Sasuke tried to remember the anger management techniques he had been taught by Sakura during his year in Konoha after the war. Count down from 10, inhale and exhale slowly, as if trying to move the fire on a candle but without blowing it out. He wasn't even able to make it to 5.

He knew all communication from other villages came from the Kages themselves. So that meant Kakashi was behind this. Kakashi was auctioning her off as property to the villages, and for what? To promote tourism?! What was he thinking!? And on March 28th, that was only two days away, and who knows who long those flyers have been posted and how many people have seen them.

He ripped the flyer off the post enraged, then began making the journey back to Konoha, using his complete body susanoo to travel the distance between the villages as fast and he could.

He arrived at Konohagakure a day before the so-called tournament was supposed to begin. He made his way to Kakashi's office and walked in without knocking. He slammed the flyer on his desk, and demanded of his former sensei "what the fuck is this?"

"Well good to see you too Sasuke, how's your journey going" The white-haired man said. Without even so much as a reaction to Sasuke's use of profanity.

"Answer the question!" he continued to demand.

"Oh that? Well you see, the girls were having a night out drinking, they broke into my office and sent it to all the villages, I was going to call it off but since we received an incredibly positive response..."

Kakashi was interrupted by the loud entrance of Naruto, using the window of his office in lieu of the door like a normal person. "Hey Teme! I felt your chakra flaring and I thought I better come protect Kakashi sensei from whatever you think you're doing" he said.

"None of my students have any respect for me" Kakashi muttered mostly to himself.

"Did you know about this?!" Sasuke said, throwing the wrinkled flyer on Naruto's face.

"The tournament? yeah, Hinata told me after she sobered up, it got pretty big real fast, I heard the Daimyō's son wants to participate, ya know" Naruto said, now speaking to his former sensei.

"The Daimyō's son? Really? Impressive" Kakashi commented, since it was pretty amazing for a low born kunoichi to get the attention of a noble man.

"What... you can't let this happen; you need to stop it!" Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

"I don't think it's possible at this point Sasuke, and Sakura hasn't said anything about it so..."

"That's not possible, she wouldn't want this..." Sasuke muttered.

"Sorry Sasuke, she was with Hinata and Ino when they did this" Kakashi explained. He had scolded both Ino and Hinata upon finding out. But Sakura seemed to have gone into hiding right after.

"That's not... this is not what she wants!" Sasuke answered angrily.

"And just what makes you say that?" His former sensei asked coldly. He really did knew just how to push Sasuke's buttons.

"Because Sakura and I ..." he hesitated for a moment, he didn't know why he was like that. "Because Sakura and I are together" he announced.

Both his blond best friend and the Hokage were dumbfounded by his confession.

The silver haired man cleared his throat to compose himself and asked. "Excuse me Sasuke, but does she know that?"

Naruto snickered at the questioning.

"Of course, she does" Sasuke argues.

"Nah I don't think she does Teme" Naruto said.

"What makes you think you're 'together'?" The way Kakashi used air quotes with his fingers when saying together, made him angry. This whole situation was extremely uncomfortable for Sasuke, he had never been one to talk about his feelings, even after he started opening up again.

"I... took her on a date!" Sasuke offered.

"You asked her to come to sit on a bench and watch the sea! And it lasted two minutes! That doesn't count as a date!" Naruto said.

"I came back to save her when that bastard kidnapped her!" Sasuke said, referring to the whole Kido situation.

"As any of her other friends would have if she'd been taken because of them" Kakashi countered. "Besides you ran away right after, she didn't even see you"

"I... accepted her feelings and... I asked her to wait for me, you know! you were there!" He pointed at Kakashi.

"You mean when you left the village? No, you didn't!" He rebuked.

"I did, I..."

"You said thank you and poked her in the forehead!" Kakashi contested.

"It was implicit!" Sasuke yelled uncharacteristically, almost as loud as Naruto.

"Well it needs to be plicit!" Naruto yelled back at him.

"That's just not a thing idiot…"

"You know what I mean! The point is, she doesn't know, she's been thinking you rejected her" Naruto explained, his hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling in thought.

Sasuke was desperate, he ran his hands through his inky locks in exasperation. He didn't know what to do anymore.

"There is only one solution to your whole problem Sasuke" The Hokage offered. "You need to participate in the tournament... and win"

"Yeah teme! It'll be easy! There's no way someone stronger than you will be there" Naruto explained excited. Because really, other than himself, who would stand a chance against the last Uchiha?

"Well there is one thing though" Kakashi said, handing a piece of paper to Naruto. "Sakura sent me the stipulations of the tournament by hawk before she started hiding from me"

As Naruto began to read the contents of Sakura's letter, his eyes almost popped out of his head. "WHAT?! NO CHAKRA, DŌJUTSU, SENJUTSU OR GENJUTSU ALLOWED?! IS SHE TRYING TO TAKE TEME OUT OF THE RUNNING?!"

"I don't believe she thinks Sasuke would be interested enough to participate, but no, I have the feeling she wants to find someone who has to work for everything as hard as she had" Kakashi explained.

"This can't be! I have to do something, I have to tell her" Sasuke turned around to leave and immediately look for his former teammate, but Naruto stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think you should" Naruto said, with a very serious tone Sasuke had never heard him do. "She wants you to fight for her Sasuke, I'm sure, you need to participate and win"

"I think Naruto is right Sasuke" said Kakashi.

"I'll still help you out Sasuke, I have a plan" the blond fox said, flashing his very kitsune like smile to both men.