"Sakura… what is it?"

"I've seen this poison before. I believe it is used by one of the Akatsuki member named Sasori of the Red Sand."

Tsunade was then stricken with fear. She thought to herself, "The Akatsuki, what do they want with this boy?" Tsunade pulled herself together and shook her head. "It is irrelevant who the poison belongs too. We have to extract it nevertheless."

Tsunade and Sakura quickly went to work slowly extracting the poison from Sasuke's blood. The poison was thick and lumped together with the blood. It took about an hour to complete cleanse Sasuke of Sasori's poison. As soon as they were done, Sakura went out to tell Naruto and Kakashi about the news.

Naruto sighed. "Sasori eh? The puppet master correct?"

Sakura nodded.

Kakashi then started to walk into the emergency room. He turned his head towards the two. "If the Akatsuki is involved in this, then we need to be prepared for anything."

The two nodded and entered into the emergency room along with Kakashi. When they entered they saw Sasuke sitting straight up on the table. His face showed absolutely no emotion. He sat there holding his arm, tightening his muscles. As he did, Naruto watched him carefully.

Naruto then stepped forward. "Sasuke how have you been..."

Sasuke looked up. He gave a little smiled. "Look's like you've grown Naruto. Have you become a chuunin yet?"

Naruto gave a little chuckle. He started rubbing his head. "Actually, I am a Jounin now…"

Kakashi stepped forward and interrupted the conversation. "Now that we have the greetings done, why have you come back Sasuke?"

"I don't know. I don't even remember making my way to Konoha." Sasuke then got off the table and started walking towards the door. "If you excuse me, I don't belong here anymore." As he was walking towards the door, 2 ANBU members blocked his path. "Nothing against you two, but if you don't move… I will kill you."

Naruto then casually walked in front of the 2 ANBU members. "Sorry Sasuke. You are needed for more interrogations. You understand right? I mean, a missing nin like you just suddenly shows up in Konoha, it's a bit odd don't you think?"

"Naruto, get out of my way." Sasuke began to tighten his grip. His eyes locked with Naruto's. The old rivalry that once excited once again came into existence. Then Sasuke took a deep breath and let it go. Something had changed. Sasuke seemed more mature.

Naruto then smiled and Sasuke did the same. Then Naruto ordered the two ANBU members to step out of the way. "Let's go Sasuke." They began walking out of the room when Naruto realized Sakura in the corner. "Hey Sakura… are you coming?" Sakura gave a weak smile and walked by Naruto.

The three walked out of the room. Kakashi then spoke out, "It brings back memories seeing those 3 together again. Tsunade-sama, I'll watch over them."

Tsunade nodded in agreement and walked out with her ANBU members. Kakashi then headed out and caught up with the three. They started walking down the streets and to their surprise, many eyes turned. It seemed everyone had remember Sasuke's face. Though faint, they could hear little whisperings within the crowds.

"Hey isn't that the Uchiha that betrayed Konoha."

"I think it is. I would hate to be their parents. Both of their sons leaving Konoha."

"That's little Uchiha punk isn't it? What are our jounins doing hanging around him."

"He's a disgrace, if it was up to me, I wouldn't let one of those Uchiha's into the Country."

Sakura then lowered her head. She couldn't believe the people could talk about someone like that. Sasuke then saw her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry about it Sakura. I expected a lot more than this when I realized I was in Konoha."

Just then a tomato flew threw the air at Sasuke. He simply moved his head and dodged it easily. Just ahead, a large group of people were waiting.

"Get the Uchiha out! He betrayed us all! Out with the Uchiha!"

Naruto then stepped forward. "Sasuke is under out protection. We will take full responsibly for his actions. Now clear out!"

The group then began to disband. Team 7 once again started to walk towards the Ramen stand. Naruto's stomach started to grumble. "All this walking around has made me hungry. Let's get something to eat."

Sasuke sighed. "Is your diet still consisted of ramen…"

"You know Naruto, eating ramen is the one thing he looks forward to eat day." Kakashi said with a low tone.

As they started to eat, Sasuke remained quiet. As he bend his head down to eat the ramen, he would constantly look left and right at the others. Kakashi managed to catch a glimps of this and made sure he didn't make any mistake.

What could Sasuke possibly be worried about? and What flavor ramen was Naruto eating? Could it be pork or seafood or something else. Find out on the next episode of The Inevitable Conflict.