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Summary:

After 3 years of thinking Sasuke has finally admitted he cares about his 'Family' in Konoha. He wants to return, but will they accept him? What will he do, just to be accepted again? How will Sakura treat him? Will he admit his feelings for her? SasuSaku Slight NaruHina, NejiTen, ShikaIno

A/N: I currently own Naruto 1-50.

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Chapter 7- To Become Stronger:

Sunlight shone through the open window as a cool breeze cooled the room. Sakura slightly shivered from the breeze then opened her drowsy emerald orbs. She glanced at her digital clock. The time was 6:30am. Sakura was cursing for waking up to late. She had a quick shower. After her shower she walked out with her towel around her and headed over to the kitchen. When Sakura reached the kitchen she turned the kettle on and headed back to her room.

Then running of water was soon heard. Sakura then rushed back down into the kitchen to see who was in her house.

Sasuke was standing over the sink putting his empty plate into the dish washer when he felt a familiar presence. Looking up the young avenger saw Sakura in only a towel. He felt a rush of blood to his cheeks but he couldn't move his gaze of Sakura's perfect body.

Sakura had completely forgotten that Sasuke was living with her. She then saw the Uchicha smirk. Remembering she was only in a towel she began blushing madly. She looked up to see Sasuke smirking with a tint of red in on his face.

"S..Sorry Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke nodded excepting the apology.

"Hurry up Sakura or we are going to be late"

The pink haired nin then hurried up to her room and dressed her self. She combed her pink hair and rushed back down. She glanced at the clock on her wall. Damn it I'm late… She quickly put on her sandals and headed t the door. Sasuke was waiting for her.

"Let's go"

"Hn"

Sasuke walked out as Sakura followed, locking her apartment before they left. Sasuke walked in front, lost in a world of thought. Sakura silently followed. When they reached the bridge Sai was already there. He was standing in the same spot as yesterday. Sasuke just walked over to the other side of the small bridge and waited. Soon after Naruto came running around the corner. He stopped slightly panting in front of Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura-chan"

"Good morning Naruto"

Naruto then rambled on about Kakashi always being late.

A small cloud of smoke appeared after an hour of waiting .

"You're late"

"Sensei what's with your entrances?"

Kakashi gave Naruto a questioning look.

"They are so cool, can you teach me some?"

Kakashi smiled at his student.

"Sure but a bit later ok?"

Naruto nodded his head.

"Alright is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Let's go"

They all disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Forest...

"Alright everyone, today were are going to do some sparing practice"

Sasuke sighed. Sakura just hoped her partner was not Sai.

"Sakura and Sai are going to be partners"

Sakura sighed out loud and looked down. Sai just smirked at the reaction and walked over to a clearing. Sakura followed and waited for the instructions to begin. Naruto just had a big grin on his face.

"Sasuke-teme you're going down"

"Dobe"

Naruto then put his fists up and settled into a battle stance. Sasuke just stood there. Kakashi then sat on a stump of a tree but did not take out his book. He watched his students. I hope Sasuke is challenged by Naruto or else I might need to test his strength...

"Begin" commanded the silver haired Jounin.

Naruto lunged at Sasuke while Sai casually walked over to Sakura. Sai is underestimating his opponent again... That will be his downfall...Naruto then jumped in the air and readied a punch. Sasuke just stood there with his eyes closed. Naruto then aimed a punch for Sasuke's head which he easily dodged by leaning slightly to the left. Kakashi's eyes widened with shock while Naruto was fuming at how easily his punches were dodged. Sasuke dodged it but he barely moved... Amazing...

Sai then jumped at Sakura who grabbed his arms and swung him around. She then let go as Sai was sent spiralling into a tree. Branches snapped as they gave way to the force that was sent flying through them. Sai landed with a thud. He got up cursing at how he taken too much damage from a simple throw. He pulled out a blank scroll and drew a Tiger. He then performed the hand seals which finished with him shoving has hands down onto the scroll. The tiger jumped to life and headed to attack Sakura.

Kakashi had watched the whole thing and was beginning to worry that Sai might seriously injure Sakura. He got up and walked casually over to where Sakura was.

"Kakashi, don't worry about Sakura she can handle herself"

Kakashi turned to see Sasuke still dodging Nartuo's attacks. The raven haired nin hadn't moved from his spot yet. He turned to Kakashi and nodded. Kakashi then understood and walked back to his stump.

"Naruto, I'll take you out to ramen if you can hit me"

Naruto grinned and began performing the shadow replication hand seals. Seven Naruto's now stood before the Uchicha. Sasuke just smirked at his new oppostion. Finally a challenge...

Sakura had heard what the young avenger had said. Don't worry about Sakura she can handle herself... Sakura knew what she had to do. Sai then walked out from the bushes, a tiger was following him. Twigs and leaves were still stuck in his hair. Sakura couldn't help but giggle slightly.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I was you" stated Sai.

The tiger continued to walk towards Sakura. It was eyeing her, trying to find a weakness in her stance. Fortunately Sakura has all areas pretty much covered. Sakura looked down. Her rosette bangs casting a shadow over her emerald orbs. A large chakra was radiating of her hands. Naruto stopped to look at what was happening. His shadow clones disappearing in the process.

Sakura then performed the hand seals that Sasuke taught her. Sasuke smirked seeing Sakura put a hand to her mouth. Naruto just watched clearly recognising the technique. He turned to see Sasuke watching to see if Sakura could pull it off. Kakashi had fully turned his body to see Sakura. She then inhaled a huge amount of air. She then exhaled it and blew fire at the tiger. Shocked the tiger stood there rooted into place. Soon the tiger was burnt to ashes but Sakura kept blowing. She then turned her body to face Sai. The flame slowly followed.

Kakashi was shocked she could maintain it for that long. Naruto just watched in awe while Sasuke was smirking. Sai was too stunned to move. The fire then slowly approached him. Sai could feel the heat radiating of the fire onto him. His mind was screaming for him to move but he could not. His eyes full of fear. Sakura then singed his clothes and stopped blowing. She then disappeared. Sai looked around panicking. He then felt the cold metal of a kunai on his throat. He gulped.

Kakashi just watched purely amazed at how much progress Sakura had made. Naruto then turned but it was too late. A kunai was already placed at his neck. The blonde sighed and waved a white flag around. Sasuke's sweat dropped.

"Well done Sasuke, Sakura" Kakashi was clapping clearly happy with each students progress.

Sasuke picked up a water bottle and walked over to where Sakura was seated.

"Here" he said while throwing the water bottle to her.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke just nodded.

"Everyone, we have to go to the Hokage's office now" yelled Kakashi.

Hokage office...

"Alright team 7, I have a very hard C rank mission for you"

Naruto just grinned.

"You are going to leave in two weeks so I suggest you toughen up"

Team 7 nodded.

"Dismissed"

Kakashi was gone in a puff of smoke while Sai walked out quickly.

Sakura's stomach was growling for a meal, she had skipped breakfast just to get to the bridge on time. Sasuke noticed this and walked up next to her.

"Sakura, want to eat somewhere for lunch?"

Sakura looked up into Sasuke's eyes. For the first time she saw caring eyes looking back into her own emerald ones. She slightly blushed but looked forward.

"Sure Sasuke-kun"

Sakura was still blushing as they walked down the stairs back onto to Konoha streets. Sakura followed Sasuke into a small shop. Sakura looked at the menu on the wall. She told Sasuke her choice, who ordered their lunch and payed for it. They both walked to a park and sat down on one of the benches. Sasuke was eating his roll which was stuffed with tomatoes while Sakura ate the salad she ordered. Sasuke eyed what Sakura had chosen from the menu. He noted it was rather small.

"Are you sure that's enough?" asked the young Uchicha.

Sakura nodded while smiling.

"What do you think the mission is?"

Sasuke just shrugged.

"Tsunade recommended we should get stronger so the mission should be hard"

"Hn"

Sakura looked up to see kids running around the park chasing each other. She watched as their parents watched their kids run. If one of their children fell over the parents would rush over to their side and pick the child up, comforting them until they stopped crying. Sakura wished she could be like them. She wanted to a mother. Many people have told her she would make a great mum because of her personality. Sakura was always putting other people before herself. Sakura felt moisture from in the corner of her eyes. She wanted to have children but the person she loved would never know.

"Sakura"

Sakura blinked her tears away and looked up.

"Why haven't you moved on from me?"

Sakura smiled.

"Because if I ever loved someone, I could never be theirs fully. A part of my heart is always bound to you Sasuke-kun, even if you don't like me back. Nothing you do could ever change that"

Sasuke then felt like the most privileged person in the world. After all he did was hurt her she still loved him.

"Thank you Sakura"

Sakura just smiled at the young avenger.

"Let's Train"

Sakura nodded as they both walked off together.

Forest...

Sasuke arrived a little later than Sakura. He was holding four crates of water balloons. Sakura walked over to her raven haired friend and looked at the crates. Sasuke gave Sakura and evil smirk. Sakura gulped, what ever Sasuke had planned it was not good. Kakashi was watching from the tallest tree in the surrounding area.

"Sakura you need to improve your reaction time"

"So..."

"Stand about 40 metres away from me" Sasuke instructed.

Sakura walked away until Sasuke told her to stop.

"I'm going to throw these balloons at you, if you get hit it will sting and splash water all over you. The point of this to improve your reaction time so you can dodge easier"

Sakura spread out her feet and readied her self. Kakashi who had been listening was just smiling at how Sasuke made training fun and good for her at the same time. He watched from the tall tree as Sasuke picked up a few balloons from the crates.

"Ready?"

Sakura nodded and watched him carefully. Before she even realised the balloon had been launched, she felt a sting on her left leg. Water was sprayed all over her as one of the balloons broke on her leg. A red mark was left. She looked up and prepared for the next attack. Sasuke launched another balloon which she nearly dodged if it wasn't for her slow reaction. Sakura saw it coming but she couldn't move her body fast enough. Sasuke was smirking at how wet Sakura's clothes were.

After about an hour Sakura began to get the hang of dodging. Sasuke saw this and began to put curve on the balloons. The first balloon he threw looked like it was going to miss but it curved and hit her on the arm. It took Sakura another hour to figure out how to dodge curving balloons.

Sakura was dodging most of the balloons thrown at her now but her body was aching everywhere. Suddenly and idea popped up in her head. She ran towards Sasuke. Sasuke who was a bit confused stopped and watched her. She ran to one of the crates and picked up a few balloons. Sasuke smirked and prepared himself.

"Ready Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura ran after Sasuke trying to hit him with a water balloon. Kakashi watched from above as his students ran around the whole field while each getting hit with water balloons. Sasuke had dodged most but Sakura still managed to hit him. When Sasuke was out of water balloons he just caught the balloons that Sakura threw at him. He then walked over to Sakura and whispered something in her ear. She giggled slightly and nodded her head. Sakura winked at Sasuke who was gone. She then disappeared to.

Kakashi was reading his perverted book when he noticed that his students were gone. He put his book back into his jounin vest and jumped down from the tree. He stood in the middle of the clearing. Suddenly he was hit by multiple balloons which completely soaked him. Kakashi smiled as Sakura and Sasuke walked out from their hiding places.

Apartment...

Sasuke had just finished his dinner. He watched as Sakura healed all the red marks on her body.

"Sorry if I threw them to hard"

"Its ok Sasuke-kun, you helped me get stronger"

Sasuke smiled. Sasuke-kun just smiled... He smiled for me... OMG. Sakura then smiled back. Sasuke then said good night to Sakura and headed off to bed. Sakura stayed awake replaying each all her moments that she and Sasuke had. She was happy that Sasuke had come back. She then went began walking to her bedroom when she noticed Sasuke with his blanket on the floor. She tip toed into his room and put his blanket back on him. She looked at his sleeping face and smiled. He looks so peaceful when he is asleep...

"I Love you Sasuke-kun" she whispered as she walked out of his room.

I Love you to Sakura...

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A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! If u don't know what water balloons are i will explain. They are just balloons filled with water instead of air. When you get hit by one it stings and explodes on contact. Well their first mission is coming up so im going to start writing now.

Sasuke ang3l

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