Edit: advice taken into account, no Bold for Sasuke :)

CHAPTER 1

"You don't have to go, Sasuke-kun! If you stay, I promise you will always be happy!" cried out 13-years-old Sakura, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks.

"Sakura," young Uchiha murmured, turning around, "you really are... annoying."

"Well, you are the one to talk, aren't you?" a familiar voice sounded from the trees. Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to the left and saw Naruto jumping from a branch. "Like hell are we gonna let you go, teme!"

"Dobe, don't interfere," came a simple response from the brunet, his fists clenching with rage. "I'm simply wasting my time here – if I want to gain power and defeat Itachi, I have to go to Orochimaru. He will teach me how to control the seal and I will become strong in the shortest time."

Silence passed between the three.

"I created a Shadow clone," Uzumaki said off-handedly, causing Sasuke to squint his eyes with cautious – you can expect anything from Naruto's clones, he knew that better than anyone. "He is currently walking towards Hokage's tower to inform baa-chan of your escape. I will only release him if you stop being such a prick and listen to us."

"I doubt Fifth will send a squad of jounin-level shinobi after me either way. We aren't at our best now, dobe, and Konoha can't waste ninjas and resources to capture an ordinary genin."

Jinchüriki snickered. "It's funny how you always claim to be the greatest genin of Konoha – not aloud, obviously – and an all-mighty Uchiha, yet now you back down and call yourself an 'ordinary genin'. You know Tsunade will still send out someone after you."

Sharingan owner sighed and picked up a kunai from his pouch. Both Sakura and Naruto instantly became alert and stood in fighting position.

"You know we can't let you do it, Sasuke-kun," Haruno said with a frown. "Neither of us want to fight you-"

"Well, I wouldn't say neither of us!" came a bright comment.

"-but we will if you are still planning to run away," finished kunoichi, noticing her blond friend shifting a second later and throwing a few shuriken at Uchiha. "Matte, Naruto!"

However, the attack only caused Sasuke to tiredly roll his eyes and dodge them with kunai. "I thought you grew out of attacking someone without a strategy, dead-last."

"And I did," Naruto's voice behind him proclaimed. Sasuke turned just in time to grab both of clone's hands and hit him in stomach; a second later clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke but his place was taken by another five clones, attacking Sasuke from different sides.

"Created clones beforehand? So you're not as weak as I thought," Uchiha smirked, his black orbs acquiring bright red colour with three black tomoe. "But you know it's not gonna work on me, I can see which one of you is real."

As Sasuke threw yet another clone to the ground and, using an explosive tag, caused another three to disappear, he didn't anticipate a strike from behind. Real Naruto landed his left feet between Sasuke's shoulder blades, causing the latter to leap forward and fall on the ground. Uzumaki inwardly winced when the form of his teammate disappeared, instead being replaced with a log.

"Both of you, stop!" shouted Sakura, running forward and pushing Uzumaki to the ground. The blonde surely didn't expect that, for he felt, his sky-blue eyes opened in shock. He felt somewhat betrayed but soon after came to his senses: in the end, he didn't come here to initiate yet another fight with Sasuke.

Seeing as Naruto wasn't going to attack him again, Uchiha prodigy came from behind a tree, hands in his pockets and gaze as cold as ever. "Finished, dobe?"

"Never, teme!" he replied with a foxy smirk while getting up along with Sakura. However, a second later his face became more serious. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan and I just want you to stay in Konoha. Kakashi-sensei mostly trains with you anyway, so you will learn so many jutsus in no time! Besides, it's Kakashi-sensei we are talking about – can you imagine how many jutsus he copied? And with Sharingan, you can copy all of them from him."

For a short moment Team 7 stood still; Sakura's worried gaze and Naruto's determination directed at Sasuke with the latter one acting rather unfazed. A slow wind passed by them, ruffling genins' hair and clothes which went completely unnoticed by them. Whoever made the next move...

"If you want to avenge your clan so badly, Sasuke-kun," pinkette said barely above a whisper, her hands sweating at the idea and slightly trembling, "we will come with you."

Sasuke didn't react the slightest, while Naruto backed away with an "Eeh?! Sakura-chan, I didn't agree on that!"

"I don't want to leave Konoha, too, you know, but if we don't go with Sasuke-kun, we will lose him forever," she explained, a plan slowly forming in her head. Kunoichi then faced brunet, "I don't want you to go to Orochimaru because he only wants you for your Sharingan and will undoubtedly use you! If-if we are going to abandon Konoha, we can ask other strong ninjas for help."

"And how will I control Cursed seal?" he said, sounding bored, though he couldn't fool his friends – they could see his eyes glistening with something akin... care. "Even Kakashi couldn't seal it completely, hence I can only prevent it from taking over me by learning how to control it."

Naruto mumbled something incoherent, still feeling uncertain. Nevertheless, it took him a single look at his female teammate's face to realise that, yes, she wasn't joking around because Sasuke was dead serious.

'I wanted to become a Hokage for as long as I remember myself. But could a man become one if he can't keep his friends safe? If Sasuke leaves Konoha, the chances are baa-chan will send a group of shinobi to tackle him down while will probably succeed. But then, what will keep him from running to Orochimaru again? And this damn seal...'

"It didn't affect you as much lately, did it?" Naruto finally voiced his opinion, hands crossed on his chest and eyeing his opponent with cautiousness. "I think that there are shinobi out there, able to seal it, Sasuke. You are wrong if you think we are going to give up on you."

He could see a trace of doubt forming in his rival's eyes. He could deny it all he wanted but Naruto was certain that Sasuke wasn't a lost cause.

'On a second thought, leaving Konoha and becoming nukenin won't be as bad if we are doing it for our friend. Besides, if we are going to have foreign ninjas as our teachers... damn, even Ero-sennin will be impressed with our abilities!' Naruto paused. 'Oh, crap, this old pervert will undoubtedly try to haunt me down, and if he does, he and baa-chan will probably skin me alive for leaving. Eek!'

'If leaving Konoha will mean being Team 7 again... I will risk it. I will try to do everything I can to keep this creep away from Sasuke-kun. We will become strong together, even if it means changing everything. I will work harder from now on, Naruto, Sasuke-kun!'

'We were supposed to take different paths from now on. Bonds aren't supposed to mean anything to me. I'm an avenger and these two will only distract me. But, if there are indeed other ninjas, willing to teach me powerful jutsus... it's better than listening to the Snake Sannin.'

Not paying attention to Sakura's screams anymore, blon leaped towards 'the bastard' and hit him. It seemed that Sasuke didn't disagree with the beating, for he soon laid on the ground with Uzumaki sitting on his stomach and repeatedly hitting him in his 'bastard face'.

"You... can't... imagine... how... stupid... you... sound right now!" he shouted, each word accompanied by a hit. "Sakura-chan and I are your teammates, you arrogant prick – and the only friends you will ever have!"

"And this is exactly why I have to leave!" brunet shouted in response, momentarily stopping. He had a tendency to control every word he said, yet he didn't plan on revealing his true feelings.

Clearly, neither did Naruto or Sakura that froze at his words.

Jinchüriki gave out a frustrated groan, grabbed his best friend by the collar of his shirt and lifted his head, trying to figure out what his best friends thoughts really were.

It seemed that he was content with whatever he figured out, for he backed away and stood up, helping Sasuke to get up as well. "You might think that solitude will help, but don't you get it? Friends are always there to help you, don't you dare question it."

Not a word was said for the next couple of minutes, but Naruto's words seemed to have an effect, if Sasuke's softening eyes was any indicator.

"Hn. If you are tagging along, you better not be a waste of space and have a plan as to where we go," he said finally causing Sakura's eyes to widen with relief and Naruto to chuckle.

"Well, then, you better take out map from your backpack, so we start off, dattebayo!" he announced, giving a thumb-up and releasing his Bushin jutsu. "We have at least twelve hours as a head-start and then baa-chan will start running around the village, looking for me because I'm the best ninja Konoha has."

"Baka," Haruno exasperatedly said, still looking at Sasuke from the corner of her eye and shyly smiling. Then, however, she quircked up. "Oh, if we are leaving Konoha, we have to- I mean, our bandanas-"

Her teammates nodded, neither being all too eager, but it had to be done. Sakura and Naruto took off theirs while Sasuke fished his one out of his backpack. Using the kunai he still held in his hand, Uchiha mercilessly slashed a line through Leaf sign. He then passed it to Naruto. Haruno saw her teammate's uncertainty, so she grabbed his bandana and slashed a line on both of their bandanas.

They were now officially apostates.

Without a further ado, Uchiha prodigy took out a map from his backpack and laid it on a nearby bench for everyone to see.

"We are currently in neutral relationship with Sand, hence we can't go to Wind," kunoichi commented while absorbing the map and calculating their possibilities. "This leaves us with Water, Lightning and Earth being three major countries where we are more likely to find strong shinobi."

"Well, Earth is the closest but it's also the most vicious, isn't it?" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. "I they find out about our true identities, they will kill us without as much as blinking."

"Lightning or Water," Sasuke finalised, though it was clear which one he was likely to choose. "I have Lightning natured chakra, which means I will be able to perfect it in Kumogakure. Let's go."

"Ch-ch-chotto matte! What the hell, dattebayo?!" blond ninja exclaimed, sounding pissed off. "I get it we are coming with you because we are your friends and everything, but the main part here is we are friends. You know, making decisions together and everyone should agree."

Konoha's biggest knucklehead was rewarded with a pitiful look from both of his teammates – he could literally see 'Shut your trap' written across their faces in black Sharpie. He knew that he could argue with Sasuke all he wanted but Sakura will simply slap him across the back of his head and give him evils.

"I think you are forgetting that we are going after Sasuke-kun, not with him like we usually do on mission," Sakura retorted while putting her bandana in a pouch, her Inner Self screaming at how stupid Naruto can be at times.

"If you want to go somewhere else, you are always free to," Uchiha told him with a shrug, scanning the map with Sharingan, thereby memorising it. "It will take us around 6 days to get to Kumogakure if we will only stop for night."

Naruto and Sakura nodded, the three of them taking off. Deciding that it would be too risky, leaving the village through its main entrance, shinobi took a short cut and were now heading in north-east direction. From what Sakura could remember, they will have to pass through Yugakure and Shimogakure. In girl's opinion, it could have been worse, yet the fact that they might bypass some of Oto ninjas was an unsettling one.

Sasuke tried to ignore the chills he felt while leaving Konoha's border, reason being he wasn't sure whether they were caused because of his leave or due to rather nasty weather.

As he folded his bandana – the only sign that he belonged to Konoha – and put it in his backpack, he stole a quick look behind him. The idiotic loudmouth, as always, walked without worrying about a thing with that goofy smile of his face and hands clasped behind his head; Sakura, surprisingly, looked quite relaxed as well, having a small smile on her young face.

'Such a care-free shinobi these two are,'Sasuke thought, not realising that the corners of his lips lit up, thought just a bit – not enough to form a smile but it didn't look like one of his 'Uchiha-smirks' either. 'I wonder how long it will take to shatter their perfectionist view of our world.'

The silence was comforting, to say the least – if Team 7 listened carefully enough, they would undoubtedly hear cicada's humming or small animals looking for a hideout because predators were always present.

Of course, peace didn't last for long.

"Ehh, guys, I don't have anything to wear because I didn't know we are leaving..?"

Tch.

Dobe.