Bonds ➳ SasuNaru

Fifteen | Sasuke's Decision

It was pretty dark when Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji left the Leaf Village. Shikamaru – who was in charge since he was the only chuunin and the others were still genin – decided that they'd walk as far as they could, and once someone got tired, they'd stop for the night.

They'd only walked twenty minutes and Naruto was already tired.

They stopped to set up camp for the night, Shikamaru bunking with Neji and Sasuke with Naruto (since, first, they only brought two tents, which was less to carry, second, it wasn't a good idea for Sasuke to be with the Hyuuga, and third, Naruto and Sasuke were on the same team anyway). It wasn't cold outside, so there was no need for a fire. The four quickly just got into their tents and tried to get some sleep.

Naruto was out almost immediately, but Sasuke lay awake for a little while before he finally fell asleep as well.

The next morning after breakfast, they were off again, heading for the Sand. The four of them were mostly quiet, even Naruto, surprisingly.

The day passed by quickly, and soon, they were setting up camp again.

The next day is when they reached the Sand. They spent the rest of the day working hard, and the day after was the same – hard work, and the next day, even more work.

While they were working together, Sasuke and Naruto had gotten closer. It was almost hard to tell, but if one looked close enough, it could've been seen.

On the last day at the Sand, since Sasuke had gotten injured, they set off early for Konoha to get Sasuke healed up by Tsunade, and three days after that, they were home.

Sasuke was put into the hospital, got healed, and was told to stay and rest for a few days, and so, of course Sakura had to go and visit him.

Naruto also went to visit, but it ended up turning into a fight that took place on the roof, but was stopped by Kakashi.

Kakashi ended up giving Sasuke a lecture and then he left. Sasuke sat in a tree awhile but was attacked… by four Sound shinobi, who tried to convince him to join Orochimaru.

They told him he could get more power. They told him not to forget his goal of killing his brother. Then, they disappeared into the night.

Sasuke thought about it for a long while. He thought about Naruto. He wondered what the blond would do if he did leave. He wondered if, perhaps he'd be forgotten. He let out a sigh as he thought of his brother.

He wanted to kill Itachi with everything he had, but… was leaving the village worth it? Was leaving Naruto behind and heading into the darkness the best way to go about it?

He thought about it again. He thought for a long time.

He made a decision.

—

He stood in his room, the moon's light illuminating his face through the window. He looked at the picture he held in his hands.

Kakashi-sensei, Sakura…

Naruto…

He laid the picture face down; he couldn't stand to look at it longer. It'd just make things harder.

He found a recent picture of him and Naruto, which had been in his nightstand drawer. Naruto was grinning and Sasuke had a small smile on his face. That day had been a nice day.

One of the best.

He put the picture in his pocket. He'd keep this one. He didn't know why, however. Something about the picture made him feel... something.