A/N: Since I had time, and since the last chapter was shorter, I decided to submit 2 for you today. No warnings this time. A little lighter chapter. Try and hear Naruto's voice in your head as you're reading his dialogue. It makes it funny. Enjoy!
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Naruto stopped in his tracks and said, "So who's this? Your girlfriend?"
Sasuke looked at him and said, "Yeah. This is Raylin. Raylin, this is Naruto."
Raylin softened a bit and thought, he called me his girlfriend. Excellent! Then she said, "Nice to meet you Naruto, you're exactly as Sasuke described you." She giggled inside a little – he really was obnoxious.
Naruto was confused, "What's going on here Sasuke? Seriously, why are you here? Are you here to bring me to Akatsuke? And where is Orochimaru. You should have switched bodies with him by now. Or are you? Holy shit, ARE you Orochimaru?"
Sasuke put his hands up, "Will you shut up Naruto. Loser."
"Nope that's the real Sasuke." Naruto turned toward the street, "What the hell is going on outside?"
"That'd be because of us. Shikamaru saw us and has probably gotten to Hokage's residence already and is probably assembling a battalion of Anbu black ops to intercept us. That's the crowd noise outside. A few people recognized me."
"You seem different. Not as angry. Why are you here? I've asked you ten times."
"No you haven't, you've asked me three times, and if you'll shut up a minute, I'll tell you. I want to come home."
"Huh? You mean to tell me you just left Orochimaru and came home because you suddenly wanted to? I went after you two times and you tried to kill me both times. YOU wanted to sever the bond we had. You tried to sever my head!"
Raylin looked harshly at Sasuke. Naruto saw her look and said, "He did lady, no kidding! Had this damn katana that channeled his chidori – tried to kill me on the spot." Raylin looked back at Naruto.
Sasuke said, "If you think that was something, you should see what we could do together."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of perverted thing? Have you been hanging around with Ero-Senin?"
"No. Shut up. Listen. We need your help. We both want to be here, we want to stay, but we have a lot of explaining to do to a lot of people. Can you go gather up the people we need to talk to so we can explain to everyone all at once? We don't want to be treated harshly, and we'll go willingly wherever they want us. Will you help us?"
"Raylin? What have you done to Sasuke?"
"Nothing but love him Naruto."
"Really?"
She looked at Sasuke; she took his hand and said, "Really."
Naruto said, "Alright, who do you need?"
"Right. Hokage of course, her advisors, any Jonin that are here, is Kakashi here? If he is, make sure you find him. He's got to be there. That should do it. Oh, and Naruto, bring Sakura. She needs to hear what I have to say."
"She's brilliant now Sasuke. She's as strong as Granny Tsunade – our 5th Hokage – and she's a medical ninja."
"So is Raylin. They have a lot in common; they'll have lots to talk about."
"They'll probably end up talking about you." Raylin shot him a look again. Naruto continued, "Sakura liked Sasuke an awful lot, but he thought she was annoying." Sasuke cringed a bit, but at the time, it was true.
Sasuke said, "Can we wait here until you gather everyone? Come back for us, we'll go wherever they want us to."
"I'll do it if you promise me something."
"What?"
"That you won't leave. You'll really be here when I get back."
"I promise."
"I promise too," Raylin said.
Naruto said, "I believe her Sasuke. It's going to take a while for me to believe you again. But anyway, I'm glad you're home. Even though you tried to kill me, at least twice, I'd still like to think we were like brothers once."
"We'll talk about that when you get back. You don't know how close you are with that statement."
"Huh?"
"Later Naruto. We'll be here when you get back."
Naruto left them and they shut the door. Sasuke and Raylin went into Naruto's kitchen and rummaged in his fridge for something to drink and eat. They snacked a bit and Sasuke said, "I'll have to take him out for ramen later to replace this."
"Ramen huh?"
"The guy practically lives on it."
"I like this place."
"Naruto's dumpy apartment?"
"No, this place. Konoha. There are a lot of people here. More than I've ever seen. It's so big here. It's exciting."
"It feels small to me, because I've seen so much of the world, good and bad. We should rest a bit; it might take a while for him to get everyone together. I really hope Kakashi's in town. He'd an odd guy, but he's amazing." Raylin snuggled into him and they lay back on the couch and dozed a bit.
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A/N: Still counting down. 7 left. I hope I'm not boring you.
Next up: Reuniting with former friends. Will the Uchihas be trusted? There is suspicion and anger in the air. See you soon.