Chapter 1: Home

Rain. That's all I could hear as I walked through the seemingly endless trees. My footsteps could not be heard over the roar of the drops hitting the leaves above me and splashing to the ground. I don't run for cover though, I have walked in the rain many times; this time is not any different. Is it?

This path I walk, I have been on many times, in the past that is. It hasn't changed much. A few extra trees, a few that are no longer there; but no one would notice these things unless they had as much time as I have to observe it. I'm not a very talkative person, so when conversation is not being forced upon me, I'm observing the world around me. It passes time I suppose.

As I continue onward, I stare forward into space, not really seeing everything-just thinking. I wonder if I will be accepted. Have my mistakes made my fate inevitable? Still. I have nowhere else to go. My work has been done, my destiny fulfilled; well, at least the first part of it.

My whole body aches. I can feel the iciness of the rain seeping into my bones. At least It has washed off all the blood. I pushed my hair out of my face and try to see further down the path in front of me. I can almost imagine the gates standing there. They should have noticed me by now. I'm close enough, and I'm not hiding my chakra. I don't care, let them come, let them wait. I'll still end up in the same place.

Finally, I can see the gates through the rain. My feet drag slightly, but I hold my head up high. I can't go on much longer. How long have I been walking? Hours? Days? I lost track. My vision blurs momentarily, remembering what happened, what I have done. I blink a bit, clearing my eyes; I notice that the rain has let up a bit, and my eyes focus onto a familiar, yet so unfamiliar face.

The face speaks.

"Saskue-Teme."

I feel the corners of my lips turn upward, for the first time in many years, before I can remember. I wonder if it looks as strange as I feel.

"Naruto-Baka."

Then, everything went black. If I hit the ground, I didn't feel it.

"Ne, when do you think he will wake up, Naruto-kun?" pearl eyes turned to him in question.

"I don't know, Hinata..."

"Man, I'm hungry, how about you, Akamaru?"

"Arf, Arf!"

"..."

"Well I wish he'd hurry up and do it already! I have very Important things to do!" the blonde one said as she tapped her fingers on the window-sill.

"Heh, like what, go shopping? Tch, troublesome woman."

"I heard that!"

"Hey guys, why can't we just get along?" *munch munch munch*

"Yes! Because friendship is what binds us all together in this wonderful world of beauty and Youth!"

"Lee..."

"Yes, mistress of deadly weapons and youth?"

"Ugh, never mind. Eh? Neji what are you doing?"

"I'm watching his chakra, he is beginning to wake up."

His eyes blinked open, and began to focus. Taking a quick look around him, he sat up. Everyone had so many questions for him, and were ready to ask him. But, somehow when he finally woke up, they all found the words choked back in their throats. Sasuke knew that there would be many questions asked, people would be skeptical, people would bombard him with hatred and disgust. The last thing he expected was all of his former comrades to show up and ogle him in a hospital room.

Well, perhaps not all of them.

He looked around the room again, as everyone hesitated to speak. Directly beside him was Naruto, next to Naruto he decided was Hinata. Well, she grew up nicely, he thought. Sitting down next to the window was Shikamaru, and beside him sitting on the window-sill was Ino. He internally shuddered. Then on the other side, with a bag of chips, was Choji. On the other side of him stood Neji, staring directly at him. To Neji's right was Ten Ten, followed by Lee who was standing by the corner of the bed, smiling like the freak that he is. Toward the back of the room, Shino stood with his hands in his pockets, next to a very relaxed Kiba, who was lounging on a couch. Underneath him, on the floor, lay an immense white dog, who Sasuke guessed was Akamaru.

The room was crowded enough, sure, but wasn't someone missing?

"Finally decided to wake up, eh, Teme?" Naruto smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hn."

"Man! You haven't changed a bit have you? Do you have any idea what we've all been through? And it's all because of you! Don't you have anything else to say! You're such a-" Ino was cut off.

"Ino. Stop, there's no point in yelling at him now. Just wait till Hokage-sama gets her hands on him." Shikamaru reasoned.

"Ughh. You're right." she moved toward the door. "But mark my words, Uchiha, if Tsunade-sama doesn't cream you, then I will. For Sakura's sake." the door slammed behind her. Sasuke suddenly realized who was not present.

Sasuke turned to Naruto for an explanation. Naruto sighed. "I'll tell you later, Teme. But for now, you have to go see the Hokage." what was going on?

"Uchiha Sasuke." The woman behind the desk said, peering up at him from her hands folded in front of her face; an icy glare shooting from her eyes, a noticeable spike in her chakra was present.

"You do realize that the usual punishment for everything you have done is death, right?"

"Hai." he gulped.

"However, because of the uprising from your so-called friends, I am willing to make a compromise. You will be under house arrest for six months, during this time, the only person you are allowed to associate with is Naruto. Are we clear?"

"Hai." he sighed a small relief.

"After the six months is up, you will still be on probation for the next six months, and you will be restricted to D-rank missions. These missions will be completed with whomever I assign you to do them with, without complaint. All the money made on these missions will be brought to me, and will be put in a vault. Any time you wish to make a withdrawal, you must come see me. We will leave out enough to keep your house running, and keep you fed. You will live at the Uchiha compound, which has been newly refurbished." Sasuke stiffened.

"You went into my family's home, and changed it?" he felt his anger begin to spike.

"Yes we did. We have the deed. For now, we own your house, and frankly, we own you. We didn't do anything horrible to it, Uchiha, so let down your anger a bit. All we did was repaint the walls, restock the rooms, and clean up. We have chakra sensors all around that house, so we will know if you try to get out. You are permitted to train in the training yard at your house. However, you are on thin ice. One wrong move and its life in high security prison. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You may go. Naruto is waiting outside the door to take you home."

"Pardon, Hokage-sama. May I ask a question?" he stood straight, and looked her in the eye. She rubbed her temples.

"What is it boy? I've got a headache!"

He hesitated.

"Well?"

"Where is Sakura?" the room froze. There was just the two of them in the room, but he felt like everything in the room died. Tsunade stiffened, and her hands fisted on her desk.

She looked up at him. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "As if you don't know, Uchiha." she said, trying to sound vicious, but failing.

"I don't."

"Get out of here. I'm done talking with you. If you want to know, ask Naruto."

He turned and walked out the door. What was that all about?

"Ne, Sasuke-Teme let's go! I'm hungry and I want to get you home so I can go get some ramen!" Naruto smiled, seeming like nothing had ever happened. He was clearly avoiding Sasuke's questioning glare, and all of the negative comments that were sure to follow Naruto's dinner suggestion.

"Okay, Dobe." he put his hands in the pockets of his blue pants, and started walking.

"Hey Teme wait for me!" Naruto sped up next to him. They walked out into the street, headed toward the Uchiha compound. "So...a lot has changed since you left." Naruto said.

"Yes, I noticed." Sasuke said, as he turned to look at the 19-year old Naruto. He stood tall. About the same height as Sasuke. He was more muscular, and had definitely filled out in the years. He still wore that same orange jumpsuit, but this one had more black on it, and was more mature. Well, as mature as an orange jumpsuit can be.

Sasuke himself was not what he used to be. He was tall, muscular, and his hair was longer. He wore a white robe-like shirt, with blue pants and a purple rope belt. It was the custom at Orochimaru's hideout. He decided not to think of that place. It was in the past.

When they were almost at the Uchiha Compound, Sasuke decided this was a good time to ask.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Sakura? I guess I expected to see her by now..." Naruto stopped walking. The happiness had gone from his face. He looked at Sasuke. Naruto knew he would have to tell him sometime.

"Well, Sasuke...you are the first of our missing ninja to come home." he said. "We still have one more, still out there."

"What? Who?" Sasuke looked at Naruto, already knowing what he would say.

"Sakura-chan. She left over three years ago..." Naruto looked away from Sasuke, out toward the trees. "We still haven't been able to catch her."

Sasuke was in shock. Sakura was a missing nin? Why did she leave? More importantly, why is it that she is so hard to catch?

"What do you mean, left? She just left?" Sasuke couldn't process the data quick enough.

"Yeah, she just took off one night, without telling anyone. Once we realized she was gone, it was too late to catch her. When we tracked her down, she never left without putting up a fight, and she always ended up getting away."

"Naruto. You idiot."

"Now hang on a second –"

"Don't you remember the promise you made?" Sasuke shouted. Naruto's eyes were wide in shock. He stood there staring open mouthed at Sasuke.

Sasuke asked again, "Don't you remember? You promised you would watch out for her! You failed, just like you always do you damn idiot!" He fumed. Naruto could feel the chakra rising in Sasuke, and motioned for him to calm down. He couldn't understand why Sasuke was having such an emotional reaction to this, considering he was the first one to leave.

"Sasuke, calm down. As much as I would like to devote all my time to tracking her down, I can't do that anymore. I learned that lesson the hard way when I tried to find you for so many years. As a shinobi, I have other duties to attend to or the village will fall apart. We have to all work together to make things work around here. I can't just go off on my random desires anymore." Sasuke was again shocked. This man was nothing like the Naruto he remembered. Not at all.

Naruto spoke again, "We are still continuing our search. But things have just gotten more difficult. We might have had her the last time we encountered her, but since about a year ago, she has been under the protection of the Akatsuki."

Sasuke barely had time to process that bit of information. At that moment, an ANBU appeared, and spoke to Naruto.

"Naruto, you must come quickly. ANBU squads Alpha and Gamma have returned; they bring the Demon of the Leaves. They've got her!"

Sasuke inwardly laughed at the name, they can't possibly be talking about-

"Come on Sasuke-Teme! We've got to go see Sakura-chan! I don't believe this!" he snatched Sasuke by the wrist, and next thing he knew, he was back in the Hokage's office.

This cannot be a coincidence, Sasuke thought.

R&R

I hope you enjoyed!