Hello again, everyone. As promised, set up chapters are over for now. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks again for being the awesome people that you are.

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Gaara needed time to meet with Tsunade, and Naruto needed time to think. Once the Kazekage's Suna escort arrived in Konoha, he and Naruto didn't have a chance to talk. In fact, in all the excitement of the spectators gathered at the gate, Naruto had barely managed a nod when Gaara looked in his direction before walking off with a group of elders. Naruto had since separated himself from his group, telling them he just needed some time to himself. Akiko still suspected that he was up to something, and she threw him a warning glance of cautiousness before he left, to which he only smiled. After he was gone, she expressed her concern to Sasuke in hopes that Naruto would confide in his long time friend, and then at least Sasuke might be able to offer some advice. It wasn't that she didn't trust his judgment and leadership, but sometimes, more than sometimes, he rushed into things without thinking and made rash decisions. He was too stubborn and proud for his own good at, and now he seemed to need some help. So Sasuke went after him.

When he caught up to Naruto, he was sitting on a high ledge overlooking the ninja academy. There were several students running laps. Iruka was pushing them hard. As Sasuke approached, he was sure Naruto was aware of his presence, but he didn't turn around. Sasuke stood right behind him, and they both stared down at the young shinobi in training, trying their best to earn the headband. It triggered memories in both of them.

"That one reminds me of you," Naruto said suddenly, pointing to a boy.

The kid had perfect accuracy with his shuriken, and three girls were hovering over him like annoying little flies.

"And that one reminds me of you," Sasuke said back.

He was looking at the boy who was standing off by himself in a corner, being loud and trying to get attention.

"Maybe they'll become friends," said Naruto, laughing softly.

For several minutes they watched, until Iruka took the students back inside to the classroom. A new class took their place out on the training ground.

"Akiko-san is worried about you. She thinks there is something troubling you."

Naruto still hadn't looked at Sasuke since he arrived on the scene. And now, he said nothing in reply.

Sasuke cautioned a guess.

"Is it…Sakura?"

The question went unanswered for several long moments, and they both just stared down at the training students.

"No," Naruto said finally, "I already had my time to think about her; it's out of my system now. It's better for me to finally let go of the whole thing, since it was causing me so much trouble…"

"Maybe you shouldn't let it go so easily."

In a single moment, Sasuke could feel Naruto's disagreement surround them.

"Tell her," he finished.

Was it anger that caused Naruto's body to quake, or was it sorrow, or both? Either way, he still remained silent, his gaze focused on the academy students below.

"It's been a while. Maybe she's gotten over what she used to feel for me."

The thought, the hope, had crossed Naruto's mind so many times he had lost track. But it was a false hope. Any scenario he had conjured in his mind of he and Sakura ending up together was a false hope. He had finally faced reality and rid himself of it, but here was Sasuke, telling him to revive his lost hopes yet again. It made him so…

"There are two of us," Naruto said simply, "and one of her."

"That's exactly why you should tell her. You seem to have already made a decision for her. Maybe you should let her make the decision for herself."

"She will choose you, so I don't see the point in making things more complicated between the three of us than it already is."

Sasuke's voice rose, somewhat challenging; somewhat mocking.

"So you, Uzumaki Naruto, are giving up and have admitted defeat? So I guess that ridiculous oath of pain you made to never run away or lose to me doesn't mean anything. I always knew you never had the guts to follow through."

"This is different, you know that," said Naruto, obviously affected by Sasuke's words, "And what the hell is wrong with you, anyway? We can't encourage each other to go after the same girl. It's madness."

"Wrong. This is no different."

Naruto sighed and nodded at the playful students.

"It's different because you won a long time ago. You love her too, right? Why are you even doing this? You should be off with her instead of wasting your time on me."

"You at least deserve her to know," Sasuke started to say, but at that point, Naruto stood and faced him.

"Don't even go there. It just won't happen, okay!?" he shouted, drawing upward glances from the young kids, "and don't you go off and tell her for me, because you won't be doing either of us any favors!"

Naruto realized that he had moved in on Sasuke, but Uchiha had stood his ground. Naruto's face grew more relaxed, and with a sigh he turned away from Sasuke again.

"Besides, didn't I tell you that this wasn't about Sakura-chan? So let's just stop talking about her…please."

Silence. The mother of all awkward silences seeped in between them. Neither knew what to say to the other, and Sasuke knew that by putting him in this mood that he had ruined all chances of Naruto telling him what was going on. Leaving him alone was probably best.

Naruto heard him leave. What the hell did that bastard think he was doing? Here he was, thinking about the plan for Akatsuki, when Sasuke had to come and remind him of all the reasons he had stayed drenched in the rain that night. Looking over his shoulder to double check that Sasuke was gone, Naruto tried his best to think of anything else but her…

He found his thoughts wandering to Suki and Akiko.

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Gaara bowed as each of the elders passed to exit the conference room. They had discussed the usual things: alliances, trading, monetary issues, threats of attack, the good stuff. The kazekage was grateful that he had a loyal older sister to pay attention and fill him in on the shorter version later. They had all abandoned the room now, all except the Hokage, and Gaara caught her arm before she went out the door.

"Can I speak to you for a moment, please?" he asked her.

They moved on to Tsunade's office, where the two of them could talk privately.

"So, Kazekage, what was so important that you needed to talk to me like this?" she asked.

"It's very important, Tsunade-sama," Gaara began, but before he got any further, Tsunade stopped him.

"Sama?" she laughed, "we share the same title, Gaara-san, no need to call me that. We are equals."

"Well then, Tsunade-san, it's about Akatsuki, more specifically, Naruto."

This seemed to peak her interest, and she leaned forward, her ears intent. Gaara told her everything about the plan they had come up with together, as well as the alternative course of action which he had devised. Tsunade wasn't sure if she particularly favored either of them.

"Naruto is going to go after them whether we like it or not," said Gaara, "we can either let him go alone, or we can make sure he has the backup he needs to take them down."

"So you want Naruto to lead a mixed team of Konoha and Suna shinobi to fight Akatsuki?"

"Well…yes," said Gaara, not sure what to expect from Tsunade.

She sat there a while, saying nothing, but looking at Gaara. He stared back at her, his expression was blank. This close up, he noticed how pretty the Hokage actually was, and his curiosity wandered to how her real self looked. Back in Suna, Naruto had joked to him that she would look like a batty old woman with a hunchback. He almost broke into a small grin when he thought of the impression Naruto did of her, but his face remained neutral. It seemed a small bit of Naruto's sense of humor was rubbing off on him.

"I suppose," came Tsunade finally, "that it's about time we did something about Akatsuki. Even though I worry about him, I can't pretend that Naruto isn't a capable shinobi that can take care of himself, because he is. And if I were to ever put together a strike force to combat Akatsuki, he'd be the first person I'd choose."

Gaara nodded, and at that exact moment, there was a knock at the door. Tsunade opened it to see none other than Naruto and Jiraiya standing there.

"Hey, Granny, I heard that the meeting is over. I need to talk to Gaara."

"Speak of the devil," she said to Gaara, "your timing is perfect, Naruto. We were just talking about you."

"About how great I am?" the boy asked.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and let the two of them in.

"The Kazekage filled me in on your little plan."

Naruto looked over at Gaara in disbelief.

"Gaara! I thought…how could you?" He didn't know what else to say in the midst of such a betrayal.

"We're ready to give you our full support," Tsunade told him, taking her seat behind the desk.

"Eh? Really? Gaara that's awesome!" he exclaimed.

Gaara filled him in on the situation, and Naruto gleamed with happiness. They wanted him to take lead a team consisting of two squads: one from Suna, one from Konoha. They would track down Akatsuki. They would eliminate them. Tsunade handed him a list of capable Leaf jounin, but Naruto waved it away and said that he already knew who he wanted.

"Suki, Aki-chan, and Kakashi-sensei," he announced.

Tsunade figured as much.

"From Suna," Gaara said, "of course my brother and sister will go. They are most familiar with you, Naruto, and will respect your commands. They don't have a third member, however, so…"

"That's okay! Ero-sannin can be the third member!"

Tsunade's attention shifted instantly to her old friend.

"You were in on this, Jiraiya?" her eyebrows raised in question.

"Well, I might have promised the boy I'd go with him…" he said with a hearty laugh.

"Very well then. This is an S-ranked mission, Naruto. Are you sure you're ready to lead it?"

Naruto grinned at her, but it wasn't the same boyish grin she had come to know. It was the grin of a wolf about to jump on his prey.

"I've been ready for a long time."

Another unexpected guess arrived at the door, but he didn't knock. Instead, he busted through the door with the utmost urgency. He was breathing heavily, and his chest heaved and fell as he tried to speak.

"Tsunade-sama!" he bellowed, "mass breakout at the prison! It's Akatsuki! They've escaped!"

Hearing the news, Tsunade stood up.

"Looks like our mission is starting earlier than we expected," said Naruto.

"Gaara, go and get Temari and Kankuro. Jiraiya, go get Kakashi-sensei. I'll get Suki and Aki-chan and we'll meet up at the village square."

Jiraiya and Gaara were gone in a flash. Tsunade called for Naruto to wait, but her voice was drowned out by Shizune's.

"Tsunade-sama!"

"I know, I've heard. I need all ANBU squads on full alert, and I need two man jounin teams at each exit of the village. Get me…"

Tsunade was still barking orders, but Naruto had already gone. He was off to find Suki and Akiko. If they were still at the same spot, it would make his search much easier.

Ninja rushed passed him as he went, and he ran into a few criminals eager to enjoy their freedom as well as the Konoha ninja fighting to round them all up. All the confusion played right into Akatsuki's hands. The get away would be easier for them.

He found Akiko and Suki kicking the crap out of some criminal miscreants not too far away from where they had all been hanging out.

"Maki-san!" Akiko called over the shouts that surrounded them, "Sasuke-san! He heard some of the guards saying something about Itachi getting free, and he ran off, and Neji-san went after him!"

A moment of shock came over Naruto, and then realization. He forgot that he was going to tell the girls about their mission, and he ran off in the direction Akiko had pointed in. If Itachi was still alive and Sasuke had gone after him, then he had no time. The two girls ran after him and tried to keep up.

Naruto just kept on running, and soon he came to an injured Neji.

"Where is he?" Naruto cried, kneeling down beside him.

"He kept running, towards the outer wall. That's where he heard Akatsuki was."

"You gonna be okay?" asked Naruto hastily.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Hearing this, Naruto sprinted away, and Suki and Akiko helped Neji up before chasing after him.

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The hospital was lined with patients, and Sakura and the other medical nin were trying their best to see to everyone. Patients were flying in, severely injured in the chaos that was taking place in the village. Through it all, though, Sakura saw Jiraiya entering the hospital. She tried to get to him to ask how things were looking outside, but she couldn't move through the crowd fast enough. She followed him to Kakashi's room, and was about to enter before she heard something interesting.

"You feeling better, Kakashi?" said Jiraiya.

"Yeah, I'm fully recovered, but Sakura wanted me to stay one more day in the hospital, just in case."

"Listen, Naruto has chosen you to come on a mission."

The Sannin told Kakashi what had happened down to every detail, and Sakura listened in on every word.

"He's the leader?" she heard Kakashi say, "So you, a Sannin, and me, his old sensei, are going to be taking orders from him? I knew his generation was going to surpass ours sooner or later, but this?"

"There's no time. He wants everyone to meet in the village square."

But then, Sakura heard something that sounded like tapping on the window. Shadows under the door moved as one of them opened it.

"Naruto!" they said in unison.

"Nope, just a clone," said Naruto, "the real me is chasing after Sasuke. Itachi's alive. Sasuke overpowered Neji and went after him. I'm heading to the outer wall…I might be there already…to try to stop him. If you guys are ready, I'll lead the way. I sent a clone to Gaara, too."

Sakura heard three pairs of feet take off, and she opened the door. She didn't like leaving the other medics, but if Sasuke and Naruto needed her, she was going to be there. She made her way through the open window to catch them.

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Sasuke would give just about anything right now in exchange for the ability to run faster. Itachi was alive. That was the only thing in the entire world that mattered right now. He had thought it was over, thought his clan had been avenged; but he had been wrong. He didn't have his katana at his side, which was a big part of his fighting style, but that didn't make a difference. He tried to will his legs to move faster. But all of a sudden he was forced to stop, a kunai landing at his feet. Impatiently, he turned to identify his attacker. It was Naruto. How had he caught up to him so fast? Neji had slowed him down a bit, but Naruto shouldn't have been able to catch him. Nevertheless, here he was, and he jumped in front of Sasuke, blocking his path.

"Move," said Sasuke.

"You're going to be outside city walls pretty soon, Sasuke. Turn back, you're not supposed to leave."

"Move, now."

"No way," was the response.

"Naruto! Get the hell out of the way!"

Sasuke tried to start running again, but Naruto threw another kunai that sped past his face.

"And where do you think you're going? If you leave now, you'll be in violation of your sentence, and you won't be able to come back."

"But Itachi-"

"I know about Itachi. Is it worth throwing your life away…again?"

"Yes."

Naruto clinched his fists. He was to rip Sasuke's head off if he kept on talking like that. Suki and Akiko caught up to them, but they stood back, watching silently.

"I won't let you do it. You won't take a single step outside this village."

"I'm going. You can't stop me."

Their voices were foul now, their old rivalry burning brighter than ever. Things were about to get ugly, and the two girls looked on in concern.

Sasuke was already thinking strategy. While Naruto was being an idiot and blocking his way, Itachi was moving further and further away. He had to try to end this fast, and he figured that would be Naruto's game plan as well. The one thing he expected from Naruto was that he was going to do something unexpected. Distractions, deception, endurance, and a single, powerful attack was how Naruto won his battles. Sasuke had to throw something different at him this time; he couldn't let Naruto get into his rhythm here. Sasuke didn't know how long they stood there, unmoving, but he was the first to take action.

He charged full speed at Naruto and rammed his fist into his face as hard as he could. The force of the explosion was enough to send Sasuke hurtling through the air. He landed on his back. It was a shadow clone, of course, and Naruto had set the explosive on its back to go off when it was hit. He was taking advantage of Sasuke's desperate haste. Sasuke knew better than to rush in recklessly against someone as unpredictable as Naruto. For the moment, he was going to have to calm down. He got to his feet, took a deep breath, and tried to ignore the pain in his side that resulted from the small explosion.

Another Naruto stood I front of him. Whether this was the real one or not, Sasuke didn't know. He checked both the kunai that Naruto had thrown earlier. They could easily be clones he had placed to trap him. Now, with the sharingan in full effect, Sasuke took his stance. They re-engaged the staring match yet again, during which neither of them said or did anything.

"Sasuke, we don't have time to fight," said Naruto, "back off, and I'll go after Itachi."

Both of them were unaware of the crowd that had gathered. Temari and Kankuro, Jiraiya and Kakashi, and Sakura was nearby as well.

"Loser. You'll never know what it's like!"

It was Sasuke who charged again, extending his chidori from his hand and destroying the shadow clone with lightning quick precision.

He didn't see where the other two Naruto's came from. He tried to take one out with an elbow, but it ducked. Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke's sharingan followed his movement all the way, and the clone was struck with a well placed kick. The remaining Naruto, the real one, knew better than to duke it out with Sasuke one on one and flipped backwards out of danger.

"Hmm…seems that Naruto got better in taijutsu, and it looks like the survivability of his clones has gone up," commented Kakashi.

"Yeah, but against the sharingan it doesn't really make that much of a difference," said Jiraiya.

Sasuke couldn't give Naruto time to use any techniques. He stayed on him, and Naruto's attempts to dodge were futile.

"Sasuke is a taijutsu user's nightmare. Naruto's got to do something fast," said Jiraiya.

"I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve. He always does," stated Kakashi.

Naruto used a replacement technique to distance himself from Sasuke. Now that he had the time, Naruto made his hand seals. Sasuke watched them closely.

Horse. Tiger. Pig….

He hadn't seen Naruto use this jutsu before. But whatever it was, Sasuke would be able to cancel it out.

Dog. Rat. Snake….

"Rasengan!"

A voice cried out behind Sasuke. He barely dodged the light blue orb of chakra that was aimed at him, and he hit the now off balance Naruto with a clean punch. He had fallen for Naruto's trap. He had started making hand signs because he knew that Sasuke would be paying close attention to them. It had all been a distraction, though, to provide cover and allow a clone to sneak up on Sasuke. And it had almost worked. The bad thing now was that Sasuke had no idea how many more clones Naruto had waiting out there to hit him with rasengan at any time. He must have made them beforehand.

"Fuuton! Kazetenshu!" (Wind element: God of Wind)

Sasuke had taken his eyes off of the real Naruto, and now an unknown jutsu was coming at him. He realized, then, that Naruto hadn't been distracting him in order to try with the rasengan, the rasengan attack was done so that Sasuke would take his eyes from the seals that Naruto was forming so that it wouldn't be copied.

"Not too bad," said Kakashi, impressed.

Naruto stretched his arms behind his back, and then swung them forward, clapping his hands together. The resulting shockwave was invisible to the naked eye, but with the sharingan, Sasuke saw it: it was a massive, whirling ball of chakra, and the force of it carved a ditch in the ground as it raged toward Sasuke at high speed.

"Hmm…a little bit much though, don't you think?" said Jiraiya, surveying the jutsu's potential damage capacity.

"Oh, they're always like this," said Kakashi, "soon they'll be eating ramen together again."

Sasuke had formed seals of his own, and Kakashi saw that they were the exact signs required to perform chidori, only one of the seals was different. The energy that formed on Sasuke's hand was fire, not lightning.

"Well, would you look at that," said Jiraiya, "nature manipulation on the jutsu you taught him, Kakashi."

Sasuke punched his arm, laced with fire, into the oncoming attack. He could feel the jutsu scatter, popping like a balloon and sending energy in all directions.

Naruto looked a little surprised that his technique didn't hit.

"That jutsu," called Sasuke, "basically, it's just a huge rasengan that you can send out at high velocity. Good thing fire is strong against wind."

Naruto looked absolutely upset.

"Damnit," he said softly, but everyone could still hear, "that was pretty cool…"

For a moment their eyes met and they grinned at each other, but it went by so fast the others weren't even sure it had actually happened.

"They're going to be wanting to finish up soon, they've lost too much time already."

"Yeah. Naruto will probably try that new thing I taught him."

"Don't count Sasuke out, though, he must have a plan. He is at a disadvantage though, with no kusanagi, no kunai, no nothing."

Kakashi and Jiraiya went back and forth as the two fighters rethought their plan of attack.

Sakura couldn't just stand back anymore. One of them was going to get hurt, and she wasn't going to stand by and watch it happen.

"Kakashi-sensei, Jiraiya-sama, why don't you stop commenting on the fight like it's a sporting event and stop them!?! This is getting really dangerous!"

Kakashi was seemingly unsurprised by her sudden appearance.

"I don't think I can stop them as easily as I did when they fought on the roof," admitted Kakashi, "this is between them, and only they can resolve it."

Sakura looked from him to her two team mates, who were about to rip each other's heads off. What if Sasuke won? Were they going to let him go? Those two were supposed to be the adults here, but they weren't taking this situation very seriously.

"But-"

"Sakura-chan!" called Naruto, "Don't interfere. But when it's all over, please take Sasuke to the hospital. He's going to be really messed up."

Snakes appeared, slithering up and down Sasuke's sleeve. The time to strike was now. If Naruto had time, he would set up a clever plan to end this. Sasuke had to stay on him. The snakes struck out with incredible speed, wrapping around Naruto's arms and legs. Genjutsu. It was Naruto's weakness, and Sasuke's strength. Once he stopped Naruto's movement, getting him trapped in an illusion was all too easy. They all watched as Naruto's body went limp, his mind and body enslaved by Sasuke. The snakes unwrapped themselves and found their way back into Sasuke's sleeve.

"Hmm…what now though, Sasuke?"

Kakashi was the one to ask the question.

"If you run off again, who's to say that one of us won't dispel your genjutsu? Then Naruto will just chase after you again."

Sasuke didn't answer; the chidori did it for him. He walked over to Naruto's body.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, "please, don't!"

"I won't hit any vital areas," he replied, "so don't worry."

But before Sakura could argue back, Naruto's eyes sprung open, dark red and full of fury. His punch came like a brick wall, landing Sasuke on his back.

"Don't-you-EVER!" Naruto yelled menacingly, "You've got some nerve making me see that!"

He was breathing heavily now, his face twisted in demonic fury. He tossed a kunai at Sasuke, who caught it.

"I'd have liked it better if you stabbed me in the face with that."

After helping Sasuke up, he backtracked twenty paces and drew his own kunai.

"Do you remember our first fight, Sasuke, up on the rooftop?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember what you said when I asked you to put on your forehead protector?"

Sasuke repeated the words as he remembered them, "You won't be able to put a single scratch on my forehead anyway."

"That's right."

Naruto still had his back turned.

"We're running out of time, and I know that neither of us wants to waste all our chakra here."

The kunai was twirling on his finger.

"Aim for the forehead," he said, "whoever's comes off will be the loser, and will have to stay here, get his chakra sealed, and go on a date with Sakura-chan ("Hey, what?" came Sakura's voice). The winner will lead this mission and become famous for destroying the Akatsuki organization."

"Hmph. You're already making assumptions that I'm going to lose, loser?"

"After I win, you'll have to stop calling me that!"

Naruto's feet shifted in the dirt, ready to go.

"You wish! You're going to be an even bigger loser after this!"

Sasuke readied himself.

"So we have a deal then?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah."

Naruto looked across at his rival. His eyes were no longer that of an Uchiha's. They were Sasuke's eyes, cool and reserved.

Sasuke looked across at his rival. His eyes were no longer that of a demon's. They were Naruto's eyes, passionate, determined.

Their feet made no noise as they left the ground. The only sound that was heard was the clash of metal and the small thud of dirt when a Konoha headband landed on the ground a second later.

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Itachi looked back the way he had come. Smoke was rising in more than one place in the Leaf Village, and he could see the place where Kisame had torn a whole in the wall.

"They sure don't make Konoha shinobi like they used to," he said to Kisame, "their resistance was pitiful."

"Hah!" Kisame laughed, "I recognized one of the guys that tortured me. I bashed his face against the wall!"

Even though Konoha had once been his home, Itachi felt no remorse as he stared at it.

"You think that kyuubi kid will come?" Kisame asked him.

"He'll follow us," said Itachi, "if I know anything in this world for sure, it's that Naruto-kun will definitely follow us."

"I'm counting on you," Itachi thought, "Uzumaki Naruto."

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Kabuto had watched the chaos unfold, and now he watched while ANBU captured the remaining criminals. Most of those that remained were higher ranked, more dangerous rogues, but against an organized team, the fugitives stood no chance.

"Very good," he said, not sure if he had said it aloud or not, "very good."

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Sakura stood next to her team mate. His head was hung low, the reality of defeat still seeping in. Her other team mate was chatting with the others, and it looked like they were about to leave. Kakashi had summoned Pakkun, and Jiraiya had summoned his tracker toad.

"Alright, everyone," he called, "let's move."

"Naruto," Sasuke called him, "sorry about the genjutsu."

Naruto's sad smile made him feel even more guilty.

"Don't worry about it, Sasuke. Even if it was only for a minute, I…"

Naruto looked from Sasuke to Sakura and gave them a smile.

"Sasuke! Don't forget the date; it was part of our deal!"

With that, he turned and signaled for everyone to move out. Sasuke, his forehead protector clutched firmly in his grip, could only watch as Naruto, his cloak flapping behind him, ran to fight Itachi. He could only watch as his friend moved further and further away, until finally he vanished from eyesight. And Sasuke still stared after him, even after he was undoubtedly much too far for even a Hyuuga to find. Although bitter from his loss, he couldn't help but feel overwhelming respect for Naruto. If Sasuke himself couldn't kill Itachi, then he wouldn't want any other person to do it besides Naruto.

"That guy…" Sasuke said, chuckling and shaking his head.

"Um, Sasuke-kun? What did you show Naruto in that genjutsu. He seemed really mad…"

"Huh? Oh, nothing," he said, and Sakura frowned at being left in the dark again.

Sasuke couldn't tell her that it had been an image of Naruto and Sakura happily married and enjoying a wonderful day at the park with their kids.