Mingling with the bewilderment in Sasuke's head was the thought that he had been heading to the training grounds, where he was supposed to meet with Naruto. The blonde idiot would worry if he didn't show, so Sasuke kept going, turning Naruto's words over in his head.

He loved him. Sasuke didn't know whether to be surprised or scared or something else. He knew he wasn't revolted, not repulsed in any way, and he wondered what that meant. Naruto, who was his best friend, who had worked so hard to bring him back, loved him… hadn't he liked Sakura? Wasn't Hinata hopelessly in love with him? Why, of all people, out of the blue, Sasuke?

He'd been back for a few months now, courtesy, naturally, of Naruto. Maybe he would have returned on his own time, eventually, but Naruto hadn't stood for that. He'd found him in Orochimaru's base, standing over the Sannin's body and slowly lowering Kusanagi. The sword had come right back up when Sasuke had noticed his approach, and they'd stood there for a long time, staring each other down. Then Naruto had approached, taking no heed of the sword pointed at his chest, smiling as he stepped confidently forward.

Sasuke had lowered the sword. Naruto had smiled wider and laughed and hit his shoulder lightly, much more lightly than any ninja could feel. An involuntary smile had been allowed to creep across Sasuke's face and he'd accompanied Naruto without protest.

He shook his head now and walked through the gate to the training grounds, sitting down in the shade of a tree. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, wondering what it would all come to.

Neji snorted and leaned back on his elbows as Naruto glared. Several minutes passed in silence before Naruto suddenly jumped up, grabbing his jacket (which he'd discarded in favor of the warm day's light breeze). Neji gave him a questioning glance.

"Training," the blonde replied, slipping his arms through the sleeves. "Promised to meet Sasuke, I'm late."

"Didn't you train with him this morning?"

"Yeah, well," Naruto grinned, "since he's got back, we've had a lot to catch up on."

Neji waved him off and the other shot him a backwards wave as he disappeared through the gates.

Sasuke was brought back to alertness as something large blocked out the sun. The something greeted him with a quiet "Hey" and Sasuke's eyes adjusted enough to see that it was Naruto, standing above him.

"Hey," he replied, sitting up. He'd dozed off, apparently, and hadn't noticed Naruto coming even in light sleep. He could tell the other had noticed by the grin he was getting.

"Used to me, aren't you?"

"Not that much," Sasuke smirked.

"Then you're a bad ninja."

"Want to find out?"

"Bring it on." Naruto held out a hand and Sasuke took it, pulling himself up. The moment he was on his feet, Naruto twisted, intending to flip him, and got a foot to the face for his efforts. He reeled back but grabbed it, leaving Sasuke on one foot as he threw a punch at Naruto's torso. Naruto caught it and, deadlocked, they stared at each other for a few moments before simultaneously pulling apart. Sasuke dropped to the ground and swung a kick at Naruto's legs, the other flipping backward to avoid him and forming the Kage Bunshin seal on the way. Two clones popped into existence and rushed Sasuke, who jumped up and blew a fireball at them from above. They disappeared and Sasuke ran through the smoke at where Naruto had been. Activating his Sharingan as he did so, he scanned around and found the blonde crouched on a tree branch. He formed seals for the Chidori with lightning speed and headed straight for the tree, enjoying the panicked look on Naruto's face as he realised what Sasuke was doing and toppled out of the tree just before the jutsu connected. Sasuke smirked at him, pulling his arm out from the trunk – easily, since it was demolished. Naruto grinned back, beginning a quick series of seals.

They continued to spar for hours, stopping only when it was in the best interests of their lives to rest. The afternoon had changed to early evening by the time they sat down beneath the tree and caught their breath. A few times it had dimly registered that some of the (formerly) Rookie 9 had passed by or stopped to watch, but they had paid no mind (that usually led to heavy injury).

A few minutes was all it took to recover, but they stayed for far longer, watching the sun set. They finally rose when it began to get dark, closing the gate behind them.

The streets they took home included one lined with Ichiraku's and a variety of other shops, many filled with Rookie 9 shinobi. The Kazekage seemed to be visiting, his siblings with him, and Naruto greeted him as they passed by. Shikamaru and Temari were sitting on stools at Ichiraku's and paid them no attention. Naruto grinned and started to hum.

A few streets later, he stopped humming and turned to face Sasuke. "Goodnight, then."

Sasuke nodded, not questioning why only now, as they'd long passed the point they usually parted ways. He turned and was about to jump to the neighboring house's roof when Naruto spoke.

"Sasuke…"

Sasuke stopped, waiting to hear Naruto continue. After a moment, he looked back to see resolve fall from the blonde's face as he let out a sigh.

"No, nothing."

Sasuke didn't press him, and after a moment felt the air move as Naruto jumped away.