"Hold it right there," said Izumo, who happened to be on gate duty with his usual partner Kotetsu.
"Don't worry. We're not going to storm the gate or anything," said Sasuke, knowing that these "extra" shinobi who were walking with them were going to be a concern. After all, these two had just kidnapped the Koshosuru twins only yesterday...not that many people would have recognized that fact. Even so, bringing strangers into the village when security was this high would ordinarily not be a prudent thing.
"Sasuke!" came a shout from somewhere inside the gate. A pink-haired kuniochi ran at Sasuke and practically threw herself into his arms.
"I take it the injured are taken care of?" he said while smiling, noting Sakura's demeanor had definitely changed since the last time he saw her...yesterday she was still very much in "medical mode".
Sakura didn't reply….in fact, she pretty much just ignored the slightly sarcastic comment. She just held him tight for about thirty seconds before finally letting him go.
Kotetsu smiled seeing Sakura finally at ease. Although she had not been constantly standing at the gate since she finished at the hospital, she had certainly "checked in" with the gate keepers enough times since yesterday afternoon that her concern was evident. Kotetsu was starting to feel a bit guilty having to tell her time and again that nothing had changed and no one of interest had been spotted.
Her timing is brilliant, thought Kotetsu. She just happened to be walking to the gate to check in once again when Sasuke and his group had arrived.
"Uh, Sasuke?" noted Suigetsu quietly. "Did you get yourself a hottie while we were apart?"
"Sasuke, who are these people?" Sakura asked, not even giving Sasuke a chance to answer that last question.
"They are former teammates of mine," said Sasuke.
"You mean, before the war ended?" Sakura asked just to confirm. She knew that had to mean they were his comrades from when he was still fighting against the Leaf.
"Uh, yeah," said Sasuke. Admittedly, he was a little nervous. He didn't want her jumping to conclusions before he could fully explain the circumstances that had brought his ex-teammates here. But no matter what, it wasn't like he was going to "go rogue" and run off with his teammates again. Hopefully she knew that.
"Is….everything ok?" asked Sakura.
"Its fine," said Sasuke who leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead trying to put her at ease. "We have to go to the Hokage tower and fill her in on everything that has happened. Other than those who got hurt at the wedding, it's practically no harm done." He dared not go into what happened with the two ex-elders right then and there. "Come on. Let's go. Izumo, one of you is coming with us, right?"
"Oh, right. Yeah," said Izumo. "I'll go." Kotetsu nodded denoting that he understood he'd be alone for a few minutes…at least until this group was safely dropped off with the Hokage. They couldn't be letting two strangers into the village without a proper escort, now could they?
OlOlOlOlOlO
"Enter!" shouted the voice from the other side of the door. One by one, the nine shinobi walked in. Although he could have turned back right then and there, Izumo wasn't about to leave now…he wanted to know the entire story.
Tsunade carefully surveyed who had just walked into her office. Before her stood the three shinobi she had sent on the mission to recover the twins, the twins themselves, Izumo, Sakura, and….
"Who are you two?" asked Tsunade. "What part did you play in this mess?"
"Um…ah," started Suigetsu.
Tsunade could tell almost immediately who they were as soon as Suigetsu had attempted to answer.
"No…," she said. "You two have the gall to come into my office…into my village…through the FRONT DOOR after what you did? Why aren't you restrained?"
She stood up and banged both her fists on the desk.
"Izumo!" she shouted.
"Y-yes, M'Lady?" Izumo asked almost sheepishly.
"How could you let them just waltz in here?!" Tsunade demanded.
"Well, they didn't just 'waltz' right in here, M'Lady. They have been escorted by Uchiha, Yamanaka and Hyuuga the entire time. Sumato and Kanja are right here as well, no harm done. I used my best judgment allowed them entry. I didn't think they could possibly do much harm surrounded by six Leaf shinobi at all times," explained Izumo.
Tsunade sat back down and thought for a second or two. "Very good points, Izumo. I guess in this case it can be overlooked." Izumo's face showed relief. For a moment there, he really thought he was going to be in trouble.
"I realize that yesterday was an emotional day for you, M'Lady. Let me assure you that there is a clear and easy-to-understand explanation behind all of this," said Sasuke.
The Fifth Hokage gave a small stink eye to the two strangers in the room. "If I sense even the slightest movement by either of you two, I will end you."
Suigetsu melted a bit. "Sheeesh," he whispered aloud.
"She's a tough one," noted Sasuke back to his friend.
"Now start from the wedding...," said Tsunade.
"I'm afraid we will need to start from before that in order for our story to make sense," noted Juugo. He took a deep, relaxing breath and started to tell the tale.
Juugo captivated the entire room talking about Taka and how he, Suigetsu, and Karin became teammates of Sasuke's. He spoke about losing Sasuke at the end of the war and how he and Suigetsu wandered and worked before they were asked to "help" the Leaf by kidnapping the strength and pride of the Koshosuru clan. He completed the bulk of the story with their recon missions into Konoha to gather information as well as information about the attack itself at the Hyuuga compound.
"...we were running from the Leaf with Sumato and Kanja, but were finally overtaken by Sasuke and the other two shinobi you sent after us," Juugo finished. "It was then that we had an opportunity to reconnect...to talk about what had happened and why. To be honest, we had no idea that the elders who sent us on this mission were, in fact, the true enemies of the Leaf. They professed so strongly that they were from the Leaf and that this mission would, in fact, help protect it."
"Elders?" repeated Tsunade. "Just who was it that contracted you for this mission?"
Juugo looked over to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded back to his friend. He had just taken the floor. If anyone was going to inform the Hokage about Homura and Koharu it was going to be him.
"It turns out that it was Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane," said Sasuke flatly, without emotion.
"What?!" Tsunade shouted. "Those two, again?" Tsunade had come quite a ways since her early dealings with these two. Back in the day, they could intimidate even her, but Tsunade had definitely come into her own, especially since the end of the Fourth War. No one, especially not those two backwards idiots, was going to even remotely affect any decision she would make in the best interests of the village. She had been appointed Hokage, after all. She didn't especially like them back then, and now disliked them even more so. "They're in that village not too far from the Leaf, right? Near the Fire Daimyo? I'm going to - "
Right then she looked into Sasuke's eyes and could immediately tell there was more...and it wasn't good.
"What did you do?" she asked. "You didn't...I mean, I didn't like them either, but I still wouldn't..." Tsunade had a hard time getting the rest of her sentence out. Actually, she wasn't quite sure what she was going to say. "Sasuke, you gave me your word."
"Wouldn't...what?" ask Sasuke. "Kill them? Is that it? Is that what you were going to say?" Now he was pissed.
"..." Tsunade paused. She had unintentionally caused this situation, one in which she recognized what was happening. She had no proof of anything. At this point, she didn't even know if they were actually dead or not...and here she was jumping to conclusions.
"He didn't kill them," interjected Neji. "At least...he told us he didn't kill them."
"Unbelievable!" shouted Sasuke upon hearing Neji's falter. He turned and stormed out of the room.
Sakura had tears in her eyes from the emotionally stressful situation. Sasuke was definitely hurt and, as result, she was hurting, too. She ran out of the door after Sasuke.
"Sakura!" shouted Izumo in an attempt to talk some sense into her. They weren't finished here, after all.
"Let them go," said Tsunade. "Neji..."
"M'Lady?" Neji asked.
"What happened to those two? The elders...why would you ever think that...Sasuke...would kill them?"
"I actually don't know if he did or not," said Neji. "He told me he didn't kill them...but there is just no way to know for sure. Not unless...Ibiki...or Yamanaka..."
"No!" shouted Kanja. "How could you even think of doing that?" The normally quiet half of the twins was now quite emotional and wasn't holding back in the least.
Neji continued. "He had them in a genjutsu. They made no attempt to run. All of their protectors had been defeated already. The elders...they simply went limp and fell over."
Tears streamed down Kanja cheeks - tears of frustration, not of sadness. "After all he has done since he has been back? Haven't you spent time with him at all? You all should know that if he says he didn't do anything, that he didn't. Getting Ibiki or Yamanaka involved...how cruel to even consider subjecting one of your loyal shinobi to that kind of violation."
"Neji, you know as well as I that small syringes were found on the bodies and that they probably injected themselves even before they were affected by the genjutsu," noted Sumato.
Tsunade exhaled and thought while no one in the rest of the room dared to utter a word.
"Sumato. Kanja. Please step forward," said Tsunade. They did as they were asked by their Hokage.
"I want to thank you," said Tsunade letting a slight smile grace her lips while looking at this next generation of shinobi standing in front of her. "You two may only be genin, but it seems your morals and convictions are even stronger than mine. Here you are, the victims of this crime, yet you stand by Sasuke's side and have unwavering faith in his dedication to this village."
"He has never given us reason to doubt him," said Sumato. "In fact, he has saved our lives at least twice now. How could we think he'd do anything questionable like cold-blooded murder…let alone lie about it when confronted afterwards?"
"Since the day he saved Naruto from Tobi on the battlefield, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. He has openly accepted the punishment given to him for his crimes, shown great restraint against the elders despite the atrocious - yet still legal - crimes they committed against his clan, bonded once again with Leaf shinobi both old and new, eagerly took any mission given to him, and has won back to his side shinobi from around the world. However, I will always remember that he was not always the Sasuke Uchiha you two know now. There will probably never be a day when the smallest of doubts doesn't find a home in the back of my mind that he may revert once again to being the Leaf's enemy - but I can pledge to do my utmost from here on to give him the benefit of the doubt at all times instead of immediately jumping to conclusions."
It was right then that Kakashi entered the room through the open rear door. The obvious seriousness of the situation immediately grabbed him.
He fake-smiled. "Should...I...leave?" he said hesitantly.
"No, we're done here," said Tsunade. "You all are dismissed."
The seven remaining shinobi turned and filed out the room one-by-one.
"Uh...except for...," Tsunade jumped up so she was standing. She immediately pointed a finger at Suigetsu and Juugo. They were hoping they could just walk out and go on their way, but no such luck.
Both Taka shinobi turned and faced the Hokage. "Are you going to imprison us as well?" Suigetsu asked snidely.
"I take it you know where your third teammate is then. I wouldn't necessarily call it a prison, but...," said Tsunade. "I can't just let you wander about the village right now either. Kakashi, will you please escort these two to Ibiki and have them put...where their teammate is."
Kakashi moved in so he was behind the two Taka shinobi. "Let's go," he muttered.
Juugo was resigned to where he was going and showed a face that read "not again" on it. Suigetsu, on the other hand, flashed the Hokage a nasty look before turning to exit the room.
"Kakashi, did you need me for something?" Tsunade asked.
"Uh...no. It can wait," he answered. He flashed his closed-eye smile and followed Juugo and Suigetsu out of the room.
OlOlOlOlOlO
Sasuke ran out of the Hokage tower and took off full-speed towards...well, he didn't exactly know where he was going. He just wanted to get away from there. His pent-up anger would explode if he didn't release it in some constructive way. Then again, maybe not constructive...but the less harmful the better.
Before he knew it, he was nearing the Forest of Death. He hadn't been here since the chuunin exam all those years ago. He ran into the trees and started right away by punching the tree that was nearest to him.
"What the hell?!" he screamed aloud. "What the hell do they want from me?!"
He flew off towards another tree and roundhouse kicked it. It began to topple and he jumped towards another tree. "Fu#*&!" he punched it before landing back on the ground once again. He leaned his back against the tree and looked up towards the sky.
After all that...everything I've been through since returning...and I'm still not trusted? I was perfect, wasn't I? What more could I have done?
He turned to face the tree and punched it once again while letting out one final guttural wail. He turned again so his back was against the tree, placed both of his hands over his eyes, and slid to the ground.
Now that his tantrum was over, all he could do was sit there, silent and unmoving. He heard no sounds other than nature all around him and it did calm him a bit. Birds were singing and he thought he even heard some toads croaking in the distance.
He remained silent even when a familiar chakra signature slowly approached him.
"Sasuke," Sakura muttered. She dropped to her knees next to him and held him tight to her.