Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any related franchises and publications. This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction.

Draconian

"You're leaving." It wasn't a question, or even an accusation, but it was enough to stop Sasuke in his tracks. "Orochimaru?"

A quick glance around told them that nobody had overheard the blonde. Furious, Sasuke whirled around. "How did you find me?!" He'd been very careful to hide the fact that he'd been leaving, having just managed to avoid Sakura at the Konoha Eastern Park.

Was his entire team prowling the village at night just to try and ruin his attempt to leave? And of all the people, why did it have to be Naruto who found him?

"How many times do I have to tell you? I know everything that goes on in the streets of Konoha, bastard." Sasuke bristled, but made no attempt to call him out on his lie. To the heir of the Uchiha, Naruto's meagre contacts in the cartels and gangs seemed to be a vast, shadowy network.

"You going to try and stop me, dead-last?" Sasuke didn't even know whether the term applied to Naruto anymore. Weak he may have been in academics, but he was also more ruthless and cunning then anybody their age – even Sasuke himself, he wasn't ashamed to admit. There would always be a small part of the Uchiha's heart that would be afraid of killing his last relative, no matter how much he hid it.

Naruto, on the other hand, would do it without a second thought. And then he'd turn around and demand compensation for a job well done.

"No." Sasuke almost stumbled out of his stance, having readied himself to get into a scuffle.

"What? Afraid you can't beat me?"

Naruto wondered just why the idiot was deliberately trying to get into a fight while covertly making a run for it. "You know I can't." Sasuke was caught even further off-guard, making him wonder if something was wrong with the situation. Was the blonde stalling for backup? Sharingan eyes activated and looked around the area, but Naruto was the only ninja in the area.

He looked back at him to find a small glint of approval in Naruto's eyes. "Besides, you're running away to get stronger. Dog eat dog, and you've got to be the mastiff to his Chihuahua." Sasuke snorted without meaning to. "I can get behind that."

Life on the streets couldn't have been easy, which was why Sasuke suddenly felt a wild rush of kinship and blurted out, "Come with me. He'll make you strong too." The offer floated in the air for several tense moments, but despite feeling embarrassed, he meant it.

"Naw, man, that's not my thing. I don't care for the village, but there are some people I gotta look out for. 'Sides, this is your quest, not mine. Avenger." The last word was said genially, and Sasuke smirked wryly. He could accept that explanation.

But time was running out, and the Sound Four would be waiting outside. "I guess this is it," he said, suddenly feeling awkward. If things had been different, he realized, he could've been great friends with Naruto. They did, at the end of the day, have a lot more in common than either of them would admit.

Sasuke hoped that the handshake they shared could convey his feelings, and from the tiny curve on Naruto's lips, it did.

Just as he was about to leap off into the night, Naruto threw something at him. The white packet glinted off the moonlight as it arced towards Sasuke, who caught it cleanly out of the air. Puzzled, he examined what looked like a plain packet of salt.

"For when it gets to tough, or when you can't get him out of your nightmares." Naruto mimed making a roll and snorting something, making Sasuke recoil in horror when he understood. "Helped me after the Forest of Death."

Sasuke still wasn't buying it.

"Bastard," Naruto sounded exasperated. "Drop it. We're shinobi, we have chakra running through our body. No harm, no foul. Just keep it silent, I don't want to lose any of my gigs on the side. Cash is dropping, as it is."

Sasuke hesitated, before giving a short nod. It wasn't like he'd use it, anyway – but then again, if what he'd said was true, Naruto's growth after the second part of the Chuunin exams had been meteoric to say the least.

The last loyal Uchiha, who would soon lose one of those monikers, tilted his shoulders to drop the packet into the side of his pack. He found several others already in the pocket.

"When did you –" Naruto had vanished. For a second, Sasuke stood there. And then he gave a short, genuine laugh.

"Usuratonkachi. I'm still cooler." And with that, he was gone, tearing towards the gates, towards Orochimaro and power and justice –

The next day, Naruto declined the Uchiha retrieval mission. His reasoning to an irate Godaime was that he'd ensured that Sasuke would eventually return to the village.

Tsunade, being Tsunade, bet him a B-rank missing nin's bounty that he wouldn't return in the next three years. Naruto's reply was the rare shark-like grin that would sometimes give away just how pragmatic the seemingly nonchalant boy was.

Beaten and broken, emaciated as a skeleton, Uchiha Sasuke did drag himself back to Konoha six hundred and ninety four days later. He'd managed to trace the source of the Fire Cocaine to Konoha's dark underbelly of crime, and by the time he'd run out of Naruto's supply, he'd been desperate enough to return to the village he'd deserted less than two years ago.

Anything for another hit.

Naruto, who was off on his training trip with Jiraiya, had only smiled smugly when he'd heard the news, and then sent off a hawk to the Godaime. The Toad Sage, on the other hand, had examined his student for a long while before starting him on space-time ninjutsu.

Naruto's smile, when he heard this, was absolutely blissful.

The possibilities were endless.

Author's Note: Because Ninja, not Dragon Ball Z.

Fire Cocaine: Native to Fire Country. Fatal to civilians, extremely potent to ninjas, especially those with lower chakra reserves. Causes accelerated chakra flow within the chakra system for a few hours, at the cost of both physical and spiritual energy burning out unnaturaly fast. Progressive use decreases the time of the 'high', making addicts take it in higher and higher amounts. Rumoured to be manufactured by Konoha as another deterrent for their enemies. Further rumoured that Orochimaru ironically incorporated it's effects into his Proto Curse seals.

For a hit, contact Karu on the junction of Fifth Avenue and the Ground district, or get in touch with the mysterious supplier called Maki.