"Your stamina is something else," Sakura had told Naruto once, just after he'd pushed himself to his breaking point yet again after coming back home to Konoha.
He was bruised and bloody and exhausted, but he was still the best. Yet it wasn't enough. He still had a long way to go. He needed more people to conquer.
As Sakura patched him up, sealing her complaints of his general lack of self-preservation between layers of gauze, she speculated that he would eventually die a brutal and gory death. "And then who's gonna bring Sasuke back?" she'd said. She tried to pass it off as a joke. Naruto knew it wasn't one. His blood hummed with the need to fight and bickering with her was all he could do to drown out the sound in that moment. He didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't really about self-preservation at all.
Take them all, his body sang at any given opportunity. Kill or be killed. Raze the world to the ground or die trying. Naruto suspected it had something to do with Kurama's chakra flowing through his veins; after all, the itch had been there since birth. Or at least since the consciousness that comes with transitioning from infancy to childhood.
When the need arose for them to split up for the first time during the war, Sakura had taken Naruto's face between her hands. "Don't die," she'd told him, completely serious, as if she expected him not to follow through. Naruto himself didn't quite know if he'd manage that, or if he even wanted to. There'd been one and only one goal in his mind then: to find Sasuke and drag him back kicking and screaming.
And when the war ended, and he finally got everything he wanted, he wasn't sure what to do next. His enemies were all vanquished. Sasuke, although not living in the village, was still willing to serve Konoha. Sure, there was the goal of becoming Hokage, but that wouldn't quench the thirst for violence within.
There are times, especially now, that there are no more people to fight and Naruto feels unmoored, where his hands itch with the need to hurt and his soul cries for blood. Conveniently (almost as if Kakashi knows), it's these times when he's assigned a mission with Sasuke.
And, oh, does Sasuke prove to be a wonderful distraction. When jailing the second-rate criminals associated with each mission isn't enough, Naruto drags Sasuke by the collar of his idiotic cloak somewhere private and pulls him into a kiss, and Sasuke responds beautifully, teeth nipping at Naruto's lips hard enough to draw blood. He lets Sasuke push him to his knees and use his mouth, and Sasuke lets Naruto manhandle him until he's in the right position to get fucked. And when his body teeters over the edge of pleasure and pain, it's only then that the thrumming in his mind quiets down until it's almost gone.
That's not to say the relationship is purely physical, at least on Naruto's part. Naruto has never been particularly good at measuring the importance of people. Some of them simply become part of the landscape of his life so gradually he stops noticing where they end and everything else begins.
Sasuke is like that. Naruto looks for him without thinking. Adjusts his pace to match his. Saves him a seat before realizing what he's doing. The habit runs so deep he barely registers it anymore. Sasuke's presence when they are assigned to the same post has become one of those small certainties Naruto carries through the day, like the sun rising in the east or the sky being blue.
And when they're not together, Sasuke is the first thing on his mind when he wakes and the last thing that consumes his thoughts before he sleeps. He thinks of Sasuke's mouth on his body and his hands caressing his face, yes, but he also thinks of lips pressed into a half-smile and dark hair ruffling in the breeze. He sees Sasuke in the objects of mundane life: a black cat watching people pass carefully, a pair of chopsticks laid perfectly parallel, the moon reflected in water. Chasing someone halfway across the continent will do that to you.
He never stops to wonder what it means. Some things feel so natural they escape examination entirely.
It is exactly for this reason that he is overjoyed when Kakashi assigns him possibly the worst mission he's had in years.
Several smaller nations along the border of the Land of Fire have spent the years following the war rebuilding roads, reopening trade routes, and attempting to establish formal agreements with one another. The problem is that nobody trusts anybody else quite yet. Too many old grudges. Too many rumors. Too many opportunities for supplies to disappear or messages to get "lost" somewhere between towns. Konoha has been asked to send representatives to assist with negotiations and investigate a series of increasingly suspicious incidents that are threatening to derail the entire effort before it begins.
Kakashi's picked each member of the team for good reason: Sakura for diplomacy and medical support, Shikamaru for strategy, and Ino for intelligence gathering. Lee for—well, Naruto's not exactly sure what Lee's there for. He'd barged in during the briefing and demanded he be a part of the mission. Doesn't hurt to have extra manpower, though. Naruto and Sasuke round out the group as its strongest fighters, serving as a visible reminder that anyone considering violence would be making a very poor decision. Plus, Naruto's still very much a war hero; just the sight of him can soothe conflict.
The mission takes them through half a dozen settlements over the course of nearly two months. Some days are spent traveling with merchant caravans. Others are devoted to interviewing local officials, inspecting routes, attending meetings, or investigating reports of missing shipments and forged documents. It's the sort of work that sounds exciting when condensed into a briefing and becomes considerably less exciting once one was actually sitting through a four-hour discussion about grain tariffs.
Not that Naruto minds.
Well. He minds the meetings, but the rest isn't so bad. The days have a rhythm to them. Breakfast with the team before sunrise, long stretches of road, the same faces every morning and every night around campfires and restaurant tables. It feels strangely domestic. There's enough going on that Naruto doesn't have time to account for that itch.
And unlike most missions, this one offers something Naruto didn't realize he's been missing: time. Usually when he and Sasuke find themselves assigned to the same mission, they're lucky if they get a week together before being pulled in different directions. There's always somewhere else Sasuke needs to be, another report to deliver, another months-long absence waiting just around the corner.
Only two weeks have passed, so Naruto still has a month and a half before he has to stop pretending Sasuke is his. He'll be damned if he wastes the opportunity. And that's how he finds himself with one arm braced against the wall of a random inn, Sasuke beneath him, taking his pleasure from his best friend's already pinkened mouth.
"Shit," he groans, as Sasuke swallows his cock down to the root once more. Naruto doesn't even want to think about how many people Sasuke had to suck off before this to get so good. He also tries not to dwell too hard on the fact that Sasuke is pressing his clothed crotch insistently against Naruto's shoe repeatedly and moaning around the intrusion in his mouth. It might send him over the edge embarrassingly fast. He's glad that Ino and Sakura are staying three doors down, with Shikamaru and Lee on another floor altogether.
Naruto grabs Sasuke's face, rubbing his thumb across his tear-soaked lashes as he thrusts harder. The buzz under his skin is pleasantly sated, reduced to a low hum. It's in these moments, when he's close to that mind-shattering feeling, that his tongue grows looser. "God, you take me so well, so good for me, baby. Just like that, pretty boy," he babbles, tucking a loose piece of hair behind Sasuke's ear. Sasuke moans louder in response, squeezing his eyes shut even tighter.
A grin spreads across Naruto's face despite himself. "Fuck, I forgot you're into the praise thing," he murmurs. And Sasuke really is. He gets all pliant and sweet when Naruto tells him he's doing good, or that he looks good. He denies it after, but that's because he doesn't know Naruto means it. He thinks it's just dirty talk.
Sasuke furrows his brows and opens his eyes in defiance, but tightens his throat in just the right way. God, just looking at those pretty eyes of his has Naruto seeing stars and shooting his load right in Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke swallows it all like a champ. When Naruto pinches his cheeks together with a quiet "lemme see," Sasuke opens his mouth wide and sticks his tongue out. Not a drop remains. Naruto pats his cheek and smiles. "Good boy."
Sasuke slumps against the wall and closes his eyes for a few moments, chest heaving. Naruto gives him some time alone in favor of fetching some water and a towel. When he comes back, Sasuke gladly accepts the canteen and takes a long drink. Some of it escapes the corner of his mouth. Naruto has no choice but to watch, transfixed, as it glides down his throat, following the path of several lovebites Naruto himself has left behind.
Sasuke screws the cap shut and levels him with a withering glare. "Your stamina is something else," he rasps, throat sore from abuse. Naruto's mind flashes back to that day with Sakura without his permission. Hearing the same accusation from Sasuke now—spoken in a rough, worn voice and accompanied by a look that's somehow equal parts annoyance and fond resignation—sends an entirely different kind of warmth crawling up the back of his neck.
Naruto bends a little and offers Sasuke a hand. Sasuke eyes it suspiciously, as if Naruto has presented him with a controversial philosophical question rather than assistance, but takes it anyway. He sways slightly as he gets to his feet.
"Bathroom," he gets out, face twisted in disgust. It's only then that Naruto looks down and sees the rapidly growing wet spot on the front of his pants.
A zing of pleasure goes up Naruto's spine at the sight. "No fucking way," he breathes. "Did you just—"
"Not a word," Sasuke grumbles. His knees give out a little as they walk and Naruto has to tighten his hold on him for support.
Naruto tries to rein in the smile making its way across his face, but his efforts are in vain. Sasuke's never came in his pants before, and definitely not just from grinding a little against Naruto's foot alone.
He helps Sasuke clean himself up and brings him another pair of pants, and soon enough they're sitting shoulder to shoulder on the shitty mattress. Sasuke, with all the inevitability of the tide coming in, drops his head so it can rest on Naruto's shoulder. His nose brushes Naruto's jugular, and Naruto opens an arm and draws him into his side in reflex. He looks down, watching as Sasuke takes breaths so even and deep that he could be asleep. His hair fans across Naruto's chest, and Naruto can't help but think that it belongs there. It tickles his chin a little, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Comfortable?" Naruto asks, relishing the way Sasuke's brows furrow a little.
"Mm," he mumbles. He rubs his cheek back and forth but eventually settles. "Be quiet."
Now that Sasuke is finally in his arms, the low thrum under Naruto's skin finally vanishes completely. He hasn't had this kind of reprieve from it in a long, long time. He watches Sasuke hum in pleasure while he runs his fingers through dark strands and thinks, not for the first time, that this is the only time Sasuke truly rests.
He'll be content to provide that for the rest of his life, if he's allowed to. Naruto feels the happiness in his bones, and knows it's dangerous. Knows it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye. But it's just like that old question, he supposes, of whether it is better to have loved and lost or not loved at all. There is no chance of losing now that he has time on his side. He'll tell Sasuke how he feels eventually, and then maybe he can really belong somewhere. That's all he wants. He wants to be Sasuke's and he wants Sasuke to be his.