This fic was written more than two years ago, for the SasuNaru exchange. It was first posted to my livejournal on September 2010. (Yes. It took me two years to get around to posting this on ffnet.) I have no idea how well the premise holds up under current canon, as it's been a very, very long time since I caught up on Naruto. But I hope it's an enjoyable read anyway!

FOR A DREAM

1.

It was near evening when Naruto stepped through the gates of Konoha for the first time.

The storms of the past few months had given way to a sudden, wet heat. In a few weeks, the dry season would settle brittle and scorching over the Land of Fire. Naruto adjusted his hat against the sun's glare.

The gates used to be green, if he remembered Sarutobi's words right. They were gone now, and their metal hinges looked lonely. Naruto gave a gate-post a sympathetic pat as he walked by.

Exactly one meter inside Konoha's walls, Naruto stopped to look.

The roads were still intact. Most of the buildings were carcasses: Black, burnt, and empty. Overlooking the Hidden Village were the four solemn faces of the old Hokage. Which was Sarutobi? He couldn't tell.

Naruto waved at them. They stared back, disapproving.

Naruto walked on. Once he stepped on a bright red roof tile. When he looked around, he saw no matching tiles. Naruto started to pocket it, and then stopped, feeling absurdly self-conscious. He put the tile back onto the ground.

He'd thought there might be people. Scavengers, maybe. There was an abundance of building material here, if you were patient enough to dig. Maybe even canned food, or clothes. Naruto's own fingers twitched at the thought. Then he remembered that lonely red roof tile, and his stomach squeezed.

Sarutobi had entertained Naruto with countless tales of Konoha. He tried to overlay those precious memories over the ruins before him. It was hard. Where was the Academy, with the classrooms full of eager, young students? Where was the hospital where Sarutobi had welcomed his son to the world? Where was the Hokage Tower?

Naruto didn't know.

If Sarutobi were here, he might have found out. Except that Sarutobi would never have come back to Konoha. Sarutobi's stories had always been about a Konoha full of life. Konoha as it was now... never.

Naruto rubbed his eyes furiously with his sleeve. There must be dust in the air.

He came across the walled compound when the sun was nearly gone. Red-and-white fans were emblazoned above the entrance. They looked silly.

It struck him suddenly that the compound stood nearly untouched.

There were scorch-marks, but when he walked under the rectangular arc of the entrance, he saw buildings. Rows and rows of them, standing like empty shells.

It should have burned. The thought approached quietly, full of heat and a sudden, seething anger: This entire place should have burned.

A banner flapped, a solemn guard over eight tables. A restaurant, he thought. He stared down at an overturned bowl. There should be people here. Voices.

He turned around, filled his lungs, and called out: "Hello?"

And then, louder: "HEY!"

Echoes answered him. Naruto gripped the strap of his pack hard enough that his fingers trembled.

He slept under the open sky, without a fire. The moon was reaching fullness, and under her Konoha was pale and luminescent. Naruto's last thought, as he drifted off to sleep, was that tomorrow he would wake up and Konoha would be gone, as if the once-proud Hidden Village had never been.

Naruto jerked awake.

His throat burned. He'd been screaming in his sleep again. More nightmares. His skin was burning, too, and his stomach felt as if it had been flayed open, but when Naruto pressed a hand against his belly it was firm and untouched under his shirt.

It wasn't the nightmares that had woken him.

He fumbled for his pack and finished the last of his water. It was bitter and warm, but it gentled his throat. A bird, greener than a leaf, hopped onto a nearby post and inspected him critically.

"Yeah, I know," he told it, not quite sure what he was agreeing with. The bird turned away. I'm not worth its time, he thought, and then: No-it noticed something. Its wings flared, and suddenly the bird was gone.

It was just a dumb bird. But the hair on his arms stood up, and his still-aching stomach clenched. His nose tingled, but maybe it was just an oncoming sneeze.

It was then that he saw the dog, silhouetted against a sky that was still mostly dark. It was huge.

Naruto scrambled to his feet and pressed his back against the wall. His pack bounced against his tense shoulders. His weapons, at waist and thigh, were sharp comfort. He could take the dog down before it reached him, easy.

Easy, he thought again, and snuck his fingers into a pouch.

His nose was still tingling. It wasn't a sneeze. He smelled something sharp, something that made his fingers tighten around a kunai. Eyes, he thought. Throat, chest, stomach, joints. Stay still, stay calm-

Why am I so fucking sure that dog is going to attack me?

His eyes were starting to burn.

The dog was getting closer. At first it came in an easy lope. Then it came faster, running on powerful legs thicker than Naruto's thighs.

It was big. More than big. Huge. Fucking gigantic.

That was-that was not right. He'd seen a lot of strange shit in his life, Sarutobi had taken him everywhere. Dogs weren't supposed to be that fucking big.

Their eyes didn't glow like that, either. Naruto realized his bladder was full. Shit. He was about to fight a giant-ass dog with glowing eyes, and he was probably going to piss his pants.

Not fight, he thought. Kill. He settled a knife between his fingers and thought, again: Eyes. Throat. Chest. Stomach. Joints.

Then the dog was on him.

His first shot missed. His second didn't, except that the metal sizzled as it slid into the dog's eye. He didn't throw his third kunai at all, just gaped and thought: What the fuck?

The dog spun. He jerked back too late.

He should have been crushed. He wasn't. The dog weighed nothing at all. Frozen, Naruto stared up through a cage of claws. It wasn't a dog. It was a fox.

At least I'm going to know what exactly killed me, Naruto thought.

It opened an impossibly huge jaw. Drool slid down; a drop hit the stone cobble by Naruto's shoulder, and to his horror, he heard the exact same hissing sound his kunai had made as it had sank into the fox's eyeball.

No. No. There was no fucking way he was going to die like this-

Naruto thrashed desperately. The thing had less mass than a shadow, but he couldn't move. It had sunk its claws into-through-him. He was trapped. His eyes grew hot with tears and fury.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!"

The words were bullets. The fox reared back. Its claws tore from his side; Naruto's body jerked a half-meter from the ground, and that was when the fox exploded.

Not like a flesh thing, hit with a bomb. It exploded like a shape in the water disturbed by a stone.

Naruto landed on his side. There was a man standing on a roof. Naruto wondered how he'd gotten up there. Then the man blurred into the sky. Naruto realized he was dizzy.

He looked down, then wished he hadn't. Fingers brushed his side, and touched blood and chunks of flesh. He thought he saw red steam in the air, or maybe it was his vision wavering.

The fox was congealing, coming back together. But it was all wrong: the front limbs didn't sit right, and the head was half-gone. And just when had it pieced itself into a shape nearly whole, it exploded again.

Naruto watched, but it didn't reform itself. The wind whisked it away. Maybe it was dead. Maybe it couldn't die.

He turned his head, and saw what had defeated it: a kunai, identical to his, but with a tag attached. It was an absurdly fascinating sight. The blade glinted beautifully against the morning sunlight.

Then there was a man, standing between the kunai and Naruto. The same man that had attacked the fox and saved Naruto's life, except he was holding a sword, and it was pointed squarely at Naruto's nose.

That was bad. Naruto needed his nose, for breathing and smelling and blowing out snot.

"What are you?" the man hissed.

"Dying, you rude bastard," Naruto tried to say, but the words wouldn't come.

He smiled as he collapsed, missing the startled look on the stranger's face.

The first thing Naruto saw was a window. It was night. He must have been out for hours.

He was lying on something soft. That was new.

"Your eyes are blue."

Naruto started to turn his head. Agony shot through his spine, and he stopped. His wrists ached. Everything ached. His blood felt like sauce from a twenty-year-old can, viscous and disgusting.

He tried to speak, but all he could do was cough. A palm slid under his head, the fingers firm against the vulnerable, soft flesh there. Then water, warm and salty, was trickling down his lips. Naruto drank eagerly.

When he could speak, he rasped, "Yeah, my eyes are blue. So what?"

"They weren't before."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

It was weird speaking to someone he couldn't see. But the man didn't reply to his question, so maybe it didn't matter. Naruto closed his eyes.

"Hey," he said. "What's your name?"

He wasn't sure if he'd said the words right. His lips felt suddenly too big, like someone had punched him in the face. So when that timbered voice said, "Uchiha Sasuke," he was surprised.

When Naruto next woke up, he saw the morning sunlight spilling into the room, turning everything yellow-white. His shoulders felt tight, and his back felt stiff. His wrists hurt the most.

Naruto sat up. He couldn't move his hands. They were bound.

He said, "What the fuck?"

But he was talking to an empty room. Naruto turned his head left, then right. It didn't hurt anymore. And that giant fox had ripped his side apart.

He looked down.

For a moment he could only stare. He thought: Those aren't my pants. And they weren't, but he didn't know why wearing someone else's clothes was suddenly more important than the sight of completely unmarked skin, without scars or injury or any sign of hurt.

He looked away.

"Hey!" he called. "Sasuke! You here?"

No answer. Naruto flopped back down, and then winced when he landed awkwardly on his hands and arms. His bladder was going to explode.

And he was starving.

By the time the door slid open, Naruto's wrists were chafed. He looked up, rabbit-eyed, and then remembered the fucker standing at the door had tied him up, he shouldn't be guilty about trying to get free, he should be pissed.

"Untie me, you-" Naruto started, and then his eyes settled on Sasuke's face.

He hadn't expected that face, young and pale-skinned, or those eyes, which looked as if they had seen a thousand nightmares.

Naruto could sympathize.

But the guy was still an asshole for tying him up.

He said, "If you don't untie me right now, I'm going to piss all over the floor."

Sasuke gave him a long, hard look. He used his eyes like weapons, but Naruto didn't flinch. He wasn't lying.

Then Sasuke slid behind him, tugging at his ropes and saying, "There's a bathroom down the hall, but the plumbing isn't-"

Naruto was already gone.

Sasuke was right. The plumbing didn't work. Naruto didn't care, though; he'd seen and used worse, and judging from the dust and sticky grime on the seat, he was the first in decades to use the toilet. Maybe Sasuke doesn't have to piss, Naruto thought, and zipped up the pants that didn't belong to him.

He stepped outside, into a hallway missing most of one wall. Sasuke was waiting for him with the rope.

"No," Naruto said. "No fucking way."

Sasuke looked at him impassively. "Only until you reach the gates. Then I'll let you go."

"What? The gates..." Then Naruto shook his head, left-right-left. "Fuck no. It took me months to find this place. I'm not leaving."

Sasuke didn't answer.

"And why do you have to tie me up again, anyway?" Naruto crossed his arms. Another thought occured to him. "Besides, if you make me leave, I'll just come back again."

"No," Sasuke replied. "You won't be able to find Konoha again."

"Uh. You're letting me go at the gate, not the-"

"You won't be able to find Konoha again," Sasuke repeated.

Of course I will!The words formed in Naruto's throat and died on his tongue. Sasuke was completely serious. It was the way he said it, maybe, that made Naruto believe that as soon as he stepped outside Konoha's gates, it would be gone when he turned around.

"Why tie me up?" Naruto asked, finally.

Sasuke looked down pointedly. At first Naruto thought he was looking at the pants. (What, does he want them back?) Then he remembered. There should have been blood, and a ragged mess of exposed bone and guts. There wasn't.

"That rope wouldn't stop me from attacking you," Naruto announced haughtily. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, which told Naruto nothing, except maybe that the guy's facial muscles weren't paralyzed.

Damn. He needed to sneeze. His nose stung.

"Hold out your hands."

"No fucking way."

"I'm not asking."

"Fine, I get it."

"Good." Sasuke reached out with the rope. "Now-"

"You," Naruto continued, "are a fucking pervert."

Sasuke stared at the finger pointed at his chest, dumbfounded.

"A pervert," Naruto went on. "I mean, you left me tied up and half-naked on that bed! And why am I wearing your clothes all of a sudden, huh?"

Thatgot a reaction. Sasuke flushed. "You were injured," he hissed.

"Yeah? You normally tie up half-naked men?"

"I was saving your life."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, you twisted fuck-"

Sasuke lunged. Naruto screamed, "PERVERT!" and the remaining wall exploded.

Something...

... slammed past them, screaming.

Naruto landed on his back; Sasuke landed on Naruto's stomach, and badly. Bits of roof fell against them.

Sasuke was instantly in a crouch.

"I'm not a pervert," Sasuke snapped into Naruto's ear. He added, "Stay down," like an afterthought, while Naruto stared up at the sky in stunned silence.

The fox from yesterday obstructed most of his view. Except it wasn't a fox anymore. Naruto spied a tail, an eyeball with no socket to sit in, and malformed feet. The rest of it was an ugly, twisted mass, like solid fog.

"Yes you are," Naruto told Sasuke, because it was better than acknowledging that... thing.

He could smell it, he realized. That was why his nose was smarting, like there were a thousand little hooks in his nostrils and someone on the other end was tugging.

Naruto tried to stand. He was stopped by hand on his arm.

"Stay down. Don't draw any attention to yourself."

Naruto froze. "Can't you kill it?"

"No. I wasted enough tags chasing it away," Sasuke said. "It can't see us."

"It still has an eyeball left!" Naruto hissed back.

"It can't see," Sasuke repeated. "Not well." But he was watching it with tense muscles.

Maybe Sasuke's right, Naruto thought, while the... not-fox turned, around and around like a dog chasing its tail. He was hot, hot, hot, burning with anticipation and fear, but there was also ice in his bones: If that fox hadn't missed...

If that fox hadn't missed...

Naruto grit his teeth. "Fine. It can't see. How," he asked, "did it find us?"

Its circling made him nervous. It wasn't getting any closer, but it wasn't moving away, either.

It was like being in a gambling hall, begging the dice to roll favorably.

Mostly, they had. It was how Naruto had earned the money for Sarutobi's medicine, in the later months. But sometimes they didn't. Sometimes the dice tried to ruin him.

It was Naruto who reacted first, this time. He threw them to the side. The fox slammed into the floor just an inch behind him.

His arm burned.

No time to see why. Naruto jumped the the ruins of the wall. He stumbled as he landed, swore, and then froze when the fox flew over his head.

It was after him. It'd been after him from the first.

Naruto's legs weren't cooperating. When he looked down, he understood why: His calf had been impaled with a bladed slice of wood. Funny how it hurt less than his arm.

He looked at the fox. It was trying to right itself, gathering shadowy wisps back to its form. Preparing for another strike. It had blown the wall to nothing, and turned the floor to splinters. If that thing hit him-

No choice. He was going to have to dodge it as it came.

His hands were shaking. It wasn't from fear. It was from exhilaration.

The fox reared, turning ponderously to face him. Naruto tensed.

It flew towards him-

-and a roar of fire swallowed the fox.

Naruto's jaw dropped. He turned his head; Sasuke was running towards him, grabbing his arm, saying, "We have to go, now."

"But the-the fox is gone, you just, the fire-"

Sasuke scowled and pulled Naruto forcibly along. "The fire is going to draw hundreds of them out."

"What?" Naruto said weakly. "What the hell does that mean?" Sasuke was leading them back into the fallen house. He shoved Naruto's pack into his arms, and then gathered everything up with terrifying efficiency.

"Chakra," Sasuke said. "It attracts them."

"Them?" Naruto repeated. He felt like a broken radio.

"Yes, it-" Sasuke stopped what he was doing and straightened, whipping around to face Naruto.

Sasuke stared like he was trying to see right through him. Naruto felt like... an orange, maybe, with its skin peeled back. Or an opened ramen container.

Then Sasuke said, "Your wounds," and tugged Naruto's arm towards him without asking permission. The moment broke.

Naruto's arm was already half-healed, the ends of the gash knitting together. Sasuke dropped it wordlessly, and bent to pull the wood from Naruto's leg.

For two people running away from a swarm of-them, whatever they were-Naruto thought they weren't moving too fast. Sasuke didn't seem too worried, though.

"I have no idea where we're going," he told Sasuke's back.

Sasuke glanced back, but didn't answer. They were travelling through an area devoured by fire; the buildings still stood, but their insides were gone, like gutted fish. The roofs were missing. Once, they detoured by an over-turned fire wagon.

Naruto touched its side as they went by. Good job, he thought at it. You did as much as you could.

His leg didn't hurt much anymore. He didn't dwell too much on the reason why. When he did, a strange fear gripped him.

He'd been hurt plenty before. Naruto had been a clumsy and adventurous child. He'd broken bones, skinned his knees, burnt his fingers... he'd nearly been crushed under a horse, once. Looking back, he was probably responsible for Sarutobi's constantly failing health.

Naruto's fingers brushed over his arm. The new skin there tingled.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

Sasuke didn't answer. Naruto exhaled heavily through his nose. He glanced behind them warily, as if expecting a tsunami of foxes.

When he glanced ahead, he saw the road, leading straight and true. And at the end of it was the gate, standing proud without its doors.

"What?" Naruto stopped. "Hell no. I am not going through that thing."

Sasuke whirled around. "I came to Konoha for a reason," he snarled. Naruto stepped back, startled. "I'm not letting you get in my way again."

"I won't," Naruto said.

"Which is why you're leaving."

"I came here for a reason too, you bastard." Naruto straightened. "I didn't slug through months of mud and rain for shits. What did you come here for?"

Sasuke pressed his lips together. "We-I came to look for something."

"Yeah? Maybe I can help you," Naruto said. The corners of his mouth twitched as he saw Sasuke's expression. He turned around. "Or we can split up, right here."

He got as far as a junction in the road. Sasuke's voice reached him, then.

"They'll come after you. If you can, run and hide. Fighting's not worth it; you can't kill them. And if you see any others..."

Naruto looked back. There was no expression at all on the other man's face.

"Nevermind," Sasuke said. "They don't matter."

"My name's Naruto," he said. "Remember it, okay? Just in case."

The clouds threw shadows on the ground, on the buildings, on Sasuke's unmoving form.

"I realized," Naruto went on, "there aren't any bodies here. Whatever happened to Konoha, lots of people must have died, right? But there aren't any bodies. So, uh, just in case..." He gave Sasuke his best grin. "I'll remember your name, too."

"Unlike you," Sasuke replied, "I didn't come to Konoha to die."

The words fell against Naruto's back, heavy. Naruto didn't respond.

2.

The sky was on fire.

The air twisted and folded with heat. He was huge, and furious, but under the choking layers of rage was terror.

But why should he be terrified? He was-

-cold and damp, because it had rained during the night. He was huddled underneath a hollow created by fallen planks of wood.

Naruto sat up, shivering. "This isn't funny," he said, and crawled out from his hole to squint sulkily at the newborn sun. Its light bounced and danced on the puddles collected on Konoha's ruined roads, and made dampened wood and stone metallic.

At least the cold chased the nightmare away, biting at his bones underneath the muscle and skin. He felt strangely exhausted, but not tired. Naruto rubbed his stomach with a work-rough palm and contemplated the day.

He had cicadas for breakfast, and drank rainwater caught overnight. A bird called harshly, and Naruto, twitchy with nerves, jumped until he saw it. For revenge he took it down and cooked it thoroughly, snacking on it as he moved through Konoha.

He wondered where Sasuke was, and if the man had found what he was looking for.

Probably not, Naruto thought with vindication, and dropped a bone onto the ground.

Once he froze, and looked to his left. There was a crisp breeze, and it carried smells and sounds to him. He couldn't see anything, but he put his left hand on the pouch at his waist and cut through a building.

Best to keep moving.

Not all of Konoha had been ravaged. The walls were mostly untouched, except for an entire section that had been blown away (blown away by what?) that sat on the horizon like a child's gaptooth. There were fields with overlong grass, and the occassional building that stood alone and small.

Naruto thought of a papaya fruit. It was like Konoha had been carved from the inside-out. Because of the fire, Naruto guessed uncertainly, and wondered why his stomach still ached even after he'd eaten.

He remembered the walled compound he'd stayed in that first night. It had stood near Konoha's center, close to what had probably been the heart of the Hidden Village. How had that stayed safe, when its neighbours had burned completely?

It should have burned, he thought again, and then shook his head as if he could dislodge the notion.

Naruto had thrown his first kunai when he was four. There had been a tree with a crudely nailed target. He'd missed. In the end they hadn't needed the target, because Naruto kept missing the entire tree.

Sarutobi had been patient. Naruto's aim improved, until he could take a bird down mid-flight. During lessons, Sarutobi had mentioned the Academy often. He'd called the students his children. Konoha's children.

When Naruto came across the low wall, with its red-ring targets, his stomach lurched. He touched them with his fingers. There were marks where countless small blades had bit.

A shuriken was stuck into the wall; Naruto tugged at it and and came away with a finger cut to the bone. He hissed, bringing it to his mouth.

He found the Academy itself to the left of the small field.

One wing had been eaten away, with vegetation pushing its way inside. Naruto entered a classroom, trying to imagine children sitting here the entire day. He couldn't. A lesson had been written on the black board. Naruto squinted at the equations and decided he'd never have survived here.

On the floor was a single headband, with Konoha's symbol visible under the rust. Naruto's fingers trembled as he picked it up.

The cloth had once been a bright blue. Naruto's thumb brushed over the spiral, the small straight line that jutted out, the pointed end of the leaf.

It was a symbol Naruto could imagine sacrificing everything for.

Naruto saw the first of them as he exited the classroom. He wasn't surprised-his nose smarted so badly he wanted to tear it off his own damn face.

Then he saw how many there were, and paused with one sandaled foot hanging out the window.

He'd expected something like that huge fox. These weren't huge. They weren't even big. Naruto swept his eyes down the lines of wispy ears and tried to count: four, seven, nine...

He gave up. There were too many. They sat immobile as statues, but somehow they kept moving. Naruto didn't pretend to understand it. He just tucked the observation away and tried to placate his panicking brain.

He dragged his foot back inside.

If you can, run and hide.

"Fuck you," Naruto told the empty classroom.

He leaned against the sill, watching the foxes watch him. He thought about how Sasuke had-breathed fire, sent it out like a crashing wave. Throughout his life he'd heard other impossible tales: of ninja who could grow entire forests, or cause earthquakes, or call up gigantic animals.

Sarutobi had never mentioned anything like that, even if he'd taught Naruto plenty else.

It'd be damn nice to just blast them with fire, though, Naruto thought sourly, and backed away from the window.

The hallways were dark and stuffy. The storage room was in the far back of the building.

Someone, years and years ago, had kicked the door down. The shelves were categorized with obsessive detail. The kunai were built for a child's hand. Naruto, who had learned with a proper kunai, gave them an odd look. They looked like toys, except when he picked them up their edges gleamed.

He found the bags in a locked cupboard. Near the bags were tags, the ends twined with cord.

Naruto gave these a long look. After a moment he turned around. On the walls hung neat coils of rope.

He glanced out a window a half-hour later. The foxes were still there, patiently waiting. Naruto wasn't assured. That first fox had waited, too.

They were surrounding the Academy, he realized. Even if he'd wanted to, it would be impossible to run.

Naruto felt like taut string. In a moment something would tip, and the foxes would come, and he'd have nothing to trust but his trap and his legs and his hands.

But he'd never been good at waiting. Naruto pulled out a kunai and sliced neatly through his skin.

There was a heartbeat of stillness.

They didn't run. They swarmed. Naruto threw himself backwards, sliding over raised desks, and through the door. They were faster than him, but there was only one of him and more of them. The hallway, with its closed doors, was like a bottleneck.

The worst was the silence. There were no footsteps but his own, too-loud against his harsh breathing.

He kept to the left, to avoid the line of bags hanging from the ceiling. The hallway ended abruptly. Naruto stumbled past the empty doorway.

He fumbled the kunai, with its corded tag, out of his pouch. Slotting it against his palm, he thanked Sarutobi for teaching him to throw.

The explosions were almost concurrent, boom-boom-boom. Naruto didn't stay to watch; a single glance back gave him an impression of black and gray and orange, and heat, billowing outwards. He reached the wall with its ringed targets and scrambled over.

The remaining foxes didn't slow down. Naruto threw himself under a fallen beam, and then over a strut that led to nowhere. The world was made up of numb legs, of aching lungs, and he kept his eyes ahead.

And then his eyes were looking at the ground, and then nothing at all. Naruto scrabbled for purchase; claws dug into his skin. He couldn't fucking move. Naruto jerked his limbs in. He tucked in his head. His trap hadn't destroyed enough of them-

There was a sound above his head, a sound like whumph.

"HERE!"

An arm jerked him up and to the left. Naruto said, "Shit!" and half-stumbled.

Sasuke threw a kunai, backwards and blind. Naruto fumbled for his own.

The foxes, like one beast, reared back. Sasuke immediately whirled, grabbing Naruto's hand and taking them down a winding path.

"Why are you-"

"I don't know," Sasuke snapped, and then: "I saw the smoke."

Sasuke's glance cut sideways.

"It wasn't enough. The powder was old," Naruto said, disgusted. "Where-?"

"The Nakano shrine."

Naruto thought of the small road-side shrines he'd seen throughout his life. Most had been small and ramshackle. None would have seemed safe against what was chasing them now. "How far?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Naruto thought: Too far, then, and urged himself to move faster.

He'd started off in a mad sprint. Now he was locked in a mad run. A part of him thought that if he looked down, he would see that his feet and legs had disappeared.

He heard the river before they reached it. Sasuke threw out a hand and said, "It's faster than it looks."

They looked downstream. There was a bridge, with six archs that resembled simplified torii. "There," Sasuke said.

"The beams are broken," Naruto said. "Can't you-do that fire thing?"

Sasuke tugged him towards the bridge. "I told you," he said, "chakra attracts them." He didn't add the word moron, but it hung neatly at the end of his sentence anyway.

"How many more can there be?" Naruto hissed.

Sasuke glanced back. Naruto didn't need to; whatever Sasuke saw, it made him increase their pace. The bridge creaked under them. There was a snap, louder than a firecracker. Sasuke threw Naruto ahead of him; he stumbled as he landed, feet scrabbling for purchase. Sasuke landed beside him.

But the bridge didn't quite fall; it sagged, the structure bending impossibly, until the water kissed its underside.

They disappeared into greenery, where the dead carcasses of old trees swallowed enough space that new vegetation struggled. Sasuke found what might have been a path, pushing Naruto in front of him impatiently.

Naruto pressed his fingers against the open wounds on his skin. They weren't healing. Maybe his ability had reached its limit.

He felt-not tired, not exhausted, but detached. It wasn't only his legs that had numbed; it was his fingers, and his eyes and ears and nose.

He didn't register falling, but in the next wave of consciousness Sasuke was looking down at him, supremely irritated, and saying, "Oi, stay awake-"

Naruto took a deep breath. "Shut up," he rasped. "How far?"

"Almost there," Sasuke said. Naruto didn't call him out on the lie.

Once the foxes reached close enough for Naruto to smell. He stopped and turned his head, trying to spot them through the deadwood. He thought he saw a slight glow from their eyes, or maybe that was the spots and flashes dancing in front of him.

He reached for a kunai. Sasuke stopped him. "Only if you have to," he said.

Naruto looked at him through a glass of dizzyness. "Youdidn't have to," he said. "You're... looking for something."

Sasuke said, "Only so others can't," like it was an answer. They moved on.

Maybe the nearness of the shrine pushed the foxes away; maybe they'd tired of the chase. Maybe Naruto wasn't enticing anymore, with his wounds refusing to heal.

The Nakano shrine, when they approached it, was quietly impressive. It was also completely undamaged.

Naruto slowed when he reached the first arch. Sasuke impatiently tugged him on, but he shook his head.

"I can't," he said.

Sasuke didn't reply. He didn't have to: his stare said enough.

Naruto shook his head again. "I can't," he repeated. "I..."

Hate this place. I loath it. It should have burned, too.

Naruto looked at the ground, and then turned his head up towards the steps. "Nevermind," he said, and let Sasuke take him inside. Alien disquiet settled over him.

And then it didn't matter, because he closed his eyes and let himself faint.

Under a sky bathed in blood, Konoha burned.

That was good. That was right. Konoha had been born in blood, and thrived in it, and now it died, and died, and died. He towered over burning buildings, feeling bitter satisfaction under his tongue.

He gathered that satisfaction in his mouth, felt it drawing together bitter and hot and powerful, and when he turned his head to let that bitterness rip through Konoha he saw-

-blue eyes, impossibly bright against the red of the world.

"I have a question," Naruto said.

He was wrapped in a blanket against the evening chill. It smelled like a dusty, forgotten cupboard. They were just outside the shrine, and Sasuke was tending to dinner and pretending Naruto didn't exist.

"Why are we still alive?" Naruto went on, as if Sasuke had answered him. "Why don't those... why don't they come here? Is it because of the shrine?"

He stopped to consider the stars, which seemed unnaturally bright. He felt cold, and he smarted and ached, and blood stuck cloth and skin together in some places. But he was happy. The fire was cheerful, their surroundings were picturesque, and he had someone to talk with.

Someone to talk to, anyway.

"Not that I'm whining about not dying," Naruto assured Sasuke's back. "It's just weird that they'd... stay away."

"They might not," Sasuke said, turning around to give Naruto a look that was faintly accusatory, like it was Naruto's fault he was finally talking. "They avoided the Uchiha District before, too."

"That... compound, right?" Naruto guessed. "The one where that giant fucking fox showed up and ripped me up and near tore my insides out."

There was a long pause, filled by the crackling fire. "The Nakano shrine," Sasuke said, "was mostly visited by the Uchiha."

Naruto screwed his eyes shut in thought. "So, what-they avoid whatever places the Uchiha liked?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Or," Naruto said, "they don't touch it 'cause they didn't twenty years ago, either."

Sasuke turned back to the fire.

Dinner tasted like metal. Naruto chewed it relentlessly and didn't ask what it was. At night, a cotton-soft drizzle came. They let the fire die and found shelter inside a building which stood apart from the main shrine.

Drizzle became rain; rain became a torrent. They set out containers to catch the rain, and Naruto checked his wounds. He asked Sasuke for another donation of clothing; Sasuke glared. Naruto sulked and said that at least this time he hadn't stripped Naruto and-

"Shut up," Sasuke said, and tried to choke him with the blanket.

Finally, Naruto lay down, the taste of dust and metal and cotton in his mouth. "You didn't have to," he said. "Come back for me, I mean."

Sasuke said, "I didn't."

Naruto startled. He'd thought the downpour would swallow his words. He propped himself on his elbows.

He couldn't catch Sasuke's eyes in the dark. The other's face was turned from him. His palm rested on a ready blade, in case of danger.

Naruto thumped back on the floor.

"Yeah, you didn't." His voice softened. "So, thanks."

Breakfast was hearty. Under a world flushed bright and yellow from the new day, yesterday's danger seemed years away. They ventured into the forest and came back with squirrels, and fat worms, and leaves for flavor.

Naruto missed ramen. It cooked fast and didn't bite your fingers when you caught it. But good food was good food, and they ate on the steps of the shrine. Naruto was stretched out, lazyness in every limb. Sasuke ate more quickly.

"Are you going to go look for... whatever it is you're looking for?" Naruto asked. "Hey, can I help?"

"No," Sasuke said. Naruto didn't know which question the "no" was for. He pushed his lips out, curling his upper lip back.

"Why not? I'm good at tracking," he whined. "I can smell really well. You stink, by the way. And I can... I can read," he added, suddenly inspired. "And I can-"

"No."

"I'm bored of exploring. And the last times I tried I nearly died."

"So leave."

"No way," Naruto said. He looked at his toes, then wiggled them. He loved his toes, and his feet, and his legs, for carrying him all the way to safety. "Thank you," he told them seriously.

Sasuke threw him a startled glance. "I already heard you last night," he said.

Naruto didn't feel like admitting he was talking to his feet. He gave Sasuke an easy grin and turned to consider the steps they sat on. Under the sunlight, the gray looked more orange. It made him think of...

"My dreams," Naruto said. "Well, more nightmares. They were what brought me here."

Sarutobi's stories were what urged him to explore, to look, to find the traces of the Hidden Village that had once been. Naruto's fingers found the headband secured in his pocket. His grin suddenly felt tight.

Sarutobi's stories were powerful, but they weren't as powerful as the nightmares. The nightmares made him stay.

"I never remember much," Naruto said, speaking more to the orange cast of the stone steps than to Sasuke, "but I remember... fire. And feeling fucking terrified, and feeling angry 'cause of the terror. So I went to Konoha. Or... or more like, Konoha let me come."

Sasuke grunted. It was agreement, Naruto thought. Or he had something stuck in his throat.

Naruto leaned back and closed his eyes. It wasn't remotely comfortable, but the heat felt good.

"We'll go to the Uchiha District," Sasuke said suddenly. "For new clothes, first. Then you can help me look."

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He straightened. "Seriously?" he said, and then bit his tongue, feeling like a puppy. "Right," he said, in a more even tone, and grinned.

3.

At first, Naruto thought they were looting.

He didn't judge Sasuke for it. The Uchiha District seemed a good place to scavenge. After finding clothes, and re-stocking their weapons, Sasuke had walked straight towards a particular house, set apart from the rest and more grandiose.

Except it wasn't looting. Sasuke passed over, and ignored, several valuable things; he was searching systematically, combing through every corner, every shelf, every little space.

"What are we looking for?" Naruto asked, finally.

"Scrolls," Sasuke said. "Certain types of books, anything to do with techniques or martial arts."

"Okay... and then?"

"We burn them."

-Right, Naruto thought, but left to find a starting point.

Maybe there was a study. That would be convenient. Naruto rubbed his nose. He'd offered to help, so he might as well help.

It was a very traditional house, Naruto thought, though his grasp of "traditional" was vague, his childhood being a blur of consequent locations.

He found a bedroom. He hesitated, then stepped inside. There was bedding against one wall, and a low desk, and built-ins.

There was a book on the desk, neatly bookmarked. Naruto brushed the dust off and peered at the cover. Economics. He put it down.

He glanced at the picture frame, showing a serene family of four: Father, mother, boy, and baby. They looked eerily similar to Sasuke, in the way the people of a small village resembled each other enough to be siblings.

Naruto felt a shudder of not-quite revulsion. He put the frame face-down.

He rejoined Sasuke eventually, with an armful of scrolls and a small, faded book full of faces and stats. "I didn't find much, but-"

He stopped, forgetting to slide the door shut. Sasuke had found the study; it was clinically impersonal. There was no picture frame on the desk.

Sasuke had a scroll unrolled in front of him. Naruto thought he saw patterns, dancing around a circle. Blood, long ago dried, had drenched one corner.

Sasuke's face was as pale as the floor.

And there was a smell in the air, not sharp but distinct. It wasn't the smell of the foxes. It was something that made his belly shift with wariness and settled ice into his limbs.

Sasuke glanced up, his expression collected. His fingers relaxed, suddenly and unnaturally, and Naruto realized he'd been gripping the edges of the scroll. "We'll bring everything outside and burn it there," he said.

Naruto stepped back, away from the scroll and the too-empty room. "Sure," he said. "And then we can get lunch."

It was Naruto that first saw them, black forms moving under the cast of the early sun. Not foxes, but men, in cloaks that must have been sweltering under the emerging season's heat.

He was standing on a tower, trying to pick out patches of vegetation with his eyes. (For Sasuke to eat, not Naruto, no matter what the bastard said.) When he saw the men, Naruto forgot about foraging.

He shielded his eyes with a hand against his forehead and leaned forward. There were seven of them. The one in front had a map unfolded in front of him. Naruto kept expecting him to trip. He didn't.

Naruto glanced in the direction the men were heading. That way lay the river, curved around Konoha's heart like a lover.

He launched himself down the rails of the stairs, sliding down at brutal speed. At the bottom, Sasuke was considering a can with a scowl.

Naruto eyed the can. "Please don't tell me we're going to eat that. Are those tomatoes?"

"We're not," Sasuke decided. He sounded oddly regretful.

"Tomatoes suck, anyway," Naruto said, shrugging. He ignored the glare Sasuke sent him. "By the way, I saw men just now."

"What?"

"Seven men, all in black," Naruto said. "Heading that way-where are you going?"

He was talking to Sasuke's back. Naruto kicked the can at his feet. Fucking tomatoes, he thought, and ran after Sasuke.

He caught up quickly; Sasuke was running along roads parallel to the path Naruto had indicated. "Are we tracking them?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded.

"Okay... why?"

"They shouldn't be here," Sasuke said, as if that made sense. "Not yet."

"Right."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. He'd rather have lunch. The sun was hot today, too, and the air dry. But the wind was strong, and Naruto's senses were astute, and he was a good hunter.

It was boring.

Tracking men was different than tracking beasts. It was difficult, in some ways; making any noise would give them away, because Konoha existed in a state of utter stillness, despite its animal inhabitants. But it was also easy. The men weren't paranoid herbivores. They had a clear purpose, and talked and moved with the confidence of the utterly alone.

They'd gone straight to the Hokage mountains, watched by the stone gazes, a bored Naruto, and an increasingly agitated Sasuke. They split up, each entering a different tower.

"They're searching for something," Naruto guessed.

"I know what they're searching for," Sasuke said, mouth pressed into a furious line. "Stay here. I'm going back to the shrine."

He left before Naruto could complain. Naruto rubbed his calves, prayed they didn't cramp, and wondered if he had time to sneak away and piss.

At twilight, the men made camp. Naruto could smell their dinner. He looked mournfully at their fire. Stay here, Sasuke had said, but he'd been gone for hours now.

Not all of the men had returned; only three of them were enjoying the fire. They'd drawn camp-duty, Naruto thought, and the other four were still searching.

One of them turned, and Naruto caught sight of a face that flashed too familiar-

He gasped, and then froze.

Shit. The men had heard him.

He needed to run. He couldn't. He swore, dropped to the ground, and rolled underneath a fallen piece of wall. The shadows couldn't completely hide the bright shock of his hair, but his clothes were dark and if he pressed himself back...

"Who's there?"

Naruto stilled. His hand crept to his waist. Through the opening he saw the black of the cloak and open-toed boots.

"Fine." The voice was deep, and wary. "If you don't come out, I'll chase you out."

Before Naruto could react, there was a sharp sound, like thunder; and then, impossibly, the ground cracked under his feet. Rubble shifted, above him and under him, and Naruto swore.

He threw himself out of his hiding place, landing in an uncomfortable crouch. He met the man's face (familiar, he thought, that face was too familiar,) and said: "You have to get out of here."

The man ignored him. He was a warrior, Naruto realized, with a survivor's hard gaze and scars. He brought his hand up to form gestures that Naruto had only heard about, whispered across bars and gambling halls.

No!

Naruto raised his eyes, looking past the man's hands, past his shoulders, and to the road beyond.

The foxes came, like black water flooding the road; or like the oncoming night sky, each pair of eyes like glinting, unmerciful stars. Naruto threw himself backwards, grasping the edge of the low wall and flinging himself up and up to relative safety.

The foxes were big, bigger than the first he'd seen, muscles rippling too-smooth as they moved.

The man was there, and then suddenly he wasn't. They consumed him in utter silence, bodies melding, blurring, until all that was distinct was the snapping of their jaws, of their teeth, and Naruto stumbled back, unable to look away, unable to stop smelling them.

His hand was gripping a tagged kunai. He hadn't had time to throw it.

He didn't think throwing it would have worked. There were too many of them. He should have thrown it anyway.

Naruto closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were dissipating into the air. No skeleton was left behind. No clothes. No weapons. Naruto looked left, at the campsite. It was gone, too.

There would be time for grief later (days, months, entire seasons). For now...

Sasuke, he thought, and left for the shrine.

Sarutobi had died slowly.

For a year, seven months, and fifteen days, Naruto had worn trepidation like a cloak. Every moment was a blessing. Every second was a curse, like a clock winding down to nothing.

And then one day he had come home, and he had walked to the bed and smelled death there, and the beginnings of rot, and he had reached out a trembling hand and thought: Please, please, please-

There were too many steps to the Nakano shrine. Its paved road was too long.

He was too slow, and time moved too fast.

Naruto burst into the shrine proper, and stopped. His heart beat furiously. There was no one in the room.

Naruto looked around wildly. The world was razor-sharp, every edge distinct; colors were too bright, and he could smell... everything: Sasuke, and strangers, and dust, and quiet menace grown quietly over two decades...

And he could hear voices, conversing with the calm tones of people about to kill.

Naruto's gaze dropped. There: someone had lifted the tatami mat, displacing it, and the hole framed a shadow that was too dark and too deep.

Naruto kicked the mat away and dropped into the opening. At his entrance, conversation ceased. Naruto's eyes adjusted. He picked out three men and one corpse, and Sasuke, standing in front of an enclave with blades held between his fingers.

Fingers that shook. He was injured. Air rushed into Naruto's lungs, and burned.

One of the men said, "His eyes, those marks-"

"You're mistaken," Sasuke said stiffly.

"Kyuubi," the man said.

And then he was being ripped apart.

Sasuke said, "Shit," and moved. Metal clanged. Naruto fell to his knees. The world became narrow: There was white-hot agony, and the cold ground underneath his palms, and nothing else.

It was alien fury, burning through him.

Someone said, "Do you see now? If we control it, control him-"

"We won't get it back." Sasuke's voice, more and more distant. "We'll never get it back. Naruto-"

Naruto thought: Hey, he remembers my name.

Fingers grasped Naruto's chin, jerking his head up. He saw nothing but red, deeper than blood. Wait, he thought, why are Sasuke's eyes red?

And something else, something huge and furious and terrified, thought: You will not control me again.

Naruto woke up to smoke and bone-deep exhaustion. He turned his head, and saw Sasuke pushing his weight onto trembling arms.

"Your eyes are black," Naruto rasped. He rolled onto his side, missing whatever reply Sasuke might have said, and forced himself up. He looked for the black-cloaked men, or at least for corpses, and found none.

He hesitated. "Were they-your family? Is that how they found-"

"They're not," Sasuke interrupted, with cold finality. He grabbed Naruto's collar and hauled him up like a kitten. "We have to go."

All around them lay the remains of the Nakano shrine; the top of the dug-out had been blown open. Sasuke's jaw muscles worked. He climbed up, and Naruto followed.

Naruto inhaled sharply in shock, and then coughed; he couldn't help it. It was the shock of seeing Konoha burning, under a deep red sky. He made a sound in the back of his throat, low and keening.

Sasuke looked at the forest around them. "We can't get through," he said.

He was right. Naruto stepped forward, towards the heat, and stared desperately at the trees in front of them. They glowed, like giant embers, and through thick trunks like prison-bars he saw the flicker of flames.

They were deadwood. Now they were becoming ash.

There has to be a way, Naruto thought, desperately.

Sasuke said, suddenly: "The fire isn't natural." He was right. They could see the foxes, moving liquidlike, towards the flames.

"Chakra," Naruto breathed. "They're consuming the chakra-if we follow-"

"It won't work," Sasuke said.

Naruto pressed a sleeve to his mouth, against the smoke. "No," he agreed.

They looked at each other, and then at the forest, and moved as one.

It was insane, and desperate, and suicidal. They stumbled half-blind, and then completely blind. They dropped to the ground, and swallowed dirt and rotting refuse.

They were going to choke to death. He'd seen buildings burn before, when lightning flashed in Fire's driest days; he'd seen people escape, alive but ashen, and later die of asphyxiation.

No. No, they weren't going to die; they were going to escape Konoha if they had to crawl like earthworms, they were not going to die because of the Kyuubi's fucking grudge-

Sasuke yelled, and coughed, and grasped blindly: He caught Naruto's wrist and gripped hard enough to grind bone.

For a moment, Naruto didn't understand. The world was black, and roared in his ears; his nose was stuffed full of acrid smoke, and his limbs were bloody from crawling. Except they weren't crawling, they were-

His blinked the grit from his vision, and stared down at Konoha. Down, down, down, because Konoha was a dizzying distance away.

He said, "We're flying," but the words caught in his throat and refused to leave. Sasuke's grip tightened, and Naruto clutched back: an anchor.

Below them, the foxes' fur rippled beautifully, their ears swept back as they ran through the air.

A savage yell finally tore itself free from Naruto's lungs, rough and brutal; and then they were at the gate, the gate without its green doors, and thrown forward until they hit the grass and rolled.

Sasuke was heavy; Naruto pushed at him, and then gave up. It was good, anyway, to have the other man on top of him. He was solid and warm and real, and he could feel every expanse of Sasuke's chest when he breathed.

But Sasuke recovered from his shock, and their bad landing, quickly: He pushed himself up, panting with the effort.

Naruto grinned up at him. He wanted to laugh, wanted to scream until the entire world knew he was alive. But his throat burned, and his lungs, so he settled for the wild grin, which threatened to rip his cheeks apart.

Sasuke helped him up. They looked behind them. Naruto's steps stumbled, and abruptly stopped.

"It's gone," Naruto breathed, and stared at the broad stretch of land, and beyond that Fire's proud jungle, dominating the horizon and the sky.

The wet season's last, straggling rains swept through two days afterwards.

Naruto and Sasuke watched it fall from their shelter. Thunder roared. Wind whipped mist and droplets onto Naruto's face, and he turned his head to get the chill.

Impulsively he grabbed Sasuke's hand, unbalancing the other man, and pressed it against his chest. "Feel that?" he said. "We're alive."

Sasuke's fingers curled. He said, "You're an idiot," and didn't move away.

"Hey," Naruto said, "did you find what you were looking for?"

Sasuke's hand dropped to Naruto's hip. The rain turned the light blue, and it reflected well against his skin. "Did you?"

Naruto ducked his head in thought. The headband was in his pocket, now cleaned of grime. "Nah. But the nightmares stopped. Sasuke..." Hesitation. "Was Konoha real?"

"Real enough."

Naruto turned to look at him. The damp buffeted his side, and Sasuke snorted. "You're going to get wet, moron."

Naruto laughed, and shook his head. "We're alive," he repeated.

"You said that."

"We're alive, and the rain feels amazing, and-and-you're smiling," Naruto realized, and Sasuke's hand tightened on his hip. The sky rumbled; the rain fell harder, and Sasuke pulled him to the warmth of his body.

"Come with me," Naruto murmured into Sasuke's ear.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Anywhere-"

"Fine," Sasuke said. "Anywhere."

Their lips met halfway, just as the lightning flashed, turning the world white-hot and brilliant.