AN: I almost contemplated not writing this chapter. I'm tired of happy endings. But I want to give this a bit more closure first. But be warned there might not be a happy ending.
Sasuke didn't know when Naruto had gone, but when the Sharingan user looked up, he was no where in sight. It really didn't matter anymore. She was right. They had been stupid and he was kicking himself for not realizing that. Of course she would be furious if Konoha was put in danger because of them. Though at the same time too, living had been a rather important priority on his to do list. If he hadn't fought back Naruto would have easily killed him.
He sighed raking a hand through mussed bangs, wincing as his entire body was sore. Miscellaneous wounds lined him and his hands were burnt from the amount and power of chakra he'd channeled through them. Every muscle ached from the strain he'd put on himself and the areas where Naruto had actually managed to touch were deeply bruised, if not severely damaged tissue beneath his epidermis. He couldn't imagine what his chakra coils looked like. He didn't want to.
Tsunade strode towards him, hazel eyes narrowing as she came. Sasuke's sigh echoed. He had never appreciated the Godaime hokage, perhaps a bias from his childhood.
"Hokage sama" he greeted, not quite looking her in the eye. She knelt by him, chakra entering his body as she diagnosed him.
"Let me help you up. You need medical attention" She said golden eyebrows drawn.
The medic in her was speaking. They said nothing else, as she helped him limp towards the group of medic nin waiting. They sat him down on a makeshift bed someone had summoned and the four medic nins went to work. Sasuke stared blankly, not even feeling the healing chakra as he thought of the situation at hand. Sakura had quit…but what did that mean? Was she done with the both of them? And then he knew, and the emotional surge summoned Sharingan tomoe that whirled, as his fists clenched.
"Uchiha san, please don't move" one of the medics stammered and Sasuke fixed narrowed Sharingan eyes on her. They flared, tomoe whirling faster as Sasuke's entire body clenched, and he made a move to get up.
"Stop moving, Uchiha" Tsunade ordered with a growl.
Sasuke fixed baleful sharingan on the blonde Godaime and with a sneer of his lips, but stayed put for the moment. He looked down to see his hands, arms, each individual finger bandaged. Half his chest, his collarbone, and neck were wrapped. Currently the medics were cutting away at his pants as they worked on his feet and calves.
"Mind explaining to me just what the hell you were thinking?" She said.
"Chee" Sasuke muttered.
"I'm afraid that's not going to be good enough to put in the report, Sasuke Kun." Tsunade replied, crossing her arms.
"Maybe you should ask Dobe about it. I'm sure he would have so much to say" Sasuke said bitingly.
"I'm asking you." Tsunade retorted.
"You wouldn't like my version" Sasuke shrugged and winced.
A medic nin saw the gesture and went to work on his upper back, cooling chakra filling him as he relaxed.
"Try me" Tsunade said.
"Last night I infiltrated the Hyuuga compound to visit one Haruno Sakura. Upon doing so, I agreed to meet with Dobe this morning on the training grounds to discuss the business of one Haruno Sakura with him. Dobe threatened me and summoned his clones. He was already under the guise of the Kyuubi and I was given no choice but to fight for my life and try to keep him from growing a fourth tail. He nearly killed me, strangling me when your apprentice showed up and you know the rest." Sasuke mock saluted.
"And just how long have you been sleeping with my apprentice" Tsunade practically snarled.
"Since when have the personal relations of any ninja been required in an Anbu report?" Sasuke's eyebrow arched, black eyes blazing in anger at her interference.
"Since idiots like you and the brat start kage level fights in their homeland over said relations." Tsunade returned, angrily.
"I have never had sexual relations with your apprentice, though I won't deny desiring such relations. It was her who tried to tell Naruto the truth the previous night at the Hyuuga compound. I arrived this morning to tell him and to talk about it but he didn't give me the chance. The idiot didn't listen, and apparently overheard us in her room the previous night"
"How careless of you both" She said, fists clenched.
"I realize you're angry, or maybe even disappointed at team seven, but the lack of professionalism-"
"Angry? Disappointed? Oh you really have No fathomable idea of the concept, Uchiha." Tsunade spat, hazel eyes burning.
"Then tell me how being passive aggressive with me is helping grasp such an unfathomable concept" Sasuke retorted.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed.
"You have no idea what you have done here. I have to try to find a way to explain to the council why three of my top ninja were fighting each other on Konoha soil, managed to critically injure eleven others, not including those minor injured which we still haven't tallied yet, and destroy the surrounding countryside and training fields in the midst of a fight that shouldn't have happened in the first place." She paused taking a shuddering breath
"And deal with a boy who nearly lost himself to the monster inside him again over his best friend betraying him…again." Tsunade snarled shaking in fury.
"Oh and this time, both of his precious teammates abandoned him, one being the love of his life, the only person who didn't leave him the first time. And the other being his best friend; whom he had given up everything for, to find, in the first place." Tsunade finished, trembling in silent rage.
"You have no right even begin to criticize ME about professionalism, Uchiha." Tsunade spat.
"You'll be lucky if they don't crucify team seven for this. You might have cost Naruto his Hokageship over this little tirade and Sakura the position as head of the hospital. But I suppose none of these factors even occurred to you as you entered into unwanted relations with my apprentice, did it?" Tsunade accused.
Sasuke glared as he rose to his feet. "Unwanted relations. Chee" He spat, eyes flaming as he met her glare head on. "Don't act like you know me."
"You don't know anything about me. About them. I didn't do this to hurt them, either of them. I didn't mean for any of this to happen" He said arms spread, referring to the surrounding country side.
"But it did, didn't it? And now your team will have to bear the consequences of your costly decisions… again" Tsunade replied.
"I love her" He snarled. "I have ALWAYS loved her, even when I couldn't find the words to say it or the actions to show it."
"And you certainly showed it this time" Tsunade said sarcastically, eyes narrowing, gesturing to the still burning forest that was slowly being put out with water jutsu and restored with earth jutsu.
"This was inevitable. I am sorry that I hurt both of them. Hell, I'm even sorry that my actions could be construed as a betrayal in Konoha's eyes. I'm sorry that you're angry or disappointed in me because your two precious top ninja got hurt in the process." Sasuke gave, feeling like he was being more than gracious in his apology.
"But if you had the goddamn psychic powers or foreknowledge or whatever arrogant wisdom you claim to know that this would have happened in the first place then in Kami sama's name why didn't you stop it?" Sasuke challenged.
"Because if I had broken up team seven, it would have crippled all three of you, physically and emotionally." Tsunade replied evenly.
"I trusted your maturity and growth. I believed that all of you, not just Naruto and Sakura, but you could overcome the hatred that you've experienced and be a better person because of it." She said, words firm.
"I believed team seven could overcome anything after you returned. I trusted you. And you betrayed it, as you do with all your bonds. You threw it away." Tsunade snapped.
"I've got news for you, Hokage sama. I am not Orochimaru. And you can not blame me for the baggage you've carried because of him and your dead team with you through out your reign." Sasuke said, getting up from the makeshift bed and limping away.
"Is that all you're good for Sasuke? Is turning your back on those that care for you? On the teammates, and country that you swore to protect?" Tsunade challenged, choking on tears she hadn't meant to let fall.
Sasuke turned and fixed Sharingan on her with a deadly glare. "You have no right to criticize me for walking away when you did the very same damn thing years before." He told her firmly.
"I am not running away. I have never run away. I left the village to seek the power to destroy the mistake paid with by the blood of my family, the mistake that Konoha made in the past. I came back to change the future. There will never again be such a costly mistake again while I live and breathe." He told her fiercely.
"and I will stay and take whatever punishment deemed necessary; whatever punishment you deem necessary. I will bear the consequences of the entire team if I have to; if you're looking for someone to blame it on then you can go ahead and add it to my list of offenses against the village. But I will not put up with your trash any longer." He said, limping away.
"…." Tsunade stared at his retreating figure.
……………………………………………..
Naruto sat huddled in his old apartment, the apartment that the third had given him. The apartment that had horrible things written on the walls. Holes and scratches and dents from people breaking and entering and breaking some more. Words written across those walls in red, about the kyuubi; about him. Naruto laid within the pile of blankets he had left there, blankets the he had huddled under when he had cried himself to sleep at nights as a toddler.
Dulled blue eyes stared out at the setting sun, and Naruto couldn't seem to muster the energy to get himself up, even to eat his preferred diet of beloved ramen. He had ruined everything. He had nearly killed his best friend, had caused Sakura Chan to leave, had destroyed and hurt the people of Konoha through the Kyuubi; the people he had sworn to protect as a ninja. He had lost control and the Kyuubi had taken over and hurt everything that he had cared about because he was jealous. Gods he was so stupid, a Dobe exactly like Sasuke called him. How could he do that to his family, to his precious people who he loved and would give his very life for?
He heard the window open but it didn't matter. Whoever wanted his worthless life could take it at this point. Naruto sat there on the floor, face pressed into the carpet as he stared into nowhere.
"The landlady might have a problem with you breaking and entering. This isn't your apartment anymore" Sai said.
"The apartment's condemned." Naruto returned flatly, not moving from his spot on the floor.
"You haven't been here for a while, Dickless. A dog returning to his own vomit is as wretched as it is pathetic" Sai replied.
"Tsunade baa chan is busy with Sakura, Kakashi with Teme, and the best they could do for me was you wasn't it? I wasn't even important enough for Neji" He said.
"Nope." Sai replied with a smile. "I volunteered to be the one to kick your ass, Dickless."
"Consider it kicked. Go'way" He murmured, burying himself under the blankets.
"Not even going to give me a good fight then?" Sai questioned, bending down to prod the blanketed fox bearer with his foot.
"Meh.." Naruto's muffled reply resounded, and then Sai really kicked him hard, sending Naruto flying into the wall.
He cried out, rebounding off the wall and falling haphazardly onto the couch as he sat up.
"Goddamnit Sai, I'm gonna kick your pasty ass!" He snarled, summoning his chakra.
"That's more like it, Dickless." Sai grinned recklessly, holding his sword and a paintbrush in hand.
Naruto stopped, pausing, realizing what he was doing. "Damn it.." He said sinking onto the couch.
"Damn. And here I thought I was doing so well" Sai replied, crossing his legs as he sat and regarded his blonde whisker cheeked teammate with a thoughtful look. Naruto said nothing feeling the tears again as his fists clenched on the knees of his pant legs.
"Sakura-Taishou-Hag tells me that when I see that look on someone's face, I'm supposed to ask 'What is bothering you' with a forlorn look on my face to show my concern" Sai said with a smile.
"You're not succeeding and I'm sure as hell not doing what Sakura chan wants Dattebayo." Naruto replied grumpily.
"Then tell me Dickless, why we went to all the trouble for so many years of bringing back fake for you to nearly kill him this morning? Perhaps that might be a more beneficial topic of discussion" Sai supplied, with a grin.
"You wouldn't understand, you pasty assed freak" Naruto snarled.
"So you've looked at my ass before Dickless?"
Naruto spluttered, red faced in his rage. "I know what you're trying to do. I already said you wouldn't get it. So just leave me alone, Okay?" Naruto said, forlorn.
"Wouldn't understand that Sakura-Hag loves the both of you, so much that she was willing to walk away from our team, from everything she loved to keep you from killing each other this morning? Wouldn't understand that she tried to tell you the truth, only for you to turn on your so called brother? Is that what I'm not supposed to understand?" Sai retorted black eyes holding his.
Naruto glared sullenly at the ex anbu root member and averted his gaze.
"I may not be capable of displaying such strong emotions, Dickless, but that does not mean that I am incapable of reading them." Sai replied.
"And in case you've forgotten, You and Fake are not the only ones who will suffer from Sakura-Hag's decision to leave team seven, or have you forgotten me and Kakashi senpai?" He retorted, brow twitching in the only form of anger the painter nin could manage.
"Of course you didn't. You've never considered me a part of team seven. Not really. And as soon as Sasuke came back, you went along with him. Sakura-Hag was the only one who remembered, who bothered." Sai replied.
Naruto grimaced. He had focused on Sasuke when he returned and hadn't really spent a whole like of time with Sai after that happened. He felt the guilt gnaw at him.
"I won't pretend to understand the jealousy or the rage you feel at being supposedly betrayed by Fake and Sakura-Hag. But at the same time I can't condone your stupidity, carelessness, or lack of control as a shinobi. Did you even bother to listen to Fake or Sakura-Hag explain to you exactly what you think happened?" Sai asked.
"No, you destroyed a good portion of Konoha based off of what you thought you knew. Ninja never assume. Grow up and get a hold of yourself, Dickless. And I don't mean to masturbate" Sai poofed out of existence as a volley of kunai hit the wall around him.
And Naruto sighed in defeat and resignation. As much as he hated it, and he did hate it with a loathing that nearly rivaled how he felt about himself for the moment, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that….Sai was right….. Damn it.
…………………………………………….
Sakura broke down on the forest floor, pounding her fists into the dirt as she cried. It was a good thing she lacked the control to expend the chakra in her fury; her sorrow or she might have leveled Konoha. Instead she choked on dust, and lay in it, her tears mixing with the dirt as she shook with the sobs. Sakura crumbled, utterly defeated and torn.
She felt his presence but it didn't matter as it only made her cry harder.
"Now you show up. After all these years of focusing on Sasuke, on Naruto's progress…Now you show up…It's a little late for you to care" She murmured, as she looked up at one Hatake Kakashi from her place in the dirt.
Kakashi regarded her with both eyes, gray contrasting with the Sharingan as he had used it to find her.
"I suppose I deserve that. But I'm not here to discuss the past." He told her, smiling the crinkly eyed smile he was so famous for.
"Leave me alone, Kakashi. I don't want to hear it from you." Sakura replied dead panned as she lay in the dirt.
"Funny, as I haven't really said anything to start with." Kakashi said, tone just a bit angry. "How presumptuous of you, Sakura." He replied.
"A ninja's always supposed to look underneath the underneath" Sakura snapped.
"A ninja is also supposed to be in control of their emotions at all times." Kakashi retorted.
"Damn it! I don't want to hear your criticisms right now. You have no right to judge me on what I did, you goddamned pervert!" She snarled, rising to her knees, as she laid her palms flat on the dirt.
And Kakashi did something that startled her. He laughed, long and loud as he dropped to the ground beside her. Sakura crawled backwards, terrified as he drew closer.
And then he laid a gloved hand on top of her head, just like he used to when he was still her sensei. He smiled a genuine smile, closing both of those eyes. And he ruffled her hair. Sakura's eyes widened at the gesture, the one he used when she felt so useless and worthless after practicing jutsu or when she felt like she had failed. Then those eyes narrowed in sorrow and she felt the tears sting her eyes. His gentle touch unleashed the flood of her tears, all the anger and frustration. She sobbed, launching herself into his jounin vest, clinging desperately as she cried her heart out.
"There, There, Sakura Chan" He murmured gently, taking it all in stride as his jounin vest was being thoroughly soaked.
"I've failed, Kakashi sensei" Sakura murmured, hiccupping. "All along, all this time I've tried to be strong, to grow. I'm still useless. I couldn't stop them. I'm the reason they were fighting. It was all for nothing. All of those years of training, of hoping. All of it for nothing!" She cried, eyes closing, as she gasped for breathe.
"It wasn't for nothing." Kakashi corrected. "Your strength kept Naruto, Sai and me going." He said, smiling.
"Your strength brought Sasuke back and defeated sound. When team seven was hurt it was the strength that you had that healed us." He told her.
Sakura shook her head lacking the words to protest what he was saying.
"It was your spirit of determination that echoed and resounded in Naruto's fighting spirit. You have always had the power to save people, Sakura. Your chakra control and precision. Your heart that goes out to comrades, and hurts for those comrades. Your strength saves people, Sakura. It always has. And it always will." Kakashi told her.
Sakura tried to control her trembling and sobbing. She'd finally stopped her sobbing, though her tears still fell in silent streams down her cheeks from her red puffy eyes.
"I can't do this, Kakashi" She confessed. "I don't have the strength to do this. I can't fix it or change it. It's impossible, now."
"What was the first thing I taught you, Sakura?" Kakashi said.
Sakura flinched.
"To see beneath the underneath." Sakura replied, eying the ground.
"You've never been stupid, Sakura. Have you forgotten it, all those years ago?" He said.
Sakura tilted her head, and listened, sniffling as she wiped her tears.
"I will tell you a story."
Sakura glared at him, but he continued.
"When I was on a three man team, I was recently made a jounin and given command. We were at war, then." He said, eyes taking on a lost look as he was buried in his memories of the past.
"One of my teammates was captured and I ordered my other teammate to move out. We had a mission to accomplish and saving her would detract from it. My sensei was entrusting us to complete the mission, and a ninja who doesn't obey the rules is nothing but trash." He quoted.
"I was willing to leave my teammate for the sake of the mission, for what I thought was supposed to be my ultimate objective and prerogative. My comrade told me the one thing that changed my life forever. " Kakashi told her, grey eye saddening, a forlorn smile on his face.
"Which was?" Sakura asked, taking the bait as she waited for him to tell her.
"A ninja who doesn't obey the rules is nothing but trash. This is true… but a ninja that abandons their teammates is worse than trash." Kakashi told her.
Sakura winced, hanging her head.
"He went off to save her ignoring my direct orders. I eventually followed after him when I understood what I was doing. My comrade died that day, saving our other teammate and giving me the sharingan that I have." Kakashi finished softly.
"I don't understand." Sakura gasped.
"If you abandon them now, what will happen to them, Sakura?" Kakashi asked her.
"It doesn't matter! Team seven will go on, as it always has. I have always been the useless one!" She cried.
"Sakura you were the one that kept Sasuke and Naruto from killing each other, who kept Sai and Naruto from killing each other, who now keeps Sasuke and Sai from killing each other. You were the glue that held team seven together for as long as it did."
"Then why did Sasuke leave? If I was so great at my job, then why did I fail?" Sakura retorted, angry because of the hurt that she'd carried for so long.
"Is that what you've done for all these years? Held onto the blame for Sasuke leaving?" Kakashi asked, startled by her pain.
"Sasuke chose to leave on his own, but he would have left years before if you weren't on his team. You were not and still are not responsible for his actions, Sakura. But you know, don't you?" Kakashi prompted.
Sakura had always been intelligent. Surely she could see it, as clear as day?
"Know what?" Sakura asked, confused.
"That you're the reason he returned." Kakashi replied evenly.
"W-what?" Sakura gasped.
"Had it only been Naruto… that would not have been enough to bring him back. Naruto would have given up along the way, and Sasuke would have still thrown off his bond, because it reminded him too much of the good memories of his real brother which had become tainted."
"You're lying…" She murmured, fingernails digging in the dirt as she clenched her teeth.
"Sasuke came back because he remembered you loved him. That you always loved him. That you would always continue to love him. He also came back because Naruto had a similar devotion; a brotherly one. But you two never gave up on him. You never stopped loving. Your love for your comrades kept us, Sakura." Kakashi told her.
"I hate this" She muttered. "It's not fair. He left us. Why the hell can't I?" Sakura strangled out, just this once wanting to be selfish.
"The way of a shinobi is never an easy path to walk, Sakura. And there are few of us who survive long enough to trulylive. Could you walk away now, knowing that the life of a shinobi is so fleeting, that they may die before you can make amends?" He prompted.
"….." Sakura didn't say anything, but averted her gaze, eyeing the dirt.
"Could you live with that? Let me tell you that I have these past years and I can tell you it's a damnable existence. There is nothing I can ever do to make it up to Obito. And a day wont go by that I won't try to." Kakashi told her.
"…."
"Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"I get it." She gritted her teeth. "I just…need some time to collect myself." She said.
"Atta Girl" He said proudly.
"I'm not one of your ninja dogs" She growled, as she rose shakily to her feet.
"No, you were my precious student, now a precious teammate" He replied with a grin and poofed out of existence.
Sakura hung her head, overcome by the swirl of emotion running through her. She closed her fists and her eyes.
"Thank you…Kakashi sensei." She murmured, and vanished herself.