CHAPTER 21

Returning to Konoha
(木の葉に戻る Konoha ni Modoru)

Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone else traveled through the countless trees and branches in silence as they made their way back to Konoha. While traveling, Sasuke wondered how people would react to his return to the village. Since he's been gone for so long, he wouldn't be surprised if people gave him horrified stares or hate glares. He was fine with it and he didn't care what anybody else thought about him. He was returning home and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. The only people that would have a say in this matter would be the Hokage and the Feudal Lords in the Land of Fire.

Sasuke had turned around to see if his teammates had caught up yet, but he didn't see them nor could he sense their chakra. Another thing that was on his mind was what would happen to Taka? The fighting with the Bakudai was over and they haven't returned yet. Was the team all right? Did they fall in battle? Was the opponent too much for them even with Miyuki's help? He didn't want to think the worst, but he was slowly edging over to the conclusion that his partners were killed in battle. He only hoped that it wasn't the case. Even though they were together as a unit for a short amount of time, Taka was like his extended family and it wouldn't be right if they fulfilled their promise yet something had happened to them in the process.

Now the thing that really bothered him was dealing with the Village Elders. Even though they had nothing to do with what Danzo had done with Madara, they were partially responsible for the fall of the Uchiha Clan. Would he be able to keep his cool around them when he had to go to the Hokage's Mansion to question his punishment about his defection from the village? He knew in his heart that trying to do that would be extremely difficult for him. Even though Sasuke knew the REAL truth behind the Uchiha Massacre, he still couldn't forgive them for what they've done.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard the voice of the pinkette calling him. He looked at her and his face twisted slightly in anger from what happened earlier. Sasuke didn't expect Sakura off all people to openly attack him like that.

"I had made an incorrect assumption and for that, I'm sorry for trying to attack you earlier. I know that you wouldn't take a person's life without a legitimate reason and I apologize for that." The pinkette said with sincerity.

"Hn..." Sasuke muttered, but he figured that was his own fault since he held the blood-covered kodachi in his hand and was leaning over Nariko's body like he hadkilled her. Sasuke couldn't blame her for reacting the way she did. Hell, anyone would of reacted that way.

"But we're glad you're returning home to us, Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled brightly, trying to forget even attacking him at all, but it wasn't working. "Isn't that great, Naruto?"

The blond doesn't answer and continued to run through the trees, which made Sasuke and the others stare at him with an incredulous look.

"Naruto?" Sakura said again, but Naruto didn't hear her. He was too busy trying to figure out how things were going to be handled once they've got back to the village.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto was acting very strange ever since Team 7 reunited in Konoha Forest. He was expecting the blond to cry tears of joy and hugged him for finally returning home, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Instead, the blond didn't do that; he simply smiled and carried on. Not that he wanted the hug or the tears to happen or anything; it just seemed really out of character for the charismatic blond.

"Naruto." Sasuke called. "Sakura is talking to you."

Naruto broke away from his thoughts when he heard the raven's voice. "Oh! Sorry, Sakura-chan. I'm happy that he's coming home and everything, but I'm much more concerned about Nariko here..." The blond said, which caused Sasuke to look at the young girl that Naruto was carrying on his back.

Nariko, the ravenette was what intrigued Sasuke the most. Sakura had used her medical ninjutsu and healed her earlier from that gash she had in her stomach. Even though she was healed from that wound, she had lost a fair amount of blood and she has to be admitted in the hospital. She was something that Sasuke had wanted to know more about. From what he saw earlier when she was unconscious, he couldn't help but wonder who she really was and the same could be said about Miyuki. He knew that, but that would have to be for another time. Naruto was acting differently and Sasuke could sense a serious change was occurring within the blond and to him, that was not a good sign.

"Aww, man! I really wanted to fight one of the 'Bakudai' that Nariko-san fought!" Kiba complained and Akamaru followed with a whine of discontent.

"I'm sorry, Kiba-kun. Maybe we can let loose the next time." Hinata said and she winked, comforting the brunette the best way she could. After all, she was Kiba's girlfriend.

Now here was the real question. Would the rest of Konoha 11 would be able to tolerate and forgive him for all the sins and crimes that he committed in the past? And would they be able to accept his partners and get along with them? He knows very well that trying to get back on the good side of the village would not be easy, but he wanted to start over and try to do the right thing. He wanted to carry out Itachi's will of peace, but he was gonna do it his way.

Naruto looked back at the raven-haired boy he had grown to love over the years and he couldn't help but smile genuinely at Sasuke with a bright smile. Even though he wasn't showing his real feelings like he should have done earlier, he was very happy that Sasuke was coming back and what made it even better was that he came back on his own. He didn't have to chase Sasuke anymore, which made feel even more ecstatic about the exciting things to come. Team 7 can train together again, hang out again after missions again, and rekindle their friendship, just like old times. But the thing he wanted to do more than anything in the world was to just tell Sasuke how much he loved him and hopefully Sasuke felt the same way.

Sasuke felt the blond's eyes on him and he smirked at him with that famous Uchiha smirk of his. Naruto blinked at him in confusion and because of that, he lost his footing on a tree trunk. As he began to fall, Kiba was fast enough to grabbed Nariko from tumbling down with him and the blond screamed as he fell face first into the ground. The gang stopped and marveled at the accident-prone blond trying to get his head from out of the ground. Kiba shook his head in disappointment from Naruto losing focus so easily. With a little help from Sakura, she grabbed his leg and pulled him out like a bad weed.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hinata asked in concern.

"Yeah..." Naruto sat up and rubbed his head, wincing in pain. "Sasuke made me lose my balance..."

Sasuke smirked and turned the other direction. "It's not my fault you can't stay focus and your clumsiness almost killed the girl you were carrying, dobe."

That little remark upset Naruto. Sasuke wasn't even in the village yet and he was already starting with him with the name calling. Naruto can handle that, but he was not gonna stand there and let Sasuke disrespect Nariko like she was irrelevant. "The girl's name is Nariko, Sasuke and it is your fault, teme."

"No, it isn't, dobe." Sasuke shot back.

"Yes it is!" Naruto spat at him.

"No, it isn't."

"Yes it-"

"Enough already! We don't have time for this! Nariko still needs to get to the hospital! Her life is still at stake! You two can throw insults and bite each other's heads off later!" Sakura cut in, clearly having enough of their bickering. She was happy that they were arguing again, but this was not the time for it.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan..." Naruto apologized with a sheepish grin on his face.

Afterwards, the gang made an effort to get back to the village in order to get Nariko admitted to the hospital.

xXx

In Konoha, two Jonin were waiting at the front gates, waiting for Naruto and the others to return. One of them had light gray hair that defied gravity and his forehead protector covered his left eye. The other one had short, brown hair and he wore a masked-style forehead protector, similar to that of the late Tobirama Senju. Both of them were clad in standard Konoha-nin attire.

"Kakashi-sempai, shouldn't they be back by now?" Yamato asked, looking for any signs of them from beyond the distance.

"It's been 5 hours since they left to go look for Nariko, but they should be back soon." Kakashi confirmed as he adjusted his forehead protector over his eye.

Kakashi and Yamato were away on a mission while this whole time-travel business was going on. When the two of them had returned, Tsunade had filled them in on what was happening. Kakashi was curious about the fact that Nariko had favored Sasuke in some way. Yamato just wanted to know was the team able to handle the 'Bakudai' on their own without Kakashi or himself to help them.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The white-haired jonin heard his name from the distance.

"Sempai." Yamato said and pointed in the direction where the voice was coming from.

Kakashi looked ahead and saw several figures running towards them. Yamato recognized all of them from the bunch, especially Sasuke since he had fought with him trying to bring him back to Konoha. The copy nin's eyes widen in surprise when he saw a certain raven within the group of shinobi. He smiled behind his mask and crossed his arms around his chest. 'Well, well, well. . .The wonders never cease. Naruto managed to bring him back home...'

When they were close enough, the gang came to a halt in front of them and started to catch their breaths. "Naruto, I see that everyone came back safely..." Kakashi stated.

"Yeah...and look who's here! It's Sasuke-teme!" He grinned, pointing over at missing nin.

"Stop calling me that..." Sasuke sneered.

Kakashi stepped forward and his smile grew under his mask. He was happy to see one of his pupils again and they were even arguing, which was a plus in his book that things were going to be okay. "Welcome back, Sasuke..."

Sasuke simply nodded and stared at Naruto with that stoic face of his. Kakashi then noticed the girl on Kiba's back. He couldn't help but stare at her in amazement at the young girl's resemblance to Sasuke. 'Is that's what she looks like when she's unconscious, the similarity would really show when she's awake...'

"Kakashi-sensei, I healed most of Nariko's injuries, but since she lost a lot of blood in the battle, she's gonna need a blood transfusion in order for her to be in stable condition. It seems that Sasuke-kun had other allies with him, but they haven't caught up with us yet." Sakura analyzed.

Miyuki was still out there and this made Naruto worried about her safety and wanting to go back out there and find her, but they had to take care of Sasuke first. That was their No.1 priority at the moment.

"This is what we're gonna do. Naruto, Yamato and I will accompany Sasuke back to the Hokage's Mansion. Hinata and Kiba will hand in the mission report at the Mission Assignment Desk. And Sakura, you will wait here for the others to arrive and take them to the hospital to treat their wounds and we'll take it from there." Kakashi explained.

"Kakashi-sensei, if she wait for the others, then Nariko can possibly die and I don't think Sakura have the things she would need to complete a blood transfusion here!" Kiba stepped in.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance." A voice spoke and a shadow landed next to Yamato. It had turned out to be Team 7's artist and their last member, Sai. "I'll take care of it."

"Sai? Where did you come from?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura is right. Waiting here will not be good for Nariko's health, You take her to the hospital to treat her injuries and I'll wait for the others to come here. After they arrive, I'll bring them to the hospital." Sai answered with a sincere smile.

"You would do that? Oh, thank you so much, Sai..." Sakura smiled warmly at the artist who being so gracious with his offer. Now she can do what she has to do without fear. Kiba carefully handed Nariko over to Sakura. "Don't worry, Nariko. Everything's gonna be all right..."

When the eyes of the two dark-haired shinobi met one another, the hostility they had towards each other rose to an unimaginable high.

"Uchiha." Sai said curtly, looking at the boy that gave Naruto and Sakura so much hell, pain, and suffering with his defection. Now he was back in the picture. In honesty, he considered Sasuke an arrogant bastard who doesn't deserve compassion and he does not feel sympathy towards him.

"Replacement." Sasuke said bluntly, eying the boy who resembled him in physical appearance. Sasuke couldn't believe that this...knockoff replaced him. It was absurd and unheard off. The raven did not want to have anything to do with him, especially since he tried to kill him on a mission.

"Okay...Maybe not..." Sakura chuckled slightly from the display of hate towards the two black-haired shinobi. The team was a whole again, but would Sai and Sasuke be able to get along? She highly doubts it, but it's worth a shot, right? The last thing they needed was unnecessary tension.

"Now that everyone knows what to do, let's head out!" Kakashi announced to the group of shinobi and Sakura headed onwards to Konoha Hospital while Kiba and Hinata left to report the mission a success, even though Nariko was injured.

Naruto turned to Sasuke and said to him, "Are you ready...?" in a cautious way, knowing that the minute Sasuke walked through those gates, he was gonna get the reactions he knew was going to received - glares, whispers of disapproval, and the turning of backs.

Sasuke knew that and he was ready to face it head on...and the consequences that awaits him once he got inside...

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:

Sakura, The Miracle Medic
(サクラ,奇跡の衛生兵 Sakura, Kiseki no Eisei-Hei)

Suigetsu and the others arrived in Konoha and Sai takes them to the hospital so Sakura nurse them back to health...