Ch. 10

Kakashi and the others watched as Naruto and Sasuke slowly descended from the sky. When they finally landed on the water, Naruto's KCM disappeared and Sasuke's Susanoo disappeared. Tsunade started charging forward to start yelling when Kakashi held out his hand stopping her. He looked at the two shinobi and asked them plainly, "What's going on here?"

The councilman made sure to say his piece before Naruto and Sasuke could say anything. "Isn't it obvious?! The Uchiha is already causing trouble within his first hour of being here!"

Naruto immediately stepped forward, "You're wrong. This was my idea." The councilman who originally made the accusations was very visibly shocked. The rest of the council was very visibly shocked as well, with Kakashi being the only exception. The Konoha nin were visibly shocked although not to the same extent.

It was at this point that Sakura started putting the pieces together. She thought to herself. 'It looks like this may have been a friendly sparring match, but how are they already on such good terms? Maybe it wasn't necessarily a friendly sparring session but just a sparring session to gauge their abilities.'

Kakashi studied Naruto for a few seconds, then Sasuke, then turned back to Naruto, "Explain."

Naruto stared into space trying to quickly think of a diplomatic way of saying he was bored waiting, but nothing came to mind. He started hesitantly with a hand behind his head, "Well, we were waiting for you guys to come to a decision…..and there wasn't much to do…so we decided to spar out here to kill the time…" The way he said it made it sound like he didn't believe it himself.

There was a moment of silence as Kakashi looked at the two. He thought to himself, 'Sasuke is back for less than an hour and Naruto is already going back to being his old self. Interesting.'

Kakashi looked over at Naruto, "Naruto, you're physically the most powerful member of the ANBU. You know that your strength must not only be physical, but mental. If you can't wait less than an hour for a decision to be made, that says something about the strength of your mind." Naruto put his head down and looked properly chastised.

Before Kakashi could say anything else Sasuke broke into the conversation. "Has the council come to a decision regarding my fate?" he said with a sarcastic flare. Kakashi looked at Tsunade and Tsunade looked at the rest of the council. After a few moments of silence, Tsunade spoke up, "The council hasn't yet come to a decision…..The main issue being discussed is your confinement to Konoha."

Naruto and his team on the other side of the lake couldn't hide their shock at the statement. Sasuke's expression however, stayed the same.

He looked directly at the council members with his piercing eyes. "What do you guys expect me to do if I'm confined to Konoha, sit here twiddling my thumbs?"

Kakashi glanced at the councilman, "The exact words used were gathering weeds…" Naruto let out a stifled giggle as he imagined Sasuke gathering weeds.

In a painfully monotone voice, Sasuke stated, "I was promised a shot at the Sound. If that offer no longer stands, I'm leaving. I'll take my shot at them alone."

The councilman turned to Sasuke, "If you leave, we'll have no way to confirm you aren't working with the Sound!"

"That's your problem."

There was a very long silence at his statement and the tension could be felt in the air. Sasuke looked around at everyone present, "This isn't going anywhere. I'm leaving." A Susanoo appeared around Sasuke but this time, it was the complete Susanoo. The members of the council immediately turned towards Naruto almost as if to say he should try to stop him. Naruto looked at them, then at Sasuke. Much to his surprise, Sasuke was already staring at him, almost as if he was wondering what Naruto would do as well. After a few seconds of thought, he turned to the council, "I'm the one who promised Sasuke Uchiha a shot at the Sound. If that promise won't be kept, I'm not gonna try to stop him from leaving. My suggestion is for the council to allow Sasuke the freedom to participate in any and all missions concerning the Sound. Not only would he be a valuable asset in the field, he also has my complete trust."

The members of the council expressed their shock by very audibly moaning and grumbling to each other. Tsunade looked at Kakashi to see what his reaction was to this. His face was expressionless, but somehow pensive.

Kiba turned to the rest of the group and almost yelled, "Are you kidding me?!"

Shino simply said in a hushed voice, "Quiet."

Sakura wondered what had happened between the two to cause…whatever this was. They almost looked like they were friends with a common goal. But they were barely on speaking terms a few hours ago. She half smiled at the sight of two members of Team 7 on such good terms. Unfortunately, the smile didn't last long. It slowly turned into a frown as she felt a pang of hurt and guilt as she thought about why she wasn't close to Naruto as well.

Kakashi finally left his pensive state and turned towards the council, "I have a proposal." After a short pause he began, "Sasuke Uchiha will not be confined to the village; however, he will be required to stay within a reasonable distance of Naruto Uzumaki at all times. From living in Konoha, to going on missions and everything in between. Naruto is the only shinobi powerful enough to prevent any damage from occurring in the case of a betrayal. What do you all say to this?" The members of the council paused then began to talk amongst themselves. After a few minutes, Tsunade turned to Kakashi and said, "The council wishes to define a reasonable distance as being in eyesight. If that is the definition of a reasonable distance, the council accepts these terms."

All eyes were now on Sasuke as Kakashi turned to him, "Sasuke Uchiha, do you accept these terms?"

Sasuke's Susanoo slowly unwrapped from around his body. When it had completely disappeared, he looked at Kakashi, "I accept the terms."

Kakashi and Tsunade looked at each other. They understood they had just dodged a serious bullet. Kakashi now turned back to Sasuke, "Then it's settled. You'll be staying with Naruto until your next mission." Sasuke looked over at Naruto and gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. Naruto returned the favor.

Kakashi saw no one was moving even although everything had been settled. He turned to Tsunade and whispered into her ear, "Dismiss the council." Tsunade nodded and stepped forward towards the council, "The council is dismissed." The council members understood what was really being said and dispersed rather quickly.

Naruto saw his team waiting on the other side of the lake and decided they had a right to know what was going on. He started walking over to them, then stopped and motioned for Sasuke to follow him, "Eyes distance remember?" He said with a slight grin. Sasuke grunted and reluctantly started following him to the other end of the lake.

As Naruto and Sasuke got closer to the team, a thousand thoughts started racing through Sakura's head. She was about to stand face to face with Naruto and the man she betrayed him for. 'What were they coming to say? Why were they already possibly on such good terms? How would the team respond? How would she respond?' She could feel her throat start to tighten up as Naruto and Sasuke reached where they were standing on the other side of the lake.

Author's Note

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