The next morning, Sasuke was awoken by the subtle sound of water hitting tile. His eyes flew open, his body tensing as he quickly sat up and scanned the room where he lay.

"Where am I?" he mused aloud.

His eyes were drawn to a painting hung next to the window. It was a portrait of several people. Naruto, Sai, Yamato, and Kakashi gathered around Sakura who stood with her head bowed, tears streaming down her face in the middle. Kakashi's gloved hand lay on the right side of her head, Yamato's on the left. Sai stood to her left one arm around her shoulders while the other held her forearm. Naruto stood on her right his hand holding hers his head bowed, his forehead touching her temple with his opposite arm circling around her waist. In the background the moon could be seen and he could make out what looked like tomoe symbols on it, as though a giant sharringan was looking down on them. Several others were gathered around them including Lady Tsunade, Ino, Rock Lee and Hinata reaching out to touch the medic. Glancing at the bottom, he learned that it was Sai's work and the title of the painting was called 'Comfort'.

"You're up?" a familiar voice called drawing his attention away from the painting. "I didn't mean to wake you." Sakura assured him.

Sasuke felt his mouth go dry as she appeared at the entry of the hallway clad only in towel that was wrapped tightly around her body. Her hair was damp, big droplets of water sliding over her bare shoulders towards the swell of her chest. The urge to touch her was almost maddening. Since when had her presence affected him like this?

"Sasuke?" she called out freeing him from the confounding thoughts.

"Right. I'm a light sleeper." He confessed.

She nodded. "That makes sense. I mean, you have been on the road a lot. You can relax here though." She assured him with a smile.

"Thanks." He replied resting the urge to pull at the collar of his shirt. The room felt too hot, too small with her dressed that way. He cleared his throat. "Sakura, could you um…" he coughed again.

She blinked and looked down at her state of dress and blushed from the tips of her toes to the ends of her ears. "Sorry!" she exclaimed dashing into her bedroom. Minutes later, she reappeared dressed in red and navy. "I'm really sorry about that." She said slipping a headband into place on her head.

"It's fine." He assured her. "This is your house."

She nodded and noticed the painting he was standing in front of and smiled. "I remember this painting." She said reaching out to touch the frame fondly. "Sai painted this for me shortly before the war. He said it was an apology for being insensitive towards my feelings and pushing into doing something I didn't want to." She chuckled. "That guy, he can be such a tactless prick sometimes yet he does things like this."

"I see." Sasuke said studying the picture. He wasn't sure what to think about his 'replacement'. "Did he paint all of these?" he asked motioning around the room at the various paintings.

She nodded. "Most of them anyway. When I first moved into this place he gave me a lots of them saying that pictures on the wall are what makes a house a home." She moved towards a framed drawing of swirling colors hanging next to a book case. "This reminds me of the first mission he went on with us." She said shaking her head. "That guy… He gave both Naruto and I our nicknames during that mission."

"Nicknames?" Sasuke repeated.

"Yeah. He gives them to everyone he considers his friends." She explained.

"I see. What's Naruto's?" the Uchiha asked as she moved from the living room to the kitchen opening the fridge to pull out a carton of eggs.

The medic snorted. "Dickless." She replied.

Sasuke snorted himself and grinned. Served the loser right. "What about yours?" he asked.

She sighed and bowed her head. "Ugly." She muttered.

The Uchiha blinked in surprise and shook his head. "I'm guessing he's careful not to use it often?"

"He's careful not to use it around the time he knows we'll be having a sparring session." She as she quickly whipped up omelets for the pair of them. "Speaking of sparring. I have to go to the training grounds this afternoon."

He nodded. "Who are you training with?"

"Lee and Tenten." She replied slicing up some tomatoes.

"Are you sure you should be doing that? You did go through a lot yesterday." He reminded her.

She nodded. "We arranged to do this last week. It's fine. I don't really have to use any chakra when I spar with them anyway." She plated their food and brought it over to the table. "Besides, it's actually part of Lee's treatment anyway."

"Treatment?" Sasuke echoed.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. The war was tough on all of us but…" she sighed. "It nearly destroyed him. He lost his best friend and his idol one right after the other. Naruto managed to save Guy but as you know, he's not the same. Lee took it really hard. After waking up from the spell Kaguya had him under he went into an almost catatonic state due to the shock. In his dream state, his rival and sensei were alive and well. Coming back to reality where the former was dead and the latter was in critical condition was more than his heart and mind could take."

The Uchiha's eyes widened and then lowered. "I had no idea." He admitted. "So how is you sparring with him part of his treatment?"

The pink haired medic stretched. "Well, for starters, he enjoys my company. Also, exercise has always been his way of dealing with things. I'm also able to observe his mental state as we fight."

"I see." Sasuke replied.

She nodded and then snorted. "It was rough in the beginning. I thought I was a gonner the second time we met up to spar."

"Why is that?" The Uchiha asked as she stood and cleared away his empty dishes.

"He showed up drunk. Someone, probably Lady Tsunade, told him that drinking was a way to deal with stress." She shuddered. "We should have had him liquored up during the entire war. No enemy would've stood a chance against him. He cracked my ulna while I was trying to get away from him." Sasuke blinked in surprise. He'd heard about Lee's skill with 'drunken' fists but he'd never seen it in action. Now he wasn't sure he wanted to. "You can go ahead and shower if you want." She said interrupting his thoughts.

"Right." He said standing up and moving to where his bag lay near the futon.

"I was told to take today off so I don't have any place I need to be until my sparing session. Take your time." She assured him as she folded up the bedding and shoved it into a corner.

He nodded as he pulled out a clean set of clothes and walked to the bathroom glancing back to see Sakura sit down on the couch with a book in her hands. She was still a book worm. It seemed like some things never changed.

A little less than half an hour later, he emerged from the bathroom clean, dry and dressed in his clean clothes. He walked into the living room and was surprised to see Sakura sitting at the kitchen table with several envelops scattered around.

She sighed as she opened one, read the contents and then tossed it into a growing pile. "What's all this?" he asked.

"My daily supply of love confessions." She muttered as she read another letter and tossed it into the pile. Her eyes softened a little as she opened a third. "That guy. Even now, more than three years later."

Sasuke felt a jolt of pain and anger at both the expression and her words. Since when had she become this popular? Sure she was one of the legendary Sannin now but did that really warrant such a reaction from the male population. What did they know about Sakura anyway?

"All well. Since you're done, do you want to come with me to the market place? I want to get a few things for my personal medical supply." She said leaving the letters on the table to be dealt with later.

"Sure." He agreed. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

"Maybe we can meet Naruto for lunch?" she said as she slipped on her sandals and slung her purse over her shoulder.

"Ok." He agreed quickly as he pulled on his cloak and shoes before they both walked out the door.

They made it down to the street and several voices called out to greet the rose haired medic.

"You're quite popular." Sasuke murmured as an old woman left after leaving Sakura with a wrapped package of sweets.

"Well I've treated most people in the village at least once. It's hard to forget your doctor." She said as they walked.

"Yo! Sakura!" a voice called out.

Sakura and Sasuke both turned towards the voice and the medic grinned. "Karui!" Sakura exclaimed as a red head ninja bearing the symbol for the hidden cloud village on her forehead walked towards her. "It's good to see you."

The woman nodded and smiled. "Same here." She agreed.

A man with white hair and a sucker in his mouth walked forward with his hands in his pocket and smiled at the pink haired medic. "Sakura." He said with a smile. "It's been a while. You're looking just as beutiful as ever."

Sasuke's hand clenched into a fist at the man's words even as his face remained impassive. He didn't like the way the cloud ninja was talking with the medic.

"Thanks Omoi." she replied with a smile a little tinge of blush coming to her cheeks. "So what brings you to The Leaf?"

"We were delivering a message from Lord Killer Bee to Naruto." The man replied.

He then motioned with his hand for Sakura to come closer. She leaned forward and cupped his hand to whisper in her ear, his opposite hand on her shoulder. Sakura's eyes widened and then she blushed before giggling at what he had to say. She then returned the gesture. Omoi smirked at what she had to say and let out a low chuckle of his own.

"Hey! What are you two whispering about?" Karui demanded blush tinging her cheeks.

"Nothing that you need to worry about, right Sakura?" Omoi said slipping an arm around the medic's shoulders.

Sasuke's blood began to heat up his eye instinctively wanting to shift red to challenge the cloud ninja. How dare he touch her so casually? She didn't belong to him.

Sakura smiled back and tilted her head to the side. "Exactly. Anyway, we were on the way to the market place, weren't we Sasuke?"

The two cloud ninja suddenly tensed and turned their attention to the ink haired ninja. "Bastard!" Karui hissed her hands balling into fists.

"Calm down." Omoi said reaching out to touch his partner's shoulder. "Everything's cool now. We can't go starting trouble. Besides, Naruto would be pretty unhappy if that beating you gave him ended up being for nothing."

Sakura cringed and moved away from the man towards the redhead as Sasuke's head spun. Beating? What was that about?

"Karui, it is Thursday you know." Sakura said.

"Yeah? And what of it?" the woman snapped.

"The old Team Ten always meets for BBQ on Thursdays for lunch. Choji should probably be headed over now. If you hurry, you'll be able to catch him on his way there." She explained.

The cloud ninja froze, some of the tension leaving her body before blush tinged her cheeks. "Really? Where?"

Sakura pointed to the north. "His house is near those hills."

"You heard the lady." Omoi said giving his partner a little shove. "Let's get going." He turned back to the leaf medic. "Thanks Sakura. I owe you one. I was afraid she was going to start the Fifth Great Ninja War there for a second. Let me know if you need anything, ok?"

Sasuke's blood spiked another degree. Didn't he know? Everyone else did, Sakura's heart was his. His own thoughts startled him and he shook his head completely missing Sakura's reply to the man. What the hell was he thinking!?

"Let's go Sasuke." Sakura said tugging lightly at his cloak.

"Right." He said turning to follow her. After a few moments he spoke. "So what beating were those two talking about?" he asked.

The medic's eyes grew sad. "That doesn't matter." She assured him.

"Sakura, I need to know." He said glancing over at her.

The pink haired girl sighed. "Those two came after us once. They're two of Killer Bee's most dedicated students. When he was attacked, they took it very personally." She glanced up at the sky. "They came to the village looking for information on you since the Raikage had issued an elimination order for you." Sasuke's head lowered, he already had an idea where the story was going. "Neither I nor Naruto or any of the others were about to give up information on you, but Donzo had been named Hokage and had approved their request to hunt you. We knew he'd offer up anything the village had on without hesitation. He probably would have ordered us to give them your information as well." She glanced over at him. "You know how he operates. He'd already sent Sai to try to eliminate you before all of that. Anyway, Naruto protected me and forced me to leave so I don't know all of the details but from what I understand, he offered himself to them in exchange for you." Her eyes watered. "They beat him up pretty badly. Sai had to step in to keep them from killing him."

Sasuke's hand balled into a fist and his brow furrowed "That idiot." He hissed. "I didn't ask him to do that for me!"

Sakura blinked in surprise and then reached out and laid her hand on his arm. "I know. It doesn't matter though. He would do anything for you because you're his friend, his best friend." She chuckled though it was a little rough, almost as though she was trying to cover up a sob. "He's always been able to protect you the way I wanted to but couldn't. Stupid Naruto."

His eyes widened and he turned to her lifting his hand to brush the tear from her eye. Her tears. Those damn tears of hers always made his heart ache, even from the time they were children. Her eyes widened as though she was shocked by the sudden gesture and he moved his hand from her face reaching around her instead intent on embracing her. "Sakura, I-"

"Sakura!" a voice called out startling them apart.

A girl with bright orange pigtails jogged of to them. "What is it Moegi?" Sakura asked.

The girl sighed. "It's Udon, Konahomaru knocked him out during our training. I was heading to the hospital but saw you first. Can you help him out?"

Sakura sighed. "Those two." He muttered. "Udon needs to man up and Konahomaru needs to simmer down before one of them ends up with brain damage." She muttered moving to follow the girl.

Sasuke followed barely listening to the two girls chatter as he glanced down at where his hand was hidden under his cloak. Just moments ago, he'd wanted to hold her so badly. To try to ease her pain by offering her support and comfort even though he knew he was the reason for her suffering. His hand clenched at the thought. She had suffered so much because of him. She should have forgotten all about him and left him to die in that valley where he and Naruto fought. Should have moved on with one of the many men who had confessed their love and showed their devotion. He watched her walk a few steps in front of him her pink hair swaying in the breeze, a smile touching her face as she talked with the younger ninja and he felt a strong sense of gratitude towards her. He was grateful that she hadn't moved on yet he couldn't bring himself to reciprocate her feelings, not yet anyway. He still had a mountain and a half of things to do to make up for what he'd done. To be in a position where he could even think about accepting the love she had given him so freely.

"You idiots." She muttered as they arrived at the grounds and began to treat the wounded boys. "You're supposed to be training not braining one another."

"Sorry Sakura." The scarf wearing ninja said rubbing the back of his head.

She sighed and nodded as the boy wearing glasses came to.

He winced and groaned. "Sakura?" he murmured. "I got knocked out again didn't I?"

She nodded and helped him to his feet. "You'll be fine now." She assured him. "But you really need to work a bit harder. You're preparing for the Chunin exams right?" The boy nodded. "I'll tell you straight up, they're brutal. You need to get stronger."

"I know but," he glanced at his teammate. "I don't like fighting my friends. Hurting them is just…" he sighed. "Besides, they're both way stronger than me. I'll never be able to catch up." He said hanging his head.

"I know the feeling." Sakura said her eyes filled with understanding. "More than you know." She touched his shoulder. "That should be all the more reason to push yourself harder so that you can protect them when the time comes. I know it might seem impossible and you might not ever be able to catch up to them, but the stronger you are the better off your entire team will be."

"Easy for you to say." The boy muttered. "You're one of the legendary Sannin."

"Yes but I'm the weakest of the three." She admitted looking down. "Even so, I try my hardest because I might not be able to protect them like they do me but I can definitely hold my own when I need to."

The boy studied her for a moment before his eyes softened. "You're right. Thanks Sakura."

She nodded. "No problem. Try not to get hit in the head next time ok?" she said waving to the group.

"The Chunin exams are coming up soon?" Sasuke asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. It's that time of year again." She chuckled. "Come to think of it. I don't think you or Naruto ever passed the exam did you?" she laughed louder. "To think that the world was saved by a couple of Genin."

Sasuke lowered his head slightly. "Not true. You and Kakashi helped too."

She snorted. "I landed one punch on the bitch."

"That punch made all the difference." He argued.

Sakura sighed. "You don't need to make excuses for me. I was pretty damn useless. What's a girl to do when her teammates are the reincarnations two of the founders of Ninjutsu though?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at her. "You know that without you we'd both be dead right?"

The pink haired medic's eyes lowered. "I just happened to be nearby." Her hands clenched into fists.

"What's wrong?" the ink haired man asked bothered by both her tone and body language.

"Nothing." She replied quickly.

His eyes narrowed. He knew better, she was hiding something from him and he didn't like it.

"Sakura." Sai said approaching them on the street. "I'm glad to see you're doing alright."

"Yeah." She said her expression immediately brightening. "Thanks for coming to my rescue the other day."

The pale shinobi smiled. "I was happy to. You are my friend after all."

She smiled. "That's true. Did you have fun with Ino yesterday as well?"

The former Foundation member blinked and then blushed. "I did." He said scratching his face nervously. "She said she wants to go out with me again soon."

Sakura snickered and punched him on the arm. "Look at you go!" she said with a smirk. "To think you're actually a lady killer." She grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged his face close to hers. "As her best friend it's my duty to warn you. Break her heart and I'll break your face."

The painter paled sweat beading on his forehead. "Right. Of course. I'll remember that."

"Good." She said releasing him with a smile. "In that case. Good luck!"

He nodded and smiled. "Right. Good luck to you too."

"Sasuke! Sakura!" Naruto called out waving at them.

"Saved by the loser." Sasuke muttered.

Being around so many people was starting to exhaust him. Particularly the male population who all seemed intent on getting Sakura's attention. Naruto himself was extremely exhausting to be around too of course but he found it was the pleasant kind of exhaustion. The kind of exhaustion he felt after a challenging training session instead of the painful exhaustion that lingers after a hard battle. The fact that his blonde friend no longer harbored strong romantic feelings for their former teammate helped as well.

"Naruto!" Sakura replied with a warm smile. "We were on our way to see if you wanted to eat lunch with us."

"Wow! I guess great minds must think alike." The blonde said with a grin. "Let's go!"

The three of them sat down together at the ramen shop with Sakura in the middle and Naruto and Sasuke on either side. It was just like the old days and Sasuke found that despite the twinge of guilt he felt initially, he rather liked the feeling.

Naruto snickered. "Remember when we all came here and tried to find out what Kakashi's face looks like under his mask." He said with a grin. "Man! Those were the days."

Sasuke smiled and nodded. "We almost had him too."

"I guess it'll just remain one of the great mysteries of life." Naruto lamented with a sigh.

Sakura snickered. "Well then, I hate to burst your bubble boys, but I've seen Kakashi's face without his mask."

Naruto's jaw nearly hit the floor and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"No way!" the whiskered shinobi exclaimed slamming his hands on the table. "When?! Where!? How!? Details woman!"

Sakura giggled. "I'm not telling. It's one of the advantages to being a medical ninja." She said crossing her hands over her chest.

Naruto's eyes watered. "Come on Sakura. Don't be so mean." He whimpered. "At least give us a hint."

Sasuke smirked his eye changing from black to red. When Sakura turned towards him, he quickly activated his ocular power and seized the image in her mind. He was satisfied by what he saw there. Kakashi was a handsome man without his mask on with a mole near his chin.

"Release!" he heard right before his genjutsu was broken.

"Sasuke! Cheater! Using your sharringan to peek." Naruto raged. "Now everyone knows but me!"

Sakura frowned and punched the Uchiha in the arm. Not hard enough to do any damage but hard enough that he was sure it would ache the rest of the day. "Ouch!" he hissed.

"Serves you right!" Naruto snapped. "You're lucky. She would've sent me flying." He pouted.

"Oh common." She protested. "I don't do that nearly as often as I used to. Only when I catch you having those ridiculous sexy jutsu battles with Konohameru."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sakura, you know that jutsu helped save the world right?"

The medic rolled her eyes as their food was served and they began eating. Sasuke was amazed at how at ease he felt. He wasn't alone, having to watch his back. He was safe among the people he trusted most. The three of them looked up as a fourth person entered the shop and grinned at them from behind his mask.

"Hey there!" Kakashi said warmly. "This brings back so many memories." He mused sitting down next to Naruto. "Like feeding Naruto when he broke his arm."

"Seriously! Why do you have to make things so weird?!" Naruto whined. "I still remember when I was working on my rasenshiriken jutsu with you and Yamato. I was so close to having it down but you had to go and make it awkward and ruined it!"

Sakura giggled and Sasuke felt a twinge of regret. Things like that had never happened during his training. Not that he was the type that reacted like that to those sorts of things anyway. Naruto was like the sun, lighting up the world and drawing people to him. He was a shadow that people feared or wanted to use.

"Anyway, the reason I came here wasn't just to reminisce about all the times Naruto has screamed like a little girl because of Yamato's brilliant facial expressions." The blonde blushed, the pinkette giggled, and the ink haired man smirked at that. "I'm here because I received a bit of concerning news regarding Sasuke."

The raven haired man sighed. "What is it now?" he asked.

"Let's go to my office and talk about it. All three of you." Kakashi said.

"Fine. Right after we finish eating." Naruto lamented.

Later, the three of them assembled in front of the Hokage's desk. Kakashi picked up piece of paper and looked it over once before sighing and laying it down again. "As you know, recently some unsavory events have taken place across the world involving people assuming Sasuke's appearance and making trouble."

"That's putting it lightly." Naruto muttered.

Kakashi nodded. "Due to the recent developments, I've received intel that Sasuke's bounty on the black market has gone up considerably. He's now worth over one hundred million."

"Look at that." Naruto said with a smirk. "You're worth as much as I am now."

"Shut up!" Sakura hissed. "That's nothing to celebrate!"

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed."

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." Sasuke muttered.

"We all know that." The Hokage assured him. "Better than most I dare say. Even so these new developments have created some other issues as well. Though those of us in this room and most of the people in this village trust you completely, those feelings do not translate to all of the other hidden villages and certainly not their country's people."

"What are you getting at?" Sasuke asked. "Do you think I'm going to cause trouble?"

"I just told you that I trust you." The older ninja replied. "However, it is possible for people to cause trouble around you and blame it on you. People could use your name to stir up conflict just like Obito used Madara's name to start the 4th Great Ninja war." He studied his former pupil. "Tell me, if I asked you, would you stay in the village for a time?"

Sasuke glanced down at the floor. He wasn't ready yet. There were too many things he still needed to see. Too many debts he still had to settle. "I can't." he replied. "There are still things I need to do."

Kakashi sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I figured as much." He admitted. "In that case," he turned his gaze to the woman in the room. "Sakura, I'm ordering you to go with Sasuke as an escort."

The three ninja's eyes widened. "Me?" Sakura squeaked. "What about the hospital?"

"Ino and Shizune can handle that. Lady Tsunade is still around too. They'll take care of everything in your absence."

Sasuke sighed. "This journey is my own. I can't drag her around with me."

Kakashi shook his head. "I can't allow you to go alone. Not with things the way they are. You are not trusted nor liked in most nations. That's a fact that cannot be denied. Sakura on the other hand is well respected in all nations. She has worked for The Leaf as an international ambassador several times even before the war started." He leaned forward and rested his chin on his laced fingers. "If you're with Sakura, it'll be harder for trouble makers to cause problems using your name because you'll have a witness with you at all times to validate your actions. Though the bounty on your head might be tempting for some, Sakura's own positive reputation will provide you both with protection. No one wants to be on the receiving end of the wrath of the Slug Queen's allies or the Queen herself." He said his voice tinged with pride towards his female student.

"Wait, doesn't Sakura had a bounty on her head too?" Naruto protested. "It might create more danger for them to be together."

Kakashi raised a brow. "Who in their right mind would come after two of the Sannin at once?" he asked. "Especially knowing that they'll have to deal with the backlash from not only all the allied Villages but a particularly powerful, impulsive, hero of the world and his fox spirt?"

Naruto blinked and then nodded. "Right. Good point."

"Good. Then we're in agreement. Sasuke, when you decide to leave, take Sakura with you. Your cover will be that she's doing research on medicinal plants and techniques from other lands. Is that alright?" he asked.

Sasuke sighed and then nodded. "It's not like you're giving me a choice." He muttered. "It's fine."

"Excellent!" Kakashi said with a smile. "Now then Sakura, don't you have an appointment to get to? Lee was all but bouncing off the walls with excitement when I ran into him earlier today."

The medic nodded. "That's right. I need to hurry home and change first."

"You're sparring bushy brows today?" Naruto asked his eyes lighting up. "I want to come and watch!"

"Nope. You have work to do." Kakashi said grabbing the enthusiastic young man by the back of his shirt as he moved towards the door.

"Ah man!" Naruto pouted. "Fine. See you guys later!"

"Yeah. See you!" Sakura called out with a wave.

The pair walked out of the Hokage building and down onto the street. "I'm sorry about Kakashi's order." Sakura said as they walked.

Sasuke sighed. "Don't be. It was inevitable I suppose."

Sakura nodded and then sighed. "When do you want to set off again?" she asked. "I'll have to get things prepared so the hospital runs smoothly in my absence."

He nodded. "I was hoping to leave by the end of the week." He admitted.

The pink haired woman nodded her brow furrowing slightly. "That'll be cutting it close, but I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to leave by then."

"Sounds good."