Chapter Text
Naruto loved holidays. For one, it meant he didn’t have to work at his boring tech job for a time, and for second… he would get to swim in the actual sea.
Sure, over the years, the large and deep pools all around land had gotten better and better at pretending to be actual saltwater heavens, but nothing compared to the true immensity of the ocean. Besides, Naruto wasn’t rich; the pool at his apartment complex may be big and deep, it was also barren. No corals or school of fishes roaming around like in the luxury resorts…
So he felt delighted when he was finally able to run butt naked on the beach with his friends, everyone competing to reach the waves and turn first. Then, as his leg vertebrae shifted to turn into one long, supple merman tail, it was bliss once again.
They had not gone far from home, to a popular beach with affordable restaurants on the coast. Good enough for them, since swimming was free. They first chased fish and crabs around, eating proper, fresh food for once. They raced, insulting each other in Sea Sing when one was so far ahead they got jealous, and jumped high over the waves to made the biggest splash. Kiba was extremely good at that.
While Tenten, as always, started knitting a tent in long seaweeds, Ino decorated it with flowers and Sai started collecting shells for snacks. This was the usual ritual, going back to your roots, living the proper sea life, the one only Deepsea merfolk still lived. Every tourist got their instinct back when they reached the sea, though it didn’t mean they retained the culture. Tenten’s tent was always crooked, Ino’s flowers often itchy, and Sai… Well, it wasn’t that hard to collect shells, but he only got the obvious ones.
After a few days of playing Deepsea-house, they eventually started going back ashore and splitting more often. After all, they didn’t have underwater TV or even books around… A huge storm also hit the coast for a day and night, and Costfolk preferred to hide on land then.
A few days later, Naruto and his shoal of friends decided to explore the reefs (another popular tourist activity), and departed early on their adventure. They were racing Kiba to establish, once and for all, he wasn’t the fastest at swirl-swimming (he was), while Naruto spotted something odd. It looked like a seaweed nest, only this one was as well crafted as in the magazines. Not too perfect, on the contrary: only Merfolk would notice its artificial nature. More impressively, it was quite large, with a narrow tunnel for an entry, that opened into a rather comfortable dome.
***
The storm had hit the cost hard, but made a mess at sea too. Strong currents and waves had turned water upside down, rising sand enough to turn shallows into a muddy pit. Unable to oriente himself, Sasuke had elected to swim forward until he found shelter. Water was warming up, so he assumed he was reaching the cost, which displeased him to no end; however, he was exhausted from fighting sand and waves.
He found a forest of tall sea weed, and immediately sunk to the bottom, on his back so he could surveil his surroundings, and started knotting shelter for himself. At first, he thought a narrow tunnel around himself would be enough, but the sand swirled right through it, so he opted for a dome. This type of shelter took longer to make, but it used multiple layers of seaweed as walls, and thus a stronger protection. Plus, it wasn’t very hard to make, since it consisted in tying the long, gooey strings at the top into a loose bun, then pulling down on the interior ones until the inside nest could hide a curled out body.
As soon as he was done, Sasuke laid down, on his back as per usual, and fell into a deep, well needed slumber.
