Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 12: The Cursed Seal

"I can't believe what I just did. Sasuke came back to Konoha after all these years and I just walk away. Not only that, but I slapped him in the face. He deserved it didn't he? Didn't he? No I have to go back. I have to..."

"Sakura, hi! You made it." Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by Ino. She didn't even realize that she already arrived at the festival.

"What's wrong Sakura, you seem distracted." Sakura looked up at Tenten, who had a concerned look on her face.

"I know what's wrong!" Ino had a big smile on her face.

Sakura looked at her, wondering how she could possibly know what is on her mind.

"She wants to see her date!"

That was the last thing on her mind. She has to tell everyone that Sasuke is back.

"Come on Sakura lets go find Hinata." She grabbed Sakura's arm and started to drag her along.

"Shikamaru, I'll be right back." She quickly kissed him and continued on her path.

"No wait. Ino. Wait I have to tell..."

"Hinata! There you are. I brought you Sakura-chan." Ino waved at Hinata.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, this is Hayate." Hinata pushed Hayate towards her.

Sakura blushed. He was indeed handsome. He had the same eyes as Neji. If she didn't know any better she would think that it was Neji's twin brother. The main difference between the two of them was his short hair and his personality.

"Uh, hi. Pleased to meet you." He made a gesture to shake her hand and smiled at her.

"Uh... The pleasure is all mine." She accepted his hand and shook it.

He gracefully pulled her hand closer to his lips and gently kissed the top of her hand, never leaving his eyes of her stare. He smiled. What a gentleman Sakura thought, totally forgetting about the boy she has been in love with ever since she was little.

All of sudden the crowd began to gasp and they all stared in the same direction.

"Well I never expected such a warm welcome." Sasuke smirked. He had cleaned himself up and had changed into fresh clothes. He walked towards the place where Sakura was standing.

The people followed him with their eyes. They were in shock. Sakura was still staring into the beautiful eyes of Hayate. She didn't realize that everyone was quiet, not until...

"Sasuke, bastard!" Naruto ran over to him and punched him in the face. He grabbed him by his shirt to hit him again. "Naruto-kun, stop!" Hinata ran over to her boyfriend. Sakura finally looked up and saw what was going on. She ran towards Sasuke.

"Naruto get off him!" She dragged Naruto of him.

"Why? So he can leave you again?" He looked angrily at Sakura. He could not understand why she still cared for him.

Sakura looked down and stood there for a while. Sasuke got up ad dusted himself off.

"Now, is everyone done punching me?" Sasuke said sarcastically. "I see that you're still an idiot, Naruto." He smirked again.

"I see that you're still a bastard, a person who leaves everything behind for a stupid revenge. Tell me baka did you succeed?" Naruto was still talking with an angry voice.

"No, but it's a long story." He was still smirking.

"I don't think it would take a lot of time to tell everybody that you were still to weak to kill him and that seeking out Orochimaru was all just a waste of time."

Sasuke was starting to get angry. He approached Naruto. "Listen here, you baka. I told you, it is a long story. And that's all I have to say to you." He gazed into Naruto's eyes with anger.

"Don't tell it to me, tell it to her." Naruto gazed back at Sasuke with the same anger. A moment of silence occurred and they just stared at each other. It was like a blinking contest. A macho thing. The first one to blink wasn't a real man or something like that. Every second that passes Naruto was getting angrier.

Everyone was real quiet and were all staring at the two ex-best friends.

Finally Sasuke said something and broke the silence. "Who's 'her'?"

Naruto grabbed him by the shirt again. "You know damn well who!"

"Naruto stop it!" Sakura pulled Naruto away from Sasuke. She was now standing in between them with her back towards Sasuke. She was looking at Naruto with a painful look in her eyes. The same look she had a few years ago when Naruto came back from the fight without the love of her life.

"Why don't you tell her Sasuke?" Naruto kept staring into her eyes. "Tell her why you left her. Tell her why you didn't listen to her, begging you to stay. Tell her why you didn't give a shit about her. Tell her why you broke her heart. TELL HER DAMMIT!" He started to speak louder and louder. His eyes were now on Sasuke. "Tell her why you left her, crying herself to sleep every night! Tell her why you left her alone all this time without any closure and peace of heart! TELL HER!!!"

"STOP IT! Stop it, I can take this anymore!" Sakura cried out. She had tears in her eyes. Naruto's gaze went back to Sakura. She was looking at the ground, unable to face Naruto and everybody else. Naruto reached out his arm and placed his hand on her chin. He moved it upwards so that Sakura looked into his eyes. "Tell her why you didn't love her enough to stay..."

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered. She walked over to him and hugged him. She let her head rest on his shoulder. She was tired. Tired of feeling like this. The pain, the suffering, and the non-mutual love she has for Sasuke. "I wanna go home."

Ino walked over to her. "Come on, we'll take you home." Ino signaled Tenten and Hinata to walk with them and they walked away without saying a word to anyone.

Sasuke had the same emotionless face as always. He watched her leave. With Sakura gone, Naruto saw an opportunity. He pushed Sasuke.

"So Sasuke, explain yourself. Why did you leave?"

"What's going on here?" Tsunade made her way through the crowd.

"Sasuke was about to explain himself." Naruto had a hateful tone in his voice.

"Ok everyone, move along there is nothing to see here, we'll reschedule the festival for tomorrow." Tsunade ordered everyone to go home. She turned to face Sasuke. "Sasuke, we need to talk."

The villagers left except for Naruto, the senseis Kakashi, Asuma, Anko, Kurenai and the fifth hokage. They all looked at him. Waiting to hear the "long" story.

Sasuke wasn't looking back at them. He was staring in the direction where Sakura had gone. "There is not much to talk about. I was blind. Orochimaru was calling me in my dreams. I couldn't resist. It was like he had me under some sort of spell. When I found him he turned me into his minion. I was his slave. He did give me strength, but only to do be his bodyguard. When it was time for him to take over my body I escaped. I broke free from his mind control, because of..." Sasuke stopped talking and remembered how he broke free.

"Because of what?!"

"Naruto, be quiet."

"No Tsunade-sama! Tell us you bastard!" Naruto was getting ready to punch him again.

"Because of me."

Everyone turned to see who 'me' was. They were all in shock. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Anko?"

"Yes me." She turned to face Sasuke. "I see you survived the last battle with Orochimaru."

"Piece of cake."

"Wait a second! What the fuck is going on here?!" Naruto was holding his head like he had a severe headache.

"Watch your language Naruto." Tsunade said.

"Well aren't you as confused as me, Hokage?!"

"Yes actually I am. What's going on between you two? And Anko why didn't you tell us?"

"I told you it was a long story." Sasuke smirked.

"Well you'd better continue, because I want to go check on a dear friend of mine. You know, the one who is still crying over you." Naruto said with a low and hateful voice.

"Fine, shut up then. Ok where was I? Ah yes, I broke free because of Anko. The minute Anko had heard of Orochimaru and me, she did everything to try and prevent Oro from taking over my body. So she did a little research. She found out that I was under heavy mind control. She also found out that it wasn't too late for me to break free from that control." He paused for a moment and smirked. "She already knew how to wipe out the cursed seal. By simply admitting out loud that I had found the one thing that could wipe out the cursed seal."

Sasuke looked at Anko and smirked even more. Anko looked at him and smiled back at Sasuke. "Your true love..." Everyone looked puzzled at Anko.

Sasuke smiled the moment Anko said those words. "Precisely. She had found an enchantment, which you have to say out loud to break free from Oro's mind control and cursed seal. She already did that before me." He glanced over to Kakashi. Kakashi smiled back at him. "And so I did it too. Orochimaru could manipulate my brain, but never my heart. She has never left my heart. Every night I thought about her. Only then, because during the day I wasn't able to."

Everyone was now even more confused than before. Who was he talking about? Who is she? Suddenly Sasuke said the enchantment out loud.

"Cursed seal I call upon you to burn

To disappear and never return

Because I have found the one thing that could give me happiness

The one thing that can take away all the sadness

It is not power, it is not strength

Hear this seal, it is my fate

For I have found my one true love

Sakura is her name, my angel from above

Now leave cursed seal and let me be

Because I love her and she loves me"

Sasuke turned to face Naruto. He had a sad look on his face. "Now do you understand Naruto? I left her, because from the moment I got bitten it was already too late. The brainwashing procedure had begun. Slowly and subtle. She couldn't stop me, even if I wanted to. Orochimaru used the hatred that I had for my brother as fuel to persuade me to come to him. And what can I say, it worked."

Naruto was confused after hearing all this. He didn't know if he should beat him up or be glad that his friend returned safely. Sasuke pulled down a side of his shirt and let everyone see that the seal was gone. Anko walked over to him. "I'm glad." She hugged him "How long did it take you to recover from the pain?"

"6 days."

"Wow, you recovered faster than me." She smiled.

"Wait a minute... Wait a minute! How about Itachi and you revenge? He killed your family, or did you forget about that?" Naruto screamed.

"Actually he didn't kill them. Well technically he DID, but he wasn't himself at the time." Sasuke frowned. "I found out from some secret scrolls in Orochimaru's house that my brother was also under some kind of mind control. He still is and I haven't found him yet to tell him this."

Naruto's headache started to become worse. "Ahh my head. I'm so confused."

"Naruto don't worry about it. It's a long story to get into and I've just finished telling one."

"Well, I'm afraid that you will have to tell me exactly what's going on with your brother, because he is still ranked as a criminal." Tsunade said to Sasuke.

"I'll tell you the story, but can I sit down for a second. I'm kinda tired. Orochimaru didn't let me leave without a fight." Sasuke said with an exhausted look.

"Ok, lets just go into my office. We'll talk there." The senseis and the hokage all walked towards Tsunade's office. Naruto stayed behind.

"Well I'd better go check on Sakura. Hopefully I'll tell the story right." Naruto left. "I can't wait to see the look on her face when I tell her that she is that bastards true love." He chuckled.