Chapter One

In which Uchiha Sasuke hears about his punishment.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (this counts for all other chapters.)

Drip.

Tsunade blinked some times at the boy – well, young man now – in front of her. His hair was raven black, long at the front, spiky at the back. His eyes were midnight black, the gaze in his dark orbs as if he could look right into your soul. His once clean clothes were now ripped and covered in stains of mud, blood, grass and other dirt. In the male's pale hand hung a black coat, covered in red clouds. It was ripped as well, but drenched in blood, which was dripping on the floor slowly.

Drip.

"So, you want to come back." Tsunade stated. The young man gave her a short nod.

"Yes, Hokage."

"Hm." She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on her hands. "I don't think they'll allow me so simply to just let you back in. You're a missing-nin after all… Sasuke."

The young man did nothing, except for that his eyes narrowed slightly.

Drip.

"What happened to Team Hebi?" Tsunade asked.

"They died."

Of course. He had probably scarified them in the battle with his brother. Weakening the enemy with sending others to fight him first.

Drip.

"I will have to give you some sort of punishment." The blond Hokage leaned back in her chair, not losing the guy out of her sight for the tiniest moment.

He still did nothing. Whatever it was going to be, he was sure he could handle it. No missions for years? Fine. Staying in a prison for months? Whatever. Since he had succeeded his first goal – killing Itachi – he now needed to do the second – restoring the Uchiha clan. And marrying a pretty girl who would bear his children was not anything which required time or training at all. Or so he thought.

Drip.

"I will accept the punishment you shall give me, Hokage."

"I figured." Apparently, Tsunade knew exactly what he was thinking. She looked at him, trying to think what would be the best thing to do. Maybe not letting him out of the village for some years? Only letting him do D-ranked missions? Hell, maybe she could even let him take the Chuunin and Jounin exam (after all, he was still a Genin, even though he was probably stronger then most ANBU) and let him become sensei of three new Genin. He wouldn't be the only sensei of his age; Kiba was one, too-

And then she had it.

"Did you already spoke with one of your old teammates?" Tsunade asked.

Drip.

The handsome male inwardly twitched, and shook his head.

"Well then, this will be your punishment." The Hokage smiled – oh, don't think that it was a kind, motherly smile, no, not at all. More one of pure evil, from which the Akatsuki Leader himself could learn something.

"You will stay in one house for thirty days, together with Naruto, Sakura, and some more of your past friends."

Drip.

For one moment, she thought he was going to attack her. But all that came was silence. Complete silence.

"Fine," he spat, after what seemed hours. Tsunade nodded in approval. She picked up a pen and some paper and started writing.

"Uchiha… Sasuke…" She muttered out loud while writing it down. "Uzumaki… Naruto… Haruno… Sakura…" She looked up. "And two more from each other team? Team Gai, team Asuma and team Kurenai?"

"I thought Asuma was dead." The male said, looking rather bored. Tsunade's fist clenched slightly at hearing him talk so easily about their loss, but decided to ignore the question.

"The place I had in mind would have on bed short if we added two of each team," She said quietly against herself. "So from one of these teams, only one."

Drip.

She smiled again and continued writing.

"Let's at least do all the girls, shall we?" She neatly wrote 'Hyuuga Hinata', 'Yamanaka Ino', and 'Ten-Ten' underneath the other three names. "Any boys you would like to pick, Sasuke? You can tell me two."

Drip.

It needed him all his willpower not to shout in her face that he could count and so that he knew he could say two. He narrowed his eyes at the woman and thought.

Thirty days with seven people. And since thirty days could go very slow with some people, he had to pick carefully. It had to be two from six; Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee, and Neji.

Kiba was crossed out immediately. He was just as loud as Naruto; one moron in the group was enough. Plus, he would most likely still carry that annoying dog of his around…

Shino wasn't really a good choice either. With all those bugs in his body… The raven-haired male had to suppress a shiver when he thought about bugs in his food, bed, and clothes. No way.

Shikamaru… He was okay. He was lazy, didn't like long conversations, and would most likely leave him alone. Also, he could maybe keep an eye on that amazingly annoying female teammate of his, Ino. Or at least would do something that made her angry at him so she would be too busy to fangirl over himself. So, that was settled; Shikamaru was choice number one.

Chouji was also a no. If they had to stay in that house for thirty days, then they probably would have food supplies for one month for eight people. And this guy ate like eighteen.

Lee was an even bigger no. Nobody would miss his everlasting rant about youth. Or the green spandex suit that made you wanna kill yourself. Or those teeth that made you go temporarily blind if he smiled at you. Or how he would rant forever about Sakura. Or- ah whatever, he was just out of the question.

Then last, there was Neji. He didn't like Neji either, but Neji was at least quiet, calm, and wouldn't yell like Kiba, or get bugs everywhere like Shino, or eat all the food like Chouji, or rant how youthfully beautiful Sakura was as Lee.

Drip.

"Nara and the Hyuuga."

"Alright then." Tsunade wrote the two down. "Then that's settled. You'll get in the house tomorrow evening. Be at my office at 6 PM. Dismissed."

Uchiha Sasuke turned around and left the room. Tsunade stared at the small pool of Itachi's blood on the floor before calling Shizune. She needed some ANBU to watch over Sasuke, encase he planned something.