Next to last chapter, as promised. It's a bit long, but there was no clear way to chop it up. As a result, the epilogue is going to be a bit shorter.
Warnings: Sasuke-centric, violence, language. Again, apologies for the lame fighting scenes.
Random thought: I started writing this story a long time ago. Back then, Sasuke was misguided and disturbed, but was nowhere near the evil person that he's been made out to be by now. I have always liked the character, I still do, and this story was my way of playing with the possibilities of his redemption.
Updated 1/9/11
Chapter 19: Proving Grounds
Kakashi and team didn't have to get all the way to the gates of the village to know that something was terribly wrong. They hadn't even made it to the outer checkpoint and the air was already tinged with the choking scent of smoke. The checkpoint itself was empty, the ninja on duty no doubt called back to defend the gate. Kakashi made a motion with his hand and his companions stopped and checked out the immediate area around the checkpoint before regrouping.
"I didn't see any bodies and I don't smell any blood," Naruto said. "There is some fire damage, so it looks like our enemy wanted to close off any means of getting in and out of the village."
"They didn't come from this side," Sakura said. "Whoever did the damage here was a small party and they were here very recently."
"We took out the majority of the ones out by the camp," Sasuke added, "and any remaining ones would have had to come by us in order to make it here before we did so they didn't do this."
Kakashi nodded as he took in the reports. The three younger ninja were working well together, they were professional and alert. They trusted each other, which was one of the most important things when it came to working with a team. Even Sasuke seemed to be fitting back into the role that he used to have so many years ago. Kakashi could almost imagine that Sasuke had never left and he'd had these three amazing young people on his team their entire careers.
"Whoever did this probably came from our village, so we are to work under the assumption that we're already under attack and that the enemy ninja have penetrated deep enough to block all four gates, leaving the villagers with no way out," Kakashi said. "We are also to assume that the ninja we left behind will be here before long and that they most likely communicated our presence and escape from their camp."
"We need to round up everyone and take them to the shelters," Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. He'd been thinking the same thing. "Sakura, you and Sasuke go to the ninja academy and help evacuate anyone that's still there. Then move on to the market place and residential neighborhoods and do the same."
Sakura and Sasuke both nodded their understanding.
"Naruto, I need you to go find the Hokage and have her fix your seal. I can't afford to have you at less than your full capacity in this." Naruto looked ready to argue, but Kakashi's raised hand kept the blonde from speaking. "You'll be of no help to anyone if you can't defend yourself. She can then tell you where you need to go."
Naruto nodded, looking none too pleased to be relegated to a non-battle position but professional enough to follow the orders. Kakashi had no doubt that Naruto would end up in the battle sooner or later anyway.
"I'm going to go find the squad leaders and get a better feel for how bad it is," Kakashi continued. "I'll send my dogs to update you once I know where we stand." Kakashi was ready to dismiss them when a thought popped into his head. "Naruto, I'm going to leave it up to you to update the Hokage on what happened with Sasuke. I suggest you tell her the truth; it's the best chance for leniency Sasuke has."
"I will," Naruto replied, already looking pale at the prospect.
"You're dismissed. Good luck."
The last thing Kakashi saw before he teleported away was the former members of Team 7 giving each other nods of encouragement before the three disappeared from view.
The village was in complete chaos. Naruto was horrified to see buildings burning to the ground and dead ninja lying in pools of their own blood. He also saw a few dead civilians here and there, but it looked like most had been evacuated from the area. He didn't want to avoid battle, but he had to admit that he didn't feel quite like himself. He was still woozy even though Sakura had healed the wound to his stomach. Naruto saw Lee and Tenten engage a group of ten enemy ninja and almost went to help them, but then Kakashi's voice in his head kept him on course. He was in enough trouble already.
Tsunade was going to flip when she heard about Sasuke and what had happened with that last remaining piece of Orochimaru. Shikamaru had probably already told her some of the story, and Naruto didn't believe that his friend would intentionally lie to the Hokage to make it seem worse. Orochimaru wasn't as dead as they all thought; he took over Sasuke, kidnapped Naruto, and left the village to go to an enemy camp. How could that possibly get any worse? Naruto couldn't prove to Tsunade that Orochimaru was really gone this time. He didn't even know for sure that Orochimaru was really dead, but he trusted Sasuke and believed that his friend had defeated the snake once and for all.
Naruto saw a group of Konoha ninja engaged in battle with about a dozen enemy ninja in front of the Hokage tower and again resisted the urge to join. Instead, he used the little chakra he'd managed to restore during the trip to form half a dozen clones and sent them into the battle instead. He'd learn about the enemy from them and could hopefully help Tsunade with the information.
"Naruto, there you are!" Shuzine said as he stopped in front of the closed door to the Hokage's office. "We've been looking all over for you, Sakura, and Kakashi."
Naruto looked away from the woman's face and shuffled his feet nervously. He scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit he hadn't quite been able to give up yet.
"Is Tsunade in her office?" he asked.
When Shizune nodded, Naruto opened the door and let himself in without bothering to knock. Tsunade was standing by the windows staring out into the battle below. Her desk lay in pieces at her feet and Naruto doubted it had been damaged by the enemy.
"Hokage-san," Naruto said formally. "We need to talk."
Tsunade turned away from the window and her eyes narrowed in anger when she saw him. "Where have you been? Why did you leave the village without authorization?" she demanded. Her eyes widened when she noticed the bloodstains on his clothes. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Ah, that's what I want to talk to you about."
Naruto then proceeded to tell her the story as fast as he could, hoping that he could get everything out without her interrupting. When he was done, he stood staring at her, ready for the blow up that was sure to come. To his surprise, it didn't come. Instead, her jaw clenched and her fists opened and closed at her sides, as if waning to hit something or someone.
"Unbelievable," she finally said, almost to herself. "Where is Uchiha now?" she asked, louder.
"Evacuating the villagers with Sakura," Naruto replied. "He's himself again, Hokage. He's on our side."
"You love happy endings, don't you, Naruto? I hate to be the one to tell you that they don't always happen."
She made her way over to him and, for a moment, thought that she was going to hit him. Instead, she reached for his jacket.
"Let me fix the seal. The procedure will knock you out for a while, so let's get it over with."
"Wait!" he said and stepped away from her grasp. Three of his clones had been destroyed and their knowledge had just made it to him. "The ninja outside the tower are the ones we encountered in Otogakure, which means that the ones attacking the other side of the village were the ones coming from the west. When did the attack begin?"
Tsunade grit her teeth loud enough that Naruto could hear it. "It started yesterday in the West gate, as you and Kakashi had told us after your trip to Otogakure. We were waiting for them, but there were more than anticipated and they quickly overran our defenses. The second wave came this morning and, from what you and Shikamaru tell me, there's another wave coming, right?"
Naruto nodded. "The last wave is significantly reduced in numbers. Kabuto is dead and Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Sasuke took out half of them before I passed out. If we can defeat the two waves of ninja that already made it to the village, we can concentrate on the remaining and head them off before they even get here."
"Then don't sleep for too long and get your ass out there to help," Tsunade said.
She made the necessary seals, lifted Naruto's jacket and pressed her hand against his stomach. He felt the world shift as the chakra pathway between himself and the fox was restored, but the rush of demon chakra was too much for him to handle and he passed out.
Sasuke had left Sakura at the hospital, where they were desperately in need of medics to handle the wounded. He hadn't wanted to leave her, but she'd told him that she was better utilized doing what she did best: healing people. He agreed and headed out to the academy to look for any stragglers. He didn't find any, so he headed into the market place. He hadn't had any luck getting the few people that he did find to come with him, as he had no authority over the villagers and they seemed rather fond of dying rather than going with him. Sasuke scoffed at their foolishness, but if they were too proud or scared to let him lead them to safety, that was not his concern.
A loud cry caught his attention and Sasuke turned just in time to see a ninja use a fire technique to destroy a restaurant. A five-year-old child stood where the entrance had once been and screamed at an approaching enemy ninja. The ninja removed several shuriken from his belt and threw them at the child, but Sasuke got there first. He blocked the shuriken with a kunai Sakura had given her, and then slit the ninja's throat.
"Mommy! Daddy!" the child was crying and reaching towards the remains of the restaurant. Sasuke had never been good with children and he didn't know what to do with this one. He picked the little boy up and the child turned his watery blue eyes towards Sasuke. "Mommy, Daddy," the child repeated and pointed towards the rubble.
"Were your parents in there?" Sasuke asked the little boy, who nodded. Sasuke took the little boy to the next building and set him down. "Stay here, I'll get them out."
Sasuke made his way towards the rubble, careful where he stepped so he wouldn't make any other pieces collapse.
"Is there anyone in there?" he called. "Shout if there's anyone alive in there?"
Sasuke heard a faint cry of help from a pile to his right. He made the seals for Chidori then shaped it into a thin blade, which he used to carefully cut through the wooden beams until he'd exposed the woman. She had dark hair and eyes as blue as her son. She recoiled when he reached out for her hand.
"Unless you want to die trapped under there and leave your son an orphan, I suggest you give me your hand," Sasuke said and was surprised when the woman did as he said. He pulled her out and set her down next to the rubble. "Is there anyone else under there?"
"My husband," she said, her voice laced with panic. "He was right beside me."
Sasuke turned back to the rubble as the woman called out for the little boy to come to her. It took a little bit of searching, but he managed to find the woman's husband. He was a little more uncooperative but finally caved in at the sound of his wife pleading with him to let Sasuke help. He glared at Sasuke the whole time, but followed Sasuke's instructions. He ended up finding 7 merchants still in their shops, including Asami, the woman that had refused Sakura service when she wanted to buy him lunch. They were clearly apprehensive at being with him, but the villagers that he'd pulled out of their destroyed restaurant helped in calming their fears.
They were about to leave the market place when Sasuke remembered Inoue's shop.
"You stay here and wait for me, I'm going to check something," Sasuke said to the group and took off at a run.
The front door of the shop was broken and the front room was in shambles. There was some blood on the floor, but not enough to account for a dead proprietor.
"Inoue-san!" Sasuke yelled into the back of the shop, "Are you here?"
"Back here, Sasuke-kun," came the soft reply.
There was some shuffling and the old man eventually emerged from the back room, limping and covered in blood.
"Inoue-san, you're hurt."
The old man smiled. "Most of it isn't mine," he said. "I used to do some fighting back in my day and wasn't about to let a couple of intruders take me down," Inoue-san explained and patted Sasuke's back. "I'm just not as young as I used to be. Glad to see you're back."
Sasuke wrapped the old man's arm around his shoulders and slowly led him out into the empty street. They were halfway to where the other villagers were still waiting when the shrill sounds of a flying kunai reached Sasuke's ears. He dropped Inoue-san and turned to block. He managed to block one kunai, avoid two, but was unable to stop a fourth one before it embedded itself on his leg. He hissed in pain and pulled it out, turning to face the two ninja that had thrown the weapons.
"Orochimaru-sama, what are you doing helping the Konoha scum?" one of the ninja asked.
"I'm not Orochimaru," Sasuke growled, "and the only scum here are you."
He threw the bloody kunai at one of the ninja and watched as the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke while the other one went airborne. Sasuke was too busy tracking the one in the air to notice that the one whose clone he'd destroyed was underground. He grabbed Sasuke's leg and pulled him to the ground. Sasuke quickly subdued him, but not before the other one landed on top of him. He was momentarily blinded when the man slashed at his face, managing to cut a spot above Sasuke's left eye. The blood dripped into his eye, stinging and temporarily robbing him of the sight in that eye. The ninja made good use of the blind spot, but Sasuke could still sense the man's chakra and managed to block the attack. A clone came at him and would have stabbed him in the chest if a villager's right hook hadn't caught the clone in the face and destroyed him. Sasuke turned and, with his focus on only one attacker, quickly disposed of the remaining enemy ninja.
He wiped the blood from his eye and looked at the villager that had helped him. It was the man he'd rescued from the rubble.
"Thank you," Sasuke said.
"I've repaid you for my life," the man replied and helped Inoue-san to his feet and back to the other villagers.
"We need to go to the residential area and gather anyone there," Sasuke instructed when they were all together again. "Walk quickly and stay behind me. If anyone attacks, stay low and let me handle it."
Sasuke quickly went through a number of seals and mumbled "genjutsu". The world went red as his Sharingan activated, but he could see everyone and everything in sharp contrast. There were three ninja to his right engaged with one Konoha ninja. The road ahead was blocked by downed buildings, so they'd have to take another route to the residential area.
"This way," Sasuke said and set a quick pace out of the market place. They'd been walking for a few minutes when one of the villagers he was escorting came up to him. Sasuke turned to him and the man seemed momentarily taken aback by what he saw in Sasuke's face, but he swallowed the fear.
"What did you do back there?" the man asked. "Everything feels cold and looks reddish. It's not normal."
"I put a genjutsu over all of us so that when the enemy ninja look in our direction all they'll see is the background instead of the people. It's not harmful to you, but it probably does look strange. Genjutsu usually look red to me."
The man pondered the answer and then nodded, satisfied. He fell back to where he'd been walking beside Inoue-san and Sasuke had to admit that was the most civil conversation he'd had with a Konoha villager in a long time. Maybe Inoue-san was being a good influence on them. Sasuke returned his attention to the road ahead and saw three ninja lying in wait for them behind a pile of rocks from a neighboring building. One of them turned in his direction and their eyes met. Sasuke knew at that moment that the man also used genjutsu and had seen through the illusion.
"Damn it," Sasuke muttered. He put his hands together and released the illusion. "We've been located," Sasuke told the villagers. "Stay back and don't engage the enemy no matter what happens. If I'm killed, make your way to the shelter. The illusion I'm about to place over you should last until then."
Sasuke didn't give them the chance to speak, as he quickly moved his hands through the familiar signs and he placed an illusion on the villagers he'd collected so strong that it was hard even for him to see them. He hoped they wouldn't do anything stupid and engaged his enemy.
The ninja were good, especially the genjutsu user. It was too bad that few illusions worked on the Sharingan, but he wasn't about to tell the enemy ninja that. The Kirigakure ninja used poisoned kunai, poisoned needles, and poisoned swords, but in the end were no match for Sasuke. The fight lasted longer than Sasuke would have liked, and he'd taken more of a beating than he would have liked, but the way into the residential area was clear now. He found his group once again and led them quickly through the houses, collecting people as they went. When they were done, Sasuke's group had grown to about seventy people, a third of them children and a half a dozen elderly.
Sasuke summoned one of his snakes, a light green boa with white specks named Shizuka that was almost as tall as he was. The villagers gasped in surprise when the snake appeared, and Sasuke was somewhat amused to see some of the younger children move forward, curious about the snake.
"Civilians and children? Sasuke, what's gotten into you?" the snake asked.
It slithered closer to the villagers and hissed. The adults took a few steps back, while the younger children giggled. Shizuka got a little closer to the children and hissed again. A few of the women yelled at their children to get back, but the children were still mesmerized.
"I like the little ones, Sasuke. The old ones are no fun."
"We don't have time for this, Shizuka," Sasuke said and the snake slithered back to him. "Find Kakashi and tell him that I've evacuated the people from the market and the residential areas that didn't get picked up with the first sweep. We're heading for the shelter now, and I'll join him when I can. Get as much information on the enemy as you can and get back to me quickly."
The snake raised itself to its full height, which put its head at Sasuke's chin. "You're so bossy, Sasuke-kun, but at least you let us out every once in a while," the snake said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"That was cool!" a couple of the children said. "How did you do that?"
Sasuke ignored them and started ushering the villagers towards the Hokage monument where the shelter was.
"Where did it go?" a little girl asked Sasuke as they resumed their journey to the shelter. "Is it going to come back?"
"Can you teach me how to do that?" a little boy asked.
"Yeah, me too!" several more children chimed in.
"Enough!" Sasuke roared, finally getting tired of the endless questions. The look of disappointment on the children's faces, however, twisted something in his gut. "I'll tell you what," he said in a much softer tone, "when this is all over and we're all safe, we'll see what we can do, alright?"
The children beamed and squealed their excitement.
"We have to be quiet right now, okay? Can you all do that?" Sasuke asked.
The children nodded and remained quiet and alert for the remainder of the journey. They ran into a couple more enemy patrols, but they were not as skilled as the ninja Sasuke had already encountered and were disposed of easily. By the time they got to the shelter, the group had picked up ten more civilians and three injured Konoha ninja. They made their way up the mountain and into the shelter, where hundreds of other civilians were already waiting. A few gasped when they realized who was leading in the newest group of refugees, and a few others threw curses his way. Sasuke ignored them, as he had learned to do since coming back to Konoha. He found the ninja in charge, which just so happened to be Umino Iruka.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Iruka asked. "You're injured," the man added noting the blood and bruises on Sasuke's exposed skin. "Let's get you some first aid."
"I'm fine, Iruka," Sasuke said. "Have you gotten all of the civilians to safety?"
"That depends on where your group came from," Iruka replied. "We couldn't get to the market in time."
"Not everyone wanted to come with me, but I got as many as I could," Sasuke said. "I also went through the residential areas and picked up anyone that was left."
Iruka smiled. "Then that should be almost everyone. Thank you, Sasuke."
Sasuke nodded. Iruka was about to say something when Shizuka popped back into existence. Iruka jumped back, alarmed at the sudden apparition.
"Kakashi said to head to the north gate when you are finished here, that's where he and Naruto are."
Sasuke nodded and dismissed the snake. Without a word to anyone, he teleported out of the shelter and followed Kakashi's chakra to the north gate. When he arrived, he was shocked at the carnage. Hundreds of ninja lay dead or dying and hundreds more were still in the midst of battle.
"Sasuke, over here!"
He turned to see Naruto and Kakashi kneeling next to a gravelly injured ninja Sasuke didn't know. The medics arrived shortly thereafter and took over the care of the woman.
"How did Kirigakure get so many ninja?" Kakashi asked. "Surely Orochimaru knew. Can you see if you have the memory somewhere in your mind?"
Sasuke shuddered, but looked inwardly and carefully reached into the mine field that was Orochimaru's memories. He sifted carefully through them, until he found the ones he wanted. He played the memories to himself and gasped in surprise at what he found.
"A lot of them are prisoners of war collected from other villages Orochimaru pillaged," Sasuke said to the ninja that had gathered around their group. "They're not Kirigakure ninja; they're being forced to fight. Orochimaru had a deal with the Mizukage that he would provide the soldiers if the Mizukage provided the training."
"Son of a bitch!" Naruto exclaimed. "We've been killing people that don't even want to be fighting."
That gave Sasuke an idea. He climbed up to the top of a building nearest to the main battle and looked through his memories for Orochimaru's most commanding voice. When he had it, he cleared his throat and addressed the combatants.
"Prisoners of Kirigakure, you don't have to fight and die here," Sasuke said above the sounds of battle. No one stopped fighting, but he could tell that some of the combatants were listening. "Kabuto is dead. Orochimaru is dead. The Mizukage is not here. There is no reason for you to give up your lives for a cause that you're being forced to believe in. Leave now. Kirigakure will not harm your loved ones because they will be defeated, and the Konoha ninja will not harm you if you choose to give up and leave.
Sasuke wasn't sure about that last part, but he hoped that the people of Konoha hadn't changed too drastically from when he was a ninja here. At first, nothing happened, and then men and women started dropping their weapons and running out of the north gate. They were followed by calls of "coward" and "traitor" from the Kirigakure ninja, but when it was all over, half of the combatants had left the village. That made it easier for the Konoha ninja to take care of the remaining ninja, and within moments had subdued them.
"Good work," Kakashi said when Sasuke returned to his former teacher and former team mate. "How did you know they'd leave?"
"Orochimaru kidnapped a lot of them and forced them into this by threatening their families back home. They were here out of fear, nothing else." Sasuke looked around at the crowd that had gathered around them. "Having them think that Orochimaru was ordering them to go helped, I'm sure."
"It was creepy to see you like that, but it worked," Naruto said. "We have to do the same thing with the rest of the groups."
"You two go," Kakashi said to Naruto and Sasuke. "We'll take care of things here."
Naruto nodded and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "Come on, creepy guy, let's go."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the new name, but silently followed his blonde friend.
After four days, hundreds of injuries, dozens of deaths, and widespread structural damage to the village, the battles ended. The ninja that had not given up were subdued and jailed. The last wave of soldiers was intercepted outside of the village and similarly subdued. ANBU were sent to Kirigakure to arrest the Mizukage and bring him back to Konoha to answer for what he'd done. When the man returned and found out about Kabuto and Orochimaru, he was repentant and begged for mercy, which Tsunade wasn't about to give him.
Naruto, who had crashed at Sasuke's house the night before after three days of no sleep, was rudely awakened by a huge rodent who wanted to use his sleeve as a comforter. He shrieked and shook the creature out of his sleeve. He then covered his mouth, hoping that Sasuke hadn't heard him, but the snake that whizzed past him to devour the rodent was all the indication he needed that Sasuke had witnessed Naruto's rude awakening.
"Eww, that's gross," Naruto said, gagging at the sight of the content snake and its enlarged belly.
"What would you have me to do the rat, knock it out and set it free outside?" Sasuke asked.
"Is this your rodent control method, feed them to your snakes?" Naruto countered. "Do they even need to eat?"
Sasuke glanced past Naruto at the snake which had curled into a tight circle to digest the meal.
"They technically don't need to eat, but they like hunting. There's no harm in it, and they do it for free," Sasuke replied.
"It's still gross," Naruto said as he wondered into the kitchen where the smell of burned something assaulted his nostrils. "I'm not even going to ask what you burned in here," he said.
"Good idea," Sasuke said. He eyed Naruto up and down, his mouth turned down in disgust. "You're not going to meet with the hokage like that, are you?"
Naruto looked down at himself wondering what the big deal was, when he realized that he was still wearing his bloodied, battle-worn clothing. He looked up at Sasuke and saw that he was already dressed in the most presentable clothes he could find in his father's old wardrobe.
"I guess I need to change. Meet you in front of the Hokage tower in a half hour," Naruto said and took off for his temporary residence, where he quickly showered and changed into civilian clothes. He was not yet authorized to work as a ninja, even though he'd technically been doing it for the past few days. He wanted to be on Tsunade's good side now more than ever.
He got to the Hokage tower in fifteen minutes and found Sasuke and Sakura already there. They both looked exhausted from the long battle, especially Sakura who had less sleep than he had due to all of the injuries.
"How are the injured, Sakura?" Naruto asked when he got to them.
"They're doing better," she replied. "We had a lot of minor injuries and quite a few major ones, but everyone seems to be recovering nicely."
"You look like you're about to pass out," Sasuke pointed out.
"Thank you, smooth talker," Sakura teased, "every girl likes to hear that."
Sasuke looked at a loss for words for a moment, before realizing that she was making a joke. Naruto laughed loudly, drawing the attention away from Sasuke.
"You'll always look dashing in my book, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said.
"Much better," Sakura said and planted a kiss on Naruto's cheek, making him blush.
Their levity ended when Shizune made her way over to them. "You're a little early, but the Hokage has some free time, so you can go on up to see her."
Naruto's chest constricted and his heart started beating faster. Sakura paled and even Sasuke, who liked to play it cool and detached, looked a little green. They headed up to the Hokage's office in silence, neither willing to speak of the doubts and fears they all had. When they reached Tsunade's office, Sakura knocked and then led them inside. Tsunade was standing by the windows, while Kakashi and Jiraiya stood beside her brand new desk. The hokage turned when they entered and leveled them all with an icy gaze.
"We lost a lot of people in the past few days," she said. "Half of the village is in ruins and will take time to rebuild. We have hundreds of prisoners that we can barely house and a hidden village we were once friendly with that is now our enemy. Sunagakure is going to send people to help rebuild, but the events of the last four days have shown us that we can never again live under a false sense of security. We must use all of our available resources in order to ensure that our village and our allies are safe from threats."
Tsunade stopped speaking and made her way over to the three former members of Team 7. She stopped in front of Sasuke first. "Orochimaru and Kabuto were undoubtedly two of the more vicious of our enemies and they are now dead." She raised a questioning eyebrow at Sasuke and he nodded in agreement. Tsunade then turned to address Naruto and Sakura. "You two never waste an opportunity to disobey my orders and generally make a nuisance of yourselves, but I can't ignore the fact that you are amazingly talented ninja and your loyalty to the village has never been in question. As of now, your suspension is over. I thank you for your work during the recent crisis. We would be burying more of our people if it hadn't been for your bravery."
Tsunade left the young ninja and went to sit behind her desk. She picked up a scroll from the debris zone that was her desktop and skimmed through it. When she was finished, she crushed it between her hands, creating paper flakes that rained down around her.
"That was the record of your interrogation, Sasuke," Tsunade finally spoke. "Only three people, two of which are in this room, read that scroll, and I don't see the need for anyone else to read it."
She paused and glanced at the remaining Uchiha for a long time. Sasuke fidgeted under the intensity of her glare, and Naruto had to elbow him to get him to stop.
"My first thought when I found out about your most recent betrayal was to kill you," Tsunade said. "The only way I have of making sure that you will not betray us again is to make sure you're not alive to do it. You say that the last surviving piece of Orochimaru is dead and all I have is your word, and the word of your teammates and former instructor, as proof. That doesn't give me much to go on, Sasuke, especially when there are many high-ranking members of the council that want you dead."
She paused and fiddled with one of her ponytails. "However, it seems that the fire lord still has a soft spot for the Uchiha name and the prestige that once came with it. He and his council aren't so quick to want you dead. For once, I agree with him. Your actions during the recent conflict saved many civilian and ninja lives and for that I am grateful. You have considerable skill, which I'd be a fool to throw away. The village needs a strong ninja like you and, if you're willing, I can have you work as a Konoha ninja."
Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to stare as Sasuke, who looked as shocked as Naruto felt. Naruto had expected a death sentence for his friend or at the very least a prison sentence, not an offer to return to work as a ninja. He grinned. The job offer was so much better.
"What are your terms?" Sasuke asked.
Tsunade smirked as if she'd expected the question. "You will start as a Genin with a salary to match. I know that your skills are at a level way beyond that, but you'll need to earn the higher ranks just like anyone else. Not many ninja are willing to work with you, so most of the missions you get assigned to will include one of the former members of Team 7, for your protection and for everyone else's. I have a feeling that only the people in this room are going to be happy with the arrangement, so you'll have to live with the scorn from the villagers and your fellow ninja. That's probably enough punishment to last you a life time. There is a 6 month period where you'll be on probation, starting as soon as you leave this office. I expect you to live in the Uchiha neighborhood as you've been doing and be accompanied by an ANBU guard at all times. Jiraiya will conduct regular evaluations and will accompany you on any missions you are assigned to during that time. After the probation is finished, you can do as you please. Do you agree to these terms?"
Sasuke stared at Tsunade for a while and then turned to Naruto and Sakura, both of whom were grinning from ear to ear. Sasuke then turned to Kakashi and Jiraiya, before returning his gaze to Tsunade. He thought it over for a while, but there was not much to disagree with.
"I agree to the terms," Sasuke finally said.
Tsunade extended her hand and Sasuke took it. "Welcome back to Konoha, Sasuke. Don't give me a reason to doubt your loyalty, because there will be no third chance."
"I understand, Hokage," Sasuke said. "There won't be a need for a third chance."
"Wahoo!" Naruto yelled and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "Thank you Tsunade-bachaan."
"Watch it, kid," she said, but there was no bite to her voice. "Now, your first mission is to help rebuild the village. Kakashi has been coordinating efforts with the rest of the jounin team leaders, so you are to work under his direction for the time being. Dismissed."
Team 7 left the Hokage's office in much better spirits than they'd gone in. When they were back outside, Kakashi spoke.
"Take the next 24 hours to rest and recuperate. We'll meet here tomorrow morning at nine."
With that, he disappeared. Naruto watched him go and then turned to his teammates. Sasuke didn't have that detached look on his face anymore. He looked relieved and somewhat relaxed for the first time in years.
"I outrank you, Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto couldn't help but goad.
"I can still kick your ass, idiot," Sasuke countered.
"Oh, yeah? Prove it, you Uchiha twit!" Naruto said and childishly stuck out his tongue.
"Training ground 3 in fifteen minutes," Sasuke said and took off at a run.
"I'll be there in ten," Naruto said and also took off.
"Wait a minute!" Sakura called after them, "you can't go off and beat each other up now; we have to go celebrate."
They ignored her and she crossed her arms in irritation. "Stupid men; they can't be happy unless they're beating something up. I guess someone's got to make sure they don't kill each other," Sakura muttered to herself and took off after her friends.
I like happy endings :-) One more to go!