Always and Forever

Author's Note: I have gotten a few requests to do a ninja era Sasuke x Naruto and a dark Naruto story. So I decided to combine these two ideas into one story. Since this involves a dark Naruto, parts of this story will diverge radically from cannon. Oh and I am slowly going back and adding scene breaks to this story. So if you see some chapters without them, that's why. If any of that bothers you, you might want to turn back now. For those of you still here, I hope you all enjoy this story and reviews are always appreciated.

Chapter Notation: There will be only hints of dark Naruto in this chapter. He'll transition from good Naruto to dark Naruto over the course of the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit off of any of my fanfics.

Chapter 1

"Come to think of it, didn't you want to be Hokage? Just think how much closer you would be to achieving your dream, if you had spent all that time training instead of chasing after me. Then again, you've never been very good at focusing on your goals. You are so easily distracted." Sasuke whispers into his ear.

Naruto had finally done it. He, Sakura, Sai, and Captain Yamato had finally found Sasuke. He just never expected the meeting to go like this.

He tries to suppress a shiver. The blonde didn't fully understand why the warmth of Sasuke's breath on his ear or the sound of his voice impacted him this way. Naruto wasn't shivering because he was afraid, but because of some other emotion. An emotion that he couldn't identify at the moment.

"What kind of Hokage would I be, if I can't even save my best friend when he needed me most?" He asks.

Sasuke's smirks. It was almost as if he found Naruto's answer amusing in some way. The blue eyed ninja hated that smirk. It was such a taunting smirk. It made him feel like there was something that the last Uchiha knew, that he didn't. Something that should have been obvious.

"Friends is that what you think we are?" Sasuke inquires and this time his lips almost brushed against the shell of Naruto's ear.

There was something really suggestive about that action. He didn't know why, but it felt incredibly intimate. At that moment, the rest of the world ceased to exist. It was just him and Sasuke.

"Well, more like brothers." He replies.

Sasuke just shakes his head. It was almost as if he was disappointed that Naruto was being deliberately obtuse. Naruto frowns at the response.

"Prove it. Come with me. You can help me kill Itachi."Sasuke says.

Naruto blinks. He couldn't believe it. On one hand, he was ridiculously happy that Sasuke had finally asked him to come with him. On the other, he wanted his best friend to come home with him.

"After Itachi is dead, we'll go back home?" The blonde asks cautiously.

"The Leaf is your home, not mine. It hasn't been my home since I was seven. If you still want to go back to it after I kill Itachi, we can. I don't really care." Sasuke tells him.

Could he really do it? Sasuke was essentially asking him to become a Criminal Ninja. The Leaf would think he was betraying them. Forget about Hokage, he'd be lucky if they ever let him back in as anything other than a prisoner.

"I knew it. You're hesitating. You would never leave your precious village behind. Go home, Naruto. You don't belong in the Sound anyway." Sasuke hisses at him.

"Wait! Bastard! I didn't give an answer! I'll go with you. Someone's got to make sure you don't get your ass killed. Might as well be me." The blonde protests.

Sasuke looks at Naruto skeptically for a moment. It was hard for him to believe that the other ninja would ever desert the Leaf. Still Naruto had never lied to him. Those beautiful sapphire blue eyes were staring back at him with the utmost sincerity. Naruto meant it.

"Alright. But if you can't keep up or if it gets too rough for you, I'm not slowing down." Sasuke warns him as he grabs Naruto and teleports to the top of the cliff with him.

Orochimaru and Kabuto were there. The young Jinchuuriki could tell that the Sannin was less than thrilled by his presence. Sasuke didn't seem to care though.

"Sasuke, did I say that you could bring a pet back to the village?" He asks in a tone that was similar to how one might chastise a naughty child.

"No, but I don't care. If you want to use me as your vessel, you are going to let me take him back with us. Your choice." Sasuke informs Orochimaru.

The last Uchiha didn't want to admit it out loud, but he was touched that Naruto had chosen to follow him. The Leaf Village meant everything to him. For Naruto to give that up, just to be by his side was almost unfathomable.

"Alright. Just this once." Orochimaru says as they all disappear in a swirl of flames.

Naruto has just enough time to see the looks of shock and horror on Sakura, Sai, and Yamato's faces before they completely vanished. He winced. The blonde didn't want to leave them behind, but this was his one chance to get through to Sasuke. He had to take it.

"Captain Yamato! What do we do now? Should we go after them? Sakura asks in a panicked voice.

"We would have to know where they went. Unfortunately, all we can do is hurry back to the Leaf. We need to report this as soon as possible." He replies.

Sai frowns. Now not only had Sasuke deserted the Leaf, but so had Naruto. Dickless was going to get himself killed. Couldn't he see that?

"Why would Naruto go with him? Sasuke has proven himself to be our enemy many times in the past." The eccentric artists inquires.

Yamato sighs. He didn't really know how to explain that to Sai. The man had been in ROOTS for so long that even the most basic of emotions were now foreign to him. He was still learning how to feel likes like any normal person would. It was a simple question, that had no easy answers.

"It's complicated, Sai. Come on, we have to get moving." He says and what was left of Team Seven races back towards the Leaf.

After traveling for miles and miles, they finally arrived back in the Leaf. The three man squad quickly heads towards the Hokage Tower. Tsunade needed to be informed of this development immediately.

Yamato wasted no time in knocking on the door, despite the late hour. He was grateful when the busty blonde answered it almost immediately. She gestures for them to come inside.

"I assume that if you are waking me up at this hour, that it's important. Have you found Sasuke Uchiha? Wait. Why isn't Naruto with you?" She demands.

Sakura sighs. She takes a deep breath and tries to think of a way to explain what just happened. The pink haired woman wasn't even sure that she fully understood what had just transpired, but she had to try.

"We found Sasuke, Kabuto, and Orochimaru. Naruto and Sai engaged Sasuke in combat briefly. Then Sasuke and Naruto started talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Naruto teleported off with them. I think Sasuke asked Naruto to come with him. I'm not sure why." She explains in a rush.

Tsunade blinks. She couldn't believe that the brat had left with the Uchiha. Well she could, but she couldn't at the same time. He must be out of his mind. Then again, Naruto had never really been good at thinking clearly when it came to his former teammate.

"I see. For the moment, I want Naruto be treated as a Missing Ninja. We have no way of knowing what was said between them. It's possible that he thought that he was protecting the rest of his team by leaving with Sasuke. He might even be under the influence of a Genjutsu. We simply do not know. Sasuke will still be considered a Criminal Ninja." The Hokage decrees.

"Right!" They all say in unison.

The medic pours herself a strong glass of sake. She was really getting too old to deal with this sort of thing. Why couldn't things ever be simple? She should be enjoying her twilight years, not ordering people to chase after rogue ninjas.

"Inform the others. I want everyone to be on the look out for Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. I want Naruto rescued and Sasuke to be brought back alive, if possible." She states.

The three members of Team Seven nod. They take that as their dismissal and quickly leave. They had a job to after all.

"Do you really think that Naruto can be brought back alive? He must have had a good reason to go with Sasuke." Sai asks Sakura.

"Of course he's going to be brought back alive! So will Sasuke. It's just a matter of time. We didn't come so close to rescuing Sasuke, just to lose them both." Sakura yells at him.

Yamato sighs. He knew that the medic was on edge. Two of her teammates were now in the clutches of a rather unsavory character. Orochimaru was not a man that should ever be taken lightly.

"We'll do our best. For now, we must simply carry out the Lady Hokage's orders. I just don't know what to tell Kakashi. This is going to crush him." He mutters.

Kakashi was still in recovery. He wasn't fit to send out on missions yet. That was why Captain Yamato had temporarily taken over Team Seven.

Sakura frowns. Poor Kakashi Sensei. It was bad enough that he was still hurt, but now he had to find out that two of his students were missing. As far as she could tell, they had both gone with Orochimaru of their won free will. That would just make the knowledge sting all the more.

"I'll tell him. It's probably better if he hears it from me." Sakura says.

"That's very kind of you, Sakura. I must admit that I was not looking forward to delivering this news to him. Alright, you can go tell him and we'll put out the bulletin." He says softly.

The pink haired woman simply nods before darting off. Sakura was heading towards the hospital. Kakashi had a right to know what was going on after all.

Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto had just arrived in another of the Sound's hideouts. The blonde follows Sasuke to his, well their room. It seemed that space was something that was in short supply.

Naruto didn't mind sharing a room though. They had shared a tent on missions during their time on Team Seven. It was nothing new to him. Honestly, he was kinda happy about this development. The Sound was creepy and he didn't really want to let Sasuke out of his sight.

"I doubt you are going to last a week." Sasuke tells him once they were safely in their room.

"What's that supposed to mean, Bastard?! I'm just as strong as you. Believe it!" Naruto yells at him.

Sasuke smirks. It had absolutely nothing to do with strength, but temperament. Naruto was essentially an angel. He had never really been exposed to the truth depths of depravity that humanity could sink to. The Sound was going to be a difficult environment for him to adjust to.

"I know you're strong, but you are also pathetically naïve for a ninja. You aren't ready for anything like this. You're too…innocent." Sasuke half taunts and half warns his friend.

"I am not!" The blonde snaps.

"I guess we'll see. Good night, Loser." Sasuke says as he curls up on the bed.

Naruto sighs and hops on the bed next to him. There was only one bed and he definitely wasn't sleeping on the floor. He was far from fussy, but it was more than a little chilly outside.

Curling up to Sasuke made sense. This way, he'd be warmer and if the Uchiha tried to slink off, he would know. He had always been a deeper sleeper than his friend. But he knew he would wake up, if the raven haired ninja crawled over him to leave.

"Is there a reason why you are cuddling up to me like a woman?" Sasuke asks with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah. It's cold as Hell and I am not cuddling up to you like a woman." The blue eyed ninja growls at him.

"Whatever you say, Loser." Sasuke smirks and closes his eyes.

Naruto blinks. Soon enough the last Uchiha's breathing evened out in a way that told him that Sasuke was now fast asleep. He idly muses that his former teammate must have trained his body to sleep on command. He wished that he could do that.

He sighs and curls up further against the warm body by him. The blonde waits for a second and then decides to give into the impulse. He cautiously runs his fingers through Sasuke's hair.

He had expected the last Uchiha's hair to be hard from gel or its natural spikiness. Instead, it felt more like velvet. Typical Sasuke, even his hair had to be fucking perfect. That was his last thought before falling asleep.

The next morning, Naruto is awakened to the sounds of moaning. Sasuke was still asleep. He gingerly crawls out of the bed to go see out what was going on.

"Mmm." Naruto hears someone say from just outside the room.

He blinks when he found out what kind of moan it was. That wasn't a moan of pain. That was a moan of pleasure. Two men were engaged in some rather passionate kissing just a few feet away from Sasuke's room.

His eyes widen. He had never seen anything like it. Naruto had always just assumed that guys liked girls and that was the way it was. It never occurred to him that two men might WILLINGLY kiss each other. (He didn't count his two accidental kisses with Sasuke.)

"I told you that you were too innocent." Sasuke says smugly wakes up and joins Naruto.

"This is normal here?" The blonde asks.

"That's actually fairly tame. People are a lot more…open about that sort of thing here than in the Leaf. It's not getting an eyeful that you should be worried about though. It's everything else. Come on Loser, we can get something to eat before I begin my training for the day." He says and walks off.

It irked him. Sasuke just assumed he would follow him. The arrogant bastard. Then again, he was right. Naruto would always follow him.

"Alright. What do they eat here anyway? Baby hearts?" He inquires only somewhat sarcastically.

"Funny. Normal food. Though don't eat anything that you haven't prepared for yourself." Sasuke warns him.

Naruto felt a jolt of white hot fury race through his veins at that. There was only one reason why Sasuke would warn him not to eat food anyone else gave him. His friend was worried about being poisoned. Someone had probably tried to poison Sasuke.

He follows Sasuke and notices he only takes things from places that Orochimaru used. It was a smart strategy. Apparently, he wasn't worried about being poisoned, if he ate what Orochimaru did.

"Oh that's not creepy at all." Naruto mutters as they sit down.

"I never said this place was paradise, but it will give me what I need. The strength to kill Itachi." He says as he bites into a rice ball.

For some reason, that really irritated Naruto. "But it will give me what I need. The strength to kill Itachi." Why couldn't the Leaf do that? Why wasn't the Leaf good enough? Why wasn't he good enough?

"What happens after that though?" The blonde asks.

"I restore my Clan. I don't really care where. If the Leaf will take me back, I'll go there. I hope you realize that by following me, you might have given up on being a Leaf Ninja. Becoming Hokage is going to be very difficult after this." Sasuke warns him.

"Awe thanks, Bastard. I didn't know you cared." Naruto says.

Sasuke frowns. He shouldn't care. It disturbed him that on some level he did. He wanted Naruto to be back in the Leaf. Naruto was happy there. The blonde would be safe there. (Well as safe as a ninja ever was anyway.)

"I don't. I just got tired of you following me around like a lost puppy." He says and shrugs.

"You are such a bastard sometimes! Is it really that hard for you to understand that someone cares about you?" He yells at him.

Naruto suddenly blinks. The hundreds of eyes were suddenly on them. Damn it. Now everyone probably had the wrong idea about them.

"Idiot. You are causing a scene." Sasuke mutters and goes back to eating.

Naruto grumbles. Suddenly, he found the way Sasuke's mouth was moving rather fascinating. He blamed it on the fact he had seen two men kiss only minutes before. He wondered what it was like to kiss Sasuke when he was actually doing it on purpose.

He mentally slaps himself for that thought. What the fuck was wrong with him?! Sasuke was like his brother. Thinking about him that way was sick. It was wrong.

"Well maybe if you were nicer, I wouldn't have to." Naruto snaps.

"You know what I was like before you came here. Besides, you don't like nice. Ask yourself why you chased me and why you aren't back in the Leaf with Sakura or Hinata." He says.

Sasuke knew it was stupid to bait Naruto like that. The blonde was completely oblivious. Hell as far as he could tell, the blue eyed ninja didn't even know that Hinata liked him. Apparently, he had just discovered gay people existed about ten minutes ago. It was almost cruel to provoke him like this.

Part of him didn't care though. Naruto's obliviousness was equal parts endearing and equal parts infuriating. He actually thought that their bond was the bond of mere friends? Even the bond of brotherhood didn't adequately describe it. Sasuke had finally accepted what it really was a few months ago. Love.

"What do you mean? I'm here because you left. They didn't. I would have gone after them too, if they had done what you did." His "friend" says.

Oh dear God, he really was this oblivious. Sasuke wasn't sure whether he should be thankful or annoyed. Maybe it was better this way. Until he killed Itachi, anyone he cared about was in danger. His love would just put a target on the blonde's back.

He had tried to deny it for the longest time. They were friends. It was natural to think about him. That excuse fell hallow.

In theory, he was friends with Sakura. He hadn't hesitated to leave her behind. He might have felt a mild amount of guilt, but he barely spared her more than a second thought these days. No, friends wasn't accurate.

"Just forget it. The training here is intense. Do you think you can keep up?" Sasuke asks with a smirk.

Predictably, Naruto took the bait. Sasuke smiles when he does. Naruto was the one constant in his life. No matter what he did, the blonde would still keep chasing him. He knew exactly how the other man would act in any given situation. In a way, it was comforting.

"Oh I can keep up. I should be asking you that. Get ready to be left in the dust." Naruto says cheerfully.

Sasuke didn't think brothers fit either. He wanted to kill Itachi. He didn't want to kill Naruto. As much as Sasuke realized that he should have killed Naruto, he just couldn't do it. He couldn't severe that bond in such a final fashion. Brothers didn't describe them either.

That left love by default. Sasuke had lagged behind his peers when it came to developing a romantic interest in anyone. He blamed this on the fact that he had to kill Itachi. He didn't have time for silly crushes. That was all well and good until puberty hit.

"You wish." Sasuke replies with a smirk.

Puberty had hit with a vengeance. Sasuke might be a powerful ninja and possess an iron will, but even that was apparently no match for hormones. Instead of getting daydreams about girls, he had been gotten different kinds of fantasies. Ones that generally involved sapphire blue eyes.

Sasuke had tried to pretend it hadn't happened. He had tried to rationalize it. Eventually, he had just decided to stop lying to himself. He was in love with his best friend. A best friend who apparently only vaguely understood that homosexuality existed.

"Come on. I'll prove it. Let's go find that creepy snake and get training." Naruto says.

"Alright. I'm not carrying you back to our room. So if you pass out. That's on you." Sasuke warns him as they head towards the training grounds.

A few minutes later, Orochimaru arrived. Sasuke could tell that he wasn't too pleased that Naruto was there. He couldn't care less. Maybe the Sannin would quite undressing him with his eyes, if they weren't alone together.

He might have teenager, but he wasn't stupid. Sasuke was well aware that Orochimaru preferred men. Actually, he tended to prefer "men" who weren't even half his age. Sasuke found that disturbing, but in general he didn't particularly care. As long as it was consensual, he didn't care who was sharing whose bed.

"I see you brought your pet. I hope he isn't under an delusions that he is going to take you away from me and whisk you back to the Leaf." Orochimaru muses.

Orochimaru had enough common sense to value Sasuke's body as a vessel more than a plaything. He hadn't tried to touch him. If he had, Sasuke would have killed him. Orochimaru was growing weaker by the hour. The last Uchiha was certain that he could manage it, if push came to shove.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT. LIKE HE BELONGS TO YOU. LIKE YOU OWN HIM!" The blonde roars at Orochimaru and Sasuke blinks as Naruto charges at Orochimaru.

Sasuke felt himself shiver slightly. Naruto's eyes were now crimson red. His teeth had grown more sharp and the whisker like marks on his face were now jagged. Most disturbingly though was the violent chakra lashing around him.

It was hard to tell if Naruto was acting like a jealous lover or a concerned friend. Either way, it disturbed Sasuke how much either reaction pleased him. Still he wasn't going to let Naruto interfere with his training.

"Naruto, stop it. Orochimaru and I have a deal. It doesn't matter what he says, as long as he keeps his word." Sasuke says firmly.

"You aren't seriously thinking about giving your body to this creep, are you?!" The blonde thunders at him.

"I'll do whatever it takes to defeat Itachi. If that's what it takes, so be it." Sasuke informs him.

In reality, Sasuke had no intention of actually giving Orochimaru his body. By the time the Sannin decided to collect on his debt, Sasuke would be much stronger and Orochimaru would be much weaker. He would simply kill him if he pushed the issue.

Of course he couldn't tell Naruto that. He had to play the part of a good puppet, until he was strong enough to get what he wanted. Itachi's head on a platter.

"There. See? He's here of his own free will and he doesn't mind. Now, Sasuke let's continue with your immunity building." Orochimaru says and gestures for the last Uchiha to follow him.

Naruto blinks. Immunity building. What the Hell did he mean by that? That didn't sound good. He follows.

"Today, we are going to begin building your resistance to snake venom. It's a common poison used in many ninja's arsenals. I'm not entirely certain if Itachi uses it, but one can never be too prepared." Orochimaru states.

"Wait. You are going to inject him with snake venom?! That's insane. You can't possibly be serious!" Naruto protests.

Sasuke was relieved to see the chakra had settled down. Still his eyes were red and his sharpened teeth were cause for concern. It was almost as though Naruto was partially manifesting the Nine Tail's physical traits when angry.

"They've injected me with far worse than that. It's fine, Naruto. It's not pleasant, but it's useful." Sasuke says with a shrug.

Naruto just gapes at Sasuke. He was fucking serious. He was just going to let this creep inject him with poison? This was worse than he thought. Clearly, it was up to him to save his bastard.

The blonde also did not like the way that Orochimaru talked about Sasuke. It made him want to slit the other man's throat. That thought did disturbing him, but some part of his mind was purring in approval at the idea.

"It's only natural to want to keep other males away from your Mate." He hears Kurama say.

"My Mate? What are you talking about? Sasuke is a GUY." The ninja protests.

"As you have seen today, that is not necessarily a disqualification. Amongst my kind, gender is irrelevant unless you wish to breed. It seems that humans are the same way to a lesser degree. I really wish you had chosen anyone but the Uchiha brat, but a Mate is a Mate. I would approve of you ripping the throat out of the Sannin either way." Kurama informs him.

Great. Just great. Now the fox demon inside his mind, thought that he was in love with Sasuke. Could his life get anymore insane and why didn't that thought disturb Naruto as much as it should have?