Sasuke woke, feeling like a heavy weight was inside his entire body, he felt exhausted, dreary, and very dazed. He didn't try to open his eyes, not just yet. He felt the stiff, cold metal beneath him, the leather tying his arms and forearms behind his back as he was seated in a chair. His legs and calves were tied the same way and he could feel the leather fabric over his eyes. He shifted when he heard the loud bang of a door opening and closing and approaching footsteps. They were the footsteps of someone with a limp to their left leg and the light sound of their footsteps told him they were a seasoned and experienced ninja, that and the very slight sense of chakra he could feel. He tensed as soon as the fog cleared from his mind and it registered that it was Ibiki. 'I'm in Konoha . . . damn her . . .'
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Is this really necessary . . . I do not own Naruto, but Samara is mine along with any other characters that are obviously not from Naruto.
Naruto fidgeted in the hokage's office while he stood next to Sai, Sakura, and Kakashi. He was irritated that Sai had shown up, but more irritated that Tsunade was taking her sweet time telling them what the council was going to do. They had reached their decision only that morning. Sasuke had been kept sedated for five days straight and the four of them were temporarily told to remain in the village until the decision was made. That was something Tsunade had been adamant about.
They had been standing there for ten minutes while Tsunade finished reading through the councils orders on how to deal with Sasuke. She'd made them wait until late in the evening before calling them to her office when she was nearly finished reading it. She'd done so because she knew it would piss Naruto off and she owed him for the last defeat he'd delivered to her at a game of poker. She'd lost one thousand yen to the brat. She grimaced when she noticed his sentence was going to be rough, knowing it would anger the two teammates in front of her. She finished reading and closed the file with a heavy sigh. Then she interlaced her fingers together and brought them up to her lips as she mulled over how she would tell them.
Naruto grew even more irritated, he may have grown stronger and more mature, but he was never very patient. Even after turning eighteen and becoming a jonin, he couldn't stand waiting on anything. He would do it during a mission, but damn it, this wasn't a mission.
He growled and then yelled out, no one even flinching because they were used to him by now.
''Baa-chan, what the hell did they say?''
She moved her hands down with a sigh and then she stood up and looked directly at him. Naruto met her eyes and then averted his own. He hated how she could see right through him sometimes, but he did notice the sympathy and concern in her eyes. His stomach twisted in knots, that meant it wasn't anything good.
Tsunade sat back down and looked at Sai, ''As you three can stand on your own, I don't see a need for your service, please leave Sai.''
Sai nodded, giving her that fake smile of his and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tsunade glanced over at Kakashi sitting on the window seal of the window to her right reading his book. She felt a sharp pang in her heart, at seeing the book Kakashi always read. She glared at him and hissed, ''Kakashi, put that book away and come -into- the office.''
Kakashi closed his book and stepped from the window to lean against the wall beside it. He put his book in his back pocket and watched her. She sighed, but resigned that it was better than nothing.
She looked back to Naruto and Sakura and then let her gaze focus on the closed door behind them. She couldn't manage to see the hurt, anger, and pain that would pass through their eyes at what she had to say. It was because they were teammates to Sasuke and that Naruto was her adopted brat and Sakura her protege that she even considered telling them anything. Kakashi was there to help smooth things over and keep them from going on a rampage.
''The council . . . '' they both tensed, she continued; ''has decided that Ibiki is to interrogate him. If Ibiki declares him innocent or if he presents evidence that Sasuke will remain in Konoha, then he will be placed on house arrest for three years. He will be able to be a ninja again one day, when the council and I deem that it will be safe to do so. But it may be a long time, if ever, before he will be able to leave the village. It is not definite how long because they wish to see how things progress. However, if he tries to escape or is found disloyal at all, he is to be executed.'' She left out the part of him having to leave a means to continue the Uchiha bloodline. Their village was not willing to let the Uchiha bloodline die out completely.
Naruto took shallow breaths and then deep ones after Sakura interlaced their fingers together. He glanced at her and immediately calmed at the wamrth in her eyes. Sakura turned back to Tsunade and asked calmly, ''Is there a time for how long he will remain in the prison?''
Tsunade sighed, ''No, that is up to his interrogator.''
''Was he healed or anything before . . . '' Naruto began to ask, but he couldn't stand to say the rest.
Tsunade gave a very slight now, ''He was healed of mortal wounds, but that was all. He will only be healed again afterwards.''
Kakashi finally decided to say something, ''Hokage-sama, what of the woman that had infiltrated the village shortly after Sasuke-kun's arrival?''
She glared at him, ''She escaped, you will be joining the lookouts since you seem so concerned about it.''
She glared even more when she saw, as always, no reaction from him other than a nod and, ''Yes, Hokage-sama.''
Then he was gone in a puff of smoke that made her scoff in annoyance, ''Damn that Kakashi,'' she said under her breath. She calmed and looked to Naruto and Sakura again. ''You two are dismissed, you will only be getting nine more days of leave. You two will have to return to your missions after that time.''
Naruto looked about ready to argue that, but Sakura spoke before him, ''Yes Hokage-sama.''
Then she left pulling Naruto behind her. Tsunade sighed and thought to herself, 'At least she has the decency to walk out of the office first.'
Sakura walked down the stairs from the tower with her fingers still interlaced with Naruto's. She could sense an uneasiness about him, that and frustration. She remained silent, knowing he would eventually say something. Sure enough, once they were walking through the village again he stopped and looked at her bringing her to an abrupt stop.
She glared for a moment and then softened her expression, ''Naruto?''
He sighed, ''Are you glad he's back?''
Sakura's heart clenched and her breath hitched from the worry in his voice and the down cast of his eyes. She sighed and lifted her free hand to cup his cheek and ran her thumb tenderly over the whisker scars.
She then said softly, ''Naruto, look at me.''
He slowly lifted his eyes and locked his blue eyes with her green ones. She hesitated for a millisecond, the blue of his eyes always caught her off gaurd.
''I am only glad he came back because I know that makes you happy. But believe me when I say that I love you, not him. I've told you this before, I did love him, 'did.' I love you Naruto.''
He smiled softly and brought his hand over hers on her cheek, his smile bringing a light to his eyes that brought an even deeper blue to his impossibly blue eyes. ''I love you too Sakura.''
She smiled brightly, a warmth in her eyes, and then she turned to walk back down the street. It wasn't that she didn't like public displays of affection, that was something that Naruto felt uncomfortable with. He never minded an arm around her waist, holding her hand, or hugs, but anything else in public was out of the question for him. She found it ironic, he was so loud and obnoxious all the time, it was hard to believe he didn't like p.d.a. They walked towards the training ground, a place they often went to meet with the rest of the rookie nine on saturdays. It had somehow become a tradition.
When they arrived Neji, Tenten, Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, Lee, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata were there waiting for them talking amongst themselves. Kiba had his arms wrapped around Hinata's waist, which had her blushing madly and Neji glaring even though he was standing with an arm around Tenten's shoulders. Shikamaru sat lazily under a tree with Ino sitting next to him talking to Chouji and Lee. They all stopped and looked up at seeing Sakura and Naruto come onto the training grounds.
Chouji and Lee moved over towards them while Kiba nearly pounced in front of Naruto forcing him to let go of Sakura's hand and jump back. Shikamaru was pulled to his feet grudgingly and then dragged over to them. Then Ino clung to her best friend and pleaded, ''Sakura, Sakura, tell me what is going on.''
Kiba got Naruto into a head lock and gave him a noogey before Naruto shoved him away and glared at him then turned back to Sakura. Sakura shook Ino off her and looked around at everyone. Neji stood leaned against one of the tree stumps with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Hinata stood next to Tenten who had an eager look on her face. Shikamaru looked bored, Chouji was eating a bag of potato chips while he stood before them. Lee looked pointedly at Naruto expectantly.
They'd all grown into their own, matured, looked much closer to adults now than before. Hinata and Sakura had let their hair grow longer, reaching down to their waist. But Sakura kept hers tied back in a tightly woven braid when she was on missions. They were no longer kids, they were women and men now, in their late teens. Neji, Lee, and Tenten, being two years older were now in their twenties. Tenten and Neji were even engaged to be married and Lee was dating, now engaged to a non ninja woman named Julia. Somehow, Shikamaru and Ino were steady and had been dating for two years, after Shikamaru and Temari had broken up. That had nearly got them into a war with Suna, but then Gaara was talked out of it by his now wife Jania.
''So what did they say, is he going to be executed?''
Naruto flinched at the blunt question from Shikamaru. Sakura sighed and glared at him before saying; ''It hasn't been decided yet. He has to undergo interrogation . . . ''
Ino cut her off to say horrified, ''You mean torture . . . ''
Shikamaru glared at her then said with a slight angry tone in his voice, ''He betrayed our village, of course he has to pay a price for that.''
She glared at him before beaming and latching onto his arm which earned her another glare and a sigh from Shikamaru.
''You're jealous Shika,'' she said in a voice that made even Naruto cringe.
Lee said enthusiastically, ''Well, he is still full of youth so he will be fine.''
Sakura hung her head with a sigh and a hand on her forehead. She raised her head and ran her hand over her face. Naruto grinned at him and then put an arm around his shoulder and said with the same enthusiasm, ''Yup, you're right bushy brows, he will be fine.''
Sakura shook her head and thanked the heavens when Neji said in a indifferent tone; ''So what will be his penalties afterwards?''
Sakura looked over at him and said evenly, ''He will spend three years on house arrest, and then it will be up to the council and Hokage-sama as to whether he can become a ninja again or ever go on mission outside the village. It depends on his actions and whether he is found loyal or that he won't leave again.''
''That's it, that's all he gets?'' Tenten asked, she looked pretty pissed as well. ''He was nearly responsible for five of our comrads deaths, and that's all he gets.''
Naruto released Lee and glared at her, ''Well, think about it Tenten-chan, he's an Uchiha, of course that's it.''
She turned on him, glaring, ''He nearly got all of you killed when you went after him. Do you have any idea how close Neji and Chouji-kun were to death? Do you have any idea how close you were to death? Just a centimeter closer and he would have ripped out your heart. He was your teammate, you two were best friends right, and he did that to you. Imagine what will happen if he tries to escape again.''
Sakura stepped up to Naruto and grabbed him around the waist from behind to keep him from moving to yell in Tenten's face. But that didn't keep the anger from his voice or stop him from saying, ''Yes I do know, I was there, I was one of the ones that almost died going after him. I was his friend, I am his friend. If he leaves again, then I will go after him alone to save everyone here the trouble.''
''Naruto,'' Sakura said into his ear from behind him. His anger was too great at the moment for her to be able to calm him with the gesture. He continued glaring at Tenten and Neji had moved to stand beside her. Everyone else had moved back, but they were tense and looked ready to stop the fight or fight back themselves.
Tenten's voice rose angrily, ''Exactly, you're supposed to be his damn friend and you were the closest to dying, something he did with his own hands. And yet you want him to be let free, to return to this village.''
Neji sighed softly behind her, but it went unnoticed. He knew where this was going and wished she would stop before she touched on a touchy subject.
''What the hell did you expect when he was so adamant about leaving, we were rivals. We are shinobi, missions always put our lives on the line. I went knowing he might kill me for trying to stop him. I don't care, because I am his friend, because I . . . ''
''Because you what, you know him? Don't make me laugh Naruto-kun, no one knows a damn thing about Sasuke Uchiha,'' she said his name with venom. ''That is just another thing that makes him so dangerous.''
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and Sakura tightened her arms around his waist and whispered, ''Naruto, calm down, let her talk. She doesn't know him like you do, like either or us do. Let it go.''
Naruto took a deep breath and Sakura knew from how tense he was that he was still angry. He kept his eyes closed and said in a low, angry, dangerous voice, ''I do know him, don't start that argument with me.''
Tenten flared and yelped when Neji grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from the group. He cupped her mouth with his hand to prevent her from saying anything more and nodded to everyone in farewell. Naruto calmed himself with the help of Sakura's soft spoken words and her arms wrapped around his waist from behind giving him soothing warmth. He pulled away from her and walked over to one of the stumps before sitting on the ground in front of it and leaning back against it with his arms crossed.
Shikamaru looked to everyone and said, ''We should get going, thanks for the update.'' Naruto and Sakura nodded to him and he started to walk away. Ino gave a short farewell and raced after him to latch onto his arm. Chouji followed them with a wave over his shoulder. Lee smiled at them, ''Thank you.''
They nodded and Lee was gone, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata having made a quiet retreat. Akamaru coming out of the forest around them from nowhere to follow Kiba. Sakura sighed and moved over to Naruto and sat down beside him.
''She doesn't know what she's talking about Naruto. But you should expect that kind of argument from anyone.''
Naruto nodded and turned his gaze to the sky, ''Yeah, I know that . . . what really made me angry is that maybe the council and Tsunade-baa-chan think the same. It wasn't until I was told I was the Yondaime's son that I came to know what it was like to loose a family member, and Ja-Jaraiya-sama as well . . . it really made me start to understand some of what he was feeling . . . ''
Sakura smiled sadly at the honorific to Jaraiya's name, Naruto had started addressing him that way after he'd died. After he'd found out that Jaraiya was his god father, the Yondaime's sensei and mentor. He'd found so much out after that code was broken, had delved into the novels written by Jaraiya, had asked the toads for the rest.
He'd sought out the knowledge that had been kept from him his whole life. But even though it gave him a feeling of belonging, it hurt more now that he knew he had belonged, and he lost them. He lost his mother and father before he could even know them, and his godfather before he knew he was his godfather.
He'd wasted so much time, and it had taken him months to get through Jaraiya's novels. He was glad to learn about his father, how he was, what they had in common, how very much he was just like him. It has torn him to pieces after he knew everything, it had ripped him apart because now he knew what he never had, and that made the initial lost seem like nothing compared to knowing he'd lost them all over again, actually knowing what it was he'd lost.
He had resigned after that to search for a seal that would completely seal the fox and refused to ever use that chakra again. Then through his sage training after Jaraiya died, he managed to seal the fox and pull on his power. He never had to hear his voice, he only drained his energy and that was it. He was no longer at risk to be taken over unless he was near death. But then he would still have control, he would not become a mindless monster.
He looked over at Sakura and smiled to see her gazing at him intently, a light blush dusting his cheeks. He scratched the back of his neck, ''Umm . . . I guess we should be heading back, before it gets too late.''
Sakura stood, ''I guess so,'' she stretched and looked at him as he moved to stand. She held out her hand and when he took it she pulled him to his feet. They walked hand in hand again towards Sakura's apartment. She was wearing the same outfit as she'd started to wear when she turned fifteen. It was a white, short sleeved undershirt with a pink, zip up vest, white shorts over slightly longer, black, skin tight shorts. She'd grown into a well curved figure, she wasn't too big or too small, she was toned but still had a femininity to her.
Naruto had grown to stand two inches taller than her, around five foot eleven. (171 cm-I think). His blond hair was even brighter and spikier, she'd tried to tame his hair, but it never worked. It was surprisingly soft even though it was spiky. He'd grown into a toned body, his shoulders broad, his back and chest firm and muscular, his stomach flat and enough muscle there as well. He wasn't overly muscular, but he wasn't slim anymore, he no longer had that baby fat. His features had sharpened and he looked so much like his father that no one could deny he was the fourth hokage's son, they couldn't ignore it either. It had been announced by Tsunade and because of the kids and the rookie nine, he didn't have to suffer the harsh, hateful words anymore. But he still got the glares and hateful looks from the adults, something he found no longer bothered him now that he had friends that cared about him and his family, Tsunade and Iruka.
They walked silently, enjoying the peace and comfort from being near one another. Sakura's mother and father detested Naruto, often gave her grief, but she often ignored them. She turned at her door with a smile, ''Thanks for walking me home Naruto, try to get some sleep tonight.''
He nodded and then pulled her to him, their hands were still interlaced. She smiled and didn't stop him, she lifted her head and on instinct closed her eyes as his lips pressed lightly to hers. She felt light headed from the simple act and licked her lips as he pulled away. She opened her eyes to look into his gazing down at her and reluctantly pulled away.
They jumped when there was a sharp knock on the window and Sakura sighed. She smiled warmly at him, ''I will see you tomorrow Naruto, good night.''
Naruto nodded, ''Yeah, good night Sakura-chan.''
He watched her walked up to her door and after she unlocked and opened it she pasued and looked over her shoulder at him for a moment. He smiled and she returned his smile and then walked inside, closing and locking the door behind her. Naruto took a depe breath and then leapt to the rooftops to head home. He hated leaving her, but he really didn't want to hear whatever her parents had to say about him. One time had been enough, and when they yelled you could hear them a block away.