Naruto walked out of Sasuke's room and found Sakura outside waiting for him to exit. He was about to say something, but she held a finger to her lips and then waved for him to follow her.
Sakura ended up leaving the hospital and led Naruto into the surrounding trees. Finally, after a few minutes of leaping from branch to branch, she stopped.
"Sakura, what's going on?" asked Naruto.
"I just wanted to make sure no one could hear us," she explained. "We have some things to talk about and I wanted to make sure we are on the same page."
"Gotcha," nodded Naruto. "So what do we need to talk about?"
Sakura couldn't believe that Naruto could still be this naïve at times.
"I know you think he is back on our side. I really hope he is, but the truth of the matter is – he's been rogue for about six years. What is everyone else going to say? How are we going to handle this?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know why you think it is going to be that big of a deal," said Naruto.
"Naruto, he's killed a lot of people in those six years…and not all of them were innocent," said Sakura.
Naruto thought for a second. "Yeah, you might be right," he agreed.
"If the Leaf decides they want to punish him for what he's done, he just might not come back," added Sakura.
"But Sakura, that's not fair!" said Naruto. "Not only did he help end the war, but even his betrayal to begin with wasn't entirely his fault. He was tricked by Itachi in the first place. And not only that, Itachi was ordered by the elders to kill their entire clan which pretty much set off the entire set of events."
"I know," said Sakura. "You told me the story before. I didn't know if we could believe it or not, but I'm inclined to at least hear the entire story from Sasuke before passing judgment."
"There has to be some record of the order," said Naruto.
"Not necessarily," said Sakura.
"We've got to try to bring him back," said Naruto.
"I think we need to start with our mentors…Kakashi and Tsunade," said Sakura.
"Tsunade! Are you crazy?" shouted Naruto.
"Shhh!" scolded Sakura. "I know she's the Hokage, but she had a good head on her shoulders and she will listen impartially. Plus she really doesn't like the ones who supposedly ordered the clan massacre to begin with. She knows how to separate her public persona from the mentor she is to me. Just trust me on this one."
"Ok, so I'll talk with Kakashi and you talk with Tsunade," said Naruto.
"We should probably head back to the Leaf as soon as possible," said Sakura.
"But what about Sasuke?" asked Naruto.
"He'll be safe where he is for now. I can't imagine he'll be leaving the hospital until they shut it down anyway…he still has a lot of healing to do," said Sakura.
"I just thought of something," said Naruto. "We still don't even know if he wants to go back to Konoha in the first place."
Sakura thought for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. I don't want to burn my bridges with Kakashi or Tsunade if Sasuke has different ideas. We're making some pretty big assumptions here."
"Let's go back and ask him then," said Naruto.
The two shinobi reversed on their path from just a few minutes ago and made their way back to the hospital.
Sakura peeked through Sasuke's door and saw the shinobi sleeping soundly on his bed.
She gently let the door close again.
"Naruto," she whispered. "I know we can't wait long, but we need to let him rest. He was badly hurt and he needs to recover. Let's plan on talking tomorrow morning."
Naruto nodded in agreement.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
Naruto didn't get much sleep that night. The not-knowing was just killing him and he didn't want to get his hopes up. Although he had been by Sasuke's side all these years – if only in spirit – it still greatly pained him to have to live in the situation where they were separated.
Naruto thought back to some of the missions Team 7 had completed together. The one that popped into his mind first was their first C-grade….make that A-grade...mission where they battled both Haku and Zabuza. That was the first time they truly tasted what life as a shinobi would be like.
In between all the nostalgic thinking, Naruto would hear a sigh or a grunt coming from the bed from time to time. Naruto would usually peek up at Sasuke, just to make sure everything was alright. It was – Sasuke was merely sleeping and most likely dreaming.
Naruto looked at the clock. 4:30am? UGH! He pulled the pillow over his head. He wanted to sleep, but was so unsettled about the discussion slated for the next day. Would he be the Sasuke he used to know? Or the one he had met on occasion pursuing either Itachi's or Konoha's destruction.
"No," Naruto heard Sasuke talking.
He must be dreaming.
"No! Itachi! Don't go!" Sasuke shouted, then he sat straight up, panting. Naruto saw him put his hand to his face. "Just a dream," he said to himself, barely audible.
Naruto feigned being asleep. Now was not the time to confront him – there would be enough of that tomorrow.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Naruto felt something fluffy and heavy fall onto his head.
He sat up quickly. "Heeyy!" he shouted.
"Dobe, it's almost noon," said Sasuke flatly. Sakura has been popping her head in here every five minutes for four hours already to see if you are awake and it's getting annoying.
Naruto didn't want to tell him why he was sleeping so late.
"Well, I'm up now, thanks to you," said Naruto sarcastically.
Sasuke didn't say anything else at first.
"Naruto, I think we need to talk," he finally said. "You two have been acting weird since I woke up yesterday. You are trying to treat me no differently than you have in the past when I was still part of Konoha, yet you are somehow off because of what I have done. You must have questions and I think it is about time I tell you what happened."
Naruto was a bit stunned at the sudden serious turn in the morning. Sure, he and Sakura were going to broach this subject this morning anyway- but he hadn't expected Sasuke to be leading the way. He generally was never the type of person to volunteer information.
"Ok...uh, I'll go get Sakura-chan then," said a hesitant Naruto. He got out of the futon and went across the room so he could stick his head out of the door and into the hallway. Luckily, Sakura was only down the hall so she noticed immediately when the door to Sasuke's room had opened. Naruto motioned for her to come.
Sakura entered the room. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she said upon entering.
Naruto, with a serious tone, answered, "Um, Sakura? Sasuke said he wants to have a talk with us."
"Sure," she answered.
"It's going to be a pretty long story, so you may as well take a seat," said Sasuke.
Naruto sat in the chair next to the bed while Sakura sat on the bed itself down near Sasuke's feet.
He began by first taking a deep breath.
"I'm tired," he started. "I'm not even 20, and yet, I am so very tired of my life."
Upon hearing that unexpected intro, both Naruto and Sakura didn't say a word. They could feel the air of seriousness.
Sasuke smirked to himself while looking down at his hands. "I'm not even sure where to begin."
"I know it's been a long journey for you," said Sakura. "We were your teammates back on Team 7. We have deep bonds with you that have lasted even through your betrayal of our village. I am very much looking forward to hearing what you have to say here today, Sasuke. I want to know if we can move forward together or if we'll be torn apart forever. I think what you tell us today will decide that for us."
"The same goes for me, Sasuke. You saved my life even though you were my enemy. I think that we can move forward past the betrayal, but I need answers, y'know? I want to trust you again, I really do. I think the least we deserve is knowing what is going on in that head of yours."
Sasuke nodded his head ever so slightly. "Yes, you two above all others deserve answers," he agreed. "I will start from the beginning though I'm sure you know bits and pieces of the story already."
"I left Konoha to join Orochimaru for his power and training opportunities only. I needed to kill Itachi because of what I thought he did to the clan. You already knew at the time that killing him was what I had dedicated my life to, right? Not only did I lose my parents the day of the massacre, but I lost Itachi as well. I have so many fond memories of us together from when we were growing up. I idolized him and then that day happened...," Sasuke explained.
"I remember," said Sakura with a look of sorrow on her face.
"But then you found out the truth...," said Naruto, adding to the story.
"Yes," said Sasuke. "I found out later that you guys were near that day that Itachi died. You had been pursuing me again."
"You killed him, didn't you?" asked Naruto.
Sasuke shook his head and smiled just a bit. "Y'know, actually it may have been me who was fighting him that day, but I found out later that he was dying anyway. He didn't have long to live and he set that entire fight up to remove Orochimaru's curse mark. I may have killed him, but he pretty much killed himself."
"He did?" questioned Sakura. "I couldn't have even guessed..."
"I found out soon after from Tobi that the elders of the village had ordered Itachi to kill the clan," explained Sasuke.
"He told me that as well," agreed Naruto. "I wasn't sure it was true or not, but he told Kakashi, Yamato and I the very same thing right before the meeting of the Five Kages."
"Naruto, did mention it to me as well," said Sakura.
"I had never felt more betrayed in my entire life," said Sasuke. "My hatred for Itachi immediately became pain and anger and it all funneled towards the Leaf. I took the first opportunity I had to attack Danzo, who was one of the ones who ordered Itachi to kill my parents. I killed him. It was difficult, but I did it. And to this day, I cannot say that I'm sorry,"
"Oh, Sasuke," said Sakura.
"My hatred for Konoha continued even after the Fourth Shinobi World War started. I had overused my sharingan and had Tobi implant Itachi's eyes. I couldn't do much at first, but soon enough, after the war had started, I decided that it was time to stop sitting there like an invalid in the dark," said Sasuke. "I tore off my bandages and left the cave. But then something happened that I never expected."
"You ran into him, didn't you?" asked Naruto. "I ran into him as well and he told me he was going to stop Kabuto because of the Edo Tensei. Kabuto was at Tobi's hide-out."
"You are exactly right, Naruto," confirmed Sasuke. "As I was speeding away from the cave, I passed Itachi speeding towards it. So I turned to follow him. I wanted to get the answers from him that I failed to when we last fought and he died. When I saw that it was him passing me, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like I was going to get a second chance and my hopes were lifted. But he barely had the time of day for me. He was obviously on a hurried mission and all I could do was turn to follow."
"So, did you get a chance to talk to Itachi again?" asked Naruto. "He really did love you, y'know. I did get to talk with him now and again - he would pop up in the strangest places. He was just trying to protect you."
"H-he admitted that I turned out the way I did because of the actions he took," said Sasuke. "I could barely believe my ears when he said he was sorry for what he did. But even then, I still had such hatred for the Leaf. I saw Itachi again and the first thing that came to my mind was how they used him and how much he suffered because of them. I wanted revenge...for him."
Naruto and Sakura could sense how angry Sasuke seemed to be getting even know as he just told this story. For the first time, they both thought about this teenager in front of them and wondered if he had truly changed at all despite his recent actions.
"Itachi stopped the Edo Tensei, didn't he?" asked Naruto. "There was no one else who could have done it."
"Yes, he did. I was there by his side when he trapped Kabuto inside Izanami and retrieved the signs that would stop the Edo Tensei."
"Wait, I'm confused," said Sakura. "If you still hate Konoha so much, why did you help Naruto defeat Tobi? You were on Tobi's side, weren't you? The Edo Tensei stopped just a few hours before Tobi was defeated. Sasuke, I really want to believe that you are our friend once again, but I don't think I'm connecting all the dots..."
"Don't worry Sakura, I won't hurt you. I have changed. A lot can happen in just a few seconds when trapped in a genjutsu."