Naruto pauses in his wriggling, trying to manoeuvre his arms around himself to feel at his shoulder blades for any protrusions that might be there, but ultimately finding none. He doesn't even flinch at Sasuke's comment, both because it kind of feels good to be called such a low pH insult in the face of everything Sasuke has said to him over the years, but also because he's kinda right. Naruto is pretty disgusting right now.

"I wasn't swimmin' in it, y'know, I just fell. A lot. Outta trees. An' in the places people have been walkin' there's a ton of mud on the floor." He explains this like it is perfectly reasonable, because in Naruto land it really is. Bug hunting, bugs climb trees, trees are a good vantage point, chakra should make it easy to jump across branches, but his chakra seems... off?

When Sasuke bids him to follow, Naruto does it without even a second's hesitation, but does not pause in his stream of consciousness either. Whenever Sasuke tried to cease their contact, Naruto would always keep it up just a little longer; it's so easy to fall back into this...

"Hey, does your chakra feel weird, too? I can't get mine to work right, s'like I've used it all up already without any of the tired feelin', y'know."