For Someone Important... Almost three years have passed since Uchiha Sasuke's betrayal of Konoha. But now that he has mysteriously returned to his old home, what awaits him and his companions as they try to mend what has been broken? Sasuke+Sakura, Neji+Tenten, Naruto+Hinata, Shikamaru+Ino, and Kakashi+Kurenai.
---------- Chapter 03: A Shinobi of Konoha ----------
The Uchiha District had never felt so completely empty before -- it had never been so completely empty. All were dead, who previously inhabited this section of Konohagakure. All but Uchiha Sasuke himself...
And his brother.
The air held a certain chill but the cold scarlet of Uchiha Itachi's eyes cut through it like a dart, piercing Sasuke's already horrified gaze and making him tremble slightly.
He was afraid. Just like that time.
"Foolish little brother... If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, keep running and cling to life... without honor."
-----
The light sound of rapping on Sasuke's bedroom door tore him violently away from his less than peaceful dream. He bolted abruptly into an upright sitting position, sweat immediately beading on his forehead as his breaths rasped somewhat uneasily from his throat.
He had only just returned, and the memories were back.
After calming his breathing a bit, Sasuke pushed himself slowly to his feet. Breathing out deeply, he walked quietly over to answer the door. A familiar pink haired girl stood just outside, staring down at the floor and waiting. Upon hearing the door open, she raised her head to reveal a smile. She blushed faintly upon seeing him and averted her emerald eyes back to the floor.
"Sasuke-kun, I fixed breakfast if you're hungry--"
"No thanks."
"But you have to eat--"
"I'll fix myself breakfast," he interrupted again, causing Sakura to bite down slightly on her bottom lip. She waited a few seconds before sucking in a sharp breath to reinforce her determination.
"You promised that you would let me help you... since you're still recuperating," she reminded quietly. Sasuke punched himself mentally; he had said that, hadn't he? As much as it pained him to acknowledge it, he couldn't go back on his word -- he had done that too many times already.
A quick nod of regard followed a quiet, "Fine." Sakura's smile returned as she turned around so that she was no longer facing the raven haired shinobi and started back to the stairs.
"Get dressed and meet me downstairs in the dining room!" she called as she disappeared down the stairs, her statement causing Sasuke to glance down somewhat disorientedly at himself. He was wearing nothing but a pair of white shorts and a frown. Grimacing, he cursed under his breath and turned to walk back inside the sanctity of his room.
He knew he'd forgotten something.
-----
After properly outfitting himself and grabbing his ningu, Sasuke was downstairs and stepping into the dining room. His plucky housemate had just finished setting the table and sitting down when he took a seat as well.
It had been quite nice of Kakashi to drop by last night with a small supply of food -- honestly, Sakura herself hadn't even thought of anything like that. She had, after all, been too wrapped up in Sasuke's life; their mission was today.
They ate in silence, no sound other than the ticking of the clock in the corner disrupting the quiet atmosphere. After finishing, Sakura leaned her chin against her palms to watch Sasuke finish also. He tossed a brief glance in her direction, silently wondering why she was staring at him so intently.
"Sakura?" he asked finally, without actually looking at her. She tilted her head slightly, confused.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun? Is something wrong?" she inquired. He was impressively still for a minute as he pushed his now empty plate forward a bit on the table.
"Why... do you keep staring at me?"
It wasn't a question that Sakura had been readily expecting, but it was one that caused that small pink tinge to resurface on her face as she lowered her eyes to the table.
"It's just that I hadn't... seen you in so long," she murmured a little shyly. She had changed quite a bit, but she was still Sakura. She was still the girl he'd known before, and that relieved him more than it annoyed him. "I'm happy to have you back... That's all."
Sasuke frowned slightly as he narrowed his eyes a bit and looked to the nearest wall. "Why is that? I haven't managed to figure out why you guys accepted me again so easily. Why don't you and Naruto hate me... after everything I've done -- I did try to kill you once," he finally let out that which he had been thinking about for a little while now.
Sakura's lips parted slightly in confusion before smiling sadly as her eyes fell shut. "How could I hate you?" she queried, making Sasuke look back up at her in surprise. "You were wrong... to go to Orochimaru... And I won't lie by saying that it didn't hurt when you left," she added.
"It did hurt, it hurt a lot. It was like it left a gaping hole right here," explained Sakura, resting her palms against her left chest and lowering her head a bit. "I didn't want Sasuke-kun to leave; but now... now that Sasuke-kun is back, I don't need to be sad anymore... or angry. I'm just grateful... that he's home, safe and sound."
Sasuke was surprised to say the least; Sakura really had forgiven him that easily. He wasn't certain he would ever fully understand her or the others -- but he did know that he, too, felt strangely relieved to be back in Konoha.
In another uncharacteristic moment, he then whispered sincerely, "Thank you..."
Sakura's eyes widened at those two very familiar words, her gaze drawn immediately to the one who'd uttered them. Her lips trembled slightly when she recalled the first time he'd said them... She breathed a shaky sigh as she replaced her surprised expression with a more cheerful one.
"Sasuke-kun, we should get going." Sakura replied with a quick murmur. Sasuke nodded and pushed himself up.
"Aa."
-----
The trip over to Tsunade's office was uneventful to say the least, so at least there were no angry glares(or at least very few) targeted toward the Uchiha. Still, the air was a tad bit uncomfortable -- and Sasuke assumed that it would be for quite a while.
Upon arriving at the appropriate building, Sasuke and Sakura were stopped by the ever familiar voice of the one and only Uzumaki Naruto.
"Sakura-chan, Sasuke!" he called, coming to a stop in front of his teammates. Sakura frowned slightly.
"You're here for Sasuke-kun's mission, right?" she asked, and Naruto nodded a little more hyperactively than neccessary. Needless to say, he was pumped -- he was ready to go.
Sasuke spoke next, "I'm amazed you managed to make it on time, Dobe," he muttered. Naruto's face held an expression of faux anger as he raised a fist shakily toward his best friend. Sakura smiled -- yes, things indeed felt very much like they used to. She felt happy just knowing that.
So, the three former members of Team 7 stepped inside together to hear the details of the mission -- and who their other two teammates would be.
-----
Tsunade glanced past the person she was talking to at the three ninja as they entered, and smiled quickly. The black haired male turned around also to greet them, a familiar smile on his face.
"Well if it isn't Naruto-kun and Sakura-san -- and Sasuke-kun, too. You're back!" Sai greeted, and while Naruto happily greeted him, Sasuke frowned negatively.
"So I've heard," he grumbled bitterly. He still seemed to bear some ill feelings toward Sai. Sakura noticed this and decided to try and start a subject topic.
"So, how is everything, Sai?" she asked cautiously. Sasuke just averted his eyes to a nearby wall; realizing, Sai closed his eyes.
"Everything's fine right now -- but, I do hope Sasuke-kun doesn't think ill of me for being his temporary replacement," he spoke, hoping to let the other boy know that there existed no such mutual hard feelings from his end. After a moment or so of silence, he began to walk toward the exit. It would probably be better not to push it too much.
As soon as Sai had disappeared from Tsunade's office, the other three approached her desk closer. Sakura smiled and raised her right fist into the air. "Okay, now what's our mission?" she inquired anxiously. Tsunade couldn't help but smile secretly -- she'd never seen Sakura so happy before.
"It's in Training Ground #44, the Forest of Death. From what I've heard, you guys took the Chuunin Selection Exam there three years ago, so you should remember it rather well." Tsunade began, folding her fingers on her desk as she spoke. "About two kilometers to the northeast of the central tower, there should be a small shrine. Your mission is to go there and retrieve the scroll contained inside," she explained. Sasuke seemed to think about this for a minute.
"It seems more like a conversion objective than a standard mission," he pointed out, causing Sakura to glance over at him before looking back at Tsunade.
"Yeah, after all, with where it's located, it should be no problem for your average Konoha Jounin -- or even Chuunin -- to accomplish... If anything, it's more like the scroll was just put there deliberately for Sasuke-kun to have to retrieve it."
Tsunade smiled slightly. "You figured that much out, as I expected," she began, causing Sakura to grin as well -- not to be overconfident or anything, but she was proud of her analytical skills. "Now, you should go in from the southernmost of the fourty four gates for observation reasons. This is to extend the difficulty level of the test by a bit -- but, it shouldn't be a problem, since you made it to the tower once before. It's not much farther, however," Tsunade paused briefly, "there are a few new surprises you'll find in there -- and also your time limit is more constrained. You have one day to get the scroll and get back here."
Naruto's jaw dropped, while Sasuke smirked slightly. This may prove to be interesting -- so, they only had one fifth of the original time limit. With as much stronger as he'd gotten, he had confidence it wouldn't be a problem.
Sakura also was pretty confident in their ability to succeed. After all, she hadn't been slacking off herself.
Tsunade breathed a low sigh next, "Other than that, I'm also sending two other shinobi to assist you -- one Jounin and one Chuunin." Tsunade added, "Whether or not that makes things easier is up to you. The two I selected kind of volunteered -- they should be waiting for you near Training Ground #44."
"All right, I'm ready! Dattebayo!" Naruto called, before pumping one of his hands into the air enthusiastically. Tsunade closed her eyes. She knew they could succeed, and she was looking forward to their performances.
"The gate to your entry point has already been unlocked, so you're pretty much ready to go." Tsunade said, before looking up again and focusing her eyes on Sasuke individually. "And, Sasuke, thanks to some convincing speeches by a few of your friends this morning, I've decided on one other thing..."
Sasuke raised his eyes to the blond haired woman as Sakura blinked in confusion -- she hadn't known of anything else. "If you manage to pass this test and make it back here within the time limit, not only will I reinstate your rank as a Genin of Konohagakure, but also," she said before narrowing her eyes slightly, "consider this as a sort of... private Chuunin Selection Exam. If you pass, I will reinstate you as a Chuunin of Konohagakure."
Sakura's lips curled up into a surprised, but happy smile. That meant that Sasuke wouldn't have to take the Chuunin Exam later that year! This is great, Sasuke-kun, she thought quietly to herself, looking over at the obsidian eyed Uchiha.
"And, Naruto, this is partially the reason I'm sending you on this mission as well -- you were never promoted to Chuunin either, so this is also your opportunity." Tsunade informed. Naruto smiled one of his patented grins, before extending his right arm and raising his thumb. Sakura would have sworn he had been practicing his Good Guy poses.
"You can count on us, dattebayo!" he responded. And that was that. Now they just had to meet up with their allies for the mission and they'd be off -- they did only have one day to complete it after all. They had to be back at Tsunade's office by this time tomorrow.
As the three stepped out of the building, Naruto paused briefly. "Sasuke," he started as he reached back into the pouch on the back of his waist. Sasuke glanced back at him as Naruto produced a Konoha Hitai-ate from the small bag and extended it out to him.
Sasuke seemed puzzled by this, until Naruto grinned largely and explained, "This is your old Hitai-ate. I had it repaired after you left. If all goes well in this mission, you'll be able to proudly wear it on your forehead again -- as a shinobi of Konohagakure!"
That look of confusion was replaced with a tiny smile as Sasuke accepted the Hitai-ate from Naruto and looked down at it in silence for a minute. Sakura then smiled encouragingly.
"It shouldn't hurt -- go ahead, put it on," said the floral haired kunoichi. Sasuke seemed to think about it for a minute while Naruto and Sakura both waited expectantly.
That's right, and this time I have to try my best to earn it... he added in thought, before bringing the headband up and tying it securely around his forehead. He then widened his smirk a bit as he raised his eyes determinedly to his two companions.
"Sakura, Naruto. Let's go."
---------- Tsudzuku: To Be Continued ----------
Preview: The mission begins, and the two teammates are--? Next Time: "The Mission".
Disclaimer & Copyright Information: I do not own Naruto (© Kishimoto Masashi); however, I am the author of this story. If you have comments or suggestions, leave a review or send me an e-mail. Doumo arigatou, for reading my writing!