A/N: Well, this is my first Naruto fic ever…so hopefully it turns out okay.
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, then this wouldn't be called fanfiction.
Chapter 1:
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Skaura-chan!" Shizune cried, running up to Sakura in the middle of Konoha's hospital.
"What's wrong?" the pink-haired medic-nin asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"Some ANBU just found a man- he's in bad shape," Shizune panted out.
"Oh, God," Sakura said.\
"Yes, but-" Shizune started, but Sakura was long gone.
"The man is Uchiha Sasuke…" Shizune finished lamely.
Sakura was in for quite a shock.
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Sakura almost chocked on her own spit as she entered the hospital room.
The man lying on the hospital bed was Sasuke.
Yes. That Sasuke.
"Sakura, quit gaping like some stupid fish and be useful," Tsunade snapped at her student.
"Uh…r-right. Okay," Sakura squeaked out, quickly moving to the bedside.
Sasuke was in very bad shape; there was a huge wound (borderline hole) in his chest, his left arm was definitely broken and God knows what else, and there were cuts and bruises littering his body.
"First, we need to focus on the wound on his chest, the take care of everything else," Tsuande told Sakura.
"Right."
Together, the two women began pouring charka into Sasuke's wound.
The process was slow, but the wound was slowly healing.
In the end, it wasn't completely healed, but it wasn't life-threatening anymore.
"I'll take care of his arm. You can deal with anything else that seems serious," the Fifth Hokage said, moving down by Sasuke's mangled arm.
Looking up and down his body, bruised and broken body, Saukra started to get to work.
She healed a nasty gash on his thigh, another one on his forehead, and a really gross looking scrape on his shoulder.
She then began to check for any other bones that were broken besides his arm.
It turned out that the Sharingan user had a couple cracked ribs, but everything else was fine.
He still had many scrapes and bruises and definitely would feel sore when he became conscious again, but at least he wasn't in danger of loosing his life anymore.
After a few moments, Tsunade had finished up with Sasuke's arm.
"Aaaaaah," Tsunade panted out, attempting to blow some of her blonde hair out of her face. She didn't want to touch it due to her blood-covered hands.
"I'll get one of the nurses to move him into a regular room. You can have the rest of the day off-you're drained of charka.'
Sakura slowly nodded, too tired to say anything.
Meticulously, washing her hands, she let her thoughts run wild.
'Oh my God, Sasuke's back. What happened to him? What happens now? Did he kill Itachi yet? Will he stay in Konoha?'
Shaking her head clear of the many thoughts racing around it, Sakura left the hospital.
She was somewhat thankful that she didn't come across Naruto or anyone else on her way back to her apartment.
She didn't need that added stress.
Sakura was happy when she had successfully made it to her apartment.
It was somewhat small with a kitchenette, a living room, a tiny bedroom, and an absolutely teeny bathroom.
She mad a decent salary between ninja missions and working at the hospital and probably could have gotten a bigger apartment, but Sakura thought that this apartment was cozy. She has grown attached to it.
Besides, the apartment was fairly close to the hospital. It made it much easier to get home when she was drained of charka. Like now.
'Sleep…I need sleep,' she thought, heading straight for her bedroom.
It wasn't very late; nine o' clock at night at the latest, but it might have well have been three in the morning for Sakura.
She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her body, not even bothering to change into her bedclothes.
She simply pulled off the clothes she was currently wearing. She would've left them on, but she didn't really want to sleep in blood-stained clothes.
She closed her eyes, and in no time fell into a blissful sleep.
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'Where the hell am I?' Sasuke wondered as he blearily opened his eyes.
One of the first things he was aware of was pain. His whole body was sore.
The second thing he was aware of was bright, white lights that hurt his eyes.
The third was that he wasn't dead.
Although that one should have been pretty obvious.
Sure there were white lights and all, but the fact that he was in pain proved that he was alive.
"Oh. Oh, my. You're awake," a woman's voice said. "We weren't expecting you to wake for at least a couple more days."
Sasuke turned his head in the direction of the voice.
Standing there was a brown-haired matronly woman dressed in a nurse's uniform.
Okay. So he was in a hospital.
That would explain why everything was white and there was a strong, sterile smell.
Where was the hospital that hospital, though?
"I'll go let Tsunade-sama know that you've woken," the nurse said, hurrying out of the room.
Tsuande?
That meant he was in Konoha.
Great.
Just great.
Freaking fantastic.
Of all places, why Konoha?
Las thing he clearly remembered was battling Itachi.
Itachi.
Dammit.
He had lost to his older brother. Again.
He betrayed his own village, spent years in sound getting stronger, went through hell and back to kill Orochimaru, spent a ridiculous amount of time tracking down Itachi…and he lost.
It infuriated him beyond all reason.
Now he needed to recover, and God only knows when he's get another chance to defeat Itachi.
Not to mention he was stuck in Konoha for the time being.
"So, you are as tough as all the rumors say," a voice said from the doorway.
Turning to look, Sasuke saw the Fifth Hokage standing there.
"Hn."
"You were in horrible shape when ANBU brought you in. It took almost all of me and Sakura's charka to get you out of a life-threatening state.
Sakura.
So she had become a medic-nin while he was gone…it was a fitting job for her.
If Sakura knew he was back, then it wouldn't be long before Naruto knew, which meant the whole village would soon know.
Damn.
Now he was seriously going to be stuck in Konoha for a long time.
Unless he managed to haul ass very soon.
But then again… "You're in a lot of trouble, Uchiha. You're an S-class criminal. You betrayed your village, helped the enemy, you even studied under the enemy. That's enough to get you locked away for a very long time, if not executed," the blonde Sannin continued.
"Hn."
Sasuke didn't really have anything to say in response.
Everything Tsunade said was true, so why bother?
"Lucky for you, you've lessened your crimes. You killed Orochimaru and besides abandoning the village for the enemy, you've committed no direct crimes against Konoha."
He didn't even bother with a 'Hn' this time.
"So, your punishment still has yet to be decided. You won't be allowed out of Konoha for the time being," Tsunade said, giving the raven-haired Sharingan user a stern look.
'Big surprise there,' he thought sardonically.
"For now though, you'll remain in the hospital and recover. I'll want details on what happened to you later."
Was the old woman ever gone to shut up?
Finally!
She left!
Now, Sasuke could focus on getting out of Konoha…and how he was going to face his old teammates.
He knew that more likely the not, he'd be facing them before he ever got the chance to leave again.
He figured they'd be happy he was back…they just simply wouldn't be pleased with his past actions.
A/N: Well, there was the first chapter. Hopefully it was enjoyable. I tried my best to keep everyone in character, so I hope I succeeded at that. I'll try to update as soon as possible!
I ALWAYS APPRECIATE ANY COMMENT, SUGGESTIONS, CRTICISMS, ETC.