Clarity

It was dark. Sasuke couldn't hear, see, or feel anything except an awareness of the void. Distantly, he felt Naruto's presence. He opened his mouth to call out to him but no words came. The darkness was shifting, giving way to another form. Slowly a room emerged around him. He was standing in ankle deep water. Before him rose a giant cage, it's steel bars as thick around as his forearm.

"Sasuke..." Naruto said. His voice reverberated around the wet dungeon

Sasuke did not turn to acknowledge him. He stared at the cage with increasing horror. Within it the kyuubi glared back at him, red eyes reflecting in the dim light.

"What have you done?" He asked.

Naruto walked around in front of him, stepping close so their noses almost touched.

"Tell me everything."

He closed his eyes, blocking him out. His heart was beating in his chest. Alive.

"You should have let me go." He replied. And he meant more than just now. He meant the valley of the end. He meant the years of pursuit that had followed. Naruto should have let him go a long time ago.

"You wanted me to kill you." Naruto said. Sasuke could feel his breath on his face. "Why?"

He didn't respond. Whatever the jinchuuriki had done to pull him here, he hadn't expected it. Should have predicted that Naruto would find a way to thwart him even beyond death. The fox glared at him from inside the enormous cage. If he turned and ran behind those bars now, maybe the kyuubi would finish the job for him.

"I know why you killed Danzo, and why you tried to kill the elders. I know about Itachi." Naruto looked away, his brow furrowed. "And I don't blame you for it, for wanting your revenge."

He was so close. He wanted to reach out and touch him.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth? Why did you...give me to the Akatsuki?" He continued. Sasuke could feel him trying to piece it all together. To understand.

"Just let me go." The words came out before he could stop them.

"No. Not until you explain." Naruto reached out to grab shirt collar, pulling him close so he couldn't avoid his gaze. "Tell me everything."

He could smell him. Even though they weren't really there. Even though this was all an illusion, a final conversation between specters, he could still smell him.

"How could you join the Akatsuki? They're trying to kill me."

"I didn't."

"Sakura said-"

"I put Sakura under a genjutsu while you were gone on your mission." He opened his eyes, holding Naruto's gaze. The hurt and betrayal in those depths was clear to see.

"I had her set up a barrier around the village, gather ingredients for a sedative...and other things. When I-" He nodded towards Naruto's lips, eyes dropping to them. The blond blushed, red color spreading across both cheeks, visible even in the dim light. "I poisoned you with it. The effects were not set to last more than a few minutes. By the time Tobi had you back you were already waking up, and Sakura was on the way with help. Guided by coordinates I'd implanted in her."

"Then why did you let me think you betrayed me." The blond moved closer still, tugging on the collar of his shirt. "Do you have any idea how much that hurt!"

"After killing Danzo, and clearing Itachi's name." He moved his hand up to cover Naruto's clenched fists. "My next goal...was to make you the Hokage."

"What-!"

"Let me finish."

Naruto's mismatched eyes were darting between his. Trying to glean the honesty, desperately wanting to find truth.

"I became the leaf's greatest villain, and you will return its greatest hero. After you kill me." He reached up to brush a stray strand of blonde off of his whiskered cheek. Naruto brushed his hand away furiously, pushing him away.

"So you want to die just for that! I don't need your help to become Hokage. How could you be so stupid."

"This is the way it should end."

"Bullshit. You're just afraid."

The anger didn't fully mask the pain this was causing him. The way his voice cracked near the end. Sasuke held his gaze, waiting for him to calm.

"I'm not afraid of anything."

"Yes you are. You're afraid of me." He was back in his face now, pushing him until he hit the wall of the enclosure. "You're afraid of living now that you don't have an easy path laid out in front of you. You think I'm going to die on you like everyone else you cared about, or betray you. That I'll leave you alone again."

"You don't understand what you're talking about."

"Like hell." He slammed his fist into the stone. "I understand everything about you. I always have. That's why-"

Sasuke dropped his head to Naruto's shoulder, drawing him close into a tight embrace. The heat of him warmed him to the core.

"Your place is in the village, not chasing after me."

"Screw the village!" Naruto shouted. He pulled away. Tears began to drip down his face into the water pooled around their feet. "You want me to become Hokage on a set of lies. You haven't avenged the Uchiha, all that you've done is taken on Itachi's pain for yourself. You cleared his name only to destroy your own." His voice echoed around the chamber.

"My name doesn't matter. You will change the leaf and the shinobi system. I believe that."

"We will change the village together." Naruto said gravely. "After all, you're its newest jinchuuriki."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Behind them, the kyuubi laughed.

Sakura had her palms pressed against both boys. Her former teammates were strewn out on the ground like the dead. The rookies had begun to wake, sitting up slowly. One by one they gathered around her now as she pumped as much healing chakra as she could into the two still bodies.

"What if he had you fooled Kakashi." Shikamaru asked. He had a kunai drawn, hovering near Sasuke's still form.

"He didn't. Naruto was never in any danger. All of this was planned." Kakashi said, his hands were raised before him in a placating manner. He stood over Sasuke's body protectively.

"Shikamaru.." Ino said softly, tugging at his sleeve.

"How can you trust him after all of this? He killed the Hokage!"

"This is why he got the flower." Sakura said. "He planned on dying during this fight from the start. He made a suicide pill!"

She knelt over the Uchiha. Shallow breaths were the only thing signifying he lived. Naruto's chakra had burned through the poison, healing the boy with more efficiency than any jutsu Sakura had mastered. The kyuubi's ability to save it's host had clearly done it's work here. She did not mention the black seal that now splayed across Sasuke's abdomen. Did not want to wonder at what it meant.

"If he wanted to kill any of you you'd be dead. Why do you think you're alive right now?" Kakashi asked sharply.

Hinata knelt down next to Sakura, her eyes were fixed on Naruto's lax face.

"I agree with Shikamaru." Neji said, his eyes were narrowed. "We can't trust him. We can't take him back. Let's just finish him here and be done with him."

"Leave him alone." Naruto croaked from the ground. His eyes slid open slowly and he rose to sit. Hinata caught his shoulders, supporting him.

"Naruto!" Sakura said. Relief flooded her. He was physically unharmed, but whatever he'd done with the kyuubi's chakra had knocked him out cold. She diverted her remaining chakra towards healing Sasuke.

"I'm fine." He responded to his friends worried looks. He stood, shaking out his limbs.

"Take it easy." Kakashi said. He did not move from his protective stance.

"None of you will touch Sasuke." Naruto said. He crouched next to the unconscious boy, looking into his face with undeniable tenderness. One tanned hand raised to brush his pale cheek. Sakura's heart twisted. "He stays with me."

"No." Kiba's words came out angry. "How can you still defend him?"

Naruto shook his head, ignoring them. He slung the Uchiha over his back heavily.

"He goes where I go." He said, leaving no room for argument.

"He can't go to the village." Shikamaru pointed out. "If you don't want to kill him you have to leave him here."

"We're going home." He said, and took off without another word.

"That idiot." Shikamaru ground out. "They'll kill him the second he enters the walls. Naruto can't fight the whole village."

"Then we had better be there to help him then." Kakashi pointed out.

He shook his head in exasperation, shoulders slumping.

"Of course we will."

Naruto parted the way through crowds of frightened onlookers. Sasuke followed behind in his footsteps. Silence fell as he walked among them. Fear of him flashed across every face. The blond pushed forward unphased, ignoring their spectators. They were headed to the Hokage's tower. He had not had time to ask why. Naruto had pulled him from his bed in the hospital, tossing a dark t-shirt and sweatpants at him hastily. The sputtering nurse was ignored completely. Whatever it was they were going to see, it must be important. Idly Sasuke wondered if it was a trial for his crimes. It seemed likely that he would live out to the rest of his days trapped in the prison beneath Konoha, if not killed outright.

That seemed to be where they were headed to now. Naruto greeted the guard at the top of the stairs leading down into the dungeons. Neither acknowledged him as he followed downward.

Naruto turned to face him at the bottom.

"I can't bring your clan back." He said. "I can't bring Itachi back, or take back what he had to do." He turned forward, gesturing at the cells.

"This is the best justice I can bring for you."

The gaunt faces of the elder council members glared at him from behind bars.

Sasuke walked forward slowly. He stared into each pair of hollow eyes.

"Will this be enough?" Naruto asked. He could hear the apprehension in the question. What would happen if he said no? If he demanded their lives in return for his slaughtered kin. Anger burned at his heart at the sight of them. Curling his fingers into a fist. He felt a hand on his shoulder, holding his back.

"If you ever leave this place I will kill you." He said to the room. A promise. He turned on his heel, not wanting to stay a moment longer. They would suffer the end of their days in this pit.

Naruto caught up to him. He was smiling.

Kakashi greeted them at the top of the stairs. The Hokage hat sat perched on his silver hair.

"I assume that went well." He said, taking in their demeanors. Naruto nodded a cautious affirmative. Sasuke could feel his eyes on him, trying to decipher what he was thinking.

The three continued down the hall, away from the prison and toward the light.

"Don't think I did this just for you." Kakashi stated. "I also had friends in the Uchiha."

He gestured toward his hidden sharingan.

Sasuke turned to face him fully.

"How far would you go for that friend?" He asked.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, put off by the question. Naruto watched the exchange quietly.

"He's been dead a long time."

"But if he were alive?" Sasuke asked.

"As far as Naruto went for you." Kakashi said, nodding toward the blonde. Naruto seemed abashed.

"The masked Akatsuki member is an Uchiha." Sasuke said. "Around your age. He has one sharingan in his left eye."

Kakashi turned away, looking out the window at the village spread below them.

"I did not see Obito die." He admitted finally. "We had to leave him behind...we assumed..."

He bowed his head.

"Thank you for letting me know Sasuke. The things that he said when we rescued Naruto...I will keep this in mind, for the next time."

The boys turned to leave, leaving Kakashi to his thoughts. As they reached the sunlit streets Sasuke slowed to a halt. For the first time he realized he was free. No chains around his wrists or chakra bindings on his arms. The ANBU presence he'd grown accustomed to was nowhere to be found.

"I.." Sasuke started, at a loss. "I'll go to the Uchiha compound." He said finally. Naruto scoffed.

"Like hell you are." He said. "Stay with me." He meant to sound casual, but the sincerity in the command bled through. Sasuke held his gaze. A small crowd of cautious onlookers had formed around them to watch the interaction.

He nodded mutely.

Naruto unlocked the door with shaky hands. As they stepped in Sasuke was overcome with a feeling of familiarity. Somehow, in the past few months, this place had become his home. The first he'd had in years. Naruto dropped his keys on the counter. He stretched and pulled his jacket off, hanging it on a chair. He stood in place, unsure of where to go. Before it had been different. He'd been a captive, under constant observation. Despite living together for months, this was the first time they were really alone in the apartment.

He kicked his sandals off and walked over to the couch, where his belongings still sat in a neat pile on the floor. Naruto sat down beside him. They were silent for a moment, absorbing each other's presence.

Naruto jumped up suddenly, remembering something.

"You stay here, close your eyes." He said, rushing to his room. Sasuke obliged with some amusement. He heard Naruto re-enter and kneel in front of him on the floor, between his knees. Something heavy wrapped around his forehead. His hitai ite.

"Okay, open your eyes." Naruto said. Sasuke opened to see a wide smile spread across the other boys face. He reached his hand out to cup his cheek, running his thumb along the whisker scars. Naruto blushed but did not pull away.

"Don't think I've forgiven you." He said, his mouth twisted downward.

Sasuke shook his head mutely.

"You lied to me." He said. Sasuke's thumb continued to trace along the whiskered cheek.

"You gave me to our enemies." He continued. Sasuke was overwhelmingly aware of Naruto's close proximity. The boy had his elbows resting on his thighs as he looked up at him. His body was nestled between his legs.

"You tried to make me kill you." He pressed his cheek into the palm of Sasuke's hand, closing his eyes.

Sasuke leaned in to kiss him, savoring the sweetness of the moment.

"And you made me a jinchuuriki." He responded as they broke away. "As if the village didn't hate me enough already."

"Half a jinchuuriki." Naruto grinned at him cheekily.

He pushed his shirt up to examine the seal splayed across his abdomen. His skin seemed to burn where Naruto touched it.

"Now we match." He smiled, pulling his own shirt up to show the five-pronged seal swirled around his belly button. Sasuke averted his eyes, feeling heat rise to his face.

"We matched eyes and now we match seals. And someday." He said. His light blue stare was captivating. "We'll lead this village together."

Sasuke bent forward to press his forehead against Naruto's. The two closed their eyes.

Somewhere outside a new council was being formed. Tsunade's eyes flickered open for the first time in months. Villagers milled about, gossiping and colluding over the recent events. Sakura gathered friends to implore them to find forgiveness. Somewhere even further away a masked man with one Sharingan plotted.

Just for this moment, in this room, it was just Naruto and Sasuke. And the path that spread out ahead of them seemed illuminated by all of the light in the world.

A/N: The End! Thank you for reading/commenting. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I did leave the ending open for a sequal. Not sure if I will get around to writing one, but I may want to come back to this story some day. Shout out to Arw165 for the many comments and analysis along the way. If you enjoyed Clarity, go ahead and check out my new story Mirror's End :) It will, of course, feature more SasuNaru feels. Also if you have not seen it already, check out the latest Shippuden episodes (476 and 477). Even for a manga only reader, they really out did themselves with the final battle between Naruto and Sasuke. Definitely worth a watch (I cried, no shame). Happy reading fangirls and boys! ~ SundayRowe