Notes: Just as I said, the update was slow. Er, sorry. But also like I said, I guarantee a finished product! It's almost been a whole year since the terrible nightmare that spawned this fic occurred, so miserable anniversary to you all, I guess! Things are mostly Team 7 from here on out, but there is a lengthy scene featuring Team 8 since poor Shino and Kiba got the least amount of attention of the rookies in the manga.
Another massive thank you to my Chief Beta Reader Extraordinaire, Irradiance! And another huge thank you to those who reviewed, alerted, and favourited.
Shots were fired this chapter. See if you can catch at least 3 of them.
Lifting the Dream by HawkofNavarre
Part II of III
"No matter what you say this time, we're going to be together!"
"And so now he and his team are living with me until he's allowed to get his own place! I found out that one of them is some sort of relative of mine too, which is really cool, even if she's sort of nuts. It's only been a day so far, but it's been fun," Naruto rambled as he leaned against the memorial stone. "Oh, and guess who else stayed over! Yeah, Sakura-chan did! I mean, of course it's not the way I would've wanted her first night over at my place to be like, but I'm not complaining!"
"Are you boring that old fool with your chatter yet?" Tsunade's voice rang out behind him as he shifted to look at the current Hokage.
"Baa-chan, this was supposed to be a conversation between men," he whined, standing up to greet her.
"Oh? Is that why I heard you bragging about having my best student sleep over at your house?"
His face flamed red. "It was a team gathering!"
"I'm sure that was what you were bragging about."
There had been a lot of bickering going on lately and the light-heartedness was a nice change from all the recent pain. Losing Ero-sennin had easily been the worst thing that had ever happened to him—the man had been the closest thing he'd ever had to a father, after all—but the only thing he could do was go on living. At least he could still talk to the pervert when he needed to, much for the same reason, he suspected, that Tsunade was here.
"Eh? I don't think you're hearing correctly, you old hag. You must be getting senile!" Naruto retorted petulantly as he picked at his ear. "You hear that, Ero-sennin? She can hide her wrinkly face but not her decomposing brain!"
"You brat—!"
They yelled stupid and pointless things at each other for a while, but eventually ended up sitting in front of Jiraiya's memorial side by side with a decidedly peaceful air around them. Naruto wondered how he had once been that kid that felt like nobody in the world cared about him when he had wound up with such a wonderfully weird makeshift family. Granted, a mother figure who was a gambling drunk was probably not the best role model for a child to have, but Tsunade was so much more underneath that. He'd seen it and that was always what he was going to see in her.
"You know, we're technically supposed to be at the tower at the same time today," Naruto pointed out. He loved sleeping in and was never one to get up earlier than he had to, sometimes to the point of being late, but he'd dragged himself out of bed this morning in order to visit Jiraiya before he had to head to "work". He was making it a point of being punctual and not shirking off his boring duties to a shadow clone. After the war, it was overwhelming how much people seemed to look up to him, and he realized he had to start being responsible for even the administrative stuff if he wanted to set a good example for anyone who did. In addition to that, Naruto truly did want to be Hokage. If tedious paperwork was part of it, that was what he was going to do!
"I don't have any meetings this morning," Tsunade waved him off airily. "Besides, I've been Hokage for a fairly long time now. I'm allowed a little wiggle room. Things are winding down."
"I guess that's true. Still, I never thought I'd be the one responsible enough to go to work on time," he said airily. "Hokage stuff seems more important than my dumb paperwork too."
"That 'dumb paperwork' is going into history books, brat, so I think what you're doing is pretty important. Me? I'm becoming a lot less important around here," Tsunade explained as she leaned back on her hands, glancing at the trees. For some reason, there was something in her tone and words that Naruto thought seemed to have a deeper meaning. If they did, he didn't understand what she was trying to say.
"Baa-chan...?"
"You should probably hear it from me," she answered with a shrug. "I'm stepping down from my position as Hokage."
Naruto stared at her. "You're what?"
Tsunade scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, it's not that much of a surprise. You remember that I didn't want to be Hokage in the first place, don't you?"
"Yeah, but baa-chan, the war's just ended! Konoha needs you!" he said desperately. As much as he wanted to be Hokage in the future, Naruto knew he wasn't ready. He had very little experience with politics and knew next to nothing about the new alliance that had formed between all the villages. Regardless of how many friends he had, running a village was an entirely different matter. If Tsunade stepped down as Hokage, who would even take her place?
"Don't worry, kid. I've already got a replacement working as we speak, even approved by those annoying geezers of ours. He knows what he's doing," she waved him off as she produced a small bottle of sake. Surprisingly, she also had enough class today to bring a couple of glasses with her. "In the meantime, I'm going to catch up with this pervert with the best drink ever made."
"...Really? It's barely past seven," Naruto pointed out in disbelief.
She ignored him, popping open the bottle and filling each of the cups with the beverage. The retiring Hokage set one cup down closer to the memorial stone and lifted the other one as if she were giving a toast. "It's never too early for a drink between friends," Tsunade responded, obviously in too good of a mood to care.
The woman emptied her cup in an instant and Naruto figured he should probably leave before some sort of one-sided conversation was struck up. He'd already had his own with his mentor earlier and it was only right that he leave Jiraiya's teammate that privilege without interrupting. Still, it was a kind of hard to just walk away with what he'd just been told. The best thing he could do was trust Tsunade, but...he really wished this kind of thing hadn't been dropped on him so suddenly. While the person the council had approved to be her successor had to be good, this was definitely a change. He'd expected his favourite old hag to be the one sitting at the desk when he finally handed in the last of his paperwork. It was a little sad...
"For the record, I thought you were a pretty good Hokage, baa-chan," Naruto told her as he stood up, read to make his way home and get ready for the day. "Not as good as I'll be, but still pretty good."
She chuckled as she poured herself another cup, lifting the glass to her lips with a smile. "Get out of here, you little brat, or you're going to be late to work on your report."
"Sasuke doesn't have to write a report," he complained as he stalked off.
"Sasuke gave a verbal report. You aren't under house arrest and are on active duty!" Tsunade shouted after him.
He took off through the trees, his feet pushing off branches with ease. It was early enough that he wasn't in any rush to get home. Plus, it was a nice morning and it gave him time to reflect on his conversation with Tsunade. She'd looked more relaxed sitting there with Jiraiya's memorial than he'd ever seen her. Her term as Hokage had been longer than his dad's and shorter than Sarutobi's, but she was definitely older when she'd taken up the position and had led the village through the biggest war in shinobi history. Naruto couldn't blame her for wanting a break. He hadn't thought she'd step down from being Hokage, but seeing how unburdened she looked today, she was certainly making the right choice.
Reaching his apartment, Naruto gave a quick wave to the ANBU with a creepy bird mask sitting outside his window. One of the conditions of Sasuke's release was that he was to be watched all day, every day by at least one member of ANBU. Seeing as the Uchiha was ridiculously powerful, the ANBU was there more for supervision than anything. Naruto didn't think anyone was stupid enough to think they could stop Sasuke if he really wanted to leave. Sai certainly wasn't, but he was extremely observant, which was probably why he was the one stationed here today. The mask was doing its job by covering up his face, but it wasn't exactly hard to tell who was under there.
Knowing his friend wouldn't respond while on duty, Naruto made his way inside to change and grab something to eat. Sasuke was sitting against the wall with his eyes closed in an uncomfortable-looking position in the corner, similar to where he'd been the night before. If he was sleeping, that was a good step forward. Naruto had gotten up a few times in the middle of the night himself because he was restless and found his friend simply staring out the window. He'd been staring out the window throughout their card games too. Naruto suspected it had something to do with being back in the village after so long. It hadn't changed a whole lot while he'd been gone, despite being rebuilt, but maybe that was what was so fascinating about it. This was the place Sasuke had abandoned when he was a child and now he had returned to it after so long as an actual citizen. The familiar surroundings would be strange to anyone who hadn't really had a home for the last five or so years.
"I've been getting ready for work and he hasn't stirred once," Sakura told him as she stepped up beside him. "I wonder how much he ever really got much sleep after he left. That doesn't look comfortable."
"It definitely doesn't," Naruto agreed, not vocalizing what he really thought, which was that Sasuke was finally around allies in a familiar place. The guy had dropped his guard whether he'd meant to or not and probably passed out on the floor as a result. Of course, that was just what he thought and there was really no point in trying to explain that to Sakura. She and Sasuke had their own relationship. Yeah... Instead, he followed up with a cheerful, "Good morning, Sakura-chan!"
She smiled at him, Sasuke effectively forgotten for now. "Good morning! Now, please tell me you have something other than ramen to eat in this place," she said hopefully as she tied her headband into place.
The grin he held on his face faltered. "Uh...I haven't exactly had the time to go grocery shopping."
Sakura sighed and shook her head. "You know what? I'm not even surprised," she stated, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "You still need to go to Hokage Tower today, right? We'll just pick something up on our way this morning."
Something other than ramen was actually appealing, since he'd been eating it way too frequently, even for his own tastes, since they'd gotten back from the war. Admittedly, after not having Ichiraku Ramen for so long, Naruto had gone a little crazy at the place. It was like making up for lost time, except he was making up for the loss of noodles that hadn't been in his belly. The miso had been even better than he remembered it.
Grabbing his usual shinobi attire for the day was more difficult than usual. Everyone had piled into his room last night to sleep, with the girls sharing his bed (on top of the fresh sheets that Sakura had demanded) and the males in a pile of blankets on the floor, and seeing as he'd only encountered Sakura out in the living room, Karin and Jūgo were probably still asleep. Anyone with training as a ninja was bound to be more alert and he really didn't want to wake them. Still, he needed to change, so he walked into the room as quietly as he could to snatch the clothes on top of his dresser.
Jūgo didn't even stir the entire time he was in the room, looking completely unguarded in his sleep the same way Sasuke had. Karin, however, was a different story.
"Hurry up and get out," she groaned, half her face smothered by a blanket. "Bringing your stupid, warm chakra back here woke me up."
"I'm going, I'm going!" Naruto grumbled irritably as he picked up his things. She was still a huge pain in the ass despite his hospitality, and even knowing she was a relative didn't quell his aggravation at her. It did, however, offer some strange sense of comfort whenever he thought he might be bickering with his cousin. The circumstances were odd, to say the least, but he wasn't going to question them.
It only took a few moments to change in the bathroom before he was off with Sakura across rooftops. They stopped at a bakery and his teammate was quick to take the lead in ordering, not at all minding. He'd barely spent any time alone with Sakura recently, and the last time he had, he'd been blubbering over Neji. Sasuke was his best friend because they understood each other better than anyone else in the world, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Sakura was the one who had always been around for him. Ever since he'd been a kid, he'd hoped to have a friendship (and more) with her; Naruto hadn't thought they would actually be this close. Sure, as a twelve-year-old, he'd dreamed of beating up Sasuke, sweeping Sakura into his arms with her adoring sigh of "Oh, Naruto!", but reality had occurred in very different way—a better way. This was a bond he would fight for just as hard as he had fought for Sasuke's.
The realization of his near-confession weighed down on him slowly. He'd really almost confessed to her yesterday. Hell, Naruto figured he probably would have if Hinata hadn't shown up at that very second. Then last night had happened. Sakura had dropped out of the game to go sit with Sasuke, and while Naruto had the majority of his attention on draining Karin and Jūgo of their non-existent money, he had seen them out of the corner of his eye.
He'd never approved of the way Sasuke treated Sakura. No matter how much he loved his best friend, Sasuke had put her through so much heartache and emotional turmoil when she deserved to be treated like a queen. Naruto hated seeing her cry over Sasuke. He hated seeing her in so much pain all the time.
Last night, though... Last night, there hadn't been any tears or yelling or hurtful words. They'd just been two people having a natural conversation. It was the first time he'd ever seen Sasuke be receptive to Sakura. He was finally letting her in and that hurt Naruto as much as it made him happy.
Seeing the two of them getting along, with Sasuke finally giving her a little leeway into his heart, was all Naruto had ever wanted for Sakura. If being with Sasuke was what made her happy and Sasuke was finally letting her do that, then that was what should happen. But then...it made Naruto rethink his whole resolve to confess. He understood that Sakura had only ever wanted to protect him the way he wanted to protect her, and although he had been angry and hurt by the fake confession she had given to him months ago, he understood why she had done it. She'd been thinking about him, but if that were the case, what would she do if he confessed? Rejection would hurt and that was something they both knew more than enough about, but Sakura was a healing soul and Naruto didn't want to put it on her to have to hurt him. He'd just screw up the relationship between all three of them again.
That's assuming she does reject me, Naruto grumbled mentally. His confession hadn't even taken place yet; he didn't want to give up before it even began. But if she wanted to be with Sasuke...
"Naruto?"
He snapped out of his stupor in a daze, taking a moment to remember exactly where he was and what he was doing. The large steamed bun in Sakura's hand reminded him that he was supposed to be eating breakfast right now.
"Oh, thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said quickly, taking the food from her and digging in. Obviously it wasn't quite as good as ramen, but a pork bun was still pretty delicious.
She held out the new bag in her hand as well. "Here, I know one won't be enough so there are a few more in there, plus some bread and snacks for later."
"Thanks..." he repeated, a little dumbfounded as he accepted the bag.
"Now I've got to hurry to work and look at my patient list for the day, so don't you be late for a day when you actually woke up on time!" Sakura warned him with a smirk, leading him out of the bakery. "Thanks for letting me stay the night. See you sometime soon!"
Still eating, she jumped onto a roof and took off toward the hospital. Naruto was left staring at the bag in his hand. Again, she had been thinking about him, only taking one steamed bun for herself to eat and leaving the rest of the food with him and his crazy metabolism. It was perhaps even enough for lunch if he didn't eat anything else. Sakura...was always looking out for him.
He could shut his mouth and never say a word about his feelings again if he could have her like this for the rest of his life. She could be just his friend and teammate and be with someone else—the one who permanently occupied a space in her heart. She could be happy, and as long as she was happy, that would be enough.
"Oh son of—she just dropped one!" Kiba yelled across the kitchen as he grabbed the bottle he'd just finished preparing off the counter while simultaneously covering his nose with his arm. The moment the unmistakable stench of human fecal matter hit his nose, the Inuzuka knew the kid they had volunteered for babysitting duty with had soiled her bottom.
Shino, who looked particularly strange holding a gurgling baby, held the infant at arm's length with a grimace. Akamaru was standing nearby, sniffing curiously at the baby's underside. "I think you're right."
"I remember Kurenai-sensei said there are some fresh diaper cloths under the sink," Hinata added, heading to the washroom. A few seconds later, her voice rang back, "I found them!"
The three of them gathered at the washroom sink. Hinata had laid down a towel on the table and Shino placed a displeased baby Mirai on her back. Team 8 exchanged a few looks.
"Alright, who knows how to change a diaper?" Kiba asked, staring pointedly at Hinata who was the only one out of the three of them who, having a younger sister, could possibly have any experience with babies. The only babies Kiba had ever been around were puppies and Shino had as much bedside manner as a swarm of wasps. With Hinata's gentle personality, he figured she probably would've been eager to help out with baby Hanabi when she was younger.
Unfortunately, the only potty-trained female in the room shook her head. "I...I don't. Father never allowed me to help with Hanabi's caretaking when I was a child. He said it was unbecoming of the heir to the Hyuuga clan," she replied, fidgeting apologetically.
Kiba's gaze was redirected to his other teammate.
"I have no experience in the matter," Shino said simply, "although I suspect it won't remain that way for long."
Hinata and Shino were staring at him now and the Inuzuka let out a long sigh. What the hell? Who thought it was a good idea to put him in charge of cleaning up the baby? The only thing he knew about kids was not to drop them on their heads and that they were incredibly fragile. He much preferred dogs, who were feisty and playful as soon as they could walk. He wasn't sure if that was a betrayal to his species or what, but that was the truth.
"Guess I'm gonna have to do this then," Kiba declared as he rolled up his sleeves. His canine partner gave a bark of encouragement from the bathroom entrance. If there was one thing he knew he could pull off, it was cleaning up piles of poop. Living with more than a dozen dogs kind of forced you to adjust to that. All this was, really, was changing a crap-catcher. He could do that.
Kiba pulled down the infant's little pair of tights, trying to get a good idea of how the diaper was pinned at the sides. It didn't look like the most complicated thing in the world. It probably didn't take a genius like Shikamaru to figure out how to keep the thing on.
"Okay, let's do this! You two get ready!" Kiba announced as he pinched the pins on the sides of the diapers. Mirai kicked her legs impatiently.
"Yes!" Hinata responded while Shino nodded in determination. It would take all of Team 8 to successfully pull this off.
The pins came loose and Kiba unfolded the diaper carefully, making sure to remember exactly how it was done up. Eventually, he made it to the mess, which wasn't nearly as bad as some of the things he'd had to clean up when his dogs were sick. This was actually pretty tame.
"I need a warm, damp towel," he instructed his teammates, which appeared by his side in an instant, courtesy of Shino. "Thanks!"
He lifted Mirai by the legs, figuring this was probably the simplest way to do it, and she thankfully didn't get fussy at him. Grabbing the towel, he wiped her front first, then moved to the back. He didn't know a whole lot about lady parts, but basic knowledge in hygiene told him that it was probably a bad idea to get fecal particles near them.
When all was clean, he held out the dirty diaper. "Clean one!"
"Got it!" Hinata exchanged the dirty cloth with a clean one and Kiba proceeded to put the new one into place.
And then Mirai giggled, deciding to let go of whatever was left in her bladder.
"Oh, what the fuck!" Kiba swore. This kid was devious! Even if she was only a few months old, she'd been smart enough to wait until he got a clean cloth under her to soil that one as well!
"Kiba-kun!" Hinata admonished him.
"Oh come on, she fucking waited until I put a new one on!"
"I believe Hinata is referring to your foul language," Shino supplied unhelpfully.
"Just gimme another towel," Kiba groaned.
Luckily, Mirai seemed to have gotten it all out of her system, and after cleaning the area one more time, the rest of the process went smoothly. Kiba was pretty proud of his handiwork. Mirai seemed like a happy little camper when she was all dressed up again. Hinata volunteered to wash the dirty towels and cloths while the two men settled back on the couch to feed the child.
As Mirai sucked at her bottle, Kiba leaned back and ruffled the hair of his canine companion. Kiba had been a little restless lately with all missions currently being on hold. It was strange that the most dangerous thing he'd done in the last week was change an infant's diaper. Somehow, it felt like the world wasn't moving fast enough. One minute it'd been a war and the next it just wasn't anymore. Sitting around and doing domestic duties was something he hadn't done since back in his genin days. Since then, he always figured life was going to be more or less the same, doing mission after mission and fighting for his home. Now, though, with an alliance between all the villages, Kiba had no clue about what to expect from the future.
"Where do you think we go from here?" he asked Shino as Mirai quietly drank from her bottle.
"You need to be more specific," Shino replied, not bothering to look over. Clearly he didn't understand that this was supposed to be a serious conversation.
"I mean what are we supposed to do with our lives, Shino?" Kiba ranted in frustration. "It's all peaceful, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but didn't we train as shinobi because things weren't peaceful? Aren't we kind of out of a job if there's nobody to fight against?"
The other male remained focused on the job at hand. "This depth of thought is uncommon for you."
Kiba growled, completely ignoring the jab since his friend was still not getting the point. "I'm restless, okay? I can't just sit here being alright with the fact that I've spent my entire life trying to get stronger and that strength isn't even needed anymore. The world is at peace, Naruto and Sasuke are like gods or something who can take care of anything, and our current primary day jobs consist of mourning and babysitting! My life is being a ninja. What the hell do I do if I'm not doing that anymore?"
"Calm yourself, Kiba. Your life will not change so drastically," Shino assured him as he adjusted Mirai to burp her. Kiba absent-mindedly placed a small towel on his teammate's shoulder as he continued to stew. "Why you ask? Because the skills of shinobi will always be necessary."
The Inuzuka waited for his friend to elaborate, but Shino was either oblivious to that or he was keeping his mouth shut on purpose just to piss Kiba off. In the end, Kiba made a noise of frustration and palmed his face.
"Don't ever think about becoming a teacher. You'll just answer your own questions all the time and none of your students will ever understand what the hell you're talking about."
Mirai smacked her lips happily after she coughed out a little of the milk she'd been fed and Shino stood up to place the baby into her cradle. "Likewise. You'd be more obnoxious than the students," he shot back without missing a beat.
"Seriously, Shino," Kiba groaned in exasperation.
Shino settled back down beside him, crossing his arms. "Peace is not a realistic concept, Kiba. Perhaps we claim that there's peace because our nations have reached a common ground, but nations are made up of people, and people are neither inherently good or evil," the Aburame explained sagely. "As there are those who bring kindness to others, there will always be those who commit crimes out of desperation, or those who kill for the sake of killing. This is why peace is not a realistic concept; it can never truly exist while human nature does. We will always need to fight because there will always be someone or something that needs protection."
There was a brief silence as Kiba took in his companion's words. Okay, so the guy had a point. Maybe he'd just felt too odd with how quiet things around the village had been recently. It was definitely comforting to know that he wasn't really out of a job, but, man, going from the idea of peace to...well, that, was pretty damn depressing.
"Way to bring down the mood even further," Kiba said, giving his friend a cordial smack on the back.
"I believe I was consoling you, actually. A proper 'thank you' would suffice."
"Yeah, only in your world would that be 'consoling'."
Before their snarky conversation could go any further, Hinata returned from the washroom and walked straight to the cradle. "Oh, is Mirai-chan done feeding already?"
"Credits to Shino," Kiba answered with a shrug. He watched the young woman stroke the baby's head as she smiled, making his lips crack upwards at the corners as well. Despite how little she knew about infants, Hinata was made for this kind of stuff. She had a nurturing personality that was ill-suited for a ninja and naturally gravitated towards taking care of others.
"Hinata, what are your plans for the future?" Shino asked bluntly while Kiba was instantly horrified. Honestly, Hinata never had much of an ambition as a ninja besides to be stronger and recognized by her family. Both of those things had been accomplished, and Kiba figured the next thing on the bucket list would be something like "marry Naruto." Asking her that question was pretty much telling her to admit it out loud, and you didn't ask girls about their love lives. It was just a taboo subject coming from a guy's mouth.
"Well...I was thinking about learning a bit about politics," Hinata answered a little shyly.
Shino nodded, unfazed as Kiba turned his head in surprise. That was certainly not what he had been expecting. "Wait, wait, wait, politics? As in you're gonna sit at a table with old farts and discuss dumb policies and stuff?"
She settled between them on the couch with a slight smile at Kiba's humour. "I'm hoping the matter of the Cage Seal doesn't qualify as 'dumb'," she replied.
"You're going to try and change your clan..." Kiba said in awe, more to himself than anyone. This confident Hinata was the woman he'd hoped he'd see ever since they'd been united as a team and she couldn't stop staring at the floor. He and Shino had never stopped encouraging her and it was the greatest feeling to see that something had finally gotten through, even if it wasn't due to them. There was no way that even just before the war she would attempt something like this.
"My father accepts me, and Hanabi is finally starting to thanks to my training with Neji-niisan. I am heir to the Hyuuga clan, and I want to see to it that my sister's children are treated equally to my own," she stated, strength shining through her eyes like Kiba had never seen.
"Your decision is admirable, Hinata." Shino gave a nod of support, though he was definitely a lot prouder of her than he let on. Both he and Kiba had been waiting for this for a long time. There had been glimpses of this girl who had grown into her own during the war, but the follow through was finally here. It'd been a long, long road.
"Yeah, quit it, Hinata. You're making us look bad," the Inuzuka teased her as he nudged her in the shoulder with a grin.
"What about you, Kiba-kun? What would you like to do in the future?" she asked in return.
Kiba thought for a moment. His childhood dream had always been to be Hokage. In all actuality, he probably still wouldn't mind being Hokage, but he certainly didn't envy Tsunade's job in dealing with all the other Hidden Villages. He also had zero patience for politics; maybe people didn't discuss matters quite so stupid, but it didn't change the whole long-winded discussions thing. Yeah, definitely not something he could ever see himself doing. Not to mention that he was way outmatched in strength when it came to rivals like Naruto in that particular career choice.
"I think it'd be cool to become a jounin and instruct a genin team of my own," he responded with a shrug. "Yeah, I'd like having some brats look up to me when I'm older. But I think I'll stick to missions for now...whenever those start up again. You, Shino?"
"I would also like to advance to jounin and face greater challenges. The opportunity to travel during missions would also give me a chance to examine bug species in other lands," Shino remarked as he crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Planning the chuunin or jounin exams would be also somewhat of an intellectual intrigue."
"You would be good at that, Shino-kun," Hinata stated in support.
"You probably would be," Kiba agreed. He laid back with a lazy grin. "Man, look at us, planning our futures out. When did we grow up?"
"I fail to see how you've grown up at all," Shino pointed out.
"You asshole! I should—"
"Kiba-kun! Your language!"
"I rest my case."
Hinata held him back as he lunged toward his stoic teammate, hissing expletives even as he struggled against Hinata's arms. He could practically see the smirk on Shino's shielded lips and ignored the squeaks of placation the Hyuuga was issuing him. It had been five, almost six years since they had been first made a team. Kiba had known from the very beginning that they were going to be the best team ever. Today just reminded him that they really were.
The apartment was quiet when Sasuke woke up and he realized that Naruto and Sakura had probably already gone to work for the day. It even surprised him a little that he hadn't heard them or woken up at all during the night. He had grown into a light sleeper ever since his family had been massacred, even more so when he had been a missing-nin constantly looking over his shoulder. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a comfortably deep sleep. Certainly, there was a horrible crick in his neck as a result of sleeping on the floor against a wall, but knowing that he wasn't on the run from anyone and in an apartment with people he trusted had somehow lowered his state of alert. Even his stay in the dungeon, where he'd had his first bed in months, had been less restful. The silence throughout the place indicated that Karin and Jūgo possibly felt the same way. Maybe he was the first one awake after the events of last night.
Those events, admittedly, had been rather enjoyable. On his quest for vengeance, he'd forgotten what fun was, what socializing was, what some of the benefits of friendship was. The smiles and the raucous voices were things he hadn't realized that he'd missed. They were things he could live without, yes, but they were also things that could make him happier. Him. Although he knew he had been selfish in his motives, everything he had done had been for the interest of others. Avenging his clan, avenging Itachi... He'd been seeking some sort of self-determined justice through punishing others instead of thinking about what it would be like to live a life for himself. Sasuke honestly couldn't figure out which was supposed to be more selfish.
Regardless, he had finally taken a turn down a different path. This one cherished bonds instead of shunning them, because even if it wasn't possible, he wanted the cycle of hatred to end with him. He was going to accept judgement for his actions rather than imposing it on others for theirs, and maybe, just maybe, he would be able to help someone other than himself. He was far from forgiving the elders of Konoha for their intentions towards his family, but this village was something his brother had treasured for his whole life. Neither could civilians be blamed for living there, though there might be poison at the top. Things had to change, a motion he was leaving for Kakashi and Naruto for now. It was clear now that before he could impose change on others, he had to change himself.
Sasuke stood, stretching out his sore neck and turned to the window, only to find the mask of a bird staring back at him from a tree a few meters away. He'd already known he was going to be watched by whatever was left of ANBU. They'd been extremely clear about the terms of his release. "You will be watched every hour of the day. You and your comrades may not leave the apartment you're staying in. You will stay there until your sentencing. You want us to trust you? Prove you are worthy of trust."
None of their demands were unreasonable, and as much as he hated listening to the scum that made up the Konoha council, he was taking the high road here. He had told Kakashi everything, and his former teacher had left Sasuke a with a cryptic message. "Things are going to change, if I have anything to do with it," he'd said, and that had been assurance enough that he was doing the right thing. Back then, Sarutobi had been the only one who had cared to cherish life instead of extinguishing it. Now, Sasuke knew that there were people who wanted change just as much as he did. Naruto was on a fast track to becoming Hokage as he'd always dreamed of, and there was nobody Sasuke trusted more to execute that change.
He still didn't like being watched though, even if he accepted that it had to be done. If he wanted to, he could leave the village by force and nobody besides Naruto would have a chance at stopping him. The ANBU agent was just there to see if Sasuke was complying with his release terms, another way to test his trustworthiness. This guy in the bird mask, however, was someone Sasuke recognized...
The last Uchiha pulled the window open. "Hey. You." The man in the bird mask didn't move or seem to acknowledge that Sasuke was addressing him, but it was only right to assume that an ANBU would hear a message directed at him. "You're the one who replaced me on Team 7."
Again, the ANBU gave no indication of acknowledgement, but Sasuke knew he was right. An Uchiha's greatest trait was his eyes and they were trained to understand movement, even without the Sharingan. He could tell by the stature and the way this man carried himself that it was the same man who had, along with Naruto and Sakura, tried to capture him. Sasuke had also seen him during the war, helping the allies. He really had little knowledge of the man other than the fact that he was a decent ninja with a chronically exposed midriff.
To Sasuke's surprise, the man in the bird mask disappeared a second later, suddenly replaced with someone wearing a cat mask. The person of interest had been lost, so he closed the window and was about to look for something to eat when a knock at the door came.
Well, they'd only said he couldn't leave the apartment. They hadn't said anything about not answering doors.
Sasuke opened the door only to come face to face with the man who'd been watching him moments ago, except this time he didn't have a mask and the midriff, which had been covered by a standard ANBU outfit, was back to being exposed. He was a little caught off-guard by the friendly smile on the guy's face too. He often didn't care to draw impressions of people and was more interested in their intentions. Sasuke had to admit that he was getting a rather strong impression from this guy with the somewhat cheerful countenance the ANBU was wearing.
"Hello! I don't believe we've met. I'm Sai," the man greeted him politely, bowing as he did so.
"Uchiha Sasuke," he said in return, leaning against the doorframe. He had no idea what this Sai was doing, changing out of his ANBU getup to come talk with him, but Sasuke supposed that he'd been the one to start it. He hadn't expected the guy to come waltzing up to the door though.
"I was just wondering if my dickless friend was in. No? Ah, well, then as we are both his friends, I believe it is a customary practice that we get to know each other in his absence."
Sasuke stared at him blankly. Dickless?
"May I come in?"
His social awkwardness was shining through again. Sai was asking to come into an apartment that he didn't even own, but as it had been pointed out, they were both Naruto's friends. Even worse, he couldn't even remember the last time someone had asked him permission to come into a room. This was just...unusual.
Sasuke didn't let his uncertainty hinder him. He coolly stepped aside to let the guy in, that unsettling smile persisting.
"My shift at work just ended, but I had a feeling I should come visit Naruto," Sai explained, alluding to the fact that there was a different person spying on Sasuke through the window now. "Though I suspected he might not be here, I still wanted to drop by and meet this friend he was always talking about. Now that I'm here, we should have a chat, shouldn't we?"
He had asked for this. By simply addressing Sai out of curiosity, he had drawn the ANBU into the apartment within the next two minutes. Well, the guy was already here. Sasuke figured he might as well get some actual information out of this.
"You replaced me on Team 7," he echoed his earlier statement. There was little point in dancing around the topic; it was a waste of time.
Sai didn't even flinch and Sasuke concluded that this ninja was about as good at keeping a smile on his face as Sasuke was at keeping one off his own. "I did, briefly. Naruto and Sakura couldn't operate for this mission as a two-man cell, so Danzo sent me with them to kill you, as you probably already know."
Sasuke was silent. Yes, he knew that. It'd become rather obvious back then when Sai had attacked him. Of course, the whole plan had been foiled when their skills hadn't been able to match up to his own.
"I'd changed my mind, you know, about following Danzo's orders when I came after you because Naruto and Sakura believed so fiercely that you were a friend and not a traitor. I was simply going to help them bring you home," Sai continued, giving no indication of what he was trying to express. "You see, I was brought up to be emotionless, to crush everything I felt and be capable of killing my best friend. I couldn't be bound by bonds because it was a weakness. Compassion would hold me back from my mission. From what I've heard, I was close to what you wanted to be, Uchiha Sasuke."
"Don't pretend like you ever understood my intentions," Sasuke retorted, anger underlying his words. Sai might have a relationship with Naruto and Sakura, but that didn't mean he even remotely knew a thing about him. Nobody really understood the way Naruto did.
"I won't, but let me first tell you, this smile of mine isn't real. I wore it as a mask to disguise what Danzo had made me. But I don't need to wear it anymore." Sai's face fell for the first time in their conversation, a glare replacing the jovial expression that had been there. "There were two people who taught me that having compassion for others isn't wrong. They became my friends, and I have seen them hurt because of you time and time again."
Suddenly, Sasuke understood exactly what the relationship between Sai and the others in Team 7 was and why the ANBU was even standing here in this very room. In that instant, he saw the intentions he had been searching for in the man who used to let himself feel nothing.
"I know how foolish it would be for me to threaten you. I doubt I would last even last ten seconds in a fight against you and I do not intend to find out," Sai said seriously, black eyes connecting. "I would prefer to be friends, so I won't warn you; I'll tell you: do not cause my friends any more pain."
Sasuke could tell that Sai had been the one there to see all the damage that he had left his teammates with. He had already made up his mind days ago, when he was lying next to his best friend on the ground, that he would do everything he could never to hurt them again. They'd offered him forgiveness he didn't deserve and it showed that they hadn't changed. They were still the bleeding hearts they'd always been, but that was exactly how he'd gotten attached in the first place. They always cared way too much and Sai saw this too. It was amazing that this man had admitted just moments ago that he'd recently been someone who kept himself void of emotion, but was so passionately trying to protect his friends right now. He was proof of the change that Sasuke was looking for, the same kind of proof Sasuke was finding in himself because of Naruto. Perhaps this was what a world full of love could do.
"Naruto and Sakura showed you the value of friendship, did they? Then I suppose, as friends, we already have something in common," Sasuke stated, silently giving Sai his reply.
Sai's lips slid back into a smile, but this one wasn't cold and off-putting. This one wasn't a mask or a disguise. "I suppose we do."
He'd only been there to see his friend, and for some ulterior motives, of course, but only good ones. Instead he had stopped outside the room to just observe, letting himself indulge in nostalgia while he had time to. That would change very soon, but right now, he had the time to get lost in his own thoughts.
The door was open just a tad, enough that he could hear Sakura rattling off medical lingo faster than Gai could run a lap around the village. None of it made any sense to Kakashi, nor did he think it did to the patient he had come to visit either, yet she continued on as though it was normal, everyday speech. Beneath his mask, he tried not to snicker at the confusion on Yamato's face as he nodded in feigned comprehension.
It was strange to think that this pink-haired girl who used to gush over her crush was going to be his primary medical officer in the near future. Kakashi had always felt guilt in regards to some of his students. Sakura had always had a natural strength in genjutsu, and her chakra control was unparalleled. She had found her way into medicine on her own, but he wished he had capitalized on that genjutsu talent more. Maybe he could now. Although she'd never be able to match Sasuke's genetic ability in that area, the skill would make her an even more formidable kunoichi. He'd do it himself, if he could find time in the future. No—he'd make time if she let him, because he hadn't given it to her in the past like he should have. He could clone himself for more menial tasks.
Kakashi reflected on his failures as a teacher. When he'd left ANBU and became a jounin instructor, he'd never expected to fall short of what his students needed so horribly when he finally passed a team. The idea of teamwork had gotten through to them, but it hadn't been enough for Sasuke. He hadn't been the one to get Sakura take her own training seriously, nor had he been involved in most of it. He had neglected Naruto's training to focus on Sasuke's, a blessing in disguise for Naruto, but a mistake on Kakashi's part, nonetheless. Even when Naruto had returned to Konoha, Kakashi hadn't been able to teach him wind ninjutsu the way Asuma could. He wished he had been more involved.
All three of them... Even without the powers of Asura and Indra, their skills had surpassed the previous generation at the measly age of seventeen and he hadn't been responsible for any of it.
"Kakashi-sensei, you're doing a very poor job of disguising your presence," Sakura commented as she continued to write on the chart she was holding. Yamato, however, looked at the door in surprise.
"I really have been out of the field for too long if I couldn't notice you standing there so obviously," Yamato sighed as he slumped back against the sheets.
"From what I've heard, that's certainly not your fault," Kakashi comforted his friend, stepping into the room with a wave. "Yo."
"I'm glad you're here, Kakashi-sensei. All the tests we've done on Yamato-taicho have had good results, so I can finally release him today. You can sign him out," the medic explained as she handed her pen and clipboard over to the jounin.
Kakashi obeyed, feeling almost like a child listening to the orders of his much younger student.
"I haven't been your captain in ages, Sakura," Yamato pointed out, "and I told you I was perfectly fine from the moment I had enough energy to leave the hospital."
"Force of habit," she replied with a shrug, not missing a beat with her stern demeanor, "and regardless, we needed to see if being absorbed by that clone had any negative consequences to your body. I'm not going to be responsible for you randomly dropping dead because I didn't run a few tests on you."
Yamato said nothing in return, settling for a slightly disgruntled expression instead while Kakashi handed the clipboard back with a nervous smile. This was definitely an argument he didn't want to get into the middle of, especially considering the temper of his pupil who had been trained by the equally as temperamental fifth Hokage. Sakura would probably have no problem leveling the entire hospital with her fist if she chose to.
As soon as Sakura had the clipboard back in her possession with Kakashi's signature on the release form, she smiled brightly. "Thanks! Good to see you, Kakashi-sensei. See you around, Yamato-taicho!"
The two males stared as she walked out, continuing to stare at the door even after she left.
"She's too smart for her own good," Yamato said forlornly, evidently defeated over the fact that his logic had been blown out of the water.
"She's too mature for her age," Kakashi corrected, still feeling like a child. He could handle Sakura anywhere else, but he felt considerably lacking in authority when their exchanges took place in Konoha's hospital. "They grow up so fast..."
The younger man laughed as he got out of the bed, walking over to the chair in the corner that held his standard uniform to put on his regular outfit. "You sound like a wistful father, Kakashi."
He shook his head. "There's no way any of them feel that way about me, but I guess that doesn't change the way I look at them."
"You were always a good teacher. There's never been someone I looked up to more."
"You were part of my team. They were my students."
Yamato sighed, zipping up his vest. "This visit isn't going to turn into some sort of pity party, is it?"
"No, of course not," Kakashi chuckled and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Sorry. I'm just becoming overly aware of my shortcomings now that I have the time to think about them. You know I wouldn't be here just to sign your release papers."
"You certainly wouldn't be. If you just wanted to chat, you would've invited me out to lunch and made me wait an hour because you were 'pondering life's deepest questions' or something."
And that was precisely what would've happened. There were times that he used his notoriety of being late for very specific purposes, like seeing what his genin team would do while waiting for him, but during others when things were less important...he used his time to read that chapter of Icha Icha Paradise again since he scarcely had the free time to do so, or to spend a little more time finishing up a mission he was involved in. What most people didn't know about him was that he liked the slower change of pace. Being a prodigy didn't net you any special treatment as a shinobi; all it meant was that you worked harder when you were younger. That didn't, in any way, mean that Kakashi resented the duties he'd been given in his youth, but he knew a life outside of fighting and killing and eventually the repetitions of missions like that, never ending, were...exhausting. Maybe he might be getting a ton of responsibility dumped on him right now, but there was a difference between having that responsibility during a war and having it when there was an alliance between all the villages. Things had slowed down. There was time to breathe. There was time to change things that he felt were wrong in the past.
"You know me too well, Tenzō," Kakashi conceded.
"I know what you've let me know," Yamato shot back as he placed his gear back into his pockets. "Now are you going to tell me what this is about or not?"
"I got a bit of a promotion...to Hokage," he answered, scratching his head nervously. He hadn't really told anyone yet and it was unusual to actually think that his new job was becoming a reality.
Yamato stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised they wanted you for it. You don't seem all that enthused though."
"It's not something I ever thought I'd do," the former ANBU explained. "Being Hokage was my teammate's dream, not mine. But speaking with him during the war, he's made me believe that I have the capacity to do what's right for Konoha and for the world. I might not make much of a change while I'm Hokage, but I can pave the way for people like Naruto who make change happen. This alliance is the first step to something great and I intend to keep leading us down that path."
Yamato smiled at him after a moment, walking over to give him a hearty slap on the back. "War changes all of us. On rare occasion, for the better. What do you need from me, Hokage-sama?"
Kakashi grinned at the jab. "Well, since you asked, I need my own second-in-command—someone I can trust implicitly. Maybe even someone who could lead the ANBU and is smart enough to be one of my advisors." He opened the door, heading out of the room. "Know anyone qualified that might be interested?"
Yamato followed him out with a smirk. "I might."
Naruto groaned as he stretched in his seat. Doing all this paperwork was so boring. He had finished his own account of what had occurred during the war, but corrections to the general report he had been given as well as his own additions to Sasuke's statements were also considered as part of his report. Basically, there was a ton of reading and writing happening, both things which Uzumaki Naruto was not made for. He was being responsible, for the most part, but had also discovered that he could balance a pencil on his nose for three minutes and twenty-two seconds before he zoned out and started thinking about whether or not he looked as cool in a long jacket as his dad did, that one of the guards outside the door had really sore breasts because she was beginning her menstrual cycle for the month, and that the other had gotten drunk and made out with Kiba the second night back from the war.
In conclusion, Naruto had learned far too much today.
He shuffled the papers into neat piles and filed them away. He wasn't sure which was worse: the ceaseless paperwork or the conversations that had taken place between the two chūnin guards outside of the doors. Right now, there was nothing better than the fact that the day of work was over. There was some serious revamping to be done when he became Hokage.
Luckily, as Naruto left the room, the guards had changed and he didn't have to look at either of them knowing such intimate personal information. He let out a sigh has he closed the door behind him, spotting someone else he knew going down the hall.
"Sai!" he called, rushing over to greet his friend. After being alone in that room for pretty much the entire day, Naruto was relieved to get some sort of human interaction. Besides, it would be interesting to find out how Sai liked having to sit outside his apartment for the entire night just to make sure Sasuke wasn't up to anything.
Despite their rocky beginnings, Sai had become a friend he could really trust. Outside of Kakashi, there was nobody who really understood the complex relationship between himself, Sakura, and Sasuke, but Sai came pretty damn close. It was always rather surprising to accept that this man, the man who had zero understanding of emotions back when they'd first met, had been the one to vocalize the feelings behind Sakura's actions after she'd confessed. Naruto had also had to accept how ridiculously obvious his feelings for Sakura must be when Sai had so casually pointed them out.
"Oh, Naruto. Then I assume you are finished for the day," Sai replied, turning and slowing down to let Naruto catch up with him.
"The longest day ever," he grumbled. "If you ever have to listen to girls have a private conversation on a mission, don't do it. It's not worth it."
Sai shot him a questioning look and he simply shook his head. It was best not to spread his suffering.
"So what are you doing here so late? You can't be dropping off your report this late," Naruto stated, purposely being vague. Even though it was probably obvious to the majority of the Konoha 11 that Sai was part of ANBU, he couldn't just go around saying that.
"Maybe I was," Sai responded, chuckling. "I was surprisingly busy this afternoon. I managed to officially introduce myself to your friend Uchiha Sasuke."
There was a silence that followed, mostly because Naruto couldn't process exactly what a conversation between Sai and Sasuke was supposed to look like. All he could picture was a lot of...staring, or one-sided glaring if the artist started breaking out the insults. Still, the idea wasn't completely absurd, and if anything, it was nice that at least one of his friends was trying to give Sasuke a chance. Mostly everyone else was rather evasive when the topic of Sasuke came up. It was a given that everyone was grateful that he had helped save their lives, but he had also betrayed them, which had led to a lot of trouble for all of them.
"And, uh, how did that go?"
"I think we'll get along well. In fact, the reason I'm here so late is because I went to pick up some groceries at his request," Sai explained as they headed toward the exit of the building.
"Groceries? But I have lots of stuff to eat!" the sage reasoned in offense.
"I believe his exact words were 'all he has are these stupid noodles.'"
"Bastard," Naruto growled. Sasuke just had no appreciation for the greatness that was ramen. Every variation had its merits, including the instant ones. "I can't believe you agreed to go shopping for him."
"Well, he is the friend of my friends. I felt that I should make an effort," he said, filling Naruto with gratitude. It would do good for Sasuke to have more friends. Sai too. "I do admit, though, it's a bit sad."
"What is?" Naruto asked as they approached the door of the building's exit.
"No longer being a part of your team. I realize I was only a replacement for a while, but it was nice to be subject to such loyalty. You and Sakura never cared about what others said about Sasuke. Both of you tried to do what you could for him regardless of the label he was given as a traitor, and I thought it was simply illogical," Sai admitted as they left the tower. He paused in thought. "It's still quite illogical, but that passion is what made me understand emotion, so it will be sad to no longer be a part of that team."
The sage shook his head firmly. He wasn't really sure what to say for a lot of reasons. For one thing, he was really flattered by what that statement insinuated. On the other hand, he had never thought of his team being so fragmented that Sai had been a replacement for Sasuke. People could have said that all they wanted and it wouldn't make it true. Team 7 was Team 7. Team Yamato was Team Yamato. There were never any replacements, although he had protested to having another teammate in the first place. They were separate things to Naruto and they always would be.
"Nobody could ever replace Sasuke any more than someone could replace Shin. People can compare you two as much as they want, but that won't change," Naruto stated firmly, scratching the back of his head. Words weren't really his thing. They just kind of spilled out of him and he ended up antagonizing people on purpose. He could get away with that kind of thing when he was a stupid kid, but he was seventeen now. It was probably a good time to hone his future Hokage skills, starting with figuring out how not to shoot off things that could be interpreted as offensive from his blabbering mouth. He had as much of a learning curve as Sai did. "What I mean is...nobody's a replacement. If I had a choice, I definitely never would've accepted having a third teammate who wasn't Sasuke, but since I had to, I'm kind of glad it was you."
Sai chuckled. "Only 'kind of'? For a moment, I thought this might be turning into the type sentimental situation I've read so much about in books."
Naruto made a face. "I don't like you that much," he replied.
"I understand. I can't compete with Sakura."
He swallowed, his shoulders raising unintentionally when he heard her name. He had thought about Sakura a lot today and he still couldn't figure out what he wanted to do. The more time that passed, the more time he gave Sakura and Sasuke's bond to develop, but if that was what she wanted, and that was what Sasuke wanted, who was he to interfere? Naruto was a man who primarily followed his heart and it had ultimately never led him astray. He understood more than anything what love was in that hospital room five years ago when he had forced himself to smile and promise the girl of his dreams that he would bring back the boy she loved. He would've done anything to put a smile back on her face back then, and he still would now. He just wanted to see her happy, because that was what love was.
"You're going to tell her now, aren't you?" Sai asked quietly, as if reading his mind.
Naruto was silent for a moment, uncertain of how he should answer. Was he going to tell her? "I'm thinking about it."
His answer was awarded with a long, stoic stare that looked so similar to Sasuke's trademark blank expression that it made him squirm. That look was uncanny.
Then Sai's lips curled up into a smile. A really, really creepy and rigid smile. "That sounds like something someone without a dick would say."
Immediately, Naruto's temper flared as he whirled on his friend and clutched his hands into fists. "I HAVE A DICK!"
Their surroundings became oddly quiet as a nearby mother covered her child's ears and a group of young civilians began giggling at his proclamation. Naruto immediately blushed scarlet when he realized exactly what he had been shouting to the world. So much for developing more tact...
"Look, can we leave my dick out of this?" he hissed at the artist in embarrassed irritation. He could feel the heat creeping into the tips of his ears. "I thought we were done with that already."
"I thought you were pathetic when we first met, but I learned other things that changed my impression of you completely. Why is it that right now I'm getting that first impression again?" Sai retorted, who, surprisingly, looked equally as annoyed as Naruto felt.
"What are you talking about?" the Sage demanded.
"You, and this hesitancy to let Sakura know your feelings. It's foolish," the other male replied almost angrily, further firing Naruto up.
"It's not foolish of me to want to support my friends! You didn't see them last night—they looked happy together. They can be happy together. Enough has already happened. I don't need to get in the middle of this and make it difficult for them again!"
Sai shook his head in exasperation. "For two people who understand each other so well, it's amazing how much misguided protection there is between the both of you."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto grumbled stubbornly.
"Of course you don't, dickless."
He gritted his teeth, but didn't bite this time. "And for someone who didn't know a thing about feelings until recently, you seem to make a lot of commentary about others'."
"I think I've gotten good at it," Sai replied nonchalantly. "I've read a lot of books, but you and Sakura really put my knowledge to the test. I don't understand. Isn't this behaviour completely contradictory to how you feel? Is this truly what your friends would want?"
He frowned. Of course he thought this was what his friends would want. Well, Sasuke probably wouldn't have a real opinion on this, but he was trying his hardest to make things up to Sakura and being with Sasuke was something she'd wanted for years. To Naruto, this seemed like the best course of action for all three of them, especially when he considered Sakura's happiness.
However, Sai continued. "Would you be happy leaving things the way they are? Sakura already knows how you feel about her, but doesn't she still deserve to hear it from you?" He paused, shooting Naruto a pointed look. "You, of all people, shouldn't be the one lying to himself."
Sai was clearly referring to the false confession that had taken place on the mountain, which wasn't necessarily the most pleasant memory he had of Sakura, but definitely an important one. Somewhere deep in his mind, he most certainly knew that Sakura was aware of his feelings, because if she hadn't been, she never would've tried to use emotional manipulation to bring his pursuit of their other teammate to a halt. That in itself was something that was painful to think about, but no matter how foul her actions had been that day, he knew she had only been doing it to protect him. To him, those intentions meant everything, especially when her heart was so consumed by Sasuke. That had been her taking on everything she could possibly shoulder, sacrificing her happiness for him.
He turned his head as they walked, scowling because he didn't know how to counter Sai's reasoning. Backing off felt like the proper thing to do after he considered what he had seen last night, yet leaving his feelings hanging when they were already out in the open didn't seem fair to any of them. Maybe it'd be fine if his feelings for Sakura had just been a shallow crush born out of competition with Sasuke, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It'd be an insult to his character just to assume something like that. Of course she deserved to hear the truth from him; that didn't make it the right thing to do. He wasn't lying to himself. At least, he didn't think he was.
"That being said, I believe I should warn you."
Naruto blinked. "About what?"
"Your tenants seemed rather set on cooking dinner tonight—"
Oh, well that was nice of them. That amusingly meant Sasuke had probably gotten roped into it too.
"—since Karin-san said she was going to throw out all your ramen."
His blood went from hot to cold in an instant. He grabbed onto Sai's arm in dead seriousness. "You're coming with me."
"Is that an invitation?" Sai asked, a little stunned. "I've read they're a bit more formal than that."
"I need backup," Naruto stated resolutely as he held a fist in the air and promptly ignored his friend. People could rearrange his furniture or rummage through his drawers all they wanted. He didn't care. But mess with his stash of ramen? His ramen? His wondrous collection of flavour packets, cup noodles and instant packages? That crossed the line. Uzumaki Karin could not be forgiven for this.
She was exhausted as she stepped out of her last patient's room. Not so exhausted that she wanted to just keel over and sleep for a week like how she felt after the war was over, but more like she wanted to hide in her room and not talk to anyone for the next 24 hours.
"Forehead, you said you were getting off at four today. Why am I the one waiting for you?"
No such luck. Sakura had almost forgotten that she'd made dinner plans with Ino tonight. They both settled on a late dinner since they were both working today, but Ino's shift was supposed to end at eight and her own at four. Glancing at the clock, it was a quarter past eight already. Great. Never a good idea to keep Ino waiting, as evident by the indignation in her voice.
"Sorry. Nishizawa-senpai wasn't feeling well, so I picked up a few of her patients too," Sakura apologized in resignation. She was too tired to argue with her best friend and it was true that her eight hour shift had turned into a twelve hour one instead.
"'A few'? Right." Ino snatched the chart tucked between her arm and flank before Sakura could even open her mouth to protest. She began flipping through the sheets of paper quickly like the nosy woman she was. "'A few' my ass. You took on her whole patient load! We just got back from a war, Sakura. Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"I can handle a few more patients, Ino," she muttered, crossing her arms irritably.
"I swear, I'm going throttle you if you say 'a few' one more time. 'A few' is maybe an eighth of the names on Nishizawa's daysheet."
"Honestly, Pig, I'm tired and I don't have the energy to argue with you, so are we going to eat or what?"
She shot Ino her very best glare and her friend threw up her hands in frustration. "Fine, fine! We'll go to that restaurant by my parents' flower shop. But I'm keeping an eye on you, Haruno. You won't be picking up any extra shifts while I'm around."
Sakura rolled her eyes and their conversation turned into something much less professional with fewer threats as they headed to the restaurant, but her mind remained on the initial topic. Ino was right to be worried about her—not because she was trying to kill herself or anything, but she was ridiculously exhausted. Although the fighting was over, the war had come home with her. The hospital was overflowing with people and they had lost a number of capable medics during the war. They had more regular doctors right now than actual trained field medics, which certainly wasn't a bad thing; it was just that field medics had far more stamina and chakra than those who had less battle training. With the ratio of patients to healers so high, they needed a lot more field medics than they currently had. Naturally, she had taken on a lot of extra patients since she could deal with cases more quickly and use less chakra than her peers. That wasn't really something to brag about; it just came with being the Hokage's apprentice.
Besides, it was kind of nice to have something to focus on rather than sitting around with her thoughts and feelings. Right about now, when it came to anything romantic, she wanted nothing to do with it. She wasn't just overworked from taking on too may shifts at the hospital, but she was emotionally ragged too. She'd worried about her teammates coming back alive, worried about how Sasuke would reintegrate himself back into Konoha, worried about if the dreams had changed her friends, worried about the people she couldn't save, and worried about how hard it had been to walk away from Naruto when Hinata had shown up yesterday... Basically, she was worried about a million things and she was sick of thinking about all of it. Work and sleep. Those were the activities that helped right now considering they left her little time to ponder her own feelings on pretty much anything.
Dinner with Ino? Sakura loved her friend, but definitely not one of those activities.
As soon as they were settled in at the restaurant and their orders had been taken, Ino launched into her usual gossip. With things so heavy at home, Sakura suspected that gossip was probably comforting to her friend. Apparently, Kiba had dragged Shino and Chouji out to a party shortly after they'd arrived back and went a little wild by getting drunk and making out with four different girls. In addition to that, Shikamaru was, by Ino's account, the most adorable uncle when it came to Mirai, which Sakura could believe but had difficulty imagining. The guy was so aloof all the time that the image of a little baby in his arms was boggling.
"And a little bird told me you spent the night at Naruto's," Ino said, her smirk suggestive.
Sakura let out a sigh at her friend's insinuation. "Yes, I did, with Sasuke and his teammates from his self-made band of Orochimaru's other victims."
"Oh," Ino replied, straightening herself in surprise. There was nothing scandalous about her tone anymore. "I didn't know they'd been released."
She nodded. "House arrest, at least until the higher-ups and Tsunade-shishou figure out what to do with him. Everyone is well aware that a dungeon wouldn't make any difference if he wanted to escape."
"Right, and Naruto is probably the best person to look after him," the Yamanaka concluded on her own. "Then what? Did you finally make a move on Sasuke?"
Jeez, she's almost as bad as Karin, Sakura thought to herself crossly. On second thought, at least Ino was actually one of her closest friends and not Naruto's long lost cousin who she barely knew. "Ino, I did not make a move on Sasuke. He's not even interested," she answered, somewhat annoyed that she had been roped into thinking about something she had been avoiding. Sasuke had made it clear how interested he was in her. Regarding friendship, the level was getting a little higher, but romantically, she was rather certain he never had any interest at all. "Besides, even if he were interested, I don't think I would be."
"You don't love him anymore?" Ino asked just as the food came, a bowl of rice and salmon placed in front of her.
Instead of dreading the rest of the conversation, Sakura resigned herself to it. There was no point in trying to protest every inquiry that had to do with her feelings, especially since it was Ino asking the questions. It might actually be nice to get some of these things off her chest. "Of course I love him. Just...I don't know, maybe not like that anymore. I don't want to be with him anymore."
"Since when?" the other female prodded.
She shrugged. "Since a long time, I think. I was only being selfish when I asked Naruto to bring him home, but somewhere along the way, I stopped wanting him home just for myself. I wanted him back for Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei, and all I wanted was to see my team whole again." Even as the words came out of her mouth, it was almost as if she was figuring these things out for the first time. Somehow, it was easier to make sense of her feelings when she was forced to vocalize them to someone else. Sakura took a sip of tea and continued. "I've always thought of Sasuke-kun as the man I love, but I barely know a thing about him. I'm not even the one who understands him. It's like I have all these feelings for an idea of him that's in my head."
Ino sighed heavily and shoved a bunch of rice solemnly into her mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly. "It's not like I can judge. I know even less of him than you do. At least you two were on the same team."
"You can get to know him now," Sakura suggested. She'd always known that Ino still had feelings for Sasuke over the years, considering her strongly emotional reaction to the order that Sasuke be killed on sight. Who knew? Maybe they'd make a good couple.
"I've got better things to do than worry about boys," Ino replied in a haughty tone that made Sakura grin. "We were naive to think we could change him."
"Yeah... Naruto is the only one who could ever get through to him." She couldn't help but silently break into a smile at the thought of the teammate she used to think was pathetic. She didn't know what she'd do without him. "I'm pretty sure the word 'impossible' doesn't apply to him."
Ino stared at her strangely. "Sakura..."
"Huh?"
"Are you in love with Naruto?"
She nearly spat out her tea at that question and ended up choking on it instead. "W-what? No!"
Ino, however, looked completely sober as she dropped her chopsticks. "Sakura, I'm seriously asking you, are you in love with Naruto?"
Sakura knew she could not lie to Ino about this, and that meant she had to really acknowledge how she felt about Naruto. It had started with the deep respect that she had gained for him when Team 7 had still been together and only continued to grow when she realized all the things he did to try and make her happy. He was so fiercely loyal to his friends, more empathetic than she thought anyone could be, and on top of it all, he was always, always there when she needed him. One day she had found that she wanted to make him happy and protect him with everything she had. When he'd been on the brink of death during the war, she could say all that effort was because the world needed him, or because he was her teammate, or because was her closest friend and they'd all be true, but the part of her that kept her pushing through the hopelessness and fatigue was motivated by how much she needed him. The thought of losing his smile and strength and idiocy was so unbearable she'd had to shove aside her emotions as she administered CPR, but she remembered the fleeting whispers in her mind that told her she didn't care if the world ended if Naruto wasn't there with her.
She couldn't blame the throbbing of her heart on just possessiveness when she thought about Hinata's feelings for him either. The Hyuuga had thrown herself in front of Pein in Naruto's defense just to confess before certain death. For some reason, knowing that her friend loved Naruto so much didn't make her feel happy for him as it should've. Knowing that just hurt. It hurt just as much as it did when she'd walked away from the two of them yesterday. That pain wasn't a platonic feeling and it was impossible to deny any longer.
"Yes," Sakura breathed quietly, "I'm in love with Naruto."
Ino's hands shot over and grabbed hers, green eyes brightening. "Sakura! I'm so happy for you! Everyone knows how Naruto feels about you!"
The corner of her lip twitched because yes, everyone did know how Naruto felt about her. They might think it was a crush, but she knew better. Sakura knew much better. Some part of her twelve-year-old self knew that Naruto loved her, but she hadn't been able to wrap her head around it until Sai basically shouted it at her. And much like knowing Hinata's feelings had hurt her, knowing Naruto's feelings hurt her too.
For some reason, love always hurt her. Her love for Sasuke had never brought her anything but pain, and all she could think about when it came to Naruto's love for her was how much she pain she'd caused him. It was her fault that he'd made that stupid promise in the first place and was always jumping in to protect her. After all they'd been through during the war, she felt she could get past all of that, but...
"Ino, I'm not going to tell him."
Sakura's hands thumped against the table as they were unceremoniously dropped by her best friend, whose expression was almost offended. She withdrew her hands with a frown.
"Are you kidding me?" Ino demanded in outrage. "You just told me that you're in love with a guy who's clearly in love with you! And I'm not even jealous for once! What could possibly be holding you back from having a relationship with this awesome guy who just saved the world?"
She palmed her forehead with a loud sigh. She could forgive herself for all those times she'd hurt Naruto because she cared for him so beyond herself, but it wasn't only their feelings she had to take into consideration, and that was what made this hard. "Hinata."
Ino just stared at her incredulously. Sakura rushed to explain herself.
"You know how much she loves him and for how long!" she blurted out, trying to clarify her logic. "I can't just come in and ruin that! She's my friend! It'd...it'd make me a horrible woman!"
The blonde crossed her arms and shot Sakura the most frustrated look any person could possibly muster. "Forehead, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life."
"Ino!"
"What you're telling me is that you're willing to sacrifice your happiness, and probably Naruto's happiness just because Hinata's your friend?" Ino hissed, very obviously trying not to make a scene in the restaurant, although a few customers were already glancing in their direction. "What are you going to do? Ignore your own feelings and try to force them together? Wait until she knits him an 'I love you' scarf and he accepts it?"
Sakura felt multiple sets of eyes on them and sank lower into her seat. How embarrassing. "Talk louder, Pig. It's really helpful."
The other woman groaned in agitation. "Are you even listening to me?" she asked in exasperation. "Even if you do step aside for her, you can't make Naruto fall in love with her. Sure, maybe he could, but if he doesn't? Then everyone loses. You both love him; shouldn't he get a say in who he wants to be with?"
Sakura swallowed. She hadn't meant to try and make that decision for him, but still, she couldn't just act without consideration of her friend's feelings. "And what if he does want to be with me? What about Hinata?" she retorted in a hushed tone, throat tight.
"Hinata will get over it," Ino stated like it was a fact, "because if she really loves him, then she'll want him to be happy. And Sakura, he will be happy with you."
And just like that, her argument lay in shambles. Sakura couldn't say anything in return, yet somehow, it still felt selfish to let herself be honest.
"Hinata's my friend too, but I don't want to see you do something you'll regret," Ino finished, the passion she felt on this subject clear. "You deserve to be happy too."
The anxiety was still there and she still had no idea what to do, but Sakura was suddenly glad to be sitting in this restaurant with the girl who had placed that ribbon in her hair so long ago. The sentiment was breaking through the exhaustion and unease of her situation as her face split into a grin. "Pig, you're the best friend a girl could have."
Ino flipped her ponytail back arrogantly with a smirk. "And don't you forget it, Forehead."