Chapter 1: Coming back
Sasuke breathed in deeply, as he looked up at the konoha gates. He could just barely make the shape out, because it was so dark out. Sasuke had already spent so much time traveling from the land of waves and away from Orochimaru earlier that day. He wondered how much stamina was gone due to all the running he had to do, and how much chakra he had used up defeating the sannin. Many thoughts crossed Sasuke's mind as he looked at what used to be his own village. Sasuke had left Sakura unconcious on the bench, which when he looked back, made him cringe. Someone who had devoted her life to him, showing him imense love, was left on a bench unconcious, and probably woke up yelling out his name, and panicking. Then Naruto. When he had fought him in the Valley of ends, made him feel guilty. Sakura, the same girl and last person he spoke to before he left Konoha, had sent Naruto to get Sasuke. Naruto was forced to use his Kyubi, which only happened in cases when he was near death, or was unbelievably angered. When Sasuke had first found out about this, he thought it was stupid, and looking back, he knew that Naruto would probably be long gone without the power of 9tails.
He then thought of Team 7, which Tsunade had probably disbanded after his disappearance. Without 3 people in that squad, it was completely useless. An unexpected thought came: Sakura. She had probably spent months crying and wasting her emotions on him. She knew that Naruto would have no chance of ever getting Sasuke back, but she had sent him! Naruto probably tried to comfort Sakura, which made Sasuke uncomfortable. Why was he always ruled by his love for Sakura in situations where he should be working? Knowing him, he would probably try to attack Sasuke the moment he stepped foot in Konoha, which was highly unlikely, just like he had said in The Valley of Ends, Naruto wouldn't be able to put a single scratch on his forehead. Without him being a jinchuriki, he's probably be as weak and helpless and a butterfly. Knowing Naruto, he's probably the same idiotic and stupid, useless ninja as before.
Sasuke laughed, knowing that Naruto wants to be hokage, yet he doesn't realize that the village would probably be destroyed if he ever managed to take Tsunade's spot. And then he tried to get Konohamaru to get his hopes up on being hokage? Tck, yea right. Why had Tsunade sent Naruto, Shika, choji and the others to even attempt at bringing Sasuke back? She knew it was impossible, unless they somehow became jounin. Tsunade probably had all the other jounin busy on missions, and it wouldn't make any sense if she brought the kage's to try to capture 1 ninja. Getting a jinchuriki made sense, but why the knuckle head Naruto?
Then his thoughts changed to Orochimaru. He'd lied to Sasuke about giving him 'power' which he needed to kill Itachi. Orochimaru didn't know what the Uchiha nin were capable of, especially with that curse mark he'd given Sasuke. Anger flooded his body, but he quickly cooled down. It returned as soon as he recalled Itachi, the man, who he used to call his brother. How cowardly of him, to kill the entire clan, and then flee as soon as his little brother returned! He left him in a genjutsu, a constant replay of the clan, including his aunt, uncle and the rest of them being in a blood bath. Itachi just slaughtering each and every one of the members over and over. Sasuke asked Itachi why he has done what he did, and he replied "Just to see if he could." yeah right! More like for fun. At least, thats what he made it seem like. What kind of person would kill his own parents? Especially with being the favorite. Sasuke had tried so hard to get up to the ranks with Itachi, being strong and possibly joining the ANBU and graduating from Konoha school early, and tried to master the ninjutsu Itachi had showed him that one day in the forest. When his father had inspired Sasuke to master the fireball jutsu, and when Sasuke actually did it, his father, even if he didn't show it, Sasuke knew he was proud. He recalled all the moments that he had with his parents, all the words they said, and how much his mom had loved him.
When Sasuke heard his dad say "That's my boy", Sasuke was extremely happy. He had waited his whole life, practiced so hard each and every day after he got home from school to hear those words, and then his dad finally said it. The only thing Sasuke wished he could change was his father, Sasuke wished he had smiled more. Then his mom. Sasuke never knew what his dad talked about with his mother. He wanted to know more than what she had said. Sasuke knew that she was probably hiding some of the more important parts, and that they were probably top secret between the couple, even so, he wanted to know so bad. Why hadn't he asked her more? Sasuke kind of missed smiling, but that didn't matter. Itachi needed to die. Sasuke came home only to see his parents dead. He wanted to bad to hear them say "I love you" or at very least "Good bye" before they died. But no. Itachi killed them. They were gone forever.
Sasuke closed his eyes, and quickly fought back the tears that wanted to escape so bad from him, to silently let out the emotions that he had not thought. Sasuke clenched his firsts, and put on his headband, which now had a slash through the leaf symbol. It was cute with his kunai. Orochimaru said that he had to cut it to symbolize that he was no longer part of Konoha. He slowly walked through the gates, wondering if he would be accepted back in. He carefuly studied the small village, pondering if anything had changed. Had Tsunade ordered any nin to remove the Uchiha household? It would only make sense, because after all, he was gone for a long time. Sasuke bit his lower lip, hoping that she hadn't done that. Sasuke had his normal, everyday clothes on, and stuck his hands in the pockets of his white shorts. Admiring the view, he had decided to walk to his house, to see if anyone had fixed it up, or anything...anything besides removing it permanatley from the village. The night air was cool on his skin, and he found himself walking towards the hokage's house. He didn't try to change his destination though, because he has to report to Tsunade that he was back.
He wondered how Tsunade would react to him in her house at night. Unless it was morning. Right now, Sasuke had no way of telling what time it was. All he knew that it was dark. He didn't really care, though. She needed to know that he was in the village, otherwise she would probably have ninja attack and imprison him. Because, after all, if he was not officially a part of the village, he would be considered an intruder. His footsteps were quiet on the pavement, only making a slight and quiet clicking type sound.
The minute he saw the Hokage's house, he ran to it. "Tsunade?" He said, walking into the quiet bedroom. He could verify an object on the bed, completely covered with blankets, which abruptly sat up at Sasuke's voice, which she seemed to recognize. She didn't seeme too happy.
"Sasuke? Is that you!" Tsunade demanded, quickly getting up and trying to find a lightswitch. Apparently, she had left scrolls on the floor, and forgot where she put them, because she continously was cought off balance by them. She must have written a jutsu or something the previous night. Sasuke let out a small laugh at the hokage, who had been using the wall as a guidance. "Yup."
"You~ You were gone for over a year, we has sent multiple teams and ninja's after you! How dare you come back now." She yelled, anger filling her voice. This hadn't affected Sasuke. He just smirked, knowing that she would react like this. The dark room suddenly flashed into color, causing Sasuke to blink, and flinch a little bit. Judging by the tone of the Hokage's voice, right now is not the time to be the normal him. He'd have to talk completely polite and kind. Sasuke and Tsunade, who was giving a stern glare, with her hands on her hips, met glances. " Well, Tsunade-sama" he bagan, "I decided that I must return to the leaf village and become stronger, under a legendary sannin's watch." Sasuke said, leaving out that he had killed Orochimaru, and now had no where to go. Sasuke wondered if Tsunade could tell that he was lying, because she didn't change anything in her actions at first. Then she loosened the glare she held with Sasuke, and smiled.
Sasuke knew that girls liked compliments, so he added how she was his favorite and probably the strongest female ninja in the world. "Oh, well...fine. But don't expect to get off the hook so easily, Uchiha!" Tsunade responded, quickly trying to regain her hokage mode, and attempted to be strict. Sasuke watched this, as Tsunade was trying to come up with a punishment for him. Partiallly, Sasuke wanted to say 'I wasn't expecting to, with you as a kage.' , but things were bad as they were already, so he decided to remain quiet. "Well, let's see. Team 7 will get back together," Aha! She had disbanded Team 7, "and you must help with the students aiming to become genin at the konoha school until they graduate, which wont be long. Bring Naruto and Sakura here tomorrow, and we will discuss the subject further, while you help out with the kids." She said, smiling as sasuke groaned. Tsunade knew how much Sasuke had hated helping and being around kids. They always clung to him, and obsessed over him being the solo survivor of the Uchiha massacre. Sasuke hated with every fibger of his being, being reminded of what happened to his family. He refrained from glaring at Tsunade, not knowing what she would do about that.
"Fine Tsunade-sama. Do you want to gather Sakura and Naruto for me?" Sasuke asked, not wanting to be ambushed by Naruto and fangirled by Sakura.
"No, not at all." Tsunade said slowly, "That's your job."
Sasuke's eyes widened, and he let his jaw drop a little. Why was he, out of all the jounin and othe ninja, ordered to gather Team 7?
"Hai, tomorrow morning. And is the Uchiha household...stil...up?" Sasuke asked grumpily, staring out the doorway. "Yes, so you may sleep there tonight." She responded calmly, looking at him. "I will, Tsunade, However, I must go now." Sasuke said, turning around, he made 1 footstep before the hokage stopped him. "Sasuke?"
"...yes."
"I Know the kids will surround you,. and Naruto will probably try hurting you, so I will watch you the first day. Oh, and it's 4 am. I expect you to be at Konoha in 2 hours, helping the students practice their jutsu."
Sasuke was walking away, not liking how Tsunade was going to be watching him. Sasuke sprinted home, having some Chunin spot him. He ignored their murmers about "The uchiha is back.", and quickly went home.
When he reached his house, his heart sank. No one would be home to welcome him back, or hug him, and no one would be there to talk to. The moment he entered, he pictured his family in various spots of the house, doing what they had done normally before...Itachi. Sasuke made his way to his room, and sat down on the dusty bed. Maybe he'd put out a D-rank mission for some genin to clean the dust and fix up the house for him. Konoha didnt really feel any different, he still hated everyone, and he only came back to get stronger.
He also missed seeing Naruto, missed Sakura, and missed Kakashi. he hated being around them, though, because they made him feel as strong as he could get, when he knew he needed to get stronger. Around them, he wasnt sure how much stronger he needed to be. Sasuke decided he'd probably have just enough time to train a little. He got up and walked through the halls.
"Hmph. Maybe if I sparred Naruto...he'd go full out, and I would get a little expirience" Sasuke thought outloud. Sasuke decided he liked that idea. Fighting a jinchuriki when he was angry probably, on second thought, wasn't a good idea, unless Sasuke could convince him not to use the Kyubi's power. Maybe Naruto would be to easy without 9 tails. Then again, today wasn't the day when Sasuke wanted to be killed by a demon fox trapped in a dorks body. As Sasuke got up, he walked down the halls. The moment he saw the sun rising, he ran into the kitchen and looked at a clock. It blinked '5:53 am'. Sasuke began to panick. It didnt seem that long, but now that he had 7 minutes to get Naruto and Sakura to Tsunade's, and still have time to get to the genin classroom, he would have to hurry. Naruto's house wasn't that far from Sakura's, but it was from Tsunade's. Sasuke quietly cursed to himself as he ran as fast as he could to Naruto's.
