It's Time to Lend a Helping Hand!

Disclaimer: This belongs to the series, Naruto. None of these parts are mine and are only written for entertainment purposes.

Away from Naruto who is busy walking along the streets of Konoha to Ichiraku for ramen. On the other side of the village sat Sasuke on a bench with his right foot on the bench as an armrest for his right arm, staring off in space.

'What should I do, now that I'm back here in this Hidden Leaf Village? Train?' wondered Sasuke, stealing a leaf that was floating by and studied the veins within the leaf.

'Hidden Leaf…' thought Sasuke, 'Are they really that precious to protect? What about that bastard?'

'As expected of my child,' his father said, 'But don't go down the same path as your brother.'

Sasuke closed his eyes, crushing the leaf.

'If he didn't want me to follow that bastard, then I guess my father would have wanted me to go down the path of the Uchiha Police Force,' reasoned Sasuke, letting the leaf go, undamaged. 'But before I could do that, I better take care of my other business first. I'll never get any peace when knowing he'll be back anytime soon to bug me. Or Naruto.'

His thoughts paused, opening his eyes and watched the leaves sway in the wind. Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes again.

'Can I really get help from my team?' Sasuke asked himself, 'Sakura… She did say that she would do anything for me. I could use that to my advantage. I guess that goes for Naruto too. I'm not doing my brother's way anymore. I'm not going to run, or get the same eyes as him. I'm going to face him as I am!'

'If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as me, come before me,' Itachi said, smirking at his brother. After he spoke the words, Sasuke was frozen in his place, eyes wide at his brother who, then, seemed like a complete stranger.

Sasuke clenched his fists, his heart beating faster when he remembered the memory. He sighed, letting himself relax.

'Yeah, I will need to get help from Sakura and Naruto if I won't be able to get Mangekyou eyes…'

Deep in thought, Sasuke barely noticed his surroundings until the last possible second. The presence he felt, stopped in front of him, waiting. He looked up and saw her looking down on the ground, her fingers fidgeting together.

"Hey Sasuke," she murmured, "can I sit down?"

Sasuke shrugged, looking away from her and watched another leaf fall from the tree and floated into the river.

"How are you doing, Sasuke?" she asked.

"Eh," he muttered, shrugging his shoulders again.

The two watched the river float by; some logs went by faster than others. Leaves spiraled around a point as the river drifted them further away. Sakura sighed and stared at Sasuke.

"What?" asked Sasuke, his eyes staring at her, his face facing the river.

"Oh nothing, I'm just really happy that you're back."

"Hn," was all Sasuke said, watching the river again.

"Do… Do you still want to do anything for me?" he asked.

Her eyes widened, knowing what she was referring to; it seemed like weeks since she saw Sasuke leave the village, when it had been only five nights ago. She stared at her fingers, wondering what to say and then nodded, smiling to herself.

"Of course, I would do anything for you, Sasuke," she said.

Sasuke stood up and faced her, shuffling his feet nervously and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm hoping…" he started, swallowing a gulp as he stared off in a distance, "that you w-would help me with avenging my clan," he said, a light pink blush tinged his cheeks.

She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment and nodded, smiling, "Of course, I will help you Sasuke!"

Sasuke stared at Sakura for few moments and gave a small smile.

"Good," he said curtly, walking off. "Let's go find Naruto. Wonder where that idiot is now?"

"Hospital…" she replied, wondering why Sasuke wanted to find Naruto now.

Without word, he left for the hospital and stopped.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked without turning back.

She blinked, speechless that he wanted her to come along. Another moment, her mouth turned into a big grin, she was being invited to come along with him!

'Naruto better help me… He's valuable after all, even if I did originally want to avenge on my own. Then again, I did say that I won't be doing Itachi's way again,' thought Sasuke, walking alongside Sakura who stayed quiet, which Sasuke felt thankful for.

'Maybe, by using her intellect, I'll be able to find some way to beat that bastard. I'm not going to wait years, just to avenge my own clan.'

He heard Sakura's voice clearing her throat and looked up, spotting the Sand shinobis were coming their way. Sasuke stared at Gaara who stared back. Sasuke looked away from the sand villagers, wishing not to deal with them right now as the walked past each other.

'As for Naruto, well, I'll have to be frank, he is powerful. And whatever that jutsu was, it was stronger than my Chidori. That is completely insane. Is it even possible for a technique to be more powerful than Chidori?' he paused his thoughts and sighed as he vaguely saw Sakura entering a building.

Sasuke stood by the doors and continued to mull his thoughts over. 'Well, of course, there will always be a stronger technique over some other jutsu. No wonder why Orochimaru wants to know all jutsu there is in the world.'

He felt a poke in his arm and stared at Sakura.

"Sorry, I tried calling your name several times, Sasuke," she said, blushing. "But we're here, I asked the front office and they said that Naruto escaped the hospital," she said, sighing. "I don't know where to find him now."

"Well, let's try that place he always eat at," Sasuke suggested, walking away from the building.

"Of course! The Ichiraku!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as though it was so obvious.

The pair made their way to the restaurant as Sasuke surveyed the area. The village almost completed on their fixing up the place and looking as though a battle never occured here. The two arrived at the place and heard two familiar voices. Sakura went behind the curtains and Sasuke followed behind.

"Hey Naruto," said Sakura, greeting Naruto.

"Hey Sakura! Sasuke!" greeted Naruto, waving at them with his chopsticks.

"The hospital staff isn't very happy that you left," Sakura stated, crossing her arms.

"It wasn't my fault!" protested Naruto, pointing to Jiraiya, "he invited me here!"

"Hey, hey, don't put all the blame on me! You could have refused," said Jiraiya defensively as he finished his bowl of ramen.

"Yeah, whatever Pervert Hermit," said Naruto, facing his friends. "What are you two doing here? Going to eat some chow?"

"No, I want to talk to you," said Sasuke, staring outside between the two curtains.

"What's that?" asked Naruto, finishing his bowl of ramen.

"In private," said Sasuke, staring at Jiraiya.

"Aw, can't I be part of your conversation?" he pouted and raised his hand when Sasuke opened his mouth. "I'm kidding, I'll go now. I have some business to take care of, anyway."

Jiraiya left the cooker his pay for his and Naruto's meal and left with a salute. Naruto thanked him and got off the chair, following Sasuke and Sakura out of the room. The three walked in tension filled silence, wondering why Sasuke wanted to talk to Naruto. Ten minutes of complete silence, he stopped walking in front of a large tree and jumped up and landed on a large thick branch. The two followed and saw Sasuke sitting down, they followed suit.

"What is it you want to say to me that couldn't be said in the village?" asked Naruto impatiently.

Sasuke kept his glance off Naruto and Sakura as he spoke, stuttering his words.

"Erm, w-well, I know in our last fight together…"

"Last fight? What do you mean? You two had another fight?" asked Sakura, leaning forward.

"Shut up," said Sasuke, "Yes, there was another fight. Without anyone interfering this time."

Sakura stared at the boys with a new horror and shook her head back into reality.

"I-I see, sorry for interrupting," she said, looking down.

"Anyway, Naruto, I'll get to the point, you're strong, and I'm going to need someone to help me gain my revenge against that bastard. Sakura's already offered her help. Will you?" asked Sasuke, grabbing a leaf.

"Though, in the meantime, I will train and stay in Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village, until the time comes… to avenge," Sasuke said.

Naruto blinked in surprise, and then lowered one eyebrow in question. Naruto turned from Sasuke, overlooking the village and shifted his face at Sasuke, grinning with thumbs up.

"I will help you, Sasuke!"

Sasuke stared at him, blinked, blushed and looked away from Naruto.

"…Thanks," he said.

Without looking back, Sasuke said, "Come meet me at the training area in about half hour," with that, he jumped off the branch, leaving the two behind. Sakura held her hands to her mouth, staring after Sasuke, her eyes brimming with tears. When Naruto noticed Sakura, he became alarmed, looking around for something to comfort Sakura.

"I'm going to go," Sakura said finally.

Naruto deflated, scratching the back of his head.

"Are you going to be okay, Sakura?"

She nodded and smiled at Naruto.

"Bye," she said, jumping off the opposite side Sasuke jumped off.

Naruto stayed where he was, and moved to where Sasuke sat previously, sighing, thinking about what Sasuke had asked of him.

'Has he… begun to trust us?' thought Naruto, crossing his arms. 'At least I can meet up with Sasuke and train with him and Sakura. This is gonna be great!' he grinned to himself, clenching a fist.

He stood up, anxious to get the training started, hopping from branch to branch towards the training area adjacent from where he was. In order to wait for half an hour, he ran around the village's perimeters to increase his running speed.

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