Feelings were anxious as the hastily reformed Team 7 left the World Bridge following the trail to Orochimaru's hideout. It had been three long years since the true members of Team 7 had seen each other. Naruto and Sakura each bore the burden of Sasuke's betrayal and the anticipation of seeing him again was almost too much to bear.
Sasuke had felt the fire of the Nine-Tails chakra and decided it would be fun to test himself or rather show his former teammates how strong he had become under Orochimaru's unique tutelage. He stepped into the main room not quite expecting what he saw. Naruto no longer wore his trademark orange jumpsuit and his tall muscular frame was covered in a black ensemble. He turned slowly allowing his gaze to move to Sakura. She'd grown too in all the right places he noticed as he openly leered at her womanly attributes.
"Perhaps I should have brought her with me," Sasuke's inner deviant mused. His eyes never left her as he moved in her direction.
"This is Sasuke," Sakura's realization slowly sank in. The tall muscular creature in front of her barely bore any resemblance to the boy she remembered from that night on the bridge. This smirking creature who had caused them all so much pain was Sasuke, her one and only true love. Sakura could not help the tears that formed in her eyes as the emotions began to swell within her – love, anger, hurt, betrayal, joy, and relief.
"Sasuke you bastard!" Naruto yelled as he charged in his former teammate's direction stopping only when Yamato-sensei grabbed him.
"Some things never change," the Uchiha hissed deeply. "Naruto you're still an impulsive idiot and Sakura you're still a crybaby."
There was an unmistakeable danger in Sasuke's eyes as he stood before Sakura undressing her with each glare. Sakura stood her ground as his rough hand caressed her cheek allowing his thumb to wipe away her tears before running his fingers through her silken pink tresses.
"I suppose this is where you beg me to come home with you? Or perhaps you'll ask if you can stay here? I can think of a few good uses for you" he said gliding his serpent-like tongue seductively across his lower lip. Sakura's response was lost to his ears as the crunch of bones doubled him over. He coughed as he realized in horror that the tiny pink lump amidst the blood and bile was the tip of his tongue.
He tried to stand as the weight of her fist came crashing onto his shoulder blades like boulders rendering both his arms and wings useless. He sank to the floor as he felt his legs being kicked from beneath him. Sasuke yelled in pain as Sakura's knee's came crashing down on his shins breaking both his legs simultaneously as her fist delivered crushing blows to his arms.
Sai was speechless as he watched Sakura render the Uchiha completely useless in a matter of seconds. He felt something that could only be described as disbelief and gratitude descend over him as he realized Sakura really did go easy on him when she knocked him several feet the first day of their mission.
"You get him Sakura-chan! Kick his ass!" Naruto yelled encouraging his teammate and friend to release her frustrations on the defenseless boy. He knew that she was a top notch medical ninja and what she couldn't fix Tsunade-bachan could.
Kabuto felt a small amount of satisfaction as he watched Orochimaru's golden child being thrashed beneath a person that was labeled weak, ineffective and useless in his ninja cards.
Orochimaru took a more proactive approach as he snaked his head out to defend his future body against its attacker. He didn't want to lose his Sharingan, but there was something ominous about her as she smiled sweetly, tears streaming down her face while moved her kunai over Sasuke's neck that made him stop short. Sakura raised her head and directed her gaze in Orochimaru's direction motioning for him to continue his attack
"Why did you stop? The only thing I want more than Sasuke is to kick your ass," she growled tossing the cursed seal she had carved out of Sasuke's neck in his direction. Orochimaru stared at the lump of flesh at his feet dropping his guard allowing Sakura the opportunity to send several needles flying in his direction. Kabuto could do nothing but launch himself in front of her attack. Neither of them had expected someone so obviously trained by Tsunade to attack with anything other than her fist. Kabuto realized his mistake as the various poisons took out his chakra, circulatory, nervous, respiratory and endocrine systems.
Orochimaru hastily began to perform seals once Yamato began focusing his attacks on him after having already subdued the boy Danzou had sent to him. This time he dodged effortlessly as the two giant snakes appeared to whisk him and his minions to safety. He pulled Kabuto onto the serpent with him while the other snake snatched Sasuke's broken body from beneath the pink haired girl. Orochimaru watched in horror as the Nine-Tails brat unleashed a red tinged Rasengan killing the snake and once more recovering Sasuke.
"You haven't won yet" the retreating Sannin yelled. "Sasuke came to me willingly. He'll do it again no matter what you do to try to stop him. He will return to me"
"We did it! We got Sasuke back! We did it Naruro-kun! We did it!" Sakura yelled as she picked up the blonde boy and exuberantly swung him around in circles stopping only when he began to complain of dizziness.
"Oh, right. Sorry Naruto" she said dropping him and turning her attention to Sasuke. Sakura knew the extent of the wounds she had inflicted so she easily began stabilizing the life threatening ones. Sakura roused her patient into consciousness and looked down at his broken and bloody face. She smiled loving as she removed the Sound forehead protector and gazed into the boy's obviously frightened eyes before leaning down to place a kiss on the pale skin above his brow.
"This time I'm not asking you to stay or to take me with you. The choice is mine and I say you're coming with me" she said throwing his damaged body over her shoulder as Team 7 and the two extras began the long journey back to Konoha.
This is unbeta'ed so any and all constructive criticism is welcome.
