Summary: On the 10th of October, the Allied Shinobi Alliance returns home as Naruto and Sasuke have a small discussion.

Pairing: Implications of SasuSaku and NaruHina.

Note: I thought this up after reading 695… the manga is giving me a lot of ideas lately. xD

It was finally over.

The Fourth Great Ninja War had ended at last, culminating with the return of Sasuke Uchiha to his home village, after receiving quite a beating from his best friend and rival, Naruto Uzumaki. The battle was short, both were worn out from fighting against Madara and then Kaguya.

Naruto had convinced Sasuke that his ideals for a Hokage were wrong, and would not solve anything, and Sasuke finally agreed to it and decided to return home, resolving to fix the shinobi world in a different way, with the help of his comrades.

Once they had returned to Kakashi and Sakura (Sasuke finally releasing the Genjutsu he had placed upon her), the two quickly dispelled the Infinite Tsukiyomi, Sasuke also releasing the Tailed Beasts who would soon be placed into new Jinchuriki. After everyone had been released and they began heading out, Sasuke had nearly collapsed from overuse of his Rinnegan, causing Naruto to help his friend walk back to their village, the last Uchiha's arm slung over his shoulders as they trudged along, Kakashi and Sakura further ahead.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, glad his team of misfits was together again, while Sakura was doing all she could not to sob out of happiness that Sasuke was finally coming home with them, neither hearing the conversation between the two seventeen-year-old boys.

"I can't believe you beat me…" Sasuke sighed, shaking his head, left eye closed to keep from using the Rinnegan anymore.

Naruto laughed, a large grin on his face. "Finally got you! Man, that was a good battle, Sasuke…"

"Mm-hm…"

For a few minutes, the two were silent, Sasuke trying to keep on his feet while Naruto watched Sakura as she continued wiping away her happy, silent tears.

"You need to talk to Sakura, Sasuke."

"Mm." nodding, Sasuke watches her as well, suddenly feeling angry with himself for what he had done to her, the Genjutsu he placed her under to keep her safe. "She's going to hate me."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, completely confused. Sakura had just a few hours ago confessed her love to Sasuke once again, when she tried to stop him from fighting Naruto again, so, it caused the blond to wonder why on earth Sasuke thought that.

"Why do you think that?"

"If you had seen the Genjutsu I placed her under…"

Seeing how disgusted Sasuke appeared to be with himself made Naruto start thinking about it, before he shook his head.

"She's going to love you no matter what, Sasuke… even I can see that."

"I doubt it."

"That's why you need to talk to her when we get home," Naruto let out a frustrated sigh, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes. "If you don't talk to her, you'll never know!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Once again the two dropped into a silence, until Sakura yelled to them to hurry up because they were almost at the village gates and she wanted to check them both over when they got to the hospital.

"Hey, idiot."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at Sasuke with confusion once again as his friend, feeling better after nearly collapsing earlier, removed his arm from his shoulders and walked ahead of him, stopping for just a second.

"…happy birthday, dobe."

Blinking, Naruto broke into a wide grin, slapping Sasuke on the back and almost knocking him over. "Thanks, man! Now go let Sakura look you over AND TALK TO HER."

"Be quiet, you idiot!"

Naruto laughed as Sakura looked back at them, asking Sasuke what was going on when he got next to her. He quickly dismissed her question, saying he just wanted to get to the hospital and sleep for a few days (not hours, days), making Sakura shrug and say she would check him over first, with Sasuke adding that he wanted to talk to her about what happened.

The grin on Naruto's face didn't fade as Sakura nodded, smiling a tiny bit.

Good, he's listening to me! Now, where's Hinata?!