"Enter!" shouted Tsunade when she heard the expected knock at her door.
The door swung open and Sakura peeked her head around the corner. "You wanted to see me, M'Lady?"
Sasuke, who was already in the Hokage's office undergoing his day-long 'debriefing' smiled seeing his pink-haired love at the door. His thoughts turned to last night after the funeral. He had been emotionally spent…happy, but still spent. Sakura had invited him to spend the night at her place, which he naturally took her up on. Nothing of any physical significance took place, but the mere fact that she was so understanding, and that she practically held him and comforted him the entire evening and into the night made him feel closer to her than ever.
"Sakura, come in," said Tsunade. "I've got a mission for you."
"A mission?" she repeated. It was by no means a strange occurrence for her to be assigned a mission, but for some reason, leaving the village was not in the forefront of her mind at the moment. "Oh…hai!" She had hesitated.
"Is something wrong?" asked Tsunade.
"Oh, no, M'Lady. For some reason, I just wasn't thinking you would be assigning me a mission when I received your summons this morning," answered Sakura. To be honest, the happiness that she got from comforting Sasuke had been on her mind as well.
"It's not a dangerous one this time, but you are going to be the lead. I'm assigning three other medical ninja to you. A village in the southern Land of Fire has requested help with a mystery illness, so I'm sending the four of you to go assist," said Tsunade.
"Yes, ma'am!" said Sakura definitively. "I will head home and prepare for departure. Uh…"
"Yes? What is it?" asked the Hokage.
"I, uh, dropped Sasuke off here this morning…," said Sakura.
"Just go…I'll babysit him until I can find someone else," said Tsunade. Sasuke turned a shade of pink…he was really getting sick of having to be looked after all the time. He also knew he didn't have a choice.
"Hai!" said Sakura. She turned and left.
Tsunade turned her attention back to what was going on in her office. She ignored Sasuke for a few minutes while she wrote a small note. She walked over to the window and summoned a small bird to her. She attached the note and the bird flew away.
"Sasuke," she said as she turned back to the shinobi in her office. "Naruto should be picking you up in about an hour. We've already gone through all the intel from your stay with Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. We've also discussed the basic plan for the Uchiha land. Is there anything else we need to discuss while I have you here?"
Just then, someone else knocked on the door.
"Geez, can we get through this without being interrupted?" Tsunade said aloud, venting her frustration. "Enter!" she yelled.
In walked a masked ANBU operative who walked forward and knelt before the Hokage.
"Yes? What is it!" she said sternly, still a little frustrated.
"M'Lady, I have some news about the two individuals you are having watched," said the ANBU.
That was fast. I'm surprised there is anything to report so soon…after all, it has only been a day. I wonder if I should ask Sasuke to step out. Ah, hell, he's going to hear whatever it is sooner or later. I'm sure he has his ears open about those two anyway.
"Go ahead," she gave the ok to speak in front of her present guest.
"Koharu and Homura will be leaving the village within the week," said the ANBU.
"What?!" shouted Sasuke, in genuine surprise, yet still out of turn. "Oh, sorry," he said after being glared at by Tsunade.
As I suspected… "How did you come upon this information?" Tsunade asked.
"It was being discussed by two of Koharu's house staff on their way to the store. It would seem they are also going with the elders and they were discussing the repercussions for their own families," said the ANBU.
"I see," answered Tsunade. "Well, I was expecting this to happen – just not quite this soon. Continue to monitor the situation until they are safely out of Konoha. You are dismissed."
"Hai, M'Lady," answered ANBU before he disappeared in a flash.
"T-they're leaving?" said Sasuke.
"Did you expect any differently? These two have been embarrassed by the recent announcement and they are not used to being anywhere except at the peak of the village looking down upon all others. All of a sudden, in a single day, villagers are looking at them as if they were the dirt under their shoes," explained Tsunade. She got up and walked to the other side of the room to pour herself a cup of tea. Then she continued, "In the past, they have also been influential as advisors to the Fire Daimyo. I suspect they will not leave the Land of Fire, but that they will find a place among the Daimyo's government. However, I don't think they will have a say in any future Leaf matters."
She took her seat at the desk once again. "Other than monitoring the situation until they are gone, I am considering this matter officially closed."
Sasuke noted that Tsunade was now looking at him for some sort of reaction or answer to all that he had just seen and heard.
"H-hai," he answered. "It will just take time for it to fully sink in, I think. Over the past two days, I keep thinking about the situation only to realize that it is no longer a concern that I should have. Old habits are hard to break, I guess."
"Time to take a step forward, Sasuke," the Hokage encouraged him.
He nodded. Message sent and received.
"Now, as I was saying, is there anything else for us to discuss today?" she asked again.
"I do have one last question for you," said Sasuke. "Before I even returned to the Leaf, I believe you captured a cohort of mine. Her name was Karin."
"Karin? Hmm…," Tsunade thought for a few seconds trying to recollect any information about this particular prisoner. "It doesn't ring a bell."
"She wore glasses and had flaming red hair. I think she told me once she was originally part of the Uzumaki clan," Sasuke said trying to add any details that might help the Hokage remember.
"No, though there were a handful of prisoners who didn't seem to hail from any particular country so we decided to keep them here," said Tsunade.
"You are keeping them prisoner just because there is nowhere to return them?!" asked a surprised Sasuke.
"No, it's not quite like that," said Tsunade. "Most of the long-term prisoners we took during the war were considered very dangerous. Because of the alliance among the five major nations, if a prisoner had a home to return to, we readily released them into the custody of their own shinobi. However, if there was a special circumstance, we kept them, but believe me, they are not living horrible lives. We simply do not have enough information to let such dangerous people go – at least not yet."
"Where is there a list of those you are keeping?" asked Sasuke.
"Ibiki is the leader of that project, though I don't know how much day-to-day visibility he has anymore. Go see him tomorrow. I will send a note to him that you have my full cooperation as far as the list and any details in the files you might want," said Tsunade.
"Thank you," he answered, getting up from his chair ready to call it a day.
"But Sasuke…," she started. "This is still classified. I'm doing you a favor because I think I can trust you, ok? Don't make a liar out of me."
He turned and bowed to the Hokage. "You have my word," he said.
Sasuke walked out the door to the Hokage's office. Out there stood his best friend, waiting for him. "Took you long enough," said Naruto.
OlOlOlOlOlO
"I'm starving!" shouted Naruto to no one in particular as he and Sasuke walked back to Naruto's place.
"At least I have an excuse, Dobe! I've been tied up with Granny all day answering questions. My throat hurts because I've been talking so much," said Sasuke.
"Did you answer all her questions?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, I have no reason not to tell her anything," answered Sasuke. "I'm back here, right? So I have to give the Leaf whatever it needs of me. I'm not sure what good it will do though – everyone I worked for is pretty much dead."
"I'm sure some of those intel guys or those science guys might be able to use some of your information," said Naruto.
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Sasuke.
"Oh, hey, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to train tomorrow morning," said Naruto.
"I can't. There are a few things I need to take care of," said Sasuke.
"But Teme! Can't you just do whatever it is tomorrow afternoon?" Naruto asked, whining.
Sasuke looked at the blonde noting his irritating demeanor at the moment.
"But - ," started Sasuke.
"Besides, Sakura isn't even here. Who is going to take you where you need to go? I guess you'll just have to make a few phone calls tonight and ask around," prodded Naruto.
Damn! Sasuke didn't want to have to beg someone to babysit him.
"Kakashi's going to be there, too," added Naruto.
"If I train with you guys tomorrow morning, will you take me where I need to go afterwards?" asked Sasuke.
"It's a date!" exclaimed Naruto.
"It is not," corrected Sasuke.
"I even found this great new place to eat for dinner tomorrow…," Naruto continued to pester Sasuke as they continued to walk.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, as well as Kiba, who Kakashi had invited to train with them as well, were all gathered in a single spot on the Team 7 training grounds. Sasuke and Kiba, who had just finished sparring, were breathing heavily. Kiba flopped down on the ground putting his head onto Akamaru's chest as he tried to catch his breath.
"Nice work, Sasuke," said Kiba. "We could barely keep up with you."
"It's a good thing I was holding back then," countered Sasuke.
"Yeah, you wish," retorted Kiba.
"I think we're just about done for the day. What do you guys think?" asked Kakashi, who still sat firmly in his half-sensei/half-peer status as far as these guys went.
"I'm ok if we're done," answered Kiba.
"Yeah, I'm good," agreed Naruto. "Besides, it's close to noon and I promised Teme that we could run some errands this afternoon."
"Got some shopping to do, eh?" asked Kakashi to his former student.
"Ha, ha," he answered sarcastically. "You ready to go, Dobe?"
"Yeah," answered Naruto laughing at all the lighthearted exchanges. "Let's go home. See you guys next time."
Sasuke and Naruto went home to get a bite to eat and to take showers before heading out so Sasuke could get done what he needed to. Naruto still didn't have a clue what was on the agenda for most of the afternoon – he was just looking forward to the new restaurant he had mentioned to Sasuke the day before. It supposedly had gigantic portions of really tasty food, so he was looking forward to literally stuffing himself at the evening meal.
Sasuke and Naruto walked through the village to a building Naruto had never been to before.
"What is this place?" asked Naruto as Sasuke opened the door to enter.
"Just come on," said Sasuke, grabbing Naruto's sleeve and yanking him in the door. He didn't want to have to explain it all to him since he'd probably figure it out quickly enough anyway.
"Ah, are you Sasuke Uchiha?" asked a young woman dressed in a business suit sitting at a desk in the lobby.
"Yes, that's me," answered Sasuke.
"Come right this way," she offered leading the two older teens into a nearby room with a large table.
Naruto thankfully stayed quiet and stopped asking so many questions. He merely followed Sasuke to the room and sat down when offered a seat.
The door to the room opened. Sasuke stood. "Uchiha-san, it is nice to meet you. The Hokage sent word that you would be visiting today. I have the plans she asked me to show you right here." With that, he rolled out a large scroll of paper. Sasuke leant over the table and started to examine them.
"Sasuke, is this what I think it is?" asked Naruto.