Ok, I went back and fixed some typo's in the last two chapters. At least… the ones I could find without going over them, anyway, thank you all to those who reviewed. You guys keep me going.

Ch 3: Life In Konoha

"You wanted to see me Grandma Tsunade," the woman's eyebrows twitched as her name was called and she looked up from her paperwork to see the only person who would call her that. Naruto stood in the doorway, as if afraid to come in. His face was curious if not confused, not his normal expression. It was early in the morning, the sun had barely risen and she had actually been up all night doing as much paperwork as she could. Bags formed under her eyes. Slowly the stack of papers that surrounded her shrank, but she knew that paperwork would never cease. The downfall of being Hokage.

The Hokage nodded, "I did, Naruto." She waved her hand to a chair as the blonde boy moved forward, though he did not take a set. Tsunade continued, "I have a mission for you… if you want it."

"I do." He answered, surprisingly calmly.

"What is it?" the woman in front of him inquired, folding her hands in front of her face as she leaned her elbows on the desk.

Naruto looked even more confused. "What is the reason for you being so calm?" Tsunade responded when he didn't, she clearly knew he didn't know what she meant. "This is not normal Naruto behavior. What's on your mind?"

"Have you heard from Pervy Sage?" the boy asked quietly.

The blonde Hokage shook her head, "Not recently." She then noticed the boys' expression, it was almost fearful. "I'll let you know if any word reaches my ears though. He can take care of himself." She assured him and he nodded, knowing she would. Tsunade knew that they had grown over their time together, since Jiraiya had trained Naruto. They had become a family, Jiraiya the father that Naruto never had – and whether she liked it or not – Naruto was learning some of her old teammates' pervertedness. Just what she needed, another Jiraiya…

"About this mission…"

"Right," the first female Hokage began, "it's a scroll retrieval mission. A very important one and it comes from a small village who's asked us for help." Her face grew serious. "This is an A-ranked mission and I know you are more than capable of handling it. I have already assigned you a team. Shizune!"

The sound of rushing footsteps approached quickly and the door opened. "Yes, Lady Tsunade?" Tonton at her feet. "Good morning Naruto." He nodded, not wanting to interrupt the old woman.

"Send for the other four members for this mission," the blonde female told her apprentice, who nodded in response.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." She lowered her head and exited to both occupants in the office.

"How are things going between you and Sasuke?" the woman returned to her paperwork.

"…It was better when we were twelve." The kyuubi vessel admitted, his gaze was lowered to the wood floor.

There wasn't any more time to go into a further discussion as a knock was heard on the door. "Come in." the door opened and the rest of Naruto's team was present – none he knew though. Four men stood behind Naruto, in a straight line like soldiers awaiting orders. Each bowed respectfully. "I'm sure you were all informed that I have a mission for you?"

"Yes, Lady Hokage." One answered, he looked like he was the leader. He wasn't bad looking either, spiked dark blue hair and two bangs that fell between his intense blue eyes. His skin was slightly tanned and toned muscles shown through the dark blue tank-top and black pants.

She stood up and walked over to the window and looked out over Konoha. "This mission is an A-ranked mission that requires immediate attention. A small village has asked us for their help and has offered a great deal of money for this to be carried out quickly. A very important scroll was stolen which contains forbidden secrets that could cause a very dangerous and costly war to break out and be the secret to destroy it enemies very easily with a jutsu that was meant to protect that village, however, it can have a reverse effect and bring destruction with the proper incantations. We cannot afford another war, or sneak attack, not after Orochimaru did so three years ago. I have assigned you, because you are some of the best." She looked at Naruto while saying this. "Which one of you is the leader?" she now looked at the other four.

"Lady Tsunade," the blue haired boy answered as he bowed. He looked to be seventeen years old and a Jonin. "Where is this village that has requested our aid?"

"The Village Hidden in the Waterfall…"

"Is it the Waterfall village?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Yes," the Hokage looked at him, "have you been there?"

"Once on a mission… in the days of the old Team 7…"

"You leave in fifteen minutes. Dismissed." The other four exited after paying their admiration to the leader and left the two blondes alone once again.

"I'll see you when I get back, Grandma Tsunade." Naruto turned to leave as well; he stopped at looked back at the old woman. "You should get some rest…" with that, he exited and a small smile found a place on her young face.

Just as she sat down and placed her head on the desk to do as Naruto had said, Shizune barged in with another stack of papers in her arms and placed it on the desk. Tsunade groaned and pounded a fist on the desk, careful not to put any force into it, as she buried her face on the papers she was nearly done with.

Her voice was mumbled, "I hate being Hokage."

"Uh… Lady Tsunade…" Shizune started.

"…Get me some sake…" her voice came out in a low murmur.

----

It was early, though not too early. About eight in the morning and he was wandering the streets. He wasn't able to sleep too much last night. Sleep never came easy anymore for him. What he was used to was to have to stay up and fend for your life instead of rest. Now that he didn't have to worry about danger, it was a hard adjustment to get accustomed to. 'Where's that idiot?' Sasuke thought after he had pounded on his best friend and rivals door. He had been pounding for what seemed like an eternity when in fact it had only been two seconds. Where has the almighty Uchiha's patience gone? 'This is stupid. I want to train.' A scowl formed on his face as he turned on his heels. He felt that Naruto was the only one who was worthy enough to give him a challenge. 'That idiot is probably eating ramen and will be the cause of his death. If he wants to be Hokage he's going to have to train and not eat ramen as if his life depends on it.'

His walk down the street continued and he was again, glared at, stared at, whispered about, screamed at, and anything else. Sasuke at times heard the words 'Uchiha traitor' and the mention of his brother, which irked him and a menacing sneer was sent at the offenders direction, luckily his Sharingan didn't activate with the sudden anger he felt as he heard the name of the one person he hated most. Also the ANBU watching him would have to interfere. He was able to ignore everything else that was said. Upon his arrival at the ramen shop, he was very surprise – but kept the fact hidden – to find that Naruto was not there. "Was Naruto here?" he asked the man behind the counter.

"I haven't seen him since last night," the man answered just as Sasuke walked out.

'Loser,' he started walking toward the training grounds. 'Where could that loser be? I want to see if I could get close to killing him.' He didn't care about the way he had said those words, he just wanted to see if he was superior.

Suddenly out of nowhere there was the sound of squealing fan girls. 'Great.' He seethed loathingly as he continued walking, pretending to have heard nothing.

"Sasuke!" voices of about a dozen girls squeaked as the rushed toward the youngest and handsome Uchiha prodigy.

"Did you come back because you need help with your second goal?"

"Are you looking for me?"

"I don't care if you left me for your revenge."

"You have grown even more handsome, Sasuke. All grown up."

"No it's me he's looking for!"

"I love you so much, Sasuke."

"You want me don't you, my love?"

"No! He came back for me!"

"Did you kill your brother?"

'Brother!' the thought made his blood boil. He was calmly walking as all the girls began clinging to him like a paper would to glue, until the mention of Itachi reached his ears just after the girl had spoken her question. 'I have no brother.' He thought bitterly, tearing himself away from the group of crazed females as he gathered chakra to his feet and ran hastily.

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke, where are you going?"

"Don't you want to stay with me and talk things over?"

"My love, come back. I know you can't restore your clan without me."

He shook his head as he blocked out all the other voices as they were trying to catch up. 'At least none of them are ninja. Just helpless females who constantly annoy me. Can't even defend themselves for their life. Depending on others for protection. Pathetic.'

The Uchiha stopped when he reached the training grounds quicker than he had planned, but when you have crazy fan girls chasing you and saying "I will bear your children" you'd be running too. 'Some of them were starting to sound like Karin.' (DIE KARIN!) He shuddered inwardly and continued to make his way around the training area that was all too familiar from years before. The sound of birds chirping was soothing, though another sound reached his ears so he went to investigate, hiding his chakra signature as he leapt into a tree.

After a few seconds of searching, he had found the source. Sakura was here training with Tsunade. "Again, Sakura." The pink haired girl was panting heavily.

"Are you sure, Tsunade-sensei. You haven't slept all night doing your paperwork."

"I'll manage, you still need to train." The Hokage said.

"Very well," Sakura sent chakra to her hands, giving them a green glow in which Sasuke remembered from yesterday. She lunged forward ready to punch her sensei but it was a false move as she lifted her leg to attack, chakra fully in that attack it could kill anyone who didn't know that. Tsunade avoided Sakura as she landed meters away just as a giant crater formed in the broken earth as it shook. The pink haired teen smirked, 'I thought you'd do that.' She grabbed a few kunai from her pouch and threw them toward her teacher.

"Do you honestly think you could get me with such a simple move?" the blonde woman smiled as she sidestepped.

Sakura smirked as she lifted her fingers. Tsunade looked surprised that she had a different strategy in mind. Chakra strings were at the tips of Sakura's fingers and she sent the kunai back at the Hokage, pulling her against a tree. The girl charged at her. "Not bad, Sakura. But not good enough." Smoke appeared from where the Hokage was.

Sakura stopped to look everywhere; she should have known that that was a clone. "I have to agree sensei…" she looked up with a smile on her face to see Tsunade coming at her from ahead. Forming some hand seals that Sasuke didn't recognize.

"You're not actually going to attempt to try a jutsu that you haven't mastered, are you?" Tsunade inquired completely surprised.

"Chakra Absorption Jutsu," the girl mumbled. She knew the consequences if this jutsu wasn't performed correctly, or mastered. Sakura sent a wave of her own chakra out toward Tsunade, one which she wouldn't be able to avoid. It traveled with the speed of light and was sent at a wide range consuming any chakra within a three mile range in a matter of seconds. However, she was able to lock onto one particular chakra signature, in this case, Tsunade.

"This is a risky move from you, Sakura." The Hokage gasped as her own chakra was drained from her body. She noticed that Sakura's was being sucked out as well, which was not supposed to happen. Just as the young medic' chakra was drained; hers combined with Tsunade's and returned to the older woman.

Sakura collapsed to her knees and gasped for breath as her sensei walked over to her, totally reenergized even without the sleep she didn't get. "Thanks Sakura, for the extra chakra. I think I can get back to being Hokage." Her amber eyes shifted, "Sasuke…" Sakura knew he was there for a few minutes watching their match, she couldn't get sidetracked. The young raven-haired Uchiha landed on the ground in front of the tree he was hiding in, hands already in his pockets as he slowly approached. Tsunade turned back to her apprentice as she tried to catch her breath. "Sakura, you should have known better than to try that." By now Sasuke was within earshot.

"I'll never learn it if I don't take a risk once in a while." The pink haired female said between breaths, holding her chest. "After two and a half years you don't know me?" She managed to say before she coughed up a small amount of blood.

"You know the consequences for that little stunt of yours…" Tsunade's gaze was stern, "You're lucky it didn't kill you…"

Sasuke turned his dark eyes at Sakura disapprovingly, though both seemed to have forgotten he was there. Sakura tried to lighten the mood, "Think of it this way, sensei, you can work today at the hospital and continue working with you paperwork."

"I would prefer it if you didn't make it a joke… but you are right. Next time, don't be so reckless." Sakura slowly pulled herself to her feet, she was a little shaky.

Tsunade sighed, "You don't have to kill yourself doing this all the time. I'd prefer having you not throw your life away. Who else would take my place in the hospitals when I'm not around?"

"I won't do it again," Sakura stood up shakily, her legs wobbling.

Tsunade reached for her to help her stay steady and she sighed again, "What am I going to do with you? You can't work at the hospital today, seeing as how you've managed to drain all of your chakra during practice." Her eyes shifted toward Sasuke, "Walk her home." The tone in her voice told both teens that it was an order.

"I don't need anyone to do that. I'm perfectly capable." Sakura protested pushed away from her blonde teacher, surprisingly able to stand on her own though still a little unstable. "I will see you tomorrow then." She bowed in respect to her sensei before turning to Sasuke. "Bye." She turned to leave.

Both watched after her just as Sasuke prepared to walk in the opposite direction. "Didn't you hear me?" Tsunade asked, slightly impatient with the Uchiha.

He stopped, "Didn't you hear her?" Tsunade's eyebrows twitched.

Sasuke was about to start walking again, that is until Tsunade was suddenly standing in front of him, clearly not happy with him. "Perhaps you need a harsher punishment." She stated as he just looked at her, as if he could care less.

"Hn," he continued to walk passed as a tight grip stopped him by squeezing on his right shoulder. The strength she had was incredible, he remembered Orochimaru talking about her strength but had never known exactly how strong she was. It was almost as if she was going to break his shoulder if he didn't stop.

"Listen Uchiha," her gaze turned to an icy glare, one that could almost match the ones given by the Uchiha clan. Sasuke, of course, remained unfazed as she started. "As long as you are in Konoha, you are under my supervision. What I say goes. Sakura is like a daughter to me, I can't be sure if she gets home safely or even at all. If she gets hurt I will hold you completely responsible. Understand." With that, she released him as he gave her the deadly glare he inherited from his well known clan.

"Whatever," he replied darkly as he followed Sakura.

The Sanin watched him for a moment before the boy vanished from sight to find his old teammate. 'He's turning into Orochimaru.' She shook her head as she went her own way to the hospital. This medic had a special patient that had been bedridden by her pink haired apprentice.

----

'Tsk,' the Chunin thought as she exited the training area, 'I don't need anyone to baby sit me! Let alone Sasuke. I'm annoying anyway and have always been a liability to the team, but not anymore.' She released a heavy sigh as she placed a hand on her chest. 'I shouldn't have been so hasty just to learn that jutsu. I'll nail it… hopefully.' Just as she finished, someone was walking beside her, to her right. "Huh," she started when she discovered who it was,"don't tell me Tsunade thinks I need a babysitter."

"Hn," Sasuke answered not even looking at her. Both looked straight ahead. Sakura knew he would never start a conversation and she wasn't going to waste her breath. "You're annoying." She looked at Sasuke who was watching the road. "That was careless of you."

"I don't need you to tell me this; I've already heard it before." She answered without any sign of emotion as she turned her head elsewhere. "Besides, Tsunade didn't have to threaten you to walk me home, I can manage on my own. I'm not the helpless girl I used to be. When you and Naruto left I had to find my own path and I have become stronger than I was, you can go now. Tsunade isn't watching." Sasuke then stopped.

"Where is Naruto?" he asked, which made the female member of Team 7 stop, though she did not turn to face him.

"He's on a mission," Sasuke waited for her to continue, "and he shouldn't be back for a while. At least a week if everything goes well. He and his team were going to a place where we had one of our missions." Sakura then turned to look at him; he was about five feet behind.

A sleepy Sakura opened the door to her apartment as she heard soft but loud knocking. "Hello?" she asked groggily. Her eyes opened more when she seen that it was Naruto at her door. "Naruto?" she seen the backpack on his back as she scanned him for any signs of something wrong. The Chunin was glad to know that it was nothing bad that had brought him to her residence.

"Hey, Sakura." Naruto said when he realized he had awakened her. Pink tresses were sticking up and in various angles. Her emerald eyes were watching him tiredly and a white tank top and pink shorts that reached her knees were what she wore for pajamas.

"Do you want to come in?" the blonde shook his head.

"No thanks, I didn't mean to wake you, but I thought I would come over and tell you that I was on my way to a mission… so you wouldn't worry or have to ask Grandma Tsunade." He answered her with a kind smile. His smiles would cheer her up on the cloudiest of days.

"Can I ask where and what your mission is?"

Sakura was one of the few people he trusted the most. It was alright if she knew. "You remember one of our missions years ago, the one when we had to help those in Waterfall? Well, my team and I have been assigned an A-rank mission to retrieve a scroll that holds very dangerous secrets that can lead countries to a war and destroy Konoha if in the wrong hands.'

The older teammate placed her hand to her chin in thought. "Hopefully it isn't anyone from Sound who had taken it. Even if Sasuke had killed Orochimaru, there could be someone else who has taken his place after Sasuke left."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "I don't think its Sound though, but whoever it is can't be good."

Then Sakura had a terrible thought, "Naruto…" she now had his full attention, seeing as how her voice had a quiver in it. "… What if it's Akatsuki...?" she asked, fear was seen in her now fully awake eyes. "I don't want you to go on this mission now." Naruto could tell that she was trying her best to hold her tears.

"My teammates are some of the best, Grandma Tsunade made sure of that." He smiled reassuringly, though Sakura still seemed doubtful.

"Will you promise to be careful?" she asked quietly.

"Huh…" his face held surprise. "You bet I will… I'll be careful just for you, Sakura. Believe it."

Sakura managed to give a small, happy smile with his promise. He was always good at keeping his promises, but, sometimes, promises are broken. The Akatsuki was always after Naruto and any other containers of spirits. One of her best friends contained what was the last of the nine beasts that had to be extracted. If Naruto was captured… Sakura shuddered at the thought… Naruto would no longer be with her. She had promised to protect him from the Akatsuki, she couldn't bear to lose another person she considered precious to her. First Sasuke… and then Naruto, but for good. He had become her best friend over the years Sasuke left them in depression, but Naruto was gone for a while too but their bond had grown stronger. One that could not be broken by death itself. But thinking of Naruto being captured by the organization that wanted power using the spirits of powerful demons were just too much. Where would she be without this loudmouth blonde? Nowhere. She would have most likely been dead when she was a Genin.

"Please… please promise you'll come back to me… I don't want to loose you too… Please promise…"

"I promise to come back." Naruto leaned forward to give her a comforting hug and she held on tightly, as if he was a life raft she had to hold onto for life. She didn't want to let go, for fear that she may never see him again.

"Naruto, it's time to go…" a male voice said from behind him.

"Sakura…" the young vessel containing the Kyuubi said softly. He didn't want to leave her in this state; he knew she was emotional when it came to his life. Now that she knew the main reason for his loneliness in their Academy days.

She reluctantly let go as he pulled himself away to look at his team members. "This is my team." He told her.

"We will look after him," the blue haired boy said as he reached Naruto's side, sympathy clearly in his blue eyes. "You have my word." He bowed, showing the apprentice of Tsunade that he meant what he had spoken.

Sakura smiled through tears, "Thank you…"

"I am Keisen and we will also send reports to Lady Tsunade everyday and I shall also inform her that you wish to know of Naruto so you don't worry." His voice was almost like an angel, so calm and true with each word said. He clearly didn't like to lie to people. "I have been put in charge and I would put my life in danger for those under my command. I will protect him with mine as I would with any other. You have my word."

"Thank you Keisen…" she turned back to Naruto. "I'll wait. But do be careful and…" she smiled with the thought, "… use your brain."

He gave her his foxy grin, "And when I get back we can have some ramen. It was such a short notice I didn't even get to have breakfast." With this he noticed his teammates walking away, ready for departure. Naruto had his back turned when he looked back at his first crush. "Oh and if Sasuke gives you any trouble while I'm away, beat him up or tell me when I get back. Either way, I'm gonna beat him so bad he won't think of hurting you again." He smiled before walking behind his assigned comrades and raised his hand to wave.

"Keep your promise…" she whispered when he was out of earshot.

"It would be against the rules of your probation for me to tell you where and what the mission was. So you'll have to train on your own until he returns. Unless you can find someone else who would train with you." By now Sasuke was at her side again.

They walked for a few minutes in silence as they walked through the streets that were again bustling with activity. "Honestly, I don't need you to walk me home, it's not like I was going there a-"

"That jutsu you were attempting…" he started just to shut her up, "…what's it do?"

"It's an advanced jutsu. One that not many have been able to master-"

"And you think you can?" he snorted as he looked at her, more like glared.

"I already told you once," she said calmly, tilting her head up to meet his cold gaze, knowing exactly what the hidden meaning of his words were. "I'm not the same helpless girl you knew as a Genin. I have grown in skill and I don't want any protection from you or Naruto. Never again will I go back to my old self."

"What makes you think I would waste my time protecting you… or Naruto?" he inquired.

"We never asked you to," Sakura stopped as he followed her actions unknowingly. "You did that once, how do you know we expect you to do the same thing again? So maybe we - including Kakashi-sensei - want the old you to return, but what are the chances of that happening? Clearly not anytime soon, your time with that snake Orochimaru killed the old you." The expression on Sasuke's face was growing impatient with her last sentence. He had his eyes closed as he felt his Sharingan prepare to activate due to the anger he felt.

'Keep it together, Sasuke.' He told himself as he opened his eyes to look at her coldly; he was able to keep his Sharingan from acting up. ANBU were watching him also.

"That jutsu drains an opponent's chakra within a three mile range. Any enemy unit can be drained or you could concentrate on one particular individual. The chakra is sucked out of their body is supposed to mix with the one who places the jutsu, giving them more chakra. For those who haven't mastered it, like me, it can have a reverse effect. Taking the users chakra and giving it to the enemy, and could kill the user if he or she happens to have lost too much chakra to before using that jutsu." She finished, watching him and waiting for him to say something.

"Sasuke!" he rolled his eyes as he recognized the same group of fan girls as before screamed his name before he could answer or retort to his former teammate.

At the corner of his eye, Sasuke had seen Sakura give a small smile, one that held a little sadness. "I'll leave you alone, wouldn't want your fan girls to kill me for being seen talking to you, thinking that I'm hanging on you or anything. At least one grew out of you." She walked away from him, waving her hand – Naruto's signature wave.

"Sasuke!" the last thing he had seen was a retreating Sakura before he ran from the stupid fan girls who would be on him constantly. His second day and he had three hundred and sixty-three left before he could get out of the village. Life was going to be sweet in Konoha…

Alright there it is. I actually liked how this chapter turned out. What about you? Reviews are loved and very welcomed. That line "I will bear your children" reminded me of Miroku on InuYasha. –sigh-- Curse Miroku and his pervertedness. Please don't forget to review. Thanks muches…

And Happy Feb 3 2008 Super Bowl Sunday!