Ino Yamanaka had had a very quiet two months. Her ninja career had started off very slowly, although her parents assured her that that was perfectly normal. She could not help but feel as if she were not getting anywhere closer to her goal of becoming a Chunin within two years.

The bell on the shop tinkled. Ino looked up rather drearily, of course, but her expression brightened immediately upon seeing just who it was.

"Sasuke!"

She stepped out to meet him, and was pleasantly surprised when he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, and spun her around. She laughed, her long hair falling across both their faces, as he set her down. They raised their hands upward to push aside the mess of hair, grinning.

"I haven't see you in ages!" Ino chirped, as she tried to smooth out her hair.

"I know." Sasuke said. "We've been on a mission." His lip twitched. "If you can call it that." Ino giggled at his expression.

"It sounds like there's a story here!"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, no." He said quickly. "Definitely not. We just spent almost three months in the middle of nowhere, it really wasn't anything special."

Sasuke was being awfully evasive. "You were doing nothing out in the middle of nowhere for three months?"

"Yes." Sasuke said immediately. "That's exactly what happened."

Ino raised her eyebrow at him, not believing a word of it. Sasuke seemed oddly secretive about the nature of the mission. Maybe she would have to get the story out of Sakura. Or maybe even Naruto, he could never keep his mouth shut.

"Let us never speak of this again." Sasuke told her flatly. "So how about those roses?"

It was getting increasingly difficult to dodge the question of where they had been for three months. Sasuke thought as he left the Flower shop behind, roses in hand, Ino watching him longingly from the window. The less people knew about Tomonobu Tori, his film career, and the fact that Sasuke Uchiha played a role in it, the better. He was beginning to feel especially envious of Kakashi, who was unrecognizable in the film. Naruto, in comparison, would likely have this hanging over his head for the rest of his life. Not that it seemed to have to sunk in, yet.

It had been two months since the shoot had ended. They had received monthly updates from Tomonobu Tori assuring them that editing was coming along swimmingly and that the movie would premier in Konoha in another month. Sasuke's hopes that that abomination would never, ever make it to theaters had already been dashed.

He only had a month until the fruits of their first, big mission hit the big screen and everyone on Team 7 became a laughingstock. He could only hope that Kurenai would not see it….

…

"I never thought I would say this… but I'm glad we're doing regular D-Rank missions again."

Sasuke nodded in agreement as he tightened his gloves. "Yeah, shooting a film really takes a lot out of you." He noted, as his eyes flickered at Naruto, who was standing some distance away from them, not looking their way. Sakura smiled at him, shaking her head.

"Yes, filming is way harder than I would have imagined." Sakura said. "Especially with someone like Tomonobu Tori directing."

"Getting attacked by assassins wasn't fun either."

Sakura's face fell. Sasuke noted the change in expression and immediately reached out to her. "Sakura." He said, his voice low. "What's wrong?"

"Oh…. It's nothing." Sakura said. "It's just…."

She sighed. Shaking her head.

"Forget it."

Sasuke was not one to forget things, especially when it involved his female teammate. She had been down since they had gotten back to Konoha. Sasuke had, at first, written it off as stress. Tomonobu Tori had asked a lot of things of her that she wasn't exactly prepared for. It had been hard on all of them, but he had felt that Sakura had gotten the worst of it.

But as time went on and Tomonobu Tori faded into memory, Sakura still seemed a little out of sorts. And Sasuke was beginning to feel a little curious as to why.

"Naruto."

His friend looked up at him expectantly. "Yeah?"

"Has Sakura been acting weird lately?"

Naruto crossed his arms, his head bent. He was clearly deep in thought. "She's been way nicer to me lately." He muttered. Sasuke groaned. Naruto was not the most observant person. He, although not at all a bad person, was somewhat self-centered.

"But have you noticed anything else?"

"Well…"

Naruto adjusted his headband awkwardly. "No, nothing."

It was then that Sasuke decided to speak to Kakashi about it.

"Hey, Sensei…."

"Hmm…?"

Kakashi turned to look at him, eyebrow raised. Sasuke stared at him, frowning. He still knew very little about Kakashi. He had no idea how best to even approach the situation.

"I wanted to speak with you about Sakura."

"IF you want to ask her on a date, that's fine."

Sasuke blanched.

"Was that not what you were going to ask me?"

"Well, no." Sasuke admitted. "I don't need your permission to go on dates." He briefly wondered whether he would even consider dating Sakura. He liked her well enough, but… well, there was a lack of any real sparks between them. It just felt like they found each other cute and that was that.

"So what did you want from me?"

"I wanted to know whether you think that Sakura has been depressed lately."

Kakashi fell silent. Sasuke stared at him expectantly, wondering just what he was going to say to him.

"Sakura…." Kakashi said. "Was worried about you two."

"Worried?" Sasuke repeated. "About… us?"

"When you fought alongside Zabuza to stop those Hunters, Sakura was sleeping in her tent." Kakashi explained to him. "In her eyes she let down both of you. You came very close to dying, and she could do nothing about it."

Sasuke fell silent, taking in the words his Sensei spoke. Yes…. That had to have been it. It was around that time that Sakura had begun to become quieter, more reserved.

"Is she going to be alright?" Sasuke asked him anxiously. "You don't think she will…?"

Kakashi turned away from him. "I don't know." He said, his voice heavy. But yet he did nothing. Sasuke could not speak for his reasons. Again, he barely knew Kakashi…. But he knew that he himself had to do something about it.

"Sakura. Why don't we train together?"

Sakura shot him a surprised look. "Together?" She asked. "Like… alone?"

"Yes, Sakura." He said. "Alone."

She quickly raised a hand to her pink hair and brushed it across her face to hide her shocked expression. "w-well… okay…." She said. "But Sasuke, I'm not as good of a ninja as you are."

"Right, which is why you need to train." Sasuke told her. And true to his word, they began to spend the time waiting for Kakashi alone together, going through various exercises and drills. Sasuke showed her a couple of Fire Jutsu, and although she could not really put a lot of power into them, she got the general idea down easily enough.

"I don't understand it." Sakura murmured. The candle in front of her sat there, unlit. She could not even maintain a flame long enough to get it to light. "Here I am, working so hard to put all of my energy into getting this thing to light… while Naruto is sparring with hundreds of shadow clones."

She looked close to tears. Naruto's progress had impressed her. In fact, it had impressed her so much that it had made herself conscious about how own abilities. And the encounter with the Hunter Nin had brought those feelings out in full force.

Sasuke was not sure what to say to her, but a major reason for that was because he himself still did not know what to make of their third teammate. Naruto constantly surprised him every day. His inventiveness in combat, his earnestness to improve, and that strange, strange inability to ever tire was beginning to make Sasuke view the guy as a powerhouse in the making. In fact, the more Sasuke thought about Sakura's dilemma in general, the more he began to feel the same way. Naruto's progress form dead last to what he was now was more than just unexpected. It was downright scary.

Sasuke and Naruto had, during their spars, taken to using real weapons. Sasuke had seen an orange blur racing right towards him, and assuming it was a shadow clone, he took his Kunai and threw it.

It had not been a clone. Naruto had thrown himself at him purely because he had thought he could take him head on. The Kunai had gone deep into his stomach. Sasuke had panicked. A wound in that spot could be fatal. No one else was around. He had no choice but to administer what he knew of first aid to his friend. He knew that he could not remove the kunai, or Naruto could bleed to death.

The bastard removed it on his own. He just took it and ripped it straight out, tearing his jumpsuit and sending blood all over the place. Sasuke panicked all anew, telling him to lay back and relax and that he totally had it under control even though he totally didn't.

Within fifteen minutes the wound had healed completely.

Sasuke was flabbergasted by this. When Naruto jumped up, right as rain Sasuke demanded answers. Naruto simply stared at him.

"I've always been a fast healer."

And that was that. He had no understanding of just how unusual that was, just as he had no understanding of just how much energy it really took to make shadow clones. He was ignorant of the fact that doing things that were simply NOT POSSIBLE.

Sasuke was becoming increasingly agitated as the weeks went by. Sakura was still not warming up, and Naruto was increasingly bothering him. Kakashi was of no help with either. He especially tended to dodge questions when it came to Naruto, which bothered Sasuke to no end. He was beginning to suspect that their teacher knew something about it.

Sasuke hated to admit it, but he was starting to distrust Kakashi. He began to wonder if someone else could help Sakura get over her issues or help him get to the bottom of the case with Naruto.

Perhaps someone like Yuuhi Kurenai.

It took quite a bit of effort to find Team 8. He had not gotten the chance to see any of them since they had been assigned teams. Hinata smiled shyly at him as he approached. Kurenai looked up at him, surprised.

"Oh, Sasuke…"

He handed her a rose and explained his problem with Sakura. Kurenai nodded thoughtfully along as Sasuke talked about her insecurities and her unease with her role in the Team.

"Yes, Kakashi has told me as much." Kurenai mused, glancing at Hinata "He told me she is having trouble finding a role in your team."

She stared at Sasuke thoughtfully. "Perhaps… she should learn Genjutsu. You and Naruto are both proficient in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. Perhaps a Genjutsu specialist is just what your team needs."

They spoke a little more and hashed out an agreement. Kurenai would spend some time working with Sakura and Hinata, if Naruto and Sasuke spent time training with Kiba and Shino. Sasuke readily agreed. He wondered how he and Naruto would fare against the boys of Team 8.

Afterwards, he and Hinata took a walk through the park, conversing in quiet tones about their Ninja career.

"Father… is still anxious to meet with you."

"Yes, I know." Sasuke said. "I just sent him a letter letting him now that I'm available, actually. I'm sorry it took so long. That three-month mission took a out of me."

Hinata nodded. "You never said what it was that you were doing…"

"Let's not talk about that." Sasuke said hastily. "Let's talk about you and Naruto."

She turned bright red. "Me and-"

"I thought I told you to woman up and tell him already."

"B-b-b-b-"

"If Naruto keeps improving the way he has been, he's going to eventually get the eye of someone else." Sasuke told her. "If you don't go for it now, you never will."

Hinata opened her mouth wide, as if to respond, but a loud chuckle hit their ears.

They turned, surprised, to find another couple walking towards them. A Hyuuga boy with long hair, and…. An extremely pretty girl wearing a rather traditional dress. Her brown hair was tied up in two buns, and Sasuke was already wondering what it would look like if it was down.

Hinata stiffened as the two approached. Sasuke lay a hand on his arm as he observed them. The Hyuuga was glaring at them with great distaste in his expression. The girl looked a little apprehensive. Clearly, this was a situation she did not want to be in.

"Lady Hinata." The boy said. "What are you doing with this boy?"

Hinata shirked away from him, eyes downcast. "I-"

"We're taking a walk." Sasuke told him, his voice carefree and easy. "We were just talking about our lives as Ninja."

He smiled at the brown-haired girl, who, although clearly surprised, quickly smiled back. "And who are you two, exactly….?" He inquired. The girl opened her mouth to answer, but the boy cut her off.

"I am Neji Hyuuga." He practically spat. "Step away from her, now."

Sasuke did not pretend to know all of the details of inner Hyuuga clan politics. But he thought he knew enough to tell that this boy did not mean Hinata well when he asked him to step away.

Instead of backing down, Sasuke smiled. He raised a rose to his face and stepped towards the brown-haired girl. "Hey." He said. "You didn't get the chance to introduce yourself." He held out the rose to her. The girl reached out and took it, brushing her hand against his.

"I'm TenTen." She said. "It is…. a pleasure to meet you, Sasuke."

Sasuke ignored Neji's scandalized glares as he smiled at the girl. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha." He said. "I'm good friends with Hinata."

TenTen giggled. "I can see." She already was looking much more relaxed. Neji was glaring daggers at him, but Sasuke continued to ignore him.

"So are you two teammates?" Sasuke inquired. "You weren't in our graduation class…"

"No, we're a year a head of you." TenTen explained. "I-"

"TenTen. Shut up."

Tenten shot Neji a glance. She did not look too impressed. Sasuke, stepped in between them, hand on Tenten's arm, completely unflinching.

"I won't have you talking down to Hinata, and I certainly won't let you talk down to your own teammate." Sasuke said, his voice cool. "I suggest you leave. Now."

Neji glared at him, his eyes narrowed. "Uchiha." He said. "Your time will come." And with that, he turned and left them.

Sasuke stood there with the girls, watching him go. "He's not very good with girls, is he?" Sasuke commented. Tenten giggled, leaning into him slightly.

"No, he's not." Tenten said. "I wonder if that's his problem…"

They both looked to Hinata, but she was not in the mood to chat. She looked downcast, and was about to cry.

"Hey…" Sasuke leaned forward into TenTen's ear. "I'm going to take her home. It was nice meeting you."

TenTen gave him a quick nod as he stepped forward and wrapped his arm around Hinata's. "Come on, Hinata." He cajoled. "Let's go."

TenTen bid them good bye as he led her out of the park, down the street, and towards the Hyuuga complex. They came to a stop at the front gate.

"Thank… you." Hinata said, as she pushed herself away from him. "I'm sorry…. You had to defend me that way."

"Don't be sorry." Sasuke told her. "Anyone would have done the same."

Hinata smiled weakly as she turned and stepped into her house. Sasuke watched her go, wondering just what was going on behind the scenes in that family, before turning around.

TenTen was waiting for him. She was leaning up against a nearby tree, kunai in hand.

"That was a pretty cool thing you just did." She said. "I was impressed."

"Anyone would have done the same." Sasuke repeated. Tenten shook her head.

"Dude, I hear Neji complain about the Main Family and Hinata all the time. I've never been able to shut him down that way." She told him. "I hate it too, but… I would never have been able to convince him to stop bullying Hinata like that."

"You are friends, with Hinata?"

"No, we've never really met." TenTen told him. "I…. actually am friends with Neji, to tell you the truth. In spite of everything he's a really reliable teammate."

"Hm." Sasuke was not all that impressed.

"Really, this Family drama thing is the worst thing about him, I promise." TenTen spin the kunai around her finger and then pocketed it. "So where do you want to go eat?" She asked him.

He took her back to his place and made her something. TenTen made impressed sounds as he worked, and helped with the slicing and dicing of vegetables. She was quite swift with a knife, Sasuke noticed. Uncannily so.

They sat down at their table and talked at length about the Hyuugas

"What is Hinata like?" Tenten asked him. Sasuke sighed.

"Shy." He said. "Very, very shy."

"I've heard." She said. "But how shy?"

"She's desperately in love with someone and won't admit it."

"Oh?" Tenten asked, suddenly a little on edge. "That someone wouldn't happen to be…. You, would it?"

"Sadly, no." Sasuke admitted. "Apparently I'm not good enough for the Hyuuga Princess."

Tenten laughed. "Hasn't her Father been wanting to pester you about marrying her?"

"Or her younger sister, yes."

"Are you going to do it?"

Sasuke stared at Tenten, considering his answer. "No." He said, after a brief pause. "I think I have someone else in mind." '

Sasuke spent the rest of the day touring the compound. They stopped in front of a large rock, with several targets scattered around on nearby trees and the ground.

"Oh…" Sasuke said, looking around at it. "This is where…"

"What is this?" Tenten asked, intrigued, as she stepped around the rock, noting the target on the opposite end.

"This is something my… someone in my family set up." Sasuke explained. "You're supposed to stand in the center here…." He moved to the spot her was indicating. "You're supposed to spin…." He spun a little. "And you're supposed to jump up, flip yourself upside down, and hit every single target with kunai."

Tenten gave him a look. "Even the one on the other end of the rock?"

"Especially that one." Sasuke told her. TenTen grinned.

"I want to try it."

Sasuke had never seen anyone but Itachi do it. He himself had been trying for years and had never been able to even touch the one beyond the rock. He stood there, preparing himself for a good time, as Tenten took her position.

She took a deep breath, spun around, leapt up, and promptly hit every single target.

Sasuke's mouth practically hit the floor as she landed, smirking at his shocked expression.

"Just as good as your family member, huh?"

He was suddenly very glad that she had invited herself over.

They spent that entire evening watching old martial arts movies that he used to watch with Itachi. He had not seen many of them in years, but he had still held a fondness for them. Sharing them with Tenten was a magical experience.

Mid-way through The Game of Go, where the hero was deliberating on the best tactic to defeat his enemy, Sasuke and Tenten found themselves looking at each other more and more. They smiled and shifted about, and by the time the fighting had begun they were in each other's arms.

"Mmm, Sasuke…." Tenten murmured, as he kissed her. "This wasn't how I imagined my day turning out."

By the time the credits rolled, they were snuggling up to each other, enjoying each other's company.

"Should we rewind it?" Tenten asked. "I think I would have liked it if you didn't distract me."

Sasuke hit her with the couch pillow, and she burst out laughing.

They spent a little too long saying goodbye at the door. Hand in hand, TenTen was practically bouncing every time she kissed him.

"I had a wonderful time." She said, almost glowing with joy. "I… I want to see you again."

They kissed each other for another several minutes before exhaustion took them both and TenTen, after one last kiss, bid her good-byes and left him. Sasuke stepped back into the house, feeling extremely pleased with himself.

…

"You have a girlfriend?" Naruto asked disbelieving as Sasuke let them know that he would be busy later on in the day.

"What, did you think I had a boyfriend?" Sasuke jabbed at him, as he brushed the hair out of his eyes. TenTen had been telling him stories about how a lot of the girls had been speculating that he was gay. Sasuke was not completely sure whether TenTen was messing with him or not, but after the incident with Haku he was feeling especially protective of his sexuality. "Her name's TenTen… she's a ninja too, but a year older than us."

"What is with you and older women?" Naruto asked him, disbelievingly. Sasuke laughed as he raised a rose to his face.

"You'll like her, she's really cool."

Sakura and Ino weren't nearly as impressed.

"What? Her?" Ino said disbelievingly. "Why her?" She fell silent for a bit, and then shot him a look. "Who is she?"

Sakura took it even worse. Tenten came by to come find him after missions had concluded for the day. Sakura glared at her the entire time they spent chatting. TenTen did not seem particularly bothered.

"So you're the great Kakashi." She said. "Gai-Sensei speaks most highly of you."

"I've received better compliments." Kakashi told her, smiling in that strange way of his. Sakura continued to glare at them.

"Your team is… strange." Tenten said, as they parted ways. "That girl… does she always glare at people like that?"

"Usually." Sasuke told her. "It's a bad habit, we're trying to break it." That got him thinking about Sakura's problems, and he immediately began to talk about her with Tenten. By then time he had finished, she had fallen quiet.

"You know…" TenTen said slowly. "The way you describe her… she kind of reminds me of myself."

"What?" Sasuke asked, bemused. Tenten nodded.

"Yeah." She said. "I'm from a civilian family as well… we've always made ninja gear, and I've always loved weapons."

She fell silent, looking down at the ground.

"I've always admired Lady Tsunade, of the sannin." She said. "She's probably one of the greatest female ninja this village has ever produced. I enrolled in the Academy, hoping to become just like her." Sasuke stared at her, enraptured.

"But I was told, time and time again, that Lady Tsunade was special." She said. "She was a genius of the highest caliber. She's the reason Konoha has the best health care of all the hidden villages. I could never, ever match up to someone like her."

She smiled bitterly. "They were right." She said. "I don't have the chakra control necessary to even begin medical training. I can't even do the most basic work in the field, let alone reach Tsunade's level." She blinked. She seemed to be getting rather emotional. He could see a little water in her eyes. "I was depressed for my entire final year at the academy." She told him. "I had no idea what I was going to do with myself. I had dedicated all of my time and effort into learning this field that I had no real talent in. I was considering dropping out of the academy entirely."

"It was then that I met Gai-Sensei." She said. "We had just been assigned to a team… Neji, Lee and I. We did not get along at all, at first. Neji thought we were beneath him, and Lee…" She paused. "Lee is different."

She took in a deep breath.

"Lee has no Ninjutsu or Genjustu skills at all." She told him. "He relies purely on Taijutsu. We never thought he would graduate, but he did. And over the past year we've been together, he became more and more amazing."

She clenched her fist.

"Neji was born talented, and Lee found something that he was really good at and pushed himself. Me…? I was lost for a while there."

She gave Sasuke a look.

"Then I spoke to Gai-Sensei how I felt." She said. "And what he said to me changed my life." She raised her hand and pointed her finger at him.

"You cannot live your life obsessing over things you can't do." She said. "He said that I should aim to become my own woman. Although he understood how disappointed in not being just like her, that was that was no excuse to give up on being a great Ninja. I couldn't obsess over what only others could do. I needed to think about what I was good at, and what I could do as a Ninja."

She smiled widely as Sasuke took her hand. "Your sensei is a wise man." He commented. She nodded.

"I took his advice to heart and started studying other great Ninja." She said. "I started with the other Sannin and how they fought. Orochimaru and his great knowledge of Ninjutsu and pushing boundaries, and Jiraiya and his work on seals."

She pulled away from him and pulled out a scroll. She unfurled it and held it out to him. On it were vast, intricate symbols that Sasuke could not understand.

"I became interested in the idea of being able to carry all of my weapons around with me using these." Tenten explained. "And then I started doing it with other things. Tools, armor, you name it. I have it on me."

"And that has proven useful?"

"You have no idea." Tenten told him. "Once a village hired us to deal with bandits, and we were in a situation where they had us pinned down.. We were completely surrounded on all side by over fifty of them, and they had hired ninja to deal with us. We could not fight the Ninja while protecting the village."

"What did you do?"

TenTen smiled at him. "I gave them all weapons." She said. "They didn't need to hold their position for long, just for long enough for us to defeat the enemy. But that would never have been possible without me. My talents, niche and specific as they are, helped avert a potential catastrophe."

"So you think Sakura needs to find her own talents as a ninja…"

"I know she does." Tenten said. "Keep supporting her, alright? She'll get there eventually."

Tenten was very sweet and kind, in spite of her somewhat tomboyish nature to support a girl that probably hated her. Sasuke knew he had picked a winner.

…

The day for their meeting with Kiba and Shino had come. Sasuke and Naruto walked directly to the Team 8 training ground, where Kiba and Shino were waiting.

"Took you long enough." Kiba scoffed, as he leapt to his feet. Akamaru leaned out of his jacket and barked furiously at them.

"We're sorry." Sasuke told them, smiling lightly. "A black cat crossed out path and we had to take the long way here."

Naruto gave him a horrified look.

"Sasuke, you're becoming just like him!"

Sasuke chuckled at Shino and Kiba's confused expressions. "So." He said. "What do you want to do first?"

"Team on Team." Kiba said immediately. "Shino and me vs you and Naruto." Sasuke could tell that he was extremely eager to get the better of them.

"You're on!" Naruto shouted, fists pumped in front of him. "We'll take you on!"

This was their first time sparring with anyone outside of the team. Sasuke got into a fighting position, wondering just how this was going to go.

…

"Tell me, Sakura… what do you know about Genjutsu?"

"Well…"

Although a little self-conscious that Hinata Hyuuga was staring at her, Sakura began to rattle off everything she could on the subject. Kurenai nodded along, complimented her on her technical knowledge, but reminded her gently that actually using Genjutsu was quite different than reading about it.

Sakura nodded along, taking in her words. This was what she was good at. Absorbing information and then spitting it back out upon demand.

"Hinata has been interested in learning more Genjutsu as well." Kurenai said. "You both can help each practice casting and breaking simple illusions."

Working with Hinata was much different than working with Sasuke. She and Hinata had never been friends. In fact, until TenTen had come out of nowhere and stolen Sasuke's heart she had long suspected that Hinata would have. She was quite beautiful, polite, and sophisticated. And far, far, far more skilled.

Hinata had no trouble seeing through everything that Sakura sent her way. She did not even have to break the Genjutsu. She would simply activate her Byakguan and see through it. Sakura looked hopelessly at Kurenai.

"You will never fool a Hyuuga's eyes." Kurenai said. "Think about other senses you can fool."

What other senses could she fool? Smell? No… hearing. She could fool Hinata's sense of hearing. But how would she do that?

She stared at Hinata thoughtfully as she brought her hands together. She recalled what Sasuke had said to her all those months ago, before they had left to film their movie.

"If he wanted someone who cared about Naruto, he should have just gotten Hinata Hyuuga."

What had he meant by that? Could it be… The image of Naruto running towards them, waving his hands above his head and shouting Hinata's name filled her thoughts.

"Ha!"

Hinata jumped. "E-eeep!"

She tripped, falling flat on her face. Kurenai immediately bent over to check up on her, leaving Sakura standing above her, open mouthed. Inside her heart a voice was screaming loudly in protest. There was no way that had actually worked.

…

Hinata was unbelievably embarrassed when she regained consciousness and was told that it was just an illusion. "Oh…" She said, her head bent. "I see."

Kurenai called it quits for the day, telling both girls that they had done exceptionally well, but they both needed to rest.

Hinata almost slunk off without saying good-bye, but Sakura, on a whim, decided to follow her.

"Hey." She said. Hinata flinched as she spoke.

"Y-yes?"

She was so shy. You would never have known that she was a ninja just by speaking to her.

"Hinata, do you like Naruto?"

Her face turned a bright, tomato red.

…

Sasuke yawned as he stepped into his house, shuffling through letters. HIashi Hyuuga had responded, it seemed. They would be meeting very soon. There were a few marriage proposals, but far fewer than there had been before.

And then he saw it. An envelope that had come from Mist country.

With trembling fingers he cracked open the letter and opened it.

The War would be premiering in Konoha in one week, and he was invited.

…

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke flinched as an overexcited Tomonobu Tori wrapped his arms around him in a deep hug. Tenten was giggling at him from a couple of feet away.

"It has been too long, my friend." Tori said. "Much has happened since I saw you last…"

He went off on a ramble about how he traveled to a place called The Land of Waves in order to film one final scene in the movie, and had ended up being wrapped up in a conflict between a citizen uprising against a corrupt local crime lord. Sasuke stood there, feeling as if he had heard this story somewhere before…

"And then they named the Bridge after me!" Tori said. "Can you believe that, Sasuke?"

"It's almost like we weren't even there."

TenTen's amused expression became one of horror as Haku stepped up to them. Dressed in a bright pink, flowery kimono, he looked every bit as beautiful as the last time Sasuke had seen him.

"Oh, Haku." Sasuke said, surprised. "You're here as well?"

"Yes." Haku said. "The Director needed me to film the final scene… it was Zabuza and I who fought off Gato and his men."

"Then why wasn't it the Great Haku and Zabuza Bridge?"

Haku smiled. "Because he paid for us to do that when he didn't have to. And helped kickstart the economy there, too. It's making him rich."

Sasuke stared at Tori the gears in his head turning. Just how wealthy was this guy? TenTen was whispering frantically in his ear as Haku wandered off to speak with Sakura, who was wearing a surprisingly fetching pink dress.

"If you speak to her again I swear I'll kill you."

Sasuke waved a dismissive hand towards her as Naruto approached them.

"I can't believe this." He said, without even greeting them. "My movie… It really exists…"

"You're starting to sound like Tori." Sasuke noted. Naruto scowled at him.

Not long after the reunion, the cast and crew sat down to watch the premier of Tomonobu Tori's The War…

Hours later, all over the continent, other hidden villages did the same.

…

"Is everyone in the Leaf Village a lesbian or what?" Yugito Nii asked Killer B, as she munched on a piece of candy she had bought from the theater. She had needed something sweet after sitting through that mess.

"Lesbian?" Killer B repeated, looking bemused. "Where did that come from?" Yugito gave him a look

"The female leads." Yugito said. "Surely you noticed that they had sex at one point?"

"What are you talking about?" Killer B retorted. "There was only one sex scene. And it was between a man and a woman."

"What are you talking about?"

The two began to bicker furiously among each other about the scene in question.

…

Temari stepped outside the theater, shaking her head. What a mess… she had no idea what the hell that movie was supposed to be going for. Was it a romance? A war drama? … a comedy? She honestly had no idea. She had laughed out of sheer increduality so many times that she almost thought it was supposed to be intentional.

"What a terrible movie, holy shit."

"How terrible…."

"The female lead was cute, though…."

Everyone who had sat on the movie seemed to agree that it wasn't very good. Temari watched them go, taking in the talk around her about how terrible it was.

And then he stepped out of the theater.

Temari practically recoiled as her youngest Brother, Gaara, stepped through the door. His eyes were wide and staring, and Temari could feel herself start to sweat. Could the movie… could the movie have brought out something even more terrible in him?

He stepped forward and sand began to swirl around him. Temari froze in place as Gaara stepped past her and came to a stop.

"What did you think…?" Gaara rasped at her. Temari froze. He never addressed her in that way. Never.

"I-"

"I loved it."

Temari, who had almost gone on a rant about how terrible it was, fell silent on the spot.

"That man… the Fourth Hokage." Gaara said. "He went on and defeated the Nine Tails to protect his village."

Temari's mouth was starting to feel very, very dry. "Y-yeah…"

Gaara stepped past her. "I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt this village."

Temari, completely frozen stiff, did not say a word as he stepped out of the building. The movie, ridiculous as it may have sounded, had somehow made her psychotic brother into a patriot.

…

Kabuto stepped out of the theater with a beautiful black-haired woman in tow. The woman grinned widely at him. "Now that was something, wasn't it Kabuto?"

"It was indeed." Kabuto said. "It was a shame that Sasuke did not use his Sharingan-"

"Come on, this is your idea of a good time?"

The Black Haired woman stopped in her tracks as a very young looking blonde haired woman stampeded in front of them, a broken table leg in her hand. A much older man with long white hair followed behind her, trying to placate her.

"Look, Tsunade, it's not everyday that a movie gets made that features ME you know. You know you enjoyed seeing me on screen."

"Oh, shut up, you pervert."

The Black haired woman grinned as the two bickered there, in front of them. Kabuto looked onward, his eye cocked to the side. "Ah… perhaps we should go another way?"

"No, I'm enjoying this." The woman said, eyeing the couple with interest. "Ah, but please don't draw attention to yourself, Kabuto…"

"You're terrible!" The lady shouted, as she threw the table leg at the man. He grunted as it smacked him in the face with force.

Kabuto kept his face stony cold, but inwardly he was a little amazed at the fact that the Three Legendary Sannin had sat in on the same movie together.

…

Two men dressed in ornately decorated red cloaks stepped out of the theater. The shorter one with red eyes had a half eaten bag of popcorn in his hand.

"Fate sure loves a good joke, doesn't it Itachi?"

Itachi stared downward, not answering.

"To think that my old comrade and your little brother would show up in a movie together… isn't that funny?"

"No." Itachi said. "Not really."

…

By the time the movie had finished, the crowd sat in stunned silence. And then Naruto began to applaud.

"Well." Sasuke said, his arm wrapped Tenten, as they stepped out of the theater. "That was… a movie, I guess."

"Worst movie I've ever seen." Kakashi grunted.

"I thought it was sweet." Tenten admitted. "Tori made a movie about his hero, The Fourth Hokage! Isn't that cool?"

"It would have been cool if it was a good movie."

"It's the thought that counts, right?" Tenten insisted. "I-"

They came to a stop in front of the theater. Standing in front of the door were two people. Sasuke recognized them both as Yuuhi Kurenai and Tomonobu Tori.

"You mean… that girl was supposed to be ME?"

"Yes, that is right." Tori acknowledged. "I could not get the contacts to work, I had to adjust the eyes during editing… but this is a film about how we first met!"

"You made a movie about…?"

Kurenai shook her head in disbelief. "I… don't know what to say."

"I know what you need to say to me." Tori said. "Three simple words, Kurenai. I love you."

"Tori, I-"

"Get over it man, she isn't into you!" Someone from the crowd yelled. A brief spattering of laughter came up from the crowd of moviegoers trying to leave. Tori shot them a glare, but Kurenai took the opportunity to turn tail and leave.

"You are tearing me apart, Kurenai!"

…

A/N

WOW. I am so sorry for the wait, guys. Most of you people thought I had died during the operation. Actually, that wasn't the case at all. The Operation went great, and I feel better than ever. The real issue was something else unrelated. Thank you for being patient.

I don't think anyone brought up Tenten as a possible love interest for Sasuke in this. Probably because it is such a weird, out there pairing. I checked the site, and there wasn't a SINGLE serious SasuXTenTen fic in sight. If you haven't noticed by now, I really, really, really, really, really like doing shit that no one else has ever done. Upon doing research about which girls I wanted Sasuke to chase after, Tenten was the one I found most appealing. In part because I have a huge thing for girls in Chinese dresses, but also because of how underutilized she is in general. Out of all of Konoha Ninja, she is by far the least fleshed out in terms of personality and background. IT really does feel like she only exists to be a female teammate for Neji and Lee, which is a shame considering how much I love her design.

Wikis inspired a lot of her opinions in this chapter, although I think her personality is entirely of my own invention. Rest assured, fans of mine… this fic will be the best SasuTenTen fic ever written. Ha ha ha.

If anyone has any questions about what me or what I'm doing with this fic, please let me know. I made the mistake of updating the last chapter on Christmas Eve, and I don't think anyone read it. I have no idea what people think of that chapter, so please be sure to give feedback on that one as well as this one.

Thank you! I hope you stay warm this winter.