A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who commented and who has been so patient with me not uploading for an obscene amount of time. I truly apologize for leaving my stories by the wayside this past year. And I love all of you that stuck with this story. My uploads will continue to be few and far between with my transition into college and double majoring in two heavy science fields. BUT! I have by no means given up on my stories. It was so hard to write a "love story" when I was missing someone I care about, but now I've found the peace of mind to keep writing. You're all amazing, and if I haven't replied to your review, I'm so glad to hear your thoughts.

SASUSAKU

Chapter 4: All for Cerise

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

"Even if she does recover, I can't say I want her to go out in the field again." Tsunade's voice broke as she began to sob. "I wish I still tutored the boy-crazy overly emotional Sakura, not Konoha's most feared assassin…"

Kakashi nodded, "Sometimes so do we."

Tsunade looked up, and Sasuke could read the utter desolation in her eyes. "I wish she had never become a shinobi."

Sakura was moved into her own room in the emergency care unit of the hospital so Tsunade could keep an eye on her. Throughout the remainder of the night Sakura was awake and extremely delirious, moaning incoherently and trying to get up. Tsunade had placed restraints on her wrists and ankles to keep her from moving and reopening her wounds, but this only made her more agitated. Repeated attempts to calm Sakura down weren't working, and more drugs and chakra had to be used to stop Sakura from hurting herself. Tsunade was recovering outside her patient's room, giving orders to the nurses from the small futon that Kakashi had brought for her to rest on. By 2:00 AM, her Shishou and the nurses had been able to finally soothe Sakura's pain with medication and chakra healing, but the toll that the battle and subsequent surgery had taken was too much for the pink haired shinobi's body to handle. Sasuke listened carefully from his hiding place in an unoccupied patient room as Tsunade explained Sakura's condition to Team 7.

"We had to give her so many medications for the pain and to calm her down. She fought against the restraints as if she thought she was still in the battle. She wasn't cognizant that they were for her own good, and that was not a good sign. She almost reopened some very serious wounds, so we had to use sedatives on her." Tsunade sighed before continuing. "Because of all the stress on her body, she's essentially shutting down. She went into a coma, and now we have no idea when she will wake up and how healed she will be by then."

Naruto hung his head in his hands and wiped his eyes. "But she'll live, Baa-chan?"

Tsunade nodded. "Most likely she will. We have finally managed to stop the bleeding, and with her in a coma, she won't rupture any injuries that would put her life in danger. However, her quality of life will deteriorate the longer she remains in a coma. And eventually, if she doesn't come out of it soon, she may never wake up."

Kakashi and Naruto took the grave news glumly, hopelessness and despair weighed on them like a thick dark cloud. Sai wordlessly went back to his drawing, busying himself in the detail of Sakura's smiling face. Sasuke watched them, unable to stop the gloomy prospects of the situation from affecting him. Sakura's condition forced him to accept that she must have been a powerful shinobi, and her struggle between life and death didn't make his job to kill her any easier, even though logically it should. He wouldn't have to fight her or Naruto and Kakashi; she was lying helpless and bound to a hospital bed, and she wasn't even awake. Her room would be watched over by Tsunade and the other nurses throughout the night, but he wouldn't have trouble slipping in, completing the mission his client had given him, and leaving in an instant through the window next to her bed. He was too fast and too skilled for the aged and worn out Godaime or the nurses to catch him. However, the presence of Team 7 would make sneaking into her room far more difficult, and Sasuke waited hidden behind the door of the adjacent room, hoping for his former teammates to fall asleep and leave Sakura's room unguarded. Tsunade began to speak again, and Sasuke put his ear to the door to listen.

"All of you should really go home. With Sakura out of the field, people will need to fill in for her on the missions she was scheduled to take. Also, with her in this condition, rogue organizations and other villages may try to capture her, or take her out. I cannot take chances with her life like this, and I will need the three of you to be ready for anything that may come up."

Kakashi glanced at Naruto before folding his arms across his chest. "What about tonight? She's at her weakest now, and so are you and the other attending nurses. If someone wanted to try something, tonight would be the perfect night to do it."

Tsunade smiled grimly. "I know; that's why I assigned Shikamaru as head of the task force guarding this hospital. Every entrance, exit, cooling vent, and inch of the perimeter will be patrolled and sealed off by his team. The nurses that were on call are resting up within the hospital, so no one is leaving but you. They will be back in a matter of hours to tend to Sakura and protect her. And don't forget, we have nurses like Ino who are also shinobi. We will be capable of handling any threat from the inside. Now, go home. That is an order. We will notify you immediately if her condition changes."

Sasuke smirked to himself, careful not to make any noise as the members of Team 7 filed past him. He could not believe his good luck. Sakura would be unguarded, and he would have the perfect chance to strike. Tsunade checked on her beloved student once more before leaving the room and limping tiredly down the hall to the staff room. Her heeled feet clicked against the tile unevenly – she had been on her feet all day since Sakura arrived in the emergency unit that afternoon and it was well after midnight when the surgery was finally over. The raven haired avenger watched her back as she turned the corner down the hall, and then noiselessly slipped out of the patient room and into Sakura's. Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw Sakura's body. She was covered in bandages, some of them still a bit bloody, and her face was extremely pale. She had regained some color to her face since he saw her last - when she had appeared to be dead in the clearing. The multitude of machines she was hooked up to amazed Sasuke, and it showed just how weak the girl was. Coming closer, the onyx eyed man could see the pained look on her face illuminated by the moonlight. Brushing these thoughts from his mind, Sasuke knew he had a job to do. He crossed the small room before peering out of the doorway. He could see no chakra signatures with his sharingan, so he eased the door shut just enough to shield him from anyone walking by. Sasuke inspected Sakura again, the words his client wrote in the Bingo Book he carried flashing through his mind.

'Everyone I've sent after her returned in a body bag or went missing permanently. Bring me her body, alive or dead. Perhaps you'll be more fortunate than the others.'

Sasuke looked at the girl grimly. It was probably a good thing she was in a coma and heavily sedated, otherwise he wondered just what damage she could do to him. However, he had forgotten about his client's request to be brought her body. Cursing his stupidity, Sasuke realized that he could not complete this mission. Disconnecting her from the machines was sure to ring alarm bells, and carrying her injured body the many miles it would take to reach his client would leave him with a nasty diseased corpse. He suspected his client wouldn't care - he probably only needed her body to confirm the kill – but Sasuke knew his chances of unhooking her and making a run with her out of Konoha were slim. Glaring at her pale face, he contemplated how he could get her to his client.

"Back so soon, Uchiha?" a voice behind him laughed sarcastically. Sasuke whipped around in surprise, completely caught off guard, and came face to face with the Godaime Hokage. She stood in the doorway, and began to tap her heeled foot impatiently. She had changed out of her bloodstained clothes and her youth jutsu set her almost back to her normal appearance. "I was wondering who would crawl out of the woodwork when I left Sakura unattended. Her agitation wasn't just from the memories of her fight. She could feel your chakra signature, and so could I."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the Hokage's comment. There was no way she could have felt his chakra signature with all the other chakras that filled the hospital and emergency unit. And even if she could have, how did the rest of his former team completely miss his presence? Sasuke folded his arms across his chest in a defensive manner.

"You're bluffing. There's no way you could have felt my presence, especially if Naruto and the others didn't notice me."

Meeting Sasuke's glare, Tsunade stepped forward challengingly. "Oh really, then how come you didn't sense my chakra presence just now? Maybe you're getting sloppy." The tall blonde put her hands on her hips and scowled. "Why are you here, Uchiha?"

"Hn," the onyx eyed man said in annoyance, a plan forming in his sharp mind. "It's not like I was expecting a 'welcome home party', but you don't have to be so cold with me, Lady Hokage."

"Cut the crap, Uchiha. Tell me why you're here or I'll send every ANBU squad to this hospital to take you out. Naruto might have some shred of faith left in you, but I don't."

Sasuke glared at the older woman. He hadn't gotten to know Tsunade very well before he was taken to Orochimaru, but he certainly didn't like her now. He had to give her some credit, though. He was a much feared assassin and missing nin, and if Tsunade had been Sakura's mentor and one of the Sannin, she would not be easy to contend with.

"I want to come back to Konoha." Sasuke said bluntly.

"Ha! Really, Sasuke? Get lonely out there? All of a sudden my student almost dies on my operating table, and seven hours later, you show up and want to come back to the fold after eight years of being a missing nin. You've given us every reason to believe that you are the enemy of Konoha: you allied yourself with Akatsuki and Madara Uchiha, you killed Danzō, and you've tried on numerous occasions to kill Naruto and his team." Tsunade narrowed her sharp amber eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me if I don't believe it."

Sasuke sighed inwardly. Normally, his wish to do anything was enough for people scared of him, and they didn't ask questions. Explaining this would make him look weak, but fooling the highest ranking ninja in Konoha had to be a feat of some sort. "I want to. I'm tired of being hunted by everyone on the planet with a Bingo Book. And…" Sasuke hesitated. He really didn't want to pretend Sakura had something to do with his return, but he figured that might win Tsunade over. "I found Sakura in the clearing. I can tell she is strong, and I wanted to come back and train with my team, since I see they are much improved. And after discovering she was alive, I wanted to see if she would live through her ordeal. It would be such a waste of a strong shinobi."

Tsunade frowned at him and scrutinized him thoroughly. She didn't believe him at all, and he admitted that part of the reason he was back was Sakura. After he had left, the Hokage had suspected that Sasuke didn't care whether Team 7 lived or died, let alone actually return Sakura's feelings, but somehow Sasuke hadn't managed to kill his former comrades. He had sworn to kill Naruto, but after the defeat of Akatsuki, the former Konoha ninja had disappeared and the great showdown between him and Naruto had never come. Despite his past, Sasuke's attitude was objective and detached – he wanted a challenge from his teammates and valued them as the human weapons they were, but he didn't seem to have any emotional attachment. This fact made his story all the more believable. Sasuke Uchiha was a power-hungry egomaniac, and if he wanted to become stronger, training with Konoha's strongest team would have its benefits. It all made perfect logical sense to come back to Konoha – power, protection, better quality of life – but Tsunade had a hard time letting go of her suspicion. His enemies had been wiped out – Danzō was dead, and most of the elders responsible for the Uchiha massacre were also gone. The only one left was Naruto. Karin, the ninja he had once kept on his team, had warned of Sasuke's growing coldness when they had captured her eight years ago. Sasuke had almost killed her to kill Danzō, and Tsunade doubted that the man's cold heart would have changed after Akatsuki's defeat. She was seriously worried that he would try and kill Naruto, but if she didn't give him a chance, Naruto would never forgive her. Sasuke's "logic" was relatively sound, and the Hokage knew it would also make Naruto happy to hear he had returned. But if Sasuke was lying, he could destroy Konoha from the inside out, and she knew what another betrayal would do to Naruto's faith in humanity.

Rubbing her forehead tiredly, and secretly watching Sasuke's movements to test if he would attack her while her guard was down, Tsunade sighed. "Alright, Uchiha, I'll bite. But what do the people of Konoha get in the wake of your return? You don't expect me to just let you back in for free, do you?"

Sasuke smirked; she was a true businesswoman. "Of course I don't, Lady Hokage. And being a missing nin, I do have intelligence that could be useful to Konoha. People think that missing nins will never share information with their home country. That's mostly because your ANBU was supposed to hunt me down and kill me, but I guess I have Naruto to thank for that, don't I?"

Tsunade laughed to herself coldly. "Well you certainly can't thank Sakura."

Sasuke's deep charcoal eyes narrowed at her comment, and he wondered if she was serious. He couldn't imagine Sakura not being in love with him. Every girl that wasn't afraid he would kill her was head over heels for him because of his body and his "badass" reputation. Sakura was one of the crowd, and he doubted she could've given up on him. Tsunade's insinuation miffed him more than he would have expected.

Continuing as if she hadn't said anything, Tsunade said, "You will be taken down to the ANBU headquarters, interrogated, given a mental evaluation, and brought before me and the shinobi council to decide your fate. If you don't want to go through this, I suggest you leave before I send the ANBU after you."

"I understand," Sasuke said submissively. He knew he would have to be punished for leaving Konoha and whatever other crimes they would pin on him. As long as Sakura survived and he was allowed to reenter Konoha society, he could complete his mission. Sleeper cells are a common and effective form of espionage, and if he could gain the trust of his former team, he would be in the clear to assassinate Sakura.

Tsunade shot a warning glare at him. "I will summon the teams now then." Tsunade pulled out her summoning scroll and made a few lightning fast hand signs. Her slug appeared at her feet, looking up willingly at her mistress.

"You called, Lady Hokage?"

"Summon the ANBU elite, and alert Shikamaru and his team of the situation. Tell Shizune as well. Sasuke Uchiha has come back to Konoha." Tsunade stated firmly, looking into Sasuke's eyes and searching for any hidden expressions.

The slug shifted uncomfortably and hesitantly spoke, "Should I tell Naruto?"

The buxom blonde continued to hold Sasuke's gaze; her amber eyes glinting harshly in the moonlight. "No."

An ANBU squad led by Genma arrived at Sakura's hospital room within minutes. The older jonin looked at Sasuke suspiciously, and kept him a distance away from Sakura while he was put in chakra restraints. Sasuke was searched for all weapons and belongings on his person: his kusanagi was seized; the small daggers and kunai that were belted to his waist and thigh were also removed, along with the bingo book. The onyx eyed man smiled inwardly. He had anticipated that he might be attacked and apprehended fleeing the hospital after murdering Sakura – he had removed her page from his bingo book and burned it after leaving the clearing. He was glad he did, as his original plan did not involve voluntarily being captured by ANBU guards. Tsunade watched as he was led out of the hospital, and shook her head at the strange turn of events. They were given strict orders not to talk about Sasuke's return to anyone, and Tsunade hoped that his case would be resolved soon enough. If Naruto found out that she had withheld this information from the Hokage-in-training, he would never forgive her. The blonde smiled at the thought of Naruto accomplishing his dream and becoming Hokage, while growing old beside his two best friends. The thought was pleasant, however fleeting. Sasuke may never be cleared of the crimes against him, or he might betray the village again, and Sakura may not live to see her noisy best friend bestowed the Hokage title. Sighing heavily, Tsunade made her way back to the futon outside Sakura's room, intent on getting a little sleep before day broke and the village would be functioning normally again.

Sasuke was led deep beneath the streets of Konoha, through damp and narrow winding passages until a small light could be seen at the other end. Entering the spacious underground cavern where the ANBU interrogation unit was located, Sasuke was pushed along into a dark and oppressive room, strapped tightly with several different restraints to a large metal chair and then the door was closed without a word from his ANBU guards.

After what seemed like hours, the door to his room swung open and Ibiki, the proctor he recognized from the chunin exams long ago, strolled casually into the room. "Sorry, I'm late, Uchiha Sasuke," he said callously before lighting a cigarette with a match. "You've had some time to think about exactly why you're here and what you know. The Hokage doesn't trust you, and neither do I. So you can either tell us what's going on in that diabolical head of yours or we can start with these matches and I'll burn it out of you. And if you even think about using your sharingan on me, I swear to you, you'll be dead before you can even blink."

Sasuke smirked at him. "With my powers, it is you that would be dead before you can blink. But I came back willingly, and I intend to cooperate."

"Very well," Ibiki pulled up a chair and sat in front of the missing nin. "Let's hear it. But if I question your story, I have the full authority to have one of the Yamanaka clan poke around inside your head. So you best be straightforward."

The raven haired man smiled disarmingly, "I will be, Ibiki-san. You don't have to worry about that."

After more grueling hours of being locked in the small room and under Ibiki's harsh scrutiny, Sasuke was led to a cell deep within the underground complex. He was sealed in by locks, deadbolts, and jutsu, but this didn't bother him. He had made a convincing argument for his return to Konoha and had provided excellent intelligence on missing nin movements and secret plans within other nations. Sasuke wasn't too concerned with betraying these secrets – a missing nin allies himself with whoever could give him what he wants most, and keeping those alliances aren't necessary when a better proposition presents itself. Sasuke was content with his situation. He figured he would spend some time in prison, but that would leave time for Sakura to wake up and allow him to build credibility with his former teammates. If he did his time and presented himself as a changed man who atoned for his sins, he had a guaranteed back-in-free card to their team. However, the time he would spend in confinement worried him. He would have much rather stayed a missing nin and attacked Sakura later if he hadn't been seen by Tsunade, and he would be seriously pissed off if some other hired nin finished her off before he got out of jail.

Days and weeks passed while Sasuke remained in his underground cell. He had lost all sense of time, and the only thing holding his sanity together was his habit of frequent exercise. He was never allowed out of his cell, so without the ability to walk around freely, Sasuke did the next best thing. He did sit ups on the carved out slab of stone that served as his bed, pull ups and chin ups on the horizontal bar above the doorway to his cell. The large metal bars holding him in provided him with a view of the corridor leading to his cell, and he would always stop all activity and pretend to be sleeping whenever a guard would walk by. He had determined the cycle in which the guards patrol the holding cells, and mentally planned an escape route if he ever decided being in jail to kill Sakura just wasn't worth it. He knew there would be a hefty reward for her head, but after weeks and weeks of staring at the same stone walls, he began to wonder if he was crazy for planning to do this in the first place. Konoha didn't matter to him, Sakura didn't matter to him, and what his client wanted really didn't matter to him either. He didn't need to try so hard to complete one job; he was the great Sasuke Uchiha. He could've killed the Hokage and left before anyone would have even noticed, but instead he made up this crappy plan to stay. Bewildered at himself, Sasuke sat in his cell, praying to every god he could think of that the day when he will be tried for betraying Konoha and killing Danzō would come. But day after day with no human contact, and his regrets for not killing Sakura, kept the pink haired shinobi fresh on his mind. He saw her pale face, streaked with blood, and her cloudy dull eyes staring back at him whenever he closed his eyes. Memories of her bloodied body haunted him; the results of her insane power haunted him. She had seemingly grown to be so strong, and both Naruto and Tsunade's words had hinted that she didn't care for him anymore. Sakura was perhaps the one constant thing in his life that he could think of – his brother, who betrayed him in order to save him, was dead; his circle of "friends" constantly changed depending on who he worked for and what village he visited; and he never stayed in one place for longer than a few weeks. Sakura had said she loved him and wanted to go with him when he left for Orochimaru, Sakura had made Naruto promise to bring Sasuke back, and now Sakura apparently was nothing like the girl he remembered. The raven haired man sighed heavily and resolved to kill Sakura whenever the chance was available. She was bothering him, and he was especially bothered by her mental and physical strength. If she had gotten past her insane love for him, grown up to be in the Bingo Book, and become physically strong enough to destroy an entire meadow and the shinobi within it, it almost made him regret leaving. The loneliness was getting to him, and Sasuke needed to get out and do what he came to do before staying in Konoha became spending the rest of his life there.

It was seventy-two weeks before Sasuke was brought to the surface and saw the light of day again. For those seventy-two weeks, he had had zero visitors, zero conversations with the multiple ANBU guards that monitored his cell, five hundred and four nights of sleeping on a stone slab, one thousand five hundred and twelve meals consisting of a grey substance he couldn't identify, and twelve more interrogations with Ibiki, just to test his resolve in becoming a Konoha citizen. Sasuke had almost given up, killed the man with his sharingan, and escaped, but he was finally free. He had the sinking feeling that it was all Tsunade's doing to have him kept this long without a trial, and he hoped the sentencing process would be long enough for him to enjoy actually being outside again. He wouldn't be able to handle another stint in jail until at least a week of seeing the world above ground, or he would absolutely go crazy. It had felt like a whole lifetime in his cell; he was only informed when they reached above ground that he'd been held there for over a year.

Tsunade greeted him with disinterest as he was led to a special room in the Hokage tower. She had held him long enough, she thought, for him to snap and try something stupid. Then, at least, she could feel secure in her conclusion that his presence brought no good to the village. It was a relatively good sign that he hadn't snapped, however, because part of her wanted him to rejoin his team. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura had risked their lives so many times to bring him back; she almost wanted the fairy tale ending that they would all be reunited in happiness.

"Well, Uchiha, still alive and well I see."

Sasuke nodded to her, trying hard to conceal his anger. "Why thank you, Lady Hokage. Care to tell me why I spent over a year down there with no word on my trial until now?"

Tsunade shrugged off his comment, "I know you are frustrated, Sasuke, but the council takes its sweet time. And besides, knowing you spent so long in prison waiting to be sentenced will bring credibility to your side. You may have had chakra restraints, but I didn't have you put in a maximum security cell for a reason."

Sasuke glared at her. He was furious that she had been baiting him with escape, and he almost wished he had tried it. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he snapped irritably.

The Godaime chuckled to herself. You can't expect us to believe you right off the bat, Sasuke. But your lack of escape attempts has assured me that, whatever you want, you're patient enough to get it." Strolling a little farther down the hallway, she turned. "I can't guarantee they'll even let you live because of what you've done, so be grateful that I gave you this much."

Sasuke was led deep into the heart of the building and into the council chambers. Everyone was seated and frowned at his entrance. It was obvious to him that he was not welcomed back in Konoha by the elder elite shinobi. The council was comprised mostly of seasoned shinobi appointed by Tsunade after Danzō's death, and the elders that sentenced the Uchiha clan to death had been replaced by their younger counterparts. Since the death of Sarutobi, only a few of the original elders had been left, but to Sasuke's relief they were all dead now. However, the original elders would have known the basis for his actions was the Uchiha massacre and now that none of them were present, there would be no sympathy for him.

Tsunade walked into her office where Kakashi and Naruto were waiting. The future Hokage paced about the room impatiently, while his grey haired mentor sat patiently, the bored look of old replaced by one of tiredness. The jonin was worried what Sasuke's trial would do to his team. Sai was emotionless as usual, but Kakashi could see he didn't welcome Sasuke's return. And Naruto was as hopeful as ever; he just worried the young man would be disappointed by the council's ruling. Kakashi did not trust Sasuke's motives at all. None of their rescue attempts had any effect on Sasuke, and he couldn't fathom that anything had changed in the young avenger's mind. Tsunade cleared her throat loudly, and Kakashi stood up and nodded to her, knowing it was time to go. Naruto looked their way – his expression was calm and collected, but the excitement showed in his eyes.

"Naruto," Tsunade began quietly, "You cannot get your hopes up for this. Even if Sasuke is not sentenced to death, he may very well spend time in jail for many years. And even if he does not, he's been a missing nin and an enemy of Konoha for eight years. The elders may have been suspicious of Danzō, but he was the chosen candidate to follow me as Hokage. His death did not make the village happy. And how many attempts did you make to bring Sasuke home that he nearly killed you and your teammates on? I don't know why he was visiting Sakura on the night she was brought back, but in reality, if something is too good to be true, it usually is. I want him to be telling the truth, Naruto, but after everything he's done it's hard for me to believe."

"I know Baa-chan," Naruto said, his solemn tone conveyed the seriousness of the situation. "I don't know what to expect from the council, and I don't know what his motives are, but I will give him a chance. And if he betrays us again, I will kill him myself." Tearing up slightly, Naruto continued, "Sakura made me promise to bring him back, and her opinions might have changed when she became an assassin, but deep down, I know she would want me to give him one more chance."

Tsunade nodded, knowing he was probably right. Sakura hadn't loved Sasuke for many years leading up to her fateful assassination mission, but Tsunade knew Sakura's stony heart still had the capacity for forgiveness. She led the way into the courtroom with Naruto and Kakashi not far behind, and took her assigned seat on the council bench. Sasuke sat in front of the council, a blank look on his face. He regarded them with disinterest, but could not help looking over at Naruto and Kakashi as they entered. Naruto and Kakashi took a seat beside Tsunade, while. Sasuke frowned, confused at why Naruto would be on the council. Naruto sat stoically, and he looked directly at Sasuke with his piercing cerulean gaze. Sasuke was not moved by the blonde's fierce gaze and he regarded him with disinterest.

With everyone seated, the council began to question Sasuke's motives and deliberate over his past actions. Tsunade led the questioning, focusing on each act of treason that Sasuke had committed. Naruto remained silent, but attentive, his gaze never wavering from Sasuke's. A grizzled old councilman turned to Naruto after Tsunade had finished her inquiry and asked him whether it was true that Sasuke, his supposed friend, had tried to kill him so many times.

Naruto nodded solemnly, "Yes, it is true. In Sasuke's quest for power, he didn't need us as teammates, and his solution was to kill us to make himself stronger."

A harsh voice from the other side of the council panel snapped incredulously, "Then why the hell did you keep trying to bring him back if you knew he didn't care about your lives anymore?"

Sasuke turned to the voice and was met with Anko's snake-like stare. She had been Orochimaru's student as well, and hadn't been led down the path of evil that he had. Sasuke sensed that the question wasn't directed at Naruto, but was more to gauge Sasuke's reaction to her comment. He expected Naruto to protest loudly at Anko's insinuation that Sasuke only wanted Naruto dead, but to his surprise, the young blonde answered her maturely.

"I swore I would bring him back," Naruto said softly. "I tried so hard to do what we all wanted, and I didn't want to give up or believe that he could do that to us. But he did." Naruto finished his sentence resolutely and looked Sasuke in the eye. "I do believe in my heart that we are alive today because Sasuke couldn't bring himself to kill us. But I've seen him try to kill his teammates, and me, too many times to say that he is a changed man right now."

Sasuke's eyes widened. The dobe was selling him out to the council. Naruto continued forcefully, not missing the surprise in his former best friend's eyes, "I want to give him a chance, and I wish the council would rule in his favor. But, as I told the Hokage, I will make sure he dies if he does anything to betray Konoha again."

Smiling sadly to the rest of the council, Naruto nodded to Sai and Kakashi, "I know the rest of my team would do anything, including kill Uchiha Sasuke, to protect Konoha."

The onyx eyed avenger frowned at the blonde sitting in front of him. He had said the opposite of everything Sasuke had expected, and then he knew that his chances were slim if the beloved ninja of Konoha didn't side in his favor. The council deliberated more, and Kakashi brought up the subject of the Uchiha massacre in Sasuke's defense. The council agreed that the basis of Sasuke's hate for Konoha was valid – he had found out, after years of hating his brother and killing him, that it was the Konoha elders that had convinced Itachi to kill his clan.

After hours of open debate, with Sasuke watching as the council members expressed their views about him as if he wasn't there, they had come to a conclusion. Anko, Hyūga Hiashi, and a few of the elder shinobi staunchly opposed Sasuke getting anything less than life in prison. Because of his willing association with Orochimaru and Akatsuki, Hiashi called for his death. Anko disagreed, however, and her experiences with Orochimaru led the council to agree with her. She acknowledged that although Sasuke went willingly, he was persuaded by the power the cursed seal would give him against Itachi, not Konoha. Kakashi, Genma, and Gai agreed that life in prison was extreme, but they did not want Sasuke to be reinstated as a shinobi or a normal Konohagakure citizen once he was out of prison. Ibiki stood and voiced his opinion, which was the most lax of the whole council. He, out of curiosity more than anything, wanted to see the former missing nin reintroduced to Konoha society, under constant surveillance, to see what Sasuke was really up to. The council dissented at the idea of putting the murderous ninja on the streets with every day citizens, but Ibiki persisted.

"If he returned for any malevolent purpose, which would not surprise me, he could wait for years until completing whatever assassination or infiltration he needs to." The seasoned jonin rubbed his scarred chin. "Why not put him out in the open and let him show us what he came for? The longer he stays in Konoha as a free citizen, the more we can gauge his true loyalties."

Kakashi and the other jonin scowled at the interrogation specialist's risky recommendation. "And what if he tries to kill the Hokage? He already killed the future sixth Hokage," Anko snapped angrily.

"Whether he stays in a jail cell for a year or twenty years, Sasuke will do what he came here to do. Leaving him to sit in an underground cell will only make him grow even angrier with Konoha and our ways." Ibiki finished.

The council muttered among themselves, lost for an answer. Ibiki made a good point, but many of them were not comfortable letting a highly skilled missing nin run loose on the streets of Konoha. Sasuke waited for Naruto to give his opinion – he was the only member of the council who had not shared his final decision besides Tsunade, who would complete the ruling. Instead, Tsunade and Naruto conversed quietly for several minutes, after which the Hokage stood up and faced Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke, the council finds you guilty of conspiring against Konoha, assassinating Danzō, and betraying your teammates. For your crimes, we sentence you to two more years in a maximum security cell, upon which we will determine whether your behavior merits your move to a less secure facility or out of the prison system all together. You will spend fifteen years, either in prison or laboring, and serve your debt to Konoha. Under Ibiki's guidance, we took into consideration your mental state when you attacked the Candidate Sixth Hokage, as the previous generation was responsible for the deaths of your entire clan. Also, you can never become a shinobi unless I grant you that permission. ANBU guards will constantly monitor your activities, and should you be allowed out of prison, they will be watching you at all times. If you try anything to lose or distract them, you will die. If you mentally or physically harm another citizen or shinobi, you will die. If you do anything I don't like, you will die. Once you are out of prison, if you betray us again, you won't get another chance. I will have you executed immediately."

A tall redheaded woman watched the court proceedings from the door at the far end of the room. Karin pushed her glasses higher on her face, deep in thought. She was not pleased to see that Sasuke was back, and she could still sense the dark, cold chakra that flowed through his body. She had heard he had come back voluntarily, and he had professed it to the council, but she knew he was no different than the cruel missing nin that made Konoha his enemy over ten years ago. She didn't know what he was planning, but she couldn't believe that the council members would let him off with such a lenient sentence – thirty years or more is the usual going rate for first degree murder, ignoring Sasuke's other offenses. Karin expected life in prison, even death, for the avenger. If Sakura was here she would have thrown a fit and destroyed the council room with one of her terrifying punches. Karin thought back to Sakura lying numbly in her hospital bed. She had woken up from her coma several weeks prior, but she was still bedridden and very weak. Her muscles had atrophied from lack of use, since she was in a coma for over a year. The redhead had gone to visit her when she was awake to see how she was doing. As a former operative of Orochimaru, she was still mistrusted by most Konoha citizens, but she had enough freedom to visit the cherry headed girl that saved her life. Sakura had healed her after Sasuke tried to kill her and Danzō, and ever since then, Karin had felt relatively safe in Sakura's presence. She had seen Sakura's kind heart turn cold and stony after she finally realized that Sasuke was not the boy she used to know. Although they weren't close, Sakura and Karin had a pleasant friendship, and they were united by what they had loved and lost. Turning away after the council read the final verdict, Karin made her way out of the court building and headed away from the hospital. She didn't think she could face Sakura right now and hide the truth from her. Tsunade had made it clear to everyone that Sasuke's situation was to be kept from her apprentice – for Sakura's sake as well as Sasuke's – and Karin was afraid what the news of his return would do to Sakura's heart. She had become more and more like Sasuke, ridding herself of useless emotions in order to become a better shinobi. For Sakura, Sasuke was just a target that, like the rest of Akatsuki, had destroyed her precious home and family, and he needed to be destroyed.

Sasuke spent what felt like another lifetime inside the below-ground ANBU prison. He had been moved from a deep underground maximum security cell to one much closer to the surface, and he even received a few visits from Kakashi, Naruto, and Tsunade. After two years of incarceration for his crimes, and the extra year Tsunade had given him before his sentencing, Sasuke was due to be released on good behavior. He would be guarded heavily and not allowed to go anywhere on his own. He would be serving Konoha above ground for the rest of his fifteen year sentence, or until Tsunade decided he was sincere enough to be allowed into normal civilian life. He figured the scheming Hokage would extend his service time for a few more years after he finished his time. Knowing he would not get a second chance, Sasuke gladly let the ANBU guards lead him up to the surface, where he was taken to Tsunade's office.

"Sasuke," Tsunade began solemnly. "I have decided to release your from prison, which, I must remind you, is a gesture thought to come thirteen years too soon by most people in Konoha. The year in prison before you were sentenced worked in your favor, but you are by no means out of your punishment yet. You will be serving Konoha through service projects and will be constantly watched by ANBU guards."

Standing up, Tsunade motioned to the group of ANBU led by Shikamaru. "You are free to go, Sasuke. You will report to me tomorrow morning at 0800 sharp. If you are but a second late, I will send an assassination squad to pick you up. By letting you live, you already got a second chance. There will be no third."

Sasuke bowed slightly to the Hokage before being escorted out of the Hokage tower. The strong afternoon sunlight hit his pale face as he walked outside, and he smiled to himself. He had no intention of serving the rest of his fifteen years, as he intended to kill Sakura and escape the village as soon as he could. But for now he was content to wait, and being outside of his prison cell made him feel refreshed and exhilarated. Strolling toward the main part of town, Sasuke was accosted by a familiar noisy blonde.

The breeze ruffled Naruto's red and white cloak as he ambled up to his former best friend. "You look happy to be out of your cell," Naruto smiled quietly. He was excited Sasuke was released, but he still had his doubts about the raven haired man's motives.

Sasuke nodded to him, "Dobe." Deep down, Sasuke was almost happy to see the blonde ninja. The freedom of prison put the heartless man in a much better mood than his usual self, and seeing Naruto made him itch for a rematch in their fight. However, Sasuke's chakra was still suppressed by a jutsu that Shikamaru had used on him, and he knew that getting into any sort of altercation – friendly or otherwise – with Naruto would send him to be slaughtered by Tsunade.

Sasuke had expected Naruto to react to his nickname 'dobe', but to his surprise, the blonde ignored it and beckoned Sasuke to follow him. He stopped as they neared Ichiraku's ramen shop, and he turned to Sasuke. Naruto regarded him seriously, "There is someone you should see."

Sasuke looked around and then at Naruto in confusion. There was no one at the ramen stand. Naruto shook his head and pointed into the distance. Walking toward them was Sakura, but she was much different looking than when Sasuke had seen her in the hospital. She was visibly frailer, and her pink hair had grown down to her waist. She didn't seem to notice them, however, as she appeared to be focused on something else on the other side of the street. Her short red kimono was belted tightly around her thin waist, exposing the small black shorts she wore and the fishnet stockings that came to above her knees. Aside from her thinness, Sasuke thought she looked quite good. The last time he'd seen her was when she was beaten and bloodied, lying in her hospital bed in a thin hospital shift. He was surprised at how tiny she was – lying comatose for a year had stripped her body of the curves and muscle she once had. As she approached Naruto, the woman stopped. Her green eyes widened in surprise as she saw Sasuke and her fists balled up in fury. Turning to Naruto, her sharp emerald eyes blazed.

"What the hell is he doing here?" she snarled at her best friend.

Naruto calmly moved forward to take her arm, and Sasuke was again surprised at how mature he seemed to be. "He's back, Sakura. We didn't want to tell you while you were recovering."

Sakura's long pink hair flowed about her face as she locked her eyes with Sasuke's. The avenger was taken aback by her harsh glare. In that moment, he knew that she was truly not the love-struck girl he remembered from long ago. Sasuke searched his mind for anything to pacify the woman's anger.

"I came back voluntarily, and I'm done with fighting against Konoha. I had hoped you'd be happier to see me, Sakura."

Sasuke's silky voice, intended to soothe Sakura, only made her more furious. Her bright emerald eyes narrowed as her stare bored into him. "Well I'm not happy, Uchiha Sasuke. You aren't the boy that left this village, and I think we all know that."

Turning on her heel, Sakura glared over her shoulder at Naruto. "Don't ever keep secrets from me, Naruto. And I don't ever want to see his face around us again."

The blonde ninja shook his head as she stomped off. "I had hoped that her attitude would have changed, but I really didn't expect much. Your cold heart turned hers to stone, too, Sasuke."

Sasuke's glare shifted to Naruto, and he grunted angrily, "Hn."

"Deny it all you want. She's a ruthless killer because of you," Naruto shrugged quietly.

"And how is it my fault?" Sasuke snapped incredulously. "The last time I saw her she was still in love with me."

Naruto chose not to answer and left a few coins on the ramen counter. "You should get some real food, Sasuke. Tsunade will have you working your ass off tomorrow morning."

Sasuke stared as the blonde walked away, following the direction that Sakura had stomped off in. He was extremely mad at Naruto's accusations, and his previous good mood dissipated rapidly. He was not to be blamed for Sakura's change of heart. He had done nothing to her. The realization that getting close enough to the woman in Konoha that trusted him the least would be next to impossible, especially under the constant watch of ANBU guards, angered Sasuke to no end. He had no idea how he would be able to make her trust him now. Cursing his situation, he wolfed down the bowl of ramen and set off to find a reasonable place to sleep. Tsunade had guaranteed him nothing except tons of work, and he was left to his own devices to find suitable living accommodations and food. Heading for the training fields, Sasuke picked out a sizable tree to rest against. He would need all the energy he could get to be ready for the work Tsunade had in store for him.

"The dog days are over,

The dog days are done.

The horses are coming,

So you better run.

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father.

Run for your children and your sisters and brothers.

Leave all your love and your longing behind you,

Can't carry it with you if you want to survive."

Dog Days are Over – Florence and the Machine