"I didn't mean you."
This time Naruto let go of the shirt completely and stepped back. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he asked, "What?"
Sakura looked between the two. She had guessed whom Sasuke meant the moment he said it and wondered if she was right. She had a feeling she was.
Sasuke kept his eyes on Naruto. He didn't blink when he said, "I meant me."
Naruto took another step back. "Wha—What?"
Sakura frowned. She had been correct, in a bittersweet kind of way. "Sasuke-kun, you're not an idiot."
Sasuke shook his head, clenched his fists again, and glared at the wall behind Naruto. He didn't seem very comfortable about this conversation, if the way his eyes were starting to turn red was any indication. "Yes. I am. I chased after revenge and got it. But after everything I went through to get it, after I longed for it for so long, I'm still not happy. I must be an idiot."
Unlike Naruto, Sakura stepped towards the bed. "Sasuke-kun…"
He looked at her, the rage completely gone from his face.
"Sasuke-kun, I—"
The door burst open and the nurse Naruto had been unintentionally annoying to ran in with two medic-nins Sakura recognized. She immediately stepped back from the bed.
The nurse glared and Naruto and said, "I told you. Only one visitor at a time."
Naruto was about to retort when Sakura said, "He is the visitor. I've been doing an examination on this patient. You could report me to Hokage-sama, but I'm sure she'll be on my side."
Sakura glared at the nurse as if to say, "If you so much as touch either Naruto or Sasuke-kun, I will make sure you regret it."
The nurse backed towards the door. "S—Sorry, Sakura-san."
She ran out of the room, followed by the medic-nins, who were afraid of Sakura's strength.
Sasuke, who had been watching this little confrontation, was taken aback. Why were they afraid of the pink-haired girl ninja who he had had to protect countless times in their youth? Had her training with the Hokage made her worthy of fear?
Apparently.
Later, after Naruto apologized to him, and Sakura left without saying a word, Sasuke was talking to Tsunade again. They—well, it was mostly Tsunade doing the talking. She was definitely going to need some sake when this was all over—were discussing what would happen when he left the hospital.
"I've talked with the council. They agree with me that the Akatsuki will try to avenge Uchiha Itachi."
Sasuke frowned.
"Just this morning, I placed every single Jounin on alert. They, in turn, have warned the Chuunin and Genin."
"I can take care of myself," he said suddenly.
Tsunade looked up from the papers she was holding, surprised. "You can't be serious. One person can't defeat the Akatsuki."
"Then I'll die trying."
Tsunade glared. "Don't be ridiculous. If you even try to run away again, I'll put you on probation until the day you die. You are not going to fight the Akatsuki on your own."
Sasuke turned to face her. "Fine. But I want to chose who I fight with."
Tsunade stopped glaring at him and raised an eyebrow. "This is getting interesting. All right, who?"
"Put me on Team Kakashi."
Sakura sighed as she watched Naruto eat his third bowl of ramen. She hadn't even gotten halfway through with hers.
"I'm going to kill Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said between mouthfuls.
"Naruto, don't talk with your mouth full," she said simply. She may have looked complacent, but on the inside, she was frantic.
What are we going to do? Nothing will ever be the same with Sasuke back. It can't go back to the way things were. And my feelings have returned. If I ever lost them, anyway. And Naruto may look okay with Sasuke calling himself an idiot, but he's still confused and angry. Really, really angry.
And how did he survive those injuries? According to the chart I noticed on the bedside table, Tsunade-sensei had to have Shizune-san help her.
Sakura gasped. Naruto stopped shoveling pork into his mouth and looked at her worriedly.
"Sakura-chan? What's wrong?"
Sakura just shook her head. "Nothing, really. I'm just thinking about what everyone's going to do when they find out Sasuke-kun is back."
She could tell by the way he watched her face carefully that Naruto knew she was lying. Instead of asking for a truthful answer, however, he asked, "'Everyone' as in other shinobi, or 'everyone' as in the entire village?"
Sakura smiled slightly at the image of a mob chasing Sasuke down the streets of Konoha.
"The entire village," she said, smiling bigger.
In her mind, however, Inner Sakura was quieter than usual.
He said he got revenge.
Did he really kill Uchiha Itachi?
Sasuke was released from the hospital after Tsunade left with the promise that she'd put him on Team Kakashi after he'd received punishment. Her promise made him hopeful, because normally, traitors of the village—S-class criminals—were executed. That would put a constraint on his plans. Tsunade, sensing his slight happiness at not dying yet, confused it for happiness at being back with the other members of Team Seven.
"After all," she'd said, "old comrades know each other more than they know themselves. Just don't snap and try to kill Naruto if he gets too annoying."
Sasuke had smirked at that.
Reluctantly, he thought, I've already almost killed him once, and if it weren't for the curse seal, I would've failed before I even had the chance to kill him. With two Sannin senseis, my fire jutsu, his shadow replication jutsu, the sharingan, and the kyuubi, it'd be hard to even scratch each other.
And by the looks of it, Sakura has also gotten stronger.
I wonder if she'd allow me to fight her. The only other medic-nin I've fought was Kabuto.
He glared at the ground as he walked on.
He was the easiest to kill.
When he arrived at his destination, he stood at the gate and stared for a few minutes.
The same paint.
The same wood.
The same symbol.
For the first time in years, he was home.
As she was contemplating Sasuke's words, Sakura suddenly remembered what Naruto had tried to ask her in the forest.
"Naruto?"
He looked up from the now almost-empty bowl. "Yeah?"
"What were you trying to ask me before all this happened? Back in the forest on the way to get the scroll?"
Naruto blushed slightly again. "Ano…ano…"
Sakura smiled at him. "Is it a girl who's bothering you so much?"
Naruto slammed a fist down on the table and Sakura jumped, startled.
"She'd never bother anyone, dattebayo!" he shouted.
Passerby gave them strange looks.
"N…Naruto, calm down." Sakura blushed. "I didn't mean that literally."
Naruto stopped glowering at her and said, "Gomen. It's just that…ano…I think I like someone."
Inner Sakura, revived from depression at Naruto's shyness about girls, shouted.
I KNEW IT!
Real Sakura just grinned. "Oh, really? Do you want to talk about it? I could give you some tips."
Naruto looked astounded. "You'd help me? Really?"
"Of course!" Sakura exclaimed. "You're my friend, aren't you?"
Naruto grinned too. "You're a great friend, Sakura."
This time it was Sakura who blushed.
"You're just saying that," she teased.
Naruto pondered this for a moment. "You're right. Now tell me these tips."
Sakura clenched her fists. "Naruto!"
He didn't realize that she was going to punch him in time.
"Baka! If you think I'm helping you after you insult me like that, you're wrong!"
Naruto cowered on the floor, clutching his injured head. "Ow, Sakura-chan! That hurt!"
"I'll hurt you even more the next time you insult me when I'm having a bad day," she warned him before taking the last bite of her ramen. "Now get off the floor. You look stupid, baka."
Tsunade sighed as she propped her feet up on her desk and leaned back in her chair. Shizune had gone out to get more sake in order to reward the Godaime, who had finished her paperwork for that day early.
Shizune didn't know that Tsunade had hidden at least a third of the stack under some notebooks in the second drawer on the left when Shizune was preoccupied with an exasperated Konohamaru.
She chuckled when she remembered what the young Chuunin had said a few weeks after he became a Genin.
He really thinks Naruto will become the sixth Hokage, she thought. And something tells me that he's not the only one.
Naruto sat at Team Seven's old training grounds. He stared at the three logs sticking up straight out of the ground and felt a bit nostalgic. When he had thought of Sasuke being back when he parted ways with Sakura earlier, he'd remembered the last time they saw each other and became overwhelmed with anger.
So he tried to think of somewhere in Konoha where the three of them—and their sensei, of course—had been together, happy.
And where else to go but where they first trained together?
"N…Naruto…kun?" a quiet voice said, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He jumped up and nearly knocked the poor girl over.
"Oh! Sorry!" he shouted, reaching out to grab her arm. "Hinata-chan?"
She blushed slightly. He hadn't let go of her arm. "Yes, Naruto-kun. I…ano…I was just…"
He watched her with a small grin on his face.
"I was just wondering if you would train with me tomorrow?" she rushed out.
Naruto tilted his head. "Sure, what time?"
"Um, is seven okay…?"
Naruto grinned wider and did the 'nice guy pose' that she was now familiar with. "All right! Just don't be late! See ya later!"
Hinata watched Naruto run off.
Where is he going? Wasn't I supposed to leave after asking for a favor?
Confused but happy, she started walking in the direction of the Hyuuga district. She was certain that the next day would be a lot of fun.
…under a windowsill, they all were found…
…a touch of concrete within the doorway…
…without a sound…
Sasuke opened the gate to the Uchiha district warily. He hadn't been here in person since the massacre. Since then, he had only seen it in nightmares.
As he stepped forward, he suddenly felt Kakashi's chakra behind him. He whipped around and watched his former sensei walk toward him with his hands in his pockets.
When they were two meters apart, Kakashi stopped and nodded. "Sasuke."
Sasuke replied with a, "Hn."
Kakashi grinned behind his mask. "Had enough talking today?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not saying anything. Kakashi, however, understood.
"I heard about your meeting with Naruto and Sakura."
The young man's face showed no shock as he said, "The room was wired."
Kakashi nodded. "Well, it's to be expected. You did betray the village. The Hokage-sama was just following procedure."
"If she was following procedure, why am I not being executed?" Sasuke hissed. He was getting impatient. Wasting time was not a favorable thing to do for the Uchiha, especially while standing in front of the place his entire family was murdered.
His former sensei ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You'll find out soon. Tsunade-sama wanted me to give this to you."
He reached into a pocket and pulled out a scroll.
"Are those orders?" Sasuke inquired, nodding at the object.
"Hai." Kakashi tossed it lazily to Sasuke, who caught it easily. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke pocketed the scroll and looked once more at the gate. From what he could see, the streets were clean and the buildings were freshly painted. Raising an eyebrow, he took a few steps inside. Everything looked just as it had before that fateful day when his whole life turned upside down. It seemed weird without all the people.
Sasuke reached up to brush his fingers against an emblem painted on the wall next to him. He traced the edges of the Uchiha fan with his fingertips.
It had been repainted, too.
But who would've done that?
Who would even take the time to do a task that probably wouldn't be seen?
His questioning thoughts stopped when he remembered something.
"'I'll do anything for you'," he whispered, closing his eyes.
Sakura.
(Song lyrics from "Save Me" by Shinedown)