Brothers Then, Brothers Now II

Disclaimer: Hmmm….. What would I do IF I owned this?... Sasuke wouldn't be such a bastard, Itachi would end up being a good guy, and Sakura would realize how much Naruto loves her. But, alas, I do not own Naruto. Sad, isn't it? God dammit, what a drag…..

Sasuke glared at Kakashi, who was three hours late for their first training session as a team, though he wasn't sure if his old sensei even knew he was back yet. He had already tried to give an excuse, but was shot down by the other two genins. The Uchiha shook his head and went up to greet the scarecrow, a smirk growing on his face as he remembered that Kakashi hadn't been told, yet.

It was the fist day that Team 7 would be training together again since Sasuke returned and nothing seemed to be able to keep the genins high spirits down for long, especially Naruto. When the blonde had learned that his best friend wasn't even on probation because of the information he had provided on Sound's strengths and weaknesses, he had glomped the Godaime, not even bothering to call her 'obaa-san' like he normally would have.

When Kakashi saw him approaching, he looked shocked a moment then smiled. The genins saw a glimpse of water gathered on their sensei's eyelashes, but they merely smiled and kept their mouths shut; they knew how much the Copy Nin had blamed himself for Sasuke's betrayal and that this was like a dream come true to him. "Welcome home, Sasuke."

"It's good to be home." There was a smile on everyone's faces as they stood together, basking in the feeling of being complete for the first time since the genins had all gone to the separate teachers to train.

"Well, let's get training; we need to be ready when Orochi-teme comes to claim teme." The Uchiha smirked and turned to follow his blonde teammate as he bounded off. Kakashi followed closer to Konaha's most surprising and hyperactive jinchuuriki.

Sasuke stopped at the edge of the bridge that was Team 7's usual meeting place and turned back. "You coming, Sakura?" She seemed to snap out of a daze and turned to him.

"This… isn't a dream, is it?" Her face was filled with hope, but there was doubt there too. The Uchiha sighed and walked back up to her, knowing that she felt that this was too good to be true; sometimes he felt that way too. Remembering the many times his brother would do this to him whenever he asked him to help him train, Sasuke mimicked his brother's fleck to the forehead with a smirk.

At her stunned look, his smirk grew. "I guess not." He watched a smile begin to grow on her face and turned to catch up with Naruto and Kakashi. "If you don't hurry up, we'll leave you behind."

The kunoichi ran to follow him, and he tried to suppress his growing smile. Damn it's good to be home.

"Either you guys have gotten five times as strong as I thought, or Orochi-teme is actually a lot weaker than I thought." Everyone laughed as Sasuke adopted the nickname Naruto gave the snake and took them on a three-to-one spar to see how much he had learned. He wasn't doing too badly, but they were still doing better.

The genins all collapsed while Kakashi looked winded. Soon, Naruto was laughing for no apparent reason, but, rather than looking at him as if he was crazy, the other soon found themselves joining in. Sasuke found that he was enjoying others company for the first time in a long time. At Sound, I never wanted to be around anyone, but here… The Uchiha looked at his team, all laughing and just being happy. I want to stay with them as long as I can, if only to sit here and do absolutely nothing.

"Ne, do you guys want to go out for ramen? My treat." Naruto looked to his teammates, hoping that they would agree.

Sasuke smirked but shook his head lightly. "How about tomorrow, dope? I'm going to train a little more tonight." The others smiled and nodded before leaving to go their separate homes. Just as he said, Sasuke began to train more on his own, though he missed the company of his team. He spent most of his time trying to increase the amount of times he could use the chidori in a day.

He smiled softly as he trained, remembering all the times he had used this particular attack. The only time the Uchiha regretted having Kakashi teach him the chidori was when he fought Naruto at the Valley of the End, and when he had attacked Itachi, though that was only partly regrettable since he was protecting his best friend, in a round about way.

After over an hour, Sasuke fell to the ground, worn out. He was chuckling, though. "Up to nine times a day; better than the snake could try to get me to do…" Darkness began to swallow him up, but he felt himself being picked up and saw a Sharingan. Memories of his brother carrying him home after training flashed through his mind. "Nii-san…"

Kakashi blinked in surprise. Now that wasn't something he had expected the Uchiha to say. As he carried the boy back to the Uchiha district, he couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching him, almost thankfully but enviously it seemed.

Shrugging it off for now but still on edge, he continued on his way.

Sasuke woke up slowly, not really comprehending his surroundings. He was on his futon and had apparently been tucked in by someone. He glanced at the blanket covering him and a memory flashed through his mind of when he had been sick as a child and Itachi had watched over him since both their parents had been out. Nii-san did everything for me that day…

The smell of breakfast cooking drifted to him from the kitchen, bringing him back to reality. He sprang form his bed and walked… okay, ran to the door to the kitchen. Nii-san…

He stopped just before he opened the door and stood still, listening. Muffled voices came through the door, but his hopes fell as it became apparent that none of them were the former Akatsuki member. He stood still and listened to his teammates anyway.

"So…" His blonde companion's surprisingly soft voice floated through the door. "Are we going to be a team again, Kakashi-sensei?" So he knew that two of his 'family members' were here, but was the third?

"Well, since the three of you have been training so much, you still have to pass the Chuunin exams, and you need a team for that." His lazy sensei sounded cheerful, and he could feel Naruto's smile, which was mimicking his own, through the door. "Is breakfast ready yet, Sakura? Sasuke should be waking up soon."

"Hai, sensei." The Uchiha shook his head a little to get rid of the lost feeling he got when he learned that Itachi wasn'tthere and took a quick glance in the mirror before opening the shoji door. "Sasuke! You're just in time!" Sasuke could feel the happiness radiating from his team and couldn't hide the small smile that crept across his face.

Why the hell did I leave again? It's too…comfortable here to even think about it. A conversation came up between the others, and he listened, judging the changes that each of them had undergone without him.

Sakura was stronger, not only physically, but emotionally as well. She wasn't as clingy to him as before which was a definite plus, but he could see that she still held some feelings for him. He vaguely wondered if Lee was still as interested in her as he had been before.

Naruto was still outspoken, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut and wasn't as loud, though that could easily change. He was still confident, but now he had the power to back that up, and he never went back on his word. The jinchuuriki still flirted with his kunoichi teammate, but it was out of habit more than real feelings now, and it often led to him being hit upside the head.

Kakashi had changed the lease in the time that had passed. He still read Jiraiya's porn and was still lazy.

Breakfast came and went, but no one made a move to get up and leave the peace that surrounded them. After nearly an hour of simply chatting, Sasuke stood, drawing the attention of his teammates and sensei. "I'm going to get dressed; we have to report to Godaime-sama sometime, right?"

The others blinked owlishly before Naruto grinned, pulling his hand back to scratch the back of his head. "I guess we've all followed in sensei's footsteps for today, ne?" This earned a laugh from Sakura, a smirk from Sasuke, and an upside down u in place of Kakashi's eye, indicating his smile.

The Uchiha returned to his bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaning against it slightly. Maybe Nii-san isn't here, but I can still be with my team, and maybe we'll run into some of the others, as long as Ino doesn't fling herself at me like back then. He shook his head, smiling at the old memories and began to get dressed.

Fifteen minutes later found Team 7 in the Hokage's office, being scolded by the Godaime for picking up bad habits from their sensei, who was in a conversation with the self-proclaimed super pervert, most likely discussing a new idea for 'Ero-sennin's' newest 'work of art.'

Tsunade sighed and looked them over, a small smile on her face as she viewed Konoha's next three sannins. "Well, we don't have any missions for today, so you four can go catch up with the others, and Kakashi! Quit giving him anymore perverted ideas! He's perverted enough for all of us as it is…" Kakashi had the decency to blush a little while Jiraiya just grinned lecherously.

Sasuke smiled a little in gratitude at the woman before following the others. "Come on; we usually meet at the training grounds we took the bell test on when we don't have missions." Naruto took off, jumping for roof to roof. Sasuke smirked and took the unspoken challenge to see who could get there faster.

For the rest of Konoha to see, there were two blurs racing through the village, one bright orange and the other dark enough to be black. The two boys were smirking and were neck and neck before the Uchiha suddenly veered off course. Naruto nearly stumbled but kept going, wondering if Sasuke knew something he didn't.

The jinchuuriki landed on the edge of the training grounds and began looking for his friend, all the while grinning widely at his victory. He face-faulted when he heard a voice ring out loudly from where the others were gathered. "YOSH! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH HAVE BROUGHT YOU BACK TO THE SIDE WHERE YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTEST, SASUKE-SAN!" (AN: Now who on Earth could that be?)

Sasuke simply smirked in reply and nodded a greeting to the others, taking note of who was present. Lee was giving him the nice guy pose while Neji and Ten-ten smiled at him before returning to their conversation. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how Ten-ten would blush at a few things Neji would say. I never figured Hyuuga Neji to be the type to make girls blush.

Hinata gave him a warm but shy smile before going to calm down Naruto, who was raving about how he must have cheated. Kiba gave him a slap on the back and a smirk after telling him that if he ever ran off again, he and Akamaru weren't going to risk their lives to go after him again. Sasuke mumbled an apology but smirked as the dog began whining for attention. Shino gave him a nod of acknowledgment, which was returned, before going back into a meditative state to 'talk' to his bugs.

Chouji tried to say hi to him through all of the potato chips that he was eating, but he failed miserably, earning him a light whack on the shoulder from Ino. The Yamanaka had given him a quick hug before going back to her big-boned teammate. Well, that could've been worse, but I'm not going to push it.

He learned later that Shikamaru was stationed in Suna with the Sand Siblings, or, more specifically, Temari.

The Rookie 9 and Team Gai spent most of the day together before they split up in the evening. It was then that Team 7 and Kakashi made good on Naruto's offer from the night before.

Sasuke walked back out to the training grounds, his footsteps the only sounds in the peaceful night. The day had gone really well considering how he went to Orochimaru and back; the others took his coming back very well, especially Lee, who was begging him for a spar.

He had learned at dinner that Kakashi was the one who took him home, but his sensei had mentioned feeling like he was being watched. The Uchiha had laughed and said that Sound was too chicken to come with a ticked off Orochi-teme, who was no doubt going to be ticked off.

He never mentioned, however, that he hoped that it had been his brother. Sasuke sighed a little as he reached the grounds and immediately began attacking a tree. He wanted to be able to help his nii-san if he ever needed it.

Around midnight, the Uchiha was still training when he heard something in the forest behind him. Whirling around with a kunai in hand, Sasuke found himself facing a blonde, a redhead, and someone with black hair and red eyes. The blonde was grinning widely, reminding him of Naruto, while the redhead just smiled a little. The last one seemed indifferent, but his eyes were smiling.

Sasuke slowly lowered his kunai. "Nii-san?" Itachi smirked slightly and nodded. The younger Uchiha felt a joy and peace running through his veins that he hadn't felt in a long time, even with his team, although that came very close. "You two must be Sasori and Deidara." Seeing their affirmative nods, he smiled, happy to have some more friends, and that his brother was home. "Since you've come to me, I'm guessing that you three need a place to stay."

Itachi smirked, deciding to tease his otouto a little bit. "Well, that too, but the main reason is to make sure you don't work yourself to death, that's our job." Sasuke played along and pouted a little, causing all three missing-nin to laugh.

Sasuke smiled and turned around, motioning for them to follow. "The only ones that will come to the Uchiha District are the three others on my team since we're getting ready for the chuunin exams and the inevitable attack from Orochimaru."

The former Akatsuki members nodded in understanding as they followed him through the streets of Konoha, being sure to stay in the shadows to remain unseen. They arrived at the Uchiha District without any problems and became comfortable in the house Sasuke lived in.

"Nice place, yeah." Sasori immediately scoped out a room where he could work on his puppets in peace while Deidara began thinking of ways to brighten the house up a little. "I'm going to like it here, yeah."

Sasuke smiled and shook his lead a little eat his brother's friends and turned to see if Itachi needed anything. He found his brother fazing in the direction of their parents' old room with veiled disgust and remorse. The younger Uchiha smiled sympathetically and pulled him in the opposite direction. "Come on; our rooms are this way."

Itachi looked at his younger brother as he continued to drag him away. Sasuke had been the thing that kept him going while he was pressed to meet so many expectation, and when he had overheard the others talking about the sacrifice, he had lost it. He had been hurt and betrayed when he found out that even Shisui was in on it, too, but he never showed it.

Now, he was back with his brother who he had tried to protect for so long. When he had heard that Sasuke was leaving Orochimaru, he had been relieved, which had been noticed by the two that came with him. When they asked him about it, they had been in the company of Kisame, and the shark was only power hungry, so he was… disposed of. Then he had overhead Sasuke's conversation with his teammates and was happy to hear that he didn't want vengeance anymore.

Underneath his cloak, the Sharingan-user smiled. He had his brother back and had two good friends, even if they were missing-nins, and he felt at peace, if only for a little while. Orochimaru would be coming for Sasuke and Akatsuki would be one their way to get the Kyuubi and kill them. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts…

AN: I had meant for this story to be just a oneshot, but I just to thinking, what would happen if… and just started writing again. (I hate it when I do that.)

I won't be updating this regularly… hell, I don't update ANYTHING regularly, but I do try. I had a lot of stuff written up that I just got to type, so that's why everything is taking so long. bow Gomen!

Review Please! Thanks for Reading! And please tell me if I should even bother continuing this.