hurt his best friend. Not when Naruto knew just how painful it was to exist being singled out by the people who were supposed to care and be there for him.

To know that someone had done that to Sasuke.. Something deep and dark and menacing growled from the depths of his mind, but Naruto ignored it. Now was not the time to be angry, now was the time to comfort his friend who had felt very little comfort in his lifetime.

“Pft, for a supposed rival, you care way too much about me.” Sasuke tried to joke, but it fell flat against the wind and Naruto’s injured and angry breaths.

“Damn it Sasuke, it’s not just some rivalry, we-we have a bond” Sasuke raised his eyebrow at him, “I’m not talking about the scent bond, what you and I have is something strong and deep, way deeper than some stupid rivalry.”

The tears began to flow freely on Sasuke’s face, and he aggressively started to try and wipe them away, which only served to irritate a cut on his cheekbone, causing a tiny trickle of blood to seep from the wound and mix with the fresh tears.

Ignoring his body screaming at him, Naruto moved to be directly beside the Uchiha, and wrapped his unbroken arm around him. It was a terrible excuse for a hug, but it felt right.

“We should really try and get back to the village.” the blonde chuckled, and he didn’t miss the sharp exhale from Sasuke. It wasn’t quite a laugh, but it showed amusement either way, so Naruto was happy.

“We would’ve been there already if you hadn’t decided to throw a hissy fit when we got back.” Sasuke teased, and he knew it was teasing because the omega did his best to showcase a slight smile.

He was obviously deflecting, but Naruto decided he wouldn’t call him on it. It wouldn’t be right to, not after he’d already pushed his luck with some poorly thought out questioning.

It was when the silence had fallen on them again that the alpha realized how close they were. His arm was still wrapped around the Uchiha, and that was shocking, because by now, he’d thought Sasuke would have pushed him away.

The moonlight had illuminated the inky blue-black strands of his hair like a crown. Sasuke looked.. ethereal like that, and his eyes still had a teary shine to them. Naruto understood why all the girls, and some guys, fell head over heels for the bastard, looking at him then.

He didn’t look perfect, no, but he was the closest damn thing to it that Naruto knew he would ever see.

The pair were exhausted, bloody, emotionally ambiguous, and in need of medical assistance, but all that his brain could register was how interesting Sasuke’s lips were.

What Naruto hadn’t realized was he’d already begun to lean forward. Gravity, what an interesting concept, seemed to both push and pull him towards his teammate. Naruto’s probable concussion only aided the blonde in letting his lips fall on the Uchiha’s with little hesitation.

Sasuke let out a shocked sound, but didn’t pull away.

Their scents were even more intertwined than usual, leaving the two almost entranced by the other.

Sure, the taste was a bit metallic because of course, Naruto decided to kiss him just after they’d had an epic fight, but it felt right. More than right. It felt normal, like that was what he should have been doing all along.

Sasuke ended up being the one to pull away.

“Sas-” Naruto trailed off as the embarrassment sunk in. He’d just kissed Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha. And unlike those other times, he’d done it on purpose this time.

Before he could freak out, and change his name and run away to the village hidden in the clouds to live out the rest of his days in complete and utter shame at being so stupid, Sasuke spoke up, “Lets just watch the leaves.”

He didn’t seem upset. He didn’t sound angry or offended or disgusted.

Maybe-maybe Sasuke had wanted to kiss him too?

Naruto didn’t dare ask the Uchiha to clarify things, so instead, he gave Sasuke some space and silently watched the leaves.

Hopefully, when enough of their chakra had been restored, they’d go back to the village and get granny Tsunade to heal them. If he bribed her with some sake or maybe offered to tell her where Konoha’s only gambling house was, she probably wouldn’t even yell at them all that much.

~~~

“Fancy of you two to join me.” Kakashi remarked as the two sanin made their presence known.

He’d gotten back from a quick mission report at the hokage’s office no earlier than forty three minutes ago, and eleven minutes after that, had been informed by a distraught Iruka that Naruto hadn’t shown up for his nightly bedtime story, which led the seasoned shinobi to the forest, where he discovered his two students passed out, cuddling on the ground. Oh, and they were covered in cuts and bruises and burn marks and.. teeth marks?!

The bite marks weren’t as shocking as they should have been, Naruto was a known biter. Kakashi found that out the hard way when he’d jokingly pretended to steal some of Naruto’s ramen. The jonin still hadn’t been able to live down the teasing he’d gotten over the very high, very feminine scream he’d let out when the little gremlin sunk his too- sharp- to-be-one hundred percent- human teeth into his forearm.

The masked twenty six year old scratched at the bite shaped scar on his right arm as Tsunade stepped forward, “What the hell happened in the two hours team seven has been back in the village for them to have beaten each other up this severely?”

Jiraiya didn’t comment, as he was too busy pulling up the Uzumaki’s shirt to reveal a perfectly intact seal still displayed on the thirteen year old’s stomach. “Well, at least the nine tails probably didn’t have something to do with it.” the old man commented, placing the offensively orange material back in place and taking a step back from the sleeping morons.

Kakashi chuckled sarcastically, “I wouldn’t worry about the nine tails, Naruto and Sasuke have a rather,” he paused, gesturing whimsically at the two sleeping genin, “explosive relationship.”

Kakashi had learned that the hard way, unfortunately, and with how stubborn his students could be, it was a lesson he continued to learn. The other senseis loved giving him hell for it, especially Asuma, as he was one of the few people alive currently that could recall just how explosive his and Obito’s camaraderie was as well. Karma, what a bitch.

“Those idiots,” Tsunade mumbled half heartedly, her glance at Naruto was too fond for her words to hold any real bite to them as she quietly kneeled next to Sasuke and began to heal him. “Did something happen on your mission to cause this?” She asked, not looking up from Sasuke’s rib area- he probably had a cracked rib or two, if Kakashi had to guess.

“Eh, nothing more than usual. Naruto didn’t follow orders, Sasuke ordered him to follow orders, which you both can understand why that didn’t blow over well.”

Sasuke did enjoy rules. Not to the point that Sakura did, thank the stars, but he had an obvious need for normalcy, which Kakashi could understand, as he was very similar to the Uchiha when he was a teenager as well. However, if there was one person that could make Sasuke throw caution to the wind and lose every ounce of sanity known to man, it would be Naruto.

“Pft, Naruto is too much like Kushina for his own good, not enough of his dad in him, poor kid.” Jiraiya sighed, pulling a stray kunai knife out of a tree trunk before leaning his back against the dented bark.

Dread pooled in Kakashi’s stomach at the mention of the two, how Jiraiya could say their names so freely, he didn’t know, and it hurt deeper than any stab wound he’d ever received had.

“He’s an Uzumaki, what’d you expect?” Tsunade joked as she moved on to heal the cut on Sasuke’s cheek.

Naruto was a Namikaze.

“Well, yeah, the Uzumaki were a pretty rambunctious clan, but still, it wouldn't have been terrible for him to inherit his father’s self awareness at least.”

Kakashi remained noticeably silent, too wrapped up in memories from what felt like a lifetime ago, as he stared unblinkingly at his student’s face that looked too much like someone else’s that he used to know.

“Do their glands look irritated or anything? Scent bonds can be a pain if the two people are in close proximity but still not mated yet” Jiraiya added when Tsunade began looking Sasuke over for more injuries. The old man’s hand lightly touched at where his damaged scent gland used to be, and Kakashi averted his gaze.

That could have been him, if the incident hadn’t occurred. It was something he inconsolably regretted, but was also a little selfishly relieved about. Scents were important to the Hatake clan, as were mates. Kakashi may have lost one, but at least the other stayed intact, even if he chose to keep his scent hidden from everyone around him.

“They shouldn’t have too much of an issue. They’re both still too young for actual mating, and their bodies would know that. We’ve still got about two years to remove the bond.” Kakashi said, willing his prior thoughts away with the distraction of conversation.

The past was the past, he needed to worry about the future, specifically his student’s futures.

“If we remove the scent bond.” Tsunade declared, glaring up at them from her crouched position, making the green glow of her healing jutsu cast strange and menacing shadows on her face.

“Oh?” Kakashi hadn’t been told that there was a disagreement on the matter.

“Look, Tsunade, I still think it’s our best bet. The Akatsuki are coming, maybe not now, but soon, and if you think Itachi Uchiha wouldn’t kill Sasuke if it meant getting to Naruto, you’re delusional.”
“Sasuke is capable, Master Jiraiya, he just needs to be trained. He only just awakened his sharingan. There is a reason Lord Third put the two of them on the same squad, you know.”

At both of the sanin’s questioning glances, Kakashi continued, “Sasuke is the last remaining Uchiha in the leaf village. He can control tailed beasts with the sharingan and Naruto has the strongest tailed beast sealed within himself. It’s also why I’m their sensei. I have the sharingan to both teach Sasuke, and also keep an eye on Naruto, should something happen with the seal.”

The jonin uncrossed his arms and shrugged before continuing, “They both have much more potential than what’s written on the papers. I did, Itachi did,” Kakashi let out a shuddery breath, “Kushina and Minato sensei did. Don’t underestimate either of them, especially Sasuke.”

“I understand what you’re saying, Kakashi, but potential can take entire life spans to actualize. We don’t have decades, we probably don’t even have two years. The truth is, they could die by the hands of the Akatsuki, by your hands, Tsunade,” the sanin turned to address the blonde woman, and Kakashi knew this was turning into a likely already discussed argument, “-during the separation surgery, or even by some random shinobi’s on a mission.”

“I am well aware of children dying in the shinobi world.” The omega spat bitterly as she moved over to take a look at Naruto, Sasuke having been healed already. It was a wonder neither of the two had been woken up by her jutsu, or even the rapidly turning heated conversation between the three ninja.

“We have time. The Akatsuki won’t move until they have all the chess pieces on their board in line, obviously, if Itachi Uchiha’s attack is anything to go off of, they are spread thin enough that only two members go on a retrieval mission for jinchuriki. Capturing a jinchuriki is clearly a difficult process, if you’ll remember when Kushina would run away from the village, and that was when she was playing a game. Even if we don’t have the time to wait this out and see what happens when these two mature, we can buy time.”

“But at what cost, princess? How many other leaf village shinobi’s lives will be lost to keep two from falling into the wrong hands? Sasuke is a target of the Akatsuki solely because of his bloodline, and Orochimaru already got his hands on the boy, and that snake knows Konoha. Do you think the Hidden Leaf can handle two strong opponents attacking at the same time? The two of them being in the same place is a death sentence for everyone around them.”

Jiraiya was an alpha without a scent, but even still, in his weakened, old age, his voice carried the weight of his status, whether he meant it to or not.

“So what if you took Naruto on your travels, Master Jiraiya?” Kakashi spoke up finally, “You could keep an eye on the boy, continue training him, hell, teach him about being a jinchuriki, while also gathering intel on the Akatsuki. With Naruto moving around constantly, they wouldn’t be able to get a plan of attack together to get him, especially not while Naruto was with a legendary sanin.”

Tsunade made a hum of approval and Jiraiya didn’t seem to disagree either, so the Hatake continued, “Sasuke would be kept here, in Konoha, where I would oversee his training, and the higher clearance shinobi would be able to ward off Orochimaru’s involvement. With Anko’s help, we could probably even figure out how to get rid of the curse mark.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” the toad sage spoke thoughtfully, holding his chin in consideration.

Tsunade sighed, “So we’re in agreement then, we split them up?”

Kakashi looked down at his students. He’d had them for a year and in that short year, so many things had happened. They’d broken into his apartment to complain about the other, they’d given the man nightmares filled with mischievously grinning genin, so many horrible pranks gone oh so wrong, and so much more.

Those two had breathed life back into the jonin, with the careful nagging of Sakura to guide the group along. Even though they weren’t his, they were his pack, even if it was unofficially. He would be so sad to see one of them go, and even sadder to still have Sakura and Sasuke, but know that his unspoken family of genin was incomplete.

Splitting them up was going to be hell, even more hellish because they had a scent bond and clearly some other connection the two had, and it was one Kakashi feared was unbreakable.

He knew from experience that those were the most painful kind.

“So how are we going to get rid of the scent bond?”