Chapter Text
The house was full of cardboard boxes, bags and just general disarray, and Sasuke was so stressed out he was about to have a mental breakdown.
At least they wouldn’t have to transport all of their furniture and other belongings with a wagon. It had taken some arrangements, but they had been able to find a teleportation jutsu that could move all of their stuff to Uzushio fast and easily—they only needed to carry all of them to the designated spot outside.
Sasuke took a moment to wipe sweat from his brow, and brushed some his hair behind his ear. He had let his hair grow—it reached his shoulders now, the bangs covering the Rinnegan from view. He didn’t mind if people saw it, but it made him feel better when it was hidden.
“Lunch break!” Naruto bellowed from the entryway. He’d left a while earlier to get something to eat; they were at the last stages of their packing, and would soon start carrying their things to the teleportation spot. Ino and Sakura would be coming soon to help, and once they were ready, Naruto and Sasuke would sleep over at their place and leave for Uzushio early in the next morning, taking their cats with them.
There still wasn’t a safe enough teleportation spell to transfer both Naruto and Sasuke, as well as Kuroha and Kiriha, safely to another village.
So they were going there by wagon. They didn’t have the heart to force the cats into the carriers, though, so they had taught them earlier to walk on a leash so that the journey would be easier.
“Great, I’m starving,” Sasuke said gratefully and flopped to sit on the sofa. Naruto wended through the boxes and the clutter to lower the bag on the table, and while he went to get drinks, Sasuke took out the bowls. There also were single-use chopsticks as they had already packed most of their stuff away. This would be their last day at this house—Nozomi would move there soon with her adoptive parents, two civilians who had taken a liking to her. Sasuke didn’t know better owners for the house; Nozomi was now eleven years old, and she would soon graduate from the Academy. Even though she had started two years later than most of her classmates, she’d studied a lot to be able to graduate with them.
She wasn’t a genius, but she was living proof that when you worked hard and didn’t give up, anything was possible.
Kuroha and Kiriha were sleeping on the other end of the sofa, bundled together, and Naruto and Sasuke ate their food in silence.
The past three years hadn’t changed them that much. They both had gotten their arms replaced with new ones, because they both had grown so much already their arms hadn’t kept up.
Using the new arms had required some training, but they had formed a habit of fighting at the training grounds; there, they were able to use their skills more, and Sasuke had become adept with his Rinnegan. Naruto, in turn, had started to train to use the chakra chains. He could manifest them easily, but he still lacked some control, but that was the reason they practiced.
They hadn’t had the time for that recently, though. They had been packing their house for a month, and now were finally at the point where everything was ready to be transported; Karin and the others in Uzushio would carry their belongings inside to their new house. It had been built for them, located at the edge of the village, near the border. They could still see the ocean, but they still had their secluded backyard surrounded by trees (“So that you can recreate your koi pond,” Naruto had said affectionately). Otherwise, the house was a bit different from its layout: they still had a playroom for cats, but along with that and the bedroom, they also had an office where Naruto and Sasuke both could do paperwork. Naruto would be swamped with his when he would take office as the first Uzukage, and Sasuke would have his hands full planning lessons and grading homework.
They would be so busy before all of it would settle and they’d learn the new routine, but Sasuke couldn’t wait. He was itching to leave Konoha, even though these past three years had been one of the best along with those he’d had with his parents and Itachi.
The therapy they both had gone through had helped a lot, and they were now more or less in a spot where they had been able to stop it, but Naruto’s therapist Hotaru, as well as Sasuke’s therapist, Aki, were considering to move to Uzushio later to help build the mental health system there. As far as infrastructure went, Uzushio was still lagging behind Konoha, even with the money Sasuke donated regularly and the help Uzushio got from Konoha (largely insisted by Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi).
All they needed was timeUzushio would soon thrive. Airi wrote them regularly and told them that there were already a lot of new shinobi wandering to the village to settle there, along with some that had lived in exile after Uzushio’s destruction.
“It feels kind of sad to leave this place, to be honest,” Naruto said and chugged his mouth full of food. “You sat right there when you confessed to me.”
“Don’t make me remember,” Sasuke snorted. He thought of that memory with affection, but only time had made him realize how painfully awkward it had actually been. It was a miracle neither of them hadn’t passed out.
“But our lives really started to get better here,” Naruto said.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Sasuke said quietly. “The first days of our future, just as you said back then.”
“That was pretty poetic, wasn’t it?” Naruto laughed. “I’m happy we’re finally able to move, I’ve been on pins and needles for months.”
Despite Kakashi’s approval, moving to Uzushio hadn’t been as straightforward as they had hoped. Even the daimyo almost got involved, to prevent the Jinchuriki from leaving Konoha to another village, but the only thing Naruto had needed to do was to voice again how he would fight his way out if he had to.
Of course, Kakashi’s support had helped a lot in that. Still, not everyone was happy that they were moving, but Sasuke couldn't care less what others thought about it. He just wanted to get home.
They finished with their lunch, focused a moment on kissing and making out on the sofa, and then started the arduous process of carrying their belongings outside.
Sasuke wasn’t quite sure how the teleportation jutsu worked, but the second they settled the boxes to the innermost circle and Naruto channeled chakra to it, they disappeared. They would now be in the circle in Uzushio, where Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu (along with the help they needed) would carry the stuff inside.
Sasuke and Naruto were focused on work when Ino and Sakura arrived, and for the next few hours, they moved boxes, bags and furniture to the circle, only for it to disappear.
It took until late afternoon to get the whole house empty.
“Thanks, you really helped out,” Naruto said happily to Ino and Sakura. “You can go ahead and leave, me and Sasuke will finish things up and make sure everything is ready for Nozomi and her family.”
Ino and Sakura waved before they left. Naruto and Sasuke went back inside; Kuroha and Kiriha were already leashed and waiting near the door.
“It’s really done,” Naruto said. His voice echoed in the empty living room. “It’s really happening.”
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” Sasuke said. He hugged Naruto from behind and buried his face into the crook of Naruto’s neck. In the end, he had grown taller—only by a few centimeters, but enough to gloat with it.
“Of course not,” Naruto huffed. “It just takes some getting used to.”
“I won’t miss Konoha, but I will miss the house,” Sasuke admitted. “It was my first home for years.”
“I’m glad you feel like that,” Naruto laughed. He turned and they shared another slow kiss before making sure they hadn’t left anything behind.
Naruto took the leashes and went outside with the cats, but Sasuke lingered. He took out the Konoha headband Kakashi had given him before their journey to Uzushio. He left it in the genkan with a note, For Nozomi.
***
The wagon waited for Sasuke and Naruto early in the morning, at the gates to the village.
“We’ll see you next month at the inauguration,” Kakashi said, his hands in his pockets.
Not many had come to see them off—mostly by their wish, because they didn’t want to make a spectacle out of it—but Kakashi was there, along with Sakura, Ino and some of their other friends. Iruka had come too.
“I’ll be waiting,” Naruto beamed. At twenty-one, Naruto would be among the youngest Kage then—along with Gaara, of course.
Naruto hugged through most of his friends, but Sasuke mostly just stood there and let Sakura hug him. Others just nodded at him—it was all the same, really; they knew the only one whose affections Sasuke actually cared for was Naruto. But he did tolerate it from Sakura, because she was his friend too.
“You really should do it, Sasuke,” Sakura whispered to his ear before stepping back. “I know you want to.”
“Shut up,” Sasuke hissed. His stomach lurched and he hoped dearly that Naruto hadn’t heard—trying to keep his thoughts to himself was difficult enough.
But still, the small box he kept secured in his belt pouch felt heavier again. He had tried to gather his wits for days to ask, but he always chickened out. How in the hell had his father done all of this stuff? It was terrifying. It was stupid too, because Sasuke just knew Naruto would say yes. They had been together for three years already, and there was absolutely no chance for them to break up—it just wouldn’t happen.
They climbed into the wagon with Kuroha and Kiriha and then the journey to their new home finally managed to begin. It would take a while to reach Uzushio like this; they had secured enough food for the cats, and they would be able to get more water from the many streams along the road, and they would be able to hunt too if they needed to.
Sasuke was so preoccupied while thinking about the stupid box that even Naruto noticed it.
“Are you okay? You’re spacing out again,” Naruto said, worry coloring his voice. “Have you been getting flashbacks again?”
“It’s nothing like that,” Sasuke sighed. “I’m just… distracted.”
That was obviously the wrong thing to say.
“Distracted by what?” Naruto asked, confused. “Are you worried about how things will go in Uzushio?”
“No,” Sasuke said and pinched the bridge of his nose. The box felt even heavier now. Just fucking do it, he told himself, but now that the moment was perfect, he was almost paralyzed because of nerves.
“Then what?” Naruto pressed. “Maybe I can help.”
“Maybe,” Sasuke said shortly. He swallowed and then took his hand to the pouch and found the damn box. He’d carried it with him for weeks already, he just wanted to get it done.
Whatever. Sasuke took it and almost threw it into Naruto’s hands.
“Huh—? What is it?”
“Open it,” Sasuke urged. He’d tried to train himself to say those words but then again—the contents of that box would be telling enough.
Sasuke watched as Naruto looked at the box, how his face started to get redder as he realized what it was. “Sasuke—”
“Open it,” Sasuke repeated.
Naruto swallowed visibly, licked his lips and opened the box.
Sasuke hadn’t known that the engagement ring his father had gifted to his mother had still existed. It had been tucked away in some of the other pricier Uchiha Clan possessions that Sasuke had gotten hands to only a while ago, after publishing his book, The Completely History of the Uchiha Clan.
“This—this is—” Naruto stuttered, his blue eyes wide, his blond hair almost golden in sunlight, “—this is—”
“It is,” Sasuke confirmed.
“Are you proposing to me, Uchiha Sasuke?” Naruto wheezed, holding the box with the ring with a look of utter disbelief and shock.
“Uh,” Sasuke muttered and rubbed his neck—damn Naruto and his too-contagious habits—but couldn’t move his eyes away from Naruto’s face. “I think I am.”
Naruto made a strangled noise. His hands were shaking as he took the ring from the box and looked at it. “It’s pretty—not as posh as I thought it would be.”
It was only a simple silver band, really—his father hadn’t been a posh type. Sasuke was glad it was so unassuming, because it fit them too.
They stared at each other in silence, with Kuroha and Kiriha nuzzling between them. How could proposing feel so awkward when they’d been together for so long? Sasuke would never know. His mouth was dry, but he didn’t say anything, just kept staring at Naruto and the ring he held in his hands.
“You’re really proposing,” Naruto breathed. “In a very Sasuke-like way too.”
“Dumbass,” Sasuke said automatically. “But. Uh. Yeah.”
“Can you say the words?” Naruto begged. “Pretty please?”
“You know how I feel about that,” Sasuke groaned. “It’s embarrassing.”
“Sasukeeeeeeeeee—”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, grabbed Naruto’s face by the jaw and kissed him demandingly. “Marry me,” he said. “That’s all you get.”
“That’s enough,” Naruto said happily. “Of course I’ll marry you, asshole. Nothing would make me happier.”
“Well then,” Sasuke said. “Excellent.”
Naruto offered the ring to Sasuke, and Sasuke, again rolling his eyes, slipped it on Naruto’s finger.
“Wait, you don’t have a ring,” Naruto said, startled. “You need a ring too!”
“We can worry about that later—” Sasuke started, but then, in front of his eyes, Naruto molded a ring from the damn chakra chains he’d been training to use.
“Will that actually last?” Sasuke asked as Naruto gave a cursory look at the ring. “I mean, you made it from chakra.”
“I concentrated a lot on the density and what I desired from it,” Naruto said easily. “And Kurama helped a bit too. I think it will hold on, until at least we can get a proper ring for you.”
Then, he took Sasuke’s left, bandaged hand and put the ring on. It glinted in the sun and Sasuke could feel Naruto’s chakra emanating from it, in a similar way it emanated from his necklace. Naruto had his own too now, the scroll filled with chakra from both Airi and Sasuke.
“I can’t believe I’m so lucky I get to be the one to marry you,” Naruto sighed. “But let’s keep the wedding small, okay? And only with the most important people.”
“I don’t think we’d even need a party really,” Sasuke muttered. “Just… make it official. We have enough of a party with your inauguration.”
So that’s what they did. As they reached Uzushio, they went to check on their new home and take the cats there—a lovely small house built just for them. All of their stuff was already inside, but they didn’t do anything about them yet. Instead, they beelined to the nearest shrine. Uzushio had been one of the first villages to make same-sex marriages legal, so the monk didn’t even bat an eyelid as they burst in, still in their travel clothes and sweaty from sitting in the sun.
It was all they needed. It was at that moment when Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke promised to be with each other always, to love each other no matter what.
One month later, Naruto was officially appointed as the first Uzukage of Uzushio and they revealed to be married.
It was a day of joy, music and celebrations.
In the evening, they sat at their front porch, Sasuke bundled in his wonderful orange hoodie that he was finally able to use again with the colder weather. He cradled a mug of tea in his hands.
Naruto sat beside him, still wearing the Uzukage’s cloak.
They didn’t talk, but they watched the ocean together and were finally at peace.