Neji, Sai, and I went back to Konoha after shimmering down the enemy near the borders of Konoha and Suna and it took us 10 days to complete it. But when we came back, there was a festival. "A festival?" I asked. "Yeah, apparently it's celebrating how the war ended and peace between our nations." Neji replied. Neji patted my back as we continued walking until we reached the gates. "You two can go, I'll report back to the Hokage and meet up with my teammates… Since both of you are on the same team." He disappeared into the crowds as we both walked about the central area. We both saw Naruto eating some takoyaki with Konohamaru and his friends but he soon saw us. "YO SAI! SASUKE! OVER HERE!" Sai walked there first and started joking around with Naruto and his friends as I scanned the area and I saw Kakashi-sensei looking for some food. Lee, TenTen, and Gai-sensei also looking for food along with Chouji. Shikamaru and Shino on the other side are playing Shogi on one of the stalls. Apparently if you win, you get a free prize. I decided to go to one of the stalls that sells coffee/tea to awaken my senses. I purchased my tea and went to the red bridge where my team usually meets up and I saw little kids putting floating lanterns by the river and watch it flow. I caught myself staring at those lanterns until I heard someone called out my name. "Sasukeee~" I turned around and it was Ino, Sakura, and Hinata. They came towards me as I sipped the last remaining contents of my cup and threw it by the thrash beside me. "You just got here?" Sakura asked. "Yes, a while ago. I was about to go home also." When I said that, Ino interrupted me. "Oh no, you're not. You're coming with us, mister hero. A BODY GUARD!" I sighed and looked back at the river. "Well?" "Walk away. I'll follow behind." The squealing sound of Ino seriously made my senses awake. "We're going to have a lot of fun, Uchiha!"
"Oh! I want to try that fortune telling booth thing! It looks so cool!" I looked where Sakura was pointing out while I was trying to fix my ANBU mask and put it on top of my head. There was an old lady sitting inside a teepee tent with a table in front of her. Dimmed lights, very eerie I thought. "Ah Sakura! Careful! Fortunes can hurt!" Chirped Ino as she took a bite of her takoyaki that she and Hinata are sharing. Along the way, we met up with our friends and now we're all walking together. "Boo! But I want to try it!" She went over there and sat in front of the old lady. I instinctively followed and just stood few feet away from her. "Hello, good evening ma'am. I would like to know my future." She said enthusiastically. The old lady looked up at Sakura and smiled and she turned her head to the side and she saw me. She then did some chantings and suddenly layers of cards lay in front of Sakura and they all flipped all together. She burned the cards when her hands went through them and the smoke suddenly became like a dragon and floated through the sky. "White." The old lady said. "You will have quadruplets. Your first born child will have a pair of twins. One of them will be the next host of the 9-tails. You will lose someone precious at that time. Slowly losing him. But overall, your future is really good, bright future, nice family… With the man that you love." She closed her eyes and the smoke disappeared. "Really? That is so intriguing!" The old lady nodded. Sakura paid the old lady and bowed down to say her thanks. "Young man, would you like to know your future as well?" I walked closer to her and laid out my hand. She took my hand gently and she suddenly pulled her hand away. "Something evil is inside of you. Whispering evil things. You must let go of it before you lose someone in your life again. The whispers. They bring bad luck." She threw a handful of sand in my hand and the sand suddenly floated in the air and it became fire. The smoke didn't formed into anything, but it was black. "So it's true. One of your dear friends will die. You hold such big burden in life." Then she chanted and the smoke began to turn into white. "Fear not. Your future has some positive aspects in it. Good lucks with come to you as well, young Uchiha." I stood up and placed my money on her table. "Thank you. I will keep that in mind." As I walked away with Sakura following me, I couldn't stop thinking about how she knew about the whispering in my head. Fortune telling, what a bunch of fools. "Watch out! Coming through!" A bunch of kids came running and almost knocked Sakura down and it made me lose track of my train of thoughts. Good thing I caught her before she fell. "Ah, thank you Sasuke-kun." I helped her stood up straight and pulled her close to me. "Stay close to me."
Five months after the festival, I became an ANBU captain. Beating Neji and Naruto in the process as they're just normal ANBUs. "WHAT?! THE TEME BEAT US AS A SQUAD TEAM LEADER?! THIS IS INSANE!" Naruto was walking back and forth in my backyard with all the guys are there for the weekly relaxing session where we just drink beer and just do nothing. "Apparently he is an Uchiha." "And you're a Hyuuga!" I put my beer down and I closed my eyes as I told them how the Hokage was still testing me even though it's been a year and five months already. "It's to make the townsmen believe you're not going to do something rash and irrelevant. It's just for safety reasons, Sasuke." I nodded. The conversation shifted to Naruto about him and Hinata. "I heard that when you took Hinata on a date one time, you chickened out!" Kiba said in a hurry. Everybody laughed including Neji. "Chickened out? More like he's craving for something else." Neji added. Then all of the sudden Lee said,"THE DICK!" Everybody started laughing again with a furious Naruto yelling out random things to attack everybody. "At least I she knows how I feel unlike you, Lazyass. Can't tell Temari you like her?" Shikamaru inhaled his smoke and puffed the smoke out in Naruto's face. "I don't need to if she comes to me every time she's here in Konoha." Everybody fell silent and that's when Naruto started blushing. There was a knock at my door and Naruto quickly ran over there and answered it. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, no girls allowed until 6pm!" "But it's already 6pm, Naruto. Is Sasuke-kun home?" I walked near them and pushed Naruto aside. "Sasuke-kun! I was wondering if you're busy but I guess you are! But I just wanted to congratulate you on being squad team leader for the ANBU!" I let her in and Kiba's dog came towards Sakura and greeted her. She smiled at the dog and gave him a kiss before going back to the backyard. "Ne, Naruto. Don't you have a date with Hinata today? Don't make her wait will you?" When she said that, Naruto started freaking out and grabbed his jacket outside and quickly put on his shoes and left. Sakura saw everybody and greeted them. "Ah, I guess 6pm I already here." Everybody started packing their things except for the shogi board, we always leave it there outside. They all went out by the front door and bid me farewell. "Ah, next time again, squad leader!" I watched them walked away before closing my door. I saw Sakura looking at the underground fish pond at the backyard and she sat in front of it while watching the fish swim in circles. I sat next to her and she put her head on my shoulder. "Is there something the matter, Sasuke-kun?" I waited for a minute until I answered her question. "It's about us." She lifted up her head and looked at me while I kept staring at the fish. "What about us?" I inhaled a deep one before answering her again. "Are we… together?" "Of course we are, Sasuke-kun. Why'd you asked?" I shook my head and just held her hand. She put her head back on my shoulder while she plays with my hands as we just watched the sun sets over the horizon. "She will leave you again, Sasuke."