"They are just about ready for you, M'Lady," said Kaname, Ibiki's subordinate who was currently in charge of the homeless shinobi. "We'll bring in the last two shortly. Since they just arrived yesterday, they were still here in the main building and hadn't transferred to the remote site yet. We'll go get them now."
"Fine," she replied. She turned to the shinobi standing by her side. "Are you ready to go Sasuke?" the Hokage asked.
Sasuke let out a slight exhale. It seemed to him that this was the very last of it - after this, there was no longer a need to look back any longer. He would make things right with Taka and once that was done, there was nothing left to do but serve the Leaf in any way he was asked. It felt as if an important milestone was just about to be achieved.
Orochimaru? Dead. Itachi? Gone, but his efforts in favor of the village were finally publicly recognized. The Elders who betrayed the Uchiha? Dead. Team 7? Once again he was a member of Team 7 and he had made the amends he felt he needed to. Finally, there was the village...and the rest of the shinobi world...both of which now stood firmly behind him. Yes, Taka was the final step…
Sasuke and Tsunade were taken to a large room on the first floor of the building. Tsunade led the way with Sasuke and Kaname following closely behind.
Karin, Sasuke found out earlier, was alive and living in the isolated world of the shinobi who were not prisoners of the Leaf, but not free to leave because of the potential risk they posed to the Leaf in the future. She would be among the group who were brought to the room where he was now headed. He braced himself mentally for her potential reaction at seeing him again.
The trio entered the room along with a few other shinobi who worked with Kaname. When Karin saw Sasuke, she said nothing but did flash him a look of utter surprise. Since the two had reunited that one time months ago, she had really thought she might never see him again. But here he was, and he was obviously part of whatever upheaval was now about to occur.
Tsunade and Sasuke slowly walked to the front of the room leaving the others behind. At first, nothing was said...Sasuke and Tsunade seemed to be waiting for something before addressing the handful of shinobi who were present.
Then a ruckus could be heard coming from out in the hallway. In walked Juugo, followed by an obviously flustered Suigetsu.
"Will you please get your hands off of me?" Suigetsu said, obviously annoyed at the guard who had escorted him here. He jerked his arm away from the guard. "I can walk on my own, y'know?"
"Juugo? Suigetsu?" Karin said as she stood to face her old teammates. Today was just full of surprises.
"Karin!?" Suigestsu said looking at her looking at him. "No, not going to happen!" he shouted as he turned to try to leave the room once again.
The guard caught Suigetsu and turned him around and shoved him back into the room.
"Suigetsu, just get in here," said Sasuke. "Don't have a fit just because you are all in the same room together."
Suigetsu calmed down and pulled his shirt down as if he were collecting himself. "Fine," he said. Juugo rolled his eyes. They took seats in the back of the room.
The room suddenly quieted as Tsunade started to speak.
"Welcome," she said, then paused. "It's funny...I don't know how to address all of you. Some of you probably hate me and this village. Others probably are quite content with the situation they have been in over the last one or two years and would be fine to have things remain the same."
There were quite a few heads nodding among the eleven shinobi who were sitting there listening.
"I could apologize to you. I'm not sure that I'm sorry though. As you know, I am responsible for this village and most of you came to us as a result of being against us somehow during the last shinobi war. When the war was over, you were kept here, although you technically were not prisoners. There was simply no village to send you back to. We did the best we could with the information we had and the situation we were in," Tsunade explained. "But the time has finally come for things to change."
A light murmur could be heard in the room. Tsunade had obviously said something that warranted a reaction.
"Finally," could be heard from one side of the room.
"That's too bad," was heard from someone else.
"This Leaf shinobi in front of you is Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf's Uchiha clan," said Tsunade introducing Sasuke. "He was once a rogue shinobi, an enemy of Konoha. He has worked long and hard to redeem himself and he has earned back my trust as well as the trust of the other major villages around the world. He is an elite shinobi with capabilities far superior to what most of you may have ever seen. Do not let his youth fool you. He has also experienced great hardship and sadness despite his young age."
Sasuke nodded at the others in the large hall.
"I am of the opinion that Sasuke is the perfect candidate to manage you eleven from now on," said Tsunade.
"But Fifth, how is this going to be any different than Kaname has been all this time?" asked one of the shinobi with no village.
"My apologies," answered Tsunade. "I have apparently not been clear. From this day forward, you will move to the Leaf village itself. Depending on your wishes, you will become citizens of Konoha, or be evaluated and/or rehabilitated and let go to wander as you will."
"Seriously?" said one shinobi.
"I don't believe it for a second," said Karin flatly.
Another said, "They're trying to pull something. There's no way after all this time that they are going to let us go."
Tsunade turned her head so that she could whisper directly into Sasuke's ear. "It would seem you might have a few challenges in front of you. I think your history and experience will fit the bill nicely. I leave it to you."
With that, Tsunade didn't say another word. She simply walked out of the room using the door in the back. Sasuke was now apparently in charge.
Sasuke let the room quiet down before another word was said.
"Kaname, would you and the other intel and sensory staff mind exiting the room?" asked Sasuke.
"Uh, I really don't think that is a good id-," said Kaname.
Sasuke flashed him one of his don't-mess-with-me looks. Karin saw it happen and smiled - she had been on the other end of a look like that many times. She realized that he hadn't completely changed after all. He still didn't like to be ignored when he asked something. He commanded respect, that was for sure.
"Y-yes, sir," said Kaname, now obviously understanding the situation he was in. Here was this shinobi who was still being escorted as a punishment for his betrayal of the Leaf just a few months ago when he first met him. Now here he was again with the Hokage's full approval giving him orders. There was no doubt who was in charge now.
Sasuke waited until the guards were gone before speaking again. "Good," he said. "Now it is just you eleven and me. I will admit to you that not everything has been planned out yet. In fact, just the other day, I was, once again, suspected of crimes against the Leaf. But as you can see, here I am. I have persevered. I was once in the Bingo book, a rogue shinobi, yet I have earned the respect of the kages around the world since then. You are nowhere near in the situation I was in, yet you were kept from the rest of the world in an isolated part of the Leaf due to the potential threat you posed. I will be getting to know each and every one of you. I will personally evaluate what sort of threat you pose...and I will establish a path towards your independence and freedom."
"But Sasuke-sama, what if we don't want to be rehabilitated. What if we just want to stay where we are and live just like we have been living?" someone asked.
"That will not be possible," said Sasuke. "Well, not exactly. You may live here in the Leaf and become one of us, but you will no longer be isolated and you will need to earn your keep just like the rest of us do. There will be no free passes from here on out."
Again, a light murmur started in the room.
"I will see you all again in a few days. I am going to be your main contact...your trainer, your counselor, and your shoulder to cry on. I hope you will do your best as you transition to becoming a part of society once again," Sasuke said as a final thought. Then he walked out of the room following the same path as the Hokage and the guards.
Sasuke was surprised to see Tsunade standing outside of the room presumably waiting for him (along with the guards who had not dispersed yet after Sasuke had asked them to leave).
"Nice job," she told Sasuke.
"You stayed?" he asked.
"I did...and what you said was exactly what needed to be said. I now leave it to you," said Tsunade.
She turned to the guards. "Please show them back to their respective homes. In three days time, they will be asked to gather their possessions and move to a new location somewhere else in the Leaf. I will send the details as soon as Sasuke Uchiha and I have determined how to move forward from here."
"Hai!" the guards shouted.
"Shall we?" she asked Sasuke.
"Hai, M'Lady," answered Sasuke.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
Sasuke and Tsunade returned to the Hokage tower to discuss the details of what Sasuke would be doing in the coming weeks. Sasuke didn't know the exact history of several of the shinobi who were being kept, but Tsunade sent word to Kaname that he was to send all of the files to Sasuke immediately. He estimated it would take three weeks time to fully evaluate and vet the eleven shinobi. Tsunade was surprised he thought it would go so fast, but then again, he did have quite a bit of knowledge about three of them already.
Tsunade also set up a small office on a lower level of the tower for Sasuke to call his office until this particular assignment was over. It was decided that a large inn not too far from the tower would be rented out for 21 days to house the shinobi until the transition was complete. The inn also had one large room in which meetings and discussions could take place.
By the time he was done for the day, it was late into the evening. Two days now remained before he would meet the shinobi in their new accommodations and this mission could officially get started.
The office door closed and he started to walk towards the stairway when he noticed that there was another shinobi in the hallway in front of him. As he got closer, he could see who it was.
"Naruto," said Sasuke.
"Teme, how's it going?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke stretched his arms. "Not bad. I'm sure you heard by now that the drama from the other day finally ended."
"Yeah," Naruto laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "No one can ever say that my wedding wasn't a memorable one."
"Aren't you supposed to be on a honeymoon or something?" asked Sasuke.
"Supposed to be...in light of the attack on the wedding, we decided to stay close to home. Hinata was pretty upset about what happened," explained Naruto.
"Sorry to hear that," said Sasuke. "How is she doing anyway?"
"She and the baby are fine. Everything is normal," said Naruto.
"Good to hear," said Sasuke. This small talk was getting to be a little much for Sasuke who by now was exhausted. There had been virtually no downtime for him in the last few days and that even included a mission. Now he only had two more days to prepare for Tsunade's latest assignment and all he wanted to do was go home and finally spend some time with Sakura.
"You can go, Teme," said Naruto out of the blue.
"Eh?" said Sasuke.
Naruto smiled. "I can tell you want to get going. You probably haven't seen Sakura in a few days, right?"
"You read me like a book," said Sasuke. "Thanks, Dobe. I'll be off then."