Title: Sakura's Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I don't own anything about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...
Rating: K+
Warning: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.
Summary: Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.
Authors Notes: Yeah, school's out so I can finally focus on my fics a little more. Good for me. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed this, and all those who have fav'ed or are watching - you make my world shine. Well, I guess that's all for now. Let me know what you think... :)

Chapter 5 – Mistaken

The deep, baritone voice resonated in her ears and nearly made her lose balance on the roof. Even though it had changed quite a bit in the time she'd known him, she still knew who it was. But there was something quite different now. It was Naruto's voice, but she couldn't feel any familiar chakra coming from him. There was no feeling of the kyuubi that she'd grown so accustomed to feel seeping out of him in filtered fragments of immense power.

"Naruto?" she stood silent, unsure if this was in fact the real thing. The air swirling around him crackled with a new kind of chakra. It didn't feel anything like it used to, and she doubted that he was Naruto. She took a defensive position and began to feel her own comforting charka build in her veins, ready to take over at any second. "You're not Naruto, who are you?" she questioned the stranger intently. She had been taken completely off guard, she hadn't even sensed him, obviously he'd learned to control his chakra output – something that she recalled Naruto was incapable of.

"Sakura-chan, you don't even recognize your old teammate?" the imposter perfectly imitated Naruto, right down to the sing-song pronunciation of her name when he spoke to her. It was unnerving, and she was growing increasingly more agitated in his presence.

"Aburame-san, who is this?" she never took her eyes off the familiar form, and kept her hand hovering just above her kunai pouch.

She watched in horrified amazement as the replica Naruto's faced dropped in a perfect duplication of what Naruto would have done. His pout was so familiar and she could feel part of her chakra ebb in the sight of his shinning blue eyes. But she was still weary.

"He is indeed Naruto." Shino's words hung in the air like a heavy mist. It weighed on her as his voice echoed through her mind. There was no way this stranger could be Naruto, she'd grown up with him. If there was anyone's chakra that she was more familiar with, he was dead.

"Impossible! There's no way he's Naruto!" she couldn't stand still any longer, but in a flash of speed that rivaled Lee's fifth gate, she leapt forward, drawing a kunai while in mid air. But before she could get close to him, she was stopped in an instant and her feet were locked to the rooftop. She was quivering with anger when she opened her eyes to see Chouji standing in front of her, his hand wrapped firmly around hers and the kunai. She was rooted firmly where she stood, unable to move, but it wasn't Chouji who stopped her. She only knew of one person capable of this kind of containment.

"Yo." the familiar voice came from behind her. Her inability to move her head even a fraction of an inch, the feel of the chakra that surrounded her, the voice, and the perfectly timed counter with Chouji all undoubtedly pointed to one person.

"Nara Shikamaru-san." Her voice was almost glad. Now, at least there was going to be some justice for the imposter that was imitating Naruto. "That's not Naruto, it's a fraud!" she was nearly shouting now, and she didn't care. There was no way she was going to let someone fool them. They might not have been able to feel the charka difference, after all, the sensing methods that she developed was unprecedented in shinobi history. She used her chakra like a six sense to feel out other's and identify them.

"Damn, you sure are troublesome, hu Chouji?" his unaffected, lazy voice seeped over her shoulder as she was vaguely aware that the restraint was lessening. "You've been away for quite some time, Haruno-chan. Don't assume that everyone has stayed the same." His quick mind and old honorific eased some of her unrest. It was then that she noted the thin, warm trickle of red that was dripping from her hand.

But it wasn't her hand that was bleeding. Her eyes grew wide and her pupils retracted as she took in the sight of Chouji's blood dripping down her hand. He hadn't just grabbed her hand to stop her. He let his own palm get pierced but her kunai.

"Akimichi-kun…" her pale face shuttered as her timid voice looked up into his face. He showed no sign of pain or anger. Instead he smiled warmly and slid his bleeding hand from her knife.

"Sorry Chouji, I didn't stop her in time." Shikamaru commented as the final effect of his Kage Mane no Jutsu released her. Unable to stop the fear and guilt that overwhelmed her and the sight of more Konoha blood on her hands, she tumbled to the ground. The sweet pain of the hard rooftop against her knees gave her reprieve from the unquenchable shame that filled her heart.

"Don't worry about it." Chouji spoke free of malice of even a hint of discord, instead he knelt in front of her and raised his hand beneath her teary gaze. "You're a medical ninja, right? I seem to have an injury, please examine it."

She lifted her head slowly, to see the same red swirls that colored his cheek, abide the scar, and was thrown back to when she was thirteen again. "Chouji…" the tears that filled her eyes were beginning to burn, but she fought them back. She wasn't going to be like that anymore. She was a criminal, an outlaw, the most powerful shinobi in the village. She wasn't going to be like Tsunade-sama and fear the sight of blood. She had killed too many times to let his blood unnerve her this much.

She straightened herself, and took his bloody hand. She concentrated for only an instant and she could feel her chakra release and heal the injury. It took almost no power, however bad it looked, it was nothing major. "Are you okay now? She asked evenly when she was done and the wound was closed.

"Never better." He answered as he stood, calmly and stepped back. "Thank you very much. I must get back to Ino, see ya." then he was gone. Sakura barely had enough time to contemplate the incredible man that he'd become in the years she'd been gone. She never imagined Chouji would become so strong. His heart truly was infallible, and she knew why Ino had fallen in love with him.

Sakura looked up, through the sun, to see the same face looking back at her with a strange expression. It was something that she was sure she'd never seen on that face before. Naruto was ashamed. "Is that really you?" she asked one last time, resigning herself to accept that this person must in fact be Naruto. But what had happened to his chakra, why was it so different. How much had he changed?

"Really." He replied with all the truth that she remembered his heart possessing. She felt a subtle ache then, knowing that her fellow teammate had changed so much that she was no longer able to recognize him. It now seemed as if Naruto was the most changed shinobi in the village. She looked down, in defeat and shame. It took stabbing another person for her to admit that she was wrong.

"What happened to you?" she stepped, tentatively closer to him, hesitant and also very aware that Shino and Shikamaru were still behind her, watching her every movement.

Naruto closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head. His blond hair was longer now, but still stood straight up and shone in the sunlight. He smiled, awkwardly the way he used to when they were younger and he had to admit something he didn't want to. "Well…" he paused and opened his eyes. But they seemed to have taken on a darker shade of blue that she was used to. "I kind of died."