AN: Hey! It's still September! So it counts! I literally just finished typing this, so it might suck, but I've been working on it for more than a year, and I am just done.
Edit: 1/21/19 Mostly grammar, and mild spelling stuff. repeat words and missing words fixed. There's probably more to fix, this was just the edits form my reminder read though.
PLEASE ANSWER TO POLL ANYTHING NOT VOTED FOR WILL BE REMOVED FROM MY PROFILE IN 2018! Stories with only 1 vote are still only a 'maybe here' posting, not a guarantee posting.
Chapter 2: The Trip Home
The trip back wasn't as uneventful as everyone would have preferred. Karin woken a few hours into the run, ans started screeching, immediately. "You! You stupid Konoha-nin won't take my Sasuke-kun, and as soon as I get my chakra back you'll be sorry! You have no right to even be near Sasuke-kun, you rotten Tree-huggers!" The group had stopped running when she had started trying to get out of her bindings on Kakashi's back, and Naruto took the chance to pass Sasuke over to Lee and then hop back a few branches to look the redhead in the eyes. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Sasuke's best friend and the future Hokage! And we're bringing Sasuke home.! He's a member of Team 7 and I don't care how much of a bastard he's been, he's still our bastard!" Karin Stared, wide eyed at the blonde Uzumaki from Konoha. And then she went still and shut up. Once Naruto had gotten Sasuke back from Lee and the group continued on their trek back to Konoha, she stared silently at the back of the blonde's head, and occasionally glanced around the group, but she made no move to escape.
Sasuke woke a few hours later. The first thing he noticed was the hair in his face. And he knew immediately who he was with. He tried to mold Chakra and shift his arms to throw Naruto off his stride, and hopefully hurt the blonde enough to get himself lose. But his Chakra wasn't there, and the sudden movement of his head and arms left him feeling nauseous. And of course his movement had drawn attention to his consciousness.
Once again the group stopped. "Hey Bastard, glad you're awake, because we have a long trip home and it was getting really boring being all silent." Naruto happily greeted his friend "Don't bother trying to use your chakra, I sealed it away for now, same with the girl you were with." Naruto's cheer dropped a bit, when he told his old teammate about the state he was in. Best to let the bastard know that his escape attempts were pointless early. It would save them all some headache. Karin's head snapped up from looking at Sasuke at Naruto's explanation, but she still remained silent.
Sasuke glared. He wasn't sure why his head felt light and his vision swam, but from the sharp smile on Sakura's face whenever he caught a still glimpse of her, it was likely something she did. She had that smile she got right before she hit Naruto for something stupid on her face. Sasuke had never had the smile directed at him before, and if he could think straight he likely would have said something scathing to her. But it was everything he could do to just grunt at the people he was with.
"It's too bad he woke, the rest of the trip will likely be uncomfortable now, nausea is a side affect of the balance altering drug I gave him." Sakura said, a small, please smile on her lips, looking more toward Sasuke than at anyone in the retrieval team.
Kakashi sighed, "Well, it can't be helped. Tenzo slow the pace a little, but let's head back out." Kakashi looked back at the young lady on his back. He hadn't missed the way she had been reacting to Naruto. And he did recognize that shade of red. He wasn't sure if it was true, but if she was an Uzumaki, she might turn out to be as much of a paperwork nightmare as Sasuke.
Sasuke had resigned himself to being carried on Naruto's back, for at least as long as the drugs in his system lasted. Karin remained silent near the back of the group, but Naruto used the time to talk to him. His captive audience of a best friend. Of course, Sasuke considered it a rant, and he tried to tune out as much as he could, but since his ear was practically right next to Naruto's mouth, he wasn't successful. Worse still, his only options were to look at Sakura, or to look at Lee. Since he didn't know how Sakura's crush on him had evolved while he was gone, and he wasn't comfortable with receiving her 'I'm about to hit you' smile, he figured it would be best to look at Lee.
Naruto figured that since the Bastard couldn't go anywhere, having no weapons, no chakra, and no balance or body control, although he probably hadn't noticed that since he hadn't needed to walk yet, he'd spend the time talking to him, and explaining what it meant to be Team 7. Specifically that once you were Team 7, you can never stop being Team 7. Since the Bastard obviously hadn't been paying attention while they were in Konoha, Naruto figured he'd have to repeat it several times. But it would take them tree or four day to get home, and really, maybe if he said it often enough this time the Bastard would get it.
Kiba was amazed. He hadn't realized Naruto could talk so much, sure they'd been friends in the Academy, but not that close, and Kiba was so glad he was neither on Team 7 or Naruto's best friend, because Kiba could swear that's all Naruto talked about all the way home. He only stopped when they took shifts sleeping, or when he ate. It was a very tedious few days. Sakura occasionally chimed in on Naruto's lecture, since Naruto, while passionate, wasn't as eloquent as a future Hokage really should be, but he didn't seem to mind her little interruptions. The whole way home Kiba was positive Naruto was trying to guilt Sasuke into changing. It wasn't even aimed at him and Kiba felt guilty.
But Naruto was passionate. And determined. He explained quite clearly to Sasuke, again, that "We are Team 7, bastard, that means we take care of each other, and we stick together. FOREVER. And I know what happened to your family sucked, it really, really did, but hey, at least you got to meet them. At least you knew who they were, know they loved you. I didn't get that much until Pain attacked Konoha and I almost died. I still don't even know my mom's name. All I know for sure is she was an Uzumaki, because dad sure wasn't! And hey, at least the villagers like you and stuff. They hate me, they've been calling me names and saying I should die since before I can remember." Naruto's voice was loud, and filled with emotion, although he didn't gesticulate, since he was holding Sasuke, but his shoulders moved more often when he talked, and it only made Sasuke even more dizzy because the movement wasn't in rhythm with their running. Through Naruto's many speeches, Kakashi continued to keep track of Karin who stared holes into the back of Naruto's head, not that the blonde noticed, focused as he was on Sasuke.
On the second day Lee thought Naruto's youthful passion was so inspiring he offered to scout ahead, so Sai had moved to be on Naruto's other side in the formation. That put Kiba and Akamaru at the back of the group, except when Lee came back from scouting and ran behind them. This left Sai smiling his creepy-empty-not-smile right at Sasuke who was still purposely turned away from Sakura. Sasuke hated Sai and tried to glare at his replacement, but since Sakura kept him drugged up he didn't often have the focus to manage it as strongly as he wanted. Worse still it only made Sai smile more.
When Lee showed back up after his forward scouting, reporting no other shinobi nearby, he realized he had lost his spot beside Sakura. He then lamented the lose of such beauty and was told to go to the back, this was a team bonding experience, which received an aggravated groan from Yamato, and was blatantly ignored by Kakashi. Kiba and Akamaru spent the whole second day staring at the wreck that was Team Seven "Bonding." Kiba thought he'd never be upset at Shino's silence on missions again. Yamato spent the whole trip at the front of the group trying very hard to be deaf, not that it worked because as creepy as Naruto thought he was, he was still Team 7 too, and often got talked to and about in Naruto's long stings of 'Team 7 this' and 'Team 7 that.'
When they set up camp for the night Yamato took the time to tell Kakashi that he thought Lee scouted ahead just to get out of range of Naruto's voice. Kakashi hummed at his comment but didn't otherwise react. He was pretty sure Tenzo was wrong of course, and that Lee honestly thought Naruto's passion about Team 7 was an amazing show of his Flames of Youth, but Tenzo hadn't spent as much time around Gai and Lee yet, and Kakashi thought it would be hilarious to watch the look on his face when Lee sang praises of Naruto's passion when they got home and so didn't dissuade him of his theory. Sasuke had stopped trying to interrupt or contradict Naruto as much that day, and while that might be Sakura giving him a larger dose of the drug she had their prisoners on, Kakashi liked to think to himself that maybe Team 7, and Sasuke, weren't as hopeless as he feared.
That night a few of the Root ANBU showed up near the camp during Lee's shift, and Sai slipped out of camp, and confirmed that Danzo-sama was dead and Kakashi had been elected Hokage-Candadate by the Kage Summit. He told them that Root would likely have to come clean with the Hokage now that they had no leader, because Danzo had never trusted anyone to replace him, and had somehow assumed he would never die. The Root ANBU said they would consider it and rushed back to Konoha to tell the rest of Root the news.
By the end of the trip Naruto had explained to Sasuke, many times, that they were Team 7, and he didn't just get to get out of that because he was having a bad day. If anyone had a good reason to burn Konoha to the ground it was Naruto, and he wasn't doing it. And he didn't plan on doing it, he was going to become Hokage and make Konoha a better place, a place where things like what happened to Naruto, and Sasuke, and Sai, because that was just horrible, he really needed help, and he was Team 7 now, so he was going to get it! Would never happen again. And really, wouldn't that be a better revenge against those old geezers on the council, live and prosper and change it so that they had to live as the useless old bags they actually were, and he could honor Itachi, too, by protecting the village Itachi had obviously loved so much. Sakura's comment of the best revenge being living well sailed right over Naruto's head, and was unacknowledged by Sasuke, although certainly not unheard, and Sai, had stopped smiling at Sasuke long enough to look at her and think about it a moment before nodding and returning to what he thought was a friendly welcoming of the missing teammate, but was coming off more as a threatening intimidation.
As much as Sasuke never wanted to go back to Konoha for any reason but it's destruction, he was almost glad when he was the village gates. At least now Naruto might shut up. Karin wasn't sure how to feel about being captured, or what would happen to her, but at least she was with Sasuke, and Suigetsu and Juugo weren't around to be annoying either. While she didn't think any Uzumaki could be blond, the boy certainly had the personality to be one, if her mother's stories were anything to go by. And he knew seals. More then she did, because she had tried to mess with the chakra seal on her skin and only ginen herself aches and pains.