Author's note: This sequel is like a year late, but my time management is as always shit, so *coughs* At least it got finally finished!

This is the sequel to Hokage's Shadow and it might help to read that one first - or reread it to refresh your memory LOL - because otherwise you might be a bit confused with this one.

ATTENTION: At the end of June, I'll be changing my penname on this site to "SasuNarufan13" to better fit with the pennames I have on the two other sites.

Warnings: The holy trinity of povs: Gaara's, Naruto's and Sasuke's; established slash; implied mature content; vague hints of MPreg; completely disregards the epilogue; set sometime in the future; minor gore; minor violence; some fluff

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!

Untouchable

Naruto greeted him with a large smile. "Gaara, it's so good to see you again!" He promptly drew him in a tight hug, giving no warning whatsoever like usual.

Gaara didn't mind and simply hugged him back, nodding at the black haired man standing a couple of feet away. "Naruto, I'm glad to see you. Uchiha, it's been a while. How was the journey?"

Naruto fell into step with him as they walked inside the tall building; the stone from which it was made out of keeping the warmth trapped inside. "Oh, it was fine," he answered lightly and flapped his hand. "Got here with no trouble whatsoever. Just like I said I would." That last comment seemed to be directed at Uchiha himself, who just grunted.

"You didn't run into any bandits?" Gaara inquired curiously.

Temari had caught some rumours about the area close to the village being infested with some bandits causing havoc. They hadn't encountered them themselves, but they had also been travelling with six guards – something Naruto never did.

It was something he and the other Kage had often talked with Naruto about, but the man insisted he was fine on his own and didn't need any guards. It was a fact that Naruto always showed up completely unharmed to any Kage meeting, no matter where it was scheduled, but … Gaara chanced a glance at Uchiha, who was following them quietly. Dark eyes briefly landed on him before they looked away.

Somehow the red haired man had a feeling that the lack of guards was compensated elsewhere.

"No, we didn't. Well, we weren't bothered by any at least," Naruto said and shrugged. "They might have moved on to another place or," he grinned mischievously, jerking his thumb backwards over his shoulder at Uchiha, "they saw this brooding bastard and decided they didn't want to try their luck."

Uchiha rolled his eyes, unimpressed, but didn't say anything. Gaara was used to that. While the dark haired man accompanied Naruto every time for Kage meetings, he barely said a word. The few words he did speak were usually only meant for Naruto's ears anyway.

Gaara knew that the other Kage tended to feel a bit unsettled around the lone Uchiha survivor, all too aware of his reputation, but as long as Uchiha didn't decide he needed to eliminate everyone again, the Kazekage wasn't bothered by his presence.

The other three Kage were waiting for them in Kurotsuchi's office; the fourth Tsuchikage looked up with a smile when they entered, her hat already resting in front of her on the table. The sixth Mizukage, Chojuro, and the fifth Raikage, Darui, were waiting behind their chairs, dipping their heads down in a respectful nod when Naruto entered the room, pulling off his own hat.

The Kages sat down, with their assistants standing right behind them, and Kurotsuchi smiled, linking her hands together. "Well then, now that everyone is present, let us start this meeting."

The others were mingling together, enjoying idle chatter now that the business part of the meeting was over, when Gaara sought out Uchiha. The man in question seemed to be melting within the shadows of the corner he had chosen to stand in, his hand casually resting on the hilt of his katana. His sharp gaze was as always fixated on Naruto, who was ribbing Darui good-naturedly about the sports competition they wanted to set up in order to improve the relationships between the villages even more.

The last war had shown the villages there was no point in keeping old grudges alive and under Naruto's guidance they had all agreed to work towards peace and a better world in general. The meeting today had been to discuss setting up a form of a sports competition, similar to the Chuunin exams in the sense that all the villages could participate, but without the violence and bloodshed that accompanied the exams.

It was a good way to relax and get to know each other better; Konoha would be the first one to organise one such competition as it had been Naruto who had suggested the idea in the first place.

"Those bandits didn't decide to just leave for another place, did they?" Gaara questioned calmly, keeping his voice low as to not attract any unnecessary attention.

Kankuro glanced at him quickly, but his attention was diverted when Chojuro appeared to ask him something.

"Hn," was Uchiha's only answer which while non-sensical did tell Gaara everything he needed to know.

"With how many were they?" he inquired, wondering idly whether he and Kankuro would come across a pile of dead bodies when they would return to Suna.

"Five," Uchiha replied monotonously. His eyes remained on Naruto, tracking his process throughout the room.

He was even more obsessed with the Hokage's wellbeing than the other guards, but knowing what he did about him and Naruto, Gaara wasn't surprised by that.

"Was it a random attack?"

"They had found the scrolls of Akatsuki detailing how to extract the Bijuu," Uchiha murmured and his face darkened for just a couple of seconds, before it returned to his previous blank mask. "They thought the Hokage made an easy target apparently."

"Except they hadn't counted on your presence," Gaara said, frowning slightly. It wasn't a pleasant thought that scrolls of Akatsuki were still lying around somewhere.

Uchiha smirked faintly, his eyes gaining a vicious gleam. "No, they had not."

"Naruto doesn't know anything about them?" He didn't think his friend would lie about it, but getting rid of five criminals at once without alerting Naruto seemed weird.

"He was sleeping," Uchiha replied primly. "I made sure there wasn't any noise."

Green eyes stared at him, at the viciousness still lurking in the depths of those sharp, intense eyes, at the sadistic sneer briefly flashing across Uchiha's face.

"You know," he remarked casually, rolling his shoulders while his sand idly floated around his legs, "the other Kages and I have wondered for quite some time why Naruto refuses to take more guards with him when he travels. I guess he only really needs one."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Uchiha asked, finally looking at him. He sounded more bored than annoyed.

"Yes, the point being that I needed to know whether the criminals still posed a risk or not," Gaara answered dryly. "I guess it was a moot point to ask, however, given Naruto arrived with you."

"Just doing my job as his guard," Uchiha replied vaguely.

"As his guard, hm?" Most guards typically didn't manage to kill five people at once without even waking up the intended victim.

But then again, Gaara watched Uchiha walk over to Naruto, leaning close to him to murmur something in his ear, most guards weren't Uchiha Sasuke.

And most guards didn't protect someone like Naruto.

Every Kage had their own set of trusted guards, but Naruto only ever had one to protect him: the best friend he'd sworn to bring back. Gaara and the other Kage might have more guards, but it was Naruto who was truly untouchable, of that Gaara had no doubt.

As long as Uchiha was with him, nobody would be able to lift a finger to the blond Jinchuuriki.

Gaara would feel sorry for those criminals, but well … They really should have known better than to attack the Hokage.

Because his Shadow was always there, prepared to do everything to keep Naruto safe.

When he woke up, he was confused at first, wondering if it was already morning. But no, when he rolled onto his back, the tent was still pitch black, no sign of a rising sun anywhere.

Huh, weird.

He sat up and rubbed the back of his wrist over his eyes, smacking his lips together. He wasn't feeling nauseous, so it wasn't like the little bean in him was giving him any trouble. Patting the gentle swell of his stomach, he stretched out his arms and then felt next to him, expecting to feel the warm body of his lover next to him.

The mattress was empty.

The hell?

Now wide awake, he pricked his ears, wondering if Sasuke had just stepped outside to take a leak or so. He caught the sound of odd muffled grunts and he furrowed his eyebrows. What the hell was going on?

That's Uchiha taking care of stuff like usual, Kurama grunted, not even opening his eyes. His large head was resting on his folded front paws; his nine tails idly swishing back and forth behind him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked confused. "What stuff?"

It's a good thing you're pretty and strong, because it's definitely not your brains he's staying with you for, Kurama snorted, cracking open his eyes this time. They shone evilly and his lips stretched back to curl into a mocking smirk.

"Sometimes I don't know who's the bigger bastard: you or Sasuke," Naruto said darkly and left the smirking fox demon behind, intent on finding out just what the fuck Sasuke was doing.

Taking care of stuff like usual? What the hell did that even mean?

Huffing and complaining underneath his breath about useless, sadistic, fluffy bastards, he shuffled over the mattress to the opening of the tent and pulled down the zipper. Pushing aside the flaps, he crawled out of it and rose up, shivering when the cold wind pricked through his thin pyjama shirt.

"Hey, Sasuke, what are you …" he trailed off, his eyes widening at the sight which greeted him; his mouth dropping open in surprise.

One man laid a few feet away from the tent, his limbs broken in several places and a kunai sticking straight into his heart. His hand was still clenched around some shuriken of his own, useless now.

And Sasuke – he had another guy pinned to a tree with his katana, a hand clamped around the man's mouth as he gurgled and twitched in his dying moments. At Naruto's voice, Sasuke whipped his head around surprised, meeting large blue eyes with his own madly spinning Sharingan and Rinnegan.

"What are you doing? You should still be sleeping," Sasuke scolded him and stepped away from the unknown guy, pulling out his katana abruptly.

Blood gushed out of the large wound like a morbid waterfall and the man keeled over, falling down in a crumbled heap against the base of the tree. He was dead before he completely slumped over sideways.

"What am I doing?" Naruto repeated incredulously and pointed an accusing finger at the other man, who blinked bemused. "I knew you didn't just keep watch the other night! Those criminals Gaara mentioned – you killed them, didn't you?"

"They were going to drain you from the Kyuubi, of course I killed them," Sasuke said annoyed, clucking his tongue before whipping his katana down to the ground, flicking off most of the blood.

His reply took Naruto off guard, taking the heat out of his anger. "They were planning on extracting Kurama?"

"Yes, apparently they had found some scrolls Akatsuki had left behind and figured they would give the ritual a try. And why not try it out on an idiot who travels alone?" Sasuke said pointedly.

"You're literally with me the entire time, I'm not alone! How many times do I have to keep repeating that?" Naruto asked exasperatedly, throwing his hands in the air. "What were these two planning then? Another ritual?"

"No, they thought they could kidnap you and ask for ransom," Sasuke replied and shrugged. "They refused to listen, so I got rid of them."

Eyeing the two dead bodies warily, Naruto inquired, "Did you even try to reason with them?"

He didn't even blink when Sasuke was suddenly right in front of him, only wrinkled his nose at the scent of blood sticking to the man; the copper scent permeating the air heavily.

"I'm not reasoning with anyone who thinks they can attack you," Sasuke murmured, his gaze intense as he gripped Naruto's chin, lifting his head up. "I told you before that I won't allow anyone to hurt you. They paid the price for their own mistakes."

"You know, I'm quite capable of defending myself," Naruto pointed out, crossing his arms.

"I know," Sasuke said simply. "But I want to do this. For you both." He released Naruto's chin in favour of palming his belly, faintly visibly now through the thin cotton of his shirt.

Naruto sighed, recognising after all these years a losing battle when he saw one. He and Sasuke had had this discussion often, in which Naruto insisted he could take care of himself, that he was more than capable of self-defence. Sasuke would throw back that he knew that, but that he was still going to protect him because in his words, "Someone needs to keep your idiotic arse safe and I'm the only one capable of doing that."

The bastard could be so damn annoying sometimes.

But as always it was hard to stay angry at the other man, especially when he was touching his belly so tenderly, the mad glint in his eyes disappearing, making way for a soft look of wonder.

Eugh, he was really such an annoying bastard, Naruto really didn't know how he managed to keep dealing with him. He should call himself lucky that the blond loved his stupid, overprotective arse.

"Fine, it's not like I can do anything about it still," Naruto muttered, pouting slightly.

"You're growing smarter," Sasuke smirked, kissing him and pulling away with a low chuckle when the Jinchuuriki nipped warningly at his lower lip.

"You're a bastard," Naruto informed him and punched his shoulder. "And you're not coming inside before you've cleaned that blood off you. Whatever that creepy snake told you, blood really isn't a good look on you."

"Yes, dear," the bastard had the gall to keep smirking and blue eyes narrowed.

"You're an arse," he informed him and turned around, slipping back into the tent. "You best clean this up! I don't want to step into guts first thing in the morning!"

"Gross," Sasuke informed him calmly, but really whose fault was it? Naruto hadn't told him to use those two as target practice!

Perhaps he should consider travelling with the use of Sasuke's Rinnegan as the older man so often suggested. That should lessen the possibility of bloodshed at least a little bit, no?

Naruto rolled on top of him as soon as he laid down on the mattress; his form nothing but a dark outline above him.

"You want to check how clean I am?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, resting his remaining hand on the blond's hip.

"I don't smell blood on you anymore, so you're good," Naruto said casually and leant down, coming so close their breaths mingled together when he went on, "I'm cold now, though, thanks to you, so what are you going to do about that?"

"I made you cold, huh?" Sasuke said amused, trailing his hand down one firm thigh; his smirk widening when he felt a shiver running through the younger man.

"Yeah, because you weren't here with me anymore when I woke up, I had to go outside in the cold just to find you," Naruto retorted and even though Sasuke could barely see him, he could hear him pouting. "So now it's your fault I'm cold again and I demand you make it up to me."

"Demand, hm?" the dark haired man repeated thoughtfully.

Quick as lightening he wrapped his arm and his legs around Naruto and twisted them around, swallowing Naruto's surprised noise with a deep kiss.

"Well then, if my Hokage demands it, I best warm him up again, hm?" Sasuke said lowly and Naruto hissed his consent when Sasuke made quick work of getting rid of their clothes.

He threw them to the side carelessly, slipping between Naruto's spread legs and catching his lips in another deep, intense kiss, making the blond keen underneath him. It was his time to be surprised when he slipped a finger between Naruto's arse cheeks, encountering wetness where he'd expected dryness instead.

"That impatient?" he breathed out, smiling darkly when that made Naruto shudder slightly underneath him.

"What can I say? Sometimes your stupid overprotectiveness turns me on more than it annoys me," Naruto retorted mischievously, bracing his arms on Sasuke's shoulders and grinding his hips against Sasuke's. "And as they say, a shinobi should always be prepar-oh fuck!" His back arched beautifully when Sasuke thrusted inside without preamble; his nails scratching Sasuke's back and he keened and whimpered in response to the fast, ruthless pace the older man set up.

As Sasuke sucked another bruise in the left side of Naruto's neck – which might or might not last the entire day now, depending on how sadistic the Kyuubi was feeling – he listened to the stifled curses slipping past swollen, reddened lips, the sighs and the moans and the whimpers the blond was unable to tamp down completely.

He revelled in the legs clamping around his hips, the inner muscles drawing him in and refusing to let him go whenever he pulled out. He drowned in the heady sensation of being surrounded by Naruto, of being inside of him, and kissed him again and again, stealing his breath and muffling his pleasured sighs. His hand slipped down strong arms, stroked a heaving chest and caressed his belly, which was growing more and more with each day that passed.

This was his lover, his best friend, the one who was giving him a family again and the only one he would ever call his Kage. The only one who had never given up on him, who had stood by his side when the rest of the world had been more than ready to condemn him. The one who had saved him from the darkness.

His lover. His best friend. His other half.

It didn't matter what he needed to do, who he needed to kill: in order to keep Naruto safe, to keep him with him, always, he was willing to do everything.

He would do anything if it meant he could get to keep Naruto with him, if it meant he could wake up every day to see that beautiful smile aimed at him and hear his awful off key humming. He'd do anything if that meant Naruto would be safe.

If that meant getting rid of all these pests who thought Naruto made an easy target? Then so be it. He'd gladly do that again and again, for as long as was necessary.

"I love you," Naruto gasped, trembling in his embrace when he came, his nails digging into bruised skin.

Sasuke closed his eyes and kissed him softly, the heat in his lower belly diffusing finally when he came too, spilling deep in his lover.

"I love you too."

Forever and always.

The End

AN2: As always, one day I'll create the most amazing ending ever, one which makes completely sense. That day is not today *coughs*

I hope you still enjoyed this, despite the perhaps odd ending. Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.