A/N: Ok. I've had a good number of reviews. That's 8 in the past...less than 24 hours! I guess people like it when Sasuke isn't a total creep? Anyway. This chapter has a little bit of action in it, even though Sasuke isn't really involved, and I introduce a few more characters. There's a little bit of aggression, so there's some light swear-words, just like last chapter. There is, of course, OOCness (If you don't like it, don't read!).

Legal Stuffiness: Naruto isn't my property, at least it wasn't the last time I checked.

Last time…

"You should be familiar with the setup, Sasuke. Konohamaru could be Naruto's little brother for the way he acts. Moegi's decent, but she's pretty strange. So you're in the same boat you were in to begin with, only you don't have to deal with me." Sasuke smiled. This would certainly be interesting if it worked out the way Kakashi seemed to think it would. "In any event, you should know by tomorrow morning." They had now arrived at the entrance to the Uchiha compound. Kakashi nodded his farewell, and Sasuke watched him walk away, as he pulled out a very conspicuous orange book.

Time: 4.5 years after Sasuke's departure

Place: Konoha

Chapter 3: New Team, New Dobe

"How can you say that?" Ino's eyes flashed anger at Sakura. She was trying to break out of Chouji's grip to get at her friend, who sat across the table from her.

"Because I know him. He's not the same Sasuke. He's…different. Better, somehow." Sakura didn't know how to explain it. She couldn't, really. All she knew was that he was back, and he wasn't anywhere near as angry as he had been when he left. "He's going to come and talk to you later in the week. Can you try to keep from ripping his head off?"

Ino settled down and grudgingly agreed. "Ok." Chouji smiled and squeezed her. "Hey, not so hard! You really need to work on that." Sakura looked at the two of them, and smiled. It was odd, but the two of them together somehow seemed natural. They sort of balanced one another. Ino helped him with his training, and with his diet, and Chouji had managed for the most part to calm her down. Chouji smiled cheekily at Ino, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oi. You two cut that out. You're giving me a headache." Shikamaru said as he sat down next to Sakura in the booth. He instantly unzipped his vest and gave his shoulders a shake, sighing. "This is going to be really troublesome. Chuunin exams are next week, and they want me to be an examiner." The rest of them erupted in laughter.

Sakura stopped laughing long enough to ask him which test he was going to be administering. "They want me to referee the final test and the preliminary matches." He dropped his head to the table, banging it once and then letting his face stay smashed against the wood. They could barely make out the words "ow" and "troublesome" before he pulled his head back up and let out the longest sigh any of them had ever heard. "Why did I let you guys talk me into taking the jounin exam?"

"The pay is better, Shikamaru." Ino teased. "And you can't tell me you don't like making strategies. You do it constantly." He conceded the point, but that didn't mean he was going to leave off his grumbling.

"So, Sakura," He said with his head leaning on the back of the booth, eyes closed, "I hear the Uchiha is back." Sakura nodded. "They'll most likely be teaming him up with Kurenai's team. Familiar setup, don't you think?"

Sakura nodded. It was going to be a strange team, just like when she was in with Sasuke and Naruto. He would only have a week to get to know them, too. "What are their chances?"

Shikamaru laughed. "With Uchiha on the team, their chances improve dramatically. If Konohamaru gets over himself, that is. You know how he can be." The boy was always chasing after Naruto, and calling him boss. "Basically, we know that Sasuke's a good leader. He's going to make sure the other two don't get hurt. I'm just doubting that they'll be able to keep up." Sakura agreed. Those two were going to have to deal with the fact that Sasuke was far more advanced than them, and Konohamaru had that stupid inferiority complex.

"Ok. Enough of that. We're just depressing Shikamaru. Let's order!" Ino said brightly. They did, and when the food came, the conversation turned to other things.

Sasuke stood in his living room. The place was really dusty. Flipping on the lights, it only looked worse. Sighing, he got to work. By around ten p.m., he had most of the place as dust-free as it was going to get for the moment. He brought a trashcan in, and held his breath as he emptied the refrigerator. Then he used a smaller version of his Katon Gokakyu no jutsu to sterilize the inside of it before wiping it down with a wet sponge. He was starving by this point, and there was no food in the entire house. Just when he was on his way to get his sandals to go to the only place he knew was open, he heard a knock at his door.

Going to a window near the door, he peered out at the person at the door. He swallowed audibly. He was hoping to wait until tomorrow for this…Nevertheless, he went to the door. When he opened it, he found a young man standing on his doorstep looking both angry and nervous. Konohamaru bit his lower lip. "Uchiha-san?" The boy stood fiddling with his ever-present scarf, and said, "Can I talk to you?" Sasuke nodded, ushering the boy in.

"What can I do for you, Konohamaru-kun?" He said in a good-natured voice as he rolled up his sleeves to start washing the dishes in the sink, just to give himself an excuse not to look at the uncomfortable boy.

"I know that they're going to put you on my team for the exams," he looked at the floor as he spoke. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought. "I…I just wanted to say that we'll be glad to have you." Sasuke was genuinely surprised. It had obviously taken a lot for him to say that. He turned to the young man, water dripping from his hands, his eyes wide. "I heard Kakashi-sensei talking to Kurenai-sensei. I was hiding."

Sasuke smiled. "Are you hungry, Konohamaru?"

"Not really. I just came to tell you that."

"Oh. I was going to go see if I could get some ramen. I'm guessing it's the only place that's still open. I'd like it if you'd come with me, so that I can maybe find out a little about you and Moegi. That is her name, right?" Konohamaru nodded. He persisted in saying he wasn't hungry, but said that he would go with him anyway. Sasuke put the dishes to soak in the hottest water he could get out of the tap, and they left.

When they got to Ichiraku Ramen, the old man welcomed them. After Sasuke ordered a bowl of pork ramen, and Konohamaru a cup of tea, they sat down. Now that they were there, Sasuke said, "So, tell me about the team."

"Hm. Not much to tell. Moegi's really into taijutsu. She doesn't use genjutsu unless she has to, and her ninjutsu's pretty good. But she still needs to work on her chakra control. Me…I like to use different things. Depends on who I'm fighting. I'm decent with most stuff, though. There is one thing I know I'm really good at, though."

Sasuke's eyebrow rose. "What's that?"

Konohamaru smiled and formed a very familiar hand seal. "Sexy no jutsu!" Suddenly, where the boy had been sitting, there was a busty brunette wearing nothing but a cloud of steam. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on!" His voice came out very feminine, and he gave Sasuke a pouting look. After he released the jutsu, he looked sulky. "I thought it was pretty good."

Trying not to laugh, Sasuke said, "Yeah, that was pretty well done, but you have to realize that you can only use that against someone that you know is a pervert. That wouldn't work against me, or someone like Aburame Shino." The mention of the bug-wielding shinobi made Konohamaru's eyes widen. Shino's stoic attitude was well known. "Do you have any other special skills?"

"Not really, unless you count my concealment techniques." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Wanna see?"

"Sure." Sasuke popped his chopsticks apart, and took up a clump of noodles. Just as he put it in his mouth, he looked over at Konohamaru, and watched him simply fade away. "Not bad, Konohamaru." The boy released his jutsu, then showed him another technique that had him simply melt into the shadow of the building. That was more impressive. "Anything else?"

As he materialized on the barstool next to Sasuke, the boy said, "I can do a few other things, but I don't want to do those here. I did learn a few things from Naruto-niisan, too, like the—"

"Kage bunshin, right?" Sasuke smiled around another mouthful of noodles as Konohamaru nodded. "Can you use that on shiruken?" He shook his head. "That's a useful one. I could teach you and Moegi if you want." The boy was eager to learn, but he did have a tendency to mouth off, as Sasuke would find out the next day.

Sasuke rose early, before dawn. He dug through the attic and found some of Itachi's old clothes. After he washed them, he put them on and went to the training grounds. They still looked the same. When he got there, he smiled. There was a familiar sound coming from the far post.

"Six hundred and thirty four! Six hundred and thirty five!" Each number was accompanied by a thud. "Six hundred and thirty six!" With a resounding crack, the post gave way and cracked down the middle, the pieces falling to the ground. The voice said, "Hm. That wasn't a very good piece of wood."

Sasuke walked over to where the voice was coming from. "Ohayo, Lee-san." The green-clad shinobi whirled around. His eyes widened.

"I had heard that you were back, Uchiha-san. Come to train?" Lee's eyebrows twitched. Sasuke nodded. Lee smiled widely. He still had his irrational exuberance. "Spar with me?" Sasuke only had to think for a fraction of a second.

"Sure." They instantly dropped into ready stances, and began circling one another. Sasuke moved first, aiming a kick at Lee's ribs. The other simply seemed to flow away from Sasuke's foot, depositing himself out of the way, and dropping back into his stance.

"Too slow, Uchiha-san."

Smiling slightly, Sasuke closed his eyes and relaxed himself completely, standing stock still. Then, he opened his eyes, and moved, using a technique he'd learned during his years with Orochimaru. The most famous user of this skill was the Yondaime, also called the "Yellow flash" of Konoha. Sasuke suddenly seemed to disappear, then reappear behind Lee, who was taken quite by surprise by Sasuke's fist connecting with the back of his head.

Lee tumbled to the ground, and Sasuke helped him up. "How was that, Lee-san?"

Lee's eyes widened. "How did you learn the body-flicker technique?"

"I've met a lot of interesting people since I left. Let's just leave it at that." Lee nodded. They sparred a bit more, neither one really gaining any ground on the other. After a while, Sasuke excused himself. "I have to be debriefed and then I have to meet with the team I'm assigned to for the chuunin exams." He waved goodbye to Lee, and walked off of the training grounds, listening to the other man start kicking another (hopefully stronger) post.

Neji sat with Kiba and Ten Ten in the interrogation room of the Hokage tower. Kiba was amusing himself by twirling his ANBU mask in his hands, and using the tip of his shoe to tickle Akamaru's chin. Ten Ten just sat on the other side of Neji playing with a kunai. He watched his fellow ANBU, trying to predict what their reactions would be when they saw their interrogation subject. They were told nothing of who they were to be debriefing. The only reason that Tsunade had told Neji was because he was their captain, and he had to come up with some kind of strategy for getting information out of a person if they got hostile.

The door creaked open, and Neji rose to his feet. In the doorway stood Uchiha Sasuke. Ten Ten's expression was, for once, unreadable. Kiba seemed a bit stunned, as he just stood there, blinking. "Come in, Uchiha. And close the door." Neji gestured to a chair, and Sasuke sat. For the next six hours, Neji, Kiba, and Ten Ten got every scrap of information they could from him, while it was all recorded on video. They got not only the location of the Sound Village, but information about the internal workings of the organization as well as plans that Orochimaru had.

When they had finished, Neji leaned back in his chair. "Uchiha, I'm sure you already know this, but I was told to let you know that you'll be on Kurenai's genin team for the chuunin exams."

"I had an idea, yes. Thank you." Sasuke rose to leave, but stopped. "Neji, Kiba, I would like it if you two as well as Chouji and Shikamaru could come over to my house on Thurdsay night for dinner. I need to ask you about what happened when you fought the Sound Four." Neji's eyebrow rose. He was a tad surprised that the Uchiha even cared. Apparently he had attained more humanity while living with Orochimaru. If that wasn't irony, he didn't know what was.

Kiba looked over at Neji, biting his lip with a decidedly fang-like canine tooth. The Hyuuga gave him an almost imperceptible nod, and Kiba said, "Sure. You better cook a lot if Chouji's coming." Neji smiled slightly. It would be an interesting night on Thursday.

Sasuke got out of the Hokage's tower at noon, when the village was out and about, eating lunch, getting their shopping done, and above all, gossiping. As he passed people in the street, whispers followed him. He was the primary topic of today's gossip chain, it seemed.

Heading directly for the hospital, he went to see Kurenai. He needed to know how to deal with Konohamaru. He might seem like Naruto, but Sasuke thought he could sense a crucial difference. The woman at the desk told him where to find her room, and he went up to the third floor. He knocked on the door, and just as he was going to open it to peek in, Sakura pushed the door open instead. "Oh. It's you, Sasuke. Coming to visit?"

Nodding, he said, "I was coming to see Kurenai-sensei. I'm assigned to her genin team for the exams, and I thought she should know." The medic-nin smiled, and gestured for him to go right in. She was retreating down the hallway when he called after her. "Sakura?"

"Yes?" She turned back to look at him.

"Will you come to my house for dinner tonight?" He was trying not to sound desperate, but wasn't exactly sure that he succeeded. His calm expression was ruined by the slight blush that was creeping up his neck.

Holding back a smile, Sakura nodded and said, "Hai. I am done here at six. I'll try to be at your house by seven, ok?" He nodded, and turned back to the door. When he entered the room, he found the woman he'd come to see lying on her side in the bed, huddled in on herself and crying.

When she looked up at him, her eyes widened, and she tried to scramble out of her bed. "Itachi…" Her voice was a hoarse whisper. Sasuke blinked in surprise. Then he realized that he was wearing his brother's clothes, and that his hair was longer. She was also crying, so her eyes were probably clouded.

"No, Kurenai-sensei. I'm Sasuke." The woman blinked a few times, and the tears cleared from her vision. She seemed to calm down a bit. "Are you alright, Kurenai-sensei?" He handed her a tissue.

Wiping her eyes, she lay back against the pillows on the bed, wincing. "Thank you, Sasuke. I'm fine. It's just hard to lose a student. What did you come to see me about?" He explained the situation to her, and asked her about how to handle Konohamaru. She smiled sadly. "He acts silly on purpose, Sasuke. He's actually pretty intelligent. For the most part, when…when Udon was still alive, he would keep the boy in line. Now, I don't know what I'll do with him."

"What about the girl, Moegi?"

"Don't worry about her, Sasuke. She's a tough one. She just needs a little bit more confidence in herself when she's fighting anyone other than Konohamaru. Both she and Konohamaru have come up with some interesting jutsus on their own. He tends to experiment more than she does, though. Try to keep him from blowing himself up, ok?" After remaining silent for a long moment, Kurenai regarded him, concern in her red-rimmed eyes. "And how are you? Are you ready for the exams?"

Sasuke frowned. "I wasn't ready the first time. I don't think it will be any different now." He'd had to learn to be honest with himself about his own abilities over the last few years. One of the best ways to improve was to realize where your weaknesses were.

"Just take care of them." Her eyes had begun to close, and it was obvious she was falling asleep.

"I will. Sleep well, Kurenai-sensei." He slipped silently out of the room. On his way back to his house, he stopped by a few shops, buying food and some clothes. He really wasn't very happy that he'd been mistaken for his brother. The look in her eyes when she saw him would not leave his mind. What did Itachi do to her? He might need to find out. That was just one more thing that he would have to make sure to think of while he was killing him.

When he got back to his house, arms full of bags and packages, he found Konohamaru and his teammate, Moegi, sitting on the front porch, looking supremely bored. When he approached, the boy stood. "Where've you been all day? We've been here for hours!" Then, under his breath, he said, "Teme…" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, and his posture stiffened.

Sensing Sasuke's mood, Moegi took half of his bags, allowing him to take his keys from his pocket. When he opened the door, they all trooped inside, Sasuke and Moegi carrying the bags, and Konohamaru slinking behind them, grumbling. Once everything had been dumped on the table, Sasuke looked down at the other two and said, "I was being debriefed, and on my way back, I got some food and clothes." He turned to Konohamaru and said with a smirk, "Sorry to keep you waiting, chibi-dobe."

"Don't call me chibi! And I'm not a dobe, either!" The boy was tugging at his ever-present scarf, an indication of how agitated he was. Sasuke wondered at the change in the young man's attitude from the night before. He'd been civil, and hadn't really acted like a complete moron, like he seemed to right now. The kid was also being really lazy, and hadn't offered to help them carry anything. In fact, Sasuke was wondering who he was more like, Naruto or Shikamaru.

Moegi's face darkened. She turned to Konohamaru and picked up a package of tofu. Before she could smash it over his head, Sasuke snatched it from her, and put it in the refrigerator. She seemed determined to hit the boy, however, and substituted her hand for the tofu. With a resounding smack! Konohamaru's head jerked forward, and he let out a quick "Oof!" before falling to the floor. Sasuke bit his lip to keep himself from laughing.

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at Konohamaru. "Now. Are you going to stop mouthing off, or do I really need to hurt you?" The boy was picking himself up off of the floor and grumbling when she looked over at Sasuke. "I heard the news from Konohamaru-kun. He says you're going to be on our team for the exams. Is that true?" Sasuke nodded. She seemed to think for a minute. "So when do we train?"

Sasuke looked at the clock on the wall, which he'd set the previous night. It was currently nearly five. There wasn't time to train that night. He had an idea, though. "Well, we have almost a week. I was thinking that you two could get some things together tonight, then come over tomorrow so that we can spend the week here, training. How does that sound?" Moegi considered for a moment, then nodded. Konohamaru narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"How do I know we can trust you?" The boy's voice came out sounding spiteful. Moegi's face turned red.

She grabbed him by the ear, and started pulling him to the door. "Gomen, Sasuke-san. He's a dobe, alright. Now, we'll see you tomorrow morning. Won't we, Konohamaru?" The boys neck was bent at an uncomfortable angle, and Sasuke didn't envy him that postion.

"Hai, Hai. Itai! Get off me, baka!" His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was shaking with anger. That kid has got some issues to work out. Maybe I should kick his ass. It might calm him down. Sasuke smiled broadly and waved to them as they left. Moegi pulled Konohamaru into the street, and Sasuke watched as he yanked himself away from her, and made about six clones to try to get his revenge.

Moegi laughed out loud. "Come on, dumb ass! You want me to beat you down again?"

"WE'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" All of the Konohamarus said at once. Sasuke leaned against the doorway. The deserted street of the Uchiha compound was going to get quite a show. The clones rushed at the girl before them, and Sasuke watched as Moegi performed a series of fluid motions. From a holster on her right thigh, she drew a small scroll. She bit her thumb and unrolled the scroll, smearing a line of blood onto it.

As Moegi shook the scroll over the ground in front of her, hundreds of caltrops tumbled from it, their points glinting in the sun. All this, she did in a matter of seconds. As the clones stepped on the caltrops, Moegi performed a hand seal that Sasuke wasn't familiar with. The small, sharp metal pyramids burst into flames, catching the clones on fire, and they all disappeared in puffs of smoke. She then performed a series of seals he did recognize. Sasuke laughed as she disappeared behind the smoke from the caltrops, then watched as a pair of hands popped up out of the ground and grabbed Konohamaru's legs.

The boy was yanked firmly into the ground up to his chin, and as he struggled and cursed to get out, Moegi's head and shoulders popped up out of the ground in front of him. Leaning her chin on one of her hands, she shook her head at him. "That's five times I've won, Konohamaru. You're down by two, now." Laughing, she pulled herself up, and then tugged at her teammate until he was out of the ground. He seemed subdued now, but he glared at Moegi.

"I thought you didn't know that jutsu, carrot-top." Sasuke heard him say as the two of them walked slowly down the street. Sasuke frowned. Nope. I don't think I need to even try to kick his ass. She's got him well in hand. That was pretty true. However, the first thing he was going to have them do in the morning was fix the holes in the street, and Moegi had to get rid of those caltrops. Sighing, he went inside to put away the rest of the things he'd bought while shopping.

A/N: Ano...so what did you think? Konohamaru is a little odd. He acts differently when Moegi's around. Why do you think that is? And hurray! Everyone's favorite lazy ninja will be the referee for the final round of the chuunin exams!