It had been about 2 years since Sakura, Naruto, or anyone really, had heard or seen a peep from Orochimaru or Sasuke. It was popular belief that Sasuke was dead, although no one said a word about it near Sakura or Naruto, for fear of an undesirable fate - the rumors of what said fate would be varied widely from person to person.
"Ahh, nice day isn't it?" Sakura said lazily.
"Mm yeah. Quiet," Naruto responded, eyes closed.
The two of them and Kakashi were guarding the gates today - or well, sitting near them. Naruto and Sakura were nearly asleep, hardly paying attention to their surroundings, and Kakashi was asleep, not paying attention at all.
"Hey.. is that whistling I hear?" Sakura asked Naruto curiously.
"Nah just some birds," Naruto replied. He listened for a moment then said, "Hm.. actually, it does sound a bit more like whistling.."
The two exchanged glances then got up, looking off into the distance. They could see a single person walking, although far enough away that they couldn't see more than the person's silhouette. It appeared to be a man, and he was swinging something in circles with his right hand.
"What is he swinging?" Naruto asked, completely bewildered.
Sakura was staring out at them with a horrified look on her face. After a moment she whispered to Naruto, "I.. I'm hoping.. that it's a bag with something in it.. but really, it looks more like a.. like.."
"Like a what?" Naruto asked impatiently, wondering what else it could possibly be.
But now Sakura seemed to be talking to herself more than him. She muttered, "No.. it just couldn't be.. but the way it's.. no now that they're this close.. KAKASHI-SENSEI!"
Kakashi jerked awake immediately and looked questioningly at Sakura.
"GO GET THE HOKAGE, NOW!" she yelled.
As Kakashi left, quite startled, Naruto began to inspect the swinging object more closely. Suddenly, he caught on. "EHHHH!? IS THAT A HUMAN HEAD?!" he screeched at Sakura, pointing in astonishment at said swinging head.
They both gulped and noticed this person was getting close now, and still whistling. Moments later, Kakashi returned with Tsunade, who stopped and stared at the stranger for a moment, hands on her hips. Then she pointed accusingly at him and yelled out at the man, "HEY YOU! Who are you, what's your business here, and what the FUCK are you swinging around?!"
And then the man was suddenly inches from her face, all whistling and swinging ceased. Everyone gasped at what they saw as the man now identifiable as Sasuke held up the head in front of him and replied, "You know who I am. As for why I am here.. I am here to give you the head of Orochimaru, as you can now clearly see is what I was swinging around."
AN: Some characters may be OOC, but being the one who wrote it I can't really tell.
Written February 4th, 2007.
SPOILERS: Just for the record, I wrote this before Orochimaru died in the manga. HEY COOL, I'M PSYCHIC.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Orochimaru's head, Konoha, and anything else I missed is copyright Masashi Kishimoto.
