SasuNaruSasu Oneshots

6. Can It Just Be Us?

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A/N: Written for Naruto's birthday in 2021. It's pretty long but fluffy, canonverse, and I thought it was kind of cute. Hope you enjoy. I wrote this for someone initially with the general idea of going to the hot springs. That totally got lost and I spiraled (they still go I just made this long)

Contains: Konoha hate, you'll understand.

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Almost a year ago, the fourth great shinobi war came to an end. Ever since then, Naruto Uzumaki had been hailed a hero. Celebrated by everyone. The villagers in Konoha, his friends, and even people from other villages would remember his name. It's as if he became a symbol to be revered.

Although this was what Naruto wanted for his entire life, he quickly became slightly uncomfortable with this jump in his popularity. It seemed as if every day he was turning down someone who asked him out, and even marriage proposals. He accepted gifts from people constantly and began to run out of space in his apartment for them.

When he was younger he begged for attention and now it seemed the attention would never end. It was almost suffocating, but he'd bear it with a smile because who was he to complain when this is what he's wanted for so long?

Naruto stopped going out as often to the town. He disliked being bombarded with people. He did like going to be with his friends, and rarely ever said no to hanging out with them. Which was the opposite of Sasuke who almost always said no.

The few times Sasuke ended up agreeing was when Naruto's persistence finally outweighed his stubbornness. Sasuke found it hard to bring Naruto's mood down. Seeing Naruto upset made him want to do whatever he could to bring his mood up again. Whenever he saw Naruto smile, the warm feeling in his heart grew and he couldn't explain it. Or maybe he just didn't want to think about it.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke turns to the direction of Naruto's voice. Naruto is across the road, huffing and panting to try to get to him. Sasuke doesn't move since he's buying produce right now, and figures he can wait for Naruto to catch up. He does find it odd Naruto doesn't use some easier way to get to him. Can't he sense people? Or even send a clone to find him?

"What?" Sasuke asks once Naruto reaches him. Sasuke looks blatantly uninterested and Naruto's breath catches in his throat.

"Uh--" He coughs, keeling over with his palms on his knees. Then abruptly stands up as if he's freshly rejuvenated, a bright smile plastering his face, "Want to eat ramen with me?"

"Just...us?" Sasuke asks and scolds himself internally for sounding so hopeful about it.

"Not exactly, it's going to be me...Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru," Naruto counts on his fingers as he says everyone's name, "Wait...I'm forgetting someone."

"No," Sasuke answers right away, not letting Naruto name whoever he forgot. Sasuke turns the corner to get away before Naruto can convince him.

Naruto speeds up and meets up with him quickly. Wasn't he just tired a second ago? It's his goddamn mass of chakra. Sasuke wonders for a second if he should just teleport away but that feels like a stupid reason to use the rinnegan right now. It's not like he wants to avoid Naruto that badly.

"Come on Sasuke," Naruto whines and Sasuke ignores. If you ignore him when he's acting like a damn child he'll go away, right?

"No."

Sasuke doesn't look at Naruto, but is forced to once he latched onto Sasuke's arm. Sasuke doesn't pull away and stands still.

"Why?"