Note: This will be a series. Tell me if you want more.

Shortly after The Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke Uchiha returned to Konoha. Naruto and Sakura especially, were overjoyed he had given up on vengeance. He was immediately thrown in prison, with blindfolds over his eyes, which the villagers thought that would stop his dojutsu. They were wrong. However, he sat in prison anyway. He knew he deserved it. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, who had been elected the Sixth Hokage tried to get him out, and finally, with the Hokage's insistence, he was released. He walked out of the prison room, and up the stairs, to see his former teammates and Sensei standing there.

He simply looked at them, unsure of what to say. "Thank you. I'm sorry." Naruto put his hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. I understand." he said. Sasuke looked up. Naruto grinned, "There's someone who really wants to see you." Sasuke noticed Sakura walk towards him. "Um, Sasuke.." she said, blushing. "Will you go on a date with me?" She prepared for the usual "You're annoying" spiel. "Yes." She looked up to make sure she heard right. "I will gladly go on a date with you." he said with absolute sincerity. Her eyes glowed. Naruto and Kakashi watched from a distance as Sasuke and Sakura walked toward the local inn. Naruto just watched. "Funny, how things work out in the end, huh Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi simply watched in shock. "Yeah. It really is."

Sasuke and Sakura sat down on the wooden benches in front of the hearth. Sakura said, "Did you know Kakashi is the Sixth Hokage?" Sasuke grinned, "He'll be perfect. Just the Hokage we need." Sakura noticed the word "we". She gasped in excitement. "You're staying at Konoha?!" Sasuke laughed. "Yes. For a while." Sakura was happy nonetheless. "Where will you go?" she asked. Sasuke said, "I'll travel a journey of Redemption. I'll protect Konoha from the shadows." Sakura thought, "He's so cool." They talked about a variety of things, from Naruto's battle with Pain, to all the new gossip. "Shikamaru and Temari!? No way!" he said, laughing. They spent hours there talking.

Sasuke dropped Sakura off at her home. She walked in her home, looked to see if Sasuke was gone, let out a girlish squeal, then immediately called all the Kunoichi of Konoha 11. Sasuke did hear, though, and smirked to himself. He woke up the next morning, and went to the Training Grounds to talk with the rest of his old classmates. Even Kiba had a good time. Sasuke stayed at the training grounds, and practiced his Taijutsu and Sharingan techniques. Even after spending two days in jail, Sasuke was as strong as ever. He hadn't used his Rinnegan much though. All he knew about it was he could only use it six times. He'd read up in Konoha's library that morning about the Six paths of the Rinnegan, and decided to test some of the techniques. He'd already learned Universal Pull, but had yet to use Almighty Push. He figured he'd try that first. He calmly focused his chakra. "Rinnegan!" His base sharingan in his left, and his Rinnegan in his right. He could already feel the Rinnegan draining his chakra. He really needed to fix that. He focused up the training dummy in front of him. He felt the gravity around him. Instead of pulling it, he pushed. "Almighty Push" he shouted, and a wave of force ripped the dummy out of the ground and into the nearest tree. He felt one of his six tomoe in his Rinnegan recede. He deactivated his dojutsu, pleased with the results.

He spent the rest of his afternoon catching up with everyone, especially Naruto. They talked for about five hours, just recounting everything that had happened since Sasuke left. Naruto had just become a jonin, and everyone else was already either a jonin, not counting Ino and Tenten, who were still genin. After Naruto heard about Sasuke's success with the Rinnegan, he said, "Yeah, Nagato used that technique all the time. You learning the other six paths of pain?" Sasuke simply nodded. Naruto said, "So how was the date with Sakura?" Sasuke said, "She was..beautiful. So nice too. I had a great time." Naruto had a dumb expression on his face. "You really have changed haven't you?" Sasuke said, "Very much, yes." Sasuke went to the apartment Kakashi rented him, and had a restful sleep.

Three days later, he personally asked Sakura out on another date, which she freaked out over. He studied more and trained more, eventually learning to nullify the Rinnegan's drain on his chakra reserves. After that successful day, he woke up to the sound of alarms. He ran to the Hokage's office, where Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sai were waiting. Kakashi stood up. "We have a problem. Hidden rain shinobi are breaching the cities outer wall." Sakura said, "Wait, we're at peace with the Land of Water. Why is the rain village attacking?" Kakashi simply stated, "They're not. They're A-class criminals, from what we can tell." Sai exclaimed, "A-Class? Why us?" Kakashi said, "You're the only available Jonin we have. Except Sasuke, of course, but we know he can handle it." Shikamaru said, "Hold on, Naruto and Sasuke are basically gods, at this point. Why do you need me, Sakura, and Sai?" Kakashi sighed. "Well, for one, Naruto and Sasuke don't have full mastery of their abilities yet, and the Tailed Beasts likely won't deem this enough of the threat to give Naruto chakra." Shikamaru nodded. "I see. Let's go." They jumped out the sides of the building. Kakashi just sat there. "I'm getting too old for this."

The five jonin ran to the outer wall. They saw a pile a dead chunin, blood everywhere, with three rain ninja standing there. One was a muscular male with leather armor. The other two were dark-haired females, appearing to be twins. Naruto yelled, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE!?" The first female simply laughed. "We're here to steal the scroll of sealing obviously." Shikamaru subtly prodded, "Why do you want that scroll?" The second female said, "We're in possession of the four-tails. We need to create a jinchuriki." Shikamaru cleverly stated, "Judging by the scroll you're wearing, you have a talent for Sealing jutsu, is that correct?" The first female said, "Enough! Let's kill them and be done with it!" The first female drew her kunai, and ran at them. Sakura ran forward, and formed the "Inu" seal. "Water Style: Water Wall!" She spit out a massive jet of water, creating a massive wave, quickly pushing the enemy shinobi backwards. Sakura inhaled deeply. Sasuke was impressed. "Sakura, when did you learn Water Style?" She smiled at him. "Last week, actually." The three enemies stood up, the first female now suffering a concussion. The man said, "You foolish children! We'll kill you!" He drew a sword lined with paper bombs. Shikamaru instantly recognized it. "Shibuki. One of the great seven ninja swords. It can fire explosive tags. But how'd he get it?" He replied with, "I found it in a vault under the Rain Village. Pretty handy, huh?" He swung it, and about fifty explosive tags fired out. Sasuke quickly activated his Rinnegan. He stuck his hands out. "Almighty Push!" An invisible wave of force fired back the paper bombs into the group's direction. They were caught in the massive explosion and when the smoke cleared, their smoldering bodies lied there. Thankfully, the bodies were still intact. Sasuke deactivated his dojutsu, and he said, "They're not jonin. No way. Too unintelligent." Sai picked the scroll off of the second girl's corpse. "I can create a replica. We may be able to find more information if we do that, like the jutsu this holds." They all reported back to Kakashi, and told him the grave news. "They have the Four-Tails? This is bad. We'll bury the chunin later. First, we need to speak with the Mizukage." Sai said, "I'll send a bird to the Mist Village immediately." "Good. Naruto, I need you to attempt to speak with the Four-Tails." ordered Kakashi. They all promptly left.

Sasuke tapped Sakura on the shoulder. "That Water jutsu was very impressive. Difficult technique. Good job." Sakura blushed at his praise. "Only a B-Rank!" Sasuke said, "You want to go to the Inn?" She was amazed at how up-front he was being. "Of course! Totally!" They walked to the very same inn they went to last time. "So that jutsu you used? That's the one Pain used, right?" "Yeah, very useful and versatile." They sat down at a table. Sakura looked like something was troubling her. Sasuke debated on asking her about it, but he decided to. "Sakura, is something wrong?" She said, "Lady Tsunade wants me to learn Sage jutsu. But I just don't have enough chakra." Sasuke stared into the distance for a moment. "You could use that seal on your forehead to gain enough chakra to use it." Sakura said, "It has to store it over time. I couldn't train properly." Sasuke suddenly had an idea. "I could transport you to another dimension where time flows differently. You could get a year's' worth of chakra in ten minutes." Sakura was shocked. "You can do that?!" Sasuke laughed. "Well, not yet. But I will." Sakura said, "Thank you so much, Sasuke!"

Sasuke took her home, then crashed in his apartment. He needed to begin his Journey for Redemption soon. But he didn't want to leave Sakura. He had a tough choice on his hands. Additionally, they might need him on the Four-Tails mission. He'd stay in Konoha a little while longer. The next morning, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sai reported to the Hokage's office. Kakashi began the briefing. "Alright, so the Mizukage had no idea the rain village was in possession of the Four-Tails. She didn't know the criminals either, meaning the entire village has turned against the Allied Shinobi Forces." The room went dead quiet. Naruto said, "An entire village, against the Allied Shinobi Forces? Why? We outnumber them a hundred to one." Kakashi interjected, "Exactly. Which is precisely why we believe they have more secrets." We're giving you a month to train. That's it. Then you all plus Lee and Choji will begin the assault on Rain Village."

Path Splits

Sasuke wound up at the inn with Sakura again. They were talking about the new mission to the Rain Village. Sasuke had a surprise for Sakura that night. However, he wouldn't reveal it just yet. Sakura interrupted his thoughts. "Naruto is going to teach me Sage jutsu alongside Lady Tsunade." Sasuke said, "Good. We'll certainly need the firepower." He just gazed into Sakura's eyes for a moment. He said, "Come on, gorgeous, I have to show you something." Sakura blushed like crazy. "What had gotten into him?", she thought. He stood in front of her. He activated his Rinnegan. She felt a rushing feeling, and looked down to see a massive ocean with green skies. Then she realized she was about a thousand feet in the air. She screamed and closed her eyes. She didn't feel like she was falling. She opened her eyes to see Sasuke standing there with Sakura in the head of his Susano'o. "Sasuke you idi-" She was interrupted by Sasuke kissing her.