"This is outrageous!" Gaara stood at his desk with his hands firmly placed flat on their palms after being slammed down onto his large, wooden office desk. "Who authorized this?! Why wasn't I informed!?" The enraged green eyes flared widely open before narrowing dangerously into agitated slits. They shut briefly as the Kazekaga swallowed his emotions and forced the otherwise booming voice to quiet down to a monotone. "Who thought they could get away with this?"

A hesitant guard spoke up from near the office's entrance. "Sir, we have a messenger from the Hidden Leaf."

"I don't want a damn messenger! I want answers for this!" Once again, Gaara had managed to lose control over himself, knocking the writing scrolls and pens off of his desk before pacing back and forth in anger. "Sending Anbu to my lands to attack citizens is an act of war! This is completely unprovoked!"

This time, it was one of the elder advisors who spoke out of line. "Sir, we can hardly call Uchiha and Uzumaki citizens..."

"SILENCE! Who do you think I am for you to speak to me like this?!" Gaara growled in his throat as he threw himself to sit in his red oversized chair. Truthfully, he already knew that he had been taking out his anger on those around him unfairly. To calm himself, he chewed on his thumbnail out of habit. "I apologize." His voice had lowered, though he did start to also rub between his eyes from the stress. "Send in the messenger." The advisor nodded, giving a slight bow. Going to the large double doors, he placed a hand onto a handle in order to give it a hard pull so that the door could open. Coming from the hallway walked in three masked Anbu members, the front runner holding a sealed scroll. Gaara stood again, burning his gaze onto the pack of elite fighters.

Without saying a word, the scroll was placed in Gaara's hand. Bowing, the trio ever so slightly turned to leave. Looking at the scroll, Gaara pulled open the seal. From unraveling the message, the black outlined eyes scanned its contents quickly. With a shocked look, he threw the scroll down onto the desk. "Sir?" The advisor looked worried, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Prepare to leave. We're going to the Hidden Leaf." Scrawled on the scroll that was thrown was clear message written in boldly printed black inked; Demands to bring Sasuke Uchiha to trail overwhelming. Warrant placed for his arrest and any accomplices.

Tsunade sat at her desk with her long fingers tapping the wooden with a quill pen she had in hand. Instead of writing, she was making a mess of ink spots as Sakura continued to protest. "But you can't allow this! These people are hurt and angry, I understand that, but only because Danzo's followers are whispering lies in their ears! Sasuke..." The cracking of the pen in Tsunade's fingers stopped Sakura's outburst.

"Sasuke needs to take responsibility for what he did." The elder blonde woman tried to explain to her younger trainee. "The people are demanding it, the military is arguing amongst themselves, and the elders are in my damn ear!" After moving to the desk, Sakura slammed her palms down against the wood hard enough for the entire table to shake.

"Isn't it enough that we banished them from the village?! They are no longer ninja because of what we decided three years ago?" She then moved to fish out a used Hidden Lead forehead protector from her back pouch. Throwing it onto Tsunade's desk, the arguing continued while the metal clattered loudly from impact. "Naruto gave up his headband to protect Sasuke. Do you have any idea how much that hurt him?" The headband eventually stopped on the floor since the toss was hard enough to make it bounce off the desk. "How could you allow this to happen? You're still Hokage, aren't you? Aren't you?!"

Naruto and Sasuke had long since changed into their clothes. Continuing their day normally was surprisingly easy, even with the threat of another attack lingering over their heads. Naruto had started to fret over Sasuke's eyes, scolding him for using his Sharingan again, especially over some 'no good thugs in masks.' Sasuke tried to disregard the attention, but after nightfall, he rolled up one of the floor mats in the bedroom. Underneath was a hidden floor panel he hadn't touched in years. Moving the board aside, one of the first things he saw was a small pile that contained some of his old clothes. They ranged from everything what he use to wear nearly every day back in school to a black and red cloud printed coat that belong to both himself and his brother.

Everything was folded neatly and surprisingly unharmed, at least from moths eating at them. Sitting on top of the pile rested the Sword of the Kusanagi. To be honest, Sasuke had never wanted to see these things again. The only comfort he had from opening this hidden space was that right next to his own were Naruto's old clothes as well. That atrocious matching set of the infamous orange and black jackets and pants were folded up right next to his. Leaving the clothes alone entirely, Sasuke only removed the sword. He gave it a few practice swings and it was still as natural to him as his own arm.

"You won't be needing that." Naruto had walked into the bedroom carrying two cups of tea with him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he held up a cup out to Sasuke. Gripping the sword in one hand, the spectacled man reached out to take it. As their fingertips caressed, he moved to look into the other's eyes.

"Thanks." After sitting down next to him, Sasuke laid the sword at his feet. Both of his hands went to holding the cup of tea traditionally, with one of them cupping the bottom, however he also kept his gaze locked on the weapon. "I tried to kill you with this, didn't I?" After laughing softly, Naruto put an arm around his sulky lover while using the other hand to hold his own cup in a more casual way.

"Don't tell me you forgot."

Sasuke quietly shook his head, pulling the cup up to his lips and sipped. "I would have killed you." Despite the nature of the conversation, Sasuke had lightened up just enough to sound cocky about it. The blonde laughed again, shrugging as he pulled Sasuke over for more of an embrace.

"Nah. Well, maybe. Let's see you try that shit now. I'll beat you senseless, take you home, and ravage your sexy corpse." Finally, the dark haired ninja cracked a smile.

"You would fuck a dead body."

Naruto grinned, fluffing up Sasuke's hair. After leaning over, he blew gently into the exposed ear poking that was barely poking out from the mess of long hair. "Well, if it was your dead body, who knows?" The held ninja only rolled his eyes, looking back at the sword. With a bare foot, toes gently nudged at the sword's hilt. There were many any painful memories that filled Sasuke's head, but these certain ones ended when he nearly drove that blade into Naruto's back during their reunion.

"Did I ever tell you, how pissed I was when I saw you again?" The blonde blinked when he pulled away just before his eyes went up in the air in thought.

"Well you tried to stab me, so I figured."

"No, I mean I was really mad. You had gotten better and came to get me. You felt strong enough to meet me again. I hated that." Naruto slid his arm away, sitting up straighter as Sasuke spoke.

What? What are you talking about?"

Sasuke looked at him to shrug before looking away again. "I would have come for you when I felt strong enough to fight you again. That time, in the valley, when we fought as kids? That didn't count." Naruto took a sip of his tea as his blue eyes peered over the cup.

"It didn't?" That was news to him.

Sasuke shook his head while looking ashamed. "I had exhausted myself and you lost control. I didn't win anything. I would have come to find you when I felt like I could win." Naruto, wide-eyed and lost, blinked several times before he responded to such a confession.

"You think I only came because I thought I was strong enough to take you on? Seriously?" He couldn't help but to crack a smile with some laughter and blushing. Sasuke started to make a grumbling face as he tried to figure out what was so damn funny. It was even worse when Naruto had to put his cup down so that he could lie on his back to laugh even harder, holding his stomach in the process. "You...You really thought that, huh?" He could barely breathe, let alone speak. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't come after you that day because I thought I was strong enough to take you."

Sasuke moved to sit on his knees on the bed as he leaned over to look at Naruto's face. "You didn't?"

Smiling still, the blonde shook his head. "I knew I couldn't take you. I didn't want to fight you; I just wanted you to come home. I didn't even try to stop you, you know, when you tried to stick that oversized knife in me. I thought, 'Ah, if I die today, maybe he'll come to his senses'"

Sasuke stared blankly. His grey eyes grew wide and he slowly pulled away. "...Maybe." In all fairness, that wasn't far from what happened after all, Sasuke thought. Naruto then sat up on his elbows before extending a hand out to touch Sasuke's face.

"Lucky for both of us you didn't get to, huh?" The cheek slightly blushed before Sasuke playfully pushed the hand away.

"Lucky for you, maybe."