Author's Note: I'm writing this as what I think should happen after Sasuke is retrieved from Orochimaru's grasp. Yes, I know this hasn't yet happened, nor has any method of doing so been devised. Think of this as taking place later than chapter 318 of the manga, as far as canon goes.

Disclaimer: It's the same for everything. I don't own jack.

Chapter 1: In the wake of the wind.

"Sasuke-kun?" asked the unusually small voice of Haruno Sakura.

"Yes?" Came the dull, monotone reply from Uchiha Sasuke.

"You're not eating the curry I brought for you… are you feeling okay?"

Sasuke paused before answering. At this moment, he wanted to look into Sakura's eyes and tell her that no, he was not feeling okay. He wanted to tell her that he felt like a monster for what he'd done to the village, the people, and especially his best friends. He wanted to let her know that within every cell in his body he carried a ton of grief and guilt for what he'd done. He wanted to, but he just didn't have the energy.

Instead, he merely said, just as dismally, "I'm sorry. My appetite seems to be gone at the moment." He looked away from her and added, "Thank you for you kindness."

"Don't mention it, Sasuke-kun," she replied with a smile. Noticing the time on the clock, she said, "Sorry to have to leave, Sasuke-kun, but it's time for me to visit Naru- er… people in the hospital."

"It's alright," he added emotionlessly. Even if she had succeeded in covering her words properly, he'd still have known what she was doing. She was going to see Naruto and the others in their hospital beds, recovering from the horrible wounds he himself had given them. His guilt tripled as he thought of their pains.

"Well… goodbye! See you tomorrow!" she said as cheerfully as she could muster before bowing and heading out the door.

After she left the Uchiha household, Sakura let out a sigh. She'd been visiting Sasuke for days now and he'd been just as gloomy, if not more so. Since his return, she'd been the only one who went to visit him. Everyone else didn't want to or was too injured to see him. Still, she was determined to make sure that everything would return to normal.

But… what was normal? She'd had the idea for the last four years that normal was she, Sasuke, and Naruto training under Kakashi… but that hadn't happened in so long. Was "normal" just a fantasy for her?

"Reality is this. Everything is different from how it used to be…" she told herself firmly as she made her way into the hospital. "And you're going to have to make the best of things." She quickly put on a smile before entering Hatake Kakashi's room.

"Oh! Sakura!" the white-haired Jounin greeted cheerfully, flashing his single-eye smile, "How's it going?"

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei. I'm alright, thank you. How are you doing?" she replied.

"Well, I can't believe I'm back here," he said, rubbing the large wound on his stomach, "but if you hadn't been there with your medical ninjutsu, I wouldn't have survived."

Sakura blushed under the praise from her teacher. "It's as you've always said, sensei. 'I will never let any of my comrades die,' right?"

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed. But," he said, slipping back into his regular unenthusiastic mode, "I'm fine as long as I have this." He whipped out his copy of Make-Out: Tactics.

"He just loves those books, doesn't he? Kakashi-sensei, at least, hasn't changed one bit," Sakura thought to herself.

After a moment, Kakashi decided the ask the question he'd been avoiding. "Sakura. How's Sasuke doing?"

Sakura's hand tightened into a fist. "He's not eating anything, as far as I can tell… and his voice still has no emotion. He looks more like a ghost every day… I'm getting worried.

Kakashi gave her a smile reassuringly and said, "Don't worry, Sakura. He'll be fine. He's home now, and as long as we're willing to forgive mistakes, everything should be fine. If we didn't forgive people for mistakes, Naruto would never have become a ninja. Speaking of which… shouldn't you go visit him and the others?"

Sakura nodded with a slight smile, "You're right… I hope you feel better, sensei!" she called as she walked out the door, Kakashi waving.

"Let's see…" she thought, going down the list of patients she had to visit, "Next up is… Lee-kun. Ah, here's his room." She opened the door of Konoha's green beast, Rock Lee, who had fought with incredible persistence in the last battle. As she walked in, she spotted the form of Tenten next to his bed.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything…" Sakura said quickly, backing out of the door.

"No, it's okay," said Tenten. "Lee's just sleeping right now…"

"Oh well. I'll come back later, then," said Sakura. "But if he wakes up later, can you give him this?" she asked, pulling out a lotus flower and handing it to Tenten.

Tenten smiled. "Of course."

As Sakura made her way around the hospital, she found out that many of the people she'd come to visit had already checked out. Of course, she'd only see them briefly to thank them for their help on the mission. Finally, she reached the last person on her list: Uzumaki Naruto. Arriving entering his room, she found that Shikamaru and Neji were also there, talking to him, both covered in scratches and bruises. Upon seeing Sakura, they silenced themselves and moved so that she and Naruto could finally see each other.

"N… Naruto!"

"Sakura-chan!"

She looked him over. He was covered head to toe in bandages. He looked very much like he did three years ago on his first attempt to retrieve Sasuke. But this time…

"Heh, I haven't felt this beat-up in three years!" said Naruto, smiling broadly. "But it's alright, because unlike the last time…" his smile widened further, "This time, I kept my promise! I brought Sasuke back!"

"You brought Sasuke back?" repeated Shikamaru, raising an eyebrow, "I guess the rest of us were just along for the ride."

"Well," said Naruto, looking sheepish, "I did have some help. But either way, we did it! Sasuke's back at Konoha."

Sakura nodded, returning the smile, "And now we can finally relax… how're your wounds doing, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned smugly and said, "What, these? These are nothing. I'll be up and about and to see Sasuke in no time! You've been to see him, right? How's he doing?"

Sakura's expression fell. "He… I think he feels really bad about everything… but I also think he wants everything to be back to the way it was."

Neji and Shikamaru briefly met each other's gaze. Though they knew Sasuke's story, both of them were thinking the same thing: Sasuke should feel bad for what he's done… all the pain he's put these two through… he couldn't even apologize to them.

"Well, I'll help put things back right!" said Naruto, trying to keep things cheerful.

The sound of the door opening again reached everyone's ears, but as they turned to face whoever had entered, it was only slightly opened. "Hello?" asked Sakura, wondering who was there. No answer came. "Is… somebody there?" after a moment, the door opened further to reveal the blushing face of Hyuuga Hinata.

"Uhm… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I-I just wanted…" she stammered on, her face reddening.

"Hey Hinata!" Called Naruto, waving his hand for her to enter, "Come on in!"

Hinata's eyes brightened and her blush increased as she said nervously, "H-hi N-Naruto-kun! I just c-came to see you- I mean, see how you- I wondered how-" she paused, taking a deep breath. "H-how are you, Naruto-kun?"

"Well, aside from the bandages, I'm doing great!" he answered joyfully.

Hinata let out a sigh as her heart swelled. "That's… really, really good!" she said.

There was a brief silence, which Neji broke, saying, "Well, Shikamaru, we'd better go see what the Fifth wants for our next mission. You know how she gets when we're late." As he started to walk out, he added, "Hinata-sama. I'll be at the house later, okay?" She nodded slightly.

Shikamaru was puzzled for a split second, but then realized what Neji had planned. "Right you are, Neji. Let's get going. I don't want to be stuck with those troublesome Chuunin exams again." The two of them left.

Again, silence filled the room. This time, it was Sakura who broke it as she said, "Well, I should go see Tsunade-sama too… she'll want to hear how I fared in the mission."

"Eh?" said Naruto, sounding disappointed, "Well… if you really have to go… Granny Tsunade does get pretty angry easily. But we'll hang out later, right?"

Nodding, Sakura replied, "You can count on it," before leaving.

Now only Naruto and the ever-reddening Hinata remained. Hinata's mind was split between gazing at Naruto's smiling face and staring way from it. Remembering what she'd meant to do when she visited, she reached into her bag and pulled out a bowl with a sealed lid.

"N-Naruto-kun, I brought you something…" she said, placing the bowl on the bedside table.

"Ooh, what is it, what is it?" Naruto said eagerly as she removed the lid.

"I… I know you like it, but wouldn't be able to get it while you're here, so I brought it to y-you… It's…"

"A bowl of Ichiraku ramen!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing the chopsticks Hinata had placed besides the bowl. "Thank you so much, Hinata! It's very nice of you to bring me my favorite meal while I'm here." He inhaled the ramen's aroma. "Mm, it smells delicious! Thanks again, Hinata!" He pulled apart the chopsticks while saying, "Itadakimasu!" and dove into the meal.

Her heart nearly bursting with glee, Hinata bowed and said, "Oh, no problem, Naruto-k-kun…" Soon, she felt the familiar dizzy feeling, indicating she was going to faint soon. Reluctantly, she began to walk toward the door. Before leaving, she told Naruto, "If you'd like, I… I can bring you some more t-tomorrow." Her blush doubled as she contemplated the bold move she'd made.

Naruto swallowed his current mouthful and replied, "Sure! That'd be great! And when I get out of here, I'll take you to Ichiraku in repayment."

Hinata could not believe her ears. Her sight began to get blurry, but nonetheless she asked, "R-really?"

Nodding, Naruto said, "Yeah, my treat!"

Unable to maintain herself any longer, Hinata smiled and closed the door behind her. A short while later, Naruto heard a soft thump outside the door. After that, a large bang from outside Naruto's window filled his ears as some white smoke filled the room.

"Wait… that noise… this smoke… Ero-sennin!" Naruto thought as Jiraiya the frog hermit opened the window.

"Yo!" said Jiraiya, sitting atop his gigantic frog, grinning.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto called back, leaning out the window.

Jiraiya sighed, "Y'know, if you weren't in bandages right now, I'd bop you over the head for calling me that," his grin returned, "but hey, how're you feeling, Naruto?"

"I feel great!" Naruto said, raising his arms in excitement, then quickly dropping them from the pain, a grimace across his face.

"I guess you're still wounded from the battle. But at least you came out a victor this time, right?" said Jiraiya.

"Yeah!" Naruto said, regaining his smile, "We defeated Orochimaru and got Sasuke back!"

"Yes, you sure did," said Jiraiya, then muttered to himself, "It seems that I was the fool after all…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing," said Jiraiya. "I heard the details of the battle from Kakashi and let me say that I am impressed with the move you invented."

Naruto grinned, "Heh. Well, it was pretty great. It was even more powerful than Rasengan!"

Jiraiya nodded. "Not only that, however, but I am also impressed that you managed to defeat Orochimaru and… neutralize Sasuke without the aid of the nine-tailed fox."

Naruto's grin widened into a full-blown smile once more. "Yeah, am I good or what? I'm glad that it's in me, though. Its chakra helps a whole lot in healing my wounds."

"Well, I'm proud of you, Naruto, and glad that I got to train you as my apprentice. But, as soon as you get out of here, it's back to training with Kakashi, so rest up!"

"What? I don't get a break?"

"Come on, do you really want one?"

Naruto grinned again, "Nah, the more I train, the faster I'll become the next Hokage!"

"That's right. Now, speaking of Hokage, I've got to go speak with our current one… remember what I said, get some rest!" With that, the frog bounded off to Tsunade's office.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What do I do now?" Sasuke asked himself, still staring up at the ceiling. "I… can't just leave the village again, after what I've done… but I still have my oath. I've got to kill him, no matter what." Sasuke's head turned toward the dusty old picture from three years ago when he, Sakura and Naruto had become fully-fledged ninja under Kakashi's guidance. He grabbed the frame and brushed the dust off of it. "But… maybe it can wait… and I could use some help."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Well, that's the first chapter of my new story done! Next chapter, things get rolling with an actual plot and, gasp! The chuunin exam 2! Well, wait and see! Please leave a review, I'd really appreciate it!