Author's Note: The uploads for the next chapters might come a little slower than expected so please be patient with me. Thank for the reviews and follows! I really appreciate it. I don't know what else to say so here's chapter four!

They had finally reached the training grounds and the awkward silence continued. Sasuke walked over to a tree and leaned against it, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Sakura sat down on a nearby stump and looked around at the open field. She began to wonder about their conversation a few minutes ago.

"Why am I upset? I should be happy. I mean, Sasuke Uchiha, just asked if he could go to the festival with me of all people. Even if it is just as friends, he still asked me. I just wanna know what the heck happened to him in the last three years to make him change THIS much. If I know the old Sasuke, he'd want to stay as far away from anything celebratory or social as possible." As Sakura continued to think about the subject, Sasuke had started to wonder.

"I hope Naruto and Kakashi get here soon. I don't like it when there's silence like this. I don't know if I should say something, and if I do what should I say? I can't think straight. Why do I have to be like this around her?! I shouldn't have asked her if she wanted to go to the festival with me. I'm gonna end up making a complete idiot out of myself. She probably already thinks that I've developed mental issues."

Both of them continued to wonder in silence, every now and then making a small noise by coughing or moving their feet. They waited and waited but no one came. So they waited some more and still, no one.

"What the heck are they doing, sharing their life stories with the whole village!" Sakura thought to herself. She let out a loud sigh, much louder than she intended, but she could care less at this point.

Sasuke opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep a few minutes ago. When he saw that the rest of the team still wasn't there, he gave an irritated eye roll. "You have to be kidding me. We've waited for at least twenty minutes." A gust of wind blew his bangs that were covering his left eye into his right eye. "Sometimes that can get so annoying," he looked over at Sakura,"Just like her..." A smirk settled on his face.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and noticed his smirk towards her. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," he paused as she blushed,"And how annoying you are."

"At least I'm not as big a jerk as you are," she spat back.

"You have a point..." He replied. She smiled at him and laughed. "I wonder what's taking them so long. I've waited three years to beat Naruto again. How many times have you kicked his butt?" He mostly said the last part because he didn't want the awkward silence to return.

She sighed. "I always beat him. He goes way to easy on me because he doesn't want to hurt me. It's so boring. I mean I know it's just training but I can't get better if he won't fight me at his best. When the others are here, I ask them. It's not very often though because they're always out on missions. It's mainly Ino, Hinata, or Tenten."

"Hn," was all he said. He was itching to fight someone now. It had been quite a while since he had been in a real fight. Actually, the last time he had been in a fight where he needed to use his eyes was when he fought Naruto at the Final Valley.

"I guess I have time to kick your butt while we wait," he said with a smirk.

Sakura was shocked by this sudden statement. Since when did Sasuke Uchiha feel that she was good enough to take him on? "Is that a challenge?"

"Hn, I don't know, is it?" The sarcasm in his voice was extremely apparent.

"Why do YOU want to fight ME? I'm nowhere near your skill level."

"You said that you wanted a real fight. You shouldn't doubt yourself either." He reached into the front of his vest and pulled out a dark blue bandana.

"Oh please, I don't stand a chance against you. You probably don't even need to use your eyes." She stopped when she saw him tying the bandana around his head, exposing his left eye. "And do you always carry that around with you?" She added with a smile.

"Why not? I might need to use both my eyes sometimes. And like I said, don't doubt yourself. It doesn't get you anywhere. If there's anything I've learned being a shinobi, it's that you should never underestimate your opponent," he finished with a stoic look.

"You overestimate me," she mumbled, barely loud enough for him to here.

"Just shut up and get ready," he responded, clearly annoyed.

She rolled her eyes and did as he said. Pulling the black gloves she used in battle out of the bag on her hip, she walked to the right side of the field.

Sasuke took his position on the left side and waited. He hadn't used any jutsu since his battle with Naruto. All he had needed was his blade and his eyes since then. This, however, was going to be a tough fight. Sasuke had only seen a little of what Sakura could do when he had come back in the war. He remembered how surprised he had been when a single one of her punches had blasted the enemy about a mile back. He had never admitted it to anyone, but he smiled after getting over his shock. He used his chokuto to hide it though.

Sakura looked across at Sasuke and waited, wondering to herself. "No matter what he does it just makes him look even more attractive." She continued to stare into both of his eyes. Some might think that the Rinnegan was unattractive and weird, but she thought that it looked beautiful. Looking into the purple eye, it was like someone had cast a spell on her. She didn't look away until she noticed his right eye turning red. The first stage of the Sharingan had clicked into place.

"So you actually think you'll even need to use that to beat me?"

He smirked. "Are you trying to make me underestimate you?"

She returned the smirk. "I don't know, am I?"

She watched as Sasuke unsheathed the chokuto. "So he's going to use his sword first, huh? I guess that's what he's most comfortable with." In response, she took out a kunai knife and twirled it around in her fingers. He was clearly not going to make the first move, so she planned in her head.

"I'm going to wait until I have distance to use jutsu. I don't know if it will be any good or not. Come to think of it, I haven't used genjutsu in a long time either. My best bet right now is my chokuto or taijutsu. I'll let her make the first move." He stood in a battle stance with his sword in front of him and waited.

Just as he had finished preparing, she charged at him. She was much quicker than he had expected and met him in a couple of seconds. The blades clashed and they fought to see who would get the upper hand. Sakura greatly outmatched him when it came to strength so she forced him back a few feet and threw the kunai at his neck, which he deflected with ease.

"That all you got?" He said while sheathing his sword.

"You haven't even seen the beginning," she said as she charged again.

This time it was a battle in taijutsu. Sasuke had been on the defensive and dodged every punch and kick she threw at him. Now, it was his turn to attack. He threw a punch at her side and she caught his hand. Then he kicked at her side and she caught his foot with her other hand. Using his free foot, he landed a kick on her stomach and forced her back a few feet. He realized then that he had made a mistake. She had wanted him to do that. It gave her an opening to use her enormous strength.

She watched as the chakra started to build up in her hand. Grinning, she brought her fist down, watching and listening as the ground was breaking and cracking in front of her.

Sasuke jumped up just in time to escape the earthquake happening below him. He forced chakra to his feet so he could land on a lone tree behind him. He caught the kunai that was thrown towards his face just an inch in front of his eye. The kunai had been a distraction for her to land a chakra filled punch on the trunk of the tree. He jumped again as the tree toppled over and realized that he had a good distance now.

"That was close but I can't think about it now. Here's my chance!" He quickly began to make the hand signs for the jutsu. Flying high in the air he took a huge breath and used the jutsu.

She turned around as she heard a few words coming from the Uchiha. "Fireball jutsu!" He shouted as the fire style jutsu quickly shot from his mouth. It was slow and small though, so she dodged it with extreme ease.

"That was pretty weak. Your pretty rusty you know," she laughed at him and turned it into a smirk.

Sasuke had been silently cursing himself for his pitiful attempt at the jutsu. "Give me a break, I haven't done that in three years." She smiled.

He quickly looked at the environment around him and looked back at her. She was looking beside her at the tree she had knocked down. He smirked and took his chance. Rushing toward her, he drew his sword and swiped at her stomach. She dodged it just in time and grabbed his left ankle as he went past.

"How could I have fallen for that!" He silently screamed at himself.

This had been part of her plan. She swung him high into the air so she could catch her breath. That had been a mistake on her part. She had underestimated him.

Sasuke starightened himself out so he looked down at her. He dropped his sword and quickly spun around, putting as much strength as he could into the kick he gave to the sword's hilt. This gave him enough time to let his left eye change again. The pattern of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was sliding into place. He hadn't thought he would need to use it in this fight, but he had been terribly wrong.

Sakura had been crouching and gasping for air as she heard something whiz through the air towards her. She caught the chokuto by it's handle, the speed by which it had been kicked forcing her to turn in circles as she tried to use it to her advantage. She had turned about ten circles at breakneck speed by the time she had chucked it back at him. She groaned in pain and grabbed her arm. Her shoulder had nearly been dislocated by the force that she used when she had thrown the blade back at him.

Sasuke was still in the air, focused on his eye when he noticed a blur coming straight at him. He moved right as his blade was about to cut through his stomach and grabbed the hilt. The force of the throw made him fly back a few more feet when he touched the ground. Pain in his side started to set in as he noticed the deep cut that had happened moments ago. He did move and dodge what could have been a sword through the stomach, but he hadn't fully moved his body out of the way when he caught it. Heck, he probably wouldn't have even dodged at all if his Mangekyo Sharingan hadn't been active at that moment. Falling to his knees, he put his hand over the cut on his left side. The pain had started there and moved all the way down his left leg.

Sakura had been charging toward him again while he was distracted. She threw a kick at his head and he blocked it with his right arm and jumped back a few feet. She had him where she wanted him now. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and ran toward him again with a chakra filled fist. She gasped as she noticed that he had moved and was nowhere in sight. The crackling of a sword filled with Chidori made her turn around and watch as he cut down five trees. Jumping and weaving around the falling limbs and trees, she saw the lightning coming from the sword disappear. With a quick flash he was behind her and she turned around, but it was too late. His right hand filled with lightning went through her heart and she gasped in shock.

"Why would you do that?" She asked as blood came from her mouth.

He smirked,"Because you're just a Substitution!"

The clone disappeared with a small cloud of smoke and turned into a log. Sasuke quickly spun around and caught the left fist coming towards his head when he threw her to the ground. He jumped on top of her and held the chokuto to her throat.

"I win," he said, gasping for air.

"I guess you do," she said, also gasping for air. They had come back to about where they had started. They sat there in that position, gasping for breath when Sakura finally spoke.

"So, how did you know that I used Substitution?" Sasuke looked back down at her and tapped his eye with his left hand.

She was shocked when she saw that he was using the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. "You REALLY had to use it?!" She asked in complete disbelief.

"I told you that you shouldn't underestimate yourself," he said as his eye returned to the regular onyx color. "And if I hadn't used it when I did, I would probably have a sword in my chest right now."

"Thanks for not going easy on me. And sorry about that," she nodded towards the cut on his left side. "Will you get off of me now?"

"Hn," his smirk returned,"I'm gonna sit here another minute because you asked."

"Jerk!" She couldn't help but smile at him.

Sasuke looked back down and saw the smile. Their eyes met and time froze. He started to lean down and throw his sword aside when something hard hit his right ear. He fell beside Sakura and felt the attacker jump on top of him and grab his collar. The attacker punched him and started to scream in his face.

"How dare you try and hurt Sakura! Were you trying to kill her you stupid-"

"Naruto, stop! They were just training!" Kakashi screamed as he pulled the Uzumaki off of a dumbfounded Sasuke.

"Oh, you guys were just training... Hahaha, sorry about that Sasuke. Your sword was just. And I thought..."

A very furious Sasuke sat up and held his right ear. "It's fine. I know what it looked like and I understand. BUT COULD IT REALLY HURT FOR YOU TO TAKE A SECOND OF YOUR TIME TO CONSIDER THAT WE'RE ON THE TRAINING FIELD?!"

Naruto gave a nervous laugh and started to speak but Kakashi interrupted. "I know you're angry Sasuke, but he was just acting on instinct. Anyway how was your fight?"

Sakura had sat up and answered for him. "It was fun. I guess." She glanced over at Sasuke and wondered what would've happened if Naruto hadn't come along. What she didn't know was that he was thinking the same thing.

Kakashi saw the looks on their faces and raised an eyebrow. "Hm, that was quite a position they were in we got here. Sasuke did look to be making a move." He looked at Naruto who was nervously smiling with his hands behind his head. "Maybe Naruto was right..."

A FEW MINUTES AGO

Naruto sat and watched as Kakashi ordered three bowls of ramen. "When are we going to talk? They're probably already at the training field."

"In a minute, I haven't had breakfast yet."

Naruto sighed. Then his eyes widened and he stared at his former sensei with complete determination. He was going to see what Kakashi looked like without his mask and nothing was going to stop him! His eyes started to water as Kakashi put his fingers on his mask. "I can't hold it anymore! It won't hurt to blink just once will it?!" He blinked as fast as he possibly could. What he saw made his mouth open to the ground. Kakashi had already finished and was rubbing his hands together.

"That was really good. Alright let's go Naruto!"

Naruto got up and immediately started questioning him. "How the heck did you do that? I blinked and you were done!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I eat just like any other person," he answered casually.

"What did you wanna talk about Kakashi sensei?"

"Oh, that. I'd like to know why Sasuke looked angry when I asked if he had gotten reacquainted with you and Sakura. Do you know anything about it?"

Naruto smiled and started to laugh. "Hahaha. I know about it alright."

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, what did you do this time?"

"Why do you always assume it's me!?"

Kakashi stopped walking and gave his former student a stern look. He started walking again when Naruto answered.

"Fine, it was me. I was just messing around and the jerk got all mad at me!"

"What did you do?"

Naruto grinned. "I may have asked him why he stayed at Sakura's apartment. And what they did."

Kakashi sighed again. "I assume you said it a lot worse than that. Why did you do that anyway?"

"Like I said, I was just fooling around. I was surprised how he reacted when I asked, so I just kept going. Then he punched me. Hehehe, I think there's somethin goin on with him and Sakura. Or at least with how he "feels" about her."

Kakashi was extremely surprised by this. He knew about the way Sakura had always felt about Sasuke, but Sasuke? He remembered how easy it was for him to guess that Sasuke was going to find her last night. The way the Uchiha looked when he brought her up was different. Could Sasuke have had a change of heart? It seemed like such an impossible thing to think of. Then again, Kakashi knew better than to trust Naruto about things like this so easily.

"I will just have to see for myself," he decided.

"It certainly looks like you two had quite a fight," Kakashi said as he noticed the cut on Sasuke's side.

"So are you ready to get your butt kicked again Sasuke?!" Naruto eagerly shouted.

"I'm going to train with you today Naruto. These two are obviously banged up," Kakashi interrupted.

"Well, I guess that's fine. Sakura got to beat him up today, so it's my turn next time!"

Sasuke finally spoke up. "Hn, I bet you can't make a single scratch on me."

"We'll see about that next time!" Naruto yelled as he and Kakashi got into place.

Sasuke slowly stood up and offered a hand to Sakura, which she gladly took. She groaned in pain because that was the one she nearly dislocated. "I nearly ripped my arm off throwing your chokuto back at you."

He smirked and lifted his hand off of his bloody side,"Thanks for that by the way."

She gasped and made him sit down on one of the nearby trees he had cut down. "Sorry about that! I guess I got carried away!"

"Don't apologize. You caught me off guard. It was a good move. Even though you could have killed me..."

"Shut up and take your shirt off so I can heal you!" She nervously said. She had to tell him to do that or she wouldn't have been able to do her job.

He did as he was told and took off his vest, then his shirt. Sakura quickly crouched down and started to heal his side, trying to hide the furious blush that had appeared on her face. What had made her blush was the sight of the Uchiha's abs. She didn't want him to notice that she had stared for a few seconds but he had.

As she started to heal his wound, he looked down and saw her furious blush. He rolled his eyes in amusement,"You know, it's really annoying when you do that. You're the one who asked me to take off my shirt."

She playfully punched his shoulder. "Well, excuse me for not wanting your cut to get any worse. And why do you look if it's so annoying?"

He shrugged but he knew exactly why. For some reason he liked seeing her blush because of him. It made him feel... different. That was the only way to explain it. Different. When she had finished healing him, he took off his bandana and smoothed his hair out over his left eye. Then he put on his shirt and vest along with the chokuto as someone yelled at them.

"Hey! Forehead!"

Sakura turned around and knew exactly who it was. "Ino Yamanaka."

Ino ran up to her best friend and gave her a hug. "Why didn't you tell me that-" her voice trailed off as she saw Sasuke sitting nearby. "Oh! Hey Sasuke, how are you? It's been awhile."

"Hn, fine." He would have said more, but he noticed the person who had been walking behind her.

"Hello, Sai. How are you?" Sakura asked.

Sai raised a hand and smiled for no reason. "Greetings Sakura, and I'm good. Thanks for asking," he turned to Sasuke and slightly dropped his smile,"Hello Sasuke."

Sasuke folded his arms,"Hn. Sai."

A silence filled the air. The only sounds heard were from the ongoing battle between Naruto and Kakashi. Ino sat down at the other end of the fallen tree with Sakura and they started talking about whatever girls talked about. Sasuke felt a little upset, but he told himself it was just because now he was stuck here with Sai. The pale, dark haired shinobi wore a black jacket with a huge scroll on his back. His long pants were also black. Sai had been Sasuke's replacement after he had left the first time. Naruto told him that he hadn't been chosen until after he had returned from training with Master Jiraiya.

"The only thing that Sai had truly been a replacement for was his attitude," Sasuke thought to himself. Sakura had told him about Sai's struggle with emotions and said that was why could be a total jerk sometimes. The only reason Sasuke had still not liked Sai so much was because he knew that he didn't trust him. "After all I've done, I can understand why he still doesn't trust me. Maybe I should give him a chance though."

Sai, who had been watching the fight, spoke to break the silence. "How was your journey?"

Sasuke's attention went to Sai. "It was interesting. It helped a lot. How are things with you and Ino?" He had only asked that question because he didn't want to talk.

"That is good to hear. Things with us are going great. Last night we-"

"I don't need to hear anymore!" Sasuke quickly interrupted.

"-went out to dinner with Naruto and Hinata. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, just forget it." Sasuke sighed as Sai turned his attention back to the fight. He looked at Ino and Sakura,"Someone help me."

Sakura and Ino had just finished talking about the latest gossip in the village. Well, Ino had finished telling Sakura about all the gossip. Ino was wearing her classic purple as always. Her blonde hair tied in a long ponytail that went all the way down her back, stopping at the waist. The long blonde bangs covering her right eye moved when she did.

Ino gave her friend an amused look. "When were you going to tell me that Sasuke is staying at your apartment?"

"Ino, he needed a place to stay. I told him he could stay at my apartment if he wanted, and he said that he would. There's nothing more to it. Before you ask, no he didn't say anything and we didn't do anything."

"Ugh! Forehead, you know that you still have a crush on him!" Ino yelled back at her friend.

Sakura gave a small blush,"Maybe I do. Shut up before he hears you! Your such a dumb pig!"

Ino laughed. "So what was he doing with his shirt off when we got here?"

Sakura sighed. "We finished training and I was healing him. There's nothing more to it, so don't ask again!"

"Wait you guys were training together?!"

"Ya, we had a fight while we waited for Naruto and Kakashi sensei."

Ino jumped up and stood in front of her best friend. "You two were training alone?! Aw, that is so cute!"

Sakura pulled Ino down to sit beside her again. "Nothing happened! I swear Ino, one of these days I am going to kill you!"

Naruto and Kakashi had just finished their fight with Naruto being the winner.

"I finally beat you Kakashi sensei!" The excited Uzumaki shouted.

Kakashi was holding his stomach and leaning against a tree. "Well, I guess that anything is fair in the shinobi world. I wasn't expecting a move like that and I let my guard down."

Sakura was very concerned for her sensei and asked what had happened. Kakashi answered.

"Naruto used his shadow clones as a distraction and he kicked me in the groin."

Everyone sighed and spoke in unison. "Naruto!" They all screamed.

"What?! Even Kakashi sensei said that everything is fair in the shinobi world!"

"It's fine. Naruto was just um... using it to his advantage?." Kakashi said, trying to save his student.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes after this. Then they all decided to get lunch together. Everyone except for Sasuke. The others started to head off and Sakura took a quick glance back at him. Kakashi, who had agreed to go with them, stayed behind for some reason.

"I thought you were going to go with them," Sasuke said, looking back at Kakashi.

"I was, but you declined."

Sasuke gave his former sensei a confused look. Kakashi quickly noticed it and explained.

"Why don't you want to go with them?"

The Uchiha shrugged,"I guess I want to practice my jutsu. I don't want to be known as a lousy shinobi."

"That can wait until later. We should go back to my office so that I can explain some of the changes around here."

"How long will that take?"

"Who knows? But I figured that you would like to get it out of the way."

Sasuke sighed,"Fine."

They started to walk to the Hokage's office.

Sasuke yawned. It was almost eleven and he had about reached the apartment. All the Hokage had done for who knows how many hours was tell him about some location and rule changes.

He opened the apartment door with an irritated look. "What is it going to take for me to get you to lock this door?"

"Stop worrying about it. What took you so long anyway?" A tired Sakura retorted.

"Kakashi was explaining a bunch of changes and rules. I was just getting it out of the way. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I was waiting for your sorry butt to get back so I could see if you wanted this shirt," she pointed to his current shirt,"Since you're still wearing the ripped one. You're lucky I'm not mad, I have work tomorrow."

"About that," he went over to take the shirt and hand her a letter,"Kakashi told me to give you this."

She opened it and her eyes widened in shock. "He's giving me the next few weeks off! I wonder what's made him so generous lately."

"Good for you, now get off my bed," he said while pointing to the couch.

She slowly got up and walked toward her room. "Good night Sasuke."

"Shut up and get out," he said sarcastically.

He put on the new shirt and laid down on the couch. He stared at the ceiling for the next hour, wondering what horrible memories would wake him up tonight. He finally drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note: I used this chapter as a chance to introduce a few more characters that will be more involved later. I might make it time for the other nations arrival in the next chapter. We all know what that means! I love me some Kazekage Gaara... I also used this chapter for a small sasusaku moment. More of those will be coming. Danger will start to come soon, too. Also, like I said in the beginning note, the next chapters may come slower than usual so don't think that I have abandoned this story! Thanks for reading! P.S. Sorry again for my terrible grammar!