PART 1

One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go.

Whether it is guilt, anger, love, loss, or betrayal.

Change is never easy.

We fight to hold on, and we fight to let go.

If you have been hurt until it breaks your soul into pieces,

Your perspective in life will definitely change;

And no one and nothing in this world could ever hurt you again.

- Mareez Reyes

CHAPTER 1

UCHIHA RESIDENCE, KONOHA

5 YEARS AFTER THE FOURTH SHINOBI WAR

Clouds were covering the moon, casting shadows upon the landscape of the village. Since the birth of Konohagakure, an old town was situated in its north corner, hidden from its peers' eyes. It was once filled with his kins; what was once joy and love was now abandoned and forgotten. After the Fourth War, Sasuke was given a choice: to relocate, or maintain his residence at the Uchiha's hometown. He questioned the intelligence of this village – why would they think that he would give his ancestor's land up? Indeed, he had encountered many developers; some who were interested in purchasing the land, tempting him with a huge sum of money. Others accused him of betrayal, thus, taking upon a judgement that he should not be given the access to his own land. Yet as a sole survivor of the massacre, and the only Uchiha in the village, he has every right to claim what was his.

He gazed upon the full moon, slowly emerging from the clouds. His mind kept wandering about the village, the Uchiha clan and his older brother – Itachi; calculating on those who should be at fault for his clan's annihilation.

Senju Tobirama? he thought. The Second Hokage was the original founder of the Konoha's military police force. Despite its good intention, the system had an ulterior motive – to place the Uchiha clan under total surveillance. It was callous of him, and there was no trust from the beginning, he believed, and wondered if the Second should have been blamed for everything that has happened.

The Uchiha? he listed before his thoughts reeling to his brother, maybe Itachi – the man with higher level of intelligence, techniques, and skills than others; the man whom Sasuke believed was a true shinobi. What started with revenge, ended up with revealing of the truth. His life was spared due to the love for a brother that was greater than the village itself. According to Itachi, he was to be the key to cleanse the clan from sins and betrayal.

"Yet plans don't go accordingly as planned," he muttered, remembering what his brother had gone through. "Both Nīsan and the clan are not to be blamed."

Sasuke wiped his brows and returned his focus to the training. Moulding and forming chakra with natural ability was easy. He has managed to take Chidori to the highest level, namely Kirin. What he has in mind, originally, was a combination of a new technique – moulding and binding chakra with fire and lightning elements. Combining two elements from two users has stronger effect; fire and wind could summon supernova, whereas wind and water could form a hurricane if it was properly mould. However, to mould and combine chakra with two elements from an individual body was never heard of.

Never heard of it, but not impossible.

He sighed as he took a glance at his surroundings. Thanks to the practices, trials, and errors; what was once a plush backyard was now filled with damaged woods, spinsters, burnt ground and deep holes. He had planned to hire professionals to renovate his house, but his schedule was affixed with missions and meetings with the Kages. So, instead of cleaning things up, he ended up making the place messier than before.

"Naruto, ka?" Sasuke called. He set his sight on a tree to his left while quickly slipping a concealed weapon onto his hand. As soon as he sensed it, he threw a shuriken at the target. The shuriken deflected and fell to the ground with a thud sound. "What do you want, dobe?"

"Who are you to call me a dobe, dobe?!" the loudest and the most unpredictable shinobi shouted in return. "What kind of hello was that?! You do not throw things when you have a visitor! You're supposed to offer food or tea, dattebayo?!"

Sasuke glared at the blond shinobi, who was still in orange-and-black tracksuit and gears. He must have returned from a mission – the one he has skipped on. The mission was not important enough to him. So, he left it to Naruto to deal with instead.

"If you have something important to discuss, speak now. Or else, go away," he warned and shook his head. Annoyingly, the idiot who looked like a monkey that clung onto a tree has the cheeks to complain about etiquettes.

"I was on my way home and decided to check on you," he smiled and posed a thumbs-up gesture.

Even since they were kids, Sasuke understood the life of Uzumaki Naruto, especially his pain. He was once hated and despised by everyone in the village. The price of sealing the Kyūbi in him was the cost of the beloved Fourth Hokage's life. Many villagers of Konoha had resented him for it. His very existence reminded them of the painful past where the tailed beast had nearly destroyed the village itself. As years have gone by with Akatsuki invasion and the Fourth War, people started to view him as the hero of Konoha and the Shinobi world. They greeted him, and he would humbly smile in return. Yet Sasuke knew that those smiles were nothing but a façade; behind that gentle smile hid a struggling life. There was a saying –

A shinobi means to endure.

"You're not a very good liar, are you? What kind of On-My-Way-Home route did you take when your house is on the south-central side of the village?"

"Ah, you noticed it" he scratched his head innocently.

"It's not that I noticed it. It's basic common sense."

Before he let the blond shinobi uttered another word, Sasuke threw a kunai as a sign of challenge. Naruto caught it immediately with his bare hand. He tightened the knot of his forehead protector while Sasuke prepared his Kusanagi sword. Usage of Sharingan was not needed, for now.

As always, Naruto was the impatient one and made the first strike. He fused his wind chakra with the kunai before contacting it against Sasuke's sword. He jumped in mid-air and repeated his attacks, trying to land a blow. Every strike of the attack produced a cling sound. His punches and kicks were fast, but Sasuke managed to block and avoid it all. Naruto then lowered his body closer to the ground and pulled a slide kick technique, attempting to make his friend stumble and fall. Unfortunately, Sasuke gracefully avoided that attack too. He twirled his body in mid-air with sword aiming down at its target.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Naruto chanted, summoning two clones to appear. One of them helped him to form a Rasengan while the other jumped to distract his sparring partner.

Sasuke quickly slashed the clone with the infused lightning sword before Naruto jumped and hit his friend with the Rasengan. The Uchiha yelped in pain.

"Yes, I did it!" Naruto celebrated. The celebration, however, was cut short for what assumed to be his friend has turned out to be a piece of wood. "Eh?! A replacement jutsu?"

"I don't believe it. After all these years, you still fall for that same old trick. Are you really the Hero of Konoha?"

Naruto followed Sasuke's voice, only to find him standing and observing from the roof.

"You are one effortless piece of shit," he cursed and gawked at the Uchiha, "I may not be on top of my game today because I've just returned from a mission that YOU were too lazy to take on. I'm definitely going to kick your ass, buddy."

"In a million years," Sasuke smirked.

And so, the two strongest of Konoha continued to battle it out. Neither of them wanted to give up to the point when neither of them has the energy left to fight.

"What's truly on your mind?" he asked as he sat on the roof to catch his breath.

"It's Sakura-chan," Naruto answered and followed. He removed his jacket and gears before sitting beside him. "I'm getting restless. We need to find her."

Sasuke recognized the serious tone in the blond shinobi's voice. He studied his facial expression to understand that the Hero of Konoha was concerned about the present. Whereas for him, he was thinking and kept holding on about the past.

"What did you find out from the mission so far?"

"Eh?" The sudden change of topic left Naruto confused. "Well, nothing that is important. The Kazekage just wanted us to deliver a top-secret parcel to the Hokage."

"So, no news about that masked man from the Kages then?"

"Afraid not."

"So how are we to find her?" Sasuke playfully tossed and twirled his kunai in the air. He sighed and continued, "It's been five years. There's been neither word nor evidence of him or Sakura; not even a trace or a whisper."

"I can't–" Naruto choked, clenching his fists, and deepening his voice, "I can't sit here and wait while that trash is holding her as hostage. Every time I came across Haruno-san, he always asked about updates on his missing daughter. The disappointment on that old man's face is enough to tell me that we're not doing enough to find Sakura-chan."

"Uchiha Obito is a person you must never underestimate. He is a very skillful man," he reverted his discussion. "It puzzles me that Sakura has gone with him, willingly. I still find it odd that everything stops after the disappearance of her and the Jūbi."

"What are you indicating?" Naruto asked with a pinch of hope.

Sasuke unconsciously twirled the kunai with his fingers in deep thoughts.

"If you think about it, he has gained Sakura by his side, but I have no idea what he was going to use her for. The Fourth War was an act of diversion to steal the remaining tailed beasts. The chance of success was promising. Yet an attempt to steal the beasts again has not been made. So why did he stop?"

"Maybe it was difficult to extract it from Uncle Bee and me. Hence why they could only extract a small portion of Kurama's and Gyūki's chakra for their eye-plan thingy."

"You mean Tsuki no Me Keikaku? That has nothing to do with Sakura."

Or maybe it does, he thought.

"What about Orochimaru? Does he have anything on Akatsuki or Obito?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Nothing that we already know of. Days after Sakura disappeared, I went back to the cave where my brother and I had fought Kabuto. Unfortunately, his body was gone. There wasn't any trace. The White Zetsu must have taken him, knowingly that he held important information such as knowledge on the whereabouts of Uchiha Obito. In no condition that the enemy would let his body lying around. Not having the vital key, I hate to be the one saying this, but it's another dead end. Just as I'd said – not a trace or a whisper. Even Jūgo couldn't find that snake through his nature abilities."

"It's like everything stops," Naruto agreed in disappointment.

"We don't know about their current location or their plans that is if they maintain their status quo. Our chance now lies with their mistakes. A single mistake of theirs is our gain of opportunity," he affirmed.

"Sasuke, I've been thinking," Naruto's voice was barely audible. "Did Sakura-chan say anything to you before she was taken?"

He did not answer immediately. The thoughts of Sakura's last words have puzzled him the most. He analyzed the blond shinobi again and wondered if he deserved to know the truth. Due to the state of mind, he decided not to.

"No, she didn't," he lied, and changed the topic to avoid further discussion about Sakura. "By the way, don't you have a date tomorrow with that girl from the Hyūga Clan? Worry about yourself and your date. Leave Sakura's whereabouts with the Anbu intelligence. Now go home, Naruto."

Sasuke jumped off the roof and landed perfectly on the ground. Naruto followed but he fell into a manmade hole. He quickly recovered and enter the Uchiha's house.

"I want to stay overnight here. I'm too tired to walk home. Plus, your house has a hot bath and soft bed. I'm going to sleep in your guest room for tonight."

Another freeloader, he thought. First, it was Suigetsu, then followed by Karin. This was a perfect opportunity to make money and add into his renovation revenue.

"WHAT?! YOU'RE CHARGING ME?! I'M YOUR BEST FRIEND!" Naruto declared, shocked by the extreme cost of the Uchiha residence.

"So?"

"So, it's free! Don't I deserve it?! I completed your mission free-of-charge, ya know?!" he waited for the Uchiha's reply, but nothing was given. "Bah! Fine! I'll go! Who would want to stay in such an overprice mansion anyway?"

Sasuke returned to focus on his training.

"Dobe," he called just before Naruto was about to leave.

"What now?" he grumbled.

"We'll get Sakura back," he promised.

"Ah," Naruto smiled. Not too long ago, it was him the one who promised to Sakura-chan.