Moment of Truth

At the door leading to Tsunade's office, the ANBU ninja knocked twice quickly, paused, and then gave another two fast knocks. It must've been an earlier decided code as Sasuke heard Tsunade call, "Bring him in."

The woman opened the door and bowed to the side, giving just enough room for Sasuke to step past. Once inside, the woman quietly closed the door behind her, leaving him and the Hokage alone together.

He walked a little closer until he was standing in front of the desk, but a heavy sheaf of papers being tossed down halted his progress. "Wanna know what that is?" Tsunade asked.

A piece of Sasuke wanted to respond back with a snide comment about rhetorical questions but he bit his tongue.

"These are incident reports filled out by the villagers regarding an altercation witnessed yesterday. All reports seem to say that they saw Naruto holding you back as you aggressively attempted to re-enter an establishment with your Sharingan activated." She looked up at him, waiting for him to explain himself.

"That's true, that happened," he confessed. "A certain individual was being rude to Naruto due to my being with him and I reacted poorly."

She let out a heavy breath, falling into her seat as though having hoped that somehow, the stack of reports were all wrong. "Sasuke, I'm going to be very frank with you…what in the Great Nations were you thinking? The ice you were skating on was paper thin and now, you've gone ahead and cracked it completely. Naruto fought damn hard to keep you out of jail; is this how you're going to repay him?"

"I thank Naruto for that but I don't think I should have it held over my head," he snapped before he could catch himself.

"Oh, but you should!" Tsunade laughed derisively. "It should be on your mind every waking moment. And now, because of this, distrust of you has rocketed back to a breaking point. I already have a petition five-hundred names long asking for your removal, but that was given to me months ago and I ignored it because you were making such promising progress. Soon enough, there will be another petition and it'll be even longer. I can't ignore the people or else we might have an incident similar to what happened between the Leaf and your clan in the past."

Sasuke stared at her for a long, quiet moment before finally saying, "What are you suggesting?"

Her entire body deflated now, all but showing her true age. "It's probably for the best that you leave for now. On paper, you'll be out on a mission. But this needs some time to cool down and I feel that'd be most effective with you out of dodge." She looked up, her usually shewed brown eyes now full of remorse. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke. I wish I didn't have to do this."

He believed her, but it didn't make him feel much better. "Where am I to go?"

"Anywhere where you won't be recognized. Send your location once a month and in time…I'll send for you."

He stood there quietly for a moment before realizing there was no way out of this. "Very well then." He quickly turned to leave. Right before the door closed, the last image he saw was that of Tsunade giving a pound to her desk, seething in frustration.

~.~.~

It was now Naruto who sat on the couch in the home of his teachers, though the little ones were now taking a mid-morning nap. Iruka passed him a cup of coffee he'd brewed earlier, and Naruto took a sip, happy to see it'd already been sweetened.

"So tell us," his Academy teacher began. "You said that Sasuke keeps disappearing. What's been going on?"

Naruto started his story from the day of their training after Sasuke was released from the hospital, up until just that morning. "He doesn't ever say what's bothering him, he just gets up and leaves. Other than that, he's usually really considerate of my feelings but I just wish he'd open up and talk more." He stared glumly down into his coffee.

Kakashi spoke up, asking, "You stayed with him at the hospital, correct? Tsunade had informed me both you and him were being taken off of active duty for a few days when I went to also ask for some time off for the kids. Did you and Sasuke ever talk then?"

"…No, not really. Just general stuff." He'd walked on eggshells with Sasuke, not wanting to say anything that might upset him.

Iruka revealed, "Sasuke came here today to ask us for advice about the situation from last night. Even if you two are still working on your communication, it's clear he cares for you a lot. He's probably trying to figure out how to tell you his feelings. Try not to pressure him too hard and I'm sure he'll talk to you. However, if I may be so forward as to ask… are you two dating now?"

Naruto found that unlike when Sai had figured out the truth, he didn't feel as shocked this time. He gave a single nod. "Yeah…it's only been a little over a week though."

"But you two have known each other pretty much your whole lives," Kakashi supplied with Iruka smiling in agreement. "With no offense to Sakura, I almost would've been shocked if you two didn't end up together. You've always been very adamant about keeping Sasuke close. A friendship turned romance just seemed like the natural step."

In a roundabout way, it was pretty much what Sasuke had once told him, when the two had first discussed being together.

Kakashi suddenly sat forward though, causing Naruto to look up. "While most don't care that you two are together, there's something very important that you need to know which may affect your relationship. You already know part of it; that on the night of your birth, the Nine-Tails attacked the village."

Naruto put a hand on his stomach, feeling Kurama sleeping. He'd come to call this demon a friend and it hurt to be reminded of that ugly past. "Yeah, I've heard about that. I know now it's why a lot of people really despised me, not just because I'm a jinchuriki, but because of what happened that day."

"Yes…" Kakashi agreed quietly. "However, there's another half to it. Kurama didn't attack on his own. He was being manipulated. The tailed beasts are susceptible to the persuasion of the Sharingan. Only during the events of the Fourth war did I find out it was my old teammate Obito, masquerading as Madara, who'd done it. But by now, it doesn't matter who. In the end, it was an Uchiha who'd orchestrated the attack."

Usually, Naruto was slow at putting two and two together but even he could see where this was leading. "So…they suspected the entire Uchiha clan might've done it?"

"That's right. The clan was relocated to where they could be easily monitored and were trailed at all times. The scrutiny also meant that no Uchiha was allowed a seat within the government of the village. Tensions began to rise but just when everyone was hitting their breaking point, Itachi killed off the entire clan. With the Uchiha out of the way, the village was finally able to rest easier."

Naruto bit a lip, thinking that over. "I think the village should've just trusted the Uchiha. They lived here, why would they destroy their own home? And besides, people were already scared of them before all of this, right? Why would they do something like that which would just shun them even more?"

"I'm sure the Uchiha had those same feelings, but when people are scared, they sometimes fail to see reason," Kakashi said sadly. "Had the Uchiha or the village launched an attack on each other, it would've sparked a war, a Fourth war even before the one we just fought. I can only imagine the immense will it took Itachi to do what he did."

Naruto blinked in realization. "Wait a moment…Sasuke said something like that, just last night, after what happened at the restaurant. He said something about Itachi saving the village and preventing a war. So…that's what he meant?"

"Very likely. Not many people know of this truth though and Sasuke's own actions didn't help him in earning any Uchiha sympathizers. And now…you two are together. I hate to say this, Naruto, but don't expect everyone to look kindly upon that. You're going to find those who are worried about the possibility of Sasuke manipulating you."

"Sasuke would never!" Naruto shouted but Iruka gave him a reproachful stare, glancing towards the sleeping babies. The teen covered his mouth, lowering his voice. "Sasuke wouldn't do that! He had plenty of chances if he really wanted to. Sasuke might've had some problems in the past, but he's working really hard on that now. He wants to protect Konoha and I think everyone should be supportive of that."

Here, Iruka sighed and gave a look to his husband. "Naruto, I wish the world worked that way. We just finished telling Sasuke that you changed the way all of us thought and felt by sticking to your personal path. All I can tell each of you is to keep your beliefs close at heart. You want people to not see Sasuke as a threat and Sasuke wants to show he's changed. In time, I'm certain people will see it that way, too."

Naruto felt himself fill with a dull warmth. It wasn't entirely reassuring but he'd already experienced that the road to redemption was not an easy one. He was glad to hear that no matter what, both of them would always have his and Sasuke's backs. "Thanks, Iruka and Kakashi-sensei, I really needed that. Let me go see if Granny Tsunade is finished speaking with him now. I'm guessing he's in trouble for what happened yesterday, but maybe I can talk with her too and explain things better."

"Good luck!" Iruka cheered.

"Get 'em, tiger," Kakashi winked.

He blushed at both of them, hiding it by reaching over to gently rub the twins' bellies one more time, causing each one to giggle in their sleep. Once outside, he first scanned the other houses and roofs around him. He didn't see anyone, but he wondered if the ANBU were still around and if they'd prevent him now from going to see the Hokage.

As a hopeful prevention, he decided to walk on the road instead of traveling by rooftop. It was always best the ANBU made as few public appearances as possible and with him surrounded by people, it'd be a good deterrent against their appearance.

He wasn't sure if the plan worked, but he reached the tower without being delayed. He was just about to pull open the front doors when it was pushed from the other side and Sasuke strode out. "Ha, Sasuke! I was just about to go in and speak with Tsunade myself! She didn't give you the third degree too badly, huh?" Naruto smiled, falling into step beside him.

Sasuke slowed his pace, stopping altogether. Looking Naruto in the eyes, he informed him of the news. "I've been exiled."

All of Naruto's happiness drained away as he stared at Sasuke, hoping he was joking. "Wait…all because of what happened yesterday? That was just one incident! Why would she send you away after everything we've done…" His whole body was beginning to tremble. He turned around and began to run back towards the building. "I'm going to go talk with her! Don't leave before I come back, Sasuke! I mean it! Don't you dare leave me!"