𝐃𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐲||𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐃||

Chapter 19:Shadow Closing In

"There you go! That's the way! Drink up!"

Naruto nearly choked on said drink when Tsunade's hand slapped against his back. It was like getting hit by a ton of bricks. The impact alone threatened to launch him out of his chair and the bar altogether; only a healthy application of chakra kept him glued to his seat. He shot her a baleful glare, only to be meet by a cheeky grin and rosy cheeks. As he looked on, she knocked another bottle back. With a reluctant sigh, the former blond did the same, wincing as the booze burned the back of his throat.

To be fair, he'd forgotten many things since he'd arrived in the past. This? Definitely one of them.

Tsunade was a freakin' heavyweight when it came to drink.

She'd had five bottle to his two now, and while he'd carefully nursed his drinks with the reluctance of someone who rarely partook, the legendary sucker -as she would one day come to be known in a far flung that wouldn't happen now- downed hers with a ferocious fervor. She'd attacked each bottle as though it were her arch-nemesis. Somehow, she was still conscious. Really, it wasn't fair. He'd hardly drunk anything and he was already beginning to feel a bit tipsy.

"I swear, all that drink goes straight to your tits." Naruto groused. That earned him another slap on the back. This one proved less gentle than the last. "Ha! I felt that one!" Naruto laughed despite the pain that blossomed in his shoulder. No doubt he'd have a bruise tomorrow. "What else ya got?!"

Tsunade's arm swung back and for a fleeting moment, he thought she might actually punch him this time.

She settled for a laugh and shove instead. "Gods, you're such an ass!"

"Nope." He declared with a resounding smack of the lips.

"Oi! You can't just "nope" you're way out of this!"

"Nope!" his grin grew a fraction.

"Cheeky little shi-

"NOPE!"

Tsunade scoffed and swatted him on the arm. "See? You can unwind when you want to. Just takes a bit of sake."

Her sudden change of tune drew a frown from Naruto; made him wonder if she'd intended this from the start. Hmm. Maybe he'd drank too much after all...

In all honesty, Naruto couldn't remember the last time he'd done this. Just...sat, and relaxed with a friend. Oh, how his younger self would've balked at this. Then again, his former self would've chewed him out by now, too. He'd have every right to. He felt like a fake. A fraud. Everything he'd ever spoken against. Granted, he was fraud who'd gone fathered Itachi Uchiha in this timeline, but a fraud nonetheless. Would he ever be able to tell anyone the truth? Would they even believe him? Or was he doomed to hold to silence. If that meant taking the secret to his grave...he wasn't sure he could, knowing everyone thought he was someone he wasn't.

Naruto stole a glance at Tsunade as she knocked back her drink and called for another round, allowing them to drink in companionable silence.

In his last life Tsunade had been his superior and the Fifth Hokage. She'd been older. Tired. Worn away by the horrors of war. Not this grinning girl pressing a fresh bottle into his hand. Looking back on those halcyon days left him a little nostalgic. Things were different here. Here, they'd found and bled together on many a battlefield, forged through fire and flame. Here, in this lifetime, she was his...friend? Something more? Even after all of this time he wasn't sure what to make of her. Theirs was a bond not so easily broken and yet sometimes it felt brittle all the same. As if a strong blow might snap it beyond repair.

The truth would do all that and more.

"Its too late for the truth now, Naruto. You're in too deep." Kaguya reminded him.