Chap. 2

It has been 5 years since Sasuke has ever seen Itachi's trace. For Sasuke, it means that he has put down his revenge. He has forgotten about his goal in the past and right now, the most important thing is to train. To be strong. But right now, Sasuke has to escape Kabuto's "supervision" and get some fresh air.

He crept down the narrow staircase, which creaked with every step he took. It wasn't long before Sasuke realized that Kabuto was standing at the end of the stairs grinning at him.

"Where do you think you are going, Sasuke-kun?"

"I've told you, stop calling me Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke replied bitterly. He hated the gray-haired boy who was famous for his spying techniques.

"Ah, but… Fine, Sasuke-chan, I just wanted to tell you, Naruto-kun was here a moment ago before you interrupted with your creaking noises."

Sasuke bit his lip, trying to stop himself from hitting Kabuto. He had more important stuff to worry about. That loud-mouth brat Naruto was here… then he must have attracted Orochimaru. After fleeing from their last battle, Orochimaru has been looking forward to fighting Naruto again.

Indeed, Orochimaru's head popped up from the window, smiling his fearful smile.

"Fufu… Naruto-kun came here? My, that must be interesting… I'll have to see him myself."

Great, another reason why Naruto gets himself into danger every time, Sasuke muttered to himself.

"And you'll love to come too, right, Sasuke-kun?" For the second time, Sasuke bit his lip hard not to hit someone.

"Yeah, I guess so – "

"Fufu… It'll be great, you and Naruto-kun having a reunion after all those years…"

Orochimaru's words reminded Sasuke a lot about Naruto. The memories rushed to him as if they happened just yesterday. Naruto's jutsus and the way he was envious of Naruto 5 years ago popped up in his mind. But he just shook it off and followed Orochimaru into the forest he always wanted to explore.

"Let me go you idiot! I'm not a beggar! Look! I even have decent clothing!" Naruto shouted out towards some police officers trying to drag him away.

"Son, your clothes are torn, you're dirtier than the ground, and you even have a plastic bowl with you. Explain that."

"I was training… and the bowl… it was just an instant ramen bowl! I had ramen for lunch! Now let me go!"

"Tell that to the judge, not us!" An officer half yelled to him.

"Let the boy go, I say… you don't want any trouble… fufu, right?"

Naruto looked up. The person he wanted to fight since 2 years ago was standing right in front of him, along with… Sasuke!

"Sasuke? But… why are you here?" Naruto stammered, staring at the person he always believed was his friend.

"Because I want to. There are no laws forbidding me to stay here, idiot."

"You're the one who is a moron! But I won't argue with you today, since Mr. Snakehead is here."

"Fufu… you are talking about me, right? Don't call me names, that's not polite, especially when I just saved you." The police were nowhere in sight – they flew when they saw Orochimaru's eyes.

"I just saw Kabuto today… Sakura-chan and I tied him up and asked him some questions. He was weak, fainting only after his 10th bowl of ramen!"

Orochimaru shuddered at the idea of 10 bowls ramen stuffed down Kabuto's throat. His shaking made Naruto gain his "speaking right" again.

"Sakura-chan pretended to be Kabuto, and by the looks of your face, she must have succeed!"

Sasuke couldn't stand it anymore. He started to run back to his 2-storey shack, where "Kabuto" was right now. But Naruto stopped him. Naruto's blue eyes were filled with determination, just like they were 5 years ago. Sasuke could even predict what he was going to say next.

"I'm not letting you go yet."

Sakura was still shaking from seeing Kabuto moan over all those bowls of ramen. She wouldn't have believed that Naruto had eaten 15 bowls of ramen if she didn't see it for herself. She kept a mental note never to touch ramen again.

Then the fact that Naruto was going to face Sasuke faced her. How would Naruto respond? Will Sasuke come back? Sakura yawned and took a nap on the ground. She shouldn't do this, but she was too tired to care.