So I wasn't originally going to continue this oneshot, but I got a really lovely request to do just that, so here we are! This is probably a bit rough since it's been ages since the first chap and I'm not sure I'm quiiiite in the same headspace, but now that the really introspective, talky stuff is out of the way the next chaps should go much smoother (though not any less introspective and talky)!

The last scene might look a little like it's hinting towards narusasu, but that wasn't intentional on my part; though if you wanna read it that way then by all means just be aware that it won't really lead to anything, since this'll end up being a sasugaa fic, though prepare yourselves for the slowest of burns bc this is mostly about sauce's relationships with his friends and konoha and all that good stuff

tbh I completely forgot that sauce gets the rinnegan, I tend to avoid nart ending stuff bc it inevitably makes me wanna spew venom and bile directly into kishi's face, so for the sake of this au let's just pretend that nart and sauce aren't so ridiculously overpowered and they're just very, very strong ninja who happened to help save the world, since I can't be bothered to try and find out Every new ability they got in the last 30 chaps and how it might affect their lives (they still blew each other's arms off though)

Anyways, feedback would be suuuper welcome on this and I hope you enjoy!

Returning to Konoha was both a relief and a weight that rested heavy in his stomach.

It hadn't been all that long since his last visit – back when he came seeking answers about Itachi, the Uchiha, the village and purpose of shinobi themselves – but with all that had happened in that short time, he felt like an entirely different person, looking upon those great red gates that filled him with an uncomfortable nostalgia, though he doubted they would ever really feel like the original ones destroyed in the Akatsuki attack.

He wasn't sure what kind of person he'd changed into, but he was certain a change had occurred, none the less.

Kakashi slowly walked up next to him, a hand hovering uncertainly over his shoulder before dropping back to his side. "Well then… Welcome home," he said, with his usual fake nonchalance, "before we enter the village, there is one thing we need to do," his sensei pulled a strip of cloth from his pocket and held it up to him, intricate seal patterns already drawn onto it; he looked only a little apologetic. "You understand."

And he did understand. He'd spent the better part of three years as a rouge-ninja, he knew that eventually he'd have to face some kind of repercussions for that… even if they were slower to come than he'd expected.

The fresh, mild Konoha air was a small comfort, even if the room he currently sat in was anything but. Sasuke wasn't sure how long it had been, or how much longer it would be; there was a very real possibility that no one was coming for him and this was to be his lot in life for the rest of his days.

But, he didn't really think he'd mind that. He'd known right from the beginning, from the second that abandoning the only home he'd ever known had been presented as an option, that he could never return to life as normal. He was still confident that it was all worth it though, trailing after a manipulative snake in the hopes of finding power and revenge, letting himself be guided by man after man who sought to use him to further their own goals, willingly throwing himself into the destruction of his former home, even if that meant losing the few people left who genuinely cared about him – and that he had cared for himself, though he'd never let himself see that until his first friend finally ripped away the shadows surrounding him-

There was a faint 'click', the first sound he'd heard in hours. He instinctually turned his head, but his vision was still pure black – occasionally disturbed by kaleidoscopic patches of colour – the sealing cloth keeping his dangerous eyes hidden.

"I swear the new Hokage is even less responsible than the last one…" The voice was one he hadn't heard for a very long time, but he recognised it regardless. Ibiki Morino. Clearly Konoha wasn't messing around anymore. "So, you've finally come back," the man said, closer and more clearly than before, Sasuke could hear the shuffling of cloth and a gentle creak as a chair was settled into.

"Hn."

Ibiki sighed heavily. "Well I wish you had waited a few more months to do it. All this chaos with the war and new leadership and now we have to deal with this mess too, I hope you realise how much sleep I've already missed because of you."

He didn't say anything, wasn't really sure what he could say to that; loss of sleep was pretty low on the list of problems he'd made for other people.

"No, I suppose not," he said, apparently not bothered that he was essentially just talking to himself now, "so, let's get to business, I'm sure you're just as thrilled to be here as I am. Sasuke Uchiha, I am here today to evaluate your state of mind and determine if your claims of repentance are sincere and whether you will be a threat to our village in the future."

"And if you decide that I am?" he asked, by the time the words were out of his mouth, he didn't care how they might be taken.

There was a small stretch of silence, before Ibiki spoke again, "That's not my decision – if it were up to me you wouldn't be within ten miles of the village – I will simply make my report to the council and they will make up their minds own minds on the matter and we can all move on with our lives; or not, as the case may be."

He nodded, he'd not really expected to hear anything else.

"Well then, now that you're clear on where we stand, let's start with your reasons for betraying your village," the man said, his gravelly voice calm, almost friendly.

The interrogation must've gone on for hours, he'd expected Ibiki to needle him for every detail of his life after leaving Konoha – how he escaped the village, what training he underwent with Orochimaru, the kind of missions he took under his tutelage, the details of his battle with Itachi, when and why did he join Akatsuki, what intel did he give them, what intel could he give on them – and he did ask those questions, but he also asked more meaningless things, what did he do at Orochimaru's base when not training or on a mission, did he make any friends in his time away, was that Karin girl always 'like that'?

Sasuke answered as honestly as he could, willingly gave the little information he had on his former alliances, but was careful to brush past the more probing, personal questions; he could barely explain the reasons behind half of what he'd done in the past three years to himself, let alone a relative stranger he didn't trust.

Eventually the questioning slowed to a halt and the two men were left sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

"Alright," Ibiki said after a long five minutes of nothing, "I just have one more question."

He waited patiently for it to come, but when it became obvious he'd have to dig for it himself, he finally muttered a reluctant, "Well?" He really didn't want to endure the interrogator's company for much longer.

He swore he could hear a smile in Ibiki's voice, "Right now, you're in a tough position – one that is entirely your own doing – but… what do you hope to gain out of this? What is your ideal end point? What can we do for you that would secure your trust?"

Sasuke blinked behind the seal. "What I want…" That was a question he genuinely had no answer for.

Did he want to return to his old life, go back to when he was a kid teetering on the very edge of finding true friendship, if only he could accept it? But, he suspected that wasn't an option anymore; even if Naruto and Sakura and Kakashi and all the other people he'd hurt could forget, he couldn't not after everything that he'd done, everything that he'd learned about the village he'd once loved; besides, everyone had changed so much, there was no way he would be able to return to those childhood memories…

So, was it revenge he wanted? Perhaps. He could hardly deny that knowing what Konoha had been involved in still ate away at him and it would be no easy task to move past the single thing that had been motivating him, ever since that night he came home to find his life torn to bloody shreds.

Was it a chance for happiness? To build a new life of peace? No, certainly not, he – of all people – did not deserve such feelings.

But… behind his blinded eyes, the splashes of colour against the field of black shifted to a familiar red.

Sasuke took a deep breath in. "I… don't know, what it is that I want," he said slowly, "but, I think I want the chance to find out." The next exhale leaving him feeling lighter than he could ever remember. It wasn't the most defined purpose, but it was something purely his and he was determined to hold onto it tightly.

"I see." This time he definitely heard the smile in Ibiki's voice, though it wasn't that hard when he chuckled immediately after speaking.

The chair squeaked across the tiles as the interrogator finally stood up, he listened to the man's surprisingly light steps as he walked to the door, it clicked open gently, then there was a short pause. "You'll be kept informed of the council's decision, it shouldn't take too long now-" Sasuke gave a single nod of acknowledgement "-Yamanaka, our job here is done."

"Yes sir." The familiar voice shocked him in its severity, he'd not even noticed that she was there – clearly he was too reliant on his eyes, if he was going to spend the rest of his life imprisoned as he was, then he'd need to train his other senses further.

Sasuke listened to the two sets of footsteps – one steady, one hesitant – fade down the hall, as the door was once again shut and locks and seals put back into place, leaving him once again alone with only his thoughts.

He wondered what Ino might have wanted to say to him.

"So, it's been a long week, huh?"

Sasuke couldn't help snorting. "That's one way to put it," he said, staring down at the village stretched out before them, trying to burn into his memory the view of it in the moonlight, overlaying the new village layout across the memories from his youth, long since dusted over in the back of his mind.

"Yeah… Seriously though, how are you feeling?" Naruto asked, voice soft as his legs kicked gently at the edge of the cliff.

He sighed as he thought over his answer, a lot had happened in a short time. Only two days after his interrogation he was released – on probation, of course – ostensibly because of his role in saving the ninja world, but he knew that it was really down to the words of the blond idiot sat next to him, he'd spent most of that first day of freedom buried under a pile of reinstatement papers and loyalty agreements and all the dull administrative files that came with restoring citizenship, Shizune had had a particularly vindictive smile as she kept dropping more and more papers before him.

Even once all of that had finally been sorted, he'd barely gotten two minutes to breathe before Sakura was dragging him and Naruto away for a forced examination, her eyes glinting with promised threats should they choose to resist.

By the time that they were set free, it was the middle of the night and Sasuke was hit with the sudden realisation that he had nowhere to stay – the Uchiha district wasn't particularly high on the reconstruction list. He'd have to start looking for a new place to live, he supposed, but he could hardly do that at this time of night, besides, he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, not until he'd managed to figure out some of his thoughts, not until he'd finally had a real talk with Naruto, away from others and the looming cloud of the battlefield.

And his friend must have sensed that, since he'd quickly made the offer to talk a late-night walk together.

How they'd ended up here, he wasn't sure, but it was quiet and secluded and that was enough.

"…Tired," he eventually said; hardly the most detailed way to describe his current mood, but it was concise and accurate.

Naruto chuckled softly. "Yeah, same here."

They sat in companionable silence for a long time, looking out over Konoha, the gentle breeze biting with the night's chill, but Sasuke was too distracted by the pressure of so many things that just had to be said, but he couldn't spit out to notice the cold.

"Nar-"

"Sas-"

Blue met black as the two stared at each other wide-eyed, before they both broke down into mutual snickers.

"Sorry, sorry, you go first," Naruto said, coughing to try and catch his breath.

He did the same, managing to compose himself at least a little, though he couldn't shake the tiny smile. "Look I just wanted to say that I'm… sorry. For everything," he finally managed to force the words into the open, though they burned his throat on the way out. "I know it's never really going to be enough, but I really do want to take this second chance, I want to do better from now on, for you and Sakura and Kakashi, I want to help make a new world that we can all be proud of… together."

"Sasuke-"

"I know, I know, you've already forgiven me," he cut his friend off before he could start getting emotional – he'd finally managed to start talking, no way was he stopping until he'd gotten everything off his chest, "because you're an idiot who trusts too easily, but I've got to apologise at least once for all the shit I pulled. I was just, so jealous of you, I think I always have been, you're just so much stronger than me, the strength to keep getting up time after time, to fight through all your fears, to try again and again to get others to acknowledge you and… it scared me."

Naruto was giving him a strange look, his face was open as it always was, but the expression wasn't one he could place.

He sucked in a sharp breath. "You were too close; you saw the parts of me that I was trying so desperately to hide – the parts of me that I hate – and you wanted to draw them out, made me want to let them out, it was the same feeling I got from my brother before… that day.

"It wasn't rational, but somewhere deep inside, I feared that one day you would betray me too, I never really thought of it that way, I fooled myself into thinking that I was just annoyed by how much faster you were progressing, but that day I first realised you'd found a technique more powerful than mine… I wasn't angry, I was terrified, because if you turned on me now, then I wouldn't be able to stop you and, more than that, to be betrayed again, by my second brother… Even if I survived our battle, it would have killed me. So I betrayed you first." His voice was quickly becoming broken and he could feel that awful prickling at the back of his eyes again.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, giving him an understanding smile, "thanks for telling me, I know it's really hard for you right now, it's always been hard and I haven't always made it any easier, so I'm sorry for that, but I'm going to do everything I can now to help you! So please keep telling me about this stuff, because brothers can count on each other to be there, right?"

He snorted and used his one hand to push his closest friend onto his side, laughing aloud at the indignant squawk he made as his body hit the grass. "Idiot, I'm supposed to be the one apologising, you just can't stop yourself from butting in."

"Hey, who do you think you're talking to? I saved your ass and got you out of jail, so I can apologise to you all I want!" the blond declared, jumping to his feet and pointing a finger right in his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! What're you gonna do to stop me, huh?" At this point he was shouting loud enough that he could probably wake the entire village by himself, even without Sasuke half-cackling and half-sobbing next to him.

When was the last time he'd really, truly laughed? When was the last time he'd felt like this? Genuinely happy and content, with the ever-present pain just a dull ache he could almost pretend didn't exist, if he just focused on the sound of Naruto's laughter.

At some point, they must've managed to calm down, or at least ran out of breath from their mutual hysterics and entirely ineffective shoving match, Sasuke had to collapse back onto the rough grass, gulping in the cool air and waiting for the stars above to stop spinning quite so fast. He vaguely registered the dull thud as his friend followed suit, though he still seemed to be struggling with holding in his exhausted chuckles.

Taking one last deep, calming breath, Sasuke turned his head just enough that he could see he's profile, sharp against the night sky.

"…Thank you. For Everything."