Chapter 3: Conflict
-I remember back then who you were, you used to be calm, used to be strong, used to be generous but you should've known, that you'd wear out your welcome, now you see how quiet it is, all alone.-
-A Place For My Head, Linkin Park-
"Haruno Sakura..." He spoke, as jade met onyx.
"Eh? You know this chick?" Suigetsu's mouth gaped.
"Idiot! Of course they know each other! Why else would she have followed us, no questions asked?" Karin scoffed, as though the concept should have been self-evident. She had noticed immediately the clear recognition on the pinkette's face when Jugo had mentioned Sasuke's name. Jugo would not hear any of her protestations as her jealousy had flared, and had decided for the entire team that their search was over. She vaguely remembered a time when she might have seen the same pink-haired woman before, but it had been so long ago, she couldn't quite place it.
"So then...Why did we still bring her?" Suigetsu looked stumped. Karin smacked her head in annoyance of his apparent slowness.
"Who better than someone he is already familiar with?" Jugo replied, "It seemed only logical..."
"Seemed...Past tense." Suigetsu acknowledged, as the tension between the pink-haired kunoichi they had located and their leader grew as the seconds ticked by-neither taking their eyes off the other.
"Oh well! I guess we'll just have to bring her back and keep looking." Karin added, a little too hopefully, as she also noted the tension and the glare the woman they had found was giving Sasuke.
As she made to move towards Sakura as if to tug on her arm and get her to leave, Sasuke interrupted her.
"Karin," Sasuke spoke. She paused and turned to look at him, though his attention never strayed from Sakura. "Clear away the women gathered here. Let them all know the search is over." He ordered her.
He knew she would take pleasure in sending away what she would have believed were her competition and he hoped that would distract her from believing he meant to take the woman they had found as his matriarch.
"Alright," She said cheerfully, seemingly falling for his ploy. She turned to descend the large staircase and towards the crowd of females, before glancing back at her two other team members. "Oi, help me with this." She commanded them, her death glare leaving no room for arguments. Together, the three of them began to clear out the disappointed women, Karin behaving perhaps too offensively and threatening the reputation of Otogakure.
"Make sure our departing guests receive a proper send off," Sasuke ordered a nearby council member, who immediately nodded and scurried off to do as he was asked, pulling along a few other members to aid in his task. One of the advisors berated Karin as he walked passed her, undoubtedly scolding her for her temper.
"Follow me." Sasuke instructed Sakura, easily ignoring the commotion in his courtyard. She followed wordlessly, although he could feel her glare boring into the back of his head.
He led her to his private garden, away from the eyes and ears of the remaining advisors and guards whose curiosity of the brash woman had grown immensely.
Sakura took in her surroundings, noting the garden seemed more like a personal training ground than a place for relaxation, although remnants of attempted landscaping remained. A chipped and cracked fountain stood in the middle of the small area, surrounded by dried out brush. Simple stone pathways wove in and out of the dead flower beds, while a couple peculiar wind chimes hung from the trees that edged the grounds. Still, target dummies had been erected, evenly spaced out, amongst pathetic shrubbery, while many of the cracks and flaws in the rock of the area were evidently made by ninja weaponry and powerful jutsu.
Upon approaching, Sakura had expected a lot less of the self-proclaimed village. As it had once belonged to Orochimaru, and had been made up of nothing but hideouts and cave-like bases, the walls, buildings, and architecture that had been developed in the last several years were remarkable. That architecture could be seen in the distance, as the garden lay behind the magnificent structure Sakura guessed was Sasuke's residence, which in turn, rested against the side of a mountain, overlooking the village.
Sasuke stopped a few feet shy of an outcropping at the far end of the garden. A small fence had been built to warn of the sheer cliff face and steep drop to the valley below, while a few trees framed the area.
Sakura stopped a good distance away from him, continuing to glare at his figure.
He took note of the uncomfortable silence that settled about them, before tearing his gaze from the village and turning to face her.
"...Didn't expect to see you." He tempted, wondering why she wasn't being forthcoming. It was unusual for his former team mate not to start yammering away, or call out to him.
Sakura's brow furrowed.
"Tch, that's the best you can do after eight years?" She scoffed, crossing her arms in annoyance.
Sasuke, who was not entirely expecting such a cold response, remained quiet.
"Well?" She pursued expectantly, "You're not going to say anything?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
Sasuke gave her an indifferent shrug. He could not guess at what she had been expecting.
"I can't believe this!" His small gesture had infuriated her, "All this time...Eight years! I thought...No, I hoped you were dead." He could hear her struggle to keep her voice under control.
"Sorry to disappoint." He muttered as he shifted to lean casually against a tree.
"Why..." She seemed sincerely confused.
"Why what?" He yawned from his exhaustion of having dealt with the proceedings of the day, not bothering to try and stifle it.
"Why the hell didn't you even try..." She struggled in her anger for a moment, "Why didn't you even bother with us!" She almost shouted at him, fuelled by the yawn that had appeared to be yet another rude gesture.
The tension in the air around them grew, becoming almost tangible. Sasuke's muscles tensed almost reflexively.
"The war was over! Madara was dead! But you still..." Her voice trailed away as she seemed momentarily distracted.
He couldn't stop the knot from forming within his stomach as he understood why.
"You know, I never thought I'd look at you and see someone completely different." She accused him. He subconsciously stood up straight and raised his chin a fraction.
"I mean, I knew you weren'tSasuke-kun anymore, but even in your hatred I was at least able to recognize you." She elaborated when he wasn't offering the reaction she was looking for.
"Tch." Was all he replied.
"Those are your brother's then?" The question was filled with spite.
He gave a stiff nod in response, though he knew she was fully aware of the answer. He tried somewhat unsuccessfully to fight away the sharp pang in his chest.
"You actually went through with it..." She sounded both disbelieving and disgusted, and he became immediately aggravated with her presence.
"I had no other choice." He said, without an ounce of remorse, though he had great difficulty trying to suppress what could only have been described as shame as it welled up inside of him.
A cocky smirk played on her lips. It seemed out of place as he realized it should have been on his face, and not hers.
"That's always the excuse, isn't it?" She questioned, and he took it to be rhetorical. "I guess you still haven't figured out things aren't always so black and white." She continued with a bitter edge creeping back into her voice. She had difficulty coming to terms with the way he had spoken so casually about the transplant. It was as if taking his brother's eyes from his dead corpse in order to save himself from going blind was a subject that was as easy and normal to discuss as commenting on the weather.
He simply stared at her, with the eyes that were not his own. A familiar annoyed look was etched on his features.
"Alright, fine. Just stand there and don't say anything. You were always great at that."
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose to try and quell his oncoming headache, an action he had become accustomed to over his years of dealing with Team Hawk and his occasionally frustrating advisors. He briefly contemplated getting said Team to escort his former team mate back to Konoha, simply to put an end to her accusatory glares and verbal assaults. He pushed that option aside almost as quickly as it had appeared to him, however, when he realized she would not go quietly. She had so very clearly accompanied his Team with an agenda, and was not about to leave without having said what she had come to say. And as aggravating as his encounter with her was becoming, he could not ignore that the intense range of emotion playing behind her eyes and the fury she was directing at him, left him a bit intrigued. But only a bit.
Sakura grew impatient with waiting for him to speak.
"How could you just never come back?" Her brows knitted further together, if it were even possible. He was not entirely sure if he had heard an underlying sadness in her disbelieving accusation, though he supposed it did not matter.
"I'm surprised you don't know." He replied, although he did not look or sound it.
"Know what?" She demanded.
"I never hid my existence." He replied.
"What does that have to do-" She started.
"Think." He ordered her in his leader-like tone, "Why did you think I was dead?"
Sakura frowned.
"Naruto said..." She began.
"Exactly." He interrupted her.
It seemed to dawn on her in that moment. He recalled she had never been the slow type.
"I can't believe this." She muttered, realizing Naruto had lied just to keep her from fighting the fact that Sasuke had never intended to return. He had, in his very Naruto-like way, lied to protect her. A lot of good that did...She thought to herself, Still, I thought he'd never give up the fight to get him back...
Silence fell upon them again as she fell into her inner contemplations.
Sasuke sighed out of boredom, and she realized he was waiting for her to say something or ask questions.
"All this time, I was so damn jealous of the two of you..." She said finally, while shaking her head slowly in disbelief of her own words.
"Tch." He scoffed, "What the hell was there to be jealous about?"
"Your strength." She shrugged, "I was always so useless that I ended up believing I wanted to become just as strong as you both were constantly becoming."
He gave her a look she recalled he would always give Naruto when he was doing or saying anything senseless. A look that screamed dobe.
She quickly shook off the nostalgia.
"I didn't realize I could never pay the price of that power. I didn't notice I wouldn't be able to, because I couldn't suffer any of what either of you had been through." She murmured, averting her gaze to the beat-up old fountain as she recalled simpler times. Sasuke's jaw clenched as he knew all too well what she was referring to.
"You actually had convinced me that I could never understand any of it...That I would never be able to empathize with you or Naruto." She looked back at him.
He raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the tree, feeling more comfortable with this string of conversation than the last. His expression seemed to ask 'how'.
"It was the night you'd left." She gave in reply, seemingly laughing at herself.
"Hn." He muttered, acknowledging that he remembered. He crossed his arms, but his expression remained unreadable.
"After that, I felt as though anything I did would never make a difference. I'd still be miles behind both of you, while being entirely incapable of understanding either of you." Her voice had lost her accusatory edge, as though she did not blame him for her personal revelation.
A smirk seemed to play at the corners of his mouth. At least she had finally got it.
His almost-smirk did not go unnoticed. She frowned as she realized he probably believed he'd helped her accomplish something she had needed.
"But then I suffered too." She added quickly, feeling the need to cast blame again.
It was Sasuke's turn to frown slightly, the smirk disappearing.
"It wasn't anything like having a demon of hatred locked up inside of me, or having to face the horrible truth of my clan's annihilation." She added, before he could even think of mocking her.
Sasuke's jaw clenched so tightly he thought his teeth might shatter.
She paused a second longer before continuing, noticing the obvious frustration she was causing him. She briefly wondered if the term 'annihilation' had been too crude, but she viciously reminded herself that this man was undeserving of her tact.
"What I had suffered was the loss of both of my team mates." She asserted.
"Both?" Sasuke managed to grit out.
"Oh that's right, you don't know. Of course you don't. How could you possibly know, having been holed up in this self-proclaimed village of yours?" She asked, sarcasm dripping off every syllable. It seemed her anger was returning with a vengeance as she recalled he had been the source of her suffering.
"Spit it out." He almost growled.
"Naruto's as much of a stranger to me now as you are." Her accusing tone took him off guard.
He scowled and she knew he didn't understand.
"He had abandoned me too." She stated, as though it was an unchangeable fact-as though she were noting that the sky was blue and the grass was green. It seemed she had learned a few things from the stoic man in her presence. "He had left me, to find you, without so much as even letting me know."
It took Sasuke a moment to recall that she had not been there. She hadn't accompanied Naruto during their last encounter.
He made no physical reaction as a sudden realization struck him. He had torn apart the bonds of his team mates as well.
"He came home looking like a living corpse. I worked on healing him for weeks, but he had still fallen into a coma from all the blood loss and chakra depletion. It was almost half a year before he finally came through. I thought he was gone." Her eyes seemed to be looking at the scene from years ago. "I punched him the moment he opened his eyes, and I probably would have beat him right back into a coma if Tsunade-sama hadn't stepped in."
Sasuke remained passive. She focussed her attention back to the present and set him with a hard stare.
"I'm a medical-nin. I heal people. That's what I do. And somehow he still didn't think I was useful enough to take along..." She struggled with her next words, "He almost died."
Sasuke gave a curt nod, as if to express that he understood all too well how near-death their experience had been. He had also been subject to intensive treatments for his near-fatal wounds.
"I wouldn't talk to him after that. It took a couple years before he gave up trying to apologize." She continued, "And then he became Hokage."
Sasuke did not react; this was not news to him.
"It didn't change the fact that I couldn't forgive him, but he managed to get my attention long enough to explain what had happened when he found you. I knew somehow he was hiding something from me. I just didn't think he'd lie about your death." She admitted, recalling the desolate and maddening few years she had spent fighting between her intense curiosity and her resentment of Naruto's abandonment.
"I always thought he was pretending when he said you would both die the next time you fought."
Sasuke knew she was hinting at how angry she had been that they actually almost had.
"I guess I should have just been happy that he managed to convince you of Madara's guilt. But I was too angry at him for agreeing to help you claim your vengeance on Konoha after he found out about Itachi." She clenched her fists. "I mean, what was he thinking?" The question was again, rhetorical, and loaded with frustration.
Sasuke wanted to point out that Naruto's decision had been made with Konoha's best interests at heart; that he had made a very conscientious choice. But he didn't. Instead he listened, feeling a bit more at ease knowing she had also learned the truth about Itachi.
"He told me he couldn't find you in the wreckage after you'd both taken on Madara, but that he would still keep his promise to you, even if you were dead." She recalled feeling the heavy weight on her chest as she had believed Sasuke had not survived. She remembered how pointless everything had seemed to become at that moment. Everything they had fought for, and struggled hard to attain, had simply vanished.
"I guess he must've known all along that you were planning to reform Otogakure." She bit out.
"It was the failsafe of our bargain...The collateral. If he failed to eradicate the council members responsible for my brother's mission, my village would ensure Konoha's destruction." He explained, in a seemingly bored manner.
Sakura gaped at him. That was why Naruto didn't fight for him to come home? She couldn't believe it.
"How could you-what was he-" She struggled to reign in the questions flooding her mind.
"It's a good thing he succeeded then, isn't it?" He interrupted her. His smirk was seemingly mocking her.
"Only because he had enough popular support to rally the clan leaders against them..." She couldn't accept the risks Naruto had taken, "He risked everything for you! He risked his dream! And still you never came back!" She was outraged.
"Do you really think Konoha would have welcomed the return of a nukenin? I would have been arrested on sight, interrogated, tortured, and then put to death. There's no mercy for those who defect."
"The Godaime had already agreed to show you leniency as a favour to Naruto-and when he became the Rokudaime, it's obvious he would have no objections of you returning as a citizen. He stopped seeing you as a threat to the village when he managed to convince you of Madara's guilt- not to mention that the entire shinobi world relieved you of your international criminal status after you helped to defeat your ancestor."
"There was nothing left for me there." He shrugged, indifferent as always, "What sense would it have made to return?"
"It was the place you were born and raised. The place you once called home. And the place Naruto fought so hard to clear your name..." Sakura answered through gritted teeth, as though it were only obvious. She could still vividly recall the day Naruto had commissioned that all history texts were to be revised with the correct events of the night of the Uchiha Massacre, and the incredible resistance he had had to overcome.
"As if that changed anything." He scoffed, "Konoha was, and is, unlikely to accept the hand their very own officials had played in the extinction of one of their founding clans. It's also not likely that they'd simply forgive a traitor who threatened their complete destruction, whether or not their hero urges them to do so." He was growing increasingly annoyed with her inability to come to reason, and, as a result, had inadvertently used a derogatory tone as he had said the word 'hero'.
She made to open her mouth to formulate more arguments before he interrupted her once more.
"Would you have welcomed me home, Sakura?" He asked, as though he knew the answer.
He knew she would never accept his return.
Not after he had attempted to kill her.
Not after he had threatened her village.
Not after she had believed him dead only to discover he had been alive all these years.
Not after getting Naruto to risk everything in order to redeem the Uchiha clan.
And definitely not after having torn apart her relationship with Naruto.
She took a moment to process the question, fully aware of his underlying motives.
"Of course not." She replied coldly, "You were already dead to me. If you showed your face after disappearing for a second time, I might've tried to make your death a reality-whether or not Naruto tried to stop me." She tightened her jaw and clenched her fists as she realized she had helped him win the argument. If even his former team mate would not tolerate his return, the idea that the rest of the village wouldn't either was given credence.
"Naruto had figured as much. Why do you think he agreed that I should stay here, even if it meant a new threat? He knew my return was impossible."
"So everything he's done...Everything we've done...was all just for nothing?" She whispered, incredulous. It was the second time she had felt this way-the first having been when Naruto had lied about Sasuke's death. She found this time it was harder to swallow, as the sliver of hope she had felt when she suspected Naruto had been hiding something from her, was non-existent.
Sakura had long since given up on the idea that Sasuke would return peacefully and some semblance of normalcy would be reinstated. She stopped believing in the return of Team Seven the day he had attempted to strike her down. Her need for his return had become simply a desire to feel a sense of accomplishment. She had simply wanted to feel as though they had actually fought so hard for something. That all wasn't truly lost... When she had learned he was still breathing after having witnessed the continual effort Naruto had put into clearing his name...He had to return... For Naruto's sake...Not for hers.
He was the reason Naruto had lied to her, and the reason for why she had ignored him all these years.
He was the reason she was left alone, and seemingly forgotten.
He was the reason for everything.
He was the murderous traitor they had fought for, and who would never return.
Naruto had accepted that. Naruto had given up.
But she couldn't.
It was then that she reached for the katana strapped to her back, as if waging an inner debate about whether he should be killed now, for the sake of ending her eleven year long torment.
She paused with her hand on its hilt, not bothering to pull it from its sheath, her anger, hate, and determination seeming to falter. All she could think about was Naruto's future reaction if she decided to attack.
She was conflicted between bringing Sasuke back (in tiny little pieces or otherwise) just for the sake of giving some purpose to the past eleven years of her life; and the logical reasoning that killing him would not relieve her of the miserable truth that there was nothing more she or Naruto could do to see him back in Konohagakure...That there was nothing left of the Sasuke-kun she'd once known...
Sasuke subconsciously went into a defensive stance, and was hit with the sudden realization that it was peculiar that she bore such a weapon. As far as he could remember, he had been the only one of the former Team Seven to have ever found any kind of sword to be his weapon of choice. Although, he took pride in the fact that his Kusanagi was still far more unique than any ordinary katana.
He stared at her, confused, and unable to understand why it mattered so much to her that he had disappeared entirely from their lives, without so much as a backward glance, and with no intention of ever returning.
It was also strange that she displayed such a deep seated anger-almost akin to the hatred he had once harboured-despite having shown no real evidence of it before, even in the moments after he had attempted to kill her. He could somehow believe that she'd hold true to her word of trying to end his miserable life for all of the pain she seemed to have suffered, and seemingly still endured.
It was then that he realized her countenance was of one who would not even bat an eyelash before taking someone's life.
He took a moment to observe what she had been wearing, although it was not something he tended to do. Now that he actually bothered to take in her appearance, it seemed ridiculous to him that he had not recognized it sooner.
She was wearing an ANBU uniform.
Her hitai-ate was no where to be found, instead the Leaf Village symbol was tattooed in red on her upper arm. She wore a light grey sleeveless vest which covered a black tank top, while her kunai holster had been tied around her upper right thigh, accentuated against her tight black pants. She wore long black gloves, fitted with arm guards that were often used to conceal weapons, and a medical pack hung from her waist to rest on her hip. Her hair had grown long again, falling even further down her back than it had when they were twelve. Various scars could be seen on any areas of exposed skin, which he knew had to have been left purposefully, as chakra healing rarely left any trace of the wound that had been repaired.
Sakura shifted uneasily and sighed as she realized he was evaluating her appearance, finally removing her hand from the hilt of her katana. He eased his defensive stance in response.
"When I'd learned the truth about Itachi, I felt I could understand some of your actions, and maybe someday come to forgive them. But you never once believed I could have understood what you had to face...You were personally responsible for the loss of everything I cared about and wanted nothing more to do with me. You blindly threatened the lives of everyone in Konoha-the innocent and the guilty alike. But that wasn't enough for you! You tried to kill me-the girl you had thanked for caring so damn much about you." She paused, to stress the meaning of her words, before making a gesture as if displaying her outfit to him.
"So I joined the ANBU. Best combat medical-nin on the force. Taking out nukenin like you helped for a time..." She gave a bitter laugh. It was the kind of laugh that would make one's skin crawl, if one wasn't the last remaining Uchiha-someone who had been through hell and back, and someone who could not be affected by a retribution-seeking ex-team mate turned missing-nin hunter.
"Naruto may have been able to forgive you...I doubt he ever really held anything against you in the first place..." Her expression was grim as she shook her head slowly, "But I couldn't. There are just some things that can never be forgiven."
"Like assigning my brother a mission to eliminate our clan?" Sasuke retorted, his usually calm voice laced with a hint of malice.
It took a moment before Sakura nodded, agreeing with his accusatory suggestion.
"And attempting to kill those closest to you, more than once." She whispered as she averted her gaze to watch the sun's slow descent on the horizon.
Sasuke stuffed his fisted hands in the pockets of his black pants, and shrugged.
"What's done is done. There's nothing to forgive." He grit out, "There's only getting even."
Sakura's eyes flickered back to his figure.
"Only you would think that." She accused him, crossing her arms and deepening her scowl. "I wonder if you'd consider my dispatching you as 'getting even'."
"I would." He agreed, shrugging a little. He did not fear her, and did not consider her a real threat, even as she sported her intimidating uniform. After he had exacted his revenge on Madara, he had experienced liberation unlike anything he had felt before. His life had finally attained a sense of purpose, and accomplishment. The very person, who had caused him more strife than most ever had to face, had met his most deserving fate. For Sakura, if he had been the person who had made her suffer, he could not fault her for desiring a sense of retribution.
Sakura did not know how to respond.
Sensing that she had at last run out of things to say, Sasuke took a few tentative steps towards her.
"I'll show you to where you'll be staying."
"Staying? I only came to see if your lackeys were telling the truth." She pulled an ANBU mask out from her pack, and went to put it on. "Now that I've confirmed you're still breathing, and have no intention of returning, I have an annoying blonde to confront before I decide what to do about it." She turned to leave, though Sasuke did not miss the threat beneath her words.
"Wait," He spoke to her back, she paused a moment, noting the cruel irony of the situation. "If you stay here for a short time, and help sway the decision of my council members..." He seemed to struggle with his next words, "Then I will return with you to visit the dobe."
Minutes ticked by as she struggled with his proposition.
"What is it your council members want of you?" She finally spoke, half-turning towards him.
"An heir."
She couldn't help but give a sarcastic laugh.
"And how exactly do you think I could help with that?" She demanded, placing a hand on her hip as she turned to face him completely. Why should I even bother? She added mentally, though she knew she was intrigued. If he returned for even just a moment, it would mean victory at last. Besides, if he was still within reach after she confronted Naruto, it would be much easier to carry out whatever decision she finally made...She wouldn't have to come back to this pretentious village.
He realized she would be the perfect candidate to help him out of his predicament, knowing her hatred of him (and possible desire to kill him) would dissuade any kind of legitimacy in a mock relationship.
"If you convince them that I've agreed to take you as my matriarch, you won't have to. As long as they believe I have the inclination to someday restore the Uchiha clan, they won't press the matter." He explained.
"And how long would it take to convince them of that?" She struggled to keep her composure as every inch of her wanted to break out laughing at the fact that Uchiha Sasuke was having issues running his village.
"I would assume no more than a few weeks, figuring in your acting skills and what may seem the right amount of time to establish a relationship." He proposed, calculating the plan as if it were a mission they had just received. Again, Sakura fought the nostalgia.
"I'll agree to this on one condition." She offered, not bothering to argue with him about the fact that he had no reasonable idea how long building a relationship would take. He waited for her to continue.
"I'll give you exactly two week's worth of my time-and not a second more-if you give me your word that you will return to Konoha without resistance, as soon as that time is up."
Sasuke gave a curt nod.
"As long as you understand my return will only be a brief one." He added.
"Of course," She said, in a mockingly sweet voice. She smirked, before adding bitterly, "Your two weeks start today."
"Follow me." He said, as he headed back toward his residence.
As Sakura followed silently, observing the Uchiha crest he bore proudly upon his back, she wondered if killing him was the decision she would make. Would she feel as though following in his footsteps of revenge would resolve the hatred in her heart? Could she cut him down as she had so many others before him?
Would she?
XxxTBCxxX
Author's Note: OMGAWD this is terrible. I've had this stupid chapter written for two weeks now, and it's been revised, and edited probably a hundred times or more. I can't believe I've basically got it memorized by now, just through sheer revision. It's SO HARD expressing all the emotions both of them are feeling (or not feeling, in the case of Sasuke). Whyyy must he be so hard to write. And Sakura! Now that she's not all super bubbly and childish anymore...now that she's grown and feels truly wronged by the person she once loved...it's so...complex! HOW IS THIS EVER GOING TO WORK! Don't worry though; it gets super fun in the next chapter, which I've totally already planned out. It's also going to be kind of funny/lighter mood than this emotastic crap! IM SO SORRY if any of this was super confusing or...not really flowing like it should. It's basically like 10 different versions compiled into one. So I might have not followed the same thought process all the way through. I am NEVER writing a 13 page long conversation between them EVER again lol. And omg, why didn't Sasuke notice the ANBU get up from the get-go. Wow dude, make sure your new eyes are workin alright. No but srsly I just couldn't really squeeze it in at the beginning...I tried. Oodles of times. Uhh, yeah I don't know if what happened between Naruto/Sasuke/Madara even made some kind of sense...It could all just be entirely jumbled to people who aren't me, and who don't have the story completely planned out in their minds. Maybe I should look into this beta-reader stuff :P
Okay well phew /rant over. I hope you enjoyed!
Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers; you are so inspiring and totally got my lazy bum motivated!
xo
AdventRain